Sunday, August 21, 2011

Dreams Come True Are Beautiful

If you haven't already been able to tell from my lack of posting...the school year has begun! One week ago from tomorrow one of my biggest dreams came true! I officially became "Miss Emeott" to the 24 sweetest babies I know! Check out some of our adventures below!

Our First Day Of School Card Photo!

While the day, and week for that matter was a whirlwind tour, I cherished each and every moment. From good morning hugs, to staff meetings, to get to know you games, to class pictures, to planning, to read alouds, to routines, to procedures, to guidelines, to goodmorning/goodbye songs, to bus numbers, to parent phone calls, to emails, to copies, to laminating, to seat rearrangements, to LONG conversations with Julia, to laughs, to tears, to testing, to community circles, to objectives, to homework, to agenda, to smartboard, to the oops book, to smiles, and the list goes on and on and on. The amount of work and learning that takes place in one classroom on one day is absolutely incredible and I feel blessed that I play such a role in each of these moments.

For those of you who are unaware, I posted below an email that I sent home after my first day with the kids just to let the parents know what we had done all day...and this is only the first day of school!

"HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

Congratulations to you all on making it through your first day of school as a parent of a third grader! And a big congratulations to your children for making it through their first day as a third grader! They did BEAUTIFULLY!!!! I was so proud to call them mine while they strolled so silently down the hall and when they were lined up so nice and straight when I picked them up from Lunch! I love them so much already and cannot thank you enough for raising such wonderful children and sharing them with me this year!

It is my goal, when your students return to you at the end of the day and you ask them what they did at school that day for them to not reply with "I don't know" or "Nothing". Because of this, we will bring closure to each of our days by discussing "how did I get smarter today?" Since today was the first day of school and quite busy, there was not time and so I will fill you in on what we did and how your children got smarter today!

1. Morning Business
     - Your child learned where to hang up their backpack
    - Your child learned where their table is, what color they are, and who their tablemates are...for now!
    - Your child learned to make their lunch choice
    - Your child learned where to put their lunch money
    - Your child learned where to put their yummy lunches that you packed them :)
    - Your child became familiar with the routine of coming QUICKLY AND QUIETLY to the rug once all of the above is finished
    - Your child learned our bilingual good morning song that we will sing every morning...ask them to sing it for you! DO NOT ask them how well Miss Emeott sings :)
   - Your child received a preview of the schedule for the day and the objectives that will be fulfilled that day...as they will every morning!
   - Your child was introduced to "Good Morning News"...the way in which I hear ALL of the wonderful things that they are bursting to tell me each morning! (This is probably my favorite part of the day!)

2. Writing
    - Your child answered questions about their summer and wrote questions about the third grade.

3. School Pride
    - Your child got their picture taken individually, as a class, and as an entire school...my class was the best looking of course! :)

4. Community Building
    - Your child got outside and interacted with the other children in the five other third grade classes through a fun community building activity...ask them about it!

5. SPECIALS
    - Your child went to see Mr. Hay in the art room today! They played an art game and worked on their portfolios...he said they were well behaved, of course!

6. Routines, Procedures, Expectations, and Rules
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for sitting on the rug
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for sitting at their desk
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for standing in line
    - Your child rehearsed procedures for using the restroom
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for giving me their attention
    - Your child rehearsed procedures for transition times
    - YOUR CHILD CREATED the five rules for our classroom this year
            1 Listen when others are talking
            2 Follow directions
            3 Respect others, respect yourself, respect our school
            4 Raise your hand to speak
            5 be responsible, be safe, be honest

7. Lunch
    - Your child demonstrated proper lunch procedures (taking what they ordered, cleaning their table, including others, etc.)

8. Reading
    - Your child listened and responded to one of my FAVORITE read alouds EVER...Chrysanthemum.

9. Community Building
    - Your child responded to Chrysanthemum and practiced procedures for our "community circle" by sharing their name and favorite color with the class

12. Supplies
    - Your child demonstrated patience and kindness during the organization of school supplies (thank you parents for ALL of the school supplies! they truly are tools for learning and your children will benefit from them! if your child forgot something, I sent home a list with the highlighted item. I told your children to PLEASE not fret about missing items. if there is financial difficulty or you had trouble finding something, do not worry. we will take care of your child. i understand that the graph paper composition book is difficult to find...any form of graph paper will work!)

11. Writing/Fun!
    - Your child created their first day of school card for you! (Please remind your child that it is part of their homework to share this card with a family memeber)

12. Agenda
    - Your child was give their Coyote Hills Agenda (as a type-a personality I LOVE this tool for learning)
    - Your child was introduced to and demonstrated proper procedures while filling out their homework in their agenda (homework for tonight: read 20 min from a book of their choice, share their first day card with a family member, complete green goals sheet and return to miss emeott in green communication folder tomorrow)

13. Goodbye Gathering
    - Your child learned the procedures for our goodbye gathering
    - Your child learned to check their mailbox
    - Your child learned more about their communication folder

14. Made Miss Emeott Fall In Love!
    - Most of all, your child totally stole my heart today! I love them all so dearly. They are sweet sweet students and I am so happy that you are loaning them to me this year! Please tell them how proud of them that I are and encourage them to keep up the good work!

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions and concerns...we are a team!

Happy Monday!

Kindest,
Miss Emeott
Third Grade Teacher
Coyote Hills Elementary School
(720) 886-3980

PS: Thank you for all of the pictures this morning...you all made me feel like a celebrity :) I've attached our class picture to the email. If you  all have pictures of me with your students and wouldn't mind, I would LOVE to have a copy as well!"

Yes ya'll, this is the kind of work that we do day in and day out! So, next time you hear someone refer to teaching as "doing arts and crafts all day long" or something that people do when they can't do anything else...I would encourage them to think twice!

As the days flew by and I left school at around 7 PM each night, only to go home and do MORE school stuff, I hardly realized that I was putting in 11 hour days! It is amazingly blessed to wake up each morning and get paid to do something that you absolutely adore! It also doesn't hurt that I have Miss Julia Phoenix right next door!


As Julia's husband would say...she is my "girlfriend"! We met each other almost two weeks ago while setting up our classrooms. There is no other word to describe Julia, but my little angel! Not only has she been a sweet sweet mentor to me through my first days of school, but she has been someone to laugh with, someone to cry with, someone to share with, someone to listen to, did I mention someone to laugh with?! We have been having SO MUCH FUN!!!! I couldn't ask for a better teacher to share a mobile with and friend to share fun times with! We have recently taken our fun out of the classroom for church, sushi, and all sorts of other fun adventures! 


My Dear Sweet Julia Facilitating The Chaos!
I could go on and on and on about my passion for children and teaching children. However, I am still in adjustment to this new school schedule! I have been waking up around 5:30 to get my workout in so that I am awake and moving for when the kids arrive at 9! Needless to say, I am very sleepy at nighttime and go to bed quite early! I will keep the blog update with the latest hilarious stories out of the mouths of third graders and priceless pictures!


This truly is a dream come true for me, I wish the same happiness, beauty, and contentment for each and every one of your lives as well! 

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Busy-ness And Memory Verses Are Beautiful

This is one of my favorite sayings ever. As I mentioned before, I collect signs with some of my favorite sayings on them and this is one that I got for Christmas!


It's quite appropriate that this post comes immediately after the one about my new teaching job! I am not over exaggerating when I say that I have spent about 165 hours in my classroom over the last two weeks and school hasn't even started for the students yet! WOAH! It has been busy, but fun and I would not trade it for anything! Okay, maybe ONE last weekend of relaxation at the pool before the school year starts...that is what this weekend is for hopefully!





Anybody who know me, knows that I am the ultimate type-a personality. I love to organize, I make list after list after list, and I love to plan. As a teacher, these are wonderful qualities. However, along with this comes the tendency to get stressed out and worried VERY easily. My first grade teacher always called me a "worry-wart" and I kid you not when I say that I had stress induced shingles at the ripe old age of 18 when I started college!



I often run to relieve the feelings of stress, anxiety, and worry. However, as I told you, I broke my foot last September and I couldn't run for quite awhile. It was at that time and from that time on that my family, friends, and I adopted this phrase for myself! I often times will simply close my eyes, say a little prayer, and remember to Keep Calm and Carry On! I have a feeling this will come in handy while working with 24 little 8 year olds this year!



And if not...I'll heed the advice from this adorable journal that my mamma bought for me!


Miss Ellery thinks that it is a good idea as well!


Monday, August 8, 2011

New Beginnings Are Beautiful

I apologize for my lack of posting lately...I can assure you, it is for a remarkable reason! If you have not heard yet, I AM OFFICIALLY AN EMPLOYED TEACHER!!!! Woo Hoo! I feel so blessed to announce that I am teaching Third Grade at Coyote Hills Elementary School in the Cherry Creek School District (the one that I grew up in!)
Coyote Hills Elementary School

My interview was so much fun! I met with the fabulous Principal, Vice Principal, and team of 4 other Third Grade teachers. While it was a bit nerve wrecking because of what a highly achieving school Coyote Hills and district Cherry Creek are, they all made me feel so at ease. We were talking and laughing by the end of the interview and I just felt like we connected...something my friend and successful interviewer Andre tells me is the most important part of an interview! Apparently they felt the connection too...at one point the Vice Principal threw down her pen and gave me a standing ovation! And before long, I got the call from the Principal with the official offer...MOST WONDERFUL MOMENT!

"Learning and Growing In Third Grade" My Theme!
That call was followed shortly by my sweet teammates welcoming me and telling me how excited that they are to be working together...the feeling is more that mutual ladies! Ever since that moment, it has been a whirlwind  tour of meetings, trainings, human resource visits, trips to beyond the blackboard and target, lamination, copying, stapling, labeling, meeting other staff (who by the way are literally all under the age of 30, extremely good looking people, and have the kindest hearts I have ever met...I feel so blessed to wake up every morning and work with these people) and last, but certainly not least, DECORATING MY CLASSROOM!



From The Door

Morning Meeting and Goodbye Gathering Area
 (My Chair and Student of the Week Chair...My Favorite Part Of The Classroom)

Rug Expectations

Calendar and Weather

Daily Duties!


We're Busy Bees!

Objectives
Homework


I have been thinking about the theme of my classroom as well as collecting ideas and decoratives for it for YEARS! I really believe that if my students find joy in coming to their classroom and feel comfortable there, then learning will more easily take place! Plus, if the last week of my consecutive 10 hour days in the classroom are any indication of the year that lies ahead of me (AKA the most exciting, blessed, nerve wrecking, exhausting, priceless, rewarding, year of my life), then I needed it to be a place that I found joy and comfort coming to as well! Let me tell you...mission accomplished!

From The Rug

Miss Emeott's Desk!

Give Me Five!

Thank You Schoenbergers!
Again, Thank You Schoenbergers! And Emma, Aly, Mariss, and Shawn for my sign :)

A Note From The Teacher Before Me!



Manipulatives, Resource Books, Etc.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! I cannot wait to fill it with students (IN ONLY ONE WEEK) and to learn and grow with them over the next year! Take a look and enjoy!
Think Time!





Celebrate: Birthday Princesses, Princes, and The Student Of The Week!


Mailboxes!


Line Expectations!

(I must give credit for some of the ideas in the classroom to the most wonderful mentor teachers that I have ever had...Thank you Diane Bernero, Danna Celaya, Rebecca Gonzalez and now to all of my new wonderful mentors at Coyote Hills for everything that you have done, will do, have been, and will be in my life!)

"The Garden Of Good Manners"




Reading Corner!

Text Sets

Smart Board and Mountain Language


My Sticks That I made...For Calling On The Students



Desk Expectations
From The Front


Restroom Expectations

What a beautiful new beginning!