I remember having some really weird dreams when I was pregnant. I was sure my first child was going to be a monkey for a while. It wasn’t very comforting. She ended up being very human, but she could climb walls.

I know I’m not the only one that had dreams/nightmares before starting a new job or new school year. The typical scenes of being singled out on the first day because of horrid clothes, glasses, or a peacock tail protruding from the back of your high-water jeans surely happened to all of us. It’s part of the excitement of new things.

The summer is in full swing and I’ve made a point of putting school(teaching) on the back burner for a while. I want to enjoy the myth of ‘teachers get the summer off’ idea. I’ve done a lot of bowling, cleaning, movies, swimming, and vegetating in front of the television with my boys. I’ve gone to plays, concerts, and even thought about working out! This could be the reason for the crazy dreams I’ve been having lately.

I love teaching fifth grade. This is the perfect age/grade for me. The kids are old enough to do fun stuff but don’t have the full dose of hormones they get for sixth grade. It’s a sweet spot. Last night, I dreamt I had been tricked into co-teaching a 2nd grade class with my friend Sunshine. It was/is great working with her, but the class was horrid! I kept crying the begging my director to give me a fifth grade class. They just shook their heads sadly and said they were fully staffed. In the end, I subbed a sixth grade class. It was just as  bad. I realized that sixth grade and second grade are both black holes of crazy I don’t want to enter any time soon.

That being said, I am still mourning the move up of my class from last year. They were amazing.  I am still getting emails and messages from them with vacation and story updates. Seriously? I love it! If I could enter the twilight zone that contained this last class always at this age, with all their awesomeness…it would be magical.

The only problem would be when they mastered all the math from 5th grade and started going ahead. That’s another reason I like fifth grade. I can do that math. Sixth grade?….that’s where it gets weird. I’ll take the chance with another class and stay with the math I know….cause I said so.