It's that time again...

That's right folks, I have a job for the fall, which means I''m back. And even better, I now have tenure! Whooohooo! I can now breathe a tad bit easier when the end of the year comes.

However, I have moved schools once again, this time back to my "old" school. I am super pumped for this upcoming year, I can tell it will be a great one!

I am also looking forward to growing this blog. I have some great posts planned and some great resources to share.

Well, that's all for now, off to cut some laminate.

I love my job!

An Apology

Dear Readers,

I must apologize for my lack of posting the past few weeks. Truth be told, I'm not sure if I want to continue this blog, seeing as I currently do not have a position for the fall (for the third time). I guess time will tell.

Have a great summer,

Ms.S

10 Days!

After today, it will be 10 days until school lets out. 10 days! There is so much I still want to do with my sprouts; so many more books to read, so many more projects to do, so many more experiences to share. So in this little bit of time that we have left, that's what we will do. We will laugh and play, sing and dance, discover and explore. We will do what we do best. We will learn and love.

I love my job!

Testing

This week, and much of last week, the "big kids" in our school (and around the state) are taking The Test. This usually doesn't effect us much, other than being extra quiet in the hallways. However, this year our classroom is right next door to the SPED room. In fact, we share a door, which is awesome when I need quick coverage. Not so awesome when we have to be quiet to give the "big kids" the opportunity to do their very best.

Being kindergarteners, our natural state is loud. Very Loud. But our loudness is in direct correlation the our excitement about whatever we are learning, be it subtraction number stories or a hot debate over how many legs an octopus has. Boy, are we excitable.

So, it has been a bit of a struggle to control our volume these past few days. The introduction of silent movie voices (mouthing words with no sound at all) into our dramatic collection has been a hit, but only lasts so long. Using our break between lunch and specials (when testing kids are at lunch) to do our music and movement has also been a big help, keeping a sense of normalcy in our room. However, the reminders to use whisper voices are frequent.

Ah well, only three more days!

I love my job, loudness and all!

The long awaited field trip post

I know, it takes two minutes to import pics. But my kinder-fried brain has a hard time remembering to do that sometimes. But, I finally remembered, so here they are!

Our awesome parents that drove to help us chaperone the trip

A pirate ship!

Teachers kickin' it old school!

Shopping for groceries

What a lion!

Getting our hands dirty

Mechanics at work!

under construction

Tuckered out

If you couldn't tell, all of our kinder tots had a blast. After weeks of studying about jobs people do, they had the opportunity to play and experience them first hand. A great big thank you to the lovely people at OERB that made it all possible!

Hair

Over the weekend, I finally had the chance to change my hairstyle. In case you didn't know, one of my many quirks involves me changing my hair pretty often. I love to try on new looks and play around with the image/ persona that they present. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't changed my hair at all this year. All my kids know me as a teacher with black hair cut in a short, stacked style with sweepy bangs.

Until today.

My kids were shocked to see me new waist length curls with red highlights. In fact, they were speechless. But being kindergarteners that didn't last too long.

"What happened to you?"   and "I thought you were a new teacher!" and "Ms.S, your hair!" soon led into to questions of "How did you do that?" and "Did you dye your hair?"

They could not keep their eyes off of me, or my hair, the entire morning. It was quite comical.

Imagine the even bigger shock to find out that 4 others in our class got new hairstyles too!

Talk about a great hair day!
I LOVE my job!

Update: Sold

The ongoing saga about the sale of my school has reached it's apex.

Tonight , against the wishes of many concerned parents, our BOE voted to approve the bids and finalize the sale of two schools in our district. One of those two schools is my school. It's been a long time coming, a necessary evil in the midst of the current economic situation in our state/country. In the interests of everyone involved, the students especially,   the BOE selected the bids that would give the district the option to lease our schools back for a nominal fee for the next few years, giving us all time to make the transition.

So there you have it. We will be there for a few more years, but eventually, we will close and be consolidated into another school.

However still no word on the job front.

Even in the midst of difficult circumstances...I love my Job