Preschool!

Davis started preschool. He LOVES it! He might be a little bit like his daddy, because he LOVES to learn absolutely everything he possibly can! So the first day was an open house, and we all went together to look at the school and get to know everything. Honestly, he was grumpy when we left, because he WANTED to just start learning BY HIMSELF already. But then it was better when the first day came.

 This is how excited he was for the first day!

This is his progress report. Teachers love kids who are enthusiastic! It does pretty good for a Mom's heart to see how well he is doing!

First day of preschool!

I helped to organize a little preschool with some friends from my ward, and elsewhere in Idaho Falls. They meet once a week for an hour and a half, and there are 8 kids. Davis LOVES to have time to hang out with his friends! Here he is on the first day of preschool!

Yep, he's a pretty cute kid!

Preschool!

This little champ went to preschool today. I asked him if I could take his picture, and he said yes. When I told him to smile, I got this:

He also wanted to go have his picture taken with Alvin and Damian, his two buddies. This is what I got.

Yes, Alvin has a bucket on his head. Yes, they are 3 year olds! But they are pretty cute and I am glad that Davis has good friends.
Here are some of the questions that Davis asked me about preschool:

• Will you drop me off?
• Will Curious George be there? (we read a book about Curious George's first day of school, and he REALLY wanted Curious George to be there)
• Will Thomas be there? (Because we can't go anywhere without Thomas!)
• Will they have books?

It was a raging success though! Davis loved it and had so much fun! Yay!

While Davis was gone, Reagan and I went to go see her Daddy at his school:

She is our snuggle bug!

An essay for my future self

On parenting . . . .

There have been several things that I have learned from my years as an educator on parenting.  I have seen many many good examples of things that parents can do to help their children continue to be successful, and become successful adults and contributing members of society.  I have also seen many examples of things that should NOT be done in order to create successful individuals.  In fact, some of these things would most likely only create criminal-type behaviors in your people.  Here are some of my examples.

As a parent, DON'T:

• Allow your children to have a TV in their bedroom
• Allow your children to have a computer with internet access in their bedroom
• Allow children to go to bed with their cell phone
• Blame teachers for mistakes that your children make, i.e. leaving their cell phone on and having it ring in class.  That is the children's fault--not the teacher's!
• Believe everything that teenagers and young adults say.  They don't MEAN to lie.  It is unintentional.  They are just trying to save face.
• Assume that your child is perfect in every way, and would never DREAM of doing anything bad.

As a parent, DO:

• Give teachers the benefit of the doubt, until you know the full story.  Usually, the teacher's story is much different from the student's story.
• Instill in your children a thirst and love of knowledge.  Encourage them to attend school and learn all that they can.
• Help your children to become good citizens that are appropriate in most circumstances.
• Teach your children to be polite.
• Teach your children the value of good friends, and make sure that they choose the right people to hang out with.  The value of friends is so influential on a child's life!

A FABULOUS trip!

I went to Boston last week with a bunch of other History teachers from my school.  Boston is a great place, full of tons of historical sites.  Here are some highlights (in no particular order):

 Coming into Plimoth Plantation.  We had a lot of fun exploring there!

 The rebuilt Mayflower II

 With the Patriot and British soldier at the North Bridge, where Lexington and Concord started

 Henry David Thoreau's statue reading an iPad.  We think we are funny.  We actually went to Walden Pond with him.  My mom says I need to get a grip on reality.  I know he is dead, but it was really a reenactor.

 The U.S.S. Constitution, which is the oldest working ship in America

I had the opportunity to weave, which I have never done.  I now understand why my mother wants to have a loom.  It is a very cool thing to do!

Going back East

For Spring Break, I went with the other history teachers in my school district back East to visit Civil War sites.  This year is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which is somewhat of a big deal.  It was VERY cool to go see those sites with 24 other American History teachers who were just as interested in them as I am.  A WHOLE WEEK of geekiness!  What could be more fun?  I had my SLR camera with me, and had fun taking some awesome photos.  I took a ton of pictures!  Here are just SOME of the highlights . . .

I know that the bus in back is kind of lame, but the canons in a line are kind of cool.

A statue to honor Abraham Lincoln and his visit to Richmond, VA after the Union won.  The entire city was burned to the ground from the Southerners deciding that they wanted to get rid of their cotton.  It was quite devastating to the president, because he knew that he had to put the country back together.

The land fought in at Petersburg.

In Ford's Theater, by the box President Lincoln was shot in.

At Antietam

A canon at Gettysburg

My favorite picture ever, at the Gettysburg cemetery. 

The Civil War soldiers at Fort McHenry

On my free night in Alexandria, I met up with Colby and Maria.  Hooray for family!

Colby and I are remembering where we parked.  Yes, we are goofballs!

Eating like Pilgrims

I have wanted to do this for a few years, and we finally decided to swallow the price and do it.  We went to Thanksgiving Point to their Eat Like a Pilgrim celebration.  It was fantastic!  We got to try some fabulous Pilgrim dishes, such as Corn Pudding, and some not-so-fabulous Pilgrim dishes, such as Stewed Pumpkin.  The only utensils that we had was a knife and a spoon.  What a riot!  Chris got to fire the Pilgrim musket, which was tons of fun.  We sang a pilgrim song before eating, and said a Pilgrim prayer on the food.  Chris got to try oyster (I passed), and pet animals.  I got to enjoy talking with my friends that I went to Montana with last summer.  They were helping out with the extravaganza.  If anyone gets a chance to go in the future, I totally recommend it!  Next time, I will take my camera so that I have pictures to show for it!

Lewis and Clark

I got the chance to go to Great Falls, Montana last week with the other U.S. History teachers in my district as part of the Teaching American History grant.  I had a fantastic time!  It was fun to be with other teachers, who have the same dorky things that they are interested in, and find our more about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Here are highlights of the week:We rafted the Missouri River.  It was amazing to know that Lewis and Clark went against the current on their way to the Pacific Ocean!

It was a great ride.  On our first ride, we stopped for lunch at the side of the river, which was beautiful.  One of the great things in the place was a three-sided outhouse, that had "Lewis and Clark Urinal" engraved on the back.

We saw the Great Falls of Great Falls, Montana

We went on a tour of the portages, and also the place where Lewis and Clark had to make a decision about which river to use.  I tell you what--they were tough!  That portaging was a TON of work!

We also went to Fort Benton, and had an awesome guide.  He was dressed up like a mountain man, and told us about how the mountain men were friends with the Indians, because they sold the Indians goods.  Very cool.

We saw the bison from the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.

Another rafting trip:

We saw the Buffalo Jump at Buffalo Jump State Park.  OK, crazy story!  So the tribes of Indians would appoint a teenage boy to lead the buffalo off the cliff!  There was a BIG chance that he would die in the process!  Wow!  We also played some great Indian games there.

And we went to the Lewis and Clark Expedition Festival.  We thought it was going to be WAY bigger than it was, but it was still cool.  We saw people telling us about stuff like the weapons used by Lewis and Clark, old canoes, and Native American dances.

OK, now the funny part of the story.  In Great Falls, there is a bar called the Sip 'n Dip.  It is located at a hotel, and they have girls dress up as mermaids and swim in the pool.  They also have an 85-year-old lady, named Piano Pat, who comes to play the organ.  It is funny.

Anyway, a very cool trip.  I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.  But, like always, it is good to be home!

I get to teach today!

I have had student teachers for the past few months, and I still have them, but today, I get to teach 2 classes!  It is funny how excited I am!  I really haven't done this in a while, and I am introducing the Culminating Project on traveling in the 1850s in America.  I'm the one who did one of these, so I will teach on how to do it!  Yay!

OK, what does that mean?

The post about "Kids Learn About Immigration" is to promote a project that I am doing for my class that I need a little bit of money for.  If you are interested, go ahead and click on it!  Thanks

Come to D.C. with me!

I said that I would never do this . . . but it was far too tempting.  If I get 15 kids to sign up, I can get a free trip to Washington D.C.  And if I get 30, Chris can come with me.  But right now, it is not looking so good.  We have 6 signed up.  So, if you or anyone you know is interested in traveling to Washington D.C. from April 5-10, go to this site and register.  The trip number is 30247.  Come!  Come!  It will be fun!  The cost is only $1861, which I know sounds like a lot, but really isn't.  You only need to deposite $99 to register!

New car, New hair, and One year!

A lot has been going on lately, so here is the long and short of it . . .

New car: A week ago, Chris and I went shopping for a new car.  We went to the Larry H. Miller dealership in Murray, because we saw that they had a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid that was exactly the same color as the wrecked Honda Civic Hybrid.  We had to take Chris's brother with us, because Chris was still recovering from his surgery.  We drove it, and loved it, so we bought it.  We actually like it a lot!  There have been a lot of improvements on the newer model, most significantly, a built-in navigation system.  We think that is a very cool thing, since we are both directionally impaired.

Here is my handsome husband posing with the new car!

New hair: I decided that I am sick of having to get my hair dyed every 6 weeks or less, so this time that I went, I actually had it dyed my natural color.  I have wondered for years what that would look like!  It actually isn't too remarkable, which is a good thing!  It is also healthier and I think it will be easier to manage long term! It is actually, surprisingly enough, not that different.  I have not received any comments on it yet, which I guess is a good thing.

One year: Chris and I celebrated that tomorrow is a year from the day that we met today.  We went to PF Chang's for dinner, and got, quite possibly, the best meal that I have ever had at that establishment.  One year down, with many to go!  We really did have fun reminiscing about a year ago and how we both felt after meeting each other at Gloria's Italian restaurant in Provo.

In other news, I counted up my total number of students in my classes, and I have a whopping total of 242!  Wow!  How in the world am I really supposed to teach them all?  I think that most of my time this year will be spent on classroom management, which is too bad, since I have a lot of other stuff that I would like to do too!

Stick a fork in me, cuz I am done!

The good news of the day is that I finished my endorsement for gifted and talented education! I got my practicum done, and, as soon as my grades get posted on BYU, I will be able to get the endorsement AND a lane change! I am so excited! I don't have to go to class any more, and I get more money! Yippee!

Good news!

My good news of the day . . . I got my grade back for the class that I was taking while we were engaged. Despite the fact that I was MAJORLY distracted during the class, I got an A!!! I am very excited about that. I was really expecting a C, but I passed with flying colors. I am now completely sure that the teacher did not read my papers that I turned in, because they were pretty much a load of crap!
But the bad news is that Tina is in Park City at a conference while Chris is working in Provo. It is our first time apart in the two months that we have been married . . . and we have to do it for three nights! I am sure we will survive, but it will be close. My conference is about Literacy and I am learning a lot of good information for next year, but I just wish Chris could be here too. I would really like to clone one of us so that we could still be together!

Summer starts tomorrow!

I cannot express enough how excited I am for summer; the last day of school is tomorrow! A few days ago, I had a parent cuss at me, and then flip me off. It was then that I decided not to deal with school any more! Chris will be teaching summer school for June and July, but I will not. However, trust me, I will be busy. I need to:
1) Finish up my last 25 hours of my Practicum for gifted and talented education. It was INSANITY to complete 75 of the 100 hours while being engaged. So I need to finish it all up.
2) Go to the Jeff Wilhelm institute in Park City from June 15-19. We had a meeting about it yesterday, and I am excited because we are going to talk about how to better teach reading. I think that it will just refresh my teaching excitement. The problem is, it is in Park City, and Chris can't come with me until Thursday night because he is doing summer school that week.
3) Do Bright Ideas for another part of my gifted and talented Practicum in July. The coordinator says that it is a really good way to get that done.
4) Do scrapbooks of the wedding (and maybe more?)
5) Do thank you cards
6) Meaningful scripture study
7) Exercise
8) Cook good summer food
9) Play with my niece and nephew-- and my brother and sister-in-law too!
10) Redo lesson plans for next year-- I am going to have 4 different classes to prepare for, which is craziness! But I found out today that the district is allowing us to do a lane change, so that is good! See what I get for doing Gifted and Talented?

So, yeah, I have a lot to do! It should be good!

David McCullough

We went to see a fabulous lecture in the tabernacle a few weekends ago. David McCullough spoke to Utah-area History teachers. It was wonderful! To hear the speech, try this link.
After hearing David McCullough, we did a session at the Salt Lake temple. Doing a session there is always great, but it seemed especially fantastic.

In other news, we got our pictures back from the Georgia open house. Here they are! The password is Chris

I think I might make it

What is the alternative, right?

Right now, I have a lot going on. I have to finish my practicum, and we are presenting on May 13th. I have to log 100 hours, which is kind of stressing me out. I am also having two observations in the next couple of weeks, which is bad timing because: 1) I am done with school, and 2) so are the kids. We shall see how that goes. I also found out that I have a history cohort meeting on Thursday of next week, which is bad news. It is on a B day, which means I will have no prep, and my Gifted and Talented class is on that day, and it is in the middle of my Practicum.

I also need to go to the Social Security office sometime and change my name. They close at 4. Great!

In other news, go to this site to see pictures of the Georgia open house. We are still waiting on the wedding pictures. I have seen a couple of them, though, and they are good!