New School Supplies

As teachers, we love school supplies. The past 2 weeks, Staples has been giving some of the school supplies away for very cheap or even for free (and extra supplies for teachers!). As you can guess, I've visited Staples numerous times throughout the sales. (Lucking for me it's only one avenue down and 3 blocks over!)

It had been rumored that new teachers received baskets full of classroom supplies from the school on Thursday. We began asking around and sure enough, all the new teachers we asked had gotten their baskets overflowing. It wasn't until 3:30 Friday that we found the right person to ask to get our basket of supplies... (That would be a draw back of working in such a large school: There are so many people and so much going on. They'll always send you to someone they think is right, but chances are, you'll be asking a few more people or put on the back burner while they try to figure out who can answer the question or help you.)


Friday, once again, was another roller coaster of feelings. Our 5th grade team came together for the first day of planning. We were required to set rules to use in our classrooms. I wasn't exactly thrilled about this, because I found a great idea to use for this year instead of rules. The students were going to write a contract about what students should do and what teachers should do. These were going to encompass our rules, but were also going to provide time for the students to start thinking about what is expected of them and lead to a great discussion between classmates in small groups and as a large group. I'm going to think on this over the weekend and see if I can't do a little problem solving to get what I want and what I'm required.

We were also told that students couldn't have snacks or drinks in the rooms. I understand the thinking behind this (mice), but I'm still a bit bothered. It's hard to expect a kid to learn through the morning and not be distracted by pangs of hunger - I can't even survive the whole morning without a snack. Plus, I remember the days of elementary school when I would starve from 10:00 a.m. to lunch and not actually be able to learn anything. The part about water also bothers me a bit. It's nice if the kids have water bottles (with lids) on their desks during the day. There are no distractions for drinks... but I guess this one I can be ok with because we do have a small water fountain in the back of our room. Now that I think of it, I don't think there are water fountains anywhere else in the halls. Huh.

There are 6 classes of 5th grade. We met for the first time to do our planning for day 1... It went ok, but I'm hoping we don't have to be teaching the EXACT same thing in every class. It takes away my chance to be creative and teach in a way that is comfortable to me. I told Ms. B that I want to try to keep to what we planned as a team, for sure the goals and objectives, but I would probably be making adjustments to the plans to fit my own teaching. She also made a good point about how our classrooms are all made up differently (some only special ed, some English as a Second Language classes, some special ed and general ed, and some only general ed) and how it would be impossible to teach the Same thing to all these students without making adjustments. For now, we'll try to do as we are told and we'll definitely take the advice and help from other teachers with experience, but I think I'll be just getting through those stressful meetings and then doing adjustment planning afterwards.

Unfortunately, I am still not completely clear on the whole format of what I am teaching, especially for reading. This will just come with time... and hopefully someone who is willing to sit down and explain what exactly it looks like. We'll also need to get our library leveled and maybe get some more books for our students. It just won't be happening for the 1st day.

Friday evening made it real for me and reminded me of what I'm doing all this work for and stressing about. The school had a meet your teachers event (unfortunately, the event wasn't technically required so only about half the teachers showed up), but Ms. B and I were there and so were 5 or 6 of our kiddos! They seemed excited about the new school year and ready for the 1st day. The parents welcomed us and were excited to start sharing information about their students with us. I cannot wait to meet them all and start what will be a FANTASTIC year.