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Monday, August 29, 2011

I'm going to regret staying up "this late" in the morning

4:45 am. That's the time my alarm goes off for the first time every morning. Eventually, I press snooze and (I'm down to only once!) fall back completely asleep for 10 more minutes. By the time 4:55 comes around I am up and out of bed and ready for my first cup of coffee. Mornings are NOT my thing, and in the past I would press the alarm until the last minute possible, roll out of bed, put my hair in a ponytail and head to work. Now, even before the sun comes up, it's a lot easier to be awake. Mostly because my kids are pretty stinkin awesome. Yeah, they still cannot line up like a fourth grade class should, but really... they aren't being on graded on that. They are being graded on their writer's notebooks, which I can see them falling in love with everyday. They are getting graded on reading comprehension, and when I ask them what they are reading and how they are feeling about it and see them get excited; I know that letting them read something NOT in a basal is the right thing to do. They are getting graded on number sense, so why not let them try their hand at Sudoku, think that they are just playing a game, and in return learn more than they ever expected. As teachers, it's a lot easier for us to roll out of bed before the sun is up in the morning when we see our kids succeeding, even if they have a long way to go. It's early in the year, but little successes and smiling kids are what should drive us as teachers... and when I come home at night, after being up since 4:55 a.m. I think back to that one kid that looked at me in the eye and said "Oh... now I get it" and remember why I chose to do this.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

I've been too busy to post!

Okay, so it's been an awfully long time since I've posted, but seriously 12 hour days for teaching is killer. By the time I get home all I want is my jammies and How I Met Your Mother (which Rachel Ray and I have been watching religiously since we found it at Walmart for $15 a season!) However, I have been having a great time in class- my kids are great, they are rocking at Writer's Workshop (I can't wait to share some of their stories!), and I got them to fall in love with Pete the Cat! Getting 4th graders to love Pete the Cat is quite the accomplishment in my opinion! We started our Wild Weather Unit, and I can't wait to get to the experiment stage - I mean who doesn't want to have a tornado in their classroom at some point?!?! Anyway, I finally took pictures of the finished product, but apparently I didn't look at them before I brought my camera back home (looks like I will take some more on Monday!)- I will add house pictures after I spend some time cleaning this weekend (like I said, 12 hour days!) I have a professional development class on integrated lessons on Saturday, and am excited to at least sleep in until 7!!! (What's happening to me?!!?)


Sunday, August 14, 2011

I made it through the first day!

So, first of all, we finally have internet!!! That means I don't have to spend my weekends at Starbucks sipping on $5 caramel frappuccino's anymore! I am excited to be able to sit at home, planning, with Project Runway playing in the background... this weekend has been good :)

So, Thursday was the first day, and it went really well! My class is gonna be AWESOME! I currently have 17 kids (so tiny!!) and they are all good kids! I was very impressed... We did some getting to know you activities, I talked a lot about rules/procedures/expectations, and they did really well... The worst part is the dang snake checks! UGH if I ever see a snake, I WILL SCREAM SO LOUD THE WHOLE CITY will hear me!

Best story of the day... One of my boys has autism, and is very literal - but he made me laugh so stinkin hard when he turned in his classroom job application - we discussed the jobs and what they entailed and I had the kids fill them out, if they wanted to. He turned his in and his job selections were - 1. vet, 2. ninja, and 3. hero! I just loved it :)

It's gonna be a good year :)

Saturday, August 6, 2011

No Internet = A lot of time spent at Starbucks on a Saturday

So, the utilities people in Kingman, Az. are so slow! We had to wait until Friday to have the gas turned on (which meant cold showers at 5:30 am. most of the week) and we have to wait until next Saturday for internet! Good thing for lots of Friday Night Lights episodes :)

However, the classroom and house are coming along ...I was super thankful to have Friday off! I got a bunch done around the house and got things ready for the classroom, too :)

And apparently, I am becoming  a morning person ... which is a good thing because I will have to leave for the van to get to school at 6:15 every morning... Long, 4 day weeks are ahead!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Hey Look! I have my very own classroom!

Today I drove out to my school in Dolan Springs - a tiny town with not too much to do... but the school is absolutely beautiful! It's pretty new, big, and everyone is super friendly and helpful. I met my principal, vice- principal (she's a vandal; but I won't hold it against her!) and the coach as well as the Kindergarten, 1st, and 3rd grade teacher. Mt Tipton is a k-12 school and there is only one teacher per grade level, so it will be really nice to be able to do my own thing!

My classroom was much bigger and had wayyyyyyy more storage than I anticipated. I unloaded all my things and set to work... I can get a lot accomplished when I am left alone and really motivated!

Here's what it looked like at the beginning of the day  ...


 So many textbooks!
 I have a lot of storage space :)

 One of my previous tenants allowed the kids to graffiti the bulletin board :(
 Here's the middle of the day ...
 It doesn't look too much different!
 Books got put away though!
 And by the end of the day I accomplished a lot! There's still a lot to do, though! I love my desk area, I need some more organization though!
 Birthday board and Student of the Week
 Social Studies, Science and Tired Words boards
 That's the front of the classroom ... I only have 20 desks!!!!!
 The classroom library will go along the shelf, eventually and the kids will get to put their things in the cubbies.
 Back here I will put the kidney table for small groups.


Tomorrow, we're having a "swap meet" at school, I'm excited!

I still have a lot to do, and I will probably change some things around still... but it's good to have this much done already!