Time for a new (out)look!

I've been so inspired by several mom-bloggers this summer thanks to my new addiction to Instagram! I know that I have a LOT to learn about the whole blogging world... but here goes! I am finding that the things I get the most excited about when planning for school and the things I want to share with you all on this blog are more often inspired by my little girl lately, so I have thought about working on a blog that combines these worlds. I have seen other mommy-teacher blogs that are so well written and inspiring - I am not here to compete or out-do anyone who is making a career from this amazing technological world - but I do think I can use this as a place to share creative classroom projects, artsy (and not-so-artsy) stuff we do at home with our three-year-old princess while preparing for baby #2, and sometimes just vent to anyone who's willing to listen... or read ;)

A perfect example of these two worlds I live in becoming one is in the summer preschool program I am teaching this month. It is a short and simple program - 4 hours a day, 3 days a week, 2 groups of 6-8 kiddos each day - and I'm given so much freedom in the planning! This summer, I promised parents and administrators that I would focus on some kindergarten readiness skills and I am amazed at the progress the students have made in only 3 weeks! Yesterday was our big handwriting focus day and I tried to make it a little more fun by allowing the students to pick foam animal stickers first, then write about the animals. Some simply traced the animal names, while others were copying sentences from models. This was so easy to differentiate - we were able to put stickers on one side of the page and animal names on the other for students with fine motor deficits to simply draw lines matching the correct pairs - so I brought a few home for my little girl too. Proud and boasting mama that I am, I swear she's already ready for kindergarten (as if I could get up the nerve to send her at only 3!) but she does need to work on those pre-writing skills. Animal stickers + trip to the zoo = Motivation!!! And since I'm sure you'll see as I continue this blogging adventure, I am a behaviorist after all, so motivation and reinforcements are always a big part of learning in my book!

So this is my idea... I want to be a part of this community of learning and sharing online. I have an adorable, sweet, smart, creative little princess at home, a second little one on the way this fall, a classroom full of students I will always refer to as "my kids" too, and an amazingly supportive group of people around me - my family, friends, and coworkers. I love to take inspiration from blogs, Instagram, and of course Pinterest, and make those ideas work for someone in my life. I love to be creative (although I promise I won't video myself singing anything for you). I want to use this blog to share those inspirations and what I do with them with you - for your kids, students, family, friends, and coworkers.