Vacation Day #3 and #4

     Wednesday was a pretty low key day.  I spent some time in the morning catching up on grading papers and picking up around the house.  Then Sarah came up and we visited for a bit, ran some errands and then went out to lunch in Portland.  I have to say that UNO's thin crust pizza was very disappointing!  Afterwards I hung out at the house, watched some TV and graded a little more until Mike came home.  

     On Thursday morning I went and had my haircut and then headed to Chuck E. Cheese.  I met Amanda W with Owen and Liam and Amanda B who had Kaedin and Kolton.  We were out numbered by the little ones, but we managed to keep track of all of them, because thankfully it was not too busy.  It was a lot of fun watching them play the different games and riding the rides.  Then we went to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays, which was interesting, but we all survived that experience as well.  Just a little glimpse of what it would be like to have more than one child - oh boy! 

      

     The boys were super cute and it is always fun to catch up with the girls!  But, afterwards I was EXHAUSTED and ended up taking a brief nap when I got home.  Then Mike cooked up some tacos, Jon came over for dinner.  We visited and played a game and then it was time for bed! 

     It is amazing how quickly vacation time goes by!  Still have much more planned for this weekend, so I am sure Monday will come WAY too quickly!

Vacation Day # 2

Sage and I enjoyed a nice relaxing morning.  We slept in and then caught up on some TV.  

Then I had some frosting and filling to finish up for cake decorating class.

Then we went on another walking adventure - this time we explored the woods behind the house.  It was nice to actually have the snowshoes today!

                                         

Then after lunch I worked on cutting out numbers in the neutral fabric for my next set of onesies.  I will worry about sewing them on once I actually receive another order!

I am really enjoying my daily walks with Sage and being productive through out the day.  We'll see what the rest of the week has to offer.  Hopefully, I can find the motivation to get some school work done!

READY, SET, but don't make me GO!

     The students start school in ONE WEEK!  The first teacher workshop for MSAD 35 is Thursday, so today I decided to go into school and get my classroom ready.  I dropped Sage off at daycare by 8:00, made the drive to Eliot and stayed as long as I needed (which ended up being until 5:15).  I am happy to say that I feel like my room is in good shape and pretty much back together.  I have a few posters to put back on the empty walls, curtains to wash and put up, bulletin boards to fill, folders to organize and then actually plan out what I'm going to teach.  My classroom may be ready, but as usual I am just not mentally ready.  I know once Tuesday comes around the routine will feel comfortable and I'll get right back into it.  I guess that means that tomorrow I should focus on summer read: Rigor is NOT a Four- Letter Word (only 100 more pages to go by Thursday)!!  Goodbye summer vacation - you will be missed!

My desk - one of the few times it will be nice and neat!

Blank bulletin board for now - and my school library.  All of the books are scanned into Bookpedia this amazing program I found to track borrowed books!

A few of the blank walls that need some lovely math posters!

What the Function?

Funny/Embarrassing thing happened to me today...

During first period, I was teaching my Algebra class about functions, we talked a little about domain & range and then I went into explaining f(x). Everything was going great until one of the times I went to say "function" I did not pronounce the n quite so clearly. I of course realized it, and TRIED to continue teaching, but one particular group of students started giggling. As soon as the kids started giggling I had to stop and kind of regroup before moving on. The BEST part was that the Assistant Principal happened to be sitting at my desk doing one of his regular "pop-in" observations. I was of course REALLY embarrassed and I am sure that my face was BRIGHT red! I just looked up, he gave me a funny little smile and then I continued teaching as if nothing happened. Needless to say it didn't take very long for the other teachers on my team to find out about it and have a good laugh/give me a hard time.

Fortunately, when I saw the Assistant Principal later we were able to joke about it as well! I saw him in the hallway during lunch. He mentioned that he hadn't done much work with "f of x" lately, but that when he was in school "they were called functions!" The jokes of course continued through out the rest of the day as other teachers around the school heard about my lovely little blunder!

February Update

Looks like I kind of forgot about the blog for a little bit, but I am back. Oops! Hopefully I can make the time to keep it updated! Here are a few little updates that I can remember from February.

Favorite Things:

On February 1st, we started one of my favorite units of the school year, PANIC! It is an integrated unit with Math & SS. For SS they research, learn and present information about the 1920's. For Math they learn about the stock market, and then simulate buying & selling stocks from that time period. We let the students think that their grade depends on how well they do and how much money they make. The best part is that at some point before the two week unit is over we (the teachers) simulate the CRASH of 1929, which of course causes much PANIC. We end the unit with a 1920's day where students dress up, hear presentations & experience music & dance of the time period. We also give the upper class a fancy breakfast with bagels, donuts & juice, while the middle class get munchkins. Finally, the students who end up in "Hooverville" get wonder bread. It was a great send off to February vacation!

Cruisin':

Over February vacation I went on a cruise with a group of eight girls including Sarah, some of her co-workers, Katie & Danielle. On Saturday morning we flew to Orlando & stayed in a hotel, and then boarded the Carnival cruise ship on Sunday. We spent the next four days cruising to Freeport and then Nassau Bahamas and back. We certainly had a rough start with many problems in Orlando, but it all worked out, we had fun and were able to RELAX! We met a few new people from LA, who joined us at the dinner table, and we went out with them a few times. In Freeport, we enjoyed and/or participated in some trapeze entertainment and a few drinks. The video is hysterical (if Danielle reads this or finds out I posted it she may not be too happy with me)! In Nassau, we ventured out to Senor Frogs for a night of drinking & dancing. On the boat we enjoyed the food, drinks, staff, mini-golf, dancing, water slides and of course the SUN! Sadly, our tans faded FAST after returning home.

On the trapeze you are supposed to swing back and forth, do some flips and THEN jump off. This is what NOT to do...

Sage & Sickness:

While I was on the cruise, Mike was on a road trip with his brother Phil. They drove from Maine to Virginia over the course of 5-6 days. They stopped in various places along the way to visit friends/family. Fortunately, Sage was able to spend the week in Hampden, with my mom. She didn't seem to get herself into too much trouble, and mom's house is still in one piece! Although, on the last day Sage discovered a cardboard box that had been there all week. Friday night of vacation I met mom in Augusta for dinner & to pick Sage up. Then I headed back to Scarborough with plans to get cleaning, errands & schoolwork done before Mike returned on Sunday. Unfortunately, I came down with the awful stomach flu and spent the rest of my vacation in bed. Ugh!

Surprises:

The last weekend in February Mike and I drove back to Hampden to celebrate my mom's birthday! Mike and I were not going to get there until late Friday night, so Aunt Sherry & Gram decided to surprise her and took her out to dinner. She was really surprised when she opened the door expecting Mike & I. On Saturday, the five of use played some games and watched the Fort Fairfield girls game (State Champs) and took mom out for another bday dinner.

I guess that pretty much wraps up February. Surprisingly, March has gone by much faster than I expected (mostly due to this wonderful weather). Hopefully there will be more frequent updates in the future!

One Season Ends & Another Begins

The Marshwood field hockey season if FINALLY over (3-2-6)! It is always a bittersweet feeling though, because I truly enjoy working with the girls, but the season just drags on. We had a terrific last game, we ended up winning 2-1, against Kittery. It was a really competitive, and close game! We had a successful team celebration at Smitty's in Sanford - took 50 girls along with a few parents to see Where the Wild Things Are. Here are a few of the team photos from this year. I have to hand it to Tami (7th grade coach), because she had 30 girls alone on the 6th/7th grade team and she was able to get all of them in to each and every game! It was not an easy job! But now, I am looking forward to having my time back after school to prep, plan or just head home if I want to. Just a few more uniforms to collect and then we are completely done!

8th Grade Team

On the same day that my Marshwood season ended, my adult league at Seacoast United started. We had an 8:30 game, which is late for me (especially when I have to drive back to Scarborough afterwards). We played pretty well considering we hadn't played since April/May. But, I am sooo out of shape and I am still a little sore today (shins/legs especially). Now, that I have some more free time I need to get my butt to the gym, so that I am not in pain for a week after playing Monday nights.

Hopefully there will be more opportunities for blog posts now that coaching is over with. We shall see...

What was I thinking?

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but since school has started it has been CRAZY busy! Teaching Algebra and now Geometry (ugh) is certainly keeping me on my toes. I am also trying to get the hang of the new Pre-Algebra text. Three preps on top of a one hour commute each way makes me feel like there is no time! Field hockey has finally started to get better, we are now 1-1-2. We travel to Saco Middle School today. This week I feel like I can finally breathe and slow things down a bit, because the students have testing all day. So, that is why I have some time to blog. So, I thought I would share a funny little story about an adventure I had here at MMS. Oh, the things I am willing to do for my students & literacy. What was I thinking???!!!

At the end of September we had an all school assembly to celebrate summer reading and literacy. We had volunteered one of the teachers on my team to be the leader at the assembly, and when I came into the gym he asked me if I would help. Little did I know, he was tricking me into being the leader.

During the assembly the principal would ask questions related to the summer reading books, and it was my job to get the answer from my students. If I was called on I would share the answer and our team would get a point. I knew that the top two teams would be competing in the end for a prize. So, I tried to raise my hand slow and avoid being called on, but my plan did not work, because my team was seated at the front of the gym. We ended up winning and I (as the representative of our team) would be going up against the other 8th grade teacher. Thankfully, the 7th grade team lost or I would have been going against the wrestling coach!! Here is what the team competition involved...IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!!!

We had to race across the gym floor in these ridiculous, smelly, gross costumes. The best our of three runs was the winner. I won the first one, and then the second one they put us closer together to make it easier to push each other down. I decided (stupidly) to make it a little more entertaining, so I dove on the floor for the book (and won). Then I couldn't get up and everyone was laughing/taking pictures instead of trying to help. Finally, they made us spin around and then try to find the book, and the only reason I won that round is because the other teacher dropped the book. So, in the end the 8-White team won!! But, wait the story gets better...

After the assembly I proceeded to teach my classes, but my neck/back started to ache. I soon realized that I had seriously hurt myself when I dove for the book. The costume had sprung me back when I landed on the floor and my head snapped back, causing whiplash!! I actually had to fill out workman's comp paperwork and iced my neck. Ridiculous! Oh, but it gets even better... at the end of the day I was looking back at some of the photos and noticed an unfamiliar person in the background. When I asked who he was, I was told that he was from Foster's Daily Democrat! AHHHH! A small article appeared in the newspaper about 4 days later. As if I wasn't humiliated enough - what was I thinking?

Student Work

This weekend has not been very much fun for me, because I am stuck with a TON of grading to do. Part of my problem is that I assigned a project that was due on Monday, and I haven't touched any of them since then. Then my students had to respond to my math blog problem on Friday - so that added to my "to grade" pile. Oh well, it is my own fault. I had a little break today, so that Mike and I could head to Portland and look at our cake options. So, now I have decided to take another little break, which is the perfect opportunity to share some of the papers I have been grading.

In my pre-algebra classes we have been working on learning slope (rise/run). The project required the students to create a piece of artwork using straight lines and then they had to give me the slope, y-intercept, and the equation for each line. They all had very creative ideas!

Mountain Climber

Basketball Player

Odd Tree

Goalie

Christmas Tree

Robot

Field Hockey Player (Had to include this one!)

Cake Shoppe

In the Sea

My Baseball Field

My House