2012

Wow. I can't believe 2012 is complete.

There were things I crossed off my bucket list and things I added to my bucket list that I never thought I would.

I started 2012 by getting pneumonia. As an asthmatic, I wouldn't suggest it.
I also broke my nose. Don't worry nose bones, I don't plan on ever doing that again.
I finally surrendered to the iPhone craze and ditched my wonderful Blackberry.
I returned to New York City with some of my best friends. My first ever personal, booked my own flight, out of Texas trip.
I had the opportunity to sing in a pre-Civil War opera house. "I'll Fly Away" has never sounded so cool. My Pappy would have been proud.
And, of course, I had the honor and privilege of being my red head sisters maid of honor in her wedding. One of the best experiences of my life, so far!

There are plenty of experiences that will not end in 2012 and carry over into 2013, and I look forward to the journey of a new year. There are sure to be challenges and moments I take for granted, but there's always something exciting about beginning a new year. I have no clue where Christ will take me in 2013, but I know that I will trust in him; for He has overcome the world.

Happy New Year everyone!!

In light of recent events

In light of recent events.

Blunt post warning. As a teacher, I’m tired of this phrase already. Everyone wants to know my opinion of the recent events. What am I supposed to say? I don’t even know where to begin. My gut reaction, my first tweet as I was glued to the tv on Friday sums it up: I may not be a parent, but I have 200 kids that I consider mine.

My facebook post reveals the only thing I take comfort in during these types of devastation. “They are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” I was later reminded of the verse in Away in a Manger that states, “Bless all the dear children in thy tender care, and fit us for Heaven to live with thee there.”

Is my school safe? Absolutely not. Can anyone come in through any door they choose at any time of the day? Yup. Do I have to go outside in the hall in order to lock my door to my classroom? Sure do. Do I have windows in my room that could easily be broken if someone really wanted in? Absolutely. I don’t care to keep reliving what would be the utterly worst nightmare of my life.

And surely do not use “the recent events” to tell me how to do my job parent from another school (sidenote: this is really where this post stems from). I do not need to be told that you think my basketball girls played too aggressively and we should teach them how to play with kindness and fairness, especially due to recent events. You, maam, do not get to tell me that. (second sidenote: I did not reply to the email, I turned it over to the athletic coordinator… my email would have possibly gotten me fired been very mean).

I’ll tell you what would be really nice. Just thank a teacher. Just tell us thanks, for no reason.. just because you want to say thanks. I, and I think every teacher I know, would appreciate it.

I pray to God that I never am in a situation like what happened on Friday. 

Post It Note Project

Where did I get the idea you ask? That would be pinterest! It is good for other things besides just planning my outfits! Ha …. But really.

I saw a mom who used post it notes to have her kids create a picture on the refrigerator for a “rainy day” activity. Pretty fun, I thought. I would want to do it, so my brain began turning. How could I incorporate this into my classroom? Well, post it notes are 3 X 3 inches and I could easily make 1 in graph paper….. 1 times 3 is 3… Scale Factor!!! (That may not make sense at all, but that’s how I got there!)

So I spent a Saturday trying it out myself… I was impressed already. I met with an instructional coach to help me create a rubric and she asked me why I wasn’t having them scale it down as well. Genius, I know. So by the end of this project, they had created 3 similar figures using scale factor! I could not have been more pleased with the outcome. This was one of those things were I felt bad for all my past students since they didn’t get to complete this project.

I hung them up in the hall and had everyone vote, faculty included! I’ve had more kids tell me “I wish I was in your class” in the last week than I have in my 3 years! Ha

Here are the top 3 student voted ones and then some of my favorites! J

               

Can you tell what the one on the left it?? The Dallas Skyline! This is my personal favorite!! The one on the right is a tad bit of overachievers, but it turned out superb and was a student favorite!

They had to use half or whole squares, so this was some of my boys creating their own American Flag!

These girls worked on the design of the mermaid for so very long. I love how it turned out! The corn is basically why I love my GT kids... they have the brains to design anything they want.... and they choose corn. Well played, kids, well played.

I think the snowman was the overall winner, staff and students included! Its hard to tell in that picture, but the girls brought their own post its with a small design on the back of the blue. I think he looks super cute. Then all the students, of course, loved SpongeBob!

The best part of this whole thing is that the students are proud of them! They want their work, they want people to see it, and they can explain the math behind it! I told you it was a cool project.

So Excited I'm Gonna Die

Have you ever been so excited about something you just literally can’t contain yourself??

The first thing that comes to mind are the kids that literally can’t sleep because they are so excited to go to Disney World. The second thing that comes to mind is my favorite part of the “Despicable Me” movie… the little girl won a prize and “It’s so FLUFFFFFY!” I laugh every time.

These are all indicators of how I feel about the movie Les Miserables. I might watch the trailer about 10 times a day. I might have calculated how many hours until it comes out last night. I have very high expectations for this movie and if it disappoints, I will be devastated… but I really just don’t see how that’s possible.

Glorious.

Baked Chicken Nuggets

So I've had 3 chicken breasts in my freezer for forever and I knew I needed to use them. So, I got home one night and decided to get onto pinterest to find what I wanted to do. I just searched baked chicken and looked for a recipe where I already had all the ingredients! 

Baked. Chicken. Nuggets. Oh, heavenly goodness.

It's the comfort food of chicken nuggets without the fried part! The ingredients were chicken, flour, bread crumbs, parmesean cheese, garlic powder, and 3 eggs. It also called for basil but I didn’t have any of that laying around so I used lemon pepper as a substitute.

I rubbed the flour onto the chicken to dry it up a little bit to make sure everything would stick. Then I dipped it into the eggs and dropped it into the bread crumb, parmesean, lemon pepper, garlic powder mixture.

Oh, I may have drizzled some melted butter on top of them before I put them in the oven.

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, flip them, and then bake for 10 more minutes.

Try these. You won’t regret it.  

I dipped them in my favorite Jack Daniels BBQ sauce!

My number one supporter at my basketball games. I love him and his adorable track suit.