Summer break is here!

As of yesterday at 5 p.m. my summer break started. Kind of. I still have to go back up to the school on Monday to finish moving the last of my belongings to my new classroom. They are cleaning our building first so we have to be out of the building on Tuesday afternoon and stay out until next week. Of course next week I will be in class so I won't be able to go back for 2 weeks. I want to wait a little while before I unpack all of my belongings in case I get a job as a librarian. I have put out several applications and am hoping to hear something soon.

Mom was supper excited about her birthday present and can't wait to go to the George Strait concert next Saturday. I just hope I'm not so tired the next day that I fall asleep in my class.

Good-bye 4th Grade, Hello 2nd

Yesterday I found out I will not remain a 4th grade teacher next year. My principal has decided to switch 12 of the teachers around for next year and I was reassigned to 2nd grade. In a way I am very excited because I will be able to leave the actual TAKS test behind!! But I know I will have plenty of responsibilities. I have been putting my applications in like crazy trying to get a school to emergency certify me for next school year since I will be more than half way through the program. I don't know if it will happen but I can try and hope for the best. I know that no matter what God will guide me to make the right decision. I just hope that if I do go to 2nd grade that the teachers she has placed with me will pull their own weight. Only time will tell.

End of school

The end is near!!! Hallelujah we will make it to the end. Today was our field trip/baseball day. We spent the day at the park playing baseball. My class was the bad news bears when we started but they started to pick up the game and improved. I think it is more fun to just let the kids play but Mary (one of the other teachers) insisted on keeping score when our classes were playing. I think we did well considering her class is full of kids who play on baseball and softball teams. The final score was 9-8. Her class won by just one run. I still think that it was pretty good since I was teaching most of my class how to even hold the bat, not run away from the ball, and where to stand when batting. Only 2 1/2 more days of school. I think I can. I think I can. This will be my mantra as I wake up each morning.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Our principal has called a meeting to announce grade assingnments for next year. She has talked about shaking things up and mixing up the grade levels. Only time will tell as to what she has up her sleeve.

Hair today gone tomorrow!

That's how I felt on Friday. Saturday morning I went in and had my hair cut off. We cut off about 10 inches of hair again. I am sending it in to Locks of Love just like last time (2001). I guess this will become my tradition to cut off my hair about every 10 years to make a donation. I mostly did it because I was so frustrated with my straight, flat, boring hair. After cutting it off I am actually able to style it. This does require that I actually get up in the morning to have time to do my hair but this is a sacrifice I will take to not look like I have a mop attached to my head. I will post a picture this weekend or next week when I have my camera back and things are less hectic.

Coming up for air!

It is sooo nice to actually be able to sit back and relax in the evenings again!!! My class officially ended last Wednesday when I submitted my last draft of the paper. I logged in today and found my grade was a 95! Thank God for the Swine flu day off of school. That is the only reason I was able to do so well on the last draft. If I figured my average correctly, I should have an A for my final grade. I was sure that this would be the class that killed my 4.0 but somehow I pulled it off. Maybe I will be able to get a few things done in the few weeks before my next classes start.

The end of the school year is in sight. Only 11 more days of school left for this year!!!!!!!! I know we are all ready for the summer vacation but not ready for the changes next year. One of the teachers in 4th grade is definitely leaving at the end of the year and we are going to add a 5th section of 4th grade. So no matter what we will have 2 new teachers to bring into the group. We have all been so close for the last few years it will be hard to change. The next few weeks are so busy for us. We have 4th graders testing for advanced math and science classes next week. Our 4th grade play "Tall Tales and Heroes" is on next Thursday night for Rocket Celebration night. The book fair is next week and I promised Linda (the librarian) I would help with it to get some experience at what it takes. We visit the Intermediate school for a tour next week. Then the next week we have our field trip "Baseball day" which is always a blast to celebrate the fact that we have made it to the end of the year. The only negative of the next few weeks is the TAKS results should be in soon and I know my students may not have all done well (especially in math).

Hopefully I will be able to update this more often during the summer and keep up with my friends more than I have for the last couple of months!

School Closed

Our school has followed so many of the others around us and closed due to N1H1 (Swine flu). We have one suspected case so CDC suggested we close until Monday. This is actually a little helpful to me since I have my last draft of the paper due tomorrow (Wednesday) and am still working on corrections from the last draft. Then I will go back and add more to this draft of the paper and finish with section 7 of the paper (our feelings on how the class went).

I had been feeling a little stressed and guilty. Friday several of the teachers took off and went to Canton for First Monday. We got to relax after TAKS and enjoy ourselves. My sub on Friday was awesome and we got a lot done on Monday but who knows how we are going to get everything done in order to finish our projects in class by the end of the year. We are currently working on Science Fair and a play with the 4th grade. The only problem is the performance is the 21st and we haven't even picked roles yet. Hopefully the kids can learn it fast so we can do it.

Okay, back to work on the paper. More to come later.