Hello! It's nice to finally meet!

Raise your hand if you're a wife. Raise your hand if you're a mom. Raise your hand if you're a teacher. How about a mermaid or any other totally awesome creature? =D

Whether you're one, two or all of the above, I'm glad that you have come across my blog and it would be even MORE awesome if you decide to stick around and grow interest in what I have to share. This is my first time ever doing this, writing a blog. Heck I don't even own any social media (unless this counts). I haven't shared my life since the time of live journal and myspace. Okay, I'm definitely aging myself! However, I love to write and as a fierce & multi-talented woman, I have a lot that I want to say. For my first post I thought it'd be fun to talk about classrooms. If you're a teacher or friends with one, you know that our spring semester of last school year was turned upside down. Now depending on your state/district, you're preparing to go back one way or another. In the state where I live we having to go back to teaching in a physical classroom. Yesterday The Husband and I went on a "hot date", which consisted of him helping me remove some furniture out of my classroom and then going to a local escape room after. To build some background: I teach VPK which is a state program for four & five year olds. VPK stands for voluntary pre kindergarten. The school I work for is preschool - eighth grade. As for my classroom setup, here's the catch: I have to set up a social distance "friendly" classroom. What does that mean? Well my circle time for one (IF I wanted to keep doing circle time), can only be done if I have my students sitting 6 ft apart. I purchased really cute floor markers from Amazon hoping to arrange them so where this new regulation can occur. The next social distance mandate is that I have to be able to sit the students at the tables without facing each other OR if they are facing each other there has to be a plexiglass between them. The other hurdle is centers. If you're familiar with a preschool classroom (or even back in our day when kindergarten was age appropriate, but more on that on another post), you know that there's a dramatic play center, science, math/manipulatives, construction center, etc. I usually have four students at each center and have them explore centers as they please within the hour time frame. Now I'll most likely only have two students at a center and I will have to come up with a system where they won't be able to move and explore as much. Those are my top 3 hurdles for the new "normal" that I have to manage for the 2020-2021 school year. Going back to my "hot date", The Husband was able to remove the furniture in 10 minutes, however we got stuck on my circle time markers. An hour later, I got frustrated and gave up since we weren't clear on what specifics my principal required. Did she want a full 6 ft radius around each child or was it okay to put them 6ft part front to back and would it be okay only to have them sit 3 ft apart side by side? Long story short, I went back to my classroom today and my goal was to figure out my circle time. Imagine this (and for all you visual learners like myself, I attached a few pictures below):The Husband's original idea was to create semi-circles with the carpet markers but we just weren't sure how strict the 6ft rule was. Today I figured to create an "amphitheater" sort of shape with each carpet maker being 6ft apart front and back and 3 ft apart side by side. This idea was principal approved! Once the circle time area was completed I felt relief and accomplished! We all know that feeling! WOO HOO! Now it's your turn! If you're a teacher, I'd like to know what grade level you teach and if you'd like to share what changes you have to comply with this year. If you're not a teacher, how do you feel about a social distancing classroom? Do you like it or would you rather your child at least some sort of normalcy? Well...this is it! My first post! I hope you enjoyed! If you enjoyed your time with me, make sure to come back or subscribe. Thanks!

• To create the semi-cirlce/amphitheater design, I measured 6ft away from my rocking chair and placed a star in the middle to be the "lead point of measure". I then measured 3 ft away from both sides of the middle star to create my first row. To create my curve, I used yarn to be my visual guideline. I continued on until I was able to create 3 rows which will be a total of 16 students. As for my furniture, it has wheels so I am planning to move the furniture out of the way during circle time and then put it back in place when circle time is over.