Darn! More than a week! I promise, I'm working on it. I have thought about posting since Sunday evening, but, man, I got lost in working. And visiting. And playing. And sleeping.
I left off last with a bit about me. If you are reading, and would like to share a bit about you, I would love to hear about people out there. Those that share in the travels of others are always better for it, and I would love to be better for hearing about your travels.
This year, as I said in my last post, I would be teaching a combined 4/5 class language arts and social studies, as well as a ton of music classes. I am a music person, and trying to revitalize my own music teaching so this is a big undertaking. A year of firsts: first time teaching a combined grade in multiple subjects, first time teaching a combined grade homeroom, first time teaching grade four students, first time I got to stay in the same classroom, first time that I was the one completely put out by school repairs...
Yup, the music room had a bit of a leak. Not enormous, but certainly big enough to cause a lot of trouble. I came in on an early Saturday morning, the first weekend in July, to clean up. You know, like many teachers, I usually spend a few days after the school year concludes, tidying up, filing, finishing files up, reorganizing. Well, I saved it for a Saturday morning and there was water all over a storage room at the back. Three practice rooms are adjacent to that storage room and were soaked. The carpet in the music room was wet about ten feet into the room. A small area overall, but enough to have to rip out the carpet.
All in all, it was a big mess! Practice rooms gutted and rebuilt from scratch, a storage room refinished, new carpet, new baseboard, and some new paint. And a headache! It was awful! My stuff was all hauled out into the hallway of our school, the room didn't come together until three days before school started, and I'm still waiting on some reimbursement for the personal items lost to water damage. Movers came to move my items, shelves, etc. all back into the music room two days before school started, the company's cleaning lady came the day before school started and there is still stuff everywhere! I am an OCD teacher when it comes to everything in its place, so the items taking up space on my tables, my desk, my shelves, that aren't yet put away are driving me crazy!
But I am not complaining. Stating facts. At least I have a room to go back into, it was tidy enough to have students come into it on the first day of school, September 1.
I am excited for this year. If I'm going to be honest, it's probably the first time I've been excited to teach what I'm teaching in a few years. My boys are old enough and practiced enough in going to a dayhome that it isn't like pulling teeth to get them into her house. My husband and I are in a bit of a groove and have a pretty good system worked out so far. And my oldest son started kindergarten yesterday!
Yesterday was an exciting day at our house. My oldest son has been asking about kindergarten for months. Like since he turned four in June a year ago. He is so excited to come to school and be a part of a class, to have friends his own age, and to be a kid. He is a mature five, if there is such a thing. He speaks well, has a vast amount of knowledge, and soaks up more information that I thought would be possible. He was so ready for school, so eager to learn. He gets to go back tomorrow and can hardly sleep, so excited to see what will happen. I hope it is an enthusiasm that he will carry for a long time, but I also hope that he goes to sleep soon! :)
We are in our second week of school now. I have a great class, great colleagues, and a great excitement for this year.
Next week, hopefully, I get in some details about the workload this year.
And since you've read this, and might be commenting on who you are, tell me what you'd like to read about and I will definitely see what I can do!
Regards.
TM
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