I Will Survive!

Wow! Time is flying by so fast! I cannot believe it is Fall again! I am sad that it is getting colder, but I love how pretty it is this time of year! I am also excited that I will get my first off track time in 2 short, crazy weeks! Yessssss! (Isn't it sad that I live for the breaks???)

Things have been pretty much the same since the last time I wrote. In a weird, twisted way I am excited for P/T Conferences coming up on the 21 and 22 of this month, so I can really communicate with parents about their children that are having a hard time behaving in school. I really do like the kids in my class as individuals, but it is soooo difficult to manage them when they are all together! They want to be good, but a lot of times they don't know HOW to do that, and with my personality, maybe I am just too nice! I did visit with my principal this weekend after her observing my class while I was teaching, and she agreed that I had a lot of difficult kids in there to manage! She suggested a few things to help, but I feel like I have already tried those things so many times! I told her that and I asked her if I could send some of them to her when they were being difficult and she said yes...so, needless to say, those certain kids are not going to get very many warnings anymore before they get sent to her! It is so relieving to know that she recognizes what I am going through and can back me up! Hopefully I can get control of this class for the good! In the mean time, I am learning and growing from this class everyday! I think it is a love/hate relationship! I know on the days that are difficult, that I just need to learn from them, and go back the next day doing just a little bit better!

Anyway, these past couple of weeks have been filled with a lot of fun, despite the craziness! 2 weeks ago, my mom came and helped me do salt dough maps of Utah with my kids. I was nervous about doing this with these rowdy kids, but they actually did pretty well! Here are a few pictures of them before and after we painted them. (We made them one day and then let them dry and painted them the next day.)

This past week, all of the classes in the school had to decorate their doors for our Reflections Theme, which is "Beauty is..." My class came up with that they wanted to draw their favorite places to be. So, I made a little background of mountains and a waterfall, and they drew little pictures to put on there. Some of them were so cute! I loved the one that talked about his dad's work, with all of the tools and that. I also laughed so hard at a kid that drew a picture of Walmart as his favorite place! Some of them did awesome pictures of the beach and other places. I was proud of what they did! It wasn't enough to win the contest for the school, so they were bummed about that, but I thought they did a great job! Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

6 Weeks and COUNTING!

That's right folks...I have officially made it through week 6 of a ROUGH school year. I am not going to lie...I had a break down to my mom a couple of weeks ago about my class! Yes, I bawled and ranted and raved about all my problems..and I felt a lot better after that! :) (thanks mom) I guess it finally hit me when somebody else in the school took my class for a half an hour and when I came back they were OUT OF CONTROL and were VERY rude to this lady. I had to REALLY lay into them after that! I still don't think I am mean enough yet...I am working on it and they are doing a little better, but it took making all of them write an apology note to the lady and changing a few classroom "policies" to get them that way. Let's just say that I have sent more kids to "Think Time" already this year then I did the WHOLE year with my class from last year. What is really sad is that it is only about 5 boys that make it miserable for everyone else! If I could get rid of those 5 boys then my class would be pretty good! I know I will survive and I really do still like teaching, but it is just not fun when you are trying to help one student that REALLY needs help and the others think they can do whatever they want and get away with it! I wish I had eyes in the back of my head and 20 extra hands! :) The joys of teaching...

Well, on a brighter note, we have been doing some fun things with art that I took pictures of. They are "Landscape Silhouettes". They had to choose a favorite landscape that they have been to and create it with a watercolor background and black construction paper. I thought some of them were pretty dang cool! Also, we went on a field trip to hear the Utah Symphony at Hillcrest High School. They had to dress up and it actually was pretty cool to listen to all of the songs they played. They even involved the kids by having them stand up and "march" to some of the music.

This week, This is the Place State Park is coming to teach the 4th graders at our school some square dancing and other pioneer things so that they can perform it in front of the school in December. It should be interesting...I will let you know how it goes! Anyway, here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Birthday Fun!

Another week down in the life of Miss Lloyd! My students are still pretty wild...I am hoping that as time goes on that they will settle down, but as it is right now, I feel like I can barely get through 2 sentences when I am teaching before they are talking again! BLA! Luckily, I am not the only one that has a class like this though. All of the teachers in 4th grade are having the same problem. I think something happened the year these kids were born to make it so they don't know how to be quiet! I am managing though...

On Thursday, it was my birthday...the BIG 24! I can't believe I am that old! Never pictured myself at this age, but I think it is good...although sometimes I wish I were a 4th grader again...life seemed to be so much simpler back then! On Wednesday, Scott and Kim and the kids and my Grandpa and Grandma Lloyd came for dinner and cake. It was a blast! G & G gave me money, Scott and Kim gave me a microwave, and my mom and dad gave me a small fridge and a quilt pattern with some way cute fabric to make it out of. The fridge and microwave are for my classroom at school. It is so I can put drinks and lunch in there and cook my lunch too! I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but hopefully soon! My friend, Sally, came on Thursday to my class and brought doughnuts. My class was so excited and wild! I also let them play a game...good old Heads-Up, 7 Up. They loved that too! Later that night, my dad took me to Cafe Rio and then I went with my friends, Sally and Candyce bowling and to ice cream. It was a GREAT day! Needless to say, I am exhausted this weekend!

Here are a few pics of my birthday celebration!

The kids LOVED playing in the boxes the fridge and microwave were in!

My fridge! :)CHEESECAKE! Brayden and Kenzie helped me blow out the candles...ya, I don't think I got to blow any of them out...so no wishes for me but I enjoyed the cheesecake! ;)