Tip of the day

NEVER get behind a school bus on the way to school on a 2 lane road. You can't pass. And it stops every 50 feet.

Another thing for today....a sweet mother called me today and offered to take home everyone's water bottles on Friday to wash them. The return them on Monday. Yay! Sanitary water bottles!

She also offered to come help me copy, file, stuff folders, etc. every other Tuesday from 11-2. YAY! Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm so glad she is doing that for me. Filing their papers and putting all of them in their weekly take home "Tuesday folder" is a huge job that takes at least an hour.

3 Gifts

Yesterday morning the kids were coming in and getting all settled in for the day when a little girl gives me her yearbook picture from last year. aww! How sweet! So I go tac it to my board by my desk. Then a little boy throws a ziplock bag in my lap. I said, "What's this?!" (I thought it was his lunch or something and he threw it at me, expecting ME to go put it up for him!) He didn't respond. So I asked again (a tad irritated because he didn't answer and because I thought he wanted me to take care of his "chores" for him). Then I looked in the bag....whoppers, extra large fudge round, chocolate covered granola bar... "Oh my gosh! Is this for me?!" He nods his head. "AWW!! Thank you! I LOVE chocolate." hahaha So so so so sweet. It looked like he got a ziplock bag, opened his pantry, and put one of everything he had that was chocolate in the bag for me. (I've told the kids I love chocolate a few times. purposely.) lol  I'm sure his mom is going to go look for that fudge round tomorrow to put in his lunch and ask, "Where in the world did that last fudge round go?" haha Gotta LOVE EM!

Right after all that took place a little girl comes and  gives me a pink bracelet. Made of yarn. A 3rd gift! haha They love giving people things at this age. (Hints why I told them so many times that I like chocolate).

Drama Alert: We just found out that our school is opening up another kindergarten classroom for all of the overflow kindergartners in the district. Um, we do not have an extra classroom. SO they are kicking music out of a classroom, putting music on a cart, and the music teacher will travel from room to room to teach music (just like our art teacher now does). Not only will that mean the kids will be in the classroom during my only planning time, but they will be SINGING! Lovely.


Now, who is going to teach these new little babies? Well, fairly, it should be the 4th grade "sub" that has been here since teacher in-service and worked her butt off for only sub pay. But they haven't made a decision yet! They interviewed people today so we shall see. If the 4th grade "sub" doesn't get it, it is going to be so sad. She deserves it. She has worked so hard. She deserves a "Real" job. Update tomorrow.

Today I had lunch in the classroom with 6 of my students. I will eventually do it with all of them. They loved it. They felt so so special! It was fun for me too.

Since the first day of school, they have been searching through magazines to find words that describe themselves for their spelling notebook. They finally finished today. They glued them on then after school I put mod podge on them. They turned out cute.

After school I went and got a teacher bag! It's so nice because it stands up like a box. AND it was only $14.

Your shoe broke?

Story of the day...

My hyper child tells me his shoe is messed up. So, I tell him to stop messing with it. Not too long later he yells to me from the opposite side of the classroom, "My shoe broke!" What? Ok. Come here. I tell him to go to the office so that they can call someone to bring him some shoes. I tell him to walk down the hall, not run, no talking in the hall, and to come straight back.

Well, 5 minutes later he barges in the door and yells to me again from the opposite side of the room, "They don't have my Dad's work number..."  Now, everyone else in the class is sitting at their seat reading silently. So I stop him mid-sentence and tell him to come to me and not yell at me.

He tells me how the office doesn't have his Dad's work number. BUT Mrs. Garratt across the hall does! OK? So, I send him to the computer lab down the hall where he's supposed to be. I see Mrs. Garratt in the hall so I go ask her if she has his Dad's number. She gives me a confusing answer, tells me to send him to the office next time, then says she already called him. Hmm....odd. (I did send him to the office, btw). How did she already know to call? I just know told her? Did the office tell her to call? I'm confused.

Then it hits me! Ugh. I call that sweet little hyper boy over to me. Looked him in the eyes..."Did you go and disrupt Mrs. Garratt's class to tell her to call your Dad without even asking me?!?!?!" The guilty look and silence answered my question. I got on to him for not only disturbing her in the middle of class, but for going somewhere he did NOT have my permission to go! AHH!

Later I explained to Mrs. Garratt the whole situation. She told me how he just came in her class and told her to call his Dad because he knew her husband worked with his Dad.

Man oh man. Needless to say, the reason his phone BROKE was because he was playing with it. So when I saw him playing with his unbroken shoes later in the day, I made him take them off and place them on my desk until he was ready to wear them properly. 5 minutes later he asked for them back.

hahaha Oh I love them.

Another note, my chair cushion got finished! It's kind of boxy but oh well.

I still want to add some ribbon and Miss Baker to it. Stay tuned.

This weekend I glued frogs to clothespins to use to hang up their work in the hall. After googling cute frog themed phrases one caught my attention. So I spent a good amount of time die-cutting and ticky tacky-ing letters to the wall. And after all that work, it doesn't match and it really bothers me. :( Ugh.

"Toad" ally Awesome Work!!!

Wew! It's only Monday but I'm worn out. Thankful for that sweet boy of mine. He came over after work to hang out. He always helps me to settle down, stop working, and just relax. :-)

A follow-up to the pacman question

I told my parents today about the boy asking if pacman was in our family picture. They laughed and asked why he thought that. Well, I don't know why. So I went and got our family picture and looked...

hahaha Do you see "pacman?" lol priceless. I guess I just learned that 3rd graders are honest and ask real questions. I thought he was just crazy or trying to be a class clown. But now I'm thinking he was really wondering why pacman was in the background. Gotta love em.

I <3 Saturdays more than ever. Slept for 12 hours straight. Aw, wonderful.

Bee Hydrated

Happy Friday! Day 2 of school went well too. I am so glad it was only a 2 day week so that everyone can have the weekend to sleep! Today the kids went to an assembly about the importance of staying hydrated. The best part, they all got free water bottles to stay at school. The water fountain just does not give them enough water. They all love their water bottles.

All of them drank 2 bottles of water today. I'm sure it had to do with the fact that they're new and cute and it was 104 degrees outside.

It was funny this morning because none of my kids' parents walked them into school! I say that surprised because I knew kindergarten and even second grade parents that walked their child to class everyday until the last day of school. Crazy!

Yesterday I showed them a powerpoint to introduce myself. There was a picture of my family and one boy raised his hand and asked, "Is that pacman in the picture with your family?"

No, actually, pacman was not in my family portrait. hahaha Gotta love em!

First Day of School

Today was my very first day of school as a real 3rd grade teacher. It could not have been more perfect. I have an amazing class. They are just so sweet, I love them already. I used some strategies I learned through a book called The First Days of School by Harry Wong in order to start off the day right. And it WORKED like a charm! I could not believe it. The kids started coming in at 7:15. The tardy bell rang at 7:45 and this was my class at that time...

 

All seated. All on task. Wow! Awesome! After school I went to the teacher store to buy supplies, dinner with Blake at Chili's, then to Walmart. It was fun to see one of my 3rd graders from last year as an intern at Walmart. Life is just great.

Yesterday my sweet sweet aunt that teaches 2nd grade sent me flowers to say good luck on my first day! Have I mentioned lately how blessed I am?

 

And finally...remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait to go see who your teacher for the year was going to be? And you waited outside the school doors until they posted it. Then you pushed your way to the front of the line to see who your teacher was and which ones of your friends were in your class? Well, first year teachers get just about that excited too! :-)

Cleaning Day

Today is Sunday and I woke up at 8:00 to get some things done before going up to my classroom. I worked on getting the math lessons into the correct containers, ran a few errands, then went up to school. My friend Julianne (the one moving away to college this week) came up to see my classroom and help me for awhile. She willingly put together my new lamp and vacuumed my rug. She is such a doll.

While she was doing that I cleaned the counters a shelves because everything is old and a little dirty. It just needed a good scrubbing!

I think it's looking pretty darn good....

Math Board

Smart Board :-D

My desk!

Table where I'll lead reading groups

View from the front corner

View from the back corner

I love that I have an outside door

View from the front door

It's gettin' there

On Saturday I woke up at 7:00 to get started on my classroom. I got up to school and had a nice long chat with a fellow intern that had just interviewed for the 4th grade long term sub job that I was going to do. It wasn't 2 hours later that she called me to tell me SHE GOT THE JOB! I was THRILLED because she is so sweet and genuine. She is just one of those people that everyone loves and she's always positive. Her getting the job was just the icing on the cake. Could not be happier.

I worked in my room all day. My mom came up and helped then Blake came up to help. I was surprised he was willing to spend a good part of his Saturday doing "chores" in my room but he was good help. I made him a list of things to do on the board and he did all of them. (sharpened pencils, numbered cups and workbooks, hung posters, made labels, etc.). I am so blessed with loving people in my life that help me out.

After working in the classroom we went to a couple of jewelry stores to look at engagement rings :-D Such an exciting time in my life. He also told me he was planning to move here soon. He only lives 25 minutes away but it will still be nice to have him 5 minutes away instead.

After ring shopping we went to dinner at Shoguns for a goodbye party for a friend I worked with this summer. Wew! What a long day!

Here's Blake ready to leave after he did all his chores. (You can tell he's ready since he's wearing my purse. Anything to help me get out of there quicker. haha)

Exhausted

Today started at 7:00 AM for the teacher fair. This was actually fun because it's like trick-or-treating for teachers! There's a ton of different booths set up in the high school's cafeteria and you walk from one to the next with a bag and they give you all kinds of things! I had 2 huge bags full of pens, pencils, notepads, glue sticks, highlighters, etc.

After teacher fair it was classroom work day. I worked in my classroom from 9:00-7:30. Then did a Walmart run, with the school's credit card! :-D Overall it was a great day. I learned so much from the teacher that I am replacing. I got a lot accomplished, but there is still a ton to do. I'll be working in my room all weekend.

One of things I am aiming for is to have my books organized the way the previous teacher had hers.

Just an amazing way to organize them! So far I just have ONE red tub of books for my kids. I have a lot of shopping to do. But for now, it's 11PM and I have got to get some sleep!

First First Day

Today was my official full first day of new teacher orientation! Although I have not signed a contract yet, I was invited to the new teacher in-service because I will be the long term sub in a 4th grade classroom to start out the school year (with hopes that I will either be placed under contract in a different grade or in that position shortly). As I begin my first year of teaching I wanted to create a blog to document the cute things my kids say that I will want to remember. I told myself I was going to do it all throughout my internship but I didn't, and regretted it. But now, I will be a "real" teacher and will get a second chance! I hope I capture some memorable moments.

My first blog photo is of a folder I received today at the orientation. The reason it's so special is because I am anticipating an offer for a third grade position at the school where I am the sub currently. The assistant principal hands me this folder....

3rd?!?!?! It says 3rd! So, at this time we are supposed to separate into our grade levels. So naturally I go ask her, "MY folder says 3rd! :-D Should I go with 3rd teachers? Or 4th teachers?" She says, "I'd go with 3rd if I were you. Not that I know anything (wink wink)." Sounded good enough to me! And that's where I stand as of tonight. I will let you know as soon as something is official!

I GOT A JOB!

Yesterday I called the principal to find out if the 3rd grade teacher got offered a new job as the literacy coach and SHE DID! :-) Which means, the principal was faxing over my recommendation papers to the superintendent right when I called her! (But I "wasn't supposed to know" or else she could get in trouble). It wasn't five minutes later (4:00), I got a call from the superintendent. I answered, she told me who she was, then said, "How would you like to start work tomorrow?" AHH! I was thrilled! I GOT A JOB! I am officially a 3rd grade teacher. I did an 18 week internship in 3rd so I have the most experience there. It could not have worked out any better. The current teacher had already set up her classroom so all I have to do is go in and make it my own. :-) Today was the official first day back for all the teachers. It was so exciting to be introduced as the new 3rd teacher. I loved everyone I met and especially my team. They seem like they really work well together. They are already so willing to help me. I just love it.

After our all day in-service, I had to go meet the superintendent that called me yesterday, just to finalize the hire. I signed some papers and got my official name tag. She was very nice and sounded genuinely surprised that I had not been "snatched up" by someone else before now. I guess this is just where I am meant to be. God is Great. He really does have a plan for all of us. You just have to have faith. He works in mysterious ways.

Official name tag!