Monday, April 30, 2012

Final Exam Schedule

Life has been insane lately, but the end is in near sight!  I finish up exams the beginning of this week.  Here is my exam schedule...prayers appreciated.

Monday:
-10am Doctrine 3 Exam
-6:30pm US History 2 Exam
-Math Final Exam (Project) due

Tuesday:
-8am Biology Exam
-3pm Teaching Music Exam--Lesson Plan Presentation

Wednesday:
-no exams

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Energy Express

Well folks, I got the call today!  I have been offered a position with Energy Express this summer!  It is not at the exact location I would have liked (it will be a 20 minute drive as opposed to a 2 minute drive), so that is a sacrifice I will make in gas expenses, but I have a job.  Not only do I have a job, but I have a job I think I will love.  I get to be a real teacher!  Anyways, I wanted to update you on the job situation.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

a Wednesday afternoon

Aah, I am laying here on my bed in comfy pants, and enjoying having an hour and half or so of quiet.  I am enjoying a snack of grapes, cheese, and crackers.  Yummy.  I am also anxiously awaiting a phone call to hear back on whether or not I was accepted with Energy Express.  It is hard to focus on homework.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Prayers Appreciated

Prayers appreciated as I have a job interview tomorrow evening at 5pm for a position with Energy Express.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Snapshots Through Time- Junior/Senior Banquet

Last night, the ABC Junior Class put on the Junior/Senior banquet in honor of the 2012 Seniors.  We have been planning this for over a year and wanted to make it a special night for our seniors.  Our theme for the evening was "Snapshots through Time" with a vintage decor.  Each of the committees did a fantastic job, pulling off an amazing evening of fun, and time of honoring the seniors.  I was the chair of the niceties committee where we basically planned the evening and made sure the plannings of each of the other committees were all coming together, and that all the committees' plannings were melding together to make a great evening.  With that we were in charge of the scheduling, as well as ticket sales.  Kari went as my date, and we had lots of fun getting ready and going together.

 Kari and I before banquet

 The Junior Class Ensemble doing sound check to sing "The Potter's Hands"

 The time capsule





 The yellow jars on each of the tables had two black and white pictures (each table had different pictures of the seniors throughout their years at ABC), with oil around it.  The decorations committee did excellent!

 I worked on all of the nameplates for people to reserve their seats with and to let the servers know if they had ordered oven friend chicken or chopped steak.

 Kari and I welcoming people to the evening.

 Tom did an excellent job taking pictures.  They had several props and empty frames for people to take pictures with--I can't wait to see how they all turned out.


 Lee Ann Sharp provided music and singing before dinner, Mrs. Hontz played piano for the first half of dinner, and Daniel Kirkland played guitar for the latter half.  The live music was such a wonderful addition to the evening.

As our gift to the seniors, we gave each senior (in attendance) a copy of "Morning by Morning" by Spurgeon.
Hearing the seniors talk afterwards, I believe they felt honored, and that was our number one goal of the evening.  It was a great class, and they will be missed, but I know I am so thankful for the three years I have had with them.  I hope they have rubbed off on me.  I am so excited for the next phase of each of their lives.

After tearing everything down and getting things packed away we came back to campus, unloaded, changed, and headed to the Childs' for a bonfire.  It wasn't too big of a group, but it was just a nice time of relaxing, and I rarely turn down an opportunity to sit by a campfire.  We had to laugh though at the contrast of events for our evening.  We were in our hoodies, jeans, and sneakers, but most of us still had our hair up, pearls on showing the events of earlier that evening.  What a fun time.

I just got back from a surprise bridal shower this afternoon, and am now about to head out to go to the McGrews home for dinner.  The McGrews are on staff here, and originally from Vermont.  They try each year to have the Vermont students over to their home for dinner.  I believe roasted chicken is on the menu--yum!

Anyways, there is an update on the happenings in my life.  I trust you are enjoying your weekend.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

$tar $tore Bulletin Board

I just finished getting my math bulletin board up!  Now I have to teach for the 50 minutes tomorrow.  Prayers appreciated.



Sunday, April 8, 2012

Post for my Fellow Teacher Friends

Lately, I have been having my eyes opened to how much there is online for teachers.  A lot of it you have to pay for, but there is also a lot of it for free.  Some of it is just great ideas to pack away for the near future.  I have not found all of these myself.  Some I have stumbled upon, but most of it has been shown to be by friends of mine.  I wanted to share just a few of my favorite sites, and who knows, maybe you haven't found one of them before and can serve as an aid for you in your teaching career.

Resources:
These next two websites are common ones.  If you register, you can download many of their resources for free. (I have the link to go specifically to the free downloads)



LiveBinders
This has been newly introduced to me this year in college.  I didn't like it at first, but after having to make one together with my technology class, I have much more appreciation for it.  When you search and find one, the other teacher's have done the hard work for you of sifting through all the non-helpful websites.

Pinterest
Thanks to my friend Sarah for showing me this website.  It goes far beyond teaching but is great for teaching as well.  If I remember correctly, you do need to set up an account to "pin" anything on it.  This doesn't have free printables like the first two sites, but this does have a plethora of ideas, with links for how to do it (which is where I find many of the great blogs I keep an eye on now).


Blogs:
She has a bunch of free downloads, but sometimes they aren't overly usable because they go with a certain book.  But she has a bunch of stuff not book related too.


Frogs and Cupcakes
She has several fun resources.  She is a fun, gifted teacher.

This blog contains a lot about her "little monkeys" too, but she is a creative mom along with a talented teacher.  On her blog you will find many free printables.

Cricut Your Classroom
For those of you blessed with a Cricut, check out this woman's blog!  If you don't have a Cricut, there are still some great ideas!

Clutter Free Classroom
I think most people have discovered this blog, but she has some great ideas for organization in a classroom.

Mrs. Jump's Class
She has a lot of just fun ideas.  She sells a lot of her stuff too.

Fonts:
Something to remember about fonts (that I keep remembering the hard way) is that other people don't have the same fonts downloaded.  What does that mean?  Well, if you email a document as Word, when they open it, it will go to a default font, usually messing up a lot of formatting.  Everything you send, if you want your font to show up, you have to save as a PDF.

Kevin and Amanda
This has oodles and oodles of fun creative fonts.  There is an option to download them all at once.

ClipArt:
Phillip Martin
I have found a lot of stuff on his site.  What I like about his, and how I can find so many varieties from him, but they still have the same "flavor".  I can make a project using one type of clip art for the many different things I need to use clip art for.

Dollar Graphics DepotI would not be apposed to spending money on this blog, because I feel her prices are very reasonable for what she is giving.  I have not yet, because I have not yet had a need where I was unable to find something somewhere else.  I love the "flavor" though of her graphics.  Notice she does have a monthly freebie though!

Well, I think this is enough resources for one day.  But I have found each of these helpful in their own time, and I hope you, as fellow teacher friends, are able to find some helpful sites on here as well.

RA Retreat

This time last weekend, I had just gotten back from our RA retreat.  The time of fellowship with friends was wonderful.  I can in no way say the weekend was restful, but it was in every way refreshing.  We stayed at a cabin in the middle of no where, and had a baby bear cub in 'our' driveway.  We went on many hikes, enjoyed hours around the campfire, time spent hearing each other share about the Psalm they had been meditating on, and all around just a good time together as dear friends.  Here are some picture highlights from the weekend!

 The cabin we stayed in is owned by 30+ men, as a hunting cabin.  It had plenty of room for all of us!
 Saturday lunch, we enjoyed steaks grilled over the fire, corn on the cob (some of the better I have tasted, and I have tasted a lot), baked potatoes, and fruit salad!  What a treat this was.

 Hannah has a love for moss.




 When we got to the top, some went on hiking, and some of us stayed at the top, and enjoyed the view.  I then re-entered my childhood days, and began playing.  I was "picking" the moss and stacking it up.  Rachel decided to see how tall she could stack rocks, so we had a "race" to see who could stack their's higher quicker...moss, or rocks.  Hannah then came over and joined us, and began to build a log cabin.  Here is mainly her creation, but I did contribute the moss mountain.



 We tried so many new things over the fire: jellybeans, oreos, Reese's cup in a marshmallow, etc.



 For Saturday night dinner, we fixed our dinner as we got hungry.  We had hamburger inside set out on the counter, along with potatoes, carrots, onions, and other vegetables.  With this, we made tin foil dinners.  You put what you want on your tinfoil and add whatever seasonings you may want, and wrap it up tight.  Then you stick it directly on the hot coals.

 Tom tried to be creative and make a taco, but the tortilla cooked too quickly.  He said the inside of it was really good though.  He tried a second one, and the tortilla was much less cooked. 
We then decided to try a tin foil dessert--apples, caramel, cinnamon, and marshmallow.  It was delicious.

 The five of us women RAs (Bekah, Hannah, Rachel, Bekah, and myself).  We took a bunch of group pictures with every possible variety, but I don't have those pics.

 The cabin we stayed in.


When we first pulled in the driveway we were like "Wow-we are in the middle of no where, will the school van make it through here?"  Next thing we know, the man showing us to the cabin stops and is pointing to something, we look to the direction he is pointing and there is a bear cub.  We go a little further and notice we get to drive through a small stream to get there.  Immediately we knew it was going to be a great weekend!
Sure enough, it was a wonderful weekend.  The thirteen of us had a lot of fun together, and a nice time of being off campus.