Returning to Reality

      Being a teacher comes with some great benefits.  One of which being Fall Break!   Michael took off last week with me.  We had the best week!  We spent a few days in Townsend, took a day trip to Gatlinburg, enjoyed a day or two at home, and he even worked in a little hunting trip.  It was probably the best break I've had from school.  We spent so much time together and enjoyed every minute!  I was feeling refreshed.  And now it's back to real life with the daily grind.   

 Townsend

because mom loves close ups as much as I do....

 

 Deer at Cades Cove

I loved this picture of Papaw

 

Tag, I'm it!

About a month ago Ms. Tammy tagged me to answer these eight questions...I'm a little slow getting around to it but I figure better late than never. 

1 . How old were you when you became a christian?

    I was eight almost nine when I asked the Lord to save me.  My life revolves around being a Christian.  I'm so grateful the Lord saw fit to show me my need and save me. 

2. What did you want to be when you grew up?
     A teacher...Guess I have arrived?  J/K

3. What is your favorite beverage?
     Hands down, with out a doubt, 100 percent....sweet tea from Sonic.    However, I have kicked my caffeine addiction!
     My name is Stephanie and I am a caffeine-aholic.  I have been clean for three weeks. 


4. If you could take a trip anywhere, where would you go? Why?
     I have several perfect vacations planned out in my head...they include:

1.        Maine
2. New york and a Broadway Play
3. The Grand Canyon
4. Alaska
5. Hawaii
6. Pennsylvania 

5. Do you have any special memories with your grandparents? Share one.
    I have been blessed with great grandparents.  I can't help but share a memory of each.

1. Granny Kring....Probably the one I relate the most with.   My Grandfather had had open heart surgery and while he was recovering she broke her hip.  I stayed with her for several weeks.  I remember walking into the room and finding her praying for all her kids and grand kids.  What a heritage! I stayed with her a lot growing up.  She always gave me a dollar for Sunday School and polished my shoes with vegetable oil.  She was also very proud of me for going to college.  When I started student teaching she was on the phone calling everyone to tell them where I was working at.  I was heartbroken that she passed away before I graduated. 
2. Pappaw Kring--I spent the most time with him during his last few months on earth, I spent nights with him to help care for him.   We had some really hard nights where he said and did things that he didn't mean.  His last words to me before I left for work on his last day was that he was praying God would bless me.  When I came back from wok he was unresponsive and died that evening.   
3.   Nanny Pat--M greatest memories with her was when we would spend the night and she'd read Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch to us.
4. Pappaw Tom--My greatest memories with him are recently.  I'm glad we've been able to spend more time together. 
5. The ruppes--Although they are my step grandparents, the have always treated me as their own.  To know them is to like them.

  6. Who is your favorite author? ( this of course, does not include the Bible ) :)    
I don't have one favorite author.  I love reading a wide variety of materials. 

7. Is there a special hobby that you and your husband enjoy doing together?
     We spend a ton of time together doing a variety of things.  Not one thing is standing out to me. 

8. What is your favorite dessert?
    Anything with cream cheese!

Finally Labor Day Pictures

Good news....the y and r have started working on my laptop again.  Makes life so much easier!  I'm relieved to be spending a quiet day at home with just Michael and me.  Doing very little.

 

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of when my family came over on Labor Day.   There's a lot of pictures so if you don't know my family it might be a little boring.  My feelings won't be hurt if you skip over this post. 

The Girls

The Guys

Cassie got to come by for a few minutes.

 

 Josh and the old tractor

This tractor belonged to my Pappaw Kring.  My Dad recently gave it to Michael to fix up.  

Josh's Family

Michael and I with Pappaw Tommy.  He's our Sunday lunch buddy.  We enjoy eating together almost every Sunday.

With the my ruppe Grandparents.

Mom and her kids

Wendell and Kiah

Wendell and Punk

Wendell and Mom

For a little added humor my y and  r stopped typing in the middle of this post.  What in the world??????  Back to copy and paste. That's my life!

Totally Random Update

Things at the Jones home are going great.  I have been avoiding blogging simply because the r and y on my keyboard are not working.   So without a bunch of copying and pasting the above sentence looks like this: I have been avoiding blogging simpl because the  and   on m keboad ae not woking.     Good times!


School is going good.  Just super busy! Our report cards have majorly changed which is a good thing but way more time consuming.  It's really put me behind on some school things. 


Michael has got to stay on days though several of his night rotations.  It has been huge blessing! He was suppose to start on nights again Monday but it looks like he'll be on days a little while longer!


He gave me an early birthday present a few days ago.

I'm loving my new Nikon D3000! 


I got some great family pictures on Labor day which I'll post later. 

And Finally our daily visitors.

 

Come on in to Second Grade

Edit: April 1, 2013
This post is getting a ton of hits from pinterest, and I'm getting a ton of questions about my homeworkopoly board.  It was not my original creation!  Google it and you will find several variations for free that you can print.  I also created a safari version and posted on my teacher blog here:  

http://keepingupwithclass.blogspot.com/2011/07/safari-homeworkopoly.html

I'm excited to share my classroom with you.  This is my sixth year teaching.  It seems every year I add a little more of my personality to my classroom.  I'm really starting to like it :)  Lets start with a couple of scanning photos. 

    Right beside my door you will find my word work bookcase.  I have always loved the size of this bookcase.  It fits perfectly in several spots in the room and it's pretty sturdy.  However I wasn't in love with the blah fake wood color.  So 2 summers ago I decided to modge podge it with small squares of scrap booking paper.  I love it!  It always gets bunches of compliments.  
    Word Work is one of the components of The Daily Five that I'm excited to be implementing this year.  The tubs on the selves contain things such as playdoh, letter stamps, scrabble tiles, letter tiles, gloves (for clapping out syllables), magnetic letters, and some other fun things.  The kids will choose what to use, and work independently during their word work time.  If you work with children you know that too many choices can be a bad thing!  So I have made closed and open signs that stick on with Velcro so the kids will know what is available for them.  Right now they are all closed (the red circle) since we haven't started this part of the daily five yet.  
    The blue pocket chart hanging behind the book case doesn't have a specific purpose.  Occasionally I put a poem in it for the kids to read when lining up.  

Next to Word work you will find my mailboxes, for graded work and notes home.  On top is the baskets where the kiddos turn in folders, homework, and notes from home. 

Above the mailboxes is my star chart.  This is how we keep up with discipline in my room.  Every kid has a star.  If they get in trouble they move it down once.  

 

On the other side of my door is a small bookcase where we store the notebooks for writers workshop.  I didn't snap a picture of above this bookcase.  There I have my rules posted and some of the faces that I made last summer.

 

Beside the mail boxes is my reading center.  I have my books stored in baskets by genre, or author, or subject matter.  This is about 1/6 of my books.  I don't have enough shelves to put them all out at once.  It's kind of refreshing to be able to switch them out.  The kids enjoy the new books.  Also in my reading center is some new seating that I added this year.  I love my seat crates!  I got the idea from proteacher and Michael cut the board for me.  It was an easy project!

Beside my reading center is my kids book boxes where they keep their books.  This picture is a week or so old.  They are much cuter now that I have the kids pictures on them.  :)

Next up is my horseshoe table for reading groups.  And then my computers in the corner.

Next up is the bucket fillers bulletin board. 

  My reading board is next to it.  It has pocket charts for the daily five, a chart for the reading cafe (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocab skills that I will be teaching), and a chart for our weekly spelling and vocab words.

Next is my homeworkopoly board.  The kids get to play on Fridays if they've turned in their homework all week.  This is a new favorite in my classroom!

In front of these boards is my carpet and whiteboard chart thingy.  We spend a lot of time on the carpet. 

 Behind the chart is my desk.  I'm embarrassed of this picture.  That book case is badly neglected!

In the front of my room next to the white board is a small bulletin board.  My kids are sitting in rows.  They can earn brownies for their row's pan.  When the pan is full they get a treat.   This is working wonders in my room right now!   I'm thinking of other things to change this to later on in the year.  Maybe icecream sundaes or something.

 My coat racks and birthdays....

My Math board....I'm kicking myself for using the star fabric on it.  It's too busy.  But I'm too tired to fix it this year. 

This bulletin board will display post cards from other states.  We are participating in a post card exchange again this year. 

And finally My Promethean Board.  If you haven't been in a classroom lately you will probably be surprised at the technology available.  This interactive board is hooked to my computer.  I can use it to project or it's interactive and can be used much like a big computer.  It's a wonderful teaching tool!

Thats it.  Let me know how you liked my room.