Set Up Week Begins

When I got to school today, about 10:00am, the place was the busiest it has been so far this month. Most of the office staff was there, and the principal was greeting a new family, the children of which were decked out in full school uniforms. I saw at least six other teachers working to put their rooms in order, and ran into two parents I know. It is a busy time, which can make it harder to be productive. I was surprised to find I was eating my lunch at 1:45, and disappointed in the progress I was able to make before I left. Tomorrow I plan to go in early, on my normal school year schedule, which should give me an hour or two before the building gets busy to focus on working rather than chatting.

Today was mostly about getting lots of little things done. I unpacked bins that held my prayer table and some teacher desk items, located my step stool that had gone missing (it was in the faculty room), laminated a couple of small posters that were too big for my home laminator, started a bulletin board display for the school theme, unpacked new math materials and added the student books to their cubbies, set up my prayer table, and set out the new book report booklets. I might have done a few other things besides staring at the mess and willing it to take care of itself, but maybe not.



Book report display

The start of a bulletin board

 

Prayer Table complete with my Machu Picchu Rock

Today was also about conversations with co-workers, both about school and chit chat to catch up with people I haven't seen in several weeks. I found out that the sixth grade teachers are swapping who is teaching science and social studies, and offered up some resources I have from the years I spent teaching ancient civilizations to Austin, who will be taking over the job. I talked with Kate about several different things, but notably about our mid-October trip to Camp Seymour and the process of seeking out parent volunteers and communicating necessary information to all parents.

And I talked to the science teacher about the worm bin my students created last year. Specifically I wanted to know whether or not she thought the worms were alive in there after all the heat we had last week (with no water/food added since June). Paula said since it still smelled earthy, rather than moldy, the environment was probably still healthy, and helped me add water, more worms from the school wide worm bin, and some greenery to help them reestablish their plastic habitat.



Revitalizing the worm bin

Again I have the sense that as I check things off of my to do list, more items are being added to the bottom. I hope the rate of added items slows enough this week that I can begin to feel like I'm actually making progress toward being ready for students on September 1!



Time to take out the recycling!