I Put A Spell On You... and Now You're MINE!!

Happy All Souls Day!

Here's my rendition of how Halloween went in 5 words.

1. Sneaky:  I could hardly believe how fast the holiday snuck up on me!  I was prepared costume wise a month in advance, but... I didn't stock up on candy or plans.  That made for a kind of busy weekend for me. 
2. Sugary:  Halloween in an elementary classroom= massive sugar rushes and crashes.  The kids love you for bringing them sweets but tend to have stomach aches for days after.  I missing one today due to this!
3. Frustrating:  I planned fun events but wasn't able to get to them due to behavior issues or just plain timing.  That frustrates me to no end because I truly love celebrating holidays with my kids.
4. Rewarding:  There's nothing like dressing up in costume as a teacher and becoming a mini celebrity.  All day long I had K-12 grade students coming up and complimenting me or just plain staring and hugging!
5. Fun:  I love sharing Halloween traditions with my kids.  We watched "Are You Afraid of the Dark", "Goosebumps", and even "Hocus Pocus"!

We played Wrap the Mummy!

My single solitary boy in class...

Look how well this group was working together

This game went better than I originally thought.  I'm always nervous introducing my students to new games that they've never tried.  As a teacher there's many times where things can flop and cause issues that you don't want in the classroom.  On the brightside... this was not one of those games.  The kids enjoyed the goofiness of the game and were learning how to work together.  Always an important life skill if you ask me.

Minnie Mouse and Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (NOTE the Sheldon Joker smile)

Life's No Fun Without A Good Scare...

YAY I GOT A NEW CAMERA...

Sorry for the random picture at the beginning of this post... I got a new camera and haven't used it!

IT'S HALLOWEEN TIME AGAIN!  This year is going to be a fun one... I've been excited for a few reasons.

1. Halloween is one of my top 5 holidays
2. I get to dress up as someone else for a day!
3. My class gets all excited about learning because it's themed.

The purpose of this post wasn't to talk all about costumes and trick or treating, but to tell you all about the cool activity my class and I did this Friday!  I said in my last post that my kids are big into reading our TFK and Scholastic News magazines... and this past week the cover story for Scholastic News was about bats.  Check out the story HERE! How appropriate for Halloween?!

My sample bat!

Student Bat

What the outside of my classroom looks like now!

The magazine came with the typical reading comprehension activities and an anticipatory worksheet.  Looking at the worksheet gave me a light bulb moment! I've been seeing lots of the teacher blogs post ideas of bat crafts and I decided to join in the fun.  The pictures are just a taste of what's in store for this week! 

Can You Find the Time To Let Your Lover Love You...

Rough weeks with behaviors but awesome week with activities.  Thank goodness for awesome teacher bloggers and Pinterest.  My kids are really holding onto what their learning due to playing/making/using awesome activities.

Math:  Double Digit Addition WITH Regrouping

Double Digit Addition With Regrouping Foldable (My sample!)

Kind of proud of my kids hard work on this!  This is our first time trying something like a foldable.  We took the idea from a very creative 2nd grade teacher and pinterest.  I gave it a Halloween twist by using black paper and colored pencils.  My kiddos loved it!






Reading:  Non-fiction Texts
Our principal was kind enough to get subscriptions from TFK and Scholastic News.  Both of these are current event magazines for kids that come with reading activities/lessons and TONS of digital resources.  With my struggling readers this is a God send!  I can pop the issue up on my Smartboard and have videos of current events flood the classroom.  It's been a great way to teach my students how to look for information in text as well as comprehension skills.  To introduce it I was able to find a scavenger hunt from TPT and we cut apart our first issue to display in the hallway.  My kids were proud!  Since then we've been reading at least 1 issue a week. 


Writing:  Biographies
As I've said before my whole class is ELL students and I'm the first year of all English instruction they receive.  That means a lot of help when it comes to writing and reading.  In order to practice writing about ourselves and discuss the purpose of biographies we used the Scholastic All About Me Poster.  Here's my undecorated poster to show you how hard my class worked.  :)






Social Studies:  Maps Skills
In social studies, which I'll admit needs more attention in my classroom... we learned about the world (from village to planet).  Learned basic map skills.  I took the idea of Me on the Map from CFC.  This was a bit difficult for my kids but they were proud with the final result. 






In Other News...
FEA (Future Educators of Alaska) is the up and coming club here.  It's also the one I took on as leader!  It's been pretty exciting to work with high school students.  Weekly they come into my room and work with students on homework and also have events planned for the school.  This weeks big project was helping create school spirit by making posters for our NYO Meet the schoool hosted.

      




Don't know what NYO is?? (see Native Youth Olympics for a better explanation than I can provide.  When a school site host any event they are supposed to house and feed students, chaperones, and coaches.  Below are the pictures from the weekend! 

We also had a haunted house.  Grades are due tomorrow and we have a Halloween Carnival scheduled for the afternoon.  No rest for the weary.

You said, "I'll Never Leave You Alone..."

I should really be sleeping... But you can always sleep can't you?

Today I flew in from the village into Bethel, the nearest thing we have to a city around here.  It's time for the 2nd years to have their first inservice for the year. 

First and foremost... God, it is so beautiful here sometimes.  I forget it when I'm stuck running from the school to my house and back all the time.  I took this photo to remember the feeling of flying above the world and seeing the world move below me. No editing... Just me and the light shining in....

Second...  I was so happy to see my friends (the guys I'd become super close to last year during my first year of teaching).  It's like no time has past whenever we get together.  We can all joke and goof off like it's the first time we'd ever hung out.  I truly appreciate and love all of them.  :)  Thanks for everything boys.

Listening to Taylor Swift sing about love and life... here's to wondering where my life is going!

Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air?

Wow.  I have sorely been missing out on posting on here.  I apologize.  I don't know how many people follow my blog... so I hope I'm not letting anyone down.

What's happened...

• Pen pal letters.  My kids have been working for about 2 weeks on friendly letters.  You'd be suprised how long it takes to pound out a nice response letter to friends in a different state.  They will finish and send those today.  I'm pretty excited!
• Interview the principal.  My kids were learning about questions and statements.
• Finishing a unit in math!  :)  Last year took me 3 months to complete a unit in math.  I'm excited on our progress.

What's going on...

• Midterms!  :/  I dread this time of year.  It's like crunch time for teachers.  How do you balance your students needs, parent's beliefs, and your curriculum all at once? 

Picture taken from Pinterest

• FEA Club Advisor.  I signed up at the beginning of the year to take on a position as the Future Educators of Alaska Club Advisor.  I knew, and still know, very little about the club.  But I can say with much certainty that I'm VERY excited about this year.  I've got a group of 5 young ladies all really excited about the club.  We've got lots of ideas for activities, fundraising, and service opportunities. 
• Tutoring.  This year I've decided to once again to take time after school and work with my students on skills they're not getting enough of in class.  Thankfully this time I have experience and a club full of kids that want to be part of this.

What's in store...

•  Election Time.  November 6th!   I'm going to be honest with the blogging world and say I've not figured out how to vote here yet... but I'm hoping to figure that all out this weekend.  Wish me luck.  AS FOR THE CLASSROOM... I'm excited to begin a mini unit about elections with my class.  I've accumulated a bunch of resources to use to try to make this next month and the weeks leading to election time as interesting and tangible to them as possible.  Hopefully the time the ballot boxes are being tallied my students will understand the political parties and what it's all about.
• +/- Strategies.  Yay.  I get to teach my kids 4 different ways to get the same answer.... :/  Hahah but really this next unit is all about adding and subtracting.  Wish me luck.
• Halloween:  This holiday is my 3rd favorite of the year.  Christmas is of course my first.  Then the 4th of July.  I love Halloween because it's just another excuse to be silly and creative.  I've already picked out my costume this year.  :) 

On a personal note...

TODAY IS THE 731st DAY OF DATING MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER.

 

 

This wonderful guy has seen me through the ups and downs of the past 2 years. As a couple we've gone through 11 months (yes we've counted...) of separation.  We've worked together at two different jobs.  We have gone on countless dates, silly, romantic, and everyday.  We've had our fair share of disagreements, and frustrations.  We've had our moments where the world stops spinning too.

But above all else this guy has taught me two major life lessons.

1. I deserve someone who thinks the world of me.  Who believes I am beautiful whether I'm dolled up with a fancy dress and make up on... or in his old tshirt and a pair of jeans.
2. Love > than distance...

I tried to live this life on my own.....

It's September 1st.  I've been a 2nd year teacher for about 3 weeks now.  Does it feel any different?  No not really...  but at the same time... it feels absolutely amazing. 

Last year around this time I felt like I was barely treading water.  Spent some nights until midnight working on lessons, grading, organizing, etc.  This isn't what I was expecting.  Several times I thought I was inferior as a teacher and sometimes as an adult...  I called home and cried more than a few times.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it.  I thought, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?!  I thought I was 'MEANT to be a teacher'."

A year later, I am sitting here, doing much of the same things.  I still stay later than other teachers.  I still spend most of my weekends lesson planning and grading.  I still call home occasionally, but without tears because of my classroom.  I still have times where I don't know what to do, but I have accepted that it's okay to not know everything right now.  I walk with my head high.  I'm still treading water, but it's getting just a little bit easier to stay afloat. I know WHO holds my future and "He has plans for me... plans to prosper me and not harm me.  Plans for hope and a future."

Here's to a new year.  With new adventures.  With new memories.  Here's to the best school year yet!

I woke up in a car...

I find myself back at the Anchorage Airport sleepy and cold... much like I was over a year ago.  I'm back.  I believe all my readers knew that I decided to give teaching in the village another chance.  Something I'm proud and excited about.  I haven't been writing much recently because I've been absolutely busy with all of the craziness that comes with a teacher summer.

 Summer Camp Counselor
I was very lucky to get job working with kids all summer.  I worked as a summer day camp counselor.  Games, crafts, swimming, and even snack/reading time.  It enjoyed my summer job much more than the normal person should.  Good activities.  Well scheduled.  And awesome coworkers.  It didn't hurt Nate was working there too. ;)




Who I Lived With...
Lived with my best friend since 3rd grade.  It was nice to enjoy "living on my own" back home in Indiana, but still have some semblance of my past.  Loved waking up on the weekends to hear little Sammy giggling.







California With the Bestie...




Because spending 9 months far far away from my best friend and other half was incredibly difficult, we planned a joint vacation to her dream state CALIFORNIA.  We stayed in San Diego and LA and made our way around sightseeing, tasting the cuisine, meeting new people, and even doing a bit of snorkeling and surfing.  Much more happened than that...  So many memories that were documented by technology and other memories that will just have to live in our memories.

One Girl Mexico Mission Trip

Following my vacation I was blessed to be invited to participate in a mission trip of all women building houses in Mexico.  It was quite the experience.  It took a day to dust off the spanish I'd learned in high school and attempt to translate but like a bike you never forget how to do it.  That trip tested in me in various ways and also reaffirmed certain things.  I was soooo incredibly lucky to have a great group of wise women to help me with biblical and sound advice about life questions and problems I'd been struggling with.  I was so blessed to have young women surrounding me and reminding me what it's like to be a Christian woman and how good it feels to have community with them.  Finally I'm thankful God has placed the founder of this mission trip in my life... because without her I'm not sure how close mission work would have come to my heart.  This trip has made it clear I don't want to stop spreading God's word in other countries with little children.

 
Color Run 2012

I did it!!! I completed my VERY FIRST 5K!!!!  At the beginning of the summer last year I'd told Nate and some friends that I wanted to get healthier and maybe pick up a healthy workout goal.  Nate suggested I try to do 5Ks.  I know, the idea of purposely torturing my body for 3.1 miles didn't sound appealing to me either.  But then... I came across the Color Run ads all over Pinterest.  And I knew that would be the only 5K that would motivate me into actually trying to workout.  So over the summer I spent time trying to eat healthy, drink water, and train for this run.  Even training made me feel good about myself and showed results quickly.  The day of the race Shelly and I got ourselves up at the crack of dawn and got pumped up for the race. She was racing for her uncle who has brain cancer and I was just racing for the heck of it. "Bows Before Bros" was  my motto.  At the beginning of the run I was excited and actually went at a much faster speed than normal.  At different parts of the course were volunteers standing throwing out handfuls and bottles full of colored chalk/corn starch.  It would get all over your clothes and sweaty body leaving you a different color than normal.  When we crossed the finish line I don't think I've ever been more proud.  :)  There was a bit of celebrating afterward and many pictures were taken.  We even went to Circle Center Mall still covered in colors.  Love living life to the extreme. 

It's currently 3:00 AM Alaska time... which means I have 3 hours of sleep before my next flight into Bethel.  More about summer in my next post.  Until then goodnight and good luck!