Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I need to write this stuff down...

I am loving 1st grade. I have a very "active" class but they are also sweet and funny! Some great moments so far:

* I had a little "come to Jesus meeting" with three of my students the other day because they were being very, very chatty during Writer's Workshop. After letting them know that I was sad/mad and that they would be practicing writing quietly at recess, G. comes up to me crying.. "But Mrs. Pennywell... Do you still love me?" ---He can be so cute sometimes...

*I was teaching my class how to write initials, "You write the first letter of your first name, and the first letter of your last name. Like mine is LP, because my name is Leslee Pennywell"
J: "WAIT... your first name isn't 'Mrs'??"

* me: "G, what can I do to help you to sit still and listen when we are on the carpet?" G: "Well... just tell me to listen and I am gonna try real hard, ok??"

*I was talking to C. while we were writing "Well, I am writing this story about when I was a baby. And I remember because my dad told me about it.. he was holding me, and we were at a wedding, and I kept sticking my finger in his beer and then licking it because it tasted so good" ... alrightyyy.

*When I was about to read a book one day, I was holding it up and talking about it.. I was talking about the author and there was a picture of a man on the back of the book.. one of my students yells "ITS JESUS!!!"

*C: "Mrs. Pennywell, I know not to put my middle finger up because that means you hate God. And No body should ever do that because why would you hate God??!"

They are cute, and innocent. I really need to write stuff down, I laugh to myself several times a day and wish there was another adult in the room because this stuff is hilarious :)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Mrs. Pennywinkle

I know I have SO many avid readers out there who are wondering where I have been (.. ok, I know there are at least like 3 of you...) Well, school has been in session for 2 weeks now, and it has absolutely consumed my life! I could write for days about all the things that have happened, but let me try to summarize somehow....
*Mrs. Pennywinkle: many of my students called me this on the first day, I have no idea why but it helped to calm my nerves and make me laugh!

*Nerves: I was SO nervous, to the point that I knew I was being absolutely ridiculous. Looking back I don't really know why I was... but I am glad I have my very first day of teaching behind me!

*My class: I have 14 students (I know.. that is amazing!) Yes, it is a public school. haha. My school really tries to keep our classes small! They are precious 6 year olds who refer to me as "mommy" about as much as they refer to me as "Mrs. Pennywell".. and sometimes they throw an "S" in there to make it "pennywells". Its ok, my name is really long so I understand the desire they feel to throw other random letters in... ? But they are really a good class. I have NINE boys, yeeeah. I was thinking before I started that girls are easier to teach, and I must say.. they really are! I have one student who is very hard to deal with, of course I won't say names on here but we will just refer to him as C. He does not have a good home life, and he has a muscle disorder which slows him down, and causes him to fall alot. He is precious though, and my heart feels for him everyday. I know he has GOT to be making me a better teacher, haha! :)

*My days: I get to school at 7 am usually (the kids come in at 8 but this gives me lots of time to get stuff ready) and I usually leave around 5:30... yeeah. They are long days, but I have a sweet hubby who is always greeting me at home and ready to hear about my day.

*Speaking of my husband, my students are fasicnated with him. I have not talked about Drew since the first day, and on Wed. I mentioned him.. they were asking "WHO is DREW??" as if I had disclosed very important infromation from them... I reminded them that he was my husband.... Then they all snickered, smiled, and asked tons of questions about him. All the way down to "What color are his eyes?"

*I have learned how much paperwork comes with teaching, there is so much documenting, keeping track of each child... its very tiring. This is something I never had to do in Student Teaching and did not realize how tiring it is.

*I love my job! Sometimes I might not want to wake up, but once I get to school and my kids come in I am always happy to be there! :) I had a part day sub last Wed. because I had a meeting to go to, when I got to school my students were SO excited and acted like they had not seen me in weeks, haha! This is my first class and I know all of them will always be very special to me, my job is very tiring, but has more rewards then I can even count!



Ok, that is it in a nut-shell! At some point I am going to take some pictures of my room so you can see how much it has changed now with students :) But honestly... I don't know when I will be on here again, haha!