:::I SURVIVED WEEK ONE:::

This week has been CRAZY! Actually the past two weeks have been a whirlwind. I completed my first week of teaching and husband planned, directed, and completed a conference for church planters in town (biggest one in this region. my husband is awesome).

All I ever do is lesson plan and lesson plan and lesson plan. And in the little bit of spare time that I have, I lesson plan:) So, how have I made it through this week, you ask? JESUS, HUSBAND, MENTOR TEACHER, MOTHER IN LAW, AND NAIL POLISH. 

JESUS: I never knew how involved teaching was. My goodness, it is so much more than a 8 to 3 job. It consumes my whole life. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE what I am doing. It is hard, tiring, exhausting, rewarding, and stressful, but I know it is what the Lord has called me to do. Therefore, I do it to bring him glory. I am loving every minute of getting to know my kids. It's only been a week and I know I've already made an impact on a few of them:)

HUSBAND: I could not have gotten through this week without him. He is constantly praying and encouraging me. When it got too overwhelming, he could calm me down. When I felt like I was failing, he reassured me to find my victory in Jesus. When I got to whining, he set me straight. I love this man.

MENTOR TEACHER: she is the bomb.com. I'm not kidding, I don't know how I would be surviving if it was not for her. She is incredible at her job and so full of wisdom. She has been so patient with me and so open. She is a true gift from the Lord this year. I'm so blessed to be under her and observing her. I can't get enough!

MOTHER IN LAW: This women spoils me. Every night, she has had dinner on the table. That has helped relieve so much stress off of me. I'm so thankful and grateful to have such a sweet caring mother in law. She has no idea how much she has helped me by simply making dinner. Thanks mom:)

NAIL POLISH: I don't know why, but this little bottle I bought myself today as a surprise to me from my husband has just made my week:) Just a little pick me up! Thanks Husband for the sweet surprise. haha.

sally hansen. #28 Mint Sprint

I'm off to relearn simple, compound, and complex sentences. 

#lifeofa6thgradeteacher

:::MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING:::

Today was Day One of teaching. I met my sweet kiddos today:) Oh sixth graders... they are going to be so fun!I took a picture today... because well you know... It's my first day of school:)

 Goodwill shoes:) Love them!

Husband said pants would make look me look more like a professional. Thankful for him;) Pics are so blurry because of my iphone:( I need iphone4 cough cough cough husband cough.

Today went great! We went over procedures, rules, lockers, and a brief introduction. Tomorrow will be more fun activities for team building and introductions mixed in with more procedures! I'm looking forward to it.. and scared of it all at the same time. 

Teaching experience so far/My goals for teaching: 

I'm scared of lesson plans

I want my kids to like me and be obediant

I'm terrified I'll mess up school administrative stuff like lesson plans, attendance, grade book, etc

I want to do a good job

I want to impress my principals through hard work

I want to work hard to bring Glory to the Lord

I want to be Christ to my kids and co-workers no matter how hard a day I have

I want to constantly show Jesus

My biggest fear is that I wont be Christ-like to them

I never want to judge my kids

I never want to give up on them just because they won't obey

I want to do a good job. 

I want my kids to grow. 

I want my kids to love learning:)

I want to implement effective lessons.

Teaching is overwhelming and humbling all at the same time.

and the list goes on...... 

Lord, use me. Help me to always give you the Glory for any good work I do. You are the only good in me.

:::TOMORROW I BECOME A TEACHER:::

Tomorrow is my first real day of Teaching. 

I meet my kiddos tomorrow. 

I teach tomorrow

I teach tomorrow.......

Wait WHAT???? 

#overwhelmed

I'm so thankful for my job. My school is absolutely amazing and I'm seriously so excited to work under my principals. They are all so amazing and exactly the kind of principals I hoped to work under one day. I feel so blessed. I know this is exactly where the Lord wants me. Although I may be overwhelmed, the Lord knew I was capable of doing a great job or he would not have given me this job. 

I will find my rest in Him.

I can not wait to meet my kids. Now if I could only figure out what to wear......

:::OPERATION CLASSROOM : IT IS FINISHED:::

I FINALLY finished my classroom and I could not be more excited!! It's so surreal that I have my own room and will be teaching in a matter of days. I feel so blessed to have this job! I love all the other teachers I've met & my principals are AMAZING! The Lord is so good. I literally have the perfect job. 

I tried really hard to keep the cost of my room down so I did a lot of crafting, hit up tons of yard sales, and bought only things on sale!

 As soon as you enter the room:

 To the left when you walk in:

 The chair I redid:

 Left wall:

 The vocabulary words we will study will come from texts that we read in class. Any word that my students may be unfamiliar with will go on the "Word Wall" and become a vocabulary word.

 STOP, COLLABORATE, AND LISTEN

 Back Wall:

 Instead of buying the boring poster, I decided to make the 12 Powerful Words a little more FUN:)

 I was given the table. That's right... GIVEN!! (not by the school either) The Lord seriously provided above and beyond. I am so thankful!

 My Nook:

 Right Wall: After the few first weeks, I will use the bulletin board to display student work (hence the "look what we did"). Right now, It will display a calendar & important school information.

 Group Numbers:

 View from the back:

 One VERY happy teacher:)!!!

 I added these paper clips after I took the photos above. Fun, Easy way to hold on to the papers I might need, or sweet notes from students (assuming that I will get those)

Monday starts Day One of being a Teacher.

OH. MY. 

p.s. Here is part one, two, and three of Operation Classroom.

::OPERATION CLASSROOM VOLUME 3:::

 Slowly but surely I am making progress on my classroom. I just work on it a little bit everyday. Here are a few updates: (flowers above are my hall passes, got them all for 50cents at a yardsale)

I finished my bulletin board... somewhat. not my favorite thing but it's functional!

This hangs outside my classroom. Everyday, I will write what my students need for the day on it. Great way for them to know and me not get asked a million times. BIG thanks to a fellow teacher for this idea. Whiteboard was $1 at a yardsale. I painted it.

 Remember this teaser from my last post:

 This is what I did with them! They hang over the groups. They are for sure my favorite thing in the room and only cost 6 bucks to make! I put the tutorial link in my last classroom post.

Now to my favorite part of the room so far, my desk! I know I will be spending alot of time in my room over the next year (aka my home away from home) and I really wanted it to be a bright colorful room that my kids will enjoy coming into. My little nook of the room is rad if I do say so myself. It's hard to tell from my iphone pics & the crappy lighting how well all of the fabrics and colors coordinate but you get the idea.

 All fabric came from Joanns. I spent around $30 for all the fabric in my room (desk, canvas, bulletin board, and chair). Lamp was free, red file cabinet 3 bucks, black file cabinet free, vase was 2 bucks, wicker basket 3 piece storage set was a gift, Yellow paper ball was free, Rug was 4 bucks, desk supplies.... no comment. let's just say Walmart got the best of me:(

 I'm so incredibly thankful that the Lord has provided the money to get my room ready. I still haven't spent a dime of my own money on it. The Lord is so good. 

Still to do: 

Hang everything on my walls. Hopefully, this will happen Monday.

THAT'S IT!!!!! I still will have administrative stuff to do but as far as my class being decorated, I will be done by Monday, Lord willing!!

:::OPERATION CLASSROOM VOLUME 2:::

I have been working on my classroom non-stop lately. Seriously this has been the most productive last couple of weeks of my life. I'm so physically exhausted and my body is revolting but I'm so thankful and grateful for the job! 

Here is a quick update on my room! There is still SO MUCH to be done.

 Remember this chair? I spray painted it & reupholstered the seat. LOVE IT! 

(can't wait to show you what I did with the stop sign:))

 

I posted about this bookshelf from my last post. Spray paint is my favorite thing. I got the lamp a while back. It was brass and I spray painted it red! Also the tall bookcase was $10bucks off Craigslist. I'm a new Craigslist junkie.

 File cabinet from my last post. Spray painted red.

 

Here are a couple of random photos of stuff I accomplished in my room today. I got my fabric bulletin board done. The bookshelf was painted green (8 bucks at a yardsale) & the wire baskets were free & I spray painted them!

 

This hangs above my desk. I had the canvas from my wedding that I used as a sign. I covered it in the same fabric as the chair. The "K" came from Joanns. I simply made this for me. Serves no purpose other than it is pretty & will brighten my day:)

My nook of the room. I still have some things to hang on the wall but it's coming together. I spray painted those plastic paper file baskets yellow. The paper ball was free. Lamp was free and spray painted. Rug was from my previous post. I'm thinking of covering the front of my desk with fabric... once I find the tree in my backyard where the money grows.

My favorite project so far. I'm going to hang these from the ceiling to identify my group seating. I found this tutorial and fell i.n. l.o.v.e. Paper is from walmart. $6 total to make these:)

 I was so blessed with birthday, babysitting, graduation, house sitting money that I haven't had to spend a DIME of my own money on my classroom yet. Isn't the Lord incredible? I knew teaching was what He wanted me to do and I can feel His blessings for obeying. 

Things left to do for my classroom: 

Get all posters laminated

Hang all posters on wall

Finish my bulletin board

Finish my nook of the room

Hang my group numbers

paint a white board & hang outside class

Die-Cut letters for my room

organize office supplies & desk

& plenty more I can't think of at the moment

whew. Easy to be overwhelmed but trusting in Jesus.

p.s TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.

:::OPERATION CLASSROOM:::

First off, the Lord is good. 

This morning I went to YARDSALES:) I have not been able to go for the past few weeks and I desperately need stuff for my classroom! I prayed and PRAYED and prayed last night that the Lord would allow me to find some great steals today. Again, I say the Lord is good because I hit the m.o.t.h.e.r.l.o.a.d this AM! One yard sale was a "Name the price, I have to get rid of everything, moving" sale! The best kind... PLUS she was a teacher. uh yeah.... racked up!!!

Last night, I got to talking to my friend Brittany about my classroom and what color scheme I should go with. She suggested white, yellow, green, & hints of red. I'm totally going with that. I was already thinking green & yellow/gold because school colors are purple and gold. But, I love the idea of some fun red! Thanks Britt!

So I found this adorable yellow vase for $2. The bookshelf was $8!! & that is real wood people. Great Condition. It will be painted green.

I got this case of books from the teacher yard sale lady. $2 BUCKS FOR THE WHOLE BOX! Yay for classroom library!!

File cabinet: It will be spray painted green. Why yes, I only spent $3 on it. I know... epic!

From the same teacher lady, I got this whiteboard. It was ONE buck. My classroom is mostly chalkboard, so this thing is going to be a life saver!

We were almost home and saw one last sign. I'm so glad I turned! I got this stop sign (I'll write something below the stop to make it motivation). I was a little nervous that buying this would be illegal or something. However, a sheriff just happened to be there and He approved of my purchase:) The chair was $8. It will be painted red & recovered in adorable green/yellow/red/white fabric:)

Total today I got a bookshelf, vase, case of books, file cabinet, whiteboard, stop sign, & teacher/reading chair for DRUMROLLLLLLLL : $27 buckaroos. 

Told ya the Lord is good.

Here are two more finds I got for my room a while back at yardsales. This rug I bought from a friend. It is massive and only cost me, I THINK, $4. But don't make me promise.

And these precious little flowers are going to be my hall passes. I will spray paint them red. I think I paid like 50cent for all of them.. I can't remember either.

I still need quite a bit more. I need a tall bookcase (or two). Curtains. Lamps. Fabric. ALL office supplies. more books for my library. Posters. Organizational supplies... the list goes on and on. So feel free to help a sister out:)