By this time, many of us have been back to school at least a week and some (like me) are going to be seeing midterm in a couple of days! It has both been surreal and real.

For me, the surreal is looking at ALL the things I love to do with my classes… sing, gesture, act out stories, play cooperative games, read in the lounge… are now OUT THE DOOR. I struggle with being at home and missing being in the classroom when really the classroom isn’t what my mind is missing. It is the normal routine!

It’s a whole new routine this year and it is REAL. REAL(ly) hard. REAL(ly) tiring. REAL(ly) challenging me to be creative. REAL(ly) inspiring. REAL(ly) low some days and REAL(ly) high others.

I have had days when the kids have blown my mind with how well they engaged and I have had days where we soaked in awkward silence during the class discussion and breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang. I have had the home kids do all the talking while the class stared at me glassy eyed through the webcam and I have had days when the class is carrying the group and I had to ask the “homies” to check in with a thumbs up just so I’d know they haven’t fallen asleep.

I’ve lost “control” if you ever really have that in the first place… In the classroom of 2019, they dutifully motioned along with me as we sang or opened their iPad documents when I asked… (were they always checked in? NO. Some kids are GREAT at going through the motions and being mentally checked out.) 2020 has shown me that a kid who is pouring a bowl of cereal can jump right in and answer a question and a kid sitting front and center in the room looking my giant zoom head in the eyes can have no idea what to say! I just have to trust that they’re along for the ride and keep comprehension checks plentiful so we don’t leave anyone behind!

Huellas 1 & 2 have been a dream of mine for a while.

I had created a ton of units that I loved using in my classroom but they were created little by little over 3 years and I had not mapped out the best path to move from unit to unit! Over the summer, I asked my former student turned grad student to help me look at the material with a critical eye, fill in the gaps, and organize into a smooth sequence. Over the course of 3 months, we were able to polish each and every unit and add remote plans so that not only would they make MY life easier this fall but so that other teachers could have a curriculum to use in their upper level classes as well.

Huellas is going to be on sale for a surprise EXTRABONUS from TPT! They normally have a Back to School sale in August and that’s it for the fall! It looks like they see that teachers are leaning on resources BEYOND the textbook much more this year because… well, 2020 is hard! I hope that if you have been considering Huellas, you’ll find just what you need in the units I have created and that the EXTRABONUS sale will help it fit your budget!

If you’re already using Huellas, don’t forget to follow Somewhere to Share on Facebook, on Instagram, and join the HUELLAS Curriculum Collab group to share ideas and plans!

I know we can’t wait to get back to THIS ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️. But while we wait, I look forward to working together to find ways to really engage the kids no matter how crazy our schedules!