Happy Birthday Laurie!

Happy Birthday to my sister! Hours of watching Goofy Movie over and over again never get old!
Love you!

Young Learners Showcase

So most people post pictures of their cute little kids on their blogs. That's normal. Since I have none, and I am not allowed to post my students pictures on anything, I have to post pictures of my classroom. So if ya'll are looking for something with a diaper, you'll just have to move along. Sorry to disappoint.

Pictures of my classroom before the time consuming extravaganza:

You have no idea how long those butterfly mobiles took! Ahhhhhhhh. Can we say 16 knots per child? Twitch, twitch.

We did a unit on insects, in which we grew and took care of our own. It's amazing how you can get over the grossest things when you really are the only adult in the room.

The whole set up: Mealworms, crickets, waxworms, milkweed bugs, and butterflies.

Cricket habitat: Ironically enough, they are much quieter than our bred in the wild hallway crickets.

Did you know that mealworms actually turn into darkling beetles? Well now you do! Anyone in the mood for some bran now?

Here some of the outside bulletin boards:

And we're probably nuts in other ways too, but you know....

Inside each one of these homemade backpacks is a little gem of a memory straight from a 2nd graders heart. "My favorite 2nd grade memory is when my mealworm peed on me." Hmmmmm.

Dinosaurs!

And the teacher herself, ready to go...

I just realized today that I actually own (well rent) my own apartment. I think for last three years in the subconsciousness of my mind I thought it was David's apartment and I was just living there. Or maybe it belonged to the school...and they were just letting us stay, you know, out of the goodness of their hearts...for an exorbitant amount of money...that magically appears....but is incurring copious amounts of debt as I finish typing this sentence. Ahhh! Another $3.00 gone!

Anyway, enough of that. But really, I really did just realize that this my place. My home. It, you know, kind of belongs to me. Weird.
It was a fun epiphany though. It made me feel very independent and responsible and stuff. The kind of responsible that makes you want to paint your red brick blue. Don't worry, I thought better of that one.

I stayed until 7:00 pm at school tonight. Binding. Books.
Ugh. We have this thing called "Young Learners Showcase" coming up. All the parents and children flood the school one evening to see all the delightful things that they've accomplished this year. i.e. Julie needs to put together some cute and crafty projects quick.

So, I've been binding books of my student's writing. They did turn out nicely, if I say so myself. But explain that one to my growling stomach. It was not so happy about that decision to stay late. Eh.

Back onto being an independent semi-owner of an apartment. I put these up last week on the walls. I really like them. I need about fifty more to put up all over the place, and then I'll be set.

This little bird is my favorite.

Fiddler on the Roof?

If I had a roofing company, I would totally name it this. Awesome.

My New Favorite Musician

Ingrid Michaelson

She's a little indie, a little folksie, and she makes me feel like I'm O.K. Imagine that.

I just submitted my application for grad. school. I'm admitting it now. But if you never hear another word about it, it means I wasn't accepted and we should all just move on with our lives and never mention it again....Kay. Glad ya'll understand.

I'm nervous about it though. I just hope I'm doing the right thing. I've always wanted to go to graduate school, but it has yet to feel like the right thing. I just want to try. Is that wrong?

I bought cupcakes for my class today. Big mistake. But the smiles on their faces were worth the following hours of hyperactivity. 21 more days. I can almost count down on my fingers and toes!