My Ever Nutty Life

Well the first three weeks of school have come and gone and I am still reeling from the continuous The three different schedules we were given and have had to adapt to. Though I think what I dislike the most is doing reading in the afternoon with the little ones. If any one has any good tips for dealing with teaching little ones reading right after lunch please add them below.
The craziness that is created when almost all grades are having lunch at the same time. My little ones being kicked out of their tables by third and fourth graders, so unfair, and still not fixed.
Having a special needs child in my classroom every blue moon (when his mom decides to bring him, but not the paper work that may get him the help he needs). He is a sweet little boy who is developmentally delayed due to cerebral palsy, has joint issues, was born with a cleft lip and is about two feet tall. My little ones call him our baby and treat him as such which makes me have to watch them like a hawk so he is not hurt by mistake (they always forget he is not a toy).
The children that just keep coming and coming (I am up to 25). The children themselves are not an issue for the most part they are the best group I have had at this crazy school. They are for the most part sweet, caring and kind to each other, completely unlike the aggressive and rude children I had last year (not all but so many it made the days last forever). I love seeing them each day and hearing the silly things they say....Sigh.... It is so different from last year. I love seeing their growth from day to day and being a part of their discoveries.
This was the first week with an extra hour added to the school day, which I have to admit that it makes the day seem sooo long. The extra hour added to the day my kids are supposed to be doing interventions but they have not been well planned (I am not allowed to choose what is done that is prescribed by our Reading coaches) and I have to make it function but it seems ridiculous to not allow me to plan it. I may be sneaky this week and plan it for it any way. ;)
I am going to be coming up with what materials I will need to get run off and done for my ABC Center, Handwriting Center, Playdough Center, Numbers Center, and Counting Centers. My kids will be CENTERED to death this year and I am really hoping that I can find a balanced and workable model that matches my students' needs and is differentiated and a million other requirements.
I will write more later....soooooo..sleey........................................................
My classroom is still not quite finished but soon I will post pictures.

I Survived the First Day of School!

Well I have been MIA in MIA for the past couple of weeks as I worked tirelessly on my classroom and gave some time to my about-to-be much neglected family and friends at the close of summer.

I will be posting some pics of my finished (or almost finished) classroom because centers are still unsettled and a couple of odds and ends still need to be rearranged and placed in new areas. I don't think my classroom is ever done. I change around furniture and move the kids to new tables at least three times a year. Oh well, today how I set up my classroom worked beautifully and my new little darlings are no where near as bad as the ones from last year (though I loved mine for the first month of school last year too).

I have had so many good things happen to me since the last time I posted about my bummed out mood. Thanks to all who wrote little bursts of encouragement I think it helped to refocus me and gave me a swift kick in the behind to stop moping and deal. I started turning negative thoughts to postive ones and happily a number of things went my way. I started selling some items on Teachers Pay Teachers!!! They were small items but selling them made me feel very proud of myself. I also ended up with a girl heavy class instead of a boy heavy one (I relate better to little girls than I do with little boys).

I met my new Kindergarten team. Two brand new teachers from the Teach for America program, their enthusiasm is helping me find more of my own and they are genuinely nice people which bodes well for the year and for me. I have only heard of the Teach for America program in broad terms before but I guess I will learn about it throughout the year. I already know that they have to have the kids learn a class oath and that kinda boggled my mind.

The last very happy and exciting thing is that I actually won a giveaway!!! That had never happened before. I won the 150 followers giveaway at Adventures in Teaching!!! So thank you Amy for the lovely prize!!! I got a $10 gift card to Amazon and got to pick five items from her great teacher store on Teachers Pay Teachers!

I picked the following:





So excited with my winnings that I stareted using them from the very first day of school. Check out Amy's blog for some great ideas:

 



 Tomorrow I will post classroom pics, sadly I left my camera at home most of last week when I got the most done and today so my kiddos' first day of school pi