0 days = 0 hours = 0 minutes = 0 seconds left at daycare!!!

 

I remember when I first started my countdown….there were about 25 days left at daycare. At that moment, it felt like it would be FOREVER till I was done!!! Now, here I am today and the countdown is over!! I have completed my last day at Traci’s Learning Center! It actually was a bittersweet day for me. I have been looking forward to this day since I started back up in January with my student teaching  and now that day had come and I was feeling a bit sad. Well, let’s just say AT FIRST I was feeling a bit sad this morning. As the day wore on, I was again reminded over and over why I was sooooo happy this was my last day. As 4:00 rolled around I realized the time had come to say good-bye to everyone. I went around to all the rooms and said good-bye to all the teachers. Of course, they are all "mad" at me for leaving and are making me promise to visit once and awhile….we’ll see about that one! I then had to say good bye to all my babies in the toddler one room. I really just wanted to get out of there because I didn’t want to break down and cry in front of everyone. However, my "favorite" little girl, Elena, would not let me put her down. She practically clung to me around my neck saying "No, Becky, no!!! Elena, hold!" That nearly did me in. I honestly wanted to take her and RUN out of the room. Well, I eventually distracted her for a few minutes with her favorite song on a CD. I then said goodbye to those teachers in the room and ran out the door. The last thing I saw was Elena’s face looking like she was about to cry.  Great memory to look back on!  I was then in the office with my director, assistant director and 2 other teachers for awhile, and we were just chatting. My boss/director, Miss Traci, gave me a neat folding crate on wheels, as a going-away present,  to help me transport things for my kindergarten class. I thought that was really nice of her! She also gave me a cute little book called "Teachers Touch Lives". All of my co-workers signed a card today and gave it to me. It was really sweet of all them and it made me feel special.

 

So, as you can see, this was a rather bittersweet day for me. I am sad because I am leaving my babies and I have made some friends at daycare. However, I am ready to step out of the "toddler and daycare world" and into the "kindergarten and EBA world"!!

 

Kindergarten classroom, look out, because here I come!!! IT IS TIME TO ORGANIZE!!!!! 

It certainly is amazing!!

 

What’s amazing, you might ask?

 

It’s so amazing that hidden behind such a cute little face, there could be such a monster whose one goal in life is to give their teachers a nervous breakdown!!!    Let’s just say that today was a rather stressful day!!! Oh, nothing completely out of the ordinary….typical crazy day in the one year old room – children screaming, whining, crying, pulling and yanking hair, hitting, pushing, stealing toys, throwing toys at other’s heads etc. etc. etc. 

 

It made me feel like having a party!!  Yeah….a party rejoicing in the fact that I am almost done…..6 more days!!!! I am really trying to have a good attitude about this whole situation…learning contentment and so on…but these toddlers (and fellow teachers, of course) make it extremely difficult!! But, as I said….behind such a cute little face….these kids are definitely cute when they are actually not being little TERRORS!! ( when is that exactly?) Make sure you check out the pictures I will be adding of my last 2 weeks at the daycare!!! Here are a couple that I took during our Italian ice snack today….yep, another messy day…oh well!!

 

As you can see, they thoroughly enjoyed it!!

 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!!

 

Ah, yes, this week has been fun so far. Our theme for the week is "Ice Cream & Popsicles". So, this obviously opens the door to many ideas, such as playing in and eating ice cream!!! Now, I don’t know if you realize this or not, because obviously as teens and adults, we eat with a spoon (I hope at least!!) However, toddlers like to dig in with their fingers and FULLY APPRECIATE the texture and taste of ice cream. This fact leads to the following equation:

 

 Ice Cream + Toddlers = HUGE MESS!!!

 

Yesterday, we gave each child a scoop of vanilla ice cream to taste and feel for our sensory activity. That wasn’t too bad, although we all became rather sticky, and our shoes made this sticky sound as we walked on the tile floor the rest of the day!!

 

Today, the toddlers fully enjoyed the CHOCOLATE ice cream we provided them. Well, at least there were only 8 children to clean up after this rather messy experience!! Here is a picture of one of my "favorite" little girls, Elena, in all her chocolate glory. I know…. you aren’t supposed to have favorites, but I can’t help myself  She’s soooo cute, and the chocolate ice cream just adds to the effect….I won’t mention how B-A-D she is throughout the day though.   

 

Tomorrow we will be playing in cool-whip….such fun!!!!

One more small “bite” in a large project…

 

I love books and over the past couple of days, I have discovered that we have TONS of children’s books in our house. Alayna still had lots on her bookshelf that she was more than willing to get rid of , there were 3 big bags just filled with books in our storage room and more on the shelves. It brought back many memories looking through all these books. Many of them were read to me over and over when I was a little girl, and now they were just sitting around collecting dust. Anyway, I figured why not organize them, and put them in the kindergarten classroom!!!? Let some more children enjoy them as much as I did! In fact, some of them used to be my Dad’s when HE was a little boy  but they still got lots of life in them as long as you handle them VERY GENTLY!! So after piling stacks of books all over my room, I decided it would be best to get some containers to organize them in. I made a book list on the computer, and put the books in certain categories so I would know where they were when I needed them….crazy of me, I know!!! I then went to Wal-Mart and got these rather inexpensive containers . I love these things….I bought 6 other large ones to store all my "junk" from early childhood classes at college.

 

So here are a two pictures of my "organized" look….this corner of my room is my "College Corner" I guess you’d say….you certainly can collect a lot of things when you are majoring in early childhood education!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t get any BEFORE pictures, with the books scattered around my room, but there is NO WAY I am going to unload all these books and "recreate" the scene just for a picture

 

 

Getting Ready for Kindergarten!!

 

As I continue to count down the days till I am done with daycare, I get more and more excited about teaching kindergarten.  Last night I was feeling really "antsy" and I just HAD to do some organizing to make me feel better . So Alayna and I went to church and we tackled one of the cabinets in the kindergarten classroom.  It felt sooooooo good after we were done….one "little bite" in a big project .  This year we are actually moving kindergarten to the room across the hall. It is a nicer room, in my estimation, and there are a lot more benefits to being in that room.  So, needless to say, I have A LOT of organizing, rearranging, and moving to do before August 28.  In a way, I feel like I am "wasting time" at daycare right now.  I could be doing so much to get ready for kindergarten!! Well, I told my boss July 27 is my last day, and I gotta keep my word.  Times like last night help me to feel like I am not wasting time . I now have 4 students, 2 girls and 2 boys, and that is REALLY exciting to me….being the organized person that I am, I like things (and people!!) to be even. Well, as I continue to organize and get ready for kindergarten I will continue to post pictures….I know that right now the pictures I have posted aren’t really exciting….they are just the BEFORE pictures , but I like looking at them and trying to figure out room arrangement and what cabinet, shelf, box, or closet to tackle and organize next!!!!

Our Weekend in New York

 

A couple of weeks ago, we got an invitation in the mail to attend a friend’s graduation party. The Earlys used to go to LVBC many years ago and then ended up moving to New York. Elizabeth, their daughter, was graduating from high school so we thought it would be nice to go there for the weekend and surprise them by showing up on Sunday for the party. Needless to say, they were surprised!! We had a fun time with them on Sunday. Today, on our way home, we stopped by Letchworth State Park and drove around looking at the beautiful scenery. We couldn’t stay too long because we wanted to get back in time to pick up Andy from work – yep, he had spent the weekend at the Spangs instead of coming with us  We then went home to celebrate his birthday……. Happy 17th birthday, Andy!!!!!!