The countdown is on.

August is a time of craziness for teachers.  Throw parenthood into the mix and you enter a new level of craziness.  Aside from getting your classroom ready you have to get your own kiddo ready - school supplies, new shoes, haircut, etc.  (I have to cut Erik's hair.  He has a lot of anxiety with scissors and trimmers around his head and screams and wiggles around - it's SO FUN.  Oh boy... ha) 

Anyway, gone are the lazy days of summer.  Because starting last week, I've been kicking it into high gear.  I remember my ex-husband saying that he didn't see much of me in September.  I tend to keep long hours at school and on the home computer, putting together visual aides, behavior modification tools/contracts, picture schedules, etc. to help my students get through their school day.  That's the thing about teaching a special needs class.  All of my kiddos will need that extra something to help them get through their day.  The tricky part is figuring out WHAT that something is.  But before you can start on that, you have to get to know them.  REALLY know them.  You have to get past that honeymoon period of perfect behavior - which can last as long as early October.

I have 12 students on my roster so far.  (Currently I can have up to 13.)  Of those 12, I'll have 3 students returning.  I'm well aware of their strengths and weaknesses.  However, I'll have 9 brand new students - which is a lot for me since my kiddos stay with me for three years.  So I'm anxious to meet them and get our year rolling.

For now, I've been in and out of my classroom decorating, getting bulletin boards papered and the classroom library together - you know - the fun stuff.  It's always so funny walking into that empty shell of a room in early August and thinking that same thought of "Holy crap.  How on earth will I get this all done?"  But it always comes together.  And for that first week of school, your room is GORGEOUS and shiny and organized and so clean...  But that doesn't last long.  ha ha 

Since this is my 3rd year in this room, working with K-2, I am starting to get the hang of what I need to do in order to keep my room more organized.  For example, I have my classroom library organized by topic.  But some books fall in that murky territory of "either/or."  And the kiddos would just throw the books anywhere so they could get to the next center.  So I've made new picture labels for the book bins and coordinating book labels - - which need to be put on all of the books.  Pretty labor intensive.  It took me about three hours just to create and print all the labels.  However, it's going to pay off in the long run when the kiddos can simply match the label to the bin picture and get going on their way.  They're happy and I'm happy.  Phew!

Here are some "before" pictures of the room.  (You'll see my son, Erik, in some of the shots.  He liked going to my room and playing with his train which he could run all over the hardwood floors with. He actually let me work for a whole hour and a half that day!)

"After pictures" coming soon!

Also, I've only got about 7 more chapters to read in Fred Jones and I'll be posting those "cliff notes" as soon as I'm finished.  I'm trying to cram in as much reading time as a I can so I can get started reading Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations book!

Learning How to Use this New Toy

Finally got a chance to sit down and use my new Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet tonight!  It was super easy to set up.  Just installed the driver using the CD that came with it and then plugged it in via USB port to my PC and it was ready to go!

It's going to take some time to get used to drawing on a tablet but seeing the image on the monitor.  Anyway, to practice I made the crude self-portrait below.  It took me about 20 minutes to get the hang of things.  I suspect it'll get much quicker the more I practice.

Hmm.  Guess I made myself pretty thin in this self portrait.  =)