is it summer yet?

This has been a really odd school year. I love my job. I love my kids. I love my coworkers... But I'm totally ready for summer!

One of my students was celebrating his birthday a few weeks ago. He was super excited all week and kept on telling me that he had a surprise for me. I was confused but whatever, first graders say crazy things all the time. His actual birthday rolls around and as I'm dismissing, he says "Surprise, Mrs. Park! Gary's here!" Yup. He brought Gary Payton to school.  Strange year, I tell you.

It totes doesn't help that I work with some crazy people!

 

But seriously, I love my coworkers! We are quite an ODD bunch, don't you think! Har. Har.

STAR testing is done! There's only 10 more days of school! What does that mean?! It means we jump for joy! We love to jump! :)

room 13 - project runway room

How is the weekend already over?!  It just flew by! ... yet again.

Friday was a very very very rough day with 3 kids sent back to Kindergarten for cutting up their own clothes and shoe laces, 2 in the office to see the principal, and 2 pee pee accidents.  My goodness, it was not a good day for us in first grade.  I was so angry at the end of the day but I did get a good laugh, thanks to one of the Kinder teachers.  She came into my room to yell at her old students.  She scared them straight by yelling, "This is not project runway!  You do not cut up your own clothes. Do not embarrass me like this!"  I had to turn away so the kids wouldn't see me laughing!

So tomorrow, I go back to the craziness that is teaching. Even with the craziness, I love my job. I mean, c'mon, what other job is there where you are greeted with a smile and hug every morning?! I'm extra lucky this year; I have a student that brings me flowers EVERY morning. I don't even have the space in my classroom vases anymore! The good crazy totally out weighs the bad crazy!

An added bonus, my student teacher starts tomorrow. Extra pair of eyes and ears!

I'm praying for a good crazy week! :)

wow. just wow.

I have a crazy class this year.  Or maybe this is normal, and I was just super spoiled with the most amazing class last year.  Last year, on average, I'd send a note home to a parent maybe every other week.  This year, on average, three or four a day.  It's just going to be one of those years.

Last week my little "friend", as I call them, decided to leave the room and play in the bathroom - full on beauty parlor or something because when I caught her, she had the foam soap all up in her hair.  I sent a note home. It didn't come back. Sent another.  It didn't come back.  Sent a third one and she must have been really sick of detention because she figured out that I was not going to forget about it.  She brought this to me on Tuesday morning. 




Yes.  I know my signature is awful. I was in a hurry with 24 kids! Geez.  And Yes. It's signed "mommy". You can't tell, but it's written in pencil.  This is how our convo went.

Me:  Who signed this?
Student: Mommy
Me:  Mommy signed this?
Student: Yes.
Me:  What is your mommy's name?
Student: Mommy
Me:  Her name is mommy and she signed this?
Student: Yes.
Me: Okay, let's call mommy and see if she remembers signing this. If I call her now, she'll tell me that she saw this note and she signed it?
Student: Yes.
Me:  WHAT?! Do you think I was born yesterday?! YOU CLEARLY SIGNED IT! Just admit it or you will be in detention 'til you go to middle school!

Just kidding about the last line.  I did call mom and of course mom had no idea what note I was talking about. 

It's just going to be one of those years...




Her apology note to me. Sigh.  In the end, she cried, said sorry, and got a big hug from me.  She was fine 3 seconds later. First graders are dang resilient. 

here we go again...

If the Lord wills, I will begin my 8th year of teaching tomorrow. This year is a little different though...

Every year I get nervous about the first day of school and meeting the new kids.  But this year, I am not as nervous as years before! For the first time, I am teaching the same grade level for the 3rd time in a row and to top it off, I'm at the same school! Praise the Lord. The last 8 years have been in 4 different grade levels at 4 different schools.  That's what happens when you are at the bottom of the totem pole!  But no complaints here!  God has graciously provided me with a job each year!

This year, in first grade again, I feel like a pro! But it doesn't get any easier - I'm still nervous!... AND EXCITED!

Starting the 2012-2013 school year tomorrow is going to be super exciting! Extra exciting! Why?! Because on the first day of the school year, I become a permanent teacher! Yes, THAT'S RIGHT! Tenure, baby! Praise the Lord. After 8 years, I am no longer considered a temporary teacher. ;)



*Picture from my first year of teaching. It seems like it was just yesterday!

Wish me luck!

father's day

My hubz is not a dad yet (he'll make a great dad some day by God's grace), and my biological dad and I have a rocky (for lack of a better word) relationship. So not much Father's Day celebrating is going on over here, besides the lunch we had today with the in-laws in the mountains.

But as a teacher, I can't just ignore Father's Day! I found this great Father's Day activity (here) and since I did something similar for Mother's Day, I thought it'd be something easy enough to do with crazy kids who are ready for summer break.

As usual, my kids had some funny things to say!

 

Amazing drawing, no?

I let them choose their dad's skin color from the special "skin color crayons".  I didn't have the heart to tell her that her Vietnamese dad was a little more of the peach color.

Whatever your plans may be this weekend, be safe, have fun, and eat lots! :)

self portraits

I knew that this blog would suffer when school started up again. After work, I am soooo tired I have no energy to do anything. Poor hubby is stuck with mediocre food for dinner and a huge pile of dishes that he has to deal with.

Teaching the lil ones is SUPER exhausting, but I love my job! I have the best class this year. They are so mellow, excited to learn, and just amazing all around. I have never loved teaching more! And they are the cutest things EVER. Would you like to see how cute? Take a look at their self portraits they did the first week of school.

Bottom left gal's self portrait is pretty accurate to what she actually looks like. Sweet, adorable Vietnamese girl with an amazing hair cut... but does not have red eyes. Top right guy has the best hair EVER. He doesn't actually have an 90's Kid 'n Play haircut but it'd be pretty rad if he did! Can you believe that hair? That's after I asked him to trim it.

Second boy from the top. No comment. HAHA!

Aren't they the cutest things ever?! Who cares if my house is a mess, as long as I get these kiddos to READ. READ. READ.

back to school we go

Tomorrow is the first day of the 2011-2012 school year. That means I am going into my 7th year of teaching! My goodness does time fly! I remember my first year like it was yesterday! Fresh out of credential school, totally scared of the lil Kinders, and unfamiliar with school procedures, I totally cried my first day of work. Thank God I had an amazing teacher I teamed with. If I didn't have her, I probably would have quit mid-year!

It's been an interesting 7-year journey but, by God's grace, I have been employed even if it's in 5 different grade levels and 3 different schools. I've learned that each grade level has different challenges and different schools have such different dynamics (even within one district). Thankfully, this year I was able to stay in the same school, same classroom, and more importantly, same grade level (first grade)!

So get ready for a class tour!

But first things first. My poor husband always seems to get the short end of the stick. Every summer, not only does he have to hear my whining about going back to work, but he's in my classroom moving heavy furniture, stapling things up, and having to deal with my OCD. He's the best! He's so lucky to be married to a fickle OCD control freak!

This year he did not want to lift and move heavy shelves around and then have to move it back if and when I didn't like it. So he measured out my entire classroom and all it's furniture, then made a small model to scale. I could then move objects around without him actually lifting things until I was sure I liked it there. Ha! Cracks me up. I did end up using it but then after he set it up, I moved it around again - Poor husband.

A (sort of) before picture. I already started moving stuff when I realized I didn't take a picture.

My goal for the summer was to find the level for each book and revamp my classroom library.

I knew I couldn't do it on my own so I enlisted the help of these amazing helpers! I got extra help, they got a lil extra spending cash. Everyone wins! Except husband. Haha! FREE LABOR!

Abe and Hanna, working hard!

A before picture of the lame library corner.

After! The not so lame library corner!

Okay, let me backtrack to my door.

Sign made by the UH-MAZING Danni! Another cute sign hangs in my window. Cute, no?! John saw a picture of it and said, "Why'd you use that tape?! It looks weird!" Hmph. I guess I'm taking off the Japanese washi tape tomorrow morning.

The view as you walk in from the front door. I know it looks really cramped and crowded, but my roster shows that I should have 28 students tomorrow (insane, I know), so I have to make sure there's a desk for each student to sit in!

This year, I decided to put the teacher desk right next to the door. Let's see if I actually sit down and use it this year.

This is what it looks like BEHIND my desk...

GASP! Ugly cords and a huge TV! I've already banged my head twice on that thing today. Let's see if I can go the entire school year with out suffering another concussion!

The walls are pretty much bare right now, but it won't stay like that for too long. I have the writing wall already prepped and ready to clip up my kids' amazing work!

(I spy my co-worker, Alison)

Once each student decorates their "surf board" and I get a picture of them "surfing", the wall will look complete! Like this (from last year):

Aren't they the cutest things ever?! GAH! Love them.

Mosey on a little to the left and there is a (smaller than expected) word wall. Too exhausted to redo it. It'll have to do for now. Right below it are some pointers from the dollar store that the kiddos will use for a future center game.

Not too far from there is the tent! My bff is the best bff ever! Cakies and Mr. Cakies took time from their date day to make this for my classroom. Love you, Cakies family!

Then comes some not so cute cupboards... I'll just skip over that. The past years I've used caddy type things that were left in the middle of the tables for students to share materials. For some reason, I just didn't like it last year so this year I decided to change things up. I saw this on a teacher blog (can't remember which one) and thought I'd give it a try. Supplies are in cups the kids can grab and go easily and quickly... let's see if it works.

Do you see all the junk above the cabinets?! I'll have to pull them down eventually but for now, I don't want to deal with it! And by "I'll have to pull them down" I mean "John'll have to pull them down."

Lastly, 2 things that is a MUST in a classroom... ELMO and a comfy chair on wheels! I cannot live without my projector and camera! If you're a teacher and you don't have one, beg, borrow, or steal to get one! And that chair, my oh my. I sit in it and point to where I want to go and my kiddos push me there! They love it, I love it. Everybody wins!

So that ends the tour of my little bungalow classroom. My classroom looks ready for the kids but I still feel like I'm not ready. Please pray for me as I get nervous like this every year.

But ready or not, back to school we go!