A Real African Safari!

Today was a very exciting day in the learning safari. The zoo made a special visit to our class!!!! They took us on an African safari right in our own classroom and we had a blast! In the words of J: "That was the best day of my life!"

We saw a tortoise:


A millipede:
A snake (oh my!):


And fruit bats:


You can probably imagine how engaged they were. I wish I could post pictures of the kids because I caught some pretty priceless facial expressions. Especially when the snake came out! They were so funny and just about to burst with excitement. J: "My heart is like pounding really hard!"

It was just a great Friday all around in our class. I wish we could do stuff like this more often. I think I was just excited as the kids. This morning they told me I was wiggly while I was giving them their spelling test. I just told them I knew it was going to be a great day. I also got a good laugh out of them today when I told them to call the waaaambulance after J was whining, probably about having to work too hard. They had never heard that before. Jewels: "That was pretty funny Ms. Eastup!" Sometimes I think they're shocked to realize I'm actually a normal person who can tell jokes and be silly.

I'll wrap up the excitement from the day! I need some rest for all day training tomorrow. Oh joy! When the kids found out that's why I have to drive to Denver tomorrow J responded: "But you've been doing this for a long time! You don't need anymore training!" Thanks J! If only TFA and the state of Colorado felt the same way :)

P.S. Can you tell who does most of the talking in our class?!

Oh 2nd Graders!

One of our vocab words this week is hardest. To help them acquire the meaning better I of course have them discuss the word with their table. So my question was, what is the hardest thing you have ever had to do? The answer I overheard the most: doing my laundry! Really? First, I find it hard to believe that they even do their own laundry. Second, if the hardest thing you've ever had to do was laundry then your life is pretty easy.

Other shocking moment of the day: the desk fairy decided to make her appearance after school today. She occasionally rewards students for keeping their desks neat. As I'm going around checking them out I see what appears to be a piece of trash in one student's desk. I was going to be nice and throw it away for her. Turns out it was a note from one of the boys in my class. It read: P. your sexy. Again, really?!?! 2nd grade and we're telling girls they're sexy? I'm appalled and not sure how to respond to that situation. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Love, Love

I just wanted to quickly follow up on my last post. Our school has now set up a website through Soles4Souls so that people can easily donate online. You can just go to the website below and donate on behalf of Otero.

http://www.soles4soulsfundraising.org/cgi-bin/view_profile.cgi?id=184

Anything you feel led to give would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I'm really excited about a benefit concert my church is organizing! They have partnered with an organization called Love146. We are praying for 3,000 people to come and donate just $10 each. That would allow us to send $30,000 to Love146! You should check out their website and watch their videos to see what they're doing. Young girls' lives are being absolutely transformed as they are rescued from brothels in South Asia! Beware, some of the videos are tearjerkers even for me.

http://love146.org/videos

I feel so blessed to still be surrounded by people and opportunities that I care about so much!

School is continuing to go well. The kids are still growing and excited about becoming better readers. I couldn't be happier about that! And almost all kids are now adding with regrouping and beginning to have light bulbs come on for subtraction. They still entertain me everyday and keep my life exciting for sure! God also blessed me with a little glimpse this week of the impact teaching can have even beyond the classroom. Little moments like that can keep you going forever. I love my job!

And final random side note - if you need a relaxing activity to just bring you simple joy, I highly recommend baking muffins for people. Put on some great music and bake away!!!

New Year, New Adventures!

After a much needed break with some rest and refueling, we've hit the ground running again. It still shocks me that I'm already half way through the year, but it's also exciting to think about how much can be accomplished in the half that is left. I was thrilled to have my kids come back on Monday excited about learning and with great attitudes! I was prepared for the worst, but my kids have been so great! They are excited about reading, which is definitely new. They are trying so hard and I'm loving it! I mean, I started them back on day 1 with 2-digit addition with regrouping. That's a hard concept! But not nearly as challenging as the 2-digit subtraction with borrowing I've spent the last 2 days trying to drill into their heads. You would have thought I was trying to teach them calculus! They're really trying, but it's just hard to understand how that ten gets over into the ones. Even after an animated slideshow it's so difficult to remember that the ten you borrowed is still 10 when you move it over. I pray that one day it clicks!

I was really nervous about starting the semester with a new student that I knew was coming from one of the other 2nd grade classes. But my fears couldn't have been more ridiculous. He has been so wonderful!!! He is so sweet and loves to practice his addition anytime there's a little down time. Does it get any better than that?! Just to give you an idea of his sweet heart here's something from today:

Our school is starting a fundraiser for Souls4Souls. I was explaining how the fundraiser will work and telling them that our school is having a competition to see which class can raise the most and everything. I was really afraid that they would lose sight of what the fundraiser is really for since we're competing for a SMARTBOARD!!! So I just briefly explained to them that there are tons of children and people around the world that have to live without shoes. Then it was time to go so we were packing up and sweet little X comes up to me. He begins to explain that he is going to buy 6 airplanes so that he can fill them up with clothes and fly them over to all those kids. What 2nd grade boy thinks outside of himself like that? I don't think there's many. I definitely gave him a positive phone call home today. I love their hearts!

On that note, we are raising money to buy shoes for people around the world that don't have shoes. Our school goal is to raise $50,000 and the winning class will get a SMARTboard. It's a great deal all around! If you're not familiar with SMARTboards, it's pretty much the greatest thing you could have in your classroom. So if you would like to contribute to our class fundraiser or you know someone who would like to, please let me know and I'll put you down for our class. $5 buys a pair of flipflops and $10 buys a pair of Crocs. Our class goal is to raise $2,000. Any contribution would be greatly appreciated by me and all of my precious kids :)

Back to funny moments in the classroom:

I. informed me in the middle of our small group reading lesson that Hawaiians are faster than white people (he's Hawaiian). He then goes on to tell me that he's black. X was sitting next to him (who is pasty white with red hair) and looks at me with the most priceless face. I. was so serious about it. Apparently he thinks he's a black Hawaiian who is faster than white people. Oh the things that come out of their mouths in the middle of me trying to teach.

Being back in the classroom brings me great joy! There are so many things that happen throughout the day that just make me stop and laugh. I will never have a boring day as long as I am a 2nd grade teacher. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds!

It's all Fake!

Favorite moment of the day:

I'm giving out some final directions at the end of the day and I'm telling them that they should ask their parents to let them count their change because it would be really good practice for them. I then remember that A. told me this morning that he lost a tooth and the tooth fairy visited him last night, so I suggested counting your money from the tooth fairy too. 'Jewels' immediately leans over and says, "Ms. Eastup I have to tell you something... I know that the tooth fairy isn't real. And Santa is just a fake all dressed up." She said it so matter of factly that I just had to laugh. Luckily for me she's smart enough to whisper it and not ruin everyone else's belief.

I also loved receiving a persuasive letter from my sweet little P in the homework tray trying to persuade me to let them have a party. It had perfect formatting and I was so proud! She took it upon herself to write it during her free time. My favorite reason: We are always working. I'm talking about letting us have a break. I think I"ll show it off to the rest of the class and see if I can get anymore persuasive letters to let them have a party. I'm starting to think this persuasive writing is a pretty good idea!

One last thing, I learned today how fast the hairs in your nostrils can freeze. The answer is instantly!

Snow Day!

Working in a district that is known for never having snow days, we actually had one today! That should give you an idea of the winter we're having so far. Ever since I moved here the common saying has been "this weather is so unusual". I think it's my nice welcome to Colorado! I'm not going to complain though. I have thoroughly enjoyed my snow day and the snow is beautiful! Here's an idea of what I've been looking at through my porch window for the past few days.

I've also obviously decided to use this extra time to do a few things I've been meaning to do for months (like start a blog). People are always asking for funny things that kids have said and things that happen in my classroom, and I never can recall anything on the spot. Every day is a great adventure full of hilarious and unexpected things and I'm hoping a blog will help me share the joys of teaching with you more often.

My class is now full of 13 wonderful students. That's right, just 13! I have had 7 students move so far and I've gained a few along the way since I teach right next to the army base. With a delayed start yesterday I only had 8 students show up. I quickly decided that if we want kids to get a better education we should just reduce class size. It was wonderful!

I absolutely love teaching despite it's daily challenges. I had some time today to reflect on why I love this job so much:
1. I get to see kids learn and grow every day.
2. It's never boring and no two days are the same.
3. The hours and days fly by and I always wish I had more time with my kids.
4. I am always moving around and never sitting.
5. It is a job that requires me to walk in faith daily. I don't know how anyone could possibly do this job without God.
6. I learn and grow every day.
7. And I love each and every one of my students with their unique gifts and personalities.

I was also trying to think about some of the funny moments and sayings because that's what people always love to hear. Here are some of the most recent ones I can think of (I'll just use initials for the sake of privacy):

• Just yesterday I was helping I. and he says, "Ms. Eastup, why are you nice today?" Apparently I'm a mean teacher and all this time I thought I had been too nice.
• The past month has been all about persuasive writing. So yesterday we started a letter to the kids on the "Naughty List" to persuade them to have good behavior. Right off the bat J. is frustrated because he announces, "but I'm on the naughty list!" We continue on brainstorming and all the kids are giving their reasons that the naughty kids should be good. After hearing all these reasons J says, "Hmm, maybe I should start being good." Oh how I pray that he really will make that decision :)
• Last week were discussing the changes that occur during the water cycle. The book reminded us that drinkable water is scarce and we should do our best to return it in the best condition possible. To which my kids asked how we return water that we drink. You can imagine that led to a very funny conversation filled with disgusted faces and many students yelling "Ms. Eastup!" They needed to know.
  

I also reflected on some of the unexpected things that I have learned since moving to Colorado:

• Don't try to run on the sidewalk when it's below freezing and drizzling. It will leave you with a very sore tailbone.
• Only in Colorado would a group of people be crazy enough to show up for a race when the roads are iced over and it's 19 degrees.
• When you get stuck 3/4 of the way up a snowy hill while driving you can just back it down and try another way. Oh, and God will send you angels to help you figure that out.
• When you hit a slick spot in the road do not slam on the brakes and jerk the wheel. You will spin into a curb and knock your car out of alignment. (I'm just very thankful it wasn't worse!)
• As a teacher you need non-teachers in your life to keep you sane and remind you that there is more to life than teaching. I am extremely thankful for my friends from church.
• I was made for Colorado! The adventures are unlimited!

Hopefully I'll be writing again soon with more stories, adventures, and funny moments from Ms. Eastup's 2nd grade learning safari! Hold me accountable to actually keeping a blog!