Memory Lane

Last night I got to spend some time with one of my best friends and old roommate, Carrie (Left). She will be leaving to go home to Florida this weekend, and so we talked and watched a movie together for old time's sake. The movie was nothing profound--though we thought it was profoundly hilarious. Really, it was nice to spend a night with her and remember some of the good times we've had.

I've had really great roommates in college. Christina, on the right of this picture, is another wonderful girl with whom I have lived. That girl can make cookies, let me tell you. Even more than that, Chris has the great ability to love and help those around her.



Shaunna, my best friend from last year who is currently serving a mission in Puerto Rico, was another girl I missed last night. She was the catalyst that brought Carrie and I together. It all happened over some fun stories and a weekend trip to Las Vagas to hike Red Rock Canyon. From there, we were 3 amigas mejores, and Shaunananana had a great deal to do with that.

I figured out that in my college career, I have had 21 roommates. (Not that hard when you consider that I have lived several 6-girl apartments for the last three years). Each of those girls has been a good friend, and some of them have become even more dear to me.

Carrie is one of those one's I'm really going to miss. That girl can sure tell stories...and she's a great listener, too. She's one of the most beautiful people I know.
Word, G-money. Carrie Ann, this post is for you.

I Think It Says...

Here's the deal: every time I leave a comment on a blog, I have to screw up my eyes and ready myself for an IQ-esque quiz. What are those curvy, jumbled letters? xftnnmnvvwun is hard enough to read on a straight line, but when it's in different angles? I feel like I am in a test, and admittedly, I have failed. More than one time. I'm glad they give you a second chance to enter in that curvy code.

As a future educator, I appreciate the security--but more than that, I can't help thinking: What about accommodations for those with dyslexia?

And what about accommodations for those without? Well, I suppose it's great practice for reading the handwriting of some elementary school students. Who would've known that blogger security is just preparing me to be a better teacher?

"Fun way to get through work." 16 Letters.

Crossword Puzzles.

At work this week, I have been doing the daily "washingtonpost.com" crossword puzzles. My coworkers have been good about getting in on it and helping out. We've only had to "reveal" the extremely obscure answers.

Today I finished my crossword in record time. Under 5o minutes. Lest you think this is considerably slow, consider this: I do it while at work, so it's done during shorter breaks and intervals. And I don't look very much up on Google. I go through until I can't get another single thing before I will reveal any answer.

Having finished my puzzle rather early today, I sought out another crossword. I went into the lobby of my office to pick up a copy of the Daily Universe, which carries a version of the NYT crossword. To my dismay, there wasn't a single paper there. I looked around the lobby, and then...yes, that's right. You might call this true recycling. I reached into the "Newspaper Recycle" bin and grabbed out Tuesday's edition. There on the back page was the wanted puzzle. You should have seen the people at the front desk watch me reach into the recycling bin.

Obviously they aren't going green anytime soon. Come to think of it, I'm probably not either. But I will be re-recycling the puzzle after I am done with it.

Oh, and my favorite clue from this week of puzzles?

4 letters. "Abode, in the 'hood."

You called it.

Crib.

I have been toying with the idea of establishing a bank system in my classroom, and after deciding my class theme last week, I think I am going to do it. This is about what it will look like:

I have 15 specialized jobs in my class (Class President, Materials Specialist, Class News Correspondent, Class Sanitation Specialist, Class Library Technician, Class Store Merchant, etc) and 12+ Classroom Citizens.

Every Friday, students will receive checks for their job salaries; the amount thereof to be determined by the job title and duties listed on their business cards. After receiving their check, they will need to deposit some of it, pay homework late fees or buy new pencils, etc at our school store, and then they will have some extra "class cash" to use as they will. It will buy them some privileges in our classroom (these are still to be hammered out). They will learn to cash checks, balance their own check books, write checks, and handle cash and change.

Additionally, each day, the class accountant will be responsible for looking up the daily exchange rate from Yen to USD. Students will be paid in either currency....and will be responsible for doing multiplicative conversions.

At the end of each Friday, class roles will switch (so that the lucrative salary for Class Pres ($100) can then be given to the old Materials Assistant ($55).

That's the plan... I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Chinese Lanterns

And finally, Ta-da! I have found the theme for my classroom. After over a month of debating and weighing different ideas, last week I was browsing through the Utah State Curriculum for Social Studies, Grade 4. In the midst of standards on Utah's natural resources and erosion, I came across these little ditties:

"Standard 5
Students compare governments and economies of Utah and Japan."

"Standard 7
Students use geographical tools to analyze political and physical features of Utah, the United States, China, and Asia."

Utah and...Asia? Who would've thought?

Random, I know...and yet, so promising. Frankly, I would rather do a random theme that comes from the core curriculum than something completely arbitrary, such as frogs or crayons. Cute themes, to be sure--but I think the fourth graders might like Asia a little better.

I have already started looking for deals on Chinese lanterns. If anyone has some random Asian artifacts they are looking to give away, I would be interested in getting them for my class.

Perhaps the reason I am most excited for this theme is that I can pull in a lot of literature to integrate in to the theme. One of my favorite children's books, given to me by Aunt Janet, is Minyo and the Moon Dragon.

I think this is going to work out well. I also have some great plans for math integration...but more on that later. If you have any tips and suggestions, I will take them in a heartbeat.

6 Single Sisters

This is a recent photo from Memorial Day Weekend and my family beach trip: Heather, Me, Melinda (top) and Sarah, Michelle, and Trina (bottom). We held an epic photo-shoot on one of the evenings, and here is a picture I quite liked from the menagerie of poses.

It's my favorite because of this: just before Dad took the picture, I remember saying something like this: "And to document the remaining single sisters in the family...."

Just look at Trina's face. (Front Left)

I only wish I could take true credit for it...unfortunately, I think the sun had more to do with it than I did.

Classic, nonetheless.

The Second Day of the Rest of Your Life

My coworker, James, informed me that I have been neglecting to put titles to my blog posts. He's right, as always: James, this title is for you.

It's a title I quite enjoy, actually. My friend Sarah and I were talking about it this morning; what if yesterday really were the first day of the rest of your life? How does that change today? The first thing that makes me think of is how important this day is in light of yesterday, and how tomorrow will be woven from the pattern of today.

I have been thinking about the influence of daily progression recently.

Normally, I am not much of a list-maker for things like New Year's Resolutions. I think the last list I made of resolutions was when I was a "wise fool" back in high school at LCHS. The absence of my list doesn't mean that I am not looking towards goals, however. I integrate them in my own more thoughtful ways...not so much a check-list approach.

This summer, however, I am trying something new. My friend and roommate, Ashley, and I were talking about summer goals. Our old roommate Christina kept a paper with about 100 tiny bubbles on it, and she would fill in one bubble each day--it was a count-down to when she would get to see her boyfriend again after the summer. In discussing this, 'Shley and I decided that we would track with a different approach...we would make a paper chain of good things we had done each day until we met that goal. As soon as we'd said that, we decided to do it.

Our goal: A good, beneficial summer. The plan: Each day--as it goes in the premise--we will take a length of colored paper and write down something we've done that's constructive, beneficial, or positive. And yes--we've dubbed it the "Constructive Chain." Made from construction paper. We'll be signing the patent papers any day now. At the end of the summer, we'll have a visual journal entry, if you will--a length proving that the summer days have been good and made us better people.

It's been fun to see this summer as a season of building towards things. Already on my chain I have links that say:

Cleaned my room and did laundry (always a positive, productive event)
Went to the temple
Made dinner with a friend
Read a book

It's only been a few days...when I do more unique things to add to the linked length, I will let you know.

Enjoy the second day of the rest of your life. I hope the third makes you even happier.

Last Thursday I attended a Math Curriculum adoption meeting for the district in which I will be teaching fourth grade next year. It is the first time in 15 years they have adopted new math, and all the teachers were quite happy about the prospect of progression. The previous curriculum was a spiraled curriculum (meaning that the students got review of 4-5 math concepts per day, but it was difficult and next to impossible to teach cohesive math units), and so the teachers were overjoyed at the idea of chucking out the old Excel Program worksheets and getting this new curriculum. As I attended the meeting, I was excited to see the opportunities this new math will give me as a teacher.

Pearson Education has introduced a new curriculum, called Envision Math, that integrates technology into math education. It's the kind of curriculum that would have been nice to know about during college, when all my math teachers required technology integration into math lessons that were difficult to approach from anything but a pencil-paper standpoint. I was able to find some interactive math widgets for such lessons, but this program integrates games, songs, tutorials, and interactive manipulatives for every lesson, every student, and every unit.

The curriculum is brand-new: they have only a single year of testing it in some Las Vegas school systems, but I am excited to be using this in my classroom next year. Probably my favorite feature of the program is a student tracking website, where I can go and assign students a pretest online, they take it, and they get games and interactive tutorials based on the areas in which they were below-level. Each student gets specific intervention for some assignments, and their tracking site will be available through their entire progression through this math program. This means that a teacher in 5th grade will be able to see what their student's math history was in grades K-4 (providing they began the program in Kindergarten, of course). I also really like how the unit plans have recommendations for ELL, LD, and GT accommodations.

It's an exciting prospect to be able to teach with a new mathematics program. I will keep you updated on how it goes in the school year.

Oh...and if you're interested, they have a promotional video. Apparently, this curriculum is the magical solution to more than math problems. See their semi-cheesy promotional video here.

Does anyone else recognize the dad at the beginning of the video? He looks an awful lot like an old member of Divine Comedy's cast... interesting, as this program was created outside of Utah.

Planet Earth

While looking for a picture of a whale shark to put in this post, I came across a headline of an online article: "Whale Shark Research Divers Wanted in Costa Rica."

Yikes.

Don't get me wrong--I have actually always been fascinated by whale sharks. One of my early memories of reading is when I sneaked up to my dad's office one afternoon and raided his bookshelves (you never quite know what you'll find on those shelves. Anything from the Chronicles of Narnia to...well, just about anything. Ask siblings for some of the titles they've seen on those shelves, and you'll get a selection of genres rivaled by any library). That day, the book I found was about the deep ocean. I can still remember seeing that illustration of the whale shark, and the "average man" to scale in comparison. I was shocked--in my little girl mind, I had no idea that things in the ocean were that big. After all, Aaron had told me that the Giant Squid in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" wasn't real...so how could this be? But it was in a book, and they could describe what the whale shark ate, so I believed. My life was changed.

Since that time, I have been fascinated with the ocean. This passion was recently solidified in my discovery of the TV series, "Planet Earth." For an independent assignment in my Science Education class this last semester, Abi and I had a "Planet Earth" night. We watched, in awe, as we were thrown into a realm of cave-diving, bat colonies, ocean depths, and the fate of poor bait fish. Most impressive to me was the one on "Deep Ocean." Later, I watched this with my friend Casey, and he laughed at my reaction to the shots of the Giant Manta Rays. Those things are nine meters across--and I was fascinated and petrified. I know they don't eat you...but the sheer fact that, technically, they could probably fit you into their mouths....

For all my love of the deep ocean, I don't think I could ever scuba dive. The closest I'll get is either 20 yards from the shore, or sitting safe at home watching Planet Earth from a few hundred miles inland.

I recommend "Planet Earth" to any and all interested parties-- and it is the kind of thing that would make a great gift to students and teachers alike. You know...August is a pretty good month to think about giving things....

What do you mean, birthday?
,

Yesterday I had a conversation with my friend Abi about some of the vignettes of life that bring moments of pure joy. She shared with me some of hers, and gave me permission to post them:

"I like reading about or thinking about ideas that are bigger than I am."

"Sitting down and playing the piano without thinking about the notes--like my fingers are playing and I am listening. I like listening to myself play the piano--it's soothing. Almost as good (sometimes better) than a run." I love that.

"I love the feeling of being pleasantly surprised. I love turning in stressful assignments and never thinking about them again. I love the feel of the connection of a softbal l and the sweet spot of the bat--and then rounding first to see the outfielder still chasing it."


Here are a few glimpses of the little things in life that make me happy:

Sometimes the most amazing thing in the world is sitting on the bench outside with a bowl of ice cream and realizing that it is only getting better and better with each bite. The spoon scraping the bowl is proof that it's been a good day.

I love sitting by a fountain of water and having my fingers immerse themselves-- involuntarily--into the water. I find the cool freshness penetrating more than my skin; I am aware of nothing but clarity. The water gets inside of me, and I smile. My fingers play in the surface--then I dig deeper. I feel clean.

I love looking into a puddle after a rainstorm and seeking the sky at my feet: blue, scattered with clouds. It's nature's inversion.

In this beginning...

Here it is--I have finally started my own blog. Part of this stems from wanting to keep up with my tech-savvy and witty siblings, and part of this is experimental. I am considering doing a classroom blog with my elementary students next year. That means it's time to get into the system and work it all out.
As a rising teacher, I welcome teaching tips, advice, and funny stories anyone remembers from the classroom--either in front of the class or as part of it. Tell me about your favorite teacher, tell me you favorite book you read in school...these are the kinds of things that raise my excitement. I am passionate about learning. Maybe that is why I am becoming a teacher. Learning will define the rest of my life.
Not a bad way to go if you ask me.