The many wonders of the Stumble! feature on Mozilla...
I laughed about these links:
Abe Lincoln's facebook page
How to write a college paper
Vending machine pizza
Funny Bunny
Good news:
-Joel feels great!
-I slept in this morning.
-1-800-Got -Junk came by and hauled away all the crap that's been on our back porch forever.
-It's sunny and pretty. I'm going grocery shopping at Whole Foods and the Farmer's Market.
-I'm going to see a play by ArtsTogether that a sweet little girl in my class is in. She's been a nervous wreck for 2 days because of it. But I'm so proud that she did this!
-I'm wearing my favorite outfit.
The end!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Update!
Joel's surgery went really well! It only took about an hour and we were out of there by 9:45.
The doctor said he was lucky because the rest of his cartilage looked really good. They basically took cartilage from one part of his knee and "filled in" the gap where he was missing some. He isn't in pain, but he's also on lots of meds. He is passed out in the guest room.
I am about to sleep too. We woke up at 5:15 so I'm exhausted!
The doctor said he was lucky because the rest of his cartilage looked really good. They basically took cartilage from one part of his knee and "filled in" the gap where he was missing some. He isn't in pain, but he's also on lots of meds. He is passed out in the guest room.
I am about to sleep too. We woke up at 5:15 so I'm exhausted!
Surgery Day
Today is Joel's knee surgery day. We arrived at the center around 6:15am (so early...) and Joel was just admitted. He had some pre-op (including donning a hilarious hospital gown) and they just kicked me out back to the lobby to wait. The surgery should be around an hour and half, and the post-op waiting should be around that same amount of time. I've brought plenty of papers to grade, but there's WiFi here, so who knows how much work I'll get done! He is not at all nervous, but I almost burst into tears when the doctor described the procedure! I'm not sure why, because I know it's a really routine surgery. I guess I hate the thought of him being cut open and then not being able to walk for a while. But hopefully he'll be back to normal in 3-6 months! We are really excited to go running again this summer.
When I got my wisdom teeth out, the "sleeping gas" made me burst into tears when I woke up. I was super emotional for a while after. I'm really curious to see how he'll react to all the meds. We've made many jokes about it-I'll update on his reaction in about 3 hours!
Please pray for a smooth and speedy recovery! The doctor said the procedure should be really simple, but there's an itty bitty chance he would have to come back for a 2nd surgery. I just pray that it can be fixed today. I also pray that the finances work out and that he can rest and be ok while I go back to work tomorrow. He's really excited about an excuse to lay on the couch and watch the NCAA tournament all weekend! We might even borrow a friend's minifridge to stick beside the couch so he doesn't have to get up at all.
One thing I do not understand about my husband: His only concern for the doctor was how soon he'd be able to go work out. When the doctor said he could be doing upper body exercise by next week, he was ecstatic. I told the doctor that if someone told me I couldn't work out for 6 weeks, it'd be just fine with me ;)
Thanks for your prayers!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday sweets
I love this idea! I'm posting a sweet thing my husband did for me. This week, Joel dropped me off at Laura's for a sleepover and picked me up in the morning. He took me to brunch at Whole Foods and we got to splurge a little on groceries. When we got home, he had already started laundry. He let me nap for a long time and helped me cook and clean for some friends that were coming over. PLUS, he drove me to Michael's (one of his very least favorite stores) and picked out a beautiful frame for our favorite wedding picture.
I love my husband :)
I love my husband :)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Update on school
I am trying some new strategies (it seems like a new one each week!) to motivate students and manage things better. I realize that I'm really inexperienced and I basically try anything. What works with one doesn't work with the other and what works on Monday bombs on Tuesday, but it does keep things interesting.
My reward system in class is a lottery system. Students who do a good job put their names on pink tickets. At the end of the week, I draw 7 tickets. My rewards are free things: shoes off for a day, draw and display something, read to the class, read in the bathtub (yes, I have a bathtub in my room), computer time in the morning. So my newest reward is to have lunch with me on Friday in the classroom. One encouraging thing is that a lot of kids have been choosing that. I realize that this is probably so they can escape the smelly cafeteria, but I'll take what I can get. I haven't completely bombed on the forming good relationships idea, I hope.
Today was definitely a Friday. I almost lost it. I am glad to be home and to have a husband who tells me 1) it's ok and 2) I'm not allowed to quit. Some days I want to.
There are some trials in my room lately. I have hope each day that it'll be different, but mostly, I know there are patterns of behavior that I can't fix overnight. The Lord is teaching me to start each day with Him, not "debrief" at the end of the day only. I'm starting to really value this time with my vanilla coffee and biblegateway.com.
I desperately do not want to be a negative teacher. I have seen what this can do day in and day out to a person, and I don't want to end up like that. I don't want to spend the next 20 years dwelling on the amount of conflict that has arisen in my classroom. I want to remain positive about my experiences and have joy even in the midst of trials. But how do you forget about those problems? Joel's advice is this: you always go home. At the end of the day, you leave it at work. And at this point, that's fabulous advice. I have had trouble sleeping with the things going on in my room, and I know that I'm not giving it to the Lord enough and I'm bring too much home.
Currently, I'm 2 days behind in my reading, word work, and science schedule. This is mainly due to behavior issues that are getting in the way. This is embarrassing to admit.
Lots of hilarious things happened today. So I'll end on a POSITIVE note :)
1) We were supposed to give out these Time for Kids booklets to our kids. They were to take them home and fill out the addresses of at least 7 friends and relatives so that the company could try get them to buy magazine subscriptions for the class. If they returned it, they got this freaking awesome bouncing putty. The kids were really motivated to sucker their parents into giving out the addresses of every aunt and uncle in the continental United States. As I flipped through Veronica's, I noticed my name. She had written in: Mrs. Orr. thanks for helping our school. And she put the school's address. Although I sometimes feel like I live in school, I had to explain to her that I definitely do not live here.
2) At the end of the day today, our assistant principal came over the intercom and had us spell out the word "FRIDAY"-yelling. One poor girl didn't hear this announcement. So all she heard was my entire class started SCREAMING the letters "F-R-I-D-A-Y.' She looked terrified. When she realized what was going on, she started yelling too, but I really could not stop laughing. I had to give her a (side) hug, I thought it was so cute.
3) I am reading The Hoboken Chicken Emergency with my kids. It's a fantastic book because there's lots of subtle humor in it. I'm reading it with my middle reading group to push them-there's lots of good vocab and they have to really read between the lines to get the joke. Basically, there's this giant girl chicken that is running amok in the town of Hoboken. So they hire this greasy used car salesman type to catch the chicken. He creates this "chickenoid" that is made to look just like him. Trying to explain to 8 year olds the words "irresistible chickenoid to attract Dirty Louise the chicken" might have been the funniest thing I've done in a while. Especially when Aiyahnna, frustrated that Caleb didn't get it, said "it means the chicken is hot!"
Happy weekend everyone!
My reward system in class is a lottery system. Students who do a good job put their names on pink tickets. At the end of the week, I draw 7 tickets. My rewards are free things: shoes off for a day, draw and display something, read to the class, read in the bathtub (yes, I have a bathtub in my room), computer time in the morning. So my newest reward is to have lunch with me on Friday in the classroom. One encouraging thing is that a lot of kids have been choosing that. I realize that this is probably so they can escape the smelly cafeteria, but I'll take what I can get. I haven't completely bombed on the forming good relationships idea, I hope.
Today was definitely a Friday. I almost lost it. I am glad to be home and to have a husband who tells me 1) it's ok and 2) I'm not allowed to quit. Some days I want to.
There are some trials in my room lately. I have hope each day that it'll be different, but mostly, I know there are patterns of behavior that I can't fix overnight. The Lord is teaching me to start each day with Him, not "debrief" at the end of the day only. I'm starting to really value this time with my vanilla coffee and biblegateway.com.
I desperately do not want to be a negative teacher. I have seen what this can do day in and day out to a person, and I don't want to end up like that. I don't want to spend the next 20 years dwelling on the amount of conflict that has arisen in my classroom. I want to remain positive about my experiences and have joy even in the midst of trials. But how do you forget about those problems? Joel's advice is this: you always go home. At the end of the day, you leave it at work. And at this point, that's fabulous advice. I have had trouble sleeping with the things going on in my room, and I know that I'm not giving it to the Lord enough and I'm bring too much home.
Currently, I'm 2 days behind in my reading, word work, and science schedule. This is mainly due to behavior issues that are getting in the way. This is embarrassing to admit.
Lots of hilarious things happened today. So I'll end on a POSITIVE note :)
1) We were supposed to give out these Time for Kids booklets to our kids. They were to take them home and fill out the addresses of at least 7 friends and relatives so that the company could try get them to buy magazine subscriptions for the class. If they returned it, they got this freaking awesome bouncing putty. The kids were really motivated to sucker their parents into giving out the addresses of every aunt and uncle in the continental United States. As I flipped through Veronica's, I noticed my name. She had written in: Mrs. Orr. thanks for helping our school. And she put the school's address. Although I sometimes feel like I live in school, I had to explain to her that I definitely do not live here.
2) At the end of the day today, our assistant principal came over the intercom and had us spell out the word "FRIDAY"-yelling. One poor girl didn't hear this announcement. So all she heard was my entire class started SCREAMING the letters "F-R-I-D-A-Y.' She looked terrified. When she realized what was going on, she started yelling too, but I really could not stop laughing. I had to give her a (side) hug, I thought it was so cute.
3) I am reading The Hoboken Chicken Emergency with my kids. It's a fantastic book because there's lots of subtle humor in it. I'm reading it with my middle reading group to push them-there's lots of good vocab and they have to really read between the lines to get the joke. Basically, there's this giant girl chicken that is running amok in the town of Hoboken. So they hire this greasy used car salesman type to catch the chicken. He creates this "chickenoid" that is made to look just like him. Trying to explain to 8 year olds the words "irresistible chickenoid to attract Dirty Louise the chicken" might have been the funniest thing I've done in a while. Especially when Aiyahnna, frustrated that Caleb didn't get it, said "it means the chicken is hot!"
Happy weekend everyone!
Saturday, March 07, 2009
I had to.
1. YOUR REAL NAME: Dominique Montagne Orr
2. YOUR GANSTER NAME (first three letters of real name plus izzle): Domizzle (but really, it should be Dominizzle
3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color and favorite animal): Green frog
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (your middle name and street you live on) Montagne Cornwall (lame.)
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first two letters of first name): Orrdo
6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (your second favorite color, and favorite drink): Blue Coke zero
7. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names): Janet Francisco
8. YOUR GOTH NAME (black and the name of one of your pets): Black ??? I don't have any pets!
Friday, March 06, 2009
Best week ever!
Well, it may not have been the best, but it was pretty good.
After I had my freak-out on Tuesday, I went it Wednesday and felt really different. I am praising God because I know He is working in me. I know teaching isn't about "feeling like it," and my kids were just as nutso this week as any other week, but I tried to be more patient and forgiving this week.
I also really enjoyed having lunch with some students and didn't mind the fact that I had lunch duty today. I learned more about my students because of the new sheets I started. Remember how I started the "I need help" slip? Well, a couple of students who have been struggling asked for extra help. This was nice because they initiated (I wasn't throwing extra work at them) and they seemed more motivated to do outside work.
The reflection sheet ("I feel...") was created for one student in particular, but he hasn't really enjoyed it. I opened them up to the whole class and I found out TONS of new stuff. One student has a baby sister on the way. One student has lots of family issues. One student wanted a different seat buddy. It's been really great for starting conversations.
The tattle tub is driving me insane because kids are still tattling and then writing it down. I have to reinforce that one a little more.
Anyway, I'm starting to teach about the sun, moon, and stars. It's definitely not my favorite subject but it is a high interest topic for my kids, and I have lots of resources. This should be fun.
Tonight has been a really relaxing evening with the hubs. We went for a walk in this beautiful weather, had dinner at Lilly's, and watching one of my favorite movies, Driving Miss Daisy. It gets me every time.
In closing, I hope this video makes you laugh as much as I did!
After I had my freak-out on Tuesday, I went it Wednesday and felt really different. I am praising God because I know He is working in me. I know teaching isn't about "feeling like it," and my kids were just as nutso this week as any other week, but I tried to be more patient and forgiving this week.
I also really enjoyed having lunch with some students and didn't mind the fact that I had lunch duty today. I learned more about my students because of the new sheets I started. Remember how I started the "I need help" slip? Well, a couple of students who have been struggling asked for extra help. This was nice because they initiated (I wasn't throwing extra work at them) and they seemed more motivated to do outside work.
The reflection sheet ("I feel...") was created for one student in particular, but he hasn't really enjoyed it. I opened them up to the whole class and I found out TONS of new stuff. One student has a baby sister on the way. One student has lots of family issues. One student wanted a different seat buddy. It's been really great for starting conversations.
The tattle tub is driving me insane because kids are still tattling and then writing it down. I have to reinforce that one a little more.
Anyway, I'm starting to teach about the sun, moon, and stars. It's definitely not my favorite subject but it is a high interest topic for my kids, and I have lots of resources. This should be fun.
Tonight has been a really relaxing evening with the hubs. We went for a walk in this beautiful weather, had dinner at Lilly's, and watching one of my favorite movies, Driving Miss Daisy. It gets me every time.
In closing, I hope this video makes you laugh as much as I did!
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