I work with the best teachers ever!

Here is a gift bag full of goodies that V brought me: Club crackers to ward off munchies during our planning period, a pretty pink mug for my water, a cool round hair brush, chocolate (yum!), Lysol spray and hand sanitizer. This is what E brought me: an adorable pen/note holder, two mini staplers (I'm famous for misplacing mine!), a note cube, a memo pad, hand sanitizer, and white out tape (we go through A LOT of this stuff!).
Thanks girls. I LOVED both goodie bags.

The two girls that I work with are amazing (and not just because they brought me great beginning of the year gifts)!

V and I have worked together for five years. She is the most organized person that I have EVER met. She is also a math whiz. She is busy with three beautiful children of her own but still finds time to get us organized for whatever is coming up. She is great with coming up with projects for all of our kids, but excels at working with gifted children.

E is new to our school. She was a first year teacher last year, however, if you walked into her room you would NEVER know it. She has reminded me what it is like to be a teacher who is excited about teaching and sees the students for who they really are. When you teach in a grade level with high stakes testing (and who doesn't these days??) it is easy to lose sight of what really matters. Working with E has allowed me to step back and see the big picture.

We are very close and work together extremely well. We complement each other. We can even complete each other's sentences. Somehow, I have the job as our spokesperson. (I don't know how that happened! <--- read with sarcasm!) V is our long range planner who keeps us organized, and E is our cheerleader who keeps us going, even when the going gets rough.

Girls, thank you for being you and making our grade level a great place to work!

Random Teaching Thoughts/Preparing the classroom Step 1

Well, I thought I had found a neat signature for my posts (see last post) but I don't know how to have my blog "remember" to end each post with it.

I think it is time to get to the teacher part of my blog. I have spent most of the summer posting about the mom part of my life.

I am a third grade teacher and will start my tenth year of teaching at the end of August. I can't believe that I have been teaching for nine years already! The time has really flown by.

There have been lots of changes over the last nine years. TAAS was replaced by TAKS, the TEKS for math have been updated, the language arts TEKS will be updated next year, I moved from fourth grade to third grade, etc. etc. etc. Over the last 9 years I have worked with 12 new teachers. (Just in my grade level) I've also worked with long term substitutes several times. It has been interesting to work with new, different people but I am so glad that this year, for the first time in several years, I will have the pleasure to work with the same two collegaues that I did last year.

I have worked in my room for four days this summer. I don't work the whole day. I go in at some point in the morning, stay until the kids drive me crazy because they are tired of being together in my room, come home, eat lunch, and then go back to school for a couple more hours. In the afternoons the kids stay with Jimmy because he gets off by 2:00 usually.

Of course, lots of time is spent the first couple of days catching up with everyone that you haven't seen over the summer.

When it comes to putting my room together I start by sitting and staring. I learned this technique from a friend who teaches second grade. She swears by it, and you know what? It works! The first day I was at school I didn't move anything. I focused on cleaning out boxes of old papers, etc. While I did this I debated where to put my furniture. We teach reading using the Balanced Literacy model developed by many educators. We use this book by Fountas and Pinnell. This means I need to have a community area (where the whole class can sit), a writing center (this contains dictionaries, theauruses, paper, etc.), a word study area, a teacher table where I hold small groups, and a library organized by author/genre/subject. I also have five computers and a printer (plus a teacher computer). I am self contained so that means I teach all subjects (math, reading/language arts, science, and social studies) so I have to have all of the materials that I need for those subjects. Thank goodness we have a science lab so all of the lab materials are kept in that room. I have a shelf that is full of math manipulatives organized into plastic tubs with lids.

So, back to my story. The first day I putter around and stare. I then form a plan about where I want everything to go. This year I did something totally different. I moved my computers away from the wall (they were in a straight line) into a square of desks. This gives me more wall space for my library. I had three huge plastic tubs full of books that didn't get put on my shelves last year because I simply didn't have room for them. I hate the fact that I had books that my kids couldn't access. This new design will allow me to free all of those books from their plastic prisons!

To be continued . . .

Summer Fun

By fun I really mean children aggravating you to no end of course.

It is very difficult to be a teacher. The ten months of the year when you are teaching are emotionally draining and physically demanding. (Stop laughing at me! Until you have walked a mile in my shoes, don't judge me. I challenge each one of you to go to a school and observe, or better yet, volunteer and get a glimpse of what it is teachers do on a daily basis. And I say glimpse because what you actually see me do is just a small part of what I actually do.) And then to go from working constantly (because teaching is NOT an 8:00 - 4:00 job) to not working at all and being home 24 hours a day, seven days a week . . . well the transition isn't always so easy. Add to that two kids who are used to being in school with a scheduled day who are now at loose ends . . . it can be frustrating. I just want to be ALONE and they want to be played with! Imagine that - they want some of my time and attention. (Said sarcastically okay??)

Whoo boy . . . I sound a little . . . bitter about teaching. In truth, there is nothing else I can imagine myself doing. I really mean it.

I just had a wonderful year with great students who I really enjoyed working with. I work with great teachers - E and V I couldn't have done it without you - and a great staff and principal. I know that I make a difference in childrens' lives and that is why I do what I do. I just get a little tired every now and then!

I also love being a mom. I just wish that there was a week where the kids were in school and I had the week off.

So, what's a mom to do? Well I try to keep some sort of schedule for the kids and me. I try to find things for them to do (VBS, swimming lessons, etc) We go do simple things like go for ice cream and to the local library. That still leaves a lot of time where they need to occupy themselves. Don't get me wrong. I know a little boredom is good for kids. They need to know what to do with themselves. I just wish it was easier sometimes.

What do you do to juggle it all??