Half way done!

Today is the last day of the semester! I will enjoy the next three weeks off of school for Christmas Break before beginning the second semester of the school year.  I can't believe how fast the year has gone.  I think it is mainly due to cheer.  For 12 weeks we had weekly football games that made those three months fly by! I can't believe that the football season is over and that we only have 18 more weeks of school! It's exciting to know that it is halfway over.  Many times I still feel like I'm "brand new", but other times I feel right at home. :)

Now it's time to enjoy the next three weeks of vacation! :)  (I know you are jealous...hehe.)

99.1 KGGI

This year has been full of major events for my cheer squad.  Today at 7:45 on 99.1, some of my cheerleaders and some of the football players will be on the radio station.  They will be broadcasting to help promote Friday night's CIF football game. On Friday, the radio station will also be at the football game broadcasting live as well! This is an awesome opportunity for the girls to be able to participate in along with the student body.  So even if you do not care for this music, turn the radio on to hear the girls tonight. :)

PINK OUT!!!!!

Hey y'all!
Well since October is breast cancer awareness month my cheerleaders have been promoting all month long by wearing pink tanks that we got during the summer.  They have the breast cancer ribbon on it and they are super cute.  Football has also been supporting all month by selling T-Shirts at the Homecoming Carnival and at the home football games.  They were raising money to donate to an organization.

Well because of all of this great publicity, the Channel 5 News came out this past Friday! It was super exciting for all of the students and for the staff as well.  They wanted some of the students to get there early on Friday morning for interviews.  Well that's what I was told on Thursday morning.  (Yea they told me the day before.)  So early Friday morning there was a gathering of football players, cheerleaders and ASB students.  The whole thing was broadcasted on the news.  During first and second period they also had short segments that were taped as well.  Then during tutorial (after 2nd period), we had a pep rally in the gym.  This was the most spirited pep rally I have seen yet!

 I will now post the link so you can check it out. :) Make sure to look at the clips underneath, there are 3!

http://www.ktla.com/news/local/gayleanderson/

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school! Boy was it eventful! I was already a little nervous about being the "new" teacher at the high school, but I felt pretty confident this morning on my way to work.  I was told by my department chair that we had to be at work at 7:15 (nothing different from Arizona), but that I better get there early if I didn't want to get stuck in the traffic.  Well I got there this morning at 7am this morning and the front parking lot was almost full! There were also kids being dropped off already.  

After I walked in my room and started to unpack some of my stuff I remembered that I needed to check my email to see if my copy code was given to me yet.  I still had to photocopy my syllabus for both classes, parent contact sheet and first day activity.  I was starting to freak out at this point!  Luckily my nice department chair, Connie, had emailed me and told me to go to her room when I read my email.  She was nice enough to help me copy all of my papers this morning.  She "taught" me how to use the big high school copiers.  :)  By the way the copy room was pretty busy and I had to wait to use them.  Plus one of the machines was eating the paper. 

After this little trip to the copy room, I went to hook up my computer to the LCD projector.  Mind you I had barely received the LCD and document camera at the end of Friday.  So I had not hooked it up because I had to bring an extension cord to school today.  (Luckily I remembered to grab one.)  As I opened up the camera document box I realized that I only had the power cord and no connector to the LCD projector.  I started to panic because I needed my computer for my back to school power point.  So once again I run to Connie's room to get some help and luckily she found one in a box.  I now felt better because I at least would be able to connect to my computer.  I would just have to get another one later.  Well as Connie helped me connect the cord, another lovely teacher gave me another cord and I now have TWO!  Once again the stress level decreased immensely.   I was even able to join in on the "pow wow" that most of the math teachers were having outside the classroom next door.  

Some of you might be thinking..."Wow, you did all of this before school started at 7:30?".  Well it just happened to be a late start day today.  :)  That means first period didn't start until 8:30. Lucky for me because when I finally finished all of this it was 8am.  :)

Now how did my classes go you ask...well they started out fine until 2nd period.  I had two boys start to argue over nonsense.  I understood one of the boys, the other boy was talking and trying to act cool.  This class is going to be a challenge.  I have already had a couple boys give me smart remarks.  By the way the majority of the class is full of boys. 

Lastly I got a little sunburned out at cheer practice this afternoon.  

I just hope that my days get better from here on out.  :)

Oh happy day!

So I know I haven't blogged in a month or so, but really where does the time go?!  I read everyone elses' blogs but don't have time to actually sit and write my own posts.  Well here is one for you...

So I have been feeling a little stressed lately and the end of the year always brings more stress than normal.  So when the eye twitch reappeared this year (it's been gone for awhile) I knew I was in for some trouble.  The eye twitch usually occurs because of my double block Algebra class.  I know you are thinking two hours of math, oh my! But most of these kids are behind in grade level math so they really  need these two hours.  Plus many of them actually make significant growth in this class and actually are able to learn the Algebra! Exciting I know! :)  So when the twitch appeared early this week I knew it was going to be a long two months of school. 

When one of the counselors approached me and asked if another kid could join the class, I politely asked if I could trade out a couple of them.  She agreed and guess what...the eye twitch has disappeared for now! I couldn't believe it!  I was actually able to teach and get my lesson done and there were minimal distractions.  This is so exciting because I was able to play a game as well (Card Go Round) and they were quiet and focused as well! :)  I'm hoping the good behavior continues for the remainder of the year.  So far so good! I'm so excited the twitch has decided to subside for now.  Let's see what the next couple of weeks bring with CST testing right around the corner.

Award

So at a staff meeting a couple of months ago, we were given this paper to nominate people for the January board meeting. It had certificated, classified, parent volunteer and even a spot for an 8th grade student. I of course threw the paper away since I did not want to write anything. :) Well I guess someone voted for me since I won! I was chosen to be the Certificated Employee of the Month for the month of January and was recognized at the board meeting last night!

The principal got up and read a whole page on the "wonderful" things I do at work. It was cool and my mom was able to go with me as well. We even took a picture. The board took a picture along with my mom. :)

It was a great honor, yet the one thing I could only think of is "Who picked me?". Oh well I guess I'll never know, but it was nice to be recognized for all that I do.

Back to the Grind!

Well the first couple of days back have been great so far. The students are paying more attention and are willing to learn and apply themselves. Let's just hope this lasts more than this week! I have been busy once again, but I actually left work one day this week before 4:30!!! If you know me at all this is a HUGE improvement! I am hoping both my positivie attitude and the students' positive attitude lasts for a very long time!

My Face Hurts!

I am so sick right now! It all started last week Thursday when I had a headache, well the headache lasted all the way until Sunday. Sunday morning when I woke up my throat also hurt. I knew this was the beginning of something horrible. Well I was correct! Monday at work I did not feel well at all and my stomach actually hurt too. I went home after work curled up in a ball and started to watch tv while laying in bed. At about 6:15 I decided it was time to drive over to urgent care. Well I came out of there with a prescription and four papers on what I had and how to take care of it! So the verdict was strep throat, double ear infections, bronchitis, and a viral respiratory illness! YIKES!!!! This is why my head had been hurting and my face hurts due to all of the pressure.

So I called in a sub for Tuesday and stayed home all day. I couldn't stay home for more than one day, I would get too behind at work, so here I am at work sitting in my chair. Luckily the antibiotics kicked in for today so I can actually breathe right now. :) I know the little things in life make me happy.

Hopefully this sickness goes away quickly because it is a bad one! On a good note, this is the first time this school year that I have gotten sick. That's an improvement for me.

Busy Bee

This week has been a little crazy...and I have definitely been wanting some desserts!

I have been very very busy all week! It all began Monday with Gift Avenue at work; a time for the students to purchase gifts for family and friends. This has been before school, at lunch and after school! Not only did we sell items, but dance tickets as well! I had cheer on Monday and Tuesday with games going until 5pm! And just when I thought I would be able to leave work early on Wednesday, I had a leadership meeting until after 4 and then plan for the rest of the week of Geometry. Today is the school dance and tomorrow I have cheer practice from 5-7. Even Saturday is going to be busy due to the cheer competition in Murrieta! Oh well...next week will be peaceful and quiet and I will not have anything to do. Yea right who am I kidding! :)

Hope all is well with everyone else!

First day back!

Well the first day back c ould be one of two things..work or blogging. :) Let's talk about yesterday in my classroom. The students were not the only ones that did not want to be back at school. I was exhausted from my week off of work which consisted of manual labor in my house. Not only was yesterday very cold, for us So Cal people, but my classroom was freezing as well. The high in my classroom was 68 degrees and that's only after three hours of the students in my classroom. Good thing I was dressed in multiple layers yesterday. Today I came prepared with my pea coat, but the heater was working today! That is until all the students left my room 2nd period and cold air started to blow out agian. :( Thank goodness it wasn't freezing in my room today, just cooler than normal. Better luck tomorrow!