Is the Quarter Half Over Already?

Wow, the last five weeks have been a whirlwind. Since August 13th I've been going non-stop trying to first get my room ready for the kids, then planning for the first week, and then finally flying by the seat of my pants every day because it's my first year.

I vowed to do all of these things during my first year teaching, and now I realize that I barely have time to get to bed let alone, keep a journal, work out daily, keep up with this blog and the thousands of other things I promised myself.

When they say that your first year is the hardest they aren't exaggerating. I'm burnt out and I feel as though I'm not doing my best teaching because the bottom line is, this is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. I'm supposed to be effectively meeting the needs of my 30 extremely wonderful students that are one 18 different reading levels, and some don't speak English. And I'm not complaining because the sense of fulfillment I have at the end of the day is overwhelming because of the love I have for my first class. But...I'm exhausted...haha and that's about all I can say.

New [School] Year Resolutions

So like any teacher, there are definitely things that I KNOW I need to work on to make sure next year goes off without a hitch. However, as a new teacher, I also know that I need to be realistic in my resolutions so not to give myself a panic attack every time something goes wrong. 
Here's an opportunity for me to set my goals in public in attempts at actually keeping them! Amanda over at Teaching Maddeness is hosting a New School Year Resolution linky party where you state resolutions for the upcoming teaching year. So here are mine!
Resolution #1: Don't go bankrupt! This is my first year teaching so of course I'm starting from scratch. I don't have any school supplies in reserves and I need to basically create a learning environment that is conducive and safe within the next two weeks. No pressure right? I swipe my debit card as if I have endless funds even though that is not the case. So, my resolution is to prioritize, do I really NEED those extra packs of sticky notes? Not really, though I do WANT them. 
Resolution #2: Take it a day at a time. I am a serious perfectionist (aren't we all), so when I was doing my student teacher I attempted to be planned almost a week ahead of time. Now I know that is an unrealistic expectation to have for myself now that I'm starting my very first year of teaching. I need to learn to live in the present instead of the future, which is one of my greatest personality flaws. 
Resolution #3: Don't be afraid to ask for help. Last year during my Master's/Student Teaching I almost had a mental breakdown because I was attempting to do everything by myself. I pride myself in my ability to do pretty much everything without asking for help, but sometimes that is not the best policy. This year I'm going to do my best to take it slowly and remember that even though I might feel like I know everything, I definitely don't. 
Resolution #4: Take some time for yourself(myself). Everyone always says that nothing is as stressful as your first year. Well, being on the cusp of my first year, I'm trying to get into the mindset of that being a reality. I'm going to set a time at the beginning of the year and when that time comes, I'm going to walk out of my classroom and go home/the gym/the bfs house, what have you, so I can get a fresh start for the next day. 
So that about sums it up! Come and join the party!

A Little Overwhelmed

Today I went to my new Elementary School to pick up some curriculum binders from my new team leader. Sounds innocent right? Well actually receiving the binders was the easy part. We also sat down and talked about curriculum and what the day would look like, and for the very first time, (not the last I'm positive)I started to feel what it must feel like to be a first year teacher. The worst part was we only discussed math today...

One thing that I think may make first year teaching difficult this far is the fact that when we are doing our student teaching, we get accustomed to the way put mentors run their classroom. Not to mention we have so much guidance from our teaching programs, mentors, supervisors, etc. Also for me it feels a little more difficult because I'm teaching in a completely different district.

However, on a positive note I will say that at least I'm in the same state and same grade in which I did my student teaching. There are commonalities between curriculum so that's one thing I will be thankful for this year.

One question I have for you veteran teachers is do any of you use centers in math in the intermediate grades? If you do what do you use for centers? I'll take any suggestions to use as a springboard :)

P.S. I know I'm nuts for starting so early.