Today marks the first day of the school year for the 2011-2012 school year. If you haven't read any of my previous blogs, I am one of the newest additions to Monarch Elementary School in Union, South Carolina. I am the newest first grade teacher and I am beyond thrilled. Thankfully I had time this summer to get my classroom together and get some preparations completed for the upcoming school year, because today was an eye opener in the sense that I am not as prepared as I thought. I arrived at my new school about 30 minutes before we were supposed to report. I am becoming such an early bird these days! After taking some things into my classroom I reported to the library for our full faculty/staff meeting. We had 2 notebooks ready for us to pick up-one already organized and one left to organize. There is hardly anything I like more than feeling a sense of organization. Love. I surprised myself by not being as nervous as I usually am. I was greeted with many smiling faces and opened arms. After walking in the door I felt very welcomed. At the beginning of the meeting our grade level chairs made staff introductions. It is such a small world out there. (One of the student teacher's father was in my dad's wedding and her cooperating teacher's husband was in my dad's wedding). So weird. I was so delighted to see another teacher at Monarch who I haven't seen in a long time. I practically lived at her house during my childhood days. I can not get over how comfortable I felt with all of the wonderful teachers at Monarch. Although comfortable, I did leave the meeting feeling very overwhelmed. Just when you think you know all there is to know, there's always something more. Thankfully I have a wonderful mentor teacher who I know will help me through my first year at Monarch. After a couple of hours of information, I know my eye balls were as big as saucers. However, our principal did leave us with a wonderful quote from one of her favorite muscial groups-The Tams- I got excited when she said she had a quote to tell us from The Tams. I got even more excited when she said it was from the song, "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy." And I got even more excited when the quote was one of my favorite lines from the song-"Reach for the sky, touch your star, and then you find your dream."- how appropriate for the Monarch Stars! I know we will get along just fine! After our teacher's meeting we had a catered lunch from Subway-another favorite. After a quick bite to eat it was time to get to work on the list of things I haven't done yet/didn't know about yet! I sure hope the rest of the first grade teachers aren't tired of me already due to the thousands of questions I have (continuously). I probably averaged half of my day asking questions and the other half of my day thinking of more questions to ask tomorrow. As soon as 3:30 came around I decided to head on home. The school work didn't stop there, though. I came right in to our big den and got to work making charts, word documents, etc. When my mom came in we compared and exchanged stories. When 5:00 came around I decided I needed to get away from the school work. So I went to one of my favorite classes at our local YMCA. There were new faces in the class tonight, and I always enjoy seeing the regulars. The class is a sculpting class. Although I haven't been in a couple of weeks, I felt inclined to use the 8 pound free weights tonight. During the 45 minutes of weights I managed to beef it up and stick with the 8 pounders the whole time. (I keep a set of 5 pound weights beside me just in case). I know I will be hurting tomorrow. Now, while this is one of my favorite clases at the Y, the last 10 min we spend learning some kind of dance. I have been exposed to The Wobble, a dance to "Forget You", and some Zumba dances. Let me just let you know I have 2 left feet and no coordination when it comes to dancing. Hand me a tennis raquet and tennis ball and I'm all there. Not so much on the dance floor. So I smile and try to move through it as best as I can...just always a couple seconds behind everyone else and of course with no rhythm. An hour in the gym is just what I needed. I felt reenergized after leaving- enough to come home and do more school stuff. Finally, I think I have a good hold on everything I need-until tomorrow! While finishing up some school stuff our power went out. Luckily, it was still light outside and my mom, dad, and I were able to sit on our back porch and chat without any distractions of the internet, television, or dinner. It was a very relaxing 30 mintues. When the power returned we came in, had dinner, and now we're watching some television. I'd say it's been a successful day, all in all. I promise to add more pictures with more blogs. Right now I don't have pictures for this blog. But, if you can imagine a deer in headlights, that's how I spent the majority of my day!
Blessings for today:
1. A supportive staff
2. 2 hands that complete multitudes of tasks
3. A peace within
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