Professional Portfolio

Hey friends!

I just wanted to share my pics of my portfolio. I revamped it last night because we stayed in so while Steve worked on his computer, I worked on my stuff. (I just want to say, the way they tell you to set it up in college is not the way principals really wanna see it!) I took out all the junk and excess and put in more pics of actual evidence. Basically I divided it into 5 categories that are important to me and every teacher. I'm pleased with it and it much more simplified so no more embarrassing shuffling through pages of junk. 

I also wanted to share that I have two interviews coming up!!! (happy dance, happy dance) One is a charter school in Parma and the other (the one I've been dreaming of having) is a second grade position near columbus in a cute little ol' town and in a rural area. I know people give me this weird look when I say I want to live in a small country town, but I grew up  in the suburbs and I think in a past life I was a farmer's wife! haha. So I'm reeallllyyyy excited (about both) but this one more! I am preparing a smaller portfolio geared just toward the district so it's more personalized. Wish me luck! Not sure when the appointment will be, but the charter school one is on June 5th. (oh, and that is for K or 1) Ok, here's my pics and have a fantastic weekend!!

Very Dissapointed

Hi friends! I just want to post today to vent...let me explain to you what happened today.

I had my end of year eval from the principal on wed. I thought it went well and considering they let me go, I still tried my best to show all of my accomplishments this year. He commented on a few things (oh this was me having to show off a portfolio) and said it was good at the end. Then today, I come into work to this envelope in my mailbox. His eval sucked! :( It was based off of the 9 professional standards and you could get anywhere from needs improvement to distinguished. Well, he gave me two in needs improvement and the rest only proficient! What! Basically, this entire eval made me seem like a terrible, mediocre teacher. Now this will not go with me and basically stay within the company and since I will no longer be employed, I'm not concerned about that. What I am concerned about is how low he seems to think of me. I try so hard and share my resources and worksheets with other teachers in my team. There are people who barely squeak by and they got higher scores than me. And the kicker is my principal has never formally observed me all year, yet he based so many assumptions. I do have a mentor teacher though that came in to observe 4 times and all of her reviews were raving! :) She too gave me an end of year eval and it basically said I am an accomplished, highly qualified teacher. Yes! I feel like that shows my true colors. My principal has graded me like he doesn't know me. So unfortunately I'm treating this like a "court case" and going in on tuesday with evidence that negates the scores he gave me on the standards. I am so upset and it ruined my friday. :( I know I'm not a bad teacher, far from it and I won't let the negativity of my principal affect me.

Thanks guys for listening/reading.

Coins and pics galore

So today, I have some pics of my kindergarteners. We worked on coins, in particularly nickels and dimes and made coin caterpillars. :) They enjoyed the project.

Now, I didn't have enough coin stamps for each child to do one and I can't just have them sitting there doing nothing..so I had one student working on a subtraction file folder game and other working on addition. Then we rotated. I was so proud to see such differentiation going on! :D

Also, I made this game that I wanted to share with you. I got the idea from a first grade teacher at my school. Basically it can be adapted for any skill but this one is for addition. You program numerous addition sentences on craft sticks and also a handful of sticks that have the word ZAP. Then students take turns (no peeking!) pulling sticks, staying the equation and telling the answer. If right, they keep and if wrong, they put back in. Now if they get a ZAP, they have to put back all sticks. The little guys love this! I play along too of course and act so shocked when I get a zap stick and they laugh so much! haha, one of the reasons I'm in love with them.

Second, I have a pic I wanted to share with you of the cupcakes I made for my work potluck. The teachers loved them. I didn't have time to make my own icing, so I feel like I cheated with the canned icing, but they still came out great. And yes, you can eat the roses. I made them from fondant. :)

Last, I got a voice mail on my phone at the end of the day today and I got a call for interview from a charter school in the area. This will only be the second year it is up and the principal didn't say what position it is for (hoping K-1) but he wants me to come in June 5th. I'm a little nervous, because I don't know that much about the school and their website doesn't give a whole lot, but I'm excited for some kind of opportunity! (this week has been a bunch of let downs with schools)

Alright, that's it for today. I have to help my fiance clean our messy apartment (and when I say messy, we're talking guns all over--he's a shooter lol and lots of my papers strewn about on the kitchen table so we can't even eat) not too proud of my household skills lately but it's a lot of his stuff and I've been cleaning up after him for 6 years now. lol

And the Winner is...plus other tidbits

Congrats to Jennifer Long from A Pirate's Life For Us for winning the giveaway!
Now, let me tell you how this one went, if anyone actually counts to make sure. My comments for the giveaway weren't numbered. (I'm still trying to figure that out and it's being stubborn) but I sorted my comments from oldest to newest since that's how most giveaways go and are numbered. Then I counted (twice) and got the 15th comment. Hopefully the next giveaway will have commented numbers. :)

Thank you though to all the teachers and friends who follow me and the new friends I made! 

On another note, I am very discouraged today because I got 4 rejection emails. 4! Come on give me a break! lol. Very sad I just wanted to cry after about the 3rd one. And the one district, I apply to every post and they always say basically "sorry better luck next time, keep a look out." Of course I just want to email back and say what do you want from me?! What are you looking for?! Sooooo....I know this is random but maybe you can help me out. I've posted my resume that I revamped today. I added some color and a graphic so it's not old plain jane. What do you think of the layout? All criticisms will be appreciated.

Click to check out the file HERE.

And finally, some pics of my day. 

In this pic, my first graders were reviewing money. I found these cute ice cream cutouts at the teacher store and wrote different amounts on them. Then we pretended to go to Dairy Queen and order some flavors. (I had the same flavors with prices for each child so they were all working on the same "order") It was fun and they giggled at some of my outrageous orders!

In the above pics, we were working on money in kindergarten as well. This little activity didn't go as well as I hoped because my students still don't know their coin identifications let alone trying to count out coins to buy items. (I was a little frustrated at this observation) But I just gave them a lot of support and kept all items priced under 13 cents. It was worth a try!

Tomorrow is our last potluck of the year and the theme is mexican. I was going to make taco dip, but someone is making something similar so I'm breaking the "theme" and making devil's food cupcakes with a fondant rose on each one! I'm excited and will post a pic of the finished products tomorrow! 

Now on to rest and NOT checking my emails!

The Giveaway is Heeerreee!

Yay! I woke up this morning and saw I now officially have 100 followers! What a journey this has been so far. I've gotten so many great ideas from so many talented and creative teachers as well as a support group which I really need in times like this job hunt. Thank you all so much. I am very blessed. Now it's time for me to give back. Here's the giveaway....

A collection of math games with a circus celebration of course! There is missing number, addition flash cards, and matching numbers to words. 

You'll also get....

A $10 Target Gift Card! :)

You have 4 ways to win:

1) leave a comment that you follow me with your email address

2) follow my Teacher's Notebook store and comment with your email

3) blog about my giveaway and comment twice in which case you'll receive two entries, don't forget your email

Giveaway will end Tuesday at 4pm eastern time. Good Luck!!

(squeal) Finally almost at 100! Soo ready for my giveaway!

Hey Friends!

Well it is an absolute gorgeous day here in NE Ohio and I'm sitting inside, but not for long, just waiting for the fiance to finish up a mulching job and then we're gonna go have an early picnic dinner. :) He wanted to go see a movie, but I said no, wait until tonight. I dont wanna be cooped up in a dark theater when it's so nice out!

Anyway, I am soo ready for my 100 follower giveaway. (HINT: It's some fun games and a gift card!) Once I reach the official mark, I'll set it up! Very excited! 

So I found a new place to potentially get a teaching job and it's absolutely b.e.a.utiful! I've got my eye on the great smokey mtns in North Carolina! There's a couple counties that have had some postings, so what am I gonna do? Get my license to teach there of course! I think it'll help and won't cost too much. Here's to fingers crossed! :) Ok that's about it! I'm out to enjoy the weather!

an update

So I haven't blogged in a few days. I get so busy once I get home will filling out applications...it's become my second job! I think I've got at least 50 apps out there. Lots in Ohio but some in Arizona, Kentucky, Indiana and North Carolina. Oh and Virginia. I emailed the principal and she said she enjoyed reading my materials and if they get the the interview, she'll contact me! Yay! It's a smaller city near Washington DC but also the richest county in the US. (teacher's make 44000 and that's starting!) Although I'm sure the cost of living is much higher as well but let's hope she calls me! I also got a response from a principal near Cincinnati so at least I'm getting some bites! Thought this comic was cute..this is how I feel...

 hmm..what else. I'm sitting here waiting for dinner to cook and dreading going into TJMaxx. (the second job ugh) I hardly work but when I am scheduled I never want to come in. Time drags sometimes. My future mother in law said I should quit because I get paid minimum wage and she'll pay me to garden this summer if it's money I'm looking for! I mean, the one paycheck I got last week for for $32 so ya, I guess a little ridiculous. 

Tomorrow we have a professional development day and I get to sleep in yay! The Charter schools are very big on making sure the teachers understand the common core so every meeting seems to be about that. And I don't know about you, but our schools always make the meetings so boring. We either have to fill in outlines on the powerpoints like we're in high school or participate in group activities which no one ever wants to do! haha, wish we could just watch these meetings on line. Alrighty, that's about it for today. Sorry so boring but we've been busy testing this week for AIMs Benchmarking so I haven't gotten time to make or come up with anything creative. haha. Have a good evening!