When Life Hands You Lemons

     I'm sure we have all heard that famous cliche... "When life hands you lemons... make lemonade."  That couldn't be more true for me this weekend (hang in there I promise there is teacher "stuff" in this post).  This weekend had such great possibility.  Originally we had planned to go to Los Angeles to go to Disneyland with some friends.  That changed Friday night when we had an opportunity to go look at a house (we are currently looking for our first home to buy).  We were planning on going to LA after viewing the house, however we had a change of heart and decided the "adult" thing to do would be to stay home and save some money.  We stayed home and our weekend continued on normally and was actually relaxing.
      Fast forward to Sunday... everything hit the fan.  We have been staying at my mom's house for a couple of months until we find a house we like and things went crazy yesterday morning.  Not with her but with her "husband".  Needless to say we made a quick decision and left her house in ONE DAY!   We moved everything out of her house and into my in-laws house.  I have never been more grateful for a three day weekend as I am right now.  With all that to say how I am making lemonade is by putting my all into my resources right now.  I have added on to a growing bundle I am creating for teachers.
     I know for myself as a teacher there are so many events, holidays, early dismissals, field trips, ect. that I have to remind parents about.  I started to create a Parent Reminder growing bundle with easy to use print outs of reminder notes to send home.  I have created a colored version as well as black and white.  This has been my way of relaxing on this MLK day.  It has been a whirlwind but I am so thankful that I have this day to unwind and relax.  I couldn't have imagined going back to work today right after everything happening yesterday.

     I am excited about this resource.  It has saved me so much time I just print out the one I need and make 7 copies.  It has been a lifesaver.  Below you can find the picture day parent reminders.  As I add more to the bundle price will go up.  I hope you all have a great Monday and have and amazing week.

Picture Day 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Parent-Reminders-4307065

Back at School

It's official! We are back at school! It has been one long week and I still technically have today to get through. Don't get me wrong it's been a great week of learning and fun, but I have never been more excited to have a weekend to recover. This week seems to have been like a month. I hope all of your weeks have been great!

This year my goal for this blog is to post at the very minimum once a week (if not more). I have always loved the thought of a blog and how awesome it is that it's a virtual diary of sorts. Years from now I can come back and read about my days in room 303.

I wanted to share a victory I have had this week. I have one challenging student who for the past 83 days has not written her name. She just writes a bunch of lines and random letters. It has been frustrating to say the least. It's not just her name she hasn't learned any uppercase or lowercase letters as well. When I do assessments she just says any random letter that comes to her mind. WELL.... after 83 days of working with her (the days she was at school)... SHE CAN WRITE HER NAME (almost) hahaha. She has at least the correct letters they are just not in the correct order. I take that as a win!

As a go into this weekend ahead of me I am hoping to keep that victory in my mind so I can plan for next week with happy thoughts of all the possibilities.

Thanks for reading and I hope your weekend is blessed!

(This photo is from Tuesday when our reading buddies came to write goals for 2019.)

Who is Alycia Ruiz?

Hello everyone out there in cyberspace! My name is Alycia Ruiz. This is my first ever blog post so I figured I would introduce myself. I have been married to my best friend for 3 and half years. I am a Christian woman and believe with my whole heart in having a relationship with our Heavenly Father. I am also a Kindergarten Teacher. A fun fact about me is that I teach in the same "school" I grew up going to. I say "school" because the name and location of changed since I attended, but it is still one in the same. My fourth grade teacher is now my colleague how crazy is that!? I have been teaching Kindergarten for 5 years now and have loved every minute of it. Growing up I have always wanted to be a teacher. I thought I would either teach 2nd grade or even junior high. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be a kindergarten teacher. I have also recently started being a health coach in January 2018.
I am born and raised in California. More specifically in the San Francisco Bay Area. For those who think we all surf here in California that DOES NOT apply to me. I actually have a fear of water. Another fun fact about me is I learned how to ride a bike at the age of 29. As a child I had a bike with training wheels it either broke or got stolen (I can't remember) and I just never got a new one.
Well, that's a short bio on me. My hopes for this blog is to share the life of a teacher with whoever is interested. I plan on sharing activities I use in the classroom as well as my life outside of school with healthy living and my adventures in my travels. Basically I plan on this being my journal. So if you want to follow along I welcome you.