There have been many successes this week, and I feel the need to share them. Please be warned that you may read them and roll your eyes or wonder what I am so excited about, but really it is all about the little things in life.
Success #1:
I had my mid-year observation from the assistant principal. I was a little nervous because he wanted to come see my fourth grade groups, and those groups tend to be on the noisier, distracted (and distract-able) side, and we are in a small room generously lent to me by a colleague. Sometimes we leave messes or move things around a bit, but she has been very gracious about letting us learn in there when she is gone. The successful part of the story is that the lesson on cuttle fish went really well! The kids were noisy and excitable as usual, but they were ON TOPIC and respectful towards each other! Score Ms. McDougalhopper!
Success #2:
My second tennis lesson went well, although I did not feel nearly as awesome at tennis as the first week. We started actually doing some game play. Unlike in drills, when we are playing for points, the teacher is not hitting the ball directly at us at a nice speed. Suddenly we are running around, hitting it into the net, bouncing it off the ceiling, trying to get out of the way and still make contact, etc. But still, I had fun with other Ivy and Julie (previously referred to as "Pink Sweatshirt"). Then, after class, they invited me to meet them at Whistle Binkie's next week before tennis! ROCK ON! I am making friends who aren't teachers!
Success #3:
I wore my cephalopod shirt to work. What, now?
Success #4:
I went out on a Wednesday night with Ashley (my colleague I share a room with....the big room). We went to Baker Square for Pie Rush Wednesday. While we were a little disappointed with this particular Baker Square location for a variety of reasons, and the pie I ended up having was not as delicious as I had hoped, I got to chat with my friend and eat out with someone after 6pm on a weeknight. And I had left overs for lunch today! SUCCESS!
Success #5:
I totally steamed beef tamales for dinner tonight. Purchased frozen from a Mexican grocery store up in the Twin Cities, I had one with rice (and a piece of na'an - I mix all my cultures together. Like Canada, I am the melting pot) for dinner tonight, and the other is or lunch tomorrow! It was kind of fun to peel off the corn husk.
Success #6:
Tonight at dance class, I danced with someone my own age! Also, the man that kind of groped me was not there, so there was no super-uncomfortable-ness. Also-also, the people in my dance class are warming up to me and we can chat and even joke around a little bit. This whole swing dance class is turning out to be really fun!
And the biggest success of the week is yet to come! Oh, Boy! Do I have an amazing evening planned with Ashley and Dani tomorrow! We have many things going on, but the main event is Rick Springfield. That's right! RICK SPRINGFIELD! The tickets are in my purse! SUCCESS!
Interested in the cuttlefish? They are pretty amazing animals! Watch this short "How Stuff Works" clip (towards the bottom of the page) on (cuttlefish, and tell me they are not completely awesome!
My students asked me if I could get one for a pet and bring it in so we could play with it. It picks up the subtleties in the rocks so well, I wonder if it would do stripes or plaid? Leave a comment about how awesome the cuttlefish is!
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Showing posts with label dance classes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance classes. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Last 24 Hours
I have done a lot in the last 24 hours, although it may not seem like it.
*Picked up and wore my new glasses. Only my first graders noticed that I have new glasses, despite the different color and the drastically different style. Not even any of the adults noticed. Or maybe they noticed and they hate them so much, they'd rather not mention them at all....
*Got a new beta fish. He is silver and purple and blue. I also bought him a bright orange plastic plant for his bowl. After spending the night in his cup so that the water in his bowl could come to room temperature, Rosario the fish is now happily swimming around in the front hall.
*Went to Evie's 2nd birthday party. My colleague and friend has the most adorable little girl. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation for her birthday dinner! We had delicious ham soup in bread bowls and lemon cake! Mmm!
*Went to a dance class. In an attempt to be more social and be with people who are not employees of the Rochester Public School District, I am enrolled in more community education classes. I thought swing dancing might even help me meet people in their twenties. While that did not turn out to be true, these people are much more friendly than the folks in the last dance class I took. And they don't mind switching up partners so that I can dance. Also, there are two other single women and one single (I think) guy in the class, so there aren't as many possessive behaviors over partners. There is a pretty awesome guy named Dana who was funny.
*Got kind of felt up. So I haven't been groped or felt up by an adult male in about nine months or so (my first graders have no sense of boundaries. That is a different story, though.) This man was my dance partner for an unreasonably long amount of time, but the instructors kept not calling for partner rotations. He took it upon himself to try to teach me how to get away from a dance partner who was getting too handsy. The beauty of this trick was that he almost had to be too handsy to "teach" me these moves.
*Ate a can of frosting. Oops.
* Went to bed early last night.
*Slept in until 7am this morning. Oops.
*Made ricotta stuffed chicken, which turned out pretty darn delicious, even if it made my kitchen kind of smell like burnt oil. There was nowhere else for me to put the hot pan, and the burners take a long time to cool down, so the oil got a little over cooked.
*Wrote this (pretty lame) blog post.
REMINDER: Vote on the poll! Tell me who your favorite Chess Records artist is! Confused? Need more info? Click here.
*Picked up and wore my new glasses. Only my first graders noticed that I have new glasses, despite the different color and the drastically different style. Not even any of the adults noticed. Or maybe they noticed and they hate them so much, they'd rather not mention them at all....
*Got a new beta fish. He is silver and purple and blue. I also bought him a bright orange plastic plant for his bowl. After spending the night in his cup so that the water in his bowl could come to room temperature, Rosario the fish is now happily swimming around in the front hall.
*Went to Evie's 2nd birthday party. My colleague and friend has the most adorable little girl. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation for her birthday dinner! We had delicious ham soup in bread bowls and lemon cake! Mmm!
*Went to a dance class. In an attempt to be more social and be with people who are not employees of the Rochester Public School District, I am enrolled in more community education classes. I thought swing dancing might even help me meet people in their twenties. While that did not turn out to be true, these people are much more friendly than the folks in the last dance class I took. And they don't mind switching up partners so that I can dance. Also, there are two other single women and one single (I think) guy in the class, so there aren't as many possessive behaviors over partners. There is a pretty awesome guy named Dana who was funny.
*Got kind of felt up. So I haven't been groped or felt up by an adult male in about nine months or so (my first graders have no sense of boundaries. That is a different story, though.) This man was my dance partner for an unreasonably long amount of time, but the instructors kept not calling for partner rotations. He took it upon himself to try to teach me how to get away from a dance partner who was getting too handsy. The beauty of this trick was that he almost had to be too handsy to "teach" me these moves.
*Ate a can of frosting. Oops.
* Went to bed early last night.
*Slept in until 7am this morning. Oops.
*Made ricotta stuffed chicken, which turned out pretty darn delicious, even if it made my kitchen kind of smell like burnt oil. There was nowhere else for me to put the hot pan, and the burners take a long time to cool down, so the oil got a little over cooked.
*Wrote this (pretty lame) blog post.
REMINDER: Vote on the poll! Tell me who your favorite Chess Records artist is! Confused? Need more info? Click here.
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