The Adventure Begins!

Hey everyone! I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend! What a beautiful, warm fall weekend! :) I just LOVE fall! But what I love even more is to brag about my amazing students! I mean, obviously I'm blogging on a Sunday morning because I'm just that amazed by how awesome last week went!  We had SO MUCH fun in 2nd grade, so....

"Hocus Pocus, Everybody Focus!"

Here we go! :)

Who enjoys change? Who enjoys starting something new even though you have no idea what you are doing? Who enjoys sometimes flying by the seat of their pants because their mind changes and they want to do something else?  Guess who...teachers! Teachers love change, they love new and fresh ideas, they are PERFECTIONISTS.  It was hilarious the other day, I was talking to a coworker in the printing room and I said, "You know, I always think I'm ready for the week, but then I go and change an activity because I found a better one that I think my kids will love! How do I stop this?!"  She replied, "You never will, because in our profession we are perfectionists, and we are constantly looking for the best material for our students or the most engaging activity to truly help the students understand the concept!" Wow, I couldn't believe what I was hearing...and to know the next however many years I am going to be a perfectionist when it comes to teaching...Ahhh :)  But let's move onto the kids...however you will understand the whole "NEW" thing when you continue reading! :)

This week, we started a NEW math curriculum called Engage NY Math, and holy cow, it has got the kids active and learning! We have done so many great things with this curriculum and even though our heads are spinning while we are teaching it, it's fun to see the kids totally soaking it up!  Engage NY Math stresses many counting games, as well as forming number bonds to figure out an addition number sentence.  This week, we were practicing number bonds to 10 (aka: How can you make 10?) and the students definitely picked up the fast facts quickly! :)  Look below to see some different things this curriculum has us doing! :)

Number Bonds to 10! Then they got to make them into people! :)

This number bond person had me in awe! :)

Playing "Happy Counting", thumbs up you count up, thumbs down you count down!
Works with fluently counting up and down!

This year, we also have started a NEW Science Curriculum! Talk about overload right!? Haha, no actually it's great to have updated curriculum because we were definitely in need of it! :)  In Science, we have been talking about habitats and what it takes for a plant or animal to survive in its habitat...which led us to FOOD CHAINS! :) To be honest, I was dreading teaching food chains because I really had no idea where to start, but then, of course...PINTEREST helped me out with that one :)  I found a great book that talked about food chains and had a food chain inside it, so together, the students and I read Jump, Frog, Jump and then created a frog with its food chain on the tongue! So cute but this little activity helped these little learners truly understand what a food chain was!

Food Chain Frog! :)

This year, I have also started a NEW phonics curriculum called Making Reading Heavenly.  Making Reading Heavenly is a curriculum that was put together by one teacher, Cathy Angel, and she now teaches classes to other teachers in order for them to implement this curriculum.  Check out her website here: http://www.makingreadingheavenly.com/.  Mrs. Halverson, the other 2nd grade teacher, has done this for years so she inspired me to take the class this summer to see what it was all about! Holy cow, BEST THREE DAYS of my life! :) I LOVED the class and I love the curriculum, so what did I do?! I bought it and am now using it for the Phonics part of my classroom.

Have you heard your students say....

"If you're gonna have a q, then you gotta have a u, because q and u, they stick together like glue!"

or....

"K goes with i, y, and e....c goes with the other three (a, o, u)!"

or....

Every syllable has to have a vowel!

or....

"Scaredy cat v, always brings an e!" (like in have, love...etc.)

These sayings help our students learn how to spell tricky works like...why does cat start with a c and not a k?! Because c goes with a, o, and u!  Or why does have not say haaave with a long a? Because that v always brings an e! :)  It's so much fun to teach these spelling rules to the kids and they LOVE it because they all have fun chants to go along with them!  Sometimes I catch them saying it and I just laugh inside because little do they know, it's helping them to become a better speller! :) So awesome!!! :)

This year has truly started off to be the best year yet.  I can say that I have done everything brand new this year and I wouldn't want it any other way.  Yes, I could be that teacher that uses the same stuff over and over again, but how much fun would that be to me as a teacher? I can honestly say I have not reused one single bulletin board yet. I can honestly say that I have not used one same math worksheet as last year.  It's funny how some teachers stray away from the new stuff...because they want the change as well as their kids.  Keeping things new and fresh is only bettering myself as a teacher and bettering the education for my students because what worked last year, may not work this year, and that's why teachers are professionals.  We are professionals, perfectionists, but most of all, we are caring and nurturing people who are truly just trying to give your children the best education while they are with us.  (Sorry if this sounds like a bragging post, but sometimes it's important to sit down and realize the importance of your career, because it makes you appreciate it that much more.)

Thank you all for listening...and until next time, stay safe <3! Enjoy your blessed Sunday! :)

Field Trip! :)

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great Monday!  I know I did, my kids were AWESOME today and we had such a productive day.  They are all adjusting so well to 2nd grade and it's so fun to get to do more and more with them each and every day.

Now, I know I'm a little bit late posting about this...but hey, better late than never right?! The Clarksville 2nd Grade took a field trip to the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, IA on September 12, 2014.  We went here last year with the 2nd graders and the kiddos loved it, so Mrs. Halverson and I decided that we should definitely go back!

Read ahead to find out more about what we did on our field trip day! :)

We left Clarksville around 8:45 AM and arrived in Waterloo at the Cattle Congress fairgrounds around 9:20 or so!  From there, we went right into the Electric Park Ballroom and attended the four small group workshops.  Each of these workshops focused on a different farm animal and what they provide for our nation.  SO EDUCATIONAL and the kids LOVE learning about what all these animals provide for us and the whole world.

We started off in the Dairy Workshop, where we talked about dairy cows and what they all provide for us BESIDES milk of course ;)!  The students then got a chance to be a team and make butter in a baby food jar!  And they even got to taste test it with some crackers!  So fun for them to experience making butter first hand! :)

Students passing the jar around to shake and make butter!

Next, we went to the Sheep Workshop, where again, we talked about the different uses of sheep wool and all that good stuff!  The kiddos also got a chance to wrap a felt black sheep in their own yarn.  They were pumped that they got a souvenir! :)

Learning all about the sheep!

After the Sheep Workshop, we attended the Poultry Workshop where they students learned the different parts of  a chicken as well as the life cycle of an egg to a chick.  They knew alot about this because they experienced that process in 1st grade! :)

And the chickens! :)

Last but not least, we attended the Pig Workshop! STINKY! :)  We learned about the different kinds of pigs and even got to participate in a Jeopardy game with our leader to see how much we learned from her teaching us.  The kids LOVED this game and they actually did very well at it!  I have such good listeners in my classroom, I just had to brag! :)

Playing Pig Jeopardy! This lady was also our tour guide! :)

After workshops, it was then time for lunch.  We went back to the Electric Park Ballroom and ate sack lunches provided by our school.  Once we were done with lunch, it was TOUR time!

We had an awesome tour guide who took us to the petting zoo, to see all the animals including the cows, horses, goats, pigs, chicks, etc! After touring the animals, we got to watch a magic show which the kids LOVED of course and then we also walked around some more and even got to see an alligator! How neat! :)  Miss N wasn't a huge fan of the alligator, but the kids of course ate that experience right up!

Just checking out the animals! :)

Feeding the chickens/ducks! :)

Look at this cutie! :)

And I definitely can't forget the most important part of the day...meeting the Iowa Dairy Princess which called for a photo op for us teachers! :)

Iowa Dairy Princess & Clarksville 2nd Grade!

Overall, we had an awesome day at the National Cattle Congress Fair.  We had a wet and rainy day but the kids truly did awesome and were great listeners!  Field trip days are always a little hectic but we had two GREAT parent volunteers that helped us keep our 25 kiddos under control!  Thank you to those volunteers SO MUCH! :)

I hope you enjoyed hearing about our field trip.  It's so fun to get the students out of the school and experiencing something else outside of their "normal" routine.

Until next time, stay safe...and thanks for listening! <3

Thankful & Blessed

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all doing fabulous as this fall weather approaches...cool weather, changing leaves, harvest time just around the corner, and most importantly....football! :) I know my students have been loving this cool weather, not sweating every time they are coming in from recess and fighting Miss N on wearing coats out to recess! ;) Oh, the challenges of a teacher right?! Haha! I'm totally kidding, I love my students and they seriously make me laugh every single day. 

 So to start this post off, I have to share one quick story that literally had my entire class laughing! :)

The other day, we were talking about different types of communities..aka rural, suburban, and urban.  We were reviewing what we had learned about each community and had moved on to reviewing about suburban communities.  This is when one of my students raised his hand and said, "Miss N, I have a suburban at my house!!!" Totally innocent but I just couldn't stop laughing!  And that's when I turned it into a teaching moment and told him that's a great way to remember suburban communities because often you see more cars in suburban and rural areas than you do urban areas...because the students very often confuse urban and suburban communities.  It is like God had that quote planned from that kid so I could provide a teaching opportunity that I would have never thought of if that kid wouldn't have said that line.  So amazing what us teachers experience every day...I truly wish every human being had the opportunity to teach once in their life.   

Now onto my real reason for this post..which I absolutely cannot WAIT to brag about, but would have nothing to brag about if it wasn't for my amazing parents in my classroom, my amazing family back home, and my amazing teaching family around me!

About one month ago, I wrote a grant on www.DonorsChoose.org to get some new materials for my classroom.  Donors Choose is a website that allows teachers to write grants for their classroom and then open it up to the public so they can choose to fund your grant.  I was introduced to this grant-writing website by my cooperating teacher during student teaching in Chicago and I ran with it!  This is my second grant that I have written, and I can successfully say that last year's grant and this year's grant HAVE BEEN FUNDED!!! :) Such an amazing feeling and I was on Cloud 9 when I found out my project had been funded.  It's amazing what you can accomplish when everyone just gives a little bit at a time and to know they have been able to make an impact on a child's learning.  To me, that would be so rewarding and I know every day that I get that opportunity, so to write grants and give other people that opportunity is just one of my goals as a teacher.

Last year, I wrote a grant that provided me with more and more books for the students to be reading.  Since last year's grant was focused around reading, I decided to focus this year's grant around Math.  We have developed a new math curriculum at Clarksville Elementary, so I just decided if I was going to be able to teach this curriculum successfully, I need new and fresh math materials to help because who doesn't like new things for their classroom?!  

I sat down to write my grant and literally finished it in one night.  Writing grants is so rewarding as a teacher because you know the students are going to love having new things in their classroom and getting them excited about their learning is just so much fun!  Look below to find out what I all got with my $750 grant!  Such amazing stuff and for my students and I,  it was ALL FREE! :) 

Daily Word Problem box!

Addition & Subtraction Stamps for small group activities!

Math Activity Cards for early finishers!

 The following items are all math centers that are centered around each of the themes covered in 2nd grade math! Amazing!!! :)

Math Themed books around each skill learned in 2nd grade!

I cannot thank those people enough who gave to my grant.  Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.  You have not only helped improve my teaching and my ability to help my students, but you have made such a HUGE impact on the lives of each and every one of my students.  I am so thankful and so blessed to be part of an amazing teaching family, but when it all comes down to it, I can't thank my personal family enough.  They are seriously so supportive of my career and are always asking about it and wanting to help.  

Becoming a teacher has been a crazy ride, but I know that this is what God wanted me to do with my life.  He wanted me to take my life and use it to serve others and I feel as that is exactly what I am doing and I can't be anymore thankful to have the opportunity every day to impact some child's life.  Yes, there are hard days.  But what career doesn't have hard days?  At the end of each day, I can look back and know that I helped one student that day....it may have been twelve or it may have just been one, but every student counts and that is why I love my career.  

Thank you all for listening, and until next time...stay safe <3! 

And again...THANK YOU!!!!!!!! :)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Hi everyone!

I can't believe it has already been ten days since I have last blogged.  Holy cow, time flies when you are having fun, that is for sure! :)

Well I can successfully say that my 2nd graders and I (tomorrow) have completed three full weeks of school! (With a day off or afternoon off here and there that is :)!)  Hey, we can't help it that we don't have air conditioned! :)

So let me update you on the last week of school and what has happened!

Last week and this week, we have successfully started our Daily 5 rotations, and the students have done AWESOME!  I love that they had Daily 5 in 1st grade because it makes the transition to 2nd grade so much easier and smoother for both the students and myself!  The students complete 4 rotations each day.  I know you are probably asking yourself, why only 4 when it's called Daily 5?? Well, I'm blessed to say I only have 12 kids in my class...so if I was to do 5 rotations, I'd have less than 3 kids in each group!  So we do 4 rotations, and switch Read to Self and Read to Someone every other week.  Therefore, the four rotations are Teacher Time, Read to Self/Read to Someone, Word Work, and Writing!

Perfect tie in with Daily 5!

Let me talk a little more about Word Work.  Each day in Word Work, the students are given a task to complete in their green journals.  This task is always focused around their spelling words and the spelling pattern we are learning for the week; so for example, this week the spelling pattern is all short vowels and working on those short vowel sounds!  We do different activities each day, including rainbow writing, spelling sentences, ABC Order, syllable spelling, etc.  This keeps the learning different each and every day and keeps the students engaged while practicing their spelling words!  It works perfectly, and for the most part, I think they enjoy it and it's a little more structured as we all know 7 and 8 year olds can get off task sometimes!

Reading time in 2nd grade has been going great, but we have also had fun in Math as well.  In Math, we have been focusing on Addition strategies and making sure we are working on our math fact fluency, which means only one thing...TIMED TESTS! Woohoo! :)  The kids love them and even though whenever I say we have a timed test they go...AWWWW...I know they truly enjoy it! ;)  Here are some things we have been doing to practice our addition strategies.  Now I can tell you this is not EVERYTHING but if I posted everything we did...you'd be reading for awhile! Look below to check out some projects we have done to make learning fun! :)

Can You Solve It?
Student written word problems! :) 

iPod Doubles Rap! :)

Doubles, Doubles I Can Add Doubles Chant! :)

Overall, the past three weeks in 2nd grade have flown by and the students have been doing wonderful.  The beginning of the year was a little slow moving, getting to learn routines/expectations, but I think the students now truly know the expectations and I'm excited to get started with our year and continue to incorporate more and more learning into each and every day!  By the end of 2nd grade, these kids are going to know SO MUCH and be SO BUSY that they will LOVE SCHOOL! :)

Now, I love to talk about teaching, but I also love to talk about my life because little do the kids know..teachers do have lives outside of school! :)  And because this is both my personal and professional blog, I choose to include both!

About a week ago, I was blessed enough to say that I got to see my German relatives for the third time in my life.  When I was a sophomore in high school, my family and I went across seas to visit these relatives, which would be my Grandma Nederhoff's cousins.  It was amazing to visit them over in their home country and see what life is like in another country.  Then, I was blessed to see them again because they came back for my sister's wedding in 2010!  And on Tuesday, August 29th, they came to Iowa to visit the good ole farmland! We held a family get together where we grilled and simply enjoyed each other's company.  I left this grill out on cloud nine!  These two people, Herman & Utta, are truly the best people on this Earth.  They are in their 70's but travel around like they are 20!  They have so much energy and love for life that I have truly been inspired to be exactly like them and live my life exactly like them.  Alot of people can say they have relatives across the seas, but not many are lucky enough to visit them this often in one lifetime.  It was such an amazing experience last Tuesday and I can only pray that I get to go visit them again in Germany soon!

Dad, Brie, Herman & Utta, myself and Mom at the grill out!

And as we all know, Labor Day weekend was last weekend, where we got to enjoy a 3 day weekend away from work!  As many of you know, Labor Day weekend is the one weekend (out of many ;)!) that I always spend with my entire family!  This year, we spent the weekend in Pella, Iowa (where my sister, husband, and niece and nephew live) camping and boating all weekend!  I was also lucky enough to have my boyfriend for the WHOLE weekend with no chores! I know, I am spoiled!  That is not normally the case if you know my boyfriend!  It was such a fun weekend to spend with  my family and to know we can always get together and pick up right where we left off is such a good feeling!

Kyle & I in front of our camper before leaving on Monday!

Thank you all for listening, and until next time...stay safe! <3