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! :)
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| Daily Word Problem box! |
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| Addition & Subtraction Stamps for small group activities! |
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| Math Activity Cards for early finishers! |
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| 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!!!!!!!! :)
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