Stories from My First Grade World: It's Here! It's Here! IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, the time has arrived [finally] to open my own classroom. While there were some paper work items I could gather ahead of time, I pretty much had to wait until last Wednesday [the day before Thanksgiving] to begin working on the room. I had to continue teaching the 10 older students who I was filling in for the maternity leave with. It was a juggling act; one I hope I do not have to do again; but we made it through. I was able to hand over progress monitoring completed through the 3rd week and all work graded when the teacher I was in for returned. She had three non student days to ready her new room and once the students left on Wednesday, I began "remodeling" the one I was staying in.

My group is [currently...though rumors are floating of an addition coming before the end of December] 6 boys, all 14 or 15 years old and one male aide. Two have a TSS who comes daily/multiple times per week. *Speaking of TSS...I should probably pull in some extra chairs! oops....* You'll notice from the photographs that I did my best to tone down my girliness and make sure the things they are going to be using on a daily basis are "boy friendly" and not all pink and purple....though my stuff is :)

I hope you enjoy this first tour of my new classroom!! I still have a few items, which I'll post in the coming days, to add, but overall....we're ready for tomorrow :)

...well, the room is! I'm still working on my nerves!!!