five minutes.

If you are studying to become a teacher, I strongly suggest any book by Ron Clark.  He is a fantastic teacher with so much experience to share, and he has changed my outlook and given me so many ideas for this profession (I know, people say this kind of stuff all the time, but I'm serious!).

Anyway, he writes about his sixth grade teacher who had them write in their journals everyday, even if it was just for five minutes.  They were to write about how they were feeling that day and anything that was on their mind, and he says that journal is one of the biggest treasures he has.  He wishes he would have done it every year.

I decided to incorporate this into my classroom.  Oh how I would LOVE to see into my own fourth grade mind!  Some of the boys think it is corny, but they are the ones who write the most! Writing is a huge struggle for my students, and thus the least favorite part of the day for all of us.  I am hoping that these five minutes of freedom will give writing a better rep in their minds.  Three-fourths of my class absolutely LOVE journal time now (Yanni plays over the speakers, who wouldn't love it?).  And you should have seen the excitement on their faces when I told them they could write in Spanish once a week.

I take these five minutes to write in my own journal.  It is a different book than my real journal, but it is where I write my thoughts on teaching - my worries, fears, and celebrations during my first year.  I am hoping it is as therapeutic for my students as it is for me.




"Get a good notebook, a good book that will last through time and into eternity for the angels to look upon. Begin today and write in it your goings and your comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements, and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies." -Spencer W. Kimball

Valentine's Day

My loving mother pointed out all my spelling errors in my Christchurch post yesterday. I would like to apologize for not making sense.  I fixed them. Just know that I wrote that about five minutes before the school bell rang so I didn't check for errors. And I'm usually an error-checking-crazy-person.

I know, I am REALLY behind on blogging. Like really. Most people blog about Valentine's day like, that night, but I decided to keep you waiting for a week. I had about 30+ valentine's. Jealous?

Ok, ok, most of them were between the ages of 9-10. And by most I mean all, but I loved it! I tried to think of something cheap but out-of-the-ordinary for my students.  I saw Crush sodas on the blog eighteen25 and thought it was genius! Luckily, I found enough packs at KMart (which I never, ever go to so that was a blessing), wrapped them up in Valentine cellophane, and hand-made (YES!) a bunch of silly hearts to personalize them. They were a hit!

Teachers, I recommend it for next year.  In return, I received a chocolate apple, a huge Hershey's kiss, 3 chocolate roses, one real rose, boxes of chocolates, and a ridiculous amount of off-brand candy taped to puppy dog valentine's.  Chili flavored suckers are really, really weird.

That night we had some of our favorite friends over and made home-made pizza and cookies. It was such a fun night! We forgot to take pictures though, sorry.

More to come!

my classroom has been freezing cold

and I just thought I was being a wimpy Texan (which is an oxymoron, by the way). But after comments on the temperature of my room from 3 other adults, I decided I wasn't crazy. Half an hour later, our custodian (2nd nicest man on the planet) was in my ceiling playing with valves and pipes and told me I hadn't been getting any new air since November which is why my room wasn't heating up.

November.

December.

January.

Was that as dramatic as that one time Stephanie Meyer did it? No? Dang it. Well, he fixed it. Hallelujah!

Christchurch, NZ.

My heart goes out to the residents of Christchurch, NZ today. They just had a 6.3 earthquake hit the center of their city. This is the second huge earthquake they've had in five months.  Christchurch is a beautiful city with a lot of heritage and hard working people. Please keep them in your prayers as they begin to rebuild for the second time.

I was in Christchurch this time last year.