A Stroll Down Memory Lane

I hit up the bend in the river last weekend to hang out with College Barbie before she made the trek back down to Cowboy Country for the fall.  She's officially a sophomore in college and turning twenty in a few short months....I'm so old.  We were congratulating mom on her success at cleaning out the junk extra bedroom and stumbled upon a box with some old yearbooks from the Lincoln Elementary days.  (Go Lions!)  Now of course to get to this box we had to crawl over dad's old, junky weight bench that he swears gets used three times a week.  Doubtful.  So the room was not a complete success, but so much closer!  In my mom's defense, she had that weight bench out of there and while she was out of town for a few days, Dad managed to bring it back in from the garage.  Hilarious.  In case you're wondering, of course The Kid and I tested it out, and yes, she could do multiple reps while I could not even raise it off its base.  #weakling.

Back to the good stuff-- the yearbooks.  I found the pictures too hilarious not to share with the world wide web....ok, the few of you that read this.  We're going old school with black and white pics as I snapped them with my phone straight out of the yearbook, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Feast your eyes on 2nd grade Gentry...

I think I have teeth, but quite possibly could not.  It was a given that the Sauder girls would wear dresses & matching bows in all school pictures.  Thanks mom.

4th grade Gentry- Still matching dress and hair bow.  Apparently sailor addition.  I distinctly remember trying to talk my mom out of the dress and bow this year, protesting that I was too old now and no one else would do that.  My mom clearly won.  And just as I suspected, no one else wore dresses and bows.  Needless to say, 5th grade I wore jeans and a top...with no bow.  However, due to my desire of keeping at least an ounce of my pride intact, I am choosing not to showcase the 5th grade pic.  Let's just say, the awkward phase had set in, and boy did it choose to stay awhile.

Here's the best part...

This was a sheet I'd filled out in the back of my 4th grade yearbook.  It's all kinds of questions about me- who's my teacher, friends, favorite TV show, etc...when asked what my favorite school subject is, I wrote math.  I literally laughed out loud at this because I now despise math.  If you've been around me at all you know I have major math anxiety and struggle to even help my 7th graders with their math homework.  Seriously, I suck.

But the best part of the sheet is at the bottom.  When I grow up I hope to become a.......teacher.  Livin' the dream people.  Living the dream.  :)  Happy Weekend!

What a Blur...

has me feeling like the last week and a half has simply been a blur!  We've had trainings, inservices, building and district meetings, work days, and "Meet the teacher Night".  Those squirly sweet seventh graders will be back on Thursday and I'm feeling ready.  Now if only I can cut the yawning and kick the caffeine headaches I get due to my withdrawal from Sonic Happy Hour every afternoon.....
Check out what I did with my school library!  Last year was the first time I had one and it sat in the back corner of the room lookin like this-

This year I moved my desk to the back corner and brought the library to the front and added another beanbag and a rug!

Hope to have it get more use this year.  This may be the last you hear of me for a bit with school and classes going on.  And can I just say, when the heck did August come?? Football practices and fall decorations at Hobby Lobby, crazy! 

Classroom Crafting

I think taking classes this summer has kept me in "school mode" much more than any other summer.  In the past I've been out of town the majority of the season (spent about 4 days in Wichita last summer) so hanging around here in school has found me checking out classroom stuff on pinterest, which honestly disappoints me more often than not.  Sorry pinterest lovers, maybe I just don't get it.  I find myself annoyed that they never really explain how they created whatever it is or I see a million of the same thing.  I guess I'm just not a true crafter.  However, with that said, I did find one thing on a teacher's blog that I created.  It's a hanging file folder craft that I'm going to use to keep track of absent work.

I'll start with the end product picture because it might make more sense then.

Supplies:

• File Folders (as many as you want- I have one for each class, 6)
• Scrapbook paper for each folder
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon
• Command hook
• Laminating Machine

1. Attach scrapbook paper to front of file folders.  I used scrapbook tape.

2. Laminate each folder individually and cut out.

3. Hot glue the sides of each folder, keeping the top of the folder open. 

4. Line up folders on top of each other leaving desired amount at top (I left about 4 inches between each) and mark where you'd like them. 

5. Hot glue folders on top of each other where you've marked them. 

6. Label folders however you'd like.  I taped hot pink mini post-its with the class hours on mine.

7. Hot glue ribbon to folder and hang on command hook (or whatever you'd like). 

This is going to be where I place absent work for students to get when they come back.  Hopefully I will have invested enough time into creating it that I'll actually use it.  

Random, but seems fitting to include these two items I bought at trainerswarehouse.com for my classroom.

I took an amazing classroom management class that will seriously revolutionize my teaching (yep, bold statement). The instructor had this super cute popcorn ball and a great chime to bring the class back together, so I got online and purchased my own.  No more lingering of conversations in room D-2.  Next time you hear from me I'm sure I'll be wiping the sleep from my eyes, reporting back to school kicking and screaming....

Summer Wrap-Up

Last week I took my final trip for the summer and enjoyed a week at Jana's to watch Cader while Jana and Matt worked basketball camp.  Check out Mr. Superman!

What?? You want more pics of the cutest kids on the planet....okay, if you insist.

A shout out to Reesie, who didn't get near enough face time on here last time.  So here's some more...

Cade and I played several rounds of hide-and-seek.  Underneath the kitchen table is his go to place.  I tried to encourage him to try out another spot, but he's a man of routine and wouldn't have it any other way.  We went out to the Legends one evening and ate dinner at this super cool T-Rex restaurant that I never even knew existed!  

They had the BEST guacamole bacon burger (complete with an onion ring on top) and yummy waffle fries that they totally should have talked up more.  They were the best 99 cent upgrade ever.  I ate the whole thing.  Shocker. 

Let's get back to this cool dude....

Check out this tech savvy guy....he can navigate his way through my IPhone quicker than I can.  He had my real camera and was sliding his finger across the screen trying to get the picture to change....genius. 

What's to come- well aside from reality in exactly one week....a classroom craft entry.  Get excited.