Let’s see … The rest of December was just getting ready for Christmas & taking a much needed break from school. I mostly babysat & hung out with my precious nephew Elijah. Follow his adventures here.
JANUARY
I started student teaching at Reaves Elementary. I was teaching in a first grade classroom. It was really fun. It was an interesting placement, because it was a co teaching placement. This meant that we had almost 40 first graders in one class. It was a great learning experience. As for the rest of January, I concentrated on school and babysitting. We also had Elijah’s baby dedication.
FEBRUARY
February was sad. Beth, Troy, and Elijah moved to Austin. Granted it is only 3ish hours away, but it still takes a bit more coordination to see them. They technically moved the last weekend of January. I wanted to get up there as soon as I could. So, the second weekend of February my sweet friend Dianna & I rode up to Austin together. Once we got to Austin Dianna and I split up. Her boyfriend lives there so she went to spend the weekend with him & I spent mine with the Parish family. SO FUN!!!
MARCH
The first week of March was insane. I completed my first student teaching placement & had to finish my Teacher Work Sample. A teacher work sample is an education major’s equivalent to a term paper. It’s a 40 page paper that SHSU scares you with for many semesters, but you don’t complete till your last semester. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, it was just time consuming.
After completing my TWS I started my second placement in a Fourth grade Math/Science class. This was a GREAT placement. I was so scared to teach fourth graders. Most of my experience in teaching kids had been with 2nd grade and younger. It ended up being terrific. I feel prepared to teach any grade level now.
APRIL
This month I concentrated on completing all my certification exams. Thankfully I passed ALL of them! Wahoo!!! I also went to visit the Parish family again this month. This time I went with my brother & sister in law. It was a fun & quick trip.
MAY
May was an eventful month. I completed student teaching and I graduated college. So exciting!!! This was such a fun time. My Nana & Pappap came in town just in time to celebrate Mother’s Day. My sister & Elijah came in town for the week as well. My Grandma J also came in town. It worked out so great! Since I completed all my school requirements on Monday I was able to spend the entire week with the family. I also babysat. In fact one night I was scheduled to babysit at the Miller’s house & I showed up & almost all of my consistent babysitting families were there. They threw me a surprise graduation party. It was an amazing night. I felt so loved. Not only was I completely surprised, but some of them had gotten babysitters to watch the kids just to hang out with me. (Not that I like the idea of other people watching their kiddos, ha-ha!)
You can read more about the night on Ashley’s blog. One of my favorite memories, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. For part of my gift they gave me this picture. All of the leaves/blossoms are the fingerprints of all their kiddos. One of my favorite gifts I’ve ever gotten. Not only is it beautiful, but it’s all of my babies.
I graduated the following weekend. My family all drove up to Huntsville to see me walk. Then, that night all of siblings and I went out to eat. It was fun for all of us to be together, just the kids. The next day we had a BBQ at my house to celebrate. That night my brother, Tom, had a party at his house to celebrate his birthday & my graduation. His birthday was actually the day of my graduation.
The rest of the month I spent babysitting and relaxing.
I’m looking forward to a summer full of hanging out, babysitting, reading, trips to Austin, celebrating Elijah’s first birthday, movies, and finding a job.
Here’s to blogging more!
