It's not "fat", it's...

"pleasantly plump"...or so says one of the kids in my class.

We've been working with -at words lately (cat, bat, mat...) and every time we come across the word "fat" he has to point out: "It says fat, but we should really say pleasantly plump" ... Okay then! :)

Got the Job!!!

Just got a call that I got the tutoring job!!! Yahoo! :) I start Weds. afternoon. Please be praying that taking on this job will not take away my sanity...if it's not totally gone already :p

Jacob's 5th Birthday Party!

Jacob on the dirt bike with Rusty - what a ride! :)

 

Cake Time!

 

Anna's many outfits (and the pink cast accessorizes with them all so nicely!)

 

Anna's on the move!

 

These children look like stars in a very odd combination of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings...

Job?!

Forgot to say earlier that I had an impromptu job interview after teaching today! I found out a couple days ago that there's an opening for a tutor at the after-school program at the school I teach at, and it pays pretty good too! So after I finished up for the day, I went and met with the director. I'd be working with a small group (usually no more than 8 kids at a time) of 5th-6th graders, for a few hours after school. They'll probably be able to work around the one class I still have every week (if I get the job...) and it's in the same building I teach in, which is obviously incredibly convenient. Oh yeah, and did I mention it pays good? (between $13 and $17 an hour...sweet!) So please be praying that I get the job!

Student Teacher Woes

Right now I'm in the process of getting certified to substitute teach, and I personally think it's a little bit insane. We have to pay $25 for the sub. teacher training class (supposedly the $ is to cover the Handbook and lunch...okay then...better be the best Handbook I've ever read and lunch that's out of this world!) AND everything we're supposedly covering is everything that I learned in my week of in-service days the week before school started...OSHA, sexual harrassment laws, district policy, etc etc etc. So not only do I already know all of this, and have my school's handbook covering all of it, I get to PAY to hear it all again! And seeing as money's a little hard to come by, due to the lack of job, which is due to the lack of time, which is due to this whole student teaching thing to begin with...it just seems like a lose-lose situation. GRR!

Oh, and, and! When I finally AM certified to sub., I'm only allowed to sub. for my mentor teacher, and I'm only allowed to sub. 10 times this year (whereas a girl who I took classes with last year can sub. for anyone in the district, including MY teacher, as often as she wants, and she's a year behind me in the Ed. program...how does that make sense?!)

The paperwork for getting certified is a whole other story that I'm not gonna get into...but the weirdest thing to me is that I have to have yet another physical done...they can't just use the one I had 2 short months ago so that I could start my internship...doesn't make much sense to me! How much could my health have changed in 2 months...seriously...

Anyway, there is my venting for the day. Don't get me wrong...I love student teaching, I love my kids, I love my mentor teacher, and my advisor, and my school...I do...it's just all this other crap that gets in the way of that all that makes me wanna go crazy! :)

One of the Joys of Teaching...

I received this drawing from one of my kiddos (among many others) today, and it just makes me laugh. This is me, with crazy purple hair, dancing in the orange flowers, under the pink stars (which is not only MY favorite color, but this particular student's as well!) Oh yeah, and she wrote "I like you" too :)

 

Some Pics from the Classroom

During our morning "Movement" routine

 

 

Green eggs and ham!

 

Great Day!

Today was a fantastic day at school! I was only there for about 3 hours but I got to do a lot!

I tested a few kids on their sight words, helped Miss J fill out a behavior profile for a student, and then she asked me to take them from Music to the Library all by myself (not a hard thing, but not especially easy for a beginning teacher when you have 20 1st-graders!)

The kids did great, and then from there I had to bring them back to the classroom, got them settled down to read their books, read 2 books to them, got them ready for lunch, monitored their eating (again, not easy with 1st graders...it's like pulling teeth getting them to eat!!) and they did a WAY better job eating than they usually do! Then I had to get them all cleaned up and ready for recess, and they were ready so fast, I had to come up with a game to entertain them while we waited for the recess bell, which they had fun with.

Throughout all of this, Miss J just sat back at her desk working on her stuff and let me do everything! It was a blast! Of course there were a few kids who just didn't want to listen to me...seeing as I'm only there 2-3 days a week now, they kind of forget that I'm still one of their teachers and that they, ya know, still have to listen to me and do what I say :p But they did pretty good. And Miss J decided that I did such a good job, we're gonna keep up that routine every Friday now! Should be fun! :)

And I found out that I might be able to sub for her already on the 21st! Woo hoo! She'll be gone the 16th and she already has another sub lined up for that day, but asked me to be there that whole day to help her out cause I know what our routine is and will have a better idea of what needs to be done!

Quote of the Week!

I did not hear this quote directly as it was aimed at Miss J, my mentor teacher, but it cracks me up nonetheless!

Now to give you a little background on Miss J, she was Mrs. E when I first met her, but she got divorced over the summer and went back to her maiden name, so she is now known as Miss J.

So, Miss J was talking to a 2nd-grader who was one of her students last year, and he said to her "I heard you got a horse and changed your name over the summer!"

She was confused for a moment and said, "Well, I changed my name, but I didn't get a horse!"

He said, "Yes you did! You told me you got a horse and changed your name!"

She finally realized she had told him she got a DIVORCE and he had been thinking she had said a HORSE!

We all had a good laugh about it in the Teachers Lounge at lunch and now we ask her every morning how her horse is doing :)

First Day of Student Teaching!

Today was my first day of student teaching, and I'm not going to say much about it now because it's too long to write, but I knew inquiring minds (aka Wendy...lol) would want to know, so just wanted to say it was FANTASTIC! I love my mentor teacher, we get along great, and we've even been able to crack jokes with each other. We've got 23 kiddos, 3 of whom didn't show up today, but we had a total blast! There were lots of the usual "first day" issues, and some things that I'm sure will continue to be issues, but overall I'm feeling very optimistc about the 9 months ahead of me! Now if only all my college classes would go this well... :)

I Love You! (or do you love me...?)

While at Mark & Wendy's this week, I was telling Anna I loved her, and asked her if she could say "I love you", and her response was hilarious. I showed Wendy, and we ended up videotaping it because it was just too cute :)

Tonight's Pretty Sunset

 

 

 

 

Mike

Yesterday, I finally got to meet Mike, a guy Tricia works with, whom she introduced me to via Facebook about a month ago. We've been talking via e-mail & phone since then, and since he was in Anchorage for a day on his way up to the slope to work, I drove up and we finally met in person and spent the afternoon together! We went out to eat and then took the tram at Alyeska up to the top, which I have never done before. It was incredible! It had started raining after dinner, but it was absolutely beautiful and sunny while we were on the mountain. All in all, it was a wonderful date! :)

 

 

 

 

The Fence

Last Saturday, Mark and Wendy and I worked together to put up a new fence/dog run for Molly at Tricia & Jerry's house...14 hours later, it was done! :)

 

 

 

 

Jacob & My Shoes

During one particular family get-together, many of us were sitting out on the porch at Mom & Dad's, enjoying the sunshine. I curled up in one of the chairs with a blanket as the wind was a bit too chilly! Jacob saw this as the perfect opportunity to steal my flip-flops from under the blanket and go bury them in the sandpile! It was about 2 hours before I finally saw them again, after convincing him to go dig them up. This is not the first time has found fascination in hiding my shoes, and I'm pretty sure he learned it from big brother, Andrew, who used to do the exact same thing! :)

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Anna! (Tomorrow) :)

Make a Smilebox photobook

Summer Reading Camp - Day 1

This summer I am helping teach at one of the local elementary schools as part of a practicum for the Teaching Reading online class I'm taking. Today was the first day for us interns on the job. There are about 40 kids, 4 lead teachers, and 4 intern teachers (I am one of them). The ages of the kids range from going into 3rd grade - 6th grade.

Today we were supposed to go to the post office, but apparently they got way behind schedule the past two days, so they're going tomorrow...but us interns won't get to go cause we're only there M, W, F. Sad day :(

My favorite funny story from today happened first thing this morning. We all met in a big group and we were looking at Google Earth on the SmartBoard and talking about what a community is. Joe, one of the lead teachers asked for examples of a community, and one kid said France. About 30 seconds later another kid said Paris. (What is up with these kids' obsession with France?!)

Finally we got them to think of S., and then we started listing jobs that people have in our community. Trying to get them to think of police and firemen, one of the other lead teachers asked "Who helps keep us safe?" The littlest guy in the group put his hand up and shouted out "GOD!" :)

I thought it was so cool, we all busted up laughing about it, but it totally put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. These kids are way too stinkin cute :)

Baby Moose!

A little bit ago, I noticed Molly was pacing and whining, so thinking she needed to go out, went towards the door to let her out and noticed a baby moose only 3 feet from the back of the house! By the time I grabbed my camera, the baby and mama had made their way to the front of the house, and hung out in the yard for a couple minutes. They started making their way down the street, but changed their mind when the guy across the street came out of his house too. That baby is too cute! :)

 

 

 

 

Night out on the Town!

I'm kinda slow in posting this, but here are the few (somewhat) good pictures from my 21st birthday! Biggest sister Tricia took me out along with friends Yetz and Dave. We went to the new-ish brewery in town - the beer was good and the pizza was even better! A grand time was had by all! :)

 

Mom Talk

D captured this series of me giving a stern talk to "the boys" a couple weeks ago. I forget what they were being admonished for, but the way they sat/laid there made us both laugh :)

 

Louie at the Cabin

 

Louie and His Food (Try #2!)

I took this video a couple months ago...when the boys get fed, Buck usually wolfs his down, and poor Louie takes his sweet time, savoring each tiny bite. When Buck is done with his bowl, he almost always comes preying upon Louie. Louie eventually became tired of it, and you'll see (well, more like hear...) his reaction if you watch the video. He only does this to Buck, not if I, or any other human, comes near him when he's eating. Plus, I'm sure he doesn't realize that the fact that his tail is wagging the entire time really doesn't make him seem all that scary and ferocious :)

Jacob from Long-Long Ago!

I found an old video I had from December 2006 of Jacob, when he was wee and tiny, and it makes me laugh to hear how he used to talk and how much he has grown! :)

The Duck Queen On Her Train

Molly and the Brownie

Last week, we went on our first camping trip of the year, and since I'm housesitting for T and J, I'm in charge of Molly so she came along to join in the fun! She proved to be a very good watch dog, not to mention an amazing bear dog... About an hour after we got there, I noticed she was perked right up, whining, staring straight across the river. We thought it was just birds at first, but she would not break her concentration for anything, so we checked it out, and sure enough, there was a little brown bear across the river! Not a baby...but not full-grown either. And the funny thing is, it only had 3 legs! Talking to another guy in the campground, I guess it's one that hangs out in that area a lot.

This wasn't the first exciting thing that happened on this camping trip...about 15 minutes after we got there, a helicopter came over the trees across the river, and proceeded to land in the middle of the campground, less than 40 yards from our tent! There were a couple Fish & Game guys in it who had gone out to check out the lake and streams and see how much of the ice had melted off already. They managed to blow up quite a bit of dirt in the process, so much that our campfire almost went out, and my contacts weren't the same for the remainder of the trip!

So it was definitely a very eventful camping trip, not to mention the weather was beautiful, sunny and around 70, which is better than most of the weather we had for the entirety of last summer! :)