T-minus 2 weeks!

So, for the last few weeks I have been working on the classroom and curriculum like a crazy person, as well as having beach visitors and selling hotdogs. So this past weekend, my ridiculously talented, gracious, and helpful cooperating teacher Mary Gilstrap brought her precious family to the beach and helped me with my room. She basically used all of her knowledge and skill to tell me where things need to go and give me ideas for my room. This is the most recent updated pictures of my classroom! Still a work in progress but we're getting there! YIPEE!

I'm in over my head here...

For the last two days, I have been in my classroom moving furniture, unloading boxes, and TRYING to be an organized teacher! I've got all of the furniture where it belongs (with the exception of the desks because the carpet cleaners will just have to move them). I have STARTED laying out where some wall decorations will go, and have picked out a paint color to cover up the SUNSHINE that was sprayed on the cabinets before. I still have MORE than enough to do to keep me busy for the next month, and I still think that I will be missing things on the first day of school. Here are a few pictures of the work that I've done over the last few days!














Sorry he's sideways, but this is my MOVEABLE Uncle Sam. I can't decide if he'd make for good decoration or if he would give the kiddos bad dreams.

I'm on the Website. Search me!

So sorry that I haven't updated this in a bit, but...there hasn't been much action lately in the teacher world! Tonight however, I wrote my official biography for the website at Christian Academy! I just e-mailed it, so it won't be published quite yet, but keep an eye out in the next week or so!

Next step...DOLLAR GENERAL for 4th of July (red, white & blue) material! Wahoo!

Lesson Plannin'

So, for the last several weeks I've been planning different parts of my curriculum for the Fall. It would be a COMPLETE understatement if i said that I was just simply NERVOUS. I think my whole body quivers internally every time I open my teacher notebook. So far, I've "planned" aka outlined my reading and writing curriculums for the first two months of school, and am starting to work on math!
I'll tell you about my "Written Dialogue" Unit. This will be the FIRST unit I do for Writing and Reading in August.
We're going to first, define what quotation marks are. How to identify speech in a written story. We'll spend a lot of time identifying dialogue in several different kinds of stories as a class, and they will individually for homework. At the end of the unit, the students will write their own stories that use dialogue and will illustrate them. Then...drumroll...(my favorite part of the unit) the students will work in either groups of 3 or 4 to write a story that has dialogue for each member of the group, and will then act out the story for the whole class! Each student will have a speaking part. They will have to turn in their written story to me when they perform!

SO excited to write more plans, and fill up my journal with more and more ideas. Anything that y'all have to offer would be very much appreciated! (via e-mail, blog comment, or facebook!)

First Purchase for the Classroom!

I went to Target the other day with all intentions of only buying rollerblades and a swimsuit, and I came back with things OF COURSE for my classroom. I think I'm in the "look everywhere you can for classroom stuff on sale that you could MAYBE use" mindset.
THIS is what I got!



There are two different views of what I bought! It's SUPPOSED to be a 4th of July picnic holder thingy, with a place for silverware, plates, and napkins. HOWEVER, I chose to make it a desk caddy. I will use it for pencils, markers, pens, post-it notes, index cards, and folders! SO excited! LOVE the way I can make things what I want them to be!

The FIRST viewing of the classroom!

So, on Wednesday, June 8th, which is coincidentally my best friend Allie's birthday (what a way to celebrate!) I went to see.my.classroom!
SO much bigger than I expected! In these pictures, disregard any furniture that you might see. It will be completely different.


this picture shows my THREE BIG WINDOWS! and two corners of the room! In the corner on the left, I plan to build (with help) a big bookshelf for a reading corner, with beanbag chairs, and lots of books! In the corner on the right, I plan to put my desk so that I'll be able to face my students!


this picture shows the front of my classroom! i have a whiteboard. nooo SmartBoard for this girl. WHATSUP EXPO MARKERS. The corner in the left of the picture is where my desk will be, and in the right I will have some sort of shelving unit! The students will either be in rows or small groups facing the board. I plan to put pictures of each and everyone of you on my desk. I will use double-stick tape :)


this is the right side of my room. I have three cabinets, and three little wall shelves. I plan to ditch this color yellow as quickly as possible, and I think I want to paint them bright RED! The theme of my classroom has been decided as America, so that'll blend quite nicely! Underneath the cabinets, there is a narrow and long corkboard. I plan to make that a writing nook, and have a long table lit with rope lights, and studded with rules of writing, and penmanship! SO excited. I love writing. A lot, a lot.


this is the back of my classroom! I will have two square bulliten boards, and a space for two computers! SO glad I'll have technology in the classroom and not have to rely on a computer lab! I can't wait to cover these walls with cute things!

Let me catch you up to speed.

As of today, June 17th, 2011, I've known that I'm going to be a 2nd grade teacher for exactly 11 days. Before this, I thought that I would be an Assistant Teacher to a 2nd grade classroom. Before THAT, I thought that I'd be an "all grades" teacher in San Lucas, Guatemala. BIG DIFFERENCE HUH?
Here's a picture of the place I THOUGHT I'd be spending the next...forever? part of my life:


This is what happened, I went there, fell in L O V E and wanted to never come back. I settled for coming back and getting a degree, then began the plans to head back in June, start my teaching, and love it for the rest of my life. INSTEAD the Lord said, "Betsy, you're being selfish. WAIT for my timing. OBEY and have PEACE about where I am going to put you for the next year."
If this wasn't the hardest thing for me to ever accept, I have no idea what is. I was practically HANDED a job, (Obviously, the Lord saying, "ah-hem!"), and given a place to live (thanks mom!) FO-FREE.

Now, I've been given MY OWN CLASSROOM. Every teacher's dream. We LIVE for the day we have some little nuggets of our own to teach, guide, and love for 8 hours a day! I am getting PUMPED about this opportunity, and slowly (but surely) starting to get organized.

HERE is the school that I'll be teaching starting August 15th.


As I get more organized, I will post pictures, lesson plans, and everything else teacher-y that you can imagine!