Back to School...Again!

Good-bye summer...hello Fall! Yes it is that time again...back to school! I forgot what that phrase really meant for the last two years...now that I am actually a student again I remember! :) I forgot about buying hundreds of dollars worth of books and then actually having to read them! I have forgotten how to write papers too. I am so hoping that I can learn a lot to help me in my classroom though...I am already reading some interesting concepts that I am eager learn how to apply to my classroom to change for the better. Even though I am only taking 2 classes at a time, I have not experienced working full time on top of that (and it is only the beginning of the semester) so I am trying to find a balance between work, school, and "me" time and it is hard! You think that because I am a third year teacher that I have all that worked out anyway...well I am still trying out new ways of teaching so I still probably spend way too much time doing work stuff! I can't help it though...I just am trying to be on top of my game!

As far as teaching goes, I can't believe 3 weeks my school year have already flown by! My class is so good! They are very different from last year as far as dynamics go. To start off with, I have 19 girls and only 10 boys and they are all so cute! The boys are so different from last year's boys...they are more polite and well-behaved, whereas last year they thought they were just too cool for school! My girls are just sweet and helpful to me and to everyone else. They are excited for school still...so I hope I can help them keep that attitude up!

I actually had a student move already though, because her mom is the speech teacher at our school and she got a job at a military base in Korea to be a speech teacher at the school there. Crazy...I know...so I found out last Tuesday that they were leaving and their last day was Thursday. What an adventure! I hope it all works out, but for me...this is bad to say...yehaw! One less student! That makes a total of 28...phew...still too many I think...but I love them all already, so I will try my best to teach them! We have already done some fun projects, so here are a few pictures of them:


These are what I had my class do the first day. They made their faces out of paper plates and then put yarn for their hair. They are too cute! :)



And yes, I did Salt Dough Maps of Utah with my class again this year. It is just so fun for them and I did have a few parents help out with it. They are actually painted now, I just have to take some pictures of them. This is one of my favorite things to do with them because there are so many different types of landforms in Utah and it is a good way to help them remember their geography of Utah!




So, that pretty much sums up my life right now to this point...I did have my birthday last week and I am in disbelief that I am 25! I remember seeing other people that turned 25 when I was little and thinking they were so old...now here I am...25 myself! And I don't feel that old yet...it actually feels good. I am enjoying being 25! :) I celebrated my birthday with my kids at school, by playing a game and passing out doughnuts, then my mom came and brought me lunch at school, so that was very fun! Then Scott and Kim and the kids came down and we all went to the Olive Garden for dinner. Yum-Yum! After that, I invited some friends over to play games and have cake and treats and it was all just way too fun! I am so grateful for good family and friends! They make all the difference! No pictures of the day, but one of my favorite gifts was a U of U Snuggie from my parents! I have used it several times already and I am sure I will use it many more times!

Oh and another gift I got was this weird little U of U gnome guy (yes, my mom bought a gnome to give me as a present! Haha!). When I opened it up and showed it to Lexie, we asked her what it was and she studied it really hard and said, "Hi-Ho?"...LOL...we were cracking up! She is really into Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and that is what she calls them..."Hi-Ho's" :) What a clever little girl! Never a dull moment with those kids!