September 11th

On September 10th, Scott asked me, "You know what tomorrow is right?".

"September 11th?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yeah", he says.

And I said, "So?".

I was searching my brain for some reason he would be asking me about September 11th. I knew it wasn't our wedding anniversary, or when we met, or when he ask me to marry him. Maybe it was the day of our first kiss? No, that couldn't be it. When it finally dawned on me, I felt so stupid. I, who professes to be the most patriotic person I know, didn't even remember the significance of the day. How dumb do I feel?

I hope that on Patriot's Day, everyone took a moment to remember why we have a Patriot's Day...why we even have a country in the first place...why we should never forget those that have gone on before us in forming this country. A country still being formed, tried, and tested. And I hope that we can stand up to the test and continue to enjoy the freedom that our country grants us, even as we take it for granted.

Numbers, numbers, and more numbers

Looks like everyone was right when they said that half of the students on our rosters show up. I didn't quite believe them, but after these last few days, I have to. We had 180 in May. By August the number was down to 154. Now??? At last count we had approximately 85 6th graders. Kinda crazy. But good in a way, because now at least I don't have to worry about huge class sizes. A little scary too, because what if they do away with my position because we don't have the numbers to support it? I will make myself crazy with worry over that one, so I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it!

The first week went rather well. I'm feeling energetic and encouraged. I hope that it continues. I'm not having any real discipline problems yet, although I have scoped out a couple of classes that could become problematic. Gotta nip that in the bud.

The hardest part was getting a sub yesterday. Yes, I know it's the first week of school. However, we closed on our house yesterday. At 11. So I couldn't even really take a half day. It was emotional on our both our part and the seller's. Hopefully we'll all be happy once it it over. Wait, it is over. And I'm happy. Hopefully she is too! LOL! Now we have a bunch of work to do...washing walls, painting, etc., before we can move in. But it will all be worth it to have a house we own. This will hopefully be the house the kids think about when they think about growing up in CO.

Heigh-ho Heigh-ho

IT'S OFF TO WORK I GO!!!

Have a great day everyone!

The Last Two Days...

...before I go back to work!!! It is like any other major event in my life. I count down and count down and count down and then just like that, it's over! I waited all year for summer and now it's over. Well, technically I have those last two days, but those are going to be filled with last minute preparations for school to start. That should be fun, but really I can't believe I'll be starting my second year of teaching on Monday. It'll be the truest test I believe. Last year, I had Angela, my angel, to help me along and prod me, and give me FANTASTIC ideas. This year, I'm it on the 6th grade team. AND I'm department chair. So it is do-or-die, make-or-break, (hmmmm, can't think of a third thing to make the literary device complete) time.

The good news is our state test results were printed in the newspaper last week. Our 6th graders scored 5% higher than last year's 6th graders. Wahoo! They were probably all Angela's students, but still.....!

The bad news is I found out I have to present about the PLC Conference I went to this summer. I can talk to a room full of 11 and 12 year olds, but a room full of adults? Yikes.

This weekend starts the beginning of a family reunion of sorts. By next weekend, we will have all six siblings in town, all my parent's grandchildren will be here, AND all the in-laws (spouses) will be around. It should be fun, but I'm worried about how much I'll really get to see everyone with getting ready for school and all. I guess I'll just do what I can do and worry about the rest later.

Memories

Since I have nothing original to write, let's play a game:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Professional Development Conference

I went to my first professional development conference in Denver this last weekend. It made me feel like a grown-up! I had a good time with the other teachers from my school that went and the best part was the conference was actually full of valuable information! Imagine that! I am really excited to try to affect change at my school and be a positive force for good. The conference was all about how to build a collaborative working relationship with other teachers. May seem obvious, but teachers tend to get stuck in the rut of "my classroom, my rules, my curriculum". I think working collaboratively with other teachers will definitely make me a better teacher, and I hope that I can give something back to them as well. Plus, I hope to make my work place a more positive place to be!

Happy 4th of July!

Here is Claire, our youngest niece peeking out through the swing.


Here's Jared with the purple mountain's majesty in the background.
Here's Carson....too cute for words.
Travis eating his ice cream.
Daniel..the future convict!!!

Okay, and the following text was supposed to appear BEFORE the pictures, but I can't figure out how to fix that.

I know that it has only been a few days since I posted, but Scott took some really cool pictures at the park yesterday. Kristin is noticeably absent as she went out of town with a friend's family. I will post current pictures of her later.

We spent the beginning of the afternoon at the park with my brother's family, and then went to our house to play rock band. Then we went to my parent's house for BBQ. After that we opted to skip the fireworks and just go home. I watched the Boston Pops concert/fireworks on TV. It wasn't the same, but better than nothing!

Hope you all had a Happy Fourth of July!