Catching up!

Today was not the best of days. (Bear with me, it gets more positive!)  I didn't have nearly enough planned and felt overwhelmed trying to get by with what I had.  I'm not the most prepared for this class each day because I don't really have a lot of materials or resources and am just using a lot of what I am able to borrow.  A parent complained about the homework being too easy.  Honestly, it is.  It was printed off for me by the 1st grade team and nobody else has complained about it especially since it is the first couple of weeks that are really easy and then it gets more involved.  She wants more homework.  I don't get paid enough.  It's just frustrating the amount of time and money I put into this classroom for such a small amount of pay.  I'm attending a CGI math training tomorrow.....for no pay.  Everyone else gets paid.  I need the training so I'm going.  I want to go actually and it will look good on my resume but it's all day.  8-3:30.  So after all of this and the stress of today I got home and our new cd got here a day early.  I jumped out and told the kids to stay put and opened the package and put it in and we sang at the top of our lungs to Gracie's favorite song, Where I Belong.  It is a christian song and we love it.  Take this world and give me Jesus.  This is not where I belong.  I absolutely needed that reminder after today and all the negativity that I was/am feeling.

This is what happened this week.


Last weekend Andrew lost his bottom right (2nd from middle) tooth.  Then 2 days later he lost his top left middle tooth.  

And then last night (Thursday) while we were still at school getting ready to attend a retirement party for Andrew's teacher from last year, he pulled his other top middle tooth!  I just keep looking at him and asking him to smile and say words that sound funny with no front teeth!  He will never again be cute without his front teeth so I am taking lots of pictures and making him laugh as much as I can.  The best part!??!!?!  School pictures are next Wednesday and he won't have his 2 front teeth!  I'm so excited!!!!!

 Here is a picture from this morning with his loot from the tooth fairy!  He usually doesn't get that much but after 3 teeth in one week he deserved it!  Just waiting for another bottom side tooth to come out. It will probably come out in the next few days!

And just so we don't leave Grace out of all of this.  Here is a writing sample from school that she did yesterday.  Her teacher hung them on the walls.  I love it!  Her b is backwards and the whole thing is just so cute!  They copied what the teacher wrote.  She didn't come up with that on her own, in case you were ready to call her a genius!

She loves school and apparently has a little boyfriend.  At first all she knew about him was that he wore brown shoes and they were friends.  I guess when you wear uniforms you have to find something to remember your new friends by ;).  Finally she learned his name and then I found out they like to hold hands and he even asked the teacher if he could hold her hand in line and not stand in his regular spot.  She told him no but it was cute!  I told her no holding hands on the playground, especially with boys and she just giggled! 

1st day of school

Please remember that I borrowed nearly everything in this classroom.  There are a few things that I made myself or bought.  The board above is driving me crazy because it is a little crooked.  Hoping to fix that before tonight when the parents come visit.  I don't plan on completely decorating and filling this place up unless I get a permanent position.  Although believe me when I say I will need help moving out of there.  There are also pics of the first day of school after these classroom pics.  Enjoy!

 I'll take another pic of the above board after I add the owls the kids made yesterday.  I will have to finish them today at school and hang them.

 Above is the calendar wall and below is a picture of my helper chart next to it. It's hard to see but it has owls on it also.

 The above board is for my sight words.  I'll have to take another picture of it when it's done.  I put all the consonants on trees and vowels on owls.

 And finally my cuties on their first day of school!

 My big 2nd grader!

 A sweet little girl all ready for kindergarten!  By the way, she LOVES it!

It's getting there....

My classroom that is!  I feel like I made a LOT of progress today and I didn't really do that much.  I put up one bulletin board.  We don't have specific boards, all of the walls are the same (like a bulletin board without boundaries, if that makes sense) and you can put paper wherever you want.  Mine aren't perfect because I didn't use a measuring tape to make sure I was spacing them correctly and it may drive me crazy later but since this most likely won't be my classroom for more than a month or two, I'm not going to stress about it.  I also cleaned up all the borders, trash, papers, etc and moved some desks around (again) and finally got to put away some supplies and all the book that were taking up the entire counter.  I walked in the room today and found my desk on its side and it was really heavy to move where I wanted it.  I had it halfway down and had to get help from the teacher next door.  I told the kids to run and get him to help me.  I was kind of stuck there because it hurt my back to move it and I couldn't just drop it.  Getting the desk in place made it look so much more like a classroom.  I also met with the first grade team and made a behavior chart.  When I got home I found some printables of posters for all the colors and printed out sight words and cut some apart.  I also put my helper chart together and wrote the letter to the parents.  Looks like I did more than I though.  Writing it down made me see how much I actually did.  Good thing because tomorrow we have that birthday party and we aren't going to the school until around 2 tomorrow and then we have meet the teacher night for Grace.  The kids and I plan to just stay at the school tomorrow and get as much done as possible before we go to her classroom.  I only have tomorrow afternoon and Friday afternoon to finish.  I would really rather not go in this weekend unless I absolutely have to.  I think I'll be able to get it all done and just worry about lesson plans this weekend. 

Vacation

 Last week we went to Vegas for 5 days.  We left on a Saturday after Andrew's basketball game and came home on Wednesday.  It was a lot of fun.  We spent several hours at the pool and lazy river.  One day we were in the pool for 8 hours!  We also went to the Bellagio and saw the water show.  It goes every 15 minutes so we watched it 3 times.  It was different each time.  At the Bellagio they had colored glass on the ceiling that Andrew wanted to see and the conservatory. 

We also went to see the Volcano erupt at The Mirage.  Grace didn't like it at all.  It was loud and bright and hot.  She just crouched down in front of us and held her ears and hid her eyes.  Andrew loved it!  We only watched it once since it is every hour. 

Grace also had an allergic reaction to something but thankfully Benadryl did the trick and we didn't have to find the hospital.  I think it was either the chlorine or the new dryer sheets I used on her clothes.  She broke out all over her back and chest and was really itchy and then a few spots turned bright red which was eczema.  She was miserable so I just gave her the benadryl and used lots and lots of aquaphor.  Thankfully I had packed it just in case.  We also visited the chocolate factory there and had a couple samples.  They also had a cactus garden that was fun to walk around.  It was SO hot though!  After that we went and sat by the airport in a little parking lot they have for people to pull in and watch the planes.  The kids loved it!

Here are just a few pictures that I took.  It was nice to get away with just my little family. 

Today I started setting up the classroom.  I had an awesome teacher help me put up paper and arrange the desks and put up posters.  She is actually going to be Andrew's teacher next year and it was incredibly sweet of her to help me.  She gave me all kinds of borders to use for my bulletin boards and posters to use.  I'm excited to be working with this group of people.  Back at it again tomorrow trying to finish up the classroom.  I'm waiting on the delivery of paper so I can finish all the walls.  Ran out of green today!  I wish I would have taken a picture this morning of how it looked with all the desks and cabinets just sitting in the middle of the room.  I will definitely show you pictures of it when it is finished.  I'm not doing anything spectacular since I will only be there for a short time but it will still look nice and be ready for the first day!

Crazy!

That's me.  I'm completely crazy right now!  I just found out that I am going to start the year as a first grade teacher at my kids' school.  I will be a long term sub until they fill the position.  Most likely the teacher will be transferred to another school but they won't know that until after the year starts.  The principal said I should be there for a month or two.  School starts on the 13th.  I have so much to do before then.  Not just getting my classroom ready next week but also a dentist appointment, a friend's lunchtime birthday party, getting uniforms ready for the kids, finishing the bathroom redo (that I started thinking I would have time when the kids went to school), and figuring out snacks and lunches for both kids instead of just 1!  Grace will only be half day for the first 2 weeks so I have to have someone pick her up and keep for a few hours and then bring her back to me.  I'll miss Gracie's official first day of school seeing her walk in for the first time but I'll be with her until the bell rings to go pick up my own class.  Not to mention I need some clothes for working every single day!  I am super excited to be asked to do this.  I loved teaching 4th grade last year and now I get to go back to 1st grade where I started.  The kids are excited also!  Andrew loves that I will be at his school.  Well, hopefully I can keep you guys updated on here.  Next week will probably be crazy but maybe I can get on here and show you the progress with my decorating.