So....my bad habit caught up with me...

Well....the bad habit is referring to my students as "sister" or "brother." You know..."pick up the trash sister," "watch where you're going sister," "pay attention my brother." No BIG deal I guess. I never really thought anything of it until today. My students have said NOTHING about it...until today. A parent comes to the door, student gets all of their belongings, "bye, see you tomorrow," and this was her reply...."see you tomorrow my sister." Her mom looked at me, we both just broke out in laughter. It was so so funny. I guess I need to work on that!

One more thing before I go fix supper.....
KayKay: Mrs. Thompson, you call me KayKay
Me: yes, that's your name right?
KayKay: That's my nickname
Me: I know, that's what you want to be called right?
KayKay: My "sista" says you a hip hop teacher 'cause you call me KayKay

So.....ladies and gentlemen, I, Samantha Thompson, am a "hip hop teacher"

Until next time,
Sam

Go Away Fay!

I am only able to write this one, because I have officially survived Tropical Storm Fay. While teaching my 6th grade History class on Thursday, I was informed that we would not be having school on Friday due to Tropical Storm Fay. My initial reaction was that of pure and utter praise...followed by a short thought of "I hope this isn't serious!" Well here I sit on Sunday night, after a DAY of no power..alive! Saturday my husband and I went a whole 5 hours with no power and decided to pack up and make the trip to Tifton where his parents were waiting with a warm meal, lights and an air conditioned home! We gladly accepted and made the one hour trip! It was VERY much worth it because we have since found out that our power wasn't restored until LATE Saturday night! All is well now. I am about to make my weekly trip to Walmart, do my ironing for the week and settle in to watch the closing ceremony of the Olymics.

One thing from Thursday that struck me as funny:
We have spent the last FIVE days learning the sound for the letter i...it has gone great. They have answered my questions and gotten to put the little people on my big park picture to fill up the park, they got to feed the ducks in the park with a cracker which they helped the ducks eat, and have mastered the "Indian Child" poem. We also made paper plate iguanas with pieces of paper with "i" words for them to practice. At dismissal time little Ashlynns mom came in the door....Ashlynn made a b-line for her cubbie, grabbed her iguana and proudly announced to her mom...."Look mommy, we made a Guana...(pronounced goo-a-na) SO FUNNY! Her mom and I caught each others eye and had her say it again and again! What a way to end my Thursday! I just love those little ones!

Alrighty...I have been informed by my three sisters that they love reading my blogs, so I will keep them coming. (I would anyway!) I am sure I will have more for you this week!

Until then,
Sam

2 Funny things today!

Oh what a Wednesday. Wednesdays are those days that you just almost dread. They are right in the middle and you still have two days just waiting for you! Wednesdays are also the days for me that last forever it seems. I leave my house at 6am and am at work by 6:40ish. I welcome the kids starting at about 7:30. At 3:15 begins the dreaded, and I do mean DREADED aftercare! By far....the absolute WORST part about this position. Anyway....on a good day I am out of there at about 4ish...but from what I hear it starts to push 5 or 5:30 by the time I am done. THEN we have church at 7:05 on Wednesdays....so I just stay all the way through, leaving at about 8:00 to drive 40 min back home, making it close to 9 by the time I walk in the door. SO....as you can tell....Wednesdays wear me out!

Anyway...that wasn't where I wanted this blog to go.....moving on

We have our Preschool Evacuation Drill tomorrow! Today was our practice round. I spoke very seriously to my sweet class of 4 year olds and told them, "when you hear a bell, and Mrs. Thompson says, this is an emergency, you look at me and get quiet right away." So, we did our little practice, walked to the right place, called roll, and we were off to the playground. Well....all of a sudden, the church bells began to ring (very pretty) and one of my sweeties....STOPPED....looked at me, and then took off running straight to me yelling..."Emergency, Emergency, Emergency" as she was trembling! Precious! I bent down to her level, took her in my arms and tried to re-explain the whole thing. I had to warn mom, that if she starts saying emergency anytime she hears a bell....its my fault! So cute!


Alrighty...my last one! At the end of my day with my class, after they wake up from their nap, it is snack time. To cease the chitter chatter while eating, I like to read to them. Today I read a Winnie the Pooh book called... Roo and the very messy day. Anyway....Roo has a messy room, his mom lets him do it so he'll get sick of it, he goes to Piglets really really clean and tidy house and has to help Piglet put back everything they played with.....right when I showed the picture of Piglets clean, organized house, my very outspoken little one, Tyler, speaks up (quite loudly) and says "I'm allergic to that!" Well....me being stunned by that remark, I asked him what he was talking about...."I'm allergic to cleaning my room"! I definately laughed outloud on that one! Hilarious!

I hope you are all doing great and life is being kind to you! Thank you for reading!

Until next time,
Sam

I survived!

That's right...I survived my first day as a 4k teacher! And...believe it or not...it went so very well! Those kids will do anything, believe anything and think I am the absolute smartest person ever...seriously...they are such people pleasers and will do ANYTHING to get me to say their name and notice how well they did!

I started the day out with ZERO criers! I was so surprised. I had been warned..."you will have some criers so be prepared!" I was prepared (i think) but I had none. Little Joseph wanted to and was a tad bit clingy, but as soon as I mentioned his Cars backpack, he was my friend for life!

Oh and nap time...they are so so precious when they sleep! Seriously...I have a great class of nappers. I had one little girl tell me as I was passing out the mats..."Mrs. Thompson, I don't take naps" I replied, "well, Samaryia...today is a new day and everyone in 4k takes naps." She was OUT as soon as she hit that mat!

I am sure those "days" will come...you know the crazy ones, but so far so good! I am resolved that I have the best class and the SMARTEST class. They already knew their 1, 2 and 3 numbers AND the colors red and yellow! Ahhhhh

So ready for the weekend! Headed to the grocery store then out to supper to celebrate my first day.....until next time!

Sam

Whatcho name again?

Super fast blog...meetings, meetings, meetings! Work in classroom time because tonight was our first of two orientations. Went well. I got to introduce my self as Mrs. Thompson which was so cool! The kiddos were SO cute! Seriously....I am just gonna wanna play all day...haha! I seem to have a great group of parents too! Trying to stay on the positive side! I also have a little girl in my class named Amy....and I will be teaching her 6th grade brother...interesting...her mom was so confused....can you blame her?

One little girl, Ashlynn, said goodbye and left along with her mom. A few moments later, she walked back in, by herself....apparently she forgot my name and her mom didn't like that, so she had to come in and ask again...."Whatcho name again?" SO FUNNY!

Off to eat and sleep and repeat!
Sam

Just when I thought....

Just when I thought things couldn't get any more...shall I say....crazy....THEY DID!

Today was another full day of meetings for me. You know, the page by page handbook meetings. I will say, these meetings are not that bad. My supervisors trust that I know how to read and leave it up to me to do so. Amazing.

As the morning dragged on, I became more overwhelmed when realizing all of the work still yet to be done. You see, at this school we have TWO open houses...that's right TWO. One tomorrow for the new students and one on Thursday for all of the others. As crazy as it is leading up to those, I do believe I might enjoy it better not having my entire class and their parents all at one time. It kind of spreads it out.

I am not to the crazy part yet.....

So....I finally got my class list today...18 students! YAY! 2 Ethans and lots of J names! I put their names (in my very best cursive) on my apples that go on the bulletin board, stapled them up there and moved on to their desk name tags....got those done and taped on their desks and headed for my next meeting. About an hour after that meeting, the preschool secretary informed me that she had given me the WRONG class list! YIKES. They are working with a new program this year on the computers, thus causing the mix up! My first reaction was to cry, but I just quickly got over it, got my new list and redid everything I had just done! No biggie! 15 students now, twins, and Mckayla, Kayla, and Jakayla! HELP!

STILL not to the crazy part!

I was informed that the HEAD bossman wanted a meeting with me at 4:15. YIKES....I am thinking..."what have I done now?" Didn't think much else of it, headed over for my meeting and that is where I was hit with these words...."What would you think about teaching a 6th grade history class for one hour each day?" Oh My was my first thought, followed by a chipper, "SIGN me up!" I am really excited believe it or not. My connection to the other side of teaching is still there! Thankfully I taught the same EXACT book last year, so my preparation will not be bad. Also, the Grade Level Chair for 6th grade is going to be doing the lesson plans for me! Basically I will hike over, teach the class, speak in a different voice, grade papers, and give tests and quizzes. I am honestly thrilled! I choose to think of this as God's gift to me for being willing to brave the world of 4K!

Tomorrow is new student orientation! Yikes! Pray for me if you think about it!

More to come soon.....

Sam