Death of a student

Last week was one of the longest weeks of my life!...It all began with this text.

Oh my goodness! Friends, I hope none of you ever receive this news. I hope I never receive this news again!! There are no words to describe it!
After receiving the news, I went and visited her mother. She was broken. Just broken!  All night I kept questioning myself...Why didn't I talk about safety for Labor Day activities? Why? WHY??

School was out on Monday. Thanks goodness! I needed a day to calm down!

Tuesday morning came quickly. When the alarm went off, I felt sick! I knew I had to face my students. I had to be strong even though I wasn't. Before the students got to school, coworkers met in my classroom for a word of prayer. That is a moment in time I will remember forever!

That morning, students came in and we read a story about death and drew our favorite memories of MaTaya. So far, my students have taken her death very well. Every morning, I put a smile on my face and do what I had to do for my babies. When I got home, or when the students left the room, the tears flowed...

Yesterday was MaTaya's celebration of life. It was PERFECT! Such a beautiful celebration for a beautiful little girl.

Mataya was a little firecracker. She was always smiling, running around, and helping others. She loved to cheer! She sang all the time! Daily, she made a point to tell a student how nice his/her handwriting was so she could pull her pin to super student. My favorite memory is running with her to line up after recess.

I will always miss MaTaya! I miss hearing her little voice. I miss seeing her contagious smile. I am sad that her cubby is empty. She was a such special little person... I believe that I will see her again. On that day, we will never have to say goodbye again! :)

First Full Week Of School!!

What a week!! It was l.o.n.g. but great! My class is still working on getting into a routine. Hopefully, we will have one by the end of next week...fingers crossed!!

I began the week teaching nouns. Every year, my students enjoy cutting pictures out of magazines and sorting them into the categories of "person, place, thing, or animal".  I set the Classroom Timer on 15 minutes and said "GO"! 

I was thrilled that every student was able to do this activity regardless of his/her disability! I think the ending result was fantastic!! 

A few teachers have pinned pics on Pinterest of students writing on tables with dry erase markers. Before this week, I had never allowed students to do this. Well, I decided to give it a go and my first grade babies LOVED writing on the table at their seats. It wasn't messy at all AND it saved several sheets of paper!!

As I wrote number words on the board, my students copied the words, wrote the digits, and built the numbers using linking blocks. I will definitely allow them to write on the tables again! 

Did you notice my blog button pic on the bottom of every photo? I watched the Meg's New Box Of Crayons periscope when she said every one should watermark all photos when posting on social sites.  I hopped on the app store and found a few apps to chose from. If you want to do this too, you can find free watermark apps that are easy to use! Here's the one I chose. This app cost $0.99. It's very user friendly! 

I hope all of you are having a relaxing weekend! 

I Survived Day 1, Day 2, & Day 3!!

Well, 3 days down, 177 to go!  Just kidding!! So far (knock on wood) my new school year has been fabulous! Since I'm an inclusion classroom teacher, my class number is low. My role began with 17 students...Insert clapping...THEN, two students moved away and another one is being home schooled. That's right friends, I have 14 students in my room. Yep, you read that correctly...F.O.U.R.T.E.E.N... I am celebrating that small number as long as I can because I know I will get the next couple of students who register for first grade.  

My boys were so excited to begin school. My oldest is in fourth grade and my youngest is in third grade. 

I have a new assistant this year. She recently graduated college so she still has a ton of energy and lots of great ideas! I am sooooo blessed to have her!!

 

We began our day reading this book. Isn't it great??? I have never had a student who didn't love it!

 

Before we read the book, I asked my students what "Jitters" were. I loved their responses!

 

After reading the book, we drank jitter juice. Since some liked it and others didn't, we had to make a graph. I totally forgot to take a pic of it!!

 Later on that day, we discussed all the rules. I made sure to include rules for the classroom, cafeteria, playground, and bus. Afterwards, they watched "No David" on youtube. When David would break a rule I had previously talked about, they told on him. It was too cute!!

We read one of my favorites, Chrysanthemum. It's one of the best books I've used to teach feelings to my students. If you have any favorites, please comment below. I will be sure to check them out! :)

  

The students put a linking cube on each vowel. It was a great way to observe whether or not the students knew what vowels were. I'd seen pics of this in the past but never planned it until this year. It was a great activity!
Of course, you have to do the big heart when you read Chrysanthemem!

We ended the week with reading Pete the Cat. Pete is so much fun! I did not give tracers for this activity. I wanted to see how well the students followed directions. I tell ya, they did the best job! I was soooo proud!!

They had just enough time to end the day with a graph.

This has been one of the easiest Back To School weeks I've ever had. I hope that your first week back goes/went just as well!

August Currently...My Last Day Of Summer Break

At 5:00 am I will be singing, "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Off To WORK I go!"
I can't complain! My summer has been FANTASTIC! We've gone to the beach, had many lazy rainy days, AND I watched 4 series on Netflix! All good things shouldn't must come to an end.

Although I'm a little late, I am linking up with Farley for her August Currently. Don't ya just love Currently?? I do!  This month she had a link up on Instagram. That was a fabulous idea!

 

*Listening-I am listening to my little boy play mine craft. That boy is really good at it! He builds things FAST!

*Loving-I have finished cleaning the house for tonight. I love relaxing on the computer after my chores are done!

 *Thinking- It has ALWAYS been my fear that I will wake up late the first day of school. But my mind is racing and I can't sleep. I feel like a kid the night before Christmas!

*Wanting-I am wanting a little more free time. The biggest thing I will miss is looking down at my phone through out the day and seeing a favorite blogger on Periscope.

 *Needing- I NEED a new teacher bag! The struggle is real! The first day of school, the local bank feeds the teachers breakfast and gives us a gift. The gift is usually a lunch box or teacher bag. Since I'm cheap frugal, I am waiting to see if they give us a bag. If not, I've got to find one...Quick!!

*B2SRAK- Seusstastical gives her coworkers a cute notebook. I thought about doing that as a gift.

If you haven't linked up, you can find her blog here. 

By the way, here's a quick reminder of the rules.

 

Assess Me!

It's summer break. No time to thing about that "A" word, UNLESS you're linking up with The Tattooed Teacher for a fun link up!

 

1. I talk to myself...sometimes. Is it ok as long as no one else hears me??
2. Not superstitious at all. This one time..at band camp...I walked under a ladder. My friends threw salt at me so I wouldn't bring them bad luck. Soooo that incident made me not like superstitions anymore. HAHA!!
3. No knuckle cracking here! My mama said my fingers would be fat when I go older if I popped them. I'm 35 and have skinny knuckles...That's the only skinny thing about me! lol
4. We just had lunch at Wendy's. Not hungry right now.
5. Yes, my tv is on. Once we got home from church, I turned on Hulu to watch the last season of Revenge. So sad the series is ending!!
6. I have 1 wisdom tooth. 
7. I have not showered today. I showered last night because it is a mad house here on Sunday mornings getting ready for church.
8. I have been to Disney. I went 19 years ago with my school band. I hope to take my kids there next summer!
9. My vision is great so no glasses needed! :)
10. I do live in the state I was born in. I live 3 miles from the house I grew up in. 

Assessment time!! If you would like to get to know someone new, link up here.

Tell All Tuesday

I am linking up with Teach. Talk. Inspire and My Day In K for their Tell all Tuesday! These girls have been doing this link up all summer. How in the world have I missed it?? Incase you've missed it too, they have fun prompts each week to blog about. This week, we are sharing about "My Dream Classroom".

I will begin with photos of my own room. Oh my poor classroom! Here are a few pics after the floors were finished. I had piles and piles and piles of stuff..Everywhere!! The struggle is REAL!

On a bright note, I've been working in my room for a week now and I'm making progress! WooHoo!!! I will post pics soon! :)

My dream classroom would have to be this photo! I love everything about it! The colors are perfect!

Isn't Schoolgirl Style the best?!?! If you see this photo on pinterest, click on it and read the story behind this classroom makeover. The story Melanie told will pull at your heart! You can also click here to check out the article. She's precious!!

You've got time to tell about your dream classroom. Be sure to link up!!

 

Periscope is my new addiction

In a very short time, we have all jumped aboard the "P" word. That's right friends, Periscope.  It is da bomb!! Although I didn't need another addiction, I'm glad I jumped on the band wagon. I have met so many great teachers.  Before joining Periscope, I had actually never heard of Sheila Jane Teaching. I know that's bad. BUT I know who she is now!! :)) 

I've made one very short periscope video. Thanks for the hearts if you threw one at me. :) If you're not following me and would like to, my username is @mrschristysleap. If you have an account, please leave your info in the comments and I will follow you! Sheila Jane Teaching is having a link up. Teacher bloggers are writing about periscope and linking up to meet new bloggers. You can link up here

In other news, I made a facebook account for my blog! WooHoo!! If you want to check it out, you can click here. I'm excited about it!

Sunday Scoop

This has been such a good week! Although I didn't get to go to Vegas, I really enjoyed reading all the posts and seeing everyone's pics. Oh Ya'll Periscope. Isn't it something?? I'm sooo addicted! I love it when I look at my phone and see a notification that someone is LIVE! I've found new blogs to stalk and talked to several new people. I love that we can now put faces, voices, and personalities with the blogs we follow. 

I'm linking up for Sunday Scoop. If you would like to join in, link up here. 

 

1. * Even though I'm nervous, I will do a periscope video tomorrow. Pinky Promise!
    * My husband bought groceries this weekend and didn't but any chocolate. How am I suppose to stay in this house next week with three boys and NO oreos?!?! Come on!!
    *  Yep, it's that time again. It's time for me to go back to school and work in my classroom. I had planned on doing the cute instagram bulletin board that a lot of people have pinned on pinterest. Well, two other teachers as my school have already put it up soooo I guess I better find a different bulletin board idea...(sigh)
2. *This is the first year I've participated with the BlogHoppin scavenger hunt. It's so much fun!! There's a few on the list that I will never find. BUT I can't wait to ask my principal to get criss cross apple sauce and take a pic! HAHA!!!
   *I have a ton of teacher blogs that I follow. I have 500ish Instagram teachers I follow. I just realized that I'm not following all of my ig friends blogs. I have to fix that!!
3.  *Last but not least, cuddling with my three boys. Tonight, we jumped on my bed and watched Barney. Yes, I said that right. BARNEY! My 19 month old loves that purple dinosaur. My family is hoping this phase passes quickly!!

Link up and let us know what your Sunday Scoop is!

Work It Wednesday

I am lovin' everyone's photos from Vegas. I'm very a little jealous but I'm happy my blogging friends are having the time of their lives!  I had lunch with a coworker today. We agreed that we WILL go to Vegas next year!

I'm linking up with Katie for Work It Wednesday.

At the end of the school year, I had NO energy. I was mopping around and was feeling sorry for myself. June 1st I made a commitment that I would begin working out. NOT for a few weeks, this must be a life style change. As the summer as passed, I have learned that I enjoy jogging on my treadmill. I feel better, I am in a better mood, and I am realizing that I'm stronger that I ever thought I was. This is a WIN, WIN situation!!

637.6 calories burned is a HUGE to me!!

 

I jogged/walked 4.5 miles. Never walked that far before. EVER!

Katie inspires me on her instagram account. Here's the link if you want to follow her amazing progress.

Worship Wednesday-Beth Moore Study

Is it really Wednesday already?? My spring break is flying by! Monday will surely be here before I know it.

I am linking up with Adventures Of A Schoolmarm for her Worship Wednesday linky. I have a confession. I don't usually like devotional books. There's nothing wrong with them. They are just not my thing. I get more out of just reading and studying scripture. Last summer, a group of ladies from church had a Beth Moore Bible study. I wanted to join in on a summer Bible study but wasn't really sure about Beth Moore. I had heard a lot of good things about her BUT she does "devotional" studies. Well, I joined in and LOVED it!! I'm currently doing her book called, "Jesus, The One and Only". It is actually very fitting with Easter coming up. Last night, I read Luke 22:54-62 when Peter denied knowing Jesus.
vs. 60 -62- Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Friends, can you imagine how Peter felt when Jesus's eyes met his. I'm sure his heart literally felt like it was breaking in half! 

Hope you're having a good hump day. Be sure to link up here.