What's this stuff for?
With school starting after Labor Day, it is time for me to do what I do every year at this time; the same thing millions of teachers across the country are doing. (No, it’s not running off to the mountains screaming in terror, good try.)
It is time to setup the classroom.
Normally this is a fairly organized task. This will be my 4th year teaching 3rd grade so the pieces kind of fall into place…
…But, as you can see by the look on my face in the picture on the left, not all is well…
…This year we have been relocated to a different building while our school undergoes construction and, just to make things interesting, we have a whole new curriculum for Math, Reading & Language Arts to boot!!
Everything is in disarray, boxes of books, posters, paste and ping pong balls scattered about. I used to have 6 bulletin boards to display my wares and my students’ works, now I have 1. Normally I like a little bit of change to make the school year interesting, and doing the same over and over grows tiresome, but this is extreme!
It will all get where it belongs before the 3rd graders tumble in through the door, somehow. Have I mentioned I have a 3 week old baby and haven’t seen a full nights sleep in, coincidentally, 3 weeks!
But that’s not all!!
What time is it!?
Over here, on the right, you can see my pal Dave. He flew in from California (Home of the Govinator) to see Sarah. He also offered to help set up my classroom. Dana usually helps me with this noble endeavor, but taking care of a baby is a few steps up on the good karma scale.
As you can see in the picture, his form of “help” is questionable.
To be honest, he busted his tail, we both did. In a couple of days we unpacked everything that I packed up in June and was moved to this building over the summer. We also unpacked boxes of new textbooks, workbooks, manipulatives, markers, notebooks and a new clock. (The one Dave is modeling in the picture) With his help we able to get 90% of the classroom done. All that’s left is for me to hang some posters and signs. In addition, I have a co-teacher who did her fair share as well. (Everybody pitches in)
For his reward, I took Dave to Sizzler in Lakewood and then abandoned him at a Shop Rite on Route 9. (If you must know, yes he did deserve it.)