Almost Summer!

I am winding down the last official week of being a middle school librarian.  What a wonderful year it has been! This is our last week with kiddos, I have one week left of work (and a HUGE to do list), and then a week of Girl Scout Camp Amiga.

Last year I made this awesome Bucket List (many of the items were on my #40by40 list) because I just knew I would have time! But.. instead.. we moved houses and I moved schools... which in reality made it so I had very little of a summer. I of course enjoyed it.. but THIS summer.. this summer I am looking forward to taking a break. This summer I am going to work on my #40by40, but more importantly I am going to take a Digital Deotx! I loved what Lisa wrote on her Digital Detox/Declutter Why and How. and have set this blog up much like hers. (If you don't already follow Lisa Johnson you need too!)

This summer I will be taking a Digital Detox from Sunday June 16th- Sunday July 28th.
Why I want to do it:
-I need a reset of how much time I am spending on Social Media.
-This next year I want to focus on celebrations and create.
-Priority! My word this next year will be priority. My word last year was Perspective and my perspective changed in so many ways.  From the school I worked in, the new friends I found, and our home life.. I tried to always think about my perspective.  This year, my word is Priority- and I am starting my summer making myself a Priority with a Digital Detox!

What I have already done (and am currently doing)
When I decided to do the Digital Detox, I made a to do list of the various items I wanted to get done so I could feel as if I could take a break. I thought about the various digital platforms I use and decided how I want to use my online space.
-I have organized, deleted items, and just cleaned up my Pinterest, Canva, and Piktochart. I have also organized my 2 different Google Drive accounts. I have also cleaned up my Instagram accounts and Facebook accounts.
-I am ALMOST done organizing my house! We did a ton of yard work yesterday and I only have 2 more rooms to go through.
-I am working on emails.  I did do Unrollme.com and already my main Google account is getting cleaner. I plan to be at zero inbox on my 2 main Google accounts
-I have cleaned up my computer desktop along with deleting all of the download items.
-I joined Camp Gladiator!
-I reorganized my office and craft space.  I am ready to create this summer!

What I plan to do
-Delete apps on my phone.  My phone is where I spend most of my time! So, the apps that will be coming off my phone for this summer are: Yahtzee (I know.. I know.. this is one of my guilty pleasures!) Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, Outlook, Good Reads
-I do plan on keeping Glide, Text Message, Group Me and Marco Polo.  I feel as if those are still real life interactions I have with people. I also plan on keeping Timehop.. I mean I am on a 3 year streak!
-Limit my daily use of computer.  I would like to set time limits on this.. but I will be writing curriculum this summer so will need my computer! I have already cleaned up my bookmarks and history. I will still be checking my social media, but it will not be as often.
-Create and craft! I know what I am doing for Christmas ornaments this year.. and what I am doing for my Ugly sweater. So, I am going to have Christmas in July.  This will give me a chance to actually enjoy the season during Christmas.  I also plan to make lots of birthday, anniversary and various occasion cards. I have addresses and dates.  I am also get prepared for my Girl Scout leader meetings (and this year I want to focus on celebrations!)
-Read! There are SO many books that I want to read this summer, but I am not going to stress if I don't get them all read.
-Work on my #40by40 list.  That birthday is coming up this year.. and I have several things I can knock off my list.
-Update my Memory planner.  I was really good up through October, but then got out of habits.  I hope to build even more habits this summer that prioritize myself and things that make me happy.
-Enjoy my hubby, house, pool.. and RELAX!
-Catch up with friends.

Blogger- I will see you at the end of summer! My #digitaldetox is starting in 21 days!

Teacher Appreciation 2019- Camp Lion

I can't believe that my first year as a middle school librarian is winding down (reflections blog coming up on my Bee In the Bookends Blog soon!)
One of my FAVORITE things to do.. is help plan Teacher Appreciation (okay.. I lie.. I LOVE celebrating people.. so I love that I get a chance to help celebrate teachers during the holiday season and different times throughout the year.. and ooohhh.. do I have some plans for celebrations next year!)
This year Teacher Appreciation theme was Camping.  On Friday this flier went in boxes and was also emailed out. The flier was created in Piktochart which is a program that I use almost weekly in various ways.  It is also a program that I pay for because I use it so much. I also used Canva to create the information about each day.
In order to make sure that the week went off without too much of a hitch, I worked with one of our assistant principals, our amazing Lamar PTA, our fantastic secretary Tina, and some outstanding parent volunteers.  Of course I got some great ideas and help from the Skurtcrew!

Enjoy the pictures of the week, I usually know what I am doing the next year and start planning.. but inspiration hasn't hit me yet! Elliott Elementary did an a really cool one that was Wizard of Oz theme (Elliott teachers are Oz-some)

Monday- Don't feed the bears, but PTA fed us some awesome griddle cakes.  I also created a photo booth

Tuesday- Trail mix bar- we put the items in cast iron (I would have gotten a picture of it full.. but I didn't make it in time.

Tuesday night I also hosted a volunteer appreciation event for our Girl Scout Service Unit. We moved it to a restaurant this year, and Angelo's in Irving did an AMAZING job! During the event we celebrated graduating seniors, girls that had earned their Gold Awards, volunteers that were recognized with various awards, and just celebrated volunteers overall.

Wednesday- We celebrated Nurses day with kits to help teachers be prepared.  These included a little note that I found at Tried and True blog.  The goody bag had highlighters, a sharpie, pens and some paperclips (our parent center volunteers put these baggies together and also made sure they got in boxes!).  During the staff meeting admin also gave ALL staff members personalized water bottles (thanks to Mari and Leslie for making sure those happened!)  Admin also wrote little notes on each table for the staff meeting and left lots of goodies for us to enjoy!

Thursday- We could use S'More teachers like you!  Although we talked about having an actual s'more station.. it was much easier to make little s'more kits.  It is also testing season, so putting items in boxes made sure that everyone had a chance to make their own.  We also had a teacher bring up some yummy breakfast foods to share with the staff.

Friday-Camp food! Our Admin team made sure the teachers had some great hot dogs with all the fixings! They also had some fun cupcakes (because we all know that teachers are pooped at this time of year) For drinks staff members were invited to use their new water bottles and create their own favorite sonic style drink (we had cherry, vanilla and some Sonic ice)  I was not able to be at school that day because I had the opportunity to watch the young woman who I used to be a nanny for graduate college!

 

I think overall it was a successful Teacher Appreciation week.  I look forward to celebrating teachers and staff even more this next year!

This summer I am doing a Digital Detox... my new blog will share my plans for this and also my word of the year.