connections

i am procrastinating, again.

tomorrow is test #2... on chapter one of the textbook, and on some random stuff we've covered in class. I have to make up the test myself, and i didn't sleep last night because i had lots of coffee at Earl's in Gallup, where they happen to have amazing chili (in the southern sense, meaning chili sauce, lol) to go with the amazing enchiladas, and a really neat atmosphere: there are tons of vendors that come up to your table with their jewelry, (one guy had some flutes) and it's all gorgeous and really decently priced (Christine and Gay bought some, but i didn't... maybe next time).
But it was good coffee, and I had a good time away from Sanders with some crazyfun ladies.
who decided - while browsing through a thrift store's party supplies - that they are throwing me a birthday party. ha. ha. and inviting a select few from school.


re: connections.
i am sensing more and more that there are a few connections happening between my students and i, and this is making it harder for me to think about "next year." and whatever that may bring.
For example, one of my kids calls me "Son." I'm not sure how respectful his motives are, but he calls me "son."
There are a few of them that call me "mom." Maybe because I started calling them "children," or maybe just because they had lunch (this is my 6th hour class) and are more "alert," haha. But anyways, while i was helping some children with homeworkses, I kept hearing "mom, mom..."
so when I looked up, yes, it was one of my children. "Mom, can i use the bathroom?" So I said yes, i don't want to have to clean up; he took the green plastic dinosaur (my new hall pass - the inflatable flamingo wouldn't stay inflated) and came back shortly.
Then this morning, one of the girls came in a little early and asked me what i thought of her hair. She had dyed it to a gorgeous wheaty color (from the original blue then pink) and it kinda shocked me that (1) it was a normalish color and (2) she asked me what i thought of it. (she usually ignores me, well, kinda).
And more and more the children are saying hello to me in the hallways.

So when it comes to next year, I'm not sure whether i am supposed to stay on here, where these kids really just need some love and attention, or if i am supposed to move on to another place.
Especially since I don't have a real teaching certificate.
I do know, however, that somewhere out there are kids who need love. Wherever that is is up to my Abba, though.
Marty Stamos... how one of my kids signed a poster in the hallway,... that cracks me up.

ABC ... 123... llamas...

Sew today: I started about 7 more pillowcase dresses. they are really easy... the "hardest" part is the tie. they are sooo cute, too.
i just need to push spring-type clothing on people now...

also.

i got some of those ABC magnets - 4 packs, actually -for my students. only,... there are only 4 of each letter... so. i have dry erase markers for those super-long words.

go grrrreen.

(on the whiteboard in the Edge room (the people i hang with at church in Gallup) someone drew a llama and labelled it "Obama the llama."
haha.)

i, for one, did not vote for a llama....

right now i am going to go.. shower? :)

Fun (?) little update-ical blurbs

I am watching The Shining. Can't say I've watched it before, but I needed something to watch/listen to while cleaning up in preparation for "housing inspections."

Once again I have been disappointed by my students. I assigned them the daunting task of writing a childrens' story last Monday, to be due on Friday. They had literally all week to work on it, and I even extended the due date to today (Monday).

Today, though, we "started" Paso a Paso (our spanish TEXTBOOKS - there are THIRTY of them!!! Hallelujah!!). They had a bit of a hard time with the dialogues, because it was, i suppose, our first time. (Because I've been working more on vocabulary, but MEH).

We also talked about the things I am going to start saying / making them say. Such as, they know how to ask to use the restroom,.. but now i am not letting anyone leave if they can't say it in Spanish (example: library, nurse, office, Ms. Saffell, (haha).)

And then in 7th hour some girl came in and told me to go get a flu shot. I think it was free... the nurse who "gave" it to me was like On the count of 3 - 1, 2, 3... and I was like (in my head) - was i supposed to feel something? I didn't... but now I do. it is sore.

I am supposed to "keep moving my arm" (whatever that means??) So I finished another pillowcase dress. That makes two dresses (toddler sized, if anyone's interested: one's pale yellow, and one's whitepink. both have flowers. and are great for layering or wearing alone (in warmer weather).

there is a cat outside eating my leftover chicken from a few weeks ago that i though was in the fridge. (sorry for the grammarian mess). There were two of them eating from my garbage bag of chicken guts, so i was like, hey! cats must be hungry. easier than finding someplace for chicken guts - kitties! :) one of them ran off, and the other one (that is out there now) just chilled in the street.

So i burned my cardboard (i am gradually "adding" it to the pathetic excuse of soil we have, along with my coffee grouns) and then he came back,
or she.

I have the counter halfway cleared. WOOT!

Jack nicholson is ridiculous. and he's always angryous.

Mmm, old chips. that aren't too stale!

i miss you like crazy. all of you. write to me! i will write you back! on... my prep period! yeah! woot! Kristan, i need your real email address...

too cool for drool.

no one reads this... at least on blogger. but if you do, leave me a comment.

i have a new friend. :) her name is Betsy. she likes doing crafty things that you can see the results right away, has a really neat house and a fun hubby, and invited me over for Thanksgiving. :) And she has a brother named Jeff who has a truck and knows a lot of neat places to hike - and pretty much grew up down here yonder. they have a sister, too. and a mum and pop. hahaha. . .
you can't tell that i've been helping my Spanish kids write children's books since Friday.

or that this morning was like Christmas for me - I got the textbooks I'd ordered!!! :) God is SO good, especially since this week is chaos with AIMS/PSAT testing and we wouldn't get much done in them, so I have all WEEK to plan. and :) yeah. There is a "Bonfire" on Sunday. which is great - and yet reminds me of the MSU /UM bonfires. did they have one this year? (or, was it even UM?)

and now for something completely different.
i'm going to bed.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

this is an ama zingly cute dress :)

Plea for help. well, kinda. more of a plea to buy stuff...

I am attempting to get some kids to go to Costa Rica this coming June - but there's no way they can afford this on their own... so i've been trying to find some good fundraisers... A few of you gave me ideas, and a few others just gave me... some fun things to do. or something.
Example:
bake sale, hug sale, sell toilets, car wash
sell chocolate bars (*we live in the desert. kinda)
change your name for a day, wear pajamas in school...

However, here are some real things you could do to help:

Buy magazines at up to 85% off!! (amazing, I know!)

Buy (online) at your favorite stores (BestBuy, Target, WalMart, etc...) through this site, which will give us a comission (only when you go to those stores' websites through our "mall." Click here!!
( http://visitourmall.com/costaricatrip/ )


And if you do something as simple as your "online shopping" through these links, you'll be sending some kids to Costa Rica - most of these kids haven't even been out of the southwest!


just a thought. and a petition, of sorts. :)
thanks for reading! :)
~Amanda

It's Friday and time for Surf's Up!

My lesson plans for yesterday and today? Watching the movie "Surf's Up." In English. I think these kids need a break, that way they'll be ready for the REAL STUFF come the beginning of next quarter.
Anyway, the movie Surf's Up - Quite reminiscent of the movie "Cars," for some reason - same adult-humor (by that I mean not in rating, but the jokes they throw in there), same silliness (baby penguins? pit crew? :) ) , slightly awkward "romantic" moments,... weird.

Lani -"Can I tell you something personal?" (haha)
Cody -"Well, we're in the shower together..."

Lani Aliikai: Oh, crap!
[runs out to save drowning penguin]
Cody Maverick: Oh man, I'm in love.
Chicken Joe*: You should go talk to her.
Cody Maverick: No way, man!
Chicken Joe: Dude, she's totally into you! She called you crap!
*played by Jon Heder :)

And there are also borderline ridiculous statements...
Chicken Joe: Cody's around here somewhere, I can feel it in my nuggets!

[Cody has just raspberried at Glen] ***this is one of the funniest scenes. :) It was fun watching my kids watch it. hehe. ...
Glen Maverick: That's really disrespectful.
[Cody blows another raspberry]
Glen Maverick: I would never do that...
Cody Maverick: Mm-hm. You just wouldn't make it out of your mouth.

Chicken Joe: I'm Chicken Joe. Joseph. It's long for Joe.

Cody Maverick: My name's Cody Maverick, Shiverpool. You?
Chicken Joe: No, I'm not from Shiverpool.

If you can't tell, I dig Chicken Joe. My bros do, too. :)



And I am supposed to get paid today... Which is great, because if I actually get my checks - yes, plural. then I can buy groceries, maybe a table and some chairs (so I don't have to sit / lie on the floor to eat) and take my laptop to BestBuy so it can see the doctor... (pray that it still works... it has a fan problem right now.)

So,.. my pans for Fall Break? Which starts this afternoon and ends really early in the morning on the 20th. . .

Go shopping in the "big city" - Albuquerque. Probably experience some reverse culture shock.
Best Buy, Target, Barnes and Noble, World Market, Goodwill. (Goodwill is the only one of those five listed that's relatively close to me right now... sad.)

maybe go to the Grand Canyon. or hiking somewhere....

and it's my prep period now! More later, perhaps!

excerpts from test #1.... which has a high grade of 76 so far... :-/

"Write a dialogue between two people/animals:"

"Hi my name is Walter and I'm from Teaxs my nationality is white. My birthday is on the 10-18-79 of this month. My favorite animals are horse's, dog's, and cats. My activities are riding horses, working on my dog. My dislikes are not to sit around at home." *totally in English. haha.

Señor Cortez - ¿hola?
Señorita munez -' HUH? (¿que?)
Señor Cortez - Do you e speak ¿español?
Señorita munez-Nope. Sorry.
Señor Cortez - Alrighty then, good day to you.
Señorita munez- peace out! !

"Mi nombre es Tom... Soy de America. Soy Americana." (mixing genders - calling himself a woman...eeps! )

"Como esa usted, Señor Marcus? (idk just sed something)
Buenos diaz, Señorita Sally =) haha. random name. "

"FORGOTZ"

"Hola! Yo soy un perro. Me llamo es ginger. Soy de Mexico. Me gusta leer. No me gusta nadar afuera. Mi cumpleaños es vientiseis de julio."

"Hola mi nombre es Boomer. Hola Boomer, mi nombre es Spagnoli.
Hola Spagnoli. ¿De donde eres? Yo soy de America. ¿De donde eres Boomer?
Yo soy de Finlandia, no me gusta Finlandia. ¿Cuando es tu cumpleaños Boomer?
Mi cumpleaños es el cinco de Mayo. ¿Como Ud? Mi cumpleaños es el tres de octubre. La fecha de hoy_ Hoy es el seis de octubre, spagnoli.¨

"Hola! Mi nombre es Señor Pez. Yo soy de America. Yo soy americana. Me gusta nadar afuera." (Señor Pez is what I named the "class" betta fish.)

"Rocksand. brou October 23, 1990. She is 18 teen year old. She is from tubscity. She lik to Ranch. and basketball. her favert colors pink and blue. She Rodeos when she is off school or out of school.
Sister = Dana. Bod 10/28... likes to whack tv, and cats. we..."
*this just confused me.... so i wrote "in spanish, please" on his paper. in spanish.

What time of day would you say the following? -
"Buenas tardes" _______--> "late to class"

plarnsenger bag,

Another fire drill! That makes three!
And it is "spirit day" which means that there is chaos and half of my classes are going to be out working on floats - and we have a test in here on Monday.... meh!

I am going to try to use this time - before the pep rally, at least - to plan for next week. And, since we don't have books yet, to use the Paso a Paso website to make up some vocabulary handouts and worksheets using the aforementioned vocabulary.

So I call the kids in my classes "children" - like when it's time to get started, I'll say "Alright children, get out your packets,..." and funny times - some of them call me "mom" now - "Okay, mom." hahahahahah. this makes me smile. :)

I went to my first lady Pirates volleyball game last night - It was confusing because they played to 25 for each match.... our girls are pretty good - the other team was decent, too - we had several long volleys going there for awhile.

I am mostly done with my plarnsenger bag - my plarn messenger bag... :)
yey.
i am going to make some mittens.
and keep working on my blanket. and the baby sweater that I started....
for a girl baby.
The girls in my 1st hour just happened to have "John Tucker Must Die"with them, and I just happened to bring my DVD player... so they are watching it. Danielle (who brought it) has hot pink hair. :) hehe.

Back to making up stuff to learn next week! :)
and making students turn things in! :)

and maybe going to the football game tnight. if i can find someone to go with - I went to the bonfire last night and no one really talked to me, and I couldn't find any "teachers" to hang out with, so I left.

Ugh.... some people's children.

today i taught a fourth of my 6th hour class. the rest of them chose to talk incesantly while i was reading vocabulary words and explaining things. . . it was terrible. I was having them repeat vocab after me (so they'd know how the words sound) and eventually, they just kept talking after I asked them to stop at least 5 times. So I sat on the side of the room where no one was talking amongst themselves, and finished up with them. The rest of the kids kept talking, and I didn't really care anymore because they chose to so I didn't feel like wasting my time or everyone else's by not continuing with the lesson...
needless to say, they better not be disappointed with at least 5 points off the test. which they are most likely not going to be ready for on Monday....
pssshhh.

i haven't seen the sun in awhile. maybe i'll go outside.
or just do my ballet conditioning video again - i did it last night and it was in-tents. :)