Five for Friday Teacher Prep Week

It's that time again....SATURDAY!  Ummmm yeah I'm always late.  Let's all get over that now.

It's the time of the year where Friday means something again.  Weekends, sleeping, relaxing, AFTER I get all my stuff together for the next week.  Bye bye relaxed life hello school year 2013-2014

Here's my Friday 5.... (out of the 3,454,231,234,234,234.2 things that happened this week)

1.) Fancy Pants Classroom

I love decorating my classroom.  I could go on and on and on and add things and make things forever!  I had to have one of my team mates come in and affirm that I was indeed finished.  I'm holding strong to my jungle theme 5 years and counting.  I figure they're going to be wild little animals so why not embrace it! :) (sidenote: My classroom isn't all pizzaz and style like most of you bloggers out there.  In comparison it is sooooooo simple. But it is cute and I love it!)

2.) From desk to tables

How I got the tables is a story for School Gossip Weekly....

I have tables!!!! YAY!!!!!  I am so pumped to not have to dump desks and pass out clean desk fairies and yadah yadh yadh desks shemsks.

I heart tables!!!!

3.) Second grade rocks

I am totally going to (and already do) miss my 3rd grade team mates. But I am pumped beyond all reason to be on the 2nd grade team this year.  They have already been very supportive and helpful and have shared everything that my mush of a brain can handle. (Does anyone else out there feel like their brain slipped out their ear during the night when its back to school prep week?)

4.) Buh-bye ELA and Social Studies.  HELLO Math and Science!!!! 

We are so lucky to be departmentalized at our school.  I have actually NEVER taught all subjects at the same time.  After 4 years of 3rd grade ELA, I'm now teaching 2nd grade Math and Science and I could not be more thrilled.  Learning a new curriculum is hard work y'all!!! I've spent my days this week making my classroom welcoming and functional and my evenings reading everything I can get my hands on to give myself more background knowledge about this thing called math (no text books here, just a scope and sequence).  Once I get the hang of it we will be smooth sailing and my creative juices will finally feel free.

Full disclosure: I would be lying not to say I haven't missed my beginning of the year books and thought about my favorite anthology stories more than 500 times this week.

5.) Student teachers rock!

THANKFULLY, I have an amazingly hard working student teacher who will do all the little crappy things I boss her around to do.  AND WITH A SMILE!  Blessed!!!  Let's also add this to the list of new things I'm learning about this year...first student teacher you guys!  Mrs. L rocks!!! Not only is she putting up with my scatter brained thinking and reasoning and explaining.  She's ok with the fact that we're figuring out the curriculum together.  We worked together all of last year so she is getting a first hand glimpse at the true cray-cray the beginning of the year brings.


Week 1 with students....ready or not!