Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

MN Timberwolves Library Dedication

This past Monday was a very special day at one of the schools I teach at.  Last spring our school was selected by the Timberwolves' Fastbreak Foundation to receive a library makeover.  Over the past few weeks several members of the Timberwolves office staff spent hours and hours at our school, painting the library and putting together the new shelving and then re-stocking the library books on the shelves.   The walls are the blue, green and white of the Timberwolves plus we got giant wall decals with the current Timberwolves players.  Everything looks amazing!

Monday was the big celebration, with the Timberwolves people (along with school district administration) coming out to help us celebrate.  A couple of the Timberwolves players were supposed to be there also but were running late from that morning's practice.  They finally showed up after it was over and signed a few autographs.  The organization has promised to bring the players back when they can come, but with the start of a brand-new season, it may be awhile before that happens, we'll see.

 

 

Crunch, the Timberwolves mascot was also along for the fun and even helped act out the book that was read aloud, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. It was great!! 

 

After the celebration Crunch insisted he have his picture with me. Too bad I was in the middle of saying something when this photo was taken, I look like a big dorkis.

 

If you'd like to read the Timberwolves article about the project, read here.

Thank you Minnesota Timberwolves!!!!

It was a HOT one last week

Warning: Long post ahead!

To say last week was hot is an understatement.  Especially when its 90'+ and you go a week without A/C in your house.  The condenser blew and it needed to be replaced with a whole brand-new unit.  An expensive one (of course!), which we were not able to have installed immediately.  I am grateful to have great neighbors with cold houses who gave us refuge from the heat in the evenings up until bedtime.  There were way too many sleepless nights with having a bedroom on the third floor and afternoon sun beating down on it, making it at least 100'.  Fans didn't do anything but blow hot air around.  I was so dang miserable and exhausted from lack of sleep,  I swear living without a/c  is detrimental to my health!  The last few nights I slept in the basement, which helped some.   The good news is a new unit was installed Saturday and my house is cold again.  Yay! I will appreciate it forever and ever ;)

This past week was also the first week of summer school.  I am teaching 5th grade reading to my class and the other 5th grade class.  Its going great so far, my kids are all very well behaved and the room is nice and cool.  Summer school takes place in this building (taken on a rainy morning last week)

 

This is the view out of my classroom. I had been waiting for a clear day and the right lighting to get this photo all week!

 

Speaking of pictures, I bet you're wondering why your blog readers were filled with photo posts from me yesterday.  Well, I decided to import all of my posts from my Daily photo Blog into this Mi Vida Ocupada blog.  I just don't know if it makes sense to me to keep two different blogs when I post so many photos over here anyway.  I have a lot more traffic on this blog and sometimes it seems redundant to post my photos in both places.  Initially the point of the Daily Photo Blog was for me to challenge myself to take better photos more often and  I think I have proven to myself that I can do that.  Especially with all the interest in the Photo Hunt Challenges that I have been posting.  Photography has become my biggest passion in recent months, completely replacing scrapbooking (which I haven't done in a year now and have lost pretty much all desire).    I hope you all don't mind seeing more of my photography right here!

Now about the Photo Hunt:  On Tuesday, June 30th I will be putting up a new post with Mr. Linky so everyone who completed the Photo Hunt #2 can link to their entries.  I know summertime (and life in general) can sneak up on ya when you're busy, but I hope we have a good turnout of people who completed it.  I have just two more photos to take on my list, then I will be posting My Results.  FYI- I am in the process of creating a brand-new blog just for the Photo Hunts.  Stay tuned for more information and when it is ready, I will start redirecting all Photo Hunt related info to that site.

So much happened last week and it was just too dang hot for me to sit down and blog about any of it.  Biggest news of the week: Michael Jackson died.  I was a little shocked at first, but not really.  I guess I had a feeling he wasn't doing very good.  I loved MJ as a kid (didn't everyone?).  Thriller was my very first album and I loved, loved, loved every song.  He has had so many great hits over the years.  I never hated on him with all the drama in his adult life, although there is no doubt he had issues.  I don't know what is wrong with me that I didn't cry when I heard of his passing, I mean I cried when Crocodile Hunter was killed?! Anyway, thank goodness the music of Michael Jackson will live on.

Last but not least, I wanted to direct your attention to the Product Giveaway on the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog.  There are three things to choose from 1.  Lounge Shaker set 2. Bottle Holder  3. Salt & Pepper shakers.  Leave a comment on this post saying which product you like best and a winner will be randomly selected on July 7th.  Feel free to direct anyone in the USA to the site.  Blog about it, spread the word!

 

 

Student Project Fair

Oy! It has been a very busy week at work!
My day job is one that I absolutely love.  I am a Gifted Services Specialist but the main portion of my job is teaching the High-Ability students.  Every spring each of my students choose a topic to research and then spend a couple of months gathering facts, taking notes, finding photos and other graphics and then put everything together on a display board.  Between my two schools, I have been working with about 80 students on these projects.  It takes a lot to help 80 kids get everything they need, especially when I work at a very low-income school and very few of them have computers at home. The past few weeks have been hectic as you can imagine.  Here is my wonderful group of 2nd graders who put together a group project on Mammals of the North Pole.  They each chose an animal and then were responsible for coming up with info and pics to add to the project.  Here they are putting everything together.  I was super impressed with how well the 7 of them worked together!

Once all projects are turned in and graded, we have a Project Fair and invite the school to come see the projects.  My morning school will have their Project Fair next Thursday but my afternoon school had theirs yesterday.  The boards were all set up in a U shape on tables in the library and the guests had to wind their way around them as they read.  Here is a  snap shot of the set-up, but you can only see the inside of the U.

One down, one to go!

Bittersweet....

Today is a glum day around the school district I work in, especially at the school I teach at in the afternoon.  Last Friday was the deadline for Principals to notify individuals whose positions were eliminated due to budget cuts and at least 11 teachers from our building were cut (including several tenured teachers).  I can't even imagine how this will impact our building next year.  District-wide we had to cut $25.4 million from our schools in one year, the biggest hit of all time.  It is very likely that an additional $10 million will be cut due to an Education Bill that the MN House of Representatives passed next week.  If this bill gets signed into law by the Governor, all teachers in our state will have our salaries frozen for the next two years. (That majorly stinks considering I am now at the point where my salary jumps up significantly each year!!!)
This time of year is one that always makes me nervous because my position as Gifted Services Specialist has been on the chopping block too many times.  This year my prayers were answered and my positions are being kept intact.  That is wonderful news for me, but I am feeling very sad for my colleagues that have to move on :(

First Day of School.....

The first day of school was a good one.  So far I only have one big class of 6th graders at the beginning of the day, the rest of my groups will start next week.
Do you remember me complaining about the mess the former teacher left me to deal with?  I have turned my new room into a much more comfortable, clean space!

It won't be long before the walls are covered with student artifacts and charts from our mini lessons.

Call me crazy, but I kind of wish I would've applied to get into a graduate  Educational Leadership program starting this fall.  I could probably crack it out in about two years, but I think it is too late to start this semester.  Something i am thinking about and need to look into further :)

Done, Done, Done!!!!!

After taking my final exam this morning, I have successfully completed all of the requirements for my graduate program.

It is now all a distant memory!!! That means no-more-bitching-about-school-ever-again.

Celebration is in order!

Sweetness!!

I finished my practicum today!!! That means four weeks of vacation for me until I go back to work :)

I also got my test results back today from my final Praxis test (Middle school language arts) and I passed!!!

I just have one more assignment and the final for my literature class.  Hoping that will all be taken care of in the next couple of weeks!!

Ahhhh, it feels great!!  This has been such a busy year for me with graduate school and work between two schools (three if you count this summer).  So glad its all behind me now!

It's All Good!

I got my test scores back for the Praxis II and I passed!
(Remember when i thought i bombed it? I got a much better score than I thought I'd get)
Doing the Happy Dance because I don't have to retake it after-all!
Woot woot

Awesome links from CoolCatTeacher

I recently came across a teacher blog that often has cool links, etc.  A few days ago, the blogger behind the CoolCatTeacherBlog celebrated a birthday and put together this great list of cool internet services to check out.  It looks like there are some great links, so I wanted to share.

1. Songbird - This is THE cool opensource alternative to iTunes and it is connected with Skreemr, the music search engine.
2. Timebridge - This scheduling system plugs into google calendar or outlook and lets you invite people to a meeting, select four time alternatives, and then it books the meeting time that everyone can attend and puts it on your calendar. It reminds them and it rocks!!
3. Get Atomic Learning Free for 3 months --
4. Diigo - This cool tool has transformed my bookmarking, blogging, sharing, and twittering. Install it, set it up to send to your delicious account.  
   
   To get the most out of it, you definitely should use firefox and install the cute little bookmarklets.  This is a definite tool for those writing papers!
5. Zoho Notebook -- This notebooking service completely and utterly rocks! Zohonotebook gives you the ability to EMBED video and web pages as well as snag notes from many places. It is an amazing tool! (Check out some of the pages I demoed in a workshop a while back.)
6. Google Forms - Google spreadsheets has a cute little tool hidden in the Share tab, the ability to create a form.  We're using this for the Horizon Project managers to submit their weekly reports. It is so fast and easy and a great way to pull information into a spreadsheet. I even have my national honor society students entering their service time for me into the spreadsheet.
7. Firefox - If you're still stuck in Internet Explorer, you simply must try firefox. Give yourself a present! The plug ins are incredible. My favorites are: the diigo plug in, technorati tag plug in,
8. Twitter - Again, try this one.  Some say they don't "have time for twitter" or don't "get it."  Just sign up, add me as a friend, and then go in and see whose talking to me, add some who sound interesting and then reply to their messages by saying @theirID -- so to reply to me, you'd say @coolcatteacher -- You may just find yourself conversing daily with some of your heroes.
9. Hulu.com - I've been beta testing this beauty which lets you watch all kinds of TV shows.  Now, you can watch too!
10. Mogulus - Do you want your own 24/7 TV station? You can do it here. Schedule things to play. Merge videos from other places on the Net. Very cool.
    
    
11. AFI Screen Nation - The Amazing American Film Institute has a new site where your students may upload video and be evaluated by REAL producers, actors, and directors in Hollywood. Their curriculum is totally amazing and I use the videos that come with my united streaming account to teach digital film & movie making.  I love the AFI digital storytelling curriculum and highly recommend it.
12. Toondoo - Make cartoons.  This continues to be one of my perennial favorites for cartoons.
13. Ning (for VIDEO sharing) - I LOVE Ning in the classroom and just found a super cool new feature. If you upload video to ning, it automatically converts it to the most compressed, appropriate version for the web. You may then embed the video anywhere else. This is solving a lot of our access problems for the horizon project b/c schools just unblock the Ning and have access to all of the movies!
14. Intel Mashmaker - This lets you mash together all different types of websites and I am enjoying working with it. There will be some things I share soon. This is supposed to be a lot like Microsoft PopFly, which I've not tested yet.
15. Skype - This is another MUST have APP.  If you haven't tried it yet, get over there and take a look.
16. Classtools.net - Embeddable graphic organizers of every kind for your wiki or blog.  I Adore this site and use it all the time in my classroom.
17. Wikispaces -- This is my stable, well supported, wiki darling.  One look at the horizon project wiki will tell you why.
18. Gmail - With the most robust spam filter anywhere, the ability to filter like a fiend, make folders, and import all accounts into one place, this account is a dream come true. Even if you use another service, you can enable pop on that account, set up a gmail and pull all of your accounts into one. And if you use firefox, they have a better gmail firefox extension from lifehacker that is a must install!.
19. Gcast - I'm really enjoying podcasting from my cell phone -- just a lot of fun!
20. FriendFeed - A cool little service that I'm really beginning to enjoy to help me follow just a few people.
21. Technorati Watchlist - A must use for bloggers watching those responding to their work and just to follow the things you want to know more about.  The RSS from the search for your blog belongs in your RSS reader.
22. PhotoBucket - THE place I put my private photos.  I like Flickr, but somtimes I just want to make a really cool flash page for my website or do something neat with photos, and photobucket has more robust tools for my photos than I've found other places.
23. Big Huge Labs for Flickr -- This has some amazingly hilarious Motivational Poster makers and just about everything you can imagine for your photos. Make monster posters, make labels, make anything. If you have photos, this is THE place to PLAY!
24. Feedburner is a must use for any serious blogger or school Webmaster. You can burn the feed to feedburner, which will let you move your feed from place to place without losing readers! You may also use Feedblitz to e-mail your blog posts to anyone who is "afraid" of RSS.  Feedburner has so many other features that serious bloggers will appreciate.
25. Statcounter - This is my favorite place to track links, traffic, and more.  Just a very reliable, accurate site.
26. Google Reader -- My RSS reader of choice for linear, sequential RSS reading (down the page aggregation), Google Reader now lets you download google Gears and read your RSS offline!!!!
27. Netvibes - For single page aggregation, I use netvibes as my RSS reader although my home page starts up with iGoogle, I go to netvibes. Their new Ginger version allows you to publish your pages and share with others. I teach my students this handy RSS reader for their Personal Learning Networks.
28. EdTechTalk - Although I co-host a show here, I always get pumped when I listen to these shows.  Do yourself a favor and take a listen.
29. Creative Commons Searching -   This is THE place to look for images, graphics, and audio.  It is a must use for students!
30. 4Info.net - I get the weather texted to my phone each morning. Every time a Georgia Tech football or basketball game ends, I'm texted the score. You can have stock tickers, rss reminders and more texted to your phone. It is amazingly cool.
31. Newsmap - When I want to take time to read the news, this is what I use. I adore NewsMap. I teach my students to use it to get abreast of what is happening in the world. If you have 1 minute to read the news, go here.
32. Classroom 2.0 Live Conversations - Steve Hargadon is hosting these amazing sessions. Simply excellent. Another place to "get pumped" and have some great ideas.
33. Cool Cat Teacher Wiki - All my presentations, handouts, archives, and STUFF are there. I love to get out sometimes and when I do, I want to capture it.
34. Slideshare - I LOVE this slidesharing site.  It is very useful.
35. VoiceThread - If I could pick ONE tool for elementary ed, this is it, hands down.

Foul mood today

I bombed the Praxis this morning.
Woke up after a terrible night sleep, drove to the testing site and arrived 5 minutes before I was supposed to be there to find out they changed the location to a different high school.  I hightailed it through the east side to get there in time, to discover that there were a million testers and only one woman checking id's.

The test did not go so well.

I was overconfident going into it after taking a practice test online.....I aced that so I mistakenly thought I had nothing to worry about.  It was HARD.  Much harder than I was expecting.  The only section I feel good about is math.  The social studies focused mostly on government crap....and not just US gov't.....other countries around the world!  And for the life of me I could not remember all the parts of a cell and what their functions are. Damn, I feel like such an idiot.  It was so long ago that I learned all that stuff in college.  I was really hard on myself and had a breakdown in the car on my drive home.

It has been cold and windy and wet and I want nothing more than to just curl up on the couch with my babe and watch a movie.  Instead I obligated myself many weeks ago to go to a bachelorette party tonight for a good acquaintance.  I feel bad, but I just don't feel like going tonight (but I am going to).  I am in such a poor mood that I know I won't be my usual fun self.  I will not be drinking because I have to drive all the way home and get a decent night sleep for a change so that I can spend most of my day tomorrow studying for my stupid american literature mid-term that I will be taking on Monday morning.  I'm not in the mood to bomb another test this weekend, know what I mean?

Okay, I need to go get ready for my party and shake off this crabiness.

Tales of an Inner-City Teacher

Hola amigos!!

I wanted to let you guys know about another side-project blog that I have taken up......

http://urbanteachertales.blogspot.com/
I have always been reluctant to write about my job on my personal blog for many reasons, but I feel that I have a lot of things to say or share.  I am thinking about writing a book someday about my experiences and this new blog is a way for me to start writing it all out!  I am keeping my exact details anonymous (location, district, etc) on that blog so that my identity isn't public, but I would love to have all of my friends read it .....please go check it out! And don't forget to add to your Feed Readers!

This feels good :)

Today I received my grade for the poetry explication that I was complaining about a few weeks ago.  It turned out much better than I had originally expected.  Here are the instructor's comments:

This is a fine explication of a difficult poem.  Your essay is well organized and presents a careful “reading.”  Good attention to both denotation and connotation.  Nice job!

Grade:  A              4/22/08                J. Rohloff

The poem that I analyzed was Mulatto by Langston Hughes. 

It wasn't as bad as I thought, but I must admit this was the only poem I really "got" out of the ten we had to read.

I'll take it!

I have to take my mid-term exam by proctor in the next week, but I have to take a day off of work to do it.  I cannot believe this class is only half-way through...it seems like it has been forever! Once I take the mid-term I am going to cruise through the last few essays. 

My final fine arts art/social studies project is also coming along :)  I am writing a unit on Japanese culture to use with 4-8th graders.  One specific criteria of the unit is to include a lesson plan where you teach social studies by using the fine arts.  Specifically, to find a piece of art that is in a Fine Arts museum and have students create a replica and connect it to the larger unit.  Since my unit is on Japanese culture, I am going to have students create a mini- Japanese 6-paneled screen.  I have to bring in three "stages" of the artwork and present it to class next week for my final.  So far I have  stages 1 & 2 done, just need to do my 3rd one in its entirety.  I will post pictures of it when the whole thing is done.

My Praxis 2 exam is this Saturday morning at the crack of dawn.  Shouldn't be a problem from the practice tests I have seen!  Flying colors, baby.

Skippyjon Jones (Its story time!)

Do you know this book? Its my current favorite children's book...so much fun to read aloud! (I NEED to get the other books about Skippyjon, he's too cute!)

This video isn't the best because I was using my little point and shoot to film while I was reading it...not so easy to do!

Check out my read aloud below, the story is about 7-8 minutes long.  Your kids will enjoy this one!

Awesomely Generous.....

Its time for me to brag and tell you how awesome the students at one of my schools are.....
For the past five weeks I have coordinated a campaign at my school to collect "Pennies for Patients".  Pennies for Patients is a fundraising effort that many schools participate in for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  The goal is to have students bring in coins and then we donate it to help kids with cancer. 

Our goal for the campaign this year was to raise $600.

Guess what?

We surpassed our goal and raised over $700!!!

As I was collecting the final week's worth of donations, I noticed that one 5th grade classroom had collected over $60 in ONE WEEK.  There was a $20 and a $10 bill included in this $$, so I made a comment to the teacher about it.  She told me that one boy spent the entire weekend working for his grandma, doing odds and ends around the house and was rewarded with a nice amount of $$.  He took his entire earnings and donated it. I almost cried from the generosity of his gift!!  These are incredibly poor kids, yet they are happy to give what little they have to help save the lives of kids with cancer.

Just thought I'd share :)

Holy Guacamole, Batman!!!

Its been a BUSY week.
And I am not just talking about all of my bday celebrations ;)

February is always my busiest time of the year at work, I have so much to do (administrative and paper-work wise).
I feel like I've gotten a LOT accomplished though, so I am feeling pretty good about it.
Wish I was able to spend more contact time with my students, but my schedule is going to free up in two more weeks, can't wait!

Class on Wed. was good...I think I have redeemed myself for missing the first night. Whew! Got a lot done on a group project that I am presenting next week.  The rest of the smester should be pretty easy sailing.  My Literature course, on the other hand, is kicking my butt.  Or it would be, if I actually got my rear-in-gear and started working on it.  I've decided that I am not going to kill myself to get an A in an undergrad course, because the end result isn't going to mean anything to anyone but me.  Very rarely in my life have I settled for a B, but having to analyze good books and then write essays on it...boring.  I love the reading part, I just hate having to analyze it, ya know??

My Valentine and I had a yummy steak dinner last night and watched The Brave One with Jodie Foster on our new Playstation 3.  Blu-Ray rocks!!!!  Hoping to buy a new TV soon :)

Hoping to relax, get some homework done, and scrap this weekend.  No school on Monday...woo hoo!!

Have a good one, everyone!!!

BIG OOPS!

So last night was actually NOT the first night of class.....LAST week was!!  Apparently I was not alone in thinking this....four others showed up for the first time last night too.
Made me feel like a total dumb-ass!! This class is with an unfamiliar professor as well, so accidentally missing the first class made me feel even worse because the last thing I would ever want to do is give a professor a bad impression of me!
Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.  She is giving us newbies until next week to turn in the assignments she had already assigned for last night.
The class is an integration of teaching social studies through the fine arts.  We have many art projects to do, but most of them we will be doing in class.  Compared to last semester, this class should be pretty easy. 
Its my distance-learning American Literature class through LSU that is going to be the butt-kicker!  We are reading a ton of great material in that class, but I have to analyze and write a million essays.  I swear I haven't written an essay since I was in college.....and that was many, many moons ago!

A short study break...

I'm on page 20, trying to wrap things up on my good ol' math project.  This was the beast that I have been dreading all semester.

I am so tired of sitting here at my computer.

I cannot wait to be done.  I am so tired.  I estimate that I have written approximately 150-180 typed pages this semester between the three classes. Is that crazy or what?

Making Good Progress....

Just stopping in for a quick minute to say hi.

I am on page 14 of my math project :)

Going to keep cranking away on it today and hopefully have it finished by tonight!

I better get going....

The past 21 hours have made me really CRABBY!!

I am not usually a "crabby" person, although if the cards are stacked against me, it doesn't take much.
And usually unfortunate things tend to happen to me in numbers.
We got several inches of snow yesterday afternoon.  This always slows the evening commute down some, but last night was REDONKULOUS.  I left work at approximately 3:22 to head downtown Mpls for a very important meeting I had on campus starting at 4pm, with a private meeting arranged after the big meeting.  I won't even begin to tell you how bad traffic was for me to travel the 15-20 miles or so to get there from work, but I did take a picture of my clock and elapsed time (E/T) when I finally pulled into the parking garage at St Thomas. Thank God the person I had the meeting with was waiting around for most of the night because of the horrible traffic....I was not the only one it took over 3 hours for.

I am so thankful it only took me 1 1/2 hours to get home after the meeting, only double what it normally takes.  I wouldn't have been able to handle another 3 hours in the car. 

I woke up extra early this morning, in a decent mood.  The sun is out, the snow had stopped, and I had an 8am appt. to get new tires on my car  I was promised I would be out of there in less than an hour, but unfortunately the previous owners of my vehicle never mentioned that there are locks on the wheels that need a key to be removed.  And with my luck, wouldn't you just know that the key was no where to be found anywhere in the car? Previous owners did not know where to find said key.  To make a LONG story short, the wheel shop did everything they could with the resources they had to remove the locks, but no such luck.  They had to run to Lexus to get the right tool, which fortunately Lexus had in stock.  Great, I'll be on my way soon, right?  But of course with me, when it rains, it pours.  The damn tire machine BROKE with my wheel stuck to it.  Took about an extra hour for someone to come out and fix the machine.  3 hours and a half-sick-day later, I was able to leave with my new tires.  Too bad it cost me an extra $100 because of the wheel-lock problem.  Grrrrrr.
I hope the rest of my day & night go better....I will be presenting my final lesson tonight in my health/science class. Only two more weeks of class after tonight.  Can't wait! Now I just need to get crack-a-lackin on my HUGE math project.

Wish me luck and a better night!

PS Happy birthday to Maria today!

Fish and more fish....

I don't talk too much about what I do at my job on this blog, but maybe I should share some of the reasons why I love my job as a gifted services specialist so much.  For the past several years now I offer monthly "special topic classes" every Friday throughout the year.  The classes are open to students who are not necessarily identified GT but have an interest in the class offered.  Every month I offer a new class and have new students. 

Did I mention that this month the special topic class that I am teaching to 3-6th graders is on Ojibwe culture? 

The Ojibwe (aka Chippewa) are the group of Native Americans who lived in the Great Lakes region (Northern MN, WI, MI, and Ontario, CA) prior to European settlement (I am saying this as diplomatically as I can because I have very strong feeling for what actually happened to all of our indigenous tribes).  Anyway, students have been learning a variety of things about Ojibwe culture and this Friday's class was all about how the Ojibwe moved to different camps each season, as they harvested maple sugar in the spring, fishing and hunting in the summer, wild ricing in the fall, hunting and trapping in the winter.  I have a wonderful book that I use to illustrate what a typical year looked like for the Ojibwe prior to the mid 1800's.  We discussed which foods that the Ojibwe found growing naturally in the region and then I had students try a variety of foods the Ojibwe would have eaten.  For this class I specifically brought foods for the kids to try: apples, pure maple syrup (which is nothing like Aunt Jemima!), cooked wild rice and smoked white fish.

   

I wasn't sure which students would try the fish, but to my absolute pleasure, every single student in both classes tried the fish and enjoyed it! Even students who had never had fish before in their lives tried it and liked it.  This fish was about 15 inches long and these kids ate every single piece of meat on this bad boy until there was nothing left but the bones! If you look at the picture closely, you will see that we are holding up the bare fish carcass.  These kids are great, they made me so proud!

*********************************************************************************

Now as far as the "more fish" part of this post's title, I had a field trip today for my graduate course in teaching science.  We got a behind-the-scenes tour of Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America and did a workshop on Project Wild throught the DNR.  I took some video footage of some of the animals at the aquarium and I will post a video as soon as I can make it in iMovie. 

Speaking of iMovie, I visited the Apple store at the MOA today after my workshop was complete and I am definitely going to buy the Macbrook Pro this upcoming week.  I cannot wait!  I have so much to learn about Macs but I know that once I get the hang of it, I am going to be so happy!

Ghetto-Fabulous Names......

So by now it is no secret that I work at neighborhood schools in really tough, poor neighborhoods in the inner city.  I absolutely LOVE what I do, and wouldn't ever dream of trading my poor, needy, diverse students for the more well-off white kids in the suburbs.  This is my niche.

So that being said, I do have to tell you that I have come across some very interesting names throughout my career and have started to make a list of the ones I remember.  I wanted to share with you some of the unusual  "names" of students I have personally known.    (I am not even going to go there with some of the ethnic names I've come across!) The following names span all races....

Golden              Daisy

Foxy                  Charisma

Dream              Hope

Precious (I've known at least four girls with this name)

Faith                 Destiny

Diamond (again, 5-6 girls with this name)

Sparkle

Heaven             Unique

Star or Estrella

Lyric                    Darling

Honey                Modesty

Sunshine            Jersey

China                   Dakota

Carolina              Georgia

Green  (whose last name also happened to be a shade of green)

Sterling                 Seven

Prince                  Justice

Reality                  Irony

***************************************************************************************

Anyone care to share unusual names of people they have known?

Can you pass the 8th grade science test?

Free Online Dating from JustSayHi

Good thing I can ;) I am learning in my science methods class that although content is important, the process to acquire knowledge is even more important.

**PS I neglected to mention I got a C- the first time I took this.  It was NOT EASY.  I knew which ones I guessed on and got an A the 2nd time around!

9 days can make a HUGE difference

In my case it is 9 days that royally bit me in the patooty.

Let me explain.

There is a Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness program out there, where if you teach at an inner city school for five years or more, the government will pay off $5,000 of your federal student loans.  They will pay up to $17,500 for special education teachers or math and sciece teachers at the secondary level.

I applied for this loan forgiveness about a month ago and was so sure that they would forgive at least $10,000 of my loans since I had taught special ed for two years plus all the years I taught special ed summer school.

Well apparently one of the other criteria is that you could not have had a balance on loans prior to October 1st, 1998.

Guess what date I borrowed my first student loan?

September 22, 1998.

They denied me because I received my loan NINE EFFIN DAYS before their stupid %*&^&(%&(^% cut off date.

That majorly blows! I was hoping to have that money forgiven because I am taking another $934739483984 in loans this year to go to my prestigous university.

Talk about being ticked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do they have to have a cutoff day at all?????  Any teacher who teaches in the inner city should have the whole kit and kaboodle paid for, IMO.

So that's that.

Back to School......

This time I am the STUDENT!

That's right! After facing budget cuts for four years straight, I decided last spring that I needed to go back to school to get my K-8 classroom endorsement added to my current teaching license.  You see, back when I was an undergrad at St Cloud State University (95-99), dual majors in special ed and regular ed were not offered.....I opted for a degree in special ed because that is what I thought I really wanted to teach at the time.  After teaching bad-ass kids with learning disabilities for just two years, I went back and earned my Masters degree in Gifted and Talented Education at the University of St Thomas (00-02).  I am considered an expert at both ends of the educational spectrum.   This will now be my 7th year of teaching GT kids and as much as I love it, I felt that I would greatly benefit from getting my classroom license as well.  Not to mention this will be my back-up plan just in case I am unable to find GT jobs in the future (we are always hit hard by budget cuts).  Since I already had all of my graduate work done at St Thomas, that is where I decided to go again.  There are five methods classes in the core content areas, and then since I will be specialized in communication arts/literature for grades 5-8, I need one additional literature class and one class specifically for this licensure.

I am taking three classes this semester.  Yes, I am totally effin crazy!!!! Two of the classes are on Wednesday nights, back to back.  They are "Teaching Math & Technology" and "Teaching Science and Health" .  Last night was the first night of what is bound to be a LONG semester! I almost crapped my pants when these four books came to $350!!!!

The third class that I am taking meets all day on Saturdays this month and is focused on my 5-8 content area.  Tuition has gone up 75% since I graduated five years ago too.  This is not going to be cheap, by any means.  It was interesting to see how the Minneapolis campus of St Thomas has changed in the five years since I last attended.  They have added an entire Law school with a state -of the-art building and also remodeled and expanded the cafeteria.

The classes are going to be great, but there is a TON of work.  Hopefully this will not be the end of my social life!!!!  I am expecting to have everything I need completed by the end of next summer, so it is going to be a very, very busy year.

Wish me luck!!!

1 Down, 171 To Go....

Days of school in this upcoming school year, that is!  I successfully made it through the First Day of School at both schools.  Yay! I know it is going to be a very busy and challenging year, but I am looking forward to it. It was great to return to my morning school.  The kids and I were happy to see each other.... especially after not knowing last spring whether I would be returning this Fall. I am still working on locating the students who need gifted/talented services...once that happens, I can begin my creative scheduling.  I am also trying to put my classrooms together since I never really had the chance last week.  Enough about work now!

Notice the new banner and color scheme? I love this one! I stepped away from my usual floral-motif and made a collage to commemorate some fun moments I had this summer....and yes, there were quite a few despite working summer school and having my knee surgery. 

Speaking of the knee.... I am still recovering, but making progress.  I never did post the pics of my knee, but Greta desperately wants to see them, so I might as well post it.  Click on it to make it bigger.  Sorry if this grosses you out, but there isn't much blood or anything...just shows the effed -upness inside my knee.   Pics 1, 2, 5 & 16 show scar tissue that needed to be removed.  3 & 4 show the severe arthritis, and #11 shows how out of alignment my kneecap was.  17 shows my knee cap after the lateral release procedure. No wonder I was in so much pain before!

*****************************************************************************************************

Dana, Kevin and Jasmine left this morning, Uncle Mike and Marisa left on Sunday morning after we all met for an early breakfast.  We had a nice time with them while they were here (as always :)  We went out to the Mall of America for a few hours on Sunday afternoon (with Rusty and Alex too) and then to Khan's Mongolian Barbeque for dinner.  On Monday us girls went swimming while the boys all went fishing.  Jasmine and I scrapped a little bit this weekend too! She made some pretty great tags for a 7-year-old!

Oh, also wanted to say Congratulations to Mandie (and Jason) who just had a healthy baby girl, Aubrionna Marie, yesterday morning.  I am sure they probably will not be able to make it to Kara and Jesse's wedding this weekend so soon after having the baby, but I hope to go visit them next week at their new house.  You wanna come with, Cass?

Stay tuned for a couple of book reviews later this week........

Random Post of the Week...

**Went to visit our friends Jeff and Toni after work tonight.  Georgia and Cidney are getting so big! Cidney turns one years old in three days:)

** Tomorrow is the last day of the school year.   It is bittersweet....I am sad to think that I might not be coming back to my school next year.  Might not see my students and their families that I have gotten to know so well for the past two years.  I was lucky to have a job I like so much.  Whether I am there half-time next year depends on if I can find another half-time position in my district SOON.  It isn't looking good, folks. I thought I'd have to go back to teaching special ed, but hundreds of those positions were also cut.  If I can't find a job on my own soon, they will assign me somewhere full-time when something in my licensure area opens up.   That could literally be the day before school starts or two weeks into the next year.  That sucks! The good news is that I am guaranteed my salary either way, so being tenured helps to ease the mind some.

**I will be teaching 4th grade students with learning disabilities this summer.  I will have Mon-Thurs off next week and then summer school starts Friday.  It runs 5 weeks, but I will only work the first four.

** I am having knee surgery on July 25th.  I will have 4 weeks to recover and then back to work..hopefully! The healing time needed for my procedure is up to 8 weeks.  I hope I am good enough to do the Tootsie Roll at Kara's wedding on Sept 9...I know she is looking forward to that!

**In the scrappy news, I ordered a ton of overlays and papers from Hambly Screen Prints today.  You have to check out Their layout gallery.  Wow!!  I even saw stuff made by my girls Christina Padilla, Jaime Warren and Kristi Contes.  how cool!  I am going to make some cool stuff when I get it and try to make that gallery too! I never submit my stuff because I'd rather do it for fun, but that looks fun too!

Then Greta asks me if I have seen the new Cricut by ProvoCraft yet.  Well no, I hadn't until she sent me to their site to check it out and now I want one of these bad boys! They are really sweet.  I have never had a Quikutz and this thing looks pretty techno-savy and you get like a million fonts and you can change the size on it too.  Thanks a lot, Greta...one more thing for me to put on my wish list! I think they are going for around $300? I bet Adrienne has one of these or will be getting one soon! I say that because she loves to shop and always has the coolest tools before anyone else I know.  If anyone seriously has this already, let me know what you think!

**I am reading My Friend Leonard by James Frey.  Not sure if he "embellished" this story, like he did with A Million Little Pieces, but I am enjoying it.  Love both books of his, despite all the controversy. Can't wait to read, read, read all summer long! Love it! Kim...I may take your suggestion and add bookreviews to the book thumbnails on my sidebar.  I might have more time to do that this summer.

**Sending positive thoughts to my girlfriend who is going to the Dr. tomorrow to make sure her cervical cancer hasn't come back.  She is the third friend of mine (that I know of )who has had cervical cancer. It is scary how many people are affected. 

**Sent those bookmarks out yesterday...hope you girls like the ones you get!

Good night!

School's OUT for Summer!!!

School is officially out for the summer!!!  (Of course I will be teaching summer school so I won't get much of a break, but I made it through another great year!)

We took the 3rd-6th graders at my afternoon school to the roller rink for an afternoon of fun...I brought my rollerblades because I love to skate.  The kids think it is the greatest thing when the teachers skate...can you believe only one other teacher beside myself went out on the rink?? The rest watched from the sidelines!! Maybe they were afraid of the kids who would suddenly cut in front of you, skate in the wrong direction or fall right in the middle.  I am a very good rollerblader so I was able to do some quick evasive maneuvering to avoid any major falls/crashes.  In fact I did not fall once :)  Here is a little collage of me with some of my students at the rink...

{June 13}

I hate writing the "breakfast to bed" kind of entries, but that is what you're gonna get about my day yesterday!

I spent a good part of the day at my morning school packing up all the stuff I have collected over the past four years.  Stuff sure accumulates over time...I found stuff I forgot even existed! I spent the afternoon hauling this stuff to my afternoon school, the one I love so much and will be teaching at full-time next year.

After school I found two letters in my school mailbox from a couple of 6th grade students that I have worked with this year...their kind words were so touching! They pointed out the littlest things that I did for them this year that really meant a lot to them...I was surprised only because boys that age don't usually show such sentiment, especially toward teachers! So that made me feel really good. I am writing letters back to each of them to return the thoughtful gesture.

Later that night I got to have suki yaki! Homemade Japanese food happens to be one of my favorites.  We had barely finished dinner when the emergency weather sirens started going off...

The storm and the sirens continued all night, so what better way to spend the evening than watching a scary movie?? I watched one called White Noise .....I should have known better!! The movie stars Michael Keaton and the story line is about him becoming obsessed with trying to contact his wife who had recently died.  It was only PG-13, but it had me pretty freaked out, especially with the thunder and lighting going on outside! I have to admit I can be a BIG BABY when it comes to scary movies (especially those that revolve around the paranormal), and I had to stare at the ceiling a couple of times  because I was too scared to watch!! So as soon as the movie was over I tried to go to bed...it was a restless sleep all night as I dreamt about spirits that were trying to contact me...why, oh why, do I watch scary movies before going to bed???? I think I am the most suggestive dreamer because this always happens to me!!

6 years down, 28 to go!

Next Wednesday I will complete my sixth year of PAID teaching in the St Paul Public Schools.  What a journey it has been! I started my career in one of the most difficult special ed settings that you can have: Level 4, LD/EBD, 7-8th grade.  Teaching any of these things by themself is difficult, but put them all together and you get one extremely hard job for a brand new teacher.  I started with just 15 students, but the personal issues that came with each of the kids I had made me age SEVERLY in my first year alone.  I even got a few gray hairs at the age of just 22!! After that first year I started grad school in the area of Gifted Education...I knew I couldn't teach special ed forever.  My second year got better (with the exception of a horrible administrator) and my relationship with my students became even closer.  I had the same kids ALL DAY...we became almost a family. 

One student that I had for both years, as a 7th and then an 8th grader, was a girl named Kiarra.  She was a very sweet girl who always did what she could to please me.  And I did everything I could to see her achieve. I became pretty close to her family and have kept in contact with her after all these years. She called me last week and invited me to join her family at her graduation ceremony, since I was instrumental in her path to getting there.  I told her I would be honored to attend with her family. I am so proud of her accomplishments and I am glad that we have become friends as she has matured and become an adult. Here are a couple of pictures of us last night after her graduation.

So as I reflect on this year and look toward the future, I only hope that I can continue to make a difference in the lives of the students I teach for many years to come.  They are the reason I do what I do.  (It certainly isn't for the $$!)

Best of the Best

I worked a very LONG night last night...it was our annual "Best of the Best" event at my school.  This included a fabulous Project Fair by the gifted students of yours truly, school band performance, Japanese dancers, school picnic, and student work on display throughout the school. 

One of the most exciting things of the evening was the visit by the Winter Carnival Royal Family!  One of my students did research on the Winter Carnival for her project and it just so happens that her mother knows King Boreus pretty well and asked him to come.   He brought with him the Royal Guard, Klondike Kate and several of the princesses and "knighted" the five teachers at our school who are retiring this year.  It was  a real treat to be visited by such Royalty, especially since Winter is OVER!!

I was very proud of my students and the projects that they completed on non-fiction topics.  The projects turned out great and we got tons of compliments on them!

I had to fill-in for an absent teacher at my other school this am....these 3rd graders have worn me out! 

I am now pretty tired and looking forward to a nice long weekend.  Now hopefully we will get some nice weather so I can go boating or swimming in the pool!

Hatched!!

Ahhhh, its that time of year again...Spring!  All the little animal babies are being born are so sweet! I thought I would share some pictures that I took of some hatching chicks.  A 2nd grade teacher that I work with has been working with a program through the University of MN that allows inner-city schools to observe and witness the "miracle of life.  It was pretty cool to watch the eggs hatch from the incubator.  The kids were so excited, as were the little chicks!! I can hear peeping out in the hallway when I walk into my room, it is so cute! Just look at these little fluff balls!

Anyway, I think this is a great program that is set up, otherwise these kids would probably NEVER get to see it happen. The chicks will be going back to the farm later this afternoon.  I am not sure about their fate, but I do hope they will not become chicken nuggets!!  Its very different to see animals after rasing them, so I do hope the kids don't become vegetarians because of this little project!!

No More Working Late!

I just realized that I do not have to work late tonight for the first time all year....After school program is over. Yay!!!!! This means I can leave work by 4pm instead of 6 like I am used to!! This means more time to cook and scrap. Just wish the weather was a little warmer and sunnier...instead it is 42 and pretty dreary!

Word on Budget Cuts

Okay, so my principal finally e-mailed me back this morning and told me that because of budget cuts, they are eliminating my .5 position next year. I would be feeling bad about this, except that I was already offered a full-time position at the other school I teach at. Ha ha ha!! I "forgot" to mention this though of course, until he writes me a letter of recommendation for future use!!

I ran to Kowalskis Market to grab hot dog buns and chips for dinner.... I left with just two bags and it was $70. Man! Good thing I didn't grab the $19 T-bone that was calling my name. At that price I am better of going to my favorite Steakhouse, The Lakeside Club, and have someone cook it for me!!!

Today is my brother Brian's bday, cousin Katie's bday, and neighbor Jeremiah's bday!!!