August First... Again

Keeping to the tradition of being completely oblivious to the school year start date, today is THE DAY.  Today is the day that I finally open my district's webpage and check out when I am to report back to school.  I have the webpage open right now, but it pains me to look.  While I LOVE teaching and love being in my classroom, I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer this year.  It has been peaceful, quiet, and absolutely relaxing.  Most days have consisted of snuggling on the couch with my dog, Lucy Belle.   If we weren't doing that, then we were tucked away on the bed, reading a book (Outlander is our current favorite).  I have slept in until 12:00pm most days, have forgotten about dieting and exercising, and have just done nothing. Unless I wanted to. So, BEST. SUMMER. EVER.

Now, I know I have to do it.  I literally just turned to Lucy and said, "Okay, time to look."  And, perhaps I'm mistaken, but her little eyes went sad.  Does she know that this means summer and extra snuggle time is almost over? 

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Okay, so I finally got up the courage to look and....

August 17th.

Only 17 (really sixteen) more days left of summer.   Excuse me while I go snuggle with my sweet Lucy for awhile.  We are both going to need it! 

No Longer a Second Grade Teacher

Well, hello there blog world!  I haven't been around for nearly a year, but a recent phone call has made it a necessity to mark the momentous occasion.  After being a second grade teacher for my entire career, I have been *dun dun dun* asked to move to third grade!  My Principal is retiring and our third grade team has left for new adventures, so I have been asked to step up and be apart of a new third grade team. 

*deep breath!*

Goodness knows that I am anxious and nervous about the impending move.  Having only ever taught second grade, it's a wee bit nerve-wracking thinking that I'm basically starting all over again.  New standards, new curriculum, new classroom, but the same students as last year.  The latter is my comfort.  I don't get to loop, per se, but I know this group of students, and I adore them!  They can be challenging at times, but after watching them grow so much already, I can't wait to help them grow even more!

Right now, I'm trying to familiarize myself with the new standards I will be teaching.  I've already picked out which of the empty classrooms I want and my lovely husband helped me settle on a theme. 

We already visited Education Express and picked out the borders, background paper, and a few other miscellaneous items.  Now, I just need to find the owls and several other things.  I also need to go to Party City and get the poms and such!  I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Gearing Up

So, I have this yearly tradition when it comes to summer vacation. I never look at the school calendar to see when I am going back until August 1st.  It may sound silly, but I've always felt that if I looked before then, then my summer wouldn't be as enjoyable.  Not knowing when I am going back allows me to thoroughly enjoy myself and not worry about all the things to come until August.  A few of my colleagues think I'm strange to do this.  My husband supports it, though I think he thinks it's strange.  Hey, but to each their own, right?

Well, today is August the first and I woke up knowing that today was D-Day.  So, after having my morning bowl of cereal, catching a bit of the news, and taking my sweet furbaby Lucy for a quick potty trip in the rain, I decided it was time.  I sat down at my computer, logged onto my school's website, checked out the teacher's page and pulled up the master calendar.  And then there (dun dun dun!!), staring me in the face was the date of my first teacher workday:  August 18.



I went through several emotions: excitement, disbelief at how soon it was, and a twinge of disappointment (because this has been a fantastic summer!).  Despite the different emotions, however, I knew that it was time to start getting brain turned back onto teacher mode so I could begin gearing up for the start of (I hope!) another fabulous year.

The Start of the Beginning

Over the past few years, I have been addicted to Pinterest.  With that addiction, I have been directed to so many amazing teacher blogs out there.  I have found so many wonderful resources and ideas for my classroom.  Needless to say, I was inspired!  I was inspired to start my very own blog.  I have always wanted a way to post the interesting things that happen within the walls of my classroom and to have a place to record some of the hilarious stories, so here I am!

This is the start of the beginning!