My Summer Bucket List

Our school year will be coming to a close on Monday.  I look forward to the summer spent with my sweet kiddos at home, but I will miss my students I had this year.  I love getting to know all of my students throughout the year and each of their unique personalities that add to the make-up of our class.  It's always  bittersweet that last day of school when I say goodbye to them.  We have had such a great year! And as with each class... they have taught me things along the way also.  I love that about kids... I'm always learning something new with each group that I have.

Now that we've been wrapping up, packing, and tossing things this week, I've had a chance to think about my personal summer bucket list.  I'm linking up with Hadar at Miss Kindergarten, Tori at A Cupcake for the Teacher, and April at A Modern Teacher for their summer bucket list linky.  Click on the link  below to join the party, or simply come and check out other summer bucket lists for some great ideas.

Here are my Top 5:

1. Revamp and recreate my classroom library.  I want to separate my fiction and nonfiction books.  I also want a more warm and inviting library with display frames and comfy seating.    I also want to purchase more books for my library.  Many of my students showered me with gift cards to some bookstores.  I can't wait to go shopping! My daughter ,who loves to read books, mentioned that she wanted to go along on this shopping excursion and help select books.

 The picture above comes from Molly's library at Lessons With Laughter.

2. Common Core-  I want to spend some time blending/creating whole language units that are aligned with the Common Core standards using what we have now with our basal series, trade books, social studies units, and science units.  I have already purchased some fabulous items from TPT to help with these units.  I will be using some items and getting ideas from this fabulous book:

3. Organizing my walk-in closet.   My husband's side of the closet looks so nice and neat... but mine is NOT.  I have clothes hanging half off of the hangers.  Purses and scarves are crammed into little closet organizers, and my kids art and school activities that I like to hoard collect are in a pile on top of a plastic bin.  Ugh!  My goal is to try and keep my closet organized after I clean it.  Every summer I organize my closet and then it ends up looking like a disaster by the end of the school year.

4. BOOKS-  I have a long list of books I hope to read for enjoyment.  My family gave me a Kindle for Christmas, and I'm ashamed to say that I have only read 3 books since.  I LOVE to read but with grading papers, blogging, creating items for TPT, and our family of four kids, there is no time left at the end of the day.  Some of the books that are on my Kindle just waiting for me to read are:

This book comes out June 26, and I can't wait.  I love this author.  She is a Christian writer.  I fell in love with her series about the Baxter family a few years ago.  I had so many connections with these books. I often vacationed as a little girl in the community she writes about.  One of the pastors mentioned  in this series also grew up in my hometown church, and his parents still attend there.   The book above is the last book about the Baxter and Flannigan family. 

5.  ( I should have put this first.... because this will come before anything mentioned above.) Fun with my children.  I love summers at home with my kids.  It's such a wonderful perk of being a teacher.  I'm home when they are home AND the best part of that is I still get a paycheck.  Some of the places we will be visiting this summer are:

The pool.... This is an almost daily  afternoon activity.  ( I like it because it wears my kids out.)

The St. Louis Science Center Planetarium... we took our 3rd graders on a field trip there, and I can't wait to take my children.  They will love it!  I think even my two year old might enjoy this one.

St. Louis Zoo... The Sea Lion Sound is set to open June 30.  Each time we take a trip to the zoo, our kids have to check out the progress on this exhibit.  They've been working on it for over 2 years, I think.   I can't wait to show them the new exhibit. 

The St. Louis City Museum...   There are so many fabulous things to look at and explore here. There are even caves for the kids to explore.  There is an aquarium that I want to take my kids to see.  There is even a toddler town for my littlest one to check out.  The picture above is of the rooftop.  One can ride the ferris wheel and get a view of the city of St. Louis atop of a tall building. ( I don't think we will be able to do this particular ride.)

Last, but not least a family vacation to Seaside, Florida.   We fell in love with this town while vacationing in Destin a couple of years ago.  It's located along Scenic 30A on the Gulf side of Florida.  LOVE these beautiful little beach towns along this stretch of road.  It's about an 11 hour road trip for us, but it's SO worth it. The last time we were at the beach our youngest was 6 months old.  I can't wait to see what he thinks of the sand and ocean at 2 years old.  He's a daredevil with no fear, so I think we will have our hands full with this little guy at the beach.

With school about over,  my blogging posts will probably come less frequently.  I plan to do a least one a week, but I'm hoping for two.     With that being said,   Have a fabulous summer!  You all deserve lots of R and R.  I hope you are able to accomplish all that is on your summer bucket list.