Feels Like Christmas

Typically, I spend my Thursday nights writing all of the lessons that I procrastinated on for that week. Since their due Friday, I always put them off until the last minute. However, this Thursday night, I'm doing nothing... and loving it.

We had parent teacher conferences 4-8 pm Monday-Wednesday after a full day of school  - so after working those long days, we got today and tomorrow off! Today honestly felt like Christmas once it had arrived. I have been looking forward to these two days for ever. I even got to sleep twelve hours last night. When does that ever happen?!

The last couple of weeks have been a little different. Since I made the switch to special ed, I haven't had much to do since I was just observing and getting used to the change. This break has been amazing. I go to school late (7:45 am; late to me), leave at 4:00, and spend the rest of my night doing... nothing! I even got in the habit of going to bed at 9:00 pm. How about that?! However, those lazy days are limited. I have been in my new placement for two weeks, which means I have to start teaching again soon - I've use up my "observation" days. So very soon I will be back to the grind.

For an update on my new placement in 3rd grade special ed: it's new; it's different. That's all I can really say. I like the change, but it's just so different from 1st grade. Amazing how everything can be so different in just two school years. The kids are more grown up and don't really care about you like the first graders do. The curriculum is so different too. And of course, the teachers and paras are new to me also. It's been an interesting two weeks of transitioning, but it's been good so far.

Being away from my first graders has made me realize that I need to be a teacher! If you know me well enough, you know that I have never been sold on being a teacher, but finally I have convinced myself that that's what I want (for at least a year)! In fact, I've slowly started the job search process. Instead of joking my Uncle Jay that I would come home to farm for him, I decided to start the slow process of finding a job. I frequently get freaked out about finding a job, which is why I am taking it slowly. Today I bought resume paper. That was a big step for me! There is a job fair at K-State in a couple of weeks, so I will roam around that for a bit. Then I imagine I will postpone the search until February-ish or until districts start posting jobs for the fall. For those of you that are curious, I plan to sub in the spring semester. I might even do some subbing at my old stomping grounds - Southeast.

Like I said, I was able to sit in on many conferences this week. Since I know my first graders so well, I got to go back to those conferences. I was reminded how much I love those kids. They still say and do the silliest things, and they still tick you off too. Either way, they are great kids who always put a smile on your face. In fact, I see them about once a day, but whenever I see them, they bombard me with hugs. One day, I was literally hugged by 26 children at once. I felt so bad because they were in the middle of PE - I was such a distraction as I simply walked through the hall - but I loved it anyway.

Each day I get closer to graduating. We're coming close to a month. Thank goodness! I never thought I would wish to graduate, but I seriously could not go any longer. I have to get a diploma - and soon! December 10th could not get here soon enough.

Here is my list of things that I have learned lately:

• When you leave 1st grade with Mrs. K and Mrs. S you eat just a bit healthier. No coke and no chocolate for me anymore. :) Good thing too. I used to eat like 300 Reese's cups a day.
• But when you leave 1st grade, you miss everyone. It's been one of those things that you don't realize how great it is until it's gone. 
• Everyone has their own teaching style. You may have to work with some styles that you don't necessarily like, but that's okay. There are many ways to teach; but no matter what, just do your thing. 

That's all for now. I sure hope that third graders get funnier, because I need some laughs to share on here. 

Until next time, 

Miss Everhart (third graders call me Miss Hart too and I'm okay with it)

PS: Go K-State!! :)

Hey Third Grade!

This won't be an exciting blog - but I just wanted to let you all know that I have officially made the switch from first grade to special ed third grade. Life is much different on the other side of the school. I've gone from teaching the same kids, in the same room, with the same routine every day to now never teaching in the same room, running all over, and working with different students.

The first day was alright. I felt like I belonged down the hall in first grade - but that's only because everything in third grade is new. New teachers, new paras, new kids, new materials. I was also reminded that I need to practice some serious subtraction so I can quickly check the students' work.

As I get the hang of things I will tell more on here, but for now, everything is so new. I hope I get the hang of it. And I hope that the next eight weeks flies by.

As always, the kids are a hoot. One kid looked at me and said, "you're pretty.... can you help me?" Haha what a great way to ask for help.

Until next time,

Miss Everhart

Down to a Week

I must be the worst blogger around, because I never make time to do this. However, right now, as blogging sat at the bottom of my incredibly full weekend to-do list, I quickly moved it to the top because it's the only semi-fun thing to do. A lot has happened since I last blogged, so let me update you. I'm going to be honest, anything that happened last week has already left my mind, so I'm just going to update you on this week.

Monday I was gone, so when I returned on Tuesday I was a stressed, hot mess. Tuesday I had a formal observation from my K-State supervisor. Pretty much, this last observation from her was a huge deciding factor in my grade (I think; at least that's what I told myself).  You would think that after eight weeks of teaching it would have been fine, but with my usual luck, it was a train wreck lesson. Kids were so wired and it was just a mess. Surprisingly, I came out on top. My supervisor noticed my flexibility and that I was thinking on my toes and that the lessons idea wasn't too shabby. Thank goodness!

Wednesday was a straight up mess in our class. You always have to expect at least one day a week to be crazy. Here's a fine example. In the middle of my math lesson, I look over and see a girl dancing two feet from her desk. You probably are thinking right now that I'm going to make an awful teacher - and that I just might - but if you knew these children, you would know that their behaviors are not all my fault!

Thursday was Thursday - always a good day simply because it's almost Friday. Probably the best memory from first grade comes from Thursday. I go to pick up the kids from lunch recess. My good, silly friend "Bob" (obviously not his real name) is the only kid sitting criss cross on the cement (the other kids are standing in a line). "Bob" sits there with his head tilted - one eat to the ground, one ear to the sky. I don't see a problem with this... until I realize that "Bob" has filled his ear with sand and rocks. It doesn't sound funny at all, but given this student, it is the funniest thing ever. Turns up that when you get rocks in your ear, you have to go to the doctor to get them properly removed. The doctor was able to remove three more rocks. If you don't learn anything else from this blog, know that you shouldn't put rocks in your ears.

Friday is always filled with me singing the Rebecca Black song "Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday!" Once Friday arrives, all I can do is laugh. Today was a top notch day - in fact I would repeat this day for the rest of my teaching career if I could. We had an assembly where the kids listened to a guitarist. While telling "Bob" (wouldn't ya know, "Bob" again - haha) to wear his shirt like a first grader (shirt was on head), he responded with, "ugh, first grade is hard!" Haha, it sure is. We went to lunch - which was filled with mac and cheese, a donut, and chips  - because it was birthday treat day. Glad to know that I ate so healthy today. Then we watched a movie and had popcorn for the class reward. We finished the day with a shaving cream party -- shaving cream on their desks. It was top notch and a total mess. Friday was a great day as you can tell!

I'm going to have to end this blog for now. I have one more week in first grade - can't believe how quickly time flies!

Thanks for reading.

Until next time... and GO STATE!

- Miss Everhart