I'm back and my November and December in a November in a nutshell

My mom informed me that I hadn't updated my blog since Halloween. While she is right, I'm afraid she's the only one reading this.. So.  Hi Mom! If you're not my mom and reading this: grab some popcorn and a drink. This may take awhile. And also, my thoughts are out of wack. My dearest apologies from the get-go.

A few posts ago, I mentioned that we read the book Flat Stanley.  We sent those off around the globe, literally.  One of them went to Japan.  That one came back in a box filled with magazines, Japanese toys, and a book about Japanese culture.  One of mine went to California to visit my sorority sister and friend!  This is my kids after we read her letter! Please notice my fall tree in the background!

This is the box from Japan!

We had a time going through all the stuff!

This has nothing to do with teaching.  However, this is my newest teacher shirt!  One of the fifth graders was selling these shirts as a fund raiser for her dancing competition.  She works really hard in school and on the dance floor, so I am one for helping out her cause.  

That pretty much sums up my job!

During November, my class was super busy.  The week after Halloween, the started celebrating Veteran's Day.  We got to have a yummy breakfast with some Veterans.  We even got to sing a few songs for the Veteran's during the Veteran's Day program.  It was so sweet.

A week after, we started celebrating Thanksgiving.  We made the Mayflower, Pilgrims, Indians, and Turkeys out of our hands.  We also drew what are plate was going to look like on Thanksgiving Day.  However, the first thing we did was count our blessings and name them one by one (to see what God hath done).

We made bean candlestick holders for our families. We also made some for our fellow teachers and principal.  

After Thanksgiving break, a few family members came and helped decorate my Christmas tree.

During the month of December, my class made decorations to go on the tree.  Here is the final product:

During the month of December, we had a visitor in our classroom.  Noel is an angel and she came from the North Pole to monitor us for her friend, Santa.  She's very similar to Elf on the Shelf but she would never do anything mischievousness.  She sometimes left notes for the kids in their desk.  During our first day with her, she left a note for the whole class:

How does the big, jolly guy know if you have been good or bad?

Does he text your mom? Does he call your dad?

Is he watching you both day and night?

Does he follow you close and not let you out of sight?

No. Santa has help to keep an eye on you.

He assigns someone to stick to you like glue..

But..  who?

Me, I’m his favorite little angel from heaven.

It just so happens that my favorite people are kids the age of seven (or eight)

Every morning, try to spy.

From what hiding place I’ll be keeping an eye.

I’ll watch to see if you follow and obey.

The rules are very simple, do what Ms. C and other adults say.

I’ll gather the info and tell Santa the things you have done.

I won’t forget any, not a single one.

Like God, some things make Santa happy, others make him upset.

Then I’m back to CCA, you just bet.

So there you have it, that’s how it’s done.

It’s the angels on how the North Pole is run.

Before we get started, there are some rules to know

First, if you touch me, I lose my magic and must go

Second, You must never lose the real meaning of Christmas. It’s about Jesus..

Remember, he came to Earth to just to save us!

My name is Noel. I’m so glad I get to visit and be here with you second graders and Ms. C

Just remember, when your teacher is not looking, I can still see..

I’ll write again, I promise.

With love, 

Noel

She always like to hide in fun spots for the kids to find her..

Sometimes, she'd leave a present..

On her last day, she left us a note.  She told us that she was going to the North Pole for one final report. Also, Santa released her magic for a few minutes-enough time for everyone to hug her and take a group picture with her.  

Here are our stockings.  They were hung by the bookshelf with care..

With this being my first year of teaching, I was not expecting so many presents.  However, I was blown away..

Here is an apple tape dispenser from the 5th/6th grade teacher, Ms. Bradley (who happens to be a former classmate of mine)

Also, one of my students gave me this bag.  It's down right adorable..

Recently, I was able to celebrate my Mom's 60th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Momma!  Your Doll Baby loves you!

And now this is the part where I promise to never fail my blog readers again.. I'll try to keep it up next time.

Oh, and lastly (I'm serious this time..)

Halloween: A Time Line.

I always tell people that I love the "end of the year" holidays.  This includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  I especially loved this time of year because I got to dress up.  I was looking a photos from my college years.  Of course, here is what I found.

From 2008:  My freshman year in college.  I was a cat.  This was taken from Trick or Treat for Diabetes.

From 2009:  Again, I was a cat.  During this time, I had pneumonia.  That was not a fun experience to have. This was from my second treat or treat for Diabetes

This is from my junior year!  I was an angel!

My senior year:  the big thing was a free concert by a country band at a local establishment.  Naturally, everyone dresses up for the atmosphere..

Now you may ask.. how does a first year teacher celebrate Halloween? 

By having a "Western Day" of course!

My kids got spoiled with candy..

And they spoiled me as well!

We also earned our 20 brownie points.  When we earn brownie points by all making A's on our tests or for good behavior.  When we reach 20, we get a special treat.  We had brownies and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."

YUM-O

Haleypalooza 2012

Whew!  What a weekend!  I went to the Orlando area to sing in my cousin's wedding..  he owes me big!  It was great to see my family that lives down in that area.  It was also a great blessing to be a part of my cousin's big day!  Here are some photos from this weekend!

My momma and me!

My sister, MJ, and ,e!

Lip Jam: A Time Line

Last night, I went to my sorority's biggest on campus event, Lip Jam.  It is a lip singing competition between sororities and fraternities.  Not only is it AGD's biggest event, but it's probably one of the biggest events on campus, next to College Night, respectively.  I have photos from my first year and all throughout my college years.  And here they are..

Fall 2008 Theme:  TV Shows

Sorority Winner:  Chi Omega

Fraternity Winner:  Lambda Chi Alpha

Fall 2009:  NOW that's what I call Lip Jam (NOW CD collection).  I was ADPi's coach that year.

Sorority Winner:  Phi Mu

Fraternity Winner:  Lambda Chi Alpha

Fall 2010: Life in the Spotlight (Choose one artist/band and perform their greatest hits)

Sorority Winner:  Alpha Delta Pi

Fraternity Winner:  Lambda Chi Alpha

Fall 2011:  ABCs with AGD.  Choose a letter of the alphabet, all your songs have to start with that letter

Sorority Winner:  Chi Omega

Fraternity Winner: Lambda Chi Alpha (I promise there are more fraternities than this..)

Last Night's theme was Celebrate the Seasons.  Each organization drew a holiday from a hat.  They had to come up with songs for that season.  That can be tricky.  For the second year in a row, both Chi Omega and Lambda Chi Alpha won.  

Here is my Alpha Gam family:  complete with my sis-daughter, grand-sis-daughters, and great-grand-sis-daughters.  It has come along way!

Moo-ving right along..

CCA participates in a program called Agriculture in the classroom.  Instead of teaching science for the month of October, I teach about an Alabama commodity.  The previous second grade teacher choose cows as her commodity.  I'm one for keeping tradition.  Plus, if you know me, cows are kind of my thing.. along with squirrels.  ;).  We are making a cow crafts, posters, and butter.  We are learning about the different types of meat and other products that we get from cows.  Photos will be posted soon!

Apparently..

It's National Siblings Day!?

I'm not sure about that but shout out to my siblings, K,M, and MJ!  You're little sister loves you bunches!

Today

Today was not a good day like I normally have.

So, I did what most people in my situation do:  I went and got a manicure. Luckily, my favorite manicurist was available.  The reason she's my favorite:  she takes her time to make sure each nail is perfect to her liking before you walk out of the salon.  I'm willing to pay good money for that great treatment. It's amazing how much they remember.  I haven't gotten my nails done since late May and they asked about my family and if I found a job.  I was glad to tell them the good news.

They are precious in his sight..

Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Red and Yellow, Black and White

They are precious in his sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world

If you have grown up in a church, you have heard the song, "Jesus Loves the Little Children." This song is really, really old.  In fact, it's in the Baptist Hymnal from 1946. During Bible, we talked about how no matter we look on the outside, we are created by a perfect God who made us in his image.  After all, We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We also talked about how this song is kind of wrong.  We have never walked down the street and seen a person that was actually red, yellow, black, or white.  I went around at held up construction paper to every kids' arm.  We decided none of us were exactly those colors. I announced then that we were going to create self portraits of our faces.  We were not the color of the paper plate.  So, we need to find out our skin color.

During the previous week, I made a trip and got a whole bunch of paint that was around skin tones.  I then tested each of the kids, we (as a class) determined our skin tones.  I wrote them on the board.  Some of the kids refused to let me wipe off their hand from the paint.  They wanted to show Mom and Dad.  It was fine by me.  The first grade teacher even stopped in to find our her skin color.

Today, we started working on our faces.  Here are our finished products for the day:

I will post the finished projects when completed

We've also been reading Flat Stanley.  We, along with the K5 an 1st grade classes, colored Flat Stanley and are mailing him places that Mom and Dad have chosen.  We'll see how that turns out!

Blessings

Obviously, I teach in a private school. I'm self supporting my classroom. This means that I supply the cleaning products for my classroom. I also have to clean my classroom weekly. This means I have to sweep and mop. If you know me, you know that cleaning is not my middle name. However, I follow school policies. The broom I use is very well used. It's not even mine. I told my parents that with my next paycheck, I would be buying a dry mop that would work better than a broom. I already purchased a Swiffer wet jet. Which I love oh so much. I come home on Friday to find that they bought me one. They win parents of the year.

Last night, I went to the fair with my sister. It's a tradition.

My kiddos are great. We made all a's and b's on all of our tests this week. One of my kiddos brought me an apple this week.

What a Week.

From last Thursday until now, my life has been busy.

Classroom:

I got the go-ahead to bring my daddy in my classroom and fix my bathroom.  Even though he had never seen a commode like this before, he fixed it. I still need a toilet tank lid and a tank needs to be removed before I even think about letting my kids use it again.  Plus, there is dirt everywhere in that bathroom.  It needs cleaning as well.

There is talk of getting a pet fish in my classroom.  We'll see how that goes..

All of my kids made an A on their math tests on Wednesday.  Today, all of my kids made a 100 on their spelling pretest.  My policy on that is if they make a 100 on the pretest, there is no use in taking the test over on Friday. Guess we'll have a little extra free time.. My Dad says they must have a great teacher.. ;)

Personal

My original plan on Saturday was to watch my niece and nephew, M and J, while big brother K and sis-in-law J went to the Alabama game.  However, my sis-in-law got tickets from her work.  They used those tickets and brought their kiddos to the game.. which happens to be the twins first legit Alabama football game.  So, this meant Dad and I got to use their regular season tickets to watch the game. J and M were precious. M informed me that it was her first time at a "Roll Tide" game.  I told her she was lucky, I didn't get to experience game day until I was 11. I had a great time.  It's always a blessing to spend time with my Daddy.

When I was not enjoying the Roll Tide moments, I was cheering on my Alpha Gams during Recruitment.  There is a lot of sweat and tears that go along with this process.  In the end, they got 25 amazing girls.. all of which are really precious..  Here are some highlights from the week:

*Disclaimer* My pictures are really out of order!

Pledge Class Fall 2008 on Bid Day.  Kimbrell (holding the Gamma) was Vice President of Recruitment for this school year.  Kellie (holding the Delta) is continuing her schooling to become a music teacher!

My pledge class at Open House.  Open House is the first night of Recruitment.  2 of the girls are in the previous picture so you know about them.  Lydia, the one in the green dress, is in her first year of law school at Cumberland School of Law.

This is my first "grand-sis-daughter", Tori.  She's absolutely adorable.

This is Onie and me.  The chapter's recruitment advisor plays favorites every year.  I was last year's.  I gladly passed my torch of being the favorite to Onie this year!

For many, many years, Alpha Gam does a post recruitment tradition.  The moment the last preference party is complete, all of the actives vote for the candidate to win the Rush Ring.  The Rush Ring has been passed down for awhile.  It goes to the girl who has the best attitude, work ethic, rushing techniques, etc.  My Advisor from when I was New Member Coordinator admitted to winning the ring in 2000.  It's old. Anyways, last year, I was surprised when my sisters voted me to win the prize and glory. I only won by one vote.  Laurel (pictured above) was the first runner up.  Laurel always said she was going to win it after that.  She worked her bushy tail off this year.  She created a new recruitment board for Orientation.  She repainted the Welcome to Montevallo board. She created the video.  She was also in charge of one night's parties.  I was so excited to see her name so much when I counted up the ballots this year.  She won by a landslide.  She deserved it! Some people say she's "The Barbs of Pledge Class Fall 2010."

This was taken when the Bid List was read. It's a tradition for the actives and local alums to gather in the Chapter Room and hear the Bid List Read.  Jesilyn (pictured with the surprised hands on the right) was surprised when she heard one name being called. As you can see, everyone was happy and surprised for her.

This is my family line.  I welcomed in 3 great-grand-sis-daughters. They are the three near the bottom.  I'm excited to pass on my Alpha Gam wisdom to them all.

Updates/Best Wishes

Update on the Tattle Jar: 

This week, no one has used it. No one has tattled.

Update on leaky bathroom:

It's still not fixed. Bless the repair man's heart.  Every time he finds something wrong, I refrain from saying, "Can I just call my daddy?  He might know the problem.."

Update on my classroom in general: 

We are well underway in the school year.  It still hasn't sunk in that I'm the head honcho over a classroom.  So far we have had test in every subject.  However, we are still adjusting. I have to remind myself that I was a student teacher to 2nd semester second graders..

Best Wishes:

Best wishes to my favorite group of young ladies as they open their sisterhood up for a few short days. They have 168 girls going through rush.  That is the most Montevallo has had in a really, really long time.  

Here are some pictures during Recruitment from last year!

My Sis-Daughter and Grand-Sis-Daughter #1.  I expect more grandbabies and some new great-grandbabies!

Theme photobooth day.  I only had 2 hours of sleep at that point.

The end of a stressful but worth it month!

Kimberly and me before Open House!

After Pref! An alum took this photo in order to give it to her sister on Bid Day!

2nd week. Conquered.

Hello all! My second week went great! In our class, we implemented the tattle jar. The kids write down their tattle, fold it up, place it in the jar. Yes, they're anonymous when they write them. I determine if it's a tattle or something serious.

It was a Roll Tide kind of day...

Ups and Downs

Today was great in some aspects and low in some others.

Great

1. I GOT MY FIRST BIG GIRL PAYCHECK

2. My boss lady said my lesson plans were perfect.

3. I got complemented on some of my classroom management crafts

Low

1. My toilet is leaking water into my room.

(That's kinda a huge deal..) 

It's Friday, Friday!

In the teaching world, they say the first week of school is one of the hardest in a school year.  I survived!  Today, a parent made cupcakes and brought them for our class.  I am very grateful for this precious thing.. but we will not have cupcakes for awhile.  Icing. was. everywhere. I guess it goes with the territory.  At this school, the principal lets the students watch movies while the teachers prepare the next week's homework and graded papers folder.  This is great for me because my abundance of patience runs thin on Friday afternoons. Luckily, one of my kids brought in Despicable Me for us to watch.  According to him, it was appropriate for school because "it ain't got no cussin in it." 

I also let my kids draw on my board, this is the message I got..

Messages like these make it all worth it.

Surprises/Gifts

This week has been filled with surprises.  On Sunday, I was given stamps to award papers with from my awesome brother K and sister-in-law J.

On Monday, one of my parents came up to me and asked me what type of microwave did I prefer.  I told her that I was not picky.  Yesterday, I got one.  And my class is forever grateful.  

One woman came in my classroom and said, "I made these teacher bags as a fundraiser last year.  I'm giving free ones to all the new teachers."

I guess it's more official now..

My aunt and uncle sent me beautiful flowers. 

 

Today, after taking a break from lesson planning, I saw where I had a text on my phone.  It was a video from my Alpha Gams singing "Here's to Barbara, she's an Alpha Gam!"

I love surprises!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Today, it was just my students and me.  We had fun.  We decorated bookmarks, colored, counted to 200, learned about place value, talked about ourselves, and learned about Heaven.  I have a photo to post later.  It's of my coworker/colleague after our first day of school.  However, I am too lazy to upload photos right now.  You best believe that after I post this, I am getting in the shower and calling it a night.

I felt like this after my first full teaching day of internship.  However, I didn't have to come home and type lesson plans or Livetext.  Hallelujah chorus, anyone? 

First Day Jitters?!

Tomorrow is my first day with my students?!  How am I feeling?  If nervous, excited, scared, daring, blessed, and content were combined into one feeling, that would be me right now.  I'll let you know how that goes!

Also, best of luck to the Alpha Gam squirrels coming back on campus to being Work Week.  Enjoy it ladies, you'll miss it when it's gone!  I can't wait to come back during recruitment and crown my successor for the Rush Ring!  A little tip from the champ:  Chug one of these before everything.  You'll have wings!

I wonder just how many diet red bulls I drank before a recruitment event?  I will say that I have no desire to drink them again..

Also, here's a picture from the moment that I won the Rush Ring!  I love the sweet memories!

I miss Katie Brooke!