Another Triple A!!!

Yup, I got 3 more A's in graduate school. My semester finished last week and final grades are out today. I am so happy to be doing so well in my graduate classes. It has been challenging to balance all the things in my life and doing well at school is definitely a nice reward for all the stress and hard work. In other exciting news I will be doing my Practicum or student teaching this Spring. Because I am already a full time teacher I can use that as my Practicum. I will just teach as I already do but now a person from the University will come observe me 3 or 4 times and I will have to prepare an extensive electronic portfolio. Once my Practicum is out of the way I only have 4 classes left til I graduate with my Masters. I plan on taking those 4 classes this summer. So YAYAYAYAY for me I will have my Masters and be done with school this Summer!!!!! HOOORAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!! The idea that I will be done with school before the new school year starts is THRILLING! I can not even tell you how much more I will be able to do at work when I don't have to run to class 3 nights a week! Plus I will have so much more time to relax with Evie which will be a VERY welcome change!

This week is the last week of work for me before we all break for 2 full weeks!! God, I love being a teacher!!!!! I plan to relax and spend time with friends and family and thoroughly take advantage of my break from grad school and work! Whoo HOO!! =)

In other news, I am happy to say that my final divorce hearing is January 8, 2009. If we have no issues between now and then I will be a divorced (free!) woman in January '09! YAY! I am very happy to be closing this chapter of my life and moving forward.

Evie is cute as ever and continues to delight and amaze me at every turn. She is getting very good with using the potty but only when we are not at home. I don't know if that is a normal thing for toddlers. She uses the potty a lot when we are out but then won't even ask or say she wants to go when I ask at home. Strange, but ultimately she will use the potty at home too.

In family news I am EAGERLY awaiting the return of BigBro and DocRom to the States!!! I super duper mega-ly hope they will come back to ATL but if they don't I will just be glad that they are not in a foreign country thousands of miles away!! I miss them SOOOOO much!!!! I can NOT wait to be with them and hug them and talk and laugh and connect!!!

Also, TwinBro is engaged!!! Congrats to him!!! He is with a very cool lady and I wish them the best!! =)

Progress...

Here is my room as of today at 445PM.





I found out today that I will have 25 students. That number will probably go down to 20 or 22 by the end of next week. I got to help register new students today, that was really cool! I will take more pics of my door and room tomorrow. Tomorrow night is Open House for all parents and students. I am working on my packets for my parents. The packet will include a letter of introduction, class schedule, supply list, and student handbook. Wish me luck everybody, tomorrow will be a very busy day =)

Being a Teacher

I have already been put in charge of my school's Art contest and I have been charged with the task of creating an Artist of the Month program. We already have a composer of the month program. I am soo thrilled to be asked to do these things! It makes me very happy to be asked to help with school things. =)

Yesterday I got the greatest compliment. My mentor teacher came into my room and said it looked great. On top of that she said she wanted to steal my morning routine idea! That is about the most flattering thing that could have happened to me on my first day of preplanning. I spent the morning like a deer in headlights so having that happen in the afternoon gave me the burst of confidence I needed.

What is my morning routine you ask? I am going to have the kids come in and file their homework under their name and then place their folders in my inbox. Then I will have them pick up their journals (that I am providing) and sit down. I bought some creative and silly journal starter books, I will put one up every morning and have them write. I will also have a math problem of the day that I will put up everyday for kids that finish the journal work really fast. I am super excited about the journals. I always always loved journal writing as a student, even at the college level I found it to be one of my favorite aspects of my classes. I think that teaching young children to just express themselves through the written word is so empowering. And their journals are for them, I won't grade them on grammar or spelling, or making sense. I just want them to have as many opportunities as possible to write for fun. I have personally kept journals my whole life, and now I keep a blog =)

My Classroom

OMG!! I had no idea, no clue how much work it is to get ready for school as a teacher until today. WOW! I worked my fanny off today and I made progress but my room still has a long way to go. Because you are a loyal reader I will now subject you to before and after photos of my classroom. (BTW, I LOVE having my own classroom!)


Here is my classroom door.


Here is the view from the back wall, this is the before shot.


Here is the after.



Here is my room from the back left corner, this is the before shot.



Here is the after shot.



And here is a shot of my room as I left it today. This is from the front right corner of my room.

Evie Update: 2 Year Check Up, Potty Training, Vaccines

Yesterday was a really big day for Evie. She got her first vaccinations ever at her 2 yr old check up. Ben and I decided to delay vaccinating her until we felt she was old enough and actually needed to be vaccinated. Well she is going to school this year and because she will be exposed to so many new germs and kids we felt it was the right choice to start vaccinating her. She got 6 shots yesterday in her thighs, the total number of vaccines was 9. I was extremely nervous about how her body would handle the shots. She is completely fine so far (knock on wood). She is a little more tired and crabby than normal but otherwise she is doing great! I have been checking her temperature every few hours to make sure she doesn't have a fever.

At our appointment Evie's pediatrician talked to us about potty training. I have had Evie in Pull-Up diapers for months now and she has a potty seat at my house and at Ben's house. We each work with her to sit on the potty and in general to be comfortable with the potty. So today I got her a step stool to get on the potty by herself. I also started working with her to pull her pants and shorts up and down herself. Hopefully soon she will make the choice to pee and poop in the potty instead of her pants. =)



Other than all that she is talking up a storm! Sonya, our daycare lady, says Evie talks all the time and she is very excited. I am so happy at how much she has grown up in the last few months. A friend of mine recently gave me a small table and chairs set, a spinny thing for evie to sit on, 2 huge bags of clothes, and a huge box of books. I am thrilled because Evie loves all the books and the table and chairs and the spinny thing. And she looks ADORABLE in her new clothes! Yay for good friends!! =)





And in me news I start working tomorrow. I go to new teacher orientation tomorrow and Friday and Monday. I am very very excited and a little nervous. I can't believe I will be in charge of thirty 2nd graders in less than 2 weeks!!! Here is what I am gonna wear to my first day of orientation. What do ya think? Sorry the pic is so dark.

I Got It!!!

YAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!! I am going to be a 2nd grade teacher this year!! HOORAYY!! I went to the interview and the prinicipal offered me the job on the spot and I gleefully excepted =)

I start new teacher orientation next week, holy sheep! After new teacher orientation is preplanning and then the kids come, eeps! I feel really good about this school and this principal, it is a very team oriented and organized school and that is the kind of environment that I thrive in so I think this will be a great place to work.

YAY! =)