When Things Don't Go According to Plan

Wow, what a crazy first week of school! The first week is always crazy, but this one will go down in the record books...

I spent the first four days of this school year with a wonderful class of 17 kindergarteners. We got along splendidly and by the end of that first day, I already loved each one of them with all of my heart. We learned our routines and expectations, and I got a feel for their different personalities. I kept thinking how lucky I was for having such a great class!

Then Friday came. I found out Friday morning that the powers-at-be decided to cut a Kindergarten teacher. Of course, they cut the newest member of the team. Since I moved schools this year, that lucky person is me. In the past, the policy was that the newest teacher to the entire school would be displaced to another school, and then the teacher whose grade level was affected would be moved into that newly opened spot. Evidently that policy changed this year, so that movements like this affect as few people as possible. While that makes sense for the sake of the children, I feel that it will discourage teachers to ever move grade levels or schools, because seniority on your specific team is the only way to guarantee that you won't be moved to another campus.

Anyway, I am being moved to teach Pre-K at a Title 1 campus. I am honestly a little afraid of Pre-K--they are just so little! But I'm also excited for the opportunity. This situation has really been the result of a perfect storm of events. If I hadn't switched schools, or if I had stayed in First Grade (which is what I originally signed on for), or if the Kindergarten class had just had 5 more students, I would not have been displaced. So, I'm going to believe that teaching Pre-K at this other school is exactly where I'm supposed to be!

I get two days to move. Tomorrow I will help my Kinder friends transition to their new classes, and spend the rest of the day packing up my things. Tuesday, I will be provided with a moving truck and some movers, who will take my things to my new school. I'll spend all of Tuesday setting up, and then I'll start teaching my new classes on Wednesday! After having some time to get used to the idea, I'm actually kind of excited to get going!

Snack time with my short-lived Kindergarten class. I will miss them!

Classroom Reveal

I cannot believe that the kids come on Monday! I had so much fun meeting most of my students at Meet the Teacher on Thursday. I can tell that I am going to have a very sweet class this year!

I redid my classroom decor again this year (I swear, this is the last time!). I went with BRIGHT colors, and I am pretty excited about how it turned out! (Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

My mom is making me some curtains as well (they should be arriving today!) so I will have to add an updated picture later.

I got these adorable posters from Deanna Jump. Check out her TpT store here. I also got that adorable chaise from a neighbor of mine, and another fabulous neighbor donated the picture frames and the white board. My plan for the Author's Table is to hang three choices for writing (I will add more as the year goes on) and put the corresponding papers in the drawers below the table. You can read more about the writing station I created in this post from July!

My wonderful husband did my Word Wall. I knew the engineer in him would make the lines perfectly even and straight, and he did not disappoint!

So what do you think? I'd say it is a HUGE improvement over my classroom from my first year...Don't you think? ;)

First year classroom--I've come a long way!