Week 1 Reflections

The alarm goes off at 4am.... but wait why was I already awake?! 1st day jitters happens to teachers too :)

 Tuesday ( Sept 8) was the 1st day & I vowed to hit the gym before work as a way to 1) start a new routine and 2) get the stress outta me! It worked! I was excited & ready to tackle whatever challenges were there... and whew... there were many... I think the biggest part was the lack of organization for registration.. I had 24 students on my roster, 8 of which still haven't showed up and all their name labels were smacked on anything that was still long enough for a label :0 My current roster has 18, and that seems TOTALLY perfect, although I'm told to enjoy it while it lasts as it probably wont last long

{My 1st official day was Friday Sept 4. The staff seemed super sweet. Although I am one of 4 white people in the entire school, I feel like family. I love the energy of the African American culture & the enthusiasm and loud vibe. I fit right in :) After an all morning meeting I was given precious hours to tackle the dirty tables, boxes & nasty bulletin boards... which I posted last week... }

I love the decorating part but was soon stopped- where's the supply room? Where can I get my butcher paper cut? Where's the staples for my stapler?  My expectations were quickly dismissed and  reality was soon quickly managed...Oh the supplies ? Yeah, you buy your own. Student supplies? You buy those too. Paper for copies? One ream, for an entire month. That seems impossible,  but of course, I can always buy my own and clearly did, thank you Costco, since 500 sheets lasted me 2 days!  I am not a paper and pencil type of girl, but when there are ZERO white boards and zero Ipads... handwriting practice is with paper and pencil... I will bust out some salt tracing boards next week... salt is cheaper than paper ;) Books for the class library? You buy those too... Seriously!? Isnt that a given? All rooms in schools have books? I always had teachers leave me oodles of books - but with our move from AZ to here and mold in our storage, soo many of my great books got trashed... thankfully my own kids have an amazing library and we have been blessed by a Mimi who loves gifting books to our kiddies... and an aunt who has stocked us up too... thrift stores... here I come... I love having a real need to thrift store dive ;)

I drive home a short 19 miles, thankful for the amazing staff that I share my days with & the ADORABLE kids with the brightest, most curious eyes, that greet me at 8am each day...I am thankful that I am able to support the classroom & provide an literacy foundation for these little people. Although this job blows my expectations and teaching norms right out the window, we feel this job is straight from Heaven & that it fits just perfectly with my 2015 motto #fiercein15... blow those comfort zones away! And hallelujah for a classroom of kids who know not to take God's name in vain (another wonderful cultural perk, I assume!) and when I was pretending to cry about the clouds and rain during recess, one girl stopped, closed her eyes and starting "talking to Jesus about this".

Friday- on an NFL high that the Patriots won their opening game on Thursday night...I wore Matt's Brady jersey to work & was wondering how a Pats jersey in Bear territory would go over... I got much flack from staff... in a fun way... but then discovered... I could be the principal's fave staff member ever this year... #HUGEPATSFAN.... WHAT!?!? He was SO excited & made an announcement for my class :) What a perfect end to a strange, fun, exciting, humbling, reality- check kinda week!!

And much thankfulness that my awesome sitter, mentioned from last week's post. is safe after totaling her car on the way home Wednesday afternoon from our house... SO thankful she was safe & that our kids were not part of that either... the prayers when we drive our own kids is great, let alone when we trust our kids to another's care... Also thankful, that my phone got its life back, thanks to our super tech friend Peter. Using a 3G phone for a week gave me a reality check & allowed me to unplug basically... which I appreciated. Yay for having my contacts back & Pandora for running :) Thankful for weekends where our kiddos are active, enjoying the fresh air & can just have FUN. Thankful that Hudson's 1st bee sting was not super crazy and after a few minutes, he was okay. I think I may be more traumatized..
Score updates...Harrison's team got crushed at Homecoming...  while Hannah's adorable little Orange Gladiators (who dont keep score), made 2 goals and Hannah was the goalie and told a little boy he was cheating which made him run away from the ball & field in tears... I think she will be safe from the boys for a few years... hallelujah ;)


Being 2 1/2 is exhausting ;)
Pearls to school? Why of course Mom. Just like Fancy Nancy ;)