Dolphins, and Whales, and Sea Turtles, oh my!

I don't know about other 2nd grade teachers, but I'm so busy trying to teach Math and Reading skills, I often find myself struggling to fit in Science and Social Studies.  (which I LOVE teaching by the way)

Recently, I found this wonderful freebie on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It's an ocean animal fact book.  This 9 weeks, one of the skills we are supposed to be working on is habitats.  So I downloaded this, printed it off, had the students color it and got them stapled together.  Right before our Snow (ice) day last Thursday, we started watching videos on you tube about dolphins.  I  wrote down their favorite facts on the board, then let them choose 3 to write on their dolphin page.

 Here's the link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ocean-Animal-Fact-Book-Blank-735958

Then, I did a Google image search and found a picture of a dolphin with its parts labeled and had the students draw it in their journal.  I have some really great little artists this year.

 Next was sea turtles.  I also found a Google image of a sea turtle life cycle.  Guess we'll have to go back and find one for the dolphin.
The shark is next.  They are really excited about that one!

This turtle was not traced.  I think I have an artist on my hands. 

I am really getting into using Journals in my classroom.  I have always used a Writing Journal but over the last few years, I've begun to expand.  This year, my students have a Writing, Reading Skills, Math,  and Science/Social Studies Journal.  My students are LOVING their journals.  One day, after gluing a completed Math poster/activity, one of my students said, "Mrs. Thompson, I love our Math Journals. It's like a learning tool. And I'm learning a lot!"  HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!

And I'm LOVING the teachers pay teachers site.  There are so many free items available.  (the ocean fact book is FREE)  One of my 2nd grade coworkers and I seem to share a brain when it comes to ideas and often anytime we do buy something on TPT, we share it with each other.  Earlier this year, she bought and shared an interactive Reading Notebook. Here's the link.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2nd-Grade-Reading-Interactive-Notebook-aligned-with-the-Common-Core-765272

Ice and Sound of Music

SNOW DAY!!!

Well, actually, nasty weather, sleet and ice day, but we got the same result...NO SCHOOL! Yippee!

I went to the grocery store this morning, not becaue of the storm, but because we were completly out of groceries.  At first, I thought maybe we could chance it in case we did get iced in, but then I realized we were out of dog food and toliet paper. Those 2 items were enough to get me moving!

This gathering of groceries had me giggling.
 I don't know what it is about snow days or holidays,
 one should always have cinnamon rolls on hand.

All the trees are icy and up until a little while ago, the rain and sleet was coming down continually.  But I think it's stopped now.  The streets even look fairly dry. It's supposed to get even colder tonight and then start all over again this weekend.  Our power blinked once earlier today but so far so good.  On facebook, a couple of friends have reported their power is out.  I already texted my mom and told her if ours goes out, we're packing up and heading her way with some firewood.  She has a nice, brick, REAL fireplace.  All we have is a gas fireplace that has never worked and we've never had anyone try to repair it.

After my grocery run, putting food away, semi-organizing the pantry and coking up some ground beef to freeze, I've been useless.  I've been bundled up on the couch playing on facebook, texting with my mom and watching The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood and Steven Moyer.  I've been loving seeing vampire Bill sing and dance!

Carrie and Steven in Sound of Music

Steven and Anna as Bill and Sookie in True Blood.
They're married in real life.

I think it stinks that they're giving Carrie all these bad reviews.  I mean, come on people!  She's not an actress!  I think she did pretty well. Yeah, she was a little wooden at times and her chemistry with the Captain was, well, not there, but it was live tv and I guess this was her first time doing something like this.  I watched and was entertained.  I especially loved seeing Audra McDonald play the Abbess.  Her rendition of Climb Every Mountain had me in tears!  I also like the guy that was in Smash.  And the Von Trapp children were oh so talented!  When I told my mom who Steven Moyer was, she said, "Well, the vampire can sing and dance!" haha (and fyi, my maiden name is Compton)

So there you have it...my very own review of the Sound of Music. 

Bundled up on the couch with my book
and a cozy, sweet Maude. We kept one another warm.

We still haven't put up our Christmas tree or any decorations.  Poor Stewart is frantically working, trying to finish the last of his assignments for this semester.  For his 3D Design class, he had to build a glider.  It has to fly a certain distance.  We just practiced with it and it worked alright.  Then he strapped a Star Wars action figure to the front and it did even better!

The ice is supposed to come back this weekend...I SO wouldn't mind if we were out Monday too! Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks and Giving

I love Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite holiday.  Don't get me wrong...I adore Christmas, but there's just something about Thanksgiving.  It's peaceful and relaxing.  The calm before the storm I suppose. For me, it's sweet time with family.  Of course, GOOD food. I LOOOOVE pecan pie.  It's not Thanksgiving without pecan pie. Thanksgiving is a time of thoughtful reflection.  It's giving thanks for blessings.  It's thinking about the year before and having another with friends and family.  It's embracing the past and looking forward to our future.

 

It's also all about homemade dressing, honey ham, turkey, hash brown casserole and whatever other delicious goodies family makes.  Did I mention my mom's speciality?   PUMPKIN ROLL!!!!!  Oh. My. GOODNESS.  I basically eat myself silly with that stuff.   

I'm also one of those people who shun everything Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. I just feel as though I need to protect Thanksgiivng.  It seems to get looked over with all of Christmas' glory.

But holidays lately are difficult for Stewart and I.  Even though we may be making progress in dealing with it all, pretty much any holiday digs into our infertility scars and hurts us.  It's yet another reminder that we haven't been successful in starting a family.  

It's cruel and it's unfair. 

It's hard.

It's hard being around your relatives and their small children watching them enjoy all the fun.  

It's hard being on the outside looking in.  Feeling like you're not really a part of things.  Like you're living on the fringes.

It's hard watching the kids being counted so they can draw names to exchange Christmas gifts for one another.

It's hard seeing CUTE little holiday outfits on the girls knowing I may never get to order something like that with a name embroidered on it.

So, I just watch.  Mostly try to turn away.  I try not to seem rude, but I just don't play with the kids. I watch them run around with all their cousins. And I'm sad because it's just one more year we're childless. One more year with all the other kids growing and getting older and we just continue to stay in the same place.

This year, as we do most years, we spend the actual day with Stewart's parents, his brother Jason and his family.  It's always a good time with good food and visiting and getting caught up.

Mary's famous (& delicious cheese-ball), my Buffalo Chicken Dip,
& Carrie made Crap Dip in the crock-pot.  Yes, We enjoy our food!

Stewart's mom, Mary, made delicious ham, chicken, dressing,
homemade rolls and several other goodies.

Mary and I being silly in the kitchen

Our cozy Thanksgiving table

Me and Stewart

We were all so busy eating, laughing and talking about what was going to happen next on The Walking Dead, I forgot to try to get a family picture of all of us.  I was going to say at least I got a picture of everyone on here, but I realized there isn't on of the Patriarch...Joe!  Sorry Papa Joe...I LOVE YOU!!!  We'll do better at Christmas!

Next, is Brewer Thanksgiving in Huntington, Tn with my mom's brothers and sisters(there are 7 of them), all my cousins and our families.  One brother and his family and one cousin and her family were not there.  We still probably had about 40 folks there.  Everyone brings a dish (or 2) and we eat our hearts out.  

This is the dessert table. Notice the TWO pecan pies there?  And yes, I had a piece of each. And yes, they were BOTH delicious.  I have to also mention that chocolate pie....holy cow!!  My Granny would always make one for me when we would visit and none have EVER been able to compare.  But this one, came mighty close!

Here is our Thanksgiving Family picture 2013.  It's a little blurry, but it's the best one we could get.  We had to take a BUNCH. My sweet, little cousin Brady decided he wanted to be in the picture. So we took one with him. But then he decided to show us his awesome photo bomb skills....we were laughing like crazy.

I had to get a picture of Maude and Wyatt in here...can't leave the babies out.  Notice those pretty little pillows they're making themselves comfortable on?  Those pillows were NOT to become dog beds when I bought them. But, I figured since it's Thanksgiving, I'd let them relax just this once.

Oh, who am I kidding?! They have completely taken over those pillows and they did it long before Thanksgiving!

Evaluation and PIE

This blog post is not about infertility. It's about what I do 180 days a year from 8:45-4:30, 5 days a week. (not counting after school hours, faculty meetings, tutoring, working at home, etc)

You may have guessed if this is your first time reading...yep, I'm a teacher!

2nd is the grade and education is the game.

This is the 3rd year of the new Tennessee evaluation system for teachers. It's highly flawed and stressful. And that's all I'm going to say about that here.

My 1st evaluation of this year was last Thursday.  Because of the stress and the ridiculously long and detailed rubric we have to refer to, I become more and more nervous every time.  This is my 11th year of teaching, and while I'm confident in my abilities to teach 2nd graders, this whole process makes me doubt everything I know.

Anyway, I decided to do my evaluation lesson on Author's Purpose.  It's usually a pretty fun lesson to teach and the students always seem to catch on pretty quickly.  Plus I've found (and borrowed) several fun posters and activities from the web and teaching blogs I follow.

Soooo, what IS Author's Purpose you ask? Well, I'll tell you...It's as easy as PIE!

P-Persuade

I-Inform

E-Entertain

Get it?

Cute. Right!?

I LOVE using my SmartBoard to search posters in the web and trace them for my room.

I follow a wonderful 2nd grade blog. Step into 2nd Grade.  Amy Lemons is a fantastic teacher and has THE CUTEST ideas.  I follow her (and often) purchase her ideas, lesson, centers on Teachers Pay Teachers.

At the beginning of the lesson, I had the students sort some classroom library books I had already pulled. They took their book and stood next to the student who was holding the correct poster.  Then they had to tell me why their book fell into that particular category.  To all my Tennessee teachers, I made them give me their "evidence!" I done good, huh?

They did SUCH a good job!  I was really proud of them and the answers they gave me.  I feel like they did well with my higher order thinking questions I asked them.

All the while, my principal was sitting there typing everything we did and said into her iPad.  I have a good relationship with my principal, but when she's in there evaluating me, all my words and my brain turn to mush.  I have to totally ignore her and make a conscious effort to turn my back to her.  Although, she teased me after it was all over for NOT twisting my hair.  Apparently, I do this A LOT.

After our book sorting on our big Reading carpet, we moved to our desks and watched 2 interactive powerpoints I found on www.smartexchange.com.  My students really got into it and made me look really good. At least, I think that was the case.

Then each child individually used their assigned book and worked on this Author's Purpose "book report".  I can't remember if I got this from Amy Lemons' site or just pulled it off the web.

Again, they did great with it!

 

 

Next was a sorting mat using Scholastic book order forms I never passed out.  It turned out to be the best little activity.  Well, pretty much anything they get to cut and paste usually works out pretty well.  They looked through the little magazine, decided which book would match to each author's purpose and glue it in the appropriate column.

  

They were all so precise in completing this.

Each student made their own PIE.  They LOVED it! I told them to copy our posters for the front.

 

Underneath, they chose one book that matched, drew the cover and a sentence explaining why it fell under that category.

Our wall display.  The posters are what we used for our book sort.

I'd give myself a 5! I enjoyed teaching this and I'm pretty sure my students enjoyed learning.  I can guarantee that if you walked in my classroom right now and asked them about Author's Purpose, they would be able to tell you all about it.  Then explain how they know they're right!

Santa Pj's and The Little Couple

This blog is brought to you by the super cute Santa Clause pj's for little kids I saw online and how it made me sad, but how I'm determined to deal with the sad but also love the good I DO have in my life.

Also, Stewart and I watched a few episodes of The Little Couple on TLC last night. 
They adopted a cute little boy from China and are beginning the surgeries he needs because of his dwarfism. 

Oh Jen Arnold...can I please be like you when I grow up?

It made us both realize just how much love, but also fear and stress parents have to deal with sometimes. 
I think watching made us realize that maybe we DO want to become parents however that may happen.  The catch, though, is dealing with and I guess getting over the death of the original dream. Which is to have a child the traditional way and that looks like us. 

I know that ANY child we may have one day will be ours.  No matter HOW that child comes to us.
But it's difficult letting go of your original plans.  And I'm just stubborn.  I want what I want when I want it. HOW I want it. Dang it!!

I mean, I know having a kid is expensive, but adopting is even more so.  There are so many what's, if's and but's.  And I'm just tired. Can't one thing be easy.

But then I watch The Little Couple.  I see how HAPPY they are.  How happy little Will is.  And can we just say how PERFECT it is that in all the whole, wide world, they found this sweet, little boy who needed them so much.  All they have gone through in both their lives seem to have led them to adopting a child with exactly what they are so well versed in.  And are able to provide all he needs in order to live a happy, healthy life.

That's GOD people.  

In every tiny detail of their whole story.  He is RIGHT THERE. 
Things like this are SUCH confirmation in my soul.
THIS is the sort of thing I'm talking in my other posts when I talk about having Faith and how I KNOW God is there in our tiny details. And how I'm able to keep going and look toward the future. Whatever that may be.
Life with a child or without.

So I guess the real question here is are we willing to trust enough. Whatever the Lord has planned for us. Are we willing to let go of what we expected and just allow Him to do His thing?

Life, Stress and Seasons

I can't believe I've gone so long without writing a new post...or maybe I can.

Life happens. Stress happens.

Stewart is about to finish his first semester of art school and has been working like a mad artist on a mission. He has made wire sculptures, painted and put together shapes to make a wood sculpture, cut wood in the school wood shop, and sketched and drawn his heart out.  I have accompanied him on numerous trips to Lowe's to buy all kinds of materials for all these school projects. 
Next on the list is that he has to make a glider out of his chosen materials.  It cannot be a copy of another design and has to fly in a straight line off a balcony for a certain distance.  
He has been busy.

So have I.
Being a teacher these days is not at all what I signed up for 11 years ago.  It's political, stressful, ridiculous and sad.  I actually took Monday off so that I can prepare for my 1st evaluation coming up on Thursday.

This frog made me laugh.  I need to be more like this frog.

In order to help us out with funds, I started tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30-6:30.
It's actually not bad.  One of the best things is that traffic is usually pretty clear and I can jet on home in about 30 minutes instead of the usual 45 minutes-1 hour snail's pace.  Plus, I feel I'm able to help some of our 2nd graders become better readers and build a stronger foundation in Math.

Right now, it's about 9:00 on Saturday night.
Earlier, we met our friends Chris and Carla and their 2 year old Charlie for dinner.
There is a GREAT pizza place around the corner. It was good to meet up, catch up and eat up for a bit.
Now, I'm catching up on my DVR shows while blogging.  Stewart is in his art room working on all his art stuff.

I LOVE our weekends.  I wish we were independently wealthy and could just stay at home.  All the time.

I guess another reason it's been so long since I've posted is that my feelings and emotions have and are changing about infertility and trying to start a family.  I'm still not sure how I feel...
But with Stewart in school and not having found a part time job yet, we are scraping by.

Don't get me wrong.  I believe with all my heart Stewart is where he's supposed to be and doing exactly what he should.  I'm so proud of him and we both know all the struggling will pay off one day soon.

But it also makes me glad I'm not pregnant or that we have a baby or small child right now.
I just feel like while Stewart is in school and we are surviving on just my income, now is not a good time to get preggers.

I know, I know, if it happens, it will be a wonderful thing and I know the Lord will take of us.  I also think He wants us to use our brain and be smart about things.

Stewart and I have discussed it all..as we do often, and have both agreed that if we're not pregnant by the time he's finished with school, we will probably be interested in looking into adoption.
But I'm not even sure I want to do that.

I'm beginning to wonder if we're too old.
 For a while, I was really woried about what people would think, but now I think I'm over that.
I'm starting to get to point in my life that I am beginning to to really not care what people think. Mostly.

Now I'm just wondering if I'll just be too tired.  There are a lot of positives in living child free. And Stewart and I love sleeping in.

Of course, now that the holidays are here, it brings up the hurt of not having a child or even the real hope of providing fun and magic for them during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Even though my emotions are in check lately, it's still painful seeing others post their pictures of their kids doing all the holiday things and seeing fall and winter family pictures.


I wonder from time time why Stewart and I didn't meet earlier.
He always says it's because neither of us were ready. Or he'll say I wouldn't have liked him them.  Who knows.
I DO wish we had met sooner. That we had been given more time to try for a child.
That we would have been able to discover we were infertile at an earlier age.
But we didn't meet when we were younger.  We met when we were in our mid-30's.
Already past prime baby making/having time.

Every time I start going down this thought path, I always come back around to my Faith.  I know there is a reason for everything.  There is a reason why Stewart and I didn't meet sooner.  There is a reason why it's still just us and our sweet doggies.
 And for me, that makes sense.  If I'm going to say I'm a Christian and believe in God.  I have to accept it all.  And that acceptance just starts to become natural.
 I DON'T understand a lot of things that do or don't happen.  But I trust in my Savior and I KNOW that He has good things for me.

So for this season of art school for Stewart and teaching 2nd grade for me and remaining childless, I am accepting it.
Also, life is just too short to go around depressed, trying to make something happen that just is not happening.

I'm learning to be happy in this season and all my seasons.

Short and Sweet

1.My  co worker, who has been on maternity leave, came to school this afternoon with her little girl.  I got wind of it before she arrived and hid in my room with my classroom door closed and locked.  I cringed every-time someone knocked on my door completely stressed about my reaction if she would have walked in.

2. I find it unnecessarily cruel that the feminine products are located DIRECTLY in the middle of all the baby supplies and the condoms, pregnancy tests and ovulation kits.  And that I had to stand DIRECTLY in the middle making my choice while a woman on one end was choosing baby food and formula and some guy was making a selection on the other end. 

3.  See picture below

It's all better now.....