third grade

I just realized that I haven't blogged about my new job! 

Starting in September, I will be a 3rd grade teacher at Heritage Christian School.

 I'm super excited about teaching & I absolutely love the school I'll be working at. 

I haven't been into my classroom to decorate yet, but I did get in there to take some photos & start decorating in my head :) I've met the principal, the members of the School Board, and a few of the office staff and soon I will get to meet the rest. I received a cute little invite in the mail the other day from one of the other teachers at Heritage inviting me to join their Wednesday morning time of prayer/Bible study. I thought that was really sweet that they included me :) Also, I think it's really cool that they gather together for prayer. 

Here's my school!!

Isn't it adorable?!

 Doesn't it remind you of the old Puritan schoolhouses from the 17th, 18th & 19th century??! It has such a cute, cozy "schoolhouse" feel to it. I think it's just perfect! ;)

 I love how all the classrooms are connected & close together and, surprisingly, the rooms are actually quite spacious (unlike the old Puritan schoolhouses)! 

Sooooo, speaking of old Puritan schoolhouses, here's a little trivia on the history of American education.. Haha! (I gotta practice my teaching somehow!!) 

The Puritans were a religious group in England who wanted to change the Church of England, but not separate from the Church like the pilgrims. The Puritans wanted to make the Church of England more "pure". In 1628, the King of England gave the Puritans a carter to make a settlement along the Massachusetts Bay so they then began to migrate across the Atlantic Ocean into New England.

 In 1630, the first large group of Puritans came to settle. The group was led by a man named John Winthrop who later became the governor of the Puritan colony. John Winthrop claimed that the society they would form in New England would be "a city upon a hill" and that they colony leaders would educate all the people (the colony leaders consisted of men who had attended Oxford or Cambridge University in England). And in 1636, just six short years later, the Puritans founded Harvard College. 

All Puritan children attended "petty schools" or "dame schools", which is there they would learn reading, writing & arithmetic (no critical thinking or free thought/expression). Puritan children learned things by rote--meaning they would memorize everything & quote it back. Of course religion was a huge part of Puritan life and their schooling and the Bible was the only source for their in-class readings & read alouds. 

After petty or dame schools, Puritan children (mostly boys) would then attend grammar school, which is where they would learn Latin or Greek and more extensive mathematics. 

The schoolhouses were a lot different, though. Children of all ages would be put in one classroom with the smallest (youngest) children up from and oldest in the back of the room. 

I'm so glad times have changed because I cannot even imagine how difficult that would be! 

That's all for my trivia :) 

But here are some pictures of Puritan schoolhouses to show the similarities to the cute little schoolhouse i'll be teaching at!  

Schoolhouse in St. Augustine Florida.
The schoolhouse appears on tax rolls in the year 1716
 but more than likely it existed years before then.

1800 Puritan schoolhouse in Ohio.

Puritans began building this schoolhouse in 1889 and it was finished in 1917.

This schoolhouse is in East Tennessee!
It was built in the early 1700s and stands on its original site in rural Maryville.

Now, here's my classroom! 

(I'll add "after" pictures once I decorate!)

Two large pin boards and a large white board! 

I was so happy to see books already in the classroom.
Ellie (our pastor's nine year old daughter) offered to help me
saying, "I love organizing books by genre!" 

Another pin board & a sink and microwave! 

Hooks for raincoats (because they are needed almost everyday)!

The door to the classroom is just left of this board. 

A ton of games already!