New Year, New Attitude...AND Bubba!!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had enjoyed your holidays with friends and family, but most of all your time off from work. Being able to relax and only worry about what time you should get out of your pjs is the BEST!

I haven't posted in so long because I've been in such a FUNK. (I'll try to be brief with this, not sure if that is possible.) 

I was excited for the new school year to begin, but a lot of changes happened over the summer for my school--our terrific, supportive principal left without any notice (we received a district email from our superintendent naming people who had new positions in the district...she was one of them); our wonderful and amazing secretary got promoted and went to a new school (also, found out by email); our fantastic librarian, who has been at our school since it opened, moved to a new town (we knew she moved but she mentioned she might stay for a few months until someone got settled); AND my best friend decided to move to a different school. I couldn't take any more unwelcome "news"...enough already!! Jeesh! 

That changed my excitement to ho-hum REAL quick...and then school began...and the clipboard brigade/standards police came. Their weekly, sometimes more, visits put our whole staff on edge. It's fine when admin comes to visit for a few minutes in your classroom to see what's going on, but when there's a group of people with clipboards, walking around your room, questioning students, checking to see if standards are posted, taking pictures, looking through stacks of papers-- it gets intimidating, annoying, stressful, you name it! 

Our district had all kindergarten & first grades switch to the new Common Core standards. We were rushed through crappy training in late spring; were trained by people who haven't been in a classroom and who couldn't answer many questions from us teachers; had to learn a new ELA and Math curriculum but didn't have access to it until the week before school began. 

So, my love of my job was starting to fade. Coming to work, teaching the kids didn't ever feel like a "job" until this year. There doesn't seem to be any fun and when I'm not having fun, the kids definitely aren't having fun which is sad. But I'm hoping the YUCKY attitude I've been sporting is G-O-N-E! I am starting over with a NEW attitude for this new year and I'm not going to let any of the BAD stuff effect me any more. 

**If you made it this far, THANKS for reading!!

Now, here comes the part about BUBBA! I usually get a wall calendar for my classroom to keep by my desk. It always looks something like this...

Who wouldn't love to get marooned on one of these beautiful islands?!

Every time I look at one of these amazing pictures, I go to my "happy place" for a quick mini-vacation. Then I can get back to the reality of first grade.  So I have this in my hand when I'm shopping at Barnes and Noble when all of a sudden, I see BUBBA!

I HAD to check this kid out! Who is he? Why is he so wise? But most importantly why is he making me SMILE and laugh out loud?

Here's a little excerpt from the back of the calendar--"What can a chubby little baby have to say about life? Plenty! Bubba is one little person with a lot of big ideas on how to live life to the fullest. He may be short of years, but he's already experienced many of the things that you and I have only dreamed about. So, take Bubba's advice and follow your dreams, face your fears, and most importantly, just have some fun! After all, isn't that what life is truly about?"

AMAZING!!!

Here's some of Bubba's wise words...

*Photography by Christina Bynum-Breaux

Don't you just LOVE it?! How can you NOT smile after looking at that baby?! Bubba is giving me a much needed attitude adjustment. He will now have a special spot on my wall so I can be reminded daily to "live life to the fullest!" 

THANKS BUBBA!