First Ladies Symposium

Mrs. Perry and I took our junior high students to the Bush Library for a couple of presentations on First Ladies in the White House. It was very interesting and one very special former First Lady was among the distinguished guests, as was Lynda Johnson Robb (daughter of the late President LBJ). Thanks to Susan B., Tonya F., and Becky S. for accompanying us. Thanks to my students for behaving as ladies and gentlemen!

Thank You

Most of you know that my mom went in for what should have been a routine surgical procedure followed by an overnight stay in the hospital. It turned out to be anything but routine. After two major surgeries and five days in ICU (four of them on a ventilator), she is at my house and is recovering. Thanks to all who said prayers on our behalf. I don't think I could have made it through the week otherwise!

As I went to and from the hospital and waited for the ICU doors to open so I could see Mom, it occurred to me what an 'equalizer' that experience is! Illness and the need for critical care is not tied to socio-economic status, skin color, age, or anything else. I looked around that waiting area and saw people of all kinds--some rich, some poor, some young, some old, some black, some white, some brown. And what we all had in common was a sense of helplessness and in some cases, hopelessness! We were totally encompassed by circumstances that were beyond our control. It's not a comfortable place to be. And, yet---I felt a sense of peace at all times. Certainly I was anxious about my mom but I knew she was in good hands and I knew that prayers were being said. And I was humbled, truly humbled.

We are at our best when we realize that God our Father is totally in control of our lives. He has ways of reminding us of His sovereignty and of His grace and love and mercy. I'm very thankful that He loves me! I'm thankful that I had HIS peace to depend on during those dark days.

Parent Enrichment Activities

I have certainly appreciated the moms that have planned and carried out enrichment activities with my students. These are photos from the Joseph activity. Everyone had a great time! Thanks, moms!!!

A Tribute

A great woman passed away in the wee hours of this morning. Her name was Catherine Koerth. She was 93 years old. She spent 40 years of her life teaching children in rural Texas. She was my 6th grade teacher. She was my inspiration. She was my ideal of what a teacher should be. She was my friend. If I am half the teacher she was then I think I've done well!

The greatest thing I can tell you about Mrs. Koerth is that she walked with Jesus. She was a wonderful Christian lady. She will be missed. She will not be forgotten. Rest in peace, dear lady. Your legacy lives on.

Weather Changes

I awoke this morning before the alarm sounded. The wind woke me up. Our first really cool 'norther' has blown in. Unfortunately, it did not bring us much needed rain but we can be thankful for the cooler temperatures. And we'll be reaching for jackets before we set off to school tomorrow morning.

I could have told you yesterday that the weather was going to change today! The 'barometers' of my students were fluctuating rather wildly! Now, I am a reasonably educated woman and I know that scientists say that such a statement is merely an old wives' tale and hasn't a grain of truth to it. They just need to come and visit our school and observe! It's not that my students behavior is necessarily bad but they are definitely different. They are usually a bit more excitable and don't focus quite as well as they should.

With the weather change and the high winds comes an increased fire danger all across our state. I know of at least two first grade dads who are volunteer firefighters. There might be others. If you know a firefighter (volunteer or paid) please tell him/her thank you. They risk their lives and give up time with their families to help protect our communities. They are heroes each and every time they answer that call.

May God bless your family! May God bless and protect our firefighters and other emergency personnel.

Classroom Helper

A former student came to see us today. She is in high school and had the day off. Instead of sleeping in or hanging out with her friends she came to FBS and volunteered her services! She wound up in my classroom and I put her to work. She worked hard and she worked long and saved me many hours of before/after hours work. I really appreciate her servant heart and her willingness to do whatever was asked of her.

Thank you Taylor N.!! You have grown and matured into a wonderful young woman!

Apologies Required!

We teachers are not perfect and this teacher certainly isn't! I had to apologize not once, but twice today to some of my students.

The first bit of hot water I found myself in was with my first graders. I forgot to tell them yesterday that our librarian is going to be gone tomorrow (their usual day to check out books) and that they would be going to the library today. What that meant was that several of them didn't have their books and thus couldn't get a new one. This is a group of students who love to read! It's serious business! They forgave me--I think!

Then I went to my third grade history class and reviewed a lesson that we covered last week. I had turned to the wrong page in my lesson plan book. I caught my error and we did the correct lesson but not before they rolled their eyes and said 'we already know THAT!' I pointed out to them that a little bit of review never hurts anyone, especially when there might be a quiz or test in the future.

I'm really glad that they forgave me but most importantly, I'm so glad that God forgives us all when we err! He is a faithful and loving Father.

May God bless each of you and your families.

'Rithmetic

I've blogged about Reading which I've always loved. I've blogged about Writing which I learned to love. And that just leaves the third 'R'--'Rithmetic.

If I demonstrated thickness between my ears when it came to writing I have to say my brain was a brick wall when it came to anything Math related. I did just fine with adding and subtracting but when they decided I should learn Multiplication and Division---well, let's just say it took a long time and I wasn't the top student in the class. But I learned and rocked right along until I hit Algebra I in high school. And I'm suprised I didn't send poor Mr. Adams straight to the crazy house! That man wanted me to solve for x (or y or z or whatever) and he thought surely I could understand those problems that read a train left station A at a certain time and a train left station B at a certain time and when would they meet up!! It was almost too much for me to absorb but I did--more or less.

And when I got to college, I thanked Mr. Adams over and over again in my mind. Whether he realized it or not, he taught me well and while I was not a stellar student, I did manage to get through the college Math class. And I worked my way through three more years thinking I was done with Math. WRONG!!! I got to my senior year and discovered that while I had enough Math credits to graduate I was one short of the number required to get a teaching certificate. So I took a deep breath and enrolled in a one credit course called Calculator Programming. Sounds easy? WRONG again! Understand that this was back in the day when the university had one computer and it was located in a house sized building! And it was slower than molasses. Our calculators were huge in comparison to today's pocket models.  I'm still not sure what I learned in Calculator Programming but I do know that I spent an inordinate amount of time in the professor's office for tutoring and nearly drove my poor husband nuts at night as he tutored me some more. But I passed, got the credit, got the diploma and the teaching certificate.

But DO NOT WORRY---I can do first grade math really, really well. I can even do second grade math really, really well. Beyond that? I haven't given that a shot in a very long time! All three of my children managed to get through school without a lot of help from their mother in the math department. Thank God for their daddy.

I love teaching first graders and I love teaching history. I'll leave the math to others who are far more capable than me!

Field Trip!!

We are so fortunate to have a world class university in our 'backyard'. Whether one is an Aggie or NOT (I'm not, but I'm not a Longhorn either--in case you wonder!), one has to admire the educational opportunities that are available just over the Brazos River. We had the opportunity to visit the campus of the Health Science Center and the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library today. Our time there was well spent and we appreciate the opportunity we were given to visit.

The HSC has a state of the art simulation unit where students in the biomedical fields can practice and hone the skills necessary to become health care professionals. It was amazing! Our time at the library was focused on the Presidential Election and Conquering Cancer exhibits.
Lest I forget, we also descended on CiCi's Pizza and fed some hungry students! I never cease to be amazed at the amount of pizza that junior high boys can consume!

Thanks to the parents who went with us and who joined us for lunch.

Upside Down!

This was one of those days when the schedule left the room as the students were entering! From start to finish things were a bit on the topsy turvy side. And did we get everything done? No, we did not. But we did our best. I'm very thankful for an administrator that understands that some days are like this and doesn't hold it against me. I'm very thankful for a group of students who are flexible enough to do things in a different order.

Several first graders were able to take their very first AR test today! It almost didn't happen as the AR website was being cranky about their user names and passwords. We finally got that all sorted out and with some help from Mrs. Burns, we managed to get the tests done. Passing an AR test in first grade is a BIG DEAL because it enables the student to go straight to the 'goody bucket' without having to first collect 10 tickets.

We said goodbye to Mrs. Tracy today. She's been our Computer teacher for 11 years and we are going to miss her. She's going on to a new and exciting career as a vet tech! We're going to miss her a lot but we are pleased to welcome Mrs. Burns to the job.

Writing

I've written about Reading and now I'm going to tackle Writing. Let me start off by saying that I like to write--most of the time. And most of the time I find that I communicate well by writing. It wasn't always so!

Despite the best efforts of my teachers I was never a very good writer. I had trouble finding inspiration and I had trouble finding words. I'm sure that I put more than a few gray hairs in Mrs. Koerth's hair when I was in sixth grade. She was the teacher who made us do our very first research paper---we had to have footnotes and a bibliography and more than one page! I'm not sure that either of my high school English teachers held out much hope for my writing skills. After high school came college and there was more weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over my tortured efforts in English classes.

But then came Colonel Russell Fudge. Colonel Fudge was a professor of political science at Howard Payne University--my alma mater. He was also the director of the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom--an honors program in social sciences. As his title suggests, he was a retired military man. And he was tough--oh, that man was tough. He held a bachelor's degree in journalism, advanced degrees in something else. He was a war veteran and he had taught at the Army War College. And he taught me to write! And he instilled a love of writing in me that I'd never felt before.

Now, while he was teaching me to write in his advanced political science classes he also managed to cause me no small amount of angst over the red ink that was 'bled' on my papers! I'm sure I caused him no small amount of angst with my thick headedness. But over time, I took the lessons I learned and I have done my best to put them to good use.

I also have to credit my friend Viv for helping me learn good writing skills. She's English and has worked as a journalist in London for all of her adult life. In the early days of our friendship (since age 14) we wrote long, newsy tomes to each other--books, I suppose. We've joined the electronic age and communicate via Facebook, email, or text message. Viv is an amazing communicator and can do so quite effectively using as few or as many words as the situation requires.

My first graders are starting to write stories in class. We're going slowly and some efforts are easier and better than others. How can you help your child? Just be an encourager. Praise all efforts whether it's a great story or not so great! Have your child write a sentence or two about something that he/she has seen or heard or read. We're learning about capitalization and punctuation but realize that those are skills that require a lot of practice. Don't give up. Don't get discouraged. Be a partner in your child's educational journey!

Thank you for all you do for your children. I have amazing students--be they first, third, fourth, or junior high students!

WRITE ON!!

More Awesome Eighth Graders

Awesome Eighth Graders

One of the blessings of a small school is that students of all ages can interact with each other. I'm so proud of our older students. They set such good examples for the younger children! Mrs. Perry and the Eighth Grade Science class hosted my first graders on Wednesday in the Science lab. The order of the day was to create 'robots'. Now these weren't walking, talking robots but rather imaginative creations! Fun was had by all as the older students assisted the younger students as they used their imaginations to make the perfect robot. If you see Mrs. Perry or one of those students, please tell them thank you!

Healthy Eating

Thanks so much to Jennifer P. and Stefanie J. for bringing an enrichment activity to first grade! I missed out on the fun (I was teaching another class) but photos were taken.

Reading

I like to get to work early! I'd much rather get there before school begins and take care of things rather than stay in the afternoon when I'm tired and ready to go home. Monday is my hall duty day and has been for many, many years. I like it that way even though I often see students who wander in half asleep and grouchy! Sometimes on Mondays I'm half asleep and grouchy, too!

But one thing I've noticed on Monday mornings and any other morning of the week are how many of our students love reading. Come walk down the hall some morning and you will see! It makes me very happy that our students are readers. It makes me happy when I overhear them discussing books that they have read with each other. We have our own unofficial literary society in the halls of FBS!

I've been passionate about reading for many years. I can remember when I discovered the joy of reading. I was in 4th grade and my teacher, Mrs. Mac, encouraged us to take books off her shelves and read.  I started off with the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries, as did my peers, and like our students I enjoyed discussing the merits of individual books with my friends.

I grew up in a tiny town about 120 miles northwest of here. I was adopted at birth and was raised an only child.  Most of my classmates lived on the farms and ranches that surround the area and during holidays and summers there was no way for us to spend time together. We occasionally spoke on the old fashioned land line telephone but it was so antiquated that it cut our calls after about 5 minutes! So books became my best friends. My parents, bless them, were not wealthy but the one thing they never denied me were books to read! I'm sure my teachers loved to see those Scholastic book order forms coming from my house because it was always huge and they got lots of bonus points. If you visit my childhood home today you will find a floor to ceiling bookshelf still laden with the books of my childhood. Those books were and are my friends.

I still read today. I've graduated to a Kindle (love it!) but I still like to turn the pages of a real book and read.
I'm thankful for Mrs. Mac and other teachers who encouraged me to read.

God bless you all!! And please pick up a book and read!

Remembering

I had my History students interview a parent, other family member, or friend about their remembrances of September 11, 2001. The questions were simple and most of the answers were brief. I hope it gave my students a sense of what we felt on that horrible day 10 years ago.

It was a day like all others at FBS. We were having class. A parent called and asked us to pray because a plane had it one of the twin towers. We were unsure of what that meant and we were not going to tell our students anything until we had more information. Mrs. Hadley got on the internet and printed off a news bulletin--copies of which I still have. It simply said a plane had hit the north tower and there was smoke. A few minutes later we got more information and knew that our nation was under attack. At that point, we gently informed our older students and we all prayed.

My thoughts ran in many different directions. I thought of my sister Denise who had retired from the USAF in 1999. I wondered if she would be called back to active service. I thought of my brother Tim who was celebrating his birthday. I thought of my youngest daughter who was in the panhandle attending college. I thought of other family members who were working or going to school somewhere. What I wanted most was to 'circle the wagons' and draw them all close. I knew no one who had lost their life or the life of a relative or friend and yet I felt a profound sense of loss. One of my student's reports alluded to the attack on Pearl Harbor. How true! Our country was directly attacked and the only thing we could do was sit helplessly and watch it happen--just as our families did in 1941.

A lot has happened in the last 10 years. I don't know where we are going in the next 10 years but I do know this: We must pray for our country. We must pray for our leaders--whether we agree with them or not. We must respect our fellow Americans without regard to race or religion. We must lift each other up. We must seek God's face. And we must celebrate the fact that we live in the greatest nation on the face of this earth!

God bless the U.S.A. And God bless each of you.

Heritage

I've just come home from the Kolache Festival. It was hot and crowded and I was more than happy to reach my house and the air conditioning!

What I don't like about the KF is the heat and the crowds and the occasional person(s) who behaves badly because of poor choices. But I don't want to focus on that.

I want to focus on what I do like about the event each year! It is a celebration of the Czech heritage and I applaud that! I love history and family history in particular and anything that inspires young people to learn more about their personal history gets an A+ from me!

Whether you are Czech or not, a native Texan or not, a native of Caldwell or not I encourage you and your family to get interested in the past. Find out who those ancestors were and what they did and where they lived. Dig out those old photos. The past can be a window to the future and you can build relationships in the process!!

I've had the privilege of learning about BOTH of my families--my adopted family and my birth family. It's been fun to see that I am a product of both nurture and nature.

Enjoy your weekend and celebrate your family!

Thank You

Thanks to Stefanie J. and Jennifer P. for bringing the USA Bingo game to first grade. Thanks to Kim E., Rachel J. and Tabbatha P. for joining in the fun! The students had a great time. I appreciate parents who are willing to share their time and talents with my students.

First Grade USA Bingo

The Golden Rule

Take a good look at these students! They are few in number but they have big hearts and caring spirits. They are doing for others what they would want done for themselves and their families and friends. They collected items to donate to relief efforts for the fire victims in our area. Thanks to Cody P. and Pastor Todd for assisting me in unloading these items at the collection site.

Take another good look at these students! They are the leaders of tomorrow. They will be our educators, our doctors, our nurses, our pastors........our politicians, our attorneys, our law enforcement officers, our fire fighters.  It's easy to say they are just kids or they are just adolescents but what they learn today will affect all of us in the future! It's humbling to think that I am afforded the opportunity to participate in their education. It's a privilege to do that in a school that is Christian.

Thanks, students! You are awesome. Thank you, parents! You are awesome, too.

Helping Hands

This is a message for my junior high students and their parents. I've put this in an email but want to make sure the word is out.

The Caldwell Area Ministerial Alliance is collecting items for our neighbors in Bastrop County. There is a list of items needed on the email I sent out.

Any junior high student who brings one or more of those items to school tomorrow or Thursday (make sure I see it!) will receive a daily grade of 100. Service to our fellow man is a Biblical principal that I feel is very important. Every item will say to someone that there are people who care!

Please pray for rain and for the fires to be contained.

God bless you all!!

Prayer

One of the blessings of teaching at FBS is that we can stop what we are doing at any time and pray--OUT LOUD!! This will be a week of many prayers--for rain, for our neighbors to the north and south and east and west who have lost much in the wildfires, and for the brave firemen and women who are doing their best to protect our public safety.

I was in west Texas over the Labor Day weekend and as we drove back home yesterday we could see smoke from the fires from Temple to Caldwell. We saw one grassfire just outside of Temple and pulled over for fire crews who were obviously being moved straight from one fire to another.

I am sure that many of you, like me, know someone who has been or is being directly affected by these awful fires. There's not much we can do right now except pray and I encourage each of you to do that--without ceasing.

I thank God for the privilege of teaching in this school. I thank God that we can be open prayer warriors in the halls and classrooms of this building. I thank God for our students and their families. And I pray that we will all remain safe.

God bless you all.

PSIA

Do any of you subscribe to National Geographic (hard copy)? If you do and you are willing to part with them, please see me. PSIA's Maps Graphs and Charts contest has a few questions that are taken from National Geographic magazine. Our students did okay last time around without it but I'd like to give them a better chance by letting them peruse through some magazines. Thank you very much.

Monday, Monday

There's a song that starts 'just another manic Monday'!! Well, that just about fit today. My first graders arrived with sleep in their eyes and more than one was just a tad on the cranky side. Their teacher had some sleep in her eyes and might have been a tad on the cranky side herself! I'm not sure why but I can only surmise that the excessively hot temperatures over the weekend did nothing to brighten our mood. That being said, the day smoothed out and we ended on a good note.

My first graders decided last week that we should pray for rain in addition to saying the Lord's Prayer before dismissal in the afternoons! What a great idea! They are taking turns asking God to send rain and then we all say the Lord's Prayer together. An older gentleman told me once that he lived through the drought of the 1950s and told the Lord when it rained that he would never complain about rain again. I have to say that I'm subscribing to his opinion! When it rains I will rejoice!

Congratulations to each fourth grade student for saying the first section of the American's Creed. They will be memorizing more of it this week and next week and then they will have it 'down'. What a good group of students they are.

Parents---a heads up with regard to PSIA. That stands for Private Schools Interscholastic Association. I'm the Maps, Graphs, and Charts coach for our school. The contest is open to 4th through 8th grade students and will be held along with other contest categories in February. We have the atlases on hand and I'm going to put together some 'extra credit' work that all students can utilize that will use the atlases. It's a great contest and I encourage you to encourage your child to consider it. Any student can do the extra credit in study hall regardless of whether he/she participates in the contest. I plan to have some material available to the teachers for study hall in the next week or so. It's in my first grade classroom, I've got some ideas but I've got to have some time to get it all together.

God bless you all!!

Friday #2

This was one of those days when things were a bit on the topsy turvy side! And I am so proud of my first graders! They handled the changes in their routine very, very well! I'm quite impressed with this group. They have settled down and are working hard..........and it's only the second week of school!!

My History classes are so much fun. My third graders had a test today over the continents and the four major oceans. They studied. Well done, third grade.

Fourth grade is memorizing the American's Creed. The first part was due today and all gave it a shot and most did very well; however, I missed their class due to circumstances beyond my control so any fourth grader who didn't make 100 is welcome to try it again on Monday and there won't be any penalty!

I'm loving my junior high students as well. I certainly don't want to neglect them in this post. I have 6th, 7th, and 8th graders together for U.S. History. The 7th and 8th graders had me last year and know how I operate. The 6th graders are learning and they are doing great! I'm taking things slow and easy and trying to transition them to a higher level. We have some tests and special projects coming up and I anticipate that all will do very well.

God bless you all and have a restful weekend.

Thursday

There's been high excitement in first grade as almost all of the students have earned the 10 tickets required to get a prize from my 'goody bucket'. That ole bucket has seen lots of little hands reach in for a reward for doing good work, being a kind friend, making good choices, etc. I think it has a few more years left in it!

I'm still trying to hit my stride! I try to be at least a week ahead with lesson plans but at the moment I'm just keeping up! For those of you who have students in my History classes, please pay attention to your weekly emails so that you will know what is due and when.

We're working on arranging some field trips for all ages. I'll be sending more information regarding those in the emails as well.

There was lots of excitement today over the rain that fell. As most of you know, we prayed specifically for rain in chapel yesterday and were so happy to see that our prayers were answered. We thanked God today in our prayers and asked Him to please remember that we would like some more!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that you find some way to beat this awful heat!!

Another Day is Done and It was Fun!

If you are on my Facebook list of friends, you've probably read the following story; if not, read and enjoy!!

We are learing about addition in math class. I was demonstrating how the word equal means the same as.... I had two students on one side of me and another on the other side and I said 2+1 = 3. About that time one of the boys jumped up and got between them with both arms stretched straight and he said 'I'm the plus sign!' I think we have that concept!!

First grade got to play some new games today. Mrs. Z has them for Enrichment and they played a couple of games that involve shapes. One was really, really easy but the other requires some thought. The students loved it. We also played rhyming Bingo this afternoon. Some of us are definitely rusty on our rhyming skills but we are also a competitive group so I think this skill will get getting honed very quickly. What impressed me was how excited they got for each other when a match was made. They like to win but they like their friends to do the same.

God bless all of my students and their families!

The First Monday

We all hit the ground a-runnin' today! I'm still trying to work out my schedule of where I'm supposed to be and when and which class I'm teaching at any given time. That being said, things went very smoothly today. I'm tired, but not as tired as last week. And I didn't go back to school and work late either! That will probably happen tomorrow.

I love, love, love my first graders. As a group they are incredibly interested in learning! And they are sharp. I was asked this morning about a rock on my desk. I said that it is petrified wood. The student who asked the question replied 'that means it's fossilized.' Yes, it does. And that's a great big word for a first grader to know and use!

My History classes are going to be great this year. At the moment, third and fourth grade are studying about Christopher Columbus. We've discovered that he wasn't really the first European to 'find' North America. The Vikings did that about 500 years earlier. They just didn't hang around to colonize and they sure didn't share their find with anyone else. They were not known for 'playing nice in the sandbox' and most people took cover when they saw those Vikings coming!:) Columbus, on the other, hand told a lot of people and he evidently was well liked. And the rest is as they say.......HISTORY!!

Keep watching this site for photos and bits of information. Please check your email regularly as I will be sending you messages. Most will be for your particular child's grade.

The first Monday is done and we're off to the races! Have a great week!

The First Friday

Thank God it's Friday! And thank God we started on Wednesday and aren't looking at two more days of school before we get a weekend off.

One of my first graders looked at me around noon and asked if I was tired. Before I could answer, he stated quite emphatically that he was tired! It made me think of one of my former students who went home after the first day of school and told his mother that he went to school forever!

My first graders are awesome! They are intelligent and capable and very busy. The biggest challenge we've faced this week is convincing them that only one person can talk at a time and when the teacher talks they should listen! We'll get there. The thing is----they usually have something quite profound and important to say but still....... we must have order in the classroom.

Teaching History has become one of my true 'loves' in education! I've taught the junior high version for the last few years and this year I added third and fourth grades to my schedule. I have to do some serious 'hopping' from first grade to the other side of the building but the great thing is that my first graders are either at Music or P.E. or Recess when I am teaching History and I still have plenty of instructional time with them.

If you are a parent and you are reading this blog and you haven't received any emails from me this week you need to let me know. I sent a note home with each of my students and you either need to email me at the address given or send the note back with a correct email address. I try very hard to keep you up to date on what we are doing in each class, what is expected of your student, and when things are due. Our 3-8 grade students have assignment books but sometimes a "creature" named "Idon'tknow" takes over! If you know, then we can put "Idon'tknow" to rest!

I'll try to post a few more pictures this weekend or early next week. If you would like me to send some to you, just let me know via email and I will send them on.

Have a blessed weekend.