Do Not Open (this Pandora's box) 'Til Xmas!

Our geography lesson today turned to talk of the South and North Poles and before I could steer the conversation elsewhere... the dreaded "s-word" was uttered. No, not THAT "s-word" (although it might have been easier to deal with!), but rather He Who Shall Not Be Named in a room of mixed 8-9 year olds: SANTA.  

As my brain was screaming "No! No! No! I thought I had more time to prepare for this!" I overheard a few "Santa's not real!"s as well as a "Yes he is! I facetimed with him!" (Really?!) Needless to say, I SHUT DOWN the entire conversation as quickly as possible. 

I didn't think it was possible to find a reason NOT to be looking forward to Christmas (and my two weeks off!) this year but BAH HUMBUG! 

T.M.I.??

Ooooookay. That's nice I guess. 

Apparently he likes singing in the restroom. He also likes Asia. The two are not related. He does not sing while in Asia. Silly me to think that! 

Perhaps we will work on compound sentences this week. :) 

Back to School!

Well I did it. I made it through my first few days (four and a half so far) of the school year. Oh and did I mention this is with my very own classroom full of 24 eager (and adorable) 3rd graders?! Needless to say I'm EXHAUSTED so I'll keep this short and sweet. 

Just a few pics from the first day:

Obligatory selfie in front of my board and hand painted letters spelling out my ridiculously difficult last name.

Some first day gifts that made me smile.

A selection of student-created rules for our classroom - seriously, where do they come up with some of these?! :)

So far, so good. Let's hope it stays that way! 

Bigger and Better Things!

You may have noticed that this blog was recently promoted from "My Life in the 2nd Grade" to "My Life in the 3rd Grade". This minor makeover stems from the fact that I will be teaching my VERY OWN class full of third graders in less than a month from now! I am very excited/anxious/overwhelmed to begin this new chapter and anticipate that I will have plenty of giggle-inducing tales coming your way soon! Stay tuned!

One month to go!

Thank You, Firefighters!

After a crazy week of dangerous wildfires in the area, my friend's class of 1st graders had some lovely thank you notes and pictures for the brave local "heroes". 

I love how they could be so heartwarming, yet (unintentionally) hilarious at the same time! 

See what I mean...