First Day of School

6th grade is a whole new world! The students are officially in Middle School and have lockers, change classes, dress out for P.E., etc! Today was a bit hectic, to say the least, but it was also a lot of fun! I had a powerpoint on my fancy promethean board to introduce myself and did a few activities to get to know the students. We played a game called "In my perfect world.." The students had to list 10 things that would happen in their "perfect world." For example: everyday would be Friday, water fountains would have Mountain Dew, bedrooms would clean themselves, etc. I got some really creative answers! 

This was all we had time for in each class because we were on a shortened schedule. The day went by really quick and I can't wait to go back tomorrow!! :)

Stay Tuned...

The first day of school is TOMORROW!!! 

I will be posting details tomorrow afternoon of how it goes!!!

Life Lately

I have been very busy lately preparing for my next adventure....teaching 6th grade!! I will be at Irondale Middle School teaching Pre-AP science and social studies. I will also be coaching the cheerleaders! I am looking forward to this new experience and have been preparing for it the past few weeks. I have had workshops, meetings, orientations, and will continue to to have workshops this week! The first day of school is August 11th and I am running around like crazy to get everything done in time. I have moved all of my things into my classroom, but have not had enough time to "decorate" and set it all up. I will be doing that this week, HOPEFULLY!!!

This is Irondale Middle School...my new home!! :) 

I feel extremely blessed and grateful to have a job that I absolutely LOVE!!! It honestly does not feel like "work" to me and I am happy to go every day. It has always been important to me to choose a career that makes a difference in people's lives and I could not have picked a better career!

With all that said, I am basically lovin' life right now. Great job. Great family. Great friends. Currently looking forward to fall!

Field Trip!!!

Last week, I went on my very first field trip as a teacher!! I took my 4th graders to Montgomery, AL because we are studying Alabama History. It was kind of a flashback for me because I went to Montgomery in the 4th grade as well. It is definitely different being a teacher and having to keep up with students, rather than being a carefree 4th grader just enjoying the trip.

Our first stop was the Capitol.

The kids had so much fun laying under the rotunda!!

Next stop, the archives building! Funny story, this is next to Whitney's new office!! Unfortunately, she was in Birmingham having her bridal portraits made so she could not come visit us! :( But, fortunately for her, her pictures turned out AWESOME!! (Just a little side note...)

We also visited Old Alabama Town, which was so fun! I remembered going there as a 4th grader 

myself! Here is my sweet little class..the lady taking our picture wasn't a very good photographer..poor thing. 

Here we are at the Civil Rights Monument! I had never seen it before and it was so neat! There was a fountain that ran over the top and the kids got to put their hands in it. 

Overall, it was a very good day!! I loved watching the kids learn and they genuinely seemed interested in everything they were seeing. Field Trip #1- SUCCESS!! 

My Classroom!!

I have officially taken over my classroom at Clay Elementary and could not be happier! Since I am replacing a teacher who has been in this room for 25 years, I had A LOT to do! She left all of her things that she did not want so I had to sort, organize, trash, etc. Also, I had to clean, clean, clean!!!  Keep in mind I only had 2 days to accomplish all of this before the students came back from Spring Break! I took all of her decorations down and put up new ones that suited the class a little better. I haven't been able to FULLY decorate because testing starts this week and there cannot be certain things on the wall. I thought I would be better off waiting to put up certain things than having to hang sheets everywhere to cover everything up!

So..here goes the "tour"! This is my bag packed the night before...my "official" teacher bag!

My director's chair...Funny story, I got this chair for Christmas when I was 10!! I wanted to be a teacher so bad, I begged my parents for a director's chair because my teacher at the time had one! So here is my chair that I have had for 14 years but finally get to use for real!!

The front board..I hung blue sparkly fabric!! 

My reading vocabulary board! We are the cougars...hence the blue paw prints! :)

My spelling board! It says "Wild About Spelling"!

The board I made to introduce myself to the students!

My mini-fridge!

The new curtains that I hung!

My lunch choice station..They put their stick in the bucket of their lunch choice!

The counter..The bulletin board is for math, but I can't put anything on it yet! After testing, it will have their "Mountain Math" daily practice on it!

My helpers chart!

One side of my room!! I love how colorful everything turned out!!

That is pretty much it for now! I will be adding more things in the next few weeks. This was just my jumping off point!!! I'll leave you with this lovely picture...me in the 4th grade!!! haha! :)

My newest adventure...

I am going to be teaching 4th grade at Clay Elementary!!! WOOHOO!!! I did a maternity leave there in January and February for a Kindergarten teacher and while I was there I was offered a spot in 4th grade! A teacher was planning on retiring in March and, of course, I accepted the position as her replacement. I have been so excited and finally had my first day on Friday, March 12. True to form, my mom took my picture of my "first day of school," a tradition that she has carried on since I was in pre-school.

Now, the kicker to it all was my first day just so happened to be "Cougar Pride" Day. Seeing as I went to Hewitt-Trussville K-12th grade, this was a bit of a challenge for me. But, thanks to my great friend Jordan, I had a Clay shirt to wear! She was so sweet to let me borrow one. I will say that I have recently ordered my first Clay shirt and it will be in next week. :) Since it was the day before Spring Break, it was kind of a crazy day, but overall it was great!