My Teacher is Missing!

Over Mother's Day weekend, I took a day off from school to travel back home to Tennessee. It was a last minute decision and I did not "prepare" my students that they would be having a substitute. In planning for a sub at the last minute, I pulled some things from my Emergency Sub Plans since they had not been used all school year long. Before reading the book Miss Nelson is Missing, the sub had my class brainstorm some ideas of where I might be & then draw and write about their thoughts.

Their responses were darling!

 

"I think she is at home watching TV. I think she is playing in her backyard."

"I think she is at home. She is watching TV."

 

"She is at the bus ramp? I think she is."

 

"I think she is visiting her grandparents. I think she is having fun."

"She is at home to get her little boy. Or sick."

"Mrs. Young is spying on us. Mrs. Young is out of town."

"Maybe she is going to the doctor. Or she is at Disney World."

 

"I think my teacher is sick."

 

 

 

So what is your last minute/emergency substitute plan ideas that require little planning or preparation? Leave me a comment of ideas that I can add to my "bag of tricks!"

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Survived!

 

This month marks the 1 year anniversary of packing up my family and leaving behind the only place I ever knew as home. Moving 7 hours away from my family and friends was not easy and I did shed many, many tears over the last year but I can honestly say I now have no regrets! My husband is a happy man doing what he loves (Charter Boat Captain) and my boys are also quickly falling in love with the saltwater fishing life. Let's face it... life really is better at the beach! The beach is only 3 miles from my house and only 1/2 mile from my school. Imagine hearing the roar of the ocean from INSIDE your classroom! Yep, it is simply torture but I do find my way there to grade papers and plan lessons several times a week. I never leave home without a packed beach bag or beach chair in my car! 
 
Sound like a dream? Most days are but of course there is a downside. If you take a confident kindergarten teacher of 15 years and take her away from her best friends that are also coworkers and move her to a new state, new school system, and a new and larger school with a totally different socioeconomic make up and you will shake everything she knows about teaching and shatter every bit of her confidence and strip her of her good reputation!  Although it was a very difficult and lonely school year, I am now making friends and built relationships with my new coworkers, earning my good reputation with parents and have my first year here under my belt.  I can't wait to see what the next school year holds. 
 
If you happen to be one of my TPT customers let me apologize for being slow to respond to emails and slow to update my ActivBoard Calendars each month. It seems that every break or day off from school involved me traveling home to TN or brought friends and family in to visit (one of the perks of living near the beach). All of my other free time has been spent catching up on school things, getting my home put together, learning where all of the hot fishing spots are with my hubby, or just driving around and learning about all of the wonderful things my new hometown & surrounding area has to offer.  In short, I just didn't have any motivation or desire to work on TPT things! Don't worry though, I am working feverishly now to get all of the calendars updated for the 2015-2016 school year. If you drop by TPT next week all of the updates should be ready to download.

Thank you to the many friends I have made through TPT and the blogging world! It is so nice to get emails from "friends" that I have never met to follow up on my Logan's accident and just to see how my new life has been working out. In a nutshell, Logan is doing well but we are heading back to a trauma specialist next week to see about removing the femoral rod that was implanted in his leg. We were told that if the rod needs to be removed, it usually happens around the 18 month mark. At exactly 18 months he began to have severe pain. Ugh!  We still have not had any financial/legal resolution AT ALL with the insurance of the person who caused the accident so we will just add this to the long list of expenses that we have had to foot the bill for.  Sometimes life is just not fair but you really cannot put a price on a life. I'm just so blessed that I still have my baby boy. 

Hope you are all enjoying your summer break!

Blessings to you!