First Day of School

Isaac has been asking for weeks when it will be time to go back to school.   He laid this outfit out several weeks in advance (purposely chosen to represent that he cared but not too much).  His schoolbag has been packed for at least 3 weeks with all of his new school supplies. Yesterday, he begged me to take him to the barber to freshen up his 'do which was an experience.  His dad handles the haircuts and the last time I took him for one he was an infant.

This morning as I was desperately hitting snooze, he came into my room fully dressed, book bag on and asked me to drive him over to school!

I think his day was a success.  To his great disappointment, his best friend Ethan is not in his class, but he likes several other kids that are.  He is excited that they are starting to do more flex grouping, which means he will get to spend time with some of other third grade teachers.  He is also already psyched up for the PSSA's (state tests which aren't even until spring).  I have talked a lot about opting him out of them but he came home begging me to allow him to take them.   I look at the pictures above and think about when he was a tiny kindergartner, and I really don't know where my baby has gone!  

My first day of school with kids was pretty good.  I am tired from being on my feet all day, but not as wiped out as I thought I would be.  

Third Thursday Threads

It's time to get ready for school to start again.  That means getting my new classroom in order and actually getting dressed in something other than yoga pants.  As you can see from the background, I still have a long way to go to get the new room in order.   Bri was having a link up for geometric prints so I thought this dress would be perfect for the theme.

It first made it's appearance at brother's rehearsal dinner in my new favorite family photo of the three of us.
 

It's not a maternity dress but it works really well as one.  I expect to get a few more months worth of wear out of it.

Isaac was getting jealous and wanted in on the classroom self timer pics.  Of course, his new WWE championship belt had to make an appearance too.

 

 

 Happy Thursday everyone!

Monday, Monday

NaBloPoMo...  National Blog Posting Month.  You might have seen is blowing up on some blogs you read.  Basically, bloggers hi-jacked National Novel Writing Month.  I am not going to participate daily, but I might steal a few of the writing prompts as they tickle my fancy. 

Today's writing prompt:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Ryan and I have talked about the possibility of moving to New Jersey.   We are both beach people and with me having summers off, we would love to live closer to the shore.  It is also important to Ryan and I that we not move more than a 2 hours or so away from family. 

Ideally we would love to live somewhere right on the the Jersey Shore, like Ocean City, but unless we somehow hit the lottery, that probably won't happen.  

Speaking of the Jersey Shore, I have my own "Tales from the Teachers Lounge" sort of story.  After the worst of Sandy passed over us and we returned to school one teacher was asking her second grade colleague if she had a chance to go and check on her shore house.  One of the second graders piped up "Yeah!  Did you hear?  Snooki is homeless!  Snooki doesn't have a place to live now from the Hurricane!". 

Poor Snooki....

Have a great Monday!

All Grown Up

Second Grade - East Coventry Elementary School

Teacher: Miss Egan

Favorite Subjects: math

Favorite Special: gym

Least Favorite Subject: Social Studies

Best Friend: Eric

Favorite School Lunch: Wildcat pizza

Favorite Recess Activity: football and baseball

Favorite Snack: Cookies n Cream Hershey Bar

Favorite Thing to Wear: sports uniforms

Favorite Sports Teams: Phoenix Coyotes, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chelsea

Favorite TV Show: Sports Center

Favorite Singer: Mindless Behavior

 

is currently...

Loving: my new school and grade level team!  Don't get me wrong, I am still quite nervous and fairly overwhelmed with switching to a new school and grade level, but I am really enjoying my new school and coworkers. I was getting completely burnt out ready for a change from my old job, and this seems to be a good fit. The climate there is so relaxed and friendly.  This week was just meetings and classroom prep time, with an open house sprinkled in the mix.  I did get to meet a few of our kids and parents.  The kids show up Monday, so ready or not, here we go...

Reading: Janet Evanovich's Hot Six.  I think  I have blogged before that Ryan got me into the Stephanie Plum series.  Since he has been working like crazy this summer and I have hardly worked at all, I have caught up to him.  We are actually both reading this book.  We tried for about 24 hours to share the same copy  before Ryan got completely exasperated with me and downloaded it to the iPad.  These books are soooo funny!


Watching: Project Runway and Modern Family, the latter I have just started from Netflix.  I am fully aware that I am extremely late to the Modern Family party. 

The other night I just wanted some mindless television to relax to in bed and ended up on the Style Network  watching some old reruns of Sex and the City.  It was towards the end of the show when Miranda has Brady and is just struggling to be a good mom and maintain the status quo as a hot shot lawyer.  Finally she ended up going to tell her boss she was cutting back on work and then walked home and put Brady to bed.  I ended up totally tearing up, raising my fist in solidarity and saying "You go Miranda, you go girl!" When I used to watch that show originally I always thought she sort of a less interesting character, but now that I am a mom, I relate to her in a totally different way.  I kind of love her and want to be her.... ANYWAYS...

Thinking About: the Save the Dates that still need to be addressed and sent, the cake people I need to call, how long it's been since I vaccummed my carpets, etc. etc.  Between starting a new job, planning a wedding, keeping up with Isaac and all of his commitments, my mind always seems to be racing and it seems like I am always trying to squeeze in one more thing.

Anticipating: some family bonding time this weekend.  We have been making great use of our season passes to Dorney Park and I anticpate a few more trips up there before the season is over.





 
I'm not going to lie, I am also looking forward to school starting.  The summer is so relaxing , but Isaac and I thrive on a full schedule and routine.  I like lazy summer days with nothing on the agenda, but I am ready for the hustle and bustle of fall.

Wishing: that Ryan has some luck on the job search.  We aren't too happy with his current job but it has been slow going finding something that is a good fit (hours, salary, commute, a neighborhood where there aren't bullets flying regularly, etc).  Keep your fingers crossed that he is able to stumble across the right job. 

Making me Happy:  So many things!  These new shoes (pink AND studded AND less than 20 bucks?!  I hit the motherload!). 

 

Lush products.  I am mildy obsessed with that store.  In the past month I have bought this and this and this (and this and this and this...).  I bought their little foot care kit and made Ryan use it with me.  Here is a shot of us in the midst of our foot mask.

 

Teacher Week - Teacher Must Haves

Hello-- I am joining in the Teacher Week Link-Up from Blog-Hoppin.

Here are a few things that are must-haves in my classroom.

1. Fun bulletin board borders (although I have nothing up on the bulletin board yet!) I chose this leopard print from Michael's this year:

(they also have tiger , zebra, and rainbow leopard).  My seven year old son was very disgusted by this bulletin board and wanted to know why I couldn't just do apples.  I also used fabric instead of paper for the background.  It doesn't fade or show seams or holes. 

2. Highlighter tape -

Great for bringing student's attention to certain things in the textbook.  It peels right off when you are done.  It also comes in super giant roles to use on chart paper.

3. Sit and move cushions-

Great for my students with autism.  They can have the movement they crave while still remaining at their seats.



4. These puzzles (and all of the others like them) from Lakeshore. 

They have all different reading ones, math ones, shapes, colors, sight words, word families, etc.  They are great to throw out as busy work for the kids and don't involve writing.  (Many of my students have OT issues and hate writing). 

Thanks for hoppin' over!

well....

Bad news:

I just started classes again for the spring semester. Six hours a week of night class (plus a 40ish minute commute each way twice a week) is looking like a bit more than I can handle without a serious hit to my sanity. It's going to be an exhausting semester.

Good news:

Both of my classes are really interesting. I have Strategies for the English Language Learner which is taught by someone who is actually an ESL teacher. The other class is a math methods class which is taught by a principal in a local school district. I really think I am going to enjoy both of the classes and take away a lot from them. Also, as much as I love being a teacher, I also really enjoy being a student. I'm glad that teaching is a profession that requires you to be a lifelong learner.

Good news:

I have lost ten pounds since Christmas from cutting out sweets, eating more veggies, fruits and whole foods and working out.

Bad news:

I didn't work out ONE TIME this week. And I had a serious brownie binge this week. I swear, it's like when one thing in my life gets out of balance (for example, starting up classes again) everything else just goes to hell.

Good news:

I have a fabulous first grader who is a star reader. He even went and read to some kindergarteners as a special reward the other day (he choose a book about hockey to read to them. I'm sure they were thrilled.) We seem to have gotten over the phase of terrible behavior at school we were going through, which is such a relief.

Bad news:

He has been sick for more than ten days. He is better now than he was last weekend, but lots of coughing, runny nose, sore throat, etc. etc.

Blah...

keeping pace

Hey, happy fall y'all!

My parents came down yesterday to watch Isaac's soccer game and then we had a nice lunch at Friendly's. It was a perfect crisp, cool, autumn day to watch some clueless little kids kick a soccer ball around. Isaac ended up delaying the whole game because he decided to swing on the goalpost and then his cleat got all tangled up in the net. He has turned into a little bit of a showboat too, trash talking a little bit and excessively celebrating after he scores a goal. I'm trying to nip that in the bud. Two of our games at the beginning of the season got rained out and they added them back on to the end of the season, which makes it feel like soccer will never end. Don't get me wrong-- I love soccer but I'm ready to not have a commitment every Saturday and Wednesday night and to get Isaac back on his regular weekend schedule with his dad.

We had debated trying to make it into the city the for the Freedom March yesterday but we just didn't have enough time. In the evening we went to a cornmaze with some people from church. Isaac has a great time. Tromping around miles and miles of corn is not exactly my favorite way to pass time, but the kids had a lot of fun. We got home around 9 and by 10 I was nodding off. I guess my body really is slowing down now that I'm older. I feel like I can barely hang after 11, which is so disappointing. Pretty lame. Oh well.

Maybe I am still recovering from Tuesday night when my friend Jami and I went to see the Indigo Girls. When we went to Hershey Park a few weeks ago, we listened to their live album the whole time. We talked about how we would both like to see them in concert, if they were even still touring. When I got home I got online and discovered not only were they still touring, but they would be in Philly in just two weeks. My parents bought my ticket as an early birthday present. We had a great time mixing and mingling with a crowd of mostly butchy middle aged lesbians (let's just say, there was a TON of flannel being worn that night). I think going out on a weeknight just through me all off though, and I feel like I still can't recover. #lame

Today we did church. Last week the Bishop came into our YSA Sunday School class and read a letter that said at Stake Conference in a few weeks they will be officially organizing a YSA branch in our stake. Therefore, our YSA activities and Sunday School will be discontinued. I had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I am about to age out of the YSA program anyways, and even though I could technically attend for another year or so, I had planned to officially call it quits when I turn 30 in a few weeks. I'm ready for that phase of my life to be through. On the other hand, this means I won't have a calling any more teaching the Sunday School class and coordinating activities, leaving me open for a dreaded primary calling (I'm telling you, with as many kids in our ward as we have on the spectrum, I still don't understand how I've escaped being put in there for as long as I have).

Anyways, after this whole thing went down, I filled in as a RS teacher. My lesson went okay (I mean, you can't make family history that relevant or interesting) but they must have been happy with it, because then they asked me be a substitute teacher next week for a teaching for our times lesson (on this talk, which I'm actually pretty excited about).

Apparently someone has an insane level of confidence in me, because today they pulled me out and asked if I would officially accept a calling as a RS teacher. The bishopric counselor acknowledged that lessons in RS lately have been "controversial" (I may or may not have audibly snorted at that one) and encouraged me to remember that there are sisters from our ward from all walks of life: recent converts, people who have grown up in Utah, people who have not grown up in Utah, people in our ward who were very liberal politically and people who are extremely conservative and it's important to be sensitive if a lesson topic could be controversial. Of course, I agreed to that. (I guess my violent rant to our RS president following a comment that Michele Bachmann was a great political candidate for LDS people to vote for must have been passed along. Two weeks later she announced that there was to be NO political discussion in RS, which is A-OK with me). So anyways, I guess that's what I get for complaining about the lessons and discussion. Now I'm in charge of them once a month.

What else? Work... has been exhausting. Another year with two students with really challenging behaviors that monopolize all of my time and stress out the whole team. It's been the same story every year since I started, just insert a different kid. I don't know how much more I can do it, honestly. The other day I found myself fantasizing about starting a whole new career, which is pretty terrifying. It's insane to think that I am so disgruntled with public ed, when I haven't even made a dent in paying off all of the loans I took out to become qualified to do it. I'm just trying to take it a day at a time and I'm reminding myself that I am taking the steps I need to become more qualified and eventually relocate to a district with more resources but it still sucks. I've always said that if I had to work 40 hours a week (or whatever) that I at least wanted to be doing something that makes a difference. Right now I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels...

My place is finally decorated for Halloween. I found this great subway art (I print her stuff out for almost every holiday and season for supereasy decor). Usually I print it out in 8 by 10 but I happened to have a 16 by 20 inch frame in the closet that I wasn't using. I think it looks great. I had it printed out at Costco for about 6 bucks.

Anyways, I should get up off the coach and get ready for the week. Have a great one guys!

September is here!

It's been a while! First of all, this happened: My baby is in first grade!! It's been back to school in every sense around here. Isaac is attending first grade, I am teaching an incredibly lively bunch of all new first graders, and I am also taking a grad class as well. It was a bit of a shock to the system to go from the dog days of summer, to the insanity that is September, but we're rolling with it and doing well I think. I actually enjoy the busyness of the school year, but it takes me a bit to settle into it and get into a routine. By Thursday night I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck, so I was grateful to have Friday off. So on our day off we were about to head out to Leola to see my mom when we discovered this:

(the flat tire, not the dent. That was always there)

There was a huge chunk of metal sticking out of it. My rear tires are almost bald, so I figured better that it happened on my day off from school when I had time to deal with it. We managed to get Firestone to squeeze us in and we got some new tires. I'm learning to live with the driver window never going down, so hopefully this will be our last car expense for a while *knocks on wood*.

Anyways, while we were waiting for the AAA guy to come and change my tire for me (yeah, super lame, I know. I get the steps in the process of changing a tire, but this is what my 40 bucks a year goes towards. I don't have to get down the ground a try to change lug nuts and whatnot.) I decided to clean out my trunk. My trunk has pretty much been a disaster for several years. Just to give you an idea of how long it has been since I cleaned it out thoroughly, I unearthed this:

back there, along with a receiving blanket. Anyways, all of the junk is gone and so are all of the Christmas tree needles and beach sand. It was a productive 45 minutes until the guy showed up.

Anyways, that was only a minor setback and we made it to Leola without any trouble. We slept over and then woke up early to go to Blue Ball Days which sounds gross but it's actually when the whole town of blue ball has a big yard sale! I scored some great deals. Brand new soccer cleat for Isaac for only .50, two Ramona books (I'm always on the lookout for those and Junie B Jones) but the jackpot was the lady who was dumping all of her Stampin Up stuff. A whole table full of stamps. I had to restrain myself. I got an Easter set, two Christmas sets and a invitation stamp. So that was exciting.

So what else? Oh! I won a blog giveaway! I enter them all of the time and I have *never* won. And this is such a cool prize too. Teaching in Pink is sending me this book. After only four days with this new group of firsties, I am open to any and all ideas on classroom management. So I'm pretty pumped for that.

Isaac and I watched a neat documentary series on Netflix streaming called "Circus". I guess it aired on PBS originally. It made both of us long to run away and live life under the big top.

One last thing, I was so excited to see these out on the shelves:

LOVE THEM!!! I'm was excited when we were driving home to see an Amish stand with gourds in it. I'm excited to decorate the house for fall and HALLOWEEN. When is it okay to start putting Halloween decorations up? Thoughts? Well, have a great week.

advice for new teachers...

Today's topic is advice for new teachers.... which... I feel like a pretty new teacher myself... but here goes. (FYI-- for those who have hopped over, I do first grade autistic support in a cotaught classroom)

1. Make friends with your speech therapist, OT and PT. They are a wealth of information and are usually happy to share ideas and resources. I am amazed when I am totally frustrated with a situation and I bounce it off of one of them, how they might see the situation from a totally different point of view than I do.

2. When writing IEP goals, try to align them with data you are already collecting anyways. We do tons with DIBELS data, so I have started including that as reading goals. Why do double work?

3. It's okay to shut the door and cry during your prep period once in a while. It happens to everyone. Heck, I cried on my way home from school pretty much every night in August, September and October of my first year. But it got easier.

4. Don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for help. Everything will be so overwhelming at first and you won't be able to figure it all out on your own.

5. Have a plan B (and a plan C). And it's okay if, once in a while, your plan C is playdough. I've had all kinds of kids since I started teaching and playdough is a universal pleaser.

6. Don't be tempted to go crazy in the teacher store. Sure at the beginning it's fun to splurge, but so many things can be made, or picked up at yard sales, or inherited from other teachers who no longer need them, or discovered in the closet of that empty classroom... Ask around first before you shell out cash.

7. Listen to little Johnny's long rambling story. You might be the only person who gives him some undivided attention that day.

8. Let people push you a little when it comes to letting your IEP kids bloom. This can be a hard one. I looped with my students with autism for three years and found myself making snap judgement on what I felt they could and couldn't do. It came from a place of good intentions: the mama bear in me wanting to protect them and shield them from "failing". There were definitely times when a colleague or supervisor pushed me to have a child participate in something and I would be surprised at how well they would exceed everyone's expectations.