yay! a new camera

I finally got a digital camera! Well, it's not here yet, but will be soon!!! Here's a picture:


In birding news . . . we saw a ruddy duck today. That's pretty cool. It's one I haven't seen here before.

pictures of my classroom

Here is me filling out my Excel spreadsheet on pre- and post-test data.

Here's the front of the classroom. Now you can see why I have almost twisted my ankle every day I've been at school. There is stuff all over the place to trip over.

Believe it or not, we actually put something else on the ceiling this morning -- a toucan kite with a 75" wingspan! Tomorrow we're putting up a dragon kite that's the same size! I told you it looks like a toystore or carnival exploded in there!

These are some of my lovely students from second period.

hmm.

To keep up with everyone else posting these things:

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!" You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up. If only your routine didn't always bomb! You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have low agreeableness. Your self interest comes first, and others come later, if at all. In general, you feel that people are not to be trusted. And you're skeptical that anyone else really feels differently. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

a Monday adventure . . . that lead nowhere =(

We started at Cancun with some cheesy, beany goodness. Mmm.

Then moved on to shopping for suitcases for Jaclyn's mom. (Thus, the reason for having a digital camera on our excursion.) We were supposed to photograph each suitcase for her inspection.

That's right, this is me photographing us while driving. Our adventure finally came to an end after we dropped Jaclyn's car off AGAIN at the car place.

parent conferences

Well, we had one parent not show up today for conferences, so we didn't get to start meeting with parents until 3:45. The parents were all so different from each other, from some who came with an arsenal of excuses, to others who I thought would start the physical beating right in front of us. I guess one big difference is that only one time was the kid actually present. I think being there with 6-8 teachers and your parents all in one room kind of puts the fear of God in kids.

We'll see what tomorrow is like at school. Valentine's Day will be crazy. The cheerleaders sold 4,000+ carnations that will all be delivered during homeroom tomorrow. I'm not sure what we're going to do with that many flowers. Let's hope that they're mostly going to 7th and 8th graders . . .

I'm going to go finish watching The Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition). I started it Saturday night, watched some earlier tonight, and will finally finish both DVDs. (This isn't the first time I've watched them.) Hopefully tonight I will sleep all the way through the night and not wake up at 3:00 thinking it's time to go to school. That's when I actually got up and got a shower today! I'm losing my mind . . .

bird brains

I am lucky to have survived our trip to the Brainerd Levee this morning. It was very cold standing up on the levee with the wind blowing in our faces. We got to enjoy the flurries the whole time too. Here are some of the birds I've seen today

• pied-billed grebes
• green-winged teal
  
• wilson's snipe - x3!
• red-shouldered hawk
• eastern phoebes
• northern shovelers
  
• mallards
• gadwall
  
• ring-billed gulls
• kildeer
• great blue herons
• red-winged blackbird
• eastern meadowlark
• hairy woodpecker
• wood thrush
• european starlings (yuck!)
• american crows
• song sparrows
• turkey vulture
• northern cardinals
• american robin
  

and behind Southern Village

• song sparrow
• northern cardinals
• carolina wrens
• white-throated sparrows
• yellow-rumped warbler
• carolina chickadees
• tufted titmice
• house finch

naps are wonderful

Here I am, wide awake at almost 10p. After having a terrible headache all day, I crashed this afternoon at about 4:15 and slept until after 7:00. Needless to say, I didn't make it to vespers this evening . . . I feel great now. I made oatmeal cookies (and somehow got within 1 cookie of the supposed amount of 4 1/2 dozen), cleaned the bathroom, dusted the chandelier & TV, and did lots of dishes. And the most amazing part of this Friday (besides Lindsey updating her blog) . . . I DIDN'T GO TO WALMART. (I threw that in for Jaclyn, who thinks I have some kind of addiction.)

Today was an ok day at school. The kids were bouncing off the walls because their Sweetheart Dance for Valentine's was tonight. Me giving them candy in class (it was educational, ok, to demonstrate chemical energy) probably didn't help the situation any. I told them to go use their chemical energy to bother other teachers. ;) I had a demo set up for the beginning of class to introduce chemical energy by mixing baking soda and vinegar to show how carbon dioxide is released and will blow up a balloon. Well, I probably should have gotten new balloons, because three of them busted and got the nasty mixture all over me. I was wearing goggles after the first time this happened, to model lab safety. :) We also made batteries out of potatoes to power digital clocks.

Jaclyn, Stephanie, and I headed over to the Heilmans' last night for Ryan's belated party. I think I had the most fun racing scooters around the basement with Stephanie. We did have one mishap going into the first turn, though. I ran over her foot, which caused her to wipe out, then I fell on the ground too. The good thing is that it was recorded on video, thanks to Jaclyn. After that, John Locke and I delivered a crushing defeat in foosball to Jaclyn & Ryan. I'd put some game stats up, but no one really cares.

Um, last thing . . . If you haven't seen Heather's pictures of their new baby, Sydney, you need to head on over to her blog at heatherthemouse.blogspot.com. She's so cute!

Well, tomorrow promises to be wet, cold, and nasty in general. Just when I don't have to be locked in a building all day, the weather plots against me.

This is a picture of the sandhill cranes wintering at the Hiawassee River Wildlife Refuge just north of here. We went there on birding trips last year and this year. We also saw 7 bald eagles this year when we went.

my day

1. Even though my car was frozen shut and I almost fell down on the ice in the parking lot, we did not get a snow day. (Every county around Hamilton did, however.)

2. I dealt with 5 incidents of cheating on quizzes.

3. A student threw his folded up quiz at my head when I asked for his grade. (That's considered assault in public school -- he's in big trouble.)

4. My voice was even more gone today than it was yesterday. I feel better though!

Now I get to spend the rest of the afternoon coming up with a fun way to teach convection, conduction, and radiation while being observed tomorrow. What fun :(

Groundhog Day Eve?

Today was a nice day because for class I let the kids play with magnets (at my cooperating teacher's request). The kids came up front and presented something they made or could do with magnets that they figured out during the "play" time. I think something a little more structured would have helped them learn more, but whatever. Chaos + pandemonium + destruction = 6th grade science, apparently.

Tomorrow, we're doing the taxonomy of the groundhog in honor of Groundhog Day. Let's hope for 6 weeks of actual winter, including snow please. Actually, I don't care what the temperature is as long as we don't have so much rain. Nasty squishy ground . . .

Now that I have sat down at the computer, I feel very sleepy. I have gotten into the bad habit of taking naps late in the evening (like after 5:00p), which are not conducive to a good night's sleep. Last night, I woke up at midnight thinking it was time to get ready for school . . . Hmm.