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!

2 weeks down...and...um...a lot more to go

So I officially have 2 weeks of real, actual, all-day teaching under my belt.  Woohoo! And I have to say that overall, the past 2 weeks have been wonderful.  I am actually able to leave school around 3:45 and have been going to bed at 8:30 every night.  Which doesn't sound like anything special except that I am typically used to hitting the sack around 1 am.
Anyway, besides the fact that my body is slowly and painfully adjusting to this new sleep schedule (and to the invasion of little 8-year-old germs...but that's a whole other story) I actually ALMOST feel like I'm in some sort of groove.  I am already loving my little ones.  I was talking to my mom after my first day and I told her, "I don't know what's wrong with me...I don't love them!" and she laughed and said, "You just met them!" I guess I thought that when they walked into my room and I knew they were mine, I would automatically love them.  Alas, no.  Not the case at all.  It took till about Friday of the first week to actually start to feel like I knew them at all.  I think what helped most was that I pulled each one aside the first few days and asked them a bunch of questions (When is your birthday? What did you do this summer?  What's your favorite subject? TV show? etc. etc.).  They LOVED that! And it gave me a chance to really get to know them better.  They were so different when I talked to them alone as opposed to in front of their friends.  I also discovered that one of my sweet little girls (who is new this year) wants to be a teacher when she grows up!  I asked her what she liked to do when she got home from school and she said "Play teacher."  Which is exactly what I did when I was her age -- I went home every day, lined up my stuffed animals in front of the chalkboard my parents had gotten me, and taught my little butt off.  So not saying I have a favorite or anything, buuuuuuttttt... ;)

Anyway, my little friends are really starting to learn their routines (slowly...and I do mean slowly...but surely).  They forget a lot, so we have to practice, practice and practice some more.  But for the most part, they are getting it.  Seriously, I wish you could come into my room in the mornings.  They walk in, mark their attendance, unpack, I put on a little classical music, and in just a few short minutes, all my friends are in their desks working on their morning warm-up in complete engaged silence.  I LOVE these moments.  I just sit and smile to myself.  Not to say this magic lasts throughout the day (HA) but for those few magic moments, I am in complete teacher heaven.

So let's just say that my first two weeks have not been perfect.  I have had those "Ohmigosh what did I get myself into? I am SO not cut out for this!" moments.  At one point, I literally curled into a ball on the floor in the little corner of my classroom (no, the kids were not there). But then there are those moments when one of my little ones moves their clip up and gets a huge smile on their face, or I get a little hug when I drop them off at P.E., or they rush into the room in the morning dying to tell me some big news in their life that they just couldn't wait to tell me.  Those, my friends, are the moments that remind me why the hell I ever got myself into this in the first place.

I'm a Survivor (...and classroom pics!)

(Do you have that Destiny's Child song in your head after reading the title? Cause I do.)

Ok, so today was my very first day with the kids.  If I had to sum it all up in one word....I can't.  So I'll use 3.  Scary.  Hectic.  Awesome.  It was a noon release day, so I tried to shove as much procedure/routine instruction as possible (poor little things' eyes were glazing over after a while).  But they were troopers and even when I forgot to let them have snack time (ok no one told me we were supposed to do that...and come on, third grader snack time? really??) they still stuck it out and pulled through.  And we all got through the day, no mishaps and no tears (not even on my part!)  I spent most of the day talking TO them (seriously, there are so many procedures to teach...how to walk in the room, how to line up, how to walk in line, where to put your backpack, etc. etc. etc. etc....snooze) so I can't wait to actually start getting into the fun curriculum-y stuff so I can really get to know them.  Because honestly, they all seem like really good kids.  I couldn't spot any troublemakers (remind me to come back and read this post in October for a good laugh...)

Anyway, as promised, I am posting my classroom "After" pictures.  Now, I'm also including the Before pictures.  If you've been paying attention, you know that the before pictures I took were of a completely different room -- the room across the hall which is now fourth grade.  But it's ok and still accurate because luckily, all of the classrooms are designed almost the exact same way.  So let's just pretend that it's the same room, k? K.

So here. we. go.

Front of the room/board - Before

Front of the room/board - After!

View from the front of the room - Before

...and after!

View from the back of the room - Before

...after!

Window wall before...

Turned into our classroom library area!

And just a few of my favorite little parts...

My door

Our Helping P.A.W.S. ("Providing Assistance With a Smile") and my attendance board.  Are you catching on to my theme yet?

My desk corner and our birthday wall

Hanging in my classroom library.  I made that little guy over the summer.  I'm very proud of him!

Clip chart and motivational posters I printed from Technology Rocks. Seriously.

So that's it, guys! My classroom.  My home away from home.  Took a lot of thought, time, effort, money and help.  But it turned out so well, and I love it! Couldn't have done it without my wonderful mom or hubby. 

Oh and speaking of hubby...found these little guys on my desk today when I got back from carpool duty.  Ain't he the greatest?

OMG y'all

I have followers...two of them! And I'm not related to either of them! Nor do I know them personally!!  Shout out to Megan (my very first follower) at I Teach. What's Your Superpower? and Tammy at Groovy in Third!  I kind of feel pressured to come up with good stuff, now that I know it's not just my mom and brother reading it.


Also, more exciting news. Got word today that...wait for it.........I officially have my room! For reals this time.  Hubby is coming with me to start setting up tomorrow.  Oh man, I've been working on so many things and have so many fun things I'm excited about.  I can't wait to post pictures, but I want to wait until {most} everything is set up and looking all cute together.  So stay tuned. Fun things to come!   

Breeeeathe, juuuust breeeeathe.

Ok, so at this point in the summer, my vision was to have a classroom with colorful bulletin boards in place, desks arranged with ample walking room in between, a super organized desk with pictures and alma mater memorabilia, and my beautiful library with the 300+ books I've accumulated, all organized in neat bins with colorful pillows and a cozy reading spot for my little friends.  Sounds wonderful, right?

Want to know what it actually looks like?  Piles and piles of books, Dollar Tree baskets, and an assortment of random classroom items scattered about the guest bedroom and living room in our little apartment.  Pillows, bookshelves (still in the boxes, mind you), pocket charts, lamps, and a {super cute but still rolled up} IKEA rug, all shoved into a little corner in my fellow 3rd grade teacher's room at school.  You could say that things have not exactly gone according to plan.  Why, you ask? Well turns out, the room I took pictures of.  The room I had sat in and rearranged and planned out where everything was going to go.  Yeah, it's not my room anymore.  They moved me.  Now, all of the rooms in the school are pretty much the same, so no big deal, right? Just put everything in the same place and start getting your stuff in there! Yes, that would be great, except that at this point, I don't have a room.  That's right.  I meet my kiddos and their parents in less than 2 weeks, and I have not been assigned a new room.  Oh, and it gets better.  My amazing mom came to my rescue to help me load and haul everything to school and help me set everything up, only to find out once we got to the school that we wouldn't be able to do anything because I didn't have a room to do it in.  So now, I am patiently waiting for my room assignment and key while all my crap valuable teaching and learning materials are shoved into the corner of my wonderful coworker's room, all the while seeing pictures of my fellow teaching friends posting pictures of their adorable classrooms already set up and already looking adorable.  Le sigh.

Ok, complain session over.  I completely understand that there are always unforeseeable changes over the summer.  And some teachers don't even know what or even where they're teaching at this point.  So I am still counting my blessings that I even have a job and that it's at a wonderful school.  And that I get to meet my little ones in just a very short time! Plus, my mom  is coming back to help me once I finally do get into my room.  Seriously, I told her a million times that she didn't have to come because I felt terrible that she had already come once and we didn't even get to do anything in the room. But being the wonderful mom she is, she insisted.  Have I mentioned how amazing my mom is? 'Cause she is.

So anyway, that's why I have yet to post ANY classroom pics.  I've just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for word.  HA! Yeah right.  I have been making posters, organizing my library {good gracious, that's an exhausting job}, writing my classroom procedure book, etc. etc. and lots more etceteras.

Hoping to hear something by tomorrow -- just cross your fingers that I get to see my classroom before my kids do ;)

My Classroom - The Befores

Well, it's finally happened.  I got to see my classroom today! I have to admit, I got a mix of underwhelming/overwhelming feelings all at the same time when I walked in.  I was a little underwhelmed because it looked very empty and very...well...blah. But I have to remind myself that there is nothing in it so the blahness is only temporary.  I felt overwhelmed because it's just so EMPTY and I just feel like I have so much to do before my kiddos come in less than 4 weeks. But I do love how big and spacious it is! And there seems to be a pretty good bit of storage space, which is always a plus!

So let me give you the grand tour...

(I didn't bring or do anything in it today.  I just went to look, so these before pictures are completely authentic.  They show the room exactly how it looked when I walked in and saw it for the very first time!)

View when you first walk in the door

View from the back, right side of the room

View from the back, left side

My desk area!

Front of the room

Side wall and windows

Back of the room

Back of the room, part 2

View from my desk where I will be looking on as my little friends work

So there you have it...my room! I will update on the progress, but I may skip the pics and save all "after" pictures until the very end of summer, right before my kiddies come, when it's all bright and clean and ready.  That way the transformation will be much more visible and jaw-dropping (whoa, that's some serious pressure I'm putting on myself -- I better get crackin')

And of course, any suggestions are welcome!

Ode to Target

My family and hubby will vouch for the fact that I am obsessed with Target.  However, since getting married and quickly realizing that money doesn't magically appear in my bank account (sorry, Mom and Dad!) I haven't been making my weekly Target trips.  It's a dangerous place where I go in for "a few things" and leave with 2 cartfuls of things I DO NOT NEED (one time, I literally bought a giant clothespin. It was just one clothespin and it was about 50x the size of a regular clothespin.  Seriously? Who would see that and ever think, "Wow a giant clothespin! I know exactly what I can do with that! I have to have it!") Anyhoo, today I decided to finally return to my beloved Target because I needed some things they don't carry at my regular grocery.  After cruising by the Starbucks (my two favorite places in one building...seriously, the place is Heaven) I passed by the Dollar Spot which is conveniently located right by the entrance.  And what should they have in the Dollar Spot this week you ask?  TEACHER STUFF.  OMG.  I could barely contain my excitement.  I seriously stood in that section picking through EV ERY THING I could get my little hands on.  So now I bring to you my finds! Keep in mind that everything you see here is A DOLLAR.  I know. I know! My mind was blown too.

First up, we have books, books, books! This was the very first thing I spotted and was super excited  about them.  I have been building my library collection all summer (I'll dedicated another post to that!) but was excited to add some classics.  These are modified junior editions and are all grade 3 reading level...it was fate!  

Next we have these little tin buckets.  Yes, those are little chalkboard labels on each of them.  Adorbs, right? That was the part I was most excited about.  I'm thinking about keeping sharpened pencils in one, unsharpened in another, and maybe erasers in the third.   

 Then I spotted a few of these little pocket charts and grabbed some.  I heart pocket charts but the good ones can be a little espensive.  Do I care if these fall apart on me in the next year? No. They were a dollar. I will get my money's worth out of them. 

 

 Then I had to grab some other little goodies. A little Math Bingo game, some bookmarks and stickers.  Because a teacher can never have enough stickers. 

And now for the grand finale....

Mini dry-erase boards and tiny little markers!!! Yay!!!!

I knew I wanted to have dry erase boards in my classroom, because they have SO MANY USES (writing practice, math facts, class games, understanding check, etc. The possibilities are endless!) However, they can be expensive as well.  I was going to make my own OR I've heard you can buy shower board at Home Depot and they will cut it for you.  But when I saw these, I had to jump on them.  Already cut, double-sided, $1 a piece, AND they have handwriting lines.  Ummm....I'll take 20, thank you very much. And how adorable are those little dry erase markers?  I can already see my little ones using them to solve division problems and practice their cursive!

So there you have it.  My stumble-upon finds, all for a dollar.  Thank you, Target!!