Teacher VS Alarm clock

I am NOT a morning person.

ARGHHH!  This morning, I finally rolled out of bed at 7:15.  It's NOT good enough.  Eventually I wanted to get up by 5:30 without hitting the snooze button.  This year, we added 8 additional instructional minutes to our work day.  Our school is starting 5 minutes earlier and ending 3 minutes later.  But before we get into that, let's have a little review on my start time  in the last 2 years...

2013-14 8:15 start time and primary grades ended at 2:00; intermediate ended at 2:35

pretty perfect if you ask me...

2014-15 8:06 start time (additional 9 minutes) and end time was the same 2:00/2:35

Every Thursday, we got out at 1:30, as our prep time.

Now... here is our new start/end time for 2015-2016....

8:01 start time and primary grades end at 2:03; intermediate end at 2:38

We also added an additional 3 minutes to our Thursday early out day to 1:33.

End of rant.

Anyways, I plan to wake up wake up 30 minutes earlier each day.  Tomorrow, hopefully by 6:30, Wednesday by 6:00 and by Thursday and Friday (since they are teacher work days ...) I plan to be up by 5:30 and get to school by 7:30ish......

Did your district add more minutes to your work day?

Happy Friday

I think I'm physically drained... I've been working on my classroom all week. A lot of unpacking, organizing, on the constant hunt for colleagues who would need items I no longer need.. And of course, when I get home, I'm on the computer- reading blogs, or on my phone on IG or Periscope (yay for happy PD that doesn't "count") and finally crawl into bed by midnight and start the process all over again at 7:30.  I think my BFF were all the Vanilla Lattes I've had ... mmmm..

I am happy to settle on a color scheme in my classroom. Two years ago, when I was hired as the TK (transitional kindergarten) teacher, I knew I wanted a calm classroom with primary colors for grouping students. Fast forward and 3 grade levels up, I am ready for a modern classroom that makes me happy. 

View of the front of my classroom.  I decided to group my students the E 3 way.  I originally wanted 4 groups, but I wanted to leave some room for the carpet area in the back.

View of the back of the classroom.  I love my hot pink bulletin boards!  Kidney table is for small group, the long table next to it will house my 4 new Google Chromebases (coming in late September).  Please ignore the lopsided bookcase on the left.  It actually fell apart when the custodians came by to remove it.   *insert sad face*  Remember the two bookcases from these photos.  I will refer to it in a bit...

Here, is my beloved desk area.  I know how many teachers decided to get rid of their teacher desks and such, but I can't ... it was built into the building!  It's quite functional for lesson planning and chit chatting with your neighbor before and after school. Anyways, this area makes me so happy!

Remember the 2 bookcases I told you to keep note of?  I did a little bit of research and found out Target was selling book cases in their RE line for $17.99.  I rushed out and carried those 25lb x 2 suckers and dragged them into my car (almost didn't fit in my trunk!!) and back to school.  I know ... the reviews say they're not great ... but they will be functional.  I don't forsee any of my students putting their body weight on the bookcases.

It's 9pm on a Friday.  I would be out, but I'm exhausted.  Maybe I should read more blogs, catch teachers on periscope/ IG, or read...

How was your week??

Have a great weekend.

PlayinPrimary

Hmmm...

A month later, I finally realized Hello2ndgradesuperstars was too long ... 

why didn't anyone tell me?!

After a day of thinking (while setting up my new classroom), I decided to change it to ...

PlayinPrimary!

It's a shorter handle

(hopefully) people can remember ...

And it makes it easier when I switch between my teacher and personal IG accounts.

Here's my new classroom.  Please ignore the carpets.  They are literally 20 years old ... this year!

(my school was built in 1995)

Day -11. We weren't allowed on campus yet. I was tired of driving around with a full trunk, so I stopped by school and found some helpful friends who let me in. I unpacked 21 boxes in the 4 hours I was there and organized my construction paper and astrobrights. I was relieved to have a head start!

I'll update more tomorrow!

I made my own #teachertoolbox but I have to decorate it with washi to make my little heart happy when I see it. Good night!