Sunday, November 23, 2008

Gator Game 2008

Yesterday, our friend Sam got Ian and I tickets to the last home game for the 2008 season. Though we were positive it was going to be a blow out game, (and it was,) we went and had a wonderful time!

On our walk to the stadium, which was between 2-3 miles long, a limo pulled up next to us and offered to drive us the rest of the way for 20 bucks. Sam plopped down the 20 and we hopped into the limo, and arrived at the stadium in style!


I spent some of the time playing around with my camera, testing out the "action" mode, and working on focusing on objects near or far, so some of the shots may not be very interesting, but they were just me having some fun!






















Saturday, November 22, 2008

As promised....

Pictures of my classroom- post clean up! Click here to see the pictures of the classroom Pre cleanup.
My school, the front office!

From car line, into the school.
The outside of my quad, my room is right betwen the trees.

The field that I let my kiddos run in whenever they seem like they have too much energy. It's right outside of my door.

Small group reading center- where the magic happens. Or, the learning, whatever.

My Lesson Prep table, with all of the materials I will need for then ext day or two. We're starting a chemical testing lab and it requires quite a bit of set up.

The desks, grouped in sixes, except for the middle table, which has an empty 7th desk on it.
The beautifully clean book cases, wiith all of the book spines facing one way. That empty counter/top of book case, will be our "science center," with plants and rocks and magnifying glasses eventually.
The bookcase nearest my desk, with all of my children's books I have collected over the years.
The front of my desk, with their incentives sheet. Right now, they are getting a sticker for each night they have their planner signed.
My chair and calendar behind my desk. I'm still working on my pictures back there. Since I don't have a printer I had to take what I already had printed. A picture of Katie R and I in England, and a picture of the Alderman children (minus Foofy) after ice skating. If anyone asks, I say/fib that they are my cousins. It's just easier that way. ;)

My file next to my desk. Each child has 3 different files that things have to be placed under, so having it by my desk instead of in the filing cabinent, is alot handier.


My desk, with a desk calendar (for 2009,) my plan book, open to this week's plan, my basket of miscellaneous items, a picture of Ian and I, until I get my wedding pictures printed, and, best of all, my bell.
The bulletin board behind my desk with the monkey cut outs for the jobs around the classroom. They haven't gotten very good at them yet.


Spelling words, "the land of G" paper (for gallon/quart/pint/cup conversion) and my beloved whiteboard. I am a little "anti chalkboard" because of my allergies and my student's allergies. So, during the day, I use the whiteboard, and only write on the chalkboard what is staying up there for awhile.
The alphabet line, with V W X, Y Z added, finally. The employee at the teacher supply store gave my husband a discount once he heard the story, haha.

My board, with the overhead projector semipermanently unplugged. I have never heard of using a projector with 3rd graders. It's so odd. I will use it for somethings, but not often. Also, our rotation/grouping charts, my stool, and the yellow behavior chart.
In the reading corner, the pillows to sit on, and the bookshelf with some thirdgrade appropriate books. These kids aren't the best readers and most of them are nowhere near reading a chapter book. Sad, I know.
The reading corner, with the big blue chair, and my rocking chair. Also the filing cabinent which we use because it is magnetised.

The chalkboard in the reading center where we do a graph of somesort every day. Monday is a Venn Diagram asking them which food they will have on Thanksgiving, Ham, or Turkey. They each have a red circle with their name on it and a magnent on the back, and will have a chance to come up and place it in the appropriate place.My Falling Into Reading bulletin board. Each time they get a 100 on their Accelerated Reader test (a program that creates 5-10 question quizzes on books from the library) they get their name and book title on a leaf. These are all just from this week!
The computer center that my lovely husband cleaned up for me, it was a mess before, trust me!

The built in that is still the messiest part of the room, but I don't really have a place to put all of her things that she left, so there it is.
The social studies center, their favorite, yay! Each day they get their folder out of the blue box on the left, and a book (which I have checked out of the library and layed out) on a particular state, they read for 10 minutes on that state, then they write 3 facts and draw a picture. They have learned so much! We learned about Florida, Georgia, and Alabama this week. Also, each morning we read and correct sentences about a president, this week it was George Washington and John Adams.
Again the social studies center, with the MASSIVE purple boxes with all of the supplies for just this chapter of science.
The back counter, still a work in progress......

But it looks MUCH better doesn't it?

Pile of junk mainly, except for my AWESOME math addition cards that my Daddy found for me at a Garage Sale. We use those almost every day. Thanks daddy!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

You better Sit your bottom down....

because this could be a long post!

Or, that could be my favorite new catch phrase.

That, and "What? I am SURE no one is talking to me or asking me questions while I am in line! No way is anyone doing that!" which is repeated about 2 dozen times a day.

That's right, I am officially a teacher.

I know alot of people wanted to read my first day account of what happened, but, honestly, I can't remember much. I remember that the kids were shocked to see their room rearranged and dust free (shocker!) and that there was alot of "but that's not how Mrs. xxxx does it!" but other than that, nope. Not much of a memory.

The past four days have been quite an adventure. I have had to follow through with plans that were left for me and integrate my own into the curriculum. I have had to establish rules and routines that the kids need to follow. Sure, there have been alot of tears (by the kids, not me. Wait, I don't know if that's better or worse), but, only four days in, and my kids were nearly angels today. They seem to have really grasped onto how I am running things.

I will tell you, my biggest concern is homework. These kids, they just don't do it! AND their parents send in lame excuses for why their child didn't do homework. Since when is saying "My child did not do their homework because I had to take his sister to cheerleading practice," an acceptable excuse!?! Or, my favorite "My child does not have his homework because I threw it away." What? Really? You threw your kids homework away. hmmm. Sounds like johnny didn't do his homework, you forgot to ask, and by the time you realized, you were driving johnny to school. So lame.

I don't even give that much homework either. It's usually about 15 minutes of spelling practice a night. That's it. All I have to say is, when they fail their spelling test tomorrow, I WILL be sending a note home saying "Gee. Looks like your laziness has paid off."

Or, maybe not.

Maybe something more politically correct like "Johnny has failed his spelling test, please sign and return acknowledging that you have reviewed the test, and his study habits with him. Also, according to my records, Johnny did 1 out of his 4 assigned homeworks. Perhaps this explains the low test score. Please encourage Johnny to complete his homework nightly."

Yeah, that sounds better.

Anyways.

I have so much more to tell you, but, since I am trying to reach my 100 posts goal, I will save those for later.

Pictures to come tomorrow!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

How About Some Nervous Energy?

Tomorrow, is the big day.

I mean, the BIG day.

I finally have my own classroom.

And my own class.

I certainly did not expect things to turn out this way.

I certainly did not WANT things to turn out this way.

Certainly not.

But they did.

And God has blessed me now with a classroom, after a lot of tears and prayers and "Why God's?"

I still do not know "why," but that is alright.

_____________________________________________

Ian and I spent the afternoon up at the school cleaning and rearranging. And by cleaning, I mean making it an actual livable space.

When Ian cleaned the blinds, it looked like a magna doodle, the difference between the clean and the dirty part. Disgusting.

Dead bugs were found in all sorts of intersting places. Gross.

And then, when Ian was hanging my alphabet line above the chalkboard, he dropped U, V, and W behind the chalkboard. Tragic.

I told him he could buy me a new one. And he will.

So the room is Kind of ready for tomorrow. The back three tables are littered with things that still need to be organized and put away, but if you stand in front of those and look forward, the room looks GORGEOUS.

But, sad to say, I won't post pictures until it's all the way done, which will probably be at the end of this week.
_________________________________________

So, I am going to use up my nervous energy around the house, which, despite some people's opinion, is sadly neglected. It's the truth.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Banana Pudding Anyone?

About a week or two ago, I decided to try making banana pudding from scratch.

Which, sounded easy to me, turns out, not so much.


Here are some/most of the ingredients I was told I needed. Note the egg separator on the counter. It took me awhile to dig that baby out, and to exactly figure out what to do with it.


This is my version of a double boiler, because that's what Rachel Ray said to do, and, I don't have a double boiler (nor see a need to own one if this contraption works.)

This is me "continously stirring" the ingredients in the double boiler. The directions said that it would become custard like in 10-12 minutes......
35 minutes later I am still stirring. No custard.

This is my DELICIOUS soap that Mrs. Angela gifted me on my last surprise visit. She has a storehouse of this particular flavor and wanted to pass on the obsession, I believe. I think it worked. Who doesn't like smelling like peppermint during the holidays?!?
I got bored with taking pictures and bored with stirring, so after 45 minutes of stirring (it had started to clump slightly around 25 minutes) I gave up and just poured it in the dish with the bananas and nilla wafers, and cooked it. Turned out great! Well, it was VERY custardy, which, it turns out, is a texture I am not very found of. But Ian looooooved it, and pretty much devoured it for days, until I threw it out due to the disgustingness of the bananas at that point.
Give me good ol' Sonny's banana pudding any old time.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Goodbye Retail World

At least for now!

Today was my last day at the book store, and although I am very sad that we will not be getting my AMAZING employee discount, I am super excited to move on to bigger and better things.

Like starting teaching in 5 days!!

I go in on Thursday to substitute, then Monday, I start for real. That is, as long as the teacher doesn't go into labor before then. Otherwise, I'll be starting tomorrow, or Thursday, or Friday!

And now I am off to bed because my eyes are drooping and the house is cold.

Also, certain people on the Biggest Loser are insane.
And, I am very happy with this week's outcomes.
That is all.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Boo-lated Halloween

haha, I crack myself up!

We spent Halloween with a friend of mine from high school, Kelly, and her boyfriend Kean. We ate dinner and watched The Office, then dug into our "non competitive," pumpkin carving time. Ian and I decided on a batman theme, since I had done Transformers the year before and it had turned out pretty well! Kelly and Kean decided on doing a fancy University of Florida logo. They both turned out great!
I also had a fun time handing out fistfulls of candy to the trick or treaters....being "the cool apartment," is alot of fun!