Field Trips and Funny Moments

Well October through early November has clearly been jam packed with stuff and my blog has officially felt the fullness of neglect. Sorry bloggy, I’m back for ya! We just ended the second six weeks and started our third six weeks last week. I’m sorry, what? Pretty sure it was just the first day of the first six weeks AKA the first day of school. Time you are flyin and it's cray. I’ll just share the biggest highlights of the past month so that I don’t make you read an extraordinarily long blog post ;)

Highlights:

1. One of the biggest highlights of this past month was going to Sky Ranch for “Science Camp” with all of my 5th graders! We went for three days and two nights and it was an absolute blast y’all! It rained the entire first day we were there so just take a moment to think about 70 ten year olds filing off a bus, in the pouring rain, hopping on a wagon type of thang trying to cover themselves and their precious luggage as they were taken to their cabins. It was a sight to be seen and a funny one at that. Then you have me and my two partner teachers hopping on our own state-of- the-art golf cart covered in our rain ponchos being pelted by rain as we drove to our own teacher cabin. Being the youngest teacher out of the three of us I usually offered to sit on the back of the golf cart..you know..the part that isn’t covered by the roof of the cart? Servants heart yall, servants heart.  Even with the rain the kids got to play tons of fun gamesand learn so many cool things about Science using the outdoors, animals/reptiles, and debatably the coolest thing at Sky Ranch: the Zipline. Being only 23, I saw that thing and immediately envied the kids that got to ride it. Well, the students actually did not get a chance to ride the Zipline but you know who did? You guessed it…yours truly! A parent of one of my 5th graders and myself got to be the “variables” of an experiment about the effects of weight onmotion. So we got to ride the zipline three times in a row…can you say HOLLA?! Cause I can. The kids gave us names to cheer for as we went down the zipline so they called me “Ms. Zipster” which then the Sky Ranch worker who was teaching the lesson changed to Ms. Hipster…I'm guessing it had to do with my glasses so sure.. I rolled with it. Speaking of Sky Ranch workers, some of my cute little 5th grade girls were determined for me to “get asked out” by one of the Sky Ranch workers who was my age that these 5th graders thought was “super cute.” So because of this, the whole time we were at Sky Ranch, these girls would give me to “eyes” whenever this certain Sky Ranch worker was anywhere near me. Goodness gracious, this is 5th grade Science Camp not E-Harmony people. It was cray-zay. It was a fun filled three days and I have always wanted to see Sky Ranch because of knowing some people who were counselors over the summer there. I can officially say it’s pretty awesome. 

Rocket building at Sky Ranch. I told them to smile "really big."

 

Filling out their Science Journals. What what.

Hangin' out in the "Mammal Room" touching some hedgehogs.

2. This next one isn’t necessarily a highlight because it made me want to pull all of my hair out BUT I think its worthy of sharing so that you could get a chance to feel my pain ;) A couple weeks ago we went to the Dallas Museum of Art with our 5th graders. Take another moment to visualize and think about the idea of taking 70 ten-year-olds to a museum where they can’t touch anything and have to be relatively quiet and how that is around 100% impossible. I ended that day with a headache and 6, count it, 6 freshly written out detentions. One of my best friends and I actually went back to the DMA without a bunch of 10 year olds a couple weeks later and it was relaxing and fun :) Until next year, DMA!

 

3.  In my school district we do these “classes” called Enrichment Clusters where each teacher will think of a class they could teach and bring in outside speakers that has to do with a career these kids may choose when they get older. For example, some clusters are: using Legos to work/play with in relation to Architecture, a fitness class where they learn about and get to try out Zumba, and a cluster where the students choose a room in the school to re-design in the sense of Interior Design. I chose to do a First Aid type of class and since this is my first time ever doing an Enrichment Cluster I really had little idea of what I was doing on that first day when sixteen 4th-6th graders flooded into my class to learn about First Aid. Luckily I always have something up my sleeve (sarcasm) and I had talked with some other teachers and found 16 stuffed animals. I decided we were going to use strips of Kleenex and popsicle sticks to make arm and leg splints for these stuffed animals. It seems like such a ridiculous concept when I type it out but hey yall..it was a hit! The students actually really enjoyed it and I made it a contest so the person with the best stuffed animal splint got a piece of candy. It’s all about the incentives y’all. 

Winner of the stuffed animal splint activity! Professional.

Here are a couple small highlights which don’t require much of an explanation:

  
1. One of my students blatantly told me that she judges teachers based on the cleanliness of their desks. She said I passed her judgement and therefore she likes me? Score?
  
2. When taking a spelling test with the word “direction” on it, I saw one of my students flip her test over to write something out before writing her answer down. When I looked at it after she turned in her test, she had written “One Direction” on the back. Whatever it takes y’all.

That's what makes you beautifulllllllll

3. In my First Aid enrichment cluster, our school nurse came down to teach kids hands-only CPR using a dummy. The students then practiced what they just learned on the dummy to the song of “Stayin Alive” because apparently the beat to the song is the same rhythm you should use when giving CPR. Fun fact and funny sight: check! 

ah ah ah ah stayin alive stayin alive

  4. Yesterday one of my students was doing his writing prompt over a book he had just read in the trilogy of Lord of the Rings and when I asked him to tell me more details (as in, write it down) about the main character, Frodo, he proceeded to tell me for literally 5 straight minutes about the story line of Lord of the Rings. I didn’t have the heart to stop him so I let him talk and talk. I now know a lot more about the "LOTR" than I thought was possible in 5 minutes.

5. I had to literally give a lecture to some students the other day when one student came up to me saying someone was making fun of “country people” and that it hurt their feelings because their grandparents are “country people.” Let’s just say it took all of me to not let out a slight giggle when I was lecturing them, even though it was a serious matter you guys!
  
6. One of my students was writing about her experience at the State Fair of Texas a couple weeks ago and as I was reading it she mentioned the yummy taste of a “powdered pretzel.” I then figured out she was meaning “funnel cake” lolz yall.

Well there you have it folks! The funny and crazy moments of my previous month of teaching. Pretty soon it will be Christmas Break and I will have completed a whole half of my first year of teaching. It is flying by and I’m getting the hang of things more and more each day. I am at a wonderful school on a wonderful team with even greater students. Jesus, you rock.

Teacher out,

Ms. Crabtree

It's Fall Y'all

Well it's officially Fall and maybe it's because of the *slightly* cooler temperatures or the occasional falling brown leaf that has made me miss a couple weeks of blog updating, but on this lovely day off, I'm back! Stop your fretting!

It's so so so hard to believe that it's already mid October which means we are coming upon halfway through this Fall semester. (Sidenote: I'm still in "college term mode" so half the time when I say "semester," I don't think my students even understand what I'm saying..maybe that should be a new vocabulary word for next week? hmm.) It still feels like school started just a couple weeks ago and I'm convinced that even the long-feeling weeks fly by in the blink of an eye! But I'm not exactly complainin' 'bout dat.

Highlights of the past couple weeks:

1. I wear pants (straight leg/skinny type so they're cute, I promise!!) every day to work simply because half the time I spend bending down to pick up trash/broken pencils/torn up pieces of paper in between classes to make it a clean environment for my following classes (I hate trash/clutter okay?!). Therefore, I don't choose to wear dresses because A. I don't find them very comfortable to wear around all day when I'm go-go-go and B. I don't have a plethora of choices of dresses soooo therefore it just doesn't happen. Well, my students, well..the girl students, picked up on my no-dress-wearing-style after about the 5th week and then asked me if I owned any dresses. I replied with a "yes" to which they replied with "then why don't you wear them?" to which I replied with "because I like pants better........but maybe I'll dig one out of my closet to wear tomorrow...just for y'all." So, in order to make my students happy as clams, I wore a dress the next day and I also happened to wear my hair up for the first time that day (main reason being I was too lazy to straighten my hair) so Ms. Crabtree was lookin all sorts of different that day at school! Let's just say my day was filled with "Ms. Crabtree! Your hair looks so good up!" "YOU'RE WEARING A DRESS!!!!" "Ms. Crabtree!! So-and-so (a 10 year old boy) thinks you look pretty with your hair up hehehehe" and so on and so on. I half felt like a person who had just participated in Extreme Makeover: Fashion/Hair Edition and half like a celeb. It was strange yet humorous.

2. The YouTube video/song of "What Does The Fox Say?" (click on the link...you know you want to) has been all the craze lately among my elementary school posse and lucky for them, I had seen the YouTube video already so I was already aware of this ridiculous song before it swept into the brains of all my 5th graders. Let me tell you, it's something that when you hear it once, you'll never forget the tune, unfortunately. Therefore, I about made the life of a couple of my students when they came up to me and simply said "Ms. Crabtree! Ms. Crabtree! What does the fox say?" to which I replied with the tune that comes right after it. They stared at me wide eyed and then busted out laughing. They either think I'm cool or that I need to get a life? I'll go with cool?

3. At the beginning of last week, we had just come in from recess and one of my fifth graders approached me in class shortly after and asked, "Ms. Crabtree? What do butterflies eat?" to which I replied, "um, leaves?" and then told her that's a question for the Science teacher (I teach Language Arts okay?!) She then proceeded to ask me this questions again about every 30 seconds until I finally said, "*Sarah, why do you keep asking me this?" and she stared at me for about 5 seconds and then said, "Okay...I keep asking because I caught a butterfly at recess and it's currently in my locker..." I honestly had to hold back a small chuckle and then had to persuade her that the butterfly needs to be placed back outside because it needs sunlight to survive and a bush is much more appealing to a butterfly than a musty old locker. She was pretty bummed that I asked her to do this but I told her I'd give her 5 minutes to place the butterfly back outside and to say her goodbyes. Bless her little heart.

4. Mid last week, one of my homeroom students came up to me at the end of the day and presented me with a Prezi presentation (kind of like a PowerPoint but much cooler and done online) titled "Why We Love Ms. Crabtree." She then proceeded to show me how she had asked all of my homeroom class and a handful of other students what they thought about me (I'm guessing she threw in the word "positive" because there weren't any hurtful comments lolz) and then she assembled them into the cutest/sweetest Prezi presentation simply because she felt like doing it. It was honestly one of the kindest gestures I've ever received and it made my heart melt into a big ole glob of goo on the floor. One of my students said "I love Ms. Crabtree because she helps bring out the inner me." I love my students.

This was a letter I randomly received last week. Heart melted again.

5. This past Friday, my twin seestur, Holly, came in town from Austin so I told her she had to come up to my school at the end of the day to meet some of my students. Well, she got there a couple minutes earlier than I expected and as I am slightly shouting at a student to return to his desk for the 5th time that period, Holly walks in to which all my students went CRAY-ZAY. Some of them forgot I had a twin and I didn't tell this certain class that my sister was coming to visit so once they saw the Ms. Crabtree look-a-like waltz in, they morphed into students I didn't even recognize anymore. Their eyes were wide, they were looking at me and then looking back at Holly, and then they began rushing towards her. Because of their barbaric-ness, I had Holly leave my room to which my students got real pizzed. Once Holly left, I told them that she would not be entering this class again until everyone was in their seats with their mouths zipped shut. Once they proved they were normal human beings again, I had Holly come back inside and it was like all my students had straight jackets on and were tied to their seats against their will based on the amount of wiggling that was occuring among each of my students. It was like they have never seen a twin before. ISSUES PEOPLE. ISSUES.

These past couple weeks have kind of been a whirlwind but remembering these little moments reminds me again that despite the difficult/stressful moments I experience each day, that Jesus reminds me of his goodness when my students really know what to do/act like to make me smile.

Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree

*Names have been changed

Being "That" Teacher...

Report cards are being sent out next week which means the first six-weeks is almost coming to an end. Seriously cray-zay to think about. 1 six-weeks down, 5 more to go, and then it's summer break. If every six-weeks flies by the way this first one did, I'll be soaking in that Summer sun in a matter of seconds! But let's not even think about Summer right now with Fall quickly approaching and my heart skipping a beat at the thought of boots, sweaters, and scarves.

Highlights of The Week:

1. Above the door of my classroom, on the inside, I have the words "You Are Loved" spelled out so that my students can always see it from where they are sitting and especially when they leave my classroom. I've only had one or two students out of my 78 students comment about it so hopefully the others have noticed it too. Well, on Tuesday when my students were lining up to leave my class to go to their next class, a sweet girl who was standing at the front of the line read it out loud and then turned to me and said, "I like that Ms. Crabtree. It's a really good self-esteem booster," and I about died on the inside. Being in a public school, you can't exactly explain that the "You Are Loved" is more than just me, Ms. Crabtree, telling them they are loved but that more importantly, they are loved by Jesus. I just hope that even on the days when I am getting on to them over anything and everything, that they leave my class, see that they are loved, and I pray that they believe it.

The only picture I have of the words above my door, but you get the gist :)

2. So my students are obviously part of the generation where technology flows through their blood stream and the idea of simply going outside after school to ride bikes or play tag on their street is gag-inducing. Therefore, the conversations I hear a lot are about video games, mainly, "Minecraft" or whateva these 10-year-olds call it. Being a girl (who was never even that good at any video game I have ever played, meaning my Peach could never beat my older sister's Mario in Mario Cart), I never sat in front of a TV screen playing hours upon hours of video games. Nowadays, these kids can sign onto their Xbox and live chat with their friends and sometimes complete STRANGERS to play their games. I think that's just crazy and that they are frying their brain cells by doing so so I made sure to let them know that when I have kids, especially if I have boys, that I'm not going to let them play video games. (sidenote: I was semi-kidding because I don't want to be that mom but then again, I don't think I'd mind being that mom if my kids were more well-rounded by playing in the sunshine rather than wasting their life away trapped in the alternate universe of video-game-playing). Well, the gasps that erupted around the room were plentiful and one boy in particular shouted at me, "Ms. Crabtree! Your kids are going to hate you!!" and I said, "Probably!" and continued on with my lesson with a smile on my face knowing my students think I'm all bunch of crazy.



3. On Thursday, one of my homeroom girls ran into my classroom with a bag of apples and exclaimed, "Ms. Crabtree! I have a present for you!" and proceeded to hand me a fresh, beautiful, honey crisp apple. At first I was just thinking, yum I'll eat this at lunch, until I realized this was my first "teacher apple" given to me by a student! There was another girl standing nearby and when I said, "Thank you so much! You just gave me my first teacher apple!" the look on the other girls face was pure defeat in the sense of she was bummed she didn't give me my first teacher apple before the other girl. It was cute, sad, and funny all at the time time.

4. Last but not least, at the end of the day yesterday (Friday), after my students had been dismissed for their weekend adventures and I was in the middle of partaking in a happy dance, three of my 5th grade girls ran back into my room. One was nudging at another girl saying, "tell her!" followed by "no! you tell her!" followed by "JUST TELL HER!" and at this point I exclaimed, "Okay, y'all are freaking me out!" So finally the girl being nudged said, "Some of the 6th grade boys just came and talked to us in the hallway and asked us if Ms. Crabtree was our teacher and when we said yes they said 'Lucky y'all, she's hot!' so we just wanted to tell you that!" I told them that my life was now complete that 11 year old boys think I'm cute and they started laughing andddd probably thought I was crazy again. But, you know, I kinda like being that teacher that students think says weird things and acts strange sometimes. It's kind of a glimpse into my life when I become a mom someday and my kids become embarrassed of me. Can't wait for the day!

Here's a self portrait to end this post with:

I think the circles around my eyes are supposed to be my glasses...

Its da freakin' weekend, y'all.

Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree

Twerkin and Workin

Y'ALL. I've survived a whole month of teaching...and I STILL enjoy it. Is it too early to say that I think that that may be a good sign that I chose a good career for my life? I'm just going to think yes and go with that. Here's to the next 30 years!

This week flew by which made me a very happy person. I love my students but by the time Friday rolls around, I love when the clock finally makes it to 2:50 and my students slowly trickle out of my room. When they are all out, I take a deep breath, look at my empty room, and do a "its the weekend!!" happy dance. It should be videoed, uploaded to YouTube and become a viral video for all my teachers out there. Anywho, here are some highlights of my lightning speed week:

1. This highlight is probably the best highlight that I can think of for this year so far. When my class enters into our Writing portion of our block (period), my students are told to come over to my small group table, a couple at a time, to have me read over the paragraph they just wrote.  Then I let them know if they are on the right track or not and I send them on their way to go tweek their papers. Well, in my last block of the day, I have one very sweet and quiet girl who came up to me to have me edit her paper and there were two other boys hovering nearby ready to take the hot seat next. So I'm editing this sweet girl's paper and it all looked pretty good but she needed to fix some things. So after telling her what to fix, I looked at her and said, "Everything looks really good, you just need to go twerk a little bit." Y'ALL. I SAID TWERK. TO A 5TH GRADER. At this point the two boys who were standing near me looked at each other, then to me (with the widest eyes I've ever seen), and then began laughing as quietly as possible because the look on my face was more than likely filled with absolute horror. I don't think the girl I was helping understood what was going on so she smiled a small smile (probably because of how awkward I was being when I kept saying "tweek NOT twerk! tweek! tweek!") and then made her way back to her seat on the other side of the room. Helping the two boys with their paper wasn't as easy because of the laughter that was coming out of their mouths every couple seconds. After having an inner conversation with myself to pull it together and not bust out laughing in front of them, I was able to edit their papers in a civilized manner. I BLAME YOU, MILEY.

2. My students had their first spelling test last Thursday and honestly, a lot of them completely b.o.m.b.e.d. it. Because of this bombage, I let those students who failed have a chance to bring up their failing grade to a 70 but only if they re-wrote their spelling words 5 times each and then had their parents sign a slip of paper informing them that their child had failed their spelling test. (Sidenote: all of my students have to get their planners signed every night by their parents so most of their planners are filled with paper signatures/initials) Well, one of my boys decided he was going to simply cut out a parent signature from his planner and then glue it on the line where his parents were supposed to sign for his failed spelling list. See picture below:

I, of course, called him over when I received this and let him know that this is not quite what I was looking for. He thought it was totally justified and I further explained how cutting out signatures from other places and pasting them to documents will not work in the real world so it doesn't work in class. I was half baffled by his justification and half chuckling on the inside for him thinking it would actually work. So, like those who have gone before me have said, "I wasn't born yesterday!!" that saying has become a new motto for my class. Sheesh.

3. On Wednesday of this week, my last class of the day was slowly making their way into my classroom. The very first thing my students are supposed to do when they walk into ANY of their 3 classes is to sit down, get out their planners, and write their daily assignment/homework down. Well my last class of the day seems to be filled with students, mainly boys, who take forever to sit down in their own seat and focus on what they need to be doing. Well one boy, *Gabriel, was taking for.ev.er so I said to him, rather loudly, "GABRIEL, WELCOME TO CLASS. PLANNER." and just as I said this, his previous 4th grade teacher was walking by my class and heard me say this and literally started cracking up. His teacher told me the next day when I saw him at recess that he was laughing because he, himself, had said those exact same words to Gabriel the previous year, practically every day. Well, at least its not just my class that he takes forever to get focused in. I wonder what his 3rd grade and below teachers think too! Goooooooooooodness gracious. But it was pretty funny.


4. In the past couple years or so, I have adopted a different way of saying things. Such as calling my sister Holly, "howwy" and changing other l's to w's or r's to w's. Not quiteee sure why but it happens occasionally. Well the other day, I happened to say "sowwy!" to my students and they immediately said to me, "that's weird that you just said sorry in that way..." and then I looked at them and said, "sowwy, you think that's weird!" I think it weirds them out which makes me want to say it even more. Isn't that how it works? Sometimes they make me feel like the parent who is trying to be cool but whose children thinks is embarrassing. I relish in it. It's pretty hilarious.


5. And five, here's a little student selfie to end my blog with. They were being absolutely crazy the last couple minutes of class on Friday so I wanted to them to be still for .05 seconds so I inflicted a selfie on them and it turned out to be one of my new favorite pictures. 

Grateful I get to do this "job" every day. One month down, 9,851,432,714 to go!

Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree

Third Week's a Charm

Well this week was a whole day longer than last week so I was convinced it would feel like a millennium after the heavenly 4-day week from last week. But, much to my surprise this week flew by despite the week being jam-packed with "to-do" lists, spelling tests, and persuasive letter writing. By the time Friday came along, I had said "T.G.I.F." so many times that at the end of the day my kids asked, "what does that even mean?!" I then responded with, "Thank Goodness It's Friday!!" as they stared at me with a look in their eye that said this woman is craaaaaazay. It was pretty humorous and TGIF has now taken on a whole new meaning to me post-college.

Highlights of the week:

1. On Monday we were finishing up our activity we started the previous Friday where each student had a blank map and were told to use an atlas to fill in all the empty states with the names of the states. I also said approximately 1,346 times to write out the whole name of the state and not abbreviate but did I receive maps into the "turn-in basket" with abbreviations? You bet I did. But that's besides the point.......Anyways, my students all sit at round tables with 4 to each table and one table in particular just HAD to all get up and come up to me while everyone else was working and tell me a joke that just could not wait until after class. I finally gave in because they were literally bursting at the seams to tell me and couldn't even focus on what they should've been doing. They then, *on the count of three*, said to me, "Have you ever been to Tennessee?!" and right when I was about to answer with "no" they practically yelled, "BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONLY 10 I SEE!!" They were practically in tears from laughing so hard and it was actually pretty funny so I gave them a little bit of a laugh...just a little one ;)

2. Once Tuesday (September 10th) rolled around, being the only 5th grade Social Studies teacher I knew I had to quiz them on their history for this week. I asked them, "Okay class, what is tomorrow?" and they all responded with "Wednesday......?" which I responded with, "What's the date tomorrow?" and that's when the gears started turning for some and some responded with, "September 11th....?" and others with, "Ohhh 9/11!" Shortly after asking these questions, I was walking around checking planners when a super sweet and smart girl turned to me and asked, "Ms. Crabtree? Did the planes fly into the World Trade Centers because of Hitler?" My brain at first was thinking ummmmmm whatttttt until I realized that these students weren't even alive when Sept 11th, 2001 happened. I cut them some slack and at that point, I knew the next day would be a day where we would have a kid-friendly September 11th lesson. The lesson went over really well the next day and when the short lesson was over, hands were raised all over the classroom with questions and comments about September 11th. Hopefully they retained the information they were taught and will remember it for future reference. Oh, and for the boys in my classes who thought the terrorists parachuted out of the planes before they crashed, well, now they know that was not quite what happened.

3. This week was "College and Career Week" for my school district so we got to sport our college gear this week and there was a door-decorating contest to partake in. Being a first-year teacher, I wanted to participate, and participate well, in this contest. Therefore, I got to school early, cut out some letters and got a big piece of butcher paper to fit the size of my door so that I would be ready when my homeroom had time to all pitch in to help. Well, decorating a door with 25 fifth graders all shouting, "I want to hold the tape dispenser!!" "Can I color the letters?!" "No I want MY pennant to go right here!!" I about had a head ache after the 15-20 minutes we had to decorate my classroom door was over. We didn't end up winning the contest which is understandable because I realized too late that I didn't read the directions fully (you'd think being a teacher I would know to read carefully) and we were supposed to put the years our colleges were established and where our colleges are located. Sorry kids!! Here's the finished product:

The students each decorated a college pennant
of their choice and when I asked them what they wanted
our door to look like, they immediately had the idea to
print out a picture of the world (circle in middle) and
then place a graduation hat over it to show that they would be
going to schools all over the world. They are pretty cool kids.

4. I wear my glasses everyday to school so my students only know me with glasses on my face. I have had my glasses since January but haven't worn them as much as I should (I don't have contacts) so I decided that when I start teaching full-time I will start wearing them. Anyways, by the end of the day my glasses really need a good cleaning so in my last period class as students were getting settled into their seats and writing in their planners, I took my glasses off for less than 10 seconds to wipe them down real quick and I heard a sweet girl's voice say to her table-mates, "Ms. Crabtree has her glasses off! Quick, look!" but by the time her table-mates had looked over I had already put them back on and the same girl then said, "You missed it!" and I walked away from being near that table having to force myself not to crack up at that "secret" conversation I had just heard. :)

5. This last highlight is to all my Aggie fans out there. In order to get my students attention when they are all talking I will usually just say "5th grade!" and they will stop what they are doing and look at me. Well, my voice is sick of shouting over their already loud voices so I decided to implement a new clapping technique to get their attention. Therefore, I gave them some background info to the "hullabaloo caneck caneck" beat that many people will honk their horns to in College Station. I then told them that when I clap 4 times to the beat of "hu-lla-ba-loo" that they will clap 4 times back to me to the beat of "ca-neck-ca-neck" and when we practiced it, I about died. It was beautiful.

This week was a great week and it ended with some of my students staying in my class a couple minutes after they were dismissed for the day to cover my whiteboard with "graffiti." I remember being their age and finding so much joy when my teachers let us write all over the whiteboard even if we knew he/she was going to erase it the moment we left, so, I let them draw ALL over that whiteboard. When they left I stood back and looked at all they wrote and was again reminded why I do what I do. They really do rock.




Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree

P.S. BTHO BAMA! Gig 'em Ags!

Birthdays and Deep Breaths

Another week is behind me and I'm convinced that because it was only a 4-day week, that students were crazier, days felt never-ending, and my work load was 3x the norm. But, with all that said, I enjoyed this week even more than last week. I mastered all 78 of their names by the end of last week. Actually, I just lied to you. There are two girls who look like they could be twins so after calling *Jane, "Alicia" and Alicia, "Jane" for a solid week and a day, I knew this past Wednesday would be the day I overcame my name mix-ups. They were both eternally grateful.

I began the week with finally implementing a seating chart. I'm convinced it is a gift from Heaven. Since I let them sit wherever they wanted last week, they, of course, all sat with their friends. Little did they know that this was my plan all along. You sit with your friends, you chat it up all week, and then I know who you shouldn't be sitting next to when I make a seating chart. It's one of my many teacher tricks ;) Therefore, I separated that back table of 4 boys who wouldn't stop talking and they now sit at different tables at the four opposite corners of the classroom. I do this to help you, not to hurt you. Anddd to maybe keep my sanity levels at a much lower level.

Highlights of the Week:

1. On Tuesday when we got back to school after a heavenly 3-day weekend, some students were acting as if they were still experiencing the weekend in my class. I felt like I was more stern than ever on that morning but was still trying to remain cheerful because we all need some cheer on the first day of the week, right? After saying things such as "everyone needs to be in their OWN seat," "You need to be writing your assignment in your planner," and "Writing in your planner does NOT require talking" about 10x each, a sweet sweet girl turned to me as I was walking by her table and said, "Ms. Crabtree, do you like being a teacher?" I immediately thought oh gosh, I hope I come off as a teacher who likes spending my days with kids, because I truly do! I then responded, "I really, really do!" and then she responded with the sweetest smile I've ever seen and said, "Because you really do seem like you enjoy it," and I about wanted to melt because of all her sweetness on a day when I could've possibly pulled the majority of my hairs straight out of my head.

2. Also on Tuesday, I introduced a new project to my students which require me handing out a rubric. Before handing out the rubrics, I asked my students, "Who can tell me what a rubric is?" A precious boy then shot his hand up and said, "It's like a square where you move all the little squares to line up all the colors!" He thought I meant Rubik's Cube. Bless his little heart. 

3. Wednesday was my birthday and since telling people it is your birthday after saying "Good Morning" to someone is a slightly awkward thing to do, I just didn't tell anyone haha. My two morning classes came and went and then Specials time (PE,Art,Music,) came and I got a call from the office saying I had some deliveries. I immediately got pretty excited and walked swiftly to the front office. I was welcomed by some birthday fun, see below:

    Tiff's Treats delivery from my
best girl, Hannah!

The CUTEST flower cupcake
arrangement
I've ever laid eyes on from
my other best girl, Suz!

Walking back from the office with some pretty goodies sure turns some heads so my co-teachers then found out it was my birthday and soon all my students knew too. They were all in shock and ran up to me saying, "Ms. Crabtree!! Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday?!" I then proceeded to explain to them that I would've felt weird telling them! If that makes me weird, then so be it haha. When I went to pick my students up from lunch, one of my boys came up to me and said, "I just saw your sister!" I must have looked at him like he had horn growing out of his head because he quickly said, "She just dropped off flowers for you in the office. I was in the nurse's office and saw her!" Unknowingly, my sister, Heather, had self-delivered flowers to my school so that they wouldn't be messed up in shipping. She is kind of the best.

SO pretty, right?

The rest of the day was filled with students wanting to sing me "Happy Birthday" and make me birthday cards.


4. The next day (Thursday) seemed like a continuation of my birthday, especially with my morning classes who didn't know it was my birthday until the end of the day on my actual birthday. The day continued on normally until I walked my class back inside after recess was over. I was then greeted by balloons stuck to all the most random things in my classroom, like so:

Balloons attached to my media cart (picture taken next morning
when I was at school way too early for my liking)

Three precious girls had snuck into my room during their recess to decorate and then had a gift of Hershey kisses (cookies and cream edition) wrapped up for me to open. When I told them that those were my favorite type of Hershey kisses, they smiled from ear to ear and high-fived each other. My heart melted again.

At the end of the day, a girl from my homeroom class handed me a Happy Birthday card that had been signed by all 78 of my 5th graders. It truly made my day.

One student signed, "You have been a great teacher so far.
 I might flunk 5th grade for you. (Just kidding)."

5. On Friday we did some Social Studies fun by labeling the 50 states on a map worksheet so I just KNEW I had to share with them the "Fifty Nifty United States" song which sings the 50 states in alphabetical order. I had to learn it in 5th grade so I just wanted to pass on my knowledge to them. I asked them if they wanted me to sing it to them and they immediately started laughing when I started singing it and began yelling "Stop Ms. Crabtree! No more, no more!" so apparently I should never be a Music teacher in my teaching career. Ouch.


Yes, I get frustrated with my students. Yes, they drive me crazy a lot of the time. But would I want my life to look any differently than it does right in this moment? Nope. My students bring me joy each day and I hope I can always bring some to theirs. And that, right there, is why I do what I do.


Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree

**student's names have been changed**

First Week: Check!

I survived my first week of being a 5th grade teacher! What? Am I old enough for this? My students say I look 19 but then they quickly counteract their own thinking with "well, you have to be at LEAST 20 years old to be a teacher" and then I just let them think they are correct :) Still so weird to think that I am an actual teacher and not just a student teacher passing through who is only at a school temporarily. I have only taught for 5 days but found myself talking with some teacher friends saying "well a couple weeks ago we worked on..." when in actuality it occurred just two days ago. Does being a teacher mean time is prolonged or does the lack of sleep, lost voice, and achy feet just make you feel that way?

 Highlights of my first week:

1. Being called a rendition of names such as "Ms. Crabapple," "Mrs. Crabs" and my ultimate favorite, "Ms. Crabgrass" completely on accident. Who knew "Ms. Crabtree" could be so hard to remember?

2. Being told my outfit is "totes adorbs" and that my glasses "really bring the whole outfit together" by some seemingly fashion-forward 10 year olds.

3. For this first week we were asked to sit with our students in the cafeteria for lunch. Favorite conversations consisted of a 10 year old boy telling me all the scoop on the latest celeb gossip. When I inquired on how he knew all of this information (much information I wasn't even aware of such as JBieb is apparently begging for Selena back but she keeps denying him..how dare her?!) he went on to tell me how his mom loves to watch Access Hollywood every night. Do we have a new E! News correspondent in the midst of our 5th graders? Maybe Jason Kennedy can come for Career Day...

4. Another lunch conversation consisted of overhearing some 5th grade boys talking about all the stuff they have blown up in the microwave and what YouTube videos are a MUST to watch about such acts. I then almost chimed in about my own stunt when I was younger about how if you put a lemon in the microwave, it will turn as hard as a rock. But then I thought ummm betta not and acted like I didn't hear the conversation that was going on.

5. My homeroom class got to go to the school library this week to check out some books. As soon as they got their library cards, 3/4 of the class swarmed to the "scary stories" section and proceeded to grab every scary story book in sight. When I noticed that a couple girls checked out "Scary Stories To Tell in The Dark" I knew I HAD to tell them that I also read that book when I was in 5th grade and that one of the stories has haunted me ever since. A precious little girl then turned to that story and began reading it. She was legitimately freaked out upon ending the story and I have now passed on my fears to another innocent 5th grade girl. Oops.

                                                     

I also had my first experience with making one of my 5th grade girls cry yesterday and let me tell you, it broke my heart despite the fact that I was correct in how I disciplined her. She is as sweet as can be and the first time I had to get on to her happened to be too much for her to handle. Don't worry, I talked to her about why I got on to her and we're still buds, but crying students is no bueno!

The first week of the rest of my career is behind me and at this point, I feel like I could accomplish anything. Even though the amount of times I had to tell my students to stop talking was astronomical and how I would explain instructions three times to the class and STILL had students who apparently weren't listening come up to me a minute later asking me the same questions that I just answered, I wouldn't want to do anything else as a "big girl job."

Thank you, Jesus, for this job at a great school where I am surrounded by staff who come in my door every day just to ask me how I'm doing. Thank you for their constant support and encouragement when I feel like I just can't do it. You have answered my prayers in huge ways and I thank You for a hard week but one that was well worth it.

Hallelujah for a 3-day weekend!


Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree



                                                         

  
                                                                    First Day!
                                                                     6:45 a.m. 
                                                                 Half asleep zZz