Moving Right Along...

We just finished day 14 today, 14 days!  I must say on day four I was concerned if my sanity would make it to day 14.  I compare training a new set of kinders to the third trimester of pregnancy.  If you remembered all of the discomfort of the end of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth you would hesitate to suffer through it again but once you see that sweet baby all that pain and discomfort is worth it.  That is what the first 10-14 days of kinder are like, PAIN.FUL.  But then after a few days of what feel like herding cats they can make a line, respond to your attention signal, transition from their seats to the carpet without running and somersaults.... ahhhhh.  Then the real teaching can begin and I fall in love with my new classes of kinders and I remind myself that those first 10 days were worth every painful moment.
I love my job, LOVE. and now that we are getting into our routines I am very excited for a fabulous year.

New Year.... Classroom reveal

I really dropped the ball completely as far as my blog was considered last year.  I had no choice.  I apologize, if there are any readers left out here to apologize to.  It was quite a year for our little family.  I just needed to be more present for my kiddos and my hubby as we all went through quite a transition.

I am about to begin my second week with my kinders tomorrow.  It is hard to comprehend that we survived last year and are staring over again.  I must admit this year has had a pretty smooth start (knock on wood).  For the most part I kept my classroom the same as it was last year, sans my teacher desk. I HATE having a teacher desk, it just becomes a clutter collector.  Here are a few pics of this year's classroom.

PS this little man is making kindergarten extra special this year!

I get to have my own sweet boy in my class this year.  I have to admit I was more than a bit nervous about how he would do (and how I would do) but so far it has been pretty great (other than him trying to take his shoes off all day, he hates shoes!) 

Here's hoping for another fabulous year for all of us!

I'm ALIVE! & Looking...

I don't even think attempting to catch up is possible.  I have been so busy getting moved, starting a new school year, helping hubby start his FIRST school year (as a teacher at least), helping my kids get settled in in a new area, with new friends to meet, and a new church to attend.  Add to that my mother in law moving in and construction in the basement to get her space set up and ready.... which should FINALLY be done in the next 2 weeks!!!  Whew.  I am still not all unpacked (because well we closed the first week of school on our house of course)  I have just been in survival mode, it was all the energy I had to teach, keep the laundry done, dishes clean, and food in the fridge.  

Why has this change been SO HARD for me???  Oy!  Anywho...  I am loving my new school, I am LOVING my cute classes, and I am loving our new home!  My little kids are loving their new preschool and my BIG girl is beyond happy with her fabulous first grade teacher... all is well!  Since backing up and telling you all that my kinders and I have been up to this year is just NOT happening here is a peek at what we did TODAY.

We read this Book:

Have you read it?  It is MARVELOUS!  In my new district we teach Journeys, which is great (it is taking some getting used to switching from Treasures to Journeys, but they are both good programs) sorry, tangent.  Anyway in Journeys this week we are learning about our 5 senses, perfect intro to science and the scientific method!  So we read this fantastic book to enhance our 5 senses study and THEN...

We put on some of THESE:

Do you see what this cute face has on?  They are just 3D glasses, sans lenses, perfect "lookers" once they were all wearing a pair of "lookers" we went out "looking".  The kids had so much fun looking and then writing about what they could see.  I honestly believe that class should take place outside more often than it does!  How do you introduce senses and science?  I would love to hear your ides (that is is any of you are still out there what with my prolonged sabbatical and all.)

On an unrelated note my student teacher starts tomorrow, I have not decided as of yet if that means I will have more time or less time on my hands... but from what I can tell she is beyond fantastic and I am very excited to get to know her better!

one week and counting!

I have been MIA, this move is killing me!  We are STILL waiting for our new house to close (it was supposed to close July 26th) and living in Grandma's basement without WiFi is BRU.TAL.  Being 200+ miles from my friends is HARD.  Staring at a new school and a new district with different ideas is unsettling.  BUT I can do this and I really am excited for a new school year.

Since I can't move into a house yet... which sooooo I wish I could, I have been getting my classroom ready.  School starts one week from TODAY (which with my luck will also be the day we finally close on this house).  So here is a sneak peak of what I have been up to,   sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, who knows where my camera got packed!

WARNING: crappy cell phone picture overload, proceed at own risk.