A Quick Catch-Up Post

Well, as you can probably tell since I have been MIA, I am back-to-school! Last week flew by without me even realizing it was my turn to blog. Good thing my bloggy partner is pretty easy going. :-)

Things have definitely been different this year in my role as the Title I teacher. I have found myself bouncing around helping with Kindergarten (bless you, K teachers!!), lunch duty, recess duties, moving computers in the library, and trying to squeeze in time to prep some things I plan to use this year. The crazy schedule makes me want to start pulling kids ASAP so maybe I can settle into more of a routine!

This is my tiny office where I start my day in the K-2 building. I'm not spending much time in there yet, but I will soon. I stay at this building until 1:00 and then drive about 20 miles to the 3-6 building.

Here's some pics of that office (much bigger):

The blue wall now has the beginnings of a "Grammar Wall" which I'm pretty excited about. I'll have to share pictures later.

Look at all those books!

And finally, our back-to-school pictures. I wasn't ready when they left, so we had to do them separately this year. My daughter is a junior. And my son is a SENIOR! Oh...and this is year nine for me. :-)

Hope you have an amazing week! After school today, I'm off to coach our FIRST volleyball game of the year. :-)

Five for...School's Out for the Summer!

It does not even seem real yet.

I checked out on Thursday. Spent yesterday shopping with my hubby. And now here I sit on a Saturday, trying to believe I do not have to work next week!

So...I've got a few fun pictures for this week's Five for Friday post.

1

I love adding in some exciting projects at the end of the year to keep my kiddos engaged. They really enjoyed using computers to type their animal research papers!

2

We took a field trip to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

This sweetie thought he should read in the one room school house. :-) 

3

I'm trying to organize my new open shelving in my laundry room. I'd like to try something like this for my liquid detergent. 

Has anyone tried it? 

I've read that some of them get "clogged" and don't work well... 

4

New position = new space.

As I explained in this post, things are changing for me next year.

I'm moving from 2nd grade/K-2 science teacher to the Title I teacher (reading specialist). I'm very excited about the change, but I have a lot of work ahead of me.

This office will be my new "space" for most of the day. My time will be split between two buildings so I have another office there to set up and organize as well. 

5

We had some extra time the other day so I broke out the puzzles. It is always interesting to me and a little sad to see that some kiddos really don't know how to do a puzzle or where to start. They always enjoy the challenge though!

Bonus

Happy Summer to me! 

A new laptop means I will get lots of work done this summer, right?

I hope so...a little TPT and hopefully a whole lot of writing!

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.