My First Full Day

Today was my first full day and I have to say it was LONG! My students have a late lunch and related arts the last period of the day. This equals a ridiculously long day for me! I am really going to have to put some management in place because I will have to check folders and stuff them while keeping the students engaged. I will also have to make sure to print and set out everything I need for the entire day each morning--making sure I have easy access to it. Right now I am using my kidney table as home base, but that's definitely not going to work when we start small group activities.

I am pretty tired so here are a few highs, lows, and points of interest for today:

Highs:

Many of my students are very kind and responsible for their classmates without me teaching it. I have had zero instances of pushing or line cutting and it is very clear that many of my students watch out for each other. I have one student (one I can guarantee I will be writing a lot about) that many of my girls take care of.

We voted on our class "team" name today. It was a close race, but the peanut butter fish, the electric fish, and the fish with big tales could not stand up against the "Rainbow Fish."

Lows:
Did I mention today was LONG??

On a more serious note...One of the forms we are asked to collect from each child is an application for free and reduced lunch. It is also the form that our school turns in to receive our Title1 funding. I got about 10 forms back today. Of the 10 families returning forms only ONE of my families has a household income of more than $1000 (and all 10 families have one working adult). To put this in perspective... I make  about $34,000 as a new teacher. My first paycheck will be more than most of my families will make in a year. This realization was a huge reality check for me. I knew my students would be low income, but I had no idea that it would be this low.

To make me feel even worse almost all of my students brought in school supplies. The first grade general supply list (which I had absolutely no part in making...) costs about $20-30. For a lot of my families this equates to 5% of their income. I actually feel guilty about taking their supplies. One idea I had was to use any of the extra materials to make a take-home summer kit for my students. This would not only relieve my guilt about much of the unused supplies, but also be a small step in eliminating the notorious "summer slide."

Point of interest:
We had a new student join our class today. He happens to have the same first name as another student...and the same last initial. To make this even more fun...I have a really hard time pronouncing my new student's last name!

Extreme Classroom Makeover

I am back! It has been a LONG couple of weeks. We had TFA orientation,  MNPS new teacher orientation, a 2 day staff retreat, 4 PD days leading up to school AND classroom set-up!

I have been working non-stop. Over the past few weeks I have been been following a sleep-work-eat-work schedule with very little free time. Now that school has officially started, I am trying really hard to find a balance and get back into a routine---one that includes time away from school! I have a trip planned back to Akron next weekend, and even though the drive is going to suck I am so excited to get a way and talk about something that is not school or work!

I hope I don't sound like a complainer, because I really do love my job so far. My co-workers have been extremely supportive and I feel VERY welcome at my school. And...the hard work really does pay off. I inherited one of the least student-friendly environments possible, but my portable is starting to look and feel like a classroom! I have gotten a lot of compliments from staff members on my classroom which has really helped validate the work that has been put into it.

Here is a picture of my classroom as it currently stands (functional, but not finished) and below that is a link to the transformation process.

and the transformation: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1990449207394.2100739.1428270161&l=9142d892b7&type=1

Thursday was my first day of school and it went REALLY well. My students are adorable. I am still working through some language issues and really need to take some time next week to talk to students one on one. I think after next week I will have a better idea of what strengths and challenges we will have....now I just have to do some planning to make next week happen!

Schools Shopping...Deals for teachers!

School shopping has officially taken on a new meaning in my life. Something comparable to hell. That might be a slight exaggeration, but the fact of the matter is that school supply shopping is downright stressful. I have spent almost all of my allotment of money and am now starting to calculate how much I will save by returning non-necessities or finding different supplies at different retail venues for cheaper (composition notebooks are a great example of this).

Here is a basic list of supplies I have bought:
-class set of crayons/ crayon holders
- table sets of markers
- 1 glue/ student
- Ziplock bags-all sizes
- 1  folder with fasteners/ student
- 2 folders with no fastners/ student
- 1 composition notebook with "primary" paper in it (space for picture)...my splurge/ student
- 1 wide ruled composition notebook/ student
- 10 3-ring binders for teacher use
- 6 Discovery Kids Nonfiction books
- class set of dry erase markers
- 2 teacher multi-pack of dry erase markers
- Thick pencils for beginning of the year use/ student (helps with handwriting, needs sharpened less frequently)
- Skin-tone construction paper for student self portraits
- Crowns for King/Queen of the week
- number line
- Bulletin board borders (3)
- sheet protectors
- 1 set of 8 sharpies
- table boxes
- 1 pair of scissors/student

I still need:
- White board cleaner
- mailing labels
- containers for classroom library
- electrical tape
- duct tape


A little bit of good: I am starting to get the hang of what goes where. There are also a lot of very generous teacher deals this time of year. Here are a few that I have found...

- Office Max: bag day. They gave us a large reusable bag and 20% off of everything that fit inside. They also had a small teacher care package that included a couple of sharpies, a planner with monthly coupons, and some free samples. They also have a teacher rewards card that give you $5 back for every $75 spent.

- Staples: the up the limit on sale items to 25 (instead of 3 for regular customers).

- Walmart: best prices on general school supplies

Also, a few shout outs..

-the guy at Office Depot who received a free backpack from his purchase and donated it to my classroom.
- the cashier at Office Depot who gave me two more backpacks other customers had left.
- The manager at Office Max who called another store and arranged for me to pick up a few extra composition notebooks with primary pages so I can have a class set
-my mom for making cushions to my childhood rocking chair that I am putting in my reading area along with the two beach chairs she bought me.


It has been a long week of shopping and setting up my classroom, but today I really felt that it was starting to look like a classroom. There really is a light at the end of the tunnel!