The Simple Things...

The simple things make a weekend wonderful...and make the week ahead not look so bad.

...a dinner (or two) with friends
...a trip to Target (or two)
...a clean house
...clean sheets
...meeting new neighbors
...spending time with boyfriend
...snuggling with kitty
...not making breakfast until noon on Sunday

Happy Sunday, friends!

10 years ago today...

I was in 8th grade at Carrington Middle School. The bell rang and we were switching classes...I remember hearing buzz in the hallway about something bad happening.

I remember walking into class and watching the TV, not really sure what was going on.
I remember the teachers making us turn the TV off.
I remember parents calling, and students leaving school early.
I remember lots of students and teachers crying.
I remember going home, and not being able to take my eyes off of the TV.
I remember going to church that night...and praying for all of the innocent victims.
I remember thinking...who would do something like this? And praying for them, too.

Where were you ten years ago, when the world stood still?

Now, ten years later...it still hurts. Even though I wasn't personally involved, I couldn't watch the memorial on TV. I cried as soon as I turned it on and tried to watch it. I have a knot in the pit of my stomach and this feeling of panic. So many lives lost....so, so many innocent lives lost. So many families affected.

Say a prayer today.

C-R-A-Z-Y

This week has been a crazy one...and that's an understatement. Let's recap.

Tuesday:

-gym class. One comes back with a bloody nose (non injury related), one comes back with a twisted ankle. The nose stops bleeding, the ankle heals by recess.

Thursday:

-reading time. One curls up in the corner and howls as she is crying; 10 minutes later another one almost throws a chair in a fit of rage, and then proceeds to throw a tantrum. I have to almost physically drag him down the hallway to another teacher's room. Both children recover and go home happy.

TODAY:

-bathroom break. Girls discover a sweater stuffed in a toilet. I tell them just to leave it; I will have someone take care of it. Student comes out of the bathroom crying. Said sweater is hers. It was put in the toilet sometime between 8am when she accidentally left it there and 10am when we arrived at the bathroom. Tears are shed, but student is fine by 11am. Note written to mom.

-recess. Student A is running up the stairs on the equipment, student B accidentally runs into her, knocking her over and DIRECTLY INTO the equipment, causing her to bleed profusely from the eye. She is scared out of her mind, and therefore screaming at the top of her lungs. The injury is compressed, all hands involved are thoroughly washed, student A sent to office, where she is sent to the hospital by ambulance to get stitches. Mom comes to retrieve glasses. Student C (who had nothing to do with the incident) emotionally distraught, but eventually recovers. No update yet, will call tomorrow.

Yes, in fact, I WILL be going to bed early tonight.

And I shall leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from this week...

"I tried to draw you but I didn't have a blonde crayon so I used peach instead!"

"I know why sharks are called sharks...because they have shark teeth!"

"Can I be your wingman? You know...walk around with you and read while you do stuff?"

...and that's why I love third grade.

Oh hey, little bloggy.

Let's just suffice to say that I've been very busy. Very, VERY busy. I'm making a solid attempt to be much more organized and on top of things this year, so it's caused me to have some late nights at work, as well as some late nights on the couch planning. Hopefully I will find a time to write a big catch-up post (because, well, we all survived an earthquake AND a hurricane last week here on the East Coast) later this week. Until then, enjoy your week!

Teacher Talk Tuesday

It's time for Teacher Talk Tuesday! Once again I'm linking up with this blog for Teacher Week 2011.

Although I'm fairly new at this whole teaching thing, I can say that I was better prepared to start my first full year than I would have been, had I not been blessed with a great opportunity. That extra four months worth of work was definitely worth it! A few important lessons I learned in my first four months (and a few even in the first six days of this year)...

Communicate, communicate, communicate.
   Parents are much more open to "bad" phone calls once they've had a few good ones first. I send out a weekly newsletter, send a weekly email to my parents, and am required to make at least 3 good phone calls a week. I can already tell a difference in the communication with my parents from last year to this year!

Pick your battles.
  You have to learn to pick your battles. That was the biggest lesson I learned in my four months in fifth grade. Who cares if little Johnny wants to lay on the floor to read out of his book, if he's still doing his work, LET HIM DO IT! I was way too controlling with my kids the first year and it made my job that much harder. Let them do things for you. Let them clean the classroom. It's okay if someone needs to sharpen their pencil, let them do it.

Routines and procedures are KEY.
   This is something that I've picked up on this year. If you establish and practice those routines and procedures in the first few weeks, they'll remember them and follow them for the rest of the year. If they aren't tight in the first few weeks, then the class will slowly unravel in your hands...I speak from experience.

Wear comfortable shoes.
  ...this one is pretty self explanatory. I still struggle with heel pain, because I have very flat feet. I'm a sucker for cute shoes.

When you have the opportunity, use the bathroom!
  You don't wanna get stuck with a bladder infection or be doing the "ants in my pants" dance like I have so many times...I've started going right before school, during specials, and right after school. Makes for a happier teacher!

Always take time for you.
  I quickly learned in my first four months that teaching is a stressful job. I found myself trying to balance a full time job for the first time in my life with being a girlfriend and a sister/daughter. Try staying at school until 7pm and then coming home to cook dinner. Not fun. The number one thing that I did (and will still continue to do) to destress was leave school as soon as I was allowed one day a week--and I did something for myself. There are 6 more days in the week that you can stay at school as long as you need to. If you take time for yourself, you'll have time to take care of everything else, too.

And just a few random pieces of advice....

Always keep band aids handy.

If you depend on caffeine, make sure you always have extra.

Sharpen pencils before the day starts and let kids switch them out during the day if you can't stand the sound of a pencil sharpener while you're teaching.

Remember to take attendance...and make friends with the people in the office and the custodians! They come in handy in times of need.

Your grade level partners, veteran teachers, and the internet can be your best friends for resources and ideas. Collaborating is always a great option!

That's all I can think of at the moment. Stay tuned for Where It All Goes Down Wednesday...where I'll finally share the before and after pictures of my room!

Meet The Teacher Monday!

We all know how much I looooove link up parties...so here I am linking up with a bunch of awesome teachers from this blog for 2011 Teacher Week! Today is Meet the Teacher Monday.

Tell Us a Little Something About you...

Well, let's see. I'm Katie, and I'm a 23 year old third grade teacher. I have lived in North Carolina for all 23 (and a half, this week) of the years that I have been alive, and all of them have been spent less than an hour away from home. Where is home, you ask? Good 'ole Durham, North Carolina. Bull City, baby! Yes, I am a huge Duke Fan. :) 

I spent my college years in Greensboro, where I attended UNCG. I moved home in July 2010 and spent my last semester (yes, it took me forever 4.5 years to finish college...blegh) commuting back and forth between Greensboro and Durham. Not a fun time, let me tell you. However, I would have to get used to a long drive...but I'll save that saga for the next question. 

I have the best significant other in the whole wide world, and he is known affectionately as boyfriend (how original) on this blog. We have a golden retriever and a fat, lazy, insane darling tabby cat. The combination of those two makes for fun times at our house! We currently live in Cary, NC. In my spare time I love reading, spending too much money at Target and the Limited, and catching up on blogs.

 Now I feel like I'm writing a dating ad..let's move on.

How Long Have You Been Teaching?

I am currently beginning my first FULL year of teaching this year. Because I graduated in December, I could only teach for half the year last year. Boy, are those jobs hard to come by! Luckily, I moved in with boyfriend right after graduation, and was offered a job at the school were I completed my student teaching. However...that job was in Graham. Yes, Graham. For those of you who are not familiar with North Carolina, Graham is about 45 minutes west of Cary. Every.single.stinking.day for 4 monhts I drive 45 minutes to work and 45 minutes home from work. Sometimes it was an hour or more for me to get home due to 5:00 traffic. After school (and my contract) ended, I decided it was time to move closer to home.

I'm currently employed with National Heritage Academies as a third grade teacher in Raleigh, NC, and I only have a 20 minute drive to and from work now! Hooray!

You Might Not Know...

I considered not pursuing a career in teaching (or even going to college, for that matter). 

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. I played school with my cousins when I was younger, as well as my barbies and stuffed animals. When my little sister came along in 1996, she became the victim of my teaching ways.

When it came time to go to college, I wasn't ready. I had a MAJOR panic attack the night before I was to move into my dorm room, and I told my mom I didn't want to leave. I refused to pack. I stayed up until about 3am the night before I left for college, regretting every letter of intent I had signed and every student loan that I had taken out. I was a momma's girl, who had never been away from her mom or sister for more than 3 or 4 days at a time, getting ready to leave for college. NO WAY, JOSE. 

...I guess we all know how that one turned out. My mother would have died had I decided not to go to college. And here we are, 6 years later. I don't regret my decision to get my college degree for one second.

What are you most looking forward to this school year?

School actually started last week for us! I attended a New Teacher Orientation in Michigan in the first week of August, professional development started the following week, and then school started last Tuesday. I've been a busy busy bee! Now that I've met my babies, I'm looking forward to getting lots of feedback from my dean and my principal, and getting to embark on a new journey with my babies. Learning new routines and procedures is exciting for me!

What do you need to improve?

The number one thing I need to work on right now is my classroom management. During my internships and student teaching, classroom management was a breeze. Now that I'm out on my own, it's not as easy as I thought it was. Turns out, a class behaves much better when there are two teachers in the room than they do when there is only one! My first class basically ran the show. The biggest lesson that I learned in my first half year of teaching was to go in and set rules and expectations! I'm working on that this year, and my little third grade babies are wonderful so far, after only 5 days!

I also have a weird habit of not being able to hold eye contact for very long. I have a very irrational theory and explanation for this. I'm currently trying to rid myself of this fear.

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

Last year and throughout my internship/student teaching experience, I relied heavily on my SMARTboard.  Now that I teach in a charter school, I have to live without the luxury of having one. I'm hoping that I can figure out how to use that projector thing that is currently accumulating dust on top of my cabinets....

I LOVE love love index cards. Crazy, I know. I can't function without them. I might have a slight obsession. I use index cards for EVERYTHING. Word wall words, exit tickets, notes to parents, notes to me...anything.

I keep a stash of caffeine and/or Monster Energy drinks in my illegal inherited refrigerator. I know they aren't really school supplies, but I can't function without them.

Clorox wipes are a must, especially now that we eat lunch in our classroom. I might be a neat freak.

I don't know what I would do without my mini paper cutter. It saves gobs and gobs of time!!! Do yourself a favor and go buy one. You're welcome.

That's me in a nutshell! 

Stay tuned for teacher talk Tuesday, where I remember the horrors joys of my first half year of teaching and give advice to those fresh newbie teachers, although I haven't quite achieved veteran status myself. 

I love Sunday.

Yep. Sunday might be my favorite day of the week. Don't get me wrong, I love Saturday. But sometimes [like yesterday] my Saturdays are filled with errands, shopping, spending time with my family, or working on lesson plans. But Sunday...oh, Sunday.

Every Sunday is pancake Sunday in our house. Unless we're out of town. We always, always, always make chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. And then the griddle sits on the counter for days hours afterward, because on Sundays I don't feel the need to do the dishes immediately.

Sunday is a lazy day. Unless I have a ton of work to do and lesson plans to write (where I will end up at work), Sunday is a day to lounge around with my sweatpants and no makeup on, and catch up on blogs, read a book, spend an unhealthy amount of time on Facebook, or do other random things that would otherwise be considered taboo on the weekdays.


Sunday is a day that we don't ever rarely ever make any plans. You might find us snuggled up in bed together, watching tv together, or in separate rooms doing separate things. However, Sunday is OUR day. Whether it be our day together or our day to do things for us as separate people, it is still OUR day. Unless something really important comes up (like a baby shower, shopping with sissy, or falling behind on planning).

Sunday is sometimes a cleaning day...if I'm feeling motivated enough. Today, I have done two loads of laundry, run the dishwasher, and I might just go make up the bed. Cleaning up on Sunday means less time spent concentrating on cleaning during the week.

Here's to a fabulous Sunday. What is YOUR favorite day of the week?