I Made It To January...

The last time I posted was September (my sis brought this to my attention)! I can't believe that I actually survived the first half of my first year of teaching. Wow, it's been a wild ride! My class, although still not NEARLY perfect, has calmed down considerably.

I've also already been married for 5 months! How crazy. I can tell that 2009 is going to be a fantastic year. My New Years Resolution is to workout more (not original, I know) but is definitely an important one...should help get the cholesterol level down. The hardest part is finding a good time to workout. After work, I'm starved and it's so busy at the gym. If I wait til 8ish, then I'm usually wired before bed. Any suggestions? The new season of Biggest Loser just started (I'm currently watching it) and now I'm feeling like I should go workout instead of sitting and blogging on the couch. :)

I'm happy to report...

that things went a lot better today than they did yesterday. I still dealt with tantrums, fights, and meltdowns but I was in control this time...so nothing I can't handle! We had an assembly about making good choices that the students really liked and it made the afternoon short and sweet. The only thing is that the assembly incorporated yo-yos and they are for sale all next week at school. I can just picture all the drama that that will cause! People always say that God doesn't give you more than you can handle at once and I'm feeling that way right now because if today had been anything like yesterday, I probably would have flipped out. :)

Yesterday after the Worst Day Ever, I came home and did NOTHING for school. Instead, I went and got a haircut. It was just what I needed, but now I have a ton to do tonight...newsletter for tomorrow and all my lesson planning for next week. Ah! I better get on that...

TGI(almost)F!

Seriously??

That's the thought that popped into my head about 800 times today...the WORST DAY EVER!!!!!! What happened to my group of second graders this week? They have been unruly all week, but today was the first day where I actually felt like I had no control in the classroom. Honestly, the majority of my class is really good...it's the 4-5 boys who ruin things for everyone! One of my students didn't take "the pill that makes him good"...as he put it and his behavior was terrifyingly night and day. I hope NEVER to see that side of him again. In a nice turn of events, the other boys followed his lead and were walking nightmares. Three boys were kicked out of the library class because the poor old nun librarian couldn't take it anymore.

Today made me wonder, what really makes a great teacher? Anyone can stand at the front of the class and shout at kids as I was forced to do today. But how can I make the classroom a meaningful, fun, home away from home atmosphere for these kids...kids who often don't care if they're punished or not...kids who owe no accountability to parents at home...kids who are reading at a kindergarten level in a second grade classroom.

I'm definitely going to have to brainstorm, pump myself up each morning, and focus on the positive to get through my first year of teaching. That along with some air conditioning would be just F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C!

Anyone care to leave a positive comment below? Thanks!!!!!!

What do I need?

My darling sister read my post about a lack of resources and asked "what do I need?" That got me thinking...what do I ACTUALLY need? As of now, I'm good on the everyday supplies...crayons, pencils, markers, glue, etc. What my classroom REALLY needs is more children's books. Any age really, since I have beginning kindergarten level readers and ready for third grade level readers...I just need more! I did score two huge lots of books from Ebay, obviously retired teacher's old books. They make up the majority of my classroom library right now. I only have one tub of nonfiction books, which is pretty sad. If anyone knows of good sales going on or can find a good deal...let me know and I will reimburse you or come running myself! :)

VENT

I haven't written in ages...just a little busy with the whole newly married, trip to Mexico, getting a job thing! I may have to rededicate this blog to become a first year teacher's venting arena. This will be helpful for my mental health and will also spare my poor husband from the endless complaints that he hears when I get home. It's not that I want to complain...it's just that...HAVE YOU EVER BEEN WITH A GROUP OF KIDS FOR 7 HOURS A DAY, 5 DAYS A WEEK!?!? Yes, you try to come home without any complaints! :) I am so grateful to finally have things to need to vent about...AKA a job! But it's nice to get everything off my chest.

The thing that I'm trying to deal with right now is a lack of resources and supplies in the classroom. It's frustrating. Not to mention the fact that the kids destroy the supplies that I DO have in half a second.

I have my share of "naughty" children in my class, but at least no one in my class has peed on another classmate, which happened in another 2nd grade teacher's class today. BUT there's always tomorrow...

Moving, Getting Married, Going to Mexico...

I never "blog" anymore...I didn't do it much to begin with, partially because nothing ever happens to me and partially because I never remember. Well! THREE things are happening soon...like, within the next week or so.
#1 I'm MOVING (tomorrow). This is interesting because I have dirty dishes in the sink and laundry all over my bedroom floor. Let's just say my apartment is not quite "moveable" yet. I better get it there fast though because my utilities are being transferred tomorrow. If all goes well, I will be picking up the keys to the new apartment today. I so want to paint the walls when I get there, but that won't happen for a while.
#2 On July 26, I'm getting MARRIED! We are so not prepared for the actual wedding and reception (aka programs, place cards, etc. are still untouched). But we couldn't be more ready to start our marriage after nearly 7 years of dating! It's been fun planning the wedding and now I'm at the point where I don't want to do anything wedding-related EVER AGAIN. This is why marriage lasts forever, no one wants to deal with wedding to-do lists again. We are having a relatively small-ish wedding...we've really stayed right around our original estimate for a guest list and yet there's still sooo much to do. We were (happily) surprised to see how many people wanted/could attend the wedding...we only had a few who could'nt come. I'm excited to actually attend the party that we've spent so long planning. I'm so bad at being patient!
#3 HONEYMOON in Mexico, because let's face it 85 degrees in Michigan is just not hot enough! Haha. We're going to boil. I couldn't be more excited to go on (our first "real") vacation together! I know that fiancé is more than ready for a vacation as well. He's had to work super long hours this week in order to have Friday off so that we can move. You guessed it, we're trying to cram as many life changes and stressful (although exciting) situations into the smallest period of time! I have a feeling that we're both going to be sleeping in the corner at our reception out of sheer exhaustion. Yes, we like a good time!

Stacks of boxes are staring me down so I'm off to go pack some more & maybe wash some dishes...

HONEYMOON!

I'm so excited because we booked our honeymoon last weekend. Apparently Riviera Maya is a very common honeymoon spot. I know several people who honeymooned there or just had great vacations there. We're going to be spending 7 nights at El Dorado Seaside Suites the week after our wedding. Originally we were going to head up north for a long weekend after the wedding and then take a long honeymoon somewhere warm during the winter. But the lure of a whole week of relaxing and lounging on the beach won out in the end.
Now I have one more thing to add to my list of things that I have to wait patiently for! I'm so bad at that.