My goal for this year is to be totally prepared and teach my heart out. I'm going to stay positive and not participate in negative conversations. I'll just keep my mouth shut. I'm going to be organized, proactive, and creative. I'm going to change things as I need to and adapt to my students. I'm going to expect the best from them and not accept anything less. I'm going to completely prepare them for the MCT2, have extra work for my early finishers, and do activities that teach and provide a fun time. But first I have to get my room ready. I got a lot done today after our meeting, but there are still some things I need to do.
1. Review and file my student portfolios
2. File my Saxon stuff
3. Get my desk ready
4. Type up my beginning of the year letter and class list
5. Put up my Show Off plates
6. Decorate my door
7. Get everything copied and prepared for the first day
I'll post pictures of my room when I get it ready.
July 25, 2011
July 19, 2011
There's Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself
Yesterday afternoon I got a call from our assistant principal saying that the principal wanted to meet with me this morning at 9:00. Even as a teacher, getting called the the principal's office is a scary thing. All night I thought about what it could be. Was I being fired for something I didn't know I did? Was I being moved to another grade? Was I being sued? Was I getting a student teacher? Was I going to have to teach a choir? These were some of my more logical thoughts...except the choir thing. As it turns out, one of them was right. I will now be a kindergarten teacher trapped in a third grade room. I don't mean trapped, per se, just that I'm going to have to shift my mindset some.
In all honesty, I'm nervous. I REALLY don't want to be under the tested umbrella and have to deal with all the mess that entails including massive amounts of paperwork, crazy stipulations, and lots of chewing out. Who knows? Maybe I'll be a good 3rd grade teacher. That's what I started out wanting to teach. Then again, I thought I was a good kindergarten teacher. Maybe I am, but I don't feel like it right now. I'm trying to convince myself that if I was bad at teaching they wouldn't move me to a tested area, but I'm not buying it.
I'm going to miss kids loving on me, painting, play doh, snacks, fun activities, memory books, etc... I know that 3rd grade isn't 4th (horrible year) and that I have 4 years of experience now. I'm not anticipating it being horrible, but I'm always optimistic at the beginning of the year. I know I'm going to have to adjust some things. Behavior plans, class rules, lesson plans, expectations. I'm going to have to learn long division again. BUT, this group of kids is my first group of kindergarten kids so I know at least half of them. And I've learned a lot in my Masters classes. I just wish I had more time to sit down with the curriculum and the other teacher and plan out what to do when. Me and Lee spent the summer mapping out our kindergarten curriculum and that's all out the window now.
Be looking for some posts about how things are different (good and bad) this coming year. And be praying.
In all honesty, I'm nervous. I REALLY don't want to be under the tested umbrella and have to deal with all the mess that entails including massive amounts of paperwork, crazy stipulations, and lots of chewing out. Who knows? Maybe I'll be a good 3rd grade teacher. That's what I started out wanting to teach. Then again, I thought I was a good kindergarten teacher. Maybe I am, but I don't feel like it right now. I'm trying to convince myself that if I was bad at teaching they wouldn't move me to a tested area, but I'm not buying it.
I'm going to miss kids loving on me, painting, play doh, snacks, fun activities, memory books, etc... I know that 3rd grade isn't 4th (horrible year) and that I have 4 years of experience now. I'm not anticipating it being horrible, but I'm always optimistic at the beginning of the year. I know I'm going to have to adjust some things. Behavior plans, class rules, lesson plans, expectations. I'm going to have to learn long division again. BUT, this group of kids is my first group of kindergarten kids so I know at least half of them. And I've learned a lot in my Masters classes. I just wish I had more time to sit down with the curriculum and the other teacher and plan out what to do when. Me and Lee spent the summer mapping out our kindergarten curriculum and that's all out the window now.
Be looking for some posts about how things are different (good and bad) this coming year. And be praying.
July 14, 2011
Stay at Home Mom
Well, it's band camp season. Eric is gone from 7:30 - 5:00 most every day. Some times he's gone til 9:00 and some days he'll have to be there at 7:00 so it kind of sucks. With him being gone all day every day, that leaves me being a stay at home mom. I have to be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it. This is the first summer that Kaleb has really been mobile and he's into the "learning twos" (that's the nicer name for "terrible twos") so I figured it would be really hard. In some ways it has been really hard but in other ways it's been fun. I'm glad I have a job and I don't think I have the energy to be a permanent stay at home mom, but it's been nice to spend a lot of time with him...especially since it's really the last summer that I'll be able to devote myself to him. More on that in a couple weeks. Anyway, yes it's hard when he wants to play outside and I won't let him because it a million degrees and yes it's hard when I need to do homework and he wants to run around hitting Lucy with a flyswatter, but it's worth it. I love that little guy.
July 7, 2011
Book Review: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events...sort of
Most of you probably know that there's a series of children's books out there by a fictious author (Lemony Snicket) called A Series of Unfortunate Events. What you might not know is that this series is THIRTEEEN books long. That's right! Thirteen! Now, I'm a fan of series just like the next guy. In fact, I prefer series books. Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Twilight, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson...all great. Lemony Snicket, ehhh, not as great. It tells the story of three children who become orphans when their parents die in a house fire. Each book then gives an account of a new guardian with a weirdo obsession (grammar, things that are "in", crows). Count Olaf is the main bad guy. He's after the Baudelaire fortune and dresses up and finds the children wherever they go. The adults in this series are apparently idiots because they never recognize him. The guardians always come to horrible ends (poison, chainsaw) leaving an opportunity for the next book. The series is too long. I've given up on it. I read the first eight or nine, but they're so predictable and there's not really anything interesting to keep me going. Our library doesn't even have the 13th book. So I quit. Yep, I'm a quitter. Oh well! I'll just look up what happens on Wikipedia. I've moved on to another series by Nora Roberts. I've never read anything by her before, but she has about a million books so I decided to give her a try. So there's my review.
July 6, 2011
Sex, Tears, and Bubbles
I really feel like all of my posts are pretty lame and not nearly as interesting or deep as some of the ones I read. This one basically gives an update on what's been going on the past couple of days. Warning: I do talk about sex a little bit in this post so if you want to skip over it I'll let you know when it's safe again. Eric and I have taken a challenge initiated by a girl in our Sunday School class through a magazine article. The challenge is to have sex 7 days in a row. So far we've been successful. However, we edited the challenge. We're going to have sex everyday in July. I know what you're thinking, "WHAT?! EVERYDAY?" Yep, everyday. We're doing this for a couple of reasons. 1- It's how I can show Eric that I love him. 2- It's meant to bring us closer together. 3- We could really use the practice. 4- We're trying to have a baby. And that's all I'll say about that.
IT'S SAFE AGAIN
I had a total meltdown tonight. I was laying on the bed, Eric was there too, and Kaleb was playing with his trains. Kaleb kicked me in the mouth and I chomped off part of my cheek (super!) He got in trouble because he was being careless and was told to be sweet and drive his trains on the bed, not on people. About 4 seconds later he rams said train into my head. It hurt physically but it hurt my feelings more. I literally started crying because my almost 2 year old doesn't respect me. Then I started crying harder because I thought I was a bad mom who didn't spend enough quality time with her child. Then I started crying even more when Eric mentioned band camp. I'm telling you, I've never cried like that before. This was hiccupping, squeaky, high-pitched movie crying. Except it wasn't a pretty cry. We Massey girls don't pretty cry. We get red and splotchy and swollen. Anyway, I decided to take a bath so I got in our jacuzzi tub (that I never turn the bubbles on because they annoy me) and read and soaked for about half an hour. I feel better now, but really slothy.
Something else that's going on is Kaleb's "bubble." Ever since he was born he's had this little bump on his knee, a cyst really since it's under his skin. The pediatrician referred us to a dermatologist in Hattiesburg who basically said that if it wasn't bothering him then we shouldn't worry about it. For the first year of his life it mostly stayed skin-colored and every now and then got a little blue. Well, I looked at his legs today while I was changing his diaper and that sucker has gotten HUGE! It's also purple and blue like a bruise. I don't know whether or not to be worried about it because it used to get bruisy when he was a baby. But not like this. As the day wore on it got bigger and he would point to it and say "knee hurt." We decided to see what happens tonight and if it isn't better in the morning then Eric will take him to a doctor in Waynesboro and try to get a referral to a dermatologist in Meridian. I'm trying not to think about it because whenever I do I start imagining the worst. Cancer, tumors, St. Judes, chemo, etc. Obviously things that could have me freaking out in half a second.
And that's basically our update. Oh yeah, and we're going to have to buy a new air conditioning system sometime soon...maybe this week. Our is about 20 years old and is costing us too much a year to fix it. Okay, now that's our update.
IT'S SAFE AGAIN
I had a total meltdown tonight. I was laying on the bed, Eric was there too, and Kaleb was playing with his trains. Kaleb kicked me in the mouth and I chomped off part of my cheek (super!) He got in trouble because he was being careless and was told to be sweet and drive his trains on the bed, not on people. About 4 seconds later he rams said train into my head. It hurt physically but it hurt my feelings more. I literally started crying because my almost 2 year old doesn't respect me. Then I started crying harder because I thought I was a bad mom who didn't spend enough quality time with her child. Then I started crying even more when Eric mentioned band camp. I'm telling you, I've never cried like that before. This was hiccupping, squeaky, high-pitched movie crying. Except it wasn't a pretty cry. We Massey girls don't pretty cry. We get red and splotchy and swollen. Anyway, I decided to take a bath so I got in our jacuzzi tub (that I never turn the bubbles on because they annoy me) and read and soaked for about half an hour. I feel better now, but really slothy.
Something else that's going on is Kaleb's "bubble." Ever since he was born he's had this little bump on his knee, a cyst really since it's under his skin. The pediatrician referred us to a dermatologist in Hattiesburg who basically said that if it wasn't bothering him then we shouldn't worry about it. For the first year of his life it mostly stayed skin-colored and every now and then got a little blue. Well, I looked at his legs today while I was changing his diaper and that sucker has gotten HUGE! It's also purple and blue like a bruise. I don't know whether or not to be worried about it because it used to get bruisy when he was a baby. But not like this. As the day wore on it got bigger and he would point to it and say "knee hurt." We decided to see what happens tonight and if it isn't better in the morning then Eric will take him to a doctor in Waynesboro and try to get a referral to a dermatologist in Meridian. I'm trying not to think about it because whenever I do I start imagining the worst. Cancer, tumors, St. Judes, chemo, etc. Obviously things that could have me freaking out in half a second.
And that's basically our update. Oh yeah, and we're going to have to buy a new air conditioning system sometime soon...maybe this week. Our is about 20 years old and is costing us too much a year to fix it. Okay, now that's our update.
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