First Grade Drawings

And they're reading...
 It's been seven school days since we started putting sounds together and making words.  They did learn how to sound out simple words in Kindergarten, so for some students we are still doing review.  Others have forgotten.  Even though I know the process of teaching a child to read, it is still partly a mystery how this really unfolds.  I'm glad the first month is behind us.  We had a good beginning, but I'm ready to move past this in-between stage.  It's such a relief when they can read well enough to reread the directions and figure things out themselves a bit more.
Most worksheets that my students are doing right now require a little reading but if the child is very observant, they could do much of the paper without reading at all. My students have one set of worksheets that always make me smile.  This set of papers must be read.  The word is given and they need to draw the picture for the word.  My smiles come from the pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures.

 rip Note the hole in the shirt.

 rat.  The artist was a bit unsure about the feet.  I had to hurry them along so the paper would get finished.

 rug.  I like the detail.

 man  Yes, don't forget the beard...  and ears.

men  Interesting perspective.

I like these worksheets.  Some students don't like them at all but there are always a few that excel in artwork and love these pages.  And it's fun to see their creativity.

An Exciting Week

One thing that I have been passionate about for many years is reading.  I remember being punished as a child with "no more books for the rest of the day."  That was a tough punishment.  I also remember responding by asking if I could still read my Bible.  Of course Mother wasn't going to ban Bible reading.  At least one time I remember taking her up on that.  Somehow the intended "revenge" wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be.  Thankfully as I matured, Bible reading was part of my passion for reading rather than revenge.

Now as a teacher, I believe that teaching students to read well, both in mechanics and in discernment, is key in their journey of deciding to do with God's Word.  Obviously if they never learn to read the words on the page, Bible reading will be difficult.  If children's reading material exposes them to much evil, they can be led far from truth while they are easily swayed.  If their reading material is too sheltered, they will grow up thinking that one should believe everything they read as truth. 

I just realized how far off subject I have strayed.  The main point of my post was to show off the books that arrived for my classroom this week.  Our classroom really needed some books of it's own and now we have some.  What better way to get children excited about books!

 This first set of books are going to be used for reading class in the second half of the year.  I'm pretty excited about this experiment and I think the students will be, too.

 The Hardcover books (all ready for our shelves).

The soft cover books.  Sure wish books came already covered with contact paper, but I'm happy enough with my books that I'll try not to complain. 

The students have figured out that the secretary keeps bringing us more books.  They've started to get excited when she walks in.  So do I.

Tonight I went to a 15 year high school reunion.  I think 17 out of 31 classmates made it.  I enjoyed seeing this group again who was such a huge part of my world for 4 very formative years of my life.

Summer Is Over and Gone

Last school year ended a really long time ago.  I thoroughly enjoyed having such a long break.  Problem is, I'm still waiting for summer.  As I told my sister, I wore a sweatshirt and socks almost everyday this "summer".  A few weeks ago I resigned myself to waiting another year for summer.  Even if hot weather still comes, I will not be able to go outside and enjoy it anyway.  The time for school has come again.

Our theme this year is Reading/books.

Good by to freedom.  Hello regular schedule.  Eager to meet the 18 new faces tomorrow morning.

6 meals = 18 items

Today I was ordering lunch for myself and five children at Wendy's. As I ordered each item the cashier asked, "Is that everything?" and looked apologetically at the man in line behind me and rolled her eyes slightly.  Yes, it was pretty many different items (drink/fries/sandwich or nuggets for each) but I was ordering as fast as the cashier could punch buttons and I was fairly organized if I say so myself.  I fought the urge to grin very big.
Later the manager came by to ask if everything was O.K. and check if the youngest two children were filling their hollow legs.  Needless to say he did not get a reply from either child.  I thought he was lucky to get smiles.
And then I went back and ordered two large frosties.  I really wanted to order six smalls in six different flavors while keeping a straight face.  I didn't.  There aren't six flavors anyway.

The stop at Wendy's came after time at the park and a stop at the used book store.  I think we all had a good day.  Oh, and the food really was just fine even if the service was a bit unique.

The others were running too much to get individual shots.

To Grenada and Back

I can hardly believe that it is almost a year since I said final good-byes and moved to the States.  Looking back over the last year, I think the hardest parts of adjusting were the overwhelming schedule of starting school so soon after returning (while I was still car shopping, clothing shopping, etc.) and dealing with wintry roads.  I really hate driving in snow or ice.  Overall though it was a good year, full of family, friends, and students.  The school schedule may have been stressful, but school life was an important part of adjusting well.  I really enjoyed relating to the staff, students, and parents.

After surviving my first year away from Grenada, it was time to go back and catch up with friends and church family again.  It felt so good, so normal, to be there.  My goal was to reconnect with people, not necessarily to travel all around the island.  That is exactly what I did.

I did not get pictures of all the special people I saw, not even all of my closest friends, but here are a few I did get.

 I totally loved watching this young lady being a wife and mother and obviously loving it.

Finally got to meet Caleb, my newest godson.

 Thaddeus and Rose's wedding: Bridal party

 The Coutain family

The happy couple!  The  Limes church and community will surely miss Ms. Rose, but I believe LaBorie is glad to gain her.

I failed to get many school pictures.  Here the youngest three classes are practicing for quiz day.
It was great to see the school going on without me.  The Limes school has a great staff.  It sounds like they had a good year in spite of challenges.

 Loved this little house.  Amazingly neat and organized considering how much there is to organize in such a small space.

 Back with "my family" in Mont Tout.

 These girls grew up!  Sophia went from a baby to a little girl who plays and talks with friends.

Boyzie and Waggy.  Silly boys.  Boyzie didn't see me at church on the first Sunday until nearly the end.  He started shouting during the last song that I was there:)

My trip wasn't all fun.  The Grenada churches are facing some mountains.  I felt like a fair amount of my trip was spent processing some of those struggles with various people.  I was encouraged, however, by those who are standing up and pressing on in spite of the difficulties. God alone knows what is in the road ahead, but I trust that there will be faithful Christians continuing on.

I'm pretty excited about the month of July.  Very few plans.  Lots of days to do lots of things.  Hopefully they will be relaxing days, at least in the sense of not being high pressure.  Happy summer!

Family Time: Charleston and Savannah

I'm into the third week of summer vacation but the desperate feeling of packing everything I need to do into a short amount of time has not passed.  I hope it does sometime this summer.

Now, on to the main point of this post.  Last week I accompanied my family on a family trip for the first time in 8 years.  We packed 5 adults, 1 adult sized teenager, and 1 nearly adult sized child in a 7 passenger van along with 7 suitcases, many snacks, numerous backpacks, several laptops, and far too many other random items.  Then we headed for Charleston, South Carolina.

 The Charleston Museum: the oldest museum in the United States.  While most of the museum is about Charleston and its history, there are a few surprising exhibits like a polar bear and an Egyptian mummy.

 The streets of Charleston are delightfully old and tropical.

 We had fun exploring Magnolia Cemetery.

Angel Oak Tree

Drayton Hall

 Charleston Tea Plantation: The only tea plantation in the United States (I think).

O.K. We did see more exotic animals than this but I might turn into a squirrel/bird watcher if they continue to be so entertaining.   I wish I had pictures from Hunting Island other than the squirrel and the picnic area.  It was my favorite spot on the trip.

We rolled into Savannah already exhausted from our time on Hunting Island.  That didn't stop us from exploring miles of streets and parks in the next 20 hours.

Forsyth Park

A house beside the square.   After seeing so many squares, I have no idea which square it was.

Walking along the river.

Lots of great times.  On the trip home we reminisced about our previous family trips.  I typed up a list of trips and the memories we recalled.  That will need to be finished later.  After 11 trips were discussed, we decided to save the remaining 14 for later.  Our family almost never camped and went to the cabin once a year.  Our vacations were spend sight-seeing and driving.  I love all the memories we have from these family times.

Life Isn't Fair

 We often complain that "life isn't fair."  It's true.  Life isn't fair.  I came home today with a deep sense of gratefulness that life isn't fair.  For some reason about 16 years ago God blessed me with 5 wonderful girlfriends that changed my life forever.  It was with this group that I learned what it means to pray and expect answers.  Through the ups and downs of youth group days, we bonded and encouraged each other on.  We challenged each other to stand for right, to fast and pray, and to trust God with our futures.  Each time we prayed, we checked off the requests that had been answered and our faith grew.  Oh, we had our share of disappoints and misunderstandings.  At the end of the drama, the reason for our friendship was still there.  I wish this blessing would happen to every teenager.  But it doesn't.
Today we were together again.  It doesn't happen very often.  As always there was plenty of laughter and quite a few tears.  Life hasn't always turned out the way we would have chosen.  As we ended our time together praying for a few of the more painful situations at hand, I was blessed.  Of course no one chooses hardship and pain and I would never wish it on my friends.  Still I am blessed to see the grace that God has given in the times of heartache.  I'm blessed to hear words of trust in a God that doesn't always fix problems in the way we ask.
Sometimes we pray and God give us the miracle we ask for.  I know it happens because I've seen it.  Other times I think the miracle happens in us as God walks with us through the valley and out the other side. Today I saw a maturity that is far beyond what was there 10 years ago.  So today I am thankful that life isn't fair.  And I'm still smiling because after all these maturing years, we still burst out laughing in the middle of our prayer times.  I'm grateful for that, too.

First Grade Field Trip

The long awaited day arrived.  My first graders were beyond excited this morning.  We started out with a story in the classroom (my way of calming them down).  Then we were packing up and headed down the road.
First stop: Zoo America.  If I was ever there before, I cannot remember it.  The students were not disappointed even though there were no elephants, tigers, or giraffes.  The animals were out and about for the most part.  I think the only animals that never appeared were the prairie dogs.  It was too bad since one student saw the picture on the map and thought the prairie dogs were bears.  I was hoping to clear that up by observation.

After exploring the zoo and eating lunch, we drove the short distance to Hershey Chocolate World.  They loved the little ride, but of course the gift shop took much longer than the ride.  I see why the ride is free.  The students were fascinated by the penny stamping machines and most of them went home with a stamped penny.

At this point in the trip my photo taking ended.  I should have gotten a picture of all the students crowded around the penny pressing machine.  There was time left at the end of the day to spend an hour at Terre Hill Park.  I think the first graders should sleep well tonight.  I am grateful for the beautiful weather and all the moms that went along.  My job was made easy.

Hope

Winter is over and past.  At least it will be soon.  I cringed a bit when I saw there is snow in the forecast for Tuesday night.  The daffodils promise that summer is coming.  I doubt I have ever been so excited about green grass.

Yesterday I joined friends for a hike/walk along the Susquehanna River.  Of course the water looked cold and the trees were bare, but the feeling of warm sun on skin was lovely.

 By the time the sun went down and we started our picnic supper, we dug out sweatshirts and jackets.  We watched an eagle perched on a nearby tree.  After flying back and forth a few times, it flew away.

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On Friday we had our school spring program.  The students were hyper about the unusual day.  We did some work right away in the morning and then did a bit more before lunch.  The rest of the morning was program practice.  By afternoon I knew there was little hope of accomplishing anything that needed much concentration.  After Victory Drill and spelling were done, the class worked together to shake a jar of heavy cream to make butter.  They were fascinated!  I heard a few of them declare, "This is the best day ever."  I did not tell them my plans for the rest of the day.  After recess and story time, I took them back outside and set them loose with a large box of sidewalk chalk.  They would have enough required of them with all the practice and a program in one day.  For the rest of the day they made chalk pictures and played on the swings.  Plus it was the first lovely spring day warm enough that even I took off my sweater.

The program went well. Now there are six more weeks of school.  I'm not used to the school year ending so early, but a break will be welcome.   I think I'm going to miss my students.  That's a good thing.  And I'm getting excited about a chance to do things the second time.  Hopefully I have learned a few things to make the second year even better.