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**