And Away We Go.

What a stellar 6th grade week! We had a completely full week loaded with tons of learning!

This week we continued our geography study by playing Seven Corners Regions. I would call out a state to "travel" to and students would find the corner in the classroom labeled with the correct region. Let me tell you, this is no easy task, but 6th grade is rocking it! We also took some time for individual or partner studying to prepare for our regions quick quiz at the end of the week (they rocked the quiz by the way!). Here are some snapshots of students quizzing each other on the states and regions.

In math we continued our review of fractions and decimals. During our centers choice skills practice time, I went around assessing some math we learned last year with Mrs. Conroy...I know it will come as no surprise how much they remembered! I asked each group how I could change 1/2 to a decimal. Some strategies quickly came back to us! I even gained a great new memory tool to assist...when converting a fraction to decimal your dividend sometimes practices identity theft! Ask your kiddo next week and see what they have to say about this! 

A full week also meant we got to have our regularly schedule Monday Meeting. This week our words of wisdom revolved around making healthy choices and doing the right thing. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The time is always right to do the right thing." We paired and shared in our meeting a time when we chose to do the right thing and a time when we didn't. We played a quick game of telephone to talk about doing the right thing and more specifically related to gossip and drama. Our phrase that was whispered around the circle was "I like bananas, coconuts, and grapes." By the time it got back to me it had turned into "Banana creme pie and nuts!" This helped us quickly understand how our words can get twisted and rumors can spread, even when we don't mean for it to happen, and how the right thing is to respectfully tell people they shouldn't talk about others and don't get caught up in the rumor mill! 

Other exciting things this week: 

• Two more students lost teeth!

• We earned free seat Friday at lunch and got to sit with anyone from either homeroom!

• Attending the first 8th grade and JV football games to see past students play and cheer (and catching up with parents in the "Check" section!). 
  
  
  
  
  
• Compliments about how respectful 6th grade was traveling down the hallway, being positive role models for our younger students.

•  A student telling Mrs. Cromer they loved the Monday Message on the announcements about MLK Jr.

• More students getting their band instruments! Check out the drum skills I got to witness!
  

• Someone catching my reference when I said, "Stop. Hammer time."

• Mrs. Thomas and I getting to sing the PARTY song for a birthday at lunch this week! 

• Our first PRIDE students being nominated for their outstanding behavior and character. 

Ms. D's Weekend Snapshot: I thought it would help everyone get to know me a little better if I did a weekend snapshot every now and then! This weekend I hammock-camped for a night at Hanging Rock State Park. We made dinner and smores over the fire, hammocked under the stars instead of in a tent, took a quick hike to the Upper Cascades, and swam for a bit! These are some of my most favorite things to do! I also tried a super delicious new food...corn nuggets! It sounds crazy, but they are yummy!

Our First Full(ish) Week.

As you most likely know, our first full week started off with three early releases! However, we all went with the flow and squeezed in some hard work on those half days and ended the week with two nice and normal, full days!

First thing we did this week was a survival activity to help us learn about working independently, with a partner, and in a group. We all pretended we were stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a magical pile of items we could use for survival in front of us. Students had to choose ten items they would take before the pile disappeared and explain why they would want those items. Then, we did it again, except this time with a partner with whom we had to agree completely on which ten items to take. This task was obviously a little harder. We then combined partner sets to form a larger group and had to decide which items to take and be in complete agreement. Most students agreed this was the hardest of the three! Here is some of the decision-making in action.

After, we answered a few synthesis questions, table talked, and then created a bubble map of what makes a good group! We came to the conclusion that working in groups always comes back to one thing...RESPECT! Check out our class bubble maps...I think they rocked it!

Other exciting things this week:

• We started our first units in each class-GCF/LCM and Geography!

• One student lost a tooth!

• Spotting some 6th graders watching their older friends at the 8th grade volleyball game! They won too!

• Discussing who our favorite characters were in the new Harry Potter book.

• Several students got their new band instruments and even learned to play a few notes on their own!

• Two days of SAC time! The 6th and 7th graders have taken to challenging each other to a safe game of two-hand touch on the football field.

• We started our 40 Book Reading Challenge! This is my current read-a few little birdies may have expressed some serious excitement and told me how rad this series is!

• Running into an excited student at the Country Store Friday night!

• Some 6th graders were spotted at the Tractor Run around the county this Saturday! Had a little rain here and there, but was a beautiful day in a beautiful county. 

The First Few Days.

Well, my third year has started and I must say I feel like a pro. Ok, maybe a semi-pro...who may have jumbled up some of the playbook. I'm at least on the bench of the Minor League of Teaching (MLT, that could be a thing, right?). Third year comes with a super advantage that the other two years don't... I knew everybody's name on day one and they already knew me! That adds a whole new level of energy and connection that I absolutely love. However, I forgot how hard the first days are for everyone involved...the running around, trying to keep up and remember everything is absolutely exhausting (I know I slept like a rock)!

If you are a parent reading this, I hope your kids didn't tell you I was the most boring teacher ever! We did a ton of setting up for our classroom and establishing routines these first two days, but we are so ready to roll right into content next week. I was so very proud of them today when I threw stations their way and they picked right up and rocked it out!

The first day came with it's one little set of hiccups and anxieties, but there are so many wonderful things I see within this new group! And at the end of the day, that's what matters most. I can't wait to see what challenges and growth this year brings from here for all of us. I hope your kiddos feel the same way! 

P.S. Teachers get cute, obligatory, first day selfies too! 

The End of Summer.

Last week I went for a hike with my sister, best friend, and psuedo-nephew (he may never want to really claim me when he is old enough to know better). It was the perfect summer day: chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, mini-hike (1.5 miles round trip) to a small cascade at Hanging Rock State Park, legs in the water while we ate our picnic lunch, loads of laughs, tiny baby giggles, ending with my third trip to Mexico that week Mexican for dinner with another one of our friends. It was one of those that had a general idea of where you were going, but no plan or deadlines so that you floated along in complete bliss for a solid 12 hours. It was my first day like this all summer I think (houses are expensive, so a summer job was a must. P.S. I love said summer job and will continue there on most Saturdays).

 (Look how stinkin' cute he is!).

I am excited to go back and have been working on various school related things all summer, but there is that small battle cry in the back of my throat of "Noooo! Please summer; please don't go. I need you a few more weeks. Then I promise I will go back to school completely ready with no regrets." This feeling will start to fade around Friday as I end the second pre-school work day and will be totally gone around 7:52am, August 11th (first day of school).

I can't help but think about all my kiddos and what there summer has been. Granted I have seen many of them lately and love the looks I get when they see me out with a bandanna wrapped around my head and muck boots or waiting tables at the BRR (which happened just yesterday; they were tickled pink when I rang them up and they got to pay me for their lunches). This is something I was afraid of at first because I didn't want to always be Ms. D: Check Elementary Teacher and never be able to assume my original identity of  Mary: Floyd County Native and resident crazy lady who adopts all the cats people don't want (I swear our farm has a blinking, neon light advertising that we are suckers and give good belly rubs). I now realize I can be both!

 (One of said adopted, belly-rub loving cats). 

Anyway, at this moment I am slightly longing for one more week of guilt-free late nights, spontaneous trips to nowhere, random Extension office visits (they are going to learn to kick me out one of these days), naps in the hammock, getting burnt by the pool, and beach hair. I know I can still do these things, but they come with a little twinge that says, "This is not your priority now. There are 37 children depending upon you to open their minds, brighten their days, share their hugs, accept their weirdness, guide their way through new feelings, emotions, and physical changes they don't understand, and affirm that you love them, even when they say they don't like you."

And you know what? That's ok with me. It's part of who I am and what I do as a teacher. I wouldn't change it because inherently, it would change who I am as a person.

Here's to the end of summer and the beginning of a new year filled with excitement, challenges, fun, and learning!