Oh, I am so so so so so thankful it is Saturday.
This was a week.
A WEEK, I said.
This post will be slightly different from my other Five for Fraturdays.
That is because nothing happened and because everything was due yesterday.
So I do not have five pictures to share because most of my week was confidential. It’s like I’m a secret agent or something. Except I am not.
But sometimes I pretend I am and I try to eavesdrop on my kids’ conversations to find out what’s cool these days because I want to be in the know. You know?
So.
Friday was the last day to submit supply orders for the year. FOR THE YEAR.
Which means I had to start thinking about August now so that I could have the supplies I need before school starts. That, my friends, is nearly impossible because I can barely think of what’s happening tonight much less what’s happening in AUGUST.
And, when I think too much about AUGUST, I start to get a sick feeling because it will be a new school year, and the summer will be over, and my kids will be babies who don’t know my routines or my schedule or anything, and then I’ll see my firsties walking all-straight-like in a line in second grade and I will want to cry.
So thinking about August is just not healthy for me. I doubt my doctor would recommend it.
But I did it. First, I had to figure out how much money I had left in my supply budget because I didn’t keep track. I intended to, but things like live, actual children got in my way and took priority. It just couldn’t be helped.
Luckily, I’m as sweet as pie and candy to our supply secretary (who also has other jobs but, clearly, supplies are the most important) and she was more than happy to tell me that I had $129 left in my supply budget.
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE DOLLARS!
EVERYONE! LISTEN! GO BUY A LOTTERY TICKET!
I am sad to report that after I added and subtracted and regrouped and erased and started over and finally totaled my order, I had nine cents left over from my $129. Nine cents! That’s a travesty, I tell you.
I should have planned better.
My Reflection of my Professional Teaching Goals was also due on Friday.
This is where I reflect on the goals I made way way way back in September.
Of LAST YEAR. I mean, it was 2013 for heaven’s sake.
I was pretty sure I’d met all my goals.
And it didn’t mean a thing that I couldn’t find my goals or remember the tiny details about them. I knew the gist.
They were all about the Common Core.
And by golly, I met them.
So I wrote a bunch of flowery stuff about how I basically just rock.
Shoulder shrug.
Our pinks and blues were also due yesterday.
Do you have pinks and blues?
Sadly, it has nothing to do with Cadbury mini eggs. 🙁
It helps us build the classes for next year. Each student has a pink or blue sheet that we fill out with pertinent information. Pink for girls, blue for boys. Isn’t that so cute? Isn’t it even cuter when you write a girl’s name on a boy’s sheet and fill out the whole kit and caboodle with reading, writing, and math grades, as well as behavior and parent volunteer information, and language levels, too, before you realize it SHOULD HAVE ALL BEEN WRITTEN ON A PINK SHEET?
Yes, that’s just so cute, too.
Well, as you can imagine, it is a labor of hate and procrastination and thistakestoolongkillmenow labor of love and takes a long time. It takes an even longer time when you had over a month to complete them, and you wait until Thursday. Night.
But I wouldn’t know a thing about that. Nope. Not me.
And then, when you think you’re done and you’re ready to turn them in, you’re told you have to add the little pictures that generally go into the cumulative folders.
Grrrrrrrrrr.
But now they’re done.
Ain’t no big thang.
Awards for third trimester were also due yesterday.
I told you.
I told you everything was due yesterday.
Who feels sorry for me? Raise your hand.
I agonize over our awards. AG-O-NIZE.
I want every kid to get one whilst in first grade.
It’s much too complicated now that we have 32 kids and not enough awards.
UGHHHHHHHHH.
Don’t get me started.
Seriously.
And yes, I do class awards and all that jazz, but it is not the same.
It is not.
Wait. You got me started.
I said not to get me started!
The best news of all about this week?
Absolutely none of that matters.
Yesterday was Good Friday.
We have the hope of Easter.
(source)
I am so thankful.
🙂
Hi Kristin! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! I was wondering if you have a copy of what your pink and blue's look like? I teach at a Catholic school, and we always talk about how there needs to be more communication between grade levels about incoming students, and this seems like a great way to get across that information!
Indeed. xo Kimberley
Beautifully stated!
Loved reading this post because now I know I am not alone! Would LOVE to see what your pink/blue sheets have on them 🙂
Your post made me smile!!! Thanks for sharing a bit of your reality so the rest of us don't feel alone! Wishing you a blessed Easter!
Lisa
PAWSitively Teaching.
We have pink and blue cards too. They haven't given them to us yet so I don't even know when I can get started on my 26. This is my first year so now I'm really not looking forward to them. 🙁 I guess I'm not alone on the pain from pink and blue cards.
Lizzie
Halfway There
I am with you in the whole August scenario. How much are you allowed to whine when you see your former kinders standing so nicely in the first grade lines at lunch while you deal with your newbies who don't even remember who you are at lunch? Seriously. I need some ice cream or a foo foo drink to go with it all, at least for the first 6 weeks. We also have pink and blue cards, but have to use yellow if they are English Learners. More chances for error, AND the English Leaners aren't coded by boy/girl so it messes up the ratios. AND why is everything due at the same time??? I still have a few weeks before I hit that overload!
Every post I read just has me in stitches! Good luck finishing out the year…it will come to a close soon!
Carmen
I am SO thankful that at my school we still have "open supply." We do have pinks and blues. The nice think is that they print from our data program so most pertinent data (Celdt score, special programs, test/common assessment, etc.) is already printed on them.
Happy Easter!
When I walked in to find my pinks and blues in my mailbox this week I did a happy dance!
Pinks and blues = summer is nearly here!
Glad I'm not the only one who misplaces my teaching goals.
I love love LOVE your blog! I've been reading it for about a year now, and I have to say, I hope that one day I am at least half the teacher you are!
I'm in college, majoring in Early Childhood Education! I see lots of paperwork in my future!
The Blossoming Teacher
Ending with the Word…. What a blessing you are. Happy Easter. Congratulations on getting all of that time-consuming but necessary stuff DONE. The end of the year is rapidly approaching!
Pinks and Blues! I love your name for them. I have them at my school, but we don't have a cute pet name for them. What we do have are 2 half-days some time in June, where we get some free time to complete them. Which isn't to say that they all get done, since the cumulative folders, amongst a host of other things also have to get done at the same time! But it is nice to have those hours set aside for the "pinks and blues". Love, love, love your posts!
I agonize over my pinks and blues…my grade level team agonizes over them together when we put them into their "maybe classrooms" and then administration undoes all of our painstakingly hard, hard work… I wish you hadn't mentioned them…my heart is palpitating just thinking about that whole process…and we still have another month!!!!!! HA!
Happy Easter, Lady!!!!!!
I hear you about not having much to say about the past week… I'm not going back to that awful week again! I'm looking forward to much more happy times, like Easter and spring and when people get along! Thanks for sharing!
Sally from Elementary Matters
Your pink and blue sheet story had me cracking up. Glad you survived all of the various things that were due.
I adore you. 🙂 I teach in a smaller school in Montana. Sometimes you're the topic of conversation in the teacher's lounge. Of course I bring you up for comic relief. Anyhow, I am most blessed by how you weave your faith into your blogs.
Yep, we're sitting here in the "pink and blue corner" with you. We get to create ours for the grade level below us to fill out based on what we want/need to know about the upcoming kiddos. So, as the first grade GLC, I created the form for our Kinder teachers to fill out, 2nd created the form for 1st grade to fill out and so forth. It certainly helps to know which kids shouldn't be placed with So and So, which parents are difficult or helpful, which interventions little Boo Boo needs to start the year with, etc.
Loved your 5. You rock. Nuff said. 🙂