I GOT A JOB!!! Now what??? :)

I got a job! I am the newest fifth grade math and reading teacher at Neidig Elementary! You might recall my post, "Interview #3 - The Nicest Rejection I've Ever Gotten!" Well, it turns out that she got the librarian job, and I got the math job! I am beyond thrilled!

I admit, I'm a little late in announcing my news. I got the job about three weeks ago, but with selling not one, but TWO houses we own, moving ourselves, and a sick little one, blogging had to take a back seat for a little while. But now we are all moved in, baby is feeling much better, and I have some quiet time to fill you in! My husband and I spent a couple of days trying to get my classroom organized (note: I said trying). I didn't know where to begin. This is what it looked like my first day...

The previous teacher wasn't quite done moving out of her room and I was told to go ahead and start moving in, so needless to say there was a bit of chaos for a day or so. But we really started making progress after a couple of days. Here is what it looked like last week before we had to take a few days for the house sale/move...

I had planned on the black/pink/green theme when I learned I would be teaching older kids. They didn't mention that the entire school is doing a Dr. Seuss theme for the next two years, so my room is now black/pink/green, and my reading corner is based on "Oh! The Places You'll Go!" (each grade level has their own book theme - fourth grade is The Lorax, fifth grade, Oh! The Places You'll Go!, not sure about the lower grades yet...)

My awesome husband made 3-D mountains and Truffula trees to put up on the walls. Those flowers in the picture have been replaced with hot-air balloons just like in the book (I'll post pictures as soon as I take some). I'm hoping the two different themes will work together. So far, I've been pretty happy. If there is anyone out there that has used this theme before and has any tips or tricks, I'd love to hear from you!

On another note, I completed my PDAS training this week! Whew! Happy to get that out of the way. I'm excited to see how the process pans out. I am very interesting in learning everything I can, and I think the PDAS process is going to be awesome to help me learn how to be a great teacher!

So, Monday starts my first "official" day with teacher orientation, staff development/prep, and more work on my room. I am really excited to see what this year brings! Wish me luck!!! More adventures to come! Stay tuned!