"Nice to Meet You, Number Two"

My second year teaching--HUZZAH! So much more excited for this year than last year. Notes to self:

• be more organized
• do not be afraid of parents (I don't care how old they are)
• don't let Common Core ruin your (or the kids') life
• use more fun lesson plan ideas from Pinterest
• teach art
• don't take (too much) work home
• celebrate the small successes
• RELAX

Yes. There was much to reflect on at the end of last year, so hopefully I can do better this year. I'm trying to shift out of survival mode so I can enjoy my job more. Though I can say I love it more than anything in the world. I feel like every time I talk to people about it I just whine and complain (because I'm a terrible, negative person), but I really can't imagine a better job. I get paid for teaching kids that I love and that love me back. I really do enjoy being in charge (just ask Scottie) and these kids listen to me and love me when I'm bossy structured. :) 

Anyways, I updated my room a little. Not a ton. ...it's still a work in progress, and probably will be forever. But I like it.

I was such a loser teacher last year doing birthdays. I'm going to try to be better this year.

I bought these superhero bulletin board guys last year but never used them. How silly of me.

I know you can't read the signs, but they're for mean, median, mode, and range. Read this poem I found on pinterest:

 

Hey diddle diddle,

median's the middle!

You add and divide for the mean.

Mode is the one you see the most,

and the range is the difference between.

 

There! Now you'll never forget.

I stole this idea from bestie Rochelle. All of the prepositions we're supposed to memorize in fourth grade. I'll have the kids put them to whatever tunes they want, then we'll vote on which one we like best and memorize that as a class. I used those little Velcro dots, so I an remove one or two at a time while we memorize until they're all gone. :)

My Idaho History wall! I missed my bestie Sara while putting this up since she helped me last year.

Also, I got those bins from DI and Walmart. Art supplies are irresistible...and it was a constant battle keeping kids focused instead of pouring glue all over their pencil boxes. So they'll keep all art supplies in those bins until we need them. Problem solved!

I didn't get my chart in there very well, but Scottie built the stand for me!! It's wonderful. Someday I'll take the time to spray paint it so it's nice and pretty.

My Back to School Night table. I had most of my parents come--yay! They ate all my cookies, but I had very few offer to bring extra supplies for the class and only one volunteer to help me out in the classroom once a week. This is very different from last year. I understand that they're all buying supplies for all of their kids...but I bet none of them have 23 they're buying for. When they run out of anything, I usually end up supplying it...and it gets expensive!

So I can keep track of who is where when we're writing...

The Batcave. I had one student's mom say her child was a little afraid of Batman...so I tried to explain to her that he's my protector, especially when I'm at the school alone at night and there are funny noises. She asked me to be in a picture with her and Batman, so I think she'll warm up to him.

More math stuff. Positive and negative (because we don't use those enough) number line, angles, lines, rows, columns, diameter, and radius.

I spray painted the brick here black. When they took down the chalkboard last year and put in a new white board there was empty space where this nasty brick was visible. I'm trying to use the space now that it looks nicer. These are my classroom jobs, and I used the Velcro dots again so I can switch out the stars more easily. Plus, Velcro is just fun.

What they kids saw on their desk at Back to School night

 

A note from moi with a glow stick bracelet

Everybody was doing all this cute stuff in their hall for BtSN, and I had nothing. So I ran to the Dollar Store, bought some crepe paper, and did this. My sweet father-in-law bought me the School House Rock dvd, so I used their theme: Knowledge is Power!

I promised Scottie I wouldn't post these to facebook, but I didn't say anything about the blog...

Here's Scottie on his first day of school!! We're too poor to be able to afford a parking permit at the ISU satellite campus, so he's riding the bike his grandpa gave him a few years ago. I'll probably give him rides during the winter, but it's nice for him to ride his bike while it's nice outside.

 

Out of the driveway...

And away he goes!

Thoughts

1. I'm more excited about this school year than I was about last school year. ...waaaaaaaaaaay more excited.  Mayhaps it's because I *sort of* know what I'm doing.
2. I hate warm milk almost as much as I hate melted ice cream.

1. I have had one nightmare a week about the first day of school since mid-July. This happened to me last year. I think the most memorable one from this year was when I only had about ten girls in my class, but they were all 6-7 feet tall and wouldn't quit chewing bubble gum or listen or follow any of the rules/procedures.
2. The reason the previous was an absolute nightmare is because I have absolutely loathed the smell of bubble gum since I was little. It seriously makes me gag. It comes in the bags of candy that I buy for my students, but I refuse to hand that out until the end of the day, when they're on their way out the door.

1. I still love eating boxed macaroni and cheese. I don't care if I'm an adult. It's yummy and quick.

1. I am so ridiculously excited to see Muse for a second time!!! Even with the risk of sounding like 7th grader Emily, they are my favorite band ever! :D

1. I love how much my parents share with me. For instance, I'm typing on this wonderfully fast/high tech laptop from my parents. Scott once mentioned that I must feel like I'm living in my parents' house...they gave us their old couch set, TV, and their piano. Little by little, I'm collecting what I grew up with as my parents update. I love it.
2. I am also ridiculously excited for Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker to come out on the Wii U! It's one of my top Zelda games and it will be amazing to play in HD. I can't wait for Christmas to get here. :)

1. We are probably the shame of our neighborhood right now. We have spent three summers trying to bring our lawn back to life...to no avail. We watered, planted more grass seed, watered some more...nothing. I think this goes back to our plant/pet/parent blog, eh? Anyways, so we decided to kill the lawn and start over. So, for most of this summer, we haven't had a lawn--just a few giant dirt patches. Scott and his brothers chopped down four of our trees (I will post pictures someday), so we're working on killing the stumps. Anyways, I totally feel like trailer trash and get embarrassed whenever we have company. However, we have big dreams for our "lawn"! After we rip out the stumps, we'll plant lilac bushes along our fence. Then, because our lawn is so small, we can afford to buy sod. Insta-lawn! We're planning on removing the rocks from around the sides of our house, put in some new dirt, and planting some flowers and other pretty things to liven it up a bit. Hah, neighborhood! Then we'll be living the dream!
2. I love my husband. So much. He starts his masters program on Monday, and I think I'm more nervous about it than he is. He'll do great, though. Of course. I'm afraid we won't be seeing much of each other for the next three years, and that's kind of a bummer. He's taking night classes, which is super because he can still work, but it sucks because we both have day jobs until 4...then he has class from 6-9, and that's my bedtime. I'm thinking I'll be awfully lonely during the week. But I'm so proud of him! By 2015, he'll have his MAcc (Masters of Accounting), CPA (certified public accountant...like The Producers! haha), and his MBA (Masters of Business Administration). wOOt!

That's all for now, folks. I've been so slack in blogging...I haven't blogged about Muse (which was in February), my whole summer (Billings, Disneyland, and Seattle), and I've changed a bit in my classroom and want to show that off (I know it's not that cool or special, but I pretty much live there). So...I'm sure I'll be having more free time in the evenings the next few years. I'll blog then. ;)

p.s. Koji Kondo is still alive and kickin'! We got him on Scottie's birthday, so he's almost 5 months old. And he's such a good fish. He never cries or whines, doesn't make that much of a mess, and always eats his food. That's my kind of pet!