A New Group of Crazies :)

Hello again blog readers! I think I may go down in history as one of the worst bloggers in the sense of never updating it............BUT no fear, I am back! Well, at least until my next blog post and by the looks of my last post being in January, I can't make any promises on how often these posts will be written ;)

To bring you all up to date, I finished my 1st year of teaching on a high note and I only cried one time!! Apparently that's a big deal for first year teachers so I'm going to take that as a great feat accomplished. STAAR testing was a booty-kicker but my students worked their booties off and did awesome.

Summer break was 10 full weeks of bliss and I never wanted it to end. I traveled to London and Paris with a couple friends (shout out to Katy, Suz, and the Queen herself) and read a TON of Harry Potter. My parents didn't let my sisters and I read HP growing up because of all the "witchcraft" (they cray) so I officially blame them for me missing out on a bit of my childhood. My twin sis and I (hey hollz) have read HP all summer and she just finished Deathly Hallows, proud of dat gurl. I am not finished with Deathly Hallows yet but I will finish ASAP. I love you 'Arry.

Fast forward to present day and I am a week into my second year of teaching! Y'all being a second year teacher is da bomb. I actually know what I'm doing, what a concept?! Yes, I will continue to learn new things daily and see which things don't work, but it feels good to not be a total newb.

Highlights of my 1st week of my SECOND (holla) year:

1. For one thing, my students from last year are absolutely insane. My district goes up to 6th grade in elementary school so I get to see my students from last year as they walk past my classroom everyday and into their big boy/girl classrooms in 6th grade. I feel the love from them daily as they literally tackle me with hugs (mind you they have each grown about 5 feet in the past two months so this can be problematic) and come into my classroom when school is out. They like to say things like "ohhhh my gosh you wore that shirt last year Ms. Crabtree!!" and then I follow that statement with a look that says they are nuts and I kindly reply "ummmmmmm do you want to pay for a new wardrobe for me each new school year?!" (they have it easy....they wear uniforms). I also got contacts over the summer so I don't rock my glasses every day so my former students think that's absolutely insane. They like to "kindly" tell me "Ms. Crabtree, you look prettier WITH your glasses on" or "Ms. Crabtree, you look WAY better without them." It's just so hard to please 11 year olds these days...and they sure know how to give an opinion............

2. I have received three, count them, THREE, apples this year from 3 different students. I only received one last year so getting three in the first week was pretty humorous. If only they knew I don't really care for red apples......hehe.

3. At the beginning of the year we have the students fill out "Get To Know Me" forms so I couldn't help but share this following bit of info from one of my students' pages. Favorite place to eat: "Chick A Flake."

4. On the first day of school I shared a PowerPoint all about myself and mentioned how I traveled to London and Paris this summer. After sharing this, one of my students (who is actually very bright might I add) asked me "Did you drive to Paris??" to which I replied ".................Nope.... I flew..." to which he exclaimed "PARIS IS AN ISLAND?!".....yep you can betcha bottom dollar that I pulled out an atlas to give a quick geography lesson.... feel free to pray for my students ;)

5. It always seems like sayings that we, as humans, use on the reg usually become part of a pop song so that that normal saying can no longer be said without someone snickering or singing along to what just came out of your mouth. I realized this last week when I started a few of my classes with "Alright, first things first..." which was followed by random bits of "I'm the realest!!" erupting around the room. Yep, it's a struggle teaching older kids sometimes....they know too much about pop culture! But......it is slightly funny :) I've since then substituted "first things first" with "first off" to get rid of the random singing. The things I have to go through.....

6. Having the last name of Crabtree, most of the boys I teach have heard of Michael Crabtree, the football player. Therefore, I never get failed to ask if we are related. Well, on the first day of school these two boys come up to me in class and I hear the following whispered exchange:

Boy 1: You ask!
Boy 2: No, YOU ask!
Boy 1: Ms. Crabtree, are you married to Michael Crabtree, the football player?
Boy 2: (stands there with eyes wide in hopeful anticipation that a pro football player would be coming to career day)
Me: ..............do you see a wedding ring on my finger to even indicate that I'm married?!
Boy 1: (points to Aggie ring as if to answer yes to my wedding ring question)
Me: Yeah, no. This ring is a class ring for the college I went to.
*Boy 1 and Boy 2 walk back to their seats feeling defeated*

7. Lastly, on Friday my students were playing with a dodgeball outside at recess to which they somehow eventually got it lodged high up in a tree. After watching many failed attempts to retrieve the ball by use of throwing shoes and a basketball up there, I walked over and took the basketball, dribbled it a little (for dramatic effect you know) and underhand threw it up in the tree and knocked the dodgeball right out of the tangled limbs. The crowd (students) went wild and I secretly thanked God that I was able to get the ball out on the first try so that I could keep my cool factor I had going ;)

So far, I absolutely LOVE this group of kiddos that I will get the opportunity to teach this year. They are respectful, kind, and have already shown a huge desire to learn. Thank you to my main man Jesus for another year at a wonderful school and for helping me feel prepared, rejuvenated, and ready to teach 75 fifth graders all about Reading and Writing....Oh, and thank you God for giving me the gift of remembering names, I had all their names down on the first day of school. Holla shot colla.

Teacher out,

Ms. Crabtree

Hello, 2014!

Sometimes I’m not the best blogger out there but then sometimes people remind me to blog (Stephanie Beltran hehe) and then I remember why I decided to blog about my teaching adventures in the first place: to remind myself years down the road the craziness and silliness of my first years of teaching and to allow people to get a glimpse into the life of a teacher. So here I am, finally blogging after a couple months of blog neglect J

2013 ended in a great way and boy was I excited for when two weeks of blissful Christmas break came up on the calendar! (one of the perks of being a teacher).Those two weeks off were honestly just what I needed after my first semester of my first year of teaching came to an end. One of my roommates (also a first year teacher) and I were sitting on our couch on one of the first days of Christmas break and we just looked at each other and fully took in the realization that we had just completed HALF of our first year of teaching, HALF Y’ALL. August-December absolutely flew by and so did those wonderful two weeks off ;).

2014 came in full swing with the students coming back to school at the beginning of January. It only took a few hours into the first school day back for the students to realize Christmas break was over and it was time to say goodbye to call of duty/minecraft all day and slumber/dance parties every night, and say hello to half-way to 6^th grade and STAAR preparation. It was a huge wake-up call to me and especially to my students. Being almost February, it means we are about two months away from STAAR testing in April. Excuse me while I go crawl in a hole and pray that I’m doing enough as their Language Arts teacher that they can pass their Reading test and move on to 6^th grade. Feel free to take a moment and pray for me and my 75 students, I’d greatly appreciate it J Oh, and pray that they pass Math too (you’re welcome, Happy!)

Highlights from my students since the last time I blogged…in November…SORRY AGAIN FOR MY HORRIBLE-NESS:

1.       I was working at my small group table answering questions for a couple students when I mentioned something about the weekend. Then, one of my students asked me, “Ms. Crabtree, what do you do on the weekend?” and then another student immediately answered, “she grades papers…” and then I looked at her, laughed, and said, “only SOMETIMES” and I reminded them that I, too, have a life outside of the classroom J

2.      One morning when the students were arriving at school, a student of mine asked me what my favorite color was and y’all, I get asked this question A LOT and I never know what to say. I don’t really have a favorite color so it changes a lot. Well, this particular time I told that student that I didn’t have a favorite color and she said “well do you like pink?” and I said “yep!” The day continued on and after lunch/recess, this student was in my class and she brings me a hot pink iPhone 5 phone cover. Y’all, this took me by surprise because it wasn’t the usual rainbow loom bracelet or pencil-drawn picture with crabs in a tree type of gift. I was so grateful for this gift despite the fact that I have an iPhone 4S and the cover doesn’t quite fit my phone….but I still use it on my phone every once and a while and just hide the fact that it isn’t very snug J

3.      My students KNOW I am not married, hence the “Ms.” and not “Mrs.” But despite that, two of my students still asked me if I was married and when I responded with a slightly sarcastic “well what do YOU think the answer is to that question?” I guess they took that as me being irritated with my single-ness. They then hugged me, pointed to my vacant left ring finger and said “Don’t worry Ms. Crabtree, you won’t be Ms. Crabtree FOREVER.” Thank you girls, thank you.

4.      About a week ago, one of my students walked into my classroom and said, “Ms. Crabtree. I have a compliment for you and a dis-compliment for you. Which one do you want first?” I really didn’t know where she was going with this but I told her to tell me the “dis-compliment” first. She then responds with, “You’re outfit doesn’t match AT ALL, but I really like it and you look super cute!” Y’all, I was wearing maroon pants, a cream polka dot shirt, with a navy cardigan. In my eyes, that matches pretty well and I like to think I have a slightly better fashion sense than an 11 year old so I responded with, “hasn’t anyone ever told you navy goes with anything (except black) and that colored jeans are all the rage right now?!” She then laughed and trotted away to her desk. Kids these days…

5.      As a lot of you know, the movie Frozen has been a big hit with most everyone who has seen it. I saw Frozen over Christmas break and absolutely adored it. I was happy to find out that all my students who have seen it, girls AND boys, have all really enjoyed it too. Well, the soundtrack is one of the best parts of the movie with one song in particular called “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” Whenever it’s too cold outside or raining, we have to have indoor recess which means students can play board games (these kids love Connect Four y’all), draw, or SING! Normally I wouldn’t exactly allow singing to happen during all of recess but when I heard two girls sitting in a corner signing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” together, I allowed it to happen because I happen to love that song. After a few minutes of singing and HARMONIZING together, these two sweet girls came over to my desk and said “Ms. Crabtree, can we sing you a song?” I, of course, said yes and they proceeded to sing me “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and it was so cute and my heart melted the moment they started singing. It was like my own personal Frozen soundtrack concert and it was PRECIOUS.

6.      Last but not least, we have spelling tests every Thursday. Spelling tests are pretty simple in the sense that I stand at the front of the room, say a spelling word, followed by a sentence with the word in it, and then they write the word down. Well, last week one of their words was the word “trouble” and of course the first thing that comes to my mind is some T Swift. I had an internal debate on whether I wanted to be a tad silly and nonchalantly say “Next word: trouble. I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Trouble.” or just be boring and say something like “you could get in trouble if you don’t do your homework.” Well, I decided with the former and spoke some T Swift lyrics for their sentence and luckily that was the last word on their spelling list because of their eruptive laughter that followed. Trouble, trouble, TROUBLE.

 

T- minus 4 months until Summer Vacay. Lots to do before then and lots more highlights to write down for my blog. I’ve heard 2014 is the year of the blog sooo hopefully that means I’ll be better at updating this thang? (I totally made that 2014 year-of-the-blog thing up beeteedubs.)

Teacher out,
Ms. Crabtree