Just a few things...

As I have said many a times, I am incredibly blessed. I am taking time to appreciate it really and truly this year, a personal goal of mine. That may sound cheesy and this list may very well be just as much, but I enjoyed doing it and it always helps me to write things down and reflect. So here it is: a few things I really love!

Books...
I really love books. Julia and I both do. It's almost a problem at times. We are constantly hearing of recommendations, reading a book, then giving it to the other to read. In other words, we never ever catch up on our "to read" list. And don't even get me started on Half Price Books...There could be worse things, right? One of my new favorites: "The Book Thief." Please go out and read it if you have not. It is amazing! 

New Friends...
A part of living in a big city means that I am constantly meeting new people. I have gotten to be pretty good at it, so I think. I still have my moments where I'll point and make a weird sound and look back in horror. Ugh. Why am I socially awkward sometimes?
Even so, it has been fun to make new relationships and to really become better at getting out of my comfy little box.


Music...
The new Mumford & Sons album came out not too long ago and I have been listening to it non stop. I'm a bit obsessed. Their music is just perfect for any mood! Personal favorite song? "I Will Wait." You need to blast it. Also, my cousin just introduced me to The Civil Wars and I've really liked their stuff too. I pretty much like any music though, so don't take me for an expert music critic. If it sounds good, I likey! 

My Grandma...
I am quite close with my Grandma. I talk to her every other week or so and whenever we talk, I end up laughing till there are tears in my eyes! She is so blunt and hilarious, but she is also such an encouragement to me. She has been a huge part of my life and constantly reminds me that she is praying for me and that God has an awesome plan for me. She also reminds me that in her prayers she is praying very hard for God to bring me a man. I should introduce her to my students.

My roomie...
Julia. She is my roommate and (nearly) lifelong friend, whom I have written about many times. I cannot tell you how much I love her. Moving out here would have been 5 million times harder without her here to vent to, lesson plan with, and figure out how in the world to navigate around the city. Plus we laugh all the time. We have become far too alike and have waaaay too many inside jokes. I love it! She is getting married next summer and while I am INCREDIBLY excited for her and Peter (her fiance), I can't help but be just a teeny bit sad. Living with her has been amazing and selfishly, I don't want to give her up. But we have months of memories still to make and I am very excited for that!

So, after writing this list, I feel pretty warm and fuzzy on the inside! Feel free to remind me with a gentle slap if I ever get ridiculous and start to complain about anything.

Fun and Games and Willy Wonka!

I don't remember a whole lot from when I was in 2nd grade. I do remember some things crystal clear, such as the sunflower field trip to my teacher's house, the Tom Turkey play, "flying" to Mexico, and, of course, the cheese sandwich incident. (If you haven't heard that story, just ask any of my classmates from that year, including my roommate and cousin, and they could tell you. It has followed and haunted me ever since!)

This makes me realize that my students aren't going to remember every single thing that happened in 2nd grade. I also realize that doesn't mean that what we do everyday isn't important--I am preparing them for the next step in their education, each grade building on the next! But it also brings to my attention that kids remember the crazy things, the fun things, and the times when school was just the best!

Don't get all worried now, I don't spend all day playing games with my students, watching movies, and just goofing around! I do, however, look for ways in which I can make learning exciting, interesting, and captivating. Sometimes, concepts just need to be taught and there isn't a rip roaring, exciting way. Other times, I can get creative and do something like hide different words that make up sentences around the room and make my students find and create a silly sentence. I love that I get a chance to make learning fun and exciting for them! Often times that means being absolutely ridiculous, dressing up as Willy Wonka, and speaking in crazy voices. God definitely equipped me with the right personality for the job!

Lots of people ask me if I am a fun teacher and I tell them, I try to be! But I also hope that beyond the fun they are learning a whole bunch about themselves, the world around us, and they God who created it all. That is my ultimate goal. I continue to pray that they reach this every single day.

I now leave you with some pictures AND a video! My students just finished a unit studying fairy tales, so they wrote their own reader's theater and then performed it, using items around our classroom for props. It is awesome! I love their creativity. Such an amazing group of kids :)

To practice using "spicy" adjectives, the students chose an adjective, then illustrated it on a pumpkin!

Our rapidly growing bookworm! Each segment has a title of a chapter book on that the students have read.

Book Character Dress Up Day!

Since I went as Willy Wonka, I HAD to give my students "Wonka" bars with golden tickets inside!

My People

People.

The world is full of them. Living in a large city, I see and am around people I don't know nor will I ever see again. I can walk into a store and interact with dozens of people who I know nothing about.

Then there is the small population of the world that you can call yours. Your friends, your family, your people. These are the people who know you, who accept you, who love you.

I am grateful to say that I have been blessed with the most fantastic people in my life.

Last weekend, I was blessed to be the personal attendant for two dear friends' wedding. This was a wedding of two people from a group of friends of mine. We all met at college and, through many ridiculous and awesome times, became incredible friends. We now live in 6 or so different states with various jobs and lives. It is not often when we see each other, but when we do, we have an incredible time!

There was a moment last weekend when we were all laughing about something when I just stopped for a moment and thought...how was I so blessed to come out with the most phenomenal friends?

I have been thinking about it recently. My life is filled to the brim with encouraging, loving, friendly, considerate, kind, Christian people who love me and accept me for me. I get to be my oddball self and they are still my friend. How blessed am I?!?

It is my hope and goal that I am as good of a friend to others as they are to me. Even living hundreds of miles away from most of my friends and family, I still feel love and hope I am sending plenty their way as well! I cannot thank God enough for these people. Let's be honest, I am a bit of a people person. People in my life get me through, encourage me and are the driving force through the tough times and are there to celebrate and share in the joy of the great times!

So I say to the wonderful people in my life...I am so thankful for you!!

Three extraordinary girls, my besties, at Alex and Aaron's wedding. These girls are all sorts of awesome!

Cruise Control

School has been in session about a month now. It's already October, which seems CRAZY to me, but all the same, I will take it! I looove fall--as does everyone else. (I mean, have you seen the facebook statuses? The cyber world is a little fall crazed.)

While I love the crisp leaves, cool weather, beautiful trees, I also love getting back into school and all of the fantastic activities that come with fall including book character dress up day, field trips, and celebrating those delightful fall holidays!

Here in 2nd grade, we have been cruising along, pretty much since the 3rd day of school. My kids are all such eager learners and really love school! It allows me to just simply teach and flow right from one concept to another! One thing in particular they all love: reading. These kids devour books. It is phenomenal to teach a group of kids that are pumped to go to the library, love read aloud time, and want to read for homework!

To help encourage this love, I have created a bookworm in our classroom. The rules are simple: you need to read a substantial book that is mostly words. No picture books for this book worm. Every time you finish a book, let Miss Ongna know and I stick up a part of the worm's body with the book title on it. I started it at the beginning of last week. It is already halfway across one wall of my room. Love it! I think I may be in trouble with this idea, however, seeing as it is only October. We may have to extend in the hallway by the end of the year...

We've also been doing lots of fun activities in our other subjects. The students needed practice with the their, there, and they're words. Why not use shaving cream? I plopped some on their desks and I gave them a sentence, they have to write the one that was used. Needless to say, they enjoyed it :)

Getting into it!

Animals have been the focus of our studies in science, so we have done several activities including making tinfoil animals and dunking them in hot/cold water to understand cold blooded animals. We also created candy insects to go over the three parts of insects: head, thorax, and abdomen. We also talked about the exoskeletons, but it's hard to create that out of candy! And what better way to learn than to observe the real thing? One morning, one of my students hauled out that lovely snake in a bag out of their backpack. It was dead and totally in tact. Coolest thing ever!

The dead snake. Amazing!

Candy Insects

As you can see, 2nd grade is off to a great start as we head into our second month of school! I am so thankful for such a studious bunch who are SO excited to learn. Such a blessing :)