First Days of School

Today, Louba went back to school (a couple weeks before the other two go). I have to go back to work a couple days this week, and the big kids are spending those two days with Mom and Dad. These past few weeks have been so busy (more on that later).

Here's our annual first day of school picture of Lou (I'll post the others here in a couple weeks when they start). Louba will be in the pre-K class at her daycare, Jules will be a 2nd grader, and JD will be in the 4th. It's hard to believe I have one that's only two years away from middle school.

Louba loved school today. She was a little apprehensive about going into a new classroom, but went in and did great. Her teacher is the same one JD and Jules both had when they went to the pre-school she's at. She'll have to sign her name in every morning from now on. She told me she learned stuff but didn't know what she learned. She did say she got to play outside which is HUGE for her. (Hopefully, one day we'll have those bangs grown out and loose the 80s ponytail hair-do.) 

The Perfect School Planner

I've been teaching for about 13 years now, and I'm always on the lookout for a planner that will make school and home life easier to manage. I've used on-line programs, I've created my own templates, I tried using those little bitty teacher planner books (once, like for a week). Last year, I did a combination of my own template and the school's student agenda. It worked, but not as well as I wanted. I use www.cozi.com for our family life and any big school holidays or events. But, I've been scouring Pinterest and the internet for a planner that I could customize to fit my schedule, and I think I've finally found one!!!

Jenny at Lucky Frog's Lilypad created this one for her blog. It was what I was looking for (with a little modifying). I added a cover page, changed the class periods since I teach a split block schedule, and have a pretty set schedule with planning and remediation classes. Here's my version that you can edit as well (Jenny has the original). I made it fit our nine week schedule, and will print every nine weeks front/back to save copies and have it so I can see a whole week at a time when it's printed. I had put a cute font on it, but it switched when I put it on here--but it's editable. I found the owl clip are here.

This will be part of my teacher binder that I'll start this fall. I've had a teacher binder in the past, but I want one that looks better and is easier to use than before. The following is what I plan on putting in the binder:
1. Lesson plans (see above)
2. Book and locker list (coming soon)
3. Attendance (we take attendance online, but I print it out each month)
4. discipline log
5. Parent contact list
6. Remediation list
7. Grade book
8. Standards (SPi's and Common Core checklists)

Now to find the perfect binder!

First Day of School

Today, Louba started daycare (or Louba school). I go back to work on Friday, and this was what we decided to do. She's used to being around lots of kids (hello, she grew up in an orphanage). We were a little nervous that she would think we were "taking her back" to the orphanage, because the school is very institutional looking when you first walk in. We visited the school a couple of times to get her used to walking in the door and realizing that we weren't going to leave here there. We've talked about her going to school for a while now. We've really built it up, in hopes that it would get her excited about school. When we turned onto the road that the school is on, she ask, "Are we going to Louba's school."

"Yes," I said.

"YEEESSSS!!!" fist pump from the back seat. I think she was pretty excited (she told Eric she was cited last night about school).

I picked her up after lunch today to ease her into going and being away from mom. She even ate while there (two servings of cereal for snack, and two servings of peas for lunch). When I walked in, she finally saw me and I got the biggest smile. She immediately  began telling me that she got to use scissors today.  Before we even got out of the door she said she wanted to go back tomorrow. We may try nap time at school tomorrow.