Time is passing...

Brandon is so sweet! Even when we are so far apart, he finds ways to make me smile! He is so patient with me on my emotional days, and gives me all the love, support, and understanding I need. I try to be there for him too, but I never do as well as he does for me. What a great man!

Recently in 6th grade I gave a spelling test. I said "Look at me when you finish spelling this word, when your all looking I will know I can move on!" As if they had planned this, about 6 kids looked right into my eyes, all in weird ways! One boy (the closest to a punk you can get in an accelerated class) was raising his eyebrows up and down at me, a girl widened her eyes as far as they would go and stretched her head toward me, other children did similar things! It was so uncomfortable that I said "Don't look at me creepily, just look forward!" The whole class started laughing and it took some time to get back to the spelling test! Oh how I love these kids!

My biggest trial right now is with a little girl who has had very little structure in her life. Her parents take her in and out of school in whatever country they are currently living to go on trips around the world. Luckily for them, she is intellectually gifted and catches up easily. They are back in the US from their world travels for a while and she is having a difficult time adjusting. She bosses the other kids around and does whatever she wants whenever she wants. The worst part about all of this, is that I can't subtly re-direct her. I try giving a whole class instruction such as "Make sure your pencils are down and your looking this way," even though she is the only one not already doing so, and she doesn't do it! This means I have to either point her out in front of everyone or just let her distract the whole class! I have been making sure to catch her doing good things and casually talking to her during breaks or coming in from recess so she knows I like her (and I really do), but honestly, I don't think it phases her one bit that her name is constantly being said in a that's not what you should be doing right now tone! The school has some social workers who will be taking her out of class for a little bit each week to work on social skills, I hope it helps because the other kids are beginning to treat her differently.

We are starting a unit on Ancient Egypt pretty soon part of which entails mummifying chickens!! I am SO excited! The kids will clean the chickens out completely and use hair dryers to dry them out. After sitting in plastic bags for a week to drain, they will blow dry them once more. Following that they will warp the chickens tightly in muslin, seal them in non-bio-degradable containers, and bury them in the school yard! Come May they will dig up the suckers (as my dad would say) and see if they were preserved! I hope it goes well! Last year tomb robbers, probably kids from the previous years class, stole one of the chickens! Haha Gotta love kids!

A busy week for us both!

Lets start with Brandon. He is still working and getting to know the others in his office a bit better. He was invited to hang out with a group of his coworkers which was really exciting (more so for me than him I think). The phones the companies gives to their employees stopped accepting e-mails so he gets a new one which he is very excited about because he gets to choose which type of smart phone he wants. There was a bomb threat at the San Clemente high school and everyone had to be evacuated. The threat was from a marine stationed at Camp Pendleton but there were no explosives missing from the base nor were there any found at the high school, he turned himself in later that day at the base hospital. The waves at the beach have been SO big that the life guard would not let Brandon go in past his calves and lastly, there was a HUGE power outage. There were 1.5 million people without power. It included parts of Southern California, Arizona, and some of Mexico! It was a crazy week but to be honest, I welcome being so busy because it keeps my mind off of missing my husband!

This has nothing to do with this week but I love the picture! Brandon throwing my cousin in the air, I was terrified she would hit her head on the ceiling but she absolutely loved it!

My week was not so eventful however I did come to a lot of realizations! The biggest one had to do with September 11. I will be honest, until my freshman year of college I had no idea that 9/11 was a big deal. Obviously it was sad but I did not see the difference between it and all the other terrorist attacks that I had heard about. I grew to understand that it was especially significant because it represented a breach of National security that nobody expected. It also killed more people than any other attack has in the history of the US, including Pearl Harbor! In class this week my cooperating teacher gave a lesson on the events of 9/11. These kids were under a year old when this tragedy struck so their knowledge of it was about as good as mine 4 years ago. I loved the lesson because she focused on the way people came together to help those who were injured. It really showed the strength of the US. Sure, we might not agree politically and our nation is not perfect, but isn't the important thing that we care for the individual when it really matters? We watched this video as part of the lesson, one girl admitted to crying and others were very touched including myself (and my glistening eyes).

I was very touched when two boys showed up the next day wearing red bandanas! This is only one example of the many people who risked their own life to make a difference for others. Unfortunately not all families were able to have the comfort and closure of knowing what their loved one was doing in the last two hours of their lives but I know that many of them were acting out of selflessness just like the man in the red bandana.


On a lighter note, 6th graders just don't provide the same amount of laughs as younger kids do! BUT there are a few funny statements I would like to share!
   - "Mrs. Hatch, how do you spell Catholic-ism"
   - "Mrs. Hatch, we have been searching forever and can't find anything about the crucification!

   - "Oh another one of my favorite things is homework! Its like school.... but at HOME!"

The Ups and Downs of Life

A week ago Brandon and I said goodbye for 7 weeks! He will remain in California working and I am in Utah student teaching 6th graders in an accelerated program.

The Saturday before I left, Brandon took me on a surprise date! It was SO much fun and a great day! California was having a heat wave which meant it got all the way up to 85 degrees where we live! Brandon does not like planning our dates because he struggles to think of unique things to do, well apparently he is not as bad at it as he thinks because this one was AWESOME! He first took me to the Dana Point harbor and rented us a double kiyak! We rowed around in the ocean and got to watch some surfers and boaters! There were also a lot of pelicans so I was able to see a bird dive into the water to catch a fish for the first time in real life!

Brandon loves taking underwater pictures!

 After our time ran out we headed back to shore and drove up into the cliffs overlooking the ocean! There was a cool lookout point where we ate our lunches. After lunch we walked some wildlife preserve trails and then headed down to the beach. The water was great, and the sun was warm! Later that night, we went out to eat at, my favorite, Panda Express!!! :)

Brandon has been working a little overtime since I've been gone. He is getting more and more used to his job and getting more projects or as they call them "tickets".

I was scared to teach 6th graders! I was not sure if I could handle the awkwardness that goes along with the age. I was also scared because these 6th graders are participating in an accelerated program. They have to test into the class and kids test from 7 different schools, only the best of the best get in! I was afraid I would not be able to teach them!!

Despite my worries, I am really enjoying things! Their teacher was gone on Friday, so I was flying solo the whole day, which included a field trip. I am happy to say that I returned with all 31 students, 1 confiscated yo-yo, and no incidents! The kids are really cute, and although they are very intelligent I have been able to spell every word I have been asked... so far! I can't wait to be finished so I can be back with Brandon but I think I will really enjoy this opportunity!