Organization Obsession

One of my favorite boards to post to on pinterest is my Organization Obsession board. 

Because I'm obsessed with being organized.

Sometimes I over-organize things so much that it becomes a burden to keep up with and thus leads to many piles around the house.

I realize this defeats the purpose.

But I love the thrill of coming up with a good "system."

Even when that system becomes hard to maintain.

And eventually I may revamp the system into a workable system.

This is success.

So enough talk... on to my current favorite organized spot in my house...

my children's books "library."

You see, as a teacher you buy a lot of books for your classroom.  And over the years, I've collected a lot of books.

But, my new classroom is shared with a 7th grade class on Monday, Wed, Friday.

So there is not room for all of my books.

Instead I take in a stack of books that are seasonally appropriate and put them on my 2 shelves.

the rest stay at home.

So last August, I organized my books by season or topic and put up dividers, now I can quickly reach in and grab the books I need.

I love this system. And seeing it every time I open the closet makes my heart happy! 
Oh to be organized!

Paint chip snowmen

I found this adorable craft on pinterest and we made them in class the other day. I forgot my camera, so I took some pics on my phone and now I'm trying to write my first post from my phone. Not sure if I can intersperse comments in between photos.

So let me tell you- I love the colors. I love the BIG noses that look like ducks. And I love the little boy who made his snowman look like himself- glasses and all.

Enjoy!

Oh, is that who that is??

She was working so hard on her painting.

She looked up long enough to tell me, "I'm painting God. And look, there's His woman!"

How Many Times?

As I followed the other kindergarten class through the hallways, I watched the 2 girls in the back jump down the stairs and ramps. This has happened many, many times before.

I said, "Girls, do not jump down the stairs! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

One little girl replied matter-of-factly, "five."

"Okay, well I've already told you six times. So knock it off."

Five. That is the new magic number for how many times it takes to obey. Lovely. Now I know.

OH NO!

So today I had jury duty. I won't go into a long bit complaining about it, you all know the drill. And honestly, I wouldn't mind it if it had been during the summer. But getting a class ready for a sub is a big deal- and the work that comes after a sub is a bigger deal.

But anyways, I digress. Here's my good kinder story...

I gave my class a big speech Monday afternoon about having a sub and what that would be like. But they are in kindergarten. So I decided to email their parents too. I emailed them all, told them I had jury duty and asked for them to please remind their children that Mrs. R would be taking care of them all day and to be good.

One mom from my class is a prosecutor here in town, so I was really hoping to end up in her courtroom- I was certain that would mean a quick dismissal. Unfortunately that did not happen.

I did see her today though, and this is what she told me happened last night at her dinner table:

Student "Mom, tomorrow we are going to have a sub."
Mom "I know. Mrs. Sawyer told me. She is actually going to be at mommy's work."
student (in tears now) "Mom, are you going to put Mrs. Sawyer in jail? I don't want her to go to jail!!"
mom "no, she is not going to jail."
Student "Dad, is she telling the truth??"

Oh I love my kinders!! And boy do they love me!! turns out this sweet little one only knows that mommy's job is "to put people in jail." So I understand how she could think I would be going to jail if I was at mommy's work.

I can tell you one person who will be happy to see me at school tomorrow!
(and the 2nd most excited about me going back tomorrow is my courageous sub! Thank you!!)

Excuse Me Mrs. Sawyer

We were cleaning up centers when I saw a little girl run across the room yelling, "Excuse me Mrs. Sawyer. Excuse me." and then she proceeded to start grabbing my elbow until I listened.

I looked down and patiently said, "yes ma'am"

"I pooted. Excuse me."

"oh. okay. well, I didn't know that. But you're excused."

I love kindergarten.

Literally

After having dealt with 40 million questions in 2 minutes from 14 different students, I snapped. Not literally.

But very calmly I explained that this is NOT how kindergartners act. I should have "pulled sticks" for all of that talking out. But I am being nice.

But, tomorrow nice Mrs. Sawyer is going away. Mean Mrs. Sawyer will be here. And you should know that you will lose sticks for talking out.

I noticed a little girl crying. I figured it was because she had been talking out, so I kept going on and on.

finally I stopped and looked at her, "Asia, what's wrong?"

"Are you ever going to come back?" She asked.

Oh man. She thought I was really going away. Note to self: kindergartners take everything LITERALLY. duh.

And it begins...

It doesn't take long for kids to feel comfortable and loved by someone. And as soon as they do, they begin opening up. WAY up!!

(the rest of this post is rated PG -13. You were warned)

This morning, we walked into the classroom, put our backpacks on the hooks, and began walking to our seats. This takes less than a minute to do. And in that first minute this is what I heard.

Student 1: "Mrs. Sawyer, I had a nightmare last night. I didn't sleep well."

Student 2: "Mrs. Sawyer, I peed in my mom's bed last night."

At that point, I said "OK, let's take a seat and be quiet." Oh man. It's already beginning.


And here's a story from the other kinder class.

Day 2 of school. They were working on patterns. We like to use manipulatives, draw, clap, whatever we can to get them interested. So she was doing a pattern of "head, shoulders, knees and toes." over and over.

Then she asked the kids to come up with one. Remember this is day 2 of school. A little boy stands up and says "boob, boob, penis."

"Oh okay. let's move on."

I love kindergarten.

Ready or Not- Here They Come!

Today was the first day! Wow! It came, and it's gone! Right now my sweet kiddos are taking a nap. Well most of them are. There are a couple who are basically refusing, but I have the lights off, worship music on, and they are laying on their nap mats. And I get to blog! I like naptime!!

Here they are in action!!

Aren't their little uniforms so cute!!

(I did have pictures posted of each kid, but I think it might be better to not post those- for security reasons.)

And who wouldn't want to come to kindergarten with these two as your teachers??

We skipped the pigtail braids- but Julia did wear cowboy boots with her skirt. I gotta get me some of those. (and yes, that is proper grammar that I plan on teaching!)

Oh- gotta go wake them sleeping beauties! See you tomorrow!

Kindergarten Round Up

I have been diligently working in my classroom all summer! well, not ALL summer, but pretty often. I had to pack up my entire classroom, even the things that were not mine personally. I moved my stuff to my new kindergarten room and the school's Spanish stuff to the new Spanish room.

Just so you can REALLY appreciate my work, here's the "before." This is a picture after the other teacher had moved out, but the furniture had not been taken. New furniture was brought in for me and all of my boxes were there. Lovely.

Disgusting.

But here's the AFTERS!!

Welcome to Kindergarten Round Up. (we went with a western theme this year)

(don't mind Julia walking out of my room, she refused to turn around for the picture, so I took it like this. And I told her I was going to post it. And I did.)


Calendar Corral

entrance to my room. a little nook full of blocks, puzzles, and other fun games.

My desk area.

The two happy kindergarten teachers!! Tomorrow we plan on dressing western and wearing our hair in pigtail braids for the first day! What a great look to go on each child's 1st Day scrapbook page! ha!

One day I had so much to do in my room, I didn't even know where to start. So, I got out the Modge Podge and the Western tissue paper and went to town.

Just look at what a Pringle's can can become...

Have a box you don't care for? Add some cow print and a red lid! All better :)Have an ugly white cabinet from Walmart that has moved with you to 2 apartments and 2 classrooms and is yucky? Just use some spray adhesive to cover the door and staple a seam on the "table cloth" piece. (Yes, I used a stapler to make a seam. Don't hate me for being creative.)

Our daily assignment folders.... We are calling them My HORSE-- Happy Organized Ready Student Everyday. Did you bring your HORSE to school today?? Presh. (we noticed a little too late that the cowboy on the horse are actually cowboys AND cowGIRLS. While this one worked out just fine and dandy, most of the boy names are on cowGIRLS and most of the girl names are on cowBOYS. oops.)

Our Reading Bags. Right now this contains their blend ladders and later will also have their reading books. Don't know what a blend ladder is?? Me either! ha!

Here's the big bulletin board in the hallway. "Wanted by God" - each paper has a child's name on it. Tomorrow we will take their pictures and paste them on. Oh cuteness!!

Here's my classroom "Wanted" bulletin board- each hat has a child's name on it.

And the dreaded "sticks" chart. First notice the cuteness... the pockets are denim blue jean pockets- love it!! So each child starts with 4 sticks each morning, if they break a rule, they have to pull a stick. Pull all 4 sticks in 1 day and go to the principal's office. Oh yes. It happens.

Thanks for joining me on a tour of my classroom!! I can't wait to see it full of kids tomorrow! I'm also so glad to have it documented, because it will never be this clean again. I can guarantee it!

Wish me luck! Pray for me! I'm excited and nervous- all at the same time!!

Procrastinating

So I should be packing for our exciting trip to Colorado... (we leave tomorrow for 10 days- although we're driving there, so 2 of those days are travel days)... but instead, I'm blogging. and showing very random pictures at that. I remind myself of the little kid who comes up with the most random attempts to procrastinate taking a bath or going to bed. I never out grew this habit.

Picture set #1 ... Showing off my OCD... so my new classroom was FULL of boxes, furniture, tons of stuff, etc, etc. Do you know what I spent almost an hour doing? not unpacking boxes. not moving furniture. nope. organizing the construction paper. It was previously just all jumbled together... a red piece here, a handful of blue, a pack of pink. But I took care of that problem!
TWICE! Oh yes, in kindergarten we have short and LONG paper- and I just HAD to organize BOTH! So, now that that is finished... I can move onto the boxes :) (what is wrong with me??)

And on the home front... I posted this awhile back. Our ugly door knobs in our cute cottage home.

The new one from Anthropologie looked so great! But that old key hole cover had left some ugly marks.
Good thing Carpenter Kelley lives here! Now look at the beauty! Nothing a little wood putty and paint and sanding can't fix. (I am very proud of myself)

And for the other 3 doors on that hallway... our door knobs from Canton! They are now all perfectly installed and working :)

These fit with the key hole covers- so we just kept them on.

Okay, well, I guess I'm out of material. So, time to pack! And then off to Colorado~~ cooler weather, here I come!

GROSS

3rd grade is in here right now... and I'm not sure who is the guilty one... but someone has terrible BO. It's spreading over the whole room! In fact, I'm going to open a window. Quickly! bye.

More Silliness

My happy heart has even allowed me the privilege of sharing some funny kid stories...

1. Some missionary friends are in town visiting and they came to school today to talk with some of the kids. We were in the kindergarten class talking about what missionaries do and where they live and stuff like that. Then Josh gave each student a bracelet made in the Philipines but said they could only have the bracelet if they promise to pray for his family and for people in the Philipines. All the kids quickly yelled "I promise!" "Promise" "I'll pray" things like that. Then from the back of the room we heard, "THOMAS!" oh man, I thomas to pray for you! Ha!

2. I was teaching 3rd grade and was going to explain why so many South and North American countries speak Spanish. I asked the kids, "Who discovered America or the New World?" I heard many names come up, but my favorite answer (again very loudly) was "American Einstein!" Now that's a name i've never quite heard before!

What's Your Name?

In Kindergarten Spanish again this morning... when I was asked mid-class, "Mrs. Sawyer, what's your real name?"

"Well, my name is Mrs. Sawyer."

"no it isn't! That's your Spanish name! What's your real name?"

"My real name is Mrs. Sawyer."

"Oh. then what's your Spanish name?"

at least that's better than being called "teacher."

"My Grandma"

Yesterday was my grandma's 86th birthday!! (although last year she claimed dyslexia and said she was turning 58 - instead of 85- so I guess this year she is "59".)

Anyways, I mentioned this to my classes yesterday... which brought on an onslaught of grandma comments and stories! here are some of my favorites...

~ I told them that my grandma is very creative and artistic. The response from one boy was, "My grandma is nothing like your grandma."
"Oh is she not creative?" I asked.
"Nope, she's a smoker and a gambler."

~"My grandma hates cigarettes. Because when she was little she tried a cigar and it made her cough a lot. So now she says she's allergic to alcohol. But then she told me about a bar she goes to get a beer each week, so I don't really believe that she's allergic to alcohol." (what does any of that have to do with any thing else said? no clue)

~ "My grandma bakes a lot! She bakes pan dulce... cheesecake... donuts... just anything."

~ "My grandma has 2 cats. One is named Blue, but that's not creative because it just looks blue."

~"I have 3 grandmas: one with 5 children, one young one, and one old one. Which one do you want to hear about?" "All of them," I reply.
"okay. Well the old one doesn't do anything. She just sits in the chair and she really likes Pizza Hut."
"The young one cooks a lot. She makes cheese toast and cheese crackers and cake and anything."
He was interrupted with, "Does she make donuts?"
"Nope, maybe you can give her the recipe. And the one with 5 children, well she just has trouble talking on the phone because she has to yell at all 5 kids every 2 seconds. - then he puts on his mean grandma voice - GO TO BED. - sweet voice - now what were you saying??"

Unbelievable... note to self - kids listen!! Be careful what you say in front of them!! You never know when they will pass it on!

Kindergarten

Today in kindergarten Spanish, I had 2 of the most random and weird comments ever.

#1.
I was passing out posters to color, when I hear a little boy say, "Hurry up woman! You're taking forever!" (He, of course, got in trouble. But I couldn't wait for class to end so that I could laugh about it without him knowing.)

#2.
This little girl is going to Disney World. I'm not quite sure when though. She told me about her trip a few weeks ago and I made the mistake of telling her that I LOVE DisneyWorld and used to go every year because my grandma lives close by. I then told her about my favorite ride and the yummy ice cream on Main Street.

This was a mistake because she wants to talk about it and hear about my favorite ride EVERY time I see her now.

But today, she had a much different question. Instead of the daily, "About Disneyworld, what's your favorite ride?" question, today I was greeted with, "About Disneyworld, what's your grandma's name?"

"My grandma's name? oh, well she doesn't actually live IN Disneyworld, just close by."

"I know. But what's her name so I can meet her when I'm there?"

"oh okay, well, Elizabeth."

"great, I'm going to meet her. thanks."

(good luck)

Are You Tired?

On most school nights I go to bed between 9 and 10. I wake up early and have to have energy all day long, so its good to get to bed early.

Since spring break, I've not gone to bed until 10-10:30 each night. I'm pretty tired because of it. It's a bad habit and it's wearing me out.

Last night we had a re-scheduled soccer game for 9 pm. Yes, that's right. We were scheduled to BEGIN a 90 minute game at 9 PM. I did not really look forward to this, but I had to go. The team NEEDED me. (yeah, they needed me to kick the ball to the other team and lose it a lot and not score and run around and freeze my ears off. But that's for another post.)

So it ended about 11. I went home, showered, got in bed, and read some to unwind. I went to sleep near midnight.

Today, I'm tired. That's an understatement really. I'm so tired that I can't stop thinking about being tired. You know what I'm talking about?

When my 4th grade class walked in, the girls looked at me and said "are you tired?" "yes I am," I replied. I was then bombarded with these responses:

"we can tell because your hair is real messy."
"you don't look good."
"you keep yawning."
And my personal favorite, "Normally when you're happy, you're hair curls under more. but today it's just flat."

I think it's time for a nap.

Little Lukey

Oh Little Lukey. Yesterday was my brother-in-law's 18th birthday! oh he is just precious!!

Anyways, he is a senior at the school I teach at. Our school is kinder-12th, just in different buildings, but on the same campus. Last night, Lukey informed me he wanted 2 DVD's from our house. So I brought them to school today and told him to come to my room to get him. He's the office aid last period, so he just came on into my room.

I had a 1st grade class in here at the time. So after my previous conversation today, I decided to try again with this group of kids. I announced to the class, "This is my brother Luke (they don't really understand -in-laws at this age). Luke had a birthday yesterday. How old do you think he is?"

"12"
nope
"18"
YES!

Second try, not bad. So we sing happy birthday to Luke in Spanish. Then we sing our new Spanish song for him (yes I do a lot of singing in my classes, and no I'm not any good at it).

Then a little boys stands up and announces, "If I were to get you a birthday present, I would get you Transformers and some other DVD's that are PG-13!!! I'm not allowed to watch those!"

So sweet. kids love bigger kids. Luke left. We finished class. We lined up.

The littlest girl in class came up to me and said, "Your brother is cute." Then showed me her paper where she had a heart with "Luke Hot" written in it.

Oh it starts young.

Bananas

Last week I went to Ann Taylor Loft to use a gift card- so exciting! Free shopping!! And they were having a sweater sale Buy 1, get 1 half off. So I bought 6. I had a gift card! And I actually wear cardigans to school MOST days- because my classroom temperature is unpredictable- so I like to have a cardigan- if it's Antarctica, I keep it on. If my room is Africa, I take it off. Very useful.

here was my new outfit yesterday. Love the happy yellow! Love the ruffle!!
So, one of my favorite 4th graders gives me a hug and looks me up and down and says "You look like a banana."
Oh. I just kind of looked at her, but didn't say anything.
So she quickly added, " A PRETTY banana."

Thanks. I like bananas. And now I am one.

ps- I wanted to share this story- so I set my camera on self timer and took this picture of myself in my classroom. Nerdy? yes. Important for the story? yes. And please don't look at the messy book cases- I have lost control.

Duh

The first day back from a long break I always let the kids share 1 thing they did over the break. It gives them a chance to tell the story, I get to learn more about each student, and then we get to have regular class without the many interruptions of "guess what I did over spring break..."

So today I had a 1st grade class back for the 1st time. They are adorable- their stories crack me up. I normally limit this "sharing" activity to about 10-15 minutes. But I was feeling pretty laid back today, so we just talked basically the whole class long.

anyways, there are these 2 precious little girls. they look nothing alike, but for some reason I always have to think extra hard about who is who- I think they sat next to each other at the beginning of the year and I've just never fully learned their names.

So I called Dana by the wrong name. I called her Lauren. But Lauren had just talked, so obviously she wasn't Lauren. I quickly corrected my self and then said "Uh, where's my brain?"

Loudly from the back, a boy stood up and said, "IN YOUR HEAD."

To which someone else added, "Behind your forehead."

Duh. Why didn't I think of that? Kids just don't get sarcasm do they?