Teacher Things

I am not by any means an organized person. When I lived at home I always knew where my keys were, though...on my bedroom floor by my night stand! Organized chaos? Maybe. As God works on my heart to reveal areas in my life that need "organizing", He has helped me to see areas in my classroom and with my students that need some organizing as well. Here are some things I started doing this week in an effort to bring glory to God through my teaching and other classroom areas:

1.Individual filing trays so the person who passes out papers at the end of the day has somewhere to put the papers instead of on the desks or table where the person cleaning those is working!

2."Duties" (pass out papers, erase chalkboards, etc.) for the end of the day are on long craft sticks. When a student picks his or her duty the stick will go in that student's tray. Before the students leave I can check their tray to make sure the duty was accomplished.

3.When some students had a hard time remembering some of our Europe countries and capitals, I let them keep the flashcard to peek at throughout the day. At recess, they had to tell five people "The capital of ___ is____." Just a strategy to get those facts better cemented into their brains!


These things are major breakthroughs for me. I feel as though I have been relieved of a heavy burden. Some of them require more work and conscious effort from me than before, but I need that. I need to be more involved especially with the process of wrapping things up to go home. I tend to get working on a project and kind of just holler at the kids about homework and duties then feel badly so I get up and see them out the door right at 3:10. Bad teacher! God has convicted me to be organized and to help my students learn responsibilty as well. Organization in all areas of ones life really does help keep the mind focused on God, I think. Now for my desk drawers...

Too Fun

Today in science we discussed the water cycle. (see Job 36:27-28!) Two things the book mentioned, among many other things of course, were that the process of evaporation is not something we see happening, and that during a 2 hour visit to somewhere such as the Gulf of Mexico about 10 million gallons of water evaporates. So, I told them about my trip to Florida in May and that my friend and I spent at least four hours at the Gulf...think of all the water that evaporated during that time! But, I told them, of course we didn't see it happening, right? Josh replied, "You were havin' too fun." Oh how we laughed! Such a sweet comment; he was so serious! I love teaching, I love these kids. =)

Read in Your Pj's

Today was finally Pajama Day and Reading Day! What a lazy, sleepy day. We had a great time and the time flew. After an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, Gram and Gramps came in to the classroom so Gram could read to us. She raid three stories, including The Pokey Little Puppy and the Patchwork Blanket which was a favorite of mine growing up. Throughout the rest of the day we read and discussed "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, listened to a few chapters of Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, read to the k4 class, read while drinking hot tea and cocoa, and listened to a story read by Pastor Mark. Busy, busy day! What better way to spend a pajama Friday? I can't think of any better way. Reading is a gift from God, and I encouraged my students to use it well. You, too!

The Doll House

I brought my old doll house to school last week...the girls loved it! And I loved that they loved it =)

"This Guy Needs Grammar!"

That was Josh's comment after reading a sentence in our language book today. The sentence read, "Haven't we got no more art paper?" The students' task was to correct any mistakes in the sentences, and being bright as stars, they were able to pick out the mistakes with no trouble at all. Josh laughed at the incorrect sentences because they sounded so funny, and finally voiced his thoughts with the comment, "This guy needs grammar!"

Yummy Creations

Lori Rickle made (yes, made!) gorgeous gingerbread houses for her sons class and mine as well. A few weeks ago she brought them in and set them up on our lunch tables with four bowls of candy for each student to use for decorating. The icing was homemade, also. So yummy! Lori made houses for me and Nancy to decorate, too. My first gingerbread house! I took it with me to Anhalt's that night and we sampled the sugary goodness. What a fun Christmas activity!

Deck the Classroom

OH sNOw!