Color me happy...

It is amazing how something as small as a crayon can make a child happy. It makes me wonder when life got so complicated and started getting scary....wait I think that happened when I finished college and gained responsibility. The first grade class I volunteer with complained when they received bad crayons (i.e. non-Crayola crayons) when someone else did the shopping. I understood their tiny request. Other crayons simply don't color or have the same wax consistency. I would carefully select Crayola when I was little (heck, I still do when the color bug strikes me!). If only my worries still consisted of what crayons to use. Childhood is bliss.....but being an adult has it's perks ;)

Easter egg-stravaganza...

I am patiently waiting and counting the minutes until I head to our adopted school! We are throwing the first graders an Easter party and my car truck SUV is loaded to the brim with Easter baskets for the kiddos. When I shopped for all the goodies Wednesday my buggy was brimming and the gentleman in the line behind me wanted to know if I was a teacher....my response, "I might as well be." I love volunteering and helping out and am so very very looking forward to the party. Thoughts of the party inspired copious amounts of Easter googling and here's a tablescape I found via Southern Living. Yum! And check out my new favorite--Moss!

Show me the money!

I absolutely, positively, 100% love volunteering with elementary students. Honestly I cannot get enough; I love the 30 minutes I get to spend weekly with the five year olds. Their lessons deal with working, saving....i.e. finance for the five-year olds for the layman. My first lesson dealt with writing a few words...and their spelling skills needed a little work. I was used to dealing with third graders, fourth graders and fifth graders but hey it is after all a learning experience for all of us--me included! After that I turned everything into a mini-writing assignment. If they drew something to that they wanted I made them spell it out...slowly sounding out all the letters for them. Can you believe a five year old spelled out Super Mario Brothers Lego?!
One particular lesson dealt with learning the difference between the various coins. This turned out to be quite the comedy. I was talking them through the various coins and I showed them quarters, dimes, and some dollars. They got fairly excited about the sight of cold hard cash. We then moved to the scratch off bookmarks and I handed them coins to use....at this point I heard shouts of "Gimme the money!" This was very humorous, then the kiddos tried to keep my spare change. Teaching kindergartners is most definitely a circus and you never know what they will say...but trust me, it's worth it!

Awesome-ness.

Bittersweet. I taught my final third grade Junior Achievement class today. The lesson plan included learning about a bank and its role in the community. I reviewed the basics...check, deposit, teller, and debit cards. Basic, I know. The lesson plan was very straightforward walking me through the worksheets where the children would learn to fill out checks. Little did I know that this task would prove to be a bit more complicated than I imagined. I had to think on my toes when I saw some kids err in writing their numbers. I held a quick review on the white board walking them through numbers (tens, hundreds, thousands) and how to correctly spell out the number on a check. Who knew? Teaching is a constant learning experience. The unexpected will no doubt occur, but it's moments of clarity when students grasp the concepts and really learn that make it worth it. You know you are making a difference even it's its for a brief moment.

The children (with the help of their teacher) got me a sweet gift. A vase filled with apples, one of which all the students signed, and a card. I will miss teaching the third grade, but in a few weeks I will have a Kindergarten class ready and raring to learn. :) Can't wait!

Sounds like a science project...

Science class went great Friday morning. Not that I could do it every day, but it was a welcome break from The Office. Two classes of fifth graders and several erosion demonstrations later I was done for the day. How I look forward to science days! One class really picked up on the sink hole example; they had watched a video and a few shining stars spit out all they knew about caves before the experiment began. I love working with the kids, and there are always some priceless comments as you never know what they are going to say. One girl ran up to me and said, "I like your cardigan. I don't know what that is, but she just said it was a cardigan. And I like it!" They are always so complimentary {likely because they are excited about a new face in the classroom}. And one boy helped me clean up the water table filled with wet sand and water--BIG help!! But I do think he had Vday on the brain....as he was shaped the clay for his cave he blurted out, "Whhhhhyyyy! I always make a heart. I don't try....even my sweet potato chip was a heart." Too cute!

And then I was done....we cleaned up the messes from our experiments...and I had to convince 40 children why it was not a good idea to keep the clay that had been sitting in water, vinegar and sugar. Oh joy! I left GBE with a few good laughs, a few hugs and a water table for Vaughn in the back of the LR.....until next month.

Sci Fi, Do or Die....

Three years ago I went back to school, so to speak...it all started with a company email requesting volunteers for the I LOVE Science program, and being a new, energetic employee, I immediately contacted our representative to volunteer. It sounded easy enough--volunteer to go into a fifth grade classroom and teach a science lesson once a month with the lesson provided, idiot proof right? I certainly had no idea what I was getting myself into and was more than a little nervous thinking about teaching a class of twenty-five fifth graders. Thoughts raced through my mind: What would they ask me? Would they laugh at me? What if I did not know the answer? What if my experiment went wrong? What did I know about science anyway, much less teaching?
I swallowed the butterflies in the pit of my stomach and knew I could get through it...I thought about why I wanted to do this. I thought about my science teacher, Mrs. Kay, and her constant reminder: “sounds like a science experiment to me;” I thought about what I gained from her fearless attitude and love of teaching and in that instant I knew I could do it. I channeled years of competing in science fairs (geeky, huh?) and countless hours of experimenting and went in and taught my first class, and you know, it was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It was FUN and today, three years, eight classes and lots of laughter and learning later, I would not trade my experience for the world.
I love the program and hope that many others take the chance to volunteer. Channel your passions and think like a fifth grader and think about how you can relate everyday life to science. You don't have to be a perfect scientist but you do have to have the perfect passion. I LOVE Science!