Back to work I go :(

I knew the time was going to come when I had to say good bye to my sweet maternity/summer, but I just didn't want it to come to an end so soon. Luckily, I have the amazing opportunity to teach part-time this year, so going into work doesn't feel as treacherous as it may be if I were to have to leave my little man all day.

I am also excited to be able to teach first grade again - oh, how I've missed this age! It just so happened this year that both classes going into first and second grades do not have enough students to fill four classes. This means I am able to teach a small class of 14 in the morning, while my class joins the small class of 11 second graders in the afternoon. My job is to teach the foundational subjects - reading, writing, handwriting, spelling, religion and math - in the mornings. So far it has been the best of both worlds!

Since we only needed childcare for about 10 hours a week, we hired a nanny to come in Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Brian's schedule is much more flexible, so he's able to stay home until 9:30 each morning and all morning Tuesday and Thursday mornings until we do the "trade-off" at my school. It's so nice that Mr.T is able to spend a lot of time with both us and have one-on-one time with our nanny for the remainder of the time!

Since my class is combining with the second grade class this year, I had to move classrooms for the first time in my six years at All Saints! I was lucky enough to have generous teachers who helped me move everything at the end of the school year (since I was only in week four with little man and just had a c-section - not in any condition to be moving an entire room!!). But, as soon as August rolled around, I had to begin putting all these things away and create a whole new space to get ready for the school year before the students arrived on Day 1. Which means my summer/maternity ended much sooner than 3 months!! Trying to set up a classroom with a baby is definitely a challenge, but of course we (meaning my pint-size helper :) were able to pull it off just in time!


Yikes - how is this space going to be first grade ready by the first day???


My sweet distraction :) How can I get any work done when I have this cute face begging for me to play?


Showing me his rollover skills in the classroom.

A family affair - first grade is a perfect place to take a reading break!

Although the room is finished, I don't have any final pictures of it yet. Luckily, it all came together just in time for the first day. Will have to post pics soon!