Sunday, December 15, 2013

Remembering Sandy Hook

I was babysitting my baby cousins, Emma and Ella, when the tragedy of Sandy Hook happened. One was down for a nap while I was rocking the other in my arms. I had the television on mute, not really paying much attention to it. Then all of the tragic news started flooding in and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was crying, as quietly as I could, as I held this precious baby in my arms wondering how on earth anyone could do harm to innocent children.


As educators, we remember and honor our fallen colleagues and their students from Sandy Hook School. We honor them each day in our classrooms in which we continue their dream of teaching our children. We honor their memory with our service. Join with teachers everywhere in committing random acts of kindness to show our love for Sandy Hook. #love4SH




(Matthew 5:4)

Jen

Friday, November 29, 2013

A thankful post

I love this time of the year. It's a time that really slows me down and helps me remember what is important in life. I take a step back and let reality sink in. It's also a time that reminds me of how fast time flies. Seeing my grandparents over the holidays and thankful that I have gotten to spend another holiday with them. Having a home that is warm and food on the table. Living close to my family and getting to spend time with them whenever I can. It's so easy to get our priorities out of order. So this is not an educational post, but one of thankfulness. What I am ever-so grateful for.

1) First and most important, I am thankful for God's undeserving love. We are here to serve Him. I feel like in the world today, it's so easy to place importance on unnecessary things. Materialistic things. Life is so short and every day I want to be closer to Him, a better version of myself than I was yesterday, and to set a godly example with the life I live. I would not be able to succeed or have a happy life if I didn't have the Lord. He truly is my rock and with Him all things are possible.

2) I am so grateful for my family. God has blessed me with amazing and loving parents and brother. I am also thankful for my in-laws. I have gained such a great extended family.

3) My husband. We have known each other since the first grade. We fight like brother and sister and probably take each other for granted sometimes. However, I love him. He's my friend and someone who I want to spend all my days with. I'm thankful that I KNOW God has to be present in a marriage for it to work. There are times when I may get upset and have a heavy heart. I may expect so much out of my husband or ask him to change things. BUT, I remind myself that nobody is perfect. No one. And praying for your spouse is a very necessary ingredient to a successful marriage. That accepting your husband for everything he is, is important, because that is what God does for us. He accepts us, he loves us unconditionally, and he's a forgiver. We should pour out unconditional love to those in our lives, to always have grace, be slow to anger and quick to forgiveness.

4) I am thankful for my new job. I have recently been blessed with a new job, teaching 3rd grade reading and language arts. I am so blessed that I get to use my passion of teaching to help children.

5) I am thankful for my church. It is a hop, a skip, and a jump away. It is always a breath of fresh air, every Sunday.

6) I am thankful for using technology and social media for good. I think social media can easily suck the life out of you. It's so easy to be envious of other people's lives, or spend more time on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest then we do with our own families or reading the Word. I love when I am on Facebook and someone is posting about a great church service or sharing a bible verse that is just what you needed for the day! I love my bible app, it makes reading the Word so convenient and leaves no room for excuses (because we always have our phones with us). I love following blogs that speak of the greatness of the Lord and helping others.




Be Blessed!

Jen

Friday, October 25, 2013

Pumpkin fun!


For my second 8 weeks of interning I have moved to first grade. I've really enjoyed meeting the kiddos and making new lesson plans. To kick off my first grade internship I did a pumpkin mini unit. I really enjoyed creating the lessons and sharing them with my new class. We did a pumpkin investigation where the students observed and investigated their own pumpkin. This happened to be very easy for me because luckily my father-in-law has a pumpkin patch and let me bring 25 pumpkins to school for each of the kiddos. I put the pumpkins outside and let the kids come out ad pick their own pumpkin. It was like a mini pumpkin patch. They got to investigate and paint their pumpkins. We also had a pumpkin taste test. I brought pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin seeds for the students to try. We then made a class graph of what everyone liked best. All of the firsties loved the unit and it was a great unit to do right before fall break. 









Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Last days of Kindergarten

It's been a long time since a post but I have been very busy. Sadly I recently finished my 8 weeks of teaching Kindergarten. Like June B. Jones would say, I got a little wet in my eyes. It was a very bittersweet ending. I'm excited to be in 1st grade now but I miss Kindergarten so much. Seeing the Kinders first day of school and getting to know all of them was a great experience. Towards the end of my days in Kindergarten we did a "Pete the Cat" unit. The kids have grown to love Pete the Cat so much and they all know he's my favorite. Here are some pictures of some of the Pete the Cat activities we did. We read "Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons" and "Pete the Cat; I Love My White Shoes". Like always, all of my activities aligned with Common Core. We really enjoyed this mini unit. 


Friday, September 6, 2013

Five For Friday!



This is my first time to link up with the Five for Friday posts but I'm excited to start because I'm a newbie blogger. My name is Jen and I am currently interning in a kindergarten classroom. I graduate this December with a degree in Early Childhood Education (pre-k-3rd). I'm so excited to get into the classroom. This week has been especially exciting because it was the first week I started teaching and taking full responsibility of the students.

1. I started an apple unit this week which I talked about in the previous post. It was a hit! the students had so much fun and I had even more fun teaching them about measurement, parts of an apple, and the classic tale of Johnny Appleseed.


2. I'm excited it's Friday. I have big plans of being lazy this weekend. Watching some college football (Go OU!) and laying out poolside with my hubby and dog, Boomer.



3. Celebrated this baby girls birthday. I might have the cutest baby cousin ever!


4. I'm especially excited about this... I recently signed up for my first Slant Box. If you are familiar with BirchBox,(one of my favorite things), then it's the same concept except educational themed boxes sent between teachers. Basically you get assigned to an educator each month randomly, and you put together a box of goodies that goes with the month's theme. I'm really excited to get started. I heard about the Slant Box through this lovely blog, Lessons With Coffee.


5.Last but definitely not least. Today is my mom and dad's 27th anniversary. They are such a great example of what a happily married couple is. I love them and am so blessed to have them as parents.


Link up here at Doodle Bugs Teaching


Jen

Thursday, September 5, 2013

All About Apples

I recently did an apple themed unit. I of course included the classic tale of Johnny Appleseed. Since language arts and math are the only common core subjects for Kindergarten, I focused on those subjects primarily. We read Johnny Appleseed and did a character web as a class. The students also made their own Johnny Appleseed hats. For science we learned the parts of an apple and the students labeled their own apple. For math we used apples to learn about measurement and data. Here are some pictures of the highlights of the unit.

I brought the apples to school in this old apple basket. I thought it was so cute!


This is the craft we made for the parts of an apple lesson.


The Children used linking cubes to measure their apples, which is part of the Common Core Curriculum.


We had a cute paper to document our investigation. You can find here


We also learned about graphs and data, which also aligns with the CCC.




This was one of my favorite lessons. I thought it was great to do the graph as a whole and let them graph and measure their own apples. They really enjoyed it. We will use the apples to make applesauce. :)

Jen

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

My Teacher Style

From being in a college classroom, having classes spread out randomly through the week, getting to sleep in, and really not having a consistent routine or a specific dress code, etc. There are a few things that I've found very necessary in my daily life of being a teacher. I narrowed it down to 5 go-to's for my daily teacher style from clothes, organization, and caffeine pick-me-ups.

Let's see, the first day of school I wore a cute pencil skirt, button up shirt, and some wedges. By the end of the day I could barely walk because my feet were killing me. Trying to keep up with a classroom full of Kinders while wearing heels is an accident waiting to happen. As for the cute coral pencil skirt I got from J. Crew, yeah I couldn't exactly move comfortably in that either. Don't get me wrong, I've now realized this is a great outfit for the first day, open house, or parent/teacher conferences. But I doubt I'll ever wear that in the classroom on a normal day. I am all for dressing professional and luckily my style is on the preppy side, I have no problem shopping for teacher clothes; Cardigans, button-ups, dresses, etc.

1. My go-to place for shopping that is reasonably priced is J. Crew Factory. It's a great place to get all of the J.Crew classics at a discounted price. I also love J.Crew for their bright colors that pop. I love the mismatched patterns and accessories to keep classic pieces looking trendy.



2. SHOES.. Ok just to be clear 90% of my shoes come from the wonderful Target. I'm all about a cute pair of flats or riding boots that are under $30. However their flats aren't always comfortable and they don't last very long if you plan on wearing them a lot. I never splurge on shoes, I don't know why, I feel like I'm violating some kind of girl code by not splurging on shoes. However I've had my eye on Jack Rogers sandals for the longest time. And after that awful choice of wearing wedges on the first day of school I knew I needed something more functional. So I splurged. Yikes! I couldn't believe I spent just over $100 on sandals. I convinced myself it was a good idea because they were dressy, known for being comfortable, a neutral color and since I live in Oklahoma, it doesn't really start getting cold until the end of October. These might be one of the best wardrobe investments I've ever made. They are so comfy for school and a neutral color that I almost wear them every day! I'm considering making a "Jack Rogers fund" jar just so I can get more colors! I'm not sure if my part-time baby sitting gig will cover that, but we'll see!

What I have:

What I want:


3. Diet Coke. Do I really need to explain this one?


4. Coffee. I know I don't need to explain this one


5. My teacher planner keeps me organized and holds everything I need; calendars, lesson plans, common core, etc. I got mine here at Teachers Pay Teachers However one day I plan to get one of those fancy Erin Condren ones, because they are just so fabulous. Staying organized is something I'm very good at. I always have my planner handy. The one I got at TPT was only a $3 download, I organized it into a a three-ring binder to keep for all school related things. I have a cute little monogram May Design book that I use for personal use that I always keep on me.




These are just a few essentials to my teacher life. What are your must haves?



Jen

Back-to-school wrap up!

I have been interning in a Kindergarten classroom for almost 4 weeks now! Can't believe we have already been in school that long. I feel truly blessed to have such an amazing teacher to intern under and learn from. She has been so helpful during my internship and is a great role model. I've mainly been observing her but have taken on a few responsibilities during the first few weeks of school. I've taken over calendar time, the letter of the week crafts, and just helping the teacher with whatever I can do. I'm very excited to start taking on full responsibility of the class! Here are a few activities that I have contributed to the class so far.

I made these for the kids for the first day of school. They loved them!


We read the Kissing Hand (one of my favs) on the first day. They got to draw a picture of their family and make a hand print, I also attached a poem about the Kissing Hand.


I taught them this little saying, we say it together before we begin any work.


I made this great coloring reference chart. (By the way I love when children use their imagination and their own creativity, this was just to help them make sense of it all, instead of grabbing whatever crayon and scribbling on their paper)


First letter we learned was L. We read Llama Llama Misses Mama and made these little llamas. I think they're cute!


We then learned O. We made little octopuses and octopus soup (green food coloring, ramen, and hot dogs). They absolutely loved it.


Most recently we learned the letter G. I read the old tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff . I read the big book and did the felt board story. Felt boards are kind of old school but I think they are great for retelling and comprehension. I let the Kinders take turns retelling the story with the felt board that week. They really enjoyed it.



Jen

Monday, August 12, 2013

The Big Apple Teacher: Erin Condren giveaway

The Big Apple Teacher: I got more Erin Condren!!! {and I need your advice...: So I am a bit fanatical about Erin Condren   and I am ready to prove it to you.  My giveaway is in full swing, and even after it started....

Monday, July 15, 2013

theme or no theme???

Ever since I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do is help my mom get her first grade classroom ready for back-to-school. As long as I can remember she has had a specific theme (frogs, pirates, Wizard of Oz, and currently Snoopy). I really love the Snoopy theme, it's very classic and cute. My memories of being a first grader or second grader is that first day of school when you walk into the classroom and your teacher has it decorated so nicely and fun and worked so hard to provide such an enchanting place to learn. Now, thanks to Pinterest I've noticed a lot of teachers are going a more neutral route in their classroom. Not specifically sticking to a theme but maybe just providing a certain color pallet that you can use for more than one school year.It has me wondering what I will do when I graduate in December and hopefully have my first classroom that Spirng or the following Fall. What do you prefer? Theme or no theme??


Jen