Countdown to Graduation

I only have 6 days left of student teaching and I graduate in 12 days!  It is so bittersweet.  I love my 5th graders to death.  I have learned so much from them and everyone at Tyro.  This semester has absolutely flew by.  It is so hard to believe that it is all coming to an end.  In less than 2 weeks I will have my Bachelors in Elementary Education!

I guess this semester has flew by because I have been going non-stop.  Thanksgiving break was a lot of fun.  I got to see a lot of family I haven't seen in a while, eat lots of food, watch some good movies, hang out with friends and go shopping on Black Friday.  I also went to CVS on Thanksgiving and got everything in the picture below for free and ended up making $7 in extra care bucks!

Black Friday was pretty interesting.  Felicia and I got to Kohls around 2:30 a.m. and waited behind about 600 people for Kohls to open at 3.  It started raining while we were outside in line which was a great added touch to the occasion.  After we got in line there were probably another 600 people that came in line behind us.  The check out line  was a 3 hour wait. It was double wrapped around the store.  We also went to Target right when they opened but didn't try on anything so we got through the checkout line fast.  We then went to Hanes Mall which wasn't too crowded but by this time we were about too tired to shop so we got a few things and left.  I don't know that I'll go next year, online shopping seems like a good plan to me.

On another note,  I had an interview for a 6th grade position this week.  I don't think I will hear anything about it until next week because they have one more person to interview.  I would really love the job though, the staff seems great and it's a really nice school.  I'm loving student teaching in 5th grade so I know I would enjoy 6th grade just as much. 

This past Sunday we had a great service to kick off the Christmas season.  Randy preached about Joy.  He said that at the top of our Christmas list should be to not let anything or anyone rob you of your Joy because we have already won the ultimate victory.  I wish we could always remember this because knowing that we are saved and will be going to heaven should bring us Joy everyday.  And yes, I am spelling Joy with a capital J on purpose.

Time to get busy

I haven't wrote about student teaching in a while so I thought I'd post myself a to-do list.  Note to self: stop procrastinating!  Anyway, I am loving student teaching right now.  Getting to teach everything is time consuming with all the other assignments I have to do combined but I love every minute of it.  I'm becoming much more laid back than I was at the being of student teaching.  At first I was all about my students not talking unless I gave them permission to and getting on to them constantly for not paying attention.  Now I'm letting them take responsibility for themselves.  As long as they aren't disturbing the learning of other students then I'm not wasting time fussing at students for every little thing.  I think it is making my students respect me more because they don't hear me getting on to people all the time.  Anyway, I need a list of all that I have to do this week so I don't forget so hear it goes.

1)  Finish this week's lesson plans
2)  Write last week's reflection
3)  Finish PDP
4)  Revise last component of Impact Project
5)  Combine all components of Impact Project to one PDF file
6)  Scan student work for Impact Project
7)  Make next week's lesson plans
8)  Create reading assesment for this week
9)  Contact registrar's office to make sure name is on list for graduation
10)  Make out graduation invitations
11)  Call for screening interview

Extreme Missions = Complete!

Our church is pretty much finished with the Extreme Missions project we did. We still have people coming to redo the roofing but the inside is finished. It was such a wonderful experience!  My church really pulled together to remodel a house in our community.  The family was gracious enough to let us come in and work for a full week.  People were there working on some days as early as 6 a.m. and some people stayed until after 9 p.m.  We did everything from removing all the trash in the home to completely redoing a bathroom.  We had a lot of challenges throughout the week like when when the countertop came undone and we had to completely redo the countertop on the island in the kitchen.  But in the end we finished remodeling the house and the family is very happy to have a like new home!  It really showed that no matter what your talent is there is some way that you can help out people.  Those who couldn't do labor helped provide meals for those working.  Even children came and helped out in some way.  I'm looking forward to doing this again.

Missions

Last Sunday I did a children's sermon that taught children that in order for us to show our thanks to God we should get out and help others.  By helping the needy we are showing God how thankful we are for all that he does for us.  After teaching this I thought to myself that I really should be doing more than what I have been doing. I have been doing my own devotions, praying more, getting more involved in church but I have still felt like God wants me to do more. So I am trying to show my thanks to God by doing what I can for the needy.

Tonight I went to the homeless shelter and helped feed them.  After serving them I fixed my own plate and sat down to talk with them.  It was really interesting to hear about their lives.  They are just normal families who aren't as fortunate to have what we have.  One girl that I talked to is turning 16 in November. I hope that I can go back around that time and get her something. Another mission project I'm doing starts on November 6th.  Our church will be doing our own extreme home makeover for a family in our community.  We are completely remodeling a house that needs a lot of repair. Right now we have about 150 volunteers from our church.   It's going to be great seeing the community work together. 

I will also be doing Operation Christmas Child this year. I'm trying to find any opportunity I can to give back to the community and anyone else who I can help.  I think it's so important as a Christian to not just say your a Christian but to get out and show God's love.  I'm really passionate about missions and God will bring me more opportunities to help others.  If anyone has any suggestions for missions projects, let me know.



And for people who may not have time to get out and do mission's projects remember that there are plenty of other ways to show God's love.  At school I try and just be a good role model to my students because some may not go to church or have parents who are always there for them. Everyday I try in some way to show to everyone of those kids that I love them.  They all know I am a Christian and by showing them I care they are seeing God's light shine through me.  I have had student's tell me how much it means to them that I show them that I care. I have even had a student write me a letter to tell me how much she appreciated me caring about her. You just never know who is watching you and you could make a difference in someone's life just by showing them that you are there for them. 


I'm not posting all of this to brag about what I'm doing. I want to look back on this and see how excited I have been now that I'm actually doing something. I don't want to ever stop helping others no matter how busy I may get. I also want whoever reads this to realize that even if you don't have a lot of money to donate to the needy you can still help out by donating your time and talents.

Book Club

I haven't been able to teach much this week because I couldn't attend 5th grade planning since I was at the career fair on Monday.  Since I haven't been able to teach I have been trying to interact with the kids in other ways.  A couple days ago I was walking around to see what they were reading.  One girl had just started reading "Island of the Blue Dolphins."  I told her that I had just a hard time reading that book when I was in 5th grade and that I would have to read it with her.  Before long, I had 8 other students wanting to read it too.  So I decided that we would read it on our own time and then talk about it at lunch.  We call it our class book club.  Some of my student's will run up to me after they finish a chapter and say things like "Ms. Michael you are just not going to believe what happened in the last chapter!"  They are getting so excited about this book and being able to discuss it as a club.  For the past two days at lunch I would come sit with the kids and they would talk to me about the book and their favorite parts.  Today they decided that wanted to sit at the same table together to talk about it.  It's been really great to see these children get so excited about reading.  Not only are they learning vocabulary through reading this book but they are also learning to relate to each other better through our discussions.  I will definitely be using this idea in my own classroom.

Busy, Busy!

I told myself when I started this blog again that I wanted to keep it updated so I could look back on my student teaching experiences. Well, I've been so overloaded that I haven't been able to do that.  I've been coming up with and typing 20 lesson plans a week. I have assignments on top of lesson plans like my big impact project.  I started teaching my unit which is on measurement and continue it until next Wednesday.  I'll be glad when I'm done with it so I can focus more on making good lesson plans.  I absolutely love each and every one of  my 5th graders.  I never would have thought I would love 5th grade as much as I do.  I have even thought about teaching 6th grade. I love the older ones and having more flexibility with lessons since they know more.  They say some of the funniest things.  Did you know that August has 32 days in it? Anyway,

I went to the beach this weekend with Felicia.  We went to see the Goo Goo Dolls at the House of Blues.  It was pretty awesome.  We were so close to the stage!  They played every song I knew so it was a lot of fun. We also went shopping at the Tanger Outlets.  I spent more money than I planned on spending but I couldn't resist the deals!  Old Navy had clearance shirts for $1.74!  I bought a lot more clothes from other stores and got my students some taffy.  Good thing I'm working this week.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks.  This week I am subbing for my cooperating teacher on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday. I am finishing up my Impact Project.  I have to find something to wear the career fair which is at Appalachian on the 25th.  The BBQ festival is this coming weekend and Katie is coming to stay with me which  I'm looking forward too.  Then the next weekend I'm going to stay with her because it's her birthday and then we are going an Appalachian game that Saturday.  October is becoming a very busy month, and probably one of my favorite months as well!


Well I better get to unpacking!

A Great Devotional Book; Good Morning, Lord by Sheila Walsh.

I got the book "Good Morning, Lord" sent to me for free from booksneeze.com.   I had been looking for a good devotional book to read in the mornings so this has been perfect.  This book has a devotion and questions to think about every day.  It also includes a bible verse and a prayer for each day.  What I like about this book that it leaves you something to ponder throughout the day.  I try to always make time to read a devotion in the morning from this book.   If you don't have time in the morning to read a devotion it would still be a great book to read anytime during the day.