Ready or Not...

This last week has been more tiring than when I set up my classroom!  We have had a few meetings, but mostly the planning with my team has been tiring.  I hate sitting for hours on end.  Well, I suppose I should say I hate sitting in hard, plastic chairs for hours on end.  I have no problem sitting on my couch all day. :)  We spent Wednesday and Friday planning.  We have pretty much mapped out our year.  It's nice having a guide!

Thursday was Open House.  I thought it was a pretty relaxing, easy day until I found out, 15 minutes before Open House, that I had two new students.  Earlier in the week, I put together folders with all the information that I wanted parents to have at hand.  I thought about making a couple extra folders and didn't do it.  I was kicking myself Thursday afternoon!!  With that being said, Open House went really well.  18 of my 23 students showed up.  Last year, I think I had a total of 5 students come.

Exciting news: The Time Warner Cable news crew was at our school Friday doing an interview.  They spent a good bit of time on our end of the hall.  I'm excited to see what they put together!!  {I'm not sure how I'm going to see it, though... I don't have Time Warner Cable.}  The newspaper will be at our school on Monday taking pictures.  My principal said she didn't know what they would be taking pictures of but to not be surprised if they came in our rooms.  Cool, huh?! :)

Anywho, most of my work in the classroom this week has been making copies, straightening, etc.  Nothing big.  I took a couple pictures before I left last night:

I made charts to graph CFA data and district ClassScape benchmarks.  The CFA's will have pre and post tests, so hopefully, the students (class average) will be able to see growth.  I also added Revised Bloom's posters below the bulletin board.  I don't really like to buy things I can make myself, but I got really lazy about the time I was thinking about Bloom's! :)

Our district provided us with really good math posters last year, but they weren't very kid-friendly.  These posters use kid-friendly language and they're in the form of "I can" statements.  My teammate, Greta, made these.

Finally, what's missing??  The TV!!  I put in a work order to have the TV removed from my classroom.  You might think I'm crazy, but it was never used.  I didn't even have it plugged in last year.  It was just a big black box that took up a lot of wall space!  I put my rules over the spot where the stand connected to the wall, but I'm not sure I like them there.  I might move things around.  We'll see!

School starts Monday!  I'm not sure I'm ready!  Waking up Friday morning was painful.  Literally.  My body told me no! :)  BUT, ready or not, here it comes!