Survival

The first two weeks of 3rd grade are in the books! Thankfully they have flown by! I am now up to 17 students, 14 boys and 3 girls. Let's just say after P.E. and/or recess my room smells so great =). Our first unit for science this year is habitats. Mainly the habitats of Georgia. This has brought back great memories of the huge rainforest unit we did when I was in 3rd grade! That is one of the most memorable things I did in school. Unfortunately with common core and all of our time constraints that isn't something we can do. I'll be honest, these first two weeks I have just been surviving. Thankfully I have the weekend to sit and plan out a couple of weeks so I'm not panicing each day about what we will be doing the next day! I do have to brag and say that my class got an intercom shoutout from the principal yesterday for being the "model class" during our firedrill! At least I know we're doing one thing right!

I'm so excited to be going home next weekend! Nothing beats being spoiled for a weekend by mom, dad, and grandparents! And of course I have to mention that Auburn football starts one week from today! It's a strange feeling not being there for the first game, but I will be almost just as happy to watch it with my dad and brother! Thank you to everyone who has been praying and supporting me along the way! Continue to pray for my sweet kids and their families!

First Day of School

Well, yesterday was the day!!! It is a day I have dreamed of for many years now, and I can't believe I finally have a class of my own! I only had 10 kids yesterday, and they were wonderful! We did many "getting to know you" activities. I even had them do some guessing about me. (It is always fun to see what your kids think about you!) Of course only having 10 kids couldn't last, so I had 15 today. They were still just as great! Twelve boys and three girls. I know many of you are thinking, "Oh no! How horrible!", but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have found that girls bring drama, and I do not have the sass to handle them! I babysat a great family of four boys throughout high school and most of college and ever since I have found them easier! All except the sweet six year old girl, Mary Alderson, I babysat this summer! We had the best time together! She always kept me smiling with her singing, dancing, and writing songs! Oh how I miss her!

After two weeks of soaking up information and being overwhelmed, it felt good to have kids in the classroom to remind me why I became a teacher! Third grade decided to team teach this year! At first I was a little hesitant, but I have become very excited about it! I will be teaching math and science and switching with another teacher who is teaching reading and social studies! We will teach our own kids writing and health. While I love to read, math is by far my favorite subject to teach. I just love numbers! Science is very easy to make fun too, so I can't wait to get started!

I have had so much fun decorating my classroom! It still needs a little "cuteness" but that will come as time goes on! Here are a few pictures of my room!

This is where we'll do small groups and where they hang their backpacks. Many of the posters on the wall came from Mrs. Amy Bates!

Trying to make homework look fun thanks to my sweet friend Kellie!

This is where I will keep calendars and newsletters!

Love this calendar Mary Alderson helped me pick out!

Fun, fun colors!

This is my favorite spot in the room! I call it my "reading nook". It needs some decorating on the wall, that's next on my list!

More bulletin boards for student work!

The front of my classroom! 

So thankful I started buying children's books a few years ago! Also, my aunt just retired from 3rd grade and gave me all of her books! 

Bright "Happy Birthday" board that Mary Alderson also helped me pick out!

As you can tell, I have a million bulletin boards and a huge room! My room has a partition in it with the talented and gifted classroom on the other side. It is a much bigger room than any of the other 3rd grade rooms! It still needs a little work but it is coming along! Please pray for my sweet children that they will be able to leave any problems they have at home and come to school ready to learn! Also pray that I will be able to give them the love that they need! Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and encouraging of me! Have a great week!

Hitting the Ground Running

It has been a busy busy week! My parents got to Auburn on Friday, and we went to eat at Shrimp Basket! (This completed my week long list of places to eat before moving.) Then we started loading the U-Haul! My fabulous friends, Jennifer and Kali, helped us! With everyone it only took about an hour to get everything loaded and situated! I think it was probably midnight before we got to sleep. Although, I will admit that I barely slept. I was excited and anxious all in one! We woke up Saturday morning and got started painting! Finally we were on the road to Atlanta! Let me just say I am one lucky girl! I had nine people helping me unload/unpack in Atlanta! On Sunday, instead of unpacking like I should have, I spent the day doing fun things! I went to the Sweetwater Brewery and the Braves game! It was a perfect weekend!

Then the real world came knocking. I spent Monday and Tuesday at New Teacher Orientation for Fulton County Schools. Monday afternoon all the new teachers at my school met with the principal. She answered a lot of our questions and gave us a tour of the school! This included showing us our classroom!!!! It is extremely weird having a classroom of my own. I promise to post pictures when I have it all set up (aka late next week)! Wednesday we were all trained in DIBELS, which is the reading assessment we will be using. Today was the first day for all teachers. We are going to have the best 3rd grade team! I am so relieved to have met the other 3rd grade teachers and see how supportive and encouraging they are going to be! 


So I am not too sure how I am going to like this whole Eastern time thing. If you know me well, you know I LOVE LOVE LOVE my tv shows! Well they all start an hour later in Atlanta, many of them past my bedtime. I do have DVR and it will become my best friend! Something I had not thought about with Eastern time was how late the sun is out. Most people would say they love the sun being out until 9:00 at night. Not me. I like to get in bed around that time and read, watch tv, play on my iPad, etc., but when it is still light outside it makes that hard. On the reverse, it is also still dark when I get up in the morning. It's a lose lose situation! I'm sure I will get used to it and learn to love  it!