Recent Happenings

October 19th was my last day as a BYU undergrad. I spent it with 33 wonderful children and a mentor teacher who has taught me SO much about teaching. They were SO cute and asked Mrs. Bindrup, not only one of my closest friends in the world but also the 5th grade teacher 2 doors down, what they could get me as a parting gift. She suggested many things, one of which being garden tools for the garden I wanted to plant when I got back to California!

On the 20th, Nikki (Mrs. Bindrup) drove me to the airport but before dropping me off we stopped at the coziest little Italian pizzeria SetteBello. The pizza was different than what I'm used to, being traditional Italian, but it was SO good! They also had Italian gelato which was really good! The place is in down town Salt Lake and if anyone is looking for a fun/unique/romantic date venue, It is a must :) Unfortunately neither of us brought a camera, but here are some older pictures to show you how much Nikki and I love driving together! And yes, if anyone was wondering we got lost once! But we got back on track pretty quickly! We are getting MUCH better with directions :)

Yes, we can be normal too... sometimes!

When I got back to California, Brandon surprised me with York peppermint patties and wheat-thins! What a great husband! We also went to a play that our stake put on; The Music Man, one of my favorites. Then we went to dinner at Grandma Hatch's house and got to reunite with Brandon's parents and brother Rick! Brandon's Aunt Diane lives behind his grandma so we got to see her also! For those of you who grew up with fruit trees in your yard, you were lucky, lucky, people! I had raspberry and rhubarb bushes at one time, my mouth still waters at the memory! Anyway, Brandon's grandma has an orange tree in her back yard (and lemon trees and grapefruit trees) so we went orange picking! BEST THING EVER! Being able to pick a giant juicy orange off a tree and eat it on the spot is the BEST feeling in the world! All you need is a little brother to climb up and get you the best ones :) Then you have your husband pick an entire bag full and eat them for the next week :)

While it was snowing on the east coast, us over here on the west coast were wearing shorts and flip flips while planting gardens on a beautifully sunny day with 80 degree weather :)

All though I have the cutest Halloween decorations on the block, something is missing!

A flower garden!!! :D (these are the gloves and tools my students gave me!

Its not much, but its my garden! Now just wish me luck on keeping it alive!

One last thing... you may have noticed my haircut! Please do not mention it to me and we can still be friends ;) I will acknowledge it in a few months when it has grown to the length I intended it to be cut!

Neanderthals, Mummies, and S'mores... Oh my!!!!

The past little while has been SO much fun!! My students are so cute, sweet, and, of course, smart! For school pictures, we took a class photo where the kids could dress up. One boy wore a pink tutu, another had a Wisconsin cheese triangle on his head! I wish I had a copy (and was allowed) to post up here, it was epic!

After studying Early humans, I assigned a project. The students were allowed to choose from about 6 options, one of which was to create a rap about early humans! We had two students create raps and although both were good, one was EXCEPTIONAL!! OH my goodness, I have never laughed so hard in my life. Luckily, all three of their parents gave permission for me to record them so I was able to put it up here! I just have to say that I find it absolutely HILARIOUS and a little ironic that Aidan introduces himself in the 3rd person and my pe-schooler who always spoke in 3rd person was also named Aidan!!

We have moved past early humans, Mesopotamia, and are now studying ancient Egypt! Everybody knows that you can't study ancient Egypt without mummifying chickens!!! Before starting, the kids had to name their chickens! Some included King Amun "Bawk" & Queen Chikititi, those are the only two I remember off the top of my head. Unfortunately I can't show the awesome expressions on the kids faces due to laws protecting their identities, but here are some pictures of their hands... and the chickens of course!

Step 1: wash your chicken and lay it on newspaper and paper towel! (If you lay your chicken directly on the newspaper, the ink will stick on and you will have newspaper clippings tattooed on your mummy!)

Step 2: Get really grossed out! (this is a boys hand, I was surprised but the boys were much more squeamish about touching the chickens than the girls were!)

Step 3: Dry your chicken as best you can with paper towel, inside and out!

Step 4: Use a blow dryer to get the chicken as dry and you can. This step takes some concentration because if the blow dryer is left too long in one place, you could fry your chicken!

Step 5: Now that your chicken is dry, you must massage herbs into its skin. The cloves, rosemary and other herbs will lesson the smell later on in the process.

Step 6: Pour salt inside the chicken to suck up any moisture.

Step7: Pour salt into a plastic bag and place the chicken inside. Get salt all over the outside of the chicken and use the rest as a bed for your soon to be mummy. (The moisture will sink below the salt leaving the chicken relatively dry.)

This process will be repeated again in a week just to make sure the chicken is completely dried out. After sitting for another week, the kids will tightly wrap their chickens in muslin and place each chicken in a sarcophagus which they bring. Each group needs to choose what they think will make the best sarcophagus for their chicken, it needs to be airtight and non-biodegradable. The class will then dress up as Ancient Egyptians and perform a traditional Egyptian funeral ceremony and bury their chickens in the schoolyard. They will dig their chickens up the last week of the school year to see how well they did at mummifying their chickens!

In science we have been studying heat! What better way to apply what you have learned about heat transfer than to roast marshmallows in your classroom? For science, all the 6th grade classes give 3/4 of their class to another teacher, this means I keep 1/4 of my regular kids but the other 3/4 are kids from other classes! It is very interesting going from teaching all gifted and talented kids to having kids from all types of families. One boy, who has become my little buddy, has ADHD and chews paper constantly, it helps him stay calm! He always says hi to me in the hallway and is great in class. He is one reason teaching is so rewarding! When you are able take a child who comes from a rough background, has a learning disorder, and most teachers dread having in their class and really get him excited about learning, It makes everything you do worth it!

Now that I have mentioned all the fun we have, please be assured that the kids are learning! No kid could possibly include so much information about neanderthals into a rap without learning SOMETHING about them!! I can't believe that this experience is coming to an end in just a few short days, but I am happy to say that the next time I post, I will be in California with my favorite man in the world!! :) :D :)