Finished!

Ah, it is so sweet to be done! I had my last day of school on Friday. They threw me a sweet suprise party, we had breakfast, did crafts, and enjoyed being together. They wrote me some sweet cards that I will always keep and be proud to share!

This week I am resting mostly, working at Starbucks, filling out a million applications, and getting ready to graduate! I will be graduationg next Saturday, and then Kyle and I will be MIA for a week. We will be camping and celebrating our 4 year anniversay! Can you believe it? I can't! When we get back we will have a graduation celebration, and you're invited! More details to come!!

Anyways, I wanted to share something beautiful, hopeful, and encouraging I read this morning...

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will acknowledge the Lord.

Hosea 2:19-20

Last week of school!!

I cannot believe I am nearly finished with Student Teaching! My last day is Friday which is even a half day!! I am not teaching anything this week, but doing some observations in other rooms, grading papers, and working on a couple of bulletin boards. I am making my students a card with our picture together and working on pulling something together for my CT. It truly has been a wonderful experience, so much that I learned through this experience. It is a blessing to have been told repeatedly that I need to apply for a position in the next school year. So Sweet!!! I am going to miss my teachers and students most definitely! Since I am on the sub list already, I am going in next week one day to sub while my teacher takes the day off! But I am still considering Friday my "last day," we are having an ice cream party and a fun, short day!! Thanks for following my blog! In the next two weeks I will be working more at Starbucks, finishing my portfolio, and heading to beautiful, sunny South Carolina to see many familiar and loved faces and graduate!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!

Backing up to Spring Break - Chicago

Kyle and I got to take a wonderful trip to Chicago for my SB. Here are a few pictures.

FREE Cubs game - seats right behind the mound!!

We saw Ernest Hemmingway's childhood home in Oak Park.

Art Museum of course! I had to get my picture by this ballet painting!

Beautiful Song.

I heard this beautiful song on the radio and wanted to share it. Such beautiful, and true lyrics! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w6YG2NZguc Spring break is nearly over! I will post some pictures this weekend about what I have been up to! Back to school Monday and Zoo field trip on Tuesday! Three weeks left :)

Overdue.

It has been long overdue that I update my blog on ST. I am in the full swing of things now, and will be finished with my two full weeks of ST the end of this week! Then I will have a lovely week of SB and go back for 3 more weeks of some teaching/observing/loving & admiring these sweet kids. I have had a great experience and am SO thankful to be with such a good group of kids as well as fellow teachers. I have laughed with and learned from these teachers more than I realized I would. As for the kids, I have grown to adore them, and will miss them terribly. It has been wonderful to see them grow/change over the last few weeks and getting to know them each so well. I wanted to share with you some of the laughs I have had over the last two weeks of FT teaching. 1. Heritage is big of reading as a class and following along together, they call this "Bounce." I did the same thing when I was in school but we called it "Popcorn." I made the terrible mistake of calling it Popcorn and the class lost it, they thought it was the biggest blunder AND they thought we were having popcorn! Oh my, the laughs we had! 2. One of my good readers read "he looked at him with a slobery face" instead of "sober." And ohh the laughs! 3. During a third grade rotation, my class comes back after another class had been in there. One boy exclaims for all to hear "Those kids pulled everything out of my desk and threw my pencil across the floor!" I had to gently remind him that those sweet kids from across the hall did not in fact go anywhere but the floor, he was a little embarressed :) There are so many others! I hope you atleast could smile at these! Some sweet times that I have shared with my class: 1. Talking about Jesus' brokenness in Gethsemane. We talked about what it was like to be broken, and they shared times they felt broken, and what they did when they felt that way. 2. I have them writing "kindness cards" about people they seeing doing something friendly or going out of their way to serve someone, we share these on Fridays. Oh the smiles kids get when they realize that what they are doing counts and others appreciate them! 3. My class getting excited about helping others in their class and doing their best. This certainly is not the case everyday or all day, but it is so sweet when it happens naturally. 4. Sincere apologies and biblical conversations with a child when they have had a hard day doing what is right. Their sweet apologies remind of the simplicity of being a "Child of God" I will miss this dear class! So much more to share!

Third Grade Scientists.

As previously said, my favorite subject has definitely been Science! I love bringing in supplemental materials to share and having them do lots of fun activities.

The first few pictures are from a habitat activity we did. I gave each group a book on a different habitat and their job was the locate basic information (filling in a worksheet I made) and then make a poster to share about their habitat with the class. It is an understatement to say they LOVED doing this. I think they enjoyed the freedom + working in groups + creating something. This was a great activity!

The last pictures are from my animal unit. Every year third graders make habitats and mosaics on an animal they choose to research. I took some pictures to show you how creative these kids are! They all truly turned out wonderful, and they really enjoyed doing these projects.

Last but not least, my desk with a personalized sign and all! And of course our class caterpillars we are watching grow!

Sillies.

Okay, so my girls daily ask me if I have my camera and if we can take pictures...this week I happened to have it! This was the third or so picture we got without the boys in the background giving us bunny ears! So of course after we girls had a picture, the boys clammored around me! So sweet! I have become very fond of this group of children and will miss them dearly. I can't believe they will be big 4th graders soon! This means that I am nearing the end of my ST, which I am thrilled about (because I'll have a degree and maybe a class of my own!), but sad for the obvious reason that I will miss these kiddos.

This week will be standardized testing, then two weeks of full-time teaching, and then Spring Break! One of the harder parts of ST is after you have taught and then have to give a test that covers the material I taught, wow. I sure do feel a lot of pressure, and pray these little ones do well. It is very difficult when I see grades plummet, and it is very each to blame myself and my teaching. Fortunately, my CT reminds me that she too felt the same way, but when it is only 2 or 3 that don't do well, I can't blame myself, there is often something else underlying this. Of course it does the other way, and when they do wonderfully, I can't help but be thankful.

Anyhow, getting some spring cleaning done today, not much planning this weekend because of standardized testing next week!

Thankful #2.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 2:24-25

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:9-10

Thankful.

It is been quite a while since I have last posted, all that to say is that I have been busy! So much to say, but I will write a short update. I am thankful for my class, oh my, they are such a fun buch of kids! So diverse, and each one has a unique personality. They are so much fun to be around, I have really enjoyed getting to know them and spending so much time with them! I am thankful beyond words for the third grade teachers, they have been so encouraging and offering affirmation during this time of student teaching. I will miss them all very much, leaving behind great relationships is sooo hard to do! But I will continue to enjoy my time with them.

Right now I am full time teaching except Phonics, which I will pick up next week. I will be full time teaching until the end of March, and then hello spring break! After SB I will have a couple of weeks to just hang out and teach part time until I say my good-byes. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by! In the rest of my time student teaching we will do a big third grade zoo trip and a Fun Run!

My favorite subject to teach right now is Science, I love bringing in picture books to share with them and having them do lots of fun experiments and activities. One of the hardest subjects to teach is Math because of the curriculum covers so much in third grade, and the pace picks up quickly at the end of third grade.

Okay, short post as promised. More and pictures to come soon :) My computer has a virus, so I am trying not to use it too much until it gets fixed.

Until we meet again!

Week 8.

I can't believe I have already been with my CT and kids for 8 weeks! Oh, time has flown by. But it has been such a wonderful experience, I am learning more than I can express, and it is wonderful to retrieve what I have learned at CIU, and also learn those things that words on pages cannot teach you.

I was terribly sick last week, and missed Valentines Day. I was bummed about missing the party and celebration, but I was so thankful to have that time to rest and get ready to go back. We had no school on Friday, it was an inservice day so all the teachers came together and worked on several items on the agenda, which was great to be a part of. Monday is no school because President's Day and then back into full swing until Spring Break, which is April 1. I am trying to use this long weekend to get ahead and make all my preparations. I am now teaching math, science, reading, and Bible so I am in front of the classroom the majority of the day. My favorite subject to teach so far is science, I love coming up with various activities for us to do and to see so many of them enjoy learning. We are studying animals and I ordered a butterfly habitat and created a butterfly book we will make during the life cycle (I am thrilled about this!). I am loving getting to know the class and see their little personalities come out, good and bad.

Oh, I could go on and on. I am enjoying this experience but I am also feeling the weight of finishing, finding a summer job, and finding out what I am going to do in the fall. I haven't even been able to comprehend fully the being out of college part, I miss it so much already and it feels like I will be jumping back in after ST, but I know I am not. I am restlessly keeping my eyes on every school website, wanting desperately to find something for the fall. The downside, I will not be state certified and I am not sure what that process will look like. When I think too much about the next several months, I feel overwhelmed and exhausted, right now I am just trying to stay focused on finishing this week with my best effort and getting the necessities at home done :)

Whew, that was long winded, thanks for hanging in to the end.

Alma Mater

You know how people say you never know how much you love or appreciate something until you don't have it anymore?

This is so completely true for me I can't explain it. I appreciated and loved attending CIU, but more than ever now that I am gone I truly am sad to be leaving that part of my life behind. I feel so blessed to have been able to go to such a wonderful school where the training was well-rounded, grounded in "knowing and making Him known", and within a community of students and faculty who were truly learning to live out the Christian life. I miss the community at CIU. As I ST at Heritage, I feel a strong bond and community within the school, and it makes me so thankful to have had that same experience at CIU. I miss chapel, I miss class, I miss the sunny afternoons, I miss the professors, I miss my job, I miss the city, I miss many things about Columbia.

All this to say, I am going to be one proud graduate of CIU and I love telling people about where I attended, and hopefully I will be able to send some students that way over time. I look forward so much to being back in Columbia, even for a short while, in May. I have so many lectures that come back to me, projects I did, conversations with faculty/staff/students, and chapel messages that encourage me to press on and keep my eyes focused on Jesus when all the world around me is buzzing by.

Columbia, CIU, I miss you. Thank you for being my Alma Mater and teaching me the one thing that matters in life, loving the Lord, and loving others.

No School?

Snow day kitty

Yes, if you can believe I have been out of school all week except Monday because of the ice and snow storm that came through Indiana. There were inches of ice covering the roads and cars, it was bitter! Today we are just getting a lot of snow, which is beautiful, but there is still ice hiding underneath all that snow so you have to be extra careful! I have had fun spending time with Kyle and my kitten, lesson planning, writing my kids valentines, but I am certainly ready to go back to school next week! I was looking ahead at the weather and it is supposed to be bitter cold next week so I am seeing some 2 hour delays in the future, but we will see!

Parties, pajamas, and kittens!

What I get to come home to everyday :)

My table full of personality and jokes!

My helpers

My sweethearts!

My table "a little bit of everything!"

Heritage Christian School is one of the largest and well-known Christian schools in the Indianapolis area. They offer strong academics as well as a variety of specials and extracurricular activities. Many of the students are Heritage are children of teachers or employees of the school (who don't attend for free but at a discounted rate), many are adopted Internationally by American families, majority are upper-middle class but the school does offer scholarships for those who can't afford tuition, and students at Heritage must have one professing parent/guardian so that they school and parents may work together to build disciples for Christ. There is a small student:teacher ratio, I only have 17 students, and it is the same for the rest of the third grade classes.

(Just thought I would give you a small glimpse into my school!)

FEBRUARY!

It is such a relief to look at the calendar and see that I have already been student teaching for four weeks! I have gotten into the routine of teaching math every day at 9:25, and I am getting to know all of my students pretty well. There are certainly a few that test my authority and that I feel like I spend most of my time correcting them. But oh, the place they already have in my heart!

I have completed one large assignment for CIU, I have one more to go which will be due in a couple of weeks and in the meantime I spend my weekends and evenings lesson planning. Because there isn't a lot of variety in the A Beka curriculum, I am really being challenged to think outside the box and not just do things the way they are normally done but really incorporate my own ideas. I have been able to do this a little in Math, but I am most excited about Science and Bible because I feel like I am overflowing with ideas in those to areas. This might sound cheesy, but I am also excited about teacing Spelling because there are LOTS of fun spelling games and activities out there and I can't wait to bring them to my class.

On a side note, I was searching for a good chapter book to read to my class starting next week and I came across this amazing teacher's blog. She has been teaching for 10 years and you can tell how important she thinks literacy is. If you want to take a look, go to: teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/KRandall1/index.cfm
When I do getting a teaching position, I know I won't be this involved with literary my first year, but I definitely want to grow to become this way. Anyways, from her website I have decided to read Poppy by Avi starting next week, it has suspense, mystery, and imagination. I am very excited to share this book with them!!

As far as my schedule with student teaching, I have taught math for the past two weeks. Monday my cooperating teacher finished a science unit on plants and Tuesday I was supposed to begin a new Animal Unit which will run through the end of February. But I am not at school today! We have a "collossal ice storm" as the weatherman reported last night so they called off school today. So instead of teaching today, I am in my pajamas lesson planning for the rest of the week. I am expecting several two hour delays for the rest of this week though, which is okay with me :) So I will being teaching science tomorrow if we have school, and Monday I will begin teaching Black History Month, we are studying George Washington Carver and MLK JR (which I found some great books to do read alouds with!).

Last week we had a pajama and pizza party which the kids loved! This week we have snow and ice which means less school, which they love too!

Thanks for reading, I appreciate ALL of you and your encouragement!!

Unwinding.

People are busy. People are busy with school, work, families, etc. and you have to have something to help you unwind at the end of a long, busy week and even during the week. I wanted to share a couple of things I am doing this semester to help my stress stay low and enjoy this experience that I have.

1. Reading. There is nothing like reading a good book at the end of the day to unwind, especially fiction where you can just let your mind flow into the book. I am reading through C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogies. I am on the first book, Out of The Silent Planet.

2. Cooking. I find it relaxing and enjoyable to come home a couple nights of the week and make dinner and/or dessert. Something about a good, homemade hot meal. Tonight I made lasagna, garlic bread, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Yum! Of course I enjoy when my husband cooks too :)

3. Yoga/Pilates. Every Thursday night I go to a class at a church close by. I get to go with a dear friend and it only costs $2 a class! I enjoy stretching and breathing my way to relaxation.

4. Church. There is no better way to start my week than at church. I love being there Sunday nights and Kyle and I look forward to serving and growing together in a small group soon.

5. My husband. I feel so blessed to have him to come home to everyday after school. He has been such an encouragement to me.

6. Lucy, my Christmas kitten. Nothing like snuggling up at the end of the day with a cute little kitten, takes all the stress away!

These are just a few of the things I am enjoying especially during this season in my life. I feel very blessed!

Church

Kyle and I have found a church that we both love going to. We have been in South Carolina since we got married, so moving to Indiana and finding a church here seemed like quiet the task. Luckily, we have found it. We LOVE being there. I love the worship, the leaders, the messages, and the fellowship. We are so thankful to be a part of a church in Indianapolis and a part of what God is doing in this city. I go Sundays to be encouraged and fed, and I leave blessed, encouraged, and reminded of the wonderful God I serve.

A family photo

Life in pictures

Aren't these kids adorable???

And FULL of personality!

A glimpse into my classroom...

This is where I am spending my waking hours! This week has been better than the week before as I have been able to get to know the students and my cooperating teacher better!

First Week

Whew! I feel somewhat accomplished because I have completed my first week of student teaching! The first week went well, I enjoy my class, my cooperating teacher, and my fellow teachers. This week was a little off and unlike what the others will be, so my cooperating teacher and I had lots of recess and afterschool duty this week. I spent most of my day observing my teacher, taking notes on the students, and working through a schedule of how the semester will unfold. I will begin teaching math first, and I will start that in 2 weeks. After that, I will add one subject at a time until I am the full-time teacher in April. My Unit study will be in Science on vertebrates and invertebrates, which will include a Zoo field trip! :)

There are definitely expectations I had going into student teaching, and I have seen that some of those expectations aren't going to be met. I also went in with preconcieved ideas of how things work in the classroom, and I am gently being reminded of a wider spectrum. My school is strictly uses A Beka curriculum, which I am very unfamiliar with and will take some getting used to. Going in with an open heart and mind allows me to take in things so much better, even if they are things I necessarily wouldn't do in my own classroom, there certainly are things I would love to have in my classroom. One thing I admire most about my cooperating teacher is that she is calm and laid back, which is not how I pictured myself in the classroom. I have always worked with teachers who have a strong grip on the classroom, and they are very displined and orderly. My class on the other hand, they ARE disciplined and orderly, but in a different way. I really respect how my cooperating teacher lets their personalities come out, and that the classroom doesn't always have to be silent. But this will take some getting used to :)

All in all, this has been a great week and I am looking forward to the weeks to come! Next week = observations and work on my LRP. Thanks for reading!

First Day - Check!

Well, I successfully completed my first day of student teaching, and what a sweet feeling! The class was extremely well behaved today (which I am told is not completely normal :), but they were wonderful! There are 10 wonderful boys and 7 sweet girls, all VERY different in their personalities and experiences. I am really looking forward to making an interest inventory for them this week to learn more about them. There are definitely some that I know will be hard to handle, and some that already have a place in my heart, but my prayer for this semester is that I would get to know each of them personally and appreciate all their uniqueness! One thing is for sure - they LOVE to be creative so I will need to incorporate that in as much as possible.

From here, I am observing and doing various activities in the next two weeks and hopefully jumping ahead on my long range plan and unit study (which will be 2 full weeks of science that I will teach). My first lesson will be in week three! There's lots to do, but today I am just soaking in all the changes and information! I am sipping on a free drink from my fellow baristas :) and going home to make a warm dinner.

Next goal: enjoy the class this week and get to know them, and get through a whole week of recess duty!

Tomorrow is only a day away!

I cannot believe how fast time has flown by and tomorrow will be my first day student teaching. I am of course excited but also full of uncertainty and anxiety. I have already met the wonderful bunch and the teacher, so I feel somewhat comfortable knowing a little of what I will be doing this semester. I hope that I can give all of my energy to this experience so that I can get the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope I can get into this routine of teaching and being in school rather quickly, I am used to making drinks all day at Starbucks! There's still lots to do, but one day at a time and it will all get done!

For those of you who don't know I am student teaching at a school in Indianapolis called Heritage Christian School. Kyle and I recently moved into an apartment about 15 minutes from the school so it should be a close drive! We actually moved in close to Thanksgiving, had an apartment fire, and just got back last week so it has been extra crazy trying to reorganize and clean out apartment and get ready for student teaching. I am thankful to have my friends and family near, and especially those who have experienced this before.

Please leave me a note and let me know you are following, I am glad to have you along! I will post my experiences, questions, frusterations, and insights, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading, until we meet again!