Bring on the Kids

Two more days until the kids come to class. This week has been nice. I have been working in my room to get it to where I want it and I have had some time to get my head around my new world. On Tuesday we had Back to School night and it was great to see some of the kids that I will have in my class. Out of 15 kids I saw 6 or so. They are so cute and just what I needed to remind me of why I wanted to do this. They love my room with the blocks, and kitchen. School started for 1st - 8th last Wednesday, I am soooo happy that we start a week later. This extra week is exactly what I needed. I have been assessing kids on their knowledge of numbers, counting, the ABCs and their reading ability. It is as I guessed they are all pretty low. With the exception of a few kids that have had preschool and parents that help them to practice and learn at home. It ingrained in my head the importance of PreSchool. I am a firm believer in Preschool. Now I have some proof of the effectiveness of Preschool. These kidos that come in knowing their ABCs are ready to begin to read those that do not have some catching up to do. The good thing about this is that the growth for these kids should be substantial. I had one kid so far that cried and ran out of the room. I was asking him to write his name, he cried "Mama" then ran for the door. I could not catch him, nor did I speak Spanish so I was unable to console him. I felt pretty bad about it. Last year they say they had a runner and had to have people by the door just in case, they are fast for sure. Other than that it has gone pretty well. I love that I get to meet each child one on one prior to getting them all in class. I am feeling a little bit more relaxed and excited now. The room is coming together, the kids are so sweet and I am getting to plan some. School starts for me on Wednesday the 12th. I will post some photos on Tuesday once I am set up and cleaned up. I will be ready :) Bring on the kids!!

Also, it was AWESOME, Western Union Foundation had some left over backpacks-stuffed withe supplies and they contacted me to see if my school would like them. They were so happy to get them plus we got a lot of empty WU back packs for the kids that needed them. I was so great and my most sincere Thanks! goto WU for their generosity.

Bye for now!

Braindead Bookworm

I am totally brain dead and exhausted. I just want to goto sleep. I have spent 5 full days now cramming my head with all kinds of new information, names, routines, schedules and furniture arrangement. I have 4 more to go.. Colin had his back to school day today so I dropped off his supplies and met the teacher. He will begin 2nd grade tomorrow. He is excited to get back to his friends at school. He really likes school so far, I hope it stays that way!

I joined facebook yesterday and it is just as they all say, addictive. I have already found so many old friends from CA and CO. Crazy how many people you miss when you find them on the web :)

Good Night for now,

Carin

Finger Nail Breaking Day

<-After

<-Before

<-My goal

Today I was able to get into my classroom and begin to organize the furniture. As a new teacher I am blessed to be at this school and with this program. Since the school is only 1 year old I have all knew paint and flooring and the building is gorgeous. These children are very lucky. The downfall of all knew stuff is that it is very overwhelming. I look around and all I see are boxes and bookshelves. I can only pray that I find enough books to fill them all :) I have attached some photos of my room at first then after moving some stuff around. Today was exhausting, finger nail breaking and toe bruising. No matter what I did it still seemed cramped, sort of like my cube at Western Union :). Cozy! I am worried that it looks cluttered without kids I can only imagine it will be worse when they all arrive on Aug 12th. The trouble is balancing all the kindergarten furniture with the kitchen set, wardrobe locker and the small sized tables. The other funny thing is, I have a bathroom in my room and today I thought I would check out the head, when I walked into the bathroom I realized the toilet was only 12 inches high :0. Needless to say I went to another bathroom :p I look forward to Thursday when my Preschool teacher will be in the building to give me advice. The next few days I will be spending with the Aurora Public Schools New Teacher Orientation learning about the pacing guide and how to be the best new teacher I can be

Tootles for Now! I need to mend my wounds..

Carin

A Week of Change!

Today was day two of my Positive Behavior Training with the school. It was interesting and a good training. I still feel the link to the corporate world however. The similarities are in the meetings and topic discussions. We had some great dialogue surrounding a school wide initiative toward improving behaviors in the hallways, bathrooms, cafeteria and in the classroom. I know that I am going to be buying a ton of stickers and stamps. I will work to use the phrases "I understand ..." and "I have noticed ...." these are decriminalizing statements :) I have been weaning myself off of Western Union with a call to my manager and a happy hour tonight. It was great to see some familiar faces and share familiar stories and thoughts. I need some FAMILIAR right now. Everything at the school is new and unfamiliar, so any little strand a familiar is appreciated beyond belief.

Next week will be a big one for me, in that I get the key to my room and can begin unpacking the piles of boxes in my room. I will have some photos to share. I am very lucky with this school as they are fully supplied and my room, being a new program, is stacked with everything from book shelves to kitchen play sets and baby dolls (for the preschoolers). I am excited to unpack and organize. I really need to plan and organize at the moment. This is the control freak in me. I have met many great people and they are all very kind and helpful. I know it is going to be a great year!!!

Until next time..

Carin

Hard work reaps many rewards!

So, after over 200 applications and many "thanks for coming outs" and two interviews, I have reaped my rewards. I got a job within a great school district and with a great school. I will be facing many challenges this year and I look forward to a year of phenomenal personal and professional growth. Although the decision to leave my happy comfortable life for the deep dark unknown was very difficult, as time goes on and the school days approach I am beginning to know that I have chosen the right path. The school I will be working in this year, as a kindergarten teacher, is primarily Hispanic (non English speaking) and has a considerable amount of children on free or reduced lunch programs. It is a Title 41 school and is improving every year. I look forward to contributing to their success. As I say good bye :( to one life I am saying hello! to another. I will miss all of the great people that I have worked alongside with for the last 5 years and I hope to remain in touch with many of them through this blog. In this blog, I plan to document my challenges, success and growth throughout my journey into the deep dark unknown!

Regards for now,

Carin