Former Student

I had the greatest surprise the other day! Remember sweet M who I taught in first and second grade? Well when I told my class I was moving last summer he was one of the most heartbroken about it. After school ended he wrote me letters weekly all through the summer. I even ended up taking him out for ice cream late in the July before I left for Colorado so we could spend some time together and I could tell him goodbye. Unfortunately, in the process of moving to Colorado and back again, I lost his address and had no way to write back to him after his last letter. He has crossed my mind often this year, and I have wondered how he has been doing.

A week ago, out of the blue, I got an email from his mom. She said she had no idea if it was still my email address or not, but M had mentioned me that day and said he really missed me. He told her that his third grade teacher had told him she heard I moved back to Texas and was teaching elsewhere in the area. So, M's mom told him she would try and email me to see if I was around. I was so happy to hear from her when I got the email. I responded right away saying that yes I was back and town, and I would love to meet up with her and sweet M to catch up! In her response, in which we talked a little about details of where and when, she started by saying, "I am so glad you are back in the area. I read your email to M and he got the biggest smile on his face! I just know you are his first love...."

Every teacher wants to make a difference to the kids in her class. Every teacher wants to be remembered. This year has been so tough because I honestly have not felt like I made a difference in anyone's life. I don't think there is a single child in my class this year that will look back on me with fond memories. I've really been feeling down about this. But then, to get this email from the parent of a former student, well, I really needed that. You can't tell me I didn't make a difference in his life. You can't tell me this little boy won't remember me years from now.

I'm so excited he got back in touch with me. I cannot wait to meet up with him and his mom in a few weeks!

As much as I complained about having to move grade levels and teach the same group of kids for 3 years in a row, I have to say, it worked out to be such a positive experience. There are 4 children from Highlands that I still keep in touch with. 3 of them are students I taught for more than one year. You just can't help but form special bonds with kids like that.

Moving

It's been FOREVER, I know! A lot has been going on and I've been making an effort to spend more time living my life than playing on the computer and writing about it.

I have now told this to all the people that needed to be told personally, so I can let you all in on what has been going on. Yesterday I gave notice of resignation from my job. I am moving to Colorado at the end of the summer. I do not have a job yet, which is a serious stressor, but I am going anyway! There is a masters program at CU in Boulder that I am interested in, but to get in-state tuition I have to live there a year first. Hence the reason I am moving this summer, hoping to find a job and work for a year, then start the masters program in the fall of 2011. I could definitely use some prayers as this is a serious leap of faith for me. I'm scared to death, but sometimes the best things in life are scary.

Yesterday was the last day of school and I emailed the staff the night before to let them know I wouldn't be back. I also told my kids before the bell rang. It was sobfest 2010 for sure. I am going to miss those kids more than words can describe! Heck, I've taught that same group for 3 years, no wonder I'm attached. And as much as I've cried about the changes in my job each year, I LOVED my school and the people I worked with! So many of them I consider such true friends and I am going to miss them dearly. It was a sad day for sure.

This morning we had to go and check in and then leave because the movers were there and we were all just in the way. It was hard for me; there were a lot more tears. I'm excited about this next chapter in my life, but that doesn't make me any less sad about leaving where I am now. I hate goodbyes and I'm not that great with change.

There is probably a lot more I could write about this, but it's too fresh and it still makes me feel like crying so I'll stop there. Maybe I'll fill in some more details later. For now, I am going to spend the next 6 weeks until I leave enjoying every moment of my time left here in Houston. Starting now: I'm headed to the pool to lay out with a new friend. :)

Life goes on and hopefully everything will work out for the best. But that's my life right now in a nutshell.

School Renovation

Have I mentioned yet that my school is being renovated over the summer? I don't think that I have. Fort Bend has this like 10 year renovation plan or something and this year it's our school's turn. What does this mean for teachers at the end of the school year? INSANITY!!

Because of the renovation, which is going to be a drastic overhaul of the school, we have to box up EVERY LAST THING and move it out. If it is something that belongs to you personally, you have to take it home. If it belongs to the school, you have to box it a certain way and the movers will take it. You can not leave a single paperclip in the room or cabinets. Guess when the movers are coming? ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! That's right, the last day of school the kids leave at 10:45am. But the movers? Oh, they will be there at 10:30. This basically means that you have to already have moved out ALL your personal belongings, and have every single thing boxed up before the kids are even gone. Like I said, INSANITY!!

I am making a very solid effort not to be a hoarder this year. If I haven't used it in 3 years, I am NOT keeping it. I have thrown away SOO much stuff, which is good, because I have a ridiculous amount of things!! I moved into a classroom that was completely empty. This means that the only school items I have are those I specifically asked for and brought in. I packed all those already .... all 4 boxes of them. The unfortunate part is that with that packed up, you would never even know I packed anything. And EVERYTHING else belongs to me. UGH!

Today was another TAKS day, meaning we had no outclass time. So, we watched a movie to make up for it and I spent that hour and 20 minutes organizing, packing, and throwing things away. I actually put a small dent in it today. When a resource aid came in at the end of the day she commented, "it's looking pretty bare in here" So, I guess you could say it's coming along ...

24 1/2 more days ... am I going to make it in time? I hope so ...

Will I lose my mind in the process? Seems highly likely haha

What time is it?

Yesterday my kids took a math test, and this morning I sat down to grade them while the kids were having a read-in. When I flipped this kid's test over to the back and saw this answer I laughed so hard I cried and I actually had to step in the hallway for a minute to compose myself. I think he deserves points for creativity, what do you think? hahahaha!

In case you have trouble reading that, the question is asking what time is on the clock. The student responded, "I know what time is it ... ADVENTURE TIME!"

This made my freaking day!

Another random school story from today that made me just die laughing: During the read-in, I walked around the room and took some pictures of the kids for my class end of year slideshow. I walked by one boy and found him laying on his pillow, book open, licking the pages like an ice cream cone. I stood there and stared at him for a good couple minutes but he was not phased at all. He kept right on licking! Good thing that book didn't belong to me! yuck!

Check Yes or No

Two funny stories from my day:

Our district made the decision that students in grades K-5 needed to do a science project, complete with trifold board, every year. K-3 can do a class project, while 4 and 5 make their own for the science fair. Yesterday we completed our project and found out which packing material was the most protective by wrapping eggs inside each type, dropping them from a given height, and then recording what happened. The kids LOVED it! It was so much fun!

Anyway, I took some pictures while they were doing it to put on our board. Today we worked on putting all the information together. I have a boy in my class who is a twin. He comes up to see the pictures I printed to glue on and he notices one of him and completely serious he says, "hey! That looks like (insert twin brother's name here)". I laughed and said of course it does. He then went on to say, "it's so weird, even when we were babies in pictures he looks like me. I never know if it is him or me." I just laughed out loud. Um, of course it looks like your brother, you are identical twins! Too cute!

I don't think I've blogged about it yet, but I have a love triangle going on in my second grade classroom. Little boy A loves little girl. Little boy B loves little girl. Little girl likes both boys. Little boy A is constantly worried about what little boy B is doing with little girl. Today, little boy A comes up to me and looks completely heartbroken. I ask what is wrong and he shows me this note he has given to little girl:

This of course led to a discussion about no kissing at school, but only after I took a minute to contain my laughter. Little boy B volunteered to be my spy (I totally didn't ask). He said he was making sure to watch them at all times because he is worried this might happen if he looks away.

These kids are 8 years old! Goodness gracious!

Children make my heart smile!

8 year olds absolutely amaze me sometimes!

Yesterday, I got a new kid who speaks French and does not know a single word of English. I cannot even imagine how scared that child must be, but at the same time, I'm scared! I don't think I'm qualified to teach like this! Anyway, the kids in my class have been absolutely amazing! I know I've said it before, but I really cannot say enough how incredibly blessed I am to have the group that I do this year. They are perfect. They get along with each other, they listen, they follow directions, they are every teacher's dream. If I didn't love them enough before, I sure do now that this new child started.

Yesterday was our new friend's first day and one of my little boys immediately asked to be his buddy. I told him that it would be great if our new friend could just hang out with him all day even though our new friend would not be doing the work and would not be able to respond to him when he tried to talk to him. All day my student helped our new friend. During writing time he showed him how to write simple sight words while saying them aloud. During reading time he picked out easy readers and read each word aloud allowing our new friend to point and repeat after him. He played with him at recess, introduced him to other teachers, showed him what to do at lunch, helped him get his backpack, jacket, etc., and helped show him where everything was in the room. My student was phenomenal! It was SO incredibly helpful to me!

Today one of my little girls took it upon herself to be our new friend's teacher. While doing math he was pretty much just copying off the board and my little girl went and sat next to him to show him what to do. Step by step she said what to do out loud, then showed him. "you need 5 (holds up 5 fingers) let's count 5 (helps him count 5 manipulatives) that's 5 (holds up 5 fingers again)". Seriously, what a great little teacher! Then during science as she found each of the answers to the work in her text, she pointed out to him where the word was and where to copy it on his paper so he could complete the work as well. What a thoughtful child.

After she had helped him with a few problems he got a little more confident. We are working on two digit subtraction, which was a little above his head, but I was breaking it down into parts as we were doing them together as a class. When I asked what we needed to put in the ones place when we subtracted (and I'm pointing on the board to the subtraction problem) I watched him count it out on his fingers and then he raised his hand enthusiastically. Of course I called on him (if I can make him feel successful at ANYTHING this week I will have done my job) and he paused for a second like he was trying to think of the number in English. When he gave the correct answer my class cheered for him. They actually cheered! They were so proud of him! He had a HUGE smile on his face. That was pretty wonderful ...

I love children; I really do. If only everyone could be so accepting, thoughtful, and caring. I am so blessed to be able to spend time with these wonderful children every day. :)

kids say the darndest things

Student: Ms. McCormack, this is something really weird ...

me: what is?

Student: well, usually my boogers are green, but today, they are red. Wanna see??

me: ew, no. and go get some hand sanitizer right now!

This is my life ... some days I love it much more than others. This would be one of those moments that I don't love it quite so much lol!

Money

After school today I was hanging out in my classroom with one of my favorite 7 year olds in the world. She stays after school with me every Tuesday, and we play games and chat for half an hour or so until her mom picks her up. She was telling me that her family is thinking about moving to a new house and she is really sad about it because it means she will have to go to a new school. The only good thing she said, is that she will get her own room, and she gets to choose what color it will be. So, I started asking questions about how she would paint her room, trying to get her a little more pumped up about the whole thing (she wants to paint it Aggie maroon btw ... can you tell why I love this kid so much?!? hehe). She asks me what colors I painted my room, and I told her that since I live in an apartment I'm not allowed to paint. She had this thoughtful look on her face for a second and then responded:

"well, why don't you just save up some of your dollars and buy a house"

Oh, if only it were just that easy. I'll just save a few dollars and buy my own home. haha. Oh I love kids, they are too darn cute!

Classroom iPods

So, my dad rocks and decided to purchase 2 iPod touches for me to use in my classroom! They arrived in the mail on Wednesday, so I spent the majority of that night getting everything ready so I could start using them first thing on Thursday. I didn't waste any time haha.

I am using these touches as a tool to improve students' reading fluency. I wish I could take credit for this idea (because it's pretty much the best idea ever) but my dad told me about a teacher who had done it and the results they had seen. The students get to use the voice memos app to record themselves reading fluency passages. They get to record 3 times, listen to each, choose their best, then they load it onto the computer and it automatically copies into a folder with their name on it, thus creating a reading portfolio for each student. Super easy, very straightforward data, and the kids LOVE it!

So, Thursday morning I am about to introduce these to my class when my principal walks in for one of my informal walkthroughs. I'm thinking to myself that this is PERFECT because she's about to see something really awesome I'm doing with my class that no one else is. So I start the lesson and it pretty much goes wonderfully. The kids are talking about fluency, why it's important, what it means, and relating it to the author study we have been working on (which was an added bonus because I hadn't even thought to relate it to that). They were SO excited about the whole thing! My principal seemed pretty impressed (never hurts haha).

I got the kids going on their Daily 5 choices and I called the first 2 kids to me to use the iPods. I showed them one time what to do, they understood immediately (because it really is incredibly easy) and they went to town. They each took about 10 minutes to sit in the hallway and record and listen to themselves 3 times. After the kids had recorded 3 times they came in to me, I showed them how to hook it up to the computer and change the title to have their name, and that's it. It's that easy!

The best part was that even in the very first day, I was able to see how it can really help them. I had 8 kids use them and multiple kids were shocked to hear how choppy their reading was. They had no idea because it is very hard for a kid to focus on decoding the words, understanding the story, and reading fluently. Once they realized what they sounded like, they worked really hard to make it better. In just 3 recordings you could tell a world of difference from the first to the last.

The great thing about this is that once I have shown each student how to do it once, they can do it all on their own. I'll set up a schedule for the iPods, and when it is their turn they will do everything. I don't have to do any extra work (other than listen to the recordings later on) and I have this great data to show their progress with reading fluency. I am SO excited to see where this leads in my classroom. Plus, I've already found a BUNCH of great educational apps that I can add on once the kids get the hang of the recording part.

Lessons Learned

I was talking to someone earlier about how I had been taking my kids outside more than once to play in the snow today. Their response was, "don't you have things you need to be teaching them?"

Don't I have things I need to be teaching them? Of course! Do you know what I taught my 8 year olds today? I taught them:

- work is not the most important thing in life

- people can surprise you

- when an opportunity presents itself, you have to take it before it is too late

- no matter how old you are, you are never too old to act silly

- life is supposed to be enjoyed

- to quote the Zac Brown Band, "it's the little things in life that mean the most"

- some people will do whatever they can to make you smile

and, I taught them that I really care about each of them. I taught them that I care enough that I put their happiness and what they wanted above what "needed to get done". I taught them that their opinions matter, and that they are important to me.

So, did I teach them the 3 branches of government today? No, I didn't. But you know what? I think I taught them more than enough for one day. We'll get to the 3 branches on Monday ...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

Today was one of the best, if not the best, days of this school year. It started snowing just as school was starting at 8am and it never let up. It's still snowing right now. I'm not talking little snow flakes, I'm talking monster sized snow flakes. The kind that are so big that when you look out the window all you can see is white. Today was one day I was glad that you can see out those big windows by the library from my classroom. I was able to watch it snow ALL day! I felt like a kid at Christmas. It was wonderful!

Fairly early in the morning I had my kids put on their coats and we went outside to catch snowflakes on our tongues and dance around in the snow. You should have heard the squeals of delight. Most of them had never seen snow like that before (yeah we got a little last year, but it was nothing like this). The whole thing made my heart smile :) I ended up taking them outside 2 more times later in the day just to run around and feel the snow for a few minutes. They were on top of the world all day! I got so many hugs and "this is the best day of my life, thanks Ms. McCormack" comments. I LOVE those kids to death! I wish I could share pictures here, but I can't post pictures of students on a public blog. Just imagine 22 kids running, screaming, dancing, and sticking out their tongues while staring up at the sky haha.

In the classroom we did minimal work. I mean really, I didn't want to be in school today and I wanted to sit and watch the snow fall all day, so I KNOW those kids felt the same way! We listened to a lot of Christmas music, sang along, and had a blast.

Christmas music, kids singing, laughing, and smiling, and snow ... what could be better than that? I swear the kids eyes just sparkled a bit more than normal today. There is something that feels very magical about snow falling. :)

It is so sad to me to think that tomorrow I will wake up and it will all be over. It will be like today never happened. The magic will be gone and it will just be another cold day. It makes me yearn to live somewhere where it snows often in the winter ... maybe someday ;-) ...

On the plus side, I am going to Colorado next Thursday night, so hopefully I will see some more snow while I am there as well.

Michael Jackson moves

I forgot to post about another funny story from my day. We were talking about all the Thanksgiving related things we were going to do on Monday and Tuesday which got the kids thinking about holidays which led to Christmas. They started discussing amongst themselves our class holiday party which we will have in a few weeks.

Later in the day one of my kids came up to me and told me he had a great idea for the holiday party. I asked him what it was and he beckoned me down to him to whisper in my ear.

"We should get the Michael Jackson Christmas CD to listen to! Wouldn't that be great?!?"

I sort of did a smile and nod sort of move and he walked back to his seat. A minute later I look up and the kid is totally standing by his desk silently doing a Michael Jackson type dance. I am not even kidding, I almost fell on the floor it was so darn cute and hilarious! I love kids!! I'm laughing now just thinking about how funny it was. Wish I had a video.

Missy, this kid could totally give you a run for your money. I mean MC Hammer meets Hillary Duff is pretty good, but this was on the same sort of level :-P hahaha

New Moon

This was just laugh out loud funny today, so I thought I would go ahead and share. One of our school ESL teachers has started coming in my room daily and asked if she could teach some writing lessons. Um, OF COURSE! It's wonderful ... really wonderful! (especailly wonderful considering I am ESL certified so no one is required to come in, let alone do any teaching).

Anyway, totally not the point of the story (but a happy spot in my day nonetheless). So Judy was in my room today to teach writing, and while the kids were getting things out and ready she asked me, "what time are you going to the theater tonight". I looked at her with this what are yout talking about face before I realized that we are facebook friends so she had seen that I was going to the midnight showing of New Moon tonight. Once it clicked I told her we were going to get there around 11, and at about this time one of my kids pipes up (a boy no less!), "are you going to see New Moon??" I turned to him shocked and he repeated it, "are you going to see the midnight showing of New Moon tonight? Is that what you are talking about? My mom told me about it being tonight". Judy and I just about died laughing. How funny! Would NOT have expected a kid to know about that, let alone put together that me going to a theater tonight meant that I would be going to see that movie. haha

Awesome day!

Today was such a wonderful day! In my classroom it was one of those days where the kids just listened, learned, and did everything exactly like I asked ... For example:

During our reading block the kids were so focused on doing their work during daily 5 that I was able to pull groups the full time, was not interrupted once, and the kids I worked with were able to practice new skills effectively. I love when that happens!

Then during writers workshop I was teaching the kids how to "hook" the reader by starting their stories with an exclamation. I shared examples of published authors that had used this strategy and challenged the kids to try it out in their work. Every day I teach them something good writers do and challenge them to try it. They aren't required to though, it's just a challenge to help them improve their writing. Today, I had multiple kids that did it effectively on the first try! YAY! They listened to me, were pumped up about it, and then tried it successfully.

In math we took a test over unit 6. 7 kids made a 100, 13 more made an A, and 1 made a B. Only one student needs re-teaching over the concept. That just rocks!

Then after school one of the parents of a student invited me to a celebration for their son for completing this academic program he has been involved in for the past 6 months. He has worked SO hard and has shown so much progress as a result (I had him last year and this year so I can really tell). I got there thinking there were going to be a number of people (it was sort of like a graduation) but then I realized it was actual this intimate family celebration. It warmed my heart that they had wanted me to come be a part of that. I love that kid to death. I am so proud of him. He seemed so proud of himself that it really just made my day!

And finally I got to meet up with my favorite kid in the world and her mom for dinner. I hadn't seen her since before school started and have been missing her like crazy! I totally miss seeing that kid in my classroom every day. It was wonderful to see them and catch up. I had such a nice time. It was a great end to a great day!

To make matters even better, I have tomorrow off to go to the Women of Faith conference. I have been looking forward to this for months and just can't wait! I feel like right now more than ever, I really need it. Should be a nice boost to get me through the rest of the semester. I'm sure I'll fill you in on the details after I get home on Saturday. :)

Guppies and Snails

Today I introduced my class to their guppies and aquatic snails. Our fall science kit is all about organisms, so we have been spending the past few weeks talking about living things and their needs, and setting up habitats for different types of organisms. Well, our guppies and aquatic snails came in the mail Wed after school, but since we had a field trip yesterday I didn't introduce them to the kids until this afternoon. Man were they excited!! Each table group has their own aquarium with 3-4 guppies, 5 aquatic snails, and an aquatic plant, elodea. We spent this afternoon observing the aquariums and writing about our observations.

The kids decided they needed to give their new creatures names. One table group had 3 male guppies, and 3 boys at the table, so they named their guppies after each boy. Too cute. Some of my favorite names included:

- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Snails Stinky (that would be first, middle, and last name LOL!)

- Dark Chocolate "because his shell is brown, like dark chocolate, duh"

and my all time favorite:

- Froggy "you can't just say 'froggy', you have to say it long and do your hands like this *jazz hands* 'frogggaayyy'!" I just about died laughing at this one!

Balance

Today I was working with a student at my table while the rest of the kids were doing independent work. I heard a large crash so I looked up to find one of my students on the floor, with their chair on top of them, and some of the things from their desk spewed about around them:

me: Um, what just happened?

student: Oh! Sorry, sorry! I just need to work on my balance, that's all.

student's neighbor: She just fell out of her chair. She was just sitting there and all of a sudden she fell. I don't know what happened!

later in the day the same student knocks into a table spilling a bunch of things over:

me: are you okay?

student: Oh, sorry! I just have to work on my balance!

Apparently balance is not a skill you can acquire without much practice. Who knew?

kids say the darndest things

Here is a conversation I had at recess today:

Student 1: Ms. McCormack, what does vegetarian mean?

me: It means a person who doesn't eat meat.

Student 1: Oh, yeah, of course, I knew that.

me: Are you a vegetarian S?

Student 1: oh, no no, not me. are you?

me: yeah, I am

Student 2: OH NO!!!! THAT MEANS YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE OF MY DAD'S AMAZING HAND-GU-BURGERS!!

me: his what?!??

Student 2: hand-gu-burgers! He makes the best ones EVER! They are so much better than the school hand-gu-burgers!

That's right .... hand-gu-bugers.

LOVE IT!

cute things kids say

Kids can say the cutest things sometimes! Today I was walking the bus riders out to their bus while talking to a little girl I had in my class last year. She told me she had kind of a rough day and I asked her why.

"because, I had the hicumups all day long!"

hic-u-mups. too darn cute!

Second Grade Writing

I have literally been living under a mountain of papers that need to be graded or checked. It is unbelievable how quickly I get behind in grading! I am incredibly bad about checking any papers the day the kids do them, and the result is a very large mound of papers by the weekend. If I don't get them all done over the weekend, that just adds to the pile for the next week, and so on and so forth.

Today I decided I needed to tackle some of this paper mountain. My living room floor had basically become inaccessible, so it was time. I was grading some of my kids' writing and I came across this paper. This student speaks English as a second language. Just tell me this is not the cutest writing ever (spelling corrected to increase the readability for non teachers):

"My dad is a China people and me too. We just have a little money because we are new to this world. We speak Chinese. Some people are english and some people are chinese peoples."

Too cute!

Something else I really love about kids is when they get words wrong, but don't know it. Today one of my kids called me over and we had this conversation:

student: how to you spell "jippy"

me: I don't think jippy is a word, can you use it in a sentence?

student: you know, they got here in a "jippy"

me: oh, you mean jiffy? They got here in a jiffy.

student: no, not jiffy. jippy. really fast; in a jippy!

They continued to argue with me back and forth for a few minutes. They were convinced that the word was "jippy". Oh I love kids!

"love" letters from students

Thursday after school I was flipping through the kids' homework from the night before to check over it, when I came across this:

It's from a kid that I'm pretty sure DOES in fact like me, so it was more funny than anything. I totally showed it off to another lady on my team, and called Missy to tell her about it after school.

Well, yesterday I decided that I would call this child up to my desk and ask them to read it to me. I was wondering if they would read it as is, get uncomfortable, or just read it straight out. So I call the kid up to my desk and ask them to read this note to which they reply very enthusiastically, "Dear Ms. McCormack, I don't like you!!!". I sort of paused for a moment to see if it would sink in to this child what they had just said to me, but no, it def did not. I honestly had to control the laughter, I was quite amused. I asked why they would write something mean like that on their homework to which they replied, "because I just hate it when you give me homework. I don't like homework!" haha. Just as I suspected, this kid clearly likes me, I get hugs and stories all the time; they just don't like homework! hahaha