Rejuvenation

According to the graph of a first year teacher's life, I am in the disillusionment stage. During the last 2 months, I would definitely say the workload aspect of that stage applied. When I told my students that I don't have time to watch TV to help them comprehend why I don't own a TV, they were shocked. They simply could not fathom how it could be possible to not have time to watch TV. Somehow watching TV is low on my list of priorities when working out, playing piano, baking, and sleeping more than 5 hours each night have already been virtually eliminated from my schedule.

Fortunately, I absolutely love teaching, so the endless cycle of work is completely worth it! :) Anytime I'm talking to someone, I think I tell a minimum of three funny school-related stories. Plus I get excited about lesson planning/activities I create for my students. Excitement about tomorrow: new graffiti wall about reading, new vocabulary and spelling center games, and Deal or No Deal science review game. Having a short week to plan for has enabled me to rejuvenate this weekend with some relaxation and some future preparation (It makes me unbelievably happy to be able to work ahead rather than just work to keep up!). I can only imagine how rejuvenated I will be after 5 days off for Thanksgiving...and I'm not even supposed to reach the rejuvenation stage until after Christmas break!!

School Frenzy

Although I completed a lot of prep work for teaching over the summer, my before school to-do list never seems to end (or even get any shorter....). Last week I focused on setting up my classroom. Since a fifth grade teacher that retired a couple years ago left resource books, children's books, posters, and more for me, I had a LOT of organizing to do before I even started decorating. I definitely appreciated all of the free materials though! Here are some pictures of my classroom. (Please ignore the fact that they are all over the place--I don't have time to figure out how to fix them!)

So far this week I've met many nice teachers, attended two days of a small group reading class, completed one day of orientation, "toured" Prairie City and Monroe, had my first Goldie's experience (They supposedly have the best pork tenderloin in Iowa although I must admit I just had grilled chicken and ice cream--yum!), worked out on a summit trainer (the first machine I've found that is more tiring than running!), filled out more forms than I care to count, and spent one million hours getting ready for school. Only one more week until the kids come, and I start teaching! I can't wait! :)