We didn't start the fire!

Catchy title? I sure hope so because this is a great story.... I had been planning this big lesson for my students to be tested on their knowledge of following directions and understanding fractions by having them bake chocolate chip cookies. Seemed like a good idea; at least for my class.... So as many of you know I am now in 6th grade working with the awesome team that trained and motivate me through my student teaching year. Mr. Mitchell, my awesome mentor, has a new student teacher this year, Santos Marquez. Santos is very unique, fun, friendly, and forgetful. This is where the real story begins.... Yesterday, was my students test for fractions and all 6th grade classes had decided to allow their students make cookies as well. Santos came in and helped my class prepare the cookies and he also baked them for my class. They surprisingly turned out amazing and really exact to the recipe. Santos then took the recipe to his class and they followed the directions as well, as far as I was aware it was going extremely well. My class had just finished enjoying their cookies when the fire alarm went off. We had many drills before but usually we are warned when it is a drill and it is usually not during lunch time. My students of course looked to me and wanted to know if they should in fact line up. I gather them up and we grab the emergency bucket and start filing out by the time we get down stairs most students are evacuating the building. I see students filing out with lunch trays in their hands and many classes lined up and worried about where the alarm came from. I hear my principal get on the intercom and announce it was a false alarm and they found the source of the problem; which was great there was only one issue.... The 2nd graders never heard the announcement and no one bothered to let them know. Apparently they were out on the field in the snow with no coats on since we really press the students to leave everything behind. Eventually they heard the news and came in icicles and all. It was really sad and hilarious at the same time. Here is the reason the alarm went off... Santos had taken his classes cookies to both faculty rooms on the upper and lower floor of the school. We are on the top floor and he had forgotten he had some down on the lower floor until it was too late. He realized he had left them in their too long and ran downstairs, he opened the door only to find the room engulfed in smoke and a woman pulling the cookies out of the oven with her hand and then runs towards him to flee the room. Santos then enters and tries to save what may be left of his cookies at this point since the kids can run out and the cookies can't. The alarm then goes off and he runs to the office to alert the staff of the reason for the alarm. Eventually everything was put back into control everywhere in the school but the upstairs faculty room. All the upper grade teachers had known what had happened and were in a hilarious mood about it. I remember such jokes as "Boy Santos you sure know how to light a fire under the kids," "Way to 'spark' their interests," "Way to motivate the kids to do something," and "Nice job at smoking out those who won't succeed in school." Santos was actually pretty good about it. I told him how he was a legend and all Howard's student teachers usually do something stupid to be remembered by. For example, my last day with my students I was the one who ripped the front of my pants open in the middle of the party the kids had for me. Not to mention the student teacher before me who had his student's write an anonymous notes about how his teaching went throughout the year. That one turned out bad. All in all this was definitely an experience to remember. Thank you Santos!

I finally reset my blog

The reason for my not updating or posting on my blog is because I forgot my username and password. This is about the 3rd time I have reset my information for this blog and it never seems to get easier to remember my username and password.... Anyways here is what is new.

A new roommate moved in this week. She is amazing and the best part about her is her name! Can you guess what it is? I give you a few guesses before telling you. She is really laid back and loves to go the the gym like me she just joined my gym GOLD'S and loves it like me. I really like how sincere she is too. Here is an example, my cousin Chris passed his disgusting cold to me this week and tonight she offered to go to the store and get me some medication or whatever I may need to feel better. I really appreciated that one.

Anyways next subject. Although Chris made me ill the day before Thanksgiving I still love him. He is the greatest, I received a free laptop from my school and wanted help setting it up and getting things to work with it. He of course came over and set me up with some wireless Internet as well as uploaded programs to my computer to make it work even better. What a cool guy.

Linking off of a previous subject, school. I love my class a ton for those of you who are not aware. I was teaching 5th grade last year and moved up to 6th this year and am lucky enough to have some of the same students this year. Anyways, I just love them and here is why... Last week I got up on a chair to grab a headset for a student upon approaching the ground the chair came back and smashed my leg and knocked me over. They were so worried, they paniced and screamed a little, I finally convinced them that I was ok and got them to put themselves together. Little did I know that I was bleeding severely. Apparently my blood was seeping through my jeans and was all over the floor, oh man did this set them off. They were begging me to take care of it and some were crying. So I called down to the office and had someone come cover me while I repaired my wound. Eventually everything was ok and I ended up bleeding for the rest of the day and with a really awesome bruise all over my leg. Regardless, I love my class they make me feel loved. :)

Here is an attempted picture of my bruised up leg.

Some experiences this summer.

I decided to start this blog with a few new pictures of Greece. My students at school are currently creating power points on ancient civilizations including Greece, Rome and Egypt. This is really fun and convenient for them since I have been to two of the three places and have pictures of the current locations and the knowledge.

I went on tour with, my great friends Allison and Melissa Turley. We went to High School together but did not become friends until college when we discovered we were going into the same profession and had many classes together.















If you can believe it, yes the water is this clear. If you can't I just don't know what to tell you. I am still not too sure how it is that their water is so pure and clean and ours is not. :)





















Ah, the hikes up to the highest points in the cities. Yes we hiked up this mountain. The Greeks liked to locate themsleves on the highest point for protection. They also like to keep their history so they do not pave roads and make it easy for tourists.















Here is the mighty temple of Zeus. It is a gigantic ruin full of history and life placed right in the middle of Athena. The cool part is you can see it in the distance from the Acropolis, one of the most incredible temples.

I am getting on the train.

I have noticed how big this "blogging" thing has become. I have only done it with my class and usually it is a picture of me and they are making odd assumption of where in the world I am. Needless to say, this should be a new experience for me.