of classrooms and corn mazes

Halloween. Oh what a day Halloween is. On Friday the kids were crazy. Crazy I tell you. They were so excited for the weekend and trick or treating. And of course we had two birthdays last Friday which meant a “party” at the very end of the day. They inhaled those sugary cupcakes. I looked over and saw one child literally sucking the frosting of his cupcake. Talk about a sugar high.

I went with my friend Amanda to eat Sushi on Friday night. It was delicious. It had been a whole month since I had eaten sushi. Well actually a friend pointed out that I have had sushi on pay day the past 2 times. Weird? Yes but not really – it’s more of a finding the time to get good sushi. We ate at a fun place downtown and then got strawberry mousse from Harris Teeter and watched some TV. It was semi-lame but it was also very relaxing.

On Saturday I went with a group of friends to a Corn Maze. It was really fun. Half of the group went on the scary Haunted Trail. They tried to talk Katie and I into doing it but we are jumpy girls. Meaning that in high school when a basketball hit the wall 5 feet from where I was I would scream and jump. I don’t do well with things jumping out at me. So Katie and I did the Corn Maze and it was a blast. It was over 6 acres big and man did we get lost. We had to find different letters/stations hidden throughout the maze and punch a hole for each. We made it out in 58 minutes. We were sweating so much it was not ladylike. But then Katie and I are not always the most ladylike ladies.

And now Daylight Savings has begun. Or has it ended? I always get the whole system confused. Oh well. I am really liking the light in the mornings and can actually see when I walk out to my car and when I get to school instead of being greeted by pitch black darkness.

But at night I am starting to get tired a lot earlier. It’s pretty funny. Last night I had my light out and was asleep by 9:00. And then I woke up at 5:oo this morning. But thankfully I rolled back over, cuddled up and slept for a bit longer. Mornings have never been my favorite. I do not like getting out of bed. I cannot seem to make myself get up at a reasonable time most days.

I have 3 1/2 weeks till Thanksgiving and my super long and awesome track out. I’m so excited! Though I am dreading having to do report cards soon. 😦 Thankfully everyone is really helping me figure things out (did I mention how awesome my coworkers are?!) so I think I’ll make it. Every time I start to get really stressed about it I think about how happy I will be when I am tracked out and sleeping in and traveling and doing crafts and enjoying the holidays.

This afternoon my assistant and I rearranged the room somewhat. There were certain “areas” of the room that were driving me crazy. So we moved some things around and it made me feel better. Now their tables aren’t so close together so hopefully that will cut down on some chatter and crowding.

Oh and let’s see I should end with a quote. There are LOTS of great quotes in 2nd grade.

And of course as soon as I typed that I drew a blank. That’s what happens when your brain has been going all day. 🙂

the miss r game

This is where I am pretending to be, relaxing on a tropical beach. bliss 🙂

I know. It’s been a while. Sorry. I think of some great things every now and then but I have a hard time following through.

I have now been an official 2nd grade teacher for 25 days. That’s 3 weeks and 4 days in school time. I cannot believe how quickly it has all flown by!

I am really loving my job. Seriously. I could not be in a better place this year. I work at an amazing school with some really supportive and helpful coworkers. They listen to me when I need to whine, answer my endless questions (they really are endless) and take the time to encourage me. It’s such a positive environment and I really am feeling like I fit and belong.

My kids are the best. They are crazy but they’re the best. They would talk all day long if I let them. Sometimes I think I let them talk too much. I’m really too nice. I’ve realized that classroom management is one of those things that you can read all about and talk about how wonderful your classroom is going to be but until you get in there and grab the bull by the horns it’s all just talk. You have to be mean sometimes and it’s not fun. Especially when the kids are cute and you see those little tears begin to well up in their eyes. Oh those little tears. Those tears will be my downfall if I’m not careful.

Even so, I try my best to be kind and show the kids that I’m a normal human being too. I talk about Appalachian all the time and how they should all grow up and go to college there. I’ll make them into Mountaineers if it’s the last thing I do.

I hand out band-aids, give hugs, break up arguments and help repair friendships. I encourage, motivate, and try to give them some hope on the gloomy days. I tell them stories in social studies and once I even fell on the floor to help exaggerate a talk about not asking what to do when you are done. I give funny faces and am working very hard on developing my teacher evil eye. I’ve been told it’s very effective if mastered properly. I laugh at many things, sometimes only in my head in an effort to not embarass and the kids laugh at me often. When the morning announcements are over and they play a song I often sing along at the top of my lungs.

These are the kinds of things you can do as a 2nd grade teacher. You get to be a little crazy. In fact you pretty much have to be crazy or else you wouldn’t make it.

And most days I go home and feel that I have done something positive, that even though I’m sure there were flawed lessons and many mistakes made, that hopefully something good happened.

I constantly remind students that it is not the Miss R game and that they do not get points for saying my name. I say cheesy things like “if I had a dime for every time a student asked me to go to the bathroom I would be a rich person”. I write notes on stickies in the shape of an elephant. I receive hand drawn pictures of elephants and flowers and shark teeth from the playground. I can spot trash and pencils on the floor from across the room and its rumored that I have ears and eyes like an owl.

Today is a good day to write all of this and be reminded of how blessed I am. I took the day off due to an unfortunate double ear infection. This was not planned and I am not happy about it but I’m trying to muster up some positivity. Also I’m very sad because I was supposed to be going up to Boone with a bunch of good friends for a little reunion and for the football game. Oh I was looking forward to it for a long time. I want to see an ASU football game live in the new stadium so badly.

But this infection and fever is gonna keep me here at home. It’s a bummer. I’m thinking I might allow myself a slight amount of retail therapy to make up for the missed fun. And I’m thinking ahead to my track out which is only 5 weeks away and planning some fun trips for then! It should be a blast! That’s all for now.