ABCs of The First Nine Weeks

Well, I've made it to October being principal of East Chester Elementary School. Who would've thought that I would ever be a principal? Certainly, not me!!! I love teaching, and thankfully I still get to teach four-year-olds at church. Now that nine weeks have passed by and we're on Fall Break, I've had a little time to reflect over what's happened so far. I hope that I will be able to be as happy being principal as I was being a teacher, but for now, I'm just happy that things seem to be going well. I want to have something to look back on to remember this first year, so I thought I'd do the ABCs of the First Nine Weeks.

A - Awesome Students, Faculty, Staff, and Parents
B - Buses
C - Cafeteria
D - Detective
E - Emergency Lights - Spring and I get to check those once a month
F - Fire Drills - I was so nervous before the first one, but it went great!
G - Grandparents Day - menus, visitors, schedules, etc...
H - Help! Everyone has been so wonderful to help out!
I - Illness - Flu especially
J - Jill hurt being a buzzard...
K - Kindergarten - I miss it!!!
L - LEAD conference
M - Meetings - IEP, faculty, PTO
N - Nashville - I've had to go to Nashville all by myself for Beginning Principals Academy.
O - October - Getting ready for Fall Festival
P - PTO
Q - Questions
R - Recess
S - Spring - What would I do without her?
T - Technology - Great when it works...
U - U-turn - I made several when I went to Nashvile
V - Valuable - Everyone should feel valued.
W - Wildlife Show
X - eXhausted
Y - Yummy treats
Z - Zoo - sometimes the office seems like a zoo

Daniel's 12th Birthday

Daniel's birthday was August 31. We celebrated with our family on the Saturday before. He decided that he wanted a soccer cake this year. We enjoyed grilled hamburger and hotdogs along with cake and ice cream. Nana, PawPaw, Aunt Stacy, Evelyn, Joseph, MawMaw, and PawPaw came for the birthday celebration. Daniel's really lucky to have such a loving family that loves him so much. Happy 12th Birthday, Daniel!! We love you!

Daniel's Playing Soccer

Daniel decided that he wanted to play soccer this year. Wayne and I weren't too sure if he would like it, but he has totally surprised us. Not only does he like it, he is really good at it. He's not too thrilled with his number - 13- he says it's not a good number.

Grannys All Around

I've always enjoyed teaching at East Chester, and I've had great friends the entire time I've been here. It's been so fun watching my friends become grandmothers. They all have different names - "Nana", "Nini", "Mimi", "Grank", and the list could go on and on. This is Allison and one of her grandbabies....Emma. Emma started kindergarten this year! Now we're all looking forward to seeing Leslie become a grandmother, too.

New Floor!!!

We're so excited that we were able to get hardwood flooring installed in the living room, down the hall, and in Daniel's room. We love it!!!

John's Home!!!!!

Wednesday was a great day! My brother-in-law John returned home from Iraq after six months. Daniel, Katy, and I went to Decatur, AL, to welcome him home. My parents were also there (oh, and Carolyn, too). We're so thankful that God kept him safe and now he's home!!! Thanks to everyone who prayed for him and our family...

Standards Training: Logic/Research

At the Standards Training, we also learned more about combining activities across curricular areas in order to maximize the students' learning time. This was a cute activity that taught vocabulary, logic, and research. In today's educational world, it also allows the children to make an art project.