I woke up and it was suddenly the end of 2011!

Wow, time does fly when you have dance concerts, benchmark exams, weekly online assessments, writing exams, and uh - oh yeah, teaching to take care of!  I honestly cannot recall most of what has happened since November until December 15th afternoon when school was let out and I was FREE!  One of the most important tips I can give to other teachers and future educators is this:

I know we don't make good money, and of course the money we do is spent buying supplies for our classroom, but make time and budget something for a VACATION.  We certainly deserve it.  I can tell you wholeheartedly that after 6 years of rigorous, test crazy college prep school + 4 grueling years of undergrad + 1.3 years of graduate school (continuously!!) I never needed a "vacation".  But after 3 months of teaching?  oh yeah, no regrets on my vaca to Florida!

Had to take this photo - can't wait to show my kinder students!

I hope everyone else out there (especially hardworking teachers) has a safe and beautiful holiday and a fresh new year.

See you all in 2012!

Yeah, that's me.  And that's a giant sting ray - no biggy.  SERIOUSLY, GO ON VACATION. <3