hakuna matata: remember when...

i blogged everyday?

life was stress free?

assignments were easy breezy?

yeah thats all changed :)

a lot has happened since i last updated (sorry Grandma and Granddad!)

im going to try and catch you up as much as i can.. but fair warning, i already took my contacts out for the night and the glasses are on.. so ignore any mistakes :)

first off i am now in fifth grade! i absolutely love it, im pretty sure it is the grade level i want to teach. but i will take any job offered to me! a few things that scare me about fifth grade are:

1. the students are smart and will call you out in a heartbeat.

2. lunch is at 1pm.

3. the fifth grade class i am in is reading/language arts & social studies.

4. they want to be my friend, and i want them to like me. (i am quickly learning where to draw the line with this)

5. i have to relearn a lot of things for this rotation..

so yeah just a few scary things.. the whole friend thing is tricky, i want them to like me and feel comfortable around me, but i don't want them asking me what my tattoo means (which they did) kids...

i have found eating lunch at 1pm is hard but also a very good diet :) haha! i do snack just a little during the day. i usually eat my breakfast late so i do not get hungry early. the good thing about fifth grades schedule is the planning period is at 8:20am so i get to finish my red bull and clif bar (breakfast of champions)!!

so one major milestone that happened during my hiatus was that i taught a lesson in fifth grade. it was over comparative and superlative adjectives. yeah 20 bucks you just asked yourself "what is that?" don't worry i did the same thing! i had to go home and teach myself and then prepare my lesson. luckily i got to teach it twice because we have two ELAR periods. it went very well and my mentor teacher said i did a great job!

as much as i love fifth grade i do miss my little second graders! last week i got to go back to second grade because the fifth graders went to camp (no i didn't get to go)! it was soo much fun! they welcomed me with a loud "MS. STANFORD! YOU'RE BACK!" im pretty sure they are very confused as to why i keep coming back...

now onto today.. whoo it was a crazy day. let me first start by saying, the past 4 years of college did not and could not prepare me for today. aren't you excited?!

an assignment that fifth grade does every week is to read a TIME for Kids magazine and answer questions over it. the magazine has one main article and lots of short articles. this week my mentor teacher read the main article to the class. it was about global warming and how the glaciers were melting and the water levels were rising and would rise even more. well one student mentioned that it was like the movie 2012 and only the people on the ark would survive. next thing i know i have a student coming up to me in tears trying to articulate something.. all i was able to catch was the 'f' sound. i immediately thought faint or vomit, oh my gosh! so i turned the student around trying to direct them towards the door (and away from my clothes). the student turned back around and said "i do not feel comfortable listening to this." let me just tell you it took everything in this students body to say that without crying even more. so i was paralyzed for a millisecond and then my gut told me to take the student out to discuss what was wrong (gold star). this student was very disturbed and frightened by the idea of global warming and the world flooding. i calmed the student down and explained that 'yes, the glaciers are melting. no the earth is not going to flood today, next week, or next month.' i tried to bring it down on the students level explaining that this article is educating them hoping to ignite some interest in the topic. i also mentioned that maybe a fellow classmate might become very involved in this topic and grow up to be the famous scientist that prevented or delayed the melting. the student seemed to think that was cool. yep, never learned that in college.

what happened today was just another reminder of why i am doing what im doing. it definitely made me forget all the negatives that are clouding my mind.

well on a more positive note i only have 4 more days left of student teaching! this also freaks me out because i have 3 assignments that i am required to implement during my rotations.. oops :)

that is about all i can remember.. im sure i am missing some stuff but it's late and 6am will be here soon!

now for the pictures :) if you have a facebook then you have most likely seen these pictures. sorry!

dads 21st birthday :)

sooo i joined a slowpitch softball league. when i told my dad, the first thing he said/thought of was my pinky. my junior year in hs i broke my pinky finger pretty bad and it's been ghetto ever since. well i got this beautiful bruise on the ghetto finger the night of my first game. funny story, it didn't happen at the softball game :) i ran into a door at dinner later that night.

ohh i can't help but laugh when i see this picture. this was during a science experiment.. not sure what the experiment was.

YES we (dad and i) went to the State Fair! last time we went i was in grade school :) i had the time of my life! we looked at the same things just like old times, but somehow it seemed all new again. just like when my dad starts telling me his pig stories like i have never heard them before.. but i love to hear them :)

we decided to take the dart train :)

yes i had to take a picture with the astronaut.

red ribbon week: mix/match day! yes i know, im not mixed matched at all. i tried.

red ribbon week: run away from drugs!! oh this is Annie by the way!

and let me just add, Annie and i made the school website! click the link below and scroll down just a bit. yes i am a little isolated. ha!

http://www.friscoisd.org/ly/schools/elementary/curtsinger/

alright now onto some funnies! back story behind the next 3 photos. in social studies we had an economic fair where we brought our own goods and services. i did a photo booth with props!