a Linky & a Freebie!

Today I'm linking up with Flying into First Grade to Get Acquainted!  This week we are sharing advice for new teachers.  I did one of these types of posts last summer, too, but this one seems different this year.  Probably because, while I'm not a new teacher, I am going to a new building with new people.  I feel a lot of the same anxieties I felt back when i was a new teacher!

So here's my advice:

Buy:  Blue sticky tack is the best!  I use it on everything, and I have found that the white and yellow sticky tack doesn't work at all. 

Always: This one probably seems like common sense, but every year, I watch a few people limp out of the building at the end of the day.  Not.Worth.It.

Never:  Little kids have little ears.  But those ears hear EVERYTHING!  Or worse, they'll hear part of something and add in their own little details.  Or worse yet, they'll take something they heard completely out of context and repeat it - probably to their parent!  I try really hard not to talk about anything around kids; it's not always easy, though!

Find: I think it's important to find one or two people in the building that you can go to and vent, whine, or worry who you know you can absolutely trust not to say anything.  Follow up: Until you find that person - only vent to the dog!  (This is the one thing I'm most anxious about.  I don't make friends easily, and I'm nervous about fitting in at my new school!  And I don't have a dog.)

Make:  If no one has told you this before - and if you only follow one bit of advice - this is it.  The secretary knows everybody and everything that goes on... she is a great ally!  The custodian and/or cleaning people are vital to getting your room cleaned when someone pukes in your room or if you need something heavy moved!  You want to stay on their good side - trust me!

Be:  Selfish:

• Take time for yourself.  
• Say no sometimes.  You do not have to join every committee, or help with every afterschool activity, or help decorate the gym for every music program or dance.  
• Read for pleasure: a well rounded teacher has interests outside of education.  
• Get a massage once in a while, take a yoga class, watch a little lot of Bravo, just veg out sometimes.  
• Schedule how much time you will work on school stuff on the weekends and stick with it!

(Hear that?  That laughter?  That's my friends who are reading this part - they are laughing hysterically!  I have never said no when asked to serve on a committee, have often stayed late to help out setting up for something, and have never had a massage in my life!  Maybe I'll learn to take my own advice (but probably not..))

And now for a freebie!  I recently took a class and as part of my project, I created this cute little math center using QR codes.   Students solve questions about Mean, Median, and Mode then check their answers using their iPads to scan the QR code.  I only included six word problems because a) these type of questions take longer to solve and they only get a short amount of time to work in centers in my classroom, and b) kids don't love these - again because they take too long; if they see too many, they shut down before they start!

  

Click the picture to go to my TpT store and download this freebie.  Please leave feedback if you love it!