For the LOVE of books!

      I became a teacher in the year 2000.  Every fall when a new school year begins, I reflect on my years as an educator.  That first year of teaching seems like a looooong time ago now.  That first class just graduated from high school and some of those kids are heading off to college this week.  The first class I taught in Becker was a third grade class in 2003.  That was a very special year.  I was so very nervous to begin teaching in the public schools.  But, my students were wonderful
and my fellow teachers and support staff were so SUPPORTIVE.  I'm  

so glad I had that year of teaching third grade before moving to second grade at the Primary School.  I have been teaching second grade ever since.  That one year of third grade helped give me a perspective to help me better understand what my students are headed for when they graduate from my class. 
      One thing I love about teaching is helping my students love reading!  I, myself love reading.  I've read about 8 novels this summer in addition to some fascinating nonfiction.  I want my students to love books.  So, sometimes I go a little out of my way to help the books come to life.  Take for example, the picture of me as Pippi Longstocking.  Now, that was a fun hair day!!!!  My girl students and I all dressed like Pippi one day and the boys dressed as Hawaiian boys from the book.  We did   
activities all day long that Pippi and her friends did in the books.  I imagine my

Mountain Lake kiddos will never forget Pippi Longstocking Day.
      Then there was the day I brought in my collection of giraffes for my students to look at as we studied our unit on giraffes and enjoyed my favorite picture book, "Giraffe's Can't Dance!"  I now keep my collection at school all the time and I'm enjoying adding to it as the years go by.  Did you know a giraffe's tongue is 18 inches long?  Did you know when a giraffe has a baby it is standing up, so the baby drops 7 feet onto the ground?  Giraffes take drinks from the river in groups so that one giraffe can watch out for lions while the other giraffes spread their legs and bend down in a very vulnerable position to take their drinks.  They work together well.  A giraffe's only way to protect himself is by flight - running FAST!
     Then there was "Tacky Day" where all the teachers dressed up in the tackiest

clothes we could come up with!  My friend Caroline and I posed for a picture on that day.  Tacky Day is in honor of the Tacky books by Helen Lester.  Tacky is a hilarious penguin who is definitely the odd man out.  He does his own thing and annoys his comrades.  But, it makes for some humorous stories!
    The next picture you see is one of me dressed in black, with a gray wig and some crazy eyebrows!  That picture represents quite the story....  One day I was supposed to attend a spelling convention in Minneapolis, but it was cancelled due to the weather.  I had already prepped my kids about how they should behave with the substitute teacher.  I had everything all laid out and ready for the sub.  I was disappointed to have to teach because I had worked so hard to give the sub. a good day.  So, I decided to make the best of it and play a little trick on my kiddos. 

We had recently read the book "Miss Nelson is Missing" and in that story, Miss Viola Swamp comes to be the substitute teacher in Miss Nelson's class.  She is a very difficult sub. and she makes the students work extremely hard and she is extremely strict.  After about a week of time with Ms. Swamp, Miss Nelson comes back and the students are crazy happy to have her back.  They promise to always be on their best behavior and to work hard.  Well, I came to school that morning all dressed as Viola.  I made a huge list on the board of impossible tasks for the students to do.  The hardest part was not smiling!  Thankfully I only had to keep up the act for about 30 minutes because then I could take the kids to Music and change into my own regular clothes.  Part of what was so fun about that day, was that many of the students were not quite sure if it was me under that costume!

   My most recent endeavor with playing "dress up" as a teacher was just yesterday afternoon when I got to dress up as the Poetry Princess (complete with tiara and cape) and tell favorite poems to the video camera to be used on our Friday news time at school.  I am hoping those segments will help students love poetry more and more.  Sorry I don't have a picture of Poetry Princess!  I do have one final photo of me holding a bouquet of dandelions from one of my classes.  That smile is authentic and not just "dress - up" because I love teaching and I love the kiddos that God gives me each year to have in my class!