1st Bagnall Blurb of 2012-2013!

BAGNALL BLURB

August 31^st, 2012

Parents & Guardians,

Just a quick, “HOLA” to start off the year from the perspective of your friendly GRCMS Spanish teacher! For many of you this is not a new introduction and I have had the pleasure of teaching your GRCMS student(s) for the past few years! But to those of you who are new to our school or just new to having me as a Spanish teacher, I look forward to getting to know you and your student as the year progresses!

This will be my 4^th year at GRCMS and it feels SO comfortable and exciting to be in the position I am now. Last year we graduated our first class of 8^th graders who went through the MS Spanish program. Of that class, about a third of them tested into high school semester 3 of Spanish! It has been a blessing to witness and be a part of the continual Spanish growth within the GRCS schools. Even so, we are continuing to make changes, adjustments, and improvements as we head into another new year!

This year holds some big changes for me personally. For starters I am part time for the first time. I am teaching my classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and staying home on Mondays and Wednesdays. In order for this to “work”, I have the privilege of team teaching with Kim Knoester! She is a Calvin College graduate and just so happens to be the daughter of two excellent teachers already in our GRCS family (Arie and Pat Knoester)! We each have our own middle school Spanish classes, but we are also “sharing” three sections. Those being: 6^thgraders that have Spanish on Wednesdays and Fridays, 7^th graders who have Spanish Mondays and Thursdays and 7^th graders who have Spanish on Wednesdays and Fridays. With those classes, Kim Knoester will be teaching the first lesson of the week and I will be teaching the second. We are working closely together with great communication to make this a successful schedule for all involved!

Another big personal change will be the arrival of my first child in the middle of October. My husband and I are very much looking forward to the start of our family and also anxious to know if we will have a son or daughter! I will be taking time off to make my motherhood adjustment starting around October 18^th. At that point Kim Knoester will take over all of my classes until I return after Christmas break in early January. God has truly blessed me with a healthy pregnancy and I still feel very energetic as I head into these weeks of school!

Just some final thoughts before I “sign off”. I wanted to share with you what our principal, Ashanti Bryant, challenged all of us teachers to do at our recent staff retreat. And that was to write our own personal mission statement for teaching.  Although I am not an eloquent writer, this is what God poured onto my heart:

“It is my calling to engage ALL students in a Christ loving community as we learn about God’s global and LOCAL Spanish speaking kingdom; To find ways for my students and I to partake in His work by serving and learning from “the stranger”; To give students the tools and practice to be loved and love those who are different from them”.

I ask you to join me in faithfully praying throughout the year for all of my students and myself as I do my best to live out that mission statement in this new school season. Thank you in advance for your support, communication, and prayers! Please use my blog (www.senorabagnallsclassroom.blogspot.com)as a way to stay in touch with what is going on in room 29 with Señora Bagnall as well as email (bbagnall@grcs.org) and/or calls/texts (616-322-4188)!

Gracias y Dios le bendiga(Thanks & God bless!),

Señora Becky Bagnall!

Trabalenguas... Pepe...

 8th graders, try this "trabalenguas" or tongue twister as we say :)

Pepe Peña pela papa, pica piña, pita un pito, pica piña, pela papa, Pepe Peña.  

(Pepe Peña peels potatoes, cuts pineapple, blows a whistle, cuts pineapple, peels potatoes, Pepe Peña.)

Español in the Media

I love hearing Spanish in commercials when I am watching some TV! See if you can catch the two phrases that actress Selma Hayek uses in this "Got Milk" ad :)

Un Año Escolar Nuevo... (a new school year)

As I write this first post of the 2012-2013 there are many things that I still can´t wrap my mind around...
1st  This will be my 6th year of teaching!!! I can say confidently that I LOVE my job and feel so blessed to teach at Grand Rapids Christian Middle School :)
2nd  I must begin to set my alarm a bit earlier than usual... I am a morning person but waking up at 5:30 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays still might be a rude awakening come next week.
3rd I will be a first time MOM in October! It has been fun to watch this baby grow over the summer and now I can´t wait to meet him or her by the end of October!
4th I am actually okay with summer ending and a new school year beginning! I love my students, I love the subject I get to teach, and this fall promises to hold many blessings :) 

Here are some of my favorite summer 2012 memories! I will continue to use this blog to communicate with my parents and students of GRCMS! Enjoy :)

 A first time trip for the MI native to Mackinac Island

 My first baby shower, thrown by my cousins and two lovely sisters!

And a great camping trip at Hoffmaster with my husband to celebrate 5 years of marriage!

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