The Realist in Me

It has been quite a while since I created a post on here - 2 years to be exact (shame... shame... - for all my Game of Thrones friends out there!).  However, I initially started this blog as a resource for my 2nd grade parents, and a potential gateway to being like the other "BIG time" teacher bloggers out there [shout out to my faves: Amy Lemons & Cara Carroll!!].  Nonetheless, this blog ended up like most things in my life... a joke.  Of course, I can give you a plethora of excuses as to why that is... some of which are true and some not (which would be just to make me sound better), but I won't because let's face it, WHO CARES?!?!  Not you, that's for sure.

With all that being said, I am here today to announce that I am recreating this blog (that you give two farts about) into one that doesn't necessarily post cutesy crap in/for my classroom that I spent way too much time planning for and getting excited about just to never actually implement...  Instead, it will be about whatever floats my ever-wandering, teacher boat.  This could include something awesome (dealing with education, of course) that I'm super freakin' proud of and my mama would actually share with her colleagues, OR it could be a story about how I almost lost my job because I forgot to take my Zoloft and kids these days don't know what it means to fear an adult.  Either way, I promise that your time spent reading my posts won't be a waste ;-)

On that note, I will end with a picture of me from my most recent vacation in Cabo, making fun of all the Californians that just LOVE to show off their assets ;D

Enjoy!

-Megan

The End Is Here :(

I literally CANNOT believe that this is the last week of school!!  It is bittersweet in so many ways... I am going to miss these sweet babies SO much, and the thought of not being their teacher anymore seriously brings tears to my eyes.  The only sweet part about it for me is that I get rejuvenate.  You see, the thing about teachers (and if you are one then you already know) is that we MUST have a break in order to continue thriving as educators.  Next year will be my third year as a classroom teacher (fourth year teaching total) and I am so thankful for all I have learned from this year with your children - I feel comfort in knowing that I will be a better teacher next year (and years to come!) because of them :)  And lastly, I want to thank you - for being such wonderful parents to your children and supporters of me as their teacher.  I consider myself extremely lucky to have not only had your child as my student, but YOU as a partner :)

Enough with the sappiness!!  Here is our final (I know I said enough!) newsletter for the year :(  But on a happier note, here are some pics of the memory tents they created :)

We will continue with our camping theme until Tuesday.  And on Tuesday, we will be creating solar ovens to make s'mores in!  I don't know who is more excited about this - me or the kiddos!! :)

Enjoy your week!!

-Ms. Cothran

Better Late Than Never!

Sorry for the late post - a very close friend's dad passed away and I found out Sunday evening that the funeral would be yesterday, which caused me to be absent yesterday and just off in general.  But, here is this week's newsletter!

Last week was a very exciting (and exhausting!) week!  We had Field Day, the Boosterthon Fun Run, AND Statham Stampede - but I know for a fact the kids really enjoyed it :)  Here are a few pictures from our crazy, fun week:

Enjoying some water games on this hot Field Day in their bright orange :)

Mr. Hammarlund getting pied in the face (I couldn't resist posting!)

Another hot, hot day at the Boosterthon Fun Run - sorry for the disoriented photo (camera phone problems!)

I hope you all have a great week!!

Busy, Busy Bees

I will start with providing you with this week's newsletter.  We have a very busy, but exciting week ahead of us!  Monday (tomorrow) is our field day - as mentioned in the ClassDojo message, students will need to dress appropriately for this - gym/play shorts, tennis shoes, etc.  Please DO NOT send your child in jeans and/or flip flops - we will be outside in the heat all day and running around so they would be miserable :(  Students will be allowed to change into their field day shirts when they arrive and then return them to me at the end of the day so I can take them home to wash and bring back for the fun run on Thursday.  This is to ensure all students have their shirts for both events and then they will be able to take them home :)  For field day, I will provide sunscreen and a snack, but if you could send a towel and a water bottle with your child, that would be great!  Also a change of clothes wouldn't be a bad idea either ;)

Tuesday and Wednesday should run as normal.  Thursday will be the Boosterthon Fun Run.  2nd and 3rd grade will run from 1:15-2:45.  Friday will be the Statham Stampede which will begin at 9:15 - students MUST have a permission slip in order to participate.

On another note, last week students took their math and music SLO assessments as well as their end of the year DIBELS assessment and I am very proud of their hard work and their improvements because of it! :)

I feel like I am forgetting something so I may post again tomorrow... bear with me!!

Spring Break & Newsletter

First, I will start by posting this week's newsletter.  Sorry it is late - I blame it on Spring Break ;-)

Next, I want to tell you a bit about my Spring Break - I'm sure you are thinking, "Really, Cothran?!?  Like we want to hear about your week off???" but if it makes you feel any better, I didn't go to the beach or on any fancy excursions (remember, I have a teacher's salary!) - in fact, nor did I in high school or college!  It's sad how things still don't change when you have a 'real' job :( BUT, I am grateful for the break and the time spent with family, friends, and of course, catching up on household chores!

Although I missed nothing about my 5:30 alarm, I DID miss my 20, sweet, happy, energetic, caring, loud, thoughtful, smart, messy, beautiful, (and so on!) babies!!  This time off was a true reminder of not only how lucky I am to have the coolest job around, but also of how lucky I am to get this time off with family and friends.  Though I have not (yet) started a family of my own, I can only imagine how awesome it will be to be able to spend such time with them J  Meanwhile, I was fortunate enough to spend time with my precious niece and NEW nephew!!  As you may have heard, I was out the Thursday before SB - this was due to the fact my sister had to be medically induced.  She was scheduled for induction during our Spring Break (1 week before her actual due date), but due to some complications and the fact big boy was simply ready to come out, he was born Thursday morning (April 9th) weighing 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 1/2 in. long (and 2 weeks early!)!  I am happy to say that both mama and baby are home and doing great!  With that being said, I want to show off how I spent the latter part of my SB :-)

How could you not want to eat them up?!?

Pure. Sweetness.

I won't share any pictures of my 'spring cleaning' but I will share this one of my sweet friend and dear colleague Mandi Jones and I at Uptown Art over the break.  I absolutely LOVE doing these paint classes, and highly recommend the idea for a night out.  They are becoming pretty popular so you don't have to drive far for the fun :-)

Hope you all have a marvelous week!!

Hip, Hip, Arrays!

For the past couple of weeks, we have been working on introducing the base of multiplication through repeated addition and arrays.  The students have really enjoyed arrays and truly seem to grasp the concept - especially when food & chalk are involved ;)  We went outside last week when it was so nice and created arrays using sidewalk chalk.  The week before we used Fruit Loops to create arrays.  I forgot to snap some pictures of the Fruit Loop activity, but I did get some of them outside, so here you go!

Click here for this week's newsletter! And remember (not that you could forget!), only 5 more days till Spring Break!!!

Newsletter

Here you are, my friends! CLiCK ME!