The Daily Grind

Teachers in my county returned to work on August 3rd and I cannot believe that it is already the third week of school with the kids! We have had a lot of ups and downs in the few short weeks since the year began and are anxiously awaiting the hiring of a fifth second grade teacher. Our school did not anticipate the number of students attending this year and even though we began with five teachers on our grade level, we "lost" a teacher to first grade during pre planning.

Shortly after, enough kids enrolled to fill an entire class in second grade! These past few weeks have been a bit stressful trying to find enough desks, materials, and supplies for all the extra little bodies. I haven't been thrilled with how the county handled the situation, but a solution is in sight and a new teacher is scheduled to begin this week. It will be nice to have a smaller class and more manageable numbers! I am also excited to not have to wait any longer to transition the kids, since the longer we wait the harder it will be for them to leave.

The best part about school so far is that I got a new classroom with a Promethean board!! This is something I have waited for for the last two years and am so excited to have this technology available for my students. Another big change is that I am team teaching with my friend Sandy from special ed. We are doing math and reading together and I think it is going to be great for the kids- especially to have the Promethean board to enhance their lessons.I think this school year has the potential to be the best one yet and I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out!

Edited to Add: A Promethean Board has a touch screen and is interactive. You use special pens to do all sorts of various functions. There are also voting buttons that students can use, a tablet so you can interact with the board from across the room, and numerous features that make the technology extremely useful in the classroom. It is a hot commodity in our school since there is only one per grade level, so I am very lucky to have gotten it this year!