I had a super parent turnout tonight for orientation. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I ended the evening feeling positive and even excited about tomorrow…don’t know if that’s possible…I’ve been pretty excited all week! Actually, the reason I am excited about tomorrow is that my class will be going to the computer lab to enter their first “blogs.” I can’t wait to read what they write.

Aargh! I was going to take the TELPAS rater online test…found the binder with the site and password information (not to mention some samples)….had my cup of coffee…and was ready to go. I found the site (finally…it’s a long story), and got through the entire registration process to the point of entering the password. So, I typed in the 6-digit password we were told to use at training…and…”you have entered an incorrect password…” Blah! I tried it again…nope…it’s not the right one!

What can one do? E-mail central office and ask for the password? Yu., that’s what I did, but they don’t work on Sundays…so I guess I’m waiting till I have a few hours next weekend to take the test! Hmmm…must be a sign!

Yikes! We are in the home stretch….the last week before school starts! Today I am officially back at work. I can’t wait to start the planning process. Well, technically, we already started on Thursday, but that wasn’t the same as having a few hours to sit down and plan out the week or weeks with your fellow teachers.

…I’m about to lose control…and I think I like it!!! Yeah, I did it…well…actually Tina helped me. I finally made a podcast with iMovie. I used pictures of our class frog, added audio, modified the audio to a chipmunk sound, and then followed the steps on the ETA website to add the podcast to my school website. Phew! That was a   l-o-n-g sentence! I’m out of breath. But I am exceptionally happy right now! I love it!

Wow! Two days down and three to go. What a great program…I’m at least enjoying every bit of it. Believe it or not, with all the workshops I’ve been to this summer, all the alternative certification program’s tips I’ve received, and all the teacher tips I’ve heard, I am still getting new ideas and tips. Yippee! I even picked up some more ideas from Shay’s classroom demonstration today (as did Bonita and Carol). I guess it’s true…we never stop learning. My head is so packed with information!!! Now I just need more time to implement it all before the kids start showing up…wait…that would be next week…aargh!!!

I went to Petsmart to check into all the necessities for an aquarium…and wound up leaving with more than I bargained for.

My daughter happened to be with me, and she wanted a hermit crab…harmless enough…until I saw the cute little frogs in the aquarium next to the crabs! After spending 20-30 minutes asking questions, getting answers, and being assured that the little guys would not graduate to eating “pinkie mice or rats”, I was pretty convinced that they would be a great addition to any classroom. Of course my daughter was telling me how much more interesting frogs and hermit crabs were compared to fish! So, I have a little frog sitting on my kitchen counter, but the “travel” habitat he (or is it she) is in…I don’t like. I will upgrade the habitat to an aquarium tomorrow. The only foreseeable problem is that the froggie must come home on weekends and holidays. There isn’t a 3-day, 7-day, or 14-day food supply for them.

 I still got the supplies for the fish aquarium, and I will set that up tomorrow. The water should be ready to add fish during our staff development week.

Footnote: when we got home and set up the hermit crab habitat, Tina and I decided that the little guy needed a larger area. I mean after we put the two types of water dishes in there, a miniature pirate ship, a food dish and small logs for climbing, there was hardly any room for Mr. Crabby. So, we drove back to Petsmart, and got a larger tank. Then after we set that all up, we read the little information book that states the crabs live in colonies and are actually quite social! Yup, you guessed it…she went back and bought another crab! They’re quite interesting to watch, and I see hermit crabs in our classroom in the future!

I should still be sleeping, but the animals are awake! Kuro (the youngest kitten) started it all. She was climbing the hanging scratcher on Tina’s bedroom door, so it was banging and knocking on the door. (By the way, Tina’s in New York, so she wasn’t here to settle her down.) Needless to say, we woke up, so Tim got up to let her out of the bedroom. What a mistake! She just came into our room and started playing on the bed. That just got the rest of the animals going. The dogs (all three of them) thought it was time to go outside and then eat breakfast! Precious (the cat that sleeps in our room) couldn’t quit fussing and growling at Kuro. The only quiet one was Cepheus (Tina’s other cat).

It was at that point that Tim decided he was hungry, so he got up too. Me? I tried, but I couldn’t just roll over and go back to sleep (too much going on at 5:30 am)….so here I am, drinking coffee, checking e-mail, looking at the forum and of course posting a blog!

I’m almost ready for the year to start…I think! I just have a few more things to do:

1. put liquid nails on the cork to keep it up!
2. finish up with the classroom library (baskets)
3. go through the filing cabinet
4. go through the binders left from Kayla and Ms. Sanchez
5. clean off my desk and table
6. get the fish tank going (I’m having second thoughts on this one.

I think that’s it. I’ll start Monday, and I’ll finish Friday…just in time to start New Teacher Orientation the following Monday!