Hello Again Blogging World!

Wow, I did not realize that it has been SIX weeks since I last posted! Well I had the feeling that I was not going to have the time to blog near as much since taking on the full time job. Let me tell you, IT IS DEFINITELY A FULL TIME JOB! I feel like I work ALL OF THE TIME. Actually, if you ask Les and kids they will say that I do work all of the time. We have survived the first six weeks of school, though. I try to not stay at the school past 5 o'clock each day, but sometimes it is 6 o'clock before I get home. I feel like I can stay at the school all night and not run out of things to do. I love being back in the classroom teaching students, but I forgot all of the extra work that goes along with it. So many emails to read, papers to file, documenting of students, lessons to prepare, papers to run off, papers to print, and finally, PLANNING! Whew! Have I worn you out yet just reading this?

Well this post is going to be long, so prepare yourself. I made the time this Saturday morning to sit down and blog! So, get prepared because I am in for the long haul. There has been a few interesting things happen. Yes, just a few, because now that we are all in school not much happens anymore.

Ok, here are some pictures of my classroom that I took almost a month ago. A few of the bulletin boards have now moved, but for the most part it still looks the same. Here is my home away from home. Aww, I just realized I forgot to take a picture of my cute red door with the curtains I made myself and my sign that says Mrs. Davis hanging on it. Maybe I will remember to take a picture when I go up this weekend. Yes, I go up there at least one day a weekend for a couple of hours to prepare for the next week. Sigh. Ok ok here they are:

This is my reading loft. I have the library underneath and pillows for the kids to read on at the top. This is my favorite part of the room. It is so nice and cozy. I stapled twinkle lights underneath and it gives a nice little glow. Oh, this reminds me a couple of weeks ago, I was eating my lunch in another teacher's room when someone rushed in and said, "Mrs. Davis, Leslie just threw up and she is outside of Mrs. "P"'s room!" I immediately rushed out of the room to locate her. There are 3 "Mrs. P"'s in our school so I was running all over the grounds. Suddenly someone stopped me and said, "Nolan is at the front of the school!" I got really confused and then I saw Nolan sitting on a chair waiting for me. He was the one that threw up at lunch time. I took him in my room, turned off the lights and laid him under the loft with the twinkle lights on. At that moment, I was so glad that I made the decision to go back to work. I was already up at the school with my children and able to comfort right away. He laid there with a blanket waiting for Papa to come pick him up. Of all times, Les was out of town!

This is our Martian Math wall with the calendar.

This is my reading system wall where the kids read a certain number of minutes and travel through the planets to receive a certificate and prize. The paper dolls hanging are called "Me Dolls" the students made on the first week of school.

This board is for outstanding work. Oh, and the Lysol made the picture. Whew, we cannot live without that stuff!

This is my desk area with the Star Student board behind it.

Obviously this is my word wall where all of the sight words that the students should know are added each week. We now have many more words than the picture shows!

This is the view from front of the classroom when you first walk in the door.

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Several weeks ago Leslie and NOlan were in their bathroom with lotion, measuring cups and spoons. They were really quiet and involved in what they were doing. Les peaked in at them and they were pretending to be scientists and conducting experiments. Les thought that was really neat and asked me to pick up a science kit the next time I was out grocery shopping, which happens to be almost every weekend. Yuck! Anyhoo, I picked up a really cool one with real glass beakers and test tubes! Les was just as excited as the kids and that day they conducted several "real" experiments. Here they were boiling coffee and collecting the condensation in another tube. The only bad thing about this science kit is that we cannot let them conduct by themselves. Oh well, this will give us quality time together!

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During the day Les gets a lot of work done without us in the house bothering him. He gets his normal work done, mowing, landscaping, and yes, hunting! He has been able to do a lot of fishing and hunting (well, getting ready for hunting). One day as he and his brother were out setting the deer feeders and camera, he rubbed his eyes as something flew in them. He forgot that there was an abundance of poison ivy and poison oak all around him. Les has always been one of those that does not have to be very far from poison ivy to get it all over him. It is like the stuff just reaches out and gets him. Well, as he rubbed his eyes he thought nothing more until one day later he awoke to severe itching in the middle of the night. He got up that next morning and his eyes were about swollen shut. As the hours passed, his eyes got bigger and bigger. He truly and sadly looked like a monster! He decided to go to the doctor to get a shot and apparently (I was not able to see him at that time since I had to go to work) his eyes got so huge the receptionist at the office said she could not even look at him! Poor thing. Once he got the shot, the swelling made its way down. I sure hope he remembers this as he is out bow hunting this morning! Here he is before I went to work. Yes, I got even worse!

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Ok, that is all for now. I will try to blog more often, but I am not making any promises. I will try!