Always a First Year Teacher

Thank goodness I didn't change grades, because these are the things that are new this year:

• Reading curriculum (same basal, different format)
• Math curriculum (we are now using Georgia's)
• Word Work (no more spelling tests and lists)
• Lucy Calkins writing (the updated, grade-level version)
• Skyward is our new online gradebook
• KEEP-our teacher evaluation system

It's juuuuuust enough to make me feel like a first year teacher again! In what other professions does this much change happen every year? Is it just teachers??

Talk Like a Pirate?

Only at a school can these things happen on the same day...

• Adults and kids dressed in pajamas
• Adults and kids dressed like pirates (many of them complete with tattoos and "beards")
• Lessons on how to hide you and the rest of your classmates in a closet in case of a dangerous intruder
• Chasing down a child who has run out the door
• Papaya taste-testing
• etc, etc etc!

There is never a "normal" day in an elementary school!

Grown-up Problems.

Student: "Mrs. T, do you actually call your husband Mr. Thomason?"
Me: "Nope, I call him my servant. Hahahaha!"
Crickets. Crickets.
They will understand when they are older :)

"Old" Kids

One of my favorite parts of a  new school year is when your "old" kids come back and say hi. It totally makes you feel like a rock star! We have had afternoon recess with the 4th graders several times since the beginning of school, and I love when the kids come up to chat about their summer and show off their new haircuts, clothes, and the new inches they have grown! I even have one student who stops by every afternoon on her way home (she passed by our pod) to give me a hug and say goodbye. Love them!

It's a bit bittersweet because I miss those SWEET, TRAINED children! The beginning of the school year is tough because you know those kids that left were ready and trained for 4th, and you are getting brand new third grade "babies." But I think this school year is going to be great, maybe a bit more challenging than last year, but really nothing I haven't seen before. I'm hoping I will finally feel my five years of experience this year!

Seitz 2013-2014

A new year has arrived and we are off with a bang!

 The kids were super good sports as we did a Mrs. Thomason tradition--spelling our school's name. I always hope it will be a great teambuilding activity, but I always forget how hard it is for the kids to visualize it, and by the time each group is ready, we just all wanna get it over with! But it turned out cute, as usual, and we had to work quickly because the concrete is HOT! Already we have stayed in twice this week because of heat advisories, which is nuts, because we have had a weirdly wonderful not-that-humid summer, and now that school has started, it's SO HOT! Our a/c in our building didn't work one morning, and it was so miserable! It was a bonding experience for everyone, for sure!