Me: "G, I am very proud of you, you have been making good choices and working hard, way to go!"
G: "Can you start paying me for being good?"
In his defense, there was a book fair going on, he wanted those awesome erasers.. ohh goodness.
I was reading a big book with my students one day and practicing reading strategies. I pointed to the word "playing" and asked M. "How do you think I can figure out what this word says?" He replied... Mrs. Pennywell, I think you know what that word is.
----Hey, at least he thinks I am smart!
They also are very fascinated with Drew and everything about him.. they keep asking me if I will bring him to show- and-tell. (They have given up asking about bringing Lucy because I told them she was really scared of kids... which sadly is true.) haha
Well, there are a million more but I am tired and can't think of them at the moment!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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 :)
* 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!
*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!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Making Progress!
Sorry Blogger, you certainly have been on the back-burner lately! Drew and I have been adjusting to both of us working, he has been an awesome helper which has been great for me :) My kids don't start until Aug. 25 (in case you do not realize.. that's REAL soon..) but I have been very busy attending workshops, new teacher orientations, oh and working on my classroom! I have made a lot of progress though since this. So it is nice to walk in there and not just want to climb in a cabinet and hibernate. (yeah, I seriously felt like that a few weeks ago, haha) I also had about 50 to-do lists going and I am down to one, consolidated list! AND things are getting checked off on it like crazy! Anyways... here are some pictures!
When you walk in the door this is what you see! One of my grandma's friends made my curtains, and next weekend I am going to make pillows out of the same fabric for my kids to sit on at the library station. (take note of the pink bookshelf to the left, I have a story about that...)
Well, that is the progression so far! I can't wait to be finished with it, although I know it is such a work in progress since I will prob. change a lot once my students come and I figure out what works for us and what does not! If you notice some of my walls are bare its not because I am boring.. haha. My school really encourages us to build our classrooms with our students, so my library is empty, and all my other walls are blank besides this one and my calender. As we make stories together on chart paper and sentence strips I will put those on the wall (so yes I get to see my handwriting.. EVERYWHERE.) But it really gives the kids ownership, and they can look at something and remember learning that! So I had to part with a lot of cute posters, signs, etc. But I def. see how important it is that the kids have ownership!
So now my pink shelf story, to the left of the bookcase is all cabinet space (you can see it in my first post..) Well tonight I had Drew come up to the school and help me organize some stuff in my storage room. Anyways.. I found this border my teacher left that says "Reach for the Start" and is really cute! I wanted to hang it above the TALL shelves... so I climbed up there with the stapler as Drew handed me pieces of border! I had a tiny crawl space and got it all done, but was terrified to get down and Drew had to spend a good 2 minutes convencing me I would be ok. Yeah... you prob. "had to be there", but it was pretty funny. I will take a picture of that super cute border soon, it was totally worth it to me :)
Well, that's all from Mrs. Pennywell. Have a great week :)
When you walk in the door this is what you see! One of my grandma's friends made my curtains, and next weekend I am going to make pillows out of the same fabric for my kids to sit on at the library station. (take note of the pink bookshelf to the left, I have a story about that...)
Well, that is the progression so far! I can't wait to be finished with it, although I know it is such a work in progress since I will prob. change a lot once my students come and I figure out what works for us and what does not! If you notice some of my walls are bare its not because I am boring.. haha. My school really encourages us to build our classrooms with our students, so my library is empty, and all my other walls are blank besides this one and my calender. As we make stories together on chart paper and sentence strips I will put those on the wall (so yes I get to see my handwriting.. EVERYWHERE.) But it really gives the kids ownership, and they can look at something and remember learning that! So I had to part with a lot of cute posters, signs, etc. But I def. see how important it is that the kids have ownership!
So now my pink shelf story, to the left of the bookcase is all cabinet space (you can see it in my first post..) Well tonight I had Drew come up to the school and help me organize some stuff in my storage room. Anyways.. I found this border my teacher left that says "Reach for the Start" and is really cute! I wanted to hang it above the TALL shelves... so I climbed up there with the stapler as Drew handed me pieces of border! I had a tiny crawl space and got it all done, but was terrified to get down and Drew had to spend a good 2 minutes convencing me I would be ok. Yeah... you prob. "had to be there", but it was pretty funny. I will take a picture of that super cute border soon, it was totally worth it to me :)
Well, that's all from Mrs. Pennywell. Have a great week :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Silly Me..
I have been so worried/anxious/nervous about the upcoming school year! Today I went to my school from 8:30-3:30 to plan the curriculum for literacy, I was worried about the silliest things such as.. what to wear! ha! I showed up and spent the day with my 1st grade team, they are seriously some of the sweetest women, ever! Oh and amazing teachers! I won't get into all the teaching terms, but God has put me at an amazing school! We have such good resources and they truly truly care about their students. I now am not nervous and so excited :) AND I even have my class schedule.. as I typed it out and wrote "Mrs. Pennywell's Class Schedule" I could not help but smile! Isn't it funny how we spend SO much time worrying even though we have a Sovereign God who always takes care of us, and never gives us more then we can handle? Oh silly me! :)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
baking= procrastinating...
Don't worry.. they are not fattening.... I .. promise?Well I worked on my classroom for a bit.. then decided to come home and bake! For one, today Drew and I have been married 2 months and I knew he would love a baked treat, and two.. being in my classroom reeally stresses me out. I have to make up a class schedule?? So many things I have never thought about... ah!
Anyways, I started to make some sugar cookies, I made these a few weeks ago, but changed the recipe up a bit today and well.. I'm not trying to brag.. but these are GOOD! So if you ever need sugar cookies, this is a good one!
1/2 cup of butter -- I LOVE "I cant believe its not butter" baking sticks--amazing!
1/2 cup of shortening
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
4 tsp. of vanilla (thats a total guess... I just put a LOT, seriously.. you can't have too much!)
2 1/4 cup of flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
In your mixer cream the butter, shortening, and sugar. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl combine the flou, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the egg and vanilla to the mixer(the butter, crisco, and sugar mixture). Mix on Med. for approx. 1 min. Gradually add the flour mixture to this batter. Now, if you want to make cookie shapes I would add a bit more flour, roll it up into a loaf, sprinkle sugar on it, and put it in the fridge for a few hours in wax paper. Today I did not make shapes, so this is what I did:
I rolled the mixture into balls, I rolled the balls in a bowl of sugar (def. do this!) next, put the balls on a cookie sheet and flatten them with the bottom of a glass cup! Bake at 350 for approx 10 minutes, dont let them brown though! Take them out and put on cooling racks, now for the icing.. this is my favorite icing that I use for cookies always, it dries fast, is super easy, and taste great!
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. almond extract
I never really follow exact measurements here, just kind of eye it for how much I need. Just follow this the first time then you will get the hang of it. You just add all of these in a bowl (no specific order) if its too thick just add more corn syrup, but stir it a LOT and it will thin up! And I always add extra almond extract.. I loove that stuff!
One more thing.... My aunt Genie got me this cookie sheet for graduation, it is from "Doughmakers" and it is seriously the best thing...ever! I bake a lot, and I am so picky now I only use this one, its awesome! You can see it here http://www.doughmakers.com/grandcookiesheet.htm ... it has this crackly look to it, I dunno what it is but it makes things bake perfect and never stick!
I love that our oven has this little window, I am sure most people have this.. But I never had one in college, and I really think it just makes baking so much better :)
WHOOP!
The above picture was taken as we were getting ready to graduate, it is of me and my friend Emily! Emily and I met at our first semester at A&M in Chemistry.. yeah Em was def the ONLY good thing about chemistry! We took just about every single class together after that, and were pretty much inseparable! Why am I randomly telling you all of this?? Because Emily got a JOB yesterday! So many girls from my class have been on the job hunt (and many still are!) But Emily got a call yesterday from Midland ISD and will be teaching 3rd grade! Even though our classrooms will be approx 8 hours apart, it is comforting to know we can relate to each other and help each other through this 1st year as teachers!
Yesterday 2 girls from my team (other 1st grade teachers) called me to invite me to come to the prof. development we are having at our school next week (this ones not mandatory, and you get payed!) Anyways, they left the sweetest voice mail and really made me more excited about the school year! Its not that I am not excited... I guess its just mostly nervous right now since I have SO much to do... and not really sure how I want to do anything! haha.. on that note.. I am off to work on my classroom!
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