School

 Finally!  Pictures of my classroom.  It took a lot of work and it still needs a lot of work, but it's coming along.

I had no idea how stressed and probably depressed I was at the daycare.  I know that sounds awful, and it's not that the daycare was the problem I just couldn't do what the job required of me anymore.  I now come home with no stress, I go to bed with no stress, I wake up with no stress (even my doctor continues to tell me what a difference she sees).  I have even been sleeping at night!  Normally when I would have to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, it would literally take me hours to fall back asleep because I was constantly thinking about the daycare.  Do I miss being with my sweet girl all day?  Absolutely.  But when I look at how happy I am when I come home compared to what a monster I was, it's worth it.  I also cherish the time that I do get to spend with her now.  Not that I didn't enjoy my time with her before, but now that I'm away from her all day I just can't wait to get my hands on her!

So many people have asked me how I like it...I LOVE it.  Everyone that I work with, my grade level and the entire school, is so nice and caring.  And it just feels so comfortable being there.  It's not an easy job, but it's already so fun and rewarding.  It's hard, especially now, to be on my feet all day long.  I only get about 20 minutes to eat either a lunch that I packed or a lunch from the cafeteria in the break room.  But the good thing is, is that those 20 minutes are spent with other teachers and we usually just laugh and laugh.  Then it's back to recess duty.

I'd say the hardest thing about it is I received 19 five year olds that were pulled from six different classes.  Which means I am trying to retrain 19 children that were just getting the hang of classroom procedures, rules, and routines.  And for some, and you can DEFINITELY tell, this is the first time they've ever been in a structured setting.  I had a crier the first day and felt awful that she wanted her mommy, but now realize that this little girl cries at about everything.  The teachers did not get to pick at all who they were going to lose from their classes.  In fact, they found out in the exact same meeting that I did.  The principal let all the kindergarten parents know that there would be a new class and if they would be willing to move their child.  So the principal only had those kids to work with.  Now, think about which parents would want their kids to move.  Kids that have been great and had no bad teacher reports or conferences?  Nope.  Basically all the parents that have already received some type of notice that their kid is not on grade level or has behavior issues ended up in my class because they thought that it was the previous teacher's fault that they were getting these reports.  Well, some of them have quickly realized that it's their kid and not the teacher when I'm having to give them the exact same reports.  Needless to say, I've got a pretty tough group, I've heard this from about all the teachers so far.  I have nine wonderful little girls and ten...boys.  Somehow, I ended up with all the girls that the teachers hated to see leave.  They're very well behaved, smart, and do what they're told.  And I ended up with all the boys that the other teachers were basically pushing out their door into my classroom (not really).  All but three of my boys are out of control!  Literally!  I think some of them still need naps throughout the day or they're not getting enough sleep at home.  It's going to be an interesting year that's for sure.

What's crazy is that this only gets me more excited for next year.  If I can make it with this group of kindergartners, coming in after six weeks of school already in session, leaving for maternity leave and then coming back...I think I can do anything.  It's a great feeling when you can't wait for Monday morning!