Sweet Summer Time..

I've been out of school now for over a month. We ended the year well. It really feels like forever ago. 

So...I will be moving up with my class!! WOOHOO!! I think it ruffled some feathers, but I'm terribly excited. I have a lot of planning to do this summer and digging into the Common Core. I'm going to be sitting down with a friend here in North Carolina who has been teaching second grade for a while. I know that our curriculums don't match, but the common core does. I'm really looking forward to gleaning whatever I can from her. 

Here's my Currently: June. It's a little...or a lot...late in the month. I've been spending my time with people instead of my computer.  Check out Oh' Boy, Fourth Grade for more Currently-s. :)

One more chance...

In an email the staff received from our principal, he said that we would discuss our preferences for next year with us this Thursday. I saw this as one more opportunity to beg on my hands and knees plead my case for moving up.

I heard yesterday that there are two fifth grade teachers that are going to be told they can come teach first or resign. Yikes! That does not bode well for me.

But..I'm going in trusting the Lord works all things for my good. This has surprisingly been a very big issue for me. I've been in constant prayer about it for weeks. I am thankful that I haven't set my heart on it entirely, but I will be disappointed if I don't get it.

We'll see what tomorrow holds...

Currently: May

Here's my May Currently. Link up with Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!!

I had been meaning to do this earlier. I guess I just got busy with life. I'm kind of a terrible blogger.

Anyways, testing is done. Only 8 more days of school...One of which I'm taking off to attend a friend's baby shower and this Friday is field day (or it should be...the person who sets it up is suspended...awesome!). Woo! So ready to be done.

I've asked my principal to loop with my class this year, but I was basically shot down. I have had practically zero office referrals and my students have done a great job academically...which is his reasoning for leaving me in first. Really, I think the reason is because both of my teammates are leaving and going to another school out of our district. I *personally* feel I'm not going to be allowed to move because of that. It kinda of makes me mad. There currently isn't a second grade opening, but one of the teachers has asked for a transfer. If she gets it and someone else gets her spot, I'll be really annoyed. I have two kids that probably need to be retained, but the parents are against it. If I looped, I could save them from retention for a year and really hit the ground running where we left off. I'm even willing to take some of the behavior kids from the other two rooms..knowing that I can't keep my entire class intact. 

I just don't feel like I'm done with them. And I'm tired of teaching first grade. I'm bored. And if I'm bored, I know my students are bored too. 

My principal is staying tight-lipped on just about everything. It's been a hot-mess in my school the last two weeks. I'm kind of over the drama and lack of discipline. Thankfully, I don't deal with my in my own room...but everywhere else is falling apart. I'm so ready for this to end. 

Truthfully, I wish I would have put in applications so much sooner. I never had peace about leaving and going home...or even leaving the school. I have had so many more questions than answers. It would be very easy for me to beat myself up saying that I should have made a decision sooner. I have spent countless hours praying and no answers...no direction. But I'm not going there...again. I'm resolving to trust the Lord. To trust that He has the perfect class planned for me. Not that everything will run perfectly..but that in the end, they will have been the kids for me and I'll have been the teacher for them. He works all things together for my good.

Last Day

Today was our last day of school.

14 of my 18 students showed up...just my luck, right? We actually had a pretty full first grade.

It was so uneventful...THANKFULLY!!!! We colored, played on Cool Math or PBS kids, watched a Reading Rainbow and Arthur and took down the word wall and data and job board behind the sink.

I actually had to hold back tears as I walked my last two boys to the busses. I'm really going to miss these kids.

I've got to work in my room tomorrow and close it down. I am hoping to have everything done tomorrow. I've actually gotten a lot done the last two days.

Unfortunately, I have to pack a lot of it up because my room is going to be used for summer school.

Ahh..what a great feeling to be done. :)

We interrupt your daily scheduled classroom....

We spent an hour and a half in our hallway today.

The tornado sirens went off around 11am. I knew we were supposed to get rain, but I had no idea the weather was going to be so severe. I honestly wasn't sure the sirens were for real...like maybe they were a false alarm. I saw the other teachers in my pod area taking their kids into the hall, so I did the same.

I calmly asked my kids to line up, and we headed into the hallway to assigned place. My kids were FANTASTIC!! They got right behind the kindergarteners, dropped to their knees and covered their heads. I didn't have a single kid cry!! (But I did have one fall asleep.....)

We had teachers coming down the hall with updates. At one point there were 4 tornadoes on the ground around us and some that were headed in our direction.

My hallway is K-2. Our kiddos were really calm. Our teachers were really calm too. We all had our phones out and were texting family members. My parents are back East, so I was texting them like crazy. Some of my friends were in the way of the tornado. I was trying to keep up to date with them and check on my brother as well. Crazy boy was driving right into the mess on his way to work!!

We ended up staying in the hallway for AN HOUR AND A HALF!

We didn't get an all clear until around 12:30. Our kids had to go to the bathroom and were hungry, but they really didn't complain. We kept telling them this was serious and they needed to stay down and keep their voices quiet.

The other hallway (3-5) was in hysterics. They kids were balling and wanted to call their parents. It probably didn't help that some of them had been learning about weather and learning stuff about what happened in Joplin, MO., and one of the teachers was telling them that a tornado was coming towards us. Really? Who tells kids that?

I understand that it was a VERY serious situation, but to scare them? That's not our job. We're supposed to be the calm, reassuring ones. I consoled two first graders (who are not in my class) letting them know that we're in the safest place and that we're going to be fine and their families are going to be fine, too. We had a couple of parents come to the building while the sirens were going off. We weren't allowed to let the kids leave, so the parents joined them on the floor.

I couldn't believe how calm I was. I HATE tornadoes. BUT...I couldn't really see anything going on in the sky and I didn't see a radar until after the fact. I suppose we just get adrenaline or something going and know exactly what to do.

I think I'm going to have a better kit prepared for stuff like this. I also thought that I probably need to get email addresses for my parents, those that have them, to send them updates when stuff like this happens. This is the first time this has happened in the three years I've been in my building.

What a crazy day! Only 2.5 more to go!!

Last week..

This next week is our last full week of school! YAY! We do have to come back on May 31 for a half-day.

I haven't formally planned out my last week, but I am planning on enjoying every moment of it. Even with my special little friend who pushes all my buttons before walking into the classroom. Definitely ready to send him to 2nd grade! ha! :)

It's going to be bittersweet.

Despite the last three weeks being the roughest of the year, this has been a complete turn around from last year. I have enjoyed teaching and learning new things. I have become extremely excited about the next year. It's been a challenge trying to get out of the hole I got in last year. I kinda feel like I was set up to fail last year. I somehow survived, but I've been trying to climb out of the hole all year. It's like this ugly cloud following me around.

But....that year has been over for a long time. And now this year will be over very soon.

Ahh..what a great feeling. Woo!!

Summer-itis

We have it.

We have it really bad.

We've got Summer-itis!

It feels like absolute craziness in my school.

For whatever reason, I don't remember what last year was like at this time. I'm sure it couldn't have been worse than this year. I feel like it's come out of nowhere. I have students who are acting like it's their first day of school EVER!

Of course today wouldn't have been a good day.

We had a schedule change 30 minutes before school started. The other two teachers on my team were out today. The SPED teacher had meetings in the morning and couldn't take her kiddos. One of them is on new meds, and they take FOREVER to kick in. Oh...and I had a TWO hour observation today.

My special friend decided to whack another kid with his backpack while standing outside the classroom door. He then proceeded to rip a think sheet into itty-bitty pieces and throw a fit. Ugh. I'd just like for him to actually act like a first grader just one day. Just one. And of course, kids were playing in stations and yelling across the room and bothering me while I was trying to DRA. And of course, my Cross-Cat kid would show up when he normally doesn't on Wednesdays. And of course, I wouldn't be able to try out a new strategy I've been planning especially for R-controlled vowels because my students wouldn't allow me to explain it before they had to tell me about their shoes or jackets or pets or whatever it was. And of course, when I asked them to be quiet, three more who WERE quiet would feel the need to talk. Ugh!

It was all I could do to keep it together today.

It felt like last year all over again.

Alas! Only 7.5 days to go. 6.5 for me because I'm out on Friday. I've got to keep myself in the present and not worry about all the things I want to do this summer.

We can do this!