Happy Birthday Leticia!!

Today is my friend Leticia's 30th birthday!! We went to Red Lobster last night and had a blast!! (The birthday girl is the one on the right in the first picture)






It was good to have a night out...


Today was also the start of our two weeks of student teaching in the kindergarten room. What a day...Amelia and I met afterwards to plan out some lessons and we were just sitting at the table at her house and ya, we were just exhausted! There was a lot of drama today...crying kids and a couple of little "tiffs"...it was CRAZY but they are so cute and we had so much fun!

Tomorrow we're starting a cross-sectional study of different versions of the Three Little Pigs...I'm sure we will have some fun times and funny moments during that!

Anyway, I have to catch up on my reading for 40 Days of Purpose!

Goodnight!!

p.s. You should check out Alison's blog entry today for some HILARIOUS answers that students have given to tests! SOO funny!

Stay tuned!!!

On Monday Amelia and I are in the classroom for TWO SOLID WEEKS!!! Hooray! We are SO EXCITED!

So there will surely be more good stories of really cute kids...stay tuned!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, Valentine's is over and I am glad to go back to normal. I'm excited to work just 8 hours today, instead of the 14 hours we were at Blossoms on Tuesday and the 11 hours we were there yesterday.

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Shannon!

The U-Pass

Wow...I can't believe it passed. We just had a referendum at the U of S regarding the U-Pass. It is a mandatory, $120 fee for a bus pass applied to all students whether or not you take the bus. They tried to pass it a few years ago and it failed. I can't believe it passed.

Okay, so people who take the bus have to pay almost $400 a year for their bus passes...well, I pay that much between gas and my parking pass!

And I understand the environmental benefits to taking the bus, but our city simply does not have a good enough system to allow me or many other people who have busy lives to take the bus quickly and efficiently from one activity to the next.

I can't believe it passed.

Kindergarten Quotes!!!

Another day of student teaching! Today was AWESOME...but also EXHAUSTING. It was the last day of school before the break, so there was so much going on. They had an assembly, and they had to pass out valentines, and they had valentine's snacks and sang valentines songs...and extra play time today! It was so much fun!

I decided to start writing some of the stuff down that they say because they are just too darn cute! Miss Amelia is my friend and fellow student-teacher. (The kids call us Miss and our last names...I'm just using our first names on the blog). The names of the kids have been changed, as has the name of our co-op teacher.

Mrs. K-"Are you guys ready to sing?"
Blake-(with hands on hips, turning to Miss Amelia)-"Did you know I was born ready?"


Dustin-"Mrs. K, maybe we need a snack."
Mrs. K-"Why would we need a snack?"
Blake-"Because it energizes us up!"


Ian-"Happy Valenstine day!"


Blake(as his eyes are getting bigger and bigger looking at all the valentine's treats)-"I can't have too much sugar or I'll overreact!"

(you'll notice I've mentioned Blake a few times. The things that come out of this 5 year old's mouth are priceless)

Mrs. K-"Does anyone remember the title of our book?" (The title is Do Like a Duck)
Dayna-(REALLY excited because she thinks she remembers it)-"It's...Do you...Do ducks...do you like ducks...Do ducks quack...QUACK LIKE A DUCK!!!"


Miss Gina-"What's an animal that starts with the letter H?"
Students-"HORSE!!"
Miss Gina-"And what do horses eat?"
Students-"HAY!!"
Miss Gina-"What else starts with H?"
Jory-"Hey you, what are you doing?"


Precious.

I did it myself!

Hey hey....I went to check out the new Walmart today! It's huge!!!! It's really nice too...really clean, really well laid out. It's nice.

And then...I did it myself! It has self-checkouts! It's crazy cool. You just walk up to them, scan your stuff, put it in a bag, and pay a machine! I know there will be some people reading this that will be all, you know, anti-technology and stuff, but you've gotta admit...it's cool.

I should go get some work done before tonight. We're going to a concert at Circle Drive Alliance Church...Hiram's back in town! He was one of the soloists at our choir Christmas Concert this year and he's amazing! Check out his website! Buy his CD!!

Oh, this week's Sheaf came out with a couple of responses to that guy's editorial. I guess they got like, TONS of responses and they just published a couple. Check it out! Letters are close to the end of section A.

Would you want this guy teaching your kids????

This article appeared in last week's issue of The Sheaf...the University of Saskatchewan's Newspaper. Unbelievable. It has caused quite the to-do in the education building!!! (It's on the last page of the link).

And here is my response:

To the Editors of The Sheaf and Mr. Datla,

I am writing in response to Mr. Datla’s editorial about teachers.

First of all, I am assuming that Mr. Datla’s main intent was to get a rise out of people by grossly exaggerating some stereotypes about teachers. The reason I assume this is because I have to believe that someone who is pursuing higher education and is hired by The Sheaf is intelligent enough to examine his claims and know that they are unfounded and ridiculous.

For example—I do not believe that Mr. Datla truly believes that kids are morons—he used to be one himself. And if he does believe that, will he believe that to be true when he has children of his own? He implies that only the students in advanced classes are worth teaching and will ever amount to anything. It ignores the countless stories of great men and women who started out, as Mr. Datla would call them, morons.

If I have misinterpreted Mr. Datla’s intent and he truly does believe what he said, then nothing I say will change his mind. If he does believe what he says, he is admitting to believing that people from a low socioeconomic status are a waste of time and that teachers are completely devoid of ambition, talent, and zeal. If Mr. Datla truly believes his claims to be true, then all parents (and all future parents) should thank their lucky stars that Mr. Datla will NEVER teach their children.

Regardless of Mr. Datla’s intent, I am disappointed that The Sheaf would print something so blatantly marginal and discriminatory toward a group of people who devote their lives to the education and well-being of children (who, I might add, will grow up to be teachers and engineers and welders and doctors….and journalists).

Sincerely,
Gina ______

20 things I did not know!

I should be studying for my midterm tomorrow, but here I am browsing blogs. I found this list on someone else's blog and it was titled "20 things I did not know" and I thought, hey, me neither! So here they are:

1. Birds do not pee
2. More people use blue toothbrushes, than red ones!
3. The elephant is one of the few mammals that can't jump
4. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
5. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave
6. The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head
7. A person uses approximately fifty-seven sheets of toilet paper each day
8. Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women
9. The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'
10. The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven
11. Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings
12. A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court
13. California law prohibits a woman from driving a car while dressed in a housecoat
14. In Tennessee, it is against the law to drive a car while sleeping
15. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream
16. Your thumb is the same length of your nose
17. Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren't
18. Red is the most commonly colored vehicle involved in accidents each year
19. The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows, shaved eyebrows were a fad when she was painted
20. Ketchup was once sold as a medicine

I don't know...I'm a little skeptical of #'s 11 through 14.

Goodnight!

Student Teaching...day one!

Today Amelia and I started our journey as student teachers. (we go again next Friday for the day and then for two weeks solid starting on the 26th) We were in a kindergarten class and OHMYGOSH those kids are so cute! I got a lot of "what's your name again?" and "teacher, can you help me zip this up?". One little girl left during gym class to get a drink w/o asking and so their gym teacher had to explain the importance of asking first. He told them to say May I and then ask their question. Well, I don't think they fully understood what may I meant b/c as soon as he was done talking a little boy asked, "May I can I go to the bathroom?"

So cute.

Today was a lot of observing and playing and helping with classroom management. 5&6 year olds have a LOT of energy!!! There's one little girl that doesn't talk much and she's really little and just so cute. She spent a lot of time by my side today, looking up at me everytime something was funny or surprising.

In other news...HOW ABOUT THOSE GROUNDHOGS!!! Spring is on the way. It sure doesn't feel like it, but hey, if all three groundhogs saw no shadows, I'm willing to believe and hope for an early spring!

Oh, and we had a really fun choir party last night! Here's some pictures!

Goodnight!

Okay, so I figured out how to add a picture to a post. But how do I add one to my profile? How do I add links?

That's Walter. He's my baby. He's pretty much the cuddliest cat I've ever met.

I'm already so confused...I can't figure out how to put a picture in my profile or add links or anything.

I don't know about this whole blogging thing...

Trying it out...

Okay, here I am....trying out the blog world. I enjoy reading other people's blogs...I'm not sure yet if I'll enjoy having one. So I'm just dipping my toes in the blog pool. I'll let you know if I enjoy the water.