School is in Session...

School has officially started! It's been awesome and pretty crazy. It was a mad rush to get my room ready in time, but with Jirik's help I made it! My class list has been changing like crazy, but it seems to finally be set at 25 (which is way better than the 29 I was scheduled to have!). I have fewer students that the other second grade teachers so I will probably get the move-ins.

I was sick over the weekend and my voice has been going out this week, which makes it kinda hard to teach. I have a pretty chatty bunch, but they are so sweet. I love that 2nd graders still really want the teacher's approval and are pretty easily motivated. I really do enjoy my class and the days fly by. We are still practicing being good listeners and working quietly, but hopefully we'll get there soon!

I posted some pictures of my classroom set-up that you can see here.

Productive Day

Today was a fun day, but also quite productive! Sharee came over to hang out and it was way good to see her! We played some Mario Party 8 to relive some of the good ol' days :-) It's always fun to talk about how silly we were in middle and high school! She also helped me move the rest of my school stuff into my classroom. It's all in their now! Now I just have to go through and set everything up and make it look inviting (and lots of lesson-planning!). Later in the day the carpet guy came and put in the new padding. So we dismantled our living room once more and put it back together again. Hopefully that room is there to stay now! We are just waiting for them to repair the drywall and repaint, then the hole fiasco is over! Yay!

Tomorrow I have my first day of teacher orientation. I have 2 weeks until school starts...CRAZY!! I go to orientation meetings until next Monday. Then I have one last week to get EVERYTHING ready and prepared. I'm excited, but pretty nervous at the same time!

School Supplies

Before this year I had never stepped into a dollar store before. I knew they existed, but thought everything inside would be total crap. I was raised with the belief it is better to buy a few nice things rather than a ton of cheap stuff. I still hold that belief to be true, but in setting up my classroom the Dollar Tree has become my haven. They have a whole teacher aisle! I admit some of the stuff looks cheap and is crap, but just often enough I find just what I need (since I don't have a ton for my class I often find just what I need, but usually not for a dollar!). Today I went and bought book baskets to fit into the wire storage cubes (my makeshift bookcase...see sample to the left). Younger readers have a hard time selecting books that show the spine, so k-3 classroom usually have covers showing (either through special bookcases, display racks, or book baskets). Nice book baskets (really just plastic tubs) usually cost $5-10, so I'm pretty excited about the $1 ones. They're not perfect, but good enough. I bought all 15 they had. I also found some other tubs to store independent math practice tools (math games, flash cards, math concept books, workbooks, etc.). This summer I've also bought posters, bulletin board letters, an alphabet strip, stickers, certificates, paper, word strips, a USA map puzzle, a Tetris Cube (for a math game), books, etc. It's been a great place to go, especially since most teacher stuff is expensive.

In the past week I've gotten many other things for my classroom too. Martin and Trish were a huge help and with the convenience of a car I was able to get 3 beanbags, animal print pillows, school supplies, games, disinfecting wipes (2nd graders have a lot of germs...), wire storage cubes, labels, hanging folders, etc. It was awesome to visit with them and they helped me get things that would have been impossible for me to get otherwise. Thanks Martin and Trish!!

Because we're lacking a car I also buy some things online. Several of things came this week that I'm quite excited about! I got a class set of individual whiteboards (I found an awesome sale!) that are great for checking for understanding. Every teacher I've worked with has used them. It's easy to have kids do a math problem or practice spelling words or whatever and then have them hold up they're answers and you can instantly see which kids have the concept and who needs more practice. I also got some organizational items that I'm thrilled about! I like everything to have a place and be labeled, so these will help me try to accomplish that. I also got some smaller items like story wands (to help with guided reading) and math fact books (these are way cool...you follow a string of math facts and figure the missing answer and then yo can check yourself with a special little decoder).

I also ordered some more this week that hopefully will come soon. Cathy was going to buy me a Safari Adventure banner from Pottery Barn Kids, but their safari stock sold out expectantly. In looking for ideas online I found some more safari themed banners from a party store and personalized some to fit my theme. Cathy bought me a couple and I bought one. I'm super excited for them to come. Preview them here:
The reading one will be hung over my reading corner above the beanbags and pillows. The monkey one will be in the hallway and have a set of swinging monkeys with bananas from the teacher store that I put below it and write each child's name on a banana. The safari one will probably hang over my desk, we'll see. Yay for cute banners and great sisters!

I'm still feeling overwhelmed by the thought of starting school soon, but I feel like I'm making progress to get where I need to be. Jirik has been a HUGE help in calming me down, finding cool stuff, and supporting me. He's coming with me to my classroom this week to help move the rest of the stuff in, put together the wire storage cubes, test markers, organize, and make the room look appealing. I have a great husband!

Movin' into my Classroom

So I got up early this morning because we didn't know when the carpet guy was going to come to take the fans and replace the carpet padding. Later in the morning Jirik called HOA to find out what time to expect them to come so we could plan our day. Then they told us they were not coming today because they had to send another guy in first to ensure no future problem and they didn't know when they could schedule that guy. We were quite frustrated because we want our place to be back in order when Martin and Trish arrive. Jirik called our landlords to see if they could put any pressure on HOA, but they were just as frustrated with them. So we're no longer huge fans of HOA, but we realized our landlords are AMAZING! This may have been a blessing in disguise because they felt bad for everything going wrong and they offered to help me move my stuff into the classroom! They brought a HUGE van and car and helped us move everything in! It was great to have help! I've been stressing it and didn't want to have to put that burden on Martin and Trish, so it all worked out great. So now I have my classroom stuff in my classroom! Yay for wonderful landlords!!

Venting

First off, if you know me pretty well you know my personality falls into the perfectionist/ over-achiever type. Normally this is ok, and it's not as bad as it was in high school. That being said, designing my classroom has been kinda overwhelming. I want every little thing looking perfect. While that is a great goal, I've come to realize that it is not entirely realistic as a first year teacher. I go through all the catalogs and websites and find so many cool things I like, but do not have the funds for.

When I was single I had great leeway justifying some purchases (not to say Jirik is controlling over money, he is very good about letting me get things I want), but it is now harder to justify some things. When I was single and I found a great pair of slacks that fit just right or a really cool frame, I bought it. I supported myself for the most part so I would cut back in other things, so I didn't have to keep a real tight budget. I still buy things, but I don't think any husband could really understand spending hundreds of dollars on teaching stuff.

For example, I saw some really cool looking bookcases designed for younger students to easily access and select books, but they were so darn expensive. Jirik's eyes looked like they did when my mom was talking about the joys of having a Vita-Mix ($400 blender) or when he thought I was trying to tell him I was pregnant (I'm not by the way, but it is a very funny story if you'd like to hear it sometime). If I were single I probably totally would have bought the bookcases, but since that would be pretty selfish in a marriage I am trying to find a cheaper alternative. I did find an idea that is pretty cheap and will work, but it's killing the perfectionist in me. And no, my classroom does not come with any bookshelves at student hight (I have some way up high above some cabinets).

I guess I'm just frustrated that I can't create my dream classroom yet. I will have to build on year after year just like every other teacher. It just doesn't work so well with my personality. Oh, and as a side note, setting up a classroom without a car is kinda a nightmare. Buying bigger items are near impossible, and moving things into the classroom is also a huge deal. Hence, why my classroom is still bare. Ok, my vent is over, I'm surprised you've read through it this far. Kudos to you.

It's a Boy!!

Jirik and I spent the last week visiting my family in OR/WA. We spent the first several days in Bend, OR. Cathy had a beautiful 8 lbs. 11 oz. baby boy named Brandt. He is just adorable! It was fun to see him as a newborn! We also got to spend lots of time with Cameron and Alex. We played Rockband with Alex (a way fun game!) and I think Jirik was a little jealous of his toys :-) Cameron has more energy than I thought physically possible, but it is fun to try to keep up with him. We played lots of tag, hide-and-seek, and other outdoor games. We also celebrated Alex's birthday while we were there. The big 12!! We went to this amazing fun center that had bowling, arcade games, go-cart, food, etc. I even went on the go-carts, though I went pretty slow and Alex lapped me like 4 times! It was fun though! We drove back to my parents house our last couple days and I got some new shoes and some teacher stuff. Overall it was a very fun trip and I'm grateful they bought us tickets!! Here is a slide show of some of the highlights:

Classroom (before)

I finally went and took pictures of my classroom today! These are the "before" pictures so I can plan the set-up. The teacher before me retired so I need to sort through things that were left, so things look pretty messy now. But no worries, it will look amazing before school starts! I wanted to go in before now, but last time I went they were cleaning the carpets so I couldn't see too much. Now I have a better idea of what I need to buy and what things I thankfully won't have to buy. The Promethean board is installed, so I'm pretty excited! I don't know if it's set up and ready to use, but I can't wait to play around with it! So for the rest of the summer (besides from the 16th to the 23rd which will be spent in OR/WA...yay!!) I will be in the classroom organizing, cleaning, setting everything up, and making it a "Learning Safari" for my students. I have some cool ideas, but we'll have to see how many I can afford! Without further delay, here are the pictures. Oh, and it's pretty hard to get at an angle where you can see a good shot of the whole room, but I tried to take multiple shots to show it the best I could.



My dad bought me a tablet (which has been way fun learning to use!) and so I've imported the class pictures into Photoshop and have been drawing things in where I think I'll want them and such. It's been a very effective way of planning out my room! I'm sure I'll rearrange things a million times because I'm kinda a perfectionist, but it's giving me an idea of how I want things! An example: