What I Love Wednesday..

After an extremely tough week/night for me, I thought I should be grateful for the blessings in my life. 

What I Love Wednesday!!!

My mom: she is the best. Always there and Always knows what to do.

My sister: we love each other.

My Friends:

My other half: Julianne.

My sweet Molly! :)

My oldest friend: Amanda.

Betsy: my most favorite teacher friend/roommate/partner in crime.

 My Job. My Class. My Coworkers. Half day Friday. Day off Monday!

 

'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Miss L.

Today was the first day of kindergarten!! I tried to sleep last night, which was nearly impossible. All i could think about was what I needed to do when I got to school in the morning, my alarm going off at 5:30, and all the other things I shoula/coulda/woulda done. I woke up, wide awake, at 4am. I was so awake, I actually almost got up to shower. I forced myself not to and did fall back to sleep. 5:30 came and off I went.

I did a few things around the room and went to teacher's chapel. I used to really not enjoy going to chapel in the morning, but last year I really grew to like it. I used to feel like it was cutting into my prep time, but then I realized it was a major part of my prep time. Perks of working at a Catholic school. I went to pick up my sweet sweet new babies in the cafeteria. We lined up and went to chapel, where I was very nervous about having my 12 kids sit down and listen as our principal called roll. Well, they proved me wrong. They sat like little angels. They stood to pray. They sat back down. They didn't play with their backpacks. OMG. I knew this was going to be good. I stood so proud when they called Miss Laskowski's Kindergarten class!

Today, we spent a lot of time practicing procedures. I think we said the prayer and pledge 6 times. But, golly, those kids are going to know how to come to the carpet, stand, and pray. We read books about the first day of school. My favorite was Wemberly Worried. Later, talking to a student and his mom, the boy said "Well, we read a book about a mouse who worried about everything. But Miss Laskowski was the only one worried. She was worried that the students wouldn't like her. She was very wrong." (this a from a 4 year old, who wont be 5 til October. large vocabulary.) We also read The Night Before Kindergarten before lunch and got to draw pictures of what we did last night to get ready for kindergarten. I went around taking first day of school pictures and writing on their drawing what it was. My favorite: "This is me. I am playing with myself." While, I am sure he meant he was playing alone or by himself, it sure did make me laugh.

My class was so sweet. We are working on making sure we "fill our buckets" and make good choices. I have a feeling this is going to be such a good year. Even my supervisor said she thought I was doing GREAT!

Up for tomorrow:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees

Kindergarten Classroom!

I am finally done with my classroom! I have a few more things I need to do, take home, put up.. but for the most part DONE!

This is the room before. It doesn't even show how bad it was. There were all sorts of dead bugs, dirt, dust, broken and torn books, boxes, and games. Mom spent the first day she helped, just cleaning.

This is the view when you walk in the door. There is a rug ordered for that space by the front of the room.

View of the other side of the room. The yellow is the word wall, the green is where student work will go.

another view of the whole room

view from the other corner. the shelf of the left is a writing shelf.

Small group table to the left, writing table facing the word wall

Small group table/teacher stuff.. the bins were so fun to make!

this is the art table and writing table in the back

Student cubbies

science area! the top few shelves are after-school

my *wonderful* Saxon calendar.. booo. hopefully the carpet will get here soon!

the library! my favorite part of the room! mom and i worked so hard to sort all those books!

a new computer!

another view of small group table

inside the cabinet!

my bday present! will go by the calendar!

One Year Later

I started this blog last year on my birthday. Well, here we are a year later. Last year, as I wrote this blog for the first time, I had just been hired, had Open House, and was frantically getting things together for the school year which was starting 2 days later.

I had just turned 22 and all of that seemed so scary. To be honest, at 23, it all seems just as scary. So much has changed in the past year. I was hired to teach k4 last year. This was something I struggled with everyday. It is hard to go to work everyday when the person you work with has something negative to say about everything. I learned a lot about myself by dealing with her, working with the kids, and doing weekly home visits with each family. I work at a very low socioeconomic school and I was surprised daily by the things my kids saw and experienced at home. This year I am teaching k5. I am so excited about this change, but also so so so nervous. I am ready to see some of my kids moving up with me and the rest of my new kids at Open House next Tuesday/Wednesday. My room is almost set to go (I will post pictures soon) and I am almost set to go. Last year, I had 1.5 days to prepare. This year, I have had all summer, plus this whole week of teacher work days. I feel no more prepared this year, than I did last year.

I feel like this was such a long year. My dad moved to the Dominican Republic, my brother got engaged, I changed grades, I made so many new friends, cut ties with so many other people in my life, and retied ties with old friends. It has been such a good year though.

So, tomorrow I turn 23. And yes, my bones still hurt. However, was told today by a new parent in my class that I "look too young. Like a little girl."

Goals for next year:
1) Take the GRE
2) Get into grad school
3) DO ME
4) Do a push up

What I Love Wednesday..

After 4 hours of sleep, 5 hours in the car, and 4 hours of reading training, there are so many other things I am loving.

My new JPK bag that I bought when I was in Boston. 50% off!!!! I love the green!

My 4runner. I have loved this precious car since my parents gave it to me for graduation, but I loved it even more today for getting me to and from Aiken safely.

Presbyterian College. My sweet sweet Alma Mater. I had to drive through Clinton today to get to Aiken. It always makes me feel so sentimental passing through.

This is the new reading program I will be teaching my sweet kindergarteners. I went to the training today and absolutely fell in love with it. It actually made me excited to go back to school.

School's Out For The Summer.

Well, to my 5 faithful followers, I am sorry I haven't update in 2 months. WHOOPS. I was very busy wrapping up the school year and now enjoying my summer break. Here are a few highlights of the past couple of months.

I am no longer a first year teacher. However, I still feel like one. I ended the year in K4 and next year I am moving to K5!! I am very excited and nervous about this move.

We had a huge Easter egg hunt with K3! Miss Kisha and I had a blast!

 We celebrated Cinco de Mayo. We made tacos and nachos. We also got to hit a pinata!! The kids loved this! And yes, I had someone else hang the pinata.










We had a end of the year picnic where the K3 and K4 classes went to a local playgroud. We had a blast celebrating the end of the year! Please see pictures below:

 We finished the school year with a few teacher work days where I got to go into my new classroom and do my favorite thing.... CLEAN! The teacher before me had collected a lot of things that were very dated and unnecessary to me and my classroom. I took a car load of stuff to Goodwill and a carload of stuff to the dumpster. I have been working this summer to get things ready for my new class. I made Alphabet cards to hang on my wall and number/shape cards. I am trying to do a polka dot theme, so I used polka dot background paper.

I want my room to look clean and crisp without a lot of clutter and junk. I want to use a lot of colors to make the room interesting instead of a lot of stuff.




I just got back from the Dominican Republic where mom and I went to go see dad. Here are a few pictures from that trip!

Dad and I at dinner.

Dad and I off the balcony.

View of the beach at sunset.

Mom and I at our favorite French restaurant.

Mom and I in the mountains.

The band!

View of the pool/beach.

Kids.

Everyone always assumes that I love kids. Yes, I was an early childhood major. Yes, I teach kindergarten. Yes, I am good with kids. No, I do not love all kids. People think because I spend all day everyday with 17 five year olds, that I have this super high tolerance for kids. This, my friends, is incorrect.

Dad and I went to El Jalisco's tonight for dinner. We were not even two chips into our meal when I heard what sounded like my class of 17 on the other side of the restaurant (it was probably only 5). Over and over and over they were yelling, singing, screaming, and many more synonyms for being plain obnoxious. Even Dad, who is deaf, couldn't stand the obnoxiousness.

This annoys me for many reasons. First, this is a restaurant, not a McDonalds playground. Second, these girls were old enough to know better. Third, their parents were sitting in the next booth over boozing. I am all for parent time, but leave the kids home with a baby sitter. I am also all for taking your kids to dinner, but sit them at a table with you.

Being a kindergarten teacher does give me patience. However, this patience only extends so far. It also only extends for my 17 kids whom I love and adore (and any relatives, family friends, or friends' relatives). Strangers' kids, I do not care for. In K4, when you do something that may break my patience there is a little thing I like to call the "thinking chair." I cannot put your singing at the table child in the thinking chair. I cannot pull your throwing chips across the table child's card. I cannot write up and suspend your running around the table playing musical chairs child.

So, from someone who does have a lot of patience for children, get a hold of your kids. If this is how I feel, just think about how everyone else feels.

Operation Get Tan.

I cannot stand not being tan. When I am tan I feel amazing. I feel prettier, skinnier, and just better. I am not very fair skinned, but I do lose my tan in the winter. While I have been sunburned in the past, I rarely wear sunscreen, because frankly, I do not burn that badly. I tend to tan within 5 minutes of being outside. So, why wasn't that the case yesterday?

I am on spring break from school, so mom and I went to Hilton Head for the week. It was gorgeous out yesterday. About 75 and breezy on the beach. We went out at about 11:30. I sat in my chair playing on my blackberry and listening to my ipod. At about 2, we wandered up to the Dunes House and ate a little lunch. By the time we were back on the beach at 3, it was freezing so we went home.

It wasn't until I took my swimsuit off that I realized Operation Get Tan turned into Operation I Should Have Worn Sunscreen then even later turned into Operation I Am A Lobster.

Now I know how all my pale friends feel. I never understood how someone could get the craziest burn in stripes. Like, the sun is hitting your whole leg? Well, looking at my legs, I now understand shit happens. My thighs and shins are RED, while my knees are still white. Everything hurts. It hurts to wear clothes. It hurts to not wear clothes. It hurts to sit, stand, walk, and lay. It basically hurts to breathe.

I vow from here on out, I will always wear at least SPF 4.

Yes, I had a bathing suit on. You just cannot see it in the picture.

Spring Fling.

This weekend was Spring Fling at PC. I spent the weekend in Clemson, drunk, at a concert, much like I did last year at PC's Spring Fling.

Every year, PC has a band come to play. Last year it was some 80's cover band. This may not sound like a blast, but like every other event ever held at PC, it meant a cash bar. A blast. Here are a few moments to recap Spring Fling last year at PC.

The roommates and I all went to the concert. It was at the stadium. Jcrew made best friends with the bartender for us. We were well on our way to a certain level of party that we hadn't seen in a while. We rocked out to cover tunes and had a photo shoot in the bathroom. We made our way back to the townhouse, where certain roommates went to sleep. That wouldn't hold me and Jcrew down. We went and sat in my brand new 4runner. (dont worry, it was parked) We sat there for at least 30 minutes JAMMING out to Justin Bieber. When that was over, we made our way over to another townhouse, where I was eating raw greenbeans straight from the can. In the meantime, Jcrew's big sister managed to wake our sleeping roommate. Jcrew is coming up this weekend and I think I see some major Justin Bieber in our future.

Us at Spring Fling

Kids Say The Darndest Things..

Over the past few weeks I have been completely stressed out at school and at home. It is written all over my face, too. I have never broken out this much in my life. Thank goodness for mom and Jcrew for getting me through the past few weeks. Another thing that does help, is the large amount of ridiculous things my kids say. Here are a few.

1. This was is actually funny and heartbreaking once you think about it. Today, I was taking my kids to the bathroom before we went to the classroom (I pick them up in the cafeteria). My principal was standing in the hallway, where she is normally looming. I have a dear dear child, Bre'Niya, who is wild beyond belief. Over the past couple of weeks, she has spent a bit of time in the principal's office. Sister says to me as Bre'Niya runs up and down the hallway, "Miss Laskowski, you know that she told me she's changing her name." I laughed, only half paying attention, trying to figure out how to chill Bre'Niya out, "To what?" To this Sister responded, "To Bre'Niya Laskowski." I laughed it off, but no, I will not be adopting good old Bre'Niya.

2. Also from Bre'Niya.. "Miss Laskowski, I called my mom Brittany the other day. Oooo she got so mad. She said she won't be my mother anymore if I call her Brittany. I guess I better call her mom.

3. After taking about 10 minutes to get my kids to chill out, sit down, and eat lunch, I started to pass out their food (we eat in the classroom, yes, I hate it). I was probably at the point where I had passed all the food out and had moved on to ketchup. I was not smiling and probably breathing deep. Tyshawn whispers to the person next to him, "whoa, she must be mad. I wonder what they did?" Umm.. THEY?! They?! Really? Not you? Okay.

4. Another teacher at the school was in my room. She is black. One girl said "Hey! You guys are twins." Clearly, we both laughed and said "no." She responded, "YES! You both got your hair down." Well, if that makes us twins, I guess I am related to everyone in the world. This was followed up the next day with, "You and Miss Kisha aren't twins anymore because she has her hair up and yours is different." Whew, good. I can't handle another sibling.

Crazy Nana.

I cannot believe it has been a year since we lost the greatest lady in the whole world. Such a long year it has been. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her and the crazy things she did. Here are some of the top things.

1. Nana loved to cook. Everything was always delicious. Except that one time, when I bit into my chicken cutlet and between the breading and the chicken. I don't think I ever ate another one after that.

2. We all know about the Spanish Channel, but Nana was the only person in Greenville County to get the Italian Channel. She never understood how the Italian language could change so much that she couldn't understand it anymore. Well, that's because it was Spanish.. not Italian.

3. Only Nana could get away with calling people their incorrect name. Alex was always Alec and Kaylin was always Kaitlin.

4. No matter what broke in her house, I was the only person she would let fix it. It could be a month before I would be coming home from school, but she still waited for me to fix her radio, answering machine, or clock.

5. No matter the holiday, each grandchild received a card with $5 in it. And whenever we left her house, she made sure to give us a $5, even if it meant giving us a roll of nickels.

6. Nana always spent exactly $100 on each grandchild's Christmas presents. She would buy one thing, then put the exact rest of the $100 in a box and wrap that up and give it to them. So we'd each get two presents. One actual present. One box of the change from the $100.

7. Dad's Jeep's back doors don't unlock until the driver door is open. This meant every time she rode in the car, she spent 3 minutes trying to get out, yelling "Steve! Steve! I can't get out!"

8. Nana only ate ribs and french fries once a year, or so she wanted us all to think. About once a month at dinner, Nana would order ribs and fries. Every time it was accompanied with, "oh my goodness, I haven't had this is forever!" Really, Nana? You didn't just have that last month? Okay, Crazy.

Puppy No Name.

It was a warm and sunny Thursday over at St.A's, and like most other days, I was in the school parking lot taking a quick break before I went back to dial 3 testing (tests that applicants to the K3 and K4 program must take to get into the school). Our classrooms open right up to the parking lot, and while this is not a very safe set up, it is wonderful on warm days when you need a little sunshine to brighten your day, as I did for many reasons I wont get into on this blog post. 

While this was seeming to be a pretty normal Thursday in K4, around 2pm, I was faced with what I thought of at that moment as a life-altering decision. Right outside my classroom door (which was open) sat a little brown and black dog. Trying to walk past was the first grade class, the first grade teacher, the safety coordinator, and the school secretary. I would like to stress where I described this dog as LITTLE. Well, apparently, the list of people I just listed found the dog to be threatening and vicious. Being the animal lover I am, I had to step in. These poor first graders needed to get to the bathroom. The dog looked clean, was rolling on his back, and had a collar (nothing threatening at all). I went to the dog, who had no tags, and the school secretary started yelling something about rabies and animal control. All I heard was "We're gonna kill that little dog Miss Laskowski. Save him!" So, I did. I put that dog in my car and saved his little life.

Ever since I can remember, Chrissy has tried to get mom to get us a puppy, so she was the first person I bbm'd. "Chris, mom is gonna kill me, but I'm taking home a stray dog." She was ecstatic. Mom, not so much. However, she was not mad and did not kill me. The little dog and Max (big dog) got along well. Max did trample him a few times, not on purpose, but how can you not trample little dogs when you weigh 150 pounds? I took him to the vet to see if he was microchipped. He was not. Nor was he neutered. I posted an ad in the newspaper, which went unanswered. No one wanted this sweet little dog, who turned out to be between 1-2 years old, not the puppy we originally thought. 

While I was not attached to this dog in the least, my brother and sister both were. They gave the dog an identity crisis with the many names they tried out, Pockets, Paco, Antonio, and Buddy to name a few. Mom and I stuck to little dog or the occasional little guy.

Although he was a very sweet and obedient dog, he was not for me. I am a big dog person, not a little dog person. I decided I would take him to a no-kill animal shelter on Saturday morning. This is when Stephen and his girlfriend told me they would take him. I think this was her secret plan to adopt him, but it did not work. The No Name dog was adopted today!

To my mother: I am sorry I took the dog home. I learned my lesson that I can barely take care of myself, and definitely not a dog. You are the best mom ever for putting up with all my stupid ideas, but when I heard "animal control," I couldn't let that little dog die. You raised me better than that to let innocent animals die, however, I will never do this again. (Unless a random, stray, boxer puppy walks up to my classroom door.)