*yawn*

     The first day back with the kids is always tough.
     My first alarm starts to ring at 5:10 a.m. The second one goes off at 5:15 a.m. This morning I didn't hear the first one at all and when the second one rang, got out of bed, picked up the cell phone, then crawled under the covers again until 5:30.  I need one of those alarm clocks with wheels that you need to chase to shut off.
     We did science in the morning, and the kids did the usual grumbling about being assigned to work in groups.
     They did get excited about our language arts introduction to the text structure proposition and support, mainly because the article we are using is about kids getting paid for good grades.
     After a lunch of breaded chicken patty (just how many breaded chicken patties does the U.S. produce? Given how often we eat them at school, way too many) with mashed potatoes, it was math time. Alas, teaching math often leaves me feeling homicidal, and today was no different.
     I am trying to be more consistent in my classroom management -- Dimples got moved to the desk at the front of the room, and King spent the last hour of the day standing up at the front of the room after multiple attempts to sit by his friends. (I ran this by admin and they said making kids stand is not corporal punishment, but making kids stand outside in the heat of the sun is).
     The usual crew owed me recess time today, but I'm hoping that being consistent about it will lead to less disruption and more learning. And less homicidal urges for the teacher.
     My goal for 2010 is to be more on top of grading papers, so I settled down with a stack this evening. My other goal is to be more organized in the classroom, in the hopes of helping the students organize themselves as well. I will never be one of those teachers with an excruciatingly neat room, but I'm hoping to avoid the towering stacks of papers, books, and more that I tend to collect.