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.

First Day of School 2011

This was the 30th first day of school for students at First Baptist School! I can't speak for other teachers but for me the day went very well. I had a strong suspicion that my first grade class was going to be busy and active and they were! I had my first chuckle for the year when I noticed that one of my students had a green pencil gripper stuck in his ear! I won't mention any names nor will I even use initials!:)

A great big THANK YOU is due Gabe Pipes' grandmother. She purchased and donated a bunch of learning games and activities for our class. Feel free to drop by and check them out. At the moment they are still in their unwrapped state on my counter top.

I had History with 3rd and 4th grades today. Although I have taught History to Junior High students for several years, this is my first experience with other curriculums. It's going to be good and it's going to be fun but I will be learning right along with them.

I will send emails to each group of parents (1st grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, Junior High) with specifics for each class--assignments, projects, field trips, etc. At least in the beginning, you will get such messages on a weekly basis but as I become more efficient at advance planning you might get them less frequently.

However, please check your email regularly and don't hesitate to contact me at any time.

God bless each of you!!

Thirty Years

Wow! Thirty years! I've participated in all the school anniversaries since about 2006 and obviously I'm aware that I'm the only original employee of First Baptist School who remains on staff but still......thirty years!  That's a long time! It's longer than some of our school parents have been alive! It's longer than I've had two of my three children! I don't think that it ever occurred to me way back when that I'd still be here thirty years later. Actually, when we moved to Caldwell in 1980 we had no intention of being here more than a couple of years or so. The Lord had other plans for us !

There've been ups and downs through the years but I can truthfully say that I'm blessed to have been a part of the ministry provided by FBS. I have worked with three administrators as well as a long list of teachers and day care workers and of course, Mrs. Becky in the office (who has been with FBS for 25 years!) and each has added something special to the experience.

I've done just about every job there is to do at FBS except that of administrator (no thanks--NOT my calling!). I've cleaned bathrooms and classrooms and painted and hauled furniture all over the block. I've switched classrooms for and with people and have stacked chairs each Friday and unstacked them on Monday because we always shared space with Sunday School. I've gone from using an old fashioned spirit duplicator to make copies to designing my notes or whatever on the computer and hitting the print button. I've gone from making phone calls on a landline to sending text messages or emails. I've mediated disputes between students and occasionally between their parents!

And now, I find myself teaching children of the first generation of First Baptist School. When I began, the parents were in my peer group, agewise. Now, they are in my children's peer group.
I find that I'm often asked when am I going to retire? Perhaps that's a hint--I don't know. But I do know that at this point, I'm in no hurry to retire. I simply don't feel that the Lord is leading me to make that decision right now. I still feel as if I am learning from the experience of teaching and that has always been very important to me and what I consider a benchmark. I believe if I am still learning then I can still teach! And I very much enjoy having somewhere to go each day and working with people that I genuinely respect and like as colleagues. And students who make me laugh, make me cry, and some days even make me want to scream and run away!! I could probably write a book about my experiences but I probably won't!

To those of you who are parents of my students, I can't thank you enough. You are blessing me and enriching my life by entrusting me with the job of imparting knowledge to your children.
Let's have a great year!! God bless you all.

Blogging

One of the challenges we have been given for the 2011-12 school year is to be more effective communicators--with our parents as well as each other. I love to write and I think I've done a decent job over the years of being a communicator but I'm always open to doing something new and different, especially if it involves computer based applications. And since this is the beginning of my 30th year at First Baptist School, I figure now is the time!!

My hope is that I can use this forum to post pictures of student activities and keep parents and others updated with what we are doing on a weekly basis.

For those of you who have blogged before, feel free to make suggestions!