Quick Check In

Good morning dear bloggy friends!

I have lots of classroom reveal pictures in the works for everyone and other good stuff I've been making.  There are just three things hampering my progress.

1.  My husband and I switched computers this weekend.  So, like moving... I'm trying to re-find all my fonts, clip art, etc! :)  Plus, I got the "older" computer that I didn't update my OS to Lion back in the day.  This means I have to wait for my disc (Snow Leopard) to come before I can fully update.  #macgeek

2.  I start school on Thursday.  Eek!  Am I ready?  No.  But I think I'm close!

3.  This was the most stressful of all...  My sweet kiddo started Kindergarten yesterday!  I'm trying to get used to the new routine and after today, not being able to drop him off and pick him up.  Luckily, we have the happiest, most easy going kid on the planet.  He's totally cool with whatever schedule we throw at him.

Here he is...

First Day of School

Back to School - your first chance to make that impression that will carry you through the first few months of school.

My friends and I carpool to work, so we met up at right before our usual time (6:25am) to get to work a little early to make sure we were all ready to go.  Carpool is one of the best parts of my day because the four of us are able to share ideas, complaints and get ideas for our troubles.  It's daily therapy in a 20 minute drive.

When we arrive at work, I discover that my class syllabus was rejected because I didn't go into enough detail on my assignments.  Frustrating!  Everything was so perfect and no one has dinged my syllabi before, so now I have 180 copies of a useless syllabus.  This is the first year they are instituting new policies for the school syllabi... which are fine, except don't give me those rules the day before we go back to school!!!  I'm still irritated about this.  Being organized and prepared got me nowhere.

I have first period prep (again) so I was hanging out in the quad helping students find their classes as the first bell rang.  I'm sure I helped calm a lot of frazzled nerves out there.  The 6th graders are SO easy to spot because they are SCARED.  Haha... it doesn't last long.

Finally, 2nd period rolled around and away we went!  I don't choose seats for the kids AND I don't let them choose either.  I hand them a number as they walk through the door that will be their seat.  "The fates have chosen!"  It seems to always work well... they don't feel bossed around and I keep friends apart for awhile.  (Also...  the lower kids ALWAYS pop up on the radar because they inevitably have trouble with locating their seat.)

Again, I've moved to a Computer Elective Class so things are so different... yet, still the same in some aspects.  I'm getting used to some of the changes.  5 different periods is TOUGH.

The kids all seemed really on target - easy adapting to my way of doing things and not complaining about their Organizers.  I ran through my Rules and Policies powerpoint... they finished a short reading about the computer and it was over.

(Wash... Rinse.... Repeat four more times!)

The day literally ZOOMED by and by 1:30 I was tired, my knees ached from my 7,000 laps around the room.  Thankfully... it was over until next year.

I'm linking my first day post up at:

Teach123

To Do List

My To Do list seems like a mile long... and school starts tomorrow.  I've been slowly working on checking some items off my list, but I don't feel like I'm making any progress.  Here's the list I wrote up last night.

I think that for every thing I accomplish, I remember that I have to do something else!  Plus, it doesn't help that I'm teaching new curriculum (again!) and I'm not set in a routine that I've established.  This is my 5th subject change in 5 years.

In other news, my Principal hates hats.  I always have the problem when I remind my students over and over to take off their hats, they always try to sneak them on.  Then, when I'm just exhausted from dealing with it, BAM.  Guess who pops in and notices their stupid hat - that's right my Principal.  UGH.  So, I made this...

I found the container in Target's $1 bins.  It was actually $2.50, but the teal is our school color.  The kids are going to put their hats in that bin (yeah, I'm hoping there's not a lot of them) when they walk in the door and get them when they walk out.  I hope it works!