School, Baby, and Web, Oh My!

Yes, it's true, my summer has come to an end.

Today I went into my classroom for the first time and started setting things up. Including today, I have 6 and a half days available to get ready for the new year. I have to admit, with everything that has gone on lately with my grandma's passing, I'm very unmotivated. Although, I did find myself getting into the "zone" once I got into my classroom.

I took my #1 helper with me, my mom's former aide, Altagracia. She is so great at helping to move furniture around and doing the bulletin boards, it is like getting 8 hours worth of work done in 4 hours.

We arrived at 9am, I picked up my keys from the office, and opened up my room. I'll be teaching 5th grade this year, but all of my 4th grade texts are still in the room. Our supply/text lady wasn't there today, so everything is just sitting in a big pile waiting to be picked up.

We got the furniture in formation, distributed the texts I have so far and took an inventory of what we need, did the bulletin boards, and I set up the top of my desk. There are some things that I can't do until I get pacing plans for math and language arts and the class list, but we made a lot of headway today. I probably won't need all the time I've given myself, but I feel better starting early.

I just wish I wasn't so tired. I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation!

Yesterday my mom and I babysat my sweet nephew, Alexander, for 12 hours. 8:30am to 8:30pm. We took him to the Arboretum where they were doing a photo shoot for National Geographic. They were using the little Native American village near Queen Anne's Cottage. We took Xander's picture with a horse and mule that were waiting nearby to be part of the shoot. The animal handler was really nice and helpful.

Needless to say we were pretty worn out by the end of the day! I think it is easier to deal with 32 10-year olds for 6 hours than one 6-month old for 12. Despite that, we loved babysitting, and I'm really proud of myself for getting better at being able to interpret Xander's cries to know what he needs.

And, lastly, one thing that has been weighing on my mind is my Internet is out at my house. I don't know what the problem is, but I'm guessing it is my modem. However, there could possibly be a problem at AT&T, my ISP, because when I called them I got disconnected twice. I would be more suspicious if I didn't just deal with them recently and got really good service. Fortunately, I have other avenues for web access, like my phone, and an unsecured network in the neighborhood that I can get to really easily on my little Mac from school. Still, I miss working on my lovely Toshiba laptop.

So those are the updates! No pictures on my blog entries until I'm back on my other laptop!