Bad Blogger

I'm really missing my summer days of endless blogging and leaving comments. Although I have been on here this week, it's been more about reading everyone elses great, updated blogs. My first week of school flew by. My new group of kids is awesome! The sweetness and politeness they showed me at Meet the Teacher has continued and I'm loving it! Keeping my fingers crossed it last all year. :) We are not quite into a routine yet so tomorrow I really need to sit and plan our days out. It's hard to get in a good chunk of teaching time with them leaving to Spanish class, Art, Music and PE for 30-45 minutes every day so I'm really going to have to get creative with the scheduling.

Since Robert is in charge of attendance at his high school, he's had a ridiculously busy first week. One day they were registering kids until 6:30! It's been hard to keep our dinner and workout schedule at home too. We were used to having dinner no later than 7 and that did not happen at all this week. After dinner we are so exhausted we watch a little TV and then head straight to bed.

Fortunately we managed to run a couple days this week. I was a little worried that this was going to affect my 14 miler this morning but I was so happy it didn't. Although it was hard to get out of bed when my alarm went off at 4:30, the gratification of knowing I had just run a little more than a half-marathon was AWESOME! Robert and Charlie showed up this morning to congratulate me and the others after our run. :) Very sweet! As a reward to myself I enjoyed a pedicure. It wasn't very relaxing because my feet were still hurting from the run but I sooooo needed one. I think part of the reason I waited so long was that I was afraid of the rumors I've heard about black toenails and how they can fall off. Well, guess what? The rumors are true! As the nice lady at the shop took off the polish from my second toe I peered down to see a black toenail!!!!!! Not completely black but about halfway there! Oh well, if it goes, it goes and like my aunt said "in no time, you'll have a pretty new one."

Hopefully tomorrow I can get out some. Need to get my weekly Target fix and do some grocery shopping. All very exciting I know!

It Finally Arrived

I feel like I haven't blogged in a while. Probably because the last week was filled with countless hours of teacher trainings and trying to set up my classroom. It's been a little tough to get back into the work routine. We haven't had much time to go out and find ourselves wanting to stay home on Friday and Saturday nights. Thank goodness for high school football, that should give us some excitement for the next few months. The highlight of my week was running with my Team in Training group and setting a new mileage record of 12 miles!!!! Very exciting and to think it will go continue to increase!

So the first day of school finally arrived. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best and it was hard to tell who was more nervous - the students or the teachers! I was eager to see my students again after meeting them on Thursday. It's funny because they are always so polite and respectful at Meet the Teacher. There is a lot of "Excuse me, May I and Please" talk. As they walked in this morning it was awesome to see they were exactly the same kids who came in on Thursday! We spent most of our morning getting all our supplies labeled and organized. We had fun getting to know each other and even managed to get some spelling and math done. Although it wasn't a very heavy teaching day I am EXHAUSTED. I almost fell asleep while watching TV earlier --- like 8:30 earlier! One day down, 186 to go!!!!

One More Day

Well I have officially been back to work since Monday and already I'm missing my times of lounging around, working out at random times throughout the day, facebooking way too much, and catching up on blogs. I'm so glad I spent all summer doing productive things like that because soemthing tells me it's going to be hard to fit those things in come next Monday. We've spent the last two days sitting for hours in our library listening to the importance of teamwork and trying to align our curriculum. Pure fun I tell you, pure fun! Thankfully tomorrow is our last day of that and we have Thursday and Friday to actually work in our classrooms. Thursday is Meet the Teacher and I'm curious to see who will be walking through my door. At my campus we never see our class lists until minutes before Meet the Teacher which is always somewhat nerve racking. A couple of my friends have asked me if I'm ready for the first day. Same answer to all of them, ready or not come Monday my room will be filled with 27 new, hormonal 5th graders!!!!!!

Lady Luck

So excited about winning these:

and this:

Thanks to Inner Workings of a Barbie Doll and Shannon from http://writeonstationery.blogspot.com/!!!!

BTS Teacher Swap #2

First off I have to wish Jen from Following the Footsteps a very Happy Birthday!

Today is the 2nd installment of her Back to School Teacher Swap and I wanted to share something that one of my coworkers shared with me a few years back. I refer to them as my Teacher Savers. They are note templates for parents to keep at home and have handy whenever they need to let you know about something or write an excuse for their child. I know that in the 8 years I've been teaching I have recieved notes from home on just about anything parents could find to write on and some of them have not been so easy to decipher! I run these off on colored paper and pass them out at the beginning of the year during Curriculum Night. I usually make about three copies for each family. Since I started using them I have found that not only have they helped me keep track of notes but are much easier to understand! Here they are:






Sorry about the quality of the pictures, had to use my phone. If you would like me to email you a copy of these let me know in a comment and I'll get them out to you ASAP. Thanks and hope these help!

Say it Ain't So

I seem to be having a really hard time coming to terms with the fact that Monday is my official first day back at school. Is summer really coming to an end???? Somebody please say it ain't so!

Monday was spent at school reviewing and writing new curriculum, yesterday it was back to school for some grade level planning and as much as I wanted to make it back up there today to get some work done I just didn't have it in me.It's a good thing I hung around yesterday for a couple of hours and at least started to set up my room. My goal is to have most things in place before Monday. Although our students' first day is not until the 24th we all know next week will be filled with meetings, inservices and a lot of running around.

I've really been on a rollercoaster of emotions since late last week which I know has something to do with my laziness recently. Went for an interview, did well and then found out the district was cutting back on administrative positions and that it probably wasn't going to happen this time around. :( I know timing is everything and there's a plan for each of us but man sometimes that's hard to see. Like Robert told me over dinner "it's not the end of the world, you have a job to be thankful for and this is a great opportunity to grow some tough skin." Not too sure about the last part but well said.

Looking for Some of This ASAP

“Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm”


“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

“Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all”