Oh what a weekend in Florida...

Oh what a weekend oh what a wedding! Well it was definitely not a good start to my weekend we got to the airport on time...only to find out our flight was delayed for two hours! When we finally got to the hotel I was amazed to see swans in the hotel lobby! They are two brothers Frederick and Ronald...two of the sweetest swans ever! We went exploring and saw the biggest tree ever...I felt like I was in It's a Bug's Life or something! I climbed the tree and got stuck haha of course...luckily my friend Jake was there to help me get down! After that I went for a ride on Jake's grandfathers yacht! This yacht is bigger than my dorm room and my house combined.

That's the tree and the really big boat at the end is the one I went on! It was the best time of my life! Clearly I need to move to Florida...and marry rich =P. The next day we went exploring yet again! I felt like Dora the Explorer! We went to a outdoor mall place and it was really fun. Had homemade gelato and it was the best I have ever had!

That night was the rehearsal dinner...first time seeing this side of the family in five years! It was nice to catch up with everyone although none of us have really changed. My cousin Louie ended up getting pushed in the water by the groomsmen because he wouldn't buy the next round of shots! Guess he learned his lesson! Then it was time for the Wedding! If you remember me saying how I had never met the bride although I was a bridesmaid and she told us all to wear whatever pink dress we wanted? Yea well we looked FANTASTIC! I think this wedding was the biggest disaster I have ever seen! Although my cousin Anthony is very happy with Jennifer, they might have wanted to plan this better! The wedding was overall a good time! Here's the happy couple...

This weekend was the first time I met my cousins daughter Madison! I absolutely adore this little girl! She is two years old and I met her at the rehearsal party. All at dinner she wanted to sit with me and at the wedding the next day...she did something not so nice but funny. Madison was the flower girl and she ran up the aisle and threw the petals at the bride than ran right to my lap! At the family BBQ the next day she played with me the whole time! I love this little girl and I miss her already! Overall it was a very good weekend! Definitely not what I had expected...although I did leave out the bad details!

Little kid at heart...that's one thing that will never change

This is the first week I have not seen the students I have been working with! I can honestly say I miss them so much! I won't be able to see them till next Wednesday! It stinks not being able to go and work with them for so long. Guess this a preview for the end of every school year, when my class moves up to the next grade level. I guess you can say I am definitely looking forward to next Wednesday!

This 5 day weekend has been absolutely amazing! After all the troubles I have had with my shoulder, after three years I was able to ice skate again. First time back on the ice honestly felt so amazing, never thought that I would still be able to do jumps and spins (of course I was a little rusty). I not only got to skate for fun but I was able to teach all in one day! I taught a group class and a private lesson. It was probably the most fun I had all of break. My first private lesson ended up being a 5 year old girl with autism. Two things that I truly care about in life tied together, it was so great. Her parents were really amazed at how well I was able to work with her. I guess everything in life ties together some how. Thanks to Bridget for getting me back on the ice, I really enjoyed it. We have to do it more often! The next day I went line dancing at Colorado Cafe! It was so much fun I almost rode Buck-Off the bull but chickened out. Don't worry, I embarrassed myself enough dancing...considering I am one of the most uncoordinated people on the planet. This weekend I also made a bunch of little things that someone gave to me for free. I think I am going to give them to the students I work with. I don't really know what they are called but they are the little beads you iron together to make different things like a dinosaur or a whale...personally I think they are awesome. Not going to lie I kind of enjoyed making all of them...guess that is what happens when you have a lot of spare time on your hands. Here is a picture of two of them that still need to be ironed! Wally the Whale and Dina the Dinosaur! Honestly one of the best weekends in a long time! Hope everyone had as much fun over break as I did!

How much longer will it be?

FINALLY started my Special Ed observations! I had the biggest smile on my face walking into the classroom to meet the teachers, one even said you sure look happy to be here, I told him I was so excited I barely slept last night! He laughed, and told me he was like that on his first day too, I was a little more at ease after that. As soon as the students walked in, I think my smile got even BIGGER! I work with students who are in kindergarten to third graders. Their disabilities all range from ADHD to a student missing a part of her brain, the corpus callosum...she almost made me cry that day. I get to help students improve on their reading and math. The students I am working with are absolutely hilarious, they made me laugh all morning. Their favorite thing to do is to make their teachers laugh. All the teacher's I am working with are super nice and they make the resource room an exciting place to go. The students all LOVE going there and they did not want to leave when the class was over. The one teacher I was mainly working with told me that I was meant to teach Special Education, this made me so happy I can't wait to go back! All I keep asking myself is how much longer till I can actually teach?! I can't wait to have my own class!

In the other classroom I am observing in, the teacher asked me to work with a student on math to see if I would be better than the aid he was given. She thinks I was so she wants me to work with him from now on. She said what makes you so great is that  you gained his trust, you cared about him getting the problems right. It kind of made me think about the survey we took for a grad student here, does caring really make you a more effective teacher? Well for those of you who are unsure of this the answer is YES. If you don't show that you CARE than neither will your students. Especially if it is challenging for that student, they need to be encouraged. Since all of us are going to be teachers: care for your students no matter if they are the cutest thing you have ever seen, super geniuses, not the brightest, or the most annoying child you have ever met, just care...it will make a difference.

Paper Air Planes and Neatbells

I absolutely love the classroom I am in! Already my dorm is covered in pictures from the kids in the class! My first day of observing was fantastic! The kids are sooo adorable and well behaved. I have gone and worked in the classroom three times so far, already the students are really willing to work with me. The teacher threw me right in and had me working with a little girl whose having trouble with her reading. She had taught the class a new technique to use where if they did not know a word they looked at the picture for clues. Not only as we were reading through the book did she use this technique but she had used a technique they learned in a previous unit! I was so impressed that she did not need any reminders and figured it out all on her own! I really love working with the kids. The teacher let me open a unit called "How To..." and we wrote the lesson plan together. As a demonstration, I taught the class how to make paper air planes! How cool is that!? I am curious as to how the unit is going because I have only been there for day one so far and can't wait to see how far the students have come when I go to observe tomorrow! When the class was brain storming ideas to teach others how to do something, one girl asked me how to spell meatballs only she spelled it "Neatbells"...I thought it was cute but then helped her correct it! One thing I have noticed is that when the class goes to a special activity, they tend to show worse behavior than when in the classroom, especially in art. The kids were kneeling on stools and all I kept thinking was that someone was going to fall! I was so scared! So far my observations are going great! On Wednesday, I am hoping to start my special education observations! Can't wait! I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!

I have been doing homework all day with Nicole and for those of you who can watch TV and do homework at the same time good for you!...however, we can't! At least the GIANTS won the SUPERBOWL! What a great way to end the weekend! My two favorite sports teams winning! The DEVILS being the other team, although Nicole is not so happy about that because they beat her team!