Drum Roll Please!!

Ok Friends, This post is going to be short and sweet but contains LOTS of exciting news!!

So maybe this whole being sick thing wasn't so bad afterall! Who am I kidding? It was HORRIBLE, but today I was feeling MUCH better so I was able to be very productive!!

So you know normally I would love to type out some dramatic lead up to the news I am about to share with you...but I simply CANNOT wait!!

 

I NOW HAVE A TPT STORE!!!

 

See? I told you it was exciting! Now, I only have one product up so far, but it's a freebie so you should DEFINITELY go check it out! Also, here's where I need your help. I was having some line-up issues and wasn't sure if it was just my OCD me that noticed or if it really is a problem. That being said, if you do choose to download the sheet, notice any glitches at all, and could let me know, that would be OH-SO-FABULOUS! Here's a preview of my Contraction Freebie! Please go visit my TpT store to snag a copy, and please PLEASE let me know what you think! I am brand new at this so don't be afraid to hurt my feelings! I need all the feedback I can get!

 

To snag this freebie, visit my TpT Store!

 

Ok lovely friends, thank you so much for your patience, and I am so excited the time is already here! I have been working really hard on a few units, so please check back within the next couple of days for some more surprises! {HINT: a giveaway will DEFINITELY take place!}

 

Ok, I seriously need to get some sleep considering I am going back to work in 7 hours! I can't wait to finally be normal again!

 

Have a wonderful Friday, friends!

 

Much Love,

 

Chelsea Rose

NOT.HAPPY.

Well my teacher friends, the time has finally come for me. The time that I never took seriously because it "never happens to me". The time that I read about on blogs, hear stories about from friends, and quietly sit and think "thank GOODNESS that time will never come for me!" I have actually come down with...wait for it....ready....THE FLU. Now let me just tell you, this has been extremely hard for me to accept because I have always prided myself on NEVER, I mean EVER being sick. I mean REALLY sick. Sure, I had stomach viruses when I was younger, and I get sinus infections just about every time the season changes, but never, have I EVER had the flu. Like, EVER. {yes I am 17 and love me a good Taylor Swift reference every now and then}...Wanna know the worst part? I can honestly say I have no one to blame but myself. {Another hard thing for me to accept.}

It all started last Friday morning when I thought I was coming down with another season's sinus infection. I had all the classic symptoms: interchangeably stuffy/runny nose, scratchy throat, and that little dry spot under my nose from blowing into a tissue 30 times a day ....all the while running around trying to accomplish the one million and a half things I had to do all weekend: get my hair done, work the gate at a high school basketball game, shop for throw pillows, do laundry, grocery, all the normal stuff...Moral of the story, I spent my entire weekend muttering my famous last words, "I don't have time to be sick", instead of resting and taking medicine, thinking that it would eventually go away on its own like it usually does. Well, guess what....IT DIDN'T! I went to bed at 9:30 last night thinking "this is it. All I have to do is go to bed early and this thing will finally be gone!" Well, guess what.... IT ISN'T! I woke up this morning feeling worse than ever and even tried to go into school, long enough to get sent home and get some sub plans together. All I can say, is thank GOODNESS for Amanda's Sub Tub and Rachelle's Substitute Survival Kit. I bought the survival kit last winter and won the sub tub in a giveaway last spring and even though I rarely take sick days, they have both come in handy for other reasons, and especially now!

Now I have to sit here and be mad at myself because I can't do anything!!  I have been quarantined to my little sick spot my sweet husband so wonderfully set up for me this morning while I was sleeping! He knows me all too well and knows that I get to a point where I simply CANNOT lay in bed for another second! I am definitely to that point, as of...6 hours ago! The icing on the cake? I AM MISSING THE 100TH DAY TOMORROW!!! I LOVE the 100th day and I am so terribly bummed that I won't be there to celebrate it with my little sweeties tomorrow! All the teachers are even going to dress like they are 100 and I, of course, will be sitting right here, in my hideous but ridiculously comfy chair-and-a-half feeling like I am 100 instead of looking like it! Me= NOT HAPPY!

Ok, enough with the pity party and shouty capitals. I promise I'm done, and I am going to accept this flu like a champ. On to more important things! I mentioned in my last post a possible Blogger Meet Up, and I think one is in place, so I will let you know more details as soon as I do! Also, since I am finally able to hold my head up for a longer period of time, I am hoping there will one positive to sitting in confinement tomorrow. I am hoping to catch up on the following things:

My Tuesday night shows that I missed last night while I was "Not having time to get sick" {Thank heavens for DVR} and had to throw last week's episode of Nashville in there because I never got time to sit down and watch it!
<------Yes.....I know I'm 12. Don't judge.





2. Blooming Into First Grade is getting a makeover! All thanks to  Dream Like Magic Blog Designs! So tomorrow, I'm hoping finally having time to sit down and figure it all out, whatever the reason may be, will allow me to actually get started on everything. Now, not sure how quality things will be until I can actually lift my head for more than the 10 minutes it has taken me to write this post, but just know, that it's all in progress!
Ok, I guess I really do have to try to get some more rest now, I promise I have actually learned my lesson this time!!

I hope you are all staying healthy, and please check back periodically for changes, and hopefully a new TPT store to go to!!

Much Love,

Chelsea Rose

CALLING ALL BLOGGERS IN THE KENTUCKY/INDIANA/OHIO AREA!

WOW! I can't believe it's been this long since I have posted! I hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New YearThings have been CRAZY busy around here lately with the wedding, honeymoon, moving, and well...being married! On the short update side I am LOVING married life and still having sort of a rough year with my group...the longer update side will have to wait since I am currently at school...at 8:30...over break...trying to get my life together before we start school on Monday! I have so much to share and so much advice to ask for...which brings me to the reason for my post...


Last year I attended a blogger meet up in Cincinnati, OH organized by Michelle and Abby and it was absolutely FANTASTIC!! I had so much fun and met so many new people. Now, I know I am pretty unknown in the blogger community but I would REEEEEALLLY like to have another one, and would love to organize one. I would like to have at least 10 bloggers there, but more are always welcome. So, this brings me to the million dollar question...Is anyone interested in coming?!? Once again, I am very unknown and am probably typing to no one at the moment, but I thought I'd give it a shot! I am in a pretty central location in Indiana and would be pretty willing to have it in any of the following cities: Louisville(KY), Florence(KY), Indianapolis(IN), Clarksville(IN), Lawrenceburg(IN), Cincinnati(OH). Please please let me know if anyone is interested, I am open to any feedback and am willing to organize it. Also, if anyone is interested in helping me organize the meet up, I would be MORE than grateful! If you are interested in either co-hosting or just simply attending, please email me at chelsea.r.sims@gmail.com, {or you can comment me} with your contact info and we can discuss ideas! I am really open to having it at any time also, but would love to shoot for the middle of February? Once again, totally open to any ideas or suggestions for location and dates!

I would love to get this up and running and look forward to hearing from you guys!

Much Love,

Chelsea Rose

Well teacher friends, the time has FINALLY come and gone, which is the reason I have been so MIA in my return. The wedding was on Saturday and let me tell you...I could have asked for a more perfect day or for anything to have turned out any better. Everything went off without a hitch, and I just could not be happier!

Since I couldn't keep up with my other blog either, I decided to delete it, but will be sure to post lots of pictures and details next week! My sweet and adorable co-workers at my school went in together to send us on our honeymoon! {I know, SO stinkin' sweet! I was shocked!} Anywho, we are leaving today at 7:30 to fly out of Cincinnati and will be returning next Wednesday! We are on Fall Break starting today so I have the rest of the week off, and had to write four days of sub plans for next week! :/ I tell you what, sometimes having a sub is so much trouble it's not even worth it, but in this case it is more than!

Well my friends, I will leave you with that, but just know that I will be back next week and am hoping to have my life together and ready to blog!! :) This is my FAVORITE time of year and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things with all these fun Fall activities!! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

Much Love,

Premature Return and HELP!!!!

Greetings long lost teacher friends!! So, as you all have probably already guessed, my return post was a little premature. I so thought I could handle being back in the bloggy world but sadly I have not had time to even stalk my favorite blogs, let alone post on my own! See, as most of you probably don't know, tomorrow is the ONE MONTH MARK until my wedding! So, as you can probably guess, I have been CUH-RAZY trying to balance back to school, coaching dance, getting an apartment ready, AND planning a fall wedding for 250+ people! The process has been super fun but also super stressful with trying to balance everything on top of it! I am desperately trying to enjoy this last month of planning because I know as soon as the wedding is over I will be instantly nostalgic for that bride-to-be-feeling (even though deep down I know I will love being married much more). Anyhoo, I finally had some time to take a peek at all my fave blogs last night, and I have so enjoyed catching up on everyone's back to school experiences! Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher said it best when she said she refused to believe progress reports were due ALREADY!! It is so hard to believe we have already been in school for six weeks! You should check out her super cute writing assessment she posted to help assess your kiddos before you fill out yours! I did it with mine this morning and I can't wait to check them out and see how my little darlings are progressing!

This brings me to my next order of business: I NEED HELP!!!!!! I didn't get a chance to post the first few weeks of school to report that my class this year is a bit what you would call....special? challenging? I'm not sure what the appropriate terminology would be, but let's just say I could really use some advice. o, my school went down to one first grade class of 24 this year, and I was the lucky duck who got to stay in first grade and teach them. I know, I know. You seasoned public school teachers are probably saying, "What's the big deal? 24 sounds like a DREAM compared to my number!" After my student teaching experience with 28 children, I would oridinarily agree. However, it is not the number that I am struggling with. THIS particular mix of 24 should have never ever EVER happened. I know I legally cannot go into depth on this, but just believe me when I say, I am having a bit of a rough year. I will say though, I am fortunate enough to have them split half and half in the morning for reading and math with another teacher. I teach all the language arts while she teaches math and science, and then we switch. No big deal right? Well, not so much. I am having a REALLY hard time differentiating my two groups. They are literally split RIGHT down the middle as far as ability goes. My first group can hardly recite their vowels, and most of the kiddos in my second group are already reading chapter books. We have Reading Street as our reading series (which I am not a huge fan of anyway), but with such difference in skill level, I am having a hard time staying on the same lessons for each group. With the wedding sucking literally every inch of creativity out of me, I could really use some of your fabulous ideas! I already do reader's workshop in my room, using Reading Street as my guide, but not following it exactly. However, the centers/guided reading concept is waaayyyy too hard for my first group. How can you have guided reading if 3/4 of your class can't read the first word? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love each and every SINGLE one of my kiddos, as they have some of the cutest/sweetest personalities, but you know how it is! I also have a HUGE case of the new class blues, which doesn't help! My partner teacher from last year moved up to second this year, so she got to keep some of her same kiddos, and now has some of my sweeties from last year. I often look across the hallway with my green-eyed monster and think, "How nice it would be to pick up where I left off!!" See, I absolutely LOVED my class from last year! They were hilarious and had so many unique personalities! I really do love my kiddos this year, but it's just not the same! You all know how that goes! But, I know switching grade levels is a LOT of work and that is the last thing I needed in the midst of this wedding, so in a way I am thankful! :)

Ok, so enough of my venting before I get myself in trouble. Bottom line: I would love love LOVE if you fabulous, creative, imaginitive people could shed some light on the situation. How can I effectively differentiate these two groups without making it obvious to the kids that they are on two totally different levels? I definitely think I need to have two different spelling lists, but how do I go about this? Should I send home two different newsletters? How can I effectively/creatively get my kids on the right track? Any help, advice, or miracles you guys have up your sleeves would be so so SO appreciated!!

Well, that about wraps it up for my return post, and while I'm not promising that I'm back full time yet, things are starting to come together with the wedding so I will definitely have a little more time to stalk AND post! Once again, any and all feedback are more than appreciated, and I hope you guys are off to a great start with your new classes! If any of you are suffering from the new class blues, hit me up, we can swap stories and offer one another support!!!!

Much Love,

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!

WOW! Ok, so I took a MUCH longer hiatus than I had anticipated, but since the wedding has been consuming my entire life since April, I haven't had much of a chance for anything else! I have had a great summer and gotten a lot of wedding stuff accomplished, but since we start school in less than a month, it's time for my split personality {bride, teacher, dance coach, and now APARTMENT RENTER! :)) to come out! Anywho, still not completely ready to open my TPT store, but I am really close! However, I will give you one to check out! My best friend Stephanie just got her first teaching job and will begin teaching first grade in August! She just opened a TPT store and it is SUPER cute!! And the best part is....it's brand new AND she has LOTS of freebies! :) So go check out Stephanie's TpT Store and stay posted for mine!

I have REALLY missed this wonderful world of blogging and I am SO excited to be back!! Can't wait to see what wonderful ideas everyone has come up with while I've been away!

much love,

Under Construction

So, I know it's been almost a MONTH, (I think my longest time in between posts ever!) but I am ALMOST ready to open my TPT store and start posting some freebies!! However, since the 6 month mark for my wedding just passed, and I am now getting into the PEAK of the planning, collecting, and organizing...it may still be a few weeks, but please please keep checking, because big things will be coming to Blooming into First!! So, without further adieu, I now pronounce this blog UNDER CONSTRUCTION for the time being! Thank you SO SO much to all of my supporters and advice givers, and OF COURSE a big thank you to everyone whose brilliant ideas I've stolen borrowed! lol! You guys are all awesome and I don't know what I would have done this year without you! Thanks again and I stay tuned! :)

much love,