Speaking Without Words.

Apparently today, my face got the better of me.

I've always been told that what I'm thinking tends to show in my facial expressions - if I'm cheerful it's easy to spot, but also the flip side of that. When I'm cranky, I'm not very subtle about it. It has it's good moments and it's bad, depending on the situation.

With the kidlets last year, they were pretty good at reading me. Some of them were such clever little chooks that they would tell me as they walked in the door whether today would be a happy day or a cranky day. A bit scary, that!

I think I went to school today already in a not-so-cheery state of mind. I knew how much there was still to be done in my classroom before I could get it up to my standards, I knew that we would be in meetings for the day and I knew that the kidlets start tomorrow, so I wouldn't say I was bouncing with joy or anything. I didn't realise quite how grumpy I actually looked though.

Until I got two text messages from other staff members this afternoon, asking me if I was pissed off with them. I had no idea what they were on about; but both of them told me how unapproachable and grouchy I looked in the meetings today, that I wasn't my usual self. I felt quite badly about it, actually.

Hrm. I'm putting it down to nerves about the whole new class that are my responsibility and considering the fact that I didn't have things anywhere near as organised as I would like makes me feel stressed out. Plus, there is this new literacy course that the whole school is doing that seems like an awful lot of work on top of usual programming and organising and oh yes, teaching somewhere in there too! But that's no excuse for being grouchy.

Tomorrow I'm going to smile all day long!

(At least until a certain cherub in my class starts punching people for no reason, in which case I will bring out the bitch and get him under control QUICK SMART. It's my goal to have him a little bit less feral by the end of the year. I will do this if it kills me! Watch out, kiddo.)

But for now, my classroom is pretty much complete. All it needs is some kidlets to mess it up a bit. (Ha. Or not.)

Here's a view of my classroom door and display wall. You can also see my handy-dandy $10 wheely trolley, which makes me feel like a grandma but I still LOVE.


Next up, the storeroom! Not pictured is the other half, which is packed wall to wall full of maths storage stuff until people figure out where it all needs to go. Look! Tidy!


Here is one of my back walls, which looks much nicer in real life. There's also a blurry bookcase and a computer that's only there for display really, until I get my own class one.

Onto the other wall, which is a very pretty colour combination of green and blue. Notice the matching tray labels?

One of my organisation tables, which isn't sorted very well yet. It's behind my teacher's desk, which I'm not showing you because it was covered in crap this afternoon. Just pretend.

The tables, complete with spiffy new pencil holders that I love.


Lastly, my lovely chalkboard. That uses chalk! With dust! Hooray!



So, welcome to my lovely new classroom. Come on in and get ready to learn! Oh, but if you throw your pencil sharpenings on the floor, I may be forced to kill you.