Five for Friday: B2S Edition

I'm starting to look forward to this every week Friday linky party with Doodlebugs Teaching. There are many crazy, wonderful things can happen in a week and I love getting to share!

Let's discuss back to school. Yes, I just said back to school. That time when your to-do list becomes a mile long and there's never enough hours in the day. It's completely crazy that we are already at that time to return for another new school year! Where did the summer go? I always go into the summer with these fabulous ideas, books to read, and things to work on along with the need to relax. Do I ever get it all done in that time? No way and when I get closer to the new upcoming school year my gears keep spinning with even more ideas. BUT that's okay because I learned to accept a long time ago, precisely during my first teacher weekend, that my list will always be a mile long. And who did I learn this valuable lesson from?! My dear Momma Dukes! It's a conversation in my head that I will never forget and constantly play over in my mind when I start to feel overwhelmed. It was a big epiphany for me! I was leaving my first ever classroom with three bags on my arm and the phone attached to my ear talking to my mom complaining (go figure) when she stopped me in my track with her words and said, "Ashley, I think a teacher's to do list is never done, you are just going to have to prioritize and tackle the most important first." Is she a teacher? No, but she sure did have an understanding that I quickly learned. My point in telling you this story? When you are feeling overwhelmed by all the things you need to do? Prioritize and PICK your top items to get done and focus on!

I officially return to work on Monday for our week of planning, which means I've already been spending my week at the school working on my classroom set-up. My biggest projects this past week were painting...anything and everything that I could find! I started with the need to repaint my Ikea bookshelves and kept on adding pieces to paint (hey, I already had the paint, why not?!), like my cubbies and another bookshelf. Here's a little peek into what my room is looking like now, I still have much to do during work next week, especially with Open House being NEXT Friyay!

R-E-F-L-E-C-T-I-O-N-S As I want my students to reflect on themselves and their work, I too must do the same. Before the start of the summer, I didn't have a blog, I didn't have a Twitter account, and I didn't even know what in the world Periscope was! Now??? I have all three! All three and I've put myself in front of the camera on Periscope. Say what?! Who is this girl? An inspired, motivated teacher! Am i proud of myself? Heck yes! Am I still nervous, scared, and constantly second-guessing myself? Heck yes! BUT my dreams and goals are bigger than me and I have to set aside my fears to be a positive force and motivator for my students and fellow educators!

Have y'all seen this Peter Brunn book? I'm only half way into it and I've already wrote down many important, inspirational quotes. Add this book to your TBR list, if you haven't already read it! One of my most favorite quotes that I put inside my Teacher-Seller Planner was "If we don't create predictable times and space to do the important things in our life, we simply won't do them." There's so much truth in this and my goal throughout the year is to set aside the time to reflect on my teaching and make my planning more intentional.

Setting aside time for intentional planning and reflecting leads to my next quote from Peter Brunn...

As I sit down each week to plan, my ultimate goal is to carve out reading and writing time EACH and EVERY day. I've always been a big believer in the power of read to self and start out my year strong with independent reading time (writing is my weakness and I'm not afraid to admit it), but when the days go along read to self time somehow gets lost. This year that IS NOT happening in my classroom because I will strive to create a life-long reader AND writer in all of my scholars! What are your classroom curriculum nonnegotiables???