I won! I won!

I feel like I just won the lottery (and I never win anything)!  Those of you who are teachers know how big teaching blogs are right now.  Teachers do so much work in their classrooms and shell out a ridiculous amount of their own money (not to mention time) for their students.  Teachers Pay Teachers is a (fairly) new website where teachers can sell their lesson plans and make a bit of a profit.  A Georgian teacher, Deanna Jump, recently passed the $1 million dollar mark selling her lessons/units.  So cool!

Now, back to my original topic.  I won!!!  One of the blogs I follow, Fun in First, had a give away this week.  This teacher went all out making both reading and math assessments that align with the Common Core Standards.  Between the two of them, they are 255 pages long.  Amazing!  I can't begin to imagine how many hours went into this project.  Anyway, she gave away three of these assessment packets (worth $25).  All you had to do was comment on her blog, then she chose three lucky winners.  Over 100 people commented, and...I won!

Some of you may not be able to fully appreciate my excitement, but if you're a teacher...you probably get it.  This seriously made my day!

Best Husband Ever!

I know people often say this about their spouse, but I really do think I have the best husband ever. This week was very busy and stressful for me. It's the week before school starts and despite yesterday being our first official day back for teachers, I put in a 43 hour work week in 4 days this week.

Thursday I had an emotional breakdown when I couldn't find my August file in my classroom. For those of you who teach, you know that this is pretty much the most devastating thing that can happen. Our files are PRECIOUS! It was 6:00 and I still hadn't eaten lunch nor dinner and I was hot and sweaty and exhausted. I called James who was still at work despite the fact that he's supposed to get off at 4:00. He came to school and brought me dinner!

This was incredibly thoughtful for a number of reasons:

1) He had just worked an 11 hour day and I'm sure he too was exhausted.

2) He got Minsky's...which I love AND he chose a veggie pizza because he knows I'm trying to eat healthy.

3) He had been sick all week and I know he didn't feel good but he put my needs ahead of his and I just feel so lucky to have him.

On top of being super sweet Thursday night, yesterday morning I got a text from him saying "I hope your first day back goes well...love you!"

What can I say...he's THE BEST!

Summer Job = STRESS!

I've always had a summer job, ever since I started teaching. Despite the fact that I get paid year-round, it's nice to have some extra income for things like weddings and buying houses. I also, quite frankly, think I would be bored out of my mind if I didn't work during the summer.

I have yet to find the perfect summer work situation. One summer, I just tutored. That summer I felt like I had a little too much time on my hands and kind of wished I would have worked a bit more. Another summer, I was a nanny for a family. That was the same summer I was working on my Masters and also getting married, so it ended up being a bit too much. Not to mention the fact that the kids I was nannying were pretty high maintenance and thus required a lot of attention and energy. Last summer, I taught a 6 week summer school and while it wasn't ideal, I decided to do it again this year. I figured since I'd already done it before, it'd be a pretty easy gig. WRONG! I have a very different mix of kids this summer and without being too negative, let's just say this has been anything but easy. The past 9 days of summer school have been the hardest of my teaching career. I think it's safe to say that it's just been way more stressful than it's worth and I will be needing to do something else next year.

Prior to teaching, I spent my summers bartending. While I really enjoyed doing that, I have no desire to go back to working nights. I enjoy my evenings with my husband way too much. However, I'm not sure it'd be worth my time to bartend afternoons somewhere. That sort of job doesn't usually pay all that well.

So, what SHOULD I do next summer? Thoughts?

Never a dull moment!

Around 10:45 today our principal got on the intercom to inform us that we were currently under a tornado warning and that we needed to take our kids to our tornado shelter until further notice. So I took my 21 students down the hall to the 14 X 16 ft tornado shelter that we had to share with 40 other 7-year-olds. Initially, they told us we'd probably have to stay in there for about 20 minutes. Then 20 minutes turned into 45 minutes which then turned into over an hour.

And amazingly, during that whole time, we didn't have a single crier or complainer. The kids handled the situation beautifully. They sat quietly just the way we practiced. After about half an hour of crouching in the "safe position", we let our kids put their heads up and read them a story...then another story...then another. About midway through story number 4, we got the okay to send the kids back to class.

It was past noon by the time we got back to our classrooms and we had missed our lunch completely. So we took our kids through the lunch line and just ate lunch in the pod. The kids loved it. The teachers, well....let's just say we survived.

We later found out a tornado had touched down about a mile and a half east of us. Craziness. Just goes to show, there's never a dull moment in teaching!

Teacher Appreciation Week

I often complain about all the hard work I do for my students (and their parents) and how it is so rarely noticed or recognized.

However, this week was Teacher Appreciation Week and it reminded me how fortunate I am to teach where I do. Blue Valley definitely has a reputation. They are a district with money. And while that has its ups and its downs, it has been a pleasure to work in such a great district. We have the resources we need to ensure success in our students. We have parents that are involved and eager to volunteer.

Yesterday, I got a gift basket from my class full of student-made cards, gift cards, and office supplies. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my students and their families. One gift was brought in later in the day, for fear it would break in bottom of a backpack.

I love it!

Let's! Go! Fly! A kite!

Every month, we do a reading incentive for our first graders. Their homework throughout the month is to read and record 15 books in their reading logs. Students who turn in all their reading logs by the end of the month get to participate in a special party. Past reading incentive parties have included: the "tailgating party" in the fall, the "hot chocolate party" in the winter, and of course this month's party was the "kite-flying party".

Today was said kite-flying party and let me just say...short of a thunderstorm, we could not have picked a worse day. I've been checking the forecast all week. Today was supposed to be mid-70s. Perfect, right? Yeah, only the forecast also called for 20-30 mph winds, with gusts up to over 40 mph. My teaching partner (Lisa) and I decided regardless of the wind, we were going to do it today no matter what. Try telling a bunch of 7-year-olds that it's "too windy" to fly kites. It would not be pretty.

So we did it...and we survived. But just barely. Noteworthy events included:

• One of my little girls (we'll call her "V") is tiny and simply adorable. She is seriously the cutest little girl you'll ever see. Anyway, I was talking to her asking her if she was having fun. All of a sudden a heavy gust of wind came and literally blew her over. She was knocked to her feet. I didn't know things like that actually happened.
• I was in the process of untangled yet another kite when I heard one of my girls, "G", screaming bloody murder. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" I run over to her and ask her what's wrong. She just points to the sky with a look of horror on her face. Her kite was high in the sky....blocks away....just floating away past the neighborhoods. Apparently the string broke and the wind was blowing so hard it just kept going. The funniest part was that there were roofers on one of the houses it went by and just watched as it passed by. Luckily, it didn't hit any one (that I know of).
• "G" had a pretty rough day. In addition to her losing her kite miles away, she also got sliced in the face with a kite string.

This is dangerous business, people!

What do teacher's make?

Please take three minutes out of your day to watch this. http://whinewinewhine.tumblr.com/post/4085560480/the-most-aggressive-defense-of-teachers-youll

Well, that's good news!

I have a Japanese student this year whose family moved to the US last July. They're great people. Despite her limited English-speaking abilities, the mom is always one of the first people to volunteer to help out in the class. I love her!

I'll be honest, the second I heard about everything going on in Japan, the first thing I thought of was them. I know they have a great deal of friends and family that still live back in Japan. I can't imagine the fear and panic they must have gone through when they heard.

We were on Spring Break at the time all this happened, but today we returned to school. I saw the mom after school in the car line. I told her that I had been thinking of her and her family and asked her if they were all okay. She told me thanks for the kind thoughts and informed me that all her friends and family were safe. Such a blessing!

Only in 1st Grade...

Today I was teaching reading to my kids on the carpet. We were adding sight words to our Word Wall and the word we were adding was door. The kids were trying to guess what word I had in my hand. So I gave them a clue. The clue I gave was: "This word rhymes with more".

The first guess: "Whore?"

The funny thing is...the kid had no clue what the word meant and neither did any of the other kids. They are 6 and 7 years old, after all. So I quickly said "That's not it, any other guesses?" (while silently laughing in my head).

It gets better.

The next guess was one of my ESOL students. She doesn't speak much English but she loves to participate so her hand is always up. I called on her and she answered...

"Octopus!"

Only in 1st grade...

Store Week

Today was the end of "The Best Week of the Year" in first grade. Today was the conclusion to our store unit. Despite the huge amount of work and stress that go into this unit of study, it's (hands down) my favorite to teach. Our kids LOVE it and they learn so much!

Here's what the week looked like:

Tuesday: Introduction Day

• Review money (something we've worked on the past couple weeks)
• Discuss goods and services and brainstorm list of goods and services in the community
• Explain how the store will work
• Brainstorm a list possible stores that could be run by students on "store day"
• Students choose what good or service they'd like to do (I have students write down their top 3 choices and then I choose one of their choices for them so we don't have too many of one shop)
• After figuring partner groups, let students know which store they will be doing
• Have them make a list of supplies they will need to make their good or provide their service

Wednesday: Creation Day

• With the help of parent volunteers (couldn't do it without them), students make their goods. I provide a myriad of craft supplies and ask parents to bring in hot glue guns if they have them. Sometimes kids bring things from home.
• Students who will be providing a service use this time to make a brochure
• Make a poster to display in front of their shop including the name of their shop, a picture of their product, and price (anywhere between 5 and 30 cents)
• Write a script for a commercial
• Practice script
• Decorate banks (made from coffee tins, oat canisters, etc)

Thursday: Finishing Touches Day

• Guest speaker - We had a parent from our school who recently opened up a restaurant. She came and spoke to the kids about the process.
• Record commercials - We don't actually video tape the kids. Instead, we use a program called "Photostory". A picture of the kids' poster is displayed with they record their voices. The result is basically a slideshow with the kids' voices talking about their product.
• Watch other class' commercials and write a journal entry about what they want to buy on store day.

Friday: Store Day

• Two of the 1st grade classes set up their shops out in the pod.
• The other two classes come and shop. They each bring in $1 in the form of 5 dimes and 10 nickels. They are encouraged to spend all their money.
• After the first group finishes shopping, they set up their shops and the other 2 classes get to come spend their money.
• Count money
• Decide how to use the profit. We donate our money to the KC Zoo. We adopt an animal which we go see when we take our field trip in the spring.

This is something we've done for the past three years. It's something I'm quite proud of, as I helped come up with the idea and put it all into place.

Some popular shops this year:

• Pet rocks (rocks decorated with googley eyes, paint, pipe cleaners, etc)
• Stress balls (made with flour-filled balloons)
• Fancy pencils (decorated with pipe cleaners, ribbon, bells, etc)
• Origami
• Jewelry
• Popcorn stand

Again...a lot of work for the teachers, but it's SO worth it!

Being (positively) recognized is important...even when you're 27

As a teacher, I am constantly telling kids how smart, fast, or creative they are. Kids love to feel like they are awesome. If they do something well, they want someone to be there to see it...someone to tell them how proud they are of them.

Adults really aren't much different. We crave praise just as much as those 6-year-olds do. However, with most jobs, you probably don't get recognized unless you've screwed up. How often does someone come up to you and say "You're an amazing (insert job title here)"? It just doesn't happen very often.

For the past 4 weeks I've had a practicum student (we'll call her "D") in my classroom. She's on her way to becoming a teacher and spends everyday during our reading block in my classroom observing and helping out. Yesterday she had to teach a lesson on her own. Her university supervisor came to observe her lesson. This superviser lady ("Dr. M") was totally my number one fan. She came up to me before the lesson and introduced herself and said she thought I would've been older. When I asked her what she meant by that, she said that from reading D's daily journal entries, she was really impressed with the things going on in my classroom and that she just assumed I was a veteran teacher who'd been in the classroom for 20 years. "You're doing all the things we're teaching our incoming teachers to do!" She then asked me if she could add my name to their list of mentor teachers who help other students in the MNU program.

Right before she left my room, Dr. M said "I just wish I could spend all day in here watching you!" And honestly, it made my day. It made it a little easier to stay an hour past my contract time...knowing that someone, even for just a moment, recognized the hard work I put into my teaching.

Thanks, Dr. M!