Off to a Good Start

Week one is almost officially over! It's hard to believe the school year has already begun. I am really looking forward to trying out some new lessons and activities this year. I am also getting involved in an afterschool group for girls in grades 3-5. I have also agreed to be a member of my districts crisis team. Our school is also going through it's re-accredidation this year, so I will be involved in that. It is going to be a very busy year, but I am excited about it!

Here are some pictures of what I have been working on the first two weeks back.

Here is a picture of my office, nice and organized. Let's hope that it stays that way. On the right I have two large bookshelves. One holds all of my classroom and student resources such as picture books, workbooks, and lesson plans. The other holds parent and teacher resource books and my college and grad school textbooks. I have a very large "kidney bean" table that my principal bought me last year. I love it because I can sit in the "cut out" and be able to see all of the students.

Here is my nice and tidy desk (today I left it in shambles because I was working on a project that I didn't finish). I have a small filing cabinet under my desk where I keep confidential files. I have projects that I am currently working on in a file divider on the corner. The large filing cabinet holds all of our standardized testing supplies which I completely rearranged at the beginning of last year only to find out that we would be ordering new materials this year. Oh well, it will give me something else to organize! On the right I have two good sized filing cabinets. The far one holds standardized testing scores and statistics. The closer one holds all of my files for just about every topic imaginable from A-Z.

We are going to focus on the same virtues as last year so I put up a bulletin board with all nine virtues on it. This one began it's transformation today and will get finished tomorrow.

I also acquired another bulletin board in a more centralized location in the school. It was a last minute addition, but I am very happy with the way it turned out. Each of the apples names the nine virtues we will be learning about this year. This one came down as well today to make way for our September virtue - Responsibility.

Back to School

Well, it's that time again... Faculty and staff came back to school last week and students arrived this past Monday. The first week of school is almost over and it is making me really excited for the rest of the year!

I was so excited about the start of school that I decorated my house in a "back to school" theme.

Here's the front door with a homemade back to school wreath.

And the mantle with some back to school accessories.

And I made these centerpieces for a faculty/staff workshop. Now one is sitting in my office.