Highlights of Teaching Vol. 1

Today started as it always does, the kids filtered into the classroom, and I strolled around the room checking their agendas for signatures. One of the little girls in my classroom walked up to me and handed me an acorn. Now it's not an acorn that is shelled with the top on it, but the actual nut. Then she proceeded to say, "Here ya go Ms. Lee, I brought you an acorn! Now you can have an acorn tree in your backyard, if you plant it of course." I thanked her and she hugged me, sat down and began her work. The teacher that I co-teach with had to step out of the classroom for awhile, so I finished going over morning work and then had the students get out their song about Ancient Mali that is sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". So we're singing the song and get to the "five sacks of gold" and of course, I decided to add some flare, so now they drag it out "fiiiiiivvvvvvveeeeeee saaaaaacccccckkkkkkssssss of goooooooooooollllllldddddd." It's the funniest thing ever and they totally rocked it out! I was so proud of them!
One of my students has a broken collar bone so we have to do the majority of his writing and coloring. Today they had to design and color a scarecrow to use as their inspiration for a descriptive paragraph. Since the student I work with primarily wasn't there today, I sat down to help him color his scarecrow. As I'm coloring, I notice a few of the other kids stop and look over at me. Then I hear, "WOW Ms. Lee, you sure can color good!" and another say "she can stay in the lines". I chuckled to myself.
It's amazing some of the things that kids say and do. There is always something said throughout the day that sticks in your head and I am determined to write them down in a book, so if I'm having a rough day I can pull it out and laugh.

So here's to life! :)
Simply N

Traffic Jams and a Wii-tastic weekends

Nothing beats a good weekend after a week of work, and the past two weekends have been awesome. Last weekend, my parents and grandmother came to visit and it was good to catch up and relax. Dad put a ceiling light up in my office room and Mom helped make some amazing cupcakes for a bridal shower lunch-in I volunteered to help coordinate. Mom-Mom hung out and of course provided a barrel of laughs and kept us on our toes. The highlight of the weekend was probably our karaoke moment on the Wii that I have recently purchased. We all took our turns, Mom-Taylor Swift's "Love Story", myself, "Gives you Hell," and Dad sang "Do you think I'm sexy?" to which Mom-Mom responded, "don't you have any other channels on this thing?"
This weekend was equally as fun, when a friend from home came to visit. I had planned on meeting my friend at the school and then together we'd drive to C-Ville to meet up with more friends that were in town for the weekend. Well due to car issues, I drove alone to C-ville, and what should've taken me 30 minutes, took 2 hours. That's right, 2 flippin' hours. So here I am sitting in my car, poor signal on my Ipod= so crappy music on the radio (which is enough to tick ya off), traveling at 5 mph, and people driving on the emergency pull off lane and then trying to get back into the line of cars, is enough to tip you over the edge. SERIOUSLY!?! Let's just say my nerves were shot and I was ready to be out of my car by the time I got to my destination.
After that the weekend was awesome! I got to talk to friends I hadn't in a while and went shopping to get a few professional outfits for the cooler months to come. I ate entirely too much this weekend, but have been continuing with my workouts.
Having a Wii has enhanced my workouts to include more of a dance cardio workout with the "Just Dance 2" which includes songs such as "TikToc," "Proud Mary,", "Hey Ya," "Jump," "Rockefeller Skank," and more. It's a good workout and you have fun doing it! Eating right, working out, and enjoying life is well worth the outcome!
Can't wait to see what all the week has in store for me!
So here's to life!
Simply N :)

Fall and other randomness

Well hello fall! I'm so excited you finally decided to show up. Nothing makes me happier than walking out my apartment door and being greeted with the cool crisp air, rather than being blasted by 95 degree weather in September. I love the smell, the colors, the spirit, and the change. School routines are in full swing, the folks around you seem to be happier, you start to see fall decorations- mums, pumpkins, scarecrows, gourds. I'm slowly getting my apartment decorated with festive fall flavor and pictures will come later. But fall brings about a lot of great things, football being one of them!
In the opening lines of Remember the Titans, the girl says, "In Virginia, high school football is a way of life, it's bigger than Christmas day." I am convienced that she was talking about football here. Now coming from a high school were you're lucky if you made one touchdown and maybe 100 people show up, let me just say that it's a huge eye opener. I'm talking about tailgating in the parking lot, not being able to find a parking spot 45 minutes prior to the game starting, and more than 200 people sitting in the stands yelling and decked out in their home team gear. Here each time the home team scores a touchdown, there is fireworks, a canon fired, a fire breathing lion, and who could forget a legit lion in a cage facing the field and opposing team. WHAT?! Talk about hardcore football. I've got it right here. I was seriously waiting for Enter Sandman to start playing and the crowd jumping up and down. What can I say, but FISTS UP!!

On a different note, I've come to the conclusion that Bill Cosby wasn't joking when he said "kids say the darnedest things". Here are some highlights from this week:
In response to the poem, "Aliens have landed"
Kid: "Ms. Lee, I've been thinking, and aliens can't come to earth because we can't breathe in space but aliens can, and since we can breathe on earth but not in space then aliens can't breathe on earth. So aliens can't really have landed on earth because it's not possible, they'd die."
In response to getting stung by a bee
Me: "Are you ok?"
Kid: "Yes, I got stung by a bee, but I'm taking it like a man."
In response to questioning about the Parthenon
Me: "The Parthenon was built in Greece and who remembers who's statue was in the middle?"
Kid: "Abraham Lincoln
Me: "No, not Abraham Lincoln. You're thinking of the Lincoln Memorial, which was influenced by the design of the Parthenon.
In response to writing a (group) letter to myself to put in the school time capsule that will be read in 10 years:
Me: "What should the closing to my letter be?"
Kid: "Love the Younger Ms. Lee
To myself: "OMG, how old do they think I'll be"

So here's to life,
Simply N :)