Soul Sisters: Well. Here we are.

So we've fought this for about two years. The teacher blog. "We don't have time, " we said. "We don't need one," we sighed. "We don't know how to do it," we complained. But here we are. We've got ideas and stories to share that we seem to think the world shouldn't be without. Ha! We also have good teacher stuff to ~~sell~~ make you aware of.

Here's a little about us, as written by Katie. Petie may dispute, correct or add on at any time later. :)

We're just two girls who've been teaching school for 12 years in a little town in North Carolina. We met up in high school at a journalism camp and the rest is history. We ran into each other while we were at Appalachian State University, where we learned everything we know about teaching, and have stuck together ever since. Our first two years teaching we taught at neighboring schools, but I quickly transferred when a 3rd grade spot opened up, where we got to team teach and now refer to those as the "good ol' days." To this day, we don't do a bulletin board without the other's approval. Ha!

We get in trouble a lot. In faculty meetings. In the hallway. On the phone. Going on trips. In restaurants. With our moms, even though we are supposed grown-ups. We have 5 tattoos and of course, plans for more. :) (Sorry, grandmother.) Our previous instructional coach referred to us, along with our other cell mate, The Tattooed Teacher, as "The Dirty Girls." We might get out of hand sometimes. Just. a. Little.

Gingerale is fabulous!

Despite our antics, to which most people, including our husbands and children, have become immune to, we love our jobs and have a real passion for teaching and helping kids learn and navigate life. When we were roommates, we would bounce wacky ideas off of each other while brushing teeth and cooking supper. We've taught 24 years and four different grades combined, tackled some serious student challenges, fought the system, gotten our Master's in Reading and passed our National Boards at the same time, and seen a lot of changes in education since we started. Things are getting a bit crazy in education in our good state of NC. In fact, some things that are down right embarrassing and sad. But more about that later...

Outside of school, we have three children between the two of us and we usually travel in a pack. :) Petie lives for Tennessee football and even wears orange flip-flops, some friendly competition whether it be a bulletin board competition with Rachel or who can catch the most fish, and her two hysterical sweets, Caroline and Tate. Katie would steal cupcakes out of a kid's hands, bake until her feet hurt, and squeeze her boy Tucker until he ran away screaming.

We are teachers down to our soul, but here are some things you might need to know:

You aren't going to find any teacher jumpers in our closets or on us. What is the deal? Are those still around?
We will try to refrain from sickeningly sweet weird things on our blog like "I love to smile." Duh. I mean who likes to frown? Shouldn't that be a given? Sarcasm is our middle name.
Expect to find teaching ideas and activities that are firmly rooted in the common core or state standards. We all know there's just not time for fluff. (Oh, but I miss some fluff and Friday movies!)
Rachel over at The Tattooed Teacher is going to have to give us some pointers in making our blog easy on your eyes. We apologize.
We would buy every Ticonderoga pencil on the planet. Accept no substitutions.

Look forward to our next couple of posts which I imagine will be about setting up our classrooms! We may or may not be armed with lots of crates (the scene in Wal-Mart was embarrassing), two gallons of paint, and some wicked good ideas. In the meantime, visit our store over at Teachers Pay Teachers!

And to celebrate the birth of our blog...our Peace, Love, Grow Data Notebook Start-up Kit is just ONE DOLLAR for the next two days!!! And our Literature Circle Posters are FREE!!!!