End of the School Year Thoughts

It doesn't feel like it should be the end of the school year. We only have a week and a half left of school and it just doesn't seem like it to me. Maybe I'm in denial. I'm actually really sad to let my 2nd graders move up to 3rd grade. They have been the sweetest class. But at least I'll have my 1st graders for another year. That is the silver lining. God has been so good to me this year. I love my kiddos. Sure we've had ups and downs, but overall they are such a good group. Between the 2 grades I have 3 sets of siblings which in some cases would cause problems. Not with this group!
What I'm most looking forward once school is out is my parents coming for a month. I'm in desperate need of some family time. I've been missing my family a lot lately. I need a hug from my mom and to curl up next to my dad on the couch watching a movie.

Reading Challenge Update #2

It's been a while since I've posted. And I've been having fun reading! I'm kinda going half and half between books I'm reading at school and ones I'm reading on my own.

3. What is the Statue of Liberty? by Joan Holub
I read this "bobble-head" book (as my friend Jen so affectionately calls them) to my class last month. I'm always surprised by how engaged my students are with non-fiction books. I don't know why I underestimate them. I had to explain things as I read this book to them. But they really liked it. After each chapter we talked about and wrote down information we learned. These books are so fun. I'm going to read another one with them sometime this year. Probably one about a president.
4. Sparky byBeverly Gherman
I've been wanting to read this book for a while. When I taught in California my favorite field trip was to take my class to the Schulz museum. It was fun to live in the same town where Charles Schulz lived. I love driving around my home town and seeing random Snoopys and Charlie Browns. So all that to say, when this book was available to borrow as a Ebook I jumped at it. I'm pretty sure it is a children's biography, but I don't care. I still liked it.
5. Meet Addy by Connie Rose Porter
I actually had this book set as a kid. Unfortunately I didn't like reading as a kid. How sad is that?! I missed out on a lot of reading as a kid. Anyway, I just finished reading this book to my class. This book brought on some fantastic discussions with my 1st and 2nd graders! Addy is a slave who is planning on running away to go North with her mother. As we read the book my class and I had several talks about slavery and how people were treated, are treated, and should be treated. They wanted to me to continue in the series they liked this book that much. I really hope I can instill in my students a love for reading that I didn't have at their age.
6. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
This is the book after The Goose Girl. I really liked this one. It took me a while to read this one because my Ebook had expired and I had to wait for a few people to be done with it first. I finally just checked out the actual book at the library. I think I'll look for the next one in the series in the near future.

I'm excited that I've already finished 6 books on my reading challenge for 2016! And I'm already half way through with my next book! Yay for reading!

Oh the Possibilities of 2016

Found myself day dreaming this morning about 2016.
       Before moving to Wisconsin when I'd think about the year ahead it was pretty predictable. Sure things would come up to change the norm, but all in all it was predictable. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. In one sense I really liked it because like most people I'm not a huge fan of change. But on the other hand it wasn't so good because I would get comfortable and just enjoy my time in my bubble.
       Since my move in 2014 I feel like everything down the road is up in the air and could change at the drop of a hat. And honestly the 2014-15 school year was pretty much like that. Nothing happened like I thought it was going to happen. Now I have NO idea of what 2016 will look like.
       I'm actually looking forward to the end of it so I can look back and see how God orchestrated it all. There are just so many unknowns right now.

• I'm not sure how things are going to go with my job after this school year is over. 
• Since moving here God has provided me with two great friends who've encouraged me so much. In October one moved 2 hours away and the other friend will probably move away this summer. So I'm not sure what my friendships will look like by the end of the year. 
• My church is looking for a new pastor right now. I've really struggled with the person who has stepped into leadership while we've been looking for a new pastor. I do think his heart is in the right place. He wants our church to grow and prosper, but he has legalistic tendencies and often says things that I don't agree with. And he is leading the pastor search so that makes me nervous about the pastor that will come in next. Will I agree with him? Will he be legalistic? Will I need to find a new church? 

See what I mean? A year of unknowns.
As I was day dreaming/worrying about all of this this morning I was reminded of the Psalm we went over in prayer group this week.

Psalm 16
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you."
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows on those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 

       I could sit around and imagine the possibilities of 2016, but that's all they are possibilities. Instead I need to lean on the only one who has everything in His hand. He will preserve me. He will keep me safe. I only need to trust Him. I really like verses 8-9.
"I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure."
       He is always with me. I have confidence that God will always be at my right hand to hold me secure no matter what comes my way.

Happy New Year...Wait What?!

       It may sound weird to you others, but today starts a new year for me. No you don't have to stop and check your calendar it isn't January 1st. Tomorrow is the first day of school. I count today as a big day since the kids and parents can come in today and drop off stuff and meet the teachers. I've been working so hard at getting my classroom all put together for this year. Its my second year teaching this class of 1st and 2nd grade and I have a much better idea of what my room should look like (in my opinion) than I did last year. The beginning of last year is such a blur to me! But I'm loving the way I have my classroom set up this year!! Its completely different. I'm not one who really likes change, but for some reason I absolutely love changing up my classroom. :) Go figure.
       I got to school early this morning in hopes of getting a bunch done and I did. I got so much done that I felt I could sit down for a minute and take a breath before my staff meeting this morning. Grabbed my Bible and opened to the book of Psalms. I love the Psalms. This is the first thing I read:

Psalm 115:1
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

       I want this to be the theme of my year teaching this class. I want God to have all of the glory for what goes on in my classroom. I could find great ideas for teaching and my kiddos could grow a ton this year in my class, but it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with God! I want God to do great and wonderful things in the lives of my 12 students this year. I'm so excited!!

Reading Challenge Update #2

7. Mr. Popper's Penguins - I'm actually a little surprised that I had never read this book until just now. I saw the movie when it came out a few years ago, but the movie and the book are like night and day. I absolutely LOVED this book! I decided to read it to my class since we are working on penguin reports this month. My 1st and 2nd graders loved it. It was adorable hearing their giggles and "oh no!"s when something crazy would happen to Mr. Popper. We were all surprised by the ending. It was such a cute book!

Christmas Traditions in the Classroom

This has become a Christmas tradition in my classroom. I love to see how it turns out every year.  My kiddos did a fantastic job coloring each section this year! I bought this Andy Warhol inspired Christmas Tree mural several years ago. There are a bunch more murals on the site. I might have to buy another one sometime. 

{Day 10 - Something you hate}

Chalk is totally comes with my job. When I first started teaching I loved chalk! Now... I can't stand it. I'll only use I if I absolutely have to. This is all of the chalk I have in my classroom, and after I took this picture I threw it away. Ha!

Here are my top 3 reasons why I greatly dislike (aka hate) chalk:

1. It gets everywhere - gotta love it when you realize that you have chalk dust on your pants and you don't know how long it has been there! 
2. It dries out your hands - I want to wash my hands every time I touch the stuff! 
3. I lose my voice when I use it on a regular basis - true story! When I first started teaching I would lose my voice by the end of each week. It took me a long time to realize that it wasn't from talking too much. It was from the chalk! The year they put a white board in my room I didn't lose my voice once. Crazy! 

In my current classroom I have a white board as well as chalkboards. Instead of using chalk I use chalk pens. True it takes me longer to clean it off, but it is SO worth it! 

Necessities!

My best friends at the beginning if the school year! Those and mucinex d. What would I do without them?! Thankfully I think my first cold of the school year is almost gone.

1st Day of School

A couple pics from the 1st day of school! 

Walked to school! It doesn't even take an entire song to play on my itunes for me to get to school. I live really close! 

Oops accidentally cut off the 'f'

I guess thats what happens when you are taking a selfie with a chalkboard! Ha! 

Flowers from my family. :) Such a wonderful surprise! 

The 1st day of school was fantastic!! 

Here we go again!

Well, I'd say that summer is definitely over now. It was such a great summer! I'm so thankful for the the time I spent in Wisconsin. I think the time there has helped make me more excited about this school year. I'm thrilled to start school next week. I'm not quite ready for it to start, but things are coming along nicely. Tomorrow is the start of our teacher appreciation week. 8-4 Tuesday thru Friday. It will be long, but good. I'm so thankful for my job. God is good!  

All set to work in my classroom...wait...

...now I'm ready! Can't forget the coffee! :) 

EEeekk!!

Ok pray for me! This morning when I woke up and started thinking about school reality hit. School is very soon, and I'm not so ready! I'm praying that going to my classroom today will help calm me down a little. (sigh)

So sweet

I love teaching! I think it is so much fun and I absolutely love my students.
Grading papers is probably one of my least favorite parts of the job. Not that grading 3rd grade papers is hard, it is just very time consuming and there is a lot of it. But I have to say that the best part of grading 3rd grade papers is that I find random drawings they have made more me. Just one or two slipped in with the rest of the papers. Such a sweet surprise! It brings a smile to my face every time. :)

Tales of a 3rd Grade Teacher

Last week on of my students invited me to move in with his family. :) So sweet! 

I love my class! 

Tales of a 3rd Grade Teacher

Last week was full of funny stories in my 3rd grade classroom.

In chapel last week the pre-k class did a little performance. My class was excited to see Danika up there. At the end of chapel our administrator said to the adults, "So parents and grandparents, who had the cutest child up there?" All of them rose their hands. The child sitting next to me tried to push my hand up. I looked at him and this is the short conversation we had.

"I'm not Danika's mommy, so I'm not going to raise my hand."
"But he said grandparents too!"
"What! I'm not Danika's grandma!!!"
"Then what are you?"
"I'm her aunt!"
"Oh"
"I'm not old enough to be her grandma!"

Then I proceeded to cry slightly because I was trying so hard not to laugh.
It was so extremely funny!

CSET

A month ago I took the dreaded CSET (California subject examination for teachers). I have been waiting for the results and I finally got them today. And I passed ALL three tests!! I am so excited!! What a relief. For those of you who don't know about the CSET it is an insane test. Well actually it is three tests. 1 - English and History; 2 - Math and Science; 3 - Music, Art, Child Development and PE. It took my 5 hours to take the test. And I have to pass all three tests in order to student teach in the Spring. Honestly I was expecting to have to retake at least one of the test. Praise the Lord I don't have to!! God is so good.