How I Organize my Ballet Class

It's been two weeks since I started back teaching ballet. I only have three students, and so far it's been fun. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to get to spend more one-on-one time with these precious students. They all have such different personalities. I am excited to see them grow in abilities and encourage each other! In order for these things to happen, I have to be organized, though. So here's how I organize my class.

First over the summer, I sat down and made a list of what we were going to learn each week. This is always tentative and more than likely to changes. Most of the time, I'll run out of time and occasionally I'll have extra time to fill. It's just a guide line of what I hope my students will learn. It also depends on the ability of the students in the class to how much we are able to learn. So far, my students have been learning rather quickly!

Each year I teach ballet it is a little different. This year I have a "Book of Accomplishments" for each student. The book (as you probably guessed) contains the student's accomplishments. I wanted something where they could visually see how much they have learned. They get to put a sticker by movements and ideas once they learn or do them. I'm excited to see how it works out!

Since I have my week to week agenda already planned out I don't have much preparation to do. Usually, Thursday night I pick out music and come up with combinations for class. If we're reading a book, then I'll pack that up in my bag. I try and keep preparation minimum, but I also like to do exciting things for the kids. For example, I plan to have one day where the students get to make up the combinations for the class for fun. I want my students to learn and have fun. We almost always close with a fun game that they can incorporate their dance moves into.

Overall, I'm really excited about this new school year with these precious students! I think it's going to be fun!

You {Doughnut} Want to Miss This Story

The other day my sister and I went to Krispy Kreme with a few friends. The case was full of delicious looking donuts. Of course, I got one with colorful sprinkles on it. There were not many people in Krispy Kreme except for a father and his six young kids. After eating my doughnut, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. However, the little girls (there was either three or four of them) who were there with their father beat me to the restroom to wash their hands. They struggled with opening the heavy door, so I helped them open it. Also, the light was difficult to turn on so I helped with that, too. I don't think they said anything to me. I don't remember a "thank you", but I do remember appreciative smiling faces. As they washed their hands, I waited outside the restroom. Their father apologized. Why did he apologize? I have no idea. They were there before me, so they have the right to wash their hands before I do. They didn't cut in line. They weren't rude or rowdy children either; in fact, they were quite the opposite. After they had left and I washed my hands, I passed by them to go back to my table and they smiled at me. Later, after we left, my sister forgot her bottled water so I went back inside to grab it for her. As I grabbed it, one of the little girls waved to me. I thought it was so sweet. They seemed overly grateful for my tiny act of kindness. It gave me so much joy that I could help them in a small way. I was only with them for one minute, but I kind of grew to love them and how sweet they were. As the day went on and I thought about our encounter, I actually missed them because it was such a joy to help them. So I prayed that God would bless and protect them. Helping these children also made me realize the amount of joy I receive when I have opportunities to help children. I love working with kids, and it's always a blessing to be able to help children or invest in their lives. Becoming a teacher, means that is the kind of stuff I will be doing every day! Thank you to the little girls at Krispy Kreme for filling my heart with joy. Thank you for reminding me how much I love helping children. Thank you for reminding me why I am studying to be a teacher. I need those reminders.

Thank you for reading my little story.

A Birthday to Remember

     My birthday was Sunday, and it was one to remember! My birthday was full of surprises. On Friday leading up to my birthday, Sarah, my sister, told me that she wanted to go shopping that afternoon. We went shopping at a few stores, got some popsicles, and then we headed for home (at least that's what I thought). However, we pulled into the Target shopping center in front of a frozen yogurt place. My sister asks "Do you know where we're going now?" I answer with a "no". Secretly, I am hoping that we are not going to have frozen yogurt right after having a popsicle. Thankfully, that is not where she is planning to take me. Instead she surprises me with a pedicure! We had to wait a while, but it was relaxing and fun. Once we finish, I barely have time to let my toes dry because Sarah is in a rush to go. So I clumsily march out to the car in my styrofoam flip flops trying not to trip in them. We listened to Hamilton on the way home. It was a fun day, but it got better.

   When we got home, I walked in the door and saw balloons. I was very confused why there were balloons. Then some of my sweet friends popped out of their hiding places and yelled "surprise"! I was shocked. I'd always wanted a surprise party! It was such fun getting to hang out with a small group of my ballet friends. I want to give a big shout out to Laura for the idea of giving a surprise party and to my mom and sister for doing the planning. Y'all did a great job because I didn't suspect anything, was very surprised and had a wonderful time!

Saturday was a lazy day and we did not do much. Sunday came, and it was my 21st birthday. The plan was go to church and then go out to eat. There was a possibility that Sarah and I might work in the three and four year old Sunday school class. I didn't expect they would need our help, but I am glad they did. It really made my day getting to spend time with these sweet children. I got several hugs, and got in a few good laughs. While I was writing a boy's name on his paper he told me "You are someone who cares for me". My heart melted. That totally made my day.

These are the things that made my birthday so special! I wanted to write them down so that in years to come I can visit these sweet memories again.

Back to School Supplies and Organization

I love school supplies! So in this blog post I'm going to show you some of the school supplies I have bought and little bit about how I organize my school stuff.

The very first thing I do, is I color code. I assign each class a color and then choose binders and planner stickers based on that color. To know more about my organizational method check out my Back to School Organizational Ideas blog post. Next, I label everything, so I don't get confused.

Now for the school supplies! Let's start with planner stickers. I bought a little book of cute planner stickers for 50% off at Micheal's. It has 1,486 stickers so I'm probably set for a long time. I also purchased some customizable stickers off of Etsy for my classes. To learn more about how I use my Etsy planner stickers check out this blog post, here. Want to know what planner I use? Click here.

"Be Still" Pen

Pen & Pencils on my desk.

Now for pens and pencils. I love these gold pencils! I mixed them with my #2 pink pencils on my desk. My pens I purchased from Kristin Schmucker. She has a lot of cute items to buy.

Gold pencils from Micheal's. 

Now, for the cutest eraser ever (purchased from Target)!

We all make mistakes.

What are some of your favorite school supplies to buy? I hope everyone has a wonderful school year! As always thanks for reading! Come back next Thursday for a new blog post!