WORLD SERIES!

My kids have been nuts this week, but the Rangers are going to the World Series so I'm over it. :)

ESL Certified!

With the arrival of the wonderful Mrs.Saldivar came a mad dash to get me ESL certified. 

We taught three classes of 25 3rd graders (maybe 5 or 6ish being ELL's) for three weeks without an ESL certified teacher on the team, and while I knew that this was a problem that needed to be addressed, nobody (administration wise) seemed to be in any hurry to make sure that one of us take the steps to get certified. 

Mrs. Saldivar was assigned to join our team and already was (thank goodness) ESL certified.  I thought this would put everyone at ease, BUT I was mistaken.  In order for my class to switch with hers and viceversa, our adminstration panicked about me being certified as well. They immediately got me registered for an ESL review course with Region 10 that would take place in Richardson 3 different nights for 4 hours a session. Rouuuugh.

I took the test this past Saturday and found out today that I passed. :) One or two more steps and I will be OFFICIALLY certified with a few more bucks added to my paycheck.

Time Flies

Time's got the best of me.  I honestly can't believe that it's been over a month since I've updated this. SO much has happened since I told my little ones goodbye.

Mrs. Saldivar
Lisa Saldivar is an absolute BLESSING. The poor thing was pulled from her 2nd grade class at Whitt Elementary and given 48 hours to get her 3rd grade room at Eisenhower ready for a class of 16. She did. Not only has she been just what those precious children need during a transition like this, but she has been just what I need to survive the struggles that come with the first year. It turns out that she knows my mother and that her son was good friends with my sister growing up. Her homeroom switches with my homeroom and she teaches ELA while I teach Math and Science.  Lisa is extremely helpful and is constantly looking out for me. PLUS, the kids absolutely adore her. :)

1st Six Weeks
The first six weeks came and left so very quickly.  Getting classes settled into their new homerooms created some trouble when transferring and entering grades online, but after everything was sorted out, grades were done.  My sweet boys and girls had a difficult first six weeks in dealing with a huge transition from 2nd to 3rd and a shuffling of homeroom/math/ELA teachers within our own 3rd grade team.  I don't know how we expect them to be at the top of their academic game when they have so many things on their plate. Nonetheless, I'm proud of them. I can not wait to see how much they grow this year.

They also took Six Weeks Tests provided by the district for Math, ELA, and Science.  Oh boy. Once again, had these boys and girls had a consistent schedule the first six weeks, the same teacher for the same subject the first six weeks, and ample time to receive every lesson that was supposed to be taught the first six weeks, I'm sure they would have done great. BUT, that just wasn't the case. I just about fell over dead when I saw the results for the grade level, but there's not much we could do. Lucky for us, the test results don't have to be recorded. So, we used the data that was beneficial to us and set the tests in a big 'ol pile to worry about another day. There's always next six weeks...

Field Trip
The first Friday of the second six weeks found us at the Grand Prairie Nature Center for our first field trip.  A few interesting tidbits from this adventure:
- It makes for an uncomfortable journey when 136 third graders, 7 teachers, and 2 parents have to ride on just 2 buses.  Try sharing a seat with 2 of your students.
- I learned that our 3rd grade team is the LARGEST elementary grade level at any of the campuses in the district. Great.
- Two of my students have severe allergies and had to stay with me all day which forced a change of (already complicated) plans.
- If you don't let students go to the restroom when they say it's an emergency, they'll pull down their pants and pee on the nearest tree.  
- Yes, you read that last one right. He peed on a tree.

Lifted Spirits
Just when I thought I was never going to get the hang of anything, I found my inbox flooded with emails from other people I know and my parents know throughout the district.  Every day, there is a "Today in GPISD" email sent out to the district full of news and updates and announcements and shout outs.  In the "Today in GPISD" email last Tuesday, there was a shout out for me.  (This is the part when I brag on myself a little.) :)  After I realized that all of the emails from people I know on my campus, around the district, and people that know my parents were responses to the daily email to the district, I went to the "Today in GPISD" email that I normally just quickly scan, and read down to find this encouraging note.

I would like to acknowledge a special  teacher:

First year teacher, Miss Aren Lackey, is Capturing Kids Hearts even on the weekends. This Saturday, to my surprise, Miss Lackey approached me while I was sitting on the sidelines of the GP Dolphins Pee-Wee football game at Parkhill Park. She had made a promise to my son and another student that she would come watch them play football. The boys were celebrating homecoming, and at the end of the game she stayed to congratulate them on a job well done. Kudos to our new teacher for being FABULOUS! I think Miss Lackey has exactly what it takes to make a GREAT teacher here in GPISD! Sent in by Ashley Logan, 8th Grade ELA and Pre-AP Reading Enrichment teacher at Fannin Middle School.

I felt like a celebrity and it felt absolutely wonderful. I was so glad that I got to see two of my boys play in that game, and I didn't even realize the impact I was making. I must be doing something right. I guess?

Ms. Turner

Emily Turner is also a first year teacher and has been such a good friend as we tackle this crazy little thing called teaching. She is our P.E. teacher and has an enormous amount of challenges she faces on a day to day basis as well.  They cram as many kiddos into that gym as possible each period and leave her with an unteachable amount of students. Despite all that, she comes and says hi to me every morning and every afternoon and has a great listening ear. :) And we all know I have plenty to talk about.

Personal struggles

My students have had so many challenges, but I, too, have struggled to find happiness.  I lost the one I loved and thought would be mine forever, and I've never experienced anything so tough. I just take on one day at a time and hope that something with someone will work out somehow someday. All of my time and attention and energy is being spent on my third graders, and I work very hard to stay positive when I'm around them. They deserve it. 

I'll do my best to NOT wait another month before I blog again, but I'm a busy girl. :)

Losing my Little Ones

This week has been rough, but today was especially difficult.  We had to set up the new class lists for our new homerooms now that we have the new teacher.  As much as some of my kiddos drive me absolutely bonkers on a daily basis, it was so hard to choose the ones that needed to be put in the new class.  And, of course, we didn't want to just dump on the new teacher, so some of the super sweet ones had to go, too. Even though I'll still get to see the kids that are in the new homeroom every morning for math and science, it's so tough to have to get rid of them. 

This will make for smaller classes, though. It will definitely be a good thing once we can finally get into our routines and such.  I'll figure it all out one day...

Exhausted.

I am exhausted.  Thank goodness for 3 days weekends, but this 4 day week has been quite a challenge.  I haven't been in a very good mood for a number of reasons and as much as I try to leave that out of the classroom, it doesn't make for very positive days.  My kids are super funny and sweet, but they LOVE to talk.  I've done a lot of "warning," but we're about to have to get serious.  I probably should have already gotten serious, but that's just not my personality.  Off with the silly/playful face, on with serious/mean face. :/

The powers that be keep changing their mind (or at least telling us different stories) about whether the new teacher is coming or not.  We have our team meetings with the principal every Thursday during conference, so HOPEFULLY we find something out then.  At this point, I don't even really care whether we get another teacher or not.  There's positives and negatives about every situation.  I just NEED to know what's happening so that I can move on with my procedures and schedules and such. 


On a lighter note, my Godson, Jaxon Kane Miller, was born yesterday at 12:36pm.  I got to hold him in my arms yesterday afternoon, and he is absolutely precious. :)

One Week Down

Whew. That was so exhausting. Everything about this week has been crazy.  Despite the craziness, I am SO thankful for all of it. 

I had 28 kids on my roster Monday morning, but only 22 showed up.  Then I got a new one on Tuesday morning, and then 2 more new ones on Thursday morning.  I'm back up to 25.  It makes for a very crowded room.  They did, however, tell us that we WILL be getting a 7th teacher. :) This won't happen until after Labor Day, but it will happen. It stinks to know that I will lose some of my kids, but I know I will get them back for half of every day anyways when we rotate classes. Having to wait another week to find out exactly how everything will fall into place makes things so complicated.  I want to assign my student numbers.  I want to give them mailboxes.   I want to post my class list in places.  I want to write my kids names on the birthday poster. I want to get into a routine.  One more week(ish) and then hopefully I'll be able to get it all together. 

Kids say and do some funny/sad/strange/memorable things.  They have had me cracking up and extremely concerned so many times this week, and these are some of the things I want to remember. 
- We were going to make a birthday bar graph with sticky notes on the board at the beginning of the week, so I handed every kid a sticky note and asked them to write their name and birthdays on it. 
             "Ms. Lackey, when is Thanksgiving?"
                 "Well, sweetheart, Thanksgiving is on a different day every year."
             "My birthday was on the day after Thanksgiving last year."
                 "Um, well, I don't know what day Thanksgiving was on last year, I'm sorry."
  ...His sticky note ended up in the February column with February on it.  ...His birthday is November 27th. 
This has encouraged me to make it a goal for my class that every student enter the 4th grade knowing exactly when their birthday is.
- Friday during recess, I was doing recess duty with Micah and Maggie.  They were standing on one side, and I was standing on the other.  I noticed two boys standing across the play area facing the fence with their backs towards me.  I looked over at Micah and Maggie and they were both looking at the boys, too.  It seemed to me that they might be ...well...using the restroom, but I couldn't tell for sure.  I looked back towards Micah and Maggie and they were still watching the boys closely.  The boys began to turn back around toward us and ZIPPED UP THEIR PANTS. Uh... I looked back at Micah and Maggie and they were both laughing.  I went to join them and we were all very confused.  We got our giggles out and called the boys over to discuss their, um, choices. They definitely did just decide they needed to use the restroom. I guess boys will be boys? I had to call parents and all of that fun stuff, but the boys, I hope, have learned that there are better options for that particular situation... Oh geez.



I went to dinner with some of the girls from my student teaching cadre on Friday night.  It was SO GOOD to get to talk to someone who is going through the exact same thing as me.  We all learned together and practiced together and were/are so prepared to tackle all of this.  But, that doesn't make it less stressful.  I'm so thankful for the friendships I gained from my student teaching experience, and I look forward to sharing stories and ideas and strategies as we all continue in our careers. :) I hope the rest of the ladies that are still on the search for a job find their perfect match soon! I'm praying for you!


   

I survived!

Well, I survived my first day as a third grade teacher.  I had 22 show up.  Other than that, I don't really remember what happened today. :)

I was up by 4:20am and at school by 6:20am.  It's now almost 7pm, and I'm DEAD. I had a pretty good day, nothing too terrible. There were lots of times that were pretty crazy, but I think my kids felt like it was under control and I think they had a great first day of 3rd grade. :)

When I have more time and energy (hahahahahha), I'll give some more detail.

Day 1= DONE.