Testing

(If at any point this post gets too long... I made a summary at the bottom. Just for your convenience <3)>

So I had an epiphany the other day.
First, story for you.

I was giving out a test to my kids. It wasn't a big deal. I just needed to know what they already knew and what I needed to teach. I passed out the tests and one of my kids started having a stress out. I really thought he might cry. I tried to calm him down...

"buddy, this is going to be ok. I just need you to try your best and it will just tell me what we still need to work on."
"What if I don't know the answer?"
"Then we can work on it together and figure it out. It will be ok, I promise"

We took the test. He may or may not have failed...

This is the thing. I love him more for it. I get to spend a little extra time with him and we'll figure it out and I'll be pushed to be a better teacher because I will figure out a different way to explain a concept that seems simple enough to me. He'll figure it out. I know he will. It may take time, but we have time. It's only October.

Ephiphany.
Maybe I'm this kid sometimes. I'm not saying that I'm going through this hard test or I'm depressed or anything. I'm actually loving my life a lot right now. But it's a universal concept I think. Tests come along. I can imagine Heavenly Father looking down at all of us-his little class of struggling students- and just saying "it's going to be ok. Just try your best and it will just tell me what we need to work on. If you don't do well we'll work together and figure it out." We might cry a little. We might stress out. The fact of the matter is though, that we have time to figure it out and we'll try to see another side of the same concept and we'll spend a little time on our knees, working out things we don't understand with our Heavenly Father.

This is my favorite part. Like I said, as a teacher, you really grow closest to the kids who you know are having a hard time with a concept. You think about them all the time and how to reach them how they need to learn. Then, you just love them that much more. And I think that's a hard thing for me to grasp as the other party. I think that if I don't get something done exactly right that people might get mad or upset... like my facilitator at school when my class is noisy in the halls, or my bishop when relief society doesn't have a piano player or two people to pray before the moment of... but ya know, I think it's probably a lot like teaching. These people know I'm trying. My Heavenly Father knows I'm trying. They all love me a lot. And the thing is, I might fail. It's a possibility. But because I'm trying, they love me more. Just like I love my students that much more.

Ya know, it makes me excited to be a mom one day. I bet they have these epiphanies with their kids all the time. I mean, my kids right now are really not even mine if we're being honest... haha and I just love them so much.

Summary if this was waaay too long of a post to read the whole thing:
I love being a teacher.
I love epiphanies.
I love my life.
And I love figuring out truths that make life o so happy
<3>

Top 5

Updates.

1. Hair Cut!!!
I chopped off all my hair. I really really like it. It is a. so much faster to do every morning and b. a much needed change :)









2. Class Pet!!!
(yes. you get 3 exclamation points for each. that's how excited I am.)
Clint and I went to Petsmart and I got a fire belly toad for my classroom. I love it despite the fact that I have to feed Mr. Tiki (the name my class came up with) live, yes LIVE crickets everyday. The things I sacrifice for my kiddos ;)
3. Cute Boy!!!
You may have noticed. I talk about this boy named Clint all the time... that's because he is my boyfriend. And I'm loving my life having him back from his mission! We dated freshman year and he left for Brazil for two years to serve a mission. I didn't tell him I'd wait for him and consequently only got like 5 letters in two years... but HE'S BACK!! I'm really happy. He is so so sweet. He is from Idaho, going to BYU studying genetics and biotechnology and he is basically a track star for BYU. He throws shotput and discus (which means he's very strong). I like him a lot and here are a few reasons why.

1. He is always telling me how lucky he is to have me around.
2. He is really really good at calming me down when I have stress attacks. (stress is a part of my life... see #4)
3. He stayed with me all day last Saturday while I went to the hospital (see #4) which meant he missed the football game that BYU actually won for the first time since the first game of the season.
4. He makes me laugh, and smile, and I feel so so comfortable being around him.
5. He was a really good sport when I dragged him country dancing last night... even though that's really not his scene. :)
6. I feel like I come first, like he just will do anything to make me happy, just by how he looks at me <3>
ok. enough with the sappy stuff. Point is, I like this boy :)

4. ER visit!!!
(ok, not excited about this, but it had to follow the pattern)
So about a week ago I was up all night with horrible abdominal pains. Mostly, I wanted to cut my stomach out... it really didn't seem like an important enough organ to go through that kind of pain. I went to the doctor the next day and got put on the worst diet ever. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast and Yogurt. BRATY diet. Believe me, after a week of eating these things, that's how you want to act to anyone who can eat anything else. It was kinda working, then a few days later, the pains came back and I landed in the ER. I got hooked up to an IV and got some morphine- weirdest feeling ever... and felt fine enough to leave. It's been slightly uncomfortable, but Clint keeps me sticking to my diet (except that one time when I convinced him that the only way to make me happy was for us to go to the creamery and get my favorite ice cream... it was absolutely necessary to cheat that day haha) and since it's apparently due to stress in my life- I don't know why I would be stressed...- he also keeps me from doing a thousand things at once. I hear very frequently "Alissa, you can't do everything. Can you give this to someone else to do?" He offers to be that someone else all the time and is always so sweet about helping me. anywho, I'm sick, but it's getting better :)

5. Fall Break!!!
One of the many perks about being a teacher is that I get all the holidays off plus some!! Love that! This weekend is a 4 day weekend due to something I never dealt with as a young child in California. Hunting and Harvesting. Go figure. Who knew people took time off work and life to spend days at a time hunting deer and moose and pick crops and who knows what else, but apparently it's important enough to take the kids out of school too. I'm ok with this because it gives me 2 stress free, lesson plan free days to recooperate.

I love my life <3>

Fall

Dear Fall,

I love you. I love your crunchy leaves. I love that it is no longer 100 degrees outside while I have recess duty. I love that one of my students brought me an entire BRANCH of your autumn leaves the other day (still not sure how to get rid of that without offending said student). I love the smell of the wind. I love that you brought back a certain cute boy from Brazil for me. He is pretty nice to have around again :) I also love that Halloween is coming very soon. I am excited to be in my school's parade. Lastly, I love that so many people moved back into my fun single's ward. They make my life so happy (and taught me the rubix cube. ya. I'm skilled like that). I love that General Conference is this weekend. I get to go. I'm excited. Mostly, Utah is beautiful in the Fall and I just love it all.

Love,
Alissa

The jump rope, the toilet and the jungle gym

You wouldn't usually put these three things together.
-jump rope
-toilet
-jungle gym
...except possibly if you teach 2nd grade.

This is how my Thursday went.

Morning-great. Every lesson went according to plan and the kids loved them.

Recess-I had recess duty. This is not the most awful job, in fact, I kind of enjoy it because I get to see my kids in their natural environment, playing. :)
Then a little boy RUNS from the building...
"Miss Pitt! Billy (not his real name) is flushing the jump rope down the toilet!!!"
*thoughts* this is a little funny. only I must be fierce. These boys are in trouble!
I proceed to run to the building and find 2 guilty little boys and about 6 ft of jump rope coming out of the toilet. I pull the jump rope out (gross I know) and it turns out to be not a regular 8 ft jump rope... but a jumbo size 25 ft jump rope!!! Alas, it is stuck. So we go to the janitor. Don't worry, little Billy has caused a real problem and the janitor tells us that he will need to remove the toilet from the wall... wonderful. I lecture the boys and deliver their consequence (missing the movie and recess, then writing apology letters and I have to call their parents- one started to cry. it broke my heart)

Lunchtime- I was a little bit glad to get kids out of my hair... it had been a stressful day with the toilet.

After lunch- I was reading to the kids and realized that one of my girls wasn't there...
"Boys and girls, where is Sally? (not her real name again)"
lots of looking around... then one boy raises his hand.
"She is outside."
"And why is she still outside?"
"She is stuck on top of the jungle gym"
o dear. I send the kids back to their desks to read a book while I rescue a small girl.
I get outside and there is Sally, sitting on top of the Jungle Gym in the rain, crying. So sad. But a little funny... because what kind of kids abandon their friend!? (and it reminded me of The Christmas Story when the boy is stuck to the pole and no one tells the teacher... ) I help her down and we get her inside and feeling better.

Note to Self. Talk to students about normal things we flush down toilets. Also, help a friend in need or tell someone who can...

O how I love second graders. And o how happy I was for the weekend :)

High of my Day

I'm sorry if you're getting sick of me posting everyday lately... I just have so many stories to tell!!

High of my Day.
This week has been CRAZY. School is wonderful and my kids are adorable. We've done all these crazy projects and today I wanted them all done so next week we can start fresh... there were 5 projects in all.
We had a movie at the end of the day and all the kids were sooo excited about it. I talked it up and told them that everything had to be done or they would have to miss it (I know. mean teacher. good incentive.)
Only one problem. By the time the movie came around most kids did not have all 5 projects done. I lowered the expectation to 3 so they could see the movie. They were the 3 most important anyways. I only had 2 kids who needed to stay and finish up... and one of them finished it quickly.
The other did not.
I felt bad.
I went up to him.

"bud, hurry! we're missing the movie!"
"I know! Miss Pitt, I can't think of anything else I like for my Me poster!!"
"ok. let's brainstorm. do you like being outside? (yes) hurry. draw a tree."
"ok."
"do you like video games? (yes) draw a controller"
"ok. (he is now frantically drawing)
Miss Pitt! I still have so much white space! (we don't allow white space in second grade...)"
"ok. you draw, I'll color the background. hurry hurry! what color do you want the background?!"
"I don't care. any color!! I just want to see Arthur!!!"

so I'm coloring and he's drawing and we're both going so fast (but of course doing our best work) then he's running to get his backpack and put up his chair and put away his things... and he's running out the door and I'm just laughing at how much he REALLY wanted to see this movie... and he stops.
He is halfway through the doorway and comes back to me. He gives me the biggest hug and says

"Thanks Miss Pitt. I'm glad I finished that."

I made this kid miss half the movie! And he still loves me. It melted my heart. And it was even better because he is a major talker in my class, but he really does have a heart of gold.

I love being a teacher
<3

The Garden Gazette

Extra Extra Read all about it!!!

A garden expansion, with a new indoor tree, new students and a brand new excited teacher, is gradually being finished with a few of the expected 19 new students coming in already. The excellent Larsen Elementary will be joined this week by Alissa Pitt, the new and upcoming second grade teacher.

"You have a TREE inside?! How did you do that?!" cried out a young boy who is very excited to be in Miss Pitt's classroom this year. Miss Pitt had to explain that it was, in fact, made of butcher paper despite its lifelike appearance.

Miss Pitt will begin her career as a teacher tomorrow August 24th at 8:30 am.

"I am excited and nervous all at the same time! I just don't even know how I'm going to sleep tonight!" She exclaimed. "I already just love these kids and I know this year is going to be the best ever!"

The construction of this room has lasted all summer and is finally complete. More news to come as the year unfolds.

hey, remember?

took a trip down memory lane today.
remember wyview freshman year?
remember esperanza that first day being sooo awkward taking a first day picture?
but then we all cried (even dana) the day we had to move out... even though we had signed a contract to live together in the fall haha
or the multiple dinners we made that we just free for all because we were just excited it was edible?
remember the bubble fights in the kitchen with dana when we had to do the dishes?
and the reason we had to do the dishes- they had taken over the counter and the microwave couldn't open.. that's how we knew it was time.
remember how i had my own room? but i got lonely so marissa would send me flying hearts?
remember petey? the spider who we found in the doorway and no one would let me kill it....sooo it ended up IN MY BED... o ya. and ON MY HEAD!!! hahahahha
remember the girls downstairs and how they thought we were crazy cause of our dance parties?
then they would join us. and they had good moves haha
remember the snowman they left us on the front porch? it had a orphan note and we loved it.
until it wasn't taken back outside... so it was a puddle on our table
remember esperanza hello and goodbyes? everyone loved them!
and rochelle's awesome story about her brazilian boy? haha
remember when we stayed up late cause we knew someone would have a good story whenever they got back? so we slept on the couch to wait?
remember benny? he was the tree outside the window. it took him awhile to lose his leaves, but we loved him. he's big now.
or watching the kids get off the bus? we were kind of stalkers... watching from the window
and the one day dana was watching and she saw a raintree kid EAT it in the snow.
now we're raintree kids...
remember when we rolled down the hill? :)
remember when we would just sit and talk and be freshmen? :)

I remember. so here is a shout out to my esperanza girls. I walked through wyview today to play piano and walked all the way up to apt 174. building 13. and I ran half way up the stairs. just cause we used to. :)

o hey. ps. this week. I'm pretty excited <3