Less than 48 hours to go

<>

My "six trait writing" bulletin board

Check out those books!!

I am standing in my door way taking this picture. The board just has my to do list on it.

I have had two and a half days in my classroom to turn it into my own class room.  At this point my classroom has all the necessary things in order to be a functional classroom.  I have made two bulletin boards, put up the obligatory maps and given each student supplies and their textbooks. They each have an array of at least twelve books on their desks; some of which are traditional textbooks, workbooks and supplimentry materials and practice books.  They each have a handwriting book that they will practice in and then a practice book for each of the subjects I will be teaching them.  Today I had the morning in my classroom to plan lessons.  I was able to plan reading for all of my students.  I will tell you that planning for four grades at once does not leave a lot of room for creativity or transitions.  I will have to be rigerous about my training my students to transition from one activity to another in no time flat!  The other teacher has been wonderful about helping me out and giving me ideas-my motto this year is beg, borrow and steal whatever I can to make my life easier!!  All you educators I know probably know exactly what I am talking about.  Plus, why reinvent something that has already been done??  Point being, there was a nice handy cart left that had two columns of colored bins that were nicely labeled with various school supplies.  They are all school supplies that I need and will have my students use on a regular basis so why in the world would I waste time to redo the labels?? I did change one of them because I didn't need three bins of "scratch paper" so I changed that one to pencils and erasers. I have a lot more resources than I ever imagined I would have as well.  Tonight three of us went into Billings to go school supply shopping on the school districts dime! It is so much fun spending someone elses money (don't worry, we were on a budget). But seriously, buying for 26 kids was awesome!!  That is something else that is different about the culture I am teaching in.  These kids do not buy their own school supplies because everything is communally owned.  So, we teachers get to decide what they will need for the school year and then go purchase them!  Neato!!! I am looking forward to so many things this year; it just blows my mind that someone actually offered me a job without my having "real teaching exerience." Haha...anyone who has subbed knows that is real enough experience.  I am lucky to have an awesome teacher to help me along with my first year of stuff.  She has a great sense of humor but tells it like it is. You don't mess around when it comes to the serious stuff.  I am looking forward to a great year and just thinking of all the things I am going to learn makes me giddy!! Nerdy I know but it's a teacher thing....Till next time....Tscheuss! 

This board has my calendar and policies and procedures on it.