A Teacher's Schedule

Getting up at 6 o'clock every morning has forever ruined me because I enjoy it so much! I love starting school early and enjoying my day doing what I love most. So now, it is considered sleeping in when I hit 7 o'clock without waking up. It is also quite the task to keep me up past ten at night even if it is a weekend. Anyway... this morning as I found myself trying to catch some extra slumber and not feeling able to sleep by 6:10, I let my mind wander to next year:


I will be teaching at Harvest Christian Academy! I am so excited!


I have a classroom to put together. 
I have centers to plan.
I have hundreds of books to cart over to school to put in my library.
I have class art projects to plan.
I get to teach math!
I get to teach science!
I get to teach writing!
I get to teach history!
I get to teach READING!


In case you don't know me as a person or as a teacher. After spending a day in my classroom or even less- spending ten minutes talking to me, you will learn that I LOVE reading! And I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that everyone on the planet could also love reading if they were put in contact with the right book.

So I've been thinking ahead to this summer. What should I blog about? I won't have students. No one would want to read my posts. And then it hit me (beep, beep, SLAM).

I could blog about great children's books. I know that parents are always looking for ideas of books that they can encourage their children to check out of the public library to read on their own. One of my personal projects that I started last November and hope to make a dent in this summer is to read all of the Newbery winning books in the history of the award. 

There are close to 100, but I'm already a quarter of the way through the list, and I must say, I have read some great books this year! So for those of you who want to read a good book this summer, stay posted. Follow the blog. Hey parents, I might even throw some ideas your way...


I AM SO EXCITED!

Mediating

Another title for a teacher is "Mediator". There are mis-understandings all the time in the classroom. A student says something and somebody takes offense when the student was saying it in complete innocence... You catch my drift?

Well today, as I was mediating one of the mis-understandings, I thought of my Lord. I am just so grateful in my heart that I know the perfect mediator! He solves all of our conflict with sin if we give it to Him. There are times when we need to come to Him and share the details of our story, and He can solve all of it! And then in my classroom: There are situations which I am in when I am begging for God's discernment and His grace to give me the words to say. I am an imperfect mediator. I need WISDOM from the Lord to mediate even just a little bit!

To a God Who Has Wisdom Beyond Our Understanding and Wants to Bestow it Upon Us!
James 1

Great Website

Hello Fellow Teachers,
I found this great website with loads of free worksheets. I am currently teaching Digestion in Science as well as Decimals and Fractions in Math. I found some great worksheets to go with these lessons this next week. I love FREE things!

http://www.education.com/worksheet/

Enjoy!

Mrs. MacLeod

Our Prayer Requests

On Friday we learned 5 things that we should pray to the Lord. We use our 5 fingers to remember. We need to give the following to God:
1. Respect
2. Thanksgiving
3. Others' Needs
4. My Needs
5. My Sin

Get Well Soon!

Well this week has been quite a whirlwind, for more than one person, I suppose. I came into the fourth grade at HCA. The students' that I am teaching have been in between substitute teachers because poor Mr. Modica is sick. Well this process has been hard on them, so I am in the classroom to fill in until he is well enough to come back and teach. I might only be in one week. I might be in for longer, so I would like to blog about the fourth grade.

I will begin with this: These students are the sweetest people. They miss their regular teacher quite terribly, and I am quite sympathetic because I am missing 21 little people these days as well. The students have decorated the classroom whiteboard table with Get Well notes. I am posting those below.

As you can see, they miss Mr. Modica terribly. Praying that he comes back quickly, and until then, I am looking forward to lots of fun in fourth grade!

Mrs. MacLeod

Closing Remarks

In my last week in the classroom we began our study of the farm. We compared animals to one another. Again this idea was taken from Deanna Jump:
http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/

The sheep and the pig were easy to make. The students
matched the descriptions to their correct animal. This
was a fun activity!

The students decorated their very own farm landscapes.

Creative location for a cow.

Notice the chicken's talking bubble- "Bok!" (The phonetic
spelling is wonderful!)

I love all of the color in this farm scene.

I really appreciate the hen on top of the barn and the birds
flying over the scene.

On our last day together my students reminded me of the importance of saying "Thanks!" They each brought me a beautiful flower and gave me a book that they wrote for me including a picture with each of them as well as their very own illustrations and descriptions of their favorite thing that they did with me while I was teaching them. This truly touched my heart and reminded me of all of the teachers that have helped to shape who I am today along my walk in the education system.

Five Years Old- My parents hosted a backyard Bible club the summer before I started Kindergarten. I remember how infatuated I was with the teacher of the club. Her greatest attribute was her big curly brown hair. As a child, I loved curly hair. Actually, I still do. Well she shined that week. And on our last day she helped me along as I memorized one of the first verses I will ever remember- John 3:16. I remember being confused about what would happen to me if I had to meet my maker that very night. She told me how to get saved and we went up to my room where I asked Jesus to lead me for the rest of my life! I don't know this young lady's name, but I can't wait to give her a big hug in heaven someday!

Second Grade- This is kind of a sad memory, but it taught me something very important. I was washing my hands after going to the bathroom one day in second grade. I remember that the dispenser had run out of soap, so I left the water running and spent quite some time pushing the button and trying to get soap so I would be clean. All of the sudden, a teacher from another classroom came into the bathroom and yelled at me. I was so bewildered. She said that I was running the water too long and never even asked me why. I remember feeling so embarrassed as our classroom was connected to the bathroom. It was quiet in there, so I knew that everyone could hear this teacher yelling at me. I stayed strong and didn't cry, but I was definitely scarred a little bit. What could ever make a teacher think that it's okay to actually yell at a child is beyond me! This memory has stayed with me and in those moments of frustration, I am reminded of the fragile souls in the little ones in my classroom.

Sixth Grade- Every day Ms. Wright read us the story Holes by Louis Sachar after lunch. It became my favorite time and to this day I will never forget her voice as she read each of the pages of this book! What a phenomenal woman!

Seventh Grade- What an awkward age! This is the age when I struggled with my insecurities and my personality, but I came to feel very appreciated by my teachers. They valued me! In the seventh grade talent show, three of them played little parts in the skit that went on while I sang the song- That Don't Impress Me Much! by Shania Twain. I was weird, yet they never made me feel undervalued, but treated me with respect and always made me feel important in their classes!

High School- For the bulk of high school, I was also very weird! I'm so glad that I didn't realize it then. :-) But I had one teacher, we called him Doc, who taught me most of the things that I know about how to edit videos. He ran our school's television studio! We won national awards because of his insight into each of our ideas and projects. He believed in us. He believed in me. This teacher came to my wedding and told me how proud he is of me. 

College- When I walked into Emmaus, I never could have imagined how much I would change and grow during my four years there. But I came into contact with one of the most wonderful professors and his family during my first few months. This is the house that I spent time crying and rejoicing as different experiences started to convict me or cause me to realize how important it was that I graduate from college. This professor believed in my ability to do anything! He became my boss as I worked my way through college and spent about 20 hours a week under his instruction. There are so many life lessons that "Boss" (that's what I called him) taught me. He showed me the importance of dedication and drive to succeed at the challenges that came my way. And most importantly, he and his family showed me how important it was to always put Christ first! No matter where the road leads, I praise God that I was able to observe a family who walks the path that Christ has for them! I could never say thank you enough to the Sanchez's for their impact on my life!

To all of the teachers who have touched my life! Thank you! Thanks for showing me love and accepting me when I didn't even accept myself. You have shaped me, and I would not be a successful person if it wasn't for you! To my students these past two months, thank you! Thanks for showing me the importance of saying- "Thanks!" I love you so much! And I can't wait to see what each of you grows up to become!

With Love,

Mrs. MacLeod

After Spring Break

It was refreshing to see 18 smiling faces yesterday morning and 20 today... I'm really hoping to see all of my precious students' shining faces tomorrow. We only have two days left together. But I'm not posting to reminisc. We are using all the time that we have left together to learn!


This post is actually intended to share some pages from our newly illustrated weather book. We made this book in the final hour before spring break officially began. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. The students have really grown to love our class books. They were clapping for one another this morning after I read each page.

I think the weather is rainy. If I went outside my
coat will get wet, and my brother's coat will
get wet.

I think the weather is cloudy and rainy
and I'm going to play at home with my brother.
And we are going to add more stuff to our books.

I think the weather is raining. If it was raining
I would stay inside.

I think the weather is raining. I would wear
sweatpants and a shirt with a sweater and a
rain coat and boots and rain hat.

There were so many wonderful pages in our book! I would love to share more with you, but we have already moved into our next unit: Farm & Chick.
I can't wait to share some of the things that we are doing with it.