Let's Be Mermaids

Deep in the ocean
Under the dark blue sea,
Among the colorful fish
Lives a beautiful mermaid.

She splashes above the water,

Hugs for Monday!

#HappyClassrooms

The springy curls of her hair intact.
Her sea foam green tail
Waves to the fishermen, both young and old.
Her crown of jewels is like a ray of sunshine
Even in the heart of the most gritty and mean swashbuckling pirate's heart.

Upon the sandy beach
In the warm morning sun,
Little voices are heard saying
"Come on Ms. Mermaid, it's time to learn!"
"But it's Monday..." squawks a seagull
As sleepy as can be.

The mermaid sings, "What a perfect day for a fresh start!
What a marvelous Monday for a new adventure!"
Then she flashes her brilliant white smile
And heads to the shore,
Excited for this new day
With her students in the sun.

Yes, I wrote this for all of you! I hope you enjoyed this and are motivated for the week ahead. #THMPride #Happyclassrooms Have an excellent week : )

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Random Reflection...

My journey to becoming a teacher thus far has been pretty long. My high school graduation was in 2008. My first baby girl was born that December. Every mother knows how hard it is to get ANYTHING done with a newborn. With that said, my intentions on taking a full load of classes online with Norfolk State University were wonderful but I fell short... bad. As a teen mom and college freshman I barely passed two classes by the skin of my teeth.

I'm STILL in school pursuing my Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education but will be graduating this May (fingers crossed) lol. Teaching full time, being a parent of two now and being in management have taught me so much. I still have A LOT to do but you know what, I remember a superstar teacher reminding me "slow and steady wins the race".

So now I will sing to you in my Princess Tiana voice "I'm almost there..."

What has your teacher journey been like? Feel free to let me know : )

A Lookback on January

January has been an ultra crazy, super busy month! I actually cannot believe that it has flown by so quickly and that February is in 2 days. In my classroom we welcomed winter by discussing snow (the blizzard this past week helped a lot with that discussion), appropriate clothes for the cold, arctic animals and the five senses. We talked about being fair and learned about the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Looking back it seems like a blur.

"Confetti Art"

For this project I traced the numbers 2016 onto black construction paper. Then my kiddos tore different colors of construction paper (the confetti) to work those fine motor skills. They then glued their confetti onto the numbers as we repeatedly counted down and screamed "Happy New Year!!!!" They had a blast : )

We used letter puzzles to help build our letter recognition skills and of course they turned it into a game. They did an excellent job, only struggling with a few letters here and there.

This was a sandwich that a parent made for her child for lunch. We all thought it was a monkey, but when you look close it is actually a Ninja Turtle!!! This was so cute and I loved the effort that this mom put into creating a healthy lunch for her son.

AND THEN.... the BLIZZARD CAME!! Snowed in for 3 days and having that time off allowed me to reevaluate my lesson plans for February. I have added more STEM activities for the month of February and am super excited to see what new things they will do.

My One Word for 2016

Happy New Year!!

My word for this brand-spanking new year of 2016 is HAPPINESS. Originally I had 2 other words and was going to make all 3 my focus for the year. CREATE and SUCCESS were those 2 words but then PRODUCTIVE popped in my head as well. After much thought, I discovered that being creative and expressing myself, working towards being successful, being ME and using skills both learned and new make me HAPPY! Being productive... even when I feel like sinking into the couch like Beast Boy and Cyborg on Teen Titan's Go (life of a parent lol)... will help me grow in the skills needed to be successful. They all work hand in hand. 

What makes me happy? Being me, not worrying about other's opinions or negativity, but just being myself. My motto this year is Be You, the World is Yours. I want to get physically fit, eat healthier, drink more water and cut back on my little Starbucks habit. I want to get back into writing stories and poems and continue to explore yoga. Have you ever tried hot yoga? It's pretty awesome. I want to take a jewelry making class at Michaels and maybe even try Zumba or dance. Improving my time management, praying more and thinking before reacting are all things I want to work on as well.

HAPPINESS is the word. Being a happier me will improve my life in all areas. A happy mommy makes a happy home. A happy teacher makes a happy classroom filled with the sound of laughter and learning. Here is a picture of my #CraftandChat project...

What is your word for 2016?

Very First Blog Post!

Happy New Year Teacher Friends!

My name is Shaleesa Hammond and I teach preschool (Junior Kindergarten) in Northern Virginia. I'm also the lead teacher and assistant director at my learning center. My greatest "title" of all in the world however is mommy to my two beautiful daughters.

This blog will take you on a ride through my adventures in preschool as a teacher and manager. With that said... my very FIRST post ever is about my goals/resolutions for 2016.

1. Re-Do and Re-Cover My Classroom Management

With the Director of the school being hospitalized at the beginning of the school year, I had to be out of my classroom for basically 2 months! As a result of this my students combined classes next door in the Kindergarten classroom. Needless to say, my classroom management (the little bit that got established lol) went OUT of the window. So, new year, new rules and higher expectations.

     2.  Be More POSITIVE!

We all have our high students and low students, our easy temperament children and the more difficult ones too. But 2015, my lows literally stressed me out. Yes, I have young four year olds and YES I know that every little one develops differently, but with the level of expectations I have before me it has been nothing short of a circus. I'm expected to get my students up to a level which seems like Mount Everest when we can't get over the neighborhood sled hill! This year I WILL be more positive. Not stressing myself out on what they don't know, but being hopeful and happy with what we have accomplished thus far, taking every new day as a step to the top of Everest.

   3. Make More Time for the Teacher

Stop taking loads of paper work home. Stop bringing home school drama. Stop wallowing in or beating myself up for situations that happened during the day, whether with parents, staff or students. Just breathe and take time for me! Embrace my creativity, get back to writing stories, publish my own children's book, enroll in teacher entrepreneur school, get back into yoga, dance to my own beat, cook different recipes and just roll with life.

Are YOU ready for the greatness coming in 2016? I am!!!