It's been a while, sorry!

I've had a wild first few weeks of school! I've got tons of adorable little ones running around my room. I've had many funny and not-so-funny moments. I've had my ups and downs, pushes and pulls, but I love my job. I'm sitting on a Saturday night grading papers, I don't like THIS part of my job, haha, but it's work. I already have complaints from parents who don't think I'm good enough, and at first I was really, I mean REALLY, upset about it. Now that I've had a few days to think about it, I realize that I should take this as a challenge, like I do all other complaints I've had about myself. I'm going to challenge myself to fix (or change) one thing every week with gradual goals. This weeks goal is going to be: instead of getting upset with talkers, I am going to direct them to their pins (the behavior clip chart that I adore) with as few words as possible. The kids know they're not supposed to talk when I talk, it was a rule that THEY created, so why waste my breath on telling them why they shouldn't be talking? They know they shouldn't talk, I'll tell them they're moving their pin because of talking, but I'm not going to explain why talking is so disruptive.

Now, forget about the bad/sad/mad stuff, haha. I'm SO excited to introduce the "I'm Done!" jar! I came up with 20 things to do when they finish their work. Nothing is FUN but nothing is tedious either. I was sick of sending 14 kids to read when they finished their work before time was up and I found this fabulous idea (while blog stalking). Unfortunately I can't remember who I saw it on but someone out there deserves the credit! I love the idea and I really hope it works! I've put together a little shelf (I'll take a picture Monday if I remember) that has all of the necessary supplies. Some of the ideas I've chosen are "write a thank you card to someone who did something nice for you", "read in the library", "practice math facts with counting cubes", "create a pattern using the foam shapes", etc. A few of the ideas I have 2 sticks in the jar for because I figured it would be good to have more than 1 person working on a project, though it's not necessary.


I've been having SO much fun as a first grade teacher. I love having my own class and my own spin on everything! Some of my students are just so sweet, too! I told them about my surgery because they saw me limping and holding my back and they were just so caring and interested. They ask me how I feel all the time. One of my old students always ask if she can give me a massage to feel better, HAHA, so cute!