I learned how to make silhouettes...

Check it ou!

Introducing...

Can you tell I learned how to do rounded edges on Photoshop? I get so frustrated, because I see so many bloggers make all these cute little icons, and every picture they post is edited in a cute way and I just can't quite get it right... but I digress, this post is not about my photoshop insecurities.

It's about our fitness challenge! I'm posting this because it's just another thing that will (hopefully) hold me to this. John is doing a biggest loser competition at work, and I wanted to be a part of it. We decided to do a monthly weigh-in competition amongst ourselves at the same time.

Stakes are high, folks, so I gotta get my butt in gear.

For Month One (February), if John wins he would like to try skiing at Mission Ridge. I would like a professional massage. We each got to pick a not-outrageous not-food-related prize as motivation. The idea of having to do John's selection is quite a bit of motivation.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. Maybe we will completely drop-off, or maybe we'll stick with it and get some results. I'm hoping that if I print a reminder to go up somewhere that we won't lose track (and John won't since he'll be in the work competition).

Not too much else to report. Last night I had a few coworkers over for dinner (which was delicious Tanya!) and hanging out. I've thankful to have met such nice people through work, and had a great time with them! Maybe some time I'll remember to take pictures one of these days!

Funny how...

.... as soon as school starts I have very little to share.

This first week back to school was actually not too bad. The kids (for the most part) were ready to jump back into things and now it feels like we've been there all along. Because we've had such a long break and are nearing the end of first semester, both the students and I shared some goals we have for the 2nd half of the year. My goals include:

1. Providing more feedback to students (more individual check-ins) during math rather than waiting for them to have questions.
2. Utilizing student jobs more to help make the classroom more autonomous. 
3. Taking science notes in a more meaningful way. 
4. Be more consistent with expectations (as always, I feel like I slip a bit through the year)

Nothing too big and life-changing, but just things to keep me on my toes. Honestly, I've been much more lax with these students because they are so good, and because I was burnt out from being so tough last year. I foresee my third year teaching being a successful one in terms of finding my groove and what works for me (it will also help that I will be teaching the same thing again).


So, I don't think I've mentioned yet, but I am getting very excited to go on my first big trip of the year. My partner teacher organizes a student trip for the 6th and 7th graders in the district to go to Washington D.C., and I get to go, too. It's all through a program called World Strides, and they organize the itinerary, flight, hotel, everything. They also provide night chaperones to watch the rooms overnight (which is the most tiring part!).We're going in April, and I really look forward to it.

Our second big trip is an Alaskan cruise that my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, and John and I are going to in August. It's my parent's 30th anniversary, my mom's 60th birthday, and our 2nd anniversary. None of us has ever been on a cruise, and we thought we'd try one out that we didn't have to fly to. While it isn't necessarily a "party cruise" for us twenty-somethings, I think it'll be more our speed. Looking at all the brochures and information online, we're getting pretty excited for it. Too bad we have to wait until August!


Alright, some friends are coming over tonight, so I better make things presentable around here.. :)

Classroom Additions

Look what the students brought in today:

6 Goldfish to be exact. Quite charming. We will be voting on names this week some time. As long as they don't die by then. Ha! I also figured out how to take some better pictures of things like aquariums. Since a fancy camera is not in our budget right now, I'm trying to take time to figure out my point-and-shoot camera a little better. Anyway, the kids are excited, and it does add something calming to the room.

I also got this:

Allow me to explain. Students had an extra credit opportunity - they could do many things, one of which was to make a model of one of the types of joints. This kid (who obviously had a lot of help from his dad) created an arm - hinge joint. Not totally accurately since the arm moved backwards 90 degrees, but I'm stoked to have this little piece of art in my classroom!

I love these kids.

urggghhh

I am not excited to call Sony tomorrow, but it needs to be done. My computer doesn't recognize my ipod, it hasn't been automatically updating since July (sad that I didn't notice this until now?), and it doesn't let me troubleshoot anything. I'm annoyed because my full itunes library is on my old desktop, and I don't want to go through the hassle of hooking it up and transferring the rest of my music until my laptop is fixed.

I was already on the phone with them to fix my wireless a few months ago. What a pain.

A bad representation of New Years

I took a few photos from New Years, but really only when we played Just Dance on our projector screen. I am just not in the habit of snapping photos, even though I had a beautiful buffet set up with labels, and a pretty good turn out, considering we weren't planning on having a party.

Also, I would like a new camera. Mine really isn't that bad, and in the spirit of minimalism, I really don't need one, but it'd be so much fun. Currently, the lid/cover for the battery and SD card doesn't snap all the way, and I figure if it just stops shutting altogether then I may be in the market. John doesn't have a camera, and mine is 8 megapixels, which is pathetic. Not even that old! Anyway, we'll see. I've got a little Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket that I could either spend on craft room shelving or a camera... decisions  decisions.

Wow, so anyway, back to new years. Here are a few silly pictures that are WAY unflattering.

Truly, they do not accurately represent my superior skills of following choreography and looking good while doing so. I blame it on the camera. I will not show you the picture where I'm resting my drink on my belly. Guh-ross.

 

 Too bad I don't have anything else to share!

Today, however, I did stop at Target to pick up an auxiliary cord (exciting, I know). However, I found some great deals on other things... Like:

On sale for $7.50. I know "mustard" isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. Once I wore a mustard sweater and got many compliments on it, so it stuck. Also, the reason I was looking at purses is because mine is taking over my life. It's TOO big and whatever size a purse is I will fill. This one is a crossbody and is very small. So.. hopefully I can keep this one clean. Tempted to get a black one, too... We'll see.

This was in that cheap section when you first walk in. It's a clothy "charging station" but it matches my classroom colors. So my plan is to put it by my computer for post-its and such. You can never have too many trays. And at $2.50, what a steal! There were other bins, too, but I couldn't think of a use..

Don't laugh, my car is such a boat that it barely fits into the garage without touching the 2 stairs to the house. So I may or may not have ran over them a few times. John was going to hang a tennis ball, but THIS was on clearance for 75% off, which = $2.50. I'm pretty stoked to set this up.

In other news, first day back went well. I wasn't dreading it like the past, so it was fun. My kids are cuties, and they build my self-esteem because they laugh at my dumb jokes. Ha! Anyway, happy Monday!

Back to life, back to reality

Well, a two-week vacation is coming to a close, and while I don't dread going back to school I dread finishing off my last few tasks that I've put off. My to-do list for tomorrow looks like this:

• New seating charts (4 total)
• Grade pre-alg tests
• Grade course 2 tests
• Course 2 slides
• Thank-yous for Christmas gifts from students to hand out Monday

My original plan was to have January's slides done, but that didn't happen... oh well! I only finished the first week's slides for pre-algebra. It will be so much easier (assuming I get to stay) next year when I will only have to revise my slides...

I also re-realized that another decade is over, and I was thinking about how mine has gone. This was a huge decade for me, as far as decades go. I (get this), learned how to drive, had my first kiss, graduated high school, graduated college, met John,  got engaged and married, bought a house, started my career. Eeek! That's a lot of growing up I've done... cah-razy.

In other news, I really only mentioned one toy I got for Christmas - Photoshop Elements 9. Here are some other sweet treats I got - I feel overwhelmed with my husband's and family's generosity.

This is one of my favorite gifts - a sure sign that I'm getting older. This is a highly rated Black and Decker cordless hand vacuum, and boy does it come in handy! I keep in plugged in under the stairs and can pull it out to clean up the counters, vacuum the whole kitchen floor crumbs in the kitchen, clean up the couch, vacuum up all my stray hair from the bathroom. It's been so handy!! Along with that, my mom got me this from business Costco sort of as a joke, but I love it!

This dustpan, coupled with my industrial-size 2-foot dust mop, makes it so easy to sweep the downstairs! I don't even have to bend over anymore! Love it!

My sister got us this, which I am super excited about! No more writing out return labels! What a sweet idea!

John also got me these 2 books I had asked for - I plan on reading the "thanks" book to my students at the end of the school year. I get choked up reading it for some reason. So cute! (yes I know I teach 7th graders and don't have any children...)



An Awesome Book of Thanks! from Dallas Clayton on Vimeo.

 This guy is too cute.


John also got me some necklaces from J. Crew. But... I don't have pictures.

My parents showered us with gifts for some reason. My mom got carried away. They also wrap gifts they get themselves (I'm talkin' to mom from mom) and unwrap them in front of us and act surprised. It's very silly. They got John a shop vac (which was supposed to be from me... but...) and me a rolling office chair. And a signed baseball from Edgar Martinez (whom they met while having a fancy night in one of the suites at Safeco). And... other fun things I can't think of.

Also, our marshmallow gun fight tradition was a success. The boys definitely pick on me, but it's all in good fun. John hid the whole time, wuss. You'd be surprised how much a marshmallow can hurt!