Monday, August 30, 2010

What’s new?


My Class
The 2010-2011 school year promises to be exciting and fast-paced. I've got 19 precious new kiddos, a student teacher, a new classroom layout, and a new ELA curriculum that hasn't all arrived yet. Here's a "before" pic of my classroom. It looked awesome for Meet the Teacher, but I forgot to take an "after" picture before the kids came. Sooo…it will probably never be clean again. :)

Grad School
Yep…you heard correctly. I'm starting my master of education this year. Each class meets for 4 hours one night a week for 8 weeks. I'm already trying to figure out how to adjust to having homework. The keyword for this semester is "discipline." I'll let you know how that works out for me.

My TV
I've had my hand-me-down TV for the last 5 years. It's so old that I couldn't even connect a DVD player to it. There were more important things on my list of things to buy (couch, car, etc.) so I'm just now getting around to updating my TV. Lots of research, reviews, and pricing later, I found a good deal on a TV that I'm happy with. It's sooooo big compared to my last one. Almost like being in a movie theater. Who wants to come over for a movie night??



Pets

Chris was looking to down-size her class pet collection, so I eagerly offered to adopt these two fire-bellied toads. Today was their first day in our class and I learned that 6 year old boys are highly distracted by amphibians in the classroom. Let's hope that wears off soon. We're voting for names later this week. I'll let you know how that works out.


I've about reached my limit of new stuff to adjust to, which means I can expect something else to show up any day now. Here's to a school year of fun (and potentially overwhelming) adventures!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Summer: A Summary

I'm feeling overwhelmed, which has led to blogging procrastination. There's just too much to tell about my summer! So I'll sum it up:


School's out! Colorado. Buddy & Jessica's wedding. Lots of driving. 5th grade summer school. TAKs test. Pool. Friends. Register for grad school. Free time? Packing at Cyndy's. Oreo balls. More swimming. Peru planning. Peru packing. PERU! New friends. Old friends. Cesar Vallejo boys. Churros. Hot chocolate. Translators. BFFs. Cusco. Pisac & llamas. Meet up with Mom & Dad. Machu Picchu. Hard to leave. Austin is hot. PD classes. Fly to Michigan. Overnight in MSP. Rachel & Chris' wedding. Shopping. Back to Texas. Summer's over. Start school!


Obviously there's much more I need to share about my Peru adventures. Until I make time to blog about that, you'll have to be satisfied with a few pictures.

Cesar Vallejo Casa

Kaci, Tracy, Andres, Alejo, Carlos, Tamara