Shouldn't I be more excited?

By this time tomorrow, my college graduation will be over. It seemed so far away and it's hard to believe it's finally here. Sure I'm happy to be graduating and starting a new chapter in my life, but I don't seem to be as excited as people think I should be.

For years I, along with most other people my age, was told that there was going to be a huge need for teachers when we were older and if we chose this occupation, we would be guaranteed a job. Well guess what, after busting my but to finish collage and owing a whole years salary, there are very few openings for teachers and after recent announcements made by the district I want to teach in, it looks like there will be even fewer positions next year.

But I refuse to let it get to me (too much). I know that something will work out. I have been subbing over the last few weeks and hope to do a lot more next semester. So, maybe I won't start out in the district where I want to end up...But something will work out. God will put me where he needs me, if that's subbing then so be it.

I hope y'all have a wonderful Monday and think about me while I'm walking across that stage. A lot has changed in my life over the last six months and tomorrow it will change even more.

JoAnne

First Day of Vacation

So, today was officially my first day of "freedom." Friday was my last day with my kids.

I had a pretty busy weekend. Saturday was our big Thanksgiving meal with all the girls and their families at scouts. My sister-in-law was supposed to have her baby on friday but he's not cooperating so, to give her a break, my mom and I took my two youngest nieces to the mall after scouts. Sunday was my youngest nieces 6th birthday so we did a little birthday shopping.

Sunday we were late leaving the house and didn't make it to church. We met up with my grandparents for lunch before heading to their house to do a little work (we replaced their screen door last week, but the latch didn't work so we needed to fix that). Then headed back to my bro's for cake and ice cream. (still no baby)

Today I came up to campus to help run the FEA Scholastic Book fair. I was really excited to be spending some time with two of my best friends who I just haven't had much time for this semester. Well, I woke up with a little sore throat that I thought was from the dry air in my house. By the time I got to campus I felt worse. As I sat listening to my friends, I begain to feel like I could barely sit up. After lunch I walked to the nearby drug store and bought some pain reliever and a thermometer. My fever was 100.2 :-0.

This is just great, I have a million things to do this week, including packing up this bookfair tomorrow, thanksgiving with my fam, and SHOPPING on friday. I can't be sick! so...I've canceled my movie plans for tonight, Harry Potter will have to wait, and I'm going home at five to get some sleep, we'll take it from there. In the mean time, I'll be leaving detailed notes on what someone should do with these books tomorrow if I can't come tomorrow.

The good news is, now that I am unemployed and don't have class, I will have time to blog more :-/

Watch for a blog about the thanksgiving activities I've done this week and other helpful (i hope) items.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Monday!

November and saying goodbye

I can't believe how quickly this has flown by. It has been busy to say the least but it's also been a blast. As I write this post I am preparing for my LAST WEEK of student teaching. It's bitter sweet. I have waited for this day for so long but I have come to love my school, students and coaching teacher. How do I say goodbye?

So, here is my question for you (if any of you actually read this) what is a good gift for my coaching teacher? I've already bought a book for the class and will be giving each child a gift when I come back to visit for Christmas but I want to get something special for my teacher. She has been teaching for many years so she doesn't need much for the classroom, and I want to get her something she will actually enjoy using so...any suggestions?

In the meantime, I will be teaching tomorrow morning while my CT is observing at another, Tuesday night is my last seminar class, Thursday I am presenting my research project to the principal (Yikes!) and lots of stuff is due. Friday is my last day.

I hope y'all have a good week!

JoAnne

Life as a student teacher

Well, obviously by the amount of posts I have made in the last 5 weeks you have probably figured out I am staying pretty busy. To top things off I am sick. Monday night I was really stressed out because I had a LOT of stuff due on Tuesday. It never fails, when I get stressed I get sick so when my throat started to hurt that night I didn't think much about it. Tuesday as I began turning in assignments and checking things off my list I began feeling better. By Wednesday morning my nose was runny and i really felt awful but I thought it had to just be allergies. Right? When it was worse on Thursday, I began to worry that it may not be just allergies, normally I would suffer through but working so closely with my coaching teacher, I was scared she may catch it from me. Her High School Reunion is today so I REALLY didn't want her to get sick. When I left the school at 5:30 on Tuesday I headed directly to our local CVS Minute Clinic. I love the minute clinic for things like viruses and vaccines. It is way cheaper than going to a doctors office or Dr's Care and no appointment is needed. She was able to take me right back and guess what...it's a Sinus infection. It's really hard to catch a sinus infection from someone so I was able to go to school on Friday (on three types of medicine). Just to be sure I brought my handy Lysol wipes and a can of Lysol and went to town before my coaching teacher arrived. She was so happy that I had been so considerate. I'm not feeling much better today but I should be back to normal after a day of rest in bed tomorrow.

Did anyone else notice, by way of their students behavior, that it's a full moon? We sure did, our kids have been off the charts. Wednesday it was so bad I was second guessing my career choice. After school we looked it up and sure enough, full moon...as the teacher next door says - Even the good ones go bad. I never used to put much stock in people acting weird during full moons but it was obvious this week. Hopefully this too will be over by Monday.

I have lots more I could talk about, but I'm sure most of you quit reading my babble long ago so I'll stop now. I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

-JoAnne

If anyone's actually reading this...

I'm sorry it's been so long between posts lately. I've been spending about 10 hours a day at the school and I busy working on projects when I get home. I'm getting ready to begin the big research project that seniors are required to do at my university. I am focusing on literacy for my project and it will require reading lot of student papers. I will tell you guys more about my project later but I can tell you it's something I'm very excited about starting. Although I am excited about it, it will be taking up a lot of my time.

In other news, my girl scout troop has tripled in size over the last three weeks and could grow even more in the near future. As excited as I am that we now have enough girls to register as a troop, I don't know what I will do if anymore register. Our meeting space is not very big. I've spent my entire weekend trying to duplicate the supplies I bought for my troop. Unfortunately, stores only ordered some of the supplies as seasonal for back to school and they are now out :(

Well, I'm off to write lesson plans, I have a big observation on Tuesday and I need to be prepared.

I hope everyone has a great week!

-JoAnne

Schedules

The past week has been crazy. I think I posted before that the teachers were furloughed and only got two work days before school started this year. One of those days was open house so of course things have been super busy. The kids started last Tuesday. I never realized how hard it was to nail down a schedule. It seems like the kids spend very little time in the classroom and after adding in bathroom breaks and allowing for children who are pulled out for various programs it's not easy to find time for all the "learning." A week later and we're still working out the kinks.

On a slightly different note, I have completely fallen in love with my school. I hope that sometime in the near future there is an opening and they will considering hiring me. Everyone is friendly, welcoming, and helpful. Walking down the hall, I frequently find myself smiling for no reason :)

Bloggiversery

One year ago today I started this blog. So much has happened since then it is almost mind blowing to think about it all. I find it very fitting that today would be the first day of my student teaching.

I had such a great day with my coaching teacher and I don't think I stopped smiling once! This is a big turn around from my first internship where I spent the first day fighting back tears.

My new coaching teacher is TEACHER OF THE YEAR! I feel soo blessed! Our classroom theme is going to be Bees. She has lots of cute decorations and I spent today helping her create a giant honeycomb for the hall. It turned out perfect and she added two "queen bees" to the middle. I am so lucky to have a coaching teacher who is so willing to share her "throne" with me.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I know Monday will be a long day with open house but I will try to post again very soon. Please think about me over the next week as I embark on this new chapter of my life.

Teacher Week - Creative Ideas

So I'm still a day behind for teacher week but I won't be able to participate in the classroom tour since I don't have my own classroom, and won't meet my coaching teacher until tomorrow. So to get caught up...Creative Ideas:

I decided to post a behavior management tool that I used when I taught at the after school program. Our program was VERY structured and we were even periodically observed by the Department of Education so in many ways it was just an extension to the school day, not time to play and goof off. The exception to this rule was Fridays. Friday's the children did not have homework and we would have a "fun" day with team building activities. The other second grade teacher and I decided we would plan a special activity for each Friday that the students would have to earn throughout the week. It normally consisted of two parts.

1) A craft or special game that involved prep work (in other words something that we would not normally play during structured recreation time). Some of the things included a Dr. Seuss party, a flying objects day with kites and foam airplanes, making play dough, a st Patrick's day party with Irish food etc... (you get the idea, plan something that fits into your day or curriculum) sometimes it was simply freezer pops and extra play time outside.

2) A special prize for the Students who had the best behavior during the week. Normally this would relate to the activity. On the day that we brought in "flying objects" these students got to pick a kite or airplane to keep. If it was a day with freezer pops these kids might get a larger type of popsicle.

Here is how they earned their "Fun Fridays":

Each student received a business card size behavior card. They would write their names in the center box. I normally printed them on card stock but you can print them on the business card sheets too. This was my back to school one, we used these in September. The pictures would change each month.

Each day Monday-Thursday the kids had the chance to get three of the apples punched. One for behaving during snack time, one for good behavior during homework and lesson time, and one for over all (this would include being in the hallway and structured rec time.)

If you are following me, this means that the students could potentially have all 12 pictures punched by Friday. To earn "Fun Friday" they had to have at least 7 punched (about two a day) normally about 95% of the class earned this. To earn the "extra" prize they had to have at least 10 punched this was normally about 4 students.

So, I'm sure you're wondering what happened to the students that didn't earn 7 punches.This was normally only one or two students out of 25. Normally they would spend some quiet time in the classroom for about 15 minutes(I was lucky enough to have an assistant who could sit with them) they could read or just sit quietly. Then, depending on the activity for they could join us or play a game in the classroom until we were finished.

Other uses:

• Instead of punching holes, put stickers over the apples
• Instead of doing an activity each week it could be each month (you could add more pictures or only punch one a day.
• Instead of having a time limit, give a student a prize when they fill their card (choose from the prize box or maybe a homework pass?)

I hope this is easy to follow but if you have any questions or if you want the PDF just let me know.

-JoAnne

Teacher Week - Must haves

Again, this post is following the teacher week here. Keep in mind that I am just entering my student teaching and there are a lot of things I haven't thought of yet but I "must have"

5 MUST HAVES

1. "Teacher Friends" - Someone who's going through the same thing as me, or at least someone who understands what I'm going through. Most importantly someone who will never say "all you do is color and play all day"

2. "organization" - This is not my best skill, I will need lots of shelves, boxes and other help when it comes to organizing my own classroom.3. "writers workshop" - After a semester long internship in a kindergarten classroom where the only form of writing was copying what the teacher wrote on the board, I WILL implement writers workshop in my classroom. Children have great imaginations and they need to be encouraged to use them and fall in love with writing.

4. "LOTS OF BOOKS" - I am addicted to children's books. I actually think I have way more than I could ever display in my classroom and I keep buying more. I usually buy them used from thrift stores and yard sales (normally around 10 cent a piece). I am thinking of having book give-a-ways in my classroom. What do y'all think?

5. "Read alouds" - I couldn't find the pictures I have of me actually doing a read aloud so this one will have to do. I use read alouds for everything! During morning meeting, math, science, social studies, and of course language arts.

-JoAnne

Teachers Week - Introduction

Abby over at Babbling Abby is hosting teacher week this week. I am a little behind so I'm going to post a few things this morning to catch up. First up is the introduction.

Ten Things about me (A student teacher)
1. I am currently entering my student teaching semester at the university.
2. I am an early childhood major, when I graduate I will be certified to teach preK-3rd grade.
3. I will graduate December 13th 2010 at 3:30pm :-D
4. I have been placed in a second grade classroom for my student teaching.
5. I taught second grade at a 21st century community learning center for 1.5 years and I LOVED it. The only reason I'm not there now is because our grant ended :'(
6. I finished the 09-10 school year with a 4.0 average!!! Trust me I'm as shocked as you are. This just goes to show I chose a major I l♥ve!
7. I was the 09-10 President of the Future Educators Association at my University!
8. In my "free time" (feel free to laugh now) I am a Girl Scout Daisy leader.
9. Three Sunday's a month, I keep the children 5 and under in the children's church.
10. I have four nieces, one nephew and another nephew on the way. My family means EVERYTHING to me.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask :)

-JoAnne

weekend fun

This past weekend was Tax-Free weekend in SC. Each year our state has a weekend, usually a week or two before school starts and all school supplies and clothes are Tax Free. The first year that we did this the stores were really involved and there were HUGE sales. It resembled black friday, people were shopping at midnight as soon as the tax "holiday" started. I love a bargain and Black friday is one of my favorite days of the year so obviously a whole weekend of bargain school supplies is right up my alley. Unfortunately, the stores seem to have gotten "smart." They've realized that people, especially in this economy are going to shop tax-free weekend, even if they don't offer great sales. So the past few years there have been fantastic sales the week before the tax holiday and prices are back up for the big weekend.

I was out and about all weekend trying to get ready for everything (Student teaching, Girl Scouts, and Children Church) that is about to kick off for the new year. Here are a few deals I managed to find:

Lots of new clothes: 3 tops and 5 skirts from hamricks for a total of $31.00! 8 packs of 100 index cards for $2.32

9 legal pads for $3.00

6 pencil sharpeners $0.30

10 Folders $0.50

6 pair of scissors $1.50

6 1" three ring binders $1.50

9 pencil boxes $5.40

6 childrens books $2.00

Large tote bag to haul all of this stuff around $6.00

Total spending this weekend : $53.52

A new chapter

It hit me while I was getting ready this morning. Today is my last day of actual undergraduate classes. I still have trouble breathing when I think about it. Of course, I still have student teaching and senior seminar, but the days of 8:00 classes are over and being replaced with students entering MY classroom at 7:30. Thinking about it I feel lots of emotions. Excitement that my dreams are coming true, nervousness because It's all up to me now, and a little sadness because this is my last semester to spend time with a lot of really great girls. I know in reality I will not see many of them after December 13th.

So as I publish this post and begin walking to take my LAST exam as an undergraduate, I am starting a new chapter in my life! One hopefully filled with exciting times, great friends, and dreams coming true!

-JoAnne

Memoir Monday

With the birth of each of my nieces and my nephew I have distinct memories either of the day they were born or them as infants. My eldest niece was born in New York and I didn't meet her until she was two and I was eight. I can remember how cool it was to be an aunt. I was my mothers only child and I was not raised with my brothers so the whole idea of siblings was always sort of a mystery to me. I had always wanted a little sister, and in since, that's what Samantha became to me.

When Ashley was born three years later it was so exciting to have a baby in the family. This is probably the first baby I had ever been in a close relationship with other than cousins. I remember sitting on my brothers couch holding her for what seemed like (to an 11 year old) a really long time. Here comes the embarrassing part...the part I still remember but others probably (hopefully) don't. My arms were becoming tired and I probably wanted to go play with Samantha so I looked up at the adults and asked "does anyone want to take this thing" :-O Ashley if you are reading this, please don't be offended, I didn't mean anything by it. All of the adults made a big deal about me saying it. They weren't really mean, but they definitely laughed at me not with me.

My third eldest niece, Zoe, was born on September 12, 2001. I can remember that day soo clearly because my mom and I kept Samantha and Ashley that night. Samantha was 8 and Ashley was 4. I had just begun my senior year of high school. I remember being confused about how much I should tell them or say in front of them. I stayed up that night writing poetry (that I still have somewhere).

A few years later it was time for another niece, Drew. This time, I would be staying at my brothers house with the three oldest girls. At this time my brother was also fostering a little boy. My most vivid memory about that night was holding Zoe thinking she only had a few hours left to be the baby.

Four years ago, we welcomed my first nephew, Jonathan, into the family. This was a big deal because everyone had been waiting for a boy. I remember I was at K-Mart picking up family pictures when I got the call that he was on. My mom, My boyfriend (who I had only been dating like a week) and I rushed to the hospital. This was the first time that I was at the hospital (although I wasn't in the room :-D) and I have to admit it was really exciting.

Now its getting close to time for another baby (boy number two but shhh it's a secret, my dad doesn't want to know) I can't help wondering what will I look back on a few years from now?

I love my family and I couldn't ask for a better sister in law! I am so blessed :)

- JoAnne

Technology...

Sometimes I have a real hate for technology. Don't get me wrong, at this point I don't think I could live with out it, but that's just the problem, I am too used to instant communication. A few months ago I posted about waiting to hear back from my mentor teacher. Shortly after posting that entry, I checked my email and there was her response (actually as I was writing this i received was another email from her :-D). Once again I am in a panic because people are not responding to me. This time, it's three different people. So...In the world of texts, Facebook, IM's, emails, and cell phones, do you find yourself panicked when someone doesn't respond? I hope you can handle it better than me, and that you have a wonderful weekend.

-JoAnne

Finals

I seem to be surrounded by people complaining about finals. I on the other hand couldn't be happier that next week is finals week. No, I don't love taking tests but finals week means the end of classes. Actually, I have been blessed the the classes I am taking this summer. There is a heavy work load since everything is crammed into 4 weeks, but I have retained the information and tested well (so far) I made A's on the midterm for both classes and I'm really not sweating it. I am however a little stressed about the amount of work I have to finish before our finals. My grandmothers passing caused me to get behind and I feel like I'm rushing to catch up.

I only have about half a week between the ending of summer school and reporting for my student teaching. I am starting to get nervous. I'm VERY excited about graduating in December, but the real world seems SCARY! :-D OK, I know I'll be fine, but I also need all the advise and encouragement I can get so bring it on ;)

So...I lied

I promised to post some memories of my grandmother today but I still can't I stare at the blank screen and nothing comes out. I will however tell you about my weekend.

Saturday My mom and I drove to Charleston so I could take the first PRAXIS II exam. Since I haven't had the time or money to take a vacation this summer I was treating this as a get away even though I was a nervous wreck about the test. We arrived an hour early even after getting stuck in traffic and I spent some time walking around the beautiful College of Charleston campus. This time I noticed a lot of similarities between it and the campus at USC. I laughed at remembering how I had originally viewed this campus before starting at USC.

I took my test and I have to say it wasn't exactly what I expected. I don't think I did horrible but it is going to be a LONG 4 weeks waiting on my scores. Keep your fingers crossed that I passed this part and won't have to pay to take it over again.

After the test we had lunch at 5 Guys and walked around downtown a little more. Finally we decided to ride down to folly beach. I love the beach and I have never been to Folly. After passing our exit and getting lost trying to turn around we finally made it to the rode that leads on the island. As we got closer to the beach traffic came to a stand still. Once we got to the beach and paid to park we probably only spent an hour actually on the water. It was amazingly crowded. I am used to going to the beach right before or after the summer and I wasn't used to the crowd.

We stopped at the outlet center on the way home. Spent two hours walking around and I only left with two pair of flip flops and a bad mood thanks to old navy (but I'll save this for another post)

Sunday was great. After church and lunch I went to see a local production of Annie! I will also save this for another post when I have the time and desire to go into more detail.

I hope your week is off to a great start!

I'm back

Hey everyone. Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a wonderful week. I came back to school completely behind on homework and I am just now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I will post next Monday with another Memoir Monday this time about my family and my grandmother. I tried to do it this Monday but it was just too hard. I am doing a lot better and made it through yesterday with only a few tears.

I am a silver lining type person and I have to say the silver lining of last week was very obvious to me. I had a chance to really get to know my family. I bonded with my cousins and feel closer to them than I ever felt before. In fact that was the hardest part Sunday, after spending 4 days with my dad's family surrounded by people who felt the same grief as me and were constantly there to lift me up. I returned to a normal schedule. I missed my family so much.

Today is the first day I have felt like I am truly on a normal schedule. After class I will head to the gym and then off to do my service hours. I am excited about going to see a production of Willy Wanka tomorrow. I am also meeting up with a friend for lunch tomorrow. I missed her surprise party Saturday because of the funeral and spending time with my fam so tomorrow is all about her :) If I'm not back tomorrow, look for a post on Friday.

JoAnne

Why I'm MIA

I just wanted to take a minute and let you know where I've been.

My grandmother passed away Tuesday night. I have been spending time with family and trying to stay caught up with school. Visitation is tonight and the Funeral is in the morning. I will probably be back some time next week.

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers. We have been blessed with such wonderful friends.

JoAnne

8 Things

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to...


1)Student Teaching


2) Graduating


3) My new niece or nephew


4) Falling in love



5) Getting a job



6) Being a daisy leader




7) Seeing Eclipse again



8) Going on vacation




8 Things I did Yesterday...
1) Slept


2) Read a book


3) Emailed my Teacher


4) Posted from my "Memior"


5) Ate a hamburger


6) Reserved library books for my theatre class



7) Watched the Bachelorette


8) Ate freezer pops




8 Things I Wish I Could Do...
1) See my kids from hope


2) Spend more time with my family


3) start a non-profit



4) Stop biting my nails


5) Take Missy places with out her getting loose


6) Eat healthier


7) Pay all of my own bills



8) Get a job



8 Shows I Enjoy...
1) Grey's Anatomy


2) The Bachelorette


3) Private Practice


4) Law and Order: SVU


5) Brothers and Sisters


6) Desparate housewives


7) NCIS



8) Parenthood

Memior Monday

I have decided to share memories with you each monday. Sometimes they may be funny othertimes more of a reflection of a part of my life. Today I am sharing the first chapter of my "memior" about my year as president of the Future Educators Association.

The Idea

If someone had told me when I entered the future educators association room for the first time a year and a half ago that I would be running for president in a year I probably would have laughed in their face. Sure I had been the president of the small midlands tech chapter the year before but a small community college club is nothing compared to what would be at a university. I had transferred to USC a shy 21 year old.

Nearly a year later I sat in the office after our first Chalk Walk. The walk had been very small but had been good for our first year. I sat talking to our president debriefing from the event. “I want you to be in charge of planning the walk next year,” she said looking up at me “I will be graduating and moving and you will do great.”

I didn’t have to think to hard, I knew I wouldn’t have it any other way. I had loved planning the first one. I had marketing experience from high school and knew that I could do it. “I’d love to,” I said writing out some notes for our folder.

She paused her writing and looked up again. “I’m also recommending you for president. I looked up, I’m sure the shock was evident on my face.

“Have you heard anyone else say they’re interested in running?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Well, if one of the seniors wants to run, I wouldn’t want to take the opportunity from them, but if no one else shows interest I think I would be interested.”

“You would do great,” she said smiling, “and I’ll be here to help if you need me.”

I hope you have a great Monday!

Reflection

This week is turning out to be one of reflection. Today my thoughts and prayers are with the family of Mrs. Judy Frick a member of our church family and a family friend for many years. She has been strong with her fight against cancer and does not have much time left. Her family has gathered to be with her today.

Today, be thankful for the loved ones around you and the precious time you have with them. Each day is truly a gift.

Tuesday

After I posted yesterday, I recieved some bad news. My grandmother who has been in and out of the hospital for a few weeks was referred to hospice. I hadn't had much interaction with hospice in the past and to me the only thing I associated it with was going home to die. In reality she won't be going home at all. There is a facility close by that is run by hospice where she will be going. The family gathered at the hospital this morning to meet with the doctor and social worker. My family is large My grandmother who is 91 had 7 children all still living, and living in the immidiate area. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am for this. I went to the hospital but did not go in the meeting, I sat in the room with my grandmother.

I am feeling better now that I know the facts although it is still heartbreaking. My grandmother had a VERY bad kidney infection it had to be treated with strong antibiotics. Unfortunately a 91 year old body just doesn't withstand as much as a younger one would and the antibiotics killed the good bacteria too. This caused a disease in her stomach. The medicine that would treat it would do more damage to her memory which right now is in very good shape. They have decided not to treat it.

She will go to stay in the hospice facility. She will be one of only thirteen patients in the facility. If she recovers she will be able to come home. If not, the hospice nurses and staff will make sure she is as happy and comfortable as possible. Family can stay in the facility with her at all times and nurses will be availble around the clock. Our family will be able to enjoy her company for as long as possible. For this I am very thankful.

Please keep my family in your prayers this week, we are all handling this in our own ways.

Update

In case anyone was wondering I'm not MIA I had quite a busy week last week. Here's a brief summary.

Monday-Well we won't talk about monday...not that it wasn't busy but it wasn't positive either.

Tuesday-I spent the day with a wonderful friend that I hadn't been able to hang out with in about a year. It was great. We ran some errands, VOTED, had lunch at Moe's and hung out watching some TV. Best news...She decided to be my assistant leader for my Daisy troop! Tuesday night I finished up my Girl Scout training. This training was way more helpful than the first. We went over policies, rules and paperwork.

Wednesday- I had lunch with the girls and made plans for watching the newest Twilight movie this week.

Thursday and Friday - I spent at home relaxing it's hard to believe but my summer break will be over soon.

Saturday- Weighed in, I lost 1.6 pounds! Went shopping. Hung out at home for a while and watched TV.

Yesterday was our preachers farewell sermon. I hate to see him leave. He has been with us for 6 years, but that is the methodist way. We sent him off with a wonderful covered dish. Both churches came together. Before leaving he was presented a computer to help with his new placement and a cookie jar from the kids. The cookie jar was really great. The kids mad it at a local pottery studio. It had thumb print people for each of our church kids and had other memories from the pastors time at our church. We are very proud of Bill on his recent ordination and wish him the best of luck with his new churches. Our new preacher will come on Sunday and I am looking forward to meeting her and keeping an open mind about this change.

So, whats on the horizon this week? Not much except for the movie. I am going to enjoy my last week before class starts, and study for the Praxis II. I hope ya'll are having a great Monday.

Oatmeal, Fluff, and Raisin Cookies

So as I promised yesterday I would post one of my favorite snacks. I came upon these while trying to come up with a sweet but healthy treat for the children at church.

Take one Oatmeal cookie (I like the soft baked) look for one that's 120 calories or less, less than 6 grams of fat and at least one gram of fiber.

Next add one table spoon of marshmallow creme like icing. One table spoon is only 20 Calories

Finally add as many raisin as you like to the top, a small box of raisins is 45 calories.

I hope you enjoy!

The non-adventures of Miss JoAnne

I started this blog about a year ago with big plans. It happened to coincide with my election as president of the Future Educators Association at my university. I wanted to write about all of the exciting things that were happening in my life. Unfortunately, so many things were Happening that my blog fell to the back burner and I quit posting. Now I've finished my first internship in the classroom and my term as president will soon come to an end. I decided to start posting again.

What happened to my exciting life? Where did all my events, activities and friends go? There's nothing like clicking "new post" and staring at a blank screen to make you realize you are a boring person. I'm sorry if my posts bore you. I want to thank my new followers! In the past week I have doubled my followers from 2 to 4!

Stay tuned... Tomorrow I will share my favorite snack.

Is this what my summer is going to be like?

I won't share the full details of my week, you probably wouldn't believe them if I did, instead I will give you a brief overview in list form.

• I accidentally ordered 120 Avon catalogs instead of 10(don't ask me how)


• Every time I make plans to walk down the street and put the Avon books in paper boxes something happens


• Saturday afternoon/night I read an entire book while sitting in the urgent care waiting room


• I got lunch to-go yesterday only to get to where I was going and realize they didn't give me my full order.


• I spent an hour looking for my cat yesterday after my door got mysteriously opened. Only for him to show up (still inside) looking irritated that I had woken him.

I hope ya'll have a great week!

Girl Scout Training "Leadership Essentials"

Last night my mom and I drove all the way to the other side of town for Girl Scout training. I sign in and pick up the packet of hand outs only to realize this is the same training I went to last year. Apparently it never got recorded that I was there so I sat through the already boring class again.

If I had not been a girl scout growing up, this might have been a useful class. If I was not an education major with LOTS of experience writing hands on lesson plans, this might have been a useful class. But I was a girl for many years and I am an education major. I did however learn some things at last nights meeting. I learned to appreciate the fact that I am an education major. I never realized how much this training affected my ability to be a great girl scout leader.

During the training we broke into groups by the age level we plan on leading. I was the only person in our group that has already been a leader and the only one with ANY experience with the new Journey program. Our group was supposed to basically write a lesson plan using one of the activities from the journeys book. I started by explaining to the group what I knew about the journeys program, then I sat back to let them do most of the work (no, not because I'm lazy but because I've had a year of experience and they are about to go out on their own and lead a group of 5-6 year olds). I soon realized that people who are not teachers (in some aspect) do not understand what it is like to lead a group of 5 year olds. Our group consisted of basically three pairs on my right were to middle aged women who were starting a girl scout group at their church. Their big idea for an activity to do with their troop was to take them to volunteer to clean out cages at the zoo. HELLO PEOPLE YOUR GIRLS ARE 5! THE ZOO IS NOT GOING TO ALLOW THEM TO CLEAN CAGES! The pair to my left were young girls probably in their late 20's who couldn't seem to come up with any activities they thought a 5 year old would be able to do. Both groups also thought "learning by doing" meant drawing a picture of a bird when learning about bird habitats although the one group did want to take their kids to see a habitat and go to the animal rescue place. When I suggested they make bird feeders you would have thought I had come up with an award winning idea.

I would love to meet up with these same leaders a year from now and find out how their first year went.

Summer Reading

If you've known me for anytime at all, you know that I ALWAYS have book in my hand. Last summer after taking a Children's lit class in may that basically required me to read a novel every day or two, I decided to spend June rereading the Harry Potter series. As I started this task, I also started a new job at a summer academy and my coworkers could not believe how quickly I sped through the books and onto another series.

I recently found out that my student teaching placement would be with a second grade class. I want to be able to personally recommend books to my students. So this summer I have decided to read more books around a second grade reading level. Do you have any suggestions. For those of you who are not teachers these books will vary from picture books to beginning and more complicated chapter books. What were your favorite books as a child?

I started this summer with the Little House books. I've read the first three and while I enjoyed reading them I have to question their content before giving them to my students to read. In my children's lit class we were told these books are racist because of the way they speak and treat the Indians. I don't feel the books are as racist as they are realistic for that time period. As with any book, there will be issues to discuss with children when reading them. I am also concerned about the descriptions of butchering animals. I will recommend this book to my students only after I have had a chance to get to know them and judge their abilities to handle the content.

Next on my list... I'm not sure, maybe a Junie B Jones.

Here is a video I found over at http://k1teacher.blogspot.com/ It's a wonderful video done by the students at ocoee middle school.

Reality TV, Vampires, and Reality

Reality TV
I told you the other day that I started watching the Bachelorette. Well apparently I caught the reality TV bug because that is all I have been watching. Other than the Bachelorette and America's Got Talent(I have always loved this show), This week I watched the premieres of True Beauty and Losing it with Jillian. I like true beauty but it's not going to be a show that I HAVE to watch. I absolutely LOVED Losing it. If any of you missed it NBC is showing it again tonight at 8 followed by a new episode of America's Got Talent. Looks like my summer will be filled with Reality tv, but that's not all...

Vampires
I saw a preview today that made me really happy. The CW is going to show reruns of MOONLIGHT after encore episodes of the first season on The Vampire Diaries on Thursday nights! I loved the series Moonlight and I was really upset when it was canceled. I have also recently gotten interested in the Vampire Diaries but always felt a little lost since I had not seen the first episodes. Looks like Thursday's this summer will give me a way to catch up on what's going on in the Vampire world.

Reality
So back to the real world...I am currently waiting on emails. I hate waiting on emails. Last week I emailed my coaching teacher for next semester to introduce myself. I haven't received a reply and it has me a nervous wreck. I know that she must be busy with end of the year stuff and I didn't expect a long reply but Student teaching already has me nervous and this isn't helping. The second email I am waiting on is from the Girl scout office. As you know I am making the jump from Assistant Leader to Leader this year and there is lots of paper work that goes along with this. Last year I felt out of the loop the entire year and because of lack of communication I didn't finish all of the training that I was supposed to do. This year I want to get everything finished before the Scout/School year actually starts. Another new leader has been calling the scout office for two weeks and hasn't gotten a call back. Today I sent out an email to the person who I think may be in charge of leaders. I hope I hear back from her soon. Until then, I'll be waiting...

The Bachelorette

Last night with nothing good on TV I found myself watching the Bachelorette. I've never been too into this show in the past and wasn't planning on really watching it, but I found myself glued to the screen. So tonight I am watching the next episode.

I don't have a favorite guy I'm just interested to see how this plays out.

What do you think? Are you a Bachelor/Bachelorette fan? Have you always been?

Planning ahead

After our recent Girl Scout award day, where the girls received the patches they had earned throughout the year, a parent(and future Brownie leader!) came to me with the concern that her daughter wanted to put her Daisy patches on her Brownie uniform. She refused to listen when her mom explained her new sash would hold badges she would earn the next year. I told her that when I was in girl scouts we made small bags to put our fun patches on.

I knew that project would be too difficult for my Daisys (they are 5 and 6) but I wanted to do something similar with them so their badges could move up with them, after all these patches should be something they are proud of.

Today I found bags similar to these in the dollar section at Target

I bought some in Daisy blue and I'm going to give them to my girls at the beginning of the next Girl Scout year. I am hoping to have their names embroidered on them! This way the girls will have an "official" bag to carry their scout stuff in or to bring on trips. They will also have a place to put their patches as they earn them.

So, what do you think?

Other things I'm planning for the Daisy's next year:

Our new journey book is about traveling and learning about new places. As the girls learn about other parts of the U.S. I want them to learn more about SC and the Columbia area as well. Be on the look out for places we can visit and free events that can be education for my girls. I would love to hear your suggestions.

I'm Back People

So after a very busy 9 months I'm back. I have absolutely LOVED my time as the president of FEA and I can't believe I will only host one more meeting. I've finished my junior year of college and will be graduating in less than 7 months. I'm currently unemployed, I'm done with classes (for a little while), and girl scouts is over...This leaves me with a lot of free time. Frankly I don't know what to do with it after such a busy year.

So I'm looking for a seasonal job and praying that the financial aid office is going to get my student loan fixed by Summer II. In june I will be taking two final classes before my student teaching. I will take Family Dynamics, an early childhood class that will be 25 girls packed in a small room. I am really glad that Amanda and Leslie will also be in this class. I think I've been spoiled by my Cohort. The second class I have registered for is The understanding and appreication of Theater. This should be a fairly easy class that requires me to attend plays and other performances. So far only 6 people have registered for this class and I am one of only two girls. This is going to be a different experience.

Ok, I'm going to head to bed. No big plans for tomorrow except possibly going to play bingo. Hopefully it won't be another 9 months before my next post :)