Feelin’ the love

Man, I was tired today. Couldn’t sleep last night for several reasons but still had to get up at the crack of dawn. And really, that’s not true; I get up much before the dawn cracks. Geez, now I wish I could sleep til the crack of dawn! Anywhooo…I was tired. And coming back after a break is hard. And I really thought my kids would come back rejuvenated for school after our lovely 3-day break. Ha! But amidst the craziness of reviewing for EQT’s with some active 7 year olds, there were some sweet angels in my room. One of my babies brought me a note in the morning that was a picture he had drawn and it said “I love you Ms. Brown.” So sweet. About halfway through the day one of my boys, who I know has lots of family issues, brings me something that looks like a Ken doll shirt. He said “I want you to have this.” Often when they bring me random stuff like this or a snack “for me” that I really know is their snack, I just say “thank you so much but I really want you to have it.” But, I just couldn’t. This was a special gift from this baby. So I took it with much appreciation and love. Why he felt the need to give me a Barbie shirt, I really don’t know. But I do know he has next to nothing so why doesn’t even matter. How can these babies who I am so hard on still love like this?? Many people would laugh or think these gifts are stupid. But I know my kids and I know what is a big gift from them and what isn’t. My note and Barbie shirt were big gifts. I get so frustrated and tired but wow, I am so blessed. I only hope and pray I am blessing to these babies’ lives too.

Another cooking adventure:)

Since I had yet another day off, I decided to give another Pinterest recipe a go. This recipe included chicken stuffed with a ricotta, spinach, basil, Parmesan, grape tomato, and spice mixture. Find the original recipe here. I followed the recipe exactly on this one. It turned out very yummy, but not perfect. The ricotta mixture could’ve used a bit more salt (very easy fix). Also, the Panko did not stick to the chicken very well. The recipe said to rinse the chicken, but it didn’t say to dip it in anything, so I didn’t. But next time I will be dipping the chicken in some milk or egg before dipping it in the Panko. It was great this time, but I think it will be even better next go around:) It did turn out looking pretty tasty too!

Here you can see the cheesy mixture oozing out:) (and also the chicken without Panko stuck to it..)

I accompanied the chicken with some roasted red potatoes and roasted broccoli (forgot to get a pic of the broccoli)

Thankfully I had my buddy sitting with me throughout my meal:)

Obviously, this meal made plenty to share with one or two others, or to save for leftovers!

Until next time,

Mallory

Proud organization moment

Before my first teaching job, I was super organized with all my school work and student teaching lessons/materials. My roommates would tell you if they could! Everything was organized with paper clips, folders, baggies (I love baggies), binders with tabs, color coding, etc. I mean, the rest of my life is not even close to this amount of freaky organization. Like I get excitement out of color coding a plan or cutting cards and putting them in baggies. I have this but I can’t keep my bed free from a clean pile of clothes needing to be put away.  But since taking my first teaching job in an inner city school, my time and energy has been limited! So, my OCD organization hasn’t been at the top of my list. As I’m getting the hang of things a bit more, I’ve been trying to better organize things little by little. This week I’ve been working on materials for small group. I like to have the students practice reading words that have the skill of the week. My teaching friend, aka my angel, showed me how to make word cards on Teaching Made Easier. I made decodable word cards for each week in Reading Street unit 3. We aren’t using much of reading street at our school anymore, but we use the weekly phonics skills to guide our lessons. I found these cute little filing folders at Target in the dollar section and decided they would be perfect for organizing my word cards!

I wrote what with Sharpie what is inside. Inside:

I obviously put more than one sticky tab on each tab. But there was room in each pocket for several sets of word cards, so I wanted to use my space wisely. Each set of cards is paperclipped:

I have one file folder for each unit (4) and one more for sight words. So this was done with $5!:) That makes me smile! I’ve only completed unit three decidable words and sight words, but at least I have the organization ready so when I make and print the others they will have a place.

until next time,

Mallory 🙂

My kids, yal.

Some things that happen at school and in my classroom need to be shared, whether its because of how horrific, funny, or unbelievable they are! First of all, let’s just talk about one of my kids, D (for privacy purposes). There are so many things about D that make me smile. Something in his brain just doesn’t click right and causes some hilarious comments and actions. For hallway walking, I have a poster that says “4S line: straight, silent, smiling, still” (found it on P interest). Let me just tell you, he can be breaking every single rule, but he is going to be smiling. Not just smiling, like cheesin’ big time, not to mention the fact that he has no front teeth. Its hilarious. He is constantly shouting out comments and questions that are completely unrelated to our discussion. “Ms. Mss. Brown! Uh Ms. Broyuwn.” “D, raise your hand if you need to say something.” (While raising hand violently) “Msss. Brown!! When we gon’ eat snack?!” “D, it is 9 o’clock in the morning; we just got to school.” “Ohh:(” As I am reading a story, I hear him saying outloud “Hmm I know why he is mad, that was so mean. Man that was so mean.” We just went to the bathroom like 30 minutes ago “Oh oh Ms. Broyuwn, I can go to the bathroom?” “Not now, D, we just went” “Awww man, I gotta pee. Oh I gotta pee so baddd.”… The other day we were reading a story about a family long ago and how they lived (outhouse, well pump, etc.) and comparing it to how we live now. He is raising his hand with so much excitement so of course, I have to call on him since he is actually raising his hand for once. Here we go..”Oh Ms. Brown I had a dream. Yeah, I had a dream the other night and uh I went to the uh where Santa Clause lives, oh man where does he live? Oh yeah, the hose pose. And uh..” Another kid chimes in “uhh you mean the North Pole??” D-“yeah, yeah that. So I went to see Santa and…” I’m trying to stop him saying, “D, this does not relate to our story…” He just looks so confused/disappointed and stops talking. Haha the hose pose…where?! Where does it come from?!? Each table has a little bin of books that they can read when they finish working. There is one book in his bin that is a very early reader about a hippo named Hiccup. He ALWAYS picks that book and can’t read yet, so he turns the page and on each page says outloud “HIPPOOOOOO. HIIPPOOOOOOO” I don’t want to discourage him from reading, but he is literally yelling. I try to encourage him to whisper read, but he literally yell-whispers (yes its a thing!) HIPPOOOOO for a few seconds then goes back to yelling… I just can’t even.

A few days ago, we were walking to the bathroom after lunch and I hear the sound that every teacher or mom dreads- someone beginning to throw up. I look back in the line and see a kid beginning to heave. I yell “Run to the trash can!! Come on!!!” But, of course he doesn’t. As I am dragging a trashcan from across the hallway he is throwing up all over the floor. I then begin to drag his shoulders to the trash can as he is still throwing up. [ Side-note: I can not begin to describe to you how much I hate throw up. For my whole life, I have not been able to handle throw up or that sound. When I Facebook posted about the incident, the first thing people said was “Did you throw up??” Its what I’m know for! I don’t do well, at all.] Ok, so he is now over the trash can, there is throw up all over the floor, I have kids looking disgusted and backing away, but I am okay. I’m actually doing okay. So I take a deep breathe, a little shaky, and tell myself that its over, I did fine. This is about when I hear that dreaded sound again. I look at the sick kid and he is not getting sick again; this means it is someone else. So, I scan the line and see another kid heaving. I yell for him to run to the trash can with the other kid and he does, but didn’t quite make it. So now, I have two kids’ throw up on the floor and standing over a garbage can. Then I panic, what if it was something in the food and they are all going to throw up?!? So I say, very firmly, “Is anyone else going to throw up?? Because if you are you better get to this trash can. If you throw up on the floor, you’re going to be in trouble!” (so mean, I know). One kid starts talking with a little shakiness “I think I’m gonna…I think I…” Me- “GET TO THE TRASH CAN NOW!!” So, he made it to the trash can before he starts throwing up, which kinda triggers the other two sick ones. So I have three kids throwing up in one garbage can…good.  I look down the hallway for some help and see another teacher and cry for help. She yells for the janitor and two come haha. Hey, atleast it wasn’t in my classroom and we could walk away! Looking at the positives here! Also, I didn’t get sick. I didn’t even feel that sick. I was shaking, but okay. I guess because I had to be!

My “Perfect” Classroom

So, if you are a teacher, have ever been a teacher, or thought about teaching, you know that it is so easy to envision what the perfect classroom would be like. For me, this vision includes trees made from butcher paper with monkeys swinging, posters saying “We are Wild About Learning”, green and blue curtains, pretty tables with matching table caddies, a beautiful reading nook with a large stock of books that are perfectly organized in coordinated bins, a big white  board and maybe Smart Board, a pretty alphabet rug, large bulletin boards decorated in coordinating jungle theme, a kidney table with cute little chairs around it, and so much more. When planning my first classroom, these are the visions that went through my head. I knew that I would be starting off with very little money, but was sure I could make it work. Well, when I walked into my classroom for the first time, I saw a bright room with the opportunity to carry out my dream. As I began to clean up, organize, and make my plans, I was twinged with worry. There are 10 windows in my classroom. Yes, ten! There are currently curtains on each window, about 1 yd by 1 yd, and they barely cover half of each window. Seeing as the curtains were red and blue with alphabet letters (also old), I was intent on changing them. After my first fabric store excursion, when I discovered that it would cost at least $60 to replace these curtains, I became discouraged. When I tell you I visited everywhere in the Mobile area that sells fabric, I mean I visited EVERYWHERE. Now, Mobile isn’t that big, but I visited a lot of fabric stores and sorted through A LOT of fabric. After an evening of tears on the phone with my mom, she helped me come to some realizations. Having pretty curtains is not why I became a teacher. As I cried to my mother, “but the room needs to be inviting to the kids and feel like a safe place,” I knew I was being ridiculous. A 6 year old child does not care whether the curtains are red alphabet, or green polka dots if I love them. And let me tell you, I love them. I haven’t even met these blessed children yet, and I love them. So, I decided to work through one thing at a time and go with the red and blue theme. I found bins for my library and table caddies at Family Dollar for $1 each! I did my bulletin boards in blue and red butcher paper (yes, even the border)! I added a few jungle/safari touches, as well. School starts Monday and I am in love with my classroom. I played around with the layout and organization until I was able to fit in my reading nook and my desk (not that I ever sit in it) and feel comfortable and happy! I have learned my lesson- keep my priorities straight, remember what is most important, and mostly trust in The Lord. There is no doubt in my mind that I am where He wants me to be. The way this job fell into place makes that so clear. So, if I am where I am supposed to be, all will work out! 

Oh, and see pics of my room below, or above, or to the side (I’m still new to the blogging thing;))

Here I am!

After years of student teaching, working with children, going on crazy trips, and just being my awkward and clumsy self, I find myself with many funny stories. I also have been through some things in my life that I feel have prepared me to share truth and encouragement with others. Sometimes I sit around thinking who I should share my newest story yet. Well, I had an epiphany last night: why not make a blog?! So, here I am, making a blog. I’m sure I’ll probably become too busy to do this often (as I am about to be a first year teacher!), but for now, here come the words of my not-so-wise thoughts;)