Aloha Middle School: Ms. Layh's First Day!

Goodbye summer break, and hello Ms. Layh’s classroom! Since my last blog post, I enjoyed a lovely last week of summer break, said goodbye to Alex as she departed for the mainland again, set up my entire classroom, had a week of teacher workdays, greeted parents at Meet the Teacher, and taught for two weeks in my own classroom. In short, life got real!

Ms. Harris and I outside of our school! We wear our staff respect shirts on Fridays to remind the students of our core value.

Starting My Big Girl Job!

Setting up my classroom was no small task, but I loved the chance to decorate the room exactly how I wanted it. Ashton came to help me for countless hours, tirelessly building the (6!) shelves I needed assembled. I am so grateful for his help setting up, and I am so thrilled with how the classroom turned out. I hope it is a warm, welcoming, colorful environment for my students!

Here is a wide shot view of my classroom! I tried to incorporate as much pink as humanly possible.

Here is a collage of photos from my classroom! As you can see, I love color. Thank you so much to everyone who donated something from my Amazon wishlist to my classroom. Every donation helped me make my room a fun, safe, well-resourced place for my students to learn! Amazon messed up and did not include the notes for some of the donations, so I don’t know who purchased some of the items. If you never received a thank you email from me, please text or email me. I would love the opportunity to personally thank you!

Before school started, we had a week of onboarding / teacher workdays that consisted of bountiful trainings and meetings. At the conclusion of the week, we had Meet the Teacher. I remember being SO excited for MTT as a kid, bursting with excitement to meet all of my teachers for the next year. It was so weird to be on the other side of it! I was so nervous, but I met lots of lovely parents. Wheeler Middle School primarily serves military families, so 97% of my students have at least one parent in the military. It was great to meet their families and establish a rapport before the school year started on Monday.

The 7th grade team at Wheeler Middle! There are two other TFA teachers in 7th grade with me, and lots more TFA teachers in 6th and 8th grades. My coworkers are amazing. I truly feel so lucky to be surrounded by so many creative, caring, fun people! Our staff shirts say “ho’ihi” which means respect in Hawaiian! Can you tell what Wheeler’s core value is?

The Monday after Meet the Teacher, we had our first day of school for all grades! Everyday, I teach two periods of ELA (English language arts) and two periods of social studies. So, I teach two groups of kids, but I see each group twice a day. I also have a planning period in the middle of the day!

For the first week in ELA, the students took standardized testing via a platform called iReady to assess their reading level. I had individual conferences with each student after they finished to talk about their goals for the year and the ELA skills they want to improve. This past week in ELA, we are done with testing (hooray!) and are reading our first book of the year! We are reading A Long Walk to Water, which I highly recommend reading! It is very short and easy to read. A Long Walk to Water is based on a true story, and tells the story of Salva, a boy who is forced to run away from his village due to civil warfare in South Sudan. He survives treacherous conditions and hardships, and as an adult, Salva founded Water for South Sudan, a nonprofit organization that builds wells and brings clean water to villages in Sudan. Salva’s life story and nonprofit are very inspiring, and my 7th graders are really enjoying the book so far. It is difficult to frame privilege to middle schoolers, but this book has really made them think about how lucky we are to have access to clean water and a safe school.

In social studies, we have launched into Unit 1! The entire 7th grade year is dedicated to Hawaiian history. This is a super unique opportunity to educate my students on the state they live in, as most of them are not from Hawaii. Unit 1 is called “Identity and the Settlement of the Pacific”. Students are exploring their own identities, as well as learning how the first people in Hawaii came to the island. The settlement of the Pacific islands by ancient Polynesians is so fascinating. When European settlers came to the Pacific islands, they could not fathom how the Polynesians, who did not have the same technology that they did, could have navigated thousands of miles to distant and unknown islands. However, the ancient Polynesians were such skilled seafarers and navigators, that even without technology or large ships, they were able to find and settle over 1000 islands in the Pacific. They were so impressive, and my students have been really curious about the ancient Polynesians so far!

A No Longer Barren Home

Abby, Amelia, and I have finally settled in to our new house! We absolutely love it. Being a five minute walk from the beach has been fantastic, and we love popping over to watch the sun set over the waves or going for walks around the lagoon right beside our house. In the lagoon, we often see sea turtles and manta rays, which makes going on runs wayyyy more fun! We each cook dinner once a week for our roomies, and our house has been full of laughter, showtunes, early mornings, and love.

My room! We had to decorate on a budget, all pieces of furniture in my room (except my bed) are secondhand and cost less than $20! Seriously proud of my minor addiction to Facebook marketplace.

Our living room, also fully furnished via Facebook marketplace. We are still on the hunt for an affordable coffee table! Don’t mind the bootleg recording of the Beetlejuice musical on the TV… Abby and I are not beating the weird kid allegations.

Trail Tales

Pu’u Pia Trail

This trail was what Amelia and I call a “bang for your buck” trail. For only two miles roundtrip, the Pu’u Pia Trail had stunning views of the Manoa Valley and downtown Honolulu! Amelia and I did this hike on Hawaii’s Statehood Day (aka Admission Day), which we had off of school.

Ashton Flies a Plane (jk)!

On Monday, Ashton started his first big kid job as an engineer at Hawaiian Airlines! He is absolutely loving it so far. His coworkers are amazing, and he gets to go on empty planes all the time to evaluate plane issues / ways to make them more efficient! I am so proud of him and so excited to see all the amazing work he does in this position! Also super jealous of the view from his office!

Friends Near and Far

Amelia and I have been going to church at New Hope Oahu for a few months. We are part of a girls’ bible study group through the church that meets weekly. This past week, we had a potluck picnic at Ala Moana beach park in Honolulu to celebrate the end of summer. We’ve met lots of great friends through this church, and it was a beautiful night!

Before Alex rudely abandoned us and left us for her job and family in the mainland, we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay! Hanauma Bay was formed by volcanic activity and has vibrant fish. While snorkeling, Alex got bit by a Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (the state fish), which I did not know was possible. I think the fish was trying to get her to stay with me and Amelia in Hawaii.

Hawaiian Word of the Month

E ‘ōpū ali‘i - “Have the heart of a chief”

This saying is posted around Wheeler Middle, and I absolutely love it. It encourages our students to be bold and brave in their academic, athletic, and personal goals. The first few weeks of school were so scary. I was so nervous to begin my first big kid job and to meet my students, but I tried to have the heart of a chief and be courageous as I began this new chapter of my life. Every day is a new adventure and challenge, and I can’t wait to get more settled into my classroom and routines!

As summer comes to a close, I am wishing you all the best in your new adventures! I miss you all and can’t wait to see the amazing things that Fall brings. Goodbye and a hui hou (until we meet again)!