fluffy clouds

Every day, I walk a group of students who have older brothers or sisters over to the intermediate school.  We walk from the back of our school to the front of the other school and I help with car duty over there.

Let me tell you a story...

This afternoon, I was walking the kids over to the other school just like any normal day.  A kindergarten girl began to engage me in conversation, just like she does pretty much every afternoon as we're walking (she's very talkative).

the clouds after work today

"Miss Akins, LOOK!  Those clouds are so fluffy!  They look so soft... I just want to lay down on them and take a nap!"

"You're right, they do look soft!"

"You know why laying down on them would be SO good? Because then I would be close to JESUS! I would love being there because Jesus is the most important thing in my life."

No joke, y'all.  Those exact words came out of her mouth!

fluffy clouds

Aw... faith like a child.

scrapbook

Let me tell you a story...

Today, a little kindergarten girl brought me a scrapbook that she had made JUST FOR ME. See?  It even says, "MUSIC TEACHER".  Duh. That's me!



The scrapbook was all of pictures of HER.  From birth to now.  Oh, how I WISH I could show you all the pictures!  They were hilariously cute.  She even left several blank pages at the end (to quote her) "so you can add some of your own pictures". Aww! 

 

The inside of my scrapbook :)

 

The outside of my scrapbook :)



Ok, ok, I can't stand it.  I will show you SOME of the inside.  She just went to so much trouble making it for me!!



here she is at age 3 playing her drums!



cute music scrapbook paper she used



 

some more cute music scrapbook paper

 







I wonder if her mom knows that she made this for me.  Hmm... maybe I should email her just to be sure it was ok.

Either way, it was so sweet and so precious. I can't believe that she even thinks about me outside of school! My heart is full with love for my students today. 

<3 LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. <3



bad hair days never go unnoticed

Sometimes I let my hair dry naturally and let it go wavy. Like this:

When I have more time and want to look cute (like for snow day pictures or meeting Jordan Shipley, duh), I'll straighten my hair. Like this:

And for really, really special occasions (like being being a bridesmaid or a wedding singer - either way, that day is all about me), I'll even use a curling iron to curl my hair. Like this:



















Then there are those other days... You KNOW what I'm talking about.  Those days when your hair doesn't do what you want or you don't even care enough to try.

Let me tell you a story...

Normally, I jump out of the shower and am lucky to get to work on time, so my hair dries its naturally wavy self.  Today, I actually DID straighten and curl my hair.  I felt pretty cute, not gonna lie.  Here is me today at work:

what my hair looks like when I brush it, apparently

So there I was, feeling all cute and confident, and then at lunch duty today a first grade boy said to me, 

"Miss Akins, you brushed your hair today!"

Yep. Bad hair days never go unnoticed to a six year old.

"happy president's day, miss akins!"

I love teaching elementary music! In addition to instilling in children a love for music and building the foundation of their musical knowledge, I also get to teach songs about lots of different subjects... especially different holidays. :)

Let me tell you a story...

For President's Day this year, we learned a song about honoring our Presidents and, being the student-centered teacher that I am (and such a humble one, also), I wanted to use this subject as an opportunity to encourage students to dream big. 

I said to my second graders, "You never know, our future President might be in this very room!  Our first woman President might be attending our school right now!  I believe you are all capable of achieving that someday.  Everyone is capable of achieving that dream!"

...I totally wrote that down in my lesson plans and everything.  Okay, okay, not really. But still, it was one of those spur-of-the-moment thoughts that seemed like a good thing to throw in there.  I honestly had forgotten I had said anything about it until the very next day (yesterday) when this sweet second grade girl brought me a little note.

"Happy President's Day, Miss Akins!"

I can't describe it.  Words just won't do it justice.  The pictures speak for themselves. :)



I DID tell them that anyone can be President and to dream big...



YESSS!

Who says I'm not getting through to them? :)

"you're pretty"

Do you ever have times when you let something SO small frustrate you, and then you get mad at yourself for allowing that insignificant thing to hijack your emotions?? Well, this happens to me ALL...THE...TIME!  But, my situation is a little bit different than what you were probably thinking. In fact, that small "thing" that normally frustrates me isn't a thing at all... it's a five year old. You see, I'm a teacher. :) In the world of education, an elementary school teacher has to get used to little "interruptions" by kiddos who ALWAYS have something to say. I have lots of funny quotes that I have heard over the years and one of my goals with this blog is to start sharing some quotes or funny stories to save them as some of my special anecdotes from teaching. :)

So, for my first blog post... Let me tell you a story...

Today, I was attempting to teach kindergarteners about higher and lower sounds in music and was frustrated because I didn't think any of the kids cared about anything I was saying.  Add onto that it was day 1 of my attempt to detox myself from Diet Cokes!!! It's been rough! :) Needless to say, I wasn't exactly looking my best and I felt like death warmed over.

A little kindergarten boy raised his hand and I decided to call on him even though I had no idea what off-topic comment he was going to make.

"Miss Akins, you're pretty."

Aww... sometimes these little "interruptions" are just what we need. :)