Full Speed Ahead

So we've been in school for over a month.  A MONTH.  And we are full speed ahead!  Things have been super crazy the past few weeks.  We are closing on our house this Friday (woohoo!) and moving in next Monday...so there's been a lot going on!  Felt like I should update on how everything is going.  Honestly, it's hard to even describe my first year so far.  The only thing I can really say is that it's been a complete roller coaster.  I have days where I feel like I have everything together and my kids and I are really clicking and I just feel like a real teacher and know this is exactly what I am meant to do.  Then there are the days when I feel completely over my head, my kids are misbehaving or are giving me the "I don't get its" about something we've gone over 500+ times, or I feel like my lessons were just completely blah and by-the-book and I start to question whether I'm really cut out for this.  BUT I will say that overall, I am much less stressed and overwhelmed than I thought I would be.  I thought I would be at school until 6:00 every night, scrambling to make copies every morning, writing lesson plans every single night until midnight, chasing my kids around trying to make them behave.  Fortunately, I'm happy to report that's not the case.  I am able to leave school at 3:45 almost every day and am in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 every night.  And my kids are actually FINALLY starting to "get it" and start following routines.  Again, there are good days and bad days, and sometimes they get a little silly and seem to forget everything I've said (I mean, seriously, I'm not sure how many more times I can say "Silence in the hallway" without my head exploding).  But I'm happy to say that I love all 13 of them and I am so happy and excited {most days} to see their faces.  So I guess I'm still in the state of roller coaster-ness where I'm not really sure how it's going and how I feel about it all.  I'm happy most days to be there and I've been getting positive feedback from my principal and parents (did I mention that my first round of parent/teacher conferences last week? Oh my.  Most terrifying experience ever, next to Meet the Teacher night.  Most of the parents had good things to say -- neutral things, at worst.  And I even had one mom tell me this was the best year her son has had yet...that made me feel pretty good.)

I will have to update soon about some of the things we've been doing lately.  I've found it hard to get creative with my lessons, because right now I'm just trying to stay on top of everything else I have to do.  But I have managed to squeeze a few fun things in there -- and most of them have actually been quite a success!

Anyhoo, that's all for now.  Happy Sunday!