Five For Friday: Halloween Madness!

So nobody tells a new teacher how insane Halloween is going to be…until that day is upon you. BUT It was amazing, it was hysterical, and I survived! Here's my Five for Friday, Halloween edition!

A few weeks ago, KDog and I went to Aloun Farms in Kapolei to go pick our first pumpkin! I miss pumpkin patches and everything about Fall so much, especially since we don't have seasons in Hawaii (it's just hot, all the time…) We haven't actually carved it yet, but that's on our Halloween agenda before trick-or-treaters show up tonight.

Speaking of carving pumpkins, in Kindergarten, we learned all about pumpkins, what is inside of them, and how they grow. On Wednesday, the kinderkiddos got to watch Ms. Burkett stick her hands inside of this bad boy, make gross faces because I DO NOT LIKE SLIMY THINGS, and when they came back from lunch, our pumpkin had turned into a jack-o-lantern! Magic!

To celebrate our Halloween Monster Madness, we made Frankenstein masks! We had a little trouble figuring out how to wear the mask and where the hair went (see kiddo in first row, second from right…) but they turned out great! So scary!

For the Halloween parade at school, the Kindergarten team were a bunch of Nerds! Which is funny, because we're always the last ones to leave the school, so the costume was fitting! The kids thought we were the funniest things they had ever seen, even though they didn't really know what a nerd was...

And on an unrelated, not Halloween note, for grad school, we have to read this book. I've always been skeptical about the books they assign as "required reading," but this is definitely one I'm glad to read. Palmer talks about how in order for teachers to be truly good teachers, they HAVE to bring their full, whole selves into the classroom and show their true identities to their students. The first chapter almost had me in tears…definitely pick it up from Amazon, it was only $16 for my Kindle app! 

Hope you all have a spooktacular weekend! Yikes, that was corny...

Wordless Wednesday: Girl Power

I've been so sick for the past 6 days and Parent Teacher Conference (week 2) has got me going crazy. So this Wordless Wednesday post is to help my mental sanity, and my girl T.Swift's new album 1989 is definitely helping with that! I love love LOVE this quote from "New Romance" on the album…

Girl Power to the extreme, am I right? Keep doing your thang, T.Swift. I wasn't a huge fan before, but this album might just change my mind.

Over the hump of the week! Here's to Friday!

Made It Monday (Oh God)

Linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics on this lovely Monday. I'm so dang proud to be able to say that I MADE THIS!!! It may not look like much, but I thought that my old button design needed a bit revamping, especially since I'm trying to redesign my entire blog (thanks to Paige over at Paiges of Learning for the inspiration)! So here's my old design…

And here is my new design!!

Tell me what you think (or don't, I put a lot of work into this and had many failed attempts of saving the picture…) and I can't forget to thank the following ladies for the fonts and graphics…

It's Just One Of Those Weeks

You know what I'm talking about…those weeks where absolutely nothing goes right? Well thanks to Angela over at The Daily Alphabet, I'm attempting to be positive with this week's What I Did Right This Week!

For grad school this week, a rough draft of my 12-article review and synthesis paper is due. Ask me if I've read any of those 12 articles, I dare you.

HOWEVER, this week, and by this week I mean today, I got an email literally 10 minutes before school started saying that teachers from a nearby elementary school were going to pop in during our reading intervention class and observe our program and our classrooms, my class of crazy and energetic first graders being their first stop. Naturally, my first instinct was to panic…first year teacher, youngest in the school, barely 2 months into the mere 30 minute block they give us for intervention class… 

Then they came. And by they, I mean 10 big people (in comparison to my teeny first graders in their teeny chairs), staring and listening and pointing and commenting about my teeny room. Then one big person spoke, and the other 9 big people gathered over by my progress tracking board (a.k.a. the wall of stickers to measure how my students are doing in class) to look at the stickers and my chart of what each sticker means.

Tracker board, complete with students' hands that they decorated during week 1

Sticker color/progress monitoring key

Class ended, the kiddos went to recess, and my support staff and I sat in silence, honestly a little caught off guard by the whirlwind of whispers that had just passed through the room.  At lunch, hours after the 10 big people from the elementary up the road had left, my intervention coach approached me to say how impressed the visiting teachers were with my set-up, my agenda, the program I was running, and my tracker board.  She then said how much she enjoyed telling them that I was a first year teacher and the looks of astonishment and intrigue on the faces of the visiting staff. 

So, what did I do right this week? Apparently, a lot more than I thought I did.

Liebster Award (2.0)

I'm so flattered to be nominated by Paige over at Paiges of Learning for this blogger "award" for newbie bloggers who show great potential. Paige has the cutest blog (and blog design…share your knowledge with me!!!), and I cannot wait to read more about all of her adventures! After being nominated, I have to answer these 11 questions, then nominate another 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to do the same!

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started blogging in May 2013 (yikes) to start what I think all of us try to achieve through blogging: personal self-discovery, a running record of my daily happenings, making connections with others, and talking about the things we love the most! I was transitioning into the summer before my senior year of college, starting off on two amazing student teaching placements, and beginning my career of teaching, so I wanted to keep a blog where I could connect with other teachers and keep doing what I love to do - write!

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Authentic. I think people can tell pretty quickly when someone is blogging to their readers, instead of showing their authentic selves and thoughts, so I like to be very authentically me on my blog, if that makes sense. I've found that genuine authenticity is what people appreciate the most about me, so I wanted that to come across to my audience, however small they may be.

3. Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey that you wish you had known before?

Well, since I wasn't a dutiful blogger at first (bad, Pili), I still consider myself to be in my early blogging journey.  However, I will say that I try to include more images in my posts. Humans are very visual creatures!
4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?
I love to dance, go to the beach or go hiking with my dog and friends just as much as I love curling up with a good read or a movie and having a *very* lazy day in.  It really depends on my mood, but I'm always in the mood for ice cream, Pinterest, and Buzzfeed reading! 

At the top of the Grand Canyon this summer!

5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?
Currently, between teaching and grad school, I try to blog at least once or twice a week. Hopefully I'll get better at blogging more often!
6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?
Relatable posts! I love reading about people's thoughts, professionally and personally, and about the crazy things that happen during the day.  I also love great tip articles and the occasional TPT freebie that can help out my kiddos.
7. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
How can I pick just one?! I'm so inspired by all of the blogs I read, for different reasons. I love reading about the lives of others across the country from me, I love reading about the hilarious things that their students say and do, I love the creative resources shared through blogging, and the amazing tips/tricks/advice given so freely. Not to be corny, but I love being a part of this enormous blogging family. My blogging inspiration comes from all of you!
8. Which post that you've written are you most proud of?
Definitely my first post. Not because it is of any extraordinary writing caliber or because it contains great ideas, but because it marked a definitive change in my life. I lost a few great friends in my senior year of college because our paths turned out to not really mesh well anymore, and we became different people, drifted apart. Pre-blogging Pili would have probably changed who she was and went back to doing things "the old way," which definitely would not have gotten me to where I am today. Blogging, although I was blogging to an audience of 2 back then, gave me confidence and a space to communicate with other people, draw strength from their strength, and push through to be a better person than I was back then.  I'm really proud of my first blog post because it put me on a path to change myself and change my life.
9. Is there any post you've been planning to do but have been postponing?
Hmmm…I've made so many resources for my reading intervention class in this first quarter of school that I really want to learn how to make into TPT resources, so I guess I'm planning to get around to that eventually! They would all be freebies probably, because I don't think they're as great as some other resources out there, but I'm all about sharing knowledge and ideas!
10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
I love connecting with other bloggers, honestly, especially if they're across the country! Living on an island can make you feel so isolated at times, so I love being able to talk to other bloggers and leave comments on their posts! 
11. Which recipe, project, or idea from my blog would you like to try yourself?
Paige, I LOVE that you designed your entire blog by yourself. I've been meaning to get around to doing the same, but have absolutely no idea where to start. If you have any advice or tips, help a sister out! But honestly, your blog design is inspiring and I hope to try something like that soon!

Now for my nominations…
Julia from rising #GIRLBOSS
Hannah from Cute in the Classroom
Kristin from One Stop Teacher Shop
Leanna from A Little of Lili
Sara from Mrs. Brown Loves Bookworms
Laura from Luv My Kinders
Janelle from The Dog Days of Math
Natalie from Teaching 4th with Mrs. Bro!
Rachel from Seniorita Creativa
Monica from Roland with iPads
Erin from Shenanigans in 6th-Math

Now that you've been nominated here are the official "rules" for accepting:
1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out".
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you (the ones I answered above).
3. Nominate 11 blogs that have less than 200 followers each.  Provide them with 11 questions or have them answer the questions above.
4. Let your nominees know they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so that they can accept.
5. Send your nominator a link to your post so s/he can learn more about you as well.  (You can just put your post link in the comments below).

Introducing...

The Succulents! I love plants. I love gardening. I inherited that from my dad. From my mom, however, I inherited the ability to kill plants without even trying. Actually, I've inherited the incredible skill of killing plants while actually trying to take care of them…go figure. Enter, stage right, The Succulents. Not much water needed, just some sunlight, pretty low maintenance, how much harm could I do?

Then I went and propagated one of them. And by propagating I mean carefully wiggling the leaves off, then decapitating the succulent until I was left with a nubby stem, three leaves, and a decapitated head.

This is the journey of The Succulents and (hopefully) the propagation of new baby succulents, or succs, as KDog calls them.

I'll be posting more pictures when there's more to see!

xo,

Sunday Scoop and A Little Hurricane

Welcome back to this Sunday's edition of Sunday Scoop courtesy of the Teaching Trio cuties! Let's get started!

I have to…

1) Write the first draft of my capstone literature review paper. Uhm, excuse me? I am a first year teacher, first semester graduate school student, in a capstone course…does this make any sense? Anywho, my literature review is going to focus around the causes for the increase of students being diagnosed as SpEd or referred for SpEd services. I have to review 12 scholarly articles and write a 15 page paper that cohesively ties the articles together and comes up with some proposed best practices for teachers…wish me luck!

2) Get my ducks in a row for my VERY FIRST PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES EVER!!! I'm nervous, I'm excited, but I want to be hyper organized so that parents won't be so concerned with my age, and will be more impressed with my teaching.

3) Finish my unit plans for this quarter of school. I love planning and organizing my life, and having a set of unit plans just makes teaching so much easier (duh). I plan to check this off of my to-do list by Wednesday!

I hope to… 

1) Find some awesome resources for reading fluency passages for my intervention class. First grade level, focusing on consonant blends, basic sight words, basic literacy skills, anything at this point.  There isn't a large pot of resources available for the intervention teachers to pull from in regards to passages and books, so I'm extending my feelers out into the universe of TPT. Any great resources you've heard of? Let me know! 

2) Have some quality time with KDog. We've both been super busy (K with school, me with teaching), so we haven't had much time to spend together, or spend focusing on each other. I'm hoping that our schedules will die down, or we'll be able to get back into the swing of things, and make some time for each other.  Relationships aren't always easy, but I like to hope that the work is worth it in the end.

I'm happy to…

Rest, relax, and watch Scandal this weekend! Hawaii has been under a hurricane/tropical storm/flash flood warning/watch (what is the difference???) all weekend, thanks to Miss Hurricane Ana, so I've been happily laying in bed, catching up on season 4 of Scandal, and listening to the rain outside of my window.  

Hurricane Ana on the horizon on Friday after school

My baby plants aren't loving the gloomy weather, but I'm starting to see some root growth in one of the leaves I propagated before fall break! I'm such a proud plant mama.

Roots! Hooray!

Off to my first week of parent teacher conferences and half-day early releases! Happy Sunday, everyone!

xo,

Lord, Grant Me The Strength...

I've been in a slump for the past few days, and I'm not sure if it's because this is the first week back from Fall Break, or if I've just hit a wall. I'm stressed with grad school and trying to continually push my well-below-grade-level darlings, so I've been trying to keep this poster in mind…

Thanks to Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice for this motivating Wordless Wednesday link-up.

xo,

Sunday (Monday?) Scoop!

Fall break has come to an end *cue sobbing* but I'm happy to be back with the little monsters! Did I just call them that? Well…

Linking up to the Teaching Trio for Sunday/Monday Scoop! A nice little way to get me organized for the week!

I absolutely no excuses HAVE to create unit plans for reading intervention which are due by this Saturday, make my support staff's schedule for this quarter, and continue to stay on track with eating healthier. Thanks to the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone, I've really taken a good look at the things I eat, and what they do for my energy level during the day!

I really hope to get a gym membership soon to help with my quest to be more healthy.  There's a gym not too far from school that isn't insanely expensive (and they have a free week trial) so I might check that out! Also, I want to come up with some ideas for kindergarten and first grade's math intervention block during the day.  I'll be working with the lowest students who need help with basic number sense and basic addition/subtraction.

When I'm done writing this post, I'm most definitely taking a nap. Even after having a whole week to recuperate from the first quarter of school, I'm still exhausted after this Monday! I think Monday is just the most tiring day of the week…

Have a great week, all!

xo,

This Is The Song That Never Ends...

Literally how my life has been feeling for the past two months a.k.a. SINCE I STARTED MY FIRST TEACHING JOB SAY WHAT this is crazy. I feel crazy. Is that normal for a teacher? Also, I'm talking to myself a lot more…A LOT more. I've survived 5 weeks of summer in Arizona, teaching on a reservation at Gila River Crossing, weeks of DOE trainings (oh joy), lack of curriculum, my first IEP meetings, and now my first month of reading intervention class is coming to an end (YAY FALL BREAK!) I haven't done a Five for Friday in so long (a few months, to be exact) and I'm honestly going to be more diligent about this blogging thing, so here we go!

I GOT A HAIRCUT!!! This may not seem like a big life-changing event, but trust me, it is. I grew up dancing hula, and the longer the hair, the better a dancer you are. That's not exactly how it works, but I swear there's some sort of power in having long hair. I haven't cut my hair at home in a littler over 4 years, since I've only gotten cuts in Portland while I was in college. I found this cute salon that opened right by my house, told one of the stylists my whole life story (hair story? whatever…) and told her that I wanted a change that made me look a little more mature, especially since I'm the youngest teacher at the school. Needless to say, I'm so thrilled with my hair cut. Like, BEYOND happy. So if you live on Oahu and want to get an amazing cut, with a super friendly staff that takes care of you like you're part of the family, head on over to Jese Salon in Kaneohe next to Times Supermarket! They're even having a special for the entire month of October that gives you 10% off on any chemical service if you book your appointment for a Monday or Tuesday.

Why was there no college course offered in classroom set-up? I feel like I would've done pretty well in that class, considering how quickly I cleaned, vacuumed, organized, and created my classroom environment before the school year began! My room was used for storage last year and as a result, the entire room was filled with broken furniture, desks stacked on each other, and lots of random bookshelves, carts, rolling cubbies, and every other type of classroom furniture you could imagine. On top of that, the walls and corners were covered with lizard poop. Hawaii has a gecko (lizard) infestation, and I think the mother nest was located in my classroom. I was not a happy camper. So I had to move all of the furniture by myself to another storage location, clean up most of the lizard poop, and chase very large and fast-moving lizards out of my classroom. Not fun. But on Monday morning, the kiddos were welcomed into a clean, organized classroom, complete with their own attendance board. Trying to make 5 and 6-year olds independent and accountable starts with small tasks, so I thought that this would be a great starting point for the year! 

  

This is the work of one of my darling Kindergarteners. His handwriting is less than stellar, but his attitude and joy in the classroom makes my heart happy. I've been working with him and a few other of his classmates to practice our handwriting, starting by tracing all of the letters in their name, written by me, and then slowly writing more of the letters in their name until they write their whole name by themselves. Yesterday was the closest we've gotten so far to making recognizable letters, and I was so dang proud of the little peanut that I had to share this photo! Yay progress!

I've become the mother to two wonderful succulent nuggets thanks to the Made in Hawaii festival this past August, and the little guy on the right is ready for propagation! Basically, ready to make new keiki (child) succulents!

I started my propagation on Wednesday after school, and now they're sitting out on my windowsill, waiting for the ends to dry. I can't wait for the babies to start growing…my impatience and my green thumb are in constant battle with each other sometimes...

TONIGHT I'M FLYING TO LA TO SEE MY ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN SINCE MAY AND I COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!!!! Can you tell? Just a little bit? It's so hard to be in a long distance relationship with your best friends (I'm in Hawaii, one is in LA, the other is in Chicago), but since we have Fall Break this coming week, I thought that would be the perfect time to blow a paycheck and take a much-needed trip to see LoRo (pictured on the left). AND we're going to Disneyland on Monday. I'm practically squealing with excitement.

Thanks for sticking with me through my long absences. I promise that's going to change (for real this time…)

x's and o's and Mickeys and Minnies,