Kids in the Candy Store

Every year as part of my class, my students get to set up and maintain a fish tank. Every year, I get to play the mean parent and reign my students in from their grandiose ideas for their tanks!! This year is no exception. My students are like kids in a candy store. I have lost track of how many times I have had to say NO!! (i.e. No piranhas, No sea horses, No sharks, No octopus, No electric eel, No lionfish). And then I have students that want a bigger tank than what I have to offer and so they want to bring tanks in from home. I even have some students that are buying their own fish tank to bring to class. I had to put a stop to this because pretty soon I will have nothing but fish tanks in my classroom and no place for my students to sit!!! And then you should see all the things they want to decorate their tank with. Updates will definitely be following of how many tanks I finally end up having, fish they end up buying, and of course pics of the tanks. ;o)

A Trip to the Zoo

After spending the whole summer at the zoo, I wanted to share my new view of the zoo with David and the girls. So yesterday, we picked up Aurora and headed to the zoo. It was rather hot so we only spent a couple of hours but we really enjoyed ourselves. We got there just in time to see the Sea Lion show. Having watched it 9 times this summer, I thought I would be bored but I loved watching my girls watch the show for the first time. The girls absolutely loved it. Especially when the sea lions did their buoy jump. After the sea lion show, we had to hit all of the girls favorites starting with the aquarium (I wonder why?!?). Then we headed to see the giraffes, the elephants, the cats, and the bears with other animals mixed in. Next was the carousel. Kaylee was so excited to ride the carousel right up until I put her on an animal. Then she went berserk. So Naomi (who is afraid of heights), Kaylee, and I rode around on the bench while Aurora rode one of the animals. Oh well, we had fun. Last stop was the dinosaurs. I really thought Kaylee would enjoy it because every time I called this summer she asked which dinosaurs I had seen. However, Kaylee was not a fan of the dinosaurs. She was so scared her hand was trembling in mine. If I hadn't been holding Kaylee's hand when we got to the T-Rex, she would have run out of the exhibit screaming. Poor girl, I guess dinos are not her thing.

David and the girls on the parasaurolophus. (This is before we saw the dinos in the exhibit)

Kaylee and Aurora in the piranha tunnel (It took Kaylee awhile to decide she wanted to go in it but then she had fun)

Aurora, Naomi, and Kaylee with a Masai giraffe behind them

The girls with the elephant statue

The girls in front of an Andean (Spectacled) Bear (Notice the bear has the right idea he is chilling in his pool!!)

Kaylee wanted a picture of her and the lion fountain

Back in the saddle again

Yesterday started another year of teaching for me. And it wouldn't be normal if there was not at least one challenge to my first day back. It was a little crazy getting my first period started and then leaving to drop Naomi off and then coming back to end the period. Good thing Naomi's school is so close to mine. But that was nothing compared to a little later on in the day. This year due to my program growing so big and budget cutbacks in our district. I teach 6 out of the 7 periods in our school day. And it so happens that my planning period is the last period of the day. So my only saving grace from teaching 6 periods back to back is my lunch. This year according to the master schedule I was supposed to have A lunch, which is more like brunch since it is at 10 in the morning. But I was ok with that because it would break up my classes. I would teach 3 have lunch and then teach 3 more. So after my 3rd period yesterday, I went into my back room and put my food in the microwave. Then I headed back to the bathroom via my classroom. As I started to walk through my classroom, I noticed that I had students walking into my class. I was quite startled and told them they were a little early that this was my lunch. At which point they corrected me and said that no they had class right now. And sure enough according to their schedule they did. So I pointed them to the seating chart, ran to the bathroom and then came back to start class. While they were doing their first assignment, I had to run and put my lunch back in the fridge. And then I called the scheduling principal to find out when my actual lunch is, which is C lunch. C lunch is definitely not brunch but it makes for a really long day. Basically I now teach 5 classes have a 30 minute lunch and then teach one more class before I have my planning period. Wow, it is only the second day today and I am already exhausted!!!

First Day of First Grade

Yesterday was Naomi's first day of first grade. She is so excited for school this year. I think she had everything ready to go at least four days before school started. She has a really sweet teacher. And her best friend from last year, Nicole, is in her class again this year. Nicole's mom and I were both relieved to see that they were in the same class again.

On Sunday, we decided to put Naomi's hair in curlers. But alas... that lasted until midnight when she realized that curlers are just too uncomfortable to sleep with. I have to agree with her. I can still remember the difficulty I have had trying to fall asleep with curlers in my hair. (Hmm... is that why you see little old ladies wandering around the stores with curlers in their hair during the daytime?) I was able to get one of my teacher friends to cover the first part of my first period so that I could bring Naomi to her class for her first day. I did a quick drop-off, took a couple quick pictures and left. When she got off the bus in the afternoon, she was all smiles. She loved her first day. Here are the pictures of preparing for and her first day. (It is amazing to compare her first day pictures from this year to her first day pictures from last year!!)

Naomi in her curlers that lasted till midnight
Naomi at her desk

Naomi and in the row behind her, her best friend Nicole