like christmas

Last spring the teachers at my school were told that they had less than 24 hours to spend $100 on classroom supplies. Any time a teacher is told that they have money to spend on their classroom is reason for celebration. However, with the end of school year craziness, state testing, field days, moving up ceremonies, etc. etc. etc., these supplies were ordered and then moved to a little back corner in our minds and covered with cobwebs. Today however, those cobwebs were cleared away. At the end of the day an announcement was made for us to go and pick up those magical supplies. It was really a little like Christmas. 

I went down to our secondary book storage room and was handed my materials. I now have three centers ready to go for literacy development. Two of the center kits will be used to bring my little learners that are below level up to level. One of the kits will be used to push the brighter kiddos in my class to the next level so that they are ready to blow their first grade teacher's socks of next year. I am beyond excited. I came back to my room and began cutting cellophane wrappers off, pulling cardboard protectors out of spiral bindings, and assembling pieces. Yes, I realize that it is still the first week of school and some of the materials will not be used for some time, but, as I mentioned, I am excited. I love learning tools and I cannot wait to use them in my classroom!

Also, I finished my baseline assessments today, so I have even more reason to celebrate. I can now begin to go about a normal daily routine. I also found out that I will not need to proctor some of the assessments that kindergarteners are required to complete, so I will not be pulled out of my classroom for endless hours during the coming weeks. I think that that deserves a whoop for joy!

Even with all of this excitement I will admit that this first week of school is leaving me exhausted. I was struggling well before 7PM last night and that was only after two days. I feel a little better today, but man, these kinders are zapping my energy! I am full of it when they are in the classroom, but as soon as the last one says goodbye at the end of the day it feels like my battery has suddenly died. I'll get used to it though (of course, next week grad school starts back up so I'll have a whole other kind of adjusting to do), it'll just take some time for me to reestablish that sense of balance.