I made it!

Joanne drew this on our white board:


My first day of school was good. My class was well behaved (and so cute). My student with autism is pretty funny. I was so nervous the night before, but once the kids got there it was pretty fun. We had a pretty laid-back day. The principal walked in while they were silently doing an assessment (yeah for good timing) and so overall it was a good day. I definitely have a few challenging students. It was very hot today and I let the class vote on whether they wanted me to take them out for P.E. (I prefaced it with an explanation of how hot it was outside...very hot) and so we stayed inside.

I went to Bible study tonight and twas good, but now I have to figure out what I'm doing tomorrow. I feel like my "things to do" just keeps getting bigger and bigger and I feel like I can hardly plan a day but am expected to plan a whole year.


Here's my beautiful class:

This is What a Church Should Be.

I received this email today:

"Kimberly,

I'm the woman you sat next to at worship last Sunday morning at Santa Clara First Baptist. I got your email address from one of the leaders of the Impact group. I wanted to let you know that I'm praying for you as you start up your first official day of teaching tomorrow. I would imagine it can be scary and exciting at the same time. My prayer for you is that God will give you wisdom beyond your years to understand the needs of each of your students, that He'll empower you to be the teacher who can meet those needs, and that your life will have profound impact in the lives of many for eternity.

May God bless you and your fellow teachers and staff at Scott Lane."

Los Gatos Presentation Center

I just got back from my "Scott Lane Family [Staff] Retreat." It was absolutely beautiful there and I think it was the first time that I slowed down and breathed in 2 weeks. Maybe I'll save up $160 and go back some weekend when I need a break. It was good to get to know the staff a little better. I roomed with another girl who went to Cal Poly and student taught in Cambria the year before I did with the same teachers.

Tuesday only gets closer, doesn't it?

Piles and Post-its

My car is becoming a post-it note display case. I have directions to about a dozen different places.

We had a fabulous speaker this morning and then a boring, super-long speaker this afternoon. (I escaped and went to lie at the pool at one point.)

In case I forget, this is why I'm a teacher: I care about kids. So remind me of that when I get caught up in a tornado of paper.

I think I'm supposed to read this before next Tuesday:

Let's Go Fly a Kite

I've spontaneously decided to have kites as the theme of my classroom. Time I should have been using planning lessons (which I have done none of) I spent cutting out letters to spell "Flying to new heights in 2nd grade" on construction paper kites. I really hope they fit along my wall.

I met my BTSA support provider today and she is really nice and, well, supportive. She works at a different school because there weren't enough experienced teachers at my school, but I'm really happy to have her there for whatever help I need.

I just read an update from the Wadleys in South Africa. They visited a school where the primary grades are overflowing with 50-60 students in a class. And I'm sure they don't have fancy shmancy white boards, computers, headphones, and construction paper kites. I'm thankful for my school and can't imagine the stress of going into a situation like that.

And They Thought They Hired a Teacher....

When I got the key to my classroom, I spent an incredibly long time simply wandering around, staring at things, and wondering why Cal Poly never offered a class in "How to Set Up Your Classroom." Doesn't seem tricky, but believe me, it is. Today was the 4th day in my classroom. I was there from 8am to 7pm today and still haven't arranged the desks.

Overwhelmed was an understatement for my first few days. My apartment is still piled with half-unpacked boxes, but at least my classroom is getting somewhere.

So far, I love my school. The staff is very young and friendly and supportive and it has been fun getting to know them a bit. The bilingual 2nd grade teacher is also named Kimberly and she is a new teacher too. Half of the teachers are new to the school this year!

My school has adopted a lot of very new teaching techniques to help our English Learners, and I'm very excited about it. However, I have a stack of books on my bed that is larger than all the books I read in college combined that I'm supposed to have read by a week from Tuesday. :) The more I get done, the more I realize that there is still a lot to do.

I've been informed that I have one autistic student, and because of this the rest of my students are supposed to be the calmer students of the grade, which is a blessing.

I was going to give up coffee when I came up here. Not going to happen.