In Good Company

Mixed emotions for me today.  I went to a dinner party for Citrine.  It was a farewell dinner.  Anne-Marie and Family are moving away......far away.    To New York.  I am so excited for her because this will be a good thing for her family but I am also sad that Citrine is over.  I have truly loved every single minute of it.  We did get to sing some tonight. 

So today I will be grateful for an amazing year filled with amazing music!

More student teaching fun........

One of the sad parts of student teaching for me was the end!  I knew it was coming.  The kids knew it was coming.  It was not fun for me to leave because I REALLY loved being there. 
One cutie pie who happens to have the same birthday as me wrote me a poem on my last day.
I am going to copy it just how she wrote it but I will add "translations" as needed.  I love it!

Mrs. Kissell your hair is such and orange  life without you in the

classroom is such a borage.  Life without you is satenly (certainly)

gray I hope all (I'll) see you another day.  I wish you could

stay and play with our class all

day.

I miss you alot but all (I'll) always keep you in my thoughts

Is that cute or what?  I have more to share later.  One cutie wrote me an awesome good bye letter and had the entire class sign it without me or their teaching noticing.  Pretty sneaky!

So today I am grateful for the simple things like thank you notes.  I am touched deeply by sweet and simple things like a thrid grader's effort to let me know how she felt. 

More from school

One of the things I got to do a lot during my student teaching were art lessons.  My amazing cooperating teacher Mrs. Redd (Katie) had art for rotations while the other two teachers did PE and extra math.  So I was able to do a lot of art lessons.  One of my favorites was creating three dimensional sunflower pictures based loosely on Van Gogh's sunflower paintings.  Here are the results:

We used chalk, pencils, glue, construction paper, tissue paper, black beans, and every one turned out to be different and unique!  I love how they look!

Another project I did with my class combined using warm or cool colors, mosaic, their names, and a stained glass window effect.  Each student did their name and mounted it on either matching or contrasting paper.  I love how these turned out as well.



My example



It was so much fun to watch them make these.  We also did one more art project with our names.  I only have a picture of my example but the kids really got into this project as well. 

I can hardly wait to do things like this ALL THE TIME!!!!

So today I will be grateful for art in general.  Such a great way to let out all the creativity we have inside.

Ode to food

I had a lot of fun during my student teaching experience.  One of my favorite assignments that we did was poetry writing.  We used food as a topic and wrote odes to food.  We started with a class ode.  Here it is:

Ode to Bacon

Oh Bacon,

How we love you so!

Your taste, your smell

Make us want to go

Down to the lunchroom

Where we will eat

This crispy, crunchy,

Mouthwatering meat.

Bacon sure does look like steak.

It also looks very, very great.

Bacon looks crispy, crunchy, and gold,

It stands out from veggies, very bold.

Bacon looks bubbly on the grill,

Eat it to avoid a chill.

Bacon looks very good from its juicy fat

And all the kids eat it, just like that!

 

Bacon reminds me of a juicy steak

Every time I think about it my stomach starts to ache.

It’s so good!

I want to hide in my hood.

Bacon is crunchy

It feels munchy

When bacon cooks the kids will swarm

Especially if it’s crisp and warm.

Bacon, oh bacon, we do love you so!

Some people hate the smell and want to go.

I would die if bacon fell from the sky

Then I would go outside to try

To start rakin’

For delicious bacon!

It smells so divine

It sends chills up my spine!

Bacon is so amazing! I hope you like it too.

Everybody should say, “I love it too!”

I Love it!  The kids did an awesome job.


So today I will be grateful for bacon.  Seriously - is there anything better?

Chicken Fried Rice

Tried a new recipe last night.  I liked it.  Here it is:


Chicken Fried Rice


Recipe courtesy Robert Irvine
Total Time: 25 min.

Prep10 min.

Cook15 min.

Yield:6 to 8 servings .


Ingredients

3 large eggs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil, for frying

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

4 cups cold, cooked rice

6 green (spring) onions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish, optional

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

Beat eggs with a whisk in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat very little oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat and make an omelette using half the beaten eggs. Turn out onto a plate to cool (do not fold omelette). Repeat process with remaining beaten eggs. Place 1 omelette on top of the other, fold and coarsely chop. Set aside.



In a medium bowl, toss chicken strips with the sesame oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat in large frying pan or wok and stir-fry the prepared chicken strips until lightly golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until onion has softened. Add 2 tablespoons more vegetable oil and when hot, stir in the cooked rice and green onions, tossing and mixing thoroughly until very hot. Sprinkle with soy sauce and mix evenly. Remove from heat and stir in chopped cooked egg. If desired, garnish with additional sliced green onions

 
 
 
I added some celery and didn't have green onions so I used dries chives.  Still turned out well.  Enjoy!
 
 
 
Today I will be grateful for internet recipe searches.  Saves me a lot of time!

Life in Limbo

So I have been a little unmotivated lately.  I finished ALL my coursework at the end of January and have been waiting patiently for my student teaching placement.  I finally got my first placement today. I will get to spend 6 weeks at Lone Peak Elementary school in a third grade classroom.  Lone Peak is pretty dang close to my house.  I may even walk there some days.  But it is up the hill from me so probably not.  Don't want to get there all sweaty and stinky.
I am only a little bit nervous because I don't know any of the teachers there but talking to people I don't know has never really been a big problem for me, lol!
I am very very excited to get started.   I expect to learn a lot in the 6 weeks I will spend there. 

So today I am grateful that the limbo is over.  I don't have to wait anymore.   I just get to figure out how to keep my job while student teaching.  I may just not sleep at all for 6 weeks,  but who needs sleep anyway?

phew....... what a life

So I have once again been neglecting this little bog.  Not really on purpose but I have been very busy.  The most exciting part of all this business is that I have officially finished all my coursework for my master's degree!  Yahoo!  Only 8 credits of student teaching left.  Then I am done.....finished......it will be over!  Phew.....  I can hardly believe it.


So today I will be grateful for my education.  and even more grateful that it is almost done.