Currently January 2017

Well I don't even know where to begin with why I have not blogged since April of last year.  It's not that I have a lack of knowledge or content to share, but I life just got that busy for me with three boys and all their various sports and activities, along with my involvement on the Leadership Council of our local union and as a board member of my school district's Educational Foundation.  2016 came and went with only two posts from me and that's just how it went.

I'm not making any promises for 2017 and I won't start the year pressuring myself with unrealistic expectations of blogging, but you have to start somewhere and I think Currently posts were always the easiest for me to do so that's how I will start the new year.

Listening:  I have been listening to Christmas music for the past month and I have to say I just love it. I'm cutting myself off now that it's officially 2017, but I have been listening to the two XM radio stations and when they stopped playing Christmas music I resorted to my Andy Williams Christmas station on Pandora.  When not listening to Christmas music I am watching one of the 8 zillion Christmas movies I DVRd this holiday season.  Hallmark you are killing me by adding 17 new movies, while I have to watch all my old favorites.  I think at one point the DVR was down to 11% available thanks to my Christmas movie hoarding.  I'm still watching movies today.  I know, I need an intervention.

Loving:  Christmas Break. Although I feel it's a short one this year, due to how the holidays fall, I have soaked up every single minute of relaxation, productivity around the house, and fun with family and friends.  We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my parents and oldest brother and then celebrated Christmas Day with my other two brothers' families.  I relish the time I get to spend with my family.

Thinking:  How blessed I feel to have a job I love (despite the politics and nonsense I have to deal with).  I have great kids again this year with great families and I adore my coworkers who make me laugh during lunch every single day.  We definitely keep each other sane, despite all the insanity these days in education.

Wanting:  I'm wanting everyone to be healthy.  My dad had a knee replacement last week so he is recovering from that.  My oldest seems to have a cough he can't shake, my youngest missed the last two days before break due to a fever and now has a cough that's lingering.  I had a cough for the past few months and finally got a chest x-ray the Friday before Christmas only to find out I had pneumonia.  I took an 5 day antibiotic and am now on Advair, but the dry cough is still lingering.  My teaching bestie is having surgery this week and will be out for several weeks. I hope she has a very easy recovery and don't know how I will survive all those weeks without her.  We are so in sync with our teaching beliefs and styles so I will miss her lots.

Needing:  The only thing I need to do is figure out when to finish my Christmas Break organizing projects I planned on tackling, but seem to have neglected (I blame you Hallmark Channel).  I had high hopes of organizing several closets and the pantry and start back on Tuesday so we will see what happens.

2017:  For the New Year I want to focus on health and all its aspects.  Physical, emotional/mental, professional, relationship, financial.  All of the above.  I want make sure my time spent is in line with my beliefs.


Here are a few photos from December that I want to share with all of you:

My December Bulletin Board

I was very spoiled again by my students.

I've been sipping Peppermint Mochas this break thanks to my students' generosity.

Our Christmas Eve Eve celebration.

Christmas Eve boys in bow ties.

Our Christmas card this year. I know it's a bit fuzzy on here, but I wanted to share it.

Thanks for stopping by and for your patience during my long hiatus.  I hope to have some new content to share with all of you in 2017.  I'm still loving my workshop model for math instruction.  I've been making lots of anchor charts this year so look for some upcoming posts about them.  I just finished a coaching cycle before break and we focused on conferring with students.  I really enjoyed the coaching cycle and will try to find time to write up some ideas for improving how I confer with my math students.  Feel free to comment on anything you are interested in seeing for new content.

Currently April 2016

I'm linking up with Farley for her April Currently.  I can't believe I have not blogged since January.   I am having a great school year with wonderful students again.  Life with three boys seems to leave little time for blogging these days.  I am thinking of doing some posts about getting ready for the end of the school year and all that entails.  Feel free to email or leave in the comments any suggestions for future blog posts.

Listening:  I'm watching Live with Kelly and Michael episodes I have DVRd.  I hate when they do repeat segments and that is what the last week has been so I'm just watching the host chat portion and then deleting the episode.  

Loving:  My new black storage boxes from IKEA.  It was on my To Do List last summer to switch out all my ugly old white storage boxes for new black ones from IKEA.  Unfortunately I ran out of time last summer and was never able to make it to IKEA. My amazing husband indulged me and took me to IKEA in Schaumburg, IL on Monday.  I have not been there for nearly a decade and didn't realize how confusing the store layout is.  Afterward we had a delicious lunch at Joe's Crab Shack.  I spent a couple days in my classroom decluttering the contents of the white boxes (so not fun, but so necessary) and then reorganized everything in the beautiful black boxes.

We shopped till I was ready to drop

Before

After-one box is still empty

Fruits of my decluttering labor

Love the posters from Carnegie Learning I finally put up

Thinking:  About some of the projects I want to create with my new Astrobrights packs I ordered from Amazon.  They will arrive tomorrow.  I also need to go back to Office Depot today and pick up one pack of cardstock that was much cheaper at the store than on Amazon.  I plan on sprucing up the blue wall cabinet shown in the photos above.  I never got around to putting up anything on the right side last summer before school started.  I think I might redo the posters on the left to incorporate some more color.  Please share any favorite Astrobrights color combos you may have.

My name is Sherrie and I'm obsessed with Astrobrights paper

Wanting:  The weather to warm up once and for all.  We have had lots of sun and warm weather lately, but the picture below shows what's happening right now.  We have LAX and BB games this week with rain and snow in the forecast so things might be interesting, not in a good way.

Snow snow go away and don't come back until November

Needing:  I'm going to spend some time this weekend trying to finish up the most important items on my Spring Break TO DO list.  Our trip to IKEA was very productive and we got a bench for shoes and backpacks for the laundry room and new shower curtains and rugs for the boys' bathroom.  RIP Pottery Barn Frogs that I loved so much, but my youngest is 10 now so it was time for a redo.  I also spent a couple days in my classroom and got those boxes done which was a major project.  Lots of housecleaning left to do this weekend.

Spring Break To Do Lists

Whatever:  This week marks the beginning of 4th quarter.  Every year I feel like 4th quarter is over in the blink of an eye.  School will be busy, but family life will be even busier.  My oldest plays Varsity LAX. My middle plays BB, and my youngest plays LAX and BB.  I love this time of year, but it will be crazy and suddenly it will be summer break.

My room all ready for me to return from Spring Break

The adorable and super yummy cake my mom made for Easter

I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break and wish you the best of luck on successfully finishing up this school year.

Currently August 2015

I'm linking up with Farley for August Currently.  I'm currently on vacation in Door County, WI or what I affectionately call my "happy place". 

Listening:  We're on vacation and my husband and boys are out playing Pickle Ball and I was just chilling in our resort room and was flipping through the channels and started watching Bones.  Not a show I typically watch and I'm not used to watching regular TV with no fast forward option.  I miss my Direct T.V.  LOL

Loving:  We are having an absolutely wonderful vacation in Door County.  The weather has been gorgeous, sunny and in the 80s every day.  We've been dining out at all our favorite restaurants.  I've been hitting my favorite stores and did some clothes shopping for school.  I also purchased three Christmas gifts.  I always find cute things here and save them for gifts to give later.

Thinking:  I cannot believe it's August already.  The summer is flying by at warp speed as usual.  We need to hire a principal and new U.S. Studies teacher for my team.  Hopefully interviews are going well and they will hire those positions soon as school is starting in a few weeks.

Wanting:  I'm really trying to enjoy every minute of this vacation.  My oldest son is a junior in HS this year and I know our family of five vacations are limited as he gets older, but that's not something I want to dwell on.  I'm taking lots of photo and thanks to Instagram and blogging I will have memories of these precious vacations to cherish forever.

Needing:  I really need to buckle down next week when we get back from vacation and continue on my summer to do list.  I have a lot of cleaning and organizing that needs to be done around the house.  I also need to finish planning out things for back to school.  I won't be able to get into my classroom for a couple of weeks to start setting up my classroom, so I want to get things done around my house.

B2S RAK:  I've picked up a few little things here and there to surprise some friends and coworkers when school begins.

Currently July 2015

I am linking up with Farley for her July  Currently link up.

Listening:  I'm watching the Today Show.  I love that I get to watch it in the summer. I'm always leaving right at 7 AM during the school year when it comes on TV.

Loving:  I really am loving the slow and easy pace of my summer this year.  As my boys get older they are all off doing their own things most of the time so I have lots of time to do what I want or need to do.  I really love waking up without the assistance of my trusty alarm clock. I still wake up early, but at least not the annoying noise of my alarm.

Thinking:  I have been wanting to start selling on TPT for the past few years and just have never pulled the trigger yet.  I have an account set up and even already posted a freebie a year ago, but have never made an item to sell.  Any tips would be greatly appreciated.  I need to find myself a TPT mentor.  I have tons of ideas I just have to figure out how to start small and what is worth spending money on as far as graphics and fonts.  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Wanting:  I have had a cough for months.  I went to the walk in clinic last month and was given a steroid inhaler. My inhaler has finally run out and I have an appt today with a Dr I have seen in the past to get checked out.  I just want this cough gone for good!

Needing:  I have days that I am totally productive and days I seem to accomplish next to nothing.  Now that it's July I really need to buckle down and get going on my Summer To Do list.  I feel like August is all about back to school mode so I want to make sure I accomplish some of the big tasks I have plans to finish this summer.

All-Star:  Humor  I have my students fill out an end of the year survey each school year and I have them give three words to describe me.  This year the response was overwhelming that I am fun/funny.  Lots of kids commented on my sense of humor.  Amazingly only one student used the word sarcastic (but she said it in a good way LOL).  I love my middle schoolers and would never have survived 25 years in the classroom without a sense of humor!

March Currently

I'm linking up with Farley for her March Currently link up.  It's been quite awhile since I've blogged.  Things have been great with me and busy as always.  School is going really well and I just love love love my students this year.  They are so much fun and it's great being in my third year of using Carnegie and my second year of math workshop.  We are in our first year of Standards Based Grading so that is what we spend the majority of our PLC time working on.

Currently December

I'm linking up with Farley for her December currently.

Listening:  I love listening to Christmas Music. I simply cannot get enough of it.  I have the radio in my minivan tuned to the two local Christmas stations that play only Christmas music and XM Channel 17 (Holly).  I have several Christmas CDs.  I should do a separate post on my favorites.  There are many!

Loving:  I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.  We had an early afternoon dinner and then chilled out watching TV.  I started watching Christmas movies.  Another thing I cannot get enough of this time of year.  I did not go out shopping at all on Thanksgiving nor Black Friday.  I may partake in some shopping for today, Cyber Monday.

Thinking:  Our tree is up in the living room and it smells so good.  I need to decorate the tree and house, bake cookies, shop for and wrap presents and many other things to get ready for Christmas.

Wanting:  There's so much Christmas prep that needs to be done, but I want to enjoy it rather than stress about it.  We have lots of family traditions that make December such a fun and special month.

Needing:  To decorate the tree and house so I can enjoy it for the whole month.

Giving:  I plan on doing a RACK every day this month.

Currently October

I'm linking up with Farley today for her October currently.  Make sure you check out her link up, you will find posts from hundreds of teachers.  Reading everyone's Currently posts is always a fun way to start out a new month.

Listening:  I'm usually the first one awake every morning so I always have some quiet time to start my day.  I usually check through social media at this time, but want to start using that time more productively as a prayer/devotion time to start my day. Once my husband wakes up and comes downstairs he will turn on the TV and watch the local morning news.

Loving:  Everything about fall.  It is my favorite season.  I love spending my Thursday nights and Saturdays watching my three boys play football.  I love that it's finally getting chilly enough to feel like having a Pumpkin Spice Latte or Peppermint Mocha (soy no whip) at 9 AM when my little plays.  The weekends are the best.  I love lighting my Autumn Wreath Yankee Candle while I do some schoolwork or housework.  I also love fall baking and cooking.  This is the perfect time to make chili or meatloaf, two of my favorite fall/winter meals.  I could go on and on about everything I love about fall.  There's nothing like the crisp cold air, leaves changing colors, and a trip to the pumpkin patch. I'm looking forward to all the fun things we have planned this month.

Thinking:  How I cannot wait for our annual fall trip to Door County, WI.  It's my "happy place" and it's become a tradition that we go there every summer and fall (sometimes Spring).  The boys all love it and we have our favorite two resorts we stay at.  We've been there so many time we have our favorite shops and restaurants that we have to go to. Trying to schedule our trip around football has become a challenge as the boys get older.  Next year our oldest will be on Varsity so that will make it extra challenging. I look forward to our Door County trip as my #1 favorite thing about fall.

Wanting:  Yesterday I spent my prep decorating my room at school.  I have a few finishing touches to put up today.  This weekend I need to finish up our home decor so my husband can take the storage containers back downstairs.  I also want to do some fall baking and cookie decorating. My family appreciates home baked goodies.

Needing:  To start working out again.  That will be on my definitely to do list this weekend.  I belong to a gym that I haven't been to since summer.  Now that the weather is crisp and cool I'd like to start going for walks in the evenings.  I just need to start doing something!

Trick-or-Treat:  I think the Dollar Store is a great place to find really cute super inexpensive Halloween decorations/goodies.  I went there a couple weeks ago while my little was at football practice and picked up the cutest window clings, magnets (well those were a bit cheap), and other goodies.  I will have to take some photos of my classroom and add them to this post because I have acquired quite a few Halloween decorations for my classroom over the years.  My students do love it when I decorate and make positive comments about it.

Hope you all are enjoying fall as much as I am. I'm hoping to add some photos to this post later so feel free to stop back.  Have a great day and spectacularly spooky October!