Saturday, May 18, 2013

Lots of changes...

Wow, I cannot believe it has been more than a year and a half since I last posted! There have been so many changes in that time, it's strange to think back to where I was at that point! So let's do a little recap, shall we? 

A year and a half ago, I was just starting my Master's in Psychology and was running an in-home daycare. My older daughter had just started Kindergarten and my younger daughter was only 18 months old. My days were filled with dirty diapers and college homework. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind staying home. It gave me lots of time to work on sewing and craft projects which eventually lead me to start this blog. However, life happens and things had to change. The family I was working for moved to Michigan and it forced me to look for a new job. Having two little ones and lots of childcare experience, the logical choice was to go back to work for the daycare company I had worked for before in-home daycare came along. I found a center that was hiring and that would be able to pick my Kindergartener up from school in the afternoon. Seemed perfect until I got my first paycheck and, although I LOVED my coworkers and my classroom, it just wouldn't work to pay more money in childcare than what I was making. Then a friend of mine told me about an opening in the Pre-Kindergarten grade at the charter school she worked at. Not being one to quit a job after working there for 2 months, I applied for the position anyway with many apologies to my current boss. Thankfully she was completely supportive and had no problem giving me longer lunch breaks so I could go to the interview and working interviews. Such a blessing! 

Now I'm finishing up my first year as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher at a charter school. My girls are 3 and almost 7. Plus, with the incredible support of a few of my coworkers, I intend to open both an Etsy shop (for my craft items) and a TpT shop (for all my teacher-y items)! Should prove to be a super busy summer with lots more changes in store but I am very excited!

Finally, because of all these changes, I have decided to revamp the blog a bit. Instead of just being a random mish-mash of crafty items, it will become even more random by including educational items. As I'm making these changes, I would love some feedback and advice if anyone has some to offer. 

Now, if you've actually made it through this post to the very end, I would love to reward you with a freebie. We did a Nursery Rhyme unit a few weeks ago where we learned The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Little Miss Muffet among others. As part of a fine motor center, the children were given Playdough and spiderweb Playdough mats. I simply printed the spiderweb mats and put them in sheet protectors so I could store them in my Nursery Rhyme unit binder for later use. You could also laminate them and trim the sides into a circular shape if you store your Playdough mats in a box rather than a binder.  As my students progressed through the unit, I was also able to use the mat as an addition and subtraction mat using little rubber bug manipulatives I already had. Hopefully you can find some great uses for it too! Simply click the spiderweb to download.

Have a great weekend!
Katie
Random Craftiness


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