I have loved every single minute of teaching these adorable kids! For the first time in a long time I could actually say I LOVE going to work! Mostly because I love each of these kids to pieces as have gotten to know them over the past 5 months! but today I put my two weeks notice in! A bittersweet moment!! I am going to miss seeing there adorable smiling faces every day :( but I have to put my own education first right now and do what's best for me and my family! Plus I have to remember in two weeks they will all be moving up to the next class as well!! I have had so many fun, exciting, frustrating, cherished moments with these kids! Some of my kids I am with longer then there parents... I truly feel bad for some of them they are here from 6:00 to 6:00 every day! But, I know they know I love them and I know they love me!
So I have been working on putting these collages together so I can remember all of the things I have done with my kids and I want to write down some memories as well so I never forget these past five months because they have meant a lot to me and been a real learning experience! Since this is the case this post has taken me a very long time to put together, but I know it will be worth it later on in life! The first couple weeks I was at the school I was trained in 2 different rooms and then I was thrown into the room that nobody wanted the crazy 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 year olds! This room was out of control and needed some serious turning around... the week I started working at Kids R Kids the school had there big visit from corporate and room 350 failed... they got the worst score in the book there was absolutely no classroom managment in place! So after my training was complete Ms. Melissa, Ms, Janelle, and Mr. Jason sat me down and not really to my surprise informed me I would be taking over 350! I was so excited yet nervous at the same time what if I couldn't do it... Believe me there were many days I didn't think I would be able to do it, but I gave my whole heart to these kids and in the end I think it all worked out!
These moments pictured above were some really great ones! I don't even know where to begin so many cherished memories...
So one week we learned about zoo animals and everything that goes on at the Zoo so I came up with this really cute art project using paper plates and it was one of my personal favorites! So I had to take a picture of course... I was covered in paint and glue by the time this was done! I gave the kids a choice of making a lion, zebra, or a tiger! This day was really special too because my mom and megan came and saw my classroom! Oh so many hours went into turning this classroom around... cleaning, fly infestations.... and I'm being serious, decorating bulletin boards, and organizing and labeling!
So along with learning about Zoo animals we learned about wild animals and we taught the kids about habitats, so we played this really fun game and had the kids build there own habitats and place animals in them. I loved teaching the kids that was probably my favorite part putting the lessons together and actually applying the kidsRkids curriculum instead of just doing pointless time waisters all day, which most of these kids were used to.... I think many of them acted out becasue they were bored. We learned all about camping and the great outdoors one week so what did I do? I brought in my tent and showed the kids how I set it up and then I put it in the library corner and let the kids read in it! This was a big hit... I don't think library had ever been picked so much for center time! We made flags to thank our troops on memorial day our to of popsicle sticks and mine and Miss Becca room were the only two rooms in the entire schoool who even acknowledged the troops. On fatehrs day we made world greatest dad trophies and of course I made one for my daddy too!
So for fourth of July we had a red, white, and blue food party! this was so much fun! The kids made a list of foods that are red white and blue and we posted it on the door for parents to bring in! We had tons of participation! Matthews parents brought in dominos pizza! This is a funny story they brought the pizza and they wouldn't let us take it because it had to be signed for because mathews mom paid for it with a credit card! Well eventually the ladies at the front desk got it all figured out!Well a couple of days before the fourth of July I made this cute poster and brought my nice camera to school becasue I was going to take James and Shauna's engagments so me and Miss Danielle had some fun and took pictures of the kids! They turned out so cute and the kids loved being in front of the camera!
I loved singing songs with my kids! This was one of my favorite things to with them and one of there favorites as well! I actually taught them all my girls camp songs and tons of primary songs as well! Rivers favorite was Baby Shark! I think he loved this one so much becasue his dad works at the Shark Reef! Well one day his mom dropped him off at school and said, Ms. D! thank you so much for all that you are teaching my son! He says things all the time and I ask him where did you learn that and he always replies Ms. D taught me it, or Ms. D told me it! She also said he is constanlty singing songs to his little sister Nev!
So I always called logan, lightining McQueen becasue the very first day I met him he was running around the playground outside going CaChow.... and he told me that makes him run really fast and well then the nick name just stuck! He always told me though, Ms. D my name is Logan!
Welcome to Room 350!!
I can't tell you how many times I changed Bulletin Boards within the 5 months I was there at one point I had a wall of fame and we did 350 Spring Chicks, but this is how they looked before I left and I had to take pictuers of the room for keepsakes! We also rearranged the room a couple times as well!
Making the 350 Frogtastic Frog Friends was the very first big project I took on and I used my own money to put it together. The school was so cheap with materials they never got us anything... It's so stupid they want everything to flow a certain way and meet the company standards yet they provide us with squat! Anyways, I was so excited when I finally got this all put together and the kids loved it! This was my first major change to the classroom managment system. The kids would take there frog where they wanted to go during station time and they would place the frog on the station sign they were playing at. Once the stations was full they would know they couldn't play there becasue all the spots were full! This made the classroom flow so much better!
While working at kidsRkids a lot of the teachers were rude to me and would talk behind my back and often times I felt very bullied especailly by one person, but I did meet one really good friend who was always nice to me, always there for me, and shared many great memories with! Ms. Becca! I'm going to miss her so much! Her room was right next door to mine she worked in room 400! For the first couple months I was there Danielle was often gone so me and Ms. Becca would combine rooms and we did tons of fun things together! She always had my back and she helped withs so many different ideas! She is an amazing, strong, and loving women who I know will do great things and the kids at school are lucky to have her in there life! Thanks Becca for being my friend when know one else would and I felt so alone!
We all know summer in Las Vegas is HOTTTTTTT!!! So we did lots of this all summer in the gym class! Can you say Popsicles?????? Most days around 3:30 they would send me over to the gym to help out and Oh how I love these big kids to pieces! They all made me smile and laugh on a daily basis! All there sweet spirits just radiated!! They are all so different, but all so loving and yearned to be loved back! Shaylynn is hawaiian and is the cutest shortest little girl ever she reminded me so much of JoJo! Baiden was an angel he always was helping eveybody else and looking out for his friends! Jordan, man can this kids break dance! He was amazing every single time we played freeze dance! Kaleigh and Kayla constanlty wanted to be the teachers helper! Everyday the moment I stepped my foot inside the gym it was, "Ms. D, Ms. D, Ms. D!!!! Can I be your helper???"
Art was always messy, but always fun! I have loved the curriculum this summer! Time travelers! So we started off the summer building a time machine and now we have traveled every where in it from the prehistoric era and visiting the dinosaurs and the ice age, to the greek olympicss, ancient civilization and medieval times to the castles, knights, king and queens! During the greek olympics our team was black and we made a class flag! While visiting egypt we made pyramids with sugar cubes and chocolat frosting, hieroglyphics in colored sand and learned our egyptian names! We also made cuffs and crowns like the pharros wore. While visiting medieval times we made shileds with chalk and swords with alluminum foil! and of course we each designed our own castles and painted them! Oh, and I almost forgot we made dinosaur bones and went on a dinosaur dig during our visit to the prehistoric era! This was a super fun activity we used a flour and water mixture to make a paste and used toilet paper rolls and paper to make a sort of paper machet! I was so happy when it really worked and the bones dried and hardened, I was a little bit nervous they would fall apart!
So Aliyah's mom told me the cutest thing on a monday morning when she dropped her off once. She told me Ms. D I have to tell you the cutest thing Aliyah did all weekend... I said okay... and she continued on, "Aliyah told me all weekend mom you be Ms. D... K? and I will be Aliyah!" So all weekend long Aliyah had her mom pretend to be me! I thought this was the cutest thing ever! Aliyah is always my helper! She is the cutest, tiniest litle thing, but she is so grown up! I love her to pieces! Another Aliayah story is she isn't allowed to have pork because of her relegion well one day we were eating ham and potatoes and I was the only one who noticed Aliyah was eating the ham! I said Aliyah stop you can't eat that... Danielle had dished up the food and didn't even think about it becasue the cook (aka Alison) is supposed to be in charge of that. Well I went out to the kitchen and said Alison, Aliyah ate the ham and Alison said, " Well that sucks....." Like she didn't do anything wrong.... she was so rude about it! So me being a responsible adult took care of it unlike Alison... Ugh some people!
Explaining to my kids that I was leaving and not coming back was probably the hardest part about leaving! It was kind of hard for them to grasp the concept when I told them friday was going to be my last day of school! They all thought it was going to be there last day of school too! I took so many pictures with the kids before I left and the second to last day was really hard! I became really close with Olivia and Matthew! I mean I loved all my kids, but these two were really hard to say goodbye too! Olivia was going to the beach on friday so thursday was her last day and when she hugged me she squeezed me so tight and wouldn't let go... she said I love you Ms. D so so so so much! She was almost crying and that made me cry! and then her mom said, you don't know how much she adores you! and then Rylands mom said, I can't believe you are leaving we need a way to keep in touch with you... and then I told matthews parents I was leaving and his mom started crying and told me I have helped matthew more then anybody else... thursday was a hard day... but, at least I got all the sad emotions out of the way on thrusday so Friday could be a fun last day! We had water day in the morning and then we had a McDonalds chicken nuuget party! The kids looked forward to that all week!
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Nicolas Spuzillo he was such a handful, only child given everything he wants when he wants it, but oh I love him to pieces! He was one of those kids you just couldn't help but love. Well one week for show n tell we were learning about farms. Well they are supposed to bring a show n tell that has to do with what we are learning about. Well he brought a monster truck in... and Danielle asked him, "What does this have to do with the farm?" and you know what he said," Duh it drives to the farm!!!" Oh my gosh me and daniellle were laughing so hard... we couldn't help it well after that week all the kdis kept saying stull like that... Nicolas was such a class clown he always made me laugh and Danielle and I always laughed becasue his pants never stayed on he always had a plumbers butt!
The Kids in my 350 Class were:
Matthew Daskal
Nicolas Spazillo
Alex Sundstrom
Ryland Brown
Gavan Boston
River Cole Beecher Schenk
Aliyah Cullins
Kyle Chen
Olivia Kolb
Kolton Damron
Logan Haberman
Bryce
I had these kids only part of the time in 350 (they weren't with me the entire time I was there):
Kobe
Lilly Frederking
Tayolr Colgate
Lex
Stella Anne
Sienna
Ethan
Bryce Gardner
Andre
Catherine
Shirley & Georgie (Twins)
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