What I Did For My Summer Vacation...

So I have been a bit m.i.a. this week.  Had some personal things and a broken computer that made writing an entry at the complete bottom of my list.

I have one more day off until school officially begins and as of 9:52 tonight, I can safely say, I am pretty much ready.  I have accomplished a lot in my 3 weeks that I have had off (worked at a camp this summer.) The last 3 weeks I have:

• Completely updated/refreshed/changed my First Grade curriculum (using my new MusicPlay-1st)
• Completely updated/refreshed/changed my Fourth Grade curriculum (made it more hands on)
• Refreshed the first half of my Third Grade curriculum with better rhythm/note reading (pre-recorder) reinforcement lessons (especially since my incoming third graders are not the strongest students.)
• Updated my Kindergarten, Second, and Fifth Grade curriculums (like I do every summer)
• Recorded 5 choral accompaniment files for my winter concert (other 2 were files I had already)
• Updated/refreshed my school website
• Created a bunch of new SMARTBoard lessons to go along with my updated curriculums (still more to be made, of course)
• Created the band lesson schedule (even though it will probably have to be changed since we just found out a 4th section of the 4th grade is being added... hopefully we'll find how that affects the master schedule on Tuesday?!)
• Made a bunch of worksheets, etc for some of my new lessons

That list might not sound like a lot, but it was time consuming.  I had an especially big issue with some of the SMARTBoard lessons that I created in the last few days since I am having a compatibility issue between Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) and Notebook!!  Oh well, what would the beginning of school be without some form of issue.  

So school officially starts on Tuesday, with students returning Wednesday.  I am ready.  It's my 5th year at this school, 6th year total.  I know what I am doing.  The students know me (well cept for the new kinders) and my rules.  My first kindergartners are in fourth grade now.  I think they might be my best singers yet since we have worked on pitch since kindergarten.  

I am looking forward to some of the new lessons I created, some of the choral pieces I have picked out, during some of my really fun 5th grade units with my current 5th graders, and creating a love of music for about 400 students!

I am not looking forward to a lot of changes at my school (including adding a new section in last minute, with no teacher to teach it, many classroom teachers not teaching the same grade they have taught in the past, a friend and colleague retiring mid-year), not looking forward to district politics, and not looking forward to no longer working on the high school's musical productions due to district politics!

Should be an interesting year.  Hopefully I will be able to update at least once a week with any good stories, or drama, or just plain rants.