Wisdom for Wednesday - New Adventure (BIG News)!

Howdy partner! 

Today was Rodeo Day (our version of field day) so please forgive me if anymore western slang shows up in this post. ;-)

Another last day of the school year. 

Only there are a lot of other factors that made this last day different, sad, exciting, and even a little scary.

Remember I work in a small K-2 school. This year we had 44 students. Total.

Our staff includes 3 classroom teachers (K/PE teacher, 1st/Music teacher, and 2nd/Science teacher), a Title I teacher (reading specialist shared with the intermediate school), a special education teacher (half-time), 1 general education para, 2 special education paras, a school secretary/nurse, and a school cook/janitor. Let's count the principal, too, even though we have to share him with another building 20 minutes away.

The small staff means we are pretty close and comfortable. People come and they stay...for years...and years. I mean, when I got my job 4 years ago, one of the retiring teachers was my 5th and 6th grade teacher. That means positions don't open up often. And that also means that we are having to say goodbye to some more friends this year. :(

Our Title teacher is retiring after teaching for 31 years (in various postions)--20 of those in our district.

Our general education para is retiring after 14 years.

We are so sad to see them go! I cannot even tell you. Except that I cried. A lot. 

But that is not all...our little building is changing so much! 

With the expectation of a larger Kindergarten class next year, we have hired a new K teacher. TWO classes of K! We are actually having to do some rearranging and turn the music room into a classroom. CRAZY!

And now for the exciting (and a little sad) part...

Are you ready for the big news?

I am leaving 2nd grade. 

I am moving to the Title position next year! 

That means we hired another new teacher for 2nd grade.

Two new teachers AND still looking for a "superpara."

Rearranging and moving rooms.

New position for me.

It's all so different...this quote is fitting and the way I am trying to look at all the uncertainty.

Taken from this pin.

It was a difficult last day. Thinking it was probably my last day as a classroom teacher. I loved having "my kiddos" and my classroom; however, I'm also excited for this new adventure. The students I work with will become "my kiddos" and I will enjoy the challenge of helping them learn to love reading! :-)

That's all I've got for today. 

Meetings tomorrow morning and then check-out! Woohoo! 

Says the gal trying to forget the huge amount of work she has ahead of her trying to condense an entire classroom into an "office" space.