done!

Well, I'm finally done with the past 3 weeks of training for my new reading tutoring program. Whew! Tomorrow I finish up working on schedules and start doing some special ed inclusion. From what I've heard, that should be interesting...more so because of the teachers I'll be working with rather than the kids.

I had to move classrooms...AGAIN!!! We've had about 100 more kids enroll than expected so they've had to hire more teachers. So first I moved out of my own classroom into my new friend Leigh Ann's room with her. But then a week ago, we got booted out and had to move in with another special ed teacher. So there are 3 of us crammed into 1 room that's smaller than all my rooms from the past 7 years. Nice! It's taught me that I have way too much stuff! And most of it is already in my spare bedroom! But like I've said before, teachers hate to give stuff away, and for all I know I could be back in the classroom next year and need it all again. But let's hope not! :)

I still miss my old friends from my last 2 schools. It's hard getting to know a whole new staff. And not really being on an official grade level makes it a little harder. But I've really enjoyed being able to help out as a support teacher. Our faculty meeting lasted over 2 hours last week, but it didn't really bother me that much because half the stuff that was covered didn't have anything to do with me. I still feel a little guilty because of that, but I'm trying to get over it. :) Tuesday night I'm having dinner with 3 of my closest teammates from my 1st school. We try to get together about once a month.

Not a whole lot else has been going on lately. I got to hang out with my good buddies Jill and Demian this weekend. That was so much fun it made me dizzy! :) And a "first" happened for me today...I successfully operated a lawnmower at a friend's house. I feel bad to say that I've never done that before, but I haven't. I used to help rake sometimes when I was growing up, but I had never mowed. It made me glad I live in an apartment with no yard!

Last week I went several days without checking everyone's blogs because of some computer issues here at home and I had missed out on pregnancy announcements and births! So now I'm trying to stay in the loop more. But if you've missed checking my blog in a while, you haven't missed a thing. Have a great week!!!

1st week of school

Whew! I am glad the first week of school is over! Since my training for my reading program doesn't start until this week, I wasn't able to start my reading groups yet. So last week I got to do all sorts of odd jobs for my administrators. Then our 2 monolingual kindergarten classes each had 30 kids so they had to make a new kindergarten class. Guess who almost had to sub for a few days?! ME! But luckily they found a long-term sub that can teach until they can hire a teacher. But guess whose classroom they needed to make into a kindergarten room?! MINE! So all in one day, I had to pack everything up and move it to another room. Then with a little help, we had to get my old room ready to look like a kindergarten classroom. It was crazy! And it would have been easier if I could have worn shorts and flip flops! :) So here are some things I learned during my first week of school...

1. All of you moms out there need to teach your kids how to open their milk cartons and ketchup packets before they start kindergarten! Helping out during lunch was quite an experience. One little boy had one of those lunchables with a pizza in it. He almost cried because I wouldn't go heat up his pizza. I guess he's used to eating it hot. I told him it should be ok because it had been sitting in his lunchbox all morning. He said no, the ice pack was keeping it cold! I suggested he bring a sandwich the next day. :) Just kidding! I would have gone to heat it up in the microwave in my room but that would have left 1 other teacher managing the whole cafeteria. And I also didn't want him to think we would heat things up everyday!

2. After wearing flip flops all summer, your feet sometimes rebel to real sandals by giving you horrible blisters!

3. Sharing a classroom with another teacher is fun, but not quite the same as having your own space to yourself.

4. Working with new people and making new friends is good, but it makes you miss the old friends from previous schools too. I'm glad to have my friends Koby and Jaleen there. It's nice to have familiar faces around.

5. Directing traffic is not as easy as it looks. Parents that have been sitting in the parking lot waiting for their little baby to get out of school sometimes honk their horns at teachers who are trying to help children not get run over in the crosswalk! :)

6. Parents that wait to register their kids on the 1st day of school are impatient! How dare it not be a 5 minute process because they might be late to work! Well, all you had to do was come up to school the week before...I'm just saying...

7. Having to go to bed at a decent hour and getting up early is HARD after a summer of staying up late.

8. Even though I've been super busy all day long, I can get in my car with just my purse and lunch bag...and no teacher bag full of lessons to plan or papers to grade. I'm handling less stress quite well! :)

9. Dinner with Kristi is a great way to unwind during the week. A bowl of chips and salsa can cure anything! We sat 3 tables over from my principal and the lady I share a classroom with. What a small world!

10. The best way to end the 1st week of school is Bunco on Friday night, shopping with your mom on Saturday, and a country music festival on Sunday afternoon.

For the next 3 weeks I will be in training from 7:30-3:30 for the reading program I'm going to be doing. Luckily the training is at my school so that's nice. I've heard it's really intense though. My friend DeAnne is the trainer for this week. Tomorrow she's going to start by recording us while we read, then grading us. I'll let you know if I have to be in the "Buzzards" reading group. Just kidding! We don't call them that anymore, Todd S. :)