I've Been Called Lots of Things, But

--never "disorganized".  Now, my organizational process and procedures have been know to drive people nuts (talking to you, Mom), but I have a system! I have a plan! (even though the plan/system may be 'leave it right here on the table/desk until I need it four months from now').  All that said because I'm thinking about my goals and plans for the upcoming school year. This year, I will once again be in two buildings, which means I need to know EXACTLY which day we're on of the rotation so I'll show up to the correct building.  And for the first time ever, my budget was cut.  By A LOT--almost in half.  I have been incredibly lucky for the past 16 years to be able to order pretty much anything I've needed/wanted, so this reduction was stunning.  Like, STUNNING, how do people have quality programs on so little? Which (of course) means I have to shift my mindset about what I'm doing this year.  No screen printing in sixth grade.  No botanical cuts for our rainforest project in second grade. No new Playcolor tempera paint sticks. It's rough, and I'm feeling a wee bit discouraged.  But have no fear, my perpetual optimism always wins, and we'll do some amazing things this school year no matter what.
There's so many things to think about and plan for:
I'm toying with a few ideas for my new outside my room poster this year.  The interactive poster from last year was a big hit, and I'd like something as positive/popular this year, so look for a post about that soon(ish).
My daughter starts kindergarten (at my school!) this year, and that's going to be totally awesome. I do have a bit of fear about the pace of the day--getting the kids ready and planning for my classes, which is ridiculous because we have only one drop off now (our youngest to the babysitter's right by school).  It really will be fine, but when we've had such a relaxing summer, the idea of planning for eight classes a day seems impossible.
And finally, guess who's the new elementary department chair in my district? That's correct, it IS yours truly! It's been a while (nearly 10 years) since I last did held this title (in my last district) but it'll be good. I'm looking forward to reading some books on effective leadership and education in the 21st century (I just started FutureWise, Educating Our Children for a Changing World) to be the best leader I can be for our elementary art department--they deserve no less.