Adventures of a 3rd grade teacher

Today was the 2nd day of school for the kids. Here are some of the highlights of the week so far & there's still one more day to go.

• boys bickering, tattling, & pecking-order-figuring like girls usually do (wow, didn't expect that one!) "He better quit looking at me or I'm goin get him." "He's messing with me." "He said a bad word." "I'm gonna fix him if he don't quit messin' with me." and that list goes on & on & on & on...... I swear I'm going to see them pee-ing on things next to mark their territory. Oh brother!!! And I usually prefer a classroom full of boys over girls for just that reason, but not this year I guess. :)
• knife brought to school
• my daughter volunteering today :)
• lots of whining and shouting of my name over & over & over from some kids

I kind of forget every year how much work goes into these first few weeks, how icky it can be some days, and how tired I am at the end of each day. Guess it's kind of like childbirth. :)

Ready or Not, Here I Go!

My room is ready & the desks await the children bright & early in the morning.

My library corner is looking good & thanks to some other teachers at school who shared, I have a well-stocked, wide-ranged set of books appropriate for my kids. :)

The B.E.E books are done!

I am more organized this year than I think I have ever been in 16.5 years of teaching. :) For sure, I am more organized than I have ever been here in N.C. I spent way too much time working on this room in the past month and gave up a lot of summertime to do it, but I feel better about myself as a human being tonight and am proud of my classroom, so I guess it was worth it.

It has really begun to sink in that I have left the world of Kinderkids & 1st graders. I know I will miss it at times, but this will be time for me to grow and learn as a teacher and have some fun with the big kids. :) And as I prepared to leave my room to go home at 6 PM tonight, I looked around and saw my EZ Grader, the grade book all prepared & ready for the first grades to be entered, and the kids' desks (never had those in my room before), and it hit me, "I am a 3rd grade teacher!" And you know what? I liked that thought. :)

Good night world! Hello 3rd grade!

And Father, please will You help me be something special to this group of kids & help me to help them be all that they were meant to be? Thanks!