Better than Summer Vacay?

Is there much better than the first day of summer vacation for a beleaguered inner-city teacher? 


Yes! The answer is the first day of summer vacation blogging with one's best friend! Hi Sushila!


I'm really excited about this summer. It'll be my 10th at camp, and the first where I'm directing BOTH shows, one for the middle camp (ages 7-9) and one for the senior camp (ages 10-12). I'm also excited to start planning for my first year with 1st grade! I've been an 8th grade math teacher the past two years, and as much as I love teaching hormonal teenagers (...), I think I am truly an elementary school teacher at heart. 
Actually, I've been finding blogs and things all morning to get ideas for 1st grade. I know the school year is a whole summer away, but for the first time since I started teaching, I can actually plan for the year before it happens! (My first year I was hired three days into the school year, my second year I was laid off and rehired right before school started.) It's said good teachers borrow ideas from others, and the best teachers make ideas worth borrowing. I'm going to start off by being a "good" teacher, I think. Also, teachers are prone to share information with others, so there is a mound of information out there that I can "steal," as it were. 


Other summer plans include getting back into shape. My idea so far is to have a morning run, bike to camp, followed by a morning swim at least three times a week. Maybe more, if I can. I was hoping to do another triathlon in the future, so working on those three components is important. 


I also want to get into strength training. I've heard a couple of good things about Crossfit, so I might try to do some of those workouts, but I've always been a yoga fanatic. I also found a great website: Do Yoga With Me. FREE YOGA VIDEOS FOR EVERYTHING. I'm definitely going to be investing time in this website over the summer. Really, I'm about 10lbs overweight now, and probably about 20lbs from where I would like to be ideally. (A weight I haven't been since college, but hey, one can dream, right?)  Hopefully I can really commit this summer. But blogging with Sushila... that's something that should help me! :oD


I'm also planning on reading a lot this summer, thank you Kindle! Actually, as much as I love writing to you, I think I'm going to go dive into the fourth book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, on which the amazing series Game of Thrones is based on. It's kind of addicting. Better addicted to reading than Facebook, amiright? 


I will keep updating to update you, blog, hopefully once a day! Go team!