Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

What a fun week we just finished up! For those of you outside of the elementary world, this week was the celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday. Of course we got all into it. Each day had a theme or something we were suppose to do to celebrate Dr. Seuss. His actual birthday was Tuesday, so how else to celebrate but with green eggs & ham!!!

Yep, looks disgusting, but it was really quite delicious. The kids ate every last bit!

Following our green eggs & ham, we continued the day with the reading of And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street. After reading we took our own stroll down our school street where "ordinary" things turned into a crazy world of adventures! It was so fun to hear the kids turning fences into licorice, trees into lollipops, grass into gold, cars into limos, and the dog park into a zoo. They got all into it and were actually having fun writing! And to think we saw it on Charmwood St.!
In the afternoon I surprised them with fun Dr. Seuss hat treats. Quite delicious!
Tuesday was fun and all, but Wacky Wednesday was definitely my favorite!!! My wonderful teammate had the grand idea of the 2nd grade team dressing up as Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2. We jumped right on board with the idea and went all out! I got the privilege of being Thing 1.

The looks on my kids' faces was priceless!!!! I don't think they even knew it was me at first. One even checked my badge to confirm it was really me. They called me Ms. Thing 1 all day and had the best time with it. I loved being dressed up because I was so comfortable all day and you can't help but have fun when you're Thing 1. Thing 1 & Thing 2 are known for being quite destructive, so we had to play the part at some points in the day. One point even included running through the gym screaming while class was going on. We had too much fun that day!

Thursday was hat day, so I went all Texan. I wore a cowgirl shirt and my lime green cowgirl hat. My kids just kept saying, "You really do look like you're from Texas." I'm glad a I could contribute even more to the stereotype of Texas.

Oh I know it sounds like we're just playing all the time, but I promise we really are working hard in class. We got to celebrate some growth this week that was really exciting. One of my kids who couldn't read any words on our fluency testing when he began this year was able to read his all time best of 17 today. Talk about a confidence boost! I was just praying the entire time and God is faithful to love and encourage his children.

I absolutely love my kids and working with them every day, but the job definitely continues to teach me to constantly rely on God as my joy and peace to get through each day. I have become so much more aware of the true source of my joy. Thankfully my teammate and I are able to remind each other that the system cannot strip our joy away. I will press on with God as my strength and know that His success is not the same as the world's success!

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." Isaiah 12:2

If you haven't in a while, go enjoy a Dr. Seuss book. It will make you happy! :)

Simple Joys

Last weekend I finally got to experience the joy of using my fireplace!!! It was so peaceful and relaxing to feel the warmth and hear the crackle of the burning wood. I had wonderful friends come experience the joy of making homemade pizza and roasting marshmallows for s'mores over the fire. What a great night! And I was quite impressed by all the pizza creations :)

Yumm!!!!!

All of our delicious creations!

I also had some memorable times in the classroom this week:

- Wednesday we started learning about the solar system. We were reading Magic School Bus and we were reading about the moon. One students asked me who was the first person to land on the moon to which I quickly answered, "Lance Armstrong". As soon as it left my mouth I realized something was off. My students of course had no idea what a big mistake I had just made, but they got a good kick out of me laughing so hard at myself. I quickly corrected myself, but they're probably more likely to now remember Lance instead of Neil.

- We were finishing up editing a sentence and were ready to write the corrected version. I said, "Alright, we're ready to go." To which a student replies very seriously "Where are we going?" Again, so literal!

- And finally, for some reason this week they have decided to give me a really hard time for always saying y'all. I really don't know what to do about it. I'm from Texas and we say y'all. What else are you suppose to say?!?!

Spice it up!

I just wrapped up what felt like the shortest week, which was pretty nice! We had Monday off and then I went to a conference today, so I only taught 3 days this week. In those short 3 days I had probably one of the funniest incidences so far:

We were writing paragraphs, and I often refer to their paragraphs like sandwiches or hamburgers. If they don't have the buns (topic and conclusion sentences) then the whole thing is going to fall apart. They have the meat, but no buns. So one student (we'll call him Tony) comes up to me so proud that he has finally remembered to include both buns. He excitedly announces to me that his hamburger has it's buns and it's going to stay together!!! I celebrate with him and tell him how proud I am. Then I give it a look and tell him that our next goal is to add a little more to it because he just had the big ideas and no details. I decide it will be a good idea to continue with hamburger idea, and I tell him that we need to spice it up a little bit. We need to add some lettuce and tomatoes. All along he's just looking at me very seriously and nodding along. He goes back to his seat and I'm not noticing what he's doing because I'm working with someone else, but I can tell that he's working on his writing. He comes over a few minutes later and, no joke, he has drawn lettuce and tomatoes in between the lines of his paragraph!!! I had to do everything I could to not just bust out laughing because he seriously thought that's what he was suppose to do. I forget that they don't quite get figurative language yet. He must have thought I was the craziest teacher asking him to add lettuce and tomatoes. You've gotta love kids!

I don't think I can top that story at this point. But in other exciting news outside of teaching... I got to take a wonderful weekend get away trip to Austin last weekend! It was so great to get away and spend time with family and friends. I had to continue the tradition of the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon. The weekend consists of a fun trip to the expo, a delicious pasta dinner with the Powers, and then a thrilling race with Nikki :) I loved it and already can't wait for the next one!

My biggest fans!

The real reason I run: the snacks & t-shirt ;)

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!