Families Can Be Forever

This is the picture collage I currently have on my desktop. I love that Cummings Clan.

From the Profundity Club

I found something I wanted to share with people who feel that finances may be low and times may be down...

Here's a post from "The Profundity Club."

And confusedly enough, my pseudonym is Gideon Merridew...

Pancakes and Peach Jam

This morning I had Melinda and Michelle over to breakfast. We made food which, while not exactly healthy, was quite scrumptious. Pancakes with white chocolate chips and walnuts (with syrup or peach jam on top--jam courtesy of Gpa Bezzant's peaches and Jenny's instructions), an omlette with ham and cream cheese in the fold, and some orange juice and bananas.

I wasn't even hungry for lunch...which was nice because we finished the morning off by going to the Dollar Theatre in Provo after. We saw Wall-E and I loved it!

Then I cut Melinda's hair... I will have to get a picture of her and get the polls on it. Just shoulder length with some layers and front tapering... pretty much the extent of my abilities, but we had fun. She got about 2-3 inches chopped accordingly.

It's fun to see siblings. I can't wait to catch up with Jenny, Nathan, and Baby Isaac now. Hopefully tomorrow will facilitate.

"Give me excess of it...

Not just of music-- but of the chance to read! The book I have chosen for these precious UEA days is the well-known Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. After going through books for at least 45 minutes, I chose this novel for a few reasons. First of all, I have never actually read Tolstoy, and I have heard from at least two very reliable sources (Katy and Michelle) that this is the kind of book I would enjoy. Secondly, the first line of the book is this: "All happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Talk about me being caught by a literary hook! My third reason is perhaps more mercenary than I would like....but I found an edition for 5 dollars, and to get 709 pages for 5 dollars is a big thing for a college student/ first-year teacher like yours truly. So Anna Karenina, here we go....

I do quite like reading. It is such a fun experience. I am like about 68% of my students-- they can't wait for SSR.

I feel so productive so far...on everything except lesson planning, of course. But I did go shopping yesterday, did clean, and finally turned in my application for Graduation in April (where, incidentally, I ran into cousin Mark Driggs. His wife and two daughters are doing very well). Things are starting to fall into place.

I also met my new roommate yesterday. Tiffany has been teaching 3rd grade at a Charter School in Orem the last two years, and this year she wants to lessen her commute by moving closer. What will my apartment be like with two teachers, you might ask? Well, if there were more space, it would probably be creativity central. Right now, it's mostly just... work central? That sounds fairly boring, I know...

I am going to the opera tomorrow night with my roommate Ashley, though. Don Giovani, to be precise. Another first for me; the only opera I have attended is "La Boheme" my freshman year. Now that I am a super-senior, it's time to get cultured again.

And to start lesson-planning. That is my next order of business....

Thank you, Utah.

Next week, on Thursday and Friday, Utah has UEN days-- for students, it's Fall Break! I confess to be excited for the respite. As tempting as it is to take some of my only days off and go to professional development seminars, I am beginning to succumb to the thought of staying home...and doing some things that normal people do... like sleep until seven am. Go to the bank and deposit my paycheck. Plan next week before next week happens. Go jogging. Make cinnamon rolls. Return my overdue library books. Visit family. Clean more than the kitchen--actually getting into the corners. Maybe even--gasp--read a book.

Two days.. the possibilities are excitingly tempting. Any good ideas for a fun read? I am going to the library anyways to give them back their books on China....

Success!

First, I must say that Planet Earth's "Ocean Deep" was a success. The fourth-grades in my classroom have already merited two more teacher compliments which count toward the next episode. I think we will be watching "Caves" next week!

Last night Jenny, Nathan, Grandpa Bezzant, my two roommates, Dan and I went to the BYU Choral Showcase to see Melinda in Women's Chorus. It was good to be back in the HFAC's de Jong Concert Hall--though it made me miss being on the other end of the stage. Women's chorus is one of the keenest pleasures I had in college, and I miss it. It was good to see Melinda in the choir, though. She came over just before her concert to get ready, and we shared some Balsamic Chicken Salad. I just love my family! It was so good to see Dan as well.

Tonight is the General Relief Society Broadcast. I am excited to go--this General Conference season is my favorite part of Fall. My roommates and I will attend a Stake Luncheon before the broadcast, and then we will attend the conference in the Marriot Center. Afterwards, the plan is to go to "Color Me Mine" and paint some of our own pottery. I am excited to spend the afternoon with them, as one of my roomates will be moving out by the first of next month. It will be good to spend some time together.

I am excited, yet can hardly believe, that October is only three days away! That means Christmas is less than three months away, though. I can't wait. Christmas at my home in VA is a lovely thing to see, indeed.

Sleepy Wednesday

Today was a full day. Apparently there can be two Mondays in one week; my students proved it today. I am hoping that tomorrow is like yesterday; it was a fun day and we had a lot more involvement in the lessons.

I have had some fun doing some quick assessments on my students this week. We are learning plotting coordinate pairs by putting points on a graphing plane. Yesterday and today we had "mystery pictures" that could only be revealed if they followed complete instructions and connected the right lines. We did an outline of Utah and a 3-d image of a house on the coordinate plane...and within about ten seconds, I could tell which ones weren't with me. I have been stressing the importance of following instructions in several of my routines (i.e., in my Morning Math Problem, I will show five plotted points and ask them to name THREE. Even with it underlined, they still don't read that I only want three points named...so I give them a "way to go, I am glad you can find all the coordinates, but I can only give you points if you followed all the directions." I think it is starting to sink in.

This is an interesting group to teach. None of them have ever worked with a textbook before (their math last year was primarily worksheets and packets, through a spiraled curriculum called "Excel Math") so I have been learning to teach skills like finding the directions to the problem set, how to organize the paper on which you write your answers...even how to navigate certain pages. It is quite the experience.

That's what's new... I love my work, and I am pretty energy-less by 4pm. Catch me on a Saturday at about 7 am...then I'll be a little more alert. Gone are the days of sleeping in, but I am kind of liking the targeted bedtime of ten o'clock.

Looks like tonight I am 18 minutes past curfew. Time to go to sleep.

Oh! But not before announcing, proudly, that my students earned the privilege of watching their first Planet Earth of the year! I'll let you know what they think.