Well, school started for both of us. It was a very busy time for the entire family. I get to work with the same teacher (Tarrah) that I worked with last year and job share again. We really liked how things went last year, so we are going to try it for another year too. I thought that with not having to move at all, things would go pretty quickly and that setting up the room wouldn't be so much of a hassle. However, as a 3rd grade team, we decided that since we teach a lot about pioneers and history and that kind of thing that we wanted to try to incorporate that into our classrooms this year. We decided to go with the Little House on the Prairie type style. You should see our rooms, except for the laptops and computers and well really pretty much everything, it looks like we stepped right out of the 1800s. It has been a fun theme for us to do and hopefully continue for years to come. Here is Tarrah's and my class so far this year.
Covered wagon outside our door.
Tarrah and I made this on one of our work days.
We got the wagon wheels from someone's grandparents. Pretty cool!!!
This room is next to mine and looks like a one room schoolhouse.
This is inside my classroom. I have 24 kids this year.
This is my desk that I share with Tarrah.
We are pretty fortunate that we can job share and stay home with our kids part of the time.
Tom is teaching mostly 8th graders this year. He has quite the load of kids and is very busy with a full schedule. He is continuing to work with the two teachers he worked with last year. One of them he has worked with for a long time and they know the routines so well, but this year they are adding MTSS to the mix, so it makes things a little more rigid but still good though. For those of you who aren't teachers, MTSS is just a new thing the state has us doing to make sure that we are giving extra support to those kids who are not on grade level, or need an extra boost to make it there. He is still really looking for a new challenge as far as teaching goes, but for now really feels that this is where God has placed him and is willing to be used in whatever way he can be.
Well, not only did Tom and I start a new school year, but Jaycee also started with a new daycare. We really liked the lady who watched her for the last couple of years, but her family moved too far away for us to drive and a parent of one of my student's from last year sent out an email saying that she was going to start in home daycare for this school year. It was at the perfect time that things just had a way of working out. It's a God thing. So far Jaycee is loving it, and I really feel that she is learning a lot. They have craft time, naps, lunch, outside play, and even the occasional field trip (even though Jaycee was sick for the first one). Such a great place for an active and curious girl like Jaycee. Here are some things she has done lately.
About a month before school started, Tom's brother wanted to get a group of us together to go canoeing. We hadn't done this trip since Tom and I were first married about 10 years ago. So we thought that if we could get someone to watch Jaycee, then we would love to go. Well, Tom's mom and aunts were not going to brave the waters and canoe, so they said they would watch her for us. So it was all set.
We went to a place called Sugar Island which is close to Joplin, Missouri. There were about 14 of us who rented canoes and traveled down the river. It was a great day for it, and we had a lot of fun!!! I didn't bring my camera for fear that it would fall into the water, so here are some pictures of the place that we were at near there.
Life sure has kept us pretty busy, but it has been good to experience a lot in the last several months. I promise that I will have more updates for you soon.
the ehrlichs
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