Classroom Theme

Since it is my first year of teaching I want to give my room a theme.  Why a theme?  Well I don't really know!  I am not going to name my lessons things that correspond to the theme, but I just think it is a nice way to distinguish our classroom and make the kids feel like it is their space too.  

This year, I have decided on a camping theme for the classroom!  I have a little tent, a camping chair, sleeping bag and other little goodies for the classroom that will make the classroom feel like a little campsite.  I am excited to see how it works out in practice!

The other thing about the themes that I was thinking of is whether I would change themes each year that I have a class?  Obviously that would be rather expensive to do but it is something to think about.  Especially if there are even 2 themes to rotate through!  Then you could change each year to give yourself and the incoming students something fresh to look at.  I imagine that I will change (or at least add things) every year.  That is just the way I am.  I need to start each year with a fresh slate and what better way than to redecorate the classroom!  :)

Preparations

I am so excited to see my classroom.  In a short 12 days from now I will officially see what I will be working with for the rest of the 2009-2010 school year and I cannot wait.  Of course I want to do "before and after" shots so I can have those for memories of my first days.  

I have been working hard on getting things ready that I can while I have some down time in WA before I move.  I am glad I did because time is quickly coming to a close before I move to Montana and I have a lot of packing to do!  Luckily my sister brought home some boxes today from work so that is my project tomorrow if it isn't too hot in the garage.  I have been home for a year so I really need to sort through things too to see if there are things I don't even want anymore.  I can hardly remember what things I have!  

It is so exciting (yet slightly scary, not going to lie!) that I will have my own class.  As exciting as the decorations for the classroom are when it comes down to planning those first three days I will be a nervous wreck for sure! One step at a time though, and for tonight, I will continue to work on nametags!  :)  So fun!

Class list

Today I officially got my class list of students!  Only 14!  Wow!

Although things can change before the first day of school (and likely will since today I got a new student already!) I am excited that the classroom I will see in 14 days is becoming real for me!  (And yes, I am counting the days until I get to see my first classroom!)

Also found out that at Frontier, teachers don't have to pay for school lunches every day, which will be a really good and easy way for me to save money every day by not having to buy things for lunch.  As an extra bonus..... the lunches are all homemade every single day!  There is no food from a can and frozen entrees heated up for lunch.  Homemade food every single day!  I am going to gain so much weight! :)

Reading with Meaning

I was just going over some of my college textbooks and I read a really great quote that I thought I should share:

"The children I teach are limited only when I choose to limit myself."

-Debbie Miller, "Reading with Meaning"

I really liked that quote.  Just makes me feel justified in wanting to do things in my classroom and for my students that everyone tells me I don't need to do because no one cares.  It has always been in my personality to go "above and beyond" what is expected of me or what everyone else tends to do.  I am not trying to "one up" anyone or be "better" than someone else... it is just that I hold myself to high standards and my classroom to high standards.  If those standards are different than other classrooms... so be it.  I do the things I do to keep my classroom they way I want it to be and do what is best for my students.  Those are my priorities and I feel those are the priorities that every teacher should have.

Standards

It is so interesting to see how different every state is in terms of learning standards.  In Washington I have spent 3 years of education learning everything about Washington EALRs and GLEs and now that I am going to Montana soon I thought that I better get a look at what the standards are like for another state and I wanted to compare to find any differences.  Wow there is a difference for sure.... detail!  Washington State has everything broken into such small, detailed pieces there is seemingly a standard for everything in every grade k-10.  In Montana however, there are just skills that students should be able to do by grades 4, 7, and 10.  That is hard for me, as a new teacher and a new teacher to the state no less, because I am not sure what I am expected to do in third grade!  I guess more research is what is calling!  Here we go... a teacher's life I now have!

Real teacher duties!

I am really excited because I got an email from my superintendent describing the resources I will have in my classroom... it is so fun to say MY classroom!.... and telling me that I need to make a school supply list for my students!  :)  So exciting but also a little intimidating because I don't know what the kids should bring, what I am going to do with them this year, and whether the rest of the teachers generally use community supplies or individual supplies.  Lots to figure out for sure!

The other exciting thing is that tomorrow I get my class list (YAY!) and today my mom took me shopping to get a bunch of new "teacher" clothes and we went to Staples and got a bunch of things for my future classroom.  I got borders, certificates, pencils, glue, and more.  So fun!  Expensive, but fun.  

SO much to do!

Wow is there a lot of things involved with getting your first real job.  :)

I have been printing, signing and researching like crazy but it is really exciting.  It is interesting to see that I will have a real salary but then kind of sad to see how fast that disappears when you factor in rent, car insurance, utilities, food, student loan payback, etc.  Yikes!  But it is a start and you have to start somewhere.  If nothing else, even if I am super poor for a while, it is a great opportunity to at least get a year of experience under my belt, meet some new people, and move to a new part of the country!  I am excited to start this crazy, yet exciting journey in life!