Welcome!

Welcome to my take on teaching in the primary grades! I certainly don't claim to know it all when it comes to elementary, but I hope to share some ideas, resources and experiences as I figure it all out. Starting this blog happens to come at an already very busy time in my teaching career, but I figure, what’s one more thing at this point? 

Some background info:
On June 20th, 2013 a natural disaster in the form of a flood struck the small town where I teach.  I can still remember evacuating the school that day thinking that it was just a precaution. Unfortunately though, almost the entire community was under water for a period of time including my elementary school which sat in 6 feet of water for many weeks.  Everything was lost. The school was essentially destroyed but our spirit wasn’t and despite losing ‘things’ many around us had lost their homes and so it was all about having perspective. Views of the school and town:

When the school year started September 2013, we were without a school to call our own and resorted to teaching in a community hall (you know, where wedding receptions happen – NOT teaching). Long story short, it was not ideal and by the end of November we were moving on to temporary home number 2!

Temp home number 2 was a combination of 26 portable classrooms arranged in the backyard of our friendly high school counterparts. They welcomed us with open arms even though it meant taking away their football/soccer fields and sharing their gymnasium with us. This new home felt like a HUGE upgrade in comparison to temp number 1, despite not having a library, gym, and staff room (or staff washrooms, if you can imagine). 

**PRESENT**:

About two weeks ago I finished packing up that portable classroom because our true home was FINALLY READY for us to move back. It had been 614 days displaced (but who’s counting, right?). They’ve carefully remediated and rebuilt our building that was completely stripped down over the past 20ish months and IT’S READY!! We opened the doors to our families on February 24th and it was perfect. The smiles on their faces as they toured around and re-familiarized themselves with the school and their new classrooms truly warmed my heart. 

The above picture shows my classroom prior to unpacking. Happy that is over!!
*New classroom pictures coming soon!*