So it's been awhile...

As I have been reading and downloading and starting school and getting my girls finished with summer and ready to start school on Wednesday I realized that between vacation, going back to school and basically starting everything again... it's been awhile since I posted anything. (and even then it was just giveaway posts) Wow can you feel the *and*s in there... So we are 10 days in and it's been a whirlwind. I have implemented a couple of things I found over the summer, but am really feeling like I have tons of stuff that needs to be filed somewhere on the computer and then do something with all of it. I've got the new clip system in place, GO Books in place, calendar books begun Sept 1 and neglected Sept 2 (oh well, we'll make it up on Tuesday) It's all about the basic routines over and over again... am I blue yet? I love that one cute little girl gave herself yellow instead of green and made her mom so anxious about it she sent me an email to ask how she could encourage better behavior... lesson learned do not let them have anything that looks like yellow green or green yellow to do behavior charts. Back to school was in a different format this year and that threw off some of the info the parents "should" have gotten. I did use a couple of things that found over the summer, but it's lonely trying to share about all the wonderful blogs and bloggers out there when all of my colleagues just stare at me blankly. They do like that I have lots of new resources, but expect me to share and explain it all... can't they start blog stalking like everyone else??? Of course I didn't print everything out as I found it this summer... let's just say "wrong choice"! So there are no math stations or literacy stations or even just "centers" yet. I still haven't figured out how to do the required curriculum and implement stations. Do some of you not have district mandated curriculum that you must use? It sure seems as though you are just free to do your own thing. Then there are all the things "we've always done" that I'm feeling pressured to use - "why can't we all just keep doing them?" I know that eventually I will get more things into place, but I'm a little disappointed when I read how well stations are going in other classrooms. It would have been so nice to have every single idea that I found ready and in place to start off the year. I know, I know that's a little unrealistic... it would make my perfection-istic tendencies so happy. It would also require another "me" or a friend who also had all the same good ideas floating around in her head that would make half the stuff so we could share in the work... I am a dreamer... And then there is the need to lesson plan fully, but that would require that there would be a few minutes at some point to sit down and try to think through how this will all work in conjunction with one another. Ahhh... but the three day weekend was enjoyed. We had 50 people over at the house this afternoon. So glad it was fun for children and grown-ups too! Do we really have to go back tomorrow? I think they really learned everything they needed to in those 10 days :) I really, really like summer... Is it June yet?