Successfully Completed....

My first semester as a teacher! And by successfully, I mean the students all went home alive for Christmas break! I kid, I kid. Kind of. I can't believe how fast it went by! It honestly feels like I just started teaching. Sure, I know the kids more and we have a routine but I still feel like the classroom is a 3 ring circus all the time. I guess that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I am balancing different curriculums. But being busy is nice during the day because I'm running around like a crazy person and the next thing I know, it is the end of the day and the kids are getting on the bus. There are many things I have learned so far...

-to pick my battles

-be confident with my decisions (I really am the boss man now)

- always accept a hug from a student

- students never forget when you promise them something

-but they do forget something related to academics 5 minutes after you told them

- be kind to everyone on campus, it really makes a difference

- patience is incredibly important in my job

- my paraeducator and I can have a whole conversation through facial expressions

-speaking code in front of students gets more and more difficult as they learn to read

-never underestimate the power of a prize box, it can make kids do anything

-teaching the rules of 4 square to students is one of the most difficult things ever

-sometimes you need to stop everything, put on some music and dance

-if I look like an idiot, but it makes the students laugh-totally worth it

- take it as a compliment when students call you mom, I just tell myself that they see me as very important in their life and know that I love them, just like their mom
- I have the best job ever

One thing I do need to work on it clocking out. When the day is over, and I'm coming home, I still can't help but vent everything to whoever will listen. I need to leave it at school. Especially all the sad things, no one wants to hear about that stuff. Anyways, IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, I have all my Christmas shopping done. I did, however, brave the mall yesterday to get an outfit for The Nutcracker tonight with grandma. Found some amazing deals, so it was all worth the madness. Ryan and I had a great time in Disneyland. We definately needed the mini vacation. It made me extremely excited for when we have our own children and we start bringing them. Ryan also got a new job, no more petsmart! He is now a manager at a storage unit facility. They also just asked him if he would be interested in being a general manager which would be a raise and more responsibility. I really hope that works out. He is liking his job a lot more than he did petsmart, which makes me very happy. He is not embarrassed anymore about where he works. It is hard to find time to spend together because his days off are in the middle of the week and mine are on weekends. But we are trying to save money for a down payment on a house. We are lucky with our living situation now because it gives us the chance to save a lot of money each month. Here are some pictures from Disneyland...

Hello Hot

P.s. Ryan and I are going to Disneyland in 16 days. Waaaaaaaahoooooooooooo I need a vacation!

It's about time......

I am finally updating. Yes, I know, it has been forever. It has been hard to find time to sit and post. Where do I even begin? Well, I started my classroom. That is probably the biggest news of all. It has been the most amazing experience of my life and the most stressful. I love all my students but dealing with paperwork has been tough. The school I am working at is wonderful but I often feel out of the loop. All the teachers have a team to work with and I don't really have anyone else. For example, the Kindergarten teachers all work together because they are doing the exact same things in their classrooms. So they help eachother plan and copy and all that. Whereas I am the only class with a mixture of K-3 students. It has been insane trying to plan their curriculum. And the district promised us wonderful new curriculum and I have not been able to get everything I need for math. Yet, I am held accountable for teaching this new curriculum. A lot of times things just don't make sense. I am lucky, however, to know the other special education teachers in the district and they have been extremely helpful and supportive.

My students make me laugh everyday. We have ups and downs but for the most part I am grateful to have a great class, behavior wise. My students listen and give their best effort. I also have 2 great paraeducators as my aides. They have a lot of experience and don't seem to mind that I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing a lot of the time.

Besides teaching, I feel like Ryan and I have been super busy. We drove to a wedding in Oregon. It was a good 7 hour drive. Pretty intense, but totally worth it to see our friends Kim and Griffin get married. We went to another wedding this weekend. It was my cousin Elise's wedding. It was sooooooooo beautiful. They had it on a working cattle ranch. The house was built in the 1800's and was absolutely stunning. Then we have another wedding on Oct. 3. I am ready for things to calm down a bit. I am definately stressed out. I found a freakin gray hair! Not cool. Everyday seems to get a little better as I learn more and more about the process of everything and I learn more about my students. I feel like I have meetings everyday after work. And if I don't have a meeting I am trying to plan for the rest of the week or something else that is coming up. I'm gone from the house on average 12 hours everyday and I usually don't get to take my lunch. Ryan gets mad about that but it's difficult to leave the class if a kid is having a meltdown or if everything we planned on doing didn't work out and I need to stay to finish some lessons. But all in all, I love working with the kids. They seem to like me as well, which makes me feel like I am doing somethign right. All the parents of my students have been wonderful as well.

Ryan got a part time job which has helped keep him busy and earn some money. He interviewed for an insurance company and the guy seemed to really like him. It just looks like it will be a long process. If he does get the job he will have to go train in MN for 5 or 6 months which is not appealing to me, but I know it would be worth it for the job. I guess that about sums up everything going on for now. I'll try to post more often when funny things happen in my classroom.

MIA

I know I have been lagging on the updates. Life has been bonkers! In a good way. I promise a wordy and picture filled update soon. (This is mainly for you KB who complained you are bored and need my blog to entertain you) Anyway, until the long update comes, enjoy this video. I cried. I'm such a sap when it comes to this topic.

Can't get enough of these babies

Serenity Prayer

As you all know I'm not a very religious person. But I saw this prayer tattooed on a girl's back at the river on the 4th of July and couldn't stop thinking about it. I think it is absolutely beautiful and words to live by.

4th of July!

We floated down the American River then hung out and lit fireworks that night. Here are some amazing pictures.