a lesson on kind words

We had a rather powerful peace lesson on Wednesday. The purpose was to talk about hurtful words versus kind words and their effect on us. 

in the morning, we all drew our own self-portrait (the teachers included). in the afternoon, we all began with our own picture. We then rotated pictures one person to the left. i then told the children that they had to crumple the paper they now held. They looked mortified. None of them wanted to, but for the purpose of the lesson they did. We then rotated left once more and crumpled the pictures again. Afterwards, we gave the pictures back to their owners and I told the children to smooth out all of the crinkles from their pictures. None of us could.

i explained that our words are like the crinkles in our pictures. What we say cannot be taken back, whether kind or hurtful. if our words are hurtful they create crinkles in our friends. No matter how we try to smooth out the hurt, it's still there. Saying sorry is a wonderful thing but it cannot take away our words. 

i explained that i noticed that none of them wanted to ruin their friends' pictures and hurt them, so why would we want to say hurtful words? They agreed that we wouldn't. We agreed that we would be careful of our words to ensure that we weren't "crinkling" our friends, moms, dads, or siblings.

The lesson became rather emotional and some of the children did cry. i was told by many of them that they hated this lesson. i had to tell them that i did too. it was a difficult conversation but a necessary one.

i explained to the children that they are all wonderful, smart, beautiful students and that i know they are friends. But sometimes we just need reminders. When the lesson ended, one of the third-grade boys asked if we could read the notes from the friendship box (students can write notes about the kind things their friends and classmates have done or said). 

On Thursday, we made new self-portraits to display in our classroom.

On Friday, whilst the littles were in art class, i put all of the pictures on the wall with a banner that reads "NO MORE CRINKLES". it was amazing to see them all file in after art; once they saw that i'd hung up the pictures they frantically looked for their own. They found all of their friends and complimented the hard work that they'd put into their pictures.

it was beautiful. Those are the moments that i love. The small moments that i know will last. The small moments that make a great change. They're beautiful.

our crinkle-free pictures displayed on the wall

it's chaotic but i love it

The last few months of school have been wonderful, chaotic, full, magical, stressful, busy, and all the kinds of adjectives that you can think of.

All throughout college i was told that the first year of teaching would be the hardest; i would simply be trying to keep my head above water because it would be so difficult. While that definitely has an alarming amount of truth to it, it's also not quite so...awful as it had always been made out to be. The staff at my school has been absolutely amazing by making sure that i am as successful as i can be. 

Yet, i will admit that there have been those days where it's all i can do to not cry because of the stress. There have also been those days when i do go home and cry because i simply can't hold it in.

Thankfully, those have been few and far between. As chaotic and stressful as it is, i can see where it's blending together.

A couple of weeks ago, i had the opportunity to go observe another Montessori school with Miss Liz. it was one of the best things we could have done. Neither of us have seen a full-fledged Montessori classroom before; so to see the way another school functions was really powerful. We were able to see the similarities in both schools and what we could add to our classrooms.

i have loved my first year of teaching so far; my students, the staff, my classroom,...all wonderful. i'm excited to continue finding things to add to the room and see my students grow academically and socially. They make all of the work worth it.

So i guess that's it. School effectively consumes the majority of my time but i love it. And i honestly wouldn't trade it for anything.

a real-life teacher (the story)

it's truly amazing how this opportunity played out. i had applied for nearly 20 summer jobs and was attempting to network for Fall teaching positions since my USOE license was still being processed; none of them were panning out. Then a previous colleague recommends Walden.

From the moment i walked in and was greeted by the elementary director, i knew this was where i wanted to be. it just felt...right. The initial interview was short and to the point with some light-hearted discussion. An appointment was immediately made for the following day to volunteer in the classroom i would potentially teach. Let me tell you, it only made me fall more in love with this school. While i wasn't extremely familiar with the Montessori teaching style, that short experience made me want to be an expert in it. The catch was, in order to be hired on for this position i would need to take part in a Montessori training program over the summer and the following school year (to this i thought "i'm still in school mode since i only just graduated, so now would be the perfect time to certify with another credential").

Things were discussed, i chatted with Westminster College (where i will be taking the program), and i decided that it was all worth it to teach at Walden.

That same week i was offered the position!

i was able to take the last couple of weeks of school to volunteer in the classroom and get to know my future students. My class will include a mix of first, second, and third graders (the 6-9 age group of the Montessori method); meaning that this year's first and second years will be my second and third years in the Fall.

Honestly, i believe that none of the other potential jobs worked out because i was meant to take this opportunity; to use my summer to certify in Montessori teaching and fill the position at this school. it's where i need to be.

a real-life teacher

The results are in, folks, and...i got the position! i couldn't be happier and i am so incredibly excited to join the team of teachers at this school. i was able to patch up the wee little bit of road to make this work. it feels correct; this is where i should be.

Before summer school starts, i have the opportunity to go into the classroom for a few more days and get to know my future students a little better. How utterly fantastic! When i met the kids previously i just fell in love with their little selves and now i actually get to be their teacher. i truly feel just...honored with the opportunity. i can't wait.

Because i am a real, honest-to-goodness teacher of the kiddums now. is it August yet??

Laffy Taffy Time champ

That's right! 1st time winner of Laffy Taffy Time right here!

Every couple of days or so we have Laffy Taffy Time in Finance. We all gather around Miss Janna's desk and Glen reads us a joke from a Laffy Taffy. if you're the first to correctly guess the punch line then you win the candy AND a light bulb trophy to proudly display on your desk (please, contain your jealousy).

The winning joke?

"Why was the baby ghost crying?"

"He had a boo-boo!"

Feel free to laugh at the hilariosity of the joke.

i moustache you a question...

but i'll shave it for later.

Hahaha. Hilarious, right?

Moustaches (the fake kind) have become a thing of the office. Miss Calah bought me a pack of moustache sticky notes a while back. i figured there's no other way to use them other than as actual moustaches. Obviously.

i gave one to Miss Janna a couple of weeks ago when she was having an extremely stressful day and now they've just become Finance's thing. Time for a meeting? Time for a 'stache. i even have them on my desk with a note that says "Please take a moustache" so if ever you're feeling like you need to up the fancy, you can!

So get your fancy-schmance on and...

Donut Date the First

This last week we (Misses Calah, Jenya, Marina, and i) began a wonderful tradition: Donut Date.

Thursday was the first. in our lunch discussion on Wednesday Misses Calah, Jenya, and i somehow got onto the topic of donuts and which bakery/store made the best ones. So it was decided that each of us would stop by one bakery and bring in a raised glazed donut, raised chocolate icing donut, and a cinnamon roll (because why wouldn’t we want to include cinnamon rolls?). Unfortunately my bakery of choice doesn’t sell donuts so i was only able to bring in a cinnamon roll. But that’s ok, folks! We decided it could still be in the running.

Thursday’s contenders were Macey’s bakery (the one in the grocery store), Payson Market, and Shirley’s Bakery in Provo (this one doesn’t sell donuts). The three of us made sure to go on a drink run first because you just can’t have a donut tasting without a drink (being the soda connoisseurs that we are).

Miss Marina joined us and we had a grand ol’ time tasting each donut and commenting on the deliciousness of each. It was a wonderfully hilarious time as well because we were all full of funny commentary; plus we tried to share the love of donuts with fellow coworkers and they all thought we were crazy (they did still take donuts though).

The raised glazed donut:

Payson Market was the overall champ as it was a thicker donut with a more cinnamon-y flavor. Although i did like the creamier sweetness that Macey’s donut had.

The raised chocolate iced donut:

There were mixed reviews in this category and a true champ could not be declared. The Payson Market donut had a more icing-like chocolate icing versus the chocolate ganache-iness of the Macey’s donut (which then gave the Macey’s donut a stronger chocolate flavor). Do you prefer a stronger chocolate flavor or a thicker icing?

The cinnamon roll:

Macey’s won hands down. i believe it was because i believe it was actually a swirled donut with cinnamon sugar in the swirls and then glazed. Whereas the traditional cinnamon rolls from Shirley’s and Payson Market, while delicious, where heavier the icing was too sweet for our taste.

Personally though, cinnamon rolls have never been my favorite breakfast pastry. The icing is much too sweet for me and i don’t like how heavy and bready they are (which is odd because i LOVE bread!).

Well there you have it, folks. The champions of Donut Date the First. We’ve decided that it shall be a monthly occurrence in which each of us will find a new bakery and bring the same donuts (so we can more evenly compare).

So stay tuned for next month’s champions!

(And who knows, maybe someday we’ll circle back and have a Champion of Champions contest like Cupcake Wars and Chopped do).