School's Out For the Summer!

Today was the last day for my students. The year flew by. Overall, it was a wonderful first year. The kids will always have a special place in my heart. I'm really going to miss them. The past two days have been quite interesting.

Yesterday we had our mini-economy auction and awards ceremony. My dad was the guest auctioneer. I didn't tell the kids who would be coming. They figured it out pretty quickly though. One student said he had to be my dad because we looked like each other and we had the same squinty eyes. While we were waiting for the awards program to start I had the following conversation with two girl students:

Student #1:Miss Wood, you never wear skirts.

Me: I know. I just felt like dressing up for the program. (I wore one on Back to School Night.)

Student #2: I've been looking at you all day because I like it when you wear skirts.

Student #1: Your skirt is kind of flirty. I like the way it moves.

You can imagine how hard I was laughing. I'm sure my face was red too. They continued to talk about how they liked the way I looked wearing a skirt. I did get several comments of how "cute" I looked. The flirty comment though cracked me up.

Today was a good day. We finished up some things, watched a movie and ate popcorn, had a pizza party / summer birthday celebration and just enjoyed our last day together. It was a little crazy at times. If you are a teacher, you know what I mean. The kids were so generous.The cards and notes were so cute. One little girl wanted to be held back unless I was going to move up to 5th grade. Let me just say it again that I love these kids.

When were taking apart my room last week, I told my students that I wouldn't be in our room again next year. Today, they started asking questions again about where I would be. My standard answer has been that they will just have to hunt me down. Of course that didn't satisfy their curiosities. They wanted to know if I was going to move up to 5th grade with them. I told them that I definitely wasn't doing that. So then they wanted to know if I was teaching 4th grade. It's so hard to keep it a secret. A few parents somehow know about my new position, so hopefully I'll have permission to share my secret soon. : )

The musical and scrpbook projects went well last week. The scrapbook was a big hit with the students and their parents.It was fun to share my love of scrapbooking with the students. They did a great job decorationg a 7x7 page front and back about themselves. It is very cute!

Fun times!

Two weeks ago I went to Rockford for a visit! I had a blast. That Friday night the ladies of the church had a girls night.As you can imagine, there was lots of laughing, talking, eating and fun involved. We stayed up until about 1:00 that night, and then decided we needed to go to bed in order to get up at a decent time. We decided to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was nice to see a lot of the ladies I met over the summer and to get to know some that have started coming since I left. During our visit, we also were able to meet the new youth pastor and his girlfriend. They seem really nice and excited about the task before them. It was great seeing our "kids" and catching up with them. The weekend was just way too short.

A few funny things that happened from this trip:

Grant, a three year old, wanted to sleep with me one night. He asked and I said it would be fine. His mom winked and told him to get in his bed and said I would get him when I was ready for bed. He said he liked me. Then he said I really like her. It was so cute. Then came the funniest part. " I like you as a friend not a girlfriend." I started laughing. I told his mom that definitely wasn't the first time I heard that line.

Apparently, people in Rockford are convinced that Billy and I are married/going to get married. They keep asking Michelle if we are married. It's too funny.

While Billy and I were gone, one of his students realized that we were both gone that Friday. His mom is one of my teaching partners. He inquired about where we both were that day. His mom didn't know and she told him that. He asked if we might be together. She explained that it was possible since we are friends. He just wouldn't give up on it. He asked his mom if she thought we went out of town to get married. I thought I was going to die laughing. She didn't want to know where I was, however I had to explain. What is it with people trying to marry us off?

This week, I've been on Spring Break! So, I spent a lot of time with me niece. They moved this week, so she and Jackson spent several nights here. One day she told me that she had found a boyfriend for me. (I had to laugh because this is the kid that thinks I should be able to find a guy at Walmart. In her defense, she is four years old. ) The boy she picked out for me is named Zachary. She was very serious when she told me, so I had to ask if he was in her class. She told me with a great big smile that he's in her class. What is it with four year olds and 80 year old? One of these days a guy my age will come along. I know God is faithful and he knows the desires of my heart. : )

Another Crazy Day in Fourth Grade

A tornado touched down today in the county where I live. Unfortunately it took the roof off my friend's parents' house. I don't really talk to Mat anymore though because he lives in Indianapolis. I try to stay in contact with him, but he has shut out most of his Christian friends because he has decided to live a lifestyle that isn't pleasing to God. I really miss him and wish that we were in contact. Please pray for him and his family.

Because of the tornado, my students had to go to their "safe places" at school. After about 20 minutes, they started asking me all kinds of questions. Why is it that they can be inquisitive about personal issues and not academic issues? The questioning started with a few about Billy. (They will have him for 5th & 6th grade Social Studies.)  They wanted to know if he was married or had kids. Then they started asking me the same questions which they already knew the answers. Oh, it didn't stop there. They wanted to know if I had a boyfriend. Of course my answer was no. Then it was, well, do you like someone? I just had to laugh. I told them no. One little guy doubted me because I was smiling. The little girl next to him explained that didn't mean anything since I always smile. (During this questioning, I could hear another one of my students discussing who I might like. You can guess where this is going. I heard her mention that I might like Mr. T - aka Billy. I just acted like I didn't even hear it. She probably would have been embarassed if I said something. ) I explained that I would like to be married, but that God just hasn't brought the right man into my life. They seemed satisfied with that answer. However, then the questions started about when I get married would they be able to come to the wedding. My student that just adores me asked if he could be the best man.  I just had to laugh. Somewhere in the course of all those questions, one girl asked me if I wanted to be single for the rest of my life. I told them that I want to get married, but that I have to be patient and wait on the man God has for me. You can imagine how red my face was getting. I was never so ready to go back to the classroom and teach.  They are a mess.

On Saturday, I'm going scrapbooking with a few friends from work. I'm so excited. We have tomorrow off because it was a built in snow day.  I love long weekends!!! I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!!

I Love Short Weeks!!!!

Yesterday was a fun day! I went to a Six Traits Workshop for the day with four other teachers from my school. It was very interesting and will be applicable for my position this year and for my job next year. I also enjoyed talking with some of the teachers I don't get to see very often.

My students have been a little wild lately. I think Spring Fever is starting to set in. Some of my students are very emotional, others are just being down right rude, and  then there are the few that are behaving like little angels. I'm so excited that we only have two more days left!!! That means I will have only taught 3 days!! Then there's only 2 more weeks until Spring Break!!

Here's a couple funny statements from my students:

"I don't want any part of those emotional girls." - A boy out on recess witnessing a cat fight between girls.

"I'm hot! Why don't the girls realize that? Even an 8th grader gave me a compliment about being nice." - A fourth grade boy in my class discussing another student's luck with having secret admirers.

My sister and her family are a step closer to moving back to Mt. Vernon. They moved out of their house over the weekend. They will live at Jeff's parents' house until they close on their new house at the end of this month. (His parents are working out of the country for the next 5-10 years. ) Their new house is really nice. It has an inground pool!! I'll be spending lots of time over there this summer.  The kids stayed at our house this weekend. They are so much fun. Jackson is in to eveything though. He is not afraid of anything. I can't wait until they are only 5 minutes away.

While I helped my sister pack, we talked about the church she would go to when she moves here. Even though she will live a few blocks over from my church, she's going to go to Baptist Church that will be be just as close to her house. I think it will be a better fit for her husband. He grew up Catholic and we grew up in a Assembly of God/Pentecostal church. My friend and former co-worker, Melissa, and her husband are the Senior Pastors at the Baptist church. So, I'll probably go along with my sister for her few services there. Her husband works shift work and she doesn't want to go by herself. I'm really excited that she's going to go. They never really found a church that they liked in Kentucky. They haven't been going for the past year and half, so I'm really happy that she wants to start going again. Madison loves going to church with us.

Funny quote from my niece:

"I thought we were going to church."  - Madison said this after she had to go to "big church" since my church doesn't have Childrens' Church on the first Sunday of the month.

Fun Filled Weekend!

This weekend was a blast! Friday after school, I went down to my friend, Carrie's classroom looking for one of our other friends. We ended up talking for a few minutes and then I stopped by Stephanie's room. She along with a few other teachers were making plans to scrapbook that night. I told them I couldn't because Carrie and I were planning on going out for supper and to a movie. (We had gift cards from our students that are brother and sister to spend at the movies.) We had planned on leaving work at a decent time and beating the Friday night crowd. Well, that didn't happen. Stephanie came down to Carrie's room to see what the plan was and we ended up talking for a little over an hour. People popped in and out, but we kept on talking. Our principal came in around 5 PM. She said she had passed by several times and could tell we were having a good time. She said she wanted to make sure we weren't talking about her because she would have to break that up, but if we were just having a good time, she wanted to join us. She sat there and talked with us for a good 45 minutes. We laughed and laughed. It was a lot of fun. We never just get to enjoy the company of one another since we all teach different grades. We ended up leaving school a little after 6 PM. A few people stopped us on the way out and said they could tell we were having a good time. I guess our laughter was heard all around that end of the building.

Carrie and I went to Longhorn for supper. I had a "Teacher of the Month" gift certificate for $10. So, I didn't have to pay anything!!! We enjoyed hanging out since we don't get to go out by ourselves very often. After supper we went to the late showing of "End of the Spear". I highly recommend seeing it.

On Saturday, I slept until about 10. Then I went through the stuff my sister gave me from her classroom. I organized it all and watched a few Lifetime movies while I graded papers. Then it was time to get ready for a CASA fun night. We went to Dimaggio's for pizza and then went back to the building for karaoke, games and fellowship. Stephanie, my co-worker, and her husband came with us. We had a lot of fun getting to know them better. She and I sang two karaoke songs together on Karaoke Revolution. We blew Billy and Jordan out of the water. It was so funny. They wanted us to sing awful, but we couldn't do it. It was a great night despite the cold weather and snow.

When I got home, my friend instant messaged me to tell me that she got engaged. She's the Children's pastor at my church. I told her that I'm going to have to get a job at the church. Frank got engaged last week and she got engaged a week later. We joked that there must be something in the water. Today after morning church we were standing around talking to her. Pastor walked by, and all of us single girls and Billy told him that we need to get a job at the church. He laughed and said  that he only has one empty desk. We all agreed that we would rotate days in order to be there.

* On a side note, I found out this week that my school is going to pay for all of my tuition!!!! I will just have to pay for the books! I'm so excited about that. On Friday, I mentioned something about keeping something for my future students. One of my girls seemed really surprised that I would be teaching there again next year.(There's been a pretty big turnover in past years because of transfers, babies, etc.) She wanted me to move up to 5th grade next year. I really wanted to tell them that they will have me again, but they would have to wait two years.