Back to School?

So, Maggie and I have spent at least 13 hours over the last two days trying to make sense of my classroom. Marlynn (the teacher I share my room with) and I have been planning our bulletin boards for far too long. But its high pressure! Next door to us is the all-time cutest teacher, Jill, with the all-time cutest classroom. She's creative. She's organized. She's clean. We're just waiting for her to put up her bulletin board to put ours to shame. So far she's only put up her paper back-ground. It's blue. A really nice blue.

In the mean time, however, I'm DANG PROUD of my bulletin board. I'm first and foremost grateful I have one. Last year I didn't. I shared with Marlynn while I watched the pre-school's bulletin board not change ALL YEAR. It was a tree. I think they put up snowflakes in the winter but other than that it was unchanged. It never was decorated with the kids' work. It was kinda sad. So, Jill, who is gutsy as well as being perfect, marched into the preschool at the end of the year and told them how pathetic their board was. They agreed to let me have it. Now, back to why I'm proud of my bulletin board: I swear I came up with this by myself--although the internet is packed with other teachers bragging about how they invented it--it's a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom bulletin board. I tried hard to make it look like the cover of the book. When Dan brings his camera back from scout camp, I'll take a picture so you can see it. It says "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Who's in Mrs. Hinckley's Room?" And then I'm gonna write all the kids' names on coconuts. Oh it's gonna be perfect. I even put letters climbing up the tree. Are you as excited as I am?

I'm waiting for my "teaching gift" to exhibit itself. There are 4 kindergarten teachers at our school. We all teach half day. Coty, the other afternoon teacher with me, has stated that we all have gifts. Marlynn is the logical one. She plans everything and stays on top of deadlines and schedules; she's also amazing at teaching and disciplining. Jill is the creative one. She makes the cutest handouts and decorations. She makes things cute to the point of obsession--but we love her. Coty is the sweet one. She loves the kids in her class inside and out. She cares more about people than things and would rather be at home with her kids than obsessing over whether or not her bulletin board is perfect. And then there's me. Last year they asked me what role I wanted. I jokingly said "Oh, I'm the pretty one." And it stuck. This summer Coty told me that I can be the "musical one" since I know a lot of songs. But really, I would like to have a more useful role. We'll see how this year goes. Maybe I'll end up being "the whiney one." I hope not.

At least I have a dang good bulletin board.