Last Day of School!!!!

Today was the last day of school! Overall, the kids were pretty good. Apparently there was a food fight at lunch and the kids involved got sent home. I would have made them all sit in a room all staring at the corner for the rest of the day. Going home is a blessing, not a punishment. Anyways... I wasn't as sad to see them all go as I thought it would be. It will probably hit me tomorrow when I go back and look at my empty room again and realize they're not coming back. I think it was just too hot today to deal with anything else.

So, I've officially made it through my first year of teaching! Someone asked me today if it was everything I dreamed it would be... I wouldn't say that, but it was a great year. I had great kids and I met some great people in my building who were awesome. Next year will be even better because my co-teacher will be there full time, and I'll know the curriculum! It was a good year. I think I'll keep teaching! :)

Here's to a successful year and a happy summer!

Exciting News!

Ok, so maybe you won't find these three things as exciting as I do, but it's the little things in life that make me happy! :)

1. I got a job at Sylvan tutoring this summer and into next school year! I'm excited because I now have something to do this summer to keep me occupied, and I get to still teach. I'm only working days, so I'll be done at 2 or 3 every day, so that leaves the evenings for fun!

2. I just finished all of the paperwork for my extended learning class. I'm going to mail it off tomorrow and hopefully get all of my grade reports and transcripts and stuff back sooner than later so I can put in for my tuition reimbursement! That means that I'll have 5 graduate credits to my name after my first year of teaching!

3. There are only 3 days of school left! I'm as ready as the students are. I will miss my classes from this year, but I'm ready to be done. I'm not excited about moving my room, but that's all part of the job!

Summer's almost here!

3 Day Weekend!

It was a wonderful Memorial weekend, despite the fact that I didn't go home, or anywhere else for that matter. I didn't really do a whole lot - just dance, watched a few movies, and finished a few books. I went to lunch with a friend yesterday and then went shopping. I also was able to finish the work for my class I'm taking, so all I have to do now is type it all up, get some samples from my class, and mail it in. Then I will have 5 graduate credits to my name!

It was actually a fairly cool weekend, so I'm kind of glad I didn't have a whole lot of outdoor plans. My mom told me that it rained all weekend in Kansas, so I'm not too sad that I didn't get to go home. I probably would have gone home if I didn't have school these next few days, and/or gas wasn't so high. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, so it all worked out.

Five days of school left! The last thing I'm grading for the school year is due on Thursday, so that shouldn't be too bad. Friday is going to be a post-test and then an activity where they write and illustrate what their favorite thing we did this year was, and then I'm going to use it next year for my bulletin board at the beginning of the year! I suppose I'll also be packing my room up into boxes and labeling it all so it gets to where it needs to be next year.

I can't believe I'm almost done with my first year of teaching! It has gone by so fast. I've had a lot of fun and I've learned a lot. I'm going to miss my students from this year because they were all pretty great, for the most part. I know I'll have new students next year, but I have a feeling these 53 will all hold a special place in my heart.

Tutoring and End of the Year Stuff

I went and helped a lady with business stats tonight. Now, I've never taken business stats, but I have had stats before (they're all really the same, aren't they?) and I can read a textbook and look up information. What seems to be the biggest trouble is that she did not take the time to look at the question and then look through the book to figure out what math needed to be done in order to get the answer. It also helped that she happened to have the answer book. Once I know the answer, I can generally figure out how to get there from the equations and information given to me... I guess that's a skill I need to make sure I teach my students - using your resources! Don't get me wrong, I understand that stats is hard and that the letters can be confusing if you have no idea what they mean. I hope I helped her; she said it made more sense to her.

On another note, we learned today that we have to pack everything up in boxes, including everything in our desks and file cabinets, and put them in boxes and pray they get sent to the right room over the summer. I am not a very happy person. I don't mind moving and putting things in boxes, but I do mind not getting to put textbooks in the room I'm going to be in and having to unload a perfectly good file cabinet that can be easily moved. Ah, the beauracracy of it all! Oh, but I have the "opportunity" to pack everything up and I should be happy that I get new furniture! I am happy, as long as bookshelves are included in that new furniture.

6 days left of school. Tomorrow is an early out day, so it should go by pretty fast. Their children's books are looking pretty good. I had to go buy colored cardstock today for the covers, but that's the expense of an educator. A lot of my own money goes toward my kids, but I really don't mind it that much. If it helps them be successful, or gets them interested in something, it's worth it.

I usually go home for Memorial Day weekend, but I'm not going anywhere this weekend. Gas is too high and I just don't really feel like driving anywhere. I'm more interested in sleeping and getting some stuff caught up.

Have a safe and relaxing weekend!

Zoo Trip!

Today we went to the Omaha zoo. It actually turned out to be a pretty good day, and we didn't have any problems with any students along the way. My group didn't get around to seeing everything because we skipped a whole section, but we managed to see most of it. It's a pretty big zoo, and they have a lot of things, but I still kind of like the Wichita zoo better. The only thing they have that we don't is an aquarium. The aquarium was neat.

I didn't go to school on Friday. Today, when I got back to school, I discovered that the sub had "tidied" my desk. Now, it was a nice gesture, but I can't find anything! My desk may have been a mess, but at least I knew where everything was and everything had its place. This morning, I couldn't find half of my stuff. I didn't have a whole lot of time to look for stuff though. I hope I can find everything I need tomorrow, and get my desk back in the shape I had it (however "messy" it might be...)

We are on the home stretch! We have 9 days of school left. Our final unit of the year is writing children's books. I'm thinking that they are going to be really neat! At least I'm hoping they are. We did some prep work last week, so I hope they have some ideas in their head about what they want to write about.

I'm a little fried from being out in the sun all day, but I think I'm still going to try to go to dance tonight, if for nothing else than to get rid of some of this stress I'm carrying in my back again...

I planted cucumber plants in pots this weekend. I hope they grow! I've never planted them in pots before, so it should be interesting.

I guess I should go get ready to go. I'm going to sleep well tonight - it's been a long day...

HDTV Converter

So, I was a bit skeptical about this whole switch over from regular TV to HD. I was also a bit put out that I had to buy a converter for my TV because it's too old, and I don't have cable. However, I finally got my government coupon the other day and went and bought my converter box. I LOVE IT! I now get more channels than I used to, and they are all easy to watch. I don't have to move my antenna to see a channel better, and I get ABC now, which I wasn't really able to get before. None of the new channels are really that exciting, but hey, now I can watch them all without having to get off my couch and move the antenna.

There are 12 days of school left, and I can tell the students are ready to get out. Honestly, I'm about there as well. We have another unit to get through, but it's kind of fun. They're going to be writing children's books and illustrating them. I think they'll turn out really neat.

I got a call the other day from Sylvan about a summer job, but I haven't really heard back yet. I hope that it works out. I don't want to work because I need the money, but I do want something to do over the summer. Otherwise, I'll just spend all of my money... We'll see. I hope it works out.

So tired...

I don't know if it's the not going to bed until midnight or later and then getting up at 6 for three nights straight or the fact that I've actually taken more than one dance class a week for two weeks straight, but I am really really tired all of a sudden. I just feel like I'm dragging. The sore throat and all of the stuff I know I need to get done doesn't really help either... Oh well.

14 days left of school. I have a lot to get done in those 14 days, but I am about as ready as the students are to get out of school. I think we all need a break from one another. This week they are writing an in-class essay (I don't want to deal with the fiasco from the last essay) and starting to brainstorm for their children's books they are going to be writing the next two weeks. I think those are going to be really fun. I think they'll be glad to finally get to write something that they want to.

We found out last week that they are taking away our Accelerated Reader program next year. We're all a little upset because we were told that they would support it one more year while we did our curriculum audit and figured out if there was something better to do. Granted, I can find other things to do with that 20 minutes at the beginning of class that is supposed to be devoted to reading, but it's kind of a nice break and then I know the kids are reading at least an hour and 20 minutes a week. Oh well. I have lots of ideas for what we can do differently with that time. I'm disappointed about AR, but kind of excited about what else we can do with it!

Last weekend I went to Kansas City. It was really nice to see my friends and hang out with them and not have to worry about anything. I also got to see my godson, which was cool. He's talking in more complete sentences now. They taught him how to say, "How you doin'?" like Joey from Friends. He's so cute! I will be really excited if Jon gets the teaching job there - then they will only be 3 hours away from me and I will be able to see them more easily and more often!

I guess I should go make sure I have things ready for tomorrow and then I think I'm going to bed. It's a bit early, but I need the sleep...