That's When I Miss You, You Who Are My Home

This semester has been going wonderfully and I've been very happy lately. The weather has been beautiful, pretty much the perfect temperature and the leaves are starting to change color! It really puts me in a fabulous mood.
I have been crazy busy and doing a million things at a million miles an hour, but I am enjoying everything I am doing.

This weekend I went home for the first time since the semester started, and it was just the best weekend. I just felt really, truly, happy the whole weekend.

On Friday night I got to see a lot of people that I really missed and it was nice for that day to finalllly arrive after I had been anticipating it for about a month. We spent the night outside and I enjoy being outside as much as possible before it becomes ridiculously cold.
On Saturday morning I went to a cheerleading practice to help a friend who is the coach. I love going there and helping the team- it gives me my cheerleading fix that I don't get anymore.
Then I went with my parents to look at the pub-in-the-making. There is still a lot to be done before it opens but it was cool to see the construction in progress and see how much has been done in just 3 short weeks. This is also something that is making my parents very happy. We are all in the same place-extremely busy...but working towards something that is going to have amazing results when it's finished!
My mom and I tried to go apple picking but there was just wayyyyy too many people. I'm pretty sure every in New England had the same idea, so we just bought some apples from the orchard and enjoyed those.
Saturday night I spent with my mom and sister just catching up and enjoying each other's company- another perfect night.

On Sunday I spent the afternoon with more people that I hadn't seen in awhile and missed very much. We ate lunch and reminisced. Nothing better.

As much as I love being in Newport, I still have so many ties to home and people I love there.
"There's no place like home"

"As each person makes a new decision to stand up for what's most important to him or her, this trend gains strength."

I have recently started setting aside time each night (even if it's just 5 minutes) to read. The book I most recently finished and the book I am currently reading both deserve a post because I personally think they are so inspiring!

The book I finished about a week ago is called The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall. It was recommended to me by my cooperating teacher who found it inspirational and I definitely agree with her. It is so interesting and different from any other book I have ever written and it totally makes you think twice about how you are living your own life. I literally could not put it down. If you need some uplifting or want a feel good book, read this book!

The book I am currently reading is called Me to We by Craig and Marc Kielburger. The authors are same people who started the Free the Children organization, which my summer program raised money for this year. I was inspired this summer by this organization and can't stop thinking about how much I would love to continue to be involved with it and when I saw this book on the shelf I couldn't resist buying it.
The Me to We philosophy was started by these authors, who basically inspire people all over the world to stop thinking just about themselves and come together for the greater good of the community. The book talks about all their worldly encounters and experiences they've had, but my favorite part is the end of each chapter that gives examples of how you can live your own life by this philosophy.

This book has really inspired me to make a conscious effort to try to live by the 'We' philosophy. How can you start moving from Me to We?

This video is one of the authors of Me to We explaining their philosophy. So worth watching!

Approaching Autumn

Although in my mind Fall started approximately 4 weeks ago, tomorrow is the first official day of Fall! Being in an elementary school makes that seem so much more exciting. Hopefully we will start planning lessons around the leaves changing colors and apples, it seems so cliche but it would make me so incredibly happy!

In addition to the seasons changing....the weather we have been having as been amazingly perfect. I'm pretty sure I talk about it everyday, but I just can't get over it. I could live in Sunny and 70 degree weather every single day. I need to find the place that that exists! It certainly isn't New England. But I am grateful for the month of September, it has been fantastic in so many ways.

This past weekend was also fabulous. I went to bed early one night, spent a morning at the beach and helping the environment while i enjoyed the scenery, shopped on Thames (bought the cutest sweatshirt), played pool at a bar that night, and ended the weekend it with a delicious dinner at Panera with wonderful friends. It really doesn't get any better.
Anddddd this weekend is going to be equally as amazing! I am counting down the days!

I also can't complain about the days that occur between these wonderful weekends. Student Teaching is going so well. I have loved just about every minute I have spent in that second grade classroom. Even the challenging moments and the children that are more difficult to work with are all learning experiences. I have begun taking on a lot more responsibility in the classroom and I've been teaching Writing Workshop everyday. I had my first observed lesson last week which was scary and I was really nervous about! It went very smoothly though and I was so relieved! The kids have been amazing and their excitement about learning blows me away!
I did catch one little boy passing a note to a little girl on the rug today. This was becoming very distracting to all the children in that area so I made the little boy give me the note. I guess since they are just second graders I didn't need to act so strictly, but the best part is that once I got the note it just said "Hi 'girls name'. From 'boys name'. A love letter in the style of an 8 year old I can only imagine. Maybe there will be some romance blossoming in my classroom! Hah!

Despite all the hard work and long hours that comes with Student Teaching, everything is just wonderful. It is so nice to finally feel like everything I've worked so hard on in the past few years at Salve is all finally becoming worth it. It is nice to sit in a faculty meeting and actually understand the 'teacher jargon' that is being thrown around. I hope these wonderful feeling stick around and things continue to go smoothly.

Check back for updates on more Second Grade love notes! Fascinating stuff...I know!

Student Teaching!!

So, yesterday I finished up my first week of Student Teaching! It is just so crazy to me that I have been thinking about my student teaching since freshmen year and even when I was applying to Salve and they talk about it at all the open houses and things...and it is actually here!

This week was incredible! I have already learned so much in just one week! My cooperating teacher is phenominal. She is so energetic, fun, and loving with the kids and she is so kind to me. She really has made me feel so comfortable in her classroom and demands that the students respect me the same way they do her.

The school that I am at is beautiful! All the teachers that work there are so nice and friendly and the actual building is really nice! We have a door in our classroom that opens up to the outside...right to the playground! It's incredible! Andddd it is about a one minute drive to the beach and my new favorite place.. Ocean Mist!

The second graders in my class are the most adorable kids you will ever meet! They are so cute and funny. They are also really smart too! I am so impressed by their reading levels, drawing abilities, math skills, etc.! Just about everything they say makes me laugh but my favorite kid anecedote of the week was when we were telling the students the importance of being themselves and liking themselves for who they are and accepting others despite their differences, we asked them to all share something they were good at. Many of the answers were things like 'Im good at baseball' or 'I'm a good big sister' or 'I'm good at dancing'. But my favorite of all answers was from one of my favorite children in the entire world when he said 'I am good at being myself'! Ahh melts my heart! So precious!

I got to spend my week painting rainbows, coloring a puzzle piece, drawing a picture of myself, and getting to know 21 amazing second graders! What more could you ask for?? I have a feeling it is going to be a great 8 weeks! (I am, however, not so much looking forward to the whole Salve classes/seminar thing that is going to happen after next week....things could be getting much more stressful!)

On the last note, I can't believe that the Project has been over for almost a month! Jeez, I thought that time was flying by while I was there! I am so incredibly glad that many of those people have still been keeping in touch...hearing from them never fails to put a smile on my face.

Definitely more updates on the lives on second graders!! There is just so much to include!

My First Day of School Outfit!

All their little backpacks!! So cute!