final countdown

So I am down to my final days of my road trip to the west. One thing I will for SURE miss about this place is the weather!! I am lovingggg the 65 degree days and 55 degree nights here. The apartment is all cleaned and ready for Cameron's visit. Once she leaves, I will be leaving with her because Wednesday marks the beginning of meetings and back to the real world. I will pick back up tutoring and babysitting the week of the 8th, then its time for teacher workdays! This summer has gone by with lightening speed!!

I have almost completed all of my school summer reading. It was okay. Guiding Readers and Writers by Fountas and Pinnell is an excellent guide to reading and writing in the classroom if you can muddle through all of the words. It reads a lot like my college textbooks which I was disappointed about. However, there are some really great ideas and they give you a step by step guide on how to implement their thought process. I had used it some last year and I was also really pleased to read that I have done a lot of the things they suggest to do! I have kept a journal of ideas and hopefully I will remember them during the school year. It has really clarified things I thought I was so lost on last year. It's too bad in college they don't tell you that you are never done with everything that educating involves!!

On a personal note, I am dangerously addicted to the History International Channel....So nerdy I know. I just can't seem to stop watching! The one about the Presidential Book of Secrets is really good, but I especially love the ones about Atlantis and the Lost Caves in Mexico. Oh well, maybe in my grown up life I will become a historian/teacher/shark scientist. There is always still time for all that right? :)

classroom survival guide

Reflecting upon my second year of teaching these are the things I have learned I can not live without. :) In no particular order...

1. Starbucks black and white nonfat mocha
I don't think I would be sane without it. I should probably go to rehab for it.

2. Comfy shoes. Not only are these moccasins super cute, but they are sooo comfortable!

There are several teachers who wear stripper heels everyday. Seriously?

3. SmartExchange http://exchange.smarttech.com

This website saved me about 100 times. It has the lesson slides already created for you in a super creative way!

4. Husband pillow

Not only do the kids LOVE it during reading time, but I love to use it when I am sitting on the carpet with the kids.

5. Pandora radio classical station

Breaks that 'classroom silence' and makes the kids AND myself feel more relaxed!

6. Jcrew khaki pants

Go with everything, super comfortable

7. Big candy jar

Okay, maybe I raided it more than I let the kids...Easy bribe and snack between lunch and the end of the day.

8. Clorox wipes

Let's be serious, kid's are gross.

9. Discovery channel shows

When it's raining and we can't go out for recess my kid's loved watching the animal shows. Little did they know it was somewhat educational :)

10.  Dry shampoo

For those mornings when it really was just TOO early to get up and fix my hair...

obsessed.

Okay. I admit it. I think that I have become one of those obsessed teacher types that stays awake on a summer Sunday night Googling (yes, I just used Google as a verb) other teacher blogs in order to get new ideas. As of right now, I am excited to go back to school. Now talk to me in a few months and I might not feel that way.

The summer has been great. Obviously so great I haven't blogged (yes, I just used blog as a verb too) all summer. Plans have changed a little. I have spent some time on the west coast, but I will be returning to NC in August to resume my job. Part of me is very excited. I have always known that growing up southern is a privilege and it was hard to see myself living anywhere else.

I have already spent some money that is nonexistent in my bank account on back to school supplies. I secretly can't wait to get back into my classroom and start planning. I think it's the fact that for the first time in my teaching career I am teaching the same grade in the same school and I feel like I am going to have some handle on what the heck I am actually supposed to be teaching the future of America. This year I want to set up a Blog and have the kids blog once a week about a current event. I feel like these kids know nothing about what is going on in the world around them. Case in point: September 11th. When I asked them why the day was special they had NO CLUE or any clue about the war we are currently in. WHERE are their parents??? I understand trying to protect them from the horrors of the world for a certain extent. But let's be serious. Anyways. Maybe I am being ridiculous like when you break up with a boyfriend and you only remember the good times and completely blank out the bad. Actually I am 100% positive that's what I am doing. Just let me be obsessed because in exactly one month from today, all hell breaks loose for 180 days.