Tonight was open house at school. Open house is an evening where the students can bring their families to school and show of what they’ve been doing all year.
A week ago Friday was a furlough day for my school district due to California being broke. Being the dedicated teacher hot mess that I am, I spent about 9 hours at school on a non-paid day to make my classroom presentable for open house.
This year has kicked my butt, and at the end of the school day I am so exhausted from dealing with a crazy group of 2nd graders. Rather than stick around after school to do any cleaning, I go home bruised and beaten with my tail between my legs. I can’t tell you the last time I straightened up my classroom. It was so horrifying that while working on project last week I asked a student to set some papers on my desk and she came back and said, “There’s no place to put them.” With only a week until my students brought their families to school to show off their classroom, the furlough day was welcome free (literally) time to get some work done.
Before
Many of our posters and charts had fallen down in our recent humid weather…
Some of my books and book characters had fallen over or off of the cupboards. 
Pretty much every flat surface had a stack of paper of some sort… 
The reading table
and my desk!
The most embarrassing part… 
These are snowflakes that we made in January. It is JUNE people!
So what can be accomplished after 9 hours in a classroom? 
Flat surfaces are cleared, 
snowflakes taken down and writing put up, 
posters, and charts picked up off the floor, 
and student work stapled to the walls and placed neatly on desks.
As I said goodbye to the last visiting family, I was thrilled that the room looked so nice for my students’ open house, but also relieved that the night was over. Only two more weeks until the end of the school year and I CAN’T WAIT!
Oh wow! I'm exhausted already! It reminds me of how much I love getting Christmas out and up, and how much I hate taking it all down.
ReplyDeleteWhich, I don't do much of anymore...just the tree and a wreath.
It's time for a margarita, Pumpkin!
Hmmm, maybe I will send my kids to your school. Great advertisement! m.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia's budget is really a mess and it is the schools, police and fire cuts that hurt so much. My kids are grown but I bless teachers who do so much.
ReplyDeleteSince I got the hound a few years a ago my eyes have ceased to see messiness 'till I'm wading through the stuff. Simply if you didn't develop blinkers you would go insane.
ReplyDelete@GJ - It sure is!
ReplyDelete@Mark - Yes! I'll have to keep posting these pics to talk you into bringing those munchkins to my school. :)
@BC - It is sad isn't it? I just read that that the Hangover 2 has grossed over 200 million dollars. How can "Hollywood" be raking in this kind of money and California be broke. Terrible!
ReplyDelete@Vince - Blinders are the key. I can still see the mess, but if I worried about it on top of everything else, it would just be too much. So I simply ignore it until I can't anymore.
Mahvelous!
ReplyDeleteI hope my kids get a teacher like you. I wish you got paid for what your time is really worth. I'm sorry that you don't.
ReplyDeleteI spent so much time preparing my room and there was no time to clean my desks (plural) so I jammed all the stuff in a cabinet...and now, today, after the last day of school, it awaits me Monday morning. BUT first I will assess next fall's kindergartners....uh!
ReplyDeleteI will count down the days with you for summer!!
@Jason-thank you dahling
ReplyDelete@mami-you said it sister!
@m-thanks, I'm gonna need it! There is one thing that I dont like about the end of the school year...cleaning and packing up a room that I'm going back into a month later. I've so much crap that I end up shoving it wherever it fits to get out of dodge, but then can't find a thing when I'm back in august. Often I find things that I've been looking for since the beginning of the year while I'm packing for the end.
Love the new look of the blog. Your room looked great!! Check that off your list!
ReplyDelete