Chris and Carrie

Posted by Carrie | August 22nd, 2010

Chris and I have had a great summer. We are sad to see it end, but we are excited to see what the new school year will bring. Tomorrow is the first day of school with the kids and this will be our 8th year of teaching. Can you believe that? Where did the time go? I will be teaching 3rd grade again and Chris will be the science and math specialist at his school for the second year. For most of the summer I wasn’t sure if I was going to be teaching 3rd grade because I am getting my masters in library science. My district is always in need of librarians so they will hire after you have six hours towards a masters. This summer I completed 15 hours towards my degree and I had a few interviews for librarian positions. Most of the schools wanted someone who was bilingual or someone who had more experience. However, one school DID offer me the job, but it wasn’t the right fit for me, so I turned it down. I am at a great school, and I love the people I work with, so I didn’t see any harm in teaching for another year while I get some more hours and more knowledge under my belt. I am excited and hopeful that the right librarian position will come along next year!

Here are a few really blurry pictures from my phone that I took yesterday as I put the last few finishing touches on my classroom. After eight years of teaching, getting my classroom and everything ready for the start of school has never gotten much easier! I always end up going to school on the Saturday before the first day.

Front of the room.

Some of my bulletin boards. You can’t tell but I made my reading bulletin board say, “I read some GREAT books this summer! Did you?” On each of the little books I put all of the children’s books I read this summer in my children’s literature class. I really enjoyed the class and I read over 20 books, so I thought it was a good idea. When the kids arrive tomorrow I can then erase all the books I wrote (I used erasable marker) and have them write some great books that they read! Let’s just hope they have some! Ha!

Back of the room. I am in a portable — or a trailer as some people like to call it — so that is why my room looks really long. I like the portables only because the 3rd grade teachers’ rooms are all connected and we can control our own AC. But other than that I would rather be in the main building because our portables are old and are falling apart. But that is why we have to work so hard to make it look great on the inside!

I hope everyone (parents, teachers, and students) has a great start of the school year!