Today I bought Dora band-aids.

And teddy grahams (snack food), dish towels (for the sink), a coffee maker (for the storage closet and obviously necessary coffee), and rolls and rolls of fadeless paper, and so so so much more. I knew you had to buy a lot of stuff when teaching... but phewie. But it will all be worth it I think. It already feels worth it.

If I could only use one word to sum up my experience so far, it'd be AMAZING. I am truly blessed to be in the situation I am. I read horror stories about NYC public schools, especially special ed, but my experience thus far has been MUCH different. It's definitely not the average though, and I'm well aware of all of the issues many of my colleagues are going through.

My paras are great. They know so much about the kids already and helped me set up my room and basically did anything that I asked. They gave me so much helpful input and really had great ideas. They even said they're going to teach me Spanish this year... woo! I don't think I'll have an issue with being the authority figure, which was my biggest fear earlier. I mean being a first year teacher is one thing, but being 22... I mean who listens to 22-year-olds?!??!?? But I think we'll be a great team.

My room is huge and is turning out nicely. As my cooperating teacher from the summer session said, "Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your classroom." And she's so right. But it's coming along. I still need to label EVERYTHING, make student schedules, laminate a bunch of things, etc etc, but so far so good. I found a huge brand new rug in the basement today, so I snatched that up ASAP. The AP didn't exactly give me the go ahead, but I can promise you, he's not missing it. My classroom would be. And so would my 5-year-olds who are going to be sitting, rolling, laying, and playing on it all day.

At the end of the day, I had to go to the office to get a few things and ran into my Principal, who I absolutely adore. I'm not on as close terms with the APs, but me and Ms. Principal are like BFFs. She gave me a hug and asked how it was going. I told her how excited I was about my room and how great my paras were, and she agreed that they were great. She told me I might have some issues with one, but I really appreciated her honesty. She told me to just stop worrying, that she knows I'm going to do great, and that it's going to be a great year. SO reassuring... she's just fabulous.

I have a huge shopping list for this weekend for school stuff.... then the big challenge is getting it from my aparment on the Upper West Side to my school in the Bronx. Hm. This weekend should be fun though... I'll be staying in the city but tomorrow is the start of college football!!! To celebrate, I'll be wearing my jersey and partying at my friends house and at one of the many bars in NYC devoted to Michigan fans. How exciting. The rest of the weekend will be spent getting ready for Tuesday!

PS: I didn't even look at my kids IEPs (individualized education plans) today, so I'm going to be totally surprised when they come in on Tuesday. I thought I was going to have to look at them to prevent a self imposed nervous breakdown, but I'm feeling shockingly calm about not seeing them. :)