It is almost that time of the year again when we celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day. These are special days to say thank you to our parents and to let them know how much we appreciate them. It is also a time when we can send special greetings to other important people in our lives.
I have created a set of cards for those special ladies. This package also includes templates for writing special stories or memories about them.
I have created a sample set of cards and templates that you can grab here for free. This includes 2 cards and 2 writing templates.
It is important not to forget about our fathers and grandfathers, so I have created a set of cards and posters for them as well.
Here is a free sample of one of the cards for you to use. I hope you enjoy it.
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I can hardly believe that September is over and school has been in session for over 3 weeks now. It still seems very strange to be at the school, but not teaching. I have been taking my grandsons to school and I got to experience gradual entry Kindergarten for the first 2 weeks. I must say that it is easier in some ways to have a class full of students rather than one child who needs to be entertained while waiting to go to school for an hour at various times of the day.
Now that he is settled into his classroom and on the same schedule as his brother, it is much easier. Even little kids need a routine!
Here are my reasons for retiring. Aren't they adorable? I love them to pieces and I am glad to be able to spend time with them. Sometimes it is difficult to see them as much as I would like, but when I do have the opportunity, it makes my heart feel so happy.
Our summer was full of adventures and family time. I am hoping we will have many more opportunities to share family time and make memories throughout the year.
I have been busy updating my materials in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and creating new materials for some of the new teachers at the school. This also makes me happy because I know that I am still able to make a difference in the lives of children even though I am retired. I am also going to be volunteering at the school so I will get to do what I love and not have to deal with the politics. WIN-WIN don't you think?
I retired at the end of June and for a retirement gift, my staff gave me a cat. It was a special weekend at the SPCA, so I was able to get the 2 brothers for the same price. They are about 2 years old and so gentle and friendly. They have already made themselves comfortable with our other cat and the grandkids love playing with them.
It has become a tradition for my daughter and her family to come and visit on Canada Day. Here are some pictures from the parade, the new suspension bridge and the water park. The grandchildren were excited to see their grandfather riding on his penny farthing.
We headed to Victoria at the end of the week to participate in the church day camp. My daughter was a volunteer for one of the groups. I looked after the children that were under 4 so their parents could volunteer. It was interesting, busy and exhausting. We all had naps every afternoon!
I have been working hard since returning home from Victoria. I have packed up my classroom and given away many resources to new teachers, recycled some old materials, and sorted through the rest.
Anyone who has had to change classrooms after several years can probably relate to this and to how much teachers collect over the years! I didn't take photos of before and after, but here is a photo of some of the boxes and materials I had to go through. I also had to pack up all of my computers as they unfortunately will now be recycled.
Now that I am able to focus on other things, I hope to finish up the renovations around the house, continue to make new resources, and revamp materials in my teacher stores. I am looking forward to volunteering next year and creating materials for my colleagues and their students.
Of course, I will be spending lots of time with my family as well. After all, that is why I retired in the first place.
I am officially retired! This is a bit scary, but very exciting for me. I made the decision a year ago that I was going to retire while I was healthy and able to spend quality time with my grandchildren. I now have 7 of them!
It will be a big shift financially, but I know that it will work out. I am hoping to have the time to work on my TPT store now and do a better job of promoting as well. The money I earn will give me some extra for the things that are not a necessity. One thing that has always been important for me and my husband is making sure that our kids are okay. When they were struggling, we wanted to be able to help them out. This was never a hand out and they always were appreciative and gave back in many ways. Now that I am retiring, this won't be as easy, so the money earned from my creations will allow us to continue to be there for them if needed. I love to create resources. I have done this since I began my teaching career. If I couldn't find something I needed, I made it. I began sharing my ideas with my colleagues before we had things like computers and photocopiers. (I know, some of you weren't even alive when I started teaching so you can't remember those days.) Now I will have the time to do more creating and sharing. I plan to volunteer at my school and create for the teachers there. It will be fun to make things and try them out in different classrooms. I would love to be able to do things for myself. As much as I love my family, sometimes I need "me" time. I enjoy going to meet-ups with my BC blogger friends and I would love to be able to go and visit other places and do things just for fun. Being retired gives me the time, and earning income from my TPT store gives me the extra money to do the fun things. Well, there you have it. These are some of my dreams.
December is a busy and happy time for sharing and giving. The children can hardly contain their excitement. It is sometimes exhausting, but it is very rewarding at the end of the day. Here are some highlights of our last couple of weeks.
A couple of years ago I got this DIY idea from Pinterest. It was from Charity Preston"s Classroom DIY. My kids loved finding out what was hiding behind each number. On one day they had a movie and popcorn. We watched Santa Claus the Movie. They loved it.
For our Christmas concert we performed A Porcupine In a Pine Tree. This was a Canadian version of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I created the boards based on the images in the book and each child had a board to hold up. They did an awesome job. Here are some pictures of the Mounties, the Leafs, and some of the animals.
On the last day, I decided to let the children do a make and take it activity. I put out a bunch of different craft materials and they created their own Christmas crafts. Here are some of the creations.
At Christmas teachers often receive gifts from students. I appreciate every gift, but this one especially warmed my heart. One of my students really wanted to give me something, so she colored me a picture and gave me Canadian Tire money along with a candy cane. Isn't that sweet?
Winter break is finally here and we are having everyone here for Christmas. This will be the first time since 2009 that all my family will be together. One daughter has arrived with her 3 children and my older son and his family live in town. My other son and his family, my son-in-law and my mother and mother-in-law will be arriving on Christmas Eve. My other daughter will arrive on Christmas Day.
Here is a picture of the tree. It is hard to find it under all the presents. There will be some very excited people on Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas to all my friends and family and to all the wonderful people I have met or had the blessing to encounter through blogging and collaborating.
It's been a crazy month, and I have not been able to stop long enough to blog. So many things have happened in the last few weeks, it would take a small novel to share it all. Here are a few highlights. Some of them are not school related this time.
Wow! What a busy couple of weeks this has been. I can't believe how fast time has flown. My poor blog has been neglected as I have tried to juggle a guest blog, grandchildren, spring break activities, income tax for family members, and school commitments. For the most part, it has been a time of great blessings, but I am exhausted.
I decided that I needed to get busy and connect with my blogging friends again, so I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for this weeks Five for Friday.
Well, that is a glimpse of my week. Next week looks like it will be just as busy. Have a great weekend everyone.
Wow! What a busy February. We just completed Chinese New Year, Groundhog Day, and the opening events of the Olympics last week, and now we are into Hundred Day Week, Valentines Day, and more Olympics. Time is moving so quickly.
Who would have thought we would be visiting a safari in Korea! Everland is a theme park near Seoul. Along with all the rides and amusement attractions, it has a zoo and Safari World. We took a tour in a special jeep that had bars around the outside of it. This gave us an up close experience with the lions, tigers, and bears. We fed them with long tongs and watched as some of them performed for us. One bear danced for us Gangnam style, others played basketball, and one sat in yoga positions. It was a thrill to be a part of this experience.
For the second part of the tour, we road a bus and saw the animals from a bit further away. Great to see them, but not nearly the same exhilaration. Below, are some pictures taken while on the tours.
I can hardly wait to share some of these pictures with my students when we talk about our summer vacations. I think I will have to make some special activities for writing using these pictures.
Hello everyone. It has been a few days since I blogged. Here are some pictures from Korea, some professional books I hope to read, and a new product.
I thought that I would be able to blog regularly and work on some new projects while on vacation, but with the humidity, I have been so tired and it has been hard to work later in the day.
Last week, in the mornings, I went to school and helped my son with his ukulele class. Then after walking home and eating lunch, I needed a short nap before returning to the school to pick up my grandson. For the next couple of hours we would do things together while waiting for everyone else to come home. Then it was suppertime, story time, bath time, and bedtime. By then I had so many blog posts, Facebook posts and emails to catch up on that I had little energy left to do anything else.
I did manage to start working on one of the 4 books that I am hoping to read this summer. The first on my list is Whole Brain Teaching. I am really excited about this and I hope to implement it in my classroom this fall. The toughest part for me will be shortening up my instructions and teaching into small enough chunks. It will be a good way to discipline myself though.
Here are some of the other books on my reading list that I have added to my ipad. I got the Kindle versions so that I could read them anywhere.
Here is a new set of task cards that I have been working on. It has 3 different themes to choose from. It is part of an optimism unit that I am working on. I will be adding it to my TpT store.
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About Me Charlene Sequeira
I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele. Categories
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