Great Expectations

I like when things go according to plan. I like having schedules. I like knowing every little detail about every thing. I do not like being caught off guard, or having my schedule rearranged. However, although I don't like it, it happens. Especially as a teacher, I have to learn to let go, and let things happen as they may. Activities may take longer than planned or not go as smoothly as planned, however, it doesn't mean that it is a total failure! I have to realize that. Life is not always going to go according to plan. In front of me right now is a "Rest Time" schedule. Each day after lunch, my kiddos lay out their mats & blankets and have about a 30 minute "rest time". During this time, they either listen to a Patch the Pirate tape or watch a short video. In front of me right now lays a schedule. For the rest of the year, I am supposed to figure out which Patch the Pirate tape is going to be listened to what day, and which video is going to be viewed what week. You know what? IT DOESN'T MATTER! I love schedules but sometimes (many times!) schedules don't love me. I see what is on the schedule, and if what is on the schedule doesn't get done, I get "a bit" perturbed. Sometimes I even get totally flustered, stressed out, and red in the face! (Any of you who have seen me in person know that this is true!) I mean, really. Who cares which Patch the Pirate tape they listen to which week? They really don't care if it is in the correct order anyway! So, you know what I am going to do with this "rest time" schedule that is just sitting here on my desk mocking me? I am going to throw it away!!..............THERE! Done!! I feel much better about the whole thing now. After all, I have a lot of other things to think about besides this minor detail. My desk is currently covered in Christmas decorations, and I know that tomorrow morning when I walk in my room and see the clutter and chaos on my desk, I am going to need a moment to just stop, take a breath, smile and dig in! So a rest time schedule is the least of my concerns right now!

Okay, I say all that to say this. The other week Pastor was preaching, and you know how sometimes you can be half-listening, half-zoning out and then all of a sudden, he says something and WHAM! you are all ears? Well, this is what Pastor said that caught my attention.

Give up your expectations and be happy with whatever you get!

That brief little statement really hit home with me. I have sooo many expectations for literally every little detail about my life. When things don't go according to plan, I tend to just fall apart. Last year at this time, I was having a really rough time with just thinking about the future and the "What ifs..." kept plaguing me till I was literally a wreck. However, this statement the other week was a real challenge to me. Of course, in life we have to have plans and have a general idea of what is going to happen. However, sometimes our expectations tend to be just WAY up there, instead of where they should be. God has my future all planned out for me. I just need to give up my own expectations of how I think my life should be, and just be happy and content with whatever the Lord brings in my life! And you know what? He has His own time table, schedule and plan for my life with the tiniest little details already worked out! So why should I worry???

P.S. We won't mention the fact that the main reason that I posted about this tonight was because today is the last day of November and I had an uneven amount of posts for this month. I just HAD to make it an even number. You know...my ENO issue that I have? *Sigh* Am I the only one who deals with things like this???!!

1915 Rules for Teacher

This weekend my Dad was looking at my aunt's photo album. She had gone on a trip with her church's youth group, and they visited an old schoolhouse. My Dad read these rules to me for women teachers back in 1915. I thought some of them were pretty humorous. :) My, how times have changed since then!

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract. (I guess they worried that the teacher would be a bit distracted if this occurred!)


2. You are not to keep company with men. (Maybe because guys have "coodies"?? ;-))


3. You must be home between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am unless attending a school function. (Like teachers have time for a "social life" anyway :D)


4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores. (What a shame! I loiter in ice cream stores all the time!)


5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board. (Maybe they were worried that if the teacher had a rough day with the kids, she would run FAR away and NEVER return! :))


6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother. (Like I said, all guys (minus family members!) must have the "coodie" disease :D)


7. You may not smoke cigarettes. (no problem there!)


8. You may not dress in bright colors. (Oops! I have definitely broken this rule...like in this picture :))





9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair. (How did people dye their hair back in 1915 anyway?)


10. You must wear at least 2 petticoats. (Ummmm...yeah)


11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankles. (Well, at least they were concerned about modesty back then! What changed???)


12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must: sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water, clean the blackboards at least once a day, and start the fire at 7 am so the room will be warm by 8 am. (Wow! Teachers had soooo many responsibilities back then! Not only did they have 12 grades to teach by themselves but they had all this cleaning to do as well?!
    Yep, I was definitely born in the right century!)

My 3 Little Pilgrims

We played some fun Thanksgiving games today.

On each of these turkeys' feathers, there are different pictures that start with a certain letter of the alphabet. The children had to match the letter feathers with the picture feathers.

Notice how sad this Pilgrim is? He is out hunting for turkeys so he can feed the rest of the Pilgrims, but so far he can't find any! Do you think we can help him with this important hunting expedition?!

Do you see any turkeys hiding???

I would show the children a number flashcard, and if they answered correctly, they were able to go "hunt" for turkeys around the classroom, and then place them next to the Pilgrim. :)

Sooooooo...do you think my 3 little pilgrims had a successful hunting expedition??? I doubt any of the other pilgrims will be hungry for a LONG time!! :)

I found this cute file folder game on this website.

The children had to match the different colored turkeys.

Gotta love file folder games!

We then played "Thanksgiving Dominoes" which I found on this website. There are so many fun & FREE printable activities on the Internet for early childhood teachers. I love it!! :)

Our Domino Design :)

It sure has been a fun celebrating Thanksgiving in the Kindergarten classroom these past few weeks! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends tomorrow!

Remember to thank God for His many blessings!!

My 3 Little Indians

Today we learned about Indians and how they helped the Pilgrims when they arrived in America. The kiddos were beyond thrilled when they got to make their own Indian headbands and vests to wear!

Cutting out their headbands...

Decorating their vests...

My cute lil' Indians :)

My WILD lil' Indians!

I took a video of them singing "The Lord's Army" - Indian style! I have heard them singing this version in Sunday School (one of the new favorites!) so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to sing it! Just in case you are wondering...they are tiptoeing/being quiet like Indians, shooting bows & arrows like Indians, flapping their arms like a chicken/turkey(?), and, of course, doing the Indian "war whoop"!!

My ENO

I just checked my profile views for my blog, and you can't imagine the happy moment I had when I saw that it was an even 100! I have discovered something about myself in the recent past...I have ENO (even number obsession!). And notice...those letters are in alphabetical order as well! Wow, that's just soooo sad :D. I have noticed that this obsession (and some other OCD issues) have gotten worse since I began watching the TV show Monk. So, yes, I am passing the blame to that OCD detective! But, anyway, the other week I was given this big container filled with various cookie cutter shapes for my kiddos. However, after just one glance, I had another ENO moment. Why do they torture me so???!!!

I am the girl who considered deleting one of my facebook friends when my friends list became an uneven 101. (but don't worry, I refrained myself because I didn't want to affend anyone!)

In case you are concerned, yes, I do realize that if you are reading this blog entry, my profile views are no longer an even 100. It was nice while it lasted though! I just had to celebrate this "exciting even event" with my blog viewers! (and notice how I like to alliterate as well??!!)

Glitter, How I "Love" Thee!

For the past week, the spicy aroma of cinnamon has greeted me each time I enter the Kindergarten classroom. The cinnamon applesauce art projects have finally dried, so today the decorating part of our art project began. I went into the art closet and pulled out these cute little bottles of glitter glue.

I was thinking...hmmmmm...this would be a good way to eliminate mess! I mean, all the children would have to do is squeeze the bottle and decorate their art to their hearts' content! How difficult could that be? However, one thing that I have discovered about glitter glue is how quickly it dries out! The openings get so clogged with dried-out glitter glue, and the children have to squeeze and SQUEEZE to just get a little drop out.

It worked for awhile, but I was getting just a tad disappointed with how DULL the decorations were turning out. Little drops here and there of glitter glue was not exactly what I had pictured when I wanted the kiddos to decorate them! I wanted color and excitement! Soooooo...I decided to get out the REAL stuff - Elmer's liquid glue and glitter - separate from each other.

Again, I was thinking that I wanted to eliminate mess (ha!), so I took charge of the glue distribution on the various shapes. I would pour a little of the glitter in my hand, and I would tell the children to just take a little "pinch" of it to sprinkle on the glue I had squeezed onto their shape. Well, at first, it seemed like it was working, but then I noticed that whatever glitter remains were left on their hands were quickly brushed onto the table and floor. And I also discovered that no matter how little the "pinch" of glitter actually was - glitter clings to the entire hand (which is then quickly brushed off!). So, needless to say, glitter was flying in all directions, and the table and carpet were getting a nice sparkly layer of green, red, silver, and gold glitter! I just grit my teeth and kept reminding myself "This is fun! This is FUN! Think of the children...think of the children...they are having fun...they are having fun...glitter is pretty...glitter is pretty....glitter will come out of the carpet...glitter WILL come out of the carpet!!!!"

The results were definitely more colorful and exciting!! Wasn't that what I had wanted to begin with??!!

So there is definitely an abundance of glitter on some of these turkeys, leaves, and pumpkins!

And, yes, I actually knelt there at the table and took countless pictures of the glitter mess. However, no matter what angle I tried, I couldn't grasp the FULL effect! :) I am happy to report, though, that after about 5 swipes with Clorox wipes, the table was not only free of glitter, but thoroughly disinfected as well! (Might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone!) The vacuum was brought out, and the floor glitter was swept up as best as possible, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I haven't seen the last of the floor glitter for awhile! Glitter has a way of doing these reappearing magic acts. :) I have a feeling the Kindergarten carpet will have a sparkly glow to it for quite some time!

Out with the Old & In with the New

Since the beginning of the school year, the "choo-choo" train tracks have been the biggest hit in the classroom during play time. The children have loved connecting the wooden tracks, and letting the miniature Thomas the Tank Engines glide across the rails. However, there are only 2 Thomas the Tank Engines, and I have 3 children....and well, let's just say it has provided us with many opportunities to learn the value of taking turns! However, today I decided to do the unthinkable - put the choo-choo trains away in the closet! (*gasp*) But never fear...I pulled out something new to take its place - A Marble Run!!! I wasn't sure how it would go, but it was definitely a BIG success! And as you can see...there are plenty of pieces to go around, and a whole big bag of marbles to spare (and share)! :D

Abbi's marble run just kept on getting higher and higher! We were using the marble run bin as a support :)

Joshua catching the marble as it flies off his marble run.

Stephen's went from being this small...

...to this tall!!

The blue little chair came in handy for support as well :D

Today I helped them a lot with figuring out how to attach everything and to build it in such a way that it doesn't topple over (and the marbles can actually run through!), but I am sure that over the next few weeks, I will see their creative skills come alive with this activity!! :)

Oh, and yes, this marble run has a history. Andy and I received this as a Christmas present in 1993! Ummm...which would be 15 years ago when I was 8 years old! I just love the fact that the things which I enjoyed playing with when I was a child are now being enjoyed by my students! They are being put to good use that's for sure :D

So, my mom - being the great photo collector and album creator that she is - knew exactly where I could find the picture of me enjoying my new marble run with my Nannie. So here it is, folks...and yes, I was a "camera ham" when I was young :P (*cough* when I was young, mind you...I am perfectly mature in that area now! (hahaha!))

Thanksgiving in the Classroom

Where has November gone??!! Here I have been thinking that Thanksgiving is still a LONG ways off, and then I realized today after looking at lesson plans that it's next week already! So I decided that I better get some Thanksgiving decorations out! :) I have 3 chalkboards in my classroom. Obviously, I don't need all of them to be chalkboards, so I have converted two of them into a bulletin board of sorts. Here is the board in the back of the classroom...

The chalkboard in this next picture has the rules of the classroom on it. Also, please notice the pilgrim on the left side of the board. He is diligently searching for his Thanksgiving turkey. However, the turkey on the right side of the board is showing no sign of fear, because he knows that the pilgrim has no chance against its mighty feathers and claws! Yes, apparently turkeys were quite large back in the 1600's! :)

Today, we made a "Thanksgiving Tree." I used my "creative" skills and made a tree out of bulletin board paper. I had already cut out the leaves, so all the children had to do was write what they were thankful for on the leaves, and then place them wherever they wanted on the tree.

Here is a close-up of their leaves...they are obviously still learning how to size and space all their letters to fit, but that is what makes it so cute!

Here are the things they are thankful for:

God, Jesus, Bible, church, Pastor, my family, Mom and Dad, leaves, trees, nap :), Miss Follett (awwww), choo-choo trains, our classroom, the computer, Joshua, Abbi's birthday

Hmmmm...I wonder why someone was thankful for Abbi's birthday? It couldn't be the fact that she brought in cupcakes for all of us today, could it? :)

Cinnamon Applesauce Art

Ingredients:

1 cup of cinnamon

3/4 cup of applesauce

1/4 cup of liquid glue

Instructions:

1. Pour contents into mixing bowl without dumping too much on the table. :)

2. Mix contents together in bowl. Make sure you hold onto the side of the bowl or it might just run away from you!

3. Spread a piece of wax paper on the table and dump the newly formed dough on top.

4. Press dough down with your hands until it is a thin layer. You must say, "Ewwww! Squishy!" at least 5 times during this process. :)

5. Press the shape cutter firmly into the dough. Keep pressing until you are 100% sure that the shape has completely formed. Use those strong arm muscles!

6. Place the cut-out shapes on a paper plate. (Optional: You can use a straw to punch a hole at the top of each shape if you would like this to be an ornament to hang on the Christmas tree.)

7. Smile at your teacher as she snaps a picture of your finished products.

8. Place your shapes in a safe place while they harden over the next couple of days, then decorate.

They each got to make a turkey, a leaf, and a small pumpkin. Our classroom will really smell good the next couple of days as they harden!