I can remember back to the very early fall day when 35 ½ weeks along, I had my oldest daughter. It was an adventure to get there but there we were. There she was. She was this BEAUTIFUL tiny, bald-headed, five pounds and six ounces, feisty, crying ball of wonder of a human. She lay there on my chest, tiny and mighty in her little blue and pink striped cap, and she was absolutely perfect. Today she remains much the same— strong, feisty, and just perfect.
I remember CLEARLY the moment that I gave birth to her- the moment when she entered the world in that bright white, freezing cold operating room. The image and feeling is so clear that it’s almost eerie. In that moment, in those seconds, I thought to myself “Wow! This is what it feels like to REALLY be proud of someone. I am so proud of her!” It’s almost like I was outside of myself, announcing it to myself. I remember being filled with this grand overwhelming joyous feeling of pride that my little girl nugget made it through all the ups and downs (stories for another day) and she was HERE. She did it! Well, I guess WE did it. But like I said, SHE DID IT! 😉 See? So proud.
I was so excited to have her and to share her with the world. OK, not really the WHOLE world but with my little world bubble of people. You know, grandma (and all of her close tennis friends that she wanted to share it with), grandpa, my friends across the country, my close friends nearby, my two brothers, my aunts, my cousins, etc.
I found myself feeding my sweet little one late at night, as it is with babies, and I stumbled across this website where I could pay each year, or maybe it was monthly. I could blog about my growing child whenever I wanted and at the end of the year purchase a keepsake CD (yep, a CD (compact disk, for all you young ones out there). The “keepsake Cd” would be delivered in the mail, or should I say it WAS delivered in the mail. Yep, still have it. The website was called Baby Jellybeans.SUCH a cute name! Believe it or not, it is still around. Back then, on one of those late, lonely nights, while feeding my hungry five-pounder, I looked. Quickly, I was hooked. I decided to try.
Early Adventures in a Blog
There began my joy in capturing life’s adventures in a blog.
Over the years, as a teacher, I have taken on blogging in many different fashions.
I blogged for families of my five-day, five-year-old preschoolers using Shutterfly.
Then moved on to Weebly.com to start a website when I returned to the first-grade elementary classroom.
I even tried Blogger as I began to renovate my charming old 1901 bungalow.
Here was my first post:
We closed on our new, old, home, to be, on April 10th. It was all a bit of a blur. Five weeks prior, we dropped by on a whim to take a look at an old house. We do this from time to time. We have been in and out of many. Usually, they are super junky and falling to the ground, or all dolled up on the historic home tour and happily owned. This time was different. We weren’t even looking at it to move into it. Then all of a sudden, we were.
It Didn’t Last
That blog didn’t last. I only made one post. One little ole post. I REALLY wished I had pushed forward in that blog about our little fixer upper but with three elementary school-aged kids in tow, a move to a new house, and a return to teaching full-time teaching in a first-grade classroom I could only do so much. I wasn’t as good of a juggler of all the things as I am now. Perhaps one day, I shall try again.
On to Weebly
I settled into Weebly (Does anyone remember or use Weebly out there?) for years capturing the adventures in first-grade classrooms and third-grade classrooms. I used it to show pictures of lessons and learning. It was a place where I would push out information, dates, and resources to families. I housed everything on the site that parents would need and could easily come back to when they needed to find info.
Along the way, my love for Instagram grew and I shared adventures from within the classroom walls that way instead because…well…
it was so easy
I could control the privacy
and I’ve always had a love of photographs and taking photos. (Thanks, Mom, for my very first (Thanks, Mom, for my very first film camera of my own given to me on my 12th birthday!)
So….ready or not…here I am!
I’m back!
I am back in the blogging world!
I am so excited to get started in sharing my adventures and experiences as an elementary school teacher in first grade. All of my experiences as a second-grade instructional assistant for half a year, a kindergarten teacher, a preschool five-year-old teacher, a K-3 literacy teacher, a third-grade teacher, and a first-grade teacher have all shaped me to be the teacher I am today. Since I began teaching years ago, I have always loved sharing creative, fun, engaging hands-on tips, lessons, and ideas with other educators. I have even written lessons for the county in literacy. Back in the day, I DREAMED of being published in the teacher’s Mailbox Magazine. (Wow, THAT was WAY back–and I’m still a young teacher.)
BTW, I was today years old when I discovered that the Mailbox Magazine lives on in the internet world. Hallelujah, PTL! I’m going to have to take a gander here in a bit.
My Educational Hope
My hope with this little spot on the internet, Watch Them Bloom, is that first-grade teachers, kindergarten teachers, first-year teachers, elementary teachers, or quite frankly, ANY teacher, may find something simple and fun to engage his or her students in the classroom. Whether that be an easy-to-use dice math game for math fact fluency in the K-1 classroom, a digital morning meeting game or sight word activities, or my FAVORITE small group standards-based learning centers for holidays and theme weeks. My goal is to bring joy back to education–
fun amidst the state testing,
engaging activities that stay true to state standards,
lessons that tap into the desire for elementary children to learn in lots of amazing ways.
Supporting Educators Like You
I’ve always loved supporting grade-level colleagues, school professionals, first-year teachers that I mentor, teacher friends, and classroom families. I believe that teamwork is crucial. What is it they say? “Teamwork makes dreams work!”
What I Hope You Take Away
I hope you have a great time on this educational ride with me. I hope that every now and then you can take away an idea or a teacher tip, an activity, or a bit of the joy that students and I feel in the classroom every day.
Join me on this adventure. in education.
Whether you are a mom, a teacher, a grandparent, or a friend… thank you for ALL that you do to help learners GROW AND BLOOM!
