my twin

I am so glad that God gave me a twin.

I am glad that I get to share a birthday with her! 

Amy is THE funniest person I know.  She always makes me laugh.  One time she got mad at me and said she was not going to talk any more and she also added that I would not laugh any more.  She was right. 

I love her laugh and I love laughing with her. 

We have shared everything.  Clothes, birthday parties, cars, 1st day of school, college apartment, bedroom, and pretty much every thing else! 

I would not trade being a twin at all! 
People have always asked about being a twin, but it is hard to answer because I do not know any different.

We were born an hour and a half apart.  She was ready...I was not.

We are so different, but so alike!    

Amy is so beautiful.  She is so fun to be around.  She loves life and makes sure to have a good time no matter where she is.  

She loves Jesus, youth, and ME!  

She is the one I always call first with good news and the first one I call when I am sad and need someone just to listen and give advice!  

She is going to Divinity school and she wants to be a youth minister.  She is going to be a great one because she has awesome qualities.  

I can not say enough good things about her!  

If you know her...your life will never be the same!!!!

  

Amy, Thank you for being my best friend and a great sister.  I am so glad that I get to share so much with you.  You are such an inspiration to me and to so many other people.  I am so glad that we have each other.  Thank you for always listening to me and letting me cry even when it is for stupid reasons.  Thank you for loving me no matter what!  Thank you for supporting me and encouraging me. 

I am so proud of you and where God is leading you. 

I know He is going to do BIG things with you. 

I love you wombmate!!!!

25

I remember thinking 25 was going to be so old!  Well today I turned 25, and I don't feel too old!!!  I had such a fun day!  There were some great surprises and lots of hugs from my kinders!  I am so glad I was able to spend the day with them.  I got really cute cards and sweet gifts. 

My assistant and kinders had a little surprise party for me.  It is so fun to watch and listen to them as they try to keep a secret!

Another surprise is that my sister came!  I got a phone call in my room that there was a parent who was insisting on coming down to my room to talk to me who was not very happy.  I was really confused about who was so upset with me and why, but I went to the door and it was my sis!  I was so excited to see her. 
She brought me some beautiful flowers, and she got to join our party because it was her birthday too!!!

Tonight we celebrated with our big sister and parents.  We had a fun night going to dinner and playing putt putt!  I enjoy family time and this was a perfect night!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, and I can not wait to see what God has in store for me this year!!!



things we do for the students!

Test week is here! 

I think (and hope) our encouragement helped! 

The sweet 3rd graders brought us thank you notes and cookies on Monday!  What a nice thank you!!!

 

Tuesday started our tests.  They test for 3 days!  My mentor asked me to dress up like a cheerleader with her.  She has told her students all year that she is their biggest cheerleader.  I dressed up to encourage them as well. 

My students and I went Tuesday morning to cheer them on!

A couple of my kinders made up some cheers for them.  So stinkin' cute!!!!

My favorite, "Go 3rd grade. You are the best. Never give up on your sparkle test!"

Before we left we shared some of our brain sprinkles with them.  As we walked out the door I heard a 3rd grader say that he already felt his brain growing!!! 

This took a lot for me to wear this uniform because I did not go to this high school.  I went to another one in the county so of course we were rivals!  I never thought I would wear something from this high school! 

I did it for the students!!!!! 

I owe a BIG apology to my alma mater!!!

just a note

I have always loved getting notes in the mail.  I love that someone was thinking of me and decided to write me.  I love text messaging, facebook, and email, but I love "old fashion" mail. 

As a kid I really felt special when I received mail, so something I have tried to do this year is send postcards to my students at home. 

I don't tell them that I am sending anything to their house because I want them to be surprised.

I just write something that is short, sweet, and something that will make them feel good about themselves.

This time I sent a picture of the class as their postcard. 

 This is super easy and a fun way to make your own postcard. 

3 simple steps:

Print off a special picture.

Write your sweet message on the back and put on a stamp.
Mail it!

eog encouragement

The EOG. 
It is our state's end of grade test! 
3rd graders are the first elementary grade to take the test.  I remember taking this and dreading it. 

I have never been a good test taker and just get so nervous before any big test.  I do feel bad for these kids.  I feel like there is a lot of pressure that is put on these tests. 

I am so glad I am not teaching a testing grade!!!  If I did I think I would be even more nervous than my students!

My mentor teaches 3rd grade.  I love the attitude and the way she talks about the test with her 3rd graders.

  She calls it the "Sparkle test!"

She tells them this is their time to sparkle and shine.  She doesn't tell them that they are going to have to take a state test or that this sometimes determines if they move to 4th grade.  She stays POSITIVE!

The Sparkle test is next week.  All the 3rd and 4th grades have worked SO hard getting ready for this.  I knew I couldn't do something for all the classes because I don't have enough money, but I knew I wanted to do something special for her class.

I had her come up with some good test taking strategies that she has taught her students this year and I have typed them up as reminders leading up to the EOG. 

Each day my Kindergartners are making a special delivery to the 3rd graders to give them some encouragement to really sparkle and shine on their test! 

Yesterday was the first day.  They were nervous but so cute! 
I had one student read their tip and then we passed out treats to each student and gave them big high 5's! 

("Try your best and YOU will blow the test away!!!")



I love that my kinders can be encouraging to the "big kids" and begin to hear about important test strategies.

eventful day!

Only 3 more Monday's left in this school year!  AHH!!!  So crazy!  It is hard for me to believe how fast this year has gone.

Today was a very eventful day.  This time in the year there is so much going on.  We are finishing up assessments, EOGs are starting for 3rd and 4th grades, and there is still lots to teach these kinders! 

We are counting down to the last day of school.  You know that I wouldn't have just a plain boring countdown.  What kind of Kindergarten teacher would I be?!?!?

We are having a countdown ABC style!  I am calling them "ABC days!"  Each day is a different letter and to go with the letter is a theme. 

So far we have celebrated....

A- Stuffed Animal Day

(didn't take any pictures)

B- Bubbles Day

 
(note to self...DO NOT buy Crayola colored bubbles!  They are SUPER messy!!!!!!)

C- Chocolate Day 

Today was Chocolate Day!  They came in first thing this morning talking about it!  I made 5 boxes of chocolate pudding and picked up several table cloths from the Dollar Tree.  We were all set!  I made sure to set some rules...like no licking the table, no touching other friends' pudding, no spreading pudding on your face or clothes!  I counted to three and they were allowed to play free!  They laughed and laughed!  It was so cute to listen to their enjoyment!  To make this a little more educational, I made them practice writing their name, letters, and numbers!  I enjoyed watching as they played in the pudding sneaking little licks off their fingers!

As we were cleaning up several students said that this was the best day! 

Chocolate can make any day better!

This also came today in the mail....

We started our Caterpillar/Butterfly unit today!   

When I pulled the jar out of the box and showed what was in it they started asking lots of questions. 

One student asked if this was going to be our class pet!

I am SO amazed by this metamorphosis!

As I was looking up facts about the whole metamorphosis transformation over the weekend, I became very interested and excited to share these cool facts with my kinders.  

If you have never watched this...it is a MUST!  I am so glad that when I was Student Teaching my cooperating teacher ordered these for her class.   

I am going to try to take a picture of the process these little guys every day. 

Day 1


Check back tomorrow for another blog post about what my Kinders are doing to encourage our 3rd grade buddies for their EOG!

mama-licious

Happy Mother's Day!

My mom is such a wonderful and beautiful person.

I am so thankful that she has shown me the love of Christ.

I am thankful that my mom is one of my very best friends and that I can talk to her about anything!

We enjoyed lunch out and the company of family was just what we all needed!

To all you Mom's...thank you for all you do! 

Thank you for the love that you show your children and the role that you play in their lives.

The role of a mom is so important.

When my students call me Mommy, I take it as an honor because as a teacher to my 24 kinders I want them to know that I am always there for them and that I love them.  They are each so important to me!

So even though I am not a mom I still feel like a mom to 24 kindergartners!