Thursday, September 6, 2018

The New School Year has STARTED!!!

All of the things about new school years have happened this week.  I had a night of little sleep because I was SO SO excited for the first day.  I had a night later in the week of little sleep because I was worried that everything wouldn't get done.  I went a whole school day without eating because the first day was so busy ---- please know that doesn't happen after the first day.   I like to eat too much ;-)  I cried.  I laughed.  I learned about my new students and I already know that I can't wait to learn along with them this year.

Along with all these new things this school year, I have focused on #classroombookaday and I am LOVING it!  We have 4 school days in and 8 shared stories completed.  Our focus today was a book trilogy that focused on names:  Chrysanthemum, The Name Jar, and Alma.  We talked about the meanings of names and we did a little research about names.  It was so interesting to me.  I truly love learning about names and I have to share a little bit about names from my family.

My first name is Margaret.  I was given this name in honor of my dad's mom who was the oldest daughter in her family just like me.  I have an Aunt Peggy (whose name was Margaret) and a grandmother named Margaret.  My dad's cousin was Margaret but we always called her Marge.  On my dad's side of the family it was a tradition to name the oldest daughter Margaret.  If you can imagine that, then you can picture how many Margaret's that would really be so many of the oldest daughter's went by nicknames or used their middle name.  I always loved my name and part of what made it special to me was that it was given to be my dad. 

My middle name is just as important - Katherine.  It is the same name as my mother's mother.  While I don't remember too many people calling her Katherine, my grandmother signed her name in a way that I idolized.  Most people called my grandma Kay.  The name went through generations in our family.  My cousin Kathy was named for my grandmother and I just knew I wanted my own daughter to share their beauty and grace and CONFIDENCE.   

Names are important.  As a teacher I always hope that I spell and pronounce my students' names correctly.   Because I was a teacher, I really struggled with deciding on my son's name.  When I first found out I was having a boy I thought I was going to name him Kyle because I would have "all" (hahah I only had 2) the kids' names begin with the same letter.  As it got closer and closer to my due date, I knew that Kyle just didn't seem like the right name.  We went with William instead.  It's a family name and held great meaning.  I often tease Will that his name is Kwill and that the k is silent like in knife....

 So much thought and planning goes into a name.  I have loved learning about names this week with the 5th graders and I hope you will take some time to talk with others you come in contact with about their name. 

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