panic! in the classroom (I never did like discos)

As summer nears its end and the first day of school draws nearer, I am filled with the unmistakable sensation of complete and total panic. The last week has been filled with days spent organizing my classroom, making plans, spending money, and obsessing, night and day, over the upcoming school year. I have no idea what I'm going to teach them. I'm not meeting with the other first grade teachers until August 21. That's a week before school starts. One week. I should be reviewing the teacher manuals, but I've been told that my school doesn't stick very closely to the scripted program. I'm not sure what, other than the standards, I should be familiarizing myself with. Because I feel so helpless regarding curriculum, I have attempted to focus my efforts on that which I can control - the classroom environment. I've spent probably 10+ hours researching, blowing up (via a projector), tracing, and coloring literary and movie characters for my reading corner. Yesterday, I put in almost 5 hours alone, coloring and cutting, until my hands were aching. I recruited my mom to sew pillow cases from the material Sherry and I picked out. I've set up candles and personal photographs behind my desk with the hopes of bringing me some sense of calm. I picked out my refrigerator and microwave (Happy birthday, Jessica) and have been busy making bulletin boards and hanging posters and the list goes on and on and on. I wish I had plans for how I am going to beautifully tie-in Language Arts, Science, Social Science, Math, and Art into wonderfully coordinated thematic units, differentiated for the varying needs of each student, and topped off nicely with a variety of authentic assessment. So far, my plans include: self-portraits, classroom procedures, and survival.