New Years Resolutions 2012

Someone told me that resolutions stick when written down, so here's me writing mine down. :)

1. I need to get back in my running routine.  It's been too long, and I need to do it on a daily basis.
2. SAVE MONEY!!!  I think we need a Dave Ramsey review! YIKES!
2. Say "No".  Let me explain.  This has been the most stressful year yet - I thought my fourth year was supposed to be easier.  It's stressful because I have taken on so many extra jobs, and I am going non-stop.  I really don't feel like I'm enjoying life at all right now.  I've been working towards having a career, and I now realize that I just want a job.  I want to go to work, and come home and not think about work until I get up the next morning.
As it is I get to work by 6:30, and don't leave work until 5:30 or 6 most days, and THEN come home and work on more work, or just crash on the couch.  This is probably the biggest reason I haven't been running, and order pizza at least twice a week.
Well, after enjoying a nice relaxing break with family, I realized this has got to stop.  I have never been dreading going back to work as I am now.  I am usually kinda ready after two weeks out of a routine. Right now I am teaching all subjects in fourth grade - which is stressful enough since I have to prepare them for THREE tests.  I am also the Reading coach which means on Wednesdays I prepare plans for my class, and I am out working with other teachers in all grade levels - this means I have to be somewhat of an expert in what all of the other grade levels are doing AS WELL AS mine.  It's stressful feeling like you have to be the expert, so I read and study up on things a lot during my free time. As part of this, I also normally prepare something for our faculty meetings on Thursdays - it's stressful preparing something to present in front of teachers - the worst listeners.  I have also been working on writing curriculum for the district in Reading and Writing.  This I do from home.  I have also been preparing workshops for Dickinson ISD.  So whereas last year my role was - Reading and Writing Teacher, this year my roles are:
Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies Teacher
Fourth Grade Team Leader
Reading Coach
Curriculum Writer
Staff Development Presenter

I am thoroughly burned out.  I have decided that next year I will do one job only.  I want to enjoy life.

Well will see if I follow through with these or not.  So far so good...well on the running thing anyways.  I might need to buy new clothes when I get back in shape. ;)

Class T-Shirt Design Idea

Today I sat down in the office to do some curriculum writing, and ended up
designing my class t-shirt  for this year.  I get side tracked easily, and besides, I'm super excited about this coming up year.
Next school year I will be teaching one class Reading, Writing and Social Studies, and for the second half of the day I will be coaching - teachers, not PE, as my brother-in-law thought. :)
I am so excited about this, because this is the direction I have always wanted to go with my career ever since i got my Masters in Reading!  I would really love to be doing it full time, but it is nice to still be in the classroom - I think I'd miss it.
Many schools have two PFs(Peer Facilitators) - A Reading Coach and a Math Coach.  My school only has one, so in order for both coaching duties to be filled, my sweet friend and PF, Erica and I will be sharing duties.  She will be teaching the Math class while I'm coaching, and I'll be teaching Language Arts while she is coaching.  I am so excited about this opportunity!!  Erica is awesome, and I know we will work well together.
I began to think as we were planning for next year - My class will no longer be "Mrs. Ramirez's Rockets", They have two teachers now - two homeroom teachers.  Hmmm...Erica's class used to be "Mrs. Moreno's Monkeys" so merge the two together - I thought:

Ramirez and Moreno's Rowdy Monkeys?

Ramirez and Moreno's Reading Monkeys?

Why not use both of our Mascots?  Ramirez and Moreno's Rocketing Monkeys!

I began to google images of Monkeys on a Rocket, thinking it would be a hopeless cause...Who creates pictures of monkeys on Rockets??

Well Apparently This Lady does.  Lots of them.

 She must have a thing for monkeys.  Her blog is full of monkeys - on cars, rockets, scooters, etc.  And sooo cute!  Rather than using her image though, I put a piece of paper up to my laptop screen and traced it. That way I could add my own colors and design.
I also printed out our names in a cute font that I got from www. flamingtext.com.  I love this site and use it a lot to find cute fonts for things in my classroom.  You just copy and paste it into your word document.  Here's the print:

Then I traced the rocketing monkey into the background and colored it:

Isn't he cute??  So, I'll hafta check with Erica and see what she thinks about it, and then we can take it to the Printers!  Such fun combining mascots!  Hmm...what else could we do???

Good News Week

This week went by so fast. It was a pretty busy week. Monday my principal had someone come in to observe me for her doctoral hours, Tuesday was my PDAS observation , Wednesday was crazy, Thursday another lady came to observe, and we had a faculty meeting after, and FINALLY IT'S FRIDAY! !

My PDAS observation went so incredibly well!! I planned a lesson on Monitoring Comprehension - Inferring the meaning of unknown words. I modeled with an article, and then had them read a separate article and practice. While they were doing independent reading, my principal came up to me with her jaw dropped and said "Ok, you are doing our next in service on Reading. Wow! You get so much done in so little time! Your transitions are perfect, and your kids are so engaged! I need to video your room." Last year my PDAS didn't go quite so well, so this was such a good feeling!! She came in on Thursday and gave me her new Flip Video to video my organization in my room. I felt really weird doing it, so I stayed late until everyone was gone! It was a good week, but I am ready for the weekend!

Eric and I have been on a saving money kick this week. We really wanted to be able to buy a house by the end of the year. I was telling some of the teachers about it in the teacher's lounge, and one of them mentioned Dave Ramsey. I'd never heard of him before, but she was going on and on about how several people she knows have gotten completely out of debt using his system. Another teacher walked in and heard us talking and couldn't resist but to sit down and tell me how much Dave Ramsey changed her life and how his book is her financial bible. She's the sweetest little old lady - like a grandma. After we talked for a while, I was conviced I needed to check it out. I told her I was so thankful she came in when she did, and she said - "It was God!" She said she would check in with me and see how I was doing from time to time. So sweet! When I got back to my room I already had an e-mail from her with all sorts of info.

So a teacher on my team let me borrow the book, and Eric and I have already set up a Snowball budget from his system to pay off our debt. It was embarrassing how much debt we have - mainly from Student Loans. We won't be able to get in a house by the end of the year, but we figured out if we stick to it, we'll have our debt paid off sooner than we thought!! I am so thankful I heard about Dave Ramsey ! We'll see how well we stick to it. So far so good.

And now a whole weekend to give Brinkley all the attention he deserves!! He's my baby!! :)