The Stories We Will Tell

Sharing

2008-12-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

I realize it has been a century and half since I have posted. I never knew 17 five year olds could keep a person so busy or so SICK! That's right, my first year immune system has finally been shot to heck.

It started about 4 weeks ago when for a solid week my voice slowly disappeared into nothingness. I actually enjoyed that because they kids were just angels! They had to be so quiet so they could hear which complete cut back on the talking! THEN it was Thanksgiving break and I'm very much enjoying doing nothing when I get slammed with a sinus infection. I guess I can't blame the kids too bad except when it turns into a cold as I return to school the next week. I couldn't take off because we were giving the CoGAT test and I was the only one who could administer it to them. After a week of that I finally was better. Then suddenly towards the end of that week, my kids were dropping like flies. Either they were home throwing up, or they threw up at school and were sent home. Wednesday night was my turn, so I took the past 2 days to recover. I come to find out that Thursday 5 kids were absent along with myself!!! Good gracious!! THEN today, I found out that my sub went home throwing up! SERIOUSLY??What is living in my room that is making everyone so sick?? My mom had my dad drive up a can of Lysol which she sprayed everywhere in my room, and hopefully that will kill everything before Monday. I'm glad I taught the kids to share, but I'd rather them share crayons or pencils than nasty stomache bugs.

Other than the sickness, I am absolutely LOVING my class! They finally got the hang of how the whole school thing works and since they have their writing has improved, their reading has improved, and they keep becoming more independent!! It's GREAT!

Other good news-the teacher next door to me had her baby boy on Tuesday! We went to the hospital to see the new mommy and baby. The rest of my team and I consider ourselves "aunts" to baby Will also known as T-Rex. Don't even ask....

And the very last bit of good news..............................5 MORE DAYS UNTIL WINTER BREAK!!! :)

Lions and Hugs

2008-09-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

First, I apologize for not posting for a while. My new goal is to try and post once a week. Everyday is just NOT possible.

Second, I've learned that no two days in Kindergarten are ever the same. One day can be pure bliss and harmony in the classroom, and the next can be like a wildfire-unpredictable and scary. BUT the good thing is that for the most part life in my room has been going better than I expected. I'm so blessed to have the kids I have. There are hardly and "major" discipline problems. Yes, they have their bad moments, but I've learned those moments are those teachable moments to help them be successful not just in the classroom but in life.

And third, I left my kids for the first time today with a substitute while I went to a Growing Writers workshop that was held in our multipurpose room. Funny story about the sub though.....

So I asked my friend to sub for me since she'd put herself on the sub list while she was in town for a month, she agreed to do it. I should let you know that this was probably 2 weeks before the actual day I was going to be absent. So over the weekend, I texted her to make sure she'd still be able to sub when she tells me...."I thought it was Wednesday, not Tuesday, because I can't do it on Tuesday, I'll be out of town."

"Ok, don't panic, you'll find someone" I tell myself. Wrong. Since it was a district wide workshop, all Kindergarten teachers were absent, so pretty much all subs were taken. One of the wonderful ladies on my team, assured me that I would definitely be going to the workshop even if it meant that someone on our team had to give up their sub since I was the new teacher and needed the information the most. So I show up to school this morning, still with no sub lined up, go straight to the office to tell the secretary my delihmma (sp?). She said that the Kindergarten aide was free for the day to cover my class. Usually she has to help out in 3rd grade for a while with a student, but that student was going to be out for the day. Is God watching out for me or what?? SO, she covered my class, she said the kids were AMAZING for her.....and the best part was when I walked in the room to help with dismissal at the end of the day (we got out of the workshop early), I got bombarded with the sweetest hugs and was told to read the story they wrote together as a class. Ok, so in the story I was eaten by a lion, BUT apparently the lion took me to Africa. But hey, I got hugs! Maybe I am doing something right after all....

Uphill

2008-09-08T19:40:00.001-07:00

Forgive me for my lack of posting. As you can see from my lack of time and exhaustion, last week did NOT go as smooth as anticipated. The further into the week I got, the most discouraged I seemed to get, I was even wondering why the heck I wanted to be a teacher in the first place....and then the weekend came.

Unintentionally, I ended up rearranging my entire classroom on Saturday. (I will post pictures once I take some.) Who would have thought that by giving the kids some more boundaries for centers and a bit more space at the group rug and tables, all my problems would be solved. Today could not have gone any better. For the very first time, I've had FUN teaching, and the kids had FUN learning. Wow, what an incredible feeling. I knew my day was going so much better when I could almost laugh at the fact that one of my kids whacked another kid in the head with his lunchbox. (He at lunch at a table by himself). That was the biggest problem I had all day- so AWESOME! I wasn't tired after school, in fact, I couldn't stop smiling! I'm finally going uphill on the teaching rollercoaster. :) I even learned how to start my report card files on my computer and set up my class lists on my palm for TPRI testing!

I hope the rest of the week goes this well!

It will be alright.

2008-08-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have come to the realization that everything is going to be alright.

I met with one of the teachers on my team today, and we went over everything on the lesson plans for next week.....in MUCH more detail than last week. I'm so grateful to her for taking time out of her 3 day weekend to answer the millions of questions I had, so that next week will go much smoother. I came home and got everything ready and organized for next weeks lessons. Tomorrow I'm going to run up to school for a little while to get things in my classroom back in order and organized. I'm excited and completely inspired all over again and I couldn't be happier!

Treading Water

2008-08-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

It all just kind of hit me today. The craziness of these past 6 weeks- workshops, meetings, trainings, setting up 2 classrooms, scrambling to get things ready, and starting my career. It was not the good kind of feeling that you want to get hit with. It was the feeling of just complete confusion, frustration, even failure. That last part is probably me just being hard on myself. I just wish I had known I was going to be teaching Kindergarten all summer that way I could have been more prepared. I just feel like I've playing catch up all week long, and not even impacting the kids. I know that they're 5, and for some this is the first school experience, but I don't want them to even waste a minute in the classroom because I'm not prepared, or because I could have done something better.

Everyone has been saying all along that the first week is the hardest, boy were they right. I'm just glad that tomorrow is Friday, and that it's a 3 day weekend. I can regroup, reorganize, and walk into next week feeling completely ready and sure of what I'm doing instead of just treading water.

The First Day of School

2008-08-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

Of course I didn't get much sleep last night, but that didn't stop me from being completely WIDE awake this morning when my alarm when off. I left my house at 7:00 to get to school early to shake the nerves and things ready. Boy was I NOT ready. We weren't supposed to pick up the kids until 7:55 in the cafeteria, but at 7:35 kids and parents start streaming into my room as I am trying to get ready for the day. No big deal, I tell myself, just give them Play-dough to keep their little hands occupied. That worked for the most part, but I still felt flourished as I helped each child unpack and say goodbye to their parents. I was SO SO SO lucky that absolutely NONE of my kids even shed a tear when their parents left! What a blessing! I was the most nervous about that I think. I didn't know how I would console 17 sad kindergartners with just 2 arms.

Today was a lot of going over procedures of the school and the classroom, and my class probably could have cared less about it all. We did have fun doing the calender, having visits from principals and other teachers, singing Dr. Jean songs, coloring pictures of ourselves to tape on the Expectations poster, sharing little tidbits of our lives, taking tours of the school and classroom, and of course in exploring manipulatives and the centers.

I really do have a cute group of kids. However, there's a handful of them that don't feel its necessary to listen to me when we're at the group rug, so after school, I readjusted the way our group rug was set up. I made a box on the carpet with masking tape, and inside the masking tape put even smaller strips of tape even spread out and labeled them with their names. In doing so, I seperated all the kids that don't need to be next to each other, and put the ones that need the most attention right up front next to me. I think this will make a HUGE difference in their behaviors at the group rug. If not, we'll just try other strategies.

I definitely think today was such a great learning experience. There's about a MILLION things I would have done differently, but I can't change that now and I probably wouldn't if I could. I can only improve and get better for tomorrow and the days that follow after that. And I will, if anything, I'm even more excited to actually start teaching reading and math tomorrow instead of just going over rules and playing. But don't worry, we'll review all that tomorrow too!

Falling into Place

2008-08-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

It was amazing meeting 16 out of the 17 kids on Meet the Teacher night. I could finally put faces to the names I have been writing on name tents, cubbie name tags, and stars all week long. They were so cute, and the parents couldn't have been nicer. All day long I had the biggest knot in my stomach because I was so nervous to meet the parents, but that knot went away the minute the first parent walked in the door with her 3 daughters. The middle one was the lucky one that gets to be in my class all year long. Soon after, more parents and their kids trickled in. We spent 2 hours just talking, touring the room, and sorting the millions of school supplies that accompany one little five year old. The time flew by quickly, but my feet were the brutal reminder of how long I had been standing on them all day.

There was one moment though that just made the entire night so memorable. There was a mom who brought her little boy in somewhere during the middle of the night. The little boy had been crying, and looked as if he had seen a ghost when he had walked in the classroom. I slowly knelt down to get at his level and told him that I was his teacher. I asked him if he wanted to help me find his name on one of the tables. He shyly nodded yes, and his mom and I walked to his table where his name was. He was looking less and less frightened as he got acquainted with his chair and the contents in his spot. His mom quietly told me that his favorite color in the whole entire world was yellow. His spot just happened to be at the "Yellow Star" table. I think this was the sign from God telling me that His hand is in all of this, that He's taking care of me, and the 17 precious kids that He has placed in my classroom.

Tomorrow is the first day of my teaching career, and I feel nervous and excited at the same time but even more blessed to be at Story Elementary, in the room that I'm in, and the team that I'm on. It's all fallen perfectly into place, just as I have always imagined it would.

The First

2008-08-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I have been away from my computer at home and have not updated because I've been literally living in my classroom this past week. Everything is FINALLY ready-- names are on the tables and cubbies, all labels are placed strategically in the correct places, and the many different types of folders have been put together, as well as the other 100 little tasks that I have been busy doing have been finished. I'm really surprised at how OCD I have become, but I hear that it's necessary to be a kindergarten teacher.

Tomorrow at 4:00 I will get to meet the 17 adorable kids that I have been waiting to meet for so long....as well as their parents. I'm praying that they will be the wonderful parents that every teacher dreams of. I've already been emailing one of them back and forth all week about school supplies, she really cares about her child! That's so awesome and encouraging to see.

Tomorrow will be the night when I stop "pretending" to be a teacher. I'm not an intern, I'm not a temporary student teacher, I'm each one of those kids' FIRST teacher, and they already mean the world to me even though we haven't met.

From 3rd grade to Kindergarten in a matter of HOURS

2008-08-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning 8:35 AM, Curtis band hall for 3rd grade math curriculum training:

There's a message on my cell phone from our school secretary requesting me to call back as soon as possible because has a question to ask me.8:30AM:
The question was "Would you consider teaching 2nd grade instead of 3rd?"
My reply was "Sure! That's the grade I have wanted to teacher forever!"
Her reply was "I'll call you in a few hours when Mr. Junco (the principal) makes a final decision.

9:00AM:

I received a message from my mom who was in meetings at the school (she's one of the resource teachers) to call her as soon as possible.

9:01AM:

I call my mom and she asks me "Would you teach Kindergarten this year?"
I reply (in a very confused tone) "Sure? and do you think I can do it."
Her reply was "absolutely, you'll love the team!"
My reply was "please put Mr. Junco on the phone."
Mr. Junco asks me to reaaaaally think about it, but said that he would be forever grateful and the next year I have the first option of moving grades if I want to.
I replied, of course I would love too.
His reply was "Awesome, and you don't even have to move rooms!!"
My reply was WHAAAAAAT?? ( my room is definitely in the 3rd grade hallway FAR away from Kindergarten".
This would be the point when I started freaking out a little.
His reply was that "no matter what, someone in one of the grade levels would have to be separated from their team."
My reply was "Of course, I'll stay where I am."

11:30AM luncheon in Curtis Cafeteria:

I receive a phone call from my mom saying that one of the 1st grade teachers would not mind trading rooms with me so that she would be separated from her team instead of me since I was a first year teacher. WOW! How AMAZING is she?? On the other hand that means I would have to take down EVERYTHING that myself and others had worked so hard to put up, but alas, it was a done deal. The switch would happen.

11:40AM:
I receive a phone call from my "mentor teacher" who was also my 3rd grade team leader asking if I was okay, and that she would be up at the school when I got done with training to help with everything. It was a this point, I almost start crying. I had to attend another 3 hour curriculum session which I did not hear a word of because I was trying to wrap my head around the idea of teaching Kindergarten and ALL that I needed to get done.

4:00 PM:

I arrive at my school to find that EVERYTHING from both rooms had been moved into the correct places. I had a HUGE stash of Kindergarten furniture, books, manipulatives, games, puzzles...you name it, waiting for me outside my classroom next to my door that was decorated with border and my name. My parents and several of the teachers at the school had worked extremely hard and fast to get that all accomplished before I was finished with training. I'm forever grateful to all of them. How AMAZING is the school I'm at??

The neat part about all this is that the room I am in now was my first classroom at Story Elementary in 1993 when I was in 2nd grade and it's now my first classroom as a teacher. I suppose it was meant to be. I AM a Kindergarten teacher and I couldn't be more excited!

I promise I'll take pictures and post them once things a little more organized!!

Thank you Mom and Shea!

2008-08-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

"math fun" and "science place" wall.

corner to display work.
word wall.
reading area.
bff shea.

Basically everything is up on my walls! My mom and bff Shea worked many hours with me yesterday to get the walls covered. All I have now is my desk area! :) Countdown until school is now at 15 days and Meet the Teacher night is in 12. Oh my....

Official.

2008-08-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

I stopped at Teacher's Tools before heading up to school today to pick up a few things. I only stayed up at school for a few hours because it was so hot in the building. I really can't wait until they start turning the air on. Thank goodness I have such an amazing mom that helps me so we can get things done faster. We organized all my books and placed in them in the canvas bins that sit on the shelves. I learned that I have a LOT more books than I realized. We also tweeked the library bulletin board and decorated the outside of my door! It feels so official now that my name is above the door. new additions to the library center...more to come!
my door!!

Step 2: Blooming walls

2008-08-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of the writing institute. We perfected our extensive pieces of writing and proudly sent them off to hopefully be published. We sat in a HUGE circle and shared a favorite piece of writing that we had written over the course of the 3 weeks. Our anthologies with our published reflexive pieces were passed out, and celebratory cake was eaten. Hugs and goodbyes were shared as we all set off in different directions to conquer the world of teaching that will now be a little easier because of our new strategies we have learned. With this in mind, I headed straight to school to work more in my room.

I accomplished a lot today! With the help from my mom, brother, and Sara. First, my brother, mom and I unloaded everything I had purchased for my room this summer from the cars into the room. Then the unpacking process began and bulletin boards began to blossom onto the plain walls. staple in my foot because I walk around barefoot :( after a long day of working!

my library center- still a work in progress. f ront of the classroom when you walk in the door, this is on your right. also a work in progress. my desk area that is set up (sort of) but not decorated yet.

Step 1: Moving Furniture

2008-08-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

During our lunch break at the writing workshop today, a few teachers from Story decided to make a quick trip to the school to find out of classroom assignments. I, of course, tagged along. I found out that they put me in the empty classroom of the 3rd grade section of the school! YAY! I could just move all my stuff right in and not have to wait for someone to move out. This is what my room looked like when I opened the door.

We went back to the workshop to finish the afternoon sessions, but I could hardly concentrate because I wanted to get in my room and start working. I ended up leaving a little early because I wanted to get to the school before the office closed so I could get my keys to the building. It was so weird getting my keys from Ms. Mary, the secretary, because she was the secretary there when I was a student.

After several hours of rearranging furniture, and cleaning, as well as reorganizing an entire cabinent of 3rd grade class sets of books that we will be reading this year, and TONS of help from my mom, my room now looks like this:

I can't wait to go back to my room tomorrow and unload and unpack all my stuff I've bought all summer long!!

Eve

2008-08-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling this year is going to fly by and I won't remember a single thing. I'm "borrowing" this idea of keeping a blog (ok, I basically copied it) from another friend of mine who is also a first year teacher. I really think all my"Section 3" friends (ya'll know who you are) that will be teaching this year should also keep a blog. What a cool way for everyone to read about each of our different experiences! Yes?

The past few weeks I have been attending the Abydos Writing Institute provided by Allen ISD. It has been such a blessing and such a burden at the same time. It's 3 weeks long from 8-4 on Monday-Thursdays. We have written two pieces, and one of them is going to be sent off to try to be published. I have learned a MASSIVE amount of new information, and new strategies to teach writing. I feel so fortunate to have had the chance to go through this rigorous workshop as a first year teacher. I feel that is going to have a huge effect on my classroom management, and I cannot wait to try out some of the things I have learned with my students!

Tomorrow will be the first time I walk into my school, not as the student I once was years ago there, but as the teacher I will be for this school year. "August 6th is the day you can come in and see your classroom", my principal told me months ago. Summer has passed quickly and slow at the same time. Nevertheless, here I am, on the eve of receiving my keys to the classroom that will open doors to my future students. I could NOT be more excited than I am right now!