In Celebration of the Fall Season

 

Fall is definitely my favorite season, and I am soooo thrilled that it is finally here!!!! (Although the thermometer outside is calling me a liar ) I started decorating the classroom today in celebration of the fall season. Then, I thought, Why not have the children participate?!! I had planned a painting activity today already, but I really didn’t have a "theme" in mind. Well, I quickly decided that we were going to paint and decorate leaves. I traced out 3 different shaped leaves on construction paper, and the children used Q-tips to paint their leaves. When the artwork is all dry, I am going to cut out the individual leaves and put them all over the classroom. I can’t wait to see how it looks when it is done!! The children were beyond thrilled to finally be able to get in their smocks and paint for the FIRST time at school!!  

 

Portraits of a Teacher

 

In Social Studies, we are studying community helpers. Today we were learning about teachers. On the back of their paper, they were supposed to draw a picture of their teacher (ie: ME!!!!) Anyway, I thought these were really cute! Carina knew that I had a dog who had died, so she included Christy in her picture. Of course, I was thrilled about that (still missing my pooch ) When the others discovered how much that meant to me, they had to follow suit and draw a dog as well . Jordan even included the rest of my family in his drawing. Here they are….gotta love kindergarteners!!

The Taste Test

 

Today we had the official taste test at snack time, and let’s just say it was a ………………………SUCCESS!! Three of the children really like the applesauce, and they gobbled it down fast. One child did not care for it as much, but that’s okay!! Majority still rules!   The parents were all appreciative when they were handed their very own container of applesauce at dismissal time. Hopefully, there are four happy households tonight savoring the fresh flavor of apples and cinnamon and letting each spoonful melt in their mouths.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

A is for Applesauce

 

In celebration of learning all about the letter A this week, I thought it would be fitting to make something with apples….cause you know "A says a as in apples. A says a, a, a!!!!" (Sorry I don’t have that "smiley face" that goes over  the a to show that it is the short sound, but I think you know what I am trying to say ) Anyway, my mom has what is called a Victorio strainer, which really makes yummy applesauce and it is easy too! All you got to do is cook up a bunch of apples….skin, core, seeds, and everything…in a big pot. Then you put it in the top of this strainer…one person cranks and the other person presses down the cooked apples…and applesauce comes out the one end and all the "scraps" come out the other end. Add cinnamon and sugar and…presto!! You have applesauce.

 

So, anyway, I thought I would give that a try today with my students. They really enjoyed themselves for the most part. In the beginning, they got a little "bored" because cutting the apples took a lot of time….well, in a kindergartener’s mind that is !!! As we waited for the apples to cook and soften up, the children played with their lego’s they had brought from the classroom. We made everyone’s mouth water today as they walked past the kitchen. There is nothing like the fresh aroma of apples!!! Tomorrow, for our morning snack we will be "sampling" the applesauce to see how it turned out. The children are pretty excited!! They will be able to take home a container tomorrow as well to share with their family. This wouldn’t be an activity I’d do EVERY week with the children, but as long as I have everything planned out and ORGANIZED things go rather well  

 

Don’t you wish you were in kindergarten again???!!!!

Still Alive!!!

 

Yep, these children haven’t killed me yet!!

 

I have enjoyed these past couple of weeks "adjusting" to a teacher’s life. However, there have been some challenges as well. I remember back when I still was working in daycare and putting up with all that stress and chaos, I would just block it all out with thoughts of planning for kindergarten…I think most of my ideas came as I cleaned up messy one-year olds and prevented the tots from killing each other!! I was full of big plans and dreams thinking this would be the PERFECT job. However, I have to admit it hasn’t been the "bed of roses" like I had imagined it would be. You can plan as much as you want on paper (or in my case, on the computer) but these aren’t "robotic children"…they are children with sin natures, different likes and dislikes, and children with TONS of energy!!! Lesson plans I plan out don’t always go as "perfectly" as I think they should……I got really frustrated the one day because they were just not getting our phonics lesson. I would say a word and they were supposed to tell me whether or not they heard the i sound. Ummmmm….let’s just say, it didn’t click with them (or at least it didn’t seem to) They were all looking at each other for the answer and what one child said the rest followed.(Shocking , I know!! ) I really got frustrated with myself, thinking that it was all MY FAULT they were not getting this concept the FIRST time (horror of horrors, they are going to fail kindergarten because of me ) Yes, it is a well known fact that I am an over-analyzer and this just got me really down…..what was this – the second day of school??? After discussing it with another teacher, she just said RELAX Becky, they will get it….remember this is all new to them!! They have a lot of adjustments to make being in school for the first time!!! Don’t be so hard on yourself!!

 

Well, although things aren’t still as "perfect" as I had imagined it would be  I am learning to relax and really enjoy where I am right now. The 4 children I have are so unique – they all have their different strengths and weaknesses and there seems to be such a good balance of both!! As I get frustrated (still) at times with them, I have to remind myself that I need to be PATIENT. They are not going to always get something right away…the first, second, or even third time…but eventually, it will click!!! It reminds me a lot about how God is so patient and longsuffering with us. If He got frustrated and gave up on us the first time we didn’t understand what He was trying to convey to us….think about where we would be  Yikes!! When I remember the Lord’s longsuffering and patience with me, it helps me remember to be more patient with my students. I am learning sooo much from my students…I am hoping they have been learning just a little bit from me!!

 

I have brought my camera nearly every day to school…but you think I would take pictures?? Ummmm…that has been the furthest thing from my mind unfortunately. I missed taking pictures of us making playdough (which actually went rather well by the way – if you want the recipe for making playdough …let me know!!! Squeezing playdough is a good stress reliever ) and of us making chocolate pudding. Oh well!!! I will have to make more of an effort to remember to take pictures on Monday….my plan is to make applesauce with them!! Should be fun  I hope

 

Well, at least here is one picture of them diligently working in their journals (a sketch book that they draw and "write" stories in) I tried being sneaky as I took the picture, but unfortunately my camera makes noise ….two of the children caught me

 

 

Ain’t She Cute?!!

 

Last night my family visited the car lot. My Dad had already gone and had his eye on this one particular car, but he wanted our opinion on it before he made his final decision. The reason why we felt we had to get a car at this particular car lot is because they have been holding my totaled car for the past month. They recently gave us a deal. If we bought a car from them, they would take care of the totaled car for us. So, needless to say, we felt slightly "pressured" about the whole thing, but at the same time, we knew we needed a third car! My poor dad has had to ride the bus this week because of school starting and us needing both cars. Anyway, when we got to the car lot last night, my dad steered us to this particular car. He asked me for my opinion, and my first response was, "It’s really cute!" However, I don’t think that was the response he was necessarily looking for!  We weren’t too thrilled about the color, because white gets dirty rather fast, however, it had low mileage and of course, the price was within our price range . It isn’t a fancy car, but it is a 2006 Hyundai accent, so it is a rather new car. It is definitely small, and we won’t be fitting our entire family in there for any lengthy trips – it is rather cramped in the back – but, like I said, it still is a really cute car . We just have to figure out if Andy and I will consider this new car our car (which we want, of course) or our other car – a nice Buick, but still a Buick.  We’ll have to see what my Dad decides!!!!