OUCH!! Man was today a killer!! I feel like I have been beaten up. My kids just wore me OUT today!! I don't know what happened after lunch but suddenly they all forgot how to stay seated, how to be quiet, and how to do their work... ANY work... writing, listening, etc. Where oh where have I gone wrong!?! I mean man, my kids barely even left on time today... I almost got to spend the night with some of them at the school. that is the kind of day it was today. since when does it take second graders 30 minutes to write math, reading, and spelling. wow....Anyways, here is to hopes that the week(s) get better and not worse... {DEEP BREATH....}
This is the perfect video for a day like today:
(ps to leave a comment on my blog please click on "pieces of mind" underneath the bottom of this post- those of you who are getting this emailed to you: not all the pictures/videos will come through. Please visit the blog directly at www.livingtheadventures.blogspot.com and leave a comment :) ) love you all!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
First week of school- Check!
I survived my first week of teaching!
Wahoo!!
The first day went better than expected but my feet were killlllling me by the end of the day!! I am used to being on my feet and them being sore but never so bad that at the end of the day I literally had huge blisters under the skin of my feet. They are still recovering thanks to my hubby for surprising me with a foot massager after day 2 and multiple nice hand massages :) He is so good to me! So this week has been tiring for me (very tiring!). I have a full class of 22 sweet 2nd graders and 2 more who are special ed that come to join us everyday for a little while. Let me just start by saying all of my kids are as sweet as sugar! BUT they do NOT behave as sweet as sugar ha. I have the inclusion class for 2nd grade which is a challenge in an of itself. If you aren't familiar with inclusion google it... this is the direction that most schools are heading these days as the learning is better for all of the children, research shows. I also have several children who have behavioral issues so that is also very challenging. I have "that class" if you know what I mean. I survived the first week and do believe that I can get through the whole year if I managed this week- which I obviously did even if I did work for 6am to 6pm or later most days... wheph the life of a teacher! (hopefully this gets better with experience ;) )
This week we really just did a few assesments and lots of getting to know you type activities. This was both a challenge and a blessing. Since we didn't really have a set schedule or lesson plans it made it difficult for me to plan what to do during the day and how long it would take. On the other hand it was nice because I was able to not be consumed by a schedule or "oh my goodnesss I havent done blah blah yet!" -- if that makes sence?
This next week is going to be our first week of instruction and I am a bit overwhelmed with the whole lesson planning part of it. Luckily our team works together to plan so I have all the "plans". Now, I am challenged with learning how to actually TEACH the lessons, and also learning to actually stick to the schedule. This is what I will be doing all weekend :)
I am very excited about all that this year is going to bring along with it. I already (though I'm stressed out) feel so much happier (happier than I ever have been in a job) about what I am doing. I can guarantee you, without a shadow of a doubt that I am doing what God has planned for me to do, even before he created me. This IS my passion and I am so very blessed that he has finally given me the opportunity to live my dream!
My motto this year is going to be that
"God brought me to this, so he will bring me through it!"
I hope that after this year is over I can look back and know that I have changed childrens lives for the better, taught them intellectuial ideas as well as life lessons, I hope that I can missionaly live for God and do this job that he has placed before me with humility and grace!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
MASS CHAOS and Classroom Photos!
WOAH! I just realized that this is my 102nd post! That's crazy!
Soooo much has been going on with my new job... like WOAH! So as most of you know I was hired as a third grade teacher and then was officially put on the second grade team. This week I was finishing up all the touches on my room when I got called into the office... and basically I was told that I would need to be moving my room to the pre-k hall and that I was going to be the new pre-k teacher... what!!? yea, no training, no experience, nothing ha! But I willingly (while holding back tears) began to disassemble my room on Tuesday (Thursday would be meet the teacher). The pre-k room had nothing in it... no chairs, no tables, no toys, nothing! Just insane. I cried. Wednesday one of my wonderful friends came up and helped me to continue to decorate the pre-k room but about 20 minutes after she got there I got called to the office yet again. Wheph... nerves... moral of the story... this time I was being moved yet again!!! ... back to the 2nd grade hall!! (mind you these are on opposite ends of the school!) and... on top of all that Meet the Teacher was the VERY NEXT day!!!! eeeeek!! So my friend and I started taking down pre-k decor and packing up to move to the 2nd grade hall. I didn't get to go back to my old room because one of the other 2nd grade teachers moved into it to be closer to the other 2nd teachers. More news came soon... the room I would be taking over would be the 2nd grade team lead who was now moved to kinder! I can't even begin to tell you what all the other hundreds of changes our school has had but its just been nuts! On Thursday K & my awesome friend came up to the school and disassembled the room I was to be taking over and reassembled it (remember this the day of meet the teacher!) Right as we were putting the last thing on the wall the first parent walked in! It was a wonderful night, tons of great kiddos and parents and overall everything went well. The one terrible thing of the night was that the AC in the school cut off right about the time the first parent came in! We nearly all died sweating horribly! ha! So now its the weekend before school starts and I'm gearing up for preparing for Day 1!!! :) Here are some eye candy of the room...
Soooo much has been going on with my new job... like WOAH! So as most of you know I was hired as a third grade teacher and then was officially put on the second grade team. This week I was finishing up all the touches on my room when I got called into the office... and basically I was told that I would need to be moving my room to the pre-k hall and that I was going to be the new pre-k teacher... what!!? yea, no training, no experience, nothing ha! But I willingly (while holding back tears) began to disassemble my room on Tuesday (Thursday would be meet the teacher). The pre-k room had nothing in it... no chairs, no tables, no toys, nothing! Just insane. I cried. Wednesday one of my wonderful friends came up and helped me to continue to decorate the pre-k room but about 20 minutes after she got there I got called to the office yet again. Wheph... nerves... moral of the story... this time I was being moved yet again!!! ... back to the 2nd grade hall!! (mind you these are on opposite ends of the school!) and... on top of all that Meet the Teacher was the VERY NEXT day!!!! eeeeek!! So my friend and I started taking down pre-k decor and packing up to move to the 2nd grade hall. I didn't get to go back to my old room because one of the other 2nd grade teachers moved into it to be closer to the other 2nd teachers. More news came soon... the room I would be taking over would be the 2nd grade team lead who was now moved to kinder! I can't even begin to tell you what all the other hundreds of changes our school has had but its just been nuts! On Thursday K & my awesome friend came up to the school and disassembled the room I was to be taking over and reassembled it (remember this the day of meet the teacher!) Right as we were putting the last thing on the wall the first parent walked in! It was a wonderful night, tons of great kiddos and parents and overall everything went well. The one terrible thing of the night was that the AC in the school cut off right about the time the first parent came in! We nearly all died sweating horribly! ha! So now its the weekend before school starts and I'm gearing up for preparing for Day 1!!! :) Here are some eye candy of the room...
the beautiful masterpiece outside my room that K decorated!!
Kinda looks bare in the pic but I think its because you don't see all the smaller details like the alpha chart above the board, the little things hanging from the ceiling, the buckets on the bookshelf that have supplies in it... the things hanging from the bottom of the board ... etc. maybe I need something for that wall... suggestions?
Right now it only has the parts of speech but it will be my calendar wall, and the right will also be my word wall... that we will add to throughout the year :) I wish we would have taken the pics up close to see the neat ocean theme going on... :)
awesome net with fish that karl created! See the neat things hanging from the ceiling!?
my awesome reading corner and the favorite part of my room... the underwater windows with blue cellophane and fish window clings! yay!
Tah-Dah!!!!
2 DAYS TILL SCHOOL STARTS!!
Friday, August 13, 2010
I promised I would be back....
and here I am!!
Wahoo its Friday! and I survived the first week of Training :) Today, we had training at our school with all the Teachers and for those who aren't first year teachers today was their first day back. I got introduced to the rest of the staff and we even did a little learning. I spend the whole first part of the day working in my room and then from about 3-6pm working on it more.... I feel like I did a lot but then I look at it and I'm like um....
Today I managed to:
-attend a writing workshop
-laminate TONS of ocean critters, posters and the such
-cleaned part of my room (never seen so many icky spiders EVERYwhere!! gross!)
-cut a million pieces of bulletin board paper
-put the paper up on 4 of my 6 bulletin boards....
-cut out a few posters that were laminated
-cut out my laminated alphabet and posted it above my board...
-drew an octupus!
not much but I did it! (I had to do this to make me feel like I actually DID something today lol)
Tomorrow is Saturday and I have to work... Who ISN'T excited... this girl! Well at least I get a trade off day for it :) yippee!
Hubs went to play soccer with his boys tonight- he has joined an indoor league that starts the day after school so they were out practicing tonight. He is finally back home & I'm pooped so I think its time to spend time with my love, cut some of my laminated stuff, and call it a night. :)
Wahoo its Friday! and I survived the first week of Training :) Today, we had training at our school with all the Teachers and for those who aren't first year teachers today was their first day back. I got introduced to the rest of the staff and we even did a little learning. I spend the whole first part of the day working in my room and then from about 3-6pm working on it more.... I feel like I did a lot but then I look at it and I'm like um....
Today I managed to:
-attend a writing workshop
-laminate TONS of ocean critters, posters and the such
-cleaned part of my room (never seen so many icky spiders EVERYwhere!! gross!)
-cut a million pieces of bulletin board paper
-put the paper up on 4 of my 6 bulletin boards....
-cut out a few posters that were laminated
-cut out my laminated alphabet and posted it above my board...
-drew an octupus!
not much but I did it! (I had to do this to make me feel like I actually DID something today lol)
Tomorrow is Saturday and I have to work... Who ISN'T excited... this girl! Well at least I get a trade off day for it :) yippee!
Hubs went to play soccer with his boys tonight- he has joined an indoor league that starts the day after school so they were out practicing tonight. He is finally back home & I'm pooped so I think its time to spend time with my love, cut some of my laminated stuff, and call it a night. :)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Since I've Been Gone...
Well Hey Ya'll and WELCOME back to my blog!
(I am still in the process of re-vamping-new layout, new background, new picture, etc- so please bear with me)
(I am still in the process of re-vamping-new layout, new background, new picture, etc- so please bear with me)
SOOO much has been going on over the past several months... but I don't really have all the time in the world to discuss that right now, although I assure you that I will. I am going to try my darnedest to get back into my blogging and now that I am back in town and near a computer it should be do-able :)
So for a quick and short overview...
"Since I've Been Gone..."
-I finalized our wedding plans
-Took a road-trip to Arkansas
-From Arkansas drove to N.C.
-Enjoyed being in my hometown for a week
-Had the MOST BEAUTIFUL, FUN, & WONDERFUL wedding & reception to truly the MOST AMAZING man in this WORLD! {seriously, the BEST TIME EVER!!!}
-Took a road-trip/honeymoon to Orlando, FL- spent time at Walt Disney World and got to spend some Q.T. with my dear friends and their newborn daughter, precious girl!
-Took yet another road-trip to spend the remainder of our honeymoon in Destin, FL!
-Obviously (take a look at my new pic...) met up with the MOST TALENTED Patsy Brown and had her take some SMOKIN' HOT photo's of Hubs and I!
-One last road-trip from FL to New Orleans, Louisiana and finally back to our abode
ohhhhhh and something MOST exciting....
-Got a NEW job TEACHING SECOND GRADE!!! {Squeels!}
And those are just the highlights! I swear I will try to share more soon! Pinky Promise! Oh how I have missed all of my faithful readers and blogger friends!! I have been in workshops all week for New Teacher Training, and tomorrow will wrap that up... so alas I MUST call it a night and get some shut eye... 6:30 am is going to come oh too soon!
We LOVE you, Patsy Brown!!! Go check out her blog! oh and she travels :)
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