So We Got a Fish

The kids deserved it... They really did. They've been working SO hard to learn how first grade works and to use their whisper voices and to do all those other minor things like reading and adding and having good social interactions... you know, the fluff.

So I got them a Betta fish. We haven't named it yet. It's red and blue. So most of them want to call him "RedBlue."

We're working on creativity.

Anyway, I used the fish as an opportunity to drive home the old reading strategy of getting ones mouth ready. For example, if they're reading a word they don't know, they can "get their mouth ready" to say the word by fixing it to at least read the first sound they see. Then maybe the can put together the rest of the word.

I told them how our fish's mouth looks when he eats. I showed them how the gets his mouth ready to snatch up his food by puckering up my lips. And then we practiced getting our mouth ready to read our Weekly Words.

After school, one of my bus riders was looking at the fish. She said, "Ooooooh Ms. Stanton! He's getting his mouth ready! I see it! I'm gonna give him something to read."

So she wrote down the Weekly Words on an index card and put it up to the bowl for the fish. And he totally looked at it. Obviously, we decided he was reading.

"Look, Ms. Stanton! He's readin! He really is!"

Gah I love it.

Good Quotes

My babies say some pretty hilarious things. 

Sometimes I don't think the things they say are funny until they pop up in my head later on in the day. 

Sometimes I think they're so funny I have to hide my face so they won't see me laughing at them. 

Without further ado, here are some of the gems from the past few weeks. 

You know Barack O'Romney? He's running for president. 

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Student: I know why we gotta have a Constitution. Cuz if we didn't, people would be able to blow up buildings and rob banks like it aint NOTHIN!

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I write letters to my students from characters in stories we've read. We do a math problem with the letter. Last week, we got one from the wolf in The Boy Who Cried Wolf. He was wondering how many sheep he had eaten that day if he ate 3 for lunch and 4 for dinner. 

The next day, I got a letter from a little boy. It was telling the wolf not to eat any more sheep. 

He said, "Give this to the wolf. But tell him not to eat me, though."

*********************

This was the same boy who said, "NAH, Ms. Stanton wouldn't lie to us!" when the other students asked me if I was the one who wrote the letter.

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A girl wrote a love letter to a boy asking him to come to the 

"bole aling" for her birthday. 

He said, "Ms. Stanton. I know which bowling alley she's talking about."

Oh, which one?

"The other one."

Oh. 

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It Has Very, Very Come Down to This!

We have been in school for some time now and I am still feeling overwhelmed at all the things that are expected of me! From emails to interventions, all seem to need my attention at the same time. My biggest challenge is keeping myself organized and making it seem like I know what I'm doing. Last week I came to the realization that I CAN do this no matter how hard it gets! This is what I was put on this earth to do! The day after my epiphany, I was listening to the radio and the song, "He said" came on. I think it was God's way of reassuring me that He won't give me more than I can take. He might let me bend but not break. So anytime I'm having a rough day, I remember those lyrics and it helps me get through it.

On to a lighter subject, today was full of interesting situations. First, I had a student bring me an envelope and said that it was a letter to me apologizing for her talking Friday. I thought that it was a nice gesture and put the envelope on my desk. Later that day I opened the " letter" to find a picture of a cat, a rock, and a small piece of metal with a bible verse on it. I asked her about the piece of metal and she told me it was a bookmark because she knew I needed one because I always use sticky notes to mark my pages..... How very thoughtful! Then I decided that my students would benefit from the minute hand numbers that you see on pinterest these days so I out some up while the students were working. They were all so impressed when i got done! One of my students said " let's give Ms. Hill a round of applause!" haha it was so funny... It's the simple things that make them happy.

 Tonight was open house and all 4 of my 21 students showed up with their guardian.... I was very happy as I left though because I got compliments on how organized my room was and how happy a parent was that I was a first year teacher. She said she liked first year teachers because they are energetic and know about the latest things in education. Even though I would have liked a bigger turn out, I still had a good time talking with the parents and seeing the students show them around their room.

-Nicole

Learning Together....AWWWWW.

One of the major things I am learning during this beginning of the school year period is that first grade is teaching ME as much as it is teaching my youngins! I'm constantly adjusting things to better meet their needs and mine and I can really see things falling into place and working. Woohoo!

So, since we have been working a lot with the number 5 (discovering pentagons, finding different ways to break 5 apart, making different ways to show 5, etc.), I will share 5 things I have learned so far in first grade. 

1) Using paper isn't as easy as it looks. Do you remember learning that you couldn't just write diagonally down the middle of a paper and call it acceptable? Neither do I. But it turns out we learned that. Or at least my friends did this week!

2) My firsties really do care about me! I told them once that I like the mountains, and they draw mountains in  all their pictures. Every day someone asks me if I want a bite of their lunch because they feel bad that I bring the same thing for like 3 days in a row. The day after I had a doctor's appointment, one asked if I had to get any shots. Actually, he said, "How many shots did ya have to get yesterday?" It was pretty dang cute because no one had said anything about shots. For the record, I didn't have to get any. :) They show concern for me and they give me AWESOME hugs and they really brighten my day!

3) My line is not ever going to be 100% perfect... And that is okay. I'm coming to terms with the fact that having 19/20 of my kids NOT pretending to ice-skate down the hall is quite an accomplishment. After all, they're 6. School is barely 2 weeks in. And ice-skating is way more fun than walking. 

4) Talking to parents can explain A LOT. I've discovered all kinds of things about my kiddos by trying to establish a good relationship with parents. From allergies to parent problems and everything in between... It helps me help them SO much. I used to be really scared of parents, but I'm seeing that they are a huge resource!!!

5) No matter how crazy the world gets, kids are still kids. And kids are funny and weird. A quote to finish us off? "Ms. Stanton, can I have my treat?"

"What's your treat?"

"I wanna smell your hair!"

:)

I'm a Survivor!!

I can't believe it but I made it through my first full week and have been a real life teacher for 8 days now! It's still taking me some time getting used to the fact that I have this big girl job, but I think I'm fitting in nicely. Lots of things have been happening... Which is why I haven't had the chance to write a new blog. I've been trying to keep up with the 274628495728299574 emails I get a day and the 27563847484872 papers I get in my box. Not to mention the 375729572985 meetings I have to schedule also. I'm thankful that I have tennis practice to keep my mind from constantly thinking about what I need to do in my room. If not for that, I would probably lost my mind by now!

I have a few good stories from my short adventure so far.... Two Mondays ago was meet the teacher night and I got to meet 9 of my 20 students. One parent told me about their recent move from Columbia to our area. She asked me a question in an all serious way... " is it ok if my child gets picked up by her grandfathers  on his tractor in the carpool lane?"      True story.... Needless to say I asked my AP the next day... She thought I was kidding... Only in Pelion folks, only in Pelion. Hopefully I'll do a better job at keeping all you readers up to date on what's happening in my exciting life. Now that I've gotten the swing of things, I can spend some time thinking about things that don't have to do with school, school, school!

--Nicole 

LOVING IT!!!

So, school has been in session for a whopping 2 days now. And I am having a blast!!

I had this irrational fear that I was going to be so stressed out that I ended up hating it once I actually got started. Hallelujah, it didn't come true!

I am looooooooooooooving what I'm doing!!

Granted, it's SO very much work and the hours are SO extensive. (Whoever thinks teachers get to school at 8 and are home by 3:30 OBVIOUSLY haven't met one who's doing it for the first time. I know I'm going to have to force myself not to stay there forever so I don't get burnt out.)

It just feels so worth it, though. Even though we're just getting started, I love my 20 kiddies so much already!

Some highlights from the first 2 days:

I got invited to a birthday party.

I got a video of my bus riders having a rap battle. (They stay after school with me for about 30 minutes or so til their bus is called.)

My babies truly believe that the reason they're not allowed to lean on the wall when we're in the hall is that the younger kids wipe their boogers on it.

Everyone seems to get along very well! One of my very shy girls was quickly included by my other 4 girls who already knew each other from kindergarten. I was so glad to see her having fun with the other kids!

(Yes, you read that right. I only have 5 girls! Needless to say, we do LOTS of movement and brain breaks.)

Even though it wears me out, I am having FUN!

Say a prayer for me that it continues to be an awesome beginning of the year!

Yay, first grade!

-Lily

Classroom Sneak Peeks!!!!!

School officially started back for teachers this week! 

Which only means one thing. 

I FINALLY GOT PAID. 

It's nice to be able to eat again. 

Just kidding. It's been so great being back!! My team is WONDERFUL and super helpful. They're all 1st grade experts, so they pretty much know all there is to know. The advice they've given me has made me a lot more confident in what I'll be doing for the first 7 or so days of school. 

I'm equal parts excited and nervous. You know when you're at the part of the roller coaster when you're fastened in the seat and it starts *tick* *tick* *tick* ticking its way up the incline and part of you is thinking "OH MY LANTA PLEASE GET ME OFF OF THIS DEATH TRAP" but the other half is thinking "THIS IS GONNA BE SO COOL A;DSKJF;IEJA;LKD YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!" 

That's how I feel, and I think that is very healthy. :)

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my classroom so far! I've been busybusybusy decorating and planning, so neither of either are completely done yet. I'm pretty happy about what I've got so far, though!

 My little library :) There's more books behind the curtains that I'll switch out periodically. This blasted shelf was quite an ordeal. It took like 32422987 tries to get it cute, but I really like it now!!

 The library book labels up close. Yes, I did chevron. Sue me. You know you love it. 

 A close up of my classroom goals. I'll start this a couple weeks in. Students choose a goal in the morning and we talk about how they did in the afternoon. If need be, we'll hold ourselves accountable with a recording sheet. I'm going to see how they do without that first. 

 Class goals!!

 My other bulletin board. (I have 3!!!) I'm not sure what I'm going to put on it yet but I think the border is fabuloso. 

Table supply boxes. Chevron again. If you haven't noticed, my "theme" is bugs/yellow/blue. Every table has crayons, pencils, scissors, glue sticks, and whatever else I deem necessary. 

That's all I have pictures of for now! :)

-Lily

First Official Work Day!

Today was the first day back for teachers... even though I've been working in my room for weeks. It was filled with meetings, talking, and more meetings. We did have an AWESOME lunch provided by the PTO. We ate great food off of china plates and drank from wine glasses (filled with sweet tea). Even the dessert plates were glass! I felt so special! I know the faculty and staff appreciated the PTO for what they did for us today.

 Even though I sat in a chair for about 7 hours, I feel accomplished and a little more at ease about the upcoming year. I got my final class list with all 20 of my students listed and some other surcies from my school. I also got my first check today too! Soon I will get my PES t-shirt that I get to wear on the first day of school and on Panther Pride Fridays. 

I am so happy to be apart of the school that I grew up in. Hopefully my students will have the same great experience that I did in elementary school. I'm feeling more and more confident and competent (woot woot C2!) as next Wednesday approaches quickly.  Now let's just hope my nerves don't take over!

~Nicole

Too Early for a Countdown?

I think not!

Nicole and I both have less than 20 days til a bunch of wild animals come stampeding into our lives, leaving us utterly disheveled, fearing for our lives, and lamenting about "the good old days" when we could pass the buck to the "real" teacher when things hit the fan. 

Oh dear.

Okay, Okay, in all honesty, I'm excited! I am a very excited, really happy ball of nerves. Eeeeee!

I wonder if that's how my best friends Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin felt before the Olympics. 

(Yes, we are actually best friends. Duh.)

If so, then that probably means I'm on the right track for this to be a gold medal year, right?

Awwwwwwwwwwww. :)

-Lily

My Classroom So Far!

First of all, Happy move-in-to-your-apartment day Lily! It's official that we"re big girls now! I can't wait for you to come see my room now that you're closer to me!
I've been working in my room A LOT lately trying to get my furniture just right. I think I moved the cubbies about 80 times (and I learned I got another set yesterday...) and my desk 40 times. Needless to say, I THINK I have everything where I want it. If you've read up on earlier posts, you know that I have an owl theme in my room this year. So here are some picture of my room before and after!

My room before. Some of the previous teacher's items were still there.

Before. My back wall with cabinets and a sink.

Before. My little corner of my things.

After. My door!

After. My bulletin board and tree in my  classroom library corner!

Sorry for the scattered pictures. I still haven't quite figured out how to make them go where I want them too. I'm still working on my room so more pictures are to follow. I think I'm gonna go make some more Pinterest crafts now :)

-Nicole 

Times Are a'Changin

It's embarrassing to admit, but

I'm kind of obsessed with Bravo's Real Housewives of Orange County. I don't know what it is about those loony tune women, but I could watch them catfight all day. So, I made these clocks over several days while sitting in front of my favorite crazies, who give a whole new definition to the word "boob tube."

I originally saw some clocks like the ones below on Pinterest. (Duh.) It took me soooo many tries to finally get them right! I know they aren't perfect and the spacing isn't technically correct, but I think it will be fine if they're up on the wall. And I spent so much time on them I can't possibly count them as a loss. Not to mention, I actually think they're pretty cute, despite their flaws. 

First, I tried making them out of that foam paper stuff, because it looked like that's what the Pinterest ones were made of. Well, I didn't like the colors and I put the numbers on them ALL wrong and I got frustrated and let them sit on the living room floor for a couple weeks. Occasionally I stared at them with loathing.

Then, on a trip to Hobby Lobby (love) I found some wooden circles that I painted to match my wreath. I'm really digging the muted primary colors these days. On the first clocks, I tried to write the numbers with paint pens. I knew I couldn't do that again because mistakes were unfixable that way. So this time, I looked for wooden numbers to glue on.

If you find out they exist, let me know. Couldn't even find them at HobLob.

In the end, I had to find cute numbers online, print them, and glue them. I used a giant glue stick that's just called a "craft stick." It's a GREAT adhesive. I've used it a few times before and I've never had a problem. 

Anyway, here they are!!

Disclaimer: Yes, I know that the schedule may still change a few more times before school starts. That's why the hands aren't glued on. :)

-Lily

Owl and Buggy Gear

            In case you wanted to see what Lily was talking about, here are the pencil cups I made for our 

classrooms! Of course I got this idea from Pinterest... I honestly don't know I survived before it. I made 

these out of some kool-aid containers and covered them with paper and these cute owls and bugs! 

-Nicole 

Wreathdiculousness

                               In case you didn't know...

Nicole and I went on a spurt this past semester in which we were addicted to making wreaths. We had at least 5 in our dorm room: crayons, newspapers, a shattered mirror, a box of Diet Coke, etc. So, in honor of our old obsession and our new classrooms, I decided to make us some wreaths that go with our themes. Nicole has already made TONS of adorable Owl Gear, and she even  made me some Buggy Gear. You'll loooooooove her stuff!

In the meantime, here's what our kiddos will see when they come to our doors in a few short weeks!

-Lily