7th Grade Awards

Jillian did it again! She received the Principal's Award for the 2nd year in a row for having the highest average in her class. That's out of about 75-80 students, folks! She had a 98.83%. Wow. So smart. I wonder where she gets it?? She also received awards in Social Studies (top student), responsibility, and for having all A's all year long. She is awesome. Love you, Pookie Sue!

This picture is from the #1 Club Banquet. Jill is getting her award for being in the #1 Club all year.

This is Jill receiving her Principal's Award from Mrs. Turner, the principal at the Middle School.

The third picture is Jill getting her Social Studies award from one of her favorite teachers, Ms. E.

The last picture is Jill posing with all of her awards. She is #1!!!

Miscellaneous Photos

The assistant principal at school sent these pictures to me today. I had to attend a "Community Fair" a few weeks ago. The point of the fair was to highlight some of the classes and offerings at the middle school in hopes of getting the community involved (ie. give us $$) The timing was pretty poor, since just the day before, the county announced that there was over $20 million in reserve funds missing and that taxes were going to go up. Oooops! Anyhow, the pictures are nice!

Jillian and Sydney wanted to go to the Fair. They thought they were going to play on the computers in my room. NOT!

This is my teaching partner, Carrie. She teaches math while I teach reading. We had a display set up showing how we use the "Clickers" in our classes. It was cool. Too bad the only ones playing were Jillian and Sydney!

1st Day of School

School started this week - Yay! Jillian was pretty nonchalant about about the whole thing. She has mostly the same teachers this year, since she is in the looping class. But, I still have to take the traditional first-day photo. The first one is kinda of fuzzy. Glad I took another!

Favorite class of the day? Lunch, of course!!

Nearly Finished

I have spent the better part of 2 days getting my classroom ready for the upcoming school year. It has been no small task. I think that I am almost finished. There are a few more items that I need to put in place, but I think I am going to wait until I officially have to go back (which is next Thursday!).

I now have a sense of peace now that my "space" is organized. I wish I could do this at home! Nah, that would be too much to ask!

Ahhhh, teaching....

I decided to go to school yesterday to take a look at my classroom. It's weird, but in order for me to set up my class, I have to visualize the space. I am one of those teachers that likes to change the room every year. I can't stand looking at the same stuff in the same place, year after year. Most of that has been taken care of this year, since I changed buildings. (I moved from one portable to another). When I left in June, the room was in quite a state. Not only did I have my stuff (and trust me, it was a LOT of stuff), but Sally had her stuff in there, too. 2 teachers occupying a small space must violate several time-space continuums. I didn't bother to really set up the room because I knew that the floors were going to be waxed and anything I did would be destroyed anyway. (I learned that lesson my 1st year. All my stuff was in the middle of the room, in a huge pile). When I walked in, I was expecting a mess. Boy, was I correct on that assumption. So, for those of you out there that think teachers just slack off during the summer, think again! Here is what I have to deal with ~

Ugh! tables and chairs stacked on more tables and chairs. There was even furniture shoved inside the teeny-tiny closet. And, I am supposed to fit 11 middle-schoolers in this room and try to teach them! Right now, they will sit on the roof, I suppose. I am glad I went in early, because this mess will take longer than 3 days to sort through, clean, and arrange. Did I mention that there are 11 computers to hook up? What was I thinking? I mean, it will be pretty cool that each student will have their own computer to access, but what a giant pain. Sheesh. But, I have my vision and this mess will actually look like a classroom when I am finished.

On the positive side, the floor is shiny!

Awards Day (and a proud mama!)

Jillian had 6th Grade Awards day at school on June 5th. Luckily, I was able to sneak away and watch, since her teachers told me, "You need to be there!" (You would think this would be easy to do, since I work at the school, but some days....) So, I sat in the lunchroom with all of the other parents, listening and clapping for the darlings. Mrs. Denton (math teacher) explains that the next awards being given are based on class ranking. Well, I knew that Jill has been doing fairly well, but you never know. Starting at 10, GPAs (grade point averages) were being announced along with the certificate and award. 9...8...7...6...no Jillian. Wow! She must be in the Top 5! 5...4...3...Still no Jillian. Oh well, I thought, maybe she didn't make it. Mrs. Turner, the principal, walks up to announce the Top 2 students. 2...and with an average of 97.3% is .....Jillian Nelson!! Out of about 100 kids, she is #1!!!! WOO HOO! I was SO proud of her! She earned a trophy with her name and a certificate. What a kid! I think we'll keep her!