Wednesday's Word of Wisdom

Sorry for being MIA lately.  My internet hasn't been working since the weekend which has thrown my whole week off.  AT&T finally got the outage back on today.  Hopefully, I will get to post what I was wanting to post on Monday tomorrow so make sure to check back.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments about the new series, "Wednesday's Word of Wisdom".  I really look forward to this post each week.  It's strange to say that the verse for this week came to me in a devotion that I read on Thursday morning right after posting my first post in the series on Wednesday night.  I felt reassured that I am doing the right thing with this series.  So here it goes...

"Pray that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel." - Ephesians 6:19

As teachers, we have to watch everything we say and do.  Sometimes this does not only go for at school but out in the community as well (Especially if you live in a small community like I do.).  There are little eyes watching everywhere.  I think it is sometimes easy to watch what we say in front of the children.  However, we forget that our words can really hurt when it comes to speaking to our colleagues as well.  This can create disharmony in a school if we do not think before we speak.

In my devotion this week, Lysa TerKeurst stated "Don't let your lips or typing fingertips be the first thing that walks into a conflict."  With the start of school quickly approaching, many of us are back in our school buildings working alongside other teachers trying to get our rooms ready.  Some of these teachers are ones that we have made great friendships with throughout the years and some may be new to the grade, school, or community.  It is easy to get back into our little cliques that were formed from the year past, but we have to remember how it would feel if we were on the outside looking in. 

Additionally, teachers are use to working with children all day long.  We do not have to put up with other adults for very long in a traditional work day, but with the start of school we are forced to collaborate and work alongside other teachers to make sure everything is back in order for the school year to run smoothly.  This may mean that you have to work with someone that you just do not get along with or one that gets on your last nerves.  We have to make sure that we pray before speaking that the right words will come out of our mouths in order not to stir up conflict at the start of a school year or at any point in the school year.  This is sometimes easier said than done, but hopefully this verse will be a good reminder.  We have to remember that just a few words can really hurt someone and that we are in the school for the children.

I pray that God will guide us with the words that come out of our mouths in order that we can be an example for Him and that we are able to grow a bond with the new faculty and staff in our schools in order to be a positive role model for the children.

Elizabeth L.

Wednesday's Word of Wisdom

After prayerful consideration, I have decided to start a series called "Wednesday's Word of Wisdom" that will feature a weekly scripture verse and personal devotion.  I am very excited about this new adventure and hope you enjoy it.

Before I jump right on in, I want to explain briefly why I feel the urge to do this.  At a very early age, I knew I was called into ministry.  However, I knew off hand that even though I loved to do foreign mission trips and such that God was not calling me to be a missionary or even to be a pastor's wife.  He was calling me to work with children in my community.  Therefore, I have filled my life with all avenues of working with children from babysitting all the way to coaching cheer.  I started my blog a few months ago in order to remember the good and bad times and share with others my journey.  The past few weeks I really have felt God calling me to do this weekly series.  I don't create a lot of things therefore I don't have a TPT or TN store, although I love to try to win stuff from giveaways I don't participate as a host to any events, and I'm not the best teacher so I don't have all the rights and wrongs to teaching but I do have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ who is leading me in the journey of teaching 1st grade. 

I pray I do not drive any of my readers away, but instead I pray I encourage you as you serve as an important role model to children all over the world.  I pray the verses God leads me to each week are ones that not only apply to areas that I need but ones that you need at certain times throughout the year.  I pray that from being open in my spiritual journey as a teacher that you can relate and be motivated to keep up the good race!

For the first week, I feel that it is only appropriate to start with my theme verse for the blog:

 

Image Source: babybeblessed.blogspot.com

This verse was written on a train that use to hang above the toilet in my bathroom as a child.  (I know a weird place for it, but it must have been a good place because I still remember it.)  Therefore, I saw it a lot, because everyone has to go to the bathroom.  I use to think that this verse only applies to parents, but when I began my career as a teacher I realized that it applies to anyone that plays an influential role on a child's life.

As teachers, we spend almost 7 plus hours a day with our students.  For some kids, they spend more time with their teachers than they do with their parents during a school year.  Therefore, they are obtaining more training from the teacher than they are from their parents.  It is our duty to do exactly what this verse says and train the children up right so that they know what is right from wrong and are able to make right choices in life.  This is a huge responsibility but with the help of God we are able to do it!

Even though religion and education are suppose to be separated, you don't have to teach religion to the kids in order to apply this verse.  Instill good manners, show them right from wrong, be an encourager, and demonstrate how to be good citizens are just a few of the ways that you can push a child in the right direction.  As most of us are on summer breaks, now is a good time to pause from worrying about your classroom setup, working to incorporate the Common Core Standards, or stressing over what challenges you are going to have this year.  Use your time to begin thinking of how you are going to help your students head in the right direction and what changes you can make to be more of a positive influence on the students, faculty, and staff at your school.  

I pray that God gives you a peace about the upcoming year and ideas that will let His light shine through you in your school!

Elizabeth L.

 

Teacher to Cheer Coach

Having the 4th of July in the middle of the week really threw me off. I felt like Wednesday was a Saturday. I just couldn't get my routine going that I wanted. Was I the only one that had this problem? Hopefully, I am back to my A game now.

Everyone knows that teachers have many roles they play in the classroom. Well that is not where it stops. Principals have a way to talk certain teachers in being in charge of extra curricular activities. I guess you can say I am one of those teachers. I have a hard time saying no. I try to work as many things as possible into my schedule. Do you have this problem?

A few years back I was asked to help with the high school's football cheerleading squad. I was just suppose to be helping, because I had been on the same squad when I was in high school. The next year I was asked to be coach. After much consideration and talking to my husband, I agreed as long as one of my friends could co-coach with me. (It really didn't matter that there was another coach added, because cheer coaches do not get paid extra in our district. We do it from the goodness of our heart.) Needless to say, the administration agreed.

So, I am a first grade teacher Monday through Friday and high school football cheer coach on the sidelines. My first grade students think this is cool except for when I have to leave early on Fridays to attend the pep rallies. Yes, it comes as a challenge, because numerous times during the football season I am running to the high school across town during my lunch or planning times to do business. However, I do appreciate having an impact on the high school girls.

With that all that being said, my 4th of July week was spent mostly working on cheer stuff. Our squad takes the month of June off to give the girls a break from each other, but we hit cheer head-on in July. This is what one corner of my home office looked like:

Varsity boxes were taking over my office.  So, I sat down and divided all the stuff up by girl in order to give it out at last night's meeting.  Before it was all over, it looked like purple paint had been spilled all over my floor.  (Our high school is the purple and white Tomcats with our mascot being named STACMOT - Tomcats spelled backwards.)

Before the meeting, I was able to have all the girls stuff in individual bags ready to pass out.  Even though it took a lot of time, it was so worth it to be able to just hand out the stuff last night at the parents' meeting.

So here is to another football cheer season!  What do you do to help our your school system?  I know there are so many side jobs to do in a school system, and it takes all teachers helping to make the year run smoothly. 

Check back tomorrow for a new series I am starting.  I am very excited about it!

Classroom Library Basket Label Holders

Yesterday, I was able to get back into my classroom.  I was excited, because I was looking forward to digging into my new finds from Really Good Stuff.  I had just pushed the package aside when it arrived at the house since I knew that it wouldn't be of use until I could get into my classroom.

One of the things that I had ordered were these Universal Basket and Bin Label Holders with Labels:


I had made basket labels last year for my classroom library, but I had just taped them to the baskets.  This worked great for awhile, but a few of my students weren't very easy with them and they kept falling off.  Overtime, I got tired of taping them back.  I was happy when I saw these in Really Good Stuff at the end of the school year.

One of my tasks on my Classroom To Do List yesterday was to get these holders on all of my baskets.  My OCD kicked in when it came to writing the name of the baskets on the labels (I really don't like my own handwriting.), and I really wanted to somehow use what I had created last year.  So, I measured the white space in the middle and resized my files from last year to fit in the area.  I printed them off, cut them, and taped them in the middle.  This not only gave my students a word description of each basket, but I also put a picture on each one for my nonreaders.  Wouldn't you know that right as I was printing them, my colored ink ran out!  I couldn't leave them this way, and I was lucky enough to find an extra ink cartridge in my office.  So I had to reprint them.

                                                

 

I loved how they turned out!

They clipped right on my baskets and made them looked nice and organized.

What to you use for your Reading basket labels? What are your favorite products from Really Good Stuff?

Can't wait to show you in the upcoming week what else I bought to help me be organized during the upcoming year. :)

Elizabeth

Skippyjon Jones & A River Trip

My husband and I finally got to go to dinner lunch for our anniversary.  He was off on Friday so we went to Olive Garden to eat on our way through Jackson to go to the river.  They are definitely having a deal with their 2 for $25.  We had more food than we could eat and was able to take our leftovers with us.

(Sorry for the picture being so dark, but I didn't want to ask the waitress to take it again.)

I also talked my husband into letting my swing by Kohl's to pick up some Skippyjon Jones stuff.  I was excited to hear that they had this earlier in the week, because one of my reading baskets at school is devoted to Skippyjon Jones books.  Here is what I grabbed:

I was able to enjoy a nice relaxing, but hot weekend on the Tennessee River.  It really helps to see this view on the weekends to remind us that we need to slow down and enjoy life.  

However, we are back to the duties of the week.  We got an e-mail this weekend saying the halls are done being waxed at our school and that it is open to work in again.  I am very excited to see what all I can get done.  Check back to see what I accomplish.