Update on my life!

So here is a much needed post... I have been horrible, and tomorrow will have been a month of not posting, but time just got away with me. From teaching, school, and Thanksgiving. I have decided to leave you with pictures from our Thanksgiving Trip to see Zach & Kristen in PA!

Enjoy!

Mmmm

Famous Geno's... Home of the Philly Cheese Steak

The Liberty Bell

We love posing like the statues!

Supposed to be all Rocky posing..

Courtney is the Diva!

GRRR.

Fun Brother/Sister picture!

Standing where Rocky stood... Um he has small feet!

*Or I have big feet*

In Philly!

Great Musical!!!!

Good morning @ 5am!

Decided to eat his McDonalds Hamburger for Breakfast!

Getting on the Subway at 5:00am!

Us waiting.... probably about 7 or 8 am!

Almost time to start!

The beginning of the parade!!!

Tom the Turkey!

Kermit the Frog Here!

Panda!!!

Santa to end the parade!

Family Picture!

Our menu for Thanksgiving Dinner at Tony's!

We finally decided to use the snuggies... It got a little cold + snow!

Here we are at the end of the Penn State Game... Frozen!

So, after Thanksgiving I came back to the delph! I immediately had my solo week of teaching, and it went really really good. The students did wonderful! I was very impressed. My supervisor came and observed me, and I got all 3s on my evaluation (perfect score!) I was SOOO excited!

After solo week that weekend we went to LR to hang out with friends. It was my friend's birthday, so we went out to dinner. We also just hung out with Amy all weekend. On Sunday we went to Alyse Eady (Miss Arkansas') wardrobe preview. It was great! She is one of my pledge sisters, so I am always up for supporting her in any way!

This week has been pretty easy. I have gone back to observing, and helping out in anyway. The students have been great, and I am super sad to leave them.

Here are two pictures from my fair well party. The basket on my desk was FULL of stuff my students brought me. It was full of teaching supplies like staples, sticky notes, tape, etc. Plus books. Mrs. Crow gave me a Wayside School book (which was the book I had been reading the class all semester). I truly miss these students. They have molded me into the teacher I am today!

Here they are being silly with my basket!

And here they are being the sweet angels they have been!!!

I still have 2 days at school (classes). I have stuff to turn in still. Hopefully I have enough motivation to finish it all...

Then I am headed home to rest/relax and finish planning this wedding that is now less than a month away!! :) (4 weeks from tomorrow!)

Through tears and smiles!

So I start this blog off with a picture of the cutest dogs in the world...

You may be wondering why??? But trust me I will get there. The dog on the left is Scout my brother and sister in laws dog. The dog on the right is Suzy my families dog that we have had FOR YEARS!

I am so thankful for them. You never realize how close you have become to a dog until you hear a story of someone losing their dog, and you think what it would be like without yours.

Today in school I had a boy tell me in computer lab that his dog died yesterday. He told me like it was nothing. He told me that it got ran over last night after getting out. The day went on, and I honestly didn't think anything of it. We got to Math, and they were working individually on somethings. I look over. He is talking to Mrs. Crow and starts BAWLING. He is telling her about his dog, and how much he misses him. It made me so sad, and reminded me of how lucky I am that I still have my dog. We have had her for almost 13 or more years. I don't know what I would do if we lost her.

It made me think of all the students that come to school everyday with so much baggage. They walk in the door with all their home life. They are carrying so much. We as teachers are not there just to teach them, but to love on them. We are there to help them forget about their worries at home, and help them get through the day. We have a very important job.

As teachers we are also there to encourage students. I have one particular student who thinks he is the dumbest student ever. It makes me so frustrated and sad. I gave them a science test yesterday. He cried the entire way through it. I knew he knew the answers (not only because their test was the study guide...) but I knew he was smart. I kept encouraging him the entire time. Constantly telling him he was smart, and could do it.

Well today I was grading the tests and what did he make....BUT A 100%. I was so frustrated, yet so proud. I called him over to my desk that afternoon, and showed him what he made. His face lit up. I have never seen this kid smile like he did today. It really made my heart happy, and showed me why I am/want to be a teacher!!!!

As you can tell, we, as teachers have a tough job to do. That is why it is a calling, and when I go into this classroom everyday I know that I have been called to teach... through the good days and bad!

Love your kids and love your pets!

IT'S HUMP DAY!!!

Today is Wednesday!!! It has been a pretty good week so far.

Monday was good. It's busy as normal with students going here and there. I started Math this week, so this was new and exciting. Monday was a general good day. (i guess besides the poop incident)

Tuesday came, and it was another good day. Busy but good. I came home from school and was DEAD! I couldn't figure out why though. I then looked back over my day, and realized that I had taught almost the entire day. The only part of the day I didn't teach was the first hour or so because they were taking their TLI test. We also found out yesterday that one of our boys left school. Mrs. Crow called home, and the dad answered. He said that on Friday the mom up and left with the kids. They moved to Hot Springs. It was so sad. I kept thinking about how he would always talk about what he did with his dad. How we rode the tractor with his dad. It was very sad to think that he was no longer with him. I am so grateful for parents who are still together, and love each other.

Wednesday was a day! I woke up this morning to a lovely text message telling me that my Cooperating teacher was not going to be at school today. I didn't freak out because I knew my students respected me and saw me as an authority figure. I came in this time strong and stern so they would view me as a teacher/authority figure too. I got to school ready to face the day. The students were about to walk in, and I remembered their lunch cards... They were down in Mrs. Crow's box..AHH A mess to their structure. I had a student go down in get them, but I felt like the students were crazy from then on for a little bit because of my mess up. The sub walked in a few minutes after the students got there. They then became crazy talking to the sub.. I had them so calm... UGH. The day then began... Before the morning show started one student got poked in the eye by a pencil... Oh geez . I just knew today was going to be exciting.

I finally got them in their seats, and working. I wasn't going to take the talking and doing nothing just because Mrs. Crow wasn't there. I was the teacher today. The sub was there yes... but I taught all day. The sub was there just for crowd control/discipline. For the most part the students were very good. They were a bit more talkative than normal, but they were good. I had one boy cry 2 times today because he said he wasn't smart and couldn't do his work. The last time was during their science test. I had to encourage him the entire time. I feel like he is told that he is not smart all the time at home, but he really had great potential.

I felt like I was the meanest person today, but I was just stern because I had to make them believe I was in charge.. I definitely learned that from my first rotation. I enjoyed teaching them today "all by myself." They did a great job!

I am really tired after today.. after teaching all day. Hopefully Mrs. Crow will be better and be back tomorrow with us! There were several things we didn't do today because I still haven't learned how to do them like reader's workshop/writer's workshop..

I hate these posts without pictures. Hopefully this weekend I will have more posts with pictures from my Bentonville shower and Courtney's dance competition!!

Is that POOP!

So today was a pretty relaxing day.

All I had to teach today was word study because they have their Math TLI tomorrow. They took almost the entire day to practice except for when I read Sarah Plain and Tall and did Word Study (spelling).

So not a whole lot exciting went on today. It was just a normal Monday morning. No funny stories with the students.

Now here's the story dealing with the title:

We had lunch/recess duty today. I was outside walking around the playground watching the students. I am walking around when I start to smell something like Poop. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, and it was really making me nauseous. I kept looking around. Then I figured out that the mulch was sticking to my shoe. I realized there was something on my shoe. I believe the smell was coming from my shoe. I decided to get mulch and try to get it off the top of my shoe. I tried and got the majority of it off. I stood up and walked off. I then started to smell it again. I smelled my hands and it was on my hands. AHHH. I tried to get it off my hands.

It was time for the students to line up and go in. I still could smell it... Oh my gosh. I figured I could manage until after I read to the students and went to the bathroom. Well after I read to the students Mrs. Crow started Math before Art. OH MY GOSH. I didn't know if I could handle the smell anymore. Luckily it didn't take long, and we then went to the bathroom. I immediately went and wiped off my shoe and washed my hands TWICE. I thought I had the smell gone..

Let's just say it is 5:46pm and I CAN STILL SMELL IT. I think it is burned into my nose.

Nothing else exciting happened today.

Today does mark 2 months until my wedding!!!!!! Wow it's going to fly! I'm so excited!

Also I only have 4 four weeks in the school, and 3 more weeks of teaching. Wow

Hope you have had a great Monday, and not a Poopy one! :)

Speechless Sunday!

I decided to do instead of Wordless Wednesday a Speechless Sunday!

I have several photos on here to add. The first ones are from my shower and the second set is from Homecoming/Tiger Tunes about 2 weeks ago!

Hope you enjoy!

Have a great week! Hope you enjoyed sleeping in an hour later today! :)

Quick Update!

Ok... So I have been a horrible blogger....

These past few weeks have been a little crazy. I have been pretty busy....

So here is a quick update on my life...

1. I started my new rotation.

2. 3rd graders ARE WONDERFUL!

3. I have learned a lot.. Still!

4. I have had some interesting experiences in 3rd grade from a kid kicking a soccer ball over the fence, to a girl hitting a boy on the butt, to another girl running from the school. (It's never a dull moment)

5. Tiger Tunes happened

6. Homecoming happened at Ouachita (My first one no longer an EEE)

*I promise to do a picture only blog and add some from all this*

7. I finally went home after almost 2 months *It was greatly needed. Talk about homesick*

8. I had my bridal portraits done this past week! LOVED IT!!

It made me so excited to get all dressed in my wedding dress and my hair fixed. He would show me some of the pictures as he took them, and I cannot wait to see them!!!

9. I saw my sister go to dance competition for BHS! They did very good. So proud of her!

10. Still ironing out wedding details. Making sure everything is working!! I got a new dress for my first shower this weekend in Arkadelphia!

We are almost 2 months away from the wedding. I honestly thought this day would never get here! I love going and teaching my 3rd graders. They are so good, and constantly ask about me and my life. I had to miss on Thursday because I got sick, and they were so worried why I wasn't there and said they missed me.

I feel like I could write about a billion things, but I'll just give you an overview on what happened. I promise to try to keep up the blog writing from now on. Life just got a little hectic. I want to really blog about the next few months because it'll be fun to look back on after the wedding is over with!

I will though add pictures soon, and probably do just a picture day like some people do wordless wednesdays!

Hope life is going well for you! :)

First Week in 3rd Grade!

My first week went GREAT!

I love third grade! :)

My cooperating teacher is actually one of my pledge sisters mom's which is great! She is an awesome teacher!

My third grade class is a great group of students. Third grade is completely different than first grade. They are a lot more independent.

Wednesday I observed. I worked on knowing the students names and figuring out how the class goes. That day did end up a little interesting. One student on the playground kicked the ball over the fence. He went to go get it (which they are not allowed to do). The school is by a pretty busy road (as busy as roads in Arkadelphia can get). He almost got hit by a car.... AHHHH. Wow.

Lets just say the first day was kinda intense. ha

Thursday was a good day too. I read to the students that day, and I got told that the students were excited that I was there. It made me feel good!

Friday I got more involved. I graded more papers. I gave the students a test to figure out their reading level. I also planned my lessons for this week!

This next week we are learning about the respiratory system in science! We are doing some great hands on activities.. Also I am giving Homework for the first time.. Don't cringe when you hear that word though. It will hopefully be fun but meaningful! I will tell you tomorrow about what they have to do tomorrow!

This weekend was great too! Nathan decided to come down and hang out since he didn't have to work. It was a wonderful surprise half way through my week. Friday he had to work until 8 so I hung out at the apartment, and got my lesson plans done. That night the Kappas (men's social club at Ouachita... I am a lil sis) had Tiger tunes practice because it is this week starting thursday. I am in their show, and so I went to their "all nighter" so practice and encourage them. I also made them several muffins to get them going since they would be practicing from 6-1am. I was at their practice for a while until Nathan showed up. We hung out for a while. Saturday we watched the Arkansas/Auburn football game... YAY AUBURN... :) We then headed to Jose's the best mexican restaurant in Hot Springs!! This morning we went to church and ate lunch. He then headed back.

It was a great week/weekend! I can't wait for this next week! Hope it's been a great week for you too.

Tiger Tunes is less than 4 days away :)

Weekend Recap!

Sorry about this being such a delay on an entry. My photos would never upload, so I kept having to wait. Friday was a great last day with the students. They were so good this past week and taught me so much. After school I took my lil sis through the big brother/big sister program to Hot Springs. We went to try on flower girl dresses for her! We did not find one while we were there, but I did find one online that i LOVE! I am sooo excited!

Here is a picture of her eating. We went to Jose's a much loved mexican restaurant in Hot Springs. She ordered Nachos... Well she ended up picking the cheese off and dipping the chips in the cheese dip.. OH WELL. Here she is eating a Sopapilla! She loved it!

Saturday I slept in and hung out. My friend Amy came down to hang out. It was nice to relax after such a busy week.

Sunday I woke up early to go to LR to meet Nathan and his dad for the LR Air Show. Before I left Amy left a little before. We get a phone call asking for her help. An elderly man had fallen walking out to his front yard to get his newspaper. Amy needed help getting him back up. We ran out there to help him. We walked him inside to a gorgeous house. He lived all alone, and was listening to the radio this morning. It broke my heart when he said that he had no one we could call because they were all gone :(

The air show was a blast. It was very long, but cool.

There was one flier that did a flight for his sister who battled breast cancer. He flew do the song "I can only imagine." He made a heart, ribbon, and cross (pictured below).
This me trying to take a cool picture in Nathan's glasses... didn't turn out as neat as a I thought.
Here we are at the air show waiting for the Thunderbirds to perform.
Inside an airplane...
Outside the plane!
It was a really fun weekend.

Yesterday and today I have had class all day (9-3) BLAH... It was fun seeing all the other student interns that we hadn't seen in a while.

Tomorrow starts my first day in 3rd grade. I will just be observing again, and finding out how the teacher runs her classroom. I am excited because the teacher is one of my pledge sisters moms!!!

I can't wait to go to 3rd grade! Be looking for a post about how my first day went!

ROACHES!!!

So I finally decided to blog! Ha. After almost a week of non blogging. I have decided to blog about my weekend/week. This weekend I went to Dallas

for the Kappas outing. We headed there, and went to six flags on saturday. It was SO much fun. Yes most of you know I am not a roller coaster rider, but I did ride a few... Especially The Batman!!!! :) It was wonderful.

That night we went to the Rangers game. They won :)
I of course didn't take any pictures of myself, but I took several pictures of other people.
They stole my camera while I was on the batman!

I got back and mentally prepared myself for my solo teaching week (I am completely on my own. The teacher is still there, but doesn't intervene.) Monday was HORRIBLE. I left crying. I could not get the students under control. They walked all over me. That night I called Nathan bawling. Ha. I decided that Tuesday I was going to be "mean." I wasn't take nobodies crap. Ha! I walked in Tuesday, and was nit picking every little thing they did. AND IT WORKED! I had several students test me, but I wasn't taking crap from nobody. Tuesday was a better day! Wednesday was a whole lot better. They were listening more, and the pace of the lessons were going quick.

Wednesday night Kate and I had an adventure! Kate goes to have a cookie and finds a roach. We decided it was war. We went to Wal-Mart, and got the bait. Here are some pictures from this adventure! We came back from Wal-Mart and found 2 roaches on the wall hooked together...(in other words.. making babies). AHHHH At the end of the blog there is a lovely video of the adventure!

I love the pictures on the back of the Combat killer! I also found out that La Cucaracha (the song) stands for Roaches... Wow. You learn something new everyday!

Today was a great day too. They finally are listening. I hardly had anybody missing free time, or try to goof off. They weren't constantly looking around the room to see if Mrs. Prince was there. I had several students tell me today that I was a GREAT teacher. It made me smile. They said I was the best teacher they had. I also had several each day tell me that I am pretty. Ha. They are so funny. The best moment today was when we were talking about s-blends at the end of words. We were on the word Clasp. I asked if anybody knew what a clasp was. I told them that several girls wear this (I was thinking a necklace) One boy raised his hand and said, "A Bra." OH MY GOSH! The students went crazy. They started giggling and I thought they would never stop. Ha. It was a great comic relief. But he was correct bras do have clasps on them! ha. I then explained that I was thinking of a necklace, and they forgot about the whole situation! :)

After lunch I felt like i was having an esophogiam spasm (thanks The Holiday) and wouldn't be able to make it the rest of the day. I struggled up until after recess. I still was struggling though, and had severe pain in my chest.. (probably just heart burn.) One boy looked at me when I was holding my chest, and he said AH... Are you ok??? Ha. He was so worried. It was a great day when I thought it wouldn't be because there was a pep rally today! :)

I decided to delight you with a little video from last night. Sorry I have been a horrible blogger this week/weekend. It has been a crazy, but exciting week! I have probably grown more this week then I have all semester! :)

I'm ready for a relaxing weekend. Wednesday we start our next student teaching. I'll be in 3rd grade! :)

** So I tried uploading the video.. Um. It isn't working. I'll try later!