Snow Day!

One great thing about going into the field of education, you never outgrow the fun of snow days. Last night a storm came through and dumped a ton of snow (about 12 inches or more) on us. This succeeded in shutting down pretty much all of the local area schools, including mine.

This gave me the opportunity to finally sleep in (and it is a sad, sad world when I consider getting up at 7:30 as sleeping in). Then I settled in and got some wrapping done, so basically all my Christmas gifts are ready to go.

See? My Christmas tree has all kinds of gifts under it, plus the Seattle Christmas box is all packed and ready to be mailed. The gifts under the tree also have the added bonus of keeping the cats out from under there.

I also made sure to take some time to take Pippin out to play in the snow. First he took a moment to take in all the snow (I also think he was looking for his doggie friends that live behind us).

Pippin loves the snow.

After that, I came back inside to get some more stuff, like laundry, done. And as luck would have it, one of the hoses on the washing machine came loose and my bathroom floor ended up covered with water. But we've got that all fixed. To end the day, I made a big pot of Chili Chicken Couscous, which is a delicious, hearty meal that's perfect for a cold, snowy day (and has the added benefit of producing lots of left overs for me to eat for lunch the next couple of days).

Love it or hate it, (and I for the most part love it) winter in Wisconsin is here!

Things They Forgot to Tell You in the School of Ed (or they did and I wasn't listening)

Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased with the quality of the education I recieced while at UWEC, but the more time I spend student teaching the more things I learn.

Here are a few of the highlights:

1. You will always get excited for snow days.

2. Thank your parents for the little things, like clean clothes, meals, and enforcing your bedtime.

3. If you have a spare moment, use it to go to the bathroom. Trust me, when a student has a blow up during your prep time, you'll be glad you did.

4. Despite what everyone says, middle schoolers are pretty much the same as when I was in middle school (they just have cell phones and iPods now).

5. The teacher's lounge can be great, but it also can be a breeding ground for negitivity. It sometimes is best to avoid it when having a bad day.

6. While your students will take out bad moods on you, it doesn't work the other way around.

7. Field trips are no longer fun.

8. Never EVER mess with a general ed teacher's prep time ( which is in stark contrast to most special ed teachers who are just excited when they have a spare 5 minutes to pee.

9. Even when you're in the worst mood ever, one of your students will say something that makes you laugh.

10. No matter how much you fight it and deny it, the world of education will make you a morning person.

11. Between students, their parents, and coworkers, you can count on having good stories to share.

12. Take the rubber band away from the student right away, nothing good will come from letting the student hang onto it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It has been awhile since I posted an update on my knitting (or actually an update of any kind for that matter). I've been slacking on the sock knitting front, putting the sock on the back burner, for what I consider to be a more immediate need.

First there is this...

Can't tell what it is? It is a scarf, a long, thin scarf that can be wrapped around my neck several times. The yarn is a sock yarn dyed in shades of black, gray, and white. There are also threads of silver spun into the yarn. It gives it a little sparkle without being too much.

After the scarf, I needed some mittens, enter these...

And up closer...

They are from the book, Knitting New Mittens and Gloves, and called Sheltie Mittens (there is the first sign that I would have to make them). The mittens, roughly inspired by the dual layer coats of Shetland ponies and Shetland sheepdogs, have an outer layer of regular wool (I used Knit Picks Wool of the Anders) knit in an open design so that the inner layer of soft, fluffy alpaca shows through. My inner layer is made using Knit Picks Suri Dream. The inner yarn hasn't fluffed out quite like I had hoped, but they are on the blocking mat right now, so I hope that helps a little bit.

Lastly, I've been doing a little Christmas knitting,

A cardigan sweater for my nephew. The design is called Dax's Jacket published in the Weekend Knits edition from Interweave Knits. The body of the sweater is done in ten row stripes with the mistake rib stitch pattern. Here it is up close.

Of course the colors never photograph too well, it is actually deep jewel tones of blue and green. I've got the front left done, and am working on the decreases for the back. The sleeves, when I get to them, will be done in plain old stockinette stitch with two row stripes. I'd like to find some fun buttons for the front, but I'm waiting until I get to that point before I make a decision on them. I'm hoping to get it done in time for Christmas, but we will see.

New Toy

Okay, so I have a new app on my iPod that allows me to write blogs on it. This post is to test it out to make sure it works before I spend a lot of time working on a post that gets lost out in cyberspace somewhere. And it will also be a short post since I have to be at work at 5 am tomorrow.

Stuck in the Middle with You

I have survived my first week at the middle school (okay, it was only four days, but I'm going to call it a week). So far, so good. My students seem pretty good, there are a couple that struggle with motivation, and a couple of little behavior issues, but nothing too terrible. With all of the horrible things that you hear about middle schoolers, I think I've got a pretty good group of kids. I know that frustrating times probably lie ahead,  most likely in the area of motivating the students, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

The days don't seem to be quite as intense as at the early learning center. It is amazing how big of a different the independence level of the students makes in your day. I'm no longer needed for bus duty or lunchroom duty. I don't have to make sure that a student doesn't over stuff his mouth and choke, and physically prevent students from licking the tray. This also brings the added perk that I have sucessfully made it through four whole days of student teaching without getting food or bodily fluids spilled, spat, wiped, dropped, or smeared on me. I also have time to use the bathroom every now and then (no kidding, at the early learning center, there were days when I only got the chance to take a bathroom break during my lunch) and a I have time to sit and relax a little while I eat my lunch (as opposed to gulping down my food as fast as possible so I could get back to my classroom.

Most of the four days was devoted to meeting the students and staff, trying to learn names, (I'm actually doing pretty good) and adapting to the new routines. I'll begin teaching math lessons this coming week, so I've brought the math curriculum home to study and write lesson plans over the weekend (but on a cheery note, I do remember more algebra than I thought that I would).

The highlights of the week were probably one of my students, Justin, coming in to class early after lunch to discuss Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (he is reading the Harry Potter series for the first time), and playing hangman with Cory, our deaf student, during in-house (it is just like homeroom) so I could practice my ASL alphabet (which is improving, I'm sure that I will learn some more signs as the quarter progresses). Gilligan Thursday during in-house was also a pretty fun time (on Thursdays my cooperating teacher allows his students to watch Gilligan's Island on dvd during in-house). 

All in all, a good start so far!

Halfway Point

Yesterday marked my last day at my elementary school placement. Monday, I head over to the Middle school. I'm not sure what I expected on my last day, but it felt a little bit anticlimactic.  I received lots of well-wishes from the teachers and staff, and hugs and goodbyes from my students. I'm not sure that all my students really got that it was my last day and they weren't going to see me everyday anymore. (However, I'll be back for conferences on the 17th, and I'm still in the district, so it's not like I'm going too far away. I'm going to miss the students and staff, but I am looking forward to starting at the middle school on Monday. I've exchanged a couple of emails with my new cooperating teacher and am looking forward to working with him. I'm a little nervous about making the switch from working with early elementary students to working with middle school students. It will be an adventure, though. I'm sure I will learn lots and enjoy the middle school as much as I enjoyed my first placement.

Quarantined!

I figured it was only a matter of time, I spend my weekdays working with small children and my weekends in the grocery store, and last week it did. The dreaded H1N1 caught up with me. So, starting last Sunday, I spent five days in my own little quarantine chamber of my house. And, for those who might be thinking, something along the lines of 'hmm, that might be a nice little break,' it was not. A high fever and a hacking cough are not good times. 

To put this in perspective, I was too sick to knit for most of the week. That is pretty sick for me. But, by Thursday, I was able to finish my newest socks in a bright, cheery colorway.




The pattern is called Hermione's Everyday Socks and the yarn is Yarn Love Juliet in the Belle colorway.I'm impressed with how they turned out and how quickly they went despite my being sick.

Friday I left the house for the first time since Sunday, heading to work for an eight hour shift, followed by another eight hour shift starting at 5:45 on Saturday. The two shifts went alright, but left me too exhausted to participate in any sort of Halloween type festivities.

I still have a bit of a hacking cough left over, but I'm excited to get back to my students at school. Especially so, as it is my last week with them before I head to the middle school for the remainder of my student teaching. It is hard to believe that I'm so close to being finished with my first quarter of student teaching. Time is flying by so fast!

I've cast on for another pair of socks, I'm using a stitch pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knit Socks called purled ladders. I'm using Stroll sock yarn from Knit Picks, which I just a renamed version of Essential sock yarn. It is a great yarn, holds up nicely in the wash, is super soft, and comes in a bunch of great colors. I'm currently using a colorway called Aloha Multi, which is a combination of browns and teals. 

I'm also planned on starting a sweater for my nephew for Christmas from the Weekend Knits Issue of Interweave Knits. It's called Dax's Jacket. I'm making it with royal blue and emerald green stripes. It should turn out super cute! Once I get going, I'll be sure to put up some pictures.