Well I got through the first week of school, but it was filled with conflicting emotions. I normally love the first week of school. The students are always filled with joy and eager to please their new teacher, and I am usually filled with new energy and ideas to start the year. This year I had the same energy and excitement and the same joy filled students, but there was one huge change. This school year I had to leave my three-month-old baby at daycare while I come to school to facilitate creativity, excitement, and learning. I spent the first few days building relationships with students and going over rules and procedures, all while wondering how my baby was doing in the care of someone else.

Although the time away from my son was hard, I'm happy to report that he seemed to have a great experience in daycare. His provider sent me pictures updates throughout the day and he even started taking hour long naps for the first time ever! Knowing he is well taken care of helped me give my best to my students the first week and reminded me of how important it is to communicate with parents.

I recently found a quote that I absolutely love: "Everyone in my classroom is someone else's entire world." These precious little lives that I work with every day are loved by someone, and that someone is trusting me with their care and education. That is a responsibility that I don't ever want to take lightly. I want to make sure that guardians are always a part of the journey as I guide my students to achieve new goals and inspire the four C's (creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking).

This summer I became a part of the Digital Age Learner Leadership Academy (DALLA) and I was challenged to create a project for the year that incorporated the ISTE standards. My first idea was to dig deeper into student blogging, but after my recent separation anxiety I decided I wanted to really increase the home-school connection. I decided that this year, I want my students to create their own web pages using Weebly Education. It will be the third grade version of picture updates. I'm hoping that the web pages will help students compile and manage a digital portfolio that highlights all that they learn this year and will keep parents up to date and involved.

I have a feeling it's going to be a great year!!!