Year Four

'Twas the night before year four,
and all through the apartment,
nerves were running high,
excitement in every department.

Okay that's the best I could do with this fried brain of mine :)

Tomorrow is the FIRST DAY of school! Again! I thought this whole beginning-of-year thing would get easier as I get more practice, but no. With Brian and I both starting tomorrow, the Whartnaby household is just a leeeeeeettle up tight at the moment :) Along with the stress, though, always comes excitement and I just am so thankful for a chance to meet my kids and get to know who we all are as a class.

One big change, of course, is my move this year to Timothy Christian School. It's just a few miles from our place, so I'll no longer be weathering the tolls and long stretches in the car every day. I said goodbye to my kids at Calvin with lots of tears (on my part) on our last day in June (but you need to understand...they were the best class ever though!), and yet here I find myself in a place where God provides for me, where God allows me to occupy a space that uses my gifts and passions. He keeps allowing me to find joy and challenge in my work, something I don't take for granted. I am a fortunate girl. Here are a few pictures of my classroom; it's all set for tomorrow!

   

My Kids

Brian and I don't have kids. We don't plan to for a while at least. That conversation is a funny one to have when you're not ready to have kids yet (Well, when are you ever truly ready? Do you ever become ready? YOU GUYS I FEEL LIKE I WILL NEVER BE READY.). I'm all like "Uh, no kids on the horizon, right?" And Brian's all like, "Uh, yep. Let me know if and when you change your mind and I'll do the same." And I'm all like, "Great. Same page! Wanna go out to eat without having to book a babysitter?" **High five!!**

I went through a phase earlier this school year where I was so tired, so worn down, that I proclaimed to Brian every day on my return home from school that HOW COULD WE EVER HAVE KIDS? I HAVE 23 KIDS ALL DAY LONG AND I NEED A BREAK. WE ARE NEVER HAVING KIDS. He, being equally tired, was all good with my proclamation. We aren't so militantly against children now (hey the doldrums of January really get to a teacher's brain) but we really are toast by the end of the work day. How do you people do it? How do you manage the feelings, spiritual growth, academic goals, and social development of two dozen small humans all day and then have an ounce of patience left in you by the time you get home? How?

As long as my brain is wandering in this direction, what if we never did have kids? My mind freaks out: would my parents or Brian's parents be devastated? Would people judge me? Ack! All the silly insecurities that come with adulthood decisions seem to pile up if you let them. I've had random pangs of that guilt or the potential of letting people down and decided to ignore them. A perk of adulthood is that you get to make those decisions based on what works best for you, not on the obligations projected upon you by society. So I suppose that's the game plan for Brian and me at the moment. We don't have a timeline, or really even a set plan. We just know that the next best thing for us is to not have kids right now.

I was thinking of that next best thing, and having a time without having kids yet, because it allows me the energy, creativity, and opportunity to call my students "my kids." I love my kids. My kids are all different shades of skin, all different types of brains, and from all different types of families and churches. My kids love each other, mess up together, love to learn, and crack me up on the daily. If Brian and I one day decide to have kids, I hope they turn out to be true individuals, just like my kids now. I hope they like singing, dancing, clapping, and selfies just as much as my kids. I hope they love reading, building, and writing letters just like my kids. I hope they love Jesus, live kindly, and show a care and concern that says when you are hurting I am hurting too, just like my kids.

Sometimes I come home from school exhausted from helping to raise other people's children, but then I remember that they're partly mine too. As a teacher, you're constantly helping little people navigate the social transition between their home environment and a school environment and how to do that. It can be hard to help children translate what it means to share, encourage, compete, and grow together when they all come from different places themselves.

But you know what? The differences? And the rich diversity that happens when all 24 of us step into our classroom each day? That's what I love about my kids. I'm so glad God gave them to me.

 

Third Round

Hi friends!

That greeting sounds cheery, because I partly am, but I hope you also sensed a dash of nervous panic, because there's some of that going on in my voice too.

Tomorrow is the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. It is a special one to me. It is my third year in this teaching profession, something I never envisioned myself doing, say, 5 years ago, but am now so invested into it. God brings me to new places in the strangest and best of ways. I am at a new school, too.

This place, Calvin Christian School, only a month into working there, has become so special to me. It's a Christian school that doesn't run and hide from this world, but bravely stays put in its roots, making the ground where children meet and play and learn to be something I consider almost sacred. Real life is messy, and I think this place embraces that in this continual effort to make our way as Christians in a broken and beautiful world. I hope to contribute to it somehow, if only God will use me.

I'm honored to be a part of it all. 

The old building surely shows its age, but I love seeing the crazy dedication of my colleagues to transform it into a kid-friendly, inviting place. My room has been my second home these past weeks, hosting me for more waking hours than my apartment. It is ready for kids to come through the door and I have high hopes for it in the coming months. Check out some photos, and then come stop by to say hello to Mrs. Whartnaby if you can :)

A teacher friend gave this to me for my school year. I'm a sucker for a bunting. 

 

My Second First

Well people, my first day of teaching for this school year is TOMORROW. Yes, TOMORROW. August 1st. I'll bet you're thinking to yourself, "Hey wait, Anna, I thought you just finished teaching last year like four weeks ago!" And to that I would reply, "YOU'RE PAINFULLY CORRECT." Okay, enough of me whining about the fact that my summer vacation is only four weeks long. The point is this: the new school year is starting! I have a few updates for you because so much has happened to my teaching career in the last two weeks.

Room 25. Tomorrow, the lights go on and kids stream in.

The main one? Are you ready for this? I will no longer be teaching second grade. This year I'll be teaching a class of 28 first graders! So while this is definitely my second year, it will in reality be another first, as I learn the curriculum content, developmental levels, and social needs of a 6-year-old kid. As I'm reading into it, it's actually a big difference between 2nd and 1st grade. Having said that, I met a few of them today and yesterday and they are so cute. They're babies. Like literally don't have enough self-control to sit in a chair. Or sit on a carpet. Or sit at all, really.

I'm also getting a new teaching partner in my classroom this year, and I am already a big fan. She has 5 years of experience at our school, so she already knows lots of the families. She truly loves the kids and has pretty strict discipline at the same time. That's what I like to see. Although I will dearly miss my co-teacher from last year (I would not have survived without her), I am feeling really good about my new one already.

I'm a strong advocate for child labor. 

Read, read, read. 

In case you want to know what we do all day. 

I'm feeling so many things on this night before the first day. I'm feeling denial, as I really can't believe that I'm in charge of a new batch of children again. I'm feeling nervousness, because the chaos, noise, and energy that happens in the primary grades of our school is kind of overwhelming when you're not used to it. I'm feeling excitement, for all the work I've already put into our classroom and the things we can accomplish together there. I'm feeling tired, as the 10+ hour work days are starting up again. I'm feeling happy, that the beginning of a new year means that I have a job doing meaningful work with one-of-a-kind children. I'm also feeling hungry, because the grocery list has not been attended to in all of the scramble to get ready. For now, I think I'll go to sleep. If you think of it, start praying for me at 8:00 am tomorrow. Then don't stop doing so until 4:00 pm. (Come to think of it, you can go ahead and repeat that daily process until June 19th.)

Stay tuned for the FIRST GRADE adventures in Room 25. Here we go! 

We Built This City

So...the cheesy side of Ms. Gesch came out last week. This year we are trying to emphasize our Hopes and Dreams, and so we spent a portion of the second week talking and writing down what we all wanted to be true for this year. Together my co-teacher and I thought of building "Dream City" where all the lights on the skyline were made up of the hopes and dreams of our kids. This is the finished product, and because I find it pretty adorable, I thought I'd share one of the things we did together as a class!

Oh. And about my cheesy side. When we gathered all together on the rug, of course I burst out loud into song: "WE BUILT THIS CITY ON HOPPPEEEESSSS ANDDD DREAAAMMMMS!!!" to the classic tune.

Nobody laughed. Meh. You win some, you lose some, right?

Dream City in all its glory

We're working on the silent "e" at the end.

UIC won't know what hit it.

I also would like to be friends forever.

The happy citizens of Dream City.