School days...

Gabe is so right. This blog was my idea and he posts more often than I do! I have some updating to do! I have been a "real" teacher for just over one month now, and I absolutely love it. Teaching is one plan God set out for my life, and I love being in the midst of that plan. Instead of going on and on in paragraph form, let me just list a few things, ok? (My life is now filled with lists......its how I function.)

What I enjoy and love about teaching fifth grade:

-seeing my students walk in the door....I still get excited every morning when I hear the bell ring

-looking at my room and realizing that it is "my" room. Finally!

-actually teaching the material and seeing excitement on their faces as I am teaching

-comforting students when they come down too hard on themselves

-playing "Knockout" at recess

-sharing poetry with them and seeing their hunger for it!

-watching their faces after I hand back an A+ test

-laughing with them after I make a mistake or say something weird....it happens frequently!

-working with my co-teachers.....Kim and Regina are amazing women! They have helped me grow as a teacher in leaps and bounds in just this one month!

-knowing in my heart that I am trying to love these children as Christ would each day

What I am learning to deal with as a teacher:

-I really don't have enough hours in a day

-it takes hours of sacrifice to be an elementary teacher......more hours to be a good one!

-if I don't grade papers for one night, it bites me in the rear down the road

-how to handle a child who cannot control his anger and frustration in my classroom

-I am learning how to be consistent, fair, and firm every single day.....you wouldn't think it would be that hard, but boy, it is! I can't worry about getting them to like me; I need them to respect me first! I'm learning......

-how to pray for wisdom hourly

-meeting the needs in my classroom of 19 students

-I need more sleep than I am giving myself! :)

Here are a few pictures of my classroom! (They are hard to see, but you get the idea....)

They are hard at work! (We have no lockers at my school, so that is why there are backpacks on desks and on the floor. You can just imagine me trying to walk around all of them....it gets crazy!)

This is the view from the back corner! I now have different curtains in my windows thanks to my mom! The lace was driving me nuts! My desk is in the front corner. And those yellow folders on their desks are their working folders to hold all of their "in-progress" assignments they are working on. They just reach in there during work time and know what to finish up!

Here is my work space which I feel like I am never at throughout the day! I try not to be back there because I feel like I need to be in and around my students even as they are working. I can check their progress much better by walking around than looking out at them! My desk is always clean at the end of the day, but watch out! Throughout the day it gets quite messy because I am not around it to organize!

My mom and I worked on this bulletin board together! It says, "Look who's campin' out in fifth grade!" And those are sticks with "marshmallows" on the end of them! And another thank you to Kylee for the beautiful dragonfly you see by the Welcome circles! She painted that for me one afternoon!

My classroom library is back in the "Reading Campsite". I love this area.....it's bright and colorful and encourages them to get cozy while reading. I hope to find some camping chairs to put back here soon. It's not in the Reed budget......yet. :)

I hope that gives you, my friends and family, a little look into my life at the moment. I love this opportunity I have to invest in the lives of my 19 students. They are precious to me. Pray for them this week as they take their ISTEP (state standardized test) tests. They will be wiped out as they they will test for three hours each morning this week. I think I will be nice and not assign homework. Maybe. :)