6th Grade

The Sixth Graders!

Justin, Principal/Superintendant Mannlein, and Frankie

Me, Mr. Mannlein (the best Principal ever) and Mrs. Scomona (my master teacher)

This is my fourth week in 6th grade (I think). I'm so happy to be over the initial week or two. The beginning feels so overwhelming to learn the faces and names of the students and staff....and try to seem like you know what you're doing! It was quite overwhelming, and it was a harder adjustment to do in front of 11/12 year olds. But now that I'm past that point, I'm really enjoying myself.

I leave the house anywhere from 7:30-7:45. Sometimes I'll drop Jordyn and Lexi off at their schools, other times I go straight to my school, depending on the day. My school starts at 8:25 and I love their morning routine. It's a small public charter school, and there is only one class per grade (K-8) so there are around 200 students there. When the bell rings, all students line up outside in a group and we have announcements, birthdays and flag salute all together. It's really a fun, close-knit, youth camp sort of feeling.

Sixth grade has been an obviously huge jump from first grade. At the end of the day in first grade, I was completely exhausted. It is SO constant and takes such non-stop energy to keep them on task and be enthusiastic, that I often felt drained. But the kids were so openly willing to love and the content was not difficult to teach. With 6th grade, I don't end the day as exhausted. But preparing and grading is more difficult because the content is more difficult. So far, I've taught a unit on Earthquakes, teaching a reader's theatre on Ancient China and taught LOTS of algebra. Those are NOT things you can just wing it and pull off a successful lesson......well, maybe if you've been teaching it you can, but when you're me and you haven't learned those things in YEARS, you have to study! So preparing for lessons takes much more time and then grading them is much more tedious. And the kids are very, very pre-teen.....which has to be treated delicately to maintain their trust and cooperation. Tricky.

There are two boys in particular who I've been able to help a lot. The principal had been staying after school with them (which is extremely unusual.....this is a small, old-fashioned GREAT school). But now, since my master teacher (who's name is Stormie....cool name) coaches softball, I stay in the classroom and plan/grade while they catch up on their MANY missing assignments. One of them struggles with motivation, the other struggles more academically. But, in the past few weeks, I've really enjoyed helping them make some strides and can see their confidence grow a bit. Justin, the one who struggles with motivation, is a very handsome young man, but is on the verge of giving up completely. He has little support at home, and has decided to settle for straight F's. When I first started helping him and showing him how he was pulling his grades up, he then started saying "my goal is to get at least D's this year". I kept telling him, "Justin, you can get C's! Tell yourself you will NOT settle for less than C's!". So, today I was happy when I overheard him telling someone he was striving for at least C's.

This week has been interesting....my master teacher's dad had surgery on a tumor in his neck, so she went down to SoCal to be with her family. The staff and I decided I was competent to take over her class while she was gone for three days. Tonight she texted me and said due to complications, she might be gone all week. So it's a great experience to plan the lessons, do the entire days, and grade everything without any help! Today was day two and it's gone fairly well so far.

I've been really tired, but somehow I keep going. I get home around 5 usually, and then it's full speed ahead into family time. Dinner, homework, projects, playing, baths, piano, dance, attempt to pick up the house, laundry (although my piles are Mt. Everest size). By the time I sit down at 8:00 ish, I usually have to prepare for the next day or do homework, and my eyeballs are falling out of my head. So I've had long days, but we're being blessed and sustained through it. Somehow, things are working. Well, 'somehow' isn't totally accurate. Really, I know why it works.........it's partially because Tucker is a great dad and keeps up with the girls very well, my mom has been a weekly help with Peyton and often the other girls, and Lindy has Pey every Tuesday and often has the other girls here & there. It's a definite team effort!

I can't hold my eyes open anymore, so ta ta for now.