School Shopping

Friday, August 22nd

Today was the beginning of my back to school prep. First I unpacked my granny cart that had been sitting in the exact same place since about June 30th...right next to the front door of my apartment. I have a bad habit of dragging that thing home full to the brim and not touching anything in it until the Monday morning I'm dragging it back to school.

Anyway, my granny cart needed to be emptied because I am renting a mover to help me move my classroom supplies and materials back to my classroom. Remember, I always pack as if I'm not coming back, but as you can see, I usually do.

Due to my unfortunate incident with the U-Haul, I was not willing to rent another U-Haul and drive back to school. So, I searched the internet, and found a "man with a van" ad. After a couple of tries, I found someone who was willing to charge about the same that it cost me to rent a U-Haul, and move the stuff myself. To bring the stuff home via U-Haul, I paid $66. The "man with a van" will be charging me $65. I got lucky!

After unpacking my granny cart, I then repacked the items in moving boxes. Why unpack the cart? I wanted to do some more shopping and it would have been easier to bring along my granny cart.

Anyway, after the packing, I took a bath, then went to the teacher's store in downtown Brooklyn. Ms. Across the Hall said that she would try to meet me there. After about 3 last minute cancellations, This time, I just text Ms. ATH with my schedule letting her know that I was going whether she came or not.

I arrived at the store at 2pm, Ms. ATH arrived about 2:30pm. When we were finished, we were both poor when we left...me much more so. Ms. ATH total came to about $170.

Mine?

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Are you sure you want to know?

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Or, I should say that I shouldn't embarass myself.

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My total came to...

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$434.40

I've spent about $1,100 so far and school hasn't even started.

So what did I buy:

8 plastic containers
1 Teacher's Plan Book
1 "What every 3rd grader needs to know"(reproducible book)
1 "Hispanic American Achievers" (reproducible book)
23 posters
4 rolls of bulletin board paper
6 packs of bulletin board borders
500 self-adhesive card pockets
500 loan cards
4 drill practice books

and the list goes on...

Last year, there were so many changes and improvement that I wanted to do, but do to the "disagreement" between my principal and the administrator of the Charter School that was taking over some of the rooms in the building -- including my old room. My materials and furniture was not finally moved until 12noon on the last preparation day before school was to start. I never recovered. Once school started, with the changes and confusion with the changes, I spent most of the school year trying to stay arms-length from the tidalwave of papers and materials that was always shadowing me. I spent the whole year playing catch up.

This year, I want it to be different:
I want a new look in my room.
I want a filing system in place.
I want my materials organized.
I want routines in place that keep my students on task.
I want respect.

Oh, what are the card and card pockets for? Last school year, my students treated my classroom library like a book store, when school was finished, I had about 3 or 4 empty baskets that were full of books at the beginning of the school year. This year, my classroom library will be like the public library. There will be a card and card pocket in the back of each book. Lose one, and that student will be cut off until someone replaces the book or pays for another one.

Ms. ATH and I rode the train back to Manhattan. Ms. ATH got off at 42nd street to meet her husband, I took the train all the way home.

When I returned home, I was in a good mood. I cooked dinner, and washed all of the dishes. I made spaghetti with (ground)turkey meat sauce.

Tomorrow....

I'm going shopping, but I won't embarass myself (anymore) with the specifics, now.


Post Date - Wednesday, October 1, 2008 8:51PM
Completion Date - Saturday, August 23, 2008 12:21AM