#TBT

I am ready for Summer. This past summer was the BEST! Alex and I had a great time hanging with friends at the lake almost every weekend. I love waking up, throwing on a bathing suit and spending the day on a boat (especially if it's a cool orange and black one.)

(Alex and John wake boarding at the same time. At one point, we had a person wake boarding and another person laying on a tube filming with the GoPro.)

(Alex catching air. I'm pretty sure this was taking by the GoPro with someone tubing.)

(Alex and I riding on the jet ski.)

This summer was full of adventures. At Lake Sinclair, John and I dangled under a bridge. As our boat went under the bridge we held on underneath, and then dropped into the water. At Lake Hartwell, we stayed in a house where the pipes had busted during the winter. When we turned on the water, water started pouring from the light fixture in the kitchen. All weekend we had to bring water from the lake to put behind the toilets so we were able to flush them. I even had to wash my hair and shave in the lake. At Hartwell, I also jumped off a very tall ledge. I hurt my eardrums doing that. I also tried to surf. I sucked! John held the front of the board to help me get balanced, but every time he let go I would fall. (I have videos, but I can't get it to download :( ) 

Super Bowl Weekend

I have driven my car since I was seventeen years old. So....she is a little old. For as long as I can remember my radiator has had a slooowwwww leak. Recently the leak has gotten worse. Alex's friend needed a new radiator, so Alex decided to go with him to get me one as well. Saturday afternoon was filled with switching out car parts. 

Also, on my car the shocks that hold my hood up have gone out. So Alex spotted an old Lincoln with its massive hood up, and decided to get the stocks for my car. The shocks were too long to fit on my car. They were too strong to compress with your hands to get them to fit. It was interesting to watch Alex and his friend (Hunter) try to put them on. It kind of reminded me of a STEM project.      

After the car work was over, we went to dinner at Hooters with friends. Honestly the food was not that great, and it was expensive. They charge you 50 cents for each ranch dressing your order, and no more celery with your wings.

(Pink Passion)

(Fried Pickles) 

(Honey Chipotle BBQ Wings)

One of the things I love about Alex is that he is not selfish. He is always willing to help a friend in a time of need. We drove to the airport Sunday afternoon/early evening to pick up a friend who was coming into town due to a death in his family. Alex offered to pick him up, so his family could be at the viewing. It was such a nice gesture. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Cole family. 

We did get to watch some of the Super Bowl. I did not think the commercials were that great this year. As for the halftime show, Katy Perry started out strong, but I am not sure what happened at the end. I did really enjoyed the flash back to Missy Elliot. 

We enjoyed the Super Bowl with friends. 

     

Thursday Shows Return!

It's about time! The Thursday night shows have returned. #TGIT I have watched so much Netflix in the past 2 months. I even caught up on Scandal, so I can watch it in real time. 

I have been watching Grey's from the beginning. So much has happened throughout this show. I can't believe that it is in the 11th season. I just saw an interview with "April" where I found out that her baby bump was real. 

Over Christmas break I was able to watch the past seasons of Scandal. The show last night was exciting, and a great way to start the winter session. It seems the show has taken a surprising turn. I will not say anymore...you will have to watch!

 

How to get away with Murder captured my attention with the mystery involved in the story line. Now I can't wait to see what is going to happen!

New Toy...

I feel like this weekend was a pretty mild. The weather Friday was horrible...cold and rainy...yes it was raining again!!! I am enjoying having class on Fridays. I get to start my weekend earlier than when we had field on Fridays. (Traveling from Jimmy Carter to Loganville was not fun.) Well Friday, Alex and I went to dinner with some friends. We ate at Top Dawg Tavern in Bethlehem. It was our first time eating here. It was pretty good. The design of the place is very open, but I feel like their is some wasted space. 

Saturday, Alex changed my oil for me. He is the type that likes to do those things himself to make sure they get done correctly. That evening we went over to our friend's house (Luke and Ansley) to hang out and watch super cross. When we arrived, Luke was playing with his NEW TOY...Polaris RZR XP 900. 

Luke took me for a ride...WOW! This thing is FAST. I thought I was riding a roller coaster. (love roller coaster!) I do not see how he can see to drive it that fast. It is hard to see where you are going. When we stopped I had tears running down my face from going so fast, and I was wearing sunglasses to help prevent that from happening. It was fun:)

First Week in 5th Grade!

I am not sure if the semester is going by fast or slow yet, but I have completed my first week in 5th grade. It feels amazing! I survived:) Tuesday, I was not really nervous (I knew it could not be as bad as last semester). I think it helped that I was going back to the same school. So I was familiar with the parking, the signing in and out procedures, and I knew my way around the school (which could be tricky with 3 floors and white walls everywhere). My CT was great from the very beginning. She made me feel so welcome. She had a kidney shaped table brought in for me to use, bought me marker pens, a clipboard, and even a Starbucks gift card. Before the students started to arrive she explained some for the students and their behaviors, which was not good. She said the class was the worst in the school. One of the students had been suspended for 10 days. She just kept saying please come back tomorrow. This made me feel a little nervous, but I thought it would be great experience. I believe I will learn TONS!!! My CT has such a great presence in the classroom. 

Already I can tell this will not be a boring field experience. Something is always happening. This group of students can be a nightmare one minute and then have you laughing so hard you are crying the next. One big thing I learned about this age is the boyfriend/girlfriend drama starts. They start "going out" with each other. And they are so street smart.

But I also picked up some class management and organizational ideas in the last couple of days I would like to share (and keep for my resources)...

Each student has their own drawer with their number on it. If a student gets finished with their work, they can come get something out of their drawer to work on. The teacher places different items based on what that student needs to work on. 

This is where the students turn in their work. This will help keep things some what organized. Also notice that each subject is represented by a color. The students have these colored dots on their notebooks (composition notebooks). The students also have a purple folder for math and a red folder for reading, and they use these during centers. 

The essential questions are also organized by the subject colors. (My CT even has the students read them before we start the lesson.) 

The word wall is also color coded. 

This is the center groups for reading (the math groups are displayed the same way, but the students are grouped differently). Notice their are color groups within each number group. The colors are ability groups. So brown is the lowest and pink is the highest. The math groups are formatted that same way. 

I also learned this cool way to stack chairs. Each chair also has a number on the back, so the students know which chair is theirs. 

The students' workbooks are stored in their own box on the cart. The boxes without numbers are materials for centers. 

 I love this idea. When my CT passes out worksheets, she places the extras in this bin under that day's date. If a student is absent they can look under that date and get their missed work. 

I also like this idea. This can be used to return work or information papers that go home at the end of the week. The students can check under their number to see if they have "mail." 

Many of the 5th grade teachers use this chart to track behavior, homework, and bathroom breaks. I cut the left end off due to privacy of the students. Their is a column for each day of the week, and a homework column. The 2 small boxes are the students bathroom breaks they are given outside of using the bathroom with the class. At the bottom of the page is a key from A-Z of behaviors, management, and organizational expectations. 

A- arguing, B- blurting, C- cafeteria, C- out of chair, D- disrespectful, D- drawing, E- eating, F- not following directions, G- not participating, H- housekeeping, H- hat/hood, I-interrupting, J- inappropriately funny, K irresponsible, L- not listening, M- making noise, M- disrespecting materials, N- dishonest, O- off task, P- playing, Q- playground, R- restroom, S- specials, T- talking, U- unprepared/ no agenda, materials, or pencil, V- not testing appropriately, W- hallway, X- inappropriate exchange, Y- gum/candy, Z- sleeping

I am looking forward to a great semester and getting over my fear of teaching older grades!  

   

MLK, Jr. Weekend

I was super excited for the long weekend! It was perfect before starting my field experience. Friday night Alex and I met my Dad, his girlfriend (Lisa), my sister (Jenna), and her husband (Kenny) at Rafferty's in the Athens. I always order the soup and salad. Their potato soup is amazing, and the house dressing (hot honey mustard bacon) is to die for:). After dinner, we went bowling. Wow, showtime bowl looks exactly the same since I was in high school. They made us play on 2 lanes, so we played boys and girls. I was last the first game, and second place the second game. I usually get better as I play. 

(above: Alex; below: Me, Jenna, & Kenny)

(Jenna, Dad, & Me)

After bowling, Alex and I drove straight to the lake for the weekend. (Alex's parents have a lake house at Lake Sinclair. We spend a lot of our weekends at the lake.) This weekend was very laid back and relaxing. Alex and I got to enjoy the lake alone this weekend. 

A great feature at the lake is the Big Green Egg. Alex's Dad got one for father's day one year.  http://www.biggreenegg.com/

(Check out the website above if you aren't sure what an egg is.)

We cook everything on the the egg when we are at the lake. I love BBQ wings, pizza, steak, okay everything off the egg tastes amazing. 

We made pizza one night.

One night Alex grilled deer steaks. It was my first time eating deer steak. It was good. It tasted like regular steak. (Alex shot 2 deer at the end of the season, and got 98 lbs. of meat, so I guess it is a good thing I like it.)

Sunday we spent time together raking leaves. This is not an activity I would have suggested, but it was nice outside and was some good exercise. Monday we did a little fishing and so did a lot of other people. I believe a lot of people were taking advantage of the nice (Spring like) weather. But we didn't catch anything this time :(

I am not sure what next weekend has in store, but this week I start my field work in 5th grade. So stay tune...

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Today is my Dad's birthday!

Happy Birthday Daddy! I Love you:) 

I am so lucky to have this wonderful person as my father. He has always been there for me. I am looking forward to celebrating Friday night. 

(My twenty-first birthday.)

(Christmas 2014)

"DAD I know you've loved me as long as I've lived; but I've LOVED you my whole life."