one week down

Here are a few pictures of my kids in the reading corner (which they love!) and working at their desks. This week flew by, but was so exhausting! I was asleep by 8:30 several nights this week. Or, I would come home and fall asleep at 6:30 on the couch only to wake up and do a few things and go right back to bed. My mom is in town this weekend and she took me to buy some comfortable shoes. I never realized how bad my feet would hurt after standing and chasing kiddos all day! I have resigned, sadly, to the fact that in teaching comfort is more important than looks... at least for shoes!

We had meet the teacher night this Wednesday. Only a few of my parents came. There were a few that spoke no English at all and I had to use their children (my students) to translate. It was interesting. I do have a few parents that seem willing to help though which will be nice. And I have found myself already understanding certain Spanish words and sometimes even almost speaking it! It is pretty neat that all 12 of my students are completely bilingual. It makes me wish that I was!

I started reading testing this week and so far I have found that I have a few really strong readers and the rest barely know their sounds. Should make for an interesting year, but I am excited to help the strong ones continue to grow and challenge them, and I know it will be really rewarding to see the others begin to read... even if it is difficult!

This is definitely a huge lifestyle change for me! Up at 5:45.. home around 5... and no energy to do ANYTHING! Luckily several of my girlfriends live in the building so they came over one night this week to make sure I had some adult interaction... that didn't involve me getting off of the couch!

Oh, and as for this taking night class business.... what was I thinking? I sat through class on Thursday night drinking a huge Diet Coke to stay awake... and drawing new seating charts for my class in the column of my notes! I'm a terrible role model for my students! At least it is only 1 semester, so hopefully I will survive!

I survived!! Well... the first day anyway...

When I was out of the house (diet coke in hand) and it was still pitch black outside this morning, I was a little worried... but seemingly for no real reason. I'm exhausted, so I'll make it brief... today went great! My kids are awesome! I have two little boys that are definitely going to test my patience, but they are so sweet, I can't not love them already! I have 13 kids as of today. All, but 1, are Hispanic. They all understand English, but a few have a harder time speaking it, which should make teaching reading really interesting! Everything went smoothly though. I had more than enough to do with them and they did a great job. Luckily, I think they were as tired as I was! One day down... 180 something to go.... but as stressed as I know that I will be, I am really excited about a great year!

are you ready? i was born ready!

so, tomorrow is the big day! and after a long week and weekend of preparation i feel like i am almost ready... or as ready as i am going to be! my classroom is done... i have the first few days planned. i am finishing some last minute preparations tonight and then going to try to get a good night of sleep and get ready for what i'm sure will be a crazy, fun, and draining day! i can't wait to meet my students and get to know them! i know there will be a lot of stress involved, but i am really excited to learn from students... and maybe teach them some too!

here are some pictures of my classroom in it's current state:







wish me luck!

positivity and productivity go a long way

I have had quite a productive day. A truckload of furniture came this morning... my order of desks was somehow tables instead. Which means my kids don't have any individual storage, but rather than dwell on it I just told my director that I would make it work somehow and he was very appreciative. After recruiting the P.E. teacher to put all the tables together for me, I got them all set-up.

Here is a view from my desk:



As you can see, I also got a few more things hung on my wall. I spent a lot of the day organizing as well. I finally feel like I am really making progress! Don't get me wrong, I am still very overwhelmed and have a lot to do, but I am getting there slowly. This evening I am organizing all of my math overheads into sheet protectors in 3-ring binders. And a few other miscellaneous projects. My language arts curriculum is supposed to arrive the end of this week or first thing next week.. so I am just winging it all for now.

I haven't even started planning for what I am going to do with my students, but i guess that is what this weekend will be for. I am fortunate that one of the second grade teachers lives about 5 minutes away from me, so we are already preparing to having planning and paper-grading dates at the Starbucks nearby!

Also, I got my class list today... and so far I only have 12 students!! I am trying not to get too excited because I am sure that I will get more, but having fewer students would be great because I can give them more individual attention and do more fun things!

In-Service=Exhaustion

So yesterday morning we had training about TAKS testing (boring) and classroom management. It made me really glad that I am not teaching an upper grade that has to take state tests! After lunch with all the staff and a few hours of work I made my 17th trip to Walmart and was asleep on my couch by 5:30... phew!

Today was a little better. We had training on confidentiality, got warned about the possibilities of being sued, talked about after school tutoring expectations (no big deal that I have to tutor Thursdays until 4... wait for the kids to be picked up and be at night class by 5). Then grabbed a quick lunch with a colleague and got to work organizing and decorating my room. Oh ya! I also got put in charge of the school aquarium... which means I need to find some cheap fish that are hard to kill! I put together 2 bookselves... well sort of. I put a small one together with ease and loaded it with books. The big one was not so easy... about half way through I went to stand it up and a one of the pieces broke in half. I thought I could repair it, but in the process I cut myself 3 times and ended up with a blister from fighting with the screwdriver. Just when I thought maybe there was a chance... I realize that half of it was put together backwards! UGH!!! That's when I decided it was time to call it a day.

So, after a trip to Big Lots and Ross and a nice dinner with a friend here I am.... here are a few pictures of my classroom to-date:

Here goes nothing...

I am preparing for my first teaching position. I will be teaching first grade at a charter school in a high-poverty area. I am very excited and nervous at the same time. I have been certified for several years, but I have been working in the corporate world, until the last year when I began pursuing my Masters in Education full-time and substitute teaching. I will be finishing my Masters this coming December, and enduring my first few months of teaching.

Going into this job, I knew that it would be stressful and exhausting, but I did not realize that it would be so crazy before school even began! This week has been all about learning the ropes of the school, setting up my classroom, organizing, and getting lesson plans ready for the first week of school.... and now I'm just hoping that I survive it!

While realizing how tired I am without even having students, I realized that the next few months I will probably be in somewhat of a hole... you know... in bed by 9 (which I haven't done since middle school) and too tired to do anything but grade a few papers, pour a glass of wine, take a bubble bath, and call it a night.... so I figured a blog would be a good way for my family and friends to keep up with my trials (and successes, of course) over the coming months. Also, I figure that kids are pretty funny... so I'll probably have some great stories to share.... so stay tuned!!

Here are some pictures of my classroom when I saw it for the first time last week... if it looks small... that's because it is! And yes that is an "accordion" wall that separates me from the other first grade class.