Teacher, What's your name?

Kindergarten Orientation
In other words, preparing, being stressed out, scurrying around, making copies, and getting nervous to meet my new students and be with them for less than an hour.

How was it you may ask?

AMAZING!
At first, we were getting a little worried because NO ONE was there. We made 70 copies of this packet to hand out and we were making joke that we wouldn't have to make any copies for next year. Finally people started showing up and then they all came at once. The little kiddos were so shy! They were hiding behind their parents and when we would ask their names they would speak barely in a whisper. They are adorable! We met as a big group and talked a little bit about what they should know how to do and what we'll cover in kindergarten. Then the other kindergarten teacher and I took our kids back to our classrooms. Once the kids were away from their parents, they opened up so much! We read a story, sang some songs, took a tour of the classroom and then made our way to the playground. As we stood up, I decided to have us count to 10 and see just what my kids know. So, each step we took we would count. When we got to 10 we were at the classroom door. I then said, "Let's see if by the time we get to 10 again if we're outside." So, we walk and count and get to 10. I turned around and said, "Did we make it?" They all start giggling saying No teacher! We're stuck in the hall! I said Oh! We better do it again! By that time we had made it outside. They ran out to the playground and were so excited to have their own playground! One little one in my class was sad we didn't have swings. While outside, I had a few little ones come up to me. One asked what the classroom rules were. I told her we would go over them the first day of school. Another came up and said, "Teacher, what's your name?" When I said Miss Gough, I saw his little forehead scrunch up. I'll probably get called teacher a lot this year and that is just fine by me.
It was blazing hot outside. Thankfully we weren't out there long before parents started coming out and some of my class's parents wanted to talk. It was so great to get to meet them and start putting faces to names. The best feeling of the day though came when a few of the parents asked if this was my first year of teaching. Inside I was just on this pedestal to be able to say, "No, this is just my first year to Whittier." Inside I was feeling like BAM! 22 and on my second year of teaching. That is a magnificent feeling. I also was feeling great because everyone who came into my classroom said how cute, darling, adorable, and other wonderful adjectives it was.
Today, because of orientation, I was wearing a skirt. Decided to look the part. As I walked out of the copy room two other teachers were in there and as I walk out I hear, "Isn't our new kindergarten teacher just darling!" Ha I work with some wonderful people. I am so excited for this year to begin. I have spent hours upon hours in my classroom getting everything up, organized, and going through a closet that had 14 years of decorations in it!! 14!! And trust me, they were probably great back when they were new, but now.... not so great. My angel of a mother spent 2 days helping me go through everything. The biggest surprise in my closet... a tent. That's right my friends... a tent. I was going through a box that had turkey heads (don't ask me why) and I opened the box and said WHAT? so when my mom asked me what I wanted to do with the tent I turned and said WHAT? She started laughing and said that's what you said when I pulled it out and told you that there was a tent in here. I said oh sorry, that is when I found the box of turkey heads. Sigh, why in the world do I have a tent...So, back in when the tent and into the garbage went the turkey heads. I'm feeling pretty confident about this coming year though. Kindergarten, here I come.

 Out in the hall, I created this bulletin board. All the puzzle pieces have their names on them and sometime this week I'll put up the banner that says "We all fit in kindergarten"

I saw this amazing idea and decided to use it. I put up command hooks in the back of my storage closet and clipped my borders together with binder clips. Then you just hang the clip on the storage hook and ta da! Nice and tidy. Finally a place for all the extra borders without folding them and shoving them in a closet to get ruined.

Summer Life of a Teacher

I survived what I deem the hardest year of my life. I feel quite proud of myself. When I look back at all that I've accomplished these past 12 months, I see how much I've grown and the woman I've become, I am comfortable with.
The last few days with my kiddos were pretty tough. I swear they all get together for the last day of school and make a pact to misbehave so that their teachers don't get all mushy. When we all met for the last pledge together by the flag pole, I was so ready for them to go. Sad, but true. When they were dismissed, I was lost for a minute. Not quite sure what to do until I almost got tackled from behind by two of my little  munchkins. A few wanted pictures taken with me. The bittersweetness of being done, yet at the same time of making through my first year of teaching.
Less than a week after finished school, I left for Hawaii. The 2 hour plane ride from Utah to Seattle wasn't bad at all, but the 6 hour plane ride to Hawaii was a challenge. I tend to get bored easily when I can't move and am essentially stuck in the same spot. I also cannot sleep in public places so I was awake the entire flight. Hawaii is 4 hours behind Utah. When arriving there at 10:30pm, it was 2:30am in Utah. I was dead on my feet. I called my brother to see where he would be and he said walk south towards the pillar. As I walked south, two figures jumped out from behind the pillar and shouted, "Welcome to the Himalayas!" A lei was then chucked at my head and somehow landed around my neck. It was my wonderful brother and cousin. We dropped my brother off at the Naval base and then proceeded to the Army base where my cousin lives with his family. Everyone was asleep and I gladly collapsed into their spare bedroom. I was woken up at 6am by their adorable little girl. I was not all that excited at the time to be awake, but little did I know how greatly that helped me acclimate to the time change. The adventures were mind blowing! From the Dole plantation, a different beach almost every night, the punch bowl, Waikiki, and the sights were too gorgeous to be captured by a camera. Some of the most memorable times were when we stayed home and just talked, watched movies, and my heart was absolutely captured by their two kids. Abby who is 2 and Danny who is 4 months. Abby has these beautiful blonde curls and when we would go anywhere people thought she was mine and not her brunette mother's. I would love to have a little one like her one day. Danny likes to be held a lot, but isn't always sure he likes being held. What would drive my cousins crazy is when he would be finicky with them so I would take him. I always had a certain way I held him and rocked him. 8 times out of 10 he would fall asleep. His parents would look at me in disbelief! I loved it.
Now back to Miss Abigail for a second. She absolutely loves Frozen. If you had your phone out she would ask "Let it go song? Let it go song?" If you said, "Not right now." She would reply,  " Thank you for asking nice." Haha yes Abby, thank you for asking nicely. Since this little miss would wake up before everyone, I had to start locking my door because I wasn't always coherent in the mornings and when she tried to walk out the door with an ibuprofen because she thought it was candy, I had to lock it. This would mean in the morning she would knock on my door and say, "Tayer, Tayer? Where are you?" I lost it the morning she knocked and said, "Tayer, want to build a snowman?" I started laughing so hard.
My cousins and brother were so amazing to comply to all my wants and where I wanted to go. I absolutely love them with all my heart and you wish your family was as amazing as mine. I can't wait to go back!

Not all that glitters is gold, but it is shiny.

That magic that I talked about in my last post, turns out it was just glitter that got in my eye. Shame isn't it.

But before I jump into things, I'll catch you up on my adorable monsters. They are all still alive and as talkative as ever. They are growing up right before my eyes, yet they still have the ability to drive me up the wall. As the year is winding down, I find end of year testing staring me in the face. As the older grades have to do SAGE testing (used to be CRT's) first and second grade get kicked out the computer labs and are left to fend for ourselves. Finding myself with no specialties to distract my students, there have been some extremely long days. Thankfully we still have P.E. Mondays. 45 glorious minutes to plan in quiet peace. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my class, but anyone would go crazy after 6 1/2 hours with 6 & 7 year old with only you to entertain them for days on end.
I am definitely looking forward to taking next Friday off of work to GRADUATE from COLLEGE! It is finally here. Although I haven't really felt like a college student since last summer since my class in the fall was once a month and then I didn't have to take any classes in the Spring. Although I have felt the disappointment from my fellow graduates, I will not be walking. I don't really see the point to go sit for three hours to still not get my degree certificate until they mail it to me 2 weeks later. I will be taking myself to lunch and hopefully spend the day in the wonderful company of my family. It is surreal. I was in school for so long and then jumped head first into my career. Walking just seems, unimportant. Sorry guys.
Anywho, back to my class. They have grown so much the past couple months. I completely changed the way I run small groups and they are going so well. My amazing reading specialist has really taken me under her wing and in all honesty, has changed my life. She came into my classroom when I was at such a low and turned around my attitude. Not only have my kids grown, but I have found out who I am. I am someone who can accomplish hard things and can look adversity in the eye, and come out stronger. I thought I had some idea of what I was getting into when I accepted my internship, but I have NO IDEA what actually was waiting for me. This has been the hardest year of my life, and yet here I am. Alive, well, healthy, and with a smile on my face.

Alright, onto the boy I wrote about in my last post. He was like a coconut cake. Pretty to look at, a nice treat to have sitting on the counter, but when it came to actually partaking of it and keeping it, I couldn't do it. For those of you who don't know, I hate coconut. Valentine's Day came around and he and I went to Tucanos for dinner. That place was amazing! We then went back to his house where he proceeded to propose. I was shocked. He had joked about doing it, but I had no idea he actually would. I said yes though my head was hesitant. It was a gorgeous sapphire ring set in white gold. After being engaged almost a month and having quite a few things planned, I realized I couldn't go through with it. He and I were just too different and would have ended up miserable in  a few years. I promise, I wasn't being selfish or difficult. I finally saw what he was actually like, and realized, I need someone with the same foundation as me. So, I gave back the ring after he said some not so nice things and walked out. To my dismay, he never tried to contact me again. Supposedly he wanted to marry me and loved me, just not enough to fight for me. It stung a little at the time, but now it honestly doesn't surprise me. This happened March 9th and by March 24th, I had found an apartment with my friend and moved out of my parents house. Within just a couple months, I had a lot happen and found myself growing again.

Now, life is life and I still have the same struggles as before. Patience. With the school year ending, so does my one year contract and here I am looking for a new position at a different school. I applied at the school I am working at now, but they went with someone else. That was a hard blow and tripped me up for a couple days. I have been through 6 interviews so far and hopefully find my dream school soon. I am not looking forward to taking my classroom apart and having to take it elsewhere, but I will do it  with a heavy heart. When the school year first started, I was counting down the months till I would be done, and now that the deadline is coming, I don't want it to end. I will miss my kids so much and the people I have gotten to know have changed my life.

As this journey continues, it will be interesting to see how I continue to grow and find myself even more. Turns out what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger. Except polio.

Extra, Extra Read all About it

It has been quite a while since I have reflected about my journey so far.
Today, that." journey is quite amazing and adventuresome. Tomorrow is the 100th day of school. I have officially been a teacher for 100 days. That is a lot of days, yet it still seems like, really? only 100? I am happy to report that all my students are still trudging along with me. I recently got a new student which was something new to experience of trying to get all his supplies gathered and I didn't know I had a new student until the morning of when the secretary called into my classroom asking me to send down a student to come show my new student where our classroom was. The kids were so excited. During morning meeting that day, our new student said he was kind of nervous and quiet. Another student of mine said, "Yeah, at the first of the year I was scared too cause it was my first time here too so I didn't talk much." I then said, "And as you can see we must be nice because he got over it quick and they all talk all of the time." My class is so  chatty. Even when they talk all recess, lunch, and another recess, they still cannot sit still. We are constantly doing "Simon Says", jumping jacks, head shoulder knees and toes, and countless brainboosters. They are adorable and full of energy.
My greatest achievement this year though has been my ESL student. This means he is learning English as a second language. At the first of the year he didn't say a single word and slowly he started asking to go to the bathroom, saying my name, and telling me about Mario Kart. At the beginning of the year testing, he scored low in knowing his alphabet and could not read any nonsense words. Middle of year, he could say 13 sounds for nonsense words and last week, when working with him, he said 28 sounds and read 3 whole words. I honestly almost started crying. I was so proud of him and he just has this huge smile on his face and gives me a hug. I cannot express how proud of him I am. They say each child deserves one year of growth in one years time. No matter where they start from, one year of growth. I feel with this child, he has already exceeded a years worth of growth from where he started from and we can only go up.

In other news, I am dating the most wonderful man I have ever met. He is amazing, sweet, handsome as none other, kind, smart, funny, and sweeps me off my feet. I had no idea that going to Kneaders December 4, 2013 would alter my life this drastically, but I am so excited it has. Yes, it is serious. It is two months today that we have been together. We have so many similarities, yet still have our differences to make things interesting. I am so blessed to have someone who adores me and isn't afraid to tell me. I often wonder what I did to deserve someone so incredible as him.

That is all for now. My heart is full of joy and my life an unfolding trail full of magic.