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Friday, November 13, 2009























































We "camped out" in the living room. We even had a fire! After playing "Duck, Duck--Goose!" and a round of "Bean Bag Toss", the kids settled in to watch a fun cartoon. Here they are sprawled out among pillows, blankets, and each other!

November

Side view.

November

One of my bulletin boards so far as a "First-Year Teacher" :) This one I actually put up in the first grade classroom for the month of November. I personally can't wait to put up things for December!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

My students


My students


The two boys on the left (Anthony, Josiah) and the little girl sitting (Addison) are three of my students. The day I took this picture, Heather had already gone home. The little boy with Addison is Jack. He's in the daycare along with Abby and Ashlyn--the two girls on the right, respectively. They come to my classroom in the afternoon for nap time--my favorite class ;)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Already November?!?

I know, I know....it's November 2nd.....I've fallen behind on my quest of keeping in touch with you. I don't know what it is....I think I just need to schedule the time in. Or, do it on days like today. It feels like it's midnight, but here in Kennan, it's only 9:30! It get's really dark around five--we might as well be in the Arctic where they hardly get any daylight! And here, we just switched our clocks back so we "save" daylight!

Anyway, how are you doing? It seems like since I've gotten out of college, regular emails and such slowed to halt. At least, I'm on the band wagon again, huh? We just finished with our harvest party and it really was a lot of fun. Jessica Orr (she's the first grade teacher here) and I were in charge of the Kids Room. We had ages 2-6. First we played musical chairs, which was a hoot. Ashlyn (Pastor Morrow's 2 yr. old daughter) cracked me up the most. She had her thumb in her mouth and was nonchalantly walking around managing to say in for several rounds. I thought for sure she would win--she didn't, of course, but one of the first grade girls did. So we beat the boys ;) Next we played Roll the Apple with your Nose--imagine little kids with their faces to the ground pushing apples--let's just say we had some "Kodak" moments! After this we got them settled with a snack and once finished, finding hidden scarecrows. We played Donuts on a String (competition between two: tie a donut on a string and they have to use just their mouth to eat it off. No using hands, and nothing can fall or you lose.) After this we played Bean Bag Toss--which Jessica really got into. Our last event, of course, was a Candy Scramble. We all had fun with that one ;) The adults and older children were in the gym and overall, we had a great time.

I'm still enjoying my teaching career. I think teaching four year olds is one of the best grades to teach. I never thought I would enjoy teaching young children, but, it's soooo rewarding to be the first one to teach them how to write their letters, recognize and say the sounds, know their numbers....I could go on. I'll share on of my "success" stories :) Since I only had two students last week, and only two today, we've been practicing our writing a lot. We've been working on writing our vowels. We've gone over the "house" and "upstairs, downstairs, basement" concept, that I repeat it in my dreams! Well, capital I lives in the upstairs and downstairs and he has a "hat" and "shoes". Got it? Well, my K4 class "got" it; or they thought they did (and me too ) but capital I was living all over the house--just upstairs; downstairs and basement; or, all three! BUT--Today, one of the students who has been struggling with this GOT IT!!! She did it perfect! I was so proud of her :)
I do hope that all my kids are well tomorrow....it's really not that fun to teach to only 2 students (not that 4 is a super huge number either:)

Our church is continuing to grow, and I am very thankful to be part of it. We run between 70-90 people on Sunday mornings. The majority of the church are baby Christians who have a sincere desire to grow and that is a huge blessing and encouragement to me.I enjoy working in the church and the school. I'm very glad to be here, but I can't wait to see all my old friends again.
I know this is not a very good blog considering that I've not really shared much, but I do hope that you enjoy reading it. Wish me luck for continued posts! ;)


Until next time

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

September Update

So, I've finally made it back on to my blog. I can't believe that September is almost over. Let me just say that school goes by a lot faster when you're the one doing the teaching!

It's been a very busy month, but such a good one as well. God is good and His blessings are evident to me everywhere I look. School started on September 8th for us and I definitely did not feel like a teacher that first day. It was weired for me to be the teacher. I didn't have an advisory teacher looking over my shoulder that I knew could be my "bail-out" if I needed it. Teaching my K4 class on that first day certainly gave me the jitters. Thankfully,when I stepped in my classroom the next day....well, those awkward first moments were a thing of the past! I have a blast teaching my four kids. They are hilarious--and I mean that. They're also the sweetest, kindest, and just the best! I'll tell you some stories and hopefully the pictures attached will let you envision what happened.

Since my students vary in age--Heather will turn 5 on October 18, Addison 4 on February 23, Anthony 5 on April 23, and Josiah 5 on July 22--it takes a lot of repetition and exact instructions for everything for them to get it.....did I mention repetition?? I think they forget everything from week to week...or maybe day to day...actually I think it's minute to minute!!!! Anyway, on this one occasion, I had given them a coloring page to do. Since each child varies in their coloring speed, I gave them a book to look at as they were finished. As it was nearing 12:00, I was at my desk putting notes in their folders. Well, I've taught them that they must raise their hand before speaking; and they have to wait for me to recognize them before they start speaking. Well we had gone over and over this rule (we actually haven't stopped :) and I thought they were getting it. I hadn't emphasized too much about asking permission before getting up, though---remember to cover all your bases! Well, little Addison and Heather had finished coloring their page and I had given them books to look at. Heather started to speak out and as I was gently reminding her that she needed to raise her hand before speaking, Addison started getting out of her chair! I told her to sit down and that she needed to raise her hand first. She wouldn't do it. This was only the first week of school and taking into consideration her age, I told her once more and pointed out Heather's obedience to my command of raising her hand. Tentatively, I saw Addison's little hand move up. I gave her a huge smile and said, "Yes, Addison?" she said, "I don't need to talk; [I] just need to bring this book up" My mouth went open and I looked at her. She was so matter-of-fact! And of course, since she is my shy and to the point student, I could hear her logic--"Raise your hand if you need to talk"!! Oh, I laughed so much when I was telling her mom later on!

Well, there is one story so far; I'm sure that I could tell you several from each day! Kids do the funniest things! I could tell you so much more, but for now, I'm heading off. I will write more later of more things than just school and I took pictures of the surrounding area which are really pretty so I'll be posting those too. Till next time!

Friday, September 11, 2009

First One

Well, this is my first post...exciting, huh? not. This blog is for updates and pictures; I do hope you'll enjoy visiting it every once in a while, considering my track record for sending out emails!