Halloween!

I am sad to say that we are not handing out candy tonight. I enjoy Halloween but after years and years of trick-or-treaters coming to our door who are not from our neighborhood and who are way beyond age we decided to pass on handing out candy. Last year, we went through 3 bags of candy in 45 minutes. 90% of the kids who came through I didn't even recognize. By the time we were out of candy the kids I recognized, the ones who were really from our neighborhood, were just starting to trick-or-treat. I think what we will do from now on is create candy bags for the kids in our neighborhood and personally drop them off at their house. This way, we still participate in Halloween. We will still get to see the neighbor kids in their costumes and hand out candy. It is really sad how a few people can ruin something fun for a whole lot of people. I looked down our block tonight and our whole block is almost dark. I think everyone is sick of the cars from the "ghetto" driving through our neighborhood and dropping off kids. I find it annoying when kids who are clearly in high school are trick-or-treating with not one but two pillowcases and expect you to drop candy in both. I think it is sad that kids just expect candy and do not say thank you. What happened to manners? Halloween is a great night to practice them! :) I also think it is really sad when the child doesn't say thank you and the parents are standing right there and do nothing about it. I get annoyed when I drop one piece of candy into a child's bucket that I don't know and they stand there waiting for more or say, "I don't want that. I wanted the---." And this one always gets under my skin, when a parent will go trick-or-treating with their infant baby and have this bucket they want to fill with candy. The child doesn't even have teeth so who is the one trick-or-treating?! It wouldn't bother me nearly as much if the kids were from our neighborhood, but they come from all over in vans and just run our streets. It is irritating and I don't want to be bitter towards Halloween because I have great memories of trick-or-treating as a child. Anyway, that is my rant. Below is a picture of Mister Biebs in his Halloween costume: 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Popcorn!

Yesterday, in my first grade class we sang a song called, "Pop! Goes the Popcorn!" When I got home I wanted to find that song and print it out for future use with the girl I nanny for but I could not find it anywhere! This morning I stumbled across, Popcorn Storytime which included finger plays, songs, poems and more. On the list was the song I was looking for- YAY! I adjusted the actions to match what we did in class but you can find the alternative actions and other poems, songs, crafts, books and more here.

Pop! Goes the Popcorn!
(Tune: Pop Goes the Weasel)

Sizzle goes the popcorn oil (wiggle fingers over head)
Click clack go the kernels (snap fingers)
Now we're waiting, (look like you're waiting)
When will it start? (Put up hands like you are wondering)
Pop! Goes the popcorn! (clap hands)

A Case of the Mondays

Last night at 10pm I was scrambling to get all my stuff ready to go for today. I was printing off and reading all my methods class lab expectations because lets face it, I am a procrastinator so I hadn't even opened these documents yet. I showered and got everything ready to go because I am most definitely not a morning person. I thought I was set up for a smooth successful morning but I was wrong. I woke up at 6:40 but my alarm wasn't set to go off until 7:10 so I tried to go back to sleep. At 7:10, I rolled over to check Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, e-mail and of course my text messages. At 7:12 my mom came in, "Aren't you supposed to be there at 8?" Oh crap!! I don't know what I was thinking but I needed to be at the school by 8am. I quick got up and ready to go in 20 minutes (this is why I showered last night) and I was out the door. Thankfully, I didn't hit any traffic on the way but I got to my exit and went left. My GPS told me to go right but I was convinced I knew where the school was. My GPS kept telling me to make a u- turn, but I did not do it. I got to the school that I was sure was it and guess what? That was the wrong school!! Keep in mind now it is 7:52 at this point. I quick pull in to the parking lot to turn around and of course, I can't get out of the parking lot... Cars just kept coming. So at 7:55 I pull out and I now have 5 minutes to get to the school. My GPS is saying I'm only four minutes away so I stay hopeful but know I will hit every light along the way. Amazingly, I hit all green lights so I pulled into the right school at 7:59. I practically darted out of my car and into the building. I got there and the doors were all locked. I pulled on one and this lady came over and directed me to the office door. I was in such a hurry I didn't even notice that there was a door to my left with a giant sign that read, "OFFICE." The lady in the office needed to make my nametag and said she would show me around the school so it did not appear that I was late even though I pretty much was.

Thankfully, from this point on my day went up. My classroom teacher is very nice and I think her and I will get along. People in the office said she was VERY excited to have a student teacher in her room so that is a good sign. She gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to other teachers and specialists. Her and I got to talking and realized we went to the same grade school. She was in middle school when I was in elementary school (same building though). I didn't recognize her maiden name but for all I know, she was my spirit buddy. I also taught her daughter when I did childcare. She was like, "I knew you looked familiar I just couldn't place you!"

Pretty much all I did today was observe her teaching and their routine. During morning meeting we played a ball toss greeting game. I thought I should probably sit down but then I thought I really should play so it looks like I have enthusiasm (we get graded on that you know). I played and at the end it was me and two boys. The teacher said, "J, you can greet Miss. S or K." He had a huge smile on his face and greeted me. I was to toss the ball to the other kid who of course had a name I could not pronounce. I had no idea how to say it so I took a guess and it was wrong. Oh well, I tried. I am determined to get his name right next time and I will. After all, isn't everyone's favorite word their own name? I had a win in the classroom today though. The kids had the opportunity to listen to books, read with a partner, read silently or do word work. My classroom teacher had a reading group so I was just walking around talking to students, making sure they were on task and observing. One girl who was working on word work came up to me with a card that showed a picture of a trick or treat bag. She asked me what the words said. I told her to try sounding it out. I wasn't sure if that was the right approach because everything I am reading for school pushes away from sounding out words. Anyway, she tried sounding it out and she got it! I celebrated quietly with her because the room was quiet but I feel as though I should've been more enthusiastic or asked for a high five. Next time that situation comes across, I will be more prepared- I'll get that high five!

Reunion

On Saturday, I met up with my 8th grade graduation class for our 10 well technically now 11 year reunion.

Chevy Cruze Card

Three weeks ago I bought a 2014 Chevy Cruze! During the weeks leading up to that, I worked very closely with the sales manager, Josh as he was helping me through the GMC Buyback program. I felt like a thank you was in order. Some people told me that buying a new car was his thank you but I didn't agree with that. I really felt that he fought for me to get the full buy back amount. He was also great at keeping ongoing and open communication about the entire process. I decided to make him a card because if you think something good about someone, I believe you should tell them. Here's the card I came up with:

I woke up in the middle of the night with this idea in my head. Turned out pretty cute didn't it?!

RAWR

About a month ago I brought a board book about dinosaurs to my nanny families house to read with their 15 month old and she loved it! We read it at least twenty times that day and now, her newest obsession seems to be dinosaurs. The weather around here has been cold and rainy so I decided to do a craft with her and it only seemed necessary to make a dinosaur. I put a few drops of green finger paint on a piece of paper and let her paint away. She wasn't all that interested in paint which surprised me because she spent 45 minutes (not exaggerating) coloring a piece of paper green the other night, but anyway, I gave her a fork and spoon and then she showed more interest in mixing the paint. I brought her painting home, found a dinosaur template online, printed a cute little saying out and here is our final creation: 

G apparently loves her dinosaur craft because it is three weeks later and apparently every morning the first thing she says is, "Dino!"