1st Day In the 1st Grade

That’s right, today marked day one of my adventures teaching First Grade. And while some might cringe at the thought, I took the day on Joyously. Thanks to God, I ended the day joyously also (and that was after all the after school kids went home). So, what do I have to say about the 1st day?

The kids responded well to the system I put in place. I implemented the resources provided by powerteachers.net (now whole brain learning) and was astonished by how well the elements work. If you are a teacher and struggle with classroom management and an unruly class (or just a few students), I highly recommend you check out their website. They have tons of FREE resources. But enough about “the system”.

We spent our day learning the rules and learning what we were going to be learning (how many times can I use the word learning  in a sentence). It was an amazing day for both students and teacher. I also learned how creative my small group of students are. They developed their own hopscotch squares. Out of what you ask? Those little rubber mats. It’s probably better if you see it so, here is the picture.

1st Graders create Hopscotch

They did this without any prompting or instruction from me. They simply worked together, devised a plan, and put it into place. I was impressed.

What an exciting day it was! God is so amazing and has blessed me with a wonderful group of 1st Graders.

In the after school program, we moved to our new building–which actually isn’t a new building but a remodeled front building. Needless to say, it was exciting for both the students and their parents. We really enjoy our new digs! Thanks North Pointe for allowing us to use such a beautiful space for our after school program.

Well, I’m off to bed so I can get some good rest for the second day. Didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. My mind was to anxious about day 1. Day 1 is over and now I can rest easy.

God Bless!

-Mr. Josh

Discovery Camp 2009

I had a great time at Discovery Camp with our North Pointe kids. God truly worked in the lives of all the churches and kids that were in attendance this weekend. For those who want to see the pictures, you can browse the album HERE (even if you don’t use Facebook).

I believe that my God is AWESOME! Not only does His Awesome power manisfest itself in mountaintop experiences such as Discovery Camp, but his power is prevalent in every day life! You too can experience this awesome power! Experience Christ in you life. Don’t hesitate! Chat with a spiritual coach at groundwire.org (currently Air 1 Radio’s featured cause).

I am blessed tonight because I get to sleep in my own bed. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being a part of this camp with our amazing NPC Kids but it’s also a blessing to be reminded of the things God has blessed me with here at home.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. God bless!

The Crayon Box Logo

I’ve been playing with Photoshop trying to create something very 1st Gradish but also very crayonish for the “Crayon Box” section of my site (the section dedicated to what my class will be doing in 1st Grade). So here is what I’ve come up with:

However, I think I’m going to change the tag line to “Adventures in 1st Grade”. Anyone have any other suggestions for the tagline?

I won’t be able to post for a few days because I’m leaving for Discovery Camp till Saturday, but I will still be able to read the comments and/or emails from my blackberry for anyone wishing to submit an idea.

God bless!

The Biggest News Since Last Time

I know, my titles aren’t quite as creative as they used to be. Nevertheless, I do have some news that I’ve been waiting to tell everyone. If you read an earlier post,  I mentioned that there was something about to happen that I wasn’t going to tell anyone. The time has come to let you all in on it.

This will only be NEW news to those still following the blog from California (or states other than Texas).  Beginning in just under 3 weeks, I will be teaching 1st Grade at Trinity Christian School (which I think is only a working title). I just know you all are thinking “That wasn’t big news”. Well, it was big news for me and I wanted to share it with you. This means that an expansion to The Anzanite and the Blog is coming. Already, anzanite.com forwards back to the blog as I have begun building pages for the website. A new feature to the site called “The Crayon Box” will be arriving shortly. This will catalog the experiences my students will have during their school year. This will include what we are learning, projects we are working on, and other significant learning breakthroughs and experiences we have. Behind the Waterfall, which is the main blog (this one you are reading) is the place to stay informed with what is going on with me and the site as I make my major upgrades.

I hope this message finds all of you well and ready to go back into another school year. I’m excited to see what God has in store for this school and can’t wait for Him to show me.

God Bless you all!

-Mr. Josh