The importance of sleep and other stuff...

This post is about stuff, stuff and things.  If you ask any of my students those are my favorite words when all else fails me.  Which happens often. I most likely owe this to my lack of sleep since I have a rather staggering vocabulary from years of reading and university.

I have been working on report cards for a few days now.  It has been insanity trying to fit in correcting, report cards, three kids in volleyball, coaching, parenting, me time, devotion time - TIME!  Yet, in that chaos there is a stillness that can only come from God.  I should be at wit's end, but I am not.  I should be very tired, but I am not. I should be overwhelmed, but I am not.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7

It is amazing what God can carry you through and you don't even realize the chaos that has been going on around you because he has so well protected you.  It like coming out of a storm shelter after a tornado.  You know it's passing, you know it's going to be crazy, you can hear the wind and feel the pressure but it is only when you climb out from that shelter that you truly realize what you have lived through.  

I do not know how people who do not have faith cope.  I know I am not strong enough, good enough, or wise enough to be who I was created to be.  It was Him that me made more than enough.  

I challenge you to think about the hardest times in your life and consider how you felt - tossed and thrown or a stillness that to the natural mind is unnatural?  If you were tossed and thrown maybe it's time to pray for some protection from life's storms from the only source of strength that delivers on His promises.

Mural!

Working on our ecosystem mural!  

Teamwork? Yes please!

 Here is my class doing a group work exercise.... The Lego challenge from my Growing strong leaders pack ( but with a few alterations to really challenge them!)  God made us relational!  We need to live and work well with others! 

Last week was Springs (my church) Conference and it AMAZING! Leon Fontaine, Steve Kelly, Dave Martin and Sam Chand ROCKED!  Three nights and two days of some of the most spirit filled and view changing teaching you can get!  I am so thankful to my school and church for the amazing opportunity!

Here is snapshot of our learning:

This week we are back the swing of things and wrapping up our first term in school.  I am trying to stay on top of marking so I can get their reports done early again.  This was helped by one of my amazing students who brought me Tim's this morning.  Naturally he got bonus marks ;).



To celebrate the first "frost on my windshield day" I am offering  12 hour freebie in my store! It is one of my bestselling Friday Fun Series lessons - Playing with Polymers.  It was one of our all time favorite lessons to do.  I used it in Grade 1 but I have heard from other teachers who have used it in Grade 3 to 5 and even Grade 7.  I will be using it with my Grade 7s this springs when we get to the Mixtures and Solutions Unit.  You can download it for free in the next 12 hours here: Playing with Polymers FREEBIE!

Enjoy!

Having a plan!

Our class has been super busy, we are doing so many amazing things! In science we are working to wrap up ecosystems in the next few weeks.  As our "big project" we are working on a class mural and the kids are excited! This is a 16 foot long poster each class is completing that depicts Mount St. Helens before, during, and after its eruption.  We are chronicling the stages of succession, population formation, and interactions in the ecosystems as time goes on.  This is also a great way to underscore the idea of succession being a patterned return to life - Mount St. Helens will look very similar in the future to the way it did in the past. Here is the rubric for our mural so you can see what is going on - RUBRIC

In bible we have been learning about creating good habits and about taking small simple steps to create a future that pleases us and pleases God.  We learned that we need to be proactive and begin with the end in mind. We have developed well thought out mission statements for our lives.  In this picture you can see a group of students working on a puzzle together.  As an example of real life truth I gave two groups each one puzzle to finish and only one group got a copy of the final product to start with.  It was a simple but powerful demonstration of how having then end in mind can make you work more effectively and more purposefully.  I have really enjoyed this bible unit - you can see it here.  I am using three amazing books for teens - Success for Teens, Do Hard Things, and 7 Habits to a Highly Effective Teen.  They share some similar themes and ideas and work great together.  The unit is a work in progress, there is everything you need to teach it {questions, graphic organizers, role plays, exit slips, quizzes etc} but I am constantly updating the teaching guide and answer key as I go to make the final product better. 

BTW - my TPT store is having a 20% off sale this coming weekend - to celebrate the arrival of snow to Manitoba.  It may be a few flakes - but where there is there will be many!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I really feel like time just flies!  I am usually pretty good about updating my blog every few days – 3 or 4 at the most.  Now I am finding that I am popping on with great intentions, but then it’s time to fly off somewhere else and move onto the next activity.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being a busy Mom…but sometimes things fall through the cracks.  Like my personal blogging!

I have been enjoying the long weekend and Thanksgiving.  Today I took the day off of everything and spent it with the kids.  All too often they get put to the side while I focus on teaching, grading or coaching.  Am I too hard on myself?  Probably, but I only get one chance to raise these kiddos and I want to enjoy every minute of it! We went to church {wouldn’t miss it for the world}, went to get some special things for dinner {the oven decided not to work so my turkey is still in the fridge} and settled on ricotta stuffed cannelloni, spicy crispy wings, Caesar salad, stuffing, baked mini potatoes, brussel sprouts in butter, and pumpkin pie and ice cream {non-conventional but yummy!}, played volley ball, had a leaf fight, played charades, watched Courageous {laughed so hard at the Snake King scene}, and made thankful for you cards that we all read at supper. It was a GREAT day.  I am so lucky God blessed me with five wonderful kids and a great husband.  God is so good!

I also recently tweaked an old product that is one of my best sellers.  Fixed a few minor issues.  If you have read my blog since I started teaching you know this was HANDS DOWN my favorite grade one project.  They loved these Spider Lapbooks so much and took such pride in their learning because they all knew that it was “big kid” knowledge.  Not only do you get instructions, suggestions and printables, but you also get a list of resources {books, articles, videos, etc} to accompany and support your learning.  If you choose to use the lapbook on its own it can be a standalone project.  We did along with Charlotte’s Web and other spider and animal related learning.  It was a blast.   It went great with my freebie Spider Research Project.  I used TinyGrads Addition Worksheets with a farm theme too.

Anyways, off to get my kiddos to bed.  It is getting late and I have a TON of marking to do yet!

-Mrs. Hildebrand

It's been crazy!

I swear that sometimes I am not sure if I am coming or going.  My week looks like this:

Monday: Meetings in the morning. Volleyball Practice after school. Pick up Chey from her practice. Home by 8:30. Help Abby/Asher with homework and get kids ready for tomorrow. Read and pray with them.

Tuesday: Girls need to be early for band/choir/student council. Volleyball practice after school. Pick up Chey. Home by 8:30. Help Abby/Asher with homework and get kids ready for tomorrow. Read and pray with them.

Wednesday: Devotions in the morning. Freedoms volleyball practice to 5. Volunteer at church in the evening. Home by 9.

Thursday: Girls need to be early for band/choir/student council. Freedoms practice to 5, then my team has volleyball practice after school. Pick up Chey. Home by 8:30. Help Abby/Asher with homework and get kids ready for tomorrow. Read and pray with them.

Friday: At least one of my kids or my grade 8 girls team has a tournament. Freedom has dance right after school.Girls have NURV at church.

Saturday: At least one of my kids or my grade 8 girls team has a tournament.  This is get homework done in the evening day too. All shopping for classroom/groceries/projects needs to get done.

Sunday: Someone will volunteer at church - it depends on which weekend it is. 

Somewhere in there we must get housework done, prepping, marking, spend time with Mr. Spouse and the little ones who miss me a lot. But, don't get me wrong - I love being busy.  I think one of the best things you can do for your kids is keep them busy as well.  My kids are in choir, vocal jazz, volunteer at least once a week somewhere, are on student council, play sports, Chey is even doing a distance ed chemistry. Are they busy - yes.  Do they complain - sometimes.  Do they enjoy being busy - yes.  Is it good for their self esteem, intrinsic motivation, and keeping them in the mindset that they are here to be servant leaders - absolutely!

I just wanted to mention that I have added some more pages to my Place Values, Arrays, and Long Multiplication Unit.  Some of my students needed some extra guidance so I made the pages and added them to the pack. I also added a few extra pages of questions so you can do a few more walkthroughs with the class. You can check it out in my TPT store here Place Value, Arrays, and Long Multiplication.