Thursday, August 30, 2012

Building a BUSY Community!

Wow! Week 1 is almost done. It has been a great time of new friends, lots of routines, and building a community. I am so proud of the 1st graders. If you were to walk into our room, you would think they had been in school for months.

Today, we enjoyed the nice breeze and went outside to use our bodies to make patterns. It was a great way to get moving while learning math!

Friday, August 24, 2012

The Eye of the Storm

As a little girl, I remember when Hurrincane Alicia barreled into Galveston Bay.  As I sit here in a quite classroom with names on desk and bulleton boards hung, I am reminded of that day.  I grew up in Sharpstown and the eye of the storm actually went right over my house.  I watched and worried through the window for hours, as the trees (50 year old oaks) blew in one direction  and pounding rain  fell, and then all of the sudden the air grew still.  My dad let us walk outside to look up.  It was about 5 minutes of complete calm, before the winds whiped around in the opposite direction. I remember looking at my dad and saying, "we made it" and he said, "the best of the storm is still to come."

I look at my classroom as a hurricane, or maybe a reverse hurricane (more constructive than DE-structive)! Every summer, I know what is coming and spend time thinking of better ways to be prepared and  to make a difference in each kid's life.  And then it is back to school, the winds begin to whip with pouring excitment for what is ahead.  Busy days of inservice and endless preparing.  But today (if only for the time it takes to post this) I sit in the Eye of the Storm, the calm room, and ponder over of the possibilities for the year.  New kids to love, brain cells to ignite, and the chance to help everyone find and feel sucess.  Wow!  That is what makes me love my job!

I know the calm will stop in a blink of eye and the winds will begin to roar in the opposite direction.  It's those winds that I can't wait to blow.  Kid's voices, lightbulb moments, and mistakes that we learn from - my hope for the new year is that we ride those winds as high as they will take us. 

I can't wait to meet those smiling faces!  Here is to a GREAT year, and "THE BEST IS STILL TO COME!"