First week of School

I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN!!

This was my first week as a student teacher at Pine Tree Junior High. I am in the 8th grade Science class. My teacher is the department head and she is a very good teacher.

I had David take my picture on my first day (because I am a nerdo)! Here it is






I was so nervous on Monday. I didn't know what to expect and there were butterflies for sure. I thought the kids would be surly and mean. Boy was I surprised. The kids are well behaved for the most part, they are engaged in learning and they are so funny!

This first week I am only supposed to observe, but my teacher has let me grade papers, take the roll, make copies, and even play a game with the kids. Next week, my field supervisor comes for an initial visit and I get to do a mini lesson on Density. SO COOL.

I was walking down the hall today practically giddy with happiness. I know deep down in my spirit that I am right where I should be. I had the opportunity today to observe a 7th grade class and really enjoyed listening to the students talk together while they worked on a lab. They have hopes and dreams and some already know what they want to be. One girl said she wants to be a nurse that cleans the babies in the hospital after they are born. The kids seem to be finding their place in the world and they have opinions and ideas. I am finding that for this week at least, I really like middle school. :)

Today I learned a cool way to remember the formula for finding density of an object. If you draw a heart and draw a horizontal line across the middle, you are left with an 'm' on top and a 'v' on the bottom. And the formula is d=m/v. So cool, I will never forget it now. I look forward to the day I can come up with my own really neat ways to remember things.

Tomorrow we are going to melt Styrofoam into acetone. The kids are going to love it. I thought I would hate the 8th grade and hate Science, but clearly God has me where he wants me and I am having a blast.

In other news:
Emily is doing really well in school. She got to pet a bunny yesterday! David has been getting up much earlier and he has taken to walking miles and miles. On Tuesday he walked 6 miles and today he went 4 miles much to the chagrin his dog Tucker and our friend Michael :)

We have no plans for Labor Day, I guess we will just relax. We are all going to the Circus tomorrow afternoon after school. I hope the clowns don't scare Emily (they can be scary).

Till next time...