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Friday, May 12, 2017

Friday 5! (Teacher Appreciation Week!)



Hey all! I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5 2.0!

Today I'm going to share five, no SIX of my elementary school teachers and my memories of their classrooms. It is teacher appreciation week, after all!

1. Kindergarten- Mrs. Batzel. I enjoyed kindergarten because it seemed like we got to play all the time! Now, did we really get to play all the time, or was my teacher just good at making learning fun? Play, after all, is the best way for young students to learn!


Even though I have a summer birthday, we celebrated it during the school year. (That still happens these days.) I think my mom brought in cupcakes. I got to lead my class in a circle around the tables and beat the birthday drum! Such a small thing but I was SO HAPPY I got to do that. 

I have to remember this kind of stuff when I teach my own kindergarten students... They really do get happy about the simplest things! And it may be something they remember for the rest of their lives!

2. 1st Grade- Mrs. Rudy. Mrs. Rudy read us Charlotte's Web and I just loved that book! She also took us outside a lot to do a project with the trees outside our room. I remember thinking it was cool we got to go outside. 

I also have vivid memories of being allowed to bring our snow suit and boots to school so we could play in the snow at recess. Can you imagine if we did that now!? I just can't wrap my head around it!


3. 2nd Grade- Mrs. Bullock. I didn't connect very well with Mrs. Bullock. She was a lot older than my other teachers- or she at least seemed older. I will always remember the time I was in my reading group and I couldn't find my pencil. I had put it on top of my glasses and forgot I had it there!

Like this:



Imagine me in my reading group frantically asking people if they saw my pencil anywhere, and it was right on my glasses the whole time.

Another example of me being a dumb ass in second grade is when we were learning cursive and Mrs. Bullock taught us a capital T and a capital F. I could not tell the difference between the two.


I never said I was the sharpest crayon in the box...

4. 3rd Grade- Mrs. Miller. I loved Mrs. Miller! She read us Happy Hollister and Trixie Belden books. Maybe that's where my love of mysteries began? If so, I definitely have Mrs. Miller to thank for that! (Although no one got murdered in those books!)



Weird Fact: I remember exactly what Mrs. Miller wore on my first day of third grade! Yellow slip on shoes, a long cotton white skirt, and a blue and white striped short sleeve shirt with a boat on it. I can picture it plain as day.

Fun Fact: Before I got my job at East Pennsboro, I did a lot of substitute teaching and I was a sub for Mrs. Miller!

5. 4th Grade- Mrs. Steffen. Mrs. Steffen was the teacher EVERYONE wanted to have because she was so much fun! We got to practice our spelling words with a Nerf basketball and a hoop she had attached to her closet door. We also had a poem folder. Every morning she would give us a new poem to put in our folder. We would read the new poem together as a class and if we had time we would get to pick old poems to read out loud. Our two favorites were When Tillie Ate The Chili and Boing Boing Squeak.

When Tillie Ate The Chili

by Jack Prelutsky


When Tillie ate the chili,

She erupted from her seat,

She gulped a quart of water,

And fled screaming down the street,
She coughed, she wheezed, she sputtered,
She ran totally amok,
She set a new world record
As she raced around the block.


Tillie's mouth was full of fire,

Tillie's eyes were red with tears,

She was smoking from her nostrils,

She was steaming from her ears,
She cooled off an hour later,
Showing perfect self-control
As she said, "What tasty chili,
I should like another bowl."


Boing! Boing! Squeak!


by Jack Prelutsky

Boing! Boing! Squeak! Boing! Boing! Squeak!

A bouncing mouse is in my house,

It’s been there for a week.

It bounced from out of nowhere,
Then quickly settled in.
I’m grateful that it came alone,
I’ve heard it has a twin.
It bounces in the kitchen,
It bounces in the den,
It bounces through the living room —
Look! There it goes again.

Boing! Boing! Squeak! Boing! Boing! Squeak!

A bouncing mouse is in my house,

It’s been there for a week.

It bounces on the sofa,
On the table and the bed,
Up the stairs and on the chairs
And even on my head.
That mouse continues bouncing,
Every minute of the day,
It bounces, bounces, bounces,
But it doesn’t bounce away.

Boing! Boing! Squeak! Boing! Boing! Squeak!

A bouncing mouse is in my house,

it’s been there for a week.

(I'm pretty sure we liked this poem because we could make our voices "squeak" on the word "squeak".)


6. 5th Grade- Miss Miller. Mrs. Miller banned me from using the glue. Apparently I used too much for my art project. I remember feeling indignant about this punishment because I did not try  to use too much glue. I wonder how I got through the remainder of 5th grade without using glue?
HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you remember all of your elementary school teachers?
Tell me a funny memory from elementary school.


HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!!!!!

19 comments:

  1. I remember all my teachers and I remember loving every one. My favorites were Mrs. Stokes (4th grade) and Miss Lindsey (5th grade). Honestly, Mrs. Stokes is what made me (and still sometimes makes me) want to be a 4th grade teacher. It's funny you remember things like what they wore. I remember things like that, too! Again, it's just another thing that makes us both "different" (I was going to say weird but it's only weird if I think I am the only one...once I know you do it too, then it's OK). Hey look...the weekend is basically here! One more day--you can do it.

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    1. Hey, there's still time to be a 4th grade teacher! I bet you would be a great teacher. Yes it is weird the stuff we remember because it's not like we TRY to remember it, we just do! YES IT IS FRIDAY OMG this weekend is going to be glorious. :)

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  2. Am I reading this right that you don't have kids bring snowpants and boots to play in the snow?

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    1. You are correct. Does your school allow them to bring snow stuff?

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  3. Oh yes!!! You can imagine the extra time it takes the Kinders. We have a large field in addition to the blacktopped portion and rubber chip areas. Those without boots and snowpants are to stay on the blacktop which is plowed (resulting in ginormous snow piles!!!). I guess nearly all kids bring snowpants and boots.

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    1. Wow, that must fun for them! Kudos to you for having that patience. I wonder how long your recess is? It seems like it would take more time to put on/take off stuff than the actual time you are outside?

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  4. Aww these are great! Now you have me wondering what kind of impression i'm leaving on my students?

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    1. I wonder too! I don't hear back from too many, but a couple months ago a got a really sweet note from a girl who is now in 8th grade.

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  5. Ha ha holy shit you got banned for an entire year from using glue?!?!?! I used to squeeze glue onto my hands, let it dry and then roll it up into a ball. I think it was that special clear glue stuff. I loved the smell. Teachers are incredibly special people. YOU sound like the best of the best and I have no doubt your students will list you as one of their favourites on their blogs one day!

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    1. YES! I must have really sucked at gluing things. I feel like that was a rash decision on her part, but who knows, maybe I really made a mess of the glue!? Thanks for those nice words, Suzy! I do hope kids have happy memories of me.

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  6. I had some amazing teachers in school. What's sad is that most all have retired (Even my college professors have now retired) and several have passed away and I get really sad to hear of this. My parents will tell me when it happens and it just hurts my heart. My friend's dad was a professor at our college and he recently passed away. He taught Biology and taught so many doctors, nurses, scientists, and people in every profession because everyone had to take at least one Bio. It's amazing to think of the impact his dad had on 30 years worth of students. Being a teacher really is an amazing profession.

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    1. It is really sad to hear of teachers who have passed away. My college choir director died and I just remember being SHOCKED. I think teaching is one of the most important things anyone can do. And not just the profession, because we ALL teach each other thing, you know what I mean?

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  7. I remember taking all the snow gear for recess... oh recess. We got a little extra time to put on the snow pants and then take off all the gear afterwards.

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  8. This is so funny. I remember all of my teachers, too. And I had Mrs. Miller in 2nd grade! Must be a lot of Millers in the world... :)

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    1. There's gotta be, because I had 3 over the course of my schooling!

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  9. I intentionally block out the name for my first grade teacher, she was mean to me. She once told me that if I could keep my mouth shut, I would be so much cuter. ... ok, maybe I do remember that part.

    It is very interesting that you remember what your teacher was wearing ! I wonder what about her outfit made an impression on you.

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  10. One of my favorite things about being a teacher was knowing there would undoubtedly be kids who will grow up and when they're 30, 40, 50, etc, will look back and say, "Man, I loved Mrs. Kearney!"

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