You know you're back at school when....
{from a teacher's perspective}
-You have gone through almost a whole package of Band-Aids in a week's time due to blisters and such from wearing heels (or uncomfortable shoes) all day
-You start finding random things in your pockets at the end of the day
-You begin to receive little notes here and there from students that have messages about how "nice" you are or how "pretty" you are {so sweet!}
-You revert back to inhaling food since lunch is about 25 minutes long
-You sleep in on Saturday until the time you'd normally be dismissing students (or somewhere close to that late afteroon hour) ;)
-Sharpening pencils becomes one of your daily afternoon activities
-You find yourself repeating things on a regular basis...cause you're not sure if people understood you the first time
-Trips to the Dollar Tree become more consistent
-You feel like you could go to bed at 5:00 p.m. and sleep straight through the night until your alarm goes off the next morning
-Your "To-Do" list is literally neverending
-You begin a mental countdown until the next holiday break {Labor Day, anyone?!}
If you're a teacher who just returned to school...I'm curious- what are your "you-know-you're-back-at-school-when...?"
I had a great first week back... it seems that I have been blessed with a great class!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Summer Update
It's been a whole month since my last post! {Gasp!}
Writing the title to this post made me realize, even more so, that the summer is one day away from being officially over for me. As like everything else, the summer flew by. It's been relaxing...maybe a little too relaxing. Ha! I feel like there are more home projects I wanted to accomplish, but didn't.
I recently got back from a vacation with my best friend/roommate, Dayna. We went to Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut. In each state, we stayed with some family I have up there. It was low-key and fun. I'm going to do a separate post on my vacation, though. Soon, possibly? :)
I spent many afternoons at the pool this summer which has provided a pretty nice tan if I do say so myself! Ha!
I dealt with summer insomnia (self-diagnosed, of course) and invested in Nyquil's new product, ZzzQuil. It has saved me from several nights of laying in my dark bedroom wide awake, tossing and turning. The cure for my self-diagnosed insomnia is going back to work and waking up to an early alarm.
I have had so much fun hanging out with my friend, Kelly, and her two boys, Gavin (2 years) and Liam (3.5 months). I typically watch the boys on Thursday nights when she goes to choir practice but having an open summer has allowed me the opportunity to see them more and hang out and have girl time with their mommy! :)
My faith has been tested some recently and lately I just have such a peace in knowing that God has my life all figured out, already. His timing and His ways are perfect. Mine are not. I am trusting in His promises and resting in the truth of His word.
Last week, I spent 3.5 hours in my classroom, getting the furniture set up and putting up some bulletin boards. It felt good to get a head-start on some things. There are like a million and one things to get done in preparing a classroom for orientation day, and the first day of school. {Any teachers reading this are probably nodding their heads in agreement, right?}
Although it's sad to see a carefree summer come to an end, it's also exciting to think about the fresh start that a new school year brings. The summer gets my mind turning about new ideas for my classroom and things I want to modify for the upcoming class of students. It's just fun!
And when summer ends...fall is right around the corner! And if you know me, you know I LOVE fall and winter. I'm already thinking about where I will head this year to get my "fall-fix" in. So many possibilities!
I tried twice to upload pictures from my iPhone to accompany text with this post...but it failed both times I tried. So, here you have a summer update, sans pictures. Sorry! :/
Writing the title to this post made me realize, even more so, that the summer is one day away from being officially over for me. As like everything else, the summer flew by. It's been relaxing...maybe a little too relaxing. Ha! I feel like there are more home projects I wanted to accomplish, but didn't.
I recently got back from a vacation with my best friend/roommate, Dayna. We went to Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut. In each state, we stayed with some family I have up there. It was low-key and fun. I'm going to do a separate post on my vacation, though. Soon, possibly? :)
I spent many afternoons at the pool this summer which has provided a pretty nice tan if I do say so myself! Ha!
I dealt with summer insomnia (self-diagnosed, of course) and invested in Nyquil's new product, ZzzQuil. It has saved me from several nights of laying in my dark bedroom wide awake, tossing and turning. The cure for my self-diagnosed insomnia is going back to work and waking up to an early alarm.
I have had so much fun hanging out with my friend, Kelly, and her two boys, Gavin (2 years) and Liam (3.5 months). I typically watch the boys on Thursday nights when she goes to choir practice but having an open summer has allowed me the opportunity to see them more and hang out and have girl time with their mommy! :)
My faith has been tested some recently and lately I just have such a peace in knowing that God has my life all figured out, already. His timing and His ways are perfect. Mine are not. I am trusting in His promises and resting in the truth of His word.
Last week, I spent 3.5 hours in my classroom, getting the furniture set up and putting up some bulletin boards. It felt good to get a head-start on some things. There are like a million and one things to get done in preparing a classroom for orientation day, and the first day of school. {Any teachers reading this are probably nodding their heads in agreement, right?}
Although it's sad to see a carefree summer come to an end, it's also exciting to think about the fresh start that a new school year brings. The summer gets my mind turning about new ideas for my classroom and things I want to modify for the upcoming class of students. It's just fun!
And when summer ends...fall is right around the corner! And if you know me, you know I LOVE fall and winter. I'm already thinking about where I will head this year to get my "fall-fix" in. So many possibilities!
I tried twice to upload pictures from my iPhone to accompany text with this post...but it failed both times I tried. So, here you have a summer update, sans pictures. Sorry! :/
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
July 4th
Happy Birthday, America!
Last night, the town I live in had their major fireworks display at Lake Mirror. I took these following pictures on my iPhone, and I don't think they're bad for being taken on a phone!
Today, I spent the afternoon at the pool and then headed inside to get to work on some festive 4th of July snacks to take to the party I was going to tonight. These ideas were of course taken from none other than....Pinterest. :)
I bought the ice-cream sandwiches, then added popsicle sticks and sprinkles. (I felt accomplished when I got the LAST container of blue sprinkles at Michael's Crafts on a busy holiday! Ha!)
This was messier than I had anticipated. By the time I got all of the ice-cream sandwiches unwrapped, the ice cream had started melting which made it kind of difficult to slide the popsicle stick in. Then, to try and handle the ice-cream sandwich as I put sprinkles on made it sticky. So, the final product wasn't what I had originally envisioned in my mind being all neat and pretty. Oh well.
American Flag made out of blueberries, watermelon and cheese. I would have liked to have used a white platter, but red was all I could find when I was shopping today.
At 7:00, I headed to my friend Michelle's house for a 4th of July party. We cooked out and hung out! I even played a little Dance Central (I think that's what it's called.) {And I am NOT good at it.}
Michelle lives on a corner lot in a nice neighborhood and on the left side of the house is a huge pasture. It's really beautiful scenery! So we took some pictures with the sunset.
Far-away
Closer-up
Some played cornhole...
In the pasture are some cows and horses. Michelle feeds them carrots. I was amazed that she was courageous enough to feed the cows and horses from her hand. I could NOT handle having their huge, wet, nasty, sticky tongues touch my hand.
...and that's my 4th of July, 2012!
I think the older get, the more I realize what this day really means. I'm truly so thankful to live in America and am so appreciative of the men and women who have fought for, and are currently fighting for, our nation's freedom. Day and night, these selfless people fight for our freedom, out of pure dedication to our country. We have so much to be thankful for. It's awesome that we have a day each year, Independence Day, in which we can celebrate our country and its freedom, and also the men and women who have played, or are playing, a major role. God Bless America!
Last night, the town I live in had their major fireworks display at Lake Mirror. I took these following pictures on my iPhone, and I don't think they're bad for being taken on a phone!
Today, I spent the afternoon at the pool and then headed inside to get to work on some festive 4th of July snacks to take to the party I was going to tonight. These ideas were of course taken from none other than....Pinterest. :)
At 7:00, I headed to my friend Michelle's house for a 4th of July party. We cooked out and hung out! I even played a little Dance Central (I think that's what it's called.) {And I am NOT good at it.}
Michelle lives on a corner lot in a nice neighborhood and on the left side of the house is a huge pasture. It's really beautiful scenery! So we took some pictures with the sunset.
Some played cornhole...
In the pasture are some cows and horses. Michelle feeds them carrots. I was amazed that she was courageous enough to feed the cows and horses from her hand. I could NOT handle having their huge, wet, nasty, sticky tongues touch my hand.
...and that's my 4th of July, 2012!
I think the older get, the more I realize what this day really means. I'm truly so thankful to live in America and am so appreciative of the men and women who have fought for, and are currently fighting for, our nation's freedom. Day and night, these selfless people fight for our freedom, out of pure dedication to our country. We have so much to be thankful for. It's awesome that we have a day each year, Independence Day, in which we can celebrate our country and its freedom, and also the men and women who have played, or are playing, a major role. God Bless America!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Week of Debby Downer
This is what much of Florida looked like from Sunday through Tuesday. If you live in FL, you know first-hand what I'm talking about. If you aren't from FL- you're lucky! I should mention my gratitude though for being kept safe and with power the entire time Debby made her presence known. There are many who experienced flooding, power outages, tornadoes, etc. This storm just lingered and lingered and lingered. I don't remember a time during the day on Sunday where it wasn't raining. I'm not exaggerating. Anyway- I'm thankful Debby has since moved on!
The beginning of this week has moved rather slowly, considering the weather situation. But it was getting hard to stay in- cabin fever sets in quickly after about 24 hours! Monday, the highlight of my day was leaving to go pick up lunch for my roommate and I and putting gas in my car. Sad. Ha!
Tuesday, things started to pick up a bit. {Not really.}
I walked around the mall for a little while. Dayna and I did some more shopping that afternoon. Then we went to say goodbye to our friend Jessica who is moving back to PA to get married and start her married life! Jessica is one of my first Lakeland friends, and also a teacher friend. She started at the school I work at about 3 months before I did. It's fun to have good friends alongside you as you begin your career! Plus, Jessica taught 4th grade and I teach 5th, so I have had many of her students. I wish her the best of luck as she begins this new chapter in her life!
Wednesday was our first day of SUNSHINE!!! It was exciting! Dayna and I renewed our apartment lease recently and with that comes a carpet cleaning so we had that scheduled for today. I was surprised that they were in and out and done in 25 minutes! I mean, I know it's only an apartment, but still! They worked fast!
Later on in the afternoon, we did some more shopping. We made a stop into Sports Authority because Dayna "needed" a new umbrella (supposedly). Well, being the non-athletic girl that I am, I dread going into Sports Authority. It's such a boring store in my opinion. I mean, what do I have to buy there? Golf stuff? No. Baseball stuff? No. Camping stuff? Ha! No. Overpriced clothing and shoes? No.
I digress.
Anyway....I came across these mini display tents while we were there, and I had to snap a pic! I love things miniature in size!
When we got home, I had a little snack. Have you tried this yet? If not, you really should. It's seriously the perfect snack. A little bit of chocolate, pretzels, almonds...it's just delectable!
After dinner, I was ready to go outside again. I'm telling ya, 3 straight days of rain really does something to you. Dayna has been running at a park near our apartment complex and she has been telling me about the monkey bars they have there (for adults). I wanted to check them out, so we went!
On our drive back around the lake, we spotted this gator chilling on the lawn. So of course we walked as close as we could. I'm fascinated by gators.
Our last stop for today was Target. I found these cool shades and Dayna proudly sported them for me. Only she could pull this off. I love it!
I'm thrilled that sunshine is part of the forecast for the next few days! I will be enjoying it!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Trip to Charleston
I spent last week in Charleston, SC as part of a Teaching American History Grant provided to the county in which I teach. It's a year long grant which includes doing online readings and postings, professional development workshops, the trip which we just went on, and a culminating project which we will complete in the fall semester. It's been a great experience so far and I know it will also be a great addition to my resume!
The group is relatively small; about 17 teachers. We all either teach 5th or 8th grade. In Florida, 5th and 8th grade curriculum focuses on American History. I'll be honest and say that this trip and the week of professional development workshops prior to, was a HUGE refresher for me. I'm not naturally a history buff, and I haven't had a history class in several years. I'm just not good with remembering dates of wars and who was in them, etc. I'm just not...and I've accepted it! Ha!
Many parts of history I do find fascinating, however. I enjoy looking at artifacts from long ago and learning about customs particular to certain time periods. I find the comparisons of "then and now" to be so amazing.
Anyway- here are some of my favorite pictures of the trip. I decided not to do a day-by-day blog post series, but rather condense it all into one post! It will be a long one!
Monday- we left at 7:00 a.m. and our first stop was St. Augustine to explore Castillo de San Marcos and the historic district.
Castillo de San Marcos
View from inside the Fort
Row of cannons
Where people would look out to see if an attack was coming- they were afraid of being fired at from the sea
Oldest wooden schoolhouse!
Jen and I
Tuesday- went to the Charleston Museum, Powder Magazine, did a Scavenger Hunt, went on a carriage ride, and explored downtown for dinner and shopping
Original brick of a historic Charleston building (I don't remember which one)
Slave tags
Rice was a profitable crop in the Charleston Area
Uniforms
An old coach
Apothecary Room
We were here 3 days in a row. Yes, three days.
Experiencing rice culture- not an easy task!
The Powder Magazine where we began our Scavenger Hunt
Reading the first clue
Kitchen house at the Heyward-Washington house (one of the stops along our Scavenger Hunt)
Heyward-Washington House (George Washington stayed here all of 2 weeks and so his name is forever attached to the house)
Sitting on the carriage, ready to go!
Beautiful!
Dinner on a rooftop
The rooftop on which we ate, Henry's Restaurant
Wednesday- Fort Sumter Tour, Charleston Museum, dinner and shopping in downtown
A view of the Fort
The ferry we took to get there
Cannon; the brickwork is original- so cool!
A view from the Fort inside. The walls used to be 55 feet high.
I just had to get a picture. Seeing the word "yall" on an advertisement is just so Southern to me. I love it. Oh, and we had lunch at Sticky Fingers.
Thursday- Cooking in the 19th century, Exploring Textile Collections, Boone Hall Plantation, Out to dinner as a whole group
Shrimp and Grits being made over a dutch oven
Biscuits
Apothecary station- this lady was explaining how women would remedy illnesses, etc.
Explaining the process of making lye soap
Utensils
An old flag, I love its withered and worn look- shows you just how old it is!
Now, onto one of my favorite parts of the trip- getting to play dress-up with 19th century clothing! It was so much fun!
Definitely needed help
Couldn't imagine getting dressed like this everyday!
Cindy and me (we both teach 5th grade)
We were all looking at different cameras, but at least you can see all the different dresses!
We hung together most of the trip; so glad they were there!
I wanted this picture for the fact it would have been so taboo back then for a woman to show her legs, let alone wear the style of shoes we are!
Boone Hall Plantation
This woman told us slave stories and sang a few songs slaves would sing
Slave cabins
Such powerful words
The tour guide pointed out these slave handprints to us- making bricks was one of their main tasks
Dinner at an Italian restaurant on the last night
Friday- Left hotel bright and early at 7:15, stopped in Jacksonville around 12 noon to visit the Kingsley Plantation, ate lunch at a state park near a beach, then headed for HOME!
Kingsley Plantation built in 1798
Slave cabins- roofs are no longer there but they were made out of thatch
And finally, me at our last stop, the state park near a beach where we had packed lunches.
We were all about ready to get home at this point. Thankful for a safe trip and great sunny weather!
So, there you have my too-long re-cap of my trip to Charleston!
The group is relatively small; about 17 teachers. We all either teach 5th or 8th grade. In Florida, 5th and 8th grade curriculum focuses on American History. I'll be honest and say that this trip and the week of professional development workshops prior to, was a HUGE refresher for me. I'm not naturally a history buff, and I haven't had a history class in several years. I'm just not good with remembering dates of wars and who was in them, etc. I'm just not...and I've accepted it! Ha!
Many parts of history I do find fascinating, however. I enjoy looking at artifacts from long ago and learning about customs particular to certain time periods. I find the comparisons of "then and now" to be so amazing.
Anyway- here are some of my favorite pictures of the trip. I decided not to do a day-by-day blog post series, but rather condense it all into one post! It will be a long one!
Monday- we left at 7:00 a.m. and our first stop was St. Augustine to explore Castillo de San Marcos and the historic district.
Castillo de San Marcos
View from inside the Fort
Row of cannons
Where people would look out to see if an attack was coming- they were afraid of being fired at from the sea
Oldest wooden schoolhouse!
Jen and I
Tuesday- went to the Charleston Museum, Powder Magazine, did a Scavenger Hunt, went on a carriage ride, and explored downtown for dinner and shopping
Original brick of a historic Charleston building (I don't remember which one)
Slave tags
Rice was a profitable crop in the Charleston Area
Uniforms
An old coach
Apothecary Room
We were here 3 days in a row. Yes, three days.
Experiencing rice culture- not an easy task!
The Powder Magazine where we began our Scavenger Hunt
Reading the first clue
Kitchen house at the Heyward-Washington house (one of the stops along our Scavenger Hunt)
Heyward-Washington House (George Washington stayed here all of 2 weeks and so his name is forever attached to the house)
Sitting on the carriage, ready to go!
Beautiful!
Dinner on a rooftop
The rooftop on which we ate, Henry's Restaurant
Wednesday- Fort Sumter Tour, Charleston Museum, dinner and shopping in downtown
A view of the Fort
The ferry we took to get there
Cannon; the brickwork is original- so cool!
A view from the Fort inside. The walls used to be 55 feet high.
I just had to get a picture. Seeing the word "yall" on an advertisement is just so Southern to me. I love it. Oh, and we had lunch at Sticky Fingers.
Thursday- Cooking in the 19th century, Exploring Textile Collections, Boone Hall Plantation, Out to dinner as a whole group
Shrimp and Grits being made over a dutch oven
Biscuits
Apothecary station- this lady was explaining how women would remedy illnesses, etc.
Explaining the process of making lye soap
Utensils
An old flag, I love its withered and worn look- shows you just how old it is!
Now, onto one of my favorite parts of the trip- getting to play dress-up with 19th century clothing! It was so much fun!
Definitely needed help
Couldn't imagine getting dressed like this everyday!
Cindy and me (we both teach 5th grade)
We were all looking at different cameras, but at least you can see all the different dresses!
We hung together most of the trip; so glad they were there!
I wanted this picture for the fact it would have been so taboo back then for a woman to show her legs, let alone wear the style of shoes we are!
Boone Hall Plantation
This woman told us slave stories and sang a few songs slaves would sing
Slave cabins
Such powerful words
The tour guide pointed out these slave handprints to us- making bricks was one of their main tasks
Dinner at an Italian restaurant on the last night
Friday- Left hotel bright and early at 7:15, stopped in Jacksonville around 12 noon to visit the Kingsley Plantation, ate lunch at a state park near a beach, then headed for HOME!
Kingsley Plantation built in 1798
Slave cabins- roofs are no longer there but they were made out of thatch
And finally, me at our last stop, the state park near a beach where we had packed lunches.
We were all about ready to get home at this point. Thankful for a safe trip and great sunny weather!
So, there you have my too-long re-cap of my trip to Charleston!
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