So I will admit that I was late to the Teachers-Pay-Teachers party. I am assuming it is not new (although I have not Googled exactly when it became a trend) but I did not discover or really start exploring it until I was out this past school year recovering from my injury.

But now I am addicted!! As I spend countless hours searching for the latest and greatest things I can download and prep, I come across things that I have previously spent valuable hours creating myself for my classroom. And almost always the version I find on TPT is way more professional looking then what I have created. Not to mention the time I have spent recreating the proverbial wheel.

But here is where TPT is dangerous, especially during our summer break. Nothing is super expensive…individually! But before you know it, you’re at home not collecting a paycheck but spending a pretty penny on downloading a new lesson or task box labels or learning activity, etc. Then you have to print it (cha-ching) and then after the hours spent cutting it you have to laminate it (cha-ching again) and cut it again.

What I have also discovered as a side effect of my new found passion for TPT, is the time and physical commitment. I started my summer with 2 1/2 binder pages (front and back) of To-Do’s for my “summer break”. Thanks to TPT, a good chunk of the learning materials I wanted to create I have found, but also soooo much more I now want to try. So I have been diligently prepping these materials nearly every day since the 1st day of summer. What I have found is that I am only good for about 5 hours of cutting a day before my hand is cramping and ready to fall off. And my cutting hand is also my wine opening hand, so I need to treat it well! I also have to rest of the To-Do’s on my list to accomplish! Those I will discuss in a future blog.

So for tonight I will sign off. I am out of wine, out of energy and off to hunt down some icy-hot for my hand. I may have been one of the last to arrive to the TPT party, but I am here to party til the sun comes up!

So I was thoroughly enjoying sharing my trials and triumphs last school year, then I just stopped. WHY?

I joked in a few posts that I needed full body tactical gear to protect myself from a few students and their aggressive behaviors. I should have taken that as serious advice. I was injured by a student, while in a “behavior crisis”, and spent most of last year recovering.

There is nothing interesting in reading about the headache caused by dealing with the district and workmen’s comp, so I will save you from that. The pain from the injury paled in comparison!  I was able to finally get cleared to come back to my classroom with only a few weeks left…just enough time to drown while trying to complete all the necessary end of the year stuff and attempt to do Progress Reports, Report Cards, and the all IEPs  that were not done in my absence (like all of them since none were done. I try and schedule an IEP one day late to accommodate a parent and get reprimanded for being out of compliance, but admin can put them off for months apparently)!

So that leads us to today! Only a little over a week before I have to report back to the new school year. I am NOT READY!!!!!

But I will be back to sharing, fun changes coming in my classroom this year….