For Amber

Hi! How's everyone doing?

Thanks to Amber, for staging a blog intervention and getting me back. I've missed everyone so!

All right. So I've got 6 weeks to catch you up on...let's begin!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In Which I Meet a Fellow Blogger and See My Favorite Comedian in Person

This weekend, I met up with Haley from Love, Life, Family, and Then Some. We had a wonderful time! Her family is at Disneyworld this week for a vacation. My parents live 45 minutes away from Disney, so we took this weekend to do 3 things: Visit my family, see a Craig Ferguson show, and meet Haley!! Haley and I did some shopping and then we had lunch. Lance and Baby J got along well, as did Haley and I! It's so much fun to meet people that I've formed cyber-friendships with! It was like we were two old friends reuniting, rather than what we actually were: two people who had never met seeing each other for the first time. Haley, I'm so glad you guys came out here and that we had a chance to meet! I only wish we would have had longer!

The evening after I met Haley, Hubby and I went to see Craig Ferguson!!! He has a late-night talk show and he's the funniest man in the WORLD. So when we found out that he was going to be in my parent's hometown the SAME weekend that we were going to be there to meet up with Haley, it just worked out perfectly! The show was great, and he's just as funny in person as he is on TV.

* * * * * * * * * * *
In Which My Son Invites Himself Into The Neighbor's House

A few weeks ago, we were outside in our backyard when our neighbors came outside. We're friends with them, so we both went into our front yards so we could chat. Mrs. Neighbor is an avid gardener and had made cuttings of some of her plants for me so I could start a garden, so then we went into THEIR backyard. Kiddo saw their back door, went up to it, and knocked! Mr. Neighbor said we could go in. I was a little embarassed, but we went in anyway and ended up having a nice time hanging out with our neighbors!

* * * * * * * * * * *
In Which I Become Aware That Times Have Changed

I am doing my internship in 1st grade. Last week I was teaching a writing lesson. I was showing them how to make a "word web" to map out ideas for what they want to write about. So to begin the lesson, in order for me to "assess their prior knowledge," I asked them, "Who can raise their hand and tell me what a 'word web' is?" The responses I got were the following:

"It's when you go on the internet and google something you don't know."

"It's when you get on the computer to look for stuff."

It was pretty funny.

* * * * * * * * * * * *
In Which I Have a Hard Time Keeping a Straight Face

The week before my writing lesson, I was reading some sentences that the students had written about their favorite outdoor activity.

Let me back up a little. Many 1st graders are still learning how to write their letters. They often mix up their "b" with their "d." Additionally, that week in their phonics lesson they had learned that "ck" makes the "k" sound.

One little girl was attempting the write the following sentence:

"My favorite outdoor activity is riding a bike."

This is what she ACTUALLY wrote: (please forgive my creative punctuation; I am trying to avoid getting some strange searches.)

"My favorite outdoor activity is riding a "d"i(c)K"

Lots of fun, I tell you.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In Which I Hope To Return to Blogging

Last week, my university supervisor came to observe me teach a lesson. She was impressed with me. So impressed with me, in fact, that she said I no longer have to write the super-crazy-long-format lesson plans which previously took me 2-3 hours per night to write. Now I can write them this way:

Math, lesson 8.3, addition facts to 10, student pages 105-106.

Previously, it would have taken me 2 pages and 45 minutes to write that.

So hopefully, I will have a little more time to devote to blogging.

I forgot how much fun this is!!