Heres To.

Tonight is the last night of summer. Tonight I've been praying over my list of students constantly as I prepare for another school year. It's been a while since I've posted on the blog and I've been running through my head exactly what I wanted to say or write about.  After our trip to Colorado, the weeks went by so fast.  Last week was our teacher week - packed with meetings and more meetings - and I was constantly asking myself how in the world I was suppose to get anything done with all these meetings we had to go too  I ended up going in on my day off Friday just to lesson plan.  Pure craziness I tell you.  As I was planning - and secretly scrolling through Instagram for new ideas - I came across this picture.

This was exactly what I kept reminding myself of as I planned for the week ahead.  How community building is SO important - and lots of teachers only take the first few days to really build that with each other.  Mostly because we are under so much pressure to get started with assessing, and content. Last year, I really took a similar line like this to heart and let me tell you - my kiddos truly were incredible.  Our routines went off (for the most part) flawlessly throughout the year, and they cared for each other so much more than I could have ever dreamed.  We were a school family. They took that to heart - they cared for each other's hearts in ways I couldn't even believe sometime.  I promise I will make that commitment this year.  To have fun with my kids again and enjoy their personalities.  We'll take time to play games and be challenged.  We'll take time to learn more about each other and build an environment built on trust and courage.  We'll accomplish so much more when these first 3 weeks (maybe even more) are spent truly on our routines and community.  Because of this simple reminder on Instagram my first week looks stinking awesome with my nuggets.  Jitter Juice, toothpaste "word" lesson, get to know you games, and play dough.  What a fun time it will be.  Picture galore and tons of smiles.

Although tomorrow mornings alarm will come to soon, my coffee won't be in my cup fast enough, and my butterflies will be enormous, my heart is full of love for the kiddos I haven't yet "fully" met. My heart is full because Jesus has given me such a passion - my heart is full because this is going to be a great year.

Heres to 2014-2015.