What a crazy few weeks. I just moved to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to begin my first year of full time teaching. I am a 3rd grade teacher in Accomack County at Pungoteague Elementary. The area is very rural but not really that much different than home. I accepted the job at the end of June and was flying high the rest of the summer.
I arrived here in the beginning of August ready to set up and meet my kiddos. First I had to make it through a week and a half of new teacher training and a week and a half of school inservice. Little did I know Mother Nature was going to add a few surprises of her own along with all that.
After arriving and a furry of unpacking over the first weekend I had a full week to myself to continue settling in and get to know the area. During this week I continued to set up my new place, took stuff to my classroom at school and adopted a puppy named Copper!
Starting the new teacher academy was fun but scary as well. I met many new teachers and learned a lot of great new information to help me through this upcoming year. At the end of new teacher training we experienced an earthquake. At first I thought someone was shaking the table hard with their leg since at the time I was sitting at a cafeteria table but then all of a sudden I became very sea sick. As I talked with the other new teachers many experienced the same feelings. At the end of the day I turned my phone back on to several texts of are you ok? Luckily there wasn't any damage nearby just some shook up and confused people. The end of that week brought the beginning of teacher in-service with my school staff and the entire district staff. Along with it came the threat of Hurricane Irene. I was under a mandatory eviction notice the morning before the storm since I live in a mobile home and with a dog I was not able to go to a local shelter so the only choice I had was to drive home to PA! So Copper and I loaded up and that Friday we drove north. Copper did great with her first long car ride and after 10 hours of traveling we finally reached Centre Hall where we were staying so I could at least get to enjoy the Grange Fair after being forced out of my new home. On Monday morning we returned home.
Luckily when I got home the only damage I found was quite a few downed pine needles and pine cones and a few small branches. It was an easy clean-up! Mother Nature tested me twice within my first month on the Eastern Shore but I managed to survive.
As I finished up Inservice and setting up my classroom, time to meet my students drew near. Finally today was the day. We had our Open House. Parents and students could come all day to meet their teacher and see their classroom. Unlike back home students do not find our their teacher until Open House. It is like a close guarded secret, when given our class lists the other day we were instructed to keep them closely guarded because parents were not to find out before Open House.
Today I was able to meet most of the 22 students I will teach this year. I couldn't be more excited for this amazing opportunity. I am now ready to enjoy my final long weekend of summer with my family before the daily grind of school starts next Tuesday! Stay tuned for updates throughout the year!!
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