Back to School.

Today was the first "official" day of the 2006-07 school year. I had professional development yesterday, but apparently that didn't count for the calendar. So this morning at 6am, I got out of bed and started the ol' routine.

I'm excited for the new school year, and I'm hoping it'll be a great one. But, I have to say that I'm no where near as excited as I was this time last year. I could use a few more weeks of vacation. My room was a debacle -- I'm sorry that I don't have any before and after pictures to show -- but it's slowly coming together. I hope I can get it ready for when the kiddies come on Monday. Thankfully I didn't need to change rooms again this year.

I also just got back from IKEA where I bought 34 seat cushions for my students.
I justify this allotment of my meager funds by considering all of the saved instruction time that won't have to be spent breaking up fights and telling kids not to lie down. You will not believe how much time is wasted when Ronald sticks his feet on someone elses head or Darian sits on top of Tykia. I think it is a worthy investment.

The one conundrum: I usually end up dividing my students into four different teams. Coincidentally, there were four different color seat cushions to choose from: blue, green, orange, and psychedelic. I worry that kids will fight over the psychedelic. I'm hoping some rounds of team "Rock-Paper-Scissors" (or "Cowboy-Bear-Ninja") will settle the matter once and for all.

That, or they'll just fight over the cushions and completely defeat the purpose for me buying them in the first place. Ahhh, third graders.

Just a note: Jamie is hogging my computer for the production of Bahamas Vacations are Awesome: The Movie so I am unable to post more pictures at this time. I'll try and make up for it tomorrow.