Thursday, February 5, 2015

Choose a Job You Love

Last Friday I had a really cool experience in my classroom. I was showing my students my library and how to treat my books. My library is organized into bins with different topics. Each book has a number on it telling what bin it belongs in. As I was going through the bins and sharing all the topics, I came across the book, "Carl and His Box", a book I wrote in college for an assignment. I thought I would read my students this story as they would think it was cool how I am the author and illustrator. As I read the title and who the author was their eyes widened.
"Ms. Dill, you wrote this book? And you wrote the pictures?" They were so cute. "Yes", I told them. They were so amazed and so excited to hear the story. They sat there crisscross applesauce with their hands in their laps. They were ready to hear the story.
As I opened the book showing them how to turn the pages and how to treat my books with care, I turn to the dedication page. I forgot I had wrote a dedication page. As I opened to the page it read, "To My Future Students". I looked up at my group of students, I was touched. This was my first future students! They didn't even realize how much this little moment meant to me. I had written this book over a year ago and forgotten about it.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. It's the little moments that matter the most. I have only been teaching for three weeks now and there are days I feel overwhelmed with it all. But us teachers teach for those small moments. These small moment are reminders of why we become teachers. Everyday we must find the good and find a little moment that matters. When we do this life won't be so hard, but easy and enjoyable. "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Well said Confucius, well said.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Pretty Dam Good Weekend

I'm trying to play catch up with my posts. When life is good so much is happening and I just don't have time to write.
So I'm going back about a week ago... The weekend of January 23, 2015 my dad came into town. It was a filled weekend that ended way too fast. My dad flew into Las vegas Friday night. Jan, Bryan and I went to the airport to pick him up. We decided to park and meet my dad as he was coming off the escalator. As we were waiting we noticed all the chauffeurs dressed in black all holding I-pads with the client's names...so much classier than a piece of paper. Jan and I laughed because it was like a scene from Nemo. They were all like the birds, saying "mine, mine, mine". There were like twenty of them going from escalator to escalator, waiting for their clients. It was so funny! So, of course, I thought it would be fun to make my own sign for my dad, I wouldn't want him to feel left out. As I made my small sign, Jan captured the moment with taking a few pictures. And I even made a friend with one of the chauffeurs. My dad laughed as he came off the escalator and even tried to pretend he was a client for one of the other chauffeurs. You definitely have to live in the moment with my dad. It's always a fun time.


After leaving the airport we went to Jan's for some games. But all we ended up doing was talking and ended up on the couch looking up ridiculously priced houses in the Las Vegas area. I don't know if we were all so tired, but we had a ton of laughs that night.
The next day was Saturday and my dad and I had a lot to do. First and most important was getting my car registered and my state license. We woke up early and got my car ready for the DMV. After checking in the DMV, and knowing we would have to wait hours before getting in, I got to take my dad to my classroom. As we came to my classroom, my dad looked around and then walked up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever and said how much he was proud of me. Man, that meant the world to me. For me all I want is to make my parents proud. I know I couldn't have done it without them. After putting my dad to work in the classroom, we left and my dad took me shopping at Lakeshore.
If you don't know what Lakeshore is, it's like a kid in a candy shop. Lakeshore is a place to buy resources for the classroom. I have to stay away from Lakeshore or my paycheck would disappear every month. Anyways, my dad spoiled me with things for my classroom. Like puzzles, flashcards, games, etc. Literally the best thing ever. I have already used everything I got. Kindergarten is so much hands on that games and puzzles are a must! My cart definitely was full. And I believe my dad even enjoyed himself :)


After filling the cart, it was time to go to the DMV. Sad news everyone... I am official a Nevada resident. BOOOOO! California will always be in my heart! Saturday was full and it wasn't hard to fall asleep that night.
The next morning we woke up to head of the Hoover Dam and that area. Wow, the Hoover Dam was pretty DAM great! The dam jokes were being spit out left and right. It was just too easy. Headed up the mountain, we first went to a longhorn sheep park and saw two sheep. Then we went to see the overlook of Lake Mead. Continuing up the mountain we finally got the bridge that overlooks the Hoover dam. It was huge! It's incredible how they could make something so grand in the 1930s. I was amazed.


After being amazed we went to a nearby trail where old railroad tracks ran through the mountain. It was about an hour hike walking through huge tunnels in the mountains. We even tried to hold our breath through the tunnels. It is a lot harder when you are walking instead of driving through a tunnel.
Another full day was over and it was time to say my goodbyes to my dad. Looking back we can say it was a pretty dam good weekend! Can't wait for his next visit!



Sunday, February 1, 2015

In Three Days

It's been two weeks now of having my own classroom and so I thought it was time to write about my experience putting it together and seeing my childhood dream come true. A week before I started, I got a phone call saying that my contract was ready and that I could come in to start getting my room ready. On January 13, 2015, I got to go in to see my room for the first time, Room 79. As I walked in, my stomach dropped and my eyes widened because I was going to have a lot of work ahead of me. My room was a disaster. They had ordered new furniture for my classroom as well as another Kindergarten teacher and it all was sitting in my room in boxes. I left that day afraid of how I would complete this task. I went to four years of college and graduated, but I was never prepared for this; setting up a classroom. How the heck would I get this all done? And I was alone.
Putting a classroom together is almost like moving into a new house. You spend about half of your time in the classroom. It is your second home. I had no clue how I would do this alone. The night before I went into see the classroom, I prayed that the Lord would some how send me someone to help me. Well, of course my prayers were answered. That day I went in to see my room, I met the person sent from the Lord. Her name is Tori and she is the other Kindergarten teacher that got hired at the school. Right away she asked if I had help. I said not really and without hesitation she was willing to help. In three days we unpacked the boxes, assembled the furniture, and put my decorations up to make it look like a real classroom.


This was the view when I first walked in. What did I get myself into?

After Day one we had boxes unpacked and a few decorations set up. It started to look more like a classroom.

Day two was mostly moving all the furniture around to make use of the space. It was like a puzzle to get all the furniture to fit. After moving the tables, chairs, bookshelves, and cabinets we started the center piece of the room... the tree! 

Day three came quickly, but all we had to do was finish the final touches. We completed the tree, put books out, and sharpened the pencils for class on Tuesday. It's incredible how fast we put my classroom together. And it turned out better than I imagined. 

Carpet time: Where our daily news and learning happens.

My growing library.

Word Wall.

Outside bulletin board with a mini apple tree. 

As we all grow up we all have dreams and wishes. I can remember always wanting to became a teacher.  Putting this classroom together meant so much to me knowing that I had accomplished one of my biggest dreams. I know this was a lifetime of preparing but....

In three days, my fear became my confidence;
My childhood dream became my reality.
And I can now say I am a teacher.