Recovery

Snowbelle's surgery last Thursday went great! I dropped her off a little after 7:30am that morning. By noon, I heard that she was out of surgery, but still under anesthesia; the vet wanted to know if I wanted her teeth cleaned as well. I said yes, then later I got another call saying she was awake and alert! They removed all of the stones without any complications (Praise God!), and the surgery went quicker than expected! I was originally told that she would have to spend the night and I could pick her up Friday. However, the vet felt so great about the surgery and Snowbelle was doing so well, that he discharged her Thursday night and she got to come home.

Considering she just had surgery a few days ago, she is doing fantastic. She is practically herself, except when it comes to eating. We think that is because her mouth might hurt some from her teeth being cleaned and having some teeth pulled. She still eats, but she just takes a little bit longer to eat than before. She is currently on 3 different medications: one for pain, one antibiotic, and one for inflammation. The antibiotic and the anti-inflammatory one are both liquids, so she takes those fine. And, even though she has been taking antibiotic pills for over 2 weeks, she really fights us with this new pain pill. Apparently it tastes horrible, and no matter how far back in her throat we try to put it, she still tries (and usually succeeds) to spit it back out. Sigh, oh well.

Anyway, I have to go to work soon, but I just wanted to let you all know how great Snowbelle is doing! Thank you all for your support and prayers!!

Snowbelle

In light of the recent happenings over Thanksgiving, I feel the need to express all the thoughts and memories that have been running through my mind the past several days.

I remember the first time I heard you whine.

Mom had just transferred you from the box in the garage to the birthday bag to bring you inside.

I had already received your food container, rug, and food/water bowls, but I figured it meant I was getting a dog soon, not that day.

Then I heard you whine as Mom brought you to me.

I gasped.

I remember pulling you out of the bag.

You had a pink bow in your fluffy, white fur.

My heart melted immediately.

None of us can quite figure out how you knew you were MY dog, but you definitely knew.

Since that very first day, you have been my shadow, my puppy, my friend.

You used to sleep in my bed every night, usually under the covers, sometimes by my legs, sometimes by my arms, always tucked in close.

Now you have your own bed, due to the inability to jump up on my bed and the lack of desire to cuddle close anymore.

I love the way you get so excited to go to bed.

I love remembering how I would walk in the door to see you waiting for me at the top of the steps.

I love the fact that you would lick away my tears when I felt so alone.

I love the eagerness in your eyes as you beg for food, or a treat.

I love that you have been with me for over 10 years now.

I love remembering how you would nip my heels if I ran up or down the stairs.

I love seeing you plow through the snow to go to the bathroom, even though there is a cleared place for you.

I love remembering how you and Bashful used to play together, chasing each other around the house.

Some say that having this kind of a relationship with a dog is unreal. However, I did not work for this relationship at all; it simply happened. While others may not understand it, looking back, I feel that God put you in my life to help me through some rough times. Sometimes you were the only one that I could pour my heart out to and you would simply listen and do your best to comfort me with your presence and your kisses. I can't imagine the day when you will be gone from my life, but I hope it is a long time in coming.

I love you, Snowbelle Princess.

Christmas:)

It's officially Christmas season!! :)

I am soo excited for Christmas this year...like always, I suppose! :) We put our tree up this past Monday night. I had to work til 8 (ended up getting off at 7, though), and it was cold and rainy, so just the guys went to go get the tree. (Yes, Mom and I trusted them enough to get a good one all by themselves :P) They picked out an AWESOME and BEAUTIFUL tree!! It's about 7 feet tall and about 5 feet wide at the bottom. The guys ended up putting 1500 multi-colored lights on it and it is GORGEOUS! Then, of course, we all put our own ornaments on the tree, but it was very different this year because only Kaleb's and my ornaments were put on so there are a lot more of my parents' ornaments this year!

The other exciting part about this Christmas season is that I have almost ALL of my Christmas shopping done so far! All I need is my mom's present. The rest are already wrapped and under the tree! Woohoo!! I am NEVER this prepared for Christmas.

On the not-so-bright side, my dog, Snowbelle, got very sick over Thanksgiving weekend and we had to take her to the vet. She would not eat; we had to force her to drink, and by Friday night she couldn't even stand on her back legs. I had to literally support her back end so that she could pee. :( It was pretty sad and scary. It turns out she had a really nasty fever/infection, which was quickly taken care of by antibiotics and fluids. However, they found out that her bladder stones are back again. 15 months ago, she had surgery, during which they removed too many stones to count from her bladder. She had to go on a special diet and eat this food (that is really expensive) that was supposed to prevent the stones from coming back. Now they are back, but this time there are only about 13. From talking to our new vet, it sounds like the stones last time were 90% made up of the type of stone that wouldn't come back with the food, but 10% made up of stones that some dogs (including Bichons) just naturally produce for some reason. What our vet said is that she probably naturally produces these stones (nothing we can do about that), but then her bladder gets infected and the other stones form around the existing ones. So, unfortunately, my 10 year old dog is scheduled for her 2nd bladder surgery in 1.5 years. However, it sounds like we might be able to do more to prevent them from causing problems in the future. Obviously with any surgery there are risks, and even more so with an older animal and a 2nd surgery, but I am praying that it is God's will that she survive, for a little longer anyway.

Anyway, sorry to end on kind of a bad note, but it has been on my mind a lot lately. Good news is, she is doing much, much better than she was, so she should be as healthy as possible before her surgery next Thursday.

Oh, random note....it snowed today!! Unfortunately, it didn't last long, but enough to slightly accumulate! It's soo pretty! :)

It's about time!

A lot of you already know, but I wanted to make sure! :)

I FINALLY received my Missouri teaching license in the mail on Wednesday! YAYYY!!!

It had officially been 12 weeks since they told me my certificate was printed and ready to be mailed. I am still trying to figure out exactly how long it takes to put a piece of paper in an envelope, address it, stamp it, and send it out. Apparently, in Missouri, it takes 12 weeks. I'm sure they were very backed up, but I just can't imagine it taking that long to get caught up. Oh well, at least I finally have it now!

The next step is to take my Human Relations class (which I am already signed up for) and send in my application for an Iowa license! My class does not start until January, though, so it will still be awhile before I am completely and officially licensed to teach in Iowa.

Tiny Update

I thought you all might appreciate a little bit of an update on things, although I really don't have a lot to update you on!

The biggest thing that I'm waiting on right now is my Missouri teaching license, which if you remember, was going to be mailed to me in 2-4 weeks from July 20. Well, obviously it has been more than 2-4 weeks and I still haven't received it! I finally emailed someone on Monday and I was extremely disappointed to learn that they are EIGHT WEEKS behind in mailing paper certificates. Sigh....so the waiting continues!

In the meantime, I have still been working at Culver's as a manager and actually last week I was promoted to the next manager level. Previously, I was called an "in-store trainer" and now I am called a "crew chief". I also received a small raise with the promotion! Oh, and I just heard today that the owner wants to give us a bonus for the first half of the year, so I will be getting that, too! Yay!

That's really pretty much all I have for now!

CLEARANCE!!!

No, I'm not talking about shopping when I say clearance.....

I received a letter in the mail yesterday that states "your FBI/Missouri Highway Patrol criminal history background clearance was granted on the date of this letter." YAY!!!!! This is what I got fingerprinted for....well one of the things I was fingerprinted for. I also got fingerprinted for Iowa, but I have not heard anything from them yet.

For those who may be wondering....no, there was not any doubt in my mind that I would get cleared in the background check, but I am excited because this is one more step that has been completed in this long process of getting certified!

Next step....receiving my Missouri teaching license, applying for an Iowa license, and GETTING A JOB!

Fingerprints, Class, and New Car

Well, I told you all I would update you on how the fingerprinting process went. Last Thursday, my mom and I ventured to the police department so I could be fingerprinted. I had two fingerprint cards that needed filled out, one for Missouri and one for Iowa. We were both totally unsure as to how long of a process this would be, but we were surprised! We walked in, I paid the required $10 and we sat down for about 5 seconds until a police officer came out to help me. The process, for both cards, took all of 10 minutes (yay!) and we were out of there. When we got home, I made sure everything was filled out correctly, found two manilla envelopes, inserted a fingerprint card with corresponding payment in each, and headed to the post office to mail them. So now the continued waiting begins. This should be the last step I need to receive my Missouri teaching license....YAY!!

I still have yet to find a class that works for the human relations component for my Iowa license....at least one that is not going to cost me $1200. That seemed a little steep for just the one class...

AND....the other big news this past week....I BOUGHT MY FIRST CAR!!!! Last Wednesday, my dad and I headed out for our second day of car shopping for me. We had already looked at all the interesting things in Cedar Rapids, so we headed down to Iowa City. The first place we stopped at was Toyota of Iowa City. Funny story....so it was about 11am by the time we got there, and we had brought some snacks with us, so we pulled into the parking lot, parked, and then sat in the car for a few minutes and snacked a bit. Almost as soon as we parked, a car salesman stepped out onto the sidewalk and proceeded to stand there watching us, waiting for us to get out of the car. And, as soon as we did, he was right there by us, asking if he could help us find anything. Haha. But yeah, actually he was really nice and not very pushy or high pressure, even though those first few minutes we thought he might be. The very first car he showed us was a 2005 Hyundai Elantra with a little over 33,000 miles on it. It had been owned by a single woman, who bought it new in '05 and traded it in simply because she wanted to try a Toyota. It was in prime condition....and looked very, very interesting, so we told him we wanted to test drive it. .......I fell in love with it. I ended up test driving a Nissan Sentra also, but afterwards I knew I wanted the Elantra. By the time we started the process of buying the Elantra, it was a little after noon. By the time I got home from Iowa City, it was about 3:30pm. Yeah....it was a long process....but I am so excited about my car!! It's perfect for me! Small, pretty color, drives great....oh, and it has cruise, the air works, and the radio/cd player works!!!! (the neon, what I was driving, has no cruise, the air doesn't work, and the radio is temperamental and doesn't always work).

Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy some pictures of my new car, so here they are!

And so the long, tedious, expensive process begins...

As you all know, I graduated in May with an education degree. However, some of you may not know that I have not received my Missouri teaching license yet. This is because I first need to get fingerprinted and have a background check done. Ok, no big deal right? Well, first I had to make sure that I could get fingerprinted in Iowa after I got home from college. That was fine--no big deal. Ok, next step...making sure the Marion Police Department would fingerprint me. Again, fine, no big deal....except that they only fingerprint on Thursdays, and I called on a Monday. Ok, now I at least know that it can be done and when I can go. Oh, did I mention it is going to cost me over $50 for the Missouri fingerprinting/background check....and $10 to just get fingerprinted at the police department? And that's only the beginning....

Ok, so I have that part figured out, right? Well, not so much. I had read a couple of places that if a person needed blank fingerprint cards, they would send them to that person. Yet they fail to mention how a person knows if they need the cards. (Did I mention how confusing the government can be?) So, I was planning on going today, Thursday, to get fingerprinted, but I thought I should call and double check on the fingerprint card thing before I got there and felt stupid. It's a good thing I called because the police department does not provide blank fingerprint cards. Sigh....so I had to call and have blank fingerprint cards sent to me. And now I wait again.

So, I think I have all of that figured out. For now, anyway. The next step is to get certified in Iowa. Wow, who knew it could take me 6 months to finally figure out what I am supposed to do to be certified in Iowa?? (Did I mention how confusing the government is??) I started looking online, trying to find anything that would tell me what I am supposed to do. For a long time, the only helpful thing I found was an application for an Iowa teaching license. From what I could tell, it looked like I only needed to send that in. Wow, was I wrong. I was trying to find more information online and found a website that was saying I needed to get fingerprinted, have a background check done, take a class, take some tests, and pay lots of money! I was like, whoa!! Not cool! (Oh, I forgot to mention that at the beginning when I was having problems finding information I tried contacting someone....who, in turn, emailed me the application I had already found. Big help, right?) Anyway, I tried contacting someone again (this time a different person) and asked a whole bunch of questions on the class I needed to take, any tests I needed, if I had to get fingerprinted again, etc, etc. This lady was sooo much more helpful! She answered ALL of my questions this time....and it actually MADE SENSE. And....I found out I do need to take a class (ugh), but I don't need to take another test (yay!), but I do need to get fingerprinted again (yuck) and pay more money for the fingerprinting/background check (yuck, this time it's over $60).

Whew! What a process, right? The worst part, I think, (besides forking out a ton of money) is the waiting part. I feel like I have it figured out now, but I'm nowhere near being done with it all! I do feel better about it though. Those of you who know me well, know that I don't like not knowing what is going on. It has been hard over the past few months not knowing myself what I am supposed to do and also having to answer a whole bunch of questions with...."I don't really know yet." But I am glad I seem to have it figured out now! By the way, this is why I haven't posted anything recently because I did not know what to post!

Hopefully soon I can update you all with how the fingerprinting went!

Graduation

Well, it's official! I have graduated from Culver-Stockton College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education!!!!

Here are some pictures from the day....

My friend Angie and I.....after graduation

My diploma!!!!

Processing in with my fellow graduates....

My friend and sorority big sis Jessi and I....before graduation

Sigma Kappa Seniors with Mom Char....before graduation

My Last Day

Today was my very last day of student teaching. It was pretty strange walking out the doors after school, knowing that I will most likely never see any of those students again! :(

My second grade teacher and students were sweet enough to get me a good-bye present. She ordered an organization tote, with my name on it, and all the students brought in something to put in the bag. I received pencils, pens, paper, sticky notes, dry-erase markers, highlighters, stickers, and paper clips, along with much more! Each student also drew a picture for me and the teacher bound them into a book. How cool is that?! I tried to upload some of those pictures, but for some reason, blogger keeps turning them sideways and so it's hard to see them. But they are super sweet! I have included pictures of my bag and some of the things in it, along with pictures of a card that I received from one of the girls.

My way cool, super cute organization tote, complete with my name, "Miss G", on it

All of the stuff that was in the bag spread out on the ground...it's alot!

Another picture.....

I also received this cute plaque....

This is the card that one of the girls made for me....the front is not shown because blogger wouldn't load it right, but the front says, "Good bye Ms. G! You taught me alot! I'll miss you because..."

The other side of the inside of the card....super sweet, right?

Anyway, that is that!! I am excited to be done, yet it is weird also! Tomorrow and Friday I will be finishing packing up everything and then Saturday I graduate! Can't wait to see all of you that are coming! :)

8 days of student teaching left! Also, in two weeks I will be officially graduated from college!!

The Countdown!

For quite some time now, I have been conducting a countdown to my last day of student teaching and to graduation!!!!! (Can you tell how excited I am to be done??)

This is where the countdown is so far.....

13 days of student teaching left

AND

21 days til graduation!!!

YYYAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I PASSED!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I successfully PASSED the PRAXIS test, which determines if I get certified in Missouri, and my Portfolio presentation, which determines if I graduate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soooo excited!!!! I am basically done with everything now! I just have to finish my time in second grade and then I am DONE!

29 days, 16 hours....and counting til GRADUATION!

Random Pictures

I found some random pictures that I took for the purpose of putting on my blog to share with you all....and, of course, I forgot. Haha.

But anyway, here they are....

The balloons I received from my kindergarten class and teacher on my last day, along with cookies and brownies for the entire class. It was a bittersweet day.

For BEAR club (Be Excited About Reading) in 2nd grade, we decorated eggs because it was right before Easter. However, we did not use the traditional dyeing. Instead, we simply heated up hard boiled eggs and then drew on them with crayons. (It is important to remember to hold the eggs with a paper towel because they can be quite warm!) The heat melts the crayon wax and the wax transfers to the egg shell and stays on. It is quite neat! The kids loved it because they could draw pictures or words on their eggs along with cool designs. Of course, I had a bit of fun myself...

My Sigma Kappa themed egg....

My rainbow/multi-colored egg....

2nd grade

My first week in second grade is coming to a close, so I thought I would give you a few highlights of my week:

• Being called "Miss G".....it sounds like such a simple thing, but for some reason "Miss G" sounds so much more appealing to me than "Miss Gehman"....one reason being that I tend to get called "Mrs." a lot and "Mrs. Gehman" is my mom....not me! But I don't know anyone called "Miss/Mrs. G" so it works great! Plus, I get quite tired of pronouncing/spelling my name for people.
• One of the second grade boys telling me I had a ladybug on my....ummm, bottom. Haha, and yes, that is the word he used...and yes, he did hesitate to say it.
• Being able to sit by a boy and help him work through his math and seeing his face light up when he gets it
• One of the second grade boys just loves to annoy me by leaning his chair back and balancing on the back two legs. It has become quite the thing between us as I can simply look at him and he puts his chair back on the ground. Anyway, a lady comes in to help in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Tuesday, this boy asked the lady if she and I were related. Now, mind you, we look nothing alike, but you want to know why he asked? Because we both tell him to put his chair down! :) Haha! I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that one....
• I got bombarded today with questions about what the "ozone" is, because my teacher had them write the sentence "We must protect the ozone", to work on their spelling words. They did not know what "ozone" meant and asked her, but she refused to tell them because it wasn't important at the moment. Then she got caught up talking to another teacher for a few minutes and stepped out of the room for a bit, which is when they all turned to me and asked, "Miss G, what's the ozone?", "Are we breathing the ozone?", and, my personal favorite, "Can you walk on the ozone?" (Where do they come up with this stuff??) Needless to say, I had to make sure they wrote their sentence rather than try to explain the ozone to them, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Anyway...those are just a few highlights of my first week in second grade. It is quite different from kindergarten, of course....no snack, no calendar time, and no quiet time, but I think I will learn to love it. I do miss my kindergarteners, though....I see some of them in the hall and after school occasionally, which is nice, especially because they almost always give me a hug. :)

Tomorrow, I will only be at school for half the day....after lunch, because we have a career/interview day on campus. I will be attending a presentation at 8:45am and then I have two interviews later that morning as well. I am quite nervous about them, simply because I have had very few interviews in my life and zero teacher interviews!! I will be glad when they are over!

Last Week!

Well...it's official. This week will be my last week in Kindergarten. Friday we have class on campus and then on Monday, I will start in second grade!

This past week was spring break for the college, but I had to stay here because of student teaching. Because they closed down the Greek houses, my friends and I actually stayed at one of my friends' grandma's house in town. Other than that, it was a normal week. Oh...except for the fact that I was sick Monday and Tuesday with some sort of stomach flu or virus. I felt pretty crappy on Monday and ended up with a fever Monday night, so I ended up staying home Tuesday as well. Which was actually a good thing, because I still was not 100%. By Wednesday, I felt better and went to school, but I was still exhausted by the end of the day.

Saturday, we had to take the PRAXIS test. It is the standardized test that all pre-service teachers have to take in order to get certified to teach in Missouri. I feel pretty good about it, but I won't know if I passed or not until April 6th. At least it's not too far away!

Update!

It's been awhile since I have updated you all on student teaching, so I thought you might like to see some pictures. The quality isn't very good, and I don't know if you will be able to click on them to make them bigger, but here they are anyway. :)

This is a picture of me reading a big book to the students during reading time...

This is another picture of me reading the same book...

by the way...the kids usually only sit this well and this quietly when I am reading a book...

This is a picture of 4 of the 5 ladies who are in our classroom at one time or another...

I am on the left, obviously...then Chelsea, she is a high school senior who comes every other day for about an hour to help us out. Next, in the pink, is Mrs. Schultz, my kindergarten class's teacher....next to her is Miss Summer, our aide who is in there at all times. Not pictured is Miss Carter, a Title I teacher, who used to teach part of reading for Mrs. Schultz, but now is only in our classroom for about 20 minutes every day.

As you can see, we tend to have a lot of help in our classroom usually, which is nice, because more eyes and more hands means fewer problems!! Things are going well...I am in complete control of the class all day, every day, now. It's hard to believe it's March already! I only have 12 days left in kindergarten before I move to second grade. Wow! Feels like I just started yesterday! And, I can't believe that I will be GRADUATING in 74 days!!!!! EEEeeeekkkkkk!!!!!!!!

On a side note....I just brought back to school a box of thin mint girl scout cookies and I just received a box of tag-a-longs and thin mints that I had previously ordered. YUM!

Supervisor Visit Update

I told you all I would let you know how my evaluation went on Wednesday, so here it is. It went great!! I was not that nervous until lunch, which was right before my supervisor was coming. I had prepped the students by telling them my supervisor's name and explaining that she was my teacher and would be watching me. I had also told them it would be nice if they would welcome her to the classroom, so we practiced saying that a few times. I had my binder and lesson plans all laid out for her and I knew what I was doing....but, you know how it is, I was still nervous. However, once I started teaching I was fine! Which, I knew I would be, but getting started is always the hardest part.

My supervisor gave me a really good evaluation, and she said she was really impressed! Yay!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another Valentine's Day has come and almost gone, and it held a slight surprise for me this year....it's been snowing all day long! A girl and I were talking at work today, and we couldn't quite figure out why the snow was so surprising, considering it is still February, but for some reason Valentine's Day and snow didn't seem to go together. I had to listen to wintery/Christmas-y music this morning before work so that I wouldn't get mad at the snow. For some reason, listening to Christmas music makes the abundance of snow seem okay and even acceptable. Can anyone explain that??

Anyway, I did work today, as well as last night. I have been working once a week on Sundays, since I started student teaching. Last week, a girl asked if I could cover her Saturday shift for her and I said yes. Then, another girl needed someone to take her Saturday evening shift because of a birthday, so she and I switched. So I went from not working on Saturday to working from 5:30-slow down. (Slow down literally means whenever business slows down). I ended up working until about 9:30pm last night and today I worked from 10 until about 5pm. I made good money both days, as it was busy due to the holiday. We had a special going all weekend long. It was a one pound ribeye steak in the shape of a heart to be shared by two people. Each person got a choice of potato (baked, mashed, or fries), a trip to the salad bar and dessert bar. All of this only cost them $19.99. Pretty good deal, huh? We had quite a few orders of it last night...not so many today, but we still had a couple. One guy ordered it for himself, and just had us box up the second potato for him to take home. He ate the entire pound of ribeye, along with his salad, potato, and dessert. Pretty amazing, right? I thought so.

Student teaching has been going really great! I am loving the students, my cooperating teacher, and just the experience in general. I have been taking over a few things here and there, including leading them to lunch and specials. I also have been reading books to them after lunch, and just last week I started helping out with the reading time and math worksheets. Because reading is stressed a lot on the MAP tests (Missouri's standardized tests), our reading time is an hour and a half. Seems like a long time to ask kindergarteners to sit still and learn, right? Well, it is. But my cooperating teacher does a good job of making it interesting and breaking it up. They will start on the floor, return to their tables to complete part of a worksheet, then go back to their floor spots, then back to the tables, etc. The students handle it pretty well. The last two days, Thursday and Friday, I read the story to them and asked them questions about the story. My teacher keeps telling me I need to be louder....who would ever have thought I had a quiet voice??? Haha, just kidding. I know I have a quiet voice, and it is hard for me sometimes because I feel like I am shouting and I don't like to shout. But my teacher assures me that she has not heard me shout once, so I just need to learn to be louder.

This week I have my first supervision by a college professor. I am not really nervous about it yet, but I think I might be when it gets closer. I will be teaching science time, followed by math time.

This weekend, my body has been working on developing a nice cold. I have been taking dayquil and nyquil, which helps. When the dayquil kicks in, I am fine. But as soon as it wears off, I can definitely tell. Hopefully, it will not last too long. I have been trying to get some extra sleep and keep my body pumped up with Vitamin C.

School is not in session tomorrow, for me, due to President's Day. The college will still be holding classes, but since I am not taking any on campus, I have the day off tomorrow. I didn't even tell work, so I don't have to work either. :)

Well, the dayquil I took a bit ago has not kicked in yet, so my head is sort of pounding, so I will end this now. I'll let you all know how my first supervision goes!

Snow Day

We have a snow day today. There is about 2 inches of snow on the ground, but it is still snowing. It is definitely weird, because I am used to going to classes no matter what (at college) and rarely getting snow days at home. However, it is simply because this area is so rural. It's amazing how location can make such a big difference. Even though I am pretty sure I would not have minded driving in this amount of snow back home, I have no desire to drive in it here, especially not all the way to school. The roads are quite hilly and curvy...not ideal for driving on when they are slick.

Anyway, I am actually slightly disappointed that I don't have school today. I wasn't even going to be with the kindergarteners today, but I am still disappointed. Yesterday, my teacher and I attended a curriculum training workshop at the high school. Although she was bored, because it is hard to apply to kindergarten and she has attended these for several years, I found it actually quite interesting. We actually talked about stuff that we talked about in college classes. It is always exciting to me to know that what we are doing in classes is actually stuff that happens in the real world and that we can take with us. After the speaker talked for a while, he let us actually work on the curriculum that everyone is developing for their grade level. It is a little confusing because the school already has a curriculum, but I think he really just wanted them to focus on what they, as teachers, thought that students at their grade level should know by the end of the year. So, for kindergarteners, they should be able to identify and describe different shapes, so that became part of the curriculum. Basically, for each part or skill that kindergarteners needed to know, my teacher created a lesson plan. Yesterday, I helped her go over them and revise them a little. Today, I was originally going to go back to the classroom, but she really enjoyed having my help yesterday, so I was going to help her finish with the curriculum.

Anyway, it may not sound like a very exciting day to anyone else, but I was looking forward to it. I was looking forward to working with an experienced teacher on stuff that happens in her classroom.

Hopefully, you can tell that I am enjoying myself. Although I am not actually teaching quite yet, I am not so nervous about it, and I really do not want to switch over to 2nd grade in 6 weeks! I am enjoying kindergarten so much that I don't want to leave! :)

First Day

Today was my first day in Kindergarten for student teaching. It was a good day! The students are fairly low academically, but they are such sweethearts! Although they all said good morning to me when my teacher asked them to, by the end of the day they were calling me by name and giving me hugs! :) Although, they still have problems with my name. First off, remembering it is hard enough, but also my cooperating teacher keeps forgetting how my last name is pronounced. The past few times, she did get it right, but she would still look at me and ask, "Was that right?" So I don't really blame the students for not knowing my name yet. :) At the moment, they tend to call me "Miss Gayham", which is close enough so I do respond to it.

The students are fairly rambunctious, and like I said, fairly low-achieving, so it will be a bit of a challenge. It is still weird for me to picture myself teaching the class all day long, but I have been told that eventually it will just be second-nature. Can't wait for that day! I do NOT like being unsure of myself! I am not nervous, necessarily, just not entirely comfortable either. I guess you could say I'm not exactly "biting at the bit", so to speak.

I will keep you updated as much as I can!

Student Teaching

A week from today, I will start student teaching!! Eeek!!

I am both excited and nervous. Excited--because it will be a new experience and I love working with kids! Nervous--because I get nervous with anything that I am unfamiliar with.

I will be in 2nd grade and Kindergarten. I am not sure yet which class I will be in first; that will be decided tomorrow afternoon when I meet my cooperating teachers.

It is getting quite weird to think about the fact that I will be graduating from college in less than 4 months!!

There have been many ups and downs in the past 4 years...but I feel that, overall, it has been a very rewarding experience.

Book Drive Update

I was kindly reminded the other day that I still have not disclosed to everyone the total number of books that we collected for the book drive. Since they were finally picked up, and I have announced the number to my sorority sisters, I am now prepared to do so on here as well.

You already know that we packed up 76 boxes. The final number of books is...............

3081!!!!!!!!

Thanks for everyone's support in this endeavor! It was a great success!

Praise God!!

The books were picked up today!!!!! :D

Prayer

This may seem like a ridiculous thing to pray for at the moment, but it is causing me a lot of frustration.

As you all know Sigma Kappa conducted a book drive this past semester. Since December, we have been trying to get a truck driver to come pick up the books. The first few times it was scheduled, the driver didn't show up. When he did finally show up, everyone was gone for break, but campus safety showed them where the books were. However, the driver rejected the books because they were not packaged correctly. So, when I returned on Sunday, we shrink-wrapped the books on the pallets and scheduled another time for the books to be picked up. That was yesterday. The driver didn't show. So, it was scheduled for today. The driver actually showed up this time. However, he could not get his truck back to the loading dock where the pallets were. If I had known that they would be sending a 53' semi perhaps I would have made sure he could get back there. But I was never informed what kind of truck was coming. The driver did not have time today to stay and try to figure out a way to get the pallets to his truck.

So, almost a month after the books were originally going to be picked up, they still have not been picked up.

I would like to ask you all to please pray that we can get this all figured out and taken care of very soon. I would like to also ask you to pray that I will stay calm throughout all of this. I have been stressing about it and I am very frustrated at the moment.

Back to the Grind

I am back in Canton, MO, all settled in for the semester...kind of. I'd be glad to go through the semester without the classes, but that's not going to happen...haha.

I moved my room around a bit...not much. My desk, which was by the window, is now moved out a bit, along the window wall where my bed was. My bed is now in the space where my desk was. It's different....maybe not perfect, but I needed a change. One thing that I like about it is that my desk area is not so crowded. I also like that the head of my bed is now against a wall, so I can watch TV and read better! :)

Classes start bright and early tomorrow morning...ok, not that early, 9:15am. But any time is too early for class. :)

More to come later!

NEW BELT!!!

Haha, yes, you read that right. :) I am THAT excited to have a new belt. You see...we have to wear a belt at work, as part of our uniform. I found a belt I really liked last summer. It was great! It actually fit me, and I liked it. Perfect, right?

Well, not so much. This belt decided it was not going to last. I wore it so much, that I literally wore it out. For the past several months, I have literally been holding it together with masking tape. Pretty sad, right?

So, I decided it was time for a new one. And I found one that I liked today...that was NOT the same kind as the last one! Hopefully this one will last longer!

What can I say? I find happiness in the small things. :)