Did I really not write anything for over two months? How utterly embarassing. Yes, I am hanging my head in shame. (In actuality, I am really watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on ABC Family right now. Did I ever mention it’s one of my favorite HP movies?)

I miss my website. I miss free time. I don’t have much free time these days like I used to. Being a first grade teacher just really takes away any free time you may have I guess. Lesson plans are almost always on my mind. Let me just say something to all of those people out there who think teaching is easy and that you get summers off and get to go home at 3:00 p.m.: you are idiots. Seriously, if you are someone who is thinking about going into the education profession please talk to as many teachers you can and go and spend time in schools. It’s crazy times in education these days.

But enough with the negativity, I do like my job overall. My class definitely has some stinkers in it (that’s putting it nicely). I also have some really funny, sweet, intelligent kids as well though. They are so talkative. The whole first grade group is actually. The only time they are truly quiet is when I am reading them a story. (Maybe I mentioned that fact before?) It could always be worse though. (And some days it seems like it is.) I am looking forward to the upcoming winter break though. Our last day is December 19th.

Although… my time off won’t be all fun and games. I’ll have to be working on several things for my portfolio. I am having to complete Cycle II of my internship in January. That’s almost insanity. To give you an idea why, I did Cycle I from August to December. So yeah… I am going a whole cycle’s worth of work in one month (which includes three observations). It’s going to be very hectic for me in January. On the plus side, my internship is going wonderfully thus far, and I forsee no significant problems arising.

I’m hoping to have some time during my break to spruce up my site a bit. I think there’s a lot of junk on here I could do without. I’d also like to blog here more often. Maybe if I do, I won’t have to repeat my many school stories as often. Maybe my husband could just read them here and save me the time and breath. Hee hee!

I am hoping to take some great pictures tomorrow at school and post a truly hilarious post tomorrow. Stay tuned and watch for it. It has something to do with a certain cookie-esque character who likes to run….

Fear not - I have not been eaten alive by first graders (yet?). Although, there are days I feel like I have been.

One more week to go until Fall Break. Thanks God. I need a break. I haven’t really had one. My Friday evenings include me and Colin working in my classroom until 7:00 at night and my weekends are spent working at home on lesson plans and whatnot. Oh course, I will be doing some work on my break, but it won’t be as stressful I don’t think.

Going back to my previous post and some of the comments made, I can’t really switch my schedule around too much. Our literacy block has to be 90 minutes, uninterrupted. I can’t fit reading and math in the morning. However, I may try to fit writing in the morning and do calendar time in the morning so that will leave me to do 60 minutes of math in the afternoon instead of 90. Then, hopefully I’ll have some time for Social Studies and Science in the afternoon as well.

As far as my internship goes, I have had one observation that went quite well. My second one is tomorrow. The principal is coming to observe a math lesson. I’m not too worried about it. Whatever happens just will. I’ll be fine whatever the outcome.

Things have been going okay overall. My class is still so needy and talkative, and I really don’t think those things are going to improve very much over the year. I’ve gotten three new students since school started (can’t remember if I mentioned any of these). One is a student who was supposed to be in my room originally but was told he couldn’t come to our school since he was out of our district and is a behavior problem. Well, he’s back in our district, so he’s mine again. One of my boys has been suspended like 5 times since school started. Another one “speaks bird.” One cries just about every day multiple times. Fun times. Never a dull moment.

The long term sub that has been at school since day 1 will be leaving next Friday. It’ll be her last day and then the real teacher will come back. She’s been out on maternity leave. I will really miss the sub. She’s taught for 35+ years, and she and I have been good buddies this whole time. I get along really well with the other teachers I work with too. It’s really good.

I’m always busy or have something to do. This is because I have to do a internship portfolio and since I never taught first grade before, I’m having to learn as I go. Next year should be a lot smoother. On fall break, I plan to get together with one of the first grade teachers so she can show me how she teaches with themes instead of following the textbooks so closely. I am excited.

I straightened my hair yesterday. I borrowed my mom’s flat iron. It took me like two hours. I like it though. I haven’t brushed my hair since 9th grade probably. I have to pick it out or comb it since it’s curly from perms. However, I think I may try the straight hair thing now. I bought myself lots of brushes today and my own flat iron. I’m excited to see what the teachers and kids say about my hair tomorrow.

Hope everyone out there is doing just fine and enjoying your weekend. I can’t believe it’s October. It’ll be Christmas soon!!