Today was the last day of school. The kids are driving me crazy right now. My minions are waiting for the assembly to start, and we've run out of things to do, and so I'm sick of them driving me crazy.
I am glad, however, that I have two weeks off and get to play with my family for a long time! I will be very glad in 50 minutes when school is out and I get to go home.
The other fun thing about today, is that in one of my classes we rewrote the lyrics to popular christmas songs and several of them are absolutely hystarical. There are several that the kids put me into the songs and it was funny. One of the groups used all these inside jokes about what has happened in class and everyone was rolling on the floor laughing.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Power of Sticker Charts and A Dream Fulfilled
I have a new success story for myself. The power of sticker charts! I decided that I would put a sticker on everyday on the calender that I read my scriptures and write in my journal. In the month of December, there is only one day missing a sitcker, because I decided at ten at night, I didn't want to write in my journal, but I still read my scriptures. I am so proud of myself!
I think that I am going to add on other stickers--but I'm not sure. I get so excited to do both things, because then I get to put on more stickers.
I had a dream fulfilled yesterday. My Hero and I went to the Christmas Concert put on by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The dream fulfilled is from the special guest. They invited Brian Stokes Mitchell to preform with them. I have always wanted to see him preform live before he or I dies. And I did.
It was so amazing! At the end of the concert, the prophet came up and presented a gift to him. And then the president of the choir told the story that Brian Stokes Mitchell was willing to sing "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha for all the secretaries in the Church Administrative Building, and that the prophet had missed it. He then asked Brian Stokes Mitchell to sing it for the prophet, and he agreed!!! I have heard him preform "The Impossible Dream" LIVE!!! I feel so honored and it is a dream fulfilled!
I think that I am going to add on other stickers--but I'm not sure. I get so excited to do both things, because then I get to put on more stickers.
I had a dream fulfilled yesterday. My Hero and I went to the Christmas Concert put on by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The dream fulfilled is from the special guest. They invited Brian Stokes Mitchell to preform with them. I have always wanted to see him preform live before he or I dies. And I did.
It was so amazing! At the end of the concert, the prophet came up and presented a gift to him. And then the president of the choir told the story that Brian Stokes Mitchell was willing to sing "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha for all the secretaries in the Church Administrative Building, and that the prophet had missed it. He then asked Brian Stokes Mitchell to sing it for the prophet, and he agreed!!! I have heard him preform "The Impossible Dream" LIVE!!! I feel so honored and it is a dream fulfilled!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Quadratic Toolbox
The first year I taught, after I was through the Quadratic unit, I got a really cool idea--over two thirds of the unit is teaching the kids all the different tools to solve a Quadratic equation. (For all you non-math people, a quadratic equation is one with x-squared in it as the highest exponent.) But last year, when I got to this unit, I couldn't find pictures of tools to use and was getting burned out from everything I was trying to do and so I didn't get it ready for the students.
This year is different. I got everything ready and today we made our quadratic toolboxes. They turned out awesome! There are four ways to solve a quadratic equation: 1. graphing, 2. factoring, 3. completing the square, 4. quadratic formula. So I made four tools: a hammer, a wrench, a screwdriver, and a tape measure. The assignment the kids got today was to take their notes and pick a tool to go with each quadratic tool and write the steps, create an example on how to use the tool and place them on the tools.
It was so fun to see the kids working on it! Most of the kids put Completing the Square on the tape measure "because it's square!" I just loved watching several of them realizing that what we've been talking about are all for solving quadratics and that they're tools. A couple of kids told me that they liked it because they could see that some tools are easier to use in different situations--just like sometimes it's easier to use the hammer instead of the screwdriver. I just felt like I was the queen of teaching!
Here's my example that I made with the kids to show for next year and absent kids.
Speaking of being the queen of teaching, I was JPASed. This is the method the district uses to make sure that teachers are good teachers and hypothetically they can get help if they need it. Usually it's used to fire teachers. So the VP came into my classroom twice and watched me teach lessons and evaluated me. I got my results back--I got exceptional ratings. I am an exceptional teacher!! I am proud of my achievements and get to toot my horn for the fact that I can improve, but the scores are as high as they go! (YAY!!!) The Math Super Hero Strikes again!!
The other big news is before my hero came home from Germany, I dyed my hair. I wanted to be a different hair color, and it's been so much fun to have dark hair. So we decided that it's time that we show my hair color to the world. (Disclaimer: My belly looks bigger than it normally does, because my arms are pulled back.) I really like my new hair color!
This year is different. I got everything ready and today we made our quadratic toolboxes. They turned out awesome! There are four ways to solve a quadratic equation: 1. graphing, 2. factoring, 3. completing the square, 4. quadratic formula. So I made four tools: a hammer, a wrench, a screwdriver, and a tape measure. The assignment the kids got today was to take their notes and pick a tool to go with each quadratic tool and write the steps, create an example on how to use the tool and place them on the tools.
It was so fun to see the kids working on it! Most of the kids put Completing the Square on the tape measure "because it's square!" I just loved watching several of them realizing that what we've been talking about are all for solving quadratics and that they're tools. A couple of kids told me that they liked it because they could see that some tools are easier to use in different situations--just like sometimes it's easier to use the hammer instead of the screwdriver. I just felt like I was the queen of teaching!
Here's my example that I made with the kids to show for next year and absent kids.
Speaking of being the queen of teaching, I was JPASed. This is the method the district uses to make sure that teachers are good teachers and hypothetically they can get help if they need it. Usually it's used to fire teachers. So the VP came into my classroom twice and watched me teach lessons and evaluated me. I got my results back--I got exceptional ratings. I am an exceptional teacher!! I am proud of my achievements and get to toot my horn for the fact that I can improve, but the scores are as high as they go! (YAY!!!) The Math Super Hero Strikes again!!
The other big news is before my hero came home from Germany, I dyed my hair. I wanted to be a different hair color, and it's been so much fun to have dark hair. So we decided that it's time that we show my hair color to the world. (Disclaimer: My belly looks bigger than it normally does, because my arms are pulled back.) I really like my new hair color!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Belly Dance
My Panda has gotten big enough in my belly that he causes the belly to dance. It's quite interesting to look down at my belly--when he's going crazy inside and see my belly move.
It's also really weird to think that there is life growing inside of me. There is another person with me always. This person also has a hobby of kicking my belly. I don't know how I feel about that.
It's also really weird to think that there is life growing inside of me. There is another person with me always. This person also has a hobby of kicking my belly. I don't know how I feel about that.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Snake Cake
I was voted the celebrator of Math Department Birthdays. To do that fully, I was told to bring treats and do something for every Departmentee Birthday. Today was one birthday. So I made a snake cake.
A view from top:
And a shot of my belly, since everyone wants to see that...I'm at 23 weeks.
Is anyone else impressed that I am finally using pictures? I know that I am impressed!
A view from top:
And a shot of my belly, since everyone wants to see that...I'm at 23 weeks.
Is anyone else impressed that I am finally using pictures? I know that I am impressed!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Minions Responses to Panda
I'm sorry it's taken so long to get these responses up, but in my defense, school is quite crazy right now and I'm working not to evict the panda, since he is determined to kick his way out. He is constantly moving and doesn't like me to sit down for very long since it limits his space. Here are the long awaited responses to the minions with the quiz.
1st period: They were really dead, but there were gasps all around the room as they reached question 3. One minion raised his hand and told me not to get a massage of any kind, especially not a foot massage because it would cause the panda to be born early. I thanked the minion for the advice and everyone got excited.
2nd period: They found out from their friends because there is no 2nd period on Wednesdays.
3rd period: I passed out the quiz and right as the last minion had the quiz one minion, the loudest minion in the class, yelled out "Congratulations!" And the whole class was confused. He then yelled out, "Am I the only one who reads the whole quiz before I start to answer? Read the quiz!" They all read the quiz and then they hollared out Congratulations! They all started telling that other minions had said that it was time that I had a baby. And different girls had called that I was pregnant. This period was loads of fun.
4th period: They were really quiet, but one minion kept raising his hand and asking me, "What are you having?" I told him to guess, and then the next question he wanted to know what I was going to name the panda. I told him I don't know and then he looked at me and asked me how he was going to get the question right. I laughed really hard about it after wards, because he totally missed the point.
5th period: One minion saw the questions and then started talking to everyone about it and pointing at it and I reminded her to be quiet and to try the quiz and she was really excited. One boy minion yelled "I don't know what you guys are talking about! Be quiet!" And then two minutes later the same minion said really loudly, "OH!!" The following day when I put on the board that the panda was a boy and the same minion child was at the board doing the starter right underneath the sign and everyone started talking about how it was a boy and he looked so hard at the kids and said, "How do you know?!" They told him to look up. It was precious.
6th period: They were quiet, and I was surprised how many had no idea. Their friends hadn't all told them because they wanted to share in the joy of discovering. One minion raised his hand and was really confused, because he didn't think that it was real. I told him that I really was having a baby and he said, "oh.....well.....congratulations.....I guess...." And I laughed all the way back to my desk.
7th period: They were loud and excited. A couple of minions said that they thought that I was expecting, but that they weren't going to dare to ask me. I told them I was grateful that they didn't ask me. One minion asked how far along I was and I told him 20 weeks and he looked at me and said, "You've known for 20 weeks and you didn't tell us?!" I asked him if he could tell, and he said no. And then I told him that at least I was telling him now. And he was satisfied.
All in all they were great and I had loads of fun telling them all day long.
1st period: They were really dead, but there were gasps all around the room as they reached question 3. One minion raised his hand and told me not to get a massage of any kind, especially not a foot massage because it would cause the panda to be born early. I thanked the minion for the advice and everyone got excited.
2nd period: They found out from their friends because there is no 2nd period on Wednesdays.
3rd period: I passed out the quiz and right as the last minion had the quiz one minion, the loudest minion in the class, yelled out "Congratulations!" And the whole class was confused. He then yelled out, "Am I the only one who reads the whole quiz before I start to answer? Read the quiz!" They all read the quiz and then they hollared out Congratulations! They all started telling that other minions had said that it was time that I had a baby. And different girls had called that I was pregnant. This period was loads of fun.
4th period: They were really quiet, but one minion kept raising his hand and asking me, "What are you having?" I told him to guess, and then the next question he wanted to know what I was going to name the panda. I told him I don't know and then he looked at me and asked me how he was going to get the question right. I laughed really hard about it after wards, because he totally missed the point.
5th period: One minion saw the questions and then started talking to everyone about it and pointing at it and I reminded her to be quiet and to try the quiz and she was really excited. One boy minion yelled "I don't know what you guys are talking about! Be quiet!" And then two minutes later the same minion said really loudly, "OH!!" The following day when I put on the board that the panda was a boy and the same minion child was at the board doing the starter right underneath the sign and everyone started talking about how it was a boy and he looked so hard at the kids and said, "How do you know?!" They told him to look up. It was precious.
6th period: They were quiet, and I was surprised how many had no idea. Their friends hadn't all told them because they wanted to share in the joy of discovering. One minion raised his hand and was really confused, because he didn't think that it was real. I told him that I really was having a baby and he said, "oh.....well.....congratulations.....I guess...." And I laughed all the way back to my desk.
7th period: They were loud and excited. A couple of minions said that they thought that I was expecting, but that they weren't going to dare to ask me. I told them I was grateful that they didn't ask me. One minion asked how far along I was and I told him 20 weeks and he looked at me and said, "You've known for 20 weeks and you didn't tell us?!" I asked him if he could tell, and he said no. And then I told him that at least I was telling him now. And he was satisfied.
All in all they were great and I had loads of fun telling them all day long.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Minions and Panda
Today I gave my minions a pop quiz. There were five questions, the first two were math questions and the last three are as follows:
3. Yes, the Rumors are true, Mrs. Hughes is having a baby! Do you think it's going to be a boy or a girl?
4. What should Mrs. Hughes name her baby? (One name for each gender)
5. Mrs. Hughes is due February 26, 2009. Most babies are not born on their due dates, but are close. When do you think the baby will be born?
Today has been precious. The minions have been so funny about the responses. I have great stories from every period! I have advice about not getting massages because it will make the baby come early, and kids who didn't believe me. It was wonderful!
3. Yes, the Rumors are true, Mrs. Hughes is having a baby! Do you think it's going to be a boy or a girl?
4. What should Mrs. Hughes name her baby? (One name for each gender)
5. Mrs. Hughes is due February 26, 2009. Most babies are not born on their due dates, but are close. When do you think the baby will be born?
Today has been precious. The minions have been so funny about the responses. I have great stories from every period! I have advice about not getting massages because it will make the baby come early, and kids who didn't believe me. It was wonderful!
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