New State, New Grade, New School, NEW NAME!

Hello everyone! You may remember this site as "The First Grade Brigade" from a handful of years ago. (OK, 4 years ago - EEK!!) I know, I know...I did a few posts and fell off the face of the Earth. In that long span of time A LOT has happened! My husband was deployed, he came home and I we moved to Ohio, I got a new teaching job teaching Kindergarten, WE HAD A BABY!, I started my Master's degree, I was moved back to teaching 1st grade,  I had to moved schools, AND now I'm back to Kindergarten this year. It's been crazy, but I'm back now - I promise!

I thought it would be appropriate for my 1st post to be a reboot of the last post I did before leaving the Blogging world on an extended vacation. So, here it goes -

A NEW Meet the Teacher Monday 

(a little late- AGAIN!)

Tell us a little something about you...

My name is Kristen. I'm originally from West Virginia, but went to college in PA and taught in Pittsburgh for about 7 years. After my husband's last deployment we moved to Ohio for his work. I miss Pittsburgh, but am learning to love Ohio as well - go Buckeyes!

After packing up and moving to Ohio, my husband and I found out I was pregnant with our first child. We have have a very bright, energetic, two-year-old son who we're both over the moon for.

Right now I'm in the process of unpacking and prepping for a new school year. After teaching 1st grade last year, I've been asked to switch schools and grade levels and go back to Kindergarten for this coming year. I'm both excited and a little nervous for the switch! 

How long have you been teaching?

This is my 11h year teaching (GASP! Really?! I've already been teaching that long?!) 

You might not know...

Well there's a lot you might not know. I've been MIA for the past 3 years for goodness sakes! A couple interesting facts though: 

1- I teach 1/2 day Kindergarten, which means I'll have up to 52 little loves this year in my classroom. 

2- I am getting my Masters Degree in Educational Technology, which means you'll see a lot of posts on great technology tips and tricks as I learn about them. 

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

This is a tricky one. I'm still sad about leaving all of my friends at my old school. However, I'm looking forward to working with my new teaching partner, Erin, and also with meeting new friends and families at my new school. I'm looking forward most to meeting my two new group of students!

What do you need to improve?

I need to work on procrastinating less. I have a horrible habit of waiting until the last minute and then scrambling to get things done. With two classes this year, I've got to get better and staying on task!

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

1. My Mimeo Board. After moving to a new district, I learned that I would no longer have a SMART Board. The Mimeo is very similar though (thank goodness!) and I couldn't live without it either!

2. Stickers and Stamps- I have 3 entire drawers plus a organizer box FULL of them! 

*This one hasn't changed since the last time I posted - in fact, my stamp collection has probably doubled thanks to a retiring teacher who gave me her collection!

3.  Sharpies! I love, love, love them! I use the super fine ones for all my writing, and I think I have a huge drawer with every color imaginable as well. 

4. My computer. Seriously. I don't know how people lived/taught without computer access. I spend way to much time on my computer researching, planning, and creating for my classroom.