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Compliment Card

In my class I have students sit in groups of 4. I focus alot on cooperative learning and teaching my students how to work with and treat each other. By about 6 weeks I have to change the groups around because they get to be such good friends they are constantly talking. I moved seats a little over a week ago and ever since I have heard constant arguing and petty complaints. Every day I have questioned how I did such a poor job of matching teams up... they were not getting along. Today I had had enough and decided to do something about it (besides give into their request to change seats again). I made compliment cards for each student. I took a piece of paper and folded it into fourths (like a card) and the students name went on the front. On both sides on the inside and on the back went one of their teammates names. I gave a short lesson about what is a compliment, how do you give/receive compliments, and then we brainstormed compliments. I emphasized making them specific for the person they were complimenting. They were not to thrilled I was making them do this in the first place...one kid actually repeatedly banged his head on his desk! They then passed the cards around the team and wrote compliments in each persons card. When they were done I had them read their cards. It was dead silent. As I watched with anticipation to see what their reactions would be I was completely thrown off guard. Sniffles and tears running down faces broke the silence! 1/2 my class was crying, and the other half was just staring at their cards. They proceeded to tell me how they have never had anyone say something so nice to them. As I walked around and read the cards I was amazed at some of the compliments. The students quietly tucked their cards into a place for safe keeping and proceeded to give thanks to each other and give their team a cheer. I heard comments of, "I'm sorry I have been so rude, thanks for telling me you respect me, etc." It showed me two things...1. kids are SO mold-able... what will we teach them? 2. I need to give out more compliments in my life! It was definitely my success for the week!

U2 Concert

We are still missing our camera battery and charger, so we brought Allison's old camera from college. It got the job done.
When I got home Thursday evening, I plopped on the sofa and sulked about not going to the U2 concert Friday night. I decided to channel surf and warmed up the TV. Fortunately, we only get channel 8 since our antenna broke the previous day. At this exact moment there was a news blurb going on about the construction of the set and about a fresh release of tickets right then. I jumped like a flash to my computer, where several clicks later was bestowed a divine gift of fabulous tickets.

The concert took place at Sam Boyd Stadium, where our lowly Rebels play (even the Cougars know they can com in and walk away with a W), was packed full with 40,000+ faithful. The group 'Black Eyed Peas' opened up the show. The 'Peas are of course a premier act that stands on their own two feet and really warmed things up with their arsenal of talent and hit songs. We then waited 40 minutes or so for U2 to take the stage.

I wore my t-shirt from the PopMart tour, which since that show in 1998 has laid restfully in my bottom drawer. Apparently it's an uncommon item. Tonight it got all sorts of complements and Allison and I even got posed for some magazine as we went in the gate (she looked at camera, hanging on me, my back to camera).

Wow the stage. It is 360 degrees around and looked like a space ship. It is really huge. It is carried from place to place on 200 trucks and must be 200ft tall. Bono later confirmed that it was in fact a space ship, but that it couldn't take off without [the help of] us. In each of the legs(?) of the stage, were 3 cameramen. There was as circular video monitor right above the band but under the canopy that could raise and drop, expand and collapse as it would, which displayed everything splendidly

They then proceeded to rock the house for about 2 hours, which we thoroughly enjoyed. I would call it mind blowing even without any drugs. We sat between a couple from Kentucky and a couple from St. Louis. Behind us were a 4some from Philadelphia. They all traveled out just for the show, and it made me feel like I was part of something bigger than just Vegas - which is another subject. I was extra pleased because the couple from St. Louis originally had 4 tickets, and sold the 2 on the other side of them for $900 each a couple months ago when they announced the show was sold out. Suckers. I am also pleased to say that we made for the door at the beginning of the final song, and encountered ZERO traffic on the way home.

The show contained the much reiterated theme - "What time is it in the world?", which I took to refer not to a time of day, but a rhetorical call for a time for change and action. For us, it was really amazing just to see them play. It was poetry in motion, sound, vibe, whatever. *Click to make pictures bigger*

A little bit of everything...

It's been a busy few months since I have last updated. Part of that is because nothing exciting has happened! Also,I can't find the battery for my camera so I am temporarily unable to take pictures! Who likes a post with no pictures?! A few things we have been up to the last couple months... (I warn you, it's not very exciting!)

1. I started teaching at a new school. It is closer to our house and 3 years old. I absolutely love it! I love waking up every morning, (usually wake up before my alarm goes off) and going to work! I know... who would have thought! I love everything about it! The students are unlike any students I have ever had before... they actually listen and love to be at school! The mutual feeling makes learning/teaching SO much more enjoyable! My work load was cut in half! I have parents coming in all week long that do EVERYTHING for me so all I have to do is plan and teach. I have built in surround sound, and a Smart Board!! I wish I would have known this existed! However, I am grateful for the challenging years I had because I really believe it made me the teacher I am now.

2. We moved from our condo we were renting into a house that was less than 1/2 a mile from where we lived! It was a crazy couple days moving and cleaning (which was mostly done from 4pm-2am). It is the first time we have moved from one house to another since we have been married. We were amazed that when we moved down from Idaho almost 5 years ago we moved down in a Jetta. This time we rented a 3 bedroom moving truck and had to make 2 trips with the truck completely packed! It's amazing how much stuff you aquire over the years! It was a good move though, a lot bigger and we enjoy having lots of windows, a nice view of the mountains, a balcony, and no one trudging in high heels late at night that lives above us!

3. I have jury duty this week. I have never been summoned before. Tomorrow is my first day and I am anxious to see how the process works.

4. I am really missing my siblings. My brother and his wife moved to go to school, my sister and her family moved out of state this summer, and my other sister lives on the complete other side of the valley. Our whole family used to get together the first Sunday of every month and have a potluck dinner, I was thinking yesterday how much I missed those dinners. I am having niece/nephew withdrawals. Hopefully everyone will be able to make it down over Christmas break.

Like mentioned previously... nothing exciting, just busy!

The Time Has Come...

to go back to work! Summer for me is officially over in a few short hours! As much as I love summer days by the pool, staying up late watching movies, having no commitments or schedule, I also love the end of August. It brings a sense of beginning for me. It means a new school year, new cooler weather, new fall scents that I just love! One of my favorite days of the school year (besides the last day) is the first day. I love the anticipation of the first day of school. Everyone is so excited about going to school. I was in Target yesterday and the school isles were just packed with children and parents buying school supplies. Students trying on backpacks, picking out all their colored folders and cool pencils. I loved the sight of students so excited to be going to school! I found myself watching and smiling as I was reminded why I love the end of August so much! Weird.. I know! As excited as I am for the first day of school tomorrow, I am also very nervous! I don't know why, but I think I get more nervous than my students on the first day of school. You know the feeling... where you can't sleep the night before, have a million thoughts running through your head, wondering what else you should have done to prepare. This is my 5th first day as a teacher, and I am still just as nervous for tomorrow as I was on day 1 of my teaching career... i'm thinking it never goes away! So... goodbye summer... hello fall! Thank you for bringing with you the beautiful fall colors we will see soon (well, outside of Vegas), cooler weather, fall scents, and the excitement of a new school year!

Aspen Grove 2009

*Click on pictures to make larger*

The last week of July we went to Aspen Grove Family Camp in Utah with my family for a week. We had alot of fun doing different activities there. Every Monday afternoon they have an Aspen Follies where families participate in obstacle type games and the family with the lowest cummulative time wins. We all had our matching shirts and were ready to take first this year. My brother even went so far as to tell the little kids they couldn't play! haha! That didn't go over very well with my mom.

Me trying not to let the egg fall apart on my head!

However, in the end we got 3rd place! Which is a big deal because usually we are in last place! Next time, the gold is ours!

My brother, sister, dad, and I got up each morning and swam a mile by the end of the week earning our place and certificate in the "Mile Swim Club".

The adults went paintballing one morning. I have only been paintballing once and I hated it. I hate pointing the guns at people and I HATE people shooting me! I was just going to be the photographer, but somehow got talked into playing! I only got shot once and I think I only shot my gun once. I gave my gun to my dad after his ran out and I was the player that would run and get the flag while others covered for me. I loved that! I waited a few minutes until I knew the other players would be low on paint, then I ran for it while my dad had my fully loaded gun! Yeah... I totally was army crawling through the shin high dead grass! Luckily... our team won!

I did the Aspen Grove Ropes Course. I had a very traumatic experience on it when I was 11 and my sister had to come rescue me. I have hated it ever since! I decided to conquer my fears and complete it. You have to climb up a log and then there is a rock wall way up high. My legs were shaking out of control the whole time but I did it! I hated the repelling part... well, just the part where you have to lay back, after I got over that, the rest was fun.

On Wednesday my brother and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos, the elevation was about 12,000 ft 14 miles round trip! The camp told us that the hike was closed due to excessive snow, but we had been planning on hiking it for over a year so we decided to go for it anyways! It took us a little under 5 hours to get to the top. I was surprised at how easy it was until about 2/3 up when we reached "the snow". It was a huge glacier sloping down that we had to walk across. Everytime we took a step we would slide all over the place, it freaked me out because if you slid to far you would go off the side of the cliff! It seriously took us about an hour just to go about 700 ft on this glacier! then there was one extremely steep switchback that took awhile to get up. After that we were literally scaling the side of the mountain hanging onto rocks to get to the top. It was amazing! I don't consider myself an amazing hiker, but LOVED this hike! It was hard and long, but we never once thought it was to hard and wanted to go back. We had so much fun, it was definately the most beautiful hike I have ever been on! We were pretty sore the next day with a few blisters, but it was worth it!

Little hut at the top of the mountain that had a book to sign your name in.

Signing my name! (We had to have proof because everyone said we couldn't get to the top!)

BEAUTIFUL view from the top!!! (That is the top, those rocks we are sitting on, it was so narrow!)

One night was a Frontier Night where two fun events were roping and a watermelon eating contest. It was my brother, Bryan, and I, a few other adults against like 7 kids in the watermelon contest. Bryan totally won hands down because he folded his piece in half and shoved all of it in his mouth! I started laughing that he got done so fast that I was almost gagging on my piece! My brother who was sitting across from me totally started laughing and was not able to hold all the watermelon that was in his mouth in, which ended up all over my face! I had to take tiny bites because it was seriously gagging me! Everyone finished (including all the kids), left the table, and the new round was coming up by the time I was done!

Bryan roping the bull. As you can see, Bryan is done, I have one bite!

Yes, I am the last one done!

It was so nice to get away for a week in cool weather with family. Can't wait till next time! After Aspen Grove we headed up to Park City for the weekend... pictures to follow shortly.

It's official!

Today is my first official day of summer vacation! The end of each school year is such an exciting time. I remember growing up the excitement that fills the air on those last few days of school. Your mind is already on summer vacation dreaming of swimming and sleeping in. When that bell rings on the last day the excitement level jumps through the roof. kids shouting, running for the door, saying bye to friends, planning summer trips. (However, growing up I was usually the last kid in the room, crying, because I didn't want to leave my teacher!) The best part about being a teacher is those same feelings of excitement and longing for the last day of school /summer time you felt as a child is exactly the same feelings you get as a teacher! I was so excited to have this year behind me and have a few months to get back on track. It was a very difficult school year with so many different needs that had to be met. However, I think I have learned more this year as a teacher than any other year. Looking back over the year I have very specific examples of why I stayed at my school. So many learning experiences happened this year that reminded me of why I wanted to become a teacher. I really do love my job, there is nothing more rewarding than realizing the impact you have had in a child's life. But until August 19, I am officially on vacation!!!