Well in 4.5 days this school year will be in the books and I will be off for a blissful 72 days. Even though it happens every June, it’s so hard to comprehend that another year has passed. It’s almost too good to be true … especially when you are in the middle of February and you are pushing your kiddos to get every bit of learning in before testing. Then when testing is over (which for us was the end of March), you think..why was I so worried and stressed? They have learned so much! Then May rolled around and you have a field trip and end of the year activities and test scores due. Whew! It seems like it never ends and then it does. Just like that – it’s June and you have 4.5 days left!
One thing I have learned is to prepare as much for the next school year as possible, so that you are not overwhelmed more than you will be after being off 72 days. So that past few weeks I have been re-organizing, cleaning, and preparing my room for my new decor (because I just can’t stop re-decorating). But, I have an amazing volunteer who has been cutting and cutting and cutting things for me. Thank goodness for her!
Another big reason I am working so hard right now preparing my classroom for next year is that I don’t want to spend my summer doing that. I mean I will do some things as I think of them or see a new really great idea on Pinterest. But I have goals – summer goals – that are on my priority list.
First and foremost – my goal is to work on my blog. I started this blog last summer and I love doing it. I want to expand my audience, revamp the design of it, and have amazing content for the next school year.
Next, I want to get more invested in the professional development and curriculum planning arena. I dipped my toes in that this year by presenting my Smarty Pants Goals at a Symposium here in my home district. I received wonderful feedback and would love to do that again. What an exciting field that is right now! Pinterest, Facebook, Teachers Pay Teachers, and blogging have opened up a huge opportunity for teachers to expand their horizons. The more I learn and read about this the more I want to jump in! I am so inspired by ladies like Angela Watson, Laura Candler, Ashleigh S., and Melanie at Schoolgirl Style! Hoping to have lots of new resources for TPT, and ideas for presenting those resources to teachers.
Personally, I want to get back in my running routine. This school year really zapped my time and running fell by the wayside, especially since I was grade level chair and I worked SO many more hours. Fortunately, I am passing the torch to another teacher for next year. I’m excited about getting back to it – bring on the endorphins!
Before I do anything though, I am taking the month of June off completely. My sweet hubby and I are doing a road trip up through the Smoky Mountains into Virginia and up to Pennsylvania to see Gettysburg and the Amish country. It’s our first vacation alone since I was pregnant with our 21 year old daughter. So, we are really excited to be hitting the road without much of a schedule other than doing whatever we want, when we want to.
I hope you are having a wonderful end to your school year and have summer goals that will make you happy and ready to do it again in August! I would love to hear about them, so leave a comment here or hop on over to my Facebook page and tell me your summer goals!
 |
| Yahoo! |
Happy Summer!
Rissa
Leave a Reply