I'm a Real Teacher Again... I think?!

Today was the first day that I actually felt like a I was a real teacher again!! Whew!

I was beginning to get a little nervous that I wouldn't adapt back into Kinder life. It's been sink or swim the past week. I felt like I was sinking lower and lower and the light I saw as I looked up was too far to swim to and breathe. Today...I think my head hit the surface and I was able to gasp for air and float!!!

I need to remember NOT to keep bringing work home. I did so much stuff that it almost consumed my entire weekend! I told myself I'm not going to do that anymore because it stresses me out too much, I have no life, and I'm exhausted!! I may just babysit my bag and let it ride with me in the car so I won't feel too guilty not doing any work. Lower grade teachers are queen's of teacher bags!! A bag for this, a bag for that...guess I'm a bag lady! Haha! I'm going to start looking like one if I continue at the pace I'm going. Heehee! Work will always be there and there will always be something for me to "find" to do. NO MORE I say...ok, I talk a big talk as I sit here looking at my bag of things I should do. Haha!

Yay! All my munchkins came back after the weekend off. I had one little silent crier but she was ok once we started our day. They're such brave little souls!

I had to start a routine with them for my own sanity!! I couldn't do too many whole group activities all day anymore because I wanted and needed to see if they could start following instructions and work with some independence in some areas. We continued our Rug Activities/Calendar whole group because they're still very dependent and need my guidance. Pretty soon I'll have one munchkin who will rise to the top to take over my role and soon there after they'll all get a chance to lead the class. I can't wait for that day!!! That's the fun part to see my little mini me's...they start to sound like me. :) Immediately after we did our letters/sounds, chants, songs, poem, and we learned two new words...I...am...from our poem. We were able to put them together with our first word...me...and formed our first sentence...I am me! Yay!! The majority of them got this concept which totally shocked me. Some may not hold a crayon if their life depended on it but they learned I am me! I know I'm still a little in 1st and 2nd grade mode but they got it!!! That'll be it for now because I really have to go back and make sure we all know that these letters make words and words make sentences. This will take a looooong time because 4 call the letters~ numbers! Ay dios mio!!!

My munchkins did actually very well sitting on the rug during their rug time. Their squirm factor is easing up! They can sit a little longer now! Sit...roll over! Heehee J/k I decided today to introduce part of their Workstations (Centers). I learned once from an awesome presenter to call them workstations versus centers because they will hear the word work and associate it as a job that they need to do. Even though it may be fun, they're still doing "work." I tell them if they went to PreK they did "centers" now they're bigger and smarter and their doing "workstations."

My workstations are different areas of the room where they do different activities in that specific area. Each teacher manages their own workstations/centers differently. I don't do the more traditional way of letting the students go anywhere in the room if there is an open spot at that workstation/center and then rotate every 15 min or so. Ahhhhh...that's too crazy for me and kids will be all over the place. My workstations/centers are designed into 5 main areas of the room with plenty of back up activities once they are done with the main activity. Actually that's how their little desks are grouped...into the 5 areas. My groups or tables are color coded and the munchkins rotate their little bodies daily. I have a Red (Poetry Station), Yellow (ABC), Blue (Writing), Purple (Reading), and Green (Book Making) group. For example, the first day of workstations/centers they would stay at their "home" group. Today during our Literacy Workstation time, whomever sat at the Blue group stayed there and poof!...it is now the "Writing" Station. I only introduced two things they could do in each area for now. That group would practice writing their name, then their 2nd activity would be to use the playdoh to spell their names. Each group has different activities and they learn to stay within that area and then the following day each group rotates. They each get a chance to go through all the workstations/centers within a weeks time. Eventually I will add more things to do at their workstations for them to use once I see they understand the rules of what they are using. There can be up to 20 activities going on at once so I have to make sure I'm structured or I'll run out pulling my hair. Keeping them a little more structured helps me know where each child is and not racing from one end of the room to another. I may just have confused whomever is reading this or not..heehee! Workstations/centers help my munchkins with their independence and when it gets to be smooth sailing for them this is when I can start calling smaller groups up to work on Reading.

I explained each group to my munchkins and what they were allowed to do in their group and how they would switch tomorrow to the next station. I had to do a lot of modeling for them and put on my floaties as I watched them in their workstations. I knew I was going to sink if this didn't work. I could hear the music from Jaws in my head! I thought I might be rushing things and they may not be ready for this...I was ready to go down in two bites!! Which munchkin was going to chew me up and spit me out first?...Then that's when it hit me...they were doing it!! They were working in their groups, having fun, AND they were whispering!!! (you know how hard it is to teach whispering?!..haha!) Yay!!! No floaties any more for me! I had to run for my camera and take pictures of them working! It started to come back to me...I do know what I'm doing!! I'm a Kinder teacher again!!! I felt like Rocky running up the stairs...!!! ~ummm teacher why are you're arms up like that?...oops! Haha!! I may still push them because of the 1st and 2nd grade expectations but it won't hurt them, I'll just slap myself a few times and get back into Kinder mode! :)

Tonight I had to go back to work in the evening for Parent Information night. It's so hard to go back in the evening but I knew I had to because this is the first time that I'll have all my parents with me and I have to lay the law down! haha! I was pleased to see that I had a very good turn out, all but 2 showed up. I ranted about my expectations and stressed how they need to do their share in helping their munchkin this year. It looks like they are a good group of parents and very supportive. Whew...I was nervous!

Tomorrow is another day in another week in munchkinville and I hope it continues on the same path as today so I can bury the floaties! Is it bad that I'm counting down for the long weekend ahead?...heehee! Stay tuned for new adventures...

XOXO's

Munchkinville Week 1 Almost Over!!

Week 1 is almost over!! Whew! Friday didn't come fast enough!

Blisters, cuts, and bruises...oh my! Where can I trade in for new feet? Ouch! Boy these little munchkins are wearing me out but I love it!

Day 3 came and went! First thing in the morning we had a surprise visit from our Superintendent...yikes!! My classroom was probably the first on the drive by list...heehee! First only because I'm in the same hallway as the office and he came from that direction. Thank goodness my munchkins are still in shock mode and were very quiet first thing in the morning. Dr. Z was very nice and greeted them. Kuddos to my munchkins they remembered how to respond back when someone says Good Morning!

Sometime during the day I knew I would be having a Walk Through from my principal, which is a mini evaluation. We also call those drive by's...heehee! They have been instructed to do 125 so they'll be poppin in from time to time.

The routines are beginning to flow and the munchkins are starting to learn the rules. They were excited to learn their first word~Me! It's fun to ask them who knows how to read and one or two raises their hand and the others start saying I don't know how. When I tell them they all know how to read they fight me on it and keep say No I don't know how to read. I have this cute little boy who was getting upset when I would tell him Yes you can and he would tell me No really I can't! To their surprise I tell them they all can read and I can prove it to them. I draw three things...an eye, a heart, and letter U. We go through each symbol and talk about what each means or represents and then when they read and tell me I Love You that's when it hits them that they were reading. I try to encourage that they can read so they won't shut down and keep telling me I can't (which by the way is a bad word in my class!) I tell them that there are so many different ways to read and they've been reading for a long time and that's why they're the Best Kinder Class! It takes them awhile to believe me but they come around. They can read by just looking at the pictures, they read when they make up their own stories to the pictures, they can read in their mind, and they read when they start recognizing words and putting everything together. Then I ask them again...Can you read? this time they all answer Yes!!


My brain is still in 2nd Grade mode and a bit frazzled! Slowly I have Kinder flashbacks. It's a big drop from teaching munchkins who left on a early 3rd grade level to Kinder. I want to say what do you mean you can't draw a circle or write your name??!! There's that bad word again CAN'T but out of my mouth. Oooo mamamama!! I can't keep doing that or I'll make my life miserable. I have to remind myself it's KINDER... they CAN do these things, eventually. Right now they can smile, they can feel safe, they can love unconditionally, they can are are doing the best they can.

We built on what we learned and did the day before and added a pictograph and patterns. The graph was on the color of their uniform shirts and that kept their attention as we discussed it. Then we moved into talking about patterns...if your itty bitty's have ever come home saying ABABABAB or ABBABBABB...they're not trying to spell the music group ABBA they were probably learning patterns...then they'll move into colored patterns; blue, green, blue, green or any other color combination. The big one is when they can think more abstract. When they can make different patterns (AB, ABB, ABC) using anything (bike, table, bike, table...etc) is when we know they've mastered it. My class is no where near that yet, we're still trying to clap, slap, clap, slap and say ABABAB at the same time. It's hilarious to see those poor babies that have not developed their coordination yet...they're slapping, clapping, and flapping all over the place. Haha!

PE time didn't come soon enough! After PE the day ended...finally! It seems like the days get longer and longer. When is vacation??? Labor day weekend...yay!! Perfect timing for a mini break.
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Day 4 was today, Thursday, and we did a little bit more work and I stretched their potty break time a little later. The first two days I would take them around 8:15, we start school at 7:45 but many are dropped off about 7:15 or earlier and they were dying to go. Now we've made it to 8:45...it's like training little puppies not to pee on the floor. heehee! I may stretch it to 9:00, then lunch is at 11:00-11:30 and we'll go again after lunch then again before PE and time to go home. Yay, potty trained! haha As time goes by they'll be able to go by themselves or small groups, but right now we go line up as a class and a few at a time are sent in. They so need to be supervised! They try to crawl under the stalls, try to be little monkeys hanging or over the stalls, can't undo their buttons and belts, play with the soap and water, roll and roll and roll the paper towel dispenser, spit water back into the water fountain...ahhhhh Calgon Take Me Away!!! (Ok, those are worse case scenarios because they BETTER not do this on my watch! haha) So far so good with my little munchkins!

I had my drive by (walk through) today in the morning from my principal and we were doing Calendar. It always gets me nervous but thank goodness they were behaving and on task...whew!

My prayers have not be loud enough I think because I got a new student yesterday and one today. Whah! Boo! Oh well, my class size is still small from what I'm used to. State mandated size for K-3rd or 4th is 22 max. I've always had 22 munchkins...now I have...shhhh...16 (14 was heaven though)...we all have low numbers but now I probably jinxed myself talking about it again...eek!

I wish I had my camera with me later in the day...we had a fire drill!!! I had talked to them the first few days about what it would be and what one may sound like because we were warned that we would have one this week. Talking about one and participating in one are two different things. Well, it was PE time and they were in the gym with the coach. We were told about the drill and felt we needed to go help the coaches with the kids when it went off, but they told us to just leave that they could handle it. So we waited by one of the exit doors and waited and waited...then the alarm went off! This was when the camera would have come in handy to video tape...the coach came around the corner and it looked like a swarm of little ants getting closer and closer....some saw the opened doors and the light and bolted down the hallway screaming and holding their ears! We had to laugh! The coaches were quick to corral them together and giddy them up out the doors! I was very proud of my kiddos that I saw pass us as we held the doors, they were quiet and walking quickly! Yay! The others from my class that I didn't see were mixed in the group or they may have bolted out, lucky for them I didn't see them if they did...haha. Some from another class were really going wild!! Once outside, they all actually did very well and followed the coach and we quietly waited for the signal to return back into the building.

Tomorrow is day 5 and FINALLY Friday!!!! Woohoo! A week in Kinder and I'm still breathing!! Let's hope after the weekend they'll want to come back and no crying! ~crossing my fingers! Yes, that's meant for me too... :) Stay tuned to any new adventures coming up.

XOXO's

Day 2 in Munchkinville...Relief!

Day 2 was very calm...thank goodness! But, where do I get new feet! Ouch!

Parents were very good about leaving their munchkins at their designated lines. No criers!!! Yay!
I still can't get over how tiny they are and so darn cute!!! I slowly started a basic routine with them which will help in the long run. In my opinion if the discipline doesn't start from day 1...forget it, you've lost them and you'll have problems all year!

I made listening and following instructions into a game. They were thrilled to hear we were going to play a game! If they only knew... I was assessing to see who I may have difficulties with when it comes to listening skills and following instructions. It was fascinating to watch, to say the least! Hmmm...are they like my little mice in an lab? Heehee! In a way they are, bless their little hearts because they are so innocent and impressionable at their age. If I tell them the sky is pink they'll believe it! Or that my eyeball bottle has the eyeballs from kids who misbehave. No, I really don't tell them the sky is pink...haha! Ok so I do use the eyeball bottle...haha! No worries, not real eyeballs...just water bottle with gel and googly eyes! Haha! They do think I flattened kids eyes and stuck them in the goop..heehee! I know, I'm bad.

Their little minds are like sponges wanting to learn, it's just finding the right method to teach them that can be frustrating at times. Not all munchkins learn the same way. You have visual learners, auditory, kinesthetic ...etc. so I try to touch all areas using any means possible; music, dance, movement, etc. I always fear I won't be the best teacher I can be or that they won't learn everything they're supposed to. The pressure I put on myself is horrible sometimes. It's true that we are our own worst critic! Well, enough of that for now!

We did so much today and they were very good. Yes, we had some moments but they're learning that boot camp has begun. haha! They were better today because they knew I would be sending discipline cards home today if they misbehaved. One little one was preoccupied at one point and whispered to me "how am I doing today?" Awww....of course I had to reassure him he was having a GREAT day and would keep his green card. (No, not crossing papers but a green itty bitty card they think is worth gold!...heehee)

We did our calendar routine, we sang and danced the months of the year and the days of the week! Woohoo! They loved the months of the year to the movements of the macarena! haha! If you remember how the macarena goes try it...it works! You know you want to try it! Haha Our days of the week are sung to the tune of the Adams Family and it's cute to watch because most of them can't snap yet so they use their mouth/tongue to make the snapping sound. "Days of the week..snap snap...Days of the week...snap snap...Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week..snap snap...there's Sunday and there's Monday, Tuesday and there's Wednesday, Thursday and there's Friday, and then there's Saturday...Days of the week..snap snap..." :)

We did a little bit on how to draw a face and details so we don't have anymore alien's in our drawings or stick limbs and fingers...heehee. We also did a little bit on numbers 0-5...we'll be working on this for a while...eek! I forget what they come in knowing or not knowing. We'll also be doing a lot of fine motor skills to help them control the crayon and writing skills. I don't use pencil's at all until later. We only use crayons right now. One reason is they'll want to erase everything and it's a mess! Also I want them to learn it's ok to make a mistake and not worrying about erasing everything and keep going. The crayons make even the smallest scribble look nice and colorful!

I had the best compliment today from one of my munchkins which started a chain reaction...one of my itty bitty boys said..."you know what? I like this class!" I told him "well I like that you're in this class and this class likes you too!!" Then of course they all started saying they liked being there! Awww....whew! Thank goodness!!! Guess being strict and a balance of fun keeps them coming back, I hope!

I'm still crossing my fingers and praying that my class size stays small and behavior problems to a minimum. I did get a new little girl today but she's wonderful and a beautiful little thing. I'm lucky so far with my little pingos, Spanish for behavior kids. Some of the stories I could tell you about some of the other kids in the Kinder classes...eek! Parent's need to start disciplining their children, have consequences, and be consistent...ok enough or I'll get started on a soap box.

I told my kids we had a secret...shhh...get a little closer to hear....don't tell anyone... ready?...you're still to far...get closer...listen.. ~whispering...Guess what?... I was told I have the Best Kinder class ever and they gave me the best kids!
Their little eyes lit up and you can see them beaming! Love it!

Hoping for a good rest of the week...stay tuned.
XOXO's

Yay!! I Survived Kindergarten!

1st Day of Kindergarten and I Made It!!!!

Whew!!! It's over...well, only day 1! haha! I'm finally back in Kinder and boy has it been an adjustment!!!

Last night I was so nervous and wanted to cry! I now know what the kids go through and the anxiety they feel. Poor things!! I was able to go to bed early and up early. I made it to work very early and the school was open!!!! I was sooooo nervous....I really did want to cry or throw up!

Everything started off ok, I got some last minute things done before Munchkinville started. I started to breathe and calm down. Then the worst thing happened...remember the ants?!...it was like a scene from a horror movie! I reached for some stickers for the munchkins that were near my classroom phone and AHHHHHHHHHHH!! (~scream~) I brushed by the phone as I was reaching and ants started coming out of the phone!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!! I stared at them because I wasn't sure what I was seeing because there wasn't a trail. I picked up the phone and finally realized their were tons of ants somehow IN THE PHONE! That's when I dropped the phone to the floor and let out a little squeal! Why not a scream? I don't know?! It looked like thousands scurried out (ok I'm exaggerating but it was at least 50 to 100 little ants! Eeek!!! I panicked! What do I do? The Stomp Dance wasn't going to work and that just intensified my anxiety even more. Great... ants and Kindergarten don't mix! I thought of something I've seen my dad do, no not the Stomp Dance...haha! but water and soap. I ran across my room, in heels, yes I'm a fool for wearing heals, and found a spray bottle filled it with hand soap and water and sprayed the dickens out of them. It seemed to work instantly or I just drowned the little suckers!!! The ants that is, not the Kinders..heehee I watched and waited to see if they would resuscitate...heehee...no sign of life yet...I waited a bit more...yup they were dead! I bugged the janitor and he also thought it was the strangest thing they were only in the phone. That's when I thought of those creepy movies or Voodoo...yikes! haha! Ants kept coming out of the phone and I banged it a couple of time to make sure there weren't anymore in it and got bit on the finger...ugh! Is there workers comp for ant bites..haha! 10 minutes before we picked up the munchkins I finally wiped up most of them and was able to forget about them.

Met up with my other Kinder gals and we took a couple of deep breath's and prayed for no criers!! Once we had our new babies we walked back in and I asked my parents to follow us in so I could take their pictures with their munchkin and pass out parent info. I did tell them that starting tomorrow we were cutting the umbilical cords and they would have to leave their child where we showed them to line up. Boot camp starts!!! haha

It's sweet to see how nervous parents get and want to cry. I gave my parents badges I made saying; No Tears for Me! Just dropped off my child in Kindergarten! Great idea from a teacher friend...thanks Laura! Most of my kids were really good and went right away to a seat and started coloring what I had on their tables. Whew! So far so good!

Once parents left I kept thinking...ok, now what? haha No criers!!! Yay! I knew that wouldn't last long...well it didn't! After lunch I had one but I blame mom on that one...heehee Mom came to "visit" at lunch and the minute we had to line up and go back in the building the water works started. I thought she was crying because she has a twin sister in the class next door, but it was a combination of both! Lordy, Lordy! Mom's please don't go visit you child until after they get into a school routine or you know they won't suffer from separation anxiety!!! The crying lasted for a LONG time! I finally got her to stop...we went to visit sister, got a hug, and basically got over it! Sheesh!


The entire day was pretty calm. A LOT of modeling and practicing how to stand in a line, how to whisper, how to put their little finger over their mouth to keep quiet in the halls, how to sit on the rug criss cross, how to keep their shirts tucked in, how to push in their chairs, how to raise their hands, how to share, how to follow rules, how to...it goes on and on and on!

They are too cute and sooooooooo small! haha! I forgot how teeny tiny they are. I must look like a giant to them...haha! Who am I kidding..I am a giant! haha! So far I have the smallest class size I've ever had in 12 years! Love it! I probably just jinxed myself and the numbers will shoot up by the end of the week. Darn!! For now I'll enjoy it!

It's funny to hear them interact with each other. I can already tell who will be my little spit fires and major chatter boxes. I'm pretty strict but these two just don't know when to stop talking! It's cute to remember how much attention these babies crave and need! They want validation for everything...I love it! "How does mine look? Is mine nice? Do you like mine?" Waving papers up at me, waving them up in the air, waving them to each other, teacher, teacher...I wanted to scream STOP, but I didn't. I had to explain that I knew all their work was great because I had the BEST Kinder class in the school and they didn't have to get up and show me every second or wave it around, I would come around and look at everyone's work. Every time I would say they were the BEST they had the most precious smiles ever. They got a kick out of me also telling them to Kiss their brain! Kiss your heart! when they did something I liked. I would show them and they copied me...they kiss their fingers and place it on their head, kiss their fingers and place it on their heart. :)
We read the Kissing Hand by Audrey Wood for those students and mommy's who had a hard time wanting to come to school. They had to go home tonight and tell their parents about the story and kiss mom's/dad's hand and mom/dad kisses their hand. When mom or munchkin gets sad or missing them they place the kissed hand on their check and they're there with each other in spirit to help them make it through the day! Sweet story!

We played some name game and drew their self portraits. Yippie some can even write their name!!! Ok, 4 could, but that was great to see! Their portraits were really cute too! I'll have to post some up later. A few were drawing alien looking portraits...haha...have to love it!

Lunch was too early for me, 11:00am! They enjoyed it and they were starving. They did very well not dropping their trays and eating some of their food. They're learning how to open their milk but thank goodness we have some great volunteers to help them! They got to run wild for a little bit outside then back inside for more routines. We don't have Nap Time but I make them rest for 15 minutes and some knocked out! Whew...nice! We then went on another potty break. Before we left this is when one of my little girls gave me a lesson on "did-jestive" for those that don't speak Kinder...that's the word digestive. She raised her little hand and stood up and started explaining why we pee and poop. "Milk is a liquid and it stays like that and goes through us and food is hard and stays hard and leaves us...you know...poop." Haha!!! She's hired to teach our Science Lessons! haha


I made sure to take pictures of them alone so I can have them for an end of the year video I make for them. They loved the camera and are little hams in the making! They started showing off their new shoes and there was a cutie who from out of nowhere said "I have blue shoes!" This threw me for a loop and he was so proud to show me his cute little blue shoes! This was a bizarre moment because just last night I was chatting with an old friend and we have a running joke about blue shoes. My friend wore little blue shoes in our elementary class picture so that's become an inside joke. Well, while we chatted the blue shoes came up and joking one of us said maybe one of my new kids would have blue shoes. Skip back to the moment in my class when I hear "I have blue shoes!" I thought I was in the twilight zone or again being punk'd...what? Blue shoes? He lifted up his little feet and yes sirree bob he had little blue shoes! I could only laugh when he wasn't looking because I didn't want him thinking I was laughing at him. The shoes are actually really cute! Such a weird moment...bizarre!


The day actually flew by...I guess it's true, time fly's when you're having fun! I survived Kinder!!! My now 3rd graders were stopping by throughout the day to say hi. A group of my girls came by and told me "we came to check on you and make sure you're alright." Awwwwwwww....on Friday they saw me at our Jamboree and they knew I was nervous to do Kinder again! They are too cute and sweet!

Tomorrow is only day 2 in Munchkinville...I pray my class size stays low and NO CRIERS! Stay tuned!

XOXO!

Final Days before Munchkinville begins...

Final days before Munchkinville...

Friday was a LONG and exhausting day. It was our work day which just meant we had all day to work in our classroom and we had our outdoor Jamboree in the evening. Whew! I was pooped! By the way...the ants are back!!! They are everywhere in the school!!!!

I got to school very early...it was 6:30...eek! This time I was being an eager beaver but this eager beaver should have checked to see what time the janitor was opening the gates!! Now what do I do they weren't open yet??!! I took a cruise, yes I was cruisin' around my little valley area. I would have gone to Starbucks but there isn't one close enough or on our side of the freeway! Hmmm....why is that??? Lower valley people drink coffee and tea!! Don't they??

School was finally open and I got to work in my room. I finished up some last minute things but kept finding other areas to clean out or organize and this was getting me frustrated. Why was I finding areas instead of just leaving them alone and start my planning??! I think I procrastinated so I could keep myself from facing the reality of being back in Kindergarten.

We went to Applebee's for our last meal! haha Our last adult lunch that is! After this we're back to inhaling our lunch. As we sat relaxing we talked about how exhausted we were and couldn't understand why. Then it hit us...Kindergarten!!! It's not as easy as some may think or assume. We don't just sing and play all day!! Put 'em up....those are fighting words to any Kinder teacher!! Heehee! :) As we ate we discussed how easy it was to start the beginning of school when we looped up to 1st and 2nd. It was great! The kids make such an easy transition when we loop. They walk in and we can start working on day one. They know us and our routine so it's smooth sailing. Teaching Kindergarten on the other hand is an Art!! I believe if you've ever taught Kinder you can teach ANY grade! We get into the mind frame that our munchkins come in with a blank slate. None the less, there are some who come in with the knowledge of what letters are, how to write their name, let alone HOLD A CRAYON/PENCIL!! If I get one or two who know these things and more, I'll be in heaven. For now I have to think BLANK so I can be pleasantly surprised when they know more.

My student teacher was there early for a few hours to help me with some of the little things and she helped me get back into the mind frame of Kindergarten. She was very curious and asked a lot of questions which helped me tremendously. She asked "so what do you do on the first day?" Hmmm....wait...I know...ummmm....well...ummm...wait...I know this one...yikes! I was BLANK!! Haha! Then I started ranting trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about! I laughed and told her that this was helping me refresh my memory. As it all came back to me that's when I started to panic. Did I make the right move? Should I have gone to 3rd Grade with my babies or will I be ok in Kindergarten?? I guess I'll find out on Monday!

My first day will consist of praying there is no crying! From me that is!! haha We will be learning/doing:

• how to sit criss cross applesauce and keep our hands and feet to ourselves on the rug
• what a line is and how to stand in our own little square when we learn how to line up
• taking a tour around the school to learn where everything is
• pretending how to get our trays in the cafeteria so we're ready for lunch
• taking potty breaks throughout the day so we don't have any accidents!!!
  
• learn and practice where to go in case of a fire drill (which we'll have on Tuesday..eek!)
• learn each others names
• drawing ourselves (so I can see who can and can't hold a crayon...yikes!)
  
• talking about rules
  
• Sing and Play!! haha Yes, I said sing and play...I know I said those are fightin' words but I have to reel them in and want them to come back somehow don't I? haha

These are a few of the many things we'll be doing and I really do try to have fun all year long. If it's not fun for them then it's not fun for me!

In the evening we had our Jamboree outside. It was a beautiful evening, not too hot and we had a very big turn out. Parents and students came to meet their teacher while having some fun. We had free cotton candy and hot dogs, the police department had a booth to do fingerprinting on the munchkins, and we had a stage for entertainment. Some of my past munchkins came to say hi and this is when I started questioning again if Kinder was the right move or not. I know I'll have a great time with my new little munchkins, I always do. Our Superintendent and his wife (who was a Kinder teacher...yay!) came out for a couple of hours. I was brave and asked if we could take pictures and he posed with us. Then the pictures never stopped...haha. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that he fell in love with one of my little munchkins and used her picture in his talks...well, he saw her again...her mom raced over to me because he wanted a picture this time with her! So as her adoptive mom I ran over with my camera and took the picture he wanted. Such a proud moment! :)


Monday will be a very interesting day to say the least. I've been working this weekend on name tags, name cards, name puzzles, name this name that...whah! It's hitting me again...many won't know their own name!!!! I feel the stress monkey sitting back on my shoulders again...UGH!! Stay tuned this coming week to see how many criers I have...I may be one of them!!!
XOXO!

Teacher Inservice #3...Much Better!!

My Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho is....pooped!

Why is it so hard to wake up in the morning?? I'm an early bird by nature but knowing I have to get up by 5 is just killing me! Could it be I haven't followed my own advice I give to parents about having their munchkins go to bed early? I should have taken my own advice and started going to bed earlier a few weeks ago! Hopefully I'll hit the pillow early today!

Day 3 of Inservice was much better today! Thank goodness!!!
Once again we were provided with a wonderful breakfast at our campus; tamales, fruit, coffee, and orange juice. Yum...well except for the coffee and juice. I need to make the suggestion that not everybody drinks coffee and orange juice...yuck! haha! But I can't complain when it's FREE! heehee! They also provided a wonderful lunch for us too!!! :)

We started off with a wonderful talk from our Principal. She's super energetic and so positive about the new school year. If it wasn't for her leadership I don't know what we would keep us going. The kids keep us going, but it all has to start from the top. This will be her third year with us and she has turned moral around and she really is there for the kids. We're blessed to have her.

Our morning covered faculty handbooks and student handbooks...more do's and dont's. While part of our afternoon covered Technology. Covering technology is always a plus in my book! Love it! The topic was Cyber Safety and some great web sites for parents and students when using the web. NetSmartz was one we had a good time using. There were great age appropriate videos discussing the importance of being safe when using the internet. Parents need to be more aware of what their children are doing when they are on the computer. We discussed how older students are experiencing Cyber Bullying. Wow...bullying even through technology.
Cyber Saftey Link
http://www2.yisd.net/education/components/links/links.php?sectiondetailid=146844&

Then, I was hit with the news....I'm getting a Student Teacher!! Ahhhh!! I was hoping I wouldn't get one this semester only because I'm going back down to Kinder from looping up with my past munckins. There's more pressure now...ugh! I needed to be able to let my brain go bonkers and get back into the swing of things. Now this poor little thing needs to learn from me??? Oh no!!! haha! I met her and she is a very sweet girl. I did warn her that there may be moments of craziness...not from the munchkins but from ME!! I've been blessed to get interns that work out very well and personalities don't clash ...whew! There are some teachers who can be so mean to their interns and be so by the book or hoity toity! I hope she has a fun experience and learns something...haha!

We finished the afternoon with reviewing our new state standards. If your child is a student in a Texas school and you would like to see what your child should be learning in their school you can click on the link and scroll down to either the TEKS Content by Chapter or scrolling down to the PDF file for each specific grade level. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teks/
Kindergarten is more than what many think it is. There are standards, pressures, and demands for these little ones just as the older munchkins have. With all these pressures I hope I try to make our classroom fun and exciting so they learn to love coming to school. If I don't...eek..then I'm headed for a year of trouble! If we don't have music, dancing (of course), and a lit bit of crazy silliness while learning then I might as well quit!

Tomorrow will be a VERY long day 8-8...eek... it's our last inservice and a school family night for parents and munchkins. Our Superintendent was invited and other guests. Yikes! Best behavior...haha! They'll be having hot dogs, cotton candy and other goodies! Yay!!! I'll definitely need the sugar to keep me going!! Stay tuned for more!

XOXO!

Teacher Inservice #2...Not so wow!

Ummmm....How do I put this nicely?... Thinking.... Still thinking... UGH!!!! I was always taught if I didn't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all!!! But, I have to say something or I'll explode!

Our day 2 inservice was held at UTEP's Magoffin Auditorium. We car pooled up there and arrived a bit early. Once we walked in is when we saw that our speaker would be Dr. Timothy Rasinski. http://www.timrasinski.com/

I had heard him speak last year at a special meeting I went to and he was very informative and very interesting. I remember going back to school showing some of my teachers what he taught us. He used some great strategies to help struggling readers with fluency and comprehension so I wasn't too worried about listening to him again. We had some time so we took a walk to the new UTEP Bookstore. It was too early so it wasn't open yet but they had an Einstein Bagel shop...yum. Of course we sat and ate a bagel and they had coffee, I stuck to a Chai Tea. We walked back wondering what else we would be doing later in the afternoon.

Magoffin has changed since I remember taking classes there. All the pull out wooden desks are gone and they have real auditorium seats now. heehee! All of Kinder, 1st & 2nd grade from the district were in there, they said about 600 people. Eeek!

This is by no means a dig at Dr. Rasinski but man oh man...sitting on our tooshies from 8-4 really bit the big one!!! I don't want to blame the department who put the workshop together but I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to have us sit ALL day! Also, Dr. R didn't do ANY of the fun and exciting things I had heard him talk about once before. Which by the way only took 3 hours last year and not 7 hours!!!! So much for bragging how wonderful he was last time...sorry!!! His information was still ok but....???? :( Now for the good stuff....LUNCH!!!
They gave us 1 1/2 hours woohoo!!! Teachers aren't used to having long lunches...we only get 30 minutes but then you have to take off 5-10 minutes walking to the cafeteria and heating up food, so we learn to eat really fast! haha! Gulp!!

Since we knew there would be 600 people running wild up and down Mesa street we decided to lay low and hit back our quaint bagel shop for a yummy bagel sandwich! We actually sat and slowly ate our food and had a wonderful time. After we stuffed ourselves we went to look at the bookstore because it was open now. Wow! We were impressed...like it really matters if we approve it or not! haha We're a bunch of crazy teachers and found some cute UTEP bottoms to lounge in at home and we all bought matching ones! haha It was time to go back...but why??? whah!! :(


I felt bad for Dr. R. because the rest of his talk was probably heard by the sleeping angels. It reminded me of those moments back in Magoffin when we were lectured to and we just would "rest our eyes." If was funny to see how creative people got while they were "resting their eyes." A lady was holding her pen still...but her body didn't hide the fact she was past out!! I almost took a picture but that wouldn't have been right...heehee! Then you had the famous bobble heads and they jerk themselves awake and look around to see who noticed..haha! We were dying!!!! UGH!

Tomorrow is another day but back at our campus...we'll see what's waiting for us. Stay tuned...

XOXO!

Teacher Inservice #1...Wow!

Wow! Wow! Wow!


Today was day 1 of teacher inservices...I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed but with a bit of apprehension. The apprehension was there because today was our district wide inservice. From past experiences they always seem to drag and turn out to be crazy cheering events. Hmmm....What was I in for this afternoon? What would the bus ride out to the Plaza Theatre Downtown be like?? Would it be the same type of event? Would the speaker be motivating enough or only the first 5 minutes of their speech? Well....

The morning started out very nice! We all met in the cafeteria at 7:30 to say our hello's and give our hugs. Our administrators and office staff had pan dulce (Mexican Sweet Bread) for us, coffee, and orange juice. I grabbed the biggest and best chocolate donut ever!! If you have never had a Mexican donut...you're missing out! Yummers! None of this wimpy Krispy Kreme puff of air, but a delicious, thick, huge donut. I should have taken a picture of it but I ate it so fast it was gone! heehee! No coffee or orange juice for me...yucky!

The office staff decorated the cafeteria and tables with a Race Car theme. Our new Superintendent's district theme is Racing to Excellence. The cafeteria was covered with fun checkered flags and goodies everywhere. We even got a cute little racing goody bag! Once our breakfast goody time was over we got down to some business...going over our district handbook. Boy oh boy, there were so many "what not to do's." Once our review was over we were given some time to work in our rooms until lunch came. It was more like brunch I guess because we were eating at 10:30...but I wasn't hungry I had that huge donut! We were in our rooms for about 20 minutes until we were called back to eat. Our school provided lunch from The Lunch Box...Mexican food. I still wasn't hungry but I knew I wouldn't be eating anything until we got back after 3:30...ugh! I only ate part of my food and loaded up on the fresh homemade tortillas...haha!

We all left for the area middle school where we were to be picked up and bused. We acted just like the kids on the bus. Loud and noisy, giggling and singing! We were early so that helped tremendously. The Plaza filled up with all the elementary schools in the district. Wow!


Now this is when we were given a nice surprise...our Superintendent, Dr. Michael Zolkoski, and district personnel had put together an awesome band. Dr. Z is such a talented musician, as well as, the others or as they called themselves, Ysleta Power. Dr. Z sings, plays the trumpet, the sax, the bongos, and tamborine! They had a horn section which included a great college friend of mine, Marty Olivas, a keyboardist, Ruben Gutierrez, drummers, guitarist, bassist, and singers! Whew! What a show! We were singing and dancing in our seats and had a great time. They played some Santana, sang Love Train, All I Need Is a Miracle, I Will Survive and I think they sang Brown Eyed Girl to ME!!! heehee It was a great way to start off the afternoon!


Dr. Zolkoski spoke to us for a bit and he was a great speaker. The best part of his talk was to see a huge picture of one of my babies I had for three years on the screen and he referred to it as one of his favorite pictures!!! Yay! Gyzel!! We all cheered and I acted like a proud mama and took pictures of the screen to show her real mom. That was the picture that ended his speech and I wanted to cry!!


The guest speaker was Dr. Crystal Kuykendall, http://www.crystalkuykendall.com/biography.asp She has been a teacher in many different levels, a lawyer and a motivational speaker. She called us "Merchant's of Hope." Awww...I loved that! What an outstanding and motivating speaker! One of the best speakers I've heard so far in education! She had us laughing and almost crying, but had some very empowering words for us all. We left ready and eager to touch the lives and hearts of our munchkins!!!


Tomorrow is day 2...Teacher Job Alike...stay turned for that!

XOXO!

Day 5 in Munchkinville...Yay!!!

Heigh ho, Heigh ho...Yay! Yay! Yo!

This morning I was a little more excited to go to work because I was determined to finish before 12!! I stopped at the store for a few last items that I needed...curtain rod and some hooks. I walked in and walked out...yay for me, no detours!

When I arrived at school the parking lot was pretty empty, maybe because it was still early. Our trustworthy secretary's were there with happy smiles as always! I loved walking into my classroom today because it actually looks like a classroom. Finally!! Yesterday's cork board fiasco really ran me amuck.

At first I just piddled around not sure what to do. I finally organized my "what to do" list. I had a few projects to finish and would need my trusty tool, the glue gun...and my real tools. Yes, I keep tools in my classroom and to top it off they're in a cute pink case!! My past munchkins got a kick out of me having tools, especially the boys but the girls loved that they were in a pink case. Nice teachable moment..."girls can use tools too!" Heehee

My first project was to make a curtain for a wooden shelf. Basically, to make the shelf look neat...ok, who am I kidding, it was to hide the stuff in the shelf...haha! I had the curtain rod, the material I was going to use, and the glue gun was hot and ready! Yes, I used the glue gun to "sew" my curtain...heehee I have a sewing machine at home and know how to sew pretty well but this is the quick and easy way! I've done most of my curtains in the classroom this way. No burns this time!! Yay! It works great!!


The other projects were simple things like adding more goodies to our Calendar Area, adding hooks and screwing in screws to hang things. When you're limited to places to hang things we find anywhere we can. Teachers can find ordinary items and use them in different ways. We're pros! Hangers, clothespins, and a garment rack are great items in the classroom. The plastic pant hangers are the best! I use them to hang posters or chart tablets and they're easy to move around from place to place. The clothespins are just like huge clips! The garment rack is great for storage to hang the posters or chart tablets you're not using. Love it!


I had a few visitors come by to chat and "check out" how much I've done. heehee! One 2nd Grade teacher was going to check her room for the first time...eek! Vaya con Dios! (a blessing...heehee) I kept looking around my room for other things to fix but there really wasn't much for me to do. I left my little work area to work on so that when they give us "time" to work in our room I won't feel guilty saying I'm done...nanee nanee boo boo! ;) The "time" they actually give teachers to set up their classrooms is a joke. It's either half a work day or sometimes a full day. This is why teachers go on their own time to set up. Yuck!! I was happy I started very early because now I can enjoy not going back until I have to start teacher inservices on Tuesday. Ugh!

Four days of inservice...hmmm...those should be very interesting set of blogs. I received a letter stating what we would be doing on those four days. Very vague and not too many details. Day 1 in the am...who knows? In the afternoon we all are being bused to the Plaza to listen to our new Superintendent. Yikes all YISD elementary teachers on school buses to the Plaza??!! Field Trip!!! Haha! Day 2 Job Alike, this is where you meet somewhere with all the teachers from the district in your same grade level. Not sure what we're meeting to do or where?? haha! Day 3 at our campus...who knows? and Day 4 at our campus...who knows? Should be a very long week!!! Teachers would much rather use those days to work in their rooms and plan but no one ever listens to us...haha!! Stay tuned for next weeks adventure!

XOXO!
P.S. I did finish before 12!!! :)

Day 4 in Munchkinville...Why? Why? Why?

Heigh ho, heigh ho....why did I go???

A few days fell between the cracks last week and I finally made it back into my classroom. I was hoping today would be my final day going into the classroom until my new munchkins arrive...but as it turns out it's not!!!! Ugh!!!

I had told myself I was not going to spend a lot of money on my classroom this year....yeah right, I didn't listen to myself! I started off pretty good this weekend with a few items I needed. Then that's when I saw it...cork! Yes, cork squares. The type you use to make bulletin boards. Hmmm....

Why would I need cork squares?? Well, I spoke earlier of how wonderful our custodians are and not to cross them...well, I was a little annoyed with those wonderful custodians when they tore down my make shift bulletin board!!! Why? Why? Why would they need to remove the entire thing? I didn't ask because not much I could do now.


I say "make shift" because our school is very old...over 50 years...and we don't have many bulletin boards. The walls are covered with the old chalk boards. Some of the upper grade rooms actually have dry erase walls but my little old room has the old timer boards probably still with asbestos in them. ~cough~cough~ Heehee I know I shouldn't joke about that...we had our asbestos abatement many years back already...haha! That's actually true so I'm assuming I'm safe! Due to the hard chalk boards and working with the little ones I had to create a "make shift" bulletin board for our Calendar Area. At the time, I took butcher paper, no not paper from a butcher, heehee...it's paper in large rolls that comes in different colors and glued it onto the chalk board on one wall and made that my Calendar Area. Hot glue doesn't go over very well with many custodians...shhh! My "make shift" had been up for years...it wasn't going anywhere. For some apparent reason this year was a different story...I found it torn off!! UGH!!! I was pretty bugged! It was more because I was LAZY to redo it! heehee

This is where the cork comes in! I wish I could say it was cork from a wine bottle that I was forced to indulge in...heehee...but no such luck. Well, as I shopped I noticed packages of cork squares and that's when it hit me. I could make my board into a real bulletin board and actually staple things on and not glue or tape things up. Woohoo! I bought 4 packages of 4 thinking that was way too much. There was a 5th package but I left it because I didn't want to be greedy. Haha!

As I started in my class today I thought putting up the board would be a quick job and I would get everything done. NOT!!! I was there from 8-4 working on the blankity blank board!! I also had to make another trip to the store because I ran out of cork!!!! I remembered the extra package I left and that would have been perfect. Guess what??? It was gone!!! Whah!!! Now what?? I had half a board complete. I searched everywhere!!! They did have some other cork squares but they were thicker and almost a black color and I found a roll of cork. Who knew cork rolled??? hmm... The rolled cork was thinner than the squares I had previously purchased so I figured I could double it and it would be the same thickness. I was desparate so I bought two rolls and the black cork sqaures. What a headache!


Back at school I started measuring and cutting and gluing. Yes, I took out the old hot glue gun. Poor thing...it's on its last leg. The glue gun is either a teachers friend or foe! A few years back I could have thrown mine out the window because I burned myself so bad! I know it's not the guns fault but I do blame it! Ha! I still have the war wound on my hand and it's been over 5 years now! Eeek!


It took me ALL day to finish gluing the pieces up and finally able to staple things on it. Once I was done I was exhausted but loved being able to staple and remove things. I looked around and I still have a bunch of little things to do...but I don't wanna!! I pray that tomorrow, day 5, will be the last day of this prep nightmare! Stay tuned!

XOXO!

Day 3 in Munchkinville...No Ants!!!

My Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, wasn't so high on Day 3.

I decided to go alone without any little helpers only because there wasn't much for them to do and I was really tired. The drive to school was a pensive one. I worried about walking into the class and having ants everywhere. Would I finish everything today or not?

I was greeted again by our lovely secretary and our assistant principal. Our assistant principal always has some encouraging words that get you motivated and feel good about who you are and why we do what we do. This started off my morning very well.

As I opened the classroom door I was hesitant to look down, afraid to see an ant party happening in my room. I was ready to do the ant stomp once more but to my surprise...NO Ants!!! Yay! I have no idea what the custodians used but it worked! Thank goodness!


Looking around the room I was happy to see how much really was done with the help of my munchkin helpers. I took my time to decide what I was going to do next. I wanted to ease into things so I decided to do something simple and easy. Since the desks were cleaned off and in their little groups I decided to fill their "community" baskets with crayons. MMMM...the smell of brand new crayons! In my classroom we learn to SHARE our things from day one. I fill their baskets with crayons that I provide and store their supplies until we need them. I tell them that these were my crayons but I'm sharing with them and they will be sharing theirs with each other. Many times they come in with their names on EVERYTHING...and I hear "that's MINE!" Well, not in my classroom. Yes, I'm a meanie! heehee I make sure to tell parents this and some like it and some don't...oh well! I have their child for 7 1/2 hours of their day and they learn real quick how to share, what happens at their home after my time I don't question. I had to learn that over time and lay the law down with the munchkins and their parents. I stress we have to work together not against each other. As I sat opening the crayon boxes, that's when it hit me... I was going back down to Kinder!!! Yikes! I had looped up with my last bunch for three years so going from being in 2nd Grade to Kinder is a BIG drop down. Eeeek! I'm getting nervous! Can I do this again???? Being nervous is good...right?


Oh my gosh!!! What do I have to do to get ready for Kinder?? I was being hit with a bout of forgetfulness or maybe denial. Letters....right? They need to learn their letters.. right?? Yikes!! I went to the area of my classroom that's called our "ABC Workstation," yes, different areas of the room have different names. I opened the cabinet and saw a sea of different letters...magnetic letters, wooden letters, foam letters, plastic letters, tactile letters, big letters, small letters, letter cards, letters, letters, letters! Wow!!! I almost had an anxiety attack! My brain started to revert back to Kinder mode...what did I do with all these letters??? Duh! Everything! It was starting to come back to me as I got them out and organized them.


I also found unopened Play-doh! I had to open it to see if it wasn't rock hard!!! Ok who am I kidding...I wanted to play with it! It was fresh and the smell was....yummy! Love the smell of Play-doh! I had to laugh because it reminded me of my 6 year old nephew's visit to El Paso. We were relaxing and he poked at my side and said, "oooo Play-doh!" Haha! That little booger! I started eating salad for awhile after that!! Haha! As I played with the Play-doh, I started to relax a bit and accept I was a Kinder teacher again. I was happy because that's where my heart has always been...with the little ones. Love that a majority of my munchkins come in with a blank slate, not knowing how to hold a pencil, how to work with new friends, how to read & write, so many things and they leave making such tremendous growth! Gotta love it!! :)


I started to poop out and with perfect timing... my other Kinder teachers came to school to work but their rooms were still blocked off so we chatted in my room. I'm so excited to work together with them next year. We have a new mix of teachers in Kinder. Two of us have always worked together, even through the looping and the other two were Kinder last year. After chatting for some time I cleaned up and decided to leave and contemplated if I was coming back the next day or wait until next week.

Well, as I write this it's tomorrow already and nope I didn't make it in. Heehee! Day 4 will be pushed for next week.. so stay tuned! :)

XOXO!

Day 2...Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho!

Heigh Ho, Heigh, Ho...off to work I go!

My start today was a bit later than yesterday. I picked up my munchkin help around 8 o'clock...a 9, 11, and 14 year old...I wasn't sure what to expect. What are the laws about child labor?...haha! With sleepy eyes and sluggish moves, off we went.

Today I was over the silliness from yesterday and a little more focused or was I? Opening my classroom door was like when you bake something and open the oven door a bit and feel a wave of hot air hit you...whoosh! Yuck!! Another surprise at the entrance of my room was a dead roach with ants feasting on it...ahhhhh!!! Now where in the world would these ants be coming from?!!! No picnic basket in sight, no food, no! no! no! I watched the ants as they marched along as happy as can be and ah ha!...they were coming from a crack in the door frame!!! Now what do I do? My munchkin helpers helped me with the stomp dance until I realized how silly we looked and decided to take action...where's the RAID?!!

This time I decided to bother our custodians...help! It's hot and I have ants! The heat wave was fixed with a flick of a switch and we were cooling off. Sad news is the ants are still partying in the room! The schools are not allowed to have any chemicals or pesticides...so no Raid!! They were going to look for something they might be able to use...hmm...I can only imagine how many more ants there will be tomorrow, especially after we probably angered them. More than likely, those little boogers (the ants not custodians) will be sending in the troops!

My munchkin helpers were in awe for a few minutes looking at me for direction and asking, "so what do you want us to do?" Hmmm....good question...I had no clue what I wanted them to do. So much for thinking I was focused! I'm so conditioned to setting up my classroom by myself for so many years, I didn't know what to tell them.. now I had three helpers!

Three helpers with such different personalities. One is very mother hen, focused, and kept me on track. Another is very sweet but easily distracted and would stop to read a book or two, explore different parts of the room, read another book, help out, read another book...haha! The oldest was my strength...move this, move that, but also a bit distracted and curious of every box. We hit all the boxes filled with books and "stuff," all 12 not 9!!! Ugh!


It was a great experience for them to see how classrooms get set up. They now can walk into their own classrooms this Fall and look at their teacher and realize how much effort is put into everything. One of my munchkins after moving things, dusting, and organizing said, "and you do this by yourself?" Yup, sure do!
It was 12 o'clock now, we were on a roll, and I could have kept going. I wanted to finish as much as I could, then I was reminded... they need to eat! oops! This was a great stopping point...heehee...love to stop for food!

As we washed up, one of my munchkin helpers said, "I can see the top of the desks now." haha I looked around and she was right...what a difference their help made! Yay!! They really helped out a lot and also found some time to goof off too! They may be "big" kids but they're still little munchkins inside who did a great job!


Not sure what day 3 will bring...more ants??? eek!

XOXO!!

Day 1...Venturing into Munchkinville

Heigh ho, heigh ho...into munckinville we go...lalalala
I wish I was that happy when I started this morning.
I decided I needed to start working in my classroom, not because I'm an eager beaver as some may think, but because I knew I had so much junk to do and my vacation days were running out. In my mind, I figured if I went early enough to try to set up my classroom, hopefully within 3 days or so, I could still enjoy my last few weeks of vacation.

Today, Monday, was the best time to start...or was it? Knowing I had to get up early you would think I would have gone to bed early but instead I was out enjoy Music Under the Stars, then checked email, watched TV, got on FB...etc. I didn't hit the pillow until 1:00 am...eek! I'm an early bird and usually get up at the crack of dawn or before the birds do... this morning was a different story. For a brief minute I wanted to just roll back over and push it off until tomorrow but I knew I had to start.

I got ready, threw on the jeans, flip flops, UT t-shirt, and UT cap and I was out! June 9th was the last time I drove down to the lower valley and it felt like it was just yesterday...ugh. My car was on auto pilot or following little bread crumbs back to work and remembered her way. Yes, my car is a she...heehee.

I drove into the parking lot and my stomach began to churn! There were about 5 other cars there, none that I recognized...hmmm...was I the only dork going that early to school. Yup! I sat in my car for a few minutes contemplating what my plan was going to be. I told myself I would only stay a few hours and get the begeebers out of there. I was nervous to see how bad my room would be after the custodians strip the floors, rewax, take out the furniture and put it back gosh knows where. I bit the bullet and got out of my car. As I walked up to the main doors I was in some type of munchkinville daze because I didn't even notice our wonderful secretary was greeting me at the door. I was startled but it was a wonderful greeting. I was so glad to see her face first. We have such sweet and wonderful ladies in our office and that was a great way to start my trek down the hallway into my dreaded classroom. Again my stomach churned as she unlocked my classroom...I just wanted to close my eyes and peak through my fingers. I'm a professional, I'm an adult, I needed to get a grip...and breathe I told myself!

Wow! What a surprise...it wasn't that bad! Whew! The custodians had put all the furniture almost in its exact place. Amazing! Well, maybe because I left pictures of how the class looked before...haha! Custodians are the Kings and Queens of the school!! They are the people who can make you or break you sometimes. If you don't treat the custodians well, your life is miserable! I'm very lucky to work with some really awesome custodians and maybe that's why the large pieces of furniture were in their place. Thank goodness!!


Once I was over the initial shock, the stomach churning started up again when I looked on the counter area...ugh! Where to begin?! When the school year ends we have to empty shelves and pack things up off the floor. What a mess! The stack was up to the ceiling! The majority of "stuff" are my books. I have tons of children's literature...I love children's books and love nurturing that love of reading to my munchkins. I think there were 9 boxes of books...oh my!

I stood in the middle of the room and just took it all in...where do I start?? I guess work my way from the top down....heigh ho, heigh ho...how I wish I could go! I knew I couldn't leave now so I started. The sky high pile started to look less and less but the piles around the room just grew..haha! It was hot because I could not turn on the air!!! The hallways were blocked, the custodians were still working and the control to my air is in a creepy old boiler room in that area. I did not want to bother the custodians to get to my air. Luckily I have two fans so I knew for sure I would only be staying a few hours. As I moved things down and into new piles I was getting tired due to lack of motivation or in spanish ganas!

I found myself side tracked looking at an old ugly, blah, wooden cabinet...hmm...I'll paint it! I found some blue paint, yes Trooper blue, woohoo!...sorry! I found that to be the most relaxing thing I did all morning. I got a bit carried away with the painting because my eyes fixated on my old, old, old, wooden desk, that I don't use much but for decoration, and threw some paint on that baby too!


It was now 10:00am and my tummy was churning...hmmm...I'm hungry! That was a great reason to leave! I looked around and took a few pictures to post and actually felt good with my slow progress into munchkinville. Tomorrow may be a different story!

I tried getting some hotties to help so I could sit back and supervise but instead I recruited some munchkins to help me tomorrow. Maybe I'll hit the hay early tonight...or not! haha!
What adventures will day 2 bring???....

XOXO!