Almost time...

Well, it's offically 10 hours and 45 minutes before the 1st bell will ring tomorrow at school. I have worked all week in my room and preparation for tomorrow. I met most of my students during "Sneak Peek" night last Thursday night. I have 20 students in my class. 4th grade is pretty full with all of us having 20 to 21 students in our homeroom. Tomorrow will be the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. I'm very excited and nervous all at the same time. More to come tomorrow...

Freeway's Buddy!

Freeway has a new friend, Amelia. Amelia use to be afraid of Freeway and Lucey, but she's warmed up to Freeway. She always says, "Look, Freeway likes me." I'm glad they are friends now!

Fun Times at the Ranger's Game

Mark, Wendy and I had our 1st outing without baby Alex last night. We went to watch the Rangers play the Boston Red Sox. It was the first time we had a babysitter for Alex besides me. Alex's Mimi and Aunt Marilyn watched him while we went to see the Rangers beat the Red Sox 8-2. It was really fun but we were tired around 9:30 and decided to head home. We're such old folks now....can't even stay for an entire baseball game. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad the Ranger's won!

The Classroom is Almost Done

I've worked on my classroom on and off for the last couple of weeks. For the most part, I am done with all the big stuff. The great big math word wall is up, the math posters are up on the back wall, and my data charts are up in place. Now all I need are some students to fill the room.

A Little Better Today

Well, we know that we have 10 fingers and 10 toes so we're making some progress. We were able to use the hundreds chart today to identify numbers and where they are in relation to each other. We worked on coming up with 2 numbers that add up to 15 today...will need more work with that tomorrow! Some of the responses I got were "5+5," "10+10," and "10+2." I've got a long road ahead of me but I can see the light...it's just a bit dim right now!

Nervous Breakdown?????

Well, I almost had my 1st official nervous breakdown today and the school year hasn't even started. JumpStart has really been taking a toll on me and it's only an 8 day program. For the 1st time in my 11 years of teaching, I am actually scared about the group of students coming up to 4th grade. They struggle tremendously with basic math and number concepts. I feel so bad for them and for some odd reason, I feel as if I'm not well equipped enough to help them. I'm sure I'll feel differently in the morning but for now....all I can do is pray that God will grant me the wisdom and knowledge to work with these students the next 3 days of the JumpStart Program and the upcoming school year.

In addition, I also know that I have an awesome team this year that will support me in any way. Thank God for that too!

Optimistic about the New School Year!

Meet the new 4th grade team at my school for the 2009-2010 school year. We had our official "Team Dinner" last night at OTB. The mango margaritas were also a great addition to the evening! Very yummy!!! I am very excited about our new team because we have not had much luck the last two years with the 2 people we hired. Needless to say, they are gone now and we have built a pretty strong team. Pictured from left to right: me, Niki, Jennifer, Kayrn, and Casey.

So far, so good!

We only had one round of storms this morning and Freeway actually did okay. Lucey, Freeway, and I were actually driving to Dog de Salon when it came pouring down on us. Lucey was actually the one that whined all the way to Keller and Freeway slept the entire way there. Here are pictures of the 2 pooches after their appointment at the groomers. I love Freeway's "camo" bandana!

Another Day of Storms????

I don't know if I can handle another day of storms. Freeway is terrified of storms and when there is one during the night, I don't get ANY sleep! He was pretty upset last night with all the thunder and I hear there is another round of storms, some pretty severe. Too bad I'm leaving right now to drop him off at the groomers. I hope he does okay there. Update later...