A Peek Inside the Classroom: Pumpkin Book Reports

 

So, I don't normally speak too much of what we're doing in the classroom, but this I just couldn't help but share! Not only because they are just about the cutest thing ever, but because of how proud I was of my kids for doing such a wonderful job!

 

Aside from all the regular lifestyle blogs I read, I have a few of my favorite teacher blogs also. One of those teacher blogs that I love is Hope King at Elementary Shenanigans. (formerly 2nd Grade Shenanigans) She is such a creative teacher and always has the best ideas to engage her students. When I saw her pumpkin book reports, I knew it was something I wanted to try.

 

I expressed my beginning of the year hardships on this here blog awhile back, but I've been trying my best to start putting more of my personality and my heart into my lesson plans to give me that fuel and desire to survive through this year. It's still a tough day every day in my classroom, but I can honestly say that by me putting more of my heart into my plans, I actually look forward to planning and teaching to the students that want to succeed and learn.

 

With inspiration from Hope, I assigned these pumpkin book reports to add a little fall flare into our normal routine! With some hesitation, I had my kids work on this project at home for the month of October and planned for us to share the last week of the month. I expected them to have a lot of help from their parents (some more than others!), but I was completely okay with that. I want my parents to be involved with their child's education and what a fun way to do so!

 

I was nervous and worried about the outcome, whether or not my students would participate or not. But come Monday morning, I was blown away with all the creative pumpkins my kids so proudly brought to school! We have them displayed in the hallway for everybody to admire their hard work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Definitely a project for the books!   If you'd like to check out Hope's Pumpkin Book Report unit on TpT, click here!
 

A Teacher's Heart

I was quickly reminded Monday morning how much my students mean to me.

We started our day just like any other, with one student missing in particular.

It was an obvious difference. 

A quieter difference, but not in a good way.

The rest of my kids and I started our day like we always do.

I had a brief second to check my email, and that's when I read the news.

The student of mine that was missing was very ill in the hospital. 

For this student in particular, it was serious.

My heart dropped.

I looked at my kids, and realized they all hold a piece to my heart.

And one piece was missing.

We're a family.

When one is down, we're all down.

We're hoping for a speedy recovery, and can't wait to see this student back in class with the rest of the gang.

Saying lots of prayers today.

For all my kids.

The Difference a Year Can Make

October 9, 2012 

The day I had been waiting for and working towards for five years.

I knew I wanted to be a teacher my senior year of high school.

I student taught in the local elementary school with the most amazing and inspiring teacher I have ever met.

To this day, I still strive to be like her.

She shaped what kind of teacher I wanted to be, and encouraged me to continue my dream through her love and kindness.

 Where I went to school, we student taught in five different classrooms, our junior and senior year of college. 

It was a lot of work. 

A lot of sleepless nights. 

And a lot of lesson plans.

I worked with a few good teachers.

But more importantly, I learned what kind of teacher I didn't want to be.

I took a little bit here and there, and eventually determined my teaching style.

With every project, lesson plan or supervisor observation, I longed for the day when I had my classroom.

 Some days it seemed extremely far off.

Like it would never happen.

And adding on the extra pressure of hearing there are no teaching jobs even available, was extra gut wrenching.

But nevertheless, I applied. And applied. And applied some more.

Tons of counties. Letters to each principal. Whatever I had to do, I was doing.

So when I graduated college, with no job and no interviews set up, I was extremely distraught.

Honestly, I had a difficult time appreciating the accomplishment of graduating college because there was such a big unknown ahead of me.

Starting college, I didn't expect to graduate and not have a job. 

But that's what I did.

I was terrified.

I worked hard all summer, continuously applying for jobs, but I heard nothing.

Eventually desperation set in as the beginning of the school year approached.

I began applying for very small private schools and daycares.

The dreaded 'd' word - daycare.

My favorite interview was when I was told I wasn't qualified to teach pre-school.

Luckily for me, the state of Georgia thinks otherwise.

At this point, I wanted something to keep me busy. Something to bring in money. And something to help me gain experience. 

By the end of July, I found a job at an upscale daycare/school.

I applied for the Lead Teacher position, but was given the Assistant Teacher position due to lack of "experience." I took the job, knowing it wasn't my dream job, but knew it would lead me to where I wanted to be. When I would get there, who knew.

The Lead Teacher I worked under had just graduated college like me.

{Somehow she was more qualified - think about that for second will ya.}

She was a nut.

And that's saying it nicely.

Working for someone who was unappreciative of my effort and unaware of my abilities, made me push even harder to become the teacher I worked so hard to be.

A HUGE break came about a month into me working as an Assistant Teacher.

I had an interview at a school close to mine and Cody's house.

It would be perfect.

As I'm sitting in the office before my interview, I hear the girl in there before me.

They knew her personally.

They said they'd be calling her soon.

And guess who was next.

Little ol' me.

No chance.

Of course I still interviewed, but knowing I had no chance of getting the job, was disappointing. Especially after getting all worked up and excited that I may have had a way out. I drove back to my school after my interview, crying the majority of the way. 

About a month later, kinda forgetting about finding a job somewhere else, settling into my assistant teacher salary (that 40 cent raise was pretty enticing), I got the call.

The call for a teaching position in the hardest county to get into.

THOUSANDS apply, a few hundred get in.

And they wanted to interview me!

I thought I bombed the interview.

I figured I had no chance.

They said I'd hear back by the next day, Friday.

Nothing.

The longest day of my life.

And now I had to wait through the weekend!

Talk about nerve wracking.

Monday morning came, and I kept my phone on me all day at work.

I received a call around 9am, from an unknown number.

Voicemail.

My break wasn't until 1 that day, I couldn't leave my kids.

The longest four hours of my life drug on, and finally I had my chance.

I remember sitting in my car, calling the number back, and hearing the words, "We would like to offer you the fifth grade position."

Instant yes.

But also, instant tears.

My break.

I did it.

I made it.

My classroom.

My rules.

My plans.

 

 

 October 9, 2012

One year ago today exactly, I became a teacher.

A day I'll never forget.

Life in Second Grade

Here's what's going on in second grade thus far.

1) I have been tying shoes like crazy.

Question:

Why send your child to school with three foot long shoelaces if they can't tie your shoes?

Answer:

To torture me.

2) It's cold season.

In the summer.

Last month, my class won best attendance for the month.

In the handful of days we've had together in September, three to four kids have been absent daily. Sure, a smaller class size is nice.

But my boxes of tissues are paying the price.

3) We're getting a new second grade teacher.

I am NOT okay with this.

They're trying to lower our class sizes.

(I have 26)

I have grown to love my kids.

I really don't want to lose any of them, or their shoelaces.

4) I'm so far behind.

I'm way behind in grading papers, organizing my classroom, completing lesson plans, finishing my evaluation, my bulletin board, etc.

And I typically stay until 5-6 PM every day.

What is going on.

5) Yesterday was September 11th.

My kids thought that meant it was Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Day and my favorite, Groundhog's Day.

Very hard for me to grasp the concept  that these kids were born post 9/11.

6) Girl brought caterpillar to school in a jar in light of learning about life cycles.

It died.

Didn't have the heart to tell them.

7)  Got asked what makes a boy different from a girl.

Eyelashes. Long hair. Skirts.

That's it.

My 'Open House' Sparkle

Today was the day I've been waiting for.

Thinking back at the beginning of summer, this day seemed extremely far off.

But it popped up sooner than expected, and I have to say that my feelings were a mixture of nervous butterflies and pure excitement. 

Today was Open House at my school.

Parents and students come in, find their new classroom, meet their teacher for the upcoming school year, and fill out enough paperwork to legally give away their child to the public school system. 

Just kidding.

But no really. It's a lot

The morning started off a tad chaotic.

Maci was sick all day yesterday, not eating a thing, and didn't get better overnight. 

Instead of risking her getting worse, my AMAZING sister, Whitney, took her to the vet for me today after I dropped her off this morning at my mom's on my way to work.

$200 later, she's perfectly fine.

Just added some extra stress on my already stressful morning.

Luckily, I woke up early, was able to drop my little babe off, and get to work early to prepare for my kiddos.

I can't begin to tell you how hard I've been working in my classroom.

I've had the most AMAZING support from my family, and I can promise it wouldn't look like it does without them.

Very blessed.

So needless to say, I take a lot of pride in my room and have tried really hard to make it my dream room for not only my own benefit, but for my kids.

Without going into much detail, my feelings were a little hurt this morning when right before my parents and kids came in to visit my room, I overheard other teachers talking about how my room is too colorful, with too much going on.

Did my eyes tear up a little, and did my feelings get hurt?

You bet.

 

But after I met my wonderful parents and sweet kids today, seeing their face light up when they looked at the room, getting precious little hugs and hearing how they "just know" I'm going to be their favorite teacher - my doubt when away.

 

I may be young. I may be a semi-new teacher.

But I know what I'm doing.

And nobody is going to dull my sparkle.

 

 

Here's a quick look at the goodies and folders I put together for my parents and kids.

I loved them and so did they. :)

In regards to the goldfish tag -

"I will treasure this forever." - Sweet boy in my class.

:)

Teacher Tuesday: Back to School

Thanks to all the supportive bloggers who encourage me to keep trucking on throughout this stressful glorious back-to-school time of the year!

I know it will all get done, and my room will look cute and organized just before my second grade babies come in and destroy it all. ;)

Like I mentioned in the last post, I have all these projects I've been working on the last few weeks, and it's really just putting them together and finding spots in the room that will work well for my kids. 

As much as I love Pinterest (and I REALLY do), it almost seems like a double-edged sword. Of course I've found amazing ideas and projects through pins and boards, but at the same time, I feel like it can also be very disheartening. 

To think my room will look like this:

Is COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC.

And not just because we can't hang anything from the ceiling - thanks fire marshal.

But through it all, I've found some cute ideas from Pinterest that I'm going to try and use to prepare and decorate for the start of the year.
 

One

 

Hope King over at Second Grade Shenanigans is simply incredible.

That's where I got this idea for the hanging paper wreaths. 

 I plan on hanging mine in my classroom library.

Hope gives a quick little tutorial on how to make it, and so far it's been super easy!

They're cute, colorful and fun.

Two

Clutter-Free Classroom has a TON of genius ideas! 

Like this one for example.

Twin-bed flat sheets for bulletin boards!

My school paints their bulletin boards navy, so if you don't want to put fabric or paper up, you really don't have to. And I didn't last year in fifth.

But this year, I wanted some extra pizazz!

For less than $10 a sheet, you can pick and choose what colors work best for your room.

They were a little difficult to put up, because of the size, but I have a ton left over that I can use around the rest of the room. 

Worth it!

Three

Thinking of a theme for my room this year was impossible.

I couldn't pick one for the life of me.

I knew if I picked a theme for the entire year, I'd get bored by October.

So I plan on picking a theme to start the year, and whenever I get bored or the season changes, I'll change it again.

But when I saw this cute little idea, I knew I wanted to run with it. 

Preparing for Open House, I wanted to create a cute hallway bulletin board that gets my little babes pumped up to start this school year!
My bulletin board will be an underwater theme, with my kids as a school of fish (HA! get it? "school" of fish!) and me as the BIG fish. Each desk during Open House will have a baggie of goldfish with that saying above. (And of course some extra baggies for any brothers or sisters that tag along!) 

Of course I have many more projects to work on, gearing more towards academics and classroom management. But it's a start and it'll all come in time and hard work.
No meltdown yet. :)

Missing In Action: Ecard Style

Oh, hey.

Remember me?

Yeah, remember that time I said my summer was soon going to be coming to an end, my lazy days of summer would soon be swamped with back to school mumbo jumbo, and I would want to crawl back into my bed and hide from reality? 

Like here, here and here. 

WELL IT'S OVER.

Okay. Maybe I never said that last part about hiding from reality.

But after last week, and looking ahead at the next couple weeks, it sounds pretty good to me.

 My stress level is pretty much out the roof, trying to get ready for the school year.

Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering why I never worked on classroom projects throughout the summer when I had little, sometimes nothing to do...

BECAUSE I PROCRASTINATE. 

I'm really awesome at it.

Obviously.

Honestly, I get overwhelmed pretty easily.

Looking at all the projects I want to complete, trying to get my classroom organized and cute (because if it's not cute, then the kids won't learn anything. duh.), and trying to find the money to do it all, I just don't know where to begin sometimes.

So today, I'm headed back to my room, hopefully lowering my stress level, and getting some good things accomplished.

If it doesn't go to plan, you'll find me in my bed, hiding from reality.

I have scheduled my meltdown for 9:54 this evening.  

Wish me luck.

 

Second Grade, Here I Come

I'm changing up my normal list of What I'm Loving Wednesday with Jamie, and sticking to one BIG thing that I'm loving this week!

MY CLASSROOM!

Monday, Cody and I headed to my school to move some things into my classroom.

As you know, I'm a new teacher, but I can finally say it's not my first year anymore.

Bless my heart.

Last year, I was so blessed to be offered a teaching position in fifth grade. It really was a dream come true, and a lot of prayers answered. Little did I know, it was going to be one of the toughest years of my life.

They say your first year teaching is the hardest, and now I know why.

It's TRUE. It's HARD.

But I learned so much (What I learned My First Year Teaching post coming soon!) and now know what I want to do different for next year.

But now that I'm going to be teaching students shorter and smaller than me (I'm only 5'2), I have started planning for the school year and collecting things here and there that I think might work.

Here's a look at my unorganized, not put together, messy new classroom. :)

My sweet little desks.

My very own door

My own bulletin board, and very own future hubby. :)

That corner is going to be my library.

The bookbag hangers.

Dividing wall.

White board.

Teacher's corner.

My new bench that Cody so thoughtfully put together!

Two for second! :)

I can't wait to share how my classroom comes along.

I promise it'll get more organized. :)

 

 

  Happy Wednesday y'all!