01.14 – 01.21.2012

Well, I survived my first week as a pet owner. I’m convinced Bibi wants to eat me alive. She hides behind things to pounce on me, and chews on my arms, hands and elbows. She’s precious though. She follows me around the house like a puppy when I’m home, and cries like a baby when I leave. I can’t decide if I have a pet cat, or bird, dog, or child. Here’s our week in iPhone photos:

She has discovered our fish. They’re still alive, for now.

Trying to decide if she likes her crinkle sack.

Napping on Dad.

My Christmas present playing in the Christmas tree. Yes, we still have it up.

Helping me plan my week. My favorite pen is her favorite pen.

I have no words for this one, just giggles.

She sleeps in the funniest positions.

She has learned how to climb us! She climbed all the way up my pajamas yesterday morning while I was putting mascara on, and would not get down for anything!

Bibi reading “Habibi.”

Mike makes the best toys for her! There’s a ping pong ball in there.

I love it when she gets sleepy. Then she’s all cuddly

MLK Jr. Day (01.16.2012)

The only way today could be more perfect is if I didn’t have a KTIP reflection hanging over my head. I got up early to work, promising myself the reward of yoga if I marked something off my to-do list. Miss Bibi made that difficult by playing with my to-do list, book, & computer:

Maybe next week she’ll she able to write my lesson plans for me?

I did make it to yoga, for a special session with MLK Jr. reading, and a focus on being peaceful, accepting, and nonviolent. While I was gone, the boyfriend made a kitty castle for Miss Bibi:

After her first vet visit (where everyone loved her) and coming home to play hard, we had a lovely cat nap.

They’re still napping as I sit down to work, boo.

Rawr! (01.14-01.15.2012)

You want to know how I know I love her? When she’s happy, I’m happy; when she’s sad, I’m sad.

Meet Miss Bibi! Yesterday we finally got our sweet baby Bengal kitten (my Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary, surviving KTIP, and anything else I might get a present for gift). She’s laying on my belly purring away as I type this.

We were warned that she might cry a lot in the car, like for hours. However, she did not cry until we got back to Louisville and switched cars, and it was only for 5 minutes! She cuddled with me for the first 3 hours, played for 30 minutes, then slept in her bed for the last 3 hours.

In the car, she wouldn’t have anything to do with Mike. But when we got home, they were play buddies. So far her favorite toy is a wadded up, bright orange sticky note. She’s learning to play catch with it. Last night she kicked it around like a soccer ball for hours. This morning she plays with it, then brings it to me to throw for her. (I can’t post a video of that from my phone, but I’ll try later).

Baby girl had an accident last night, but she seems much better adjusted this morning. She used the litter box – yayyyy! You don’t want to see a picture of that, so here’s a much cuter one:

When I woke up this morning (at 6:40 like a kid excited at Christmas), Miss Bibi was all purrs. She couldn’t get enough scratches around the ears and pets. Then she proceeded to use my body as a jungle gym. I hope she let’s me get some work done today. KTIP tasks and lesson planning are calling my name!

I’ll leave you with more photos

Fast Finishers

Student: “I’m done!”
Me: “You’re not a turkey. You’re finished. Get a book and silent read.”

I’m sick of making my kids read when they finish early, because I don’t have anything more authentic for them to do. And, I’m sure they’re even more sick of it than I am. Reading is good for you and it’s a nice option, but as an ESL teacher I have to be more prepared. My students are at all levels, so it’s inevitable that some students are going to finish before others. I’m usually too busy helping another student to give them something better to do.

So, I finally created a “fast finishers” station. I cut up and folded (with the help of my awesome boyfriend) about 300 fun writing prompts from the book “Yoga for the Brain,” by Dawn DiPrince & Cheryl Miller Thurston.

Check it out! (I still have some finishing touches to do, but you get the idea)

Friday! (01.06.12)

We all survived the first week of school in 2012. I have a huge to-do list this weekend, but I left school every day this week with more energy than I went in with.

I introduced my new class blog to the kiddos & ended the day performing a little Zumba with my super awesome co-teacher.

Almost Friday (01.05.12)

My kids are rock stars!

It makes me so happy to see my students work really hard on something. I stepped up the rigor with my ESL students recently, and am so amazed at the outcome.

Before break, my students worked really hard on a short research project comparing a decade from the 20th century to today. It was the best work I’ve seen from them thus far. This week my students completed an analytical reading essay. My 6th grade English language learners (ELLs) did amazing on this assignment. This is an assignment I stole from a 7th grade teacher at one of the top performing JCPS middle schools.

I’m so proud of how far my babies have come this year (and it’s barely the half-way mark). This week I stepped it up a notch with vocabulary, using Greek & Latin roots. I also stole this, from the same 7th grade teacher mentioned above. What can I say? I had an awesome student teaching mentor. Also, next week we begin a higher level of our curriculum materials (“Inside,” by National Geographic). I’m excited to see what happens, and excited to see where my kiddos are at the end of May.

Below are two of my favorite pictures from their research projects. The first compares Princess Diana’s wedding in the 80s to her son, William’s, wedding to Kate this year (I mean last year? 2011). The second is an attempt to compare Arnold Schwarzenegger as an actor in the 80s to a governor in the 21st century. Mayor is close enough to governor, right?

January 3rd (1st day back from break)

My day in highs & lows:

High – I got tons of compliments on my outfit & haircut.

Low – My new “teacher” shoes were not comfortable.

High – I finished all my work for tomorrow during planning (that was a first).

Low – I left my KTIP meeting with a large to-do list.

High – I finally got a school-wide-email-blast shout out from my master teacher, for my implementation of questioning strategies.

And, the best one …

Low – I walked down two hall ways after school with my dress tucked into my backpack before it was brought to my attention.

Gotta take the good with the bad.

January 1st

I miss my kids, a lot. I can’t sleep at night, because I have students & planning on my brain. But when I sit down to work, I’m overwhelmed. I want to go back, but I want someone to plan for me.

On another note: My boyfriend is cleaning the kitchen while I “work,” so that makes me a pretty lucky girl. I guess I’ll quit whining and get back to planning for January 3rd.

World Travelers

We got this sweet map for Christmas. It’s huge & has cork board behind it so we can pin our travels with cute flag pins. This isn’t the best picture, but it looks amazing in our home office.

New Year’s Resolution?

I don’t really believe in making resolutions.  Inevitably every time I resolve to do or change something I end up doing the opposite.  When I decided to complain less, I began complaining twice as much. When I tried to lose weight, I gained weight. When I said I’d cut back sweets, I ate more.  You get the idea.

I’m not resolving to change anything this year.  However, my goal is to get on a schedule.  I’m halfway into my first year of teaching, and haven’t quite adjusted to this new lifestyle yet.  I’m going to eat on a schedule, make a gym schedule, and hopefully take fewer naps.  Maybe I’ll even clean my house more often, but that’s doubtful.

I began teaching with all of these wonderful ideas that I’ve yet to execute.  I thought it’d be interesting to record one comment at the end of each day as a sort of diary of my first year teaching.  My first three days would have gone something like this:

• Day 1: In tears.  What have I gotten myself into? I should have gone to law school.
• Day 2: Better than day one, but I’m not sure about this.
• Day 3: I love this job!

But I didn’t really keep up with it after that.  I’m going to attempt to post a tweet at the end of each teaching day.  It’ll be interesting to review over the summer, once I actually survive the school year.

Here’s to ambition!  Happy New Year, friends!