The beginning of August I went to Faith Builders for Teachers’ Week. For those of you unfamiliar with that, it is three and a half days of training and encouragement for teachers. My favorite part was the art workshop I was a part of. We learned to make “prints,” glue window clings, and clay sea turtles.
We got done at noon Friday and from there I headed over to Lancaster to visit my friend Sarah and her husband. It was fun to see where they live and to catch up a bit again.
Sarah and I were taking a selfie when some girls came along with their hands full of coffees and such and sweetly offered to take a picture for us. I love when I meet up with friendly people like that who are looking to help others.
My next thing was to get ready to head back to Illinois. My friend Laura got married August 13. It was special to attend her wedding and spend a bit of time with my former co-teacher who also came for the wedding. Below are just a few shots from the reception.
Next on the agenda was to get my classroom set up for school. I was hoping with extra time to be a bit more put together at the start of this school year. I still didn’t end up as ahead of schedule as I would have liked but I was able to have some things up on the wall before school. I chose to keep my jungle theme but do monkeys this year. Rather than make my decorations I opted for buying them just for sake of ease and time. I did create my own behavior chart using an idea from Pinterest. I’m realizing I haven’t really taken many pictures of my classroom. Here are just a couple shots.
I also stayed with one of the youth girls (pictured above) while her parents took an anniversary trip to Alaska. I was working at school, but we went out to eat a couple times and took some rides on the ranger to look for deer. I also moved my stuff from Ron’s to Kevin’s over that time and took care of Kevin’s chores while they were gone. Life was a little crazy with everything going on at the same time.
One evening a few of us went out for ice cream with Kendra before she headed to teach school in Michigan. (pictures to above)
One afternoon Connie and I went to Café Bloom. We had heard about it but didn’t know quite what to expect. It was an interesting experience. I guess I don’t really have pictures showing the décor, but it lived up to their name Bloom with lots of flowers everywhere.
We enjoyed a butterfly lemonade, some coffees, and yummy food. Little Miss Shalyn thought the fountain at the indoor “park” was the best part. She is such a joy to our lives.
The 30th of August was our first day of school. I have ten students this year. Five in 3rd grade and five in 4th grade. The ratio of boys to girls is a bit more equal this year with three boys coming in with the 3rd grade.
Here (below) we are the second day of school. (I had a student missing the first day.)
This picture gives you a bit of an idea how my classroom looks. Overall, the school year has been going pretty well. I definitely am kept busy keeping up with these ten busy young’uns. They try my patience at times, but are such a sweet bunch! So many times they give me sweet notes or write “I love you” on their papers or on the chalkboard. They really are the reason I love being a teacher.
In closing, here are a few random flower pictures. 🙂
Hasta luego! Until next time!
The Life of Miss Rachel 