I am about to leave work in my half drenched pants ( have to love carrider duty in the rain) and ride to Forsyth to see my girls! Jennifer, Sarah and Emma Grace(the littlest of our girls) are going to have a slumber party tonight. I am so excited as we have not seen each other since December. It is just too long! This weekend starts a sequence of fun weekends to look forward to:
Today through tomorrow : Girl time! Girly music, not so healthy food, and lots of talking up while we ooh and ahh over how much our little Emma Grace has grown ( She is almost a year old!)
Next Weekend: Starting Friday Brad and I will be in Greenville, SC for Spring Break and our one year wedding anniversary
The third weekend: Easter! Who doesn't love Easter?
While I forgot to pack my camera, I am sure Monday will bring a recap of a great time with my best friends!
Pray for safe travels for me and Sarah!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Changes
So due to the increase of third grade FOCUS students from ten at the beginning of the year to 24 or 25 right now, I have split third grade into two separate groups and combined 1st and 2nd grade into one class. As a result of this change, I spent the whole week doing lessons that focus on teamwork, leadership and cooperation. Not only did I think that taking the time to do this was important for the children, I could use the hours invested in these lessons as time toward my internship. Now at the end of the week, I am glad I took the time to do it.
Third Grade B is doing outstanding. They really listen to each other and value one another's opinions. In honesty, I thought of the two third grade groups they would struggle more. This was because there were more students in that group that were not in FOCUS at the beginning of the year and there were no natural leaders. It turns out that has been a blessing and really strengthened their morale as a group. We have done so well this week I bought them a treat and movie to celebrate today. And to just show how wonderful they are, two of my little girls just bought enough Capri Suns and fruit rollups at the Relay for Life stand in school so that all twelve of their classmates can have juice and an extra treat. How generous! They continue to amaze me everyday.
Third Grade A is struggling. I love a lot of the children in the group enough that I would take them home with me and raise them as my own. However, there are some STRONG personalities in the group and that has really come out this week. Some people have short tempers and some just like to hear themselves talk. They have a long way to go before they can be considered cooperative. We are phasing in group work with groups of three working on skits right now and going to groups of four next week. I have also talked to the children who are not part of the conflict alone and told them how I am relying on them to assist the others on being cooperative. We are not having a celebration in there. I am hopeful we will get to a point where we can next week.
First and Second grade is also doing very well. Each Second grader has a first grade buddy that they are responsible for picking up on their way to FOCUS. THey take such pride in no longer being the FOCUS babies and for being in charge of something. The first graders feel so proud that they are being placed in a class with second graders. It ends up being a win - win.
And speaking of changes.....we found out who our new principal is this morning. Her name is Daundria Phillips. She is currently an Assistant Principal at another Gwinnett County elementary school. She seems really sweet and very team work oriented. She scores a point with me for not being a coffee drinker. It will be hard to change after working for the same person for five years. However, I agree that with change comes positive.
Third Grade B is doing outstanding. They really listen to each other and value one another's opinions. In honesty, I thought of the two third grade groups they would struggle more. This was because there were more students in that group that were not in FOCUS at the beginning of the year and there were no natural leaders. It turns out that has been a blessing and really strengthened their morale as a group. We have done so well this week I bought them a treat and movie to celebrate today. And to just show how wonderful they are, two of my little girls just bought enough Capri Suns and fruit rollups at the Relay for Life stand in school so that all twelve of their classmates can have juice and an extra treat. How generous! They continue to amaze me everyday.
Third Grade A is struggling. I love a lot of the children in the group enough that I would take them home with me and raise them as my own. However, there are some STRONG personalities in the group and that has really come out this week. Some people have short tempers and some just like to hear themselves talk. They have a long way to go before they can be considered cooperative. We are phasing in group work with groups of three working on skits right now and going to groups of four next week. I have also talked to the children who are not part of the conflict alone and told them how I am relying on them to assist the others on being cooperative. We are not having a celebration in there. I am hopeful we will get to a point where we can next week.
First and Second grade is also doing very well. Each Second grader has a first grade buddy that they are responsible for picking up on their way to FOCUS. THey take such pride in no longer being the FOCUS babies and for being in charge of something. The first graders feel so proud that they are being placed in a class with second graders. It ends up being a win - win.
And speaking of changes.....we found out who our new principal is this morning. Her name is Daundria Phillips. She is currently an Assistant Principal at another Gwinnett County elementary school. She seems really sweet and very team work oriented. She scores a point with me for not being a coffee drinker. It will be hard to change after working for the same person for five years. However, I agree that with change comes positive.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Who Would Have Thought
Yesterday started out like a normal Sunday. We got to church in time for Sunday School. Started our lesson in there and then the sound of Jason's voice started being accompanied by louder and louder plings on the metal roof of the Family Life Building. Still, Sunday School was finished and so was any resemblance of a normal day....but mostly for the better.
When we got to the sanctuary, we had opening prayer, sang some hymns and after the offertory was played and collected, Brother Tommy announced that we would be calling off the rest of the morning service because the parking lot was icing up and we needed to get home. However, Brad and I and Dan and Jan ( the music minister and his wife) ventured to Subway for a sandwich. It was snowing pretty well by the time we got out but not to allow snow to put a kink in the day, I still had a baby shower to help throw for Brad's cousin. So Brad and I traveled off to Jack and Christina's to pick her and Carter up for the shower. This is what our house looked like at that point.
Our House on the Way Out To the Shower ( about 12:40pm)
The shower prep started at 1:00 and the shower was to go til 4:00. It ended up finishing up by 3:30. By the time Christina, Carter and I got out to the car there was a good inch to inch and a half of snow on it. When we got back to Jack and Christina's after the shower, Brad and I left in a hurry to make sure we could get home. These are the sights that we saw on our way home:
The Road from Jack and Christina's to Our House
Farms on the Side of the Roads Blanketed with Snow
3210 Battlement Circle Blanketed with Snow at about 4:00pm
Once we got in the house, we were like a bunch of little kids. We ran inside and put on our ski bibs and hats and gloves. We got back out in the yard and made snow angels ( something my husband had never done before), made a snowman ( using M&M's for eyes, nose and mouth) and threw snowballs at each other. It was so much fun. Then we had a hot kettle of water waiting on us when we came inside, watched Finding Neverland on DVR because our satellite wasn't working and had chili for dinner. It was a great day. The only thing was putting a slight damper on the day was that Gwinnett wouldn't cancel school for today. It was so frustrating because our neighboring counties of Walton and Barrow did quickly.Well at 5:15am today I sat in front of the TV and after fifteen minutes ( and two stations) of newsreporting, it finally said "Gwinnett, DeKalb and Fulton schools are closed" You better believe I got back in the bed. I got up at 8:25 and I made chocolate chunk pancakes and Brad cooked up some sausage. I am so happy to have a holiday. We were not scheduled to have a holiday until Spring Break and the last one we had was Martin Luther King. That is a long stretch to go without a holiday and all that happens now to make this day up is a teacher workday becomes a day with students. Well worth it! I will be working on Masters things a lot of today but it is so worth it. The memories we made yesterday and the time to relax while being productive is something I needed.
Our SnowMan
Brad's Snow Angel
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