Last week

This was our last full week in the schools. We still have one more day left on Monday. I can't believe how fast this month has gone. It seems like I just got in the schools and now it's over. This week was really fun. I got to take a lot of pictures of the kids and they loved it. Maybe I will try and out some up soon.

My lessons all went pretty well this week, well all except the one that we had during the fire drill. I did realize that it is important not to joke with first graders during a fire drill. We finally made it outside, got a head count, and then were heading back into the school when one of our kids turns to me and says, "It wasn't a real fire, nothing is even on fire". I turned and said, in what I thought was a sarcastic voice (first graders can't tell the difference) and said, "yeah, it is real. Can't you see everything is on fire?". The little kid behind her turns to me with freaked out eyes and says, "EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE??!!! OH NO!!!!". Then it spread down the line... that was my own bad!!

We also had another adventure when I was getting observed during one of my lessons. I call the kids back to the table and all of the sudden one of the other students in the class starts throwing up on lots of things, fortunately no people, but it was still gross. Fortunately I had a good lesson planned. I had a powerpoint prepared and they seem to love those. They are always so interested in what is on the computer. Fortunately the lesson went really well, despite the nasty throw up smell. OH how I am going to miss 1st grade!!

week 3 in school

Wow, I can't believe it's already been three weeks since I have been in the school. Everyday I have another confirmation that I am doing the right thing with my life. I love going to school and being with the kids. I do wish I could get a little more sleep, but since when is that different than anything else in life? This week I used a powerpoint presentation in one of my lessons and the kids absolutely loved it. Our teacher had never used one before, so it was a new experience for them. It really kept their attention and I will for sure be using it again!!

In our math class right now, we are creating our own math tasks. I just love math. Sometimes I don't like going to class because I am way too tired, but I still love the concepts. With this task that we are creating, I feel like I have stretched my brain. I love learning new things in math and creating new ideas!! Fortunately I get to teach math for a living!! I haven't taught a math lesson in the classroom yet, but I get to next week and I am really excited. Hopefully it goes great!

This weekend my little brother is coming to visit and I am so excited. Family is just the best thing ever!! I can't wait to get a hug from my brother, mainly because he is the best hug giver ever!! He won't be here for very long, but I still can't wait to see him. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I also got to talk to my older brother today, which was wonderful. We just chit-chatted about random things that we both love. It always makes me super happy to talk to my family!! What a blessing!! Right now, I feel good about life. I feel very close to my Heavenly Father. It's truly amazing what he can help us do in our lives. I feel, everyday, that he wants me to do better. What a blessing it is that we can pray to him and ask him for advice, strength, and comfort.

week two of the schools

First graders make me laugh. They are so honest, but only want to be honest in the most heartfelt ways. Today was a day full of some good laughs (especially because the kids were not trying to be funny). We had to have a discussion about our new president and how he can be the president of the USA if he's black. We also got to read some interesting stories like SkippyJonJones. They were great stories. I feel like the kids are starting to be more comfortable with me and I love it. There is one girl (ESL student) who will hardly ever open her mouth, but the more I try and help her, the more she opens up. She brought me a heart that she made all by herself. It's amazing how much a small piece of paper can make you smile.

I taught my first actual lesson this week and it went pretty well, to my surprise. The kids were a little routy, but it's first grade, what did I expect?? It was actually pretty enjoyable for me. I feel pretty comfortable in front of the class. I feel mostly comfortable, but still a little nervous. I assume it will take some getting used to. I think it would help if there weren't people observing me and taking notes on every move I made... oh well.

During my lesson this week, I got to use some of the great technology our school offers. I think they call it an Elmo Camera, or something like that. I talked about it a little bit in my last post but here's refresher. It's like an overhead, but way less complicated and way smaller. I put my book under this camera and followed along throught the story with the kids. All the pictures were in color, which was pretty awesome. I think it is more interesting for the kids to see the pictures in color, rather than just an overhead. I can also use this camera to zoom in, zoom out, or freeze a picture. I hope to have something like this in my own classroom, which coud be happening sooner than I thought.

This week we got to go to the computer lab, which was really nice. We don't have any computers in our classroom, so it was a great aopportunity for the kids. We actually started using them for math testing. They have a program in which the kids go through 30 problems and on each problem, they can read the problem or press a button to hear the recorded question. It's really helpful for ELL and ESL students.

First week in First grade

This week was my first week in first grade. I did not realize how much i would absolutely love it! I also didn't realize what first grade was like. I guess it has been a while since I've been there (like 15 years or so). This week we began our month longth expedition into the schools. I am in Mrs. Parker's class at Copperview Elementary School in Sandy, UT. Actually it might be in Midvale, I can't remember. Our school is a Title One School, but I'm not exactly sure what that means. I know we are in an area of low economic status and low income. About half of the kids in my class are ESL (English Second Language) students and many of them are hispanic. Because of the economic status of our school, we don't have the nicest school.
Despite the low status of our school, our school did just get remodeled and they inserted a lot of nice technological gadgets that are useful in the classroom. All of the classrooms are now equipped with microphones for the teachers. I think these are great ideas!! None of the rooms have overhead projectors anymore, but they do have these amazing devices (can't remember their names). They are cameras that connect to the display screen in the front of the class. No matter what you put under the camera, the students can see. It's very clear, easy to use, and in color. I am excited to try and use it.
I teach my first lesson on Monday and I get to use the Camera-View option. I am very excited to use it becuase it makes working with the kids really easy. I hope I don't have too many problems. We are going to be reading a story about Animals in the Cold. It should be interesting.
What I love about first grade right now is how eager the children are to learn. They also have this strong desire to make their teachers happy. They all want to show us their projects, read with them, play games with them, and be around them. It is amazing how happy I am when I am there. I thought that I would not really like first grade because of how young they were and because of how many basics I would have to teach them. After spending 3 days with them, my opinion has changed to the complete opposite. I love everything about first grade. I don't know if I necessarily want to teach it, but I know that it's a possibility. I love all the kids and I know most of their names already. They truly are sent from Heaven.

13 colonies

For IP&T this week, we created a tour on Google Earth. I decided to make my tour of some of the 13 original colonies (5th grade social studies, standard 1 obj. 1). I found out a lot of interesting information while doing this project about the different colonies. I also learned a lot about google earth. I found it interesting that I could put an image on top of the map that I was looking at. I also used the rule to measure different lengths between the colonies. I would use this tool in my classroom to teach the students about the different colonies and the order in which they developed. I think it would be a lot more interesting than just talking about it. I looked at one person's tour and they did different mountain areas in Utah - I thought this was a great idea, especially if you teach in Utah. Another group went through where Lewis and Clark traveled. I thought it was interesting how they marked the path they followed. All of these can help children be more excited about learning.

Not Halloween

My mom used to play this game with us when we were younger and we had to pick our Hero of the day and say why they were our hero. I've been thinking of this game a lot lately, but I'm not sure why. Anyways, today I thought I would share who my Hero was for the day. Actually, I had two. The first one is Tara - she finished my cleaning checks for me. She said if I tried to mop the floor, she would steel my crutch. Mopping is quite the task for me, so I was so very grateful that she helped me finish. My other Hero is Shu - she called this morning to ask if I needed any help with my cleaning checks!! How nice! I truly have wonderful friends. Oh man, I have another Hero, I just remembered. Jen (roommate Jen) is my other hero because she is so brave!!

Last night was "Not Halloween", or in other words it was a day to celebrate the holiday, but not on the actual holiday. We did this last year a couple of times with some of our guy apts and we loved it. So we decided to carry on the tradition this year. We had quite the full apartment, but it was really fun to carve pumpkins.

Tara and I were partners for part of the night and we had some creativity blocks. We decided to do what we always do "heartcha". Nate and Shu came (which was wonderful) and our current roommates came as well. It was really fun and we had a great time. Adam stopped by for a little bit as well. Then Jen and Derrick showed up with baby Zach. Then our roommates had some of their friends come. There ended up being about 12 or 13 people here. It was a great night.

Update

So it's been a while since I've written something other than a School post, so I thought I would gie a little non-school update. It has been a little over two weeks since my knee surgery and things are going pretty well. I am so grateful for my mom, my dad, and my sister. I could not have gone through this surgery without them. It was a little bit more intense than I thought, but it worked out. I could not have done it without my family. I can't even express my grattitude!! My knee is healing and it seems to be healing pretty well. I am still in a pain and I'm having trouble sleeping, but it's still not too bad. The scar is the biggest I've ever had and it is looking pretty good. Here is a picture - I know, it's lovely! It actually looks a lot better when the tape has come off - which most of it has. The scar (8 inches long) is not as gross as I thought it would be, so I'm pleased. All in all, I'm healing well. I have been pretty limited in my activities, which is to be expected. However, i'm not letting it get me down (most of the time :)). I have been at home a lot and sleeping a LOT, but I figure it's a good thing.

This weekend was a great weekend. Tara and I went on two double dates, with the same guys, both Friday and Saturday night. We have just found this foursome to be so great. We all feel really comfortable around each other and we all have a really great time when we hang out. On Friday we were at our apartment and we ate dinner, played clue (I won - and cheated), and then watched a movie. Saturday was a GREAT day. I slept in until 10, talked to Jen on skype (heart you), read Breaking Dawn (again, I know, but I just can't resist Edward), watched Chuck, and THEN I took a two and a half hour nap. I was just oging to close my eyes really quick (3:19). Tara jumped in the shower and I was going to wake up when she got out. At 6:10, Tara tells me we are leaving to go to a movie in 45 minutes. So my short little nap turned out to be HUGE!!! Oh well - I liked it. Then we went and saw Wall-E. It was a good movie, but I was a little distracted... not by the cute guy I was sitting next to, but by my knee that hurt incredibly bad. Usually I keep my leg up and when I do, I feel a lot better. After sitting in the movie theater for 30 minutes, my leg hurt. And it hurt the rest of the time. Oh well, it was still a good movie.

Sunday was a great day as well. We had what I like to call a "Powerhouse Sunday". We had three great talks in Sacrament meeting and two great lessons in Sunday school and Relief Society. I love Sundays like these, the ones that make you want to dive into the scriptures and turn your heart to the Lord. I want to somehow make that happen every Sunday. I'm working on it. The rest of my Sunday was spent with friends. How blessed am I to have such wonderful friends!! I had the best time with my wonderfulo roommate Tara. We often talk about how blessed we are that the Lord lead us to be roommates. We always have such a wonderful time when we are together. There is never a dull moment. Yeah I know, great picture!!

We are discussing options of living together forever... well, actually just a little longer than we first thought. We want to live somewhere in Utah (maybe, not provo though) while I do my student teaching. Jen is going to come live with us again as well. Finally we will all be reunited!!

What a great weekend!