Good Day

Encouraging day! So yes, I live in a new city and I know very few people. Today however was probably the best Saturday so far! I slept late (9:00am!!), drank coffee while watching shows on Hulu, listened to a great John Piper sermon, took more than 5 minutes to get dressed, went to a coffee shop and did significant lesson planning, and spent the rest of the day hanging out with a fellow teacher playing scrabble, eating Mexican, and talking to strangers in checkout lines. Praise the Lord for these little encouragements!

The Case of the Missing Pencils

So, I buy a lot of pencils. I buy them, I give them away, they never come back...end of story. Yeah its a real problem. What am I going to do? Tell the young learners that no they may not have a pencil and they must sit there and write nothing/not take the test just so that they learn to come prepared...some say yes. I just can't do it. I've tried..I've been tough..to no avail. Anyway I'm spending a fortune on pencils and there has to be a better way. My solution: make all my pencils into flags (see below) that say things like "give this back," "don't take me!" or "I belong to Ms. Drummond" I have become very possessive as you can see, but I don't know what else to do. I'd rather go broke another way besides  buying pencils. :)

My Routine

Wake up before the sun, work a 10 1/2 hour day, drive 35 minutes home, run a couple miles, eat, plan tomorrow, go to sleep, repeat...

Tales from the Field

 Here is my classroom. I found out at 2:00pm the day before school started that the portables were not going to be ready. (they still aren't) This was my view of the classroom before I got to move things around. To the right of the yellow wall/divider is the cafeteria. Yes, that is a portable basketball hoop in my room :)

• Below is what we came out with and basically (minus a few changes since then) what the room looks like now.

Quotes of the Week

• "Ms. Drummon yo feet are blushin'. They all red.

• "Can we please stay in your class, we love it here"

• "I'm sorry, I'll have a better day tomorrow."

• Ms. Drumm....Drummenson...Drum..er...."

• Child: "You remind me of Karmin" 

         Me: "Who?"
         Child: " You know, that rapper on youtube?".....yeah that made my day!!!

Watch her here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khCokQt--l4


Here are 2 projects that we've worked on...the first was an introductory science lesson. We're working on inquiry skills so observation is big. Knowing that science is a method..a way of knowing and learning is important. They drew pictures and wrote a description of what they wanted to learn about this year. (part of a modified KWL chart)

The second was their first math project. I made an example, but basically it was a poster/paper that used numbers to describe themselves to the class. They had to include:

A picture (drawn or photograph)
A one digit number
A two digit number
A three digit number
A four digit number
The number had to relate to them

Those are the adventures so far! Every day brings something new!

3 days

Wow!! I've been a teacher for three days. 

I've woken up at 5:15am, stood for 8 hours straight, told 42 wonderful children that I love them, given hugs, taken recess, scolded, praised, cleaned up rooms, run across the playground, talked over the noise, whispered  requests, filed stacks of papers, laughed, dramatized, written on the board, passed out papers, listened to projects, assigned work, straightened up lines, demanded their best, chatted with parents, made requests of the dean, answered letters, told kids "no," told them "yes," given my all and fallen into bed at 9:00pm.

I have had a wonderful 3 days. They've been challenging for sure but they are more sweet than I can say!

Thank you for your prayers!!

My Future Home

with my future children. ...all 50+ of them. Fifty kids who will show up in just a couple a days. Yet these portables still have gaping holes down the middle and 2 of the 6  have still not arrived! Am I freaking out you ask?? Well, a little, but what can I do? We may well have our class meet in the cafeteria for a little while. Isn't it funny though? I had all these grand plans of the perfectly decorated and themed classroom, glowing and clean for the first day of school. Instead, I might be meeting anywhere... most likely just a very new and very empty portable. God does that...he takes our big, self centered plans and teaches us instead to rely on Him, trust Him, and rest in yet another area of our lives. I'm excited though...even though things are different than expected. My students come in days and I get to meet them, teach them, love them, be challenged by them, and somehow in all of this

 teach for my very first year. 

Isn't that wonderful? 

Quite Distressed

 An old chair that I bought for only $2 at a thrift store this past weekend. I had been wanting to "distress" something and I though this would be the perfect opportunity.


1.The chair was a bit wiggly so I screwed an "L" bracket under the seat which totally anchored the seat. It is now quite comfortable! I then sanded the chair well and gave it an even coat of spray primer.

2. After the primer dried, I sprayed only key areas (edges and corners) with an ivory satin coat. These are the areas I wanted to show through when I distressed the chair. I let this dry.

3. I evenly sprayed the whole chair with a deep blue enamel. After the enamel dried, I went over the whole chair with a fine grain sandpaper. I smoothed the whole chair, but focused on edges and corners.

Ta-Da!!! My beautiful new chair that only cost $2.