*Whew*

Time is a funny thing... it feels like this week went by in a flash and at the same time I can't believe that it was only five days long!! It's definitely going to be an interesting year. My mentor teacher, Sharla, is a neat person. She spent the summer studying fungi in the rain forest of Paraguay (and she's not even sciencey!) and also went through the CC Masters program, so its cool that she can relate to my current stress-load. We are very different, but I think it will be a great learning experience to work together and get that other perspective to keep me on my toes. We went out on Thursday evening to do some planning for next week and, during a "study break" we played some pool. She's a good teacher because I actually got a ball in a pocket (with the cue and everything!) It was fun to spend some time (away from school) just getting to know her. And of course even though I lost the pool game, I was proud of my one shot! :)
One of the less fun parts of the week was realizing that the school district I'm in has a lot of hoops to jump through. The staff at the school is great, but all the district "guidelines" are going to be frustrating. It's part of the job I know, but its my least favorite part. It will be a challenge to keep my focus on the kids without letting the rest of the stuff get me down.
On the other hand, the kids are great! I don't think I would already appreciate them so much if I hadn't had the experience in Whiz Bang with the two groups of science kids. My new kids are super energetic, and there are certainly some characters, but I know that is going to be so much more fun than if they were passive. I'm sure that also means that every day is not going to be a good one, but I still can't wait until they are "my" class! Sharla has done so great with including me in the classroom community since day one, but I wonder if the kids will have a hard time with the transition because we have such different styles. It will be interesting.
We are, of course, still in the introductory phases of everything, but in the next few weeks we will have the highest reading group as well as the lowest math group for the 3rd grade. I think this will be a great experience to see both ends of the spectrum. It's going to be hard in September and October while I have classes at CC again. I will be leaving school around noon to get back to campus for class and I feel like I will miss out on so much! (and it has been so nice to come home and NOT have homework this week!)
Anyway, its the weekend already!! Which means I need to get more work done on the MR paper. I found out that one of my CC advisers actually has taught a global perspectives class (that is my MR topic), so I am going to pick his brain too :)
I am sure there are things I forgot to tell you about my week, but my brain is too sleepy. Right now I am going to go snuggle down in my pjs with my pillows and my fat kitty and look forward to NOT getting up early tomorrow morning!