AHHH

Tomorrow (oops, technically today) is my first day of school with all of the staff. Inservice starts tomorrow morning at some undisclosed time--I'm hoping 8:30 because that's what time I will be ready. Meg and Lauren and Caitlin came to help today and they were a godsend. After what felt like moments, however, they had to go back to Philly and I started freaking out again. Tomorrow afternoon is the lat time I'll be able to be in my room before the kids come and I am worrying out of control. I feel like I have so much empty wall space and so many things still left to do and zero time in which to do them. I know I should be sleeping now, but I am zipping around as a result of too much caffeine and just general craziness.

Everyone keeps saying I'm going to be fine, which just makes me worry more. I don't want to do a poor job and I want to be a great teacher. I know I'm my biggest critic and it really doesn't matter if I don't have my books organized by topic, I don't have the right bins and baskets to put my books in, I don't have the right binders for my parent communication logs, I've never spoken a word of Spanish in my life, I haven't planned any of my lessons yet, reading terrifies me... Okay, pictures and a general sense of calm will come tomorrow. (I hope!)

Baskets, Bins, and Buckets

I never thought I would EVER say this, but if I have to go to Target one more time in the next month, I am going to LOSE IT!

Needless to say, I have been hanging out in my room 24/7--or until the custodian escorts me out to my car--and I am beginning to go crazy! Luckily, I think the crazy is working because I feel like I'm getting closer to being finished. It better be, because tomorrow is my last free day; I have inservice on Thursday and then school starts on Tuesday! (WAHHH it's going so quickly!)

Yesterday I made Truffula trees for my Seuss-themed room. I was nervous at first, but I LOVE them!

Can't believe they've stayed up so far... I guess they don't have any firsties pulling on them yet

My vinyl is supposed to come tomorrow, so I can finally finish my quote!

I also made schedule cards for what I hope will be every possible event we will have in school...

And to work on number sense, an estimation station of candy/prizes. (Stole the idea from Caitlin's cooperating teacher!)

(Cookie jar from Target... of course)

I worked on my behavior management system, too. Still deciding what I want to do--especially after a very confusing conversation with Caitlin today. I want to have positive behavior rewards, not just negative, but I don't want things to be too confusing.

Behavior catalog- what you can earn (wear a hat in the classroom, have a recognition sent home, etc.) 

I've seen this clip chart all over on pinterest, and teachers seem to love it. I don't know if 7 colors are wayyy too many, I'm starting to think so. 

In Glenside, the gym teacher read a book about filling other people's buckets by doing and saying nice things. Apparently, that book has swept across a bunch of schools. We are apparently also a "Bucket Filling"school!

My gorgeous bucket sign-with creepy smiling buckets (I'll have to fix them tomorrow)

Shoe organizer? Nah, bucket depot. (All from Target)

Pennant (from Target) to celebrate almost beginning school!

And finally, it is official!! The custodian hung my sign outside my door today and I got my contract yesterday-I'm actually a real teacher!

Ms. Smith, I guess so if I marry someone with the last name Smith, they don't have to get a new sign!

The entire Education Dream Team is supposed to be stopping by tomorrow, I hope my school is ready for all of my roommates. (And I hope they are ready for some decorating!)

Only a week left?!

So this weekend has been a lot of hurricane preparations and trying to make everything I can on my computer. I've been kicked out of school since Thursday (school is closed until Monday), so I've been trying to stay busy. I'm making a behavior catalog of different privileges the students can earn, which I think looks really good right now, but I have a lot more to do, which means more googling Dr. Seuss characters and thinking up clever titles.

I've bought a zillion things from Target--help!--including a rug for the reading area, a new storage shelf with cubbies that I think I'm going to put my math manipulatives in, and oodles of bins and boxes and binders.

Storage cubby overflowing with white boards on the right, I need to get a bigger basket for them and my clipboards...

Alphabet rug & the green and black book bins I have for each student

I still need to finish leveling a lot of the books in my library, but I really am starting to love it!

It took me forever to laminate and cut out all of the bulletin board border I have, finally I got smart and binder clipped them together so I cut cut 20+ strips at a time!

Here's my newly borded and felted word wall, complete with Dr. Seuss border, of course!

Thing 1 & Thing 2 mocking me as it took me hours to hang them up... 

I hope there isn't any significant damage to school, I'm supposed to have math training and my new teacher orientation tomorrow... Here's hoping everything is fine, I'm running out of time to get ready!

Progress!

Oh goodness, I am exhausted! Today I had the rest of my reading training and then back to the room to try and get it together. After having another mini-freak out last night, I went in to the room today with a positive attitude, my iPod, and an iced coffee. Apparently that made all the difference!

Megan hanging out yesterday, exhausted after making her move so many things!

 I started cutting out Dr. Seuss quotes on vinyl to hang around the classroom. The beginning looks so cute, but the rest will have to wait because we ran out of the same color vinyl. Hopefully my order will come soon, I can't wait to see the finished product.

It's a good thing Megan wasn't in the room with me again today because--guess what? I rearranged things again! I really like the desk set up, though, which I still wasn't sure of last night. I moved the cubbies from randomly placed throughout the room to next to one another under the word wall. I moved the pink bookshelf with all teacher materials from that wall and slowly dragged it over to the library area. I moved the shorter bookshelf to the back of the library so it seems sort of blocked off and really has a nice feel to it.

Word wall/cubby/pink bookshelf before

New pink bookshelf home/library/meeting area/most rearranged area of the room so far!

New cubby home & small group table PILED with books that need a new home!

My mom and her friend came over after work to help me out--and they brought goodies! I now have Dr. Seuss fabric to back my bulletin board, stamps, Dr. Seuss stuffed animals, and a partially leveled library.

After a quick (10 hour) inventory of the room, I decided I needed another storage rack. Luckily (or unluckily for my bank account) Target had a perfect one I was able to scoop up. I also found bins I'm going to use for each student to have their own book bin, Dr. Seuss window clings, Dr. Seuss bulletin board border, stickers, binders for organizing my subjects, and a carpet for my reading area! $200 later, I was able to walk out of the store.

I'm moving the file cabinet out of here, scooching down my one storage area, putting my new one next to it, and covering that ugly backside of the bookshelf with some fun fabric.

I feel so much better now that the room is beginning to come together--I keep forgetting that it has only been three days that I've been home. Rome wasn't built in a day, but I hope my classroom can be built before the 6th!

I think mouse feels the same way I do right now!

I get by with a little help from my friends!

Okay, so today was a little better... Megan came and helped me rearrange my desks (and arrange, then rearrange, and rearrange again, and again, and again...) We also went to Lakeshore for the first time-unbelievable! My mentor teacher gave me a bucket full of things from Lakeshore, too, and a $20 gift certificate!

I'm still trying to decide a theme for my room: originally I was thinking garden, but now I'm leaning towards Dr. Seuss. I can put Trufulla trees in my reading area and I know I can find Dr. Seuss svgs and font online so I can get cricuting away. My indecisiveness is killing me, though.

The highlight of my day, besides seeing Megan, of course, would be that I was finally able to catch up with a counselor from 2009. He and I were really close during camp and talk every now and then, but we had fallen out of touch again until tonight. It's amazing how quickly you can get back into the swing of things with an old friend.

Now off to make my welcome letter to my students and their parents...

Whatta Whirlwind!

I want to keep a blog of my first year teaching, if only to be able to look back on the beginning of the year and see how much I've grown/changed. I've had so many changes in my life plan in such a short time, I can hardly believe I am where I am now.


I just graduated in May, and after hearing about a possible job opening in my elementary school the night I graduated, I began looking for jobs around my home. I had a graduate assistantship already at grad school, and was planning on getting my Master's and having another year to adjust to the idea of actually being a grown-up and having a real job! After a crazy few weeks at home, I started summer camp at Girl Scout camp, decided it wasn't for me, and had my first job interview. After going back to my old camp, I had my second job interview and thought that was it. I happily played around in the sunshine with my camp friends for a few weeks and heard rumors that someone else had accepted the job. When the elementary school called me and left a message to call them back, I thought it was a "thanks but no thanks," phone call. When I was able to call them back the next day, I was not expecting to be offered a job--let alone a first grade position! After a few minutes of disbelief, I called the principal back and accepted! The CEO's wife let out a message throughout the camp radios telling people of my new position, and counselors made an announcement at lunch, where I received a standing ovation from campers and counselors alike! I'm so happy I was at camp when I received the news, everyone was so sweet and excited for me!


Today was the first day of my curriculum training and I can only say I am officially terrified! I can't help but think college has not prepared me for this at all. In my student teaching and labs, we mainly used scripted reading programs. Now, it is much more flexible, but I have no real first grade experience to draw upon. My mentor teacher is so nice and she keeps telling me not to worry about the curriculum yet, but I am worrying! Teaching reading terrifies me, it is so important to a child's life and I don't want to screw up. 


My roommate Megan is coming tomorrow to help me set up my room--little does she know I have no idea what I want to do with the room. My indecision seems crippling at this point: there is so much to do but I don't even know where to start! I'm hoping that having her with me tomorrow (and some jams on my iPod and some DD iced coffee to keep us moving) will help me get my act together! Here's hoping it all goes well... I guess there really is a first time for everything!