Why I do what I do...

It's been a very, very, very busy first few weeks back at school but I'm finally starting feel like I'm back on top of things. I'm loving to get to know my little babies and always enjoy seeing my old students, now 2nd and 3rd graders, around the building. I don't have much time but just thought I'd share a quick story.

A sweet little friend in my class paid me 10 tickets to take his shoes off in class for the day. But he never could get them back on by himself. So as I spent literally like 5 minutes trying to get his feet in his shoes, I started laughing. I was so playing mommy to this little child. And sure enough after we finally got them back on and tied, he said "thank you mommy." And then giggled, realizing his mistake.

Children are precious. I have always loved children...my first dream was to be a pediatrician and I fully intended to pursue that dream. But when I did Teaching Interns in high school and got to work with a first grade class, I saw a different dream. It is amazing to watch children learn, grow and succeed. I love teaching first grade because it is such a year of growth. Those of you that have/have had children that age understand what I mean. You have no idea the amount of joy it brings me at the end of year to look back on everything with the kids and see their faces light up as they realize all that they have accomplished. This is most important to me....showing them their achievements. They need to know what they are capable of so that they can continue to be successful so I try to share that with them at the end of the year. There are many frustrations during the year, I won't try to hide that. But at the end of it all, I always wind up shedding a few tears that last day of school as my first grade babies become second grade bigs.

I love teaching so much. I love my daughter the most though, so I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a working mom. But I do know that even if I stop teaching, I'll come back to it later on. And in the meantime, I will continue to teach Elizabeth, teach my little ones at church, and any other child that needs a little extra love, care and knowledge. My dream of becoming a pediatrician has now changed to a dream of opening my own preschool one day...and I have every intention and desire to make that dream come true.

I like to post pictures of my classroom at the beginning of each year for all of my family who is too far away to see it...so here are a few pictures. I took some when I was working at the school this summer, and some were taken in the first few days of school. Enjoy!!

I was surprised at how much I was able to accomplish even though I had this sweet little one under foot!!

I'm constantly changing my classroom. I've already changed my Calendar wall and have added lots of things to the wall as I like to hang up the anchor charts and such that we make as a class....

This is where I do the bulk of my work with my kiddos...the teacher table.