Where Have I Been?

For all (insert sarcasm here) of you loyal blog followers, I am incredibly sorry.
Where have I been???
Oh my goodness. Well, I've been spending many, many hours of my days here...
Typically I'm inside the doors, not lounging on the steps...

Wonderful, perfect, oh so loving Mooreland Heights Elementary School.

"How can a building be loving?" you ask. Come visit me and you'll never question it again.

I adore every second of every day. 

Is it hard? Absolutely.

Do I go home and cry somedays? Umm... Yes.

Sometimes I think that I can't (ooooh, that's a BAD word at Camp Crawford) do this, but I am doing it anyway. 

And it is perfect.

Every single day I am thankful for this calling and the fulfillment of a plan greater and better than my own. I am blessed far beyond what I deserve.

Soooo... Other than completely obsessing over how blessed I am, some more specific details of what it's like day to day in the profession they call "teaching."

I went from 25 little blessings in my class to 18 when we were so fortunate to add a fourth second grade teacher. For those of you who really know me, you can vouch for the fact that this perhaps seemingly minor change was pretty much life-changing for me. (Not to be dramatic of course...) But really, although I truly miss the 7 that have moved upstairs, not tripping over kiddos every single time I turn around has put a pep back in my step (no pun intended ;) ) 

A projector fell out of my ceiling one day. Thanks to me, the entire school got their projectors reinstalled. You're welcome MHES faculty, next time you want something done in a dramatic fashion just call on the new girl! Fortunately the girl it landed on is a-okay, but she- and all the others in my class, including me- may or may not suffer from Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder and have a new, unusual phobia of falling projectors. (Side note: the projector at my church is HUGE. I've noticed. If that sucker came down... you better believe we'd have to do some major praying for the poor human under it. Note to self: sit on side isles forever and ever.)

See that projector on the floor? Yeah, exactly doesn't belong there...

The kiddos say funny things every single day. Although I LOVE having a classroom all to myself, sometimes I do miss Monica. She and I could make eye contact and giggle secretly to each other about what came out of their mouths. Now it's just me doing the best to remember it all and share it with people who may or may not actually think it is funny. I'm going with typically "may not," but at least they humor me :)

Here are a few of the funny things kids have said:

While eyeing an iPod touch sitting on an iHome that I have never used, D asked, "Hey Miss Crawford, how come we don't every use the mini iPad?!"

I've never heard a more accurate description in my life. 

A precious girl in my class has the sweetest and most high pitch voice I have ever heard. One day I asked her to tell me something, and she said, "Umm... My favorite flower is a... sunflower?!" 

From now on, when in doubt of what to say, I'm going to be sharing facts like that with people. Join me?

They write the funniest things and they say the funniest things. I never ever imagined I would be sitting in a room full of seven year olds laughing with them. At them, yes definitely, but with them, no. But I do. We laugh together every day. And I love it. It is so fun.

Learning about birds and ocean oil spills. Thank you, Dawn Dish Soap!

Meet my kiddos! Waiting for Open House.

Some owls, a bug, and a snake learning about how every part of a food web depends on another!

It is such an adventure. I adore these kids and this job. Hopefully I'll do better at documenting the first year of this crazy, lifelong journey!

Miss Crawford 

One More Thing...

I realize that this blog is rapidly changing over the years, and the last post probably had little meaning to anyone other than my teacher readers ;) But still, as always, I've just been documenting my life. Welcome to a new chapter!
Fact about me: I am a little bit of a mess. Just as a whole. I blame it on being "only" 23 and still figuring this whole "real life" thing out. Anyway, being a mess as well as a bit of a pack rat carries over into the technology world too. That being said, I have SO many emails that I have never deleted. It's bad. I need an intervention. Honestly. However, this email hording did reveal something interesting... This is what I found...

Note the date... February 28, 2012. This is from my pre-internship at MHES when I spent one day a week for six weeks in a third grade classroom. This was the email sent at the end of that time.
Foreshadowing? Of divine intervention? I think definitely :)
Anyway, I love everything about Mooreland Heights. So grateful.
Tomorrow is our last day of school so if you need me I'll be crying in the corner.

Second Grade Wrap Up

We only have two and a half days left of school.
Such a bittersweet feeling.
I am SO excited to get to focus on this up coming school year. To get to think about how I'm going to design and manage my own classroom (not that I haven't already been pinning tons of ideas like a crazy new teacher ;) )
But I am also so sad to see this class go. These "almost third graders" are all-starts. I adore them. I once again am counting my blessing of getting to stay at Mooreland Heights. I don't think I could handle leaving this school and not getting to see these precious kids in the hallway. 
Anyway, here are some of our end of year wrap-ups, some shamelessly stolen from Pinterest.
Goodness, am I thankful for that website. How did teachers find thousands of cute and creative ideas without it?!

FIELD DAY! Oh my goodness! What a fun (and exhausting) day this was! From 8:30-2:00 we played hard down at the park!

These are the all-stars I'm gonna miss!

The second grade team :)

:)

First, second and third place.

I love the craziness of second grade. So much laughter.

Run!

Jump! (And do some dance moves in the background?!)


We read George's Marvelous Medicine. Then the kids creates triaramas to tell the setting, characters and plot. By the end of the week we had finished the book and they created four so they could retell the entire story. 

 

We also made inches, feet, and yards for measurement. The students decorated the "yard" as a yard. Then glued of foot-long feet and inch long inch worms. This helped them visualize the different units of measurements. And was totally stolen from Pinterest.

Based on Andy Warhol's painting, we create fantasy and reality painting using our own faces. Then wrote five fantasies and one reality. These turned out so cute and were absolutely adorable.

 "Dreaming BIG in Second Grade" This is 100% NOT my idea. Thank you, thank you, thank you Pinterest. The kiddos wrote what they want to be when they grow up. I am giving them their picture and the class picture with a little note from me to encourage them to keeping "dreaming big" as part of their end of year gift. Shhh... ;) This turned out SO cute. If you wanna see what it really looks like, I'd love to show you the "official" finished product.

Just a few close up of our "big dreams"

And the whole group. 

Ahh! I love it!

I also read them Dr. Seuss 's Oh the Places You'll Go. I got goosebumps through the whole book... "Kid, you'll move mountains!" I think they enjoyed it, although I'm convinced it was written for graduates later in life... ie. recent grad school graduates... Anyway, then the kids wrote their own "hopes and dreams" on balloons. I took pictures of them and we glued it all together. (Disclaimer: We had to have a lengthy lesson that this kind of 'dream' was different than the nighttime kind of dream. And I didn't really want to have "I had a dream to be a giant carrot when I grow up" written on their balloons...) So here are the almost finished results.

Lastly, Miss Trout's classed hatched some chicks! Thanks to the wonderful extreme collaboration between the three classes, we've gotten to experience the process too! The kiddos have loved learning about the chicks and playing with our new friends.
I can't tell you how many times I said, "Eek! Be gentle!!!" Seven and eight year olds holding fragile animals makes me nervous! We also learned that it is GOOD LUCK when a bird poops on you :)

There's a total of 7 of these little fellows

Such a WONDERFUL end of the year!

Of course I will miss teaching with Monica too. I can't tell you how many times the kids say something and we just look at each other from across the room and hide our face behind papers giggling. I cannot imagine ever agreeing to have a stranger spend a year in my classroom with me, but I will be forever grateful that she did.

I can't wait to teach more second grade darlings next year. I also love that I get to stay at MHES and see my current second graders (soon to be BIG intermediate kiddos! :)) every day. Wow, I'm reminded once again just how incredibly blessed I am.

Boston

Crossing the finish line of a marathon is supposed to be a huge celebration of a huge achievement. A time of hugs and high fives, a few tears of relief and joy, celebratory lunches, and lots of congratulations. This year, this was not the case at all at the Boston marathon, and yet, in the midst of all the tragedy, there is some to celebrate.
 I will never be fast enough to qualify for Boston (although maybe that could become a far off dream of mine...), I did run my second marathon less than two weeks ago. So I know. I get "it." And I so completely don't get what happened in Boston. I don't get that at all.

Marathons show the best and people. And I absolutely do not mean just the runners. I am not so quick to forget the hundred (thousands, even?) of people who lined up to cheer us on; the volunteers handing out water and Powerade; people just watching and giving out water, fruit, and snacks; people with music, posters, words of encouragement. From the people lining the streets by the Sunsphere to cheer for the start, to those with hilarious signs through the boulevard, to the screaming crowd all the way of Noleton, to those lining the strip, to those all around the back half offering words of encouragement in the midst of lonely exhaustion, to the joy of smiles and cheers in Island Home, to the random applause from the "after church lunch eaters" down Gay Street and through Market Square, to those waiting to cheer us into Neyland and across the 50 yard line, to those waiting to support us (literally) as we struggled to walk on our aching legs... Marathons show the best in people.
That is why I am not at all surprised by the spirit of the people in Boston on Monday. Stories of people running to the victims, rather than away from them. Stories of people tearing down the barrier between the spectators and the race to get to the injured. Stories of people opening up their homes to runners. The story of the man who gave up his medal (makes me so proud to be able to claim him as part of my much larger YoungLife community). Stories of runners running to the hospital to donate blood, or giving up their place in the medical tent for others with injuries. Stories of the singing of the National Anthem in the first sporting event in Boston after the marathon. Stories of people comforting each other. Stories of people loving each other.
My mom put this on Facebook...

People can be so good. And so much good can be seen in such terrible moments.
It's true, there are some bad, very bad, people, but they pale in comparison to the number of good people. And they always will. The amount of people standing against evil will outnumber those doing evil. Love will always win. God always prevails.

And so we won't stop. We won't stop caring for one another. We won't stop running to help one another. We won't stop being love. And we definitely won't stop running marathons.

Jessie

Meet my friend Jessie.

Jessie is someone you don't have to think about what you're saying around.
I can ramble on without thinking and she nods and listens and somehow makes something of my nonsense. She magically takes all my word vomit and interprets it into something that makes sense. It's like magic.
Jessie gets me.
And although it is a way I feel totally unique and completely loved by her, it's not just me. Jessie has a way of making people feel known.
If you know her, you know what I mean.
And if you don't know her, you're missin' out.
I started looking through our Facebook pictures together and could not stop laughing. We've had so many adventures.  Here are just a few...

I met Jessie our freshmen year of college. We were babies!

She convinced me to do one of the most adventurous things of my life...

See? We're weird. And it's not weird.

Thanks for being my inspiration for marking off my Bucket Lists.

 I have no words for the next three...

...

...

...

Another late night adventure we will never forget.

Holding hands on the Octodate.

We were the two losers as the Nashville Chickfila opening.

 Gah, y'all. Jessie is a gem. I am absolutely thankful to call her my friend.
Tomorrow Jessie and I are running a marathon. I've been so preoccupied with all the other craziness of my life to even mention this before now. But tomorrow morning, we are running 26.2 miles around Knoxville. I think I speak for us both when I say the excitedness and nervousness are completely equal. But we can do it! Some unbreakable bond is formed while running a marathon with someone. I'm glad this year Jessie and I get to do it together.

I can't wait to spend several hours running with you. I'm so proud of you, Brave One! Grateful for 5 years of awesome friendship.