Monday, January 30, 2012

I've Been Tagged!

Last night I had one of those nights where my brain just wouldn't stop - I didn't fall asleep until nearly 2 am, and the anxiety crept in around one o'clock - what if I can't sleep at all? What if I can't fall asleep until 5 am again? (This just happened to me last week, right after our MLK holiday, and I literally had a break down at an ACL show my boyfriend and I were at, because the day before I had woken up at 5 am, so to not fall asleep until 5 am the next day meant I had about 6 hours of sleep to get me through 3 days - I was so sleep deprived and tired that I started shaking and crying; it was awful and so embarrassing!)

Anyway, I finally did fall asleep, but I woke up with a horribly scratchy voice and a thick feeling in my chest. I didn't actually feel bad, but I sounded terrible, and I swear it made for an easier day of teaching - the kids were so concerned about me being sick that they were really on the ball today! Guess I need to sound sick more often! This evening, I finally got around to reading my blogroll and figuring out what all I need to do now that I've been tagged! Amber from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher has tagged me, and I'm so glad she did - yay for third grade! Thank you, Amber! So, to keep me from writing more about my sleep problems, here are the rules: 

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Here are my "fun facts": 
1. When my parents were getting divorced, things were obviously not the happiest of times, but my mom would laugh when she watched Will Ferrell on SNL. So, when I was 15, I wrote him a letter just to tell him thank you for making my mom laugh. I never expected anything in return from him (obviously, who would?!), but about a year later, I received a package in the mail from him - two autographed pictures, one for my mom (hers said "Keep laughing!") and one for me. Best guy ever, that Will Ferrell. 
2. My closet is color coordinated, and within the colors, my dresses and shirts are organized by sleeve length (pants are also hung according to leg length). 
3. I have 6 tattoos (if you look back to my very first post, there's a picture of one of them + more random info about me!).
4. I met Ryan Phillipe on my 21st birthday at a bar in downtown Austin. I didn't even know it was him; I had been walking up to strangers all night to inform them that it was my birthday, and I told him this on my way out of the bar - it was then my friends realized that he was NOT just some stranger, so we came back inside to take a picture:
(He was obviously less than thrilled.)
5. I have one sister; she's 19 months younger than me. I have one (half) brother; he's 17 years younger than me (he's actually a third grader this year, which is more fun for me than it is for him, I think). 
6. I hate - HATE - raw tomatoes. 
7. Goodwill is my favorite place to shop. 
8. I haven't had red meat in over 10 years (maybe longer?). 
9. The only phone number besides my own that I have memorized is the home phone number of my best friend from elementary school - I used to dial it so often, I still know it by heart. 
10. I'm a compulsive list maker. 
11. I don't like coffee, and I think it's due to the fact that I accidentally snorted coffee grinds in the 4th grade.
12. I've played golf all my life, and I was the only girl on my high school's girls golf team (because of that, I lettered in freshman year). But - my handicap is ~100, so I didn't really deserve that jacket. 

Now to answer Amber's questions: 
1. Polka dots or stripes? Depends on what we're talking about! All the border for the bulletin boards in my classroom are polka dotted, but I have TONS of striped shirts - I became addicted to striped tops when I was in Europe two summers ago.
2. What is your favorite thing about teaching? Witnessing the aha! moments of kids and getting to experience their genuine curiosity every day. Also helping them overcome any struggles they might have is really fulfilling - I just love seeing kids realize their potential!
3. Guilty Pleasure? The Real Housewives of Atlanta/New Jersey. I don't have cable, but I find ways to still watch that terrible show.
4. Drama or Comedy? Comedy, for sure.
5. If you could teach your students one thing, what would it be? To always be accepting of others. I tell my kids that they don't always have to be best friends with everyone, but they MUST treat everyone with love and respect, no matter what.
6. If you won a million dollars and had to give it to one person, who would it be? Any children's charity.
7. Cats or Dogs? Cats - I have two right now; I've never owned a dog, but I'd like to at some point in my life.
8. Favorite fruit? Strawberries!
9. What technology do you have in your classroom? 1 teacher computer, 1 student computer that doesn't work, a document camera, and a projector. I also have a DVD player and a TV, if that counts; I also bring my own personal iPad to school for my kids to use. There are Flip Cams and slates that we can check out to use, though, so I've been using a slate in my room for the past couple months.
10. What is one thing you couldn't live without? Probably a toothbrush and toothpaste - I really hate it when my teeth feel dirty!
11. Where were you born? Baton Rouge, Lousiana.
12. Where did you go to college? The University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'Em!). 

Here are my 12 questions: 
1.What is one food/drink you could eat/drink every day?
2. What is the best thing you've ever baked/cooked? 
3. If you could have a shopping spree at one place, where would it be? 
4. What is a pet peeve of yours? 
5. Where is the best place you've ever been on vacation? 
6. What is your favorite subject/lesson to teach? 
7. How do you balance the demands of teaching with your at home, personal/family life? 
8. What is a memory you have that is linked to a specific song? 
9. Where is one place you'd like to visit before you die? 
10. Who has influenced you the most as a teacher? 
11. What is the most worn piece of clothing in your wardrobe?
12. If you could trade places with one person for a day, who would it be and why? 

Now, to the teachers I've tagged! If you've already been tagged in this little game, I apologize; you obviously don't have to respond (unless you want to!).
12. Mrs. Lottermoser @ Life With Mrs. L

As for me - time for a shower and a good night's sleep! Happy Monday, y'all! 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

What A Week!

Last week was crazy busy - I had some things I wanted to share with y'all, but I just couldn't find the time! Tuesday night we had our science fair, and I made sure to go to it because 5 of the 6 third grade winners were kids from my class! I am so proud of them! In third grade, science fair projects are optional, and not only did 6 of my kids submit projects, but 5 of them actually won! It was awesome to see how excited they were for themselves and for each other. Then Thursday we had our first field trip! We went to Gattitown, and it was the BEST field trip I've ever taken with a class. Not only was the whole thing planned for us (fraction lessons, a magician, graphing results from games, building 3D models...), but the kids had a blast! Even the parents who came along to help were super impressed by how structured everything was. Of course, having pizza for lunch and some free time in the game room didn't hurt, either! Then on Friday, grades were due for progress reports and I had to prepare for a sub because I had an ESL training to attend. While my week wasn't necessarily stressful, it was certainly super busy and I was exhausted by the time I got home Friday afternoon. I spent the weekend down in Houston because one of my very best friends lives there (she's a teacher, too!), and even though we're less than 3 hours away from each other, I rarely see her because our schedules are always so jam packed. Hanging out with her and just chilling was exactly what I needed to recoup after this crazy week. Now, I'm about to go pick up my boyfriend from the airport - he has been in Puerto Rico this past week for an astronomy conference, so I'm happy he's on his way home (except he leaves again in the morning to go on an observing run out at the McDonald Observatory in west Texas, boo).


We'll be celebrating our 100th day of school on Friday, but I hope to be back before then to share my plans as well as a few other things! I hope you all had a restful and relaxing weekend! Happy almost February!


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Another Valentine's Day Freebie!

Last night, instead of grading, I played around again with the Artrage app on my iPad to create a few Valentine's Day graphics. Then this morning, I set aside some time to finally set up and open my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Right now I've only posted things that I've already shared on my blog, but I've also uploaded the Valentine's Day graphics I created last night. Since this is my first go at Teachers Pay Teachers, I'm only linking it there instead of also uploading on Google Docs, but I might include both in future posts. I'm really excited to integrate TpT to my blog, and to also start following all the terrific bloggers I already follow here on TpT as well! Do you have a TpT store? If you do, let me know in the comments and I'll make sure to follow you!

If you're interested in downloading the graphics I created, just click the picture below and it'll take to you my store where you can download it for free!

Enjoy!
 

Friday, January 20, 2012

Valentine Freebie

Good morning teacher friends! Today I have a science training, and since it doesn't start until 9:00 (SCORE!), I thought I'd get a quick post up this morning to share the valentine I made to give to my kiddos this year. I made this on my iPad with the app Artrage, and I really like how it turned out - easy and simple. I plan on printing them 4 to a page, then gluing or sewing them to patterned scrapbook paper. If you'd like to use this for your kiddos, just click the picture below to download a copy from Google Docs.

Enjoy!