Back to School!!!

All I can say for myself is this... Back to School Night.

It was tonight! I met with parents. I chatted it up. I gave kids good handshakes and looked them in the eye. I smiled a lot. I complimented the kids. I tried to make them want to come back tomorrow...

And you know what? I think for the most part, I succeeded! In fact, the literacy coach told me afterward that one of my students told her she really really liked me. So that is awesome. I have so many mixed emotions going into tomorrow! I'm absolutely terrified. I'm afraid I won't be entertaining. I'm afraid I won't remember all the things I need to tell them. I'm afraid they won't respect me. But at the same time, I'm finally realizing that this is my dream come true! I've had so many ideas and wishes for teaching my own class one day, and now I have the opportunity to actually do it! Which is also a scary thought actually, but exciting nonetheless.

So I thought I'd finally share some pictures of my classroom before it gets trashed by little young-uns. It's not too fancy, but I tried to put my own flavor into the decor. I still have a lot to do to it, so maybe I can post a progression post later in the year. But this is what I have so far! (Sorry for the poor photo quality... It's all I have, ok?)

^^^ So this is my classroom library and my Thinking Maps posters. The funny thing is, my biggest concern has always been having enough books for a classroom library. And in the end, I have more than a lot of seasoned teachers, and I didn't have to pay a cent! Such a blessing. I love books! ^^^

^^^ Alright. Now. This poster is not very pretty, I know that. It's a long story. I have always wanted this in my classroom since I read The Help years ago. I thought about having it professionally done, but it would have been too expensive. So I decided to do it myself with my school's poster printer. I even downloaded adorable free fonts for it! But. My laptop decided not to connect with the school poster printer. So I had to email the file to the secretary and the cuteness kind of got lost in translation. So I ended up with what you see in the picture. But by then I was like FINE. WHATEVER! Because I had a lot on my plate. ^^^

^^^ Just a picture of my boring old desk. I don't know why I bothered to take a picture of this area actually. Oh wait, see that GLOBE hanging from the ceiling? Yeah, that thing is the real deal. I found it in Oregon this summer, and I had to have it. It's so lifelike! And besides that, it glows in the dark and has little spots that show you the cities all over the world. So. Beat that. ^^^

^^^ This right here is my crowning achievement. Or should I say Alex's? I told Alex I wanted a tree in my room and that I was going to make it floor to ceiling by crumpling up paper. He told me he wanted nothing to do with that because he is a math/numbers sort of character. I said ok, and started crumpling up paper. He got intrigued and started helping out. And then he took over and told me to stay out of it. And in the end, you have my 7 Habits tree!! ^^^

^^^ This is the best angle I could get for my classroom as a whole. So, pretty plain, but it took quite a while, let me tell you! Off to the left of the tree in that blank space, I'm planning on putting up a Leader wall, where I can highlight my students being leaders. So stay tuned for that! ^^^

Ah man, I realized I didn't photograph my bulletin board. Maybe tomorrow! I'll instagram it? Follow me @madaboutlife to see updates :)

p.s. have you checked out The Life of Bon yet?