2014. It's been fun!

At the beginning of the year I posted this on my blog (taken from another friend): 

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. The anxious fear of “failure” is often the biggest thing that holds people back from reaching their goals. This year, I intend to toss that sorry excuse out the damn window and give myself more credit!!! 2014 will be a year of more intention and less hesitation.”

I truly believe I have put that fear of failure aside this year. I have gone towards my goals and hopes this year and many things haven't happened for me. But one step forwards is all I could do. 

This year I: 

Finished my first year of teaching 

Celebrated snow with kids who had never seen it before

Been shown who my real friends are

Enjoyed spring break more than ever before

Moved into my own place

Spent most of my summer at the beach

Started my second year of teaching

Watched my mom graduate with her Masters

Watched my brother graduate High School

Watch the other brother graduate Elementary School

Spent almost every Saturday in the fall at the football field

Took my nana to her first UGA game

Saw Santa

Spent loads of time with family during the holidays

This year has been a year of firsts. A year of risks. And a year of laughter. My first blog post was nearly a year ago and I have kept this thing up and running since, no I haven't blogged as much as I wished but I kept it. One of my new years resolutions was to take a picture a day. I did it! (yes the year's not over yet, but I'm not quitting now). People have asked me if I'm doing this next year and I have said no, but sitting down and looking at everything that happened this year has truly helped me realize how amazing this year was. Little memories I wouldn't have remembered, but I did. 

Here is my year in review. 

January: 
Oh January, Oh January. 

February: 

A month of friends keeping me happy. 

March:
Focusing on what matters

April: 
Spring Break, I love you!

May: 

Family of graduates. 

June: 

Take me away summer!

July: 

Summer you are too kind!

August: 
Let's party all month!

September: 

Family and friends. That's all that matters. 

October: 
Football. Family. Friends. Florida. 

November: 
November nights to remember. 

December: 
Ending the year right. 

Thoughts. Pouring Out.

Sometimes there's not a fancy quote or a cute picture to describe how you feel. Things are challenging. Difficult. And confusing. My heart is heavy and confused. My head tells me one thing, but my heart tells me another. 

People make the mistake (myself included) of thinking that because someone seems happy and settled around others that they are all good. But really that person is struggling for some reason we do not know. 

Everyone is facing something. Cancer. Death. Families separated. Divorce. Lost jobs. But you can't make yourself think that your struggle is lesser or dulled because of others huge struggles. We all have something. We have to be able to help one another in times of struggle. 

Sometimes you don't have to take a walk in someone's shoes to know how they feel.... you just need to sit beside them. - Red Band Society

Football Saturday

Because it's football Saturday, I guess it's a good day to post my students' Tackling Proper Nouns activity. I found this online using caps and baseballs.... But this football girl had to change it up! 😊

We spent last week working on proper nouns, so for our final assignment I grouped the kids up and each group had a different category (people, titles, countries, and days/months). They wrote their proper noun onto a football and then colored them. Each group had about 30 footballs to label. It was so cute, they loved it! They then chose one football and wrote a sentence using that proper noun correctly. 

I then had my last bus call kids cut out the letters for the title and create the field posts. They did it all!! I just put it up! 

Check it out!

That's all for now! Just waiting on this halftime to be over and the Dawgs to win!

Xoxo

Bert's Big Adventure

Today I am a Bert's Big Adventure Fairy Godmother. 

Is it possible to be nervous, excited and scared all at the same time? YES! 

Hopefully I will update after I visit the two girls at Egleston today! 

xoxo

Mr. Morton sings.... well Ms. V does!

We sing. Everyday. Room 4.209 is always singing. My teammates know I sing. My students know I sing (and even sing with me). Every lesson turns into singing. I have no idea why! But we sing! Math. Social Studies. Word Study. Writing. 


So what else makes sense but to SING about Subject and Predicates! Thank you School House Rock!! 

Today we did a fun labeling, coloring and sorting activity after we sang the School House Rock song over and over and over. The kids loved it! I forgot to take a picture of the final product. :(

A trip to 4.209

Me oh my! Summer is over and the school year has started. Things have been crazy since the end of July. AND I haven't blogged in over a month. A month. So much for blogging every week or so. 

Short rant-----

I have been struggling with blogging mainly because I think who cares. Who reads this? Does anyone? So then I quickly decide not to post my thoughts and I go on with life. But I have to remember that I'm blogging for myself. Somewhere to capture the moments of my life and look back on them later. I remember posting earlier this year and talking about how I need to blog for myself, not for the eyes that read this. So here's to hoping I can get back on track and blog a little more!

Now onto the good stuff!----

This week in room 4.209 we have been talking about diversity. We have done many activities to see how diverse are room is (and boy it really is). Today though we read A Bad Case of Stripes. All the kids had read it before but they were excited for the activity I had after! 

We created our own short writing about what we like that may be different from someone else. I gave the example that I like asparagus, of course they all said yuck!

I was very pleased with how hard they worked on this and the turn out of their work!
Check it out below!!!

Maybe a classroom tour will happen once things settle down :)

xoxo
lizzie

July Currently

I'm linking up with Farley again for the Currently. This is gonna be short and simple. I'm worn out from the vacation!

Listening: Oh goodness. "It's the most dramatic episode yet!" Of course. I'm kinda over this season... especially since I cheated and saw who won. And I'm not a fan of him.

Loving: I'm going back and forth between two different covers, but I think I'm gonna order it tonight or tomorrow. I had one last year and LOVED it!

Thinking: WAHHHH!!

Wanting: I am a HUGE Atlanta Braves fan and I haven't gone this season yet. I feel terrible about it, but I have followed/watched every game this season.

Needing: Those darn sand fleas ate me up last night. Anti-itch cream isn't cutting it.

4th plans: Well since we were at the beach we headed over to watch the fireworks on the beach. It was amazing!!!

xoxo

Lizzie