My 22nd First Day of School

     Today marked my 22nd first day of school (K-12, college, and 4 years of teaching if anybody was wondering how I got that number).  The routine is still pretty much the same... 

     Last night I picked out my first day of school outfit, packed my lunch, and tried to go to bed early even though it took me forever to fall asleep because even after all these years I still get nervous about the first day.  This morning I popped out of bed the first time my alarm went off, pretty much the only time this ever happens, got ready, ate a good breakfast and made Fisch take a picture of me infront of the fireplace.

     The picture is something that has been a tradition since my first day of kindergarten.  Every first day of school my mom made me pose in front of the fireplace and smile for the camera.  K-3 I hated standing still for that long, 4-8 I usually rolled my eyes, 9-12 I practiced my modeling poses, in college I thought the tradtion was done but realized I loved looking back on all these pictures, seeing the changes, seeing the progression. I realized I had many more first days ahead of me and brought back the tradition when I started student teaching. 

First day of student teaching 2007

First day of my 4th year of teaching 2012

Unfortunately, all my fun  awkward pictures are at my parents house, so my nice awkward picture from my first day of student teaching will have to do along with the one I took this morning.

Happy new school year to all my fellow teachers and students out there!

Monday

Fisch and I went on his families annual camping trip last weekend.  I guess we were having so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures!  Oh well.

Here is where I will be today...and probably the rest of the summer.  This is one of my new art rooms.  I think I have some work to do before the beginning of the school year...

 

Schoooools out for Summer!

Today was the last day of school(well, for the kids...my summer doesn't really start until mid July).  The end of my 3rd year of teaching.  The end of the first year in my new district.  

The conclusion I came to today while driving home from a day of sidewalk chalk, popsicles, smiles and hugs, is that I flippin' love teaching!

Of course not every day is chalk and popsicles and fun.  Some days are hard. Some days are spilled paint, piles of paperwork, realizing the reality of some of my students home lives and getting called a "lazy-good-for-nothing-greedy" teacher by the majority of the state you live and teach in.  

Even though the future of public education in WI is looking bleak, I cannot imagine myself in any other career that would bring me as much fulfillment and joy as teaching does.

I'm going to miss my kiddos over the summer :(

 

My Opossum Investment

 Today at school we had a guest speaker, Armando Jimenez, a wood carver from Oaxaca, Mexico.  He hand carves all his animalitas and his wife hand paints them.  They all have such personalities!  I couldn't resist buying one.  I chose the opossum.  Yes, real opossums are creepy.  Yes, one almost made me crash my car one night by running across the road right in front of me BUT this one is so darn cute!  Ok, so my first choice was the super cool owl but my colleague bought that one before I saw it.  But overall I am happy with my very first art investment :)

Wordless Wednesday: Just another reason why I love my job...

By one of my lil kindergarten boys

 "Sure, you can draw your self portrait riding on a unicorn on top of a rainbow."

How many people get to say that at work?

 

Somethin' Fishy

5th Grade Recycled Bottle Fish

3rd Grade Mermaids and Men

4th Grade Scratch Art Fish Skeletons

5k Fish Prints

2nd Grade Matisse inspired Fish Bowls

Private School Collaboration

4th Grade Self Portrait with a Fish

1st Grade Glue Batik Fish

Last week the district Youth Art Month opened in conjunction with the adult Somethin' Fishy Show.  To keep with the theme all the student artwork was "fishy" as well.  Every child in the district, from 5k-8th grade had a piece of art in the show.  Getting it all put together was stressful and involved many unpaid hours of organizing, labeling, and hanging artwork but it was all worth it to see the excitement and joy the kids got from showing off their artwork and witnessing the appreciation and amazement of the parents of what their child created.

I love my job :)

Winter Break Begins!

Ahh, winter break begins! Today was the last day at school.  I am looking forward to the next 11 days of relaxing, seeing family and friends, and getting stuff done around the house. Not going to lie, though, I am going to miss the kiddos next week. It really hit me today that some of my students probably aren't excited for a week off from school. Some of them don't have nice families to spend it with, warm houses to snuggle up in, or even food to eat everyday.  I am just so very thankful that I have been lucky enough in my life to have all those things.  I will enjoy my time off but I know I will be thinking about my students everyday and mentally planning all the awesome things I can do as a teacher to make coming back to school even better for them. :)  

I Love Names

I love names.  I love hearing new names.  Looking up meanings of names. Looking at name lists...you get the point.  One of the great, though sometimes difficult, things about being a teacher is all the names you are exposed to.  It seems like the names are getting more and more unique every year. And no I don't count spelling a kids name in some weird way being unique. It's just causing you child to have to spell their name everytime they say it for the rest of their life and all their teachers to have to look it up everytime they write it. Please can we just agree on the universal spellings of Brayden (Braeden, Bradyn, Braden), Charlie (Charley, Charlea) and Peyton (Payton, Payten)???

This year, having a lot of students of Mexican decent, I have also been exposed to a lot of hispanic names.  Having 300+ students, I thought it would be fun to see if I could find the most unique names for every letter of the alphabet (some are not that unique but I didn't have any other names for the letter)...because I am a nerd and I love lists and names :)...I have also taken it upon myself to color code the names since some are a little ambiguous.

(Black=Boy Red=Girl)

A- Atana, Ainsley, Adeliah, Alorriana

B- Bjorn, Bo, Brooks

C- Charlea, Colby

D- Deakin, Darlene, Detsy

E- Eleri, Ellis

F- Fabian

G- Garrison, Grady

H- Hugo, Hogan, Hudson

I- Ithzanamy

J- Jazlyn

K- Katia, Keagen

L- Luz

M- Mykolas, Mystie, Meadow, Marlee, Marlen

N- Noah

O- Olivia

P- Piper

Q- Quinlyn

R- Regan, Rayna

S- Sylus, Signe, Shaye, Skye

T- Trevyn, Tierney, Tyrus

U

V- Vanina

W- Wilson, Wyatt

X

Y- Yahaira, Yolitzi

Z- Zayden, Zondra

Overwhelmed

     Sorry for the silence the last couple days.  It is nearing the end of the first quarter at school and report cards are taking over my life. At the last school I taught at we gave each student 3 grades for art. At my new school we give 20.  It's nice we are so thorough, but I have 306 students. This means I have to give 6,120 grades per quarter (plus comments)...24,480 per year! And this is just for report cards.  It doesn't include grading each project for each kid during the quarter.  I absolutely love my job but right now it is making me feel very overwhelmed.  
     One light at the end of the tunnel...Fisch said he'd take me out for a nice dinner when I finish all my report cards :)

Wordless(ish) Wednesday: Picture an Hour

     Yesterday, I took a picture every hour to document of my day.  Being a traveling art teacher my schedule is different everyday.  Tueday is my least busy day with only five classes (four of which are 1st grade meaning I teach the same project four times) and 2 hours of prep time but I still go to all my schools. It was also the only day this week where I didn't have a meeting or open house after school. So here is my somewhat typical Tuesday.


6:00 am

Best iced coffee recipe found here. Obviously need a french press because this way takes forever!

7:00 am

8:00 am

9:00 am

10:00 am

11:00 am

12:00 pm

1:00 pm

2:00 pm

3:00 pm

Pumpkin Spice Shake makes me a happy camper.

4:00 pm

5:00 pm

6:00 pm

Day Zero Project. 101 Things in 1001 Days.

  




7:00 pm

8:00 pm

9:00 pm

 10:00 pm

  

11:00 pm

The Book of Awesome

The Search is Over!

When it rains it pours!

(The rain is a positive thing in this use of the cliche)

My day yesterday:

10:00 - Interview for a full time elementary art teaching position

10:35 - Called Mom crying because I didn't think it went very well.

1:30 - Interview for an after school program leader

(Offered the position on the spot and was told to think about if I might want the higher position of Program Assistant Director.)

2:45(While driving home from 2nd interview) - Principal from 1st interview called me and offers me the full time art teacher position. (Apparently it went better than I originally thought!)

2:50 - Called Mom crying again...this time because I was so happy.

It was such a crazy, wonderful day yesterday. It seems kind of ironic to me that after playing the applying, interview, rejection waiting game for so long that I would interview and get hired for a great position all in the same day.

I am very excited but overwhelmed. 

School starts a week from Thursday!

The things I'll miss about Smalltown U.S.A...

     As I mentioned before I am moving to Madison from Smalltown U.S.A.  I have spent the last two years of my life working and living in a very small town in Eastern WI.  Fisch's family is from around here and when I got a job in the area right out of college it seemed like a good fit.  It was an adjustment after 5 years of living in Milwaukee.  At first I wasn't sure if I would like living in a town with such a minute population, even though that is what I always thought I wanted, but after awhile I found things I really loved about my new surroundings and these are the things I am going to miss dearly...

 Living just a couple miles from Lake Michigan and free beach that has been the site of annual birthday picnics and many relaxing afternoons.

The big back yard with a large garden.

(Not to mention the delicious rasberries from said garden)

The old house with character that I lived in.

The walk in closet with built in shelves that fit ALL my clothes.

 Being able to sit down and brush my teeth at the same time...ok maybe I won't miss that one very much. I am super excited to have two larger bathrooms in the new place.

My kiddos at school who made it so hard to leave ("Raise your hand if you think Miss M is the best art teacher ever! Ok, now raise your hand if you don't want Miss M to leave.")

Being close to family.

All the friends I have made here.

  
And getting to see these cutie pies every week.

     Yep, it will be hard at first getting used to a new place, new people, new job (fingers crossed) but I am excited for this new chapter. I am excited for all moving to Madison has to offer, tons of things to do, many food options (no longer will we have to drive 20 minutes just to get Chinese food), the fireplace in our new apartment...just to name a few.  I have a feeling this is the start of a great adventure!