September 04, 2007

I survived

Do I really have to go back to work tomorrow?  I feel so drained from today.  I was probably crazy teacher today.  I was hot, stressed, tired, and feeling like I didn’t have enough time.  So I rushed threw stuff to make sure I got to everything, which I did. 

My class seems okay.  It’s hard to tell the first day because they are scared and not sure what to expect. In another week I’ll see what it will really be like.  The major problem I’m going to have is making them work faster.  They are so slow, and that will have to stop.  I have a few poor readers which sucks, but I will deal with it, being as I have no choice. 

The highlight of my day was at about 10am.  Yep, just an hour and 20 minutes into the regular day.  A student was walking back to her seat from the carpet and stops, turns to me with a huge smile on her face and says, “I can’t wait to go home and tell my mom all about my day, and all about you.” Yep, I think I won her over. 

It was a pretty successful day, I mean, it has to be, when not one of my students cried today.  Got to love that!

September 03, 2007

first day jitters

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  I’m always a little nervous and excited about it.  You never quite know what to expect.  I do know that I have 25 kids. Only one of my kids was removed for some reason, probably because he couldn’t be with another kid, but I got a trade.  I made my plans for the day, but I’m sure I won’t be able to fit everything into my day.  The first day goes so fast.  Not to mention, I have my double prep tomorrow, so I lose a period tomorrow too. 

One of my students is coming from the school that I student taught in. She would have actually been in kindergarten the year I student taught in kindergarten.  I don’t recognize the name, so she probably didn’t have that teacher, or she wasn’t in the school that year. I’ll find out tomorrow when I ask her. 

My classroom isn’t as organized as I would have liked.  I did level their books, but I didn’t organize or make new labels for the books that go into categories like science and social studies. So I still have a lot to do. I have to make sure I get up early to get there at 7:30. I just need to make sure that I have everything set up.  I want to take down their chairs, hand out the pencils and bookmarks I have for them. I would like the notices to be out on their desks as well.  I really could use just one more day to get myself organized.  I’m starting to get stressed.  I hate first days.  25 kids you are in charge of and have to keep track of and you don’t even know them.  I’m always afraid of losing one of them.  I don’t know their parents, I don’t know who is taking them home.  It’s all very stressful. Not to mention you’re expected the teach the first day.  Who has time for teaching when there are supplies to be collected, books to be handed out, notices to be handed out, rules to be made, kids to get to know, there is just not enough time.  I wish I had a partner to help me.  That would be so nice. 

August 28, 2007

Rambling

I’m exhausted....working is just so hard.  I come home and I feel gross and disgusting because there is dust everywhere in the classroom and my room feels like 100 degrees, so I get sweaty and smelly.  It’s just wonderful.  I went into work today from like 10am until 3:30pm, but I was distracted a lot of the time.  I think it’s because my room is just too hot, it’s gross.  So I have to take lots of breaks. I did put up all of the backing paper and borders up in the room.  I started to go through the closets.  I still have to go through books and make sure they are leveled and I have books from home that still need to be brought in.  I have boxes of books in the front of the room that I need to go through and figure out where I will be storing them all. 

Today after work I went to get a new tire for my car. So my car is back to normal now.  There are absolutely no problems and it is running well.  While I was in Boston my uncle did a tune up on my car and fixed my middle brake light.  I really need to clean out my car. This is one busy week. 

So tomorrow I will go into work at about 9:30am or so and stay until about 12:30pm.  So I can come home and take a shower.  Then I will go see Loriann and her babies.  Come home and hopefully relax for a bit before I have to run to the train station.  I’m meeting my sister tomorrow night to go see a mets game in a movie theater.  It should be pretty cool.  Then Thursday is my first official day back to school.  I’ll have to be there from 8am until 3pm.  I’m really not looking forward to the start of the school year.  Not to mention teachers looked at my class list and they couldn’t believe the kids I had.  I have a lot of kids who struggle academically (as in can’t read) and kids with anger management issues and behavior issues.  I have parents who are going to be up my ass, and I hate that more than anything.  It’s going to be one fun year, I can feel it already.  Apparently, the list that they made at the end of the year was changed quite a bit for some reason and they never would have grouped all of these kids into one class.  So I guess I’m just lucky....

August 27, 2007

One long day

The day started out with me driving two hours home from Jersey.  I got home by 10 am and ran up to my apartment and grabbed some stuff and headed over to school.  I stayed at school talking to people as well as trying to get my classroom set up until about 2:30pm.  I drive home and met my friend, Roni for a late lunch at 3:30pm.  We hung out and talked and then called one of her friends who lives a block away from me, who would have thought?  At 6:30pm we left because her friend had a doctors appointment but would be home by 7:30pm so we would get together later.  So Roni and I decide to go to my parents house to drop off a few books I picked up over the weekend.  Only to find out that I had a flat tire.  Ugh, I have no luck with tires lately.  I call AAA and they say someone will be there within an hour.  A car full of guys pull up and offer to help, but unfortunately, they ended up not being much help at all.  It was pretty funny though.  First a car full of about 4 guys show up and then two more cars of their friends stop by. It’s like we were having a party of something.  Unfortunately, no one was able to help and I ended up waiting an hour and a half for AAA.  Since they lied to me about the time.  The AAA guy said it’s because he’s the only driver or something.  So finally, I got my donut up on the car and all is well, I found a parking spot and everything.  So tomorrow my dad will take me to get my tire fixed.  I think it’s Roni’s fault because she has bad luck, so maybe I got some of her bad luck. 

Anyway. we ended up getting back together with Roni’s friend and her friends boyfriend and we went to dinner and had a couple of drinks.  I think I made a new friend.  A new friend that lives a block away. That will be nice. 

Oh, and I also called Loriann who I’ve known since kindergarten, but haven’t spoken to in like forever.  I asked her if I could stop by with a present that I made for her baby.  So I’ll be stopping over at her apartment on Wednesday around 2ish.  I would say all in all, it was quite a productive day. 

Tomorrow I will be heading back to school to try to get more work done in my classroom.  I hope to not have to go in on Wednesday, but I have a feeling that I will be.  I have to work hard tomorrow and stay focused and not talk to everyone as much. 

August 23, 2007

Stupid Capital One

I really have to get my act together and look into a credit card with a cash back bonus reward like my discover card which I just love.  I have never ever had a problem with discover and I get cash back bonuses which I get as a gift card to receive $5 extra on the card. I use it to buy gifts or little presents for myself.  It’s just wonderful.  Then I have my capital one card which I’ve had since high school.  It was my very first credit card.  I’ve kept it because it is a visa and I can use it just about everywhere unlike my discover card. I never had a problem with capital one until recently.  I also kept it because after I had fraud on my credit, getting a credit card is much more difficult for me.  Since someone has to call and verify my information first. So I just didn’t want to deal with it.  So I just kept the cards I had and I’ve been pretty happy.  Then today I went online to pay my bill and I notice a finance charge of $5.12.  I don’t understand because I paid my card off in full.  So I call figuring they would apologize and remove the $5.12 immediately.  Not quite the case.  I call and an informed the month before I only paid off part of my bill, so this month I still get a finance charge and it is in the fine print if I look it over I will be able to see that.  I’m annoyed that this guy on the phone is refusing to refund my money even after I threaten to close my account.  So I hang up with him and I call back in a few moments to close the account.  The woman is talking to me like she doesn’t know I want to close my account.  She apologizes for this and refunds my account and I end up not closing it.  I figure I’ll wait until I find another card to replace this one.

I also don’t like when I pay my capital one bill online, I can’t choose my posting date.  I can’t pay it early and choose the date that I want.  I can with my wonderful discover card.  Ugh...I HATE CAPITAL ONE!!!!

I also need to change banks, which I’ve been wanting to do forever and have just been too lazy to deal with it.  I think now is the time to get my finances in order the way I want them to be.  I just need a new bank and a new credit card. 

Money

Every year the city gives teachers money in March to buy what is needed for the school year.  We are told to hold onto our receipts from August - March, because we need to show proof that we actually spent the $240 that they are giving us. So I just added up my receipts that I have so far.  It came to $262.15.  I still have a list of things that I need to get at Staples which I forgot the last two times I was there.  Not to mention I ordered stuff online which I didn’t include in those receipts yet because the receipt is in a box in the bottom of my closet at the moment.  That stuff is just little rewards to give out and art projects and gifts for them to make for the winter holidays, mothers day and fathers day.  That came to probably about $80, if I had to guess.  I’m also heading out to New Jersey this weekend and going to a scholastic book fair.  So I’m sure I will be spending more money on books for my classroom there as well.  So I figure school hasn’t started yet and I’m already over the $240 that I am given for the year. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful that I am given money at all.  $240 is better than nothing.  So this year I would like to keep track of all of my receipts to see how much money I actually spend on my class over the course of the year. 

August 22, 2007

Goodbye Summer, Hello New Refrigerator....

I can’t believe that on Monday, I will be heading to school to set up my classroom.  I guess my summer is officially over come this weekend.  I have been shopping to get what I need to set up my classroom and what is needed for the first few weeks of school.  I made a short list of what I still needed and headed over to the store and ended up spending $90.  I guess I could have saved $3, but they had the coolest pen over...it’s gigantic.  I just had to have it! 

I was going to wait before putting names on things until I find out if kids had their classes changed.  It happens....like if a parent figures out who has their child and wants their precious child to have a different teacher, it can change everything.  I never worried about it before.  My first year, I didn’t even set up my classroom, and my second year I didn’t get my class list until I went in August.  My third year I just did it and didn’t think anything was going to change and nothing did, other than two children not showing because they moved.  Although, the fifth grade had complete changes made.  So this is why I worry.  Anyway, I decided to just do it on the name plates.  I may have to make changes but I have five blanks left.  The worst thing is I’ll have to get new ones.  I’m figuring changes won’t be made. 

So I did a lot of reading this summer and I have made two baby blankets.  The third baby blanket is almost done. Now I just need to run out and get baby paper and a little gift to tie onto the gift to make it look pretty.  Two people at work are having a baby in September.  I have an old friend who already had the baby a couple of weeks ago, so I have to finish up the blanket and run it over to her apartment. 

In other news, we got a new refrigerator delivered this morning, since the old one stopped working.  The landlords ran out immediately to get us a new one.  I think they are very happy with us a tenants.  Now we will have to go out to fill up the refrigerator. 

August 16, 2007

summet goes too fast

I got my end of summer letter from my principal a couple of days ago.  Basically letting us know that a permit is in place for us if we want to come in early to set up our classrooms.  So I can go back to school on the 27th and set up my classroom if I want. I have to officially be back on the 30th for meetings and what not on the 30th and 31st.  Then I have a three day weekend and the kids are back on September 4th.  Honestly, I kind of miss it and I miss the kids, but give me two weeks and I’ll be ready for another summer vacation I am sure of it. 

I still have to write more in my summer writing notebook.  I think I’m the only teacher who does it.  I just feel that if we’re telling the kids it’s so important, the teachers should feel it’s important as well.  I just haven’t been much in the mood for writing.  I have done a lot of reading and I’ve been loving it.  I’m really going to miss it.  I haven’t found a way yet to balance working and reading.  So once school starts my independent reading kind of stops too.  I just get busy and tired, as everyone does. 

I did have a great summer this year.  I went to Boston for a week which is my highlight.  I had a great time there.  I’ve been wanting to see the movie, I now pronounce you chuck and larry.  I just love Kevin James.  So I’ll be looking forward to seeing that sometime in the very near future before it is out of the theaters. 

August 05, 2007

Boston here I am

I’m on vacation.  Yesterday, I headed over to Newport RI before heading to Boston.  We had planned to go see a ghost tour at Belcourt castle and do a regular tour, but as it turned out the ghost tour was canceled and the last tour was at 3pm because of a function they were having.  We got there at about 3:15 or so.  So we headed to the marble mansion.  They only had an audio tour, but it was very informative and you were able to skip any part you weren’t interested in learning about.  After we walked outside and looked out into the water.  It was very pretty.  It was still nice outside and there was so much to see in Newport, that we decided to take a walk around the town and looked at the little shops and had dinner in Newport before heading back into the car to go to Boston.  When we got settled into the hotel, I decided I wanted a snack and of course the vending machine was not working.  (it’s working, now, but I don’t want a snack). 

We planned our day today so we would be able to sleep a little later.  We had tickets to go see Blue Man Group at Charles Playhouse at 2pm.  So we left the hotel at about 11:30 this morning and took the hotel shuttle to the T train and we found the place and stopped for chinese food before going to the show.  (we also found out Michael Buble is following me and is playing in Boston tonight.) Blue Man Group was a lot of fun, but I was worried about what would happen next.  After we walked to Boston Common and went for a ride on the swan boats and walked around the beautiful park.  We walked around the area some more before stopping at a restaurant on Newbury Street.  It was a full and complete day.  We took the T and shuttle back to the hotel and now we have to plan our day out for tomorrow. 

I think we may go see a replica of the inside of Cheers and go on the duck tours.  We have to see if we can get tickets. 

I love Boston! 

August 03, 2007

babies, vacation and Michael Buble

I am beginning to feel like everyone I know is having a baby and I can’t keep track of all of the names anymore.  Not to mention they are all spelling their childs name wrong on top of it all. So not only can I not remember what the name is, I have no idea how to spell it either.  Why are people making this so hard on me. 

So let’s see....
There is Katelyn Belle, Emily Elisabeth, Isabella Rose, and Meaghan Irene.  Not to mention work people. One person was out on maternity leave in the beginning of the school year, one person was out on maternity leave at the end of the year, and two people are due soon, I think in September.  Not to mention every single one of them so far has had a girl. 

So I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at baby pictures.  All I can think is, I can’t believe that these people feel mature enough to take care of a baby and have that much responsibility. I don’t like this getting older thing. 

So completely unrelated. I’ll be in Boston for about 5 days starting on Saturday.  I’m so looking forward to it.  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  I definitely am. Tonight I saw Jann Arden and Michael Buble at Radio City.  It was amazing.  It’s really late and time for bed.