I've changed grades............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm terrified, excited, anxious, blessed, terrified, terrified... I moved from Kindergarten to 4th Grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Here are my thoughts on why I changed grades..

I have been teaching for 7 years.  I taught 2 years in the public school system.  My first year was a 1/2 combo class, and the second year was in Kinder.  I kept getting laid off because of the budget cuts, etc. 

At the end of my second year it wasn't looking like I was going to get my job back, so I ended up teaching Kinder, overseas in Cairo, Egypt (I haven't blogged about this...maybe one day?).  After one semester, I came back, and got a job teaching Kinder at a private school, that I am currently at (and I LOVE it there).  

Almost all of my experience has been in Kindergarten.  I love it. I'm good at it.  I have a blog revolving around it.  But I am so early in my career, I don't want to get stuck in one grade forever.  What if I'm better at teaching another grade?  What if I like it MORE?  

I have dreams of teaching college one day, writing a children's book, speaking at conferences, the list goes on...  I feel like I need experience in other grades to become a well-rounded educator before I land in one grade, and stay there.  

For the last couple of years I have been talking with my principal about moving up grade levels.  I thought there would be a 2nd grade opening, and that would have been a perfect new grade to try!  But it ended up being 4th grade!  4th grade?! The BIG KIDS?!?!?!  My first thought was.... do they like glitter!?!?!??!!?  So now I am on this wild ride of the world of 4th grade, and I just finished my first week.  :) 

As for my blog, it has been centered around Kindergarten for the last two years.  That grade is where my creative juices are, and I have MANY posts and products that I'm waiting to share with you on my blog.  My thoughts are, that I will have "4th Grade Fridays," and share 4th grade ideas that day.  The rest of my posts will still be about Kinder or ideas for the classroom that could be used in several grades.  I hope creative ideas start flowing for me in 4th, and I love it just as much as Kinder!!! Thank you for visiting my blog and for reading it once or 100 times!

-Michelle