"Her skin is as smooth as a rock"

Maybe starting a blog wasn't such a great idea.
Or maybe there should be more than 24 hours in a day?
Either way, I feel like a let down when it comes to blogging. But, when I do blog, I try to catch you up on what I'm going to be doing so that kinda makes up for days I don't right?

Reading journals today, I come across a journal entry about yours truly. It reads:

"I like Ms. Numan our inturn. I will tell you about Ms. Numan. Her name is Rachel like me. She has pretty brown hair. Her hair is straight and long. Her eyes are brown as dirt. Her skin is as smooth as a rock. She is pretty. She is a big help in the classroom. She is really good at expressing what she is reading. I think Ms. Neman is really nice and smart."

Well.....that was just too cute wasn't it? I went from Ms. Numan to Ms. Neman. And we have been working on adjetives lately so I am assuming that this student is trying to incorporate them in her writing. However, saying that my skin is smooth as a rock frightens me. I mean, it must be really neat to have skin as smooth as a rock. Right?!

Teacher appreciation week was 2 weeks ago and my kids made me feel SUPER appreciated. They made cards on Monday. Brought me "hugs and kisses" (Hershey's) on Tuesday. Then, flowers on Wednesday. And on Friday, I got a gift card from the class:) It's always nice to see that all of your hard work is being appreciated by SOMEONE.

Here are some things that were said in the cards:

"You are lovely like hearts."

"I love you Ms. Newman thank you for what you have taught us. and thank you for the story's you have read to us."

"Mr. Newman I love you." (Followed by a drawing of 2 girls. Beside on it says: You are 20. And by the other: I am 7."

I guess I'll appreciate the fact that she said I was 2 years younger than I really am one day.

"Happy Valentine's day. I hope you have a nice Valentine."

Yes, John, my Valentine, Cody, is a nice person.

"Dear Mrs. Rachel Newman, thank you for teaching us to be hard working second graders. I we wern't with you or if you wern't here with us we would'nt be hard working second graders. thank you for all. you're sensearly. your friend, bob."

Well, this is funny because I say Bob's name in my sleep at night. He is constantly out of his seat, sitting in his chair like it's a Lazyboy, or talking. But gosh, I love Bob. Thanks for appreciating that I want you to be hard working second graders.

"Thank you Ms. Newman for thanking of thes projects and being relly nice."

This next one, I have NO IDEA where this saying came from or what it is implying. If you know, please fill me in!

"Just let the NATION come to your girl." (Illustrations include: a strawberry. a cat, a ladybug, a flower, and a dog.)

This week we are having a short week because we're going on a field trip Friday. I am so excited but SO nervous at the same time. I sometimes have trouble keeping these kids in the classroom. Do you think it would be bad if I offered to purchase those kiddie leashes for my group?! COMPLETELY KIDDING! But I do for see some events occuring: someone getting sick on the bus, someone having to go to the bathroom on the bus, someone swatting and injuring/killing a butterfly, someone forgetting their lunch and asking to share mine, someone trying to catch a butterfly and put it in their pocket, someone asking 10,000 questions about butterflies that I can't answer. These are just a few. But all jokes aside,  I know they will be so excited and will be precious angels.

 But, we are working on our "SPRINGING INTO CONTRACTIONS" bulletin board. The boys are making Contraction Catepillars. (Cut out 6 circles. The 1st circle gets 1 googly eye and a smile. The other 5 get contractions. Then, each circle gets 2 legs. Each leg has the 1 of the 2  words written to make up the contraction.) The girls are making Contraction Kites. (Contraction goes on the kite. The 2 words that make up the contraction go on 2 bowties, and on the 3rd bowtie, they write a sentence using the word.) Presh huh?

Next week we start our butterfly unit. Don't worry. There are TONS of pictures to come. I could sit here for hours and write about what all we will do but I'll post pictures instead:)

That's about all the exciting things I have. I have been extremely busy preparing for my 2 full weeks of teaching. I am so ready to get started but I have been planning for almost a full week and am not even halfway through. It's times like these that I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist. Oh and the job search continues. I have written follow-up letters to those schools I interviewed with, sent copies of resumes and coverletters to the schools I've applied with, and that is VERY time consuming. Addressing each cover letter to a different person AFTER finding out who it should be addressed to leads to me wanting to pull every hair off my head!  But, I hope all of this hard work will pay off. It's all in His hands.

Until the butterflies arrive at YES,