Elementary Technology in THE city

the day before tomorrow

2009-05-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

Today is the day before tomorrow. Tomorrow is my final observation. The formal observsation is supposed to tell the out come of the year. Yet, walking into this interview I really don't feel like it matters. They are looking for me to fail. Yes I have "porential" but I really don't think they are going to let me leave with a satidfactory rating. Which I just want to laugh at bc not a single one of my kids failed the state test and our grade level percent is higher than the schools so.. Idk. I just want to keep my record in tact. We shall see...

A great week off

2009-04-20T21:03:00.002-04:00

I have a fabulous week off. I got to enjoy some sun...met a guy ...who is of course currently living in the sf bay area... in town for the weekend. Got to spend a couple of days in the city.. just walking and enjoying the city life. Got some new work books... gotta love it. I am really trying to work on the behavioral narration. It is a HUGE thing in this book that I got. I have to narrate every behavior that I want to see within the first ten seconds and make sure every child is corrected in the first minute. Then hopefully after that they should all be perfect..right?

I tired it today in class... it takes a LOT of narration. It is only the first day but it seemed to maybe work for at least the first part of the day. I have to work on my stamina. Stamina is the most important thing. The longer I can go without being frustrated with the children the better off both of us will be. I had a small victory today with my child that loves to run and scream in the classroom. He didn't! He only ran once I think and only screamed when he left the classroom at the end of the day. It was quite interesting. I am working hard on the behavioral narration as well as the clear instructions. The thing that is still happening is the talking. They talk a lot. And I know that I have not corrected the correct way in the past so I am working very hard.....

The big question now is do I really want to put myself through that next year. It has been a hard year. I know it has. I know it is because of the way that I have acted. I have never been put in this type of a situation, but the lack of respect is the biggest issue for me. It is hard to sit and have so many kids just off the bat disrespect me. I know kids in Oregon are not that way. I know that it could/would be different in Oregon but I am trying to figure out if I want to teach at all. Do I want to put myself through this again. I say it time and time again, I didn't get into this to write curriculum. I didn't get into this to discipline kids all day long. I want to teach. I want to spend my time getting to know my kids instead of trying make sure that they can fucking walk down the hall. I just don't know what I will be doing come June! That's a tough spot to be. O well. Ill do something I guess.

So long

2009-03-15T11:10:00.002-04:00

I know it has been a while but there really isn't much to blog about these days. I seriously go to work and come home. On weekends I might go into the city for a movie or something but I am usually so tired that I don't do anything. Its kinda sad but also I am so close to paying off my credit cards that all my extra cash has been going there instead of in my pocket or savings! but hopefully by the end of the month the credit cards will be gone and I can start saving again. Saving for what.. Im not sure but Im sure it will be an adventure.

As for school... Still frustrated with writing my own curriculum instead of having a base to work out of. I actually had an informal interview with a recruiter from a charter school this past week. It was interesting. I have no idea if they will call me back but it seems that it is much like this school where teachers write ALL of the curriculum and have to come up with their own resources. They pay a little more than the public schools but are not backed by a union which can be hairy.

I am super excited for this week. Parent teacher conferences are Wednesday and Thursday. Then the kids are on a trip on Friday which is always nice but that means I have to spend money to help by the communal lunch. O well. It is nice to be without them for a day and enjoy my fellow teachers. Then one ful week..three days the next and a week and a half break.

Most of break will be spent around the house. I really want to do some spring cleaning and enjoy the city...hoping that its nice enough to go outside! Maybe I'll do Washington DC for a couple of days but that depends on if I have the money.

Ok... enough avoiding lesson plans. Away I go!

Ugh

2009-03-01T18:16:00.002-05:00

I am so tired of trying to come up with lesson plans out of my butt. I love to teach. I am not a curriculum writer and I have realized that when I do not understand or know what the outcome is supposed to be.

They said that I was 'lucky' to get material along with one sentence about the lesson. One freaking sentence does not mean a lesson. I want to teach somewhere where we have a curriculum!!!

Frustration

2009-02-18T14:45:00.002-05:00

I am currently frustrated. I cant seem to get rid of my frustration. All week (since like Saturday) I have been doing well. I am relaxed and I am not too over the top. Today though... I was doing good. It being Wednesday I feel like I should do some work... I have little things that I need to do but I just opened a binder and my whole body got tense and I just feel like...even in February... I still have no clue what I am doing. Or at least that is how I feel.

I guess I have to step up even more but it seems that I can never catch up. I know I have to go back to work on Monday already behind in writing and just trying to play catch up with them while still trying to get the best products. On top of the fact that the state math test is in one week from Tuesday! O so much fun.

Im trying. i really am

2009-02-08T17:33:00.002-05:00

Ever have that feeling where all your trying and hard work is not only not enough but just seems to go to waste for nothing?

Its been that type of week. Between a bad performance review from my principal to a meeting that just made me feel as inadequate as humanly possible.. it seems that I can do nothing right. Don't you love those weeks? I personally dont.

I am hoping that I can bounce back... come back bigger and stonger. I really hope it can. If I can't...it may be my career that doesn't come back. Of course... There are so many variables to everything..who knows I could end up being excessed again... I could end up back in Oregon... who knows?!? I thought when I left college I would leave limbo...but I guess life is limbo...especally when you have no roots to hold you down.

LAter yall...

Mental Health Days~

2009-02-05T19:57:00.002-05:00

O how I love mental health days. I really dont take them as much as I should. But yesterday an opportunity presented itself and I took it. There really wasn't anything going on at school that was utterly important so I went for it.

The major reason I went for yesterday is that my mom said I should play hookie and go to Good Morning America the morning show. Whynonna Judd a country singer was playing and one of my favorites! So I did it. I went at 615. I walked in right as they started taping. And then at 830 they started promos and at 850 she sang live! It was great. At one point I was only like four feet from her.

Then I decided to go outside and see if I could get her authograph. Apparently she did a radio show before coming out which took FOREVER in the freezing cold. but FINALLY she came out. Beautiful as ever. I even got a picture with her! here it is!

thinking ahead

2009-01-27T09:56:00.002-05:00

Thinking ahead to next year....
-Make sure tables have names.
-reading level charts- growth throughout the year
-math standard chart up on the wall... like needhams.

for now those are things that have to be done before school starts

A good day

2009-01-24T16:40:00.002-05:00

Today was a good day. I actually got out of the house today. More than I can say for the last couple of weekends.

First I was up by 8. Lazing around I did the normal..email...facebook check... shower... then headed out. I had gotten a Starbucks gift card for Christmas so I used it and got a drink and a cupcake and did some grading. Then I said screw it and got my weekly cash out early and went to see Slumdog Millionaire. GREAT! Movie. Great great. I love the way it was set up and I love the characters. Then after the movie I decided to use my Subway gift card and had that for lunch. Then headed home. Makes for a great day.

Best Dream Ever

2009-01-24T08:07:00.003-05:00

So I just woke up from the best dream ever and I want to get it down before I forget.

So for some reason my class and I were headed to Disney. We were on this funky plane that had sides so I was not sitting on with my kids but there were bunches of people around us. ( I was with a friend...) And for some reason I was taking Suzie on the plane with me. I didnt have a carrier so she was just sitting on my lap. I was trying to get her to lay down while we were going through the safety instructions and the flight attendant was standing behind me. Of course she noticed Suz. She got up set and took Suz. I had no idea where she was taking her but I figured that she would be ok.

About half way through the flight someone came up to me and said that the flight attendant had kicked Suz. for some reason (dream land) we had landed. I asked to talk to her in private so she backed up. And I calmly (or as calmly as I could) asked if she kicked Suzie. She of course said no. I said that I was going to go ask the boy who had Suz (bc he was holding her at the time of the incident) and if she had I was going to get her fired and sue her the airline and blah blah blah.

Then she started to walk off the plane. (where landing comes in ) and she walked down the hall way. I kept going on and on about how wrong she was. She then turned around and tried to clock me. She wa pulling my hair and trying to fight. I got ahold of her head under my arm and waited for security. They took her into the bathroom to wash off the blood from me hitting her. then they took her into custidy and I went to get back on the plane.

It was crazy!

Catching Up

2009-01-18T20:21:00.002-05:00

Today I thought I would take some time to update you on the going-on's of my daily life.

First. home was great. This is the first time I have really missed home when leaving. I mean...don't get me wrong. I always miss the people but this is the first time that I have really missed my friends and Oregon in general.

When getting back into the swing of things here it seemed quite easy. Basically the first two weeks back have been all about the state test. Beside the field trip. Yes I survived my first official field trip as a teacher. I had one parent that joined us. Then we basically let them run loose in the police museum and then rounded them up and moved to the next floor. The state test you say... I think it went ok. I have no idea! We shall see.

Now we turn our focus to the math state test. Woohoo I am super excited. Cant you see!?! At least I have made it this far. I am sad to say that one of my friends has not. She has been 'removed' from her classroom. They are trying to fire her but its not easy so they are keeping her for small group work...aka... sub for kids who have been taken out of their classroom. It sucks. Im hoping and praying that Im not next on the list. I feel horrible for my friend but I dont want to be next. Ive gotta watch my p and qs.

Ugh. It should be interesting. A day off tomorrow then none until the February break. We shall see how it goes. Now its time to head outside to play in the snow.

Gearing up

2008-12-14T18:26:00.003-05:00

I am gearing up for a nice long visit home. I am uber excited to come home. I am uber excited to see my family and friends. Only 6 days of school left to make sure my kids are ready for break and the test that comes up right after break. It should be interesting! Here we go~

Tis the season

2008-12-06T21:10:00.003-05:00

I love the Christmas season but it seems that since I left for college the Christmas season sneaks up and never really has the appeal that it had when I was little.

This weekend like the last couple I have spent the weekend shopping for Christmas. Hopefully I will be done next weekend. But I will be sending packages ahead of time of time so that I dont have to worry about them on the flight home.

As for trying to get into the spirit I spend the evening making a gingerbread house. It is crazy. Damn things never turn out right but I also have the 'must finish' syndrome. I MUST USE ALL MATERIALS! So all those little candies they give you.. yep I have to use them. It was a lot of fun even though it was all by myself. .. maybe Ill put up a picture!

Laters...Im just trying to update so everyone knows.

Ps. I arrive in Ptown on Christmas eve and leave ont he morning of the second. So if you want to see me let me know... Kim... email me!!!

Ahh that time of year

2008-11-18T19:51:00.003-05:00

As I freeze my ass off walking to and from school each day I hope for snow! Today I got my wish. Ok..well... it was really just a few flakes on the way to schol but it is a start!

Tomorrow is parent teacher conferences...my first official conferences by myself with my own kids. OMG! I am really not looking forward to an afternoon of parents non stop from 345 until 615..then a 15 minute break before two more sets come in. Thats right. I get fifteen minutes to myself between 1:20 pm and 7. Isn't that amazing. I guess it's why we went two months off a year because we work so much during the year.

And now... I must bid you farewell because I get the joy of working on lesson plans for Wednesday/Thursday/Friday tonight! Im not gunna wanna do Thursday tomorrow night and friday I ahve a sub since Ill be in the city for professional development...I want to have my lesson plans done by Thursday so that I dont have to worry about it! But I did want to let you all know Im alive!

Check off the list

2008-11-11T15:20:00.002-05:00

Today I checked another NY experience off my list. Having a day off always gives me a reason and time to go into the city.

I went to Rockafeller Center today and went ice skating. It was so much fun to enjoy the cold but be warm at the same time. Sad that I had to do it alone but it was awesome to say that I did it and cross it off the list...of course my camera was here at the house but I did it!

Ahh life...

2008-11-10T18:42:00.003-05:00

You know. I signed up for a hard job.. I know I did. I freaking teach in the Bronx. I understand that. I also understand they basically gave me all the kids that do not fit anywhere else...but seriously?

How am I supposed to react to a student who says that 'I hate miss erickson. i want to punch her." I just don't understand. I didnt look at this freaknig girl when she was sitting correctly. I dont freaking understand what I am doing wrong. I do not believe in changing cards imediately when they are sitting correctly but if I dont my bad kids never get their damn cards up. I relaize that they are really not getting any fucking praise but they arent doing any fucking thing right.

Im sorry but I have to ask you ten thousand times a day to find your fucking seat and you expect to do well in my damn class....grrr. whatever

So great

2008-10-20T19:06:00.002-04:00

I am loving life currently. I know it's crazy to say but I am.

I just looked down and watched the cat flop over her scratch box and fall out off the side. It is the little things in life that make it all worth it.

For example. I got to makeout in Central Park yesterday. I know its hard to imagine..Annie makingout in public but it is so much fun! Just laying on the grassy hill in someones arms. Awesome. It is crazy how in a city of 8 million people and in a park full of thousands of people at any one time that you can dissappear into your own little world. There must have been 200 people in the area that we were laying...walking...playing..picnicing but there we were..dissappearing into eachothers arms. Laughing...kissing... laying quiet. Yet there really was no sound (besides the hellicopters).

Is the kissing necessary you ask? no. Its just super fun to have someone who is awesome to hang out with and see movies with. On top of being able to walk arm in arm and still smack eachother when someone thinks they shold put nipples on the breast canser walk balloons! Ugh..boys. O and it was super fun to sit back to back in the park and see totally different prospectives of the park around us. We actually had birds sitting like two feet from us scavenging from the leaves.

New York really is pretty in the fall. And I think he has gotten me to take more pictures of myself/us in the last four weeks than I have in ... four years! I actually enjoy taking the cheesey couple picts. crazy..too bad I dont always look good in them. I need to learn to keep my eyebrows down! O well.

Back to lesson plans. If I ever stop for more than 20 mintues maybe I will put more pictures up but you'll just have to wait unless you have facebook. They are up there as well!

Upstate New York

2008-10-14T17:59:00.002-04:00

Here are some pictures from my trip upstate this past weekend.

Upstate is so beautiful. It is amazing how much color there is upstate on the trees this past weekend. There are more pictures that I will put up slowly.

Great times

2008-10-08T19:26:00.001-04:00

So I have discovered a new love. It is called sumble! Stumble Upon is great. It is so much fun and may be dangerous for me. I love looking at all the random websites and lots of my time is being spent doing this. Crap but if you have come extra time check it out.

Great weekend

2008-10-05T20:43:00.000-04:00

It has been a great weekend. David is in town from Oregon and it has been grea tto spend some time with him. I am always amazed how much I miss him when I spend time with him.

We have been traveling the city. The nice thing is that he has been here before so its not all tourist stuff. Yesterday we did a scavenger hunt through the Meat Packing District. It was a lot of fun. We actually didnt know some of the questions but we came in second with 14 out of 24 points so we did pretty well. If you come to nyc or want to check them out for different cities... WAtson Adventures does some freaking cool stuff!

It has also been great because David has had some time to get to know my new boyfriend. Yes... officially using the 'boyfriend' word. David has approved the new boy so that is always a good thing. The new boy is great. I really like spending time with him and it is even better to have someone to hang out with on weekends. Such as next weekend when we are going 'backpacking' with a couple of his friends from work. Apparently we are going like 5 hours north of the city for a great weekend. Should be nice. As long as it's not too cold.

OMG!

2008-10-01T10:50:00.004-04:00

So much fun.
Last weekend I got the chance to go to OCC (orange country choppers for those who do not know). My new friend Paul lives only a half hour away from their world headquarters. It was SO awesome. The bikes are beautiful and I even got some Christmas shopping done for someone in my family.

Here are some pictures from the shop! O and the boy is Paul. My new friend.

New Glasses

2008-09-24T20:17:00.002-04:00

Today I got my new glasses. They are bigger and cute. I am not sure about them still but it happens. The one thing I am worried about and going to look into is the anti-reflective coating that I paid for but am not sure I got.

Here's a picture.

A Ray of Sunshine

2008-09-15T20:46:00.002-04:00

In my world of disaster... or at least that's what it feels like sometimes. It is so nice to enjoy a little bit of peace.

I love my cat. Just playing with a pencil is amazing. Shes so cute. Love her! Puts a smile on my face.

The First Week

2008-09-07T16:49:00.002-04:00

For those of you who are wondering. I survived.

I survived my first week of school. I am the proud teacher of 20 third graders. It was an interesting week. Between the little boy who thinks its funny to ignore me to the little divas that got into a fight on Friday. Its gunna be a great year.

This weekend has been full of grading tests and doing lesson plans. The poor lesson plans just do not want to come out of my brain. One thing I do need to do is work on conventions with my students. They do not know conventions. Periods. Commas. Handwriting. This is something we are going to work on!

So away I go to find some stuff to do with my kdis tomorrow!

Ok here I go

2008-09-01T17:01:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. Yes I taught last year but this is just not the same. It is my own classroom and it is my own kids. It is so crazy that someone is actually giving me my own freaking classroom. Then to expect me to move these kids and get them ready to take the state tests. Crap!

And I know there are many many many people out there that say " You'll do GREAT" that doesn't mean I still do not have my fears. I am super excited but there is so much work to do.

Bah. Im freaking out. O well. I guess the world will go on.

Day 3

2008-08-26T21:49:00.003-04:00

So it is the end of day three. Debbie and I have put in two more hard working days in the classroom and now I have tables with chairs!

So this is the back left hand side of the classroom.

This is the back right of the classroom.

The front left of the classroom is getting there slowly!

And the right front of the classroom where the rug is!

And my beautiful assistant..apparently a fuzzy picture!

So that's what it looks like at the end of day three. I still have three days before the weekend to finish it. Debbie gets the fun job of putting my library into genres tomorrow while I work. Then she's venturing out to find the Today show on Thursday and Good Morning America on Friday while I work all day! Fun times.

My classroom- day 1

2008-08-22T16:48:00.009-04:00

As requested here are the pictures of my first classroom. Remember .... this is day one.

When I walked in...the front...

the back right (if you are facing forward)the left side towards the front

the back half of the left side (facing front)

As you can see the room is quite big... being a corner room. I have like NO boards to hang stuff but it looks like I won't be using the chalk boards but making them into boards to hang work. All the yellow paint is SO horrible. If I had my way I would buy some and paint over crap because it is so disgusting. I just hope that once there are kids in there and stuff on the walls that it won't look TOO bad.

After seeing what Corinne... the teacher that moved to this school with me was doing I started to move furniture and figure out what I actually have. So after an hour this is what it looked like....

the left front

the left back

the right front (the rug area I think...)

the back left. I think this will be the teachers corner/computer area

As you can see I have LOT of furniture that is very miss matched. It should be interesting. Watch for updates!

Ahh

2008-08-21T21:36:00.002-04:00

My last week of freedom for the next ten months. Ok.. So I don't work straight for ten months but would you REALLY want to teach five days a week for 10 months!? I would go insane! Most teachers would. As much as we love our students... there is just too much to be able to do day in and day out for ten months. Though I really think that year round schooling is the way to go. My friend teaches for two or three weeks then gets a couple of weeks off. It is freaking sweet.

If you think about it. Year round schooling would eliminate a lot of things and better our children. (on my soap box for a couple of minutes.) I believe that year round schooling would hep our studetns to be able to retain information between school years. With the lack of a huge summer break I believe that our students would retain more information. I also believe that having solid, consistant breaks would better our students because they will not shut down weeks before breaks such as summer and winter. Every teachers knows that most students (especally those who are part of school systems that it is traditional) feel the need to hit summer break just after May comes around. Also the same happens when it comes to winter break but not as bad. Year around schooling helps to combat these problems because of the regular breaks.

Off my soap box.

So back to this year. I am suepr excited to see my classroom tomorrow. I will take pictures and post them so everyone can see them!

Swing a Ring

2008-08-15T17:28:00.002-04:00

Swing a Ring. What is it you may ask?

Swing a Ring is a physical fitness apparatus is which is located in only NYC and California. It is a ring contraption that has about 8 rings on very long metal chains.
You are supposed to swing from ring to ting and back and fourth to work your upper arms.

I went to visit this contraption ... it is in Riverside Park on the west side of Manhattan. It is so awesome. There was a very nice man there that was willing to show me how to do the rings AND share his chalk for my poor hands. Ok... so I wasn't THAT bad but the fact that I couldn't get my poor feet over my head. It just takes a little effort to flip your feet over your head through your arms and apparently I couldn't get them over my head. OMG! Dang. I feel dumb. O well...

And now it is down pouring. Flash flood warnings are fun.

MOMA

2008-08-11T12:59:00.002-04:00

The Museum of Modern Art. It is a great place. I have been there once before but I decided to go again because of the free Friday nights. When I arrived... OMG. The line was around the block and still had a half hour till it opened. After getting (even though it went really quickly) I made the quick observation that I will NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! I love the museum but I would like to actually be able to sEE the poor thing.

It was so freaking crowded that they were still letting people in at like 530. An hour and a half straight of letting people in. It was crazy. I go to a museum to see the art not the back of peoples heads. So if you are ever thinking of going to the free night .. as long as you are willing to hang out and wade through all the people... go for it. Otherwise... pay the 18 dollars to get in and enjoy at your own pace.

Family Bbq

2008-08-03T23:27:00.001-04:00

It went really well. It was so nice to see everyone. Sadly Sarah and the kids were not able to come because of army stuff but it was so awesome to spend time with Aunt T and Uncle D with Karen Jake and Lili and dad even showed up. Most of Kathie's family was here.

I got some great pictures of the kids and the fam. Even a picture of Kathie which are very rare and far inbetween. Ill put some up when I get back to NYC on Tuesday.

Laters

OMG!

2008-08-02T01:59:00.001-04:00

North Bend is really freaking far from Welches. Aka. about 5 hours and 15 minutes or so. Long freaking drive. But I had a great time with Debbie!

Ahh..home

2008-07-30T01:49:00.002-04:00

It is always nice to return home. I love Oregon and I don't remember how much I miss it till I come home. I can't say that it's been the ideal trip but it's been pretty freaking cool.

I mean cool literally. Its freezing here. Ok..so it's not that cold but in comparison it is freaking cold here compared to NYC the last couple of weeks. It hasn't really been below 70 in nyc in about a month. Here its 50 at night. And then driving the topless Jeep up the mt at 10 pm... COLD! I was not prepared for this weather. I have ONE sweatshirt with me and more tank tops than I will ever need here aparently.

BUT! I have seen a large majority of my friends and have been enjoying them so much. If that is becuase I get to talk alot I do not know but its been great. I heart my David and I always will. I think I miss him the most. Then MEghan and Colleen of course because they are amazing. Wendy will always be a part of my life and I heart her mucho.

The one thing I have to say about this trip is realizing how much older we all are. Very few of my freinds have had the money or the want to walk into a brewery and just have a drink with dinner or by itself. Its so amazing to just sit and talk around a drink and not have it be a big deal. I love it! Then spending hours apon hours with friends and just enjoying the company of the other person and not realizing how much time has actually passed between walking talking and drinking!

Its been a great trip and I cant wait for Thursday in Eugene!!!

Updating the last week

2008-07-19T14:20:00.002-04:00

Boston. I had a great time in Boston. It was so nice to get out of the city. It was nice to walk around and see all the different sites and sounds of a different city. It was also nice to remember the parts that I had been to with my mom and my fellow camp members back in the day.

Here are some pictures from Boston.

This is Feneuil Hall. This is a very nice market place. You can buy anything from a piggy bank to Abercrombie jeans. You can also see some great street performers.
This is the spot where Ben Franklin read the US Constitution to the city of Boston. It was the first time it was read publicly. That's pretty cool for a girl who's from a place with very little history.
And well. This is y favorite pla ce in Boston. It is a Dunkin' Donuts (DUH!) and it has a Sushi place in the Dunkin'. This was something I saw when I was in Boston with my mom in 2003 and I couldn't get over it. Its one of my best memories from Boston.
So this is my trip to Boston. I had a lot of fun and it was great. Let me know if you want more pictures.

boston and the zoo

2008-07-12T23:26:00.004-04:00

Boston was fun. It was nice to get out of nyc but i definitely missed the city. I was in Camberage... where Harvard is... and I walked into an intersection just like I would in NYC and the damn cop yelled at me because I was standing there waiting. He was stupid. I wanted to yell but at the same time .. It was a cop.

Then today I went to the Bronx Zoo with my alumni association. WELL!!! At the Bronx Zoo they have.. that's right.. CAMEL RIDES!!! They have freaking camel rides. Well..of course. I had to ride a camel. It was the whole.. I have ridden a gator the least I could do is ride a camel. So here is a picture to prove it!
or a better picture..

So. By the way... those were pants that annie hemed up herself. and also took an inch off each side. It was interesting.

Statues

2008-07-09T13:30:00.004-04:00

Here in the city it is coming close to the baseball All-Star Game. It is getting pretty hyped because of the whole last one in the Yankee Stadium that will be gone after this season. Because of this hy[e they have put statues of liberty all over the city. These statutes are different teams and different stadiums.

Well. In hearing about these statues I had to find them for myself. Well. Of course I cant live with only finding one ... I had to find them all.

After looking two different times online I finally found a map. 42 different statues from The Bronx (Yankee Stadium) to the Statute of Liberty's Island and Ellis Island. I would LOVE to get them all but I don't want to pay the 12 dollars to get the two out on the ferry.

Just another NYC adventure. I will put pictures at some point.

And tomorrow Im off to Boston for two days so I will update when I get back.

spur of the moment

2008-07-02T21:19:00.000-04:00

So I have always been a plan type of girl but tonight was a different story.

I now have red hair. I went to the new CVS by my house... and hey there was the hair dye. After an interesting experience doing it on my own (I hope the back isnt too bad...) I now have red hair.

a present for end of school

2008-07-01T21:36:00.000-04:00

So.. today...being payday... I finally got up the courage. I bought my WII!!!

That's right folks. I am now the proud owner of a WII!!! I have been saving a little here and there. Between tax refunds and surplus and paychecks I saved enough that I got one! I heart it mucho. I was BAD and got mario kart for it as well but what can I say? I love racing games.

The next purchace when I get the money will be the WII fit. Which is easily accessible at the WII store in Manhattan. So if you need one let me know...

O! and I had a job interview today and a call back for another one next Tuesday!

Im done... Im done.. Im done

2008-06-27T17:38:00.000-04:00

I am SO done with school. It is great. I am done with school for 8 whole weeks. This will be the first summer in 8 years that I have not worked at all. Crazy hu?

i have no idea what I am going to do with myself for the next eight weeks besides go home for a couple.. it should be interesting.

O and...

2008-06-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

O and I had a great interview on Wednesday. I am really hoping I get it. It is great school from what I hear and it should be a great year if I get a job there teaching second or third grade!!!

AHH...monday mornings...

2008-06-23T08:40:00.000-04:00

SUCK!!! Then again... getting to bed before midnight would have made it not suck SO much. That's right. Midnight. O why you ask?

Because that's when I finally got home from Denver. I spent all week in Denver making sure my best friend didn't run away from her wedding weekend. That's right..wedding weekend! Being Jewish they had a whole weekend of events.

Thursday- wedding! There were a bunch of Jewish customs that I didn't know but I went with the flow.

Friday- Dinner at the parents house. This is a weekly thing but celebrated even bigger when there is a special occasion, such as a wedding.

Saturday- Services in Hebrew. That's two hours of Hebrew with a brief 20 minutes in English. It was intersting to say the least, would have been better without a hangover but it was good.. I made it through. Then lunch... between services and lunch it was about 5 hours. Then a brief rest and back to festivities at 8pm for ice cream. More family fun (or craziness) however you want to say it. Then to bed..finally gettting a good nights sleep.

Sunday-brunch. The brunch went from 10 until 1230 when I had to take myself and the grooms mom to the airport. After being delayed and hour my flight was finally off the ground and I wasnt home till 1130. And then up for school at 615. Amazing hu!~?

Ok..time to actually go and pretent to sleep.... I mean teach!

i dont know about yours...but...

2008-06-17T07:57:00.000-04:00

I dont know about your mommy but my mommy is pretty freaking AWESOME!!!

Besides the awesome digital camera I got... my mommy sent me my favorite meal. Well..it didnt really make it all THAT well, seeing how it spent the weekend in the post office, BUT it was totally the thought that counted and shes freaking amazing. How many mommies do you know that would cook a childs favorite meal and pay a butt-load of money to ship it over night across the country just for a birthday present!?! Mine did and shes AMAZING!

Happy Birthday

2008-06-16T08:15:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to me

Lightening without Thunder

2008-06-11T09:14:00.000-04:00

Last night was CRAZY! We had an amazing lightening storm here in they city. I was so impressed by the lightening. It was everywhere and lighting up the sky all over the place. There were moments where it looked like day light because of the amount and power of the lightening. At first, it was super windy with the lightening, then it started to RAIN! And I do mean RAIN!!!

The rain was everywhere. It was awesome. As some of you may know it has be H O T around here for the last four days. 90+ every day. Last night it was probably 90 outside and then the storm hit. An hour later it was donw to 72 degrees. It made it SO nice in my bedroom. It was great!

O..and Im excited because I get my first bday present to night. Thanx mom!

So craziness

2008-06-09T19:36:00.000-04:00

So one day I was walking though Union Square and there was this HUGE pillow fight. I wanted to check it out so I walked around the square. On the north end of the square there was this van. It was a campaign stop for Harvey Dent.

Harvey Dent was running for District Attorney for Gothem City. Aka the new Batman Movie stunt. After figuring out what it was and figuring it couldnt hurt I decided to join in.

Well.. after months of waiting they finally put up a site on the rally. Well..aparrently being a girl in this rally of mostly guys a girl is rare. So, out of all the rallies around the county (about 30 fo them) I was put on the promotional video!!!

Check out Annie on the video!

Just a Reminder

2008-06-01T18:08:00.001-04:00

For those of you who don't remember... two week from tomorrow (Monday) is my birthday. It would be better for you to get your presents in the mail early!!!

Just a friendly reminder!

Back to Square one!

2008-05-30T12:16:00.000-04:00

That's right folks. Annie is back to square one without a job for next year.

Today I was told that I am one of TEN teachers in my school to get put into 'excess.' Excess means that my school has no bugeted room for me. BUT I am still offically a 'teacher' in the NYC public school system. This means that I get the pleasure of looking for a new job.

This technically puts me exactly where I was last year, minus the NYC experience. But I am at a disadvantage because I have not HAD my own classroom. This is where the cluster position comes to bite me in the ass. O well. So back to the issue at hand. I now have to find myself a job! How exciting is that?

On one hand, I get to start fresh again. WOOHOO. On the other.. there are people in the building who will, for one reason or another, leave between now and August. Thats how it work every year. Hopefully as they leave they will fill their positions with people who already taught here. That would be amazing. But that's where the year of classroom experience vs the year of cluster comes into play. So we shall see.

The other thing that worries me... if I am put into excess for next year are they REALLY gunna hire me for summer school?

ON TOP of this I take my NY state licenecing test tomorrow. How amazing is that?

UGH

2008-05-29T08:39:00.001-04:00

I hate being sick. anyone want to make me feel better?

A Great Weekend

2008-05-28T08:40:00.000-04:00

It was a great Memorial Day weekend in the city. There was lots to do in the city, and I enjoyed a lot of it.

Saturday was painting my new table. I got a table off the side of the road for my kitchen. The only problem with it is that it is green...my kitchen stuff is red... needless to say I didn't want to have a Christmas kitchen so I had to paint it. It is now 'apple red.' Very fitting I think. Then when the paint was drying I had to get out of the house other wise I was going to try to paint again before it was dry. Don't worry... I was out back painting so I totally was not painting around the Suz! So... out I went. I figured since it was SUCH a nice day I would go to Central Park. Well..ok. So I had never really seen the upper part of the park so I got off at 110 street and walked down to 59th street. If you have never been in the city...that's a lot freaking WAY!... So in the park I...walked though the forest, saw a wedding with only 6 people attending, saw a street performance with a crowd of like 300 people, a Marine band play the national anthem, and a random group of hula hoppers.
Sunday came. So did laundry. Apparently there are less than normal people doing laundry on holiday weekends. Then another coat of paint on the table. After that... I needed sun. Must head to Central Park. I headed down there and fell asleep! I was laying on my stomach so my back took most of the sun and it really wasn't that bad. After that I needed to cool down and I know I have my test this weekend so I headed to Borders to study a bit. They always have study guides. Though I think I will be ok the book scared me a little with the world history and art history. Those are going to be the only ones I am going to worry about.

Then Monday came! 80 degrees and beautiful!!! I decided I was going to hit the Museum of Modern Art. I have wanted to go for a while so I went! O how I love my non-expiring UO ID. Student price is only 12 dollars! The coolest thing in the museum was the area that turned you into black and white. The yellow lights wash all the color out of everything. It was so much fun to watch people go in and out of color. The design area was cool with the chairs from like the fifties and sixties. And the most of the art itself was really cool. Somethings I just don't understand... like the video of the girl hula hooping with barbed wire. But .. what is art? The last thing I did was to walk by the theater that I love and see a person handing out tickets to a free movie screening.

Tuesday came back to work and lots movie parties for my 4th graders. As long as I don't get sick I should make it through the week. Then I went to my free movie screening. To make it downtown in time I had to ride Metro North down to Grand Central. It is a REALLY nice train. SO much better than the Jersey train that I took back from the airport over there one time. So off I was to see the new Get Smart movie. Being that you had to be in line by 415 and I got there at 410 I was worried I was not going to get in. The guy stopped taking people FOR SURE two people ahead of me. As I waited I really wanted to see it but I wasn't sure. Finally with 5 minutes to spare I was let into the VERY NICE theater. It was the 15th floor of the HBO building that the private screening room was on. It was AMAZING! It was plush seats and carpeted floors. The BEST movie theater I had been in. It was SWEET!

Now it's Wednesday and I am sick. Isn't life grand?

A nice long weekend

2008-05-23T09:18:00.001-04:00

It should be a nice long relaxing weekend. I am going to do nothing but enjoy the sun and possibly enjoy some sailers. That's right ladies... its Fleet Week here in the city. I plan on doing some r and r in the city ... possibly while getting some much needed rays in the sun in my new bikini. And hey.. if there just HAPPENS to be cute sailers around.. bummer right?
Wish me luck!

Trying to stay awake at work

2008-05-20T08:29:00.000-04:00

During my prep there is nothing to do. Yes.. there are things I COULD do but I dont want to go through and grade just yet and I dont want to transfer all my stuff over. Maybe I will do that tomorrow during my double prep. But that means going onto EACH of my ten computers and pulling off information from each. Between the Ducky videos, to the Ducky missing posters and then the step by step projects that I have to grade. I have to go onto the computers and pull them off by myself. And while that sounds like WAY fun... I will save it till tomorrow, but that means that I have nothing to do today. Ah... falling asleep sounds like a plan but they seem to frown on that here for some reason.
O well.
Back to thinking about what days I have left to do with what students.

Birthday Wishes

2008-05-19T15:35:00.000-04:00

SO. Just incase yo8u are wondering... I am super excited to get birthday wishes from everyone.

Just to give you an idea of stuff to get me.. heres a list.
-gift cards
+ target
+ bed bath and beyond
+ container store
+ itunes!!!
-Envy phone. In green of course
-and whatever you feel like

I didnt win

2008-05-18T16:51:00.001-04:00

Ok.. so I didnt win the lottery. Back to the real world.

Stupid Computers

2008-05-16T09:29:00.000-04:00

Don't you hate it when your computer DIES!!! Dead. Gone. No one can fix it.

Ok.. so someone could fix mine. It died on Wednesday and no idea why. Just started working REALLY slow and then shut down. After a MAJOR freak out I took it to BestBuy's Geek Squad and they said.. mam... your harddrive is SUPER DEAD!!! Like.. out computer wont even start it up. SOOO another 160 dollars down the drain and I have a new harddrive. Now all I have to do is wait the 7-10 days for my recovery disk from Sony. Then go through the process of downloading all my stuff again. Sad times.

MOM-see I told you it was a good thing to get me that external hard drive. I didnt lose any of my work from college or pictures from the last couple of years!~

Sick Day!

2008-05-14T09:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my first official sick day! i felt sick and I didnt go to work! How crazy is that?!

When I got up I just didnt feel well.. a continuation of Monday's not feel well. So I sat in my living room from 630 to 7 and said screw it... and called in sick.

After catching up on my tv from Monday night, I was feeling better. I decided that the best way to make myself feel better would be to go into the city and enjoy the beautiful day instead of sitting home and feeling horrible. So I did. I got on the train and decided Chambers Street would be the place to get off and start looking.

Aparntly I ended up in Tribeca and all the beautiful restruants down there. After window shoppng a couple of places, I landed in a restruant called Stakes and Burgers on Grenwich (sp?) and Franklin. It was SO good. I sat and read my book and enjoyed the quiteness of the restruant. The waiter was funny, at one point asking if I wanted my book READ to me! Umm...no but thanks. Then I walked until I found a subway station and headed up to Central Park. I layed in the sun and read for about an hour. Then headed home. Man my feet hurt from wearing my heals!

After that I stupidly bought the game Roller Coaster Tycoon. Addiction... that's all I have to say. O well.

Now its Wednesday and back to work for me. Trying to figure out if I totally messed myself up by skipping work yesterday. All should be ok.

Wish Me Luck!

2008-05-09T19:40:00.000-04:00

I bought a lottery ticket today. Well..five of them. BUT!!! In my defence the jackpot is 145 million dollars!

Ok... So I really don't expect to win but.. it would help. Each time I buy a lottery ticket I spin off into the 'what if'...' world.

I would...
buy an apartment in the city
buy a plane and a piolet.
buy computers for my school (with everything)
buy a house on the oregon coast. (thinking of summer break)
go to vegas
invest for my future and the kids (neices and nephews)

all the usual stuffs.

UGH!!!

2008-05-09T09:32:00.000-04:00

DUDE!!! My friends just need to come now!!!

I cant wait for them!

David... get your ass over here.
Morgan. Im SUPER EXCITED.
And Debbie... bring some going out clothes. Bc We hitting the town!

Even more craziness.

2008-05-08T17:35:00.000-04:00

So. Aparently I have a life. Well..sorta.

Right now I have three friends on the lst to come visit in the next couple of months. I am going to Denver in June (skipping two days of school!!!). I am (hopefully) teahcing summer school... Then I will go home for two weeks. Then back to the grind but I am not thinking of that right now.

I am jsut so excited for a GREAT summer...boyfriend or not (not at this point) I dont care. I am gunna enjoy lots and lots!

Routines for next year

2008-05-07T16:44:00.000-04:00

Routines

1. Each class must clean up. Kinder (please say I dont have...) crayons go away. Kids are sitting down on the rug before they can go to the computers.

2. Rules for each class on a chart.

Craziness

2008-05-07T11:05:00.000-04:00

It has been crazy around here.

Last Saturday I went to see my TEAM!!! (Seattle Mariners) play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. It was GREAT! We had some pretty cool seats in the bleachers.. right along the railing so we could see most of the feild (minus the camera next to us blocking the first base line). The Yankees killed 6-1 but o well. If I am not rooting for the Mariners it's the Yankees so it's all good.

After the game I went to Aurther Ave, which is the Little Italy section of the Bronx that is better than Littel Italy in Manhattan. It was so much fun. I got some fresh cheese and used it in my speghetti on Monday so that was GREAT! (dude, as I wrote "GREAT" tony the tiger was in my head saying. gotta love advertising right?!)

Sunday I went to the city to shop! I had to get a dress for Jess' wedding. I went to Banana Republic and retried on a dress that I tried on last week. It still fit, still fits into the 'conservative' side of the wedding, and it was ONE SALE!!! (I know you'll love that mom). So I HAD to get it. It was a GREAT steal from Banana Republic. Now I feel all growed up and stuff that I got a dress at Banana Republic!

Then it was back to the grind here at work. BUT! Monday after work a friend and I went out and had drinks after work. It was AWESOME bc she showed me a new part of the Bronx. It is the Irish part. I looked around and there were like 5 pubs on the same block. All authentic and all AMAZING looking inside. They really take care of their bars. Totally not like Kell's at home where it's 'authentic' .. no no no.. this is ... walking into Ireland. Everyone has accents and the paper for the area told of all the Irish businesses that the Irish people should patron. It was SO funny and GREAT. Definately not Manhattan prices for drinks! And it will only take me like a subway and bus to get there. Finding new places is one thing that makes me want to have a car. Its a lot easier to find new places without having to ride a bus. O well.

Now it's time to head to my next class (its lunch right now). But I did have SUPER amounts of fun this morning tryng to plan out the rest of the year. Baring any unscheduled misses, I think I did it. We shall see.

Ideas on routine for next year

2008-05-01T19:39:00.000-04:00

A routine is something I really need to work on for next year.

Ideas: Laminate everything!!! group folders.. aim sheets...

Each day should have a routine.
-say hello
-intro/recap the project
-lesson (?)
-get out computer by group number.
-raise hand to get my attention

The important thing is to get the routine down and keep to it. Get info on every student at the begining of the year. Telephone numbers for home. Full names and classes. Grade book for each class. Checking off how they are doing each day.

These are just some of the things I am thinking about for next year.

PS BUY LAMINATOR!

Ideas for next year

2008-04-28T08:44:00.000-04:00

Just thinking.
Frist.. sign out for cd's. The kids need to take more responsibility.
Second. Individual work with k/1. starting today I am going to try getting the little ones to work on typing. We shall see how it goes. Maybe I will work on names and high frequency words first.
Third. Make worksheets .
Four. typing first thing.
Five. More vocabulary used on a daily basis. List to follow.

back to life

2008-04-28T08:40:00.001-04:00

Back to life...back to reality.

That is the song that keeps going through my head. That's right. Break is over and Annie is back to work. I am really only worried about one class... I have a request into my ap to talk about that class but hopefully they are back from break and ready to stop being little shits!

A Great Week

2008-04-27T13:09:00.000-04:00

It has been spring break here in NYC and I have been loving it!

On Saturday, as you have read, I saw the pope. It was pretty cool to watch him drive by in the pope mobile. It was so awesome. There were so many people and such a celebration. It was another one of the 'moments' I have been looking for in moving to NYC.

Then on Sunday a friend of mine got tickets to a preview of an up coming movie... not an uncommon thing here in the city. Well... This one was different. It was a couple of clips from the new movie 'Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D.' The movie clips also included a pannel with Brendan Fraiser. There I was... 20 feet from my version of a rock star! He was amazingly HOT and down the earth. During the movie clips he shouted SIKE!!! It was awesome. After the movie clips he did some more talking and then walked out. Walking out of the theater... there he was!!! He was talking to fans and I actually got a picture with him!!! He is SO freaking hot and my camera took forever to load so I got like 2 minutes with my arm around a VERY HOT movie star. It was GREAT. He's definately my 'when I marry I get one movie star to do on the side...' he's it.

The rest of the week was really just trying to come down off cloud nine! Between enjoying some alone time with my kitty to seeing a movie or two... it has been a GREAt spring break. It could always be longer but good. And today is a day of rest after laundry and shopping for food... I get the pleasure of figuring out where my classes are and what is happening for the next month and a half.

Sounds like fun hu?

O! PS. I met a REALLY cute guy yesterday. I was waiting for a frind in Manhattan and he was promoting a salon.. I have already done that promotion so I couldnt but he kept coming over to me.. talking in small spirts since he was 'working' but he did give me a flyer for the off broadway show he's in and I am going to go. Doughful that he'll remember me or even see him but... worth a try since he was SO cute. www.myspace.com/thesetupplay and his name is Major!

Top 10 things

2008-04-19T17:57:00.000-04:00

In an effort to get to know a good friend better, the other day I asked him what is his BEST memory. I got to thinking about it today and decided that, while blogging to keep my friends and family up to date with what's happening in NYC, I am also blogging as more of a diary for me.

So I decided to come up with my top ten. They are in random order because I cannot rank them. After my Top Ten List I also have a Worst 5 list.

1. Grandma doing spelling with me which I was very little.
2. ______ secret...
3. My grandfather wearing my favorite boy smell. Aparently grandma had smelled it on a doctor when she was alive.. also made me closer to her bc we have the same taste.
4. All three graduations (high school. undergrad. grad school.)
5. First picture with both of my parents in MANY years (high school grad).
6. 21st birthday weekend
7. Skydiving
8. My first trip to NYC alone (for interviews).
9. Becoming an auntie!
10. Getting my Suzie.

Worst 5 (in no particular oder)
1. A private comment Eric made in January 2008.
2. Grandma's Death
3. Mom leaving NYC when I moved here.
4. News from Adam (again... ask and I might tell..)
5. A kick me sign on my back at school. (DONT ASK!)

DUDE!!! I saw the POPE!

2008-04-19T17:48:00.000-04:00

Thats right. I waited over an hour and a half to see the five seconds that the pope was in front of me. I got a picture though.

The biggest suprise was the amount of security that the man had. These are the cops that stood at the intersection of 70th and FifthAve for at least two hours before he arrived.

Then after he took like all of like 10 minutes to go between 50th and 72nd ave. Then it was over. In New York fasion the streets were clear and they were cleaning up within 20 minutes. With the street (FifthAve) still being closed it is RARE that you can walk down an empty street. I had to take a picture of Fifth Ave look south.

Papal visit

2008-04-18T21:46:00.000-04:00

So the idea of moving to NYC was to do stuff I never thought I would do.

Tomorrow... Saturday... is going to be one of those days. I am going to see the Pope tomorrow. He's in NYC for three days and I want to see him. No Im not religious but the Pope is freaking cool and I could see him in person which is just amazing. Kinda like a rock star in his own way.

Ill write more after I see him!

A better day

2008-04-17T20:38:00.001-04:00

Today was a better day. Thursdays are good days and it almost restored my faith in teaching..kinda... Im better though.

One more day...

Shitty week

2008-04-17T08:24:00.000-04:00

It has been a SHITTY week. That is for sure. Between the class from hell, that thinks they are the shit and do not have to listen to me and my eyes hurting, I am so done with this week.
First, my class from hell. They are walking all over me and it sucks really badly. They havent been THAT bad until this week. Monday they were horrible so I took away computers yesterday and that didnt help. They were still horrible. So I emailed the ap for that grade and hopefully we can come up with something. I am not sure when I am meeting with her so I hope it goes well.
Then.. my damn eyes have hurt all week. Its the same old hurt, behind my eyes and around them. It has to do with my eyes being tired, and could totally be from stress but it usually goes away when I sleep. Not the last two days, I have woken up and it STILL hurts. I am not a happy camper.

THEN. I finish work yesterday and look in my wallet. ALL 50 bucks I had in spending money... GONE. All gone. Stolen. Some little punk moved the board that sits in front of my closet, opened my closet, unzipped my jacket pocket, opened my wallet and stole 50 bucks. How this happened when there are ALWAYS teachers in here with kids... I dont know. Im not blaming anyone it just sucks major balls. And it makes me think I didnt loose that 10 bucks last week either. I guess I should just be thankful that the rest of my wallet, credit cards and stuff, along with my iPod and cell phone where still there. That could have made for a long day. O well. Back to work.

gotta love nyc right?!

A good weekend

2008-04-15T08:20:00.000-04:00

I had a good weekend this weekend. On Saturday I had to take the 4 hour adventure to BFE Brooklyn again. I had to get my necklace checked out to keep it under warranty. It takes forever to get there and 2 minutes to check it and clean it. O well. It is safe once again for another six months. I might do the next one in Ptwon when I come home in August. (Ill be home for TWO WEEKS in August.)

Sunday was a day of..SHOPPING!!! Annie got a new credit card and HAD to make sure it worked. That's right.. HAD to make sure. (Don't worry mom.. I only charged like 100 this weekend...)

Monday was just what it was.. Monday. Kids were ok until last period where they were INSANE and horrible. I had a hard time getting bc I was already frustrated and had lots of stuff in my hands. Gotta love Mondays? NO!!!

BUT! I will LOVE next Monday. I have it off. I have all of next week off. What will I do!?! Well... I have no clue yet. I am going to spend the week resting that's for sure. If it's nice weather I might go into the city and enjoy Central Park some more like I did last summer. We shall see.

Off to another long day of teaching.. 4th grade is on the list for today!

Friday.... thank goodness

2008-04-11T09:33:00.000-04:00

I am SO happy its Friday. It has been a long week! As long as I make it though my 'informal' observation in a couple of minutes I will be fine. Then tomorrow's a movie and the mall to get my neckless from Oregon checked out. Sunday. A day of rest. Five more days of school then..then A WEEK OFF!!! What am I doing you ask? Not sure yet. But it will include LOTS of sleeping!

Bored at Work

2008-04-01T08:10:00.000-04:00

I am bored at work! I realize I probably shouldn't be but when 11 classes are doing the same thing... I get bored. Yes I am teaching kids things they don't know, but at the same time... there are 110 project groups that are doing the same thing. These groups are all at different places and I usually end up teaching them individually what to do. That means I say the same thing at least 220 times, considering I have to usually repeat it at LEAST twice for each group.

Then add in that its APRIL and I have kids who still do not know where to find their documents and waste an entire period waiting quietly for me to help them. That means, for those that are quiet they don't get any work time because the loud ones command my attention. Which, of course, is how the quiet ones like it!

A Great Book

2008-03-31T08:13:00.000-04:00

I read a GREAT book this weekend. I was at the bookstore this weekend and picked up two new books because my subway reading book was getting towards the end. I picked up the book "P.S. I love you." It was a quick grab because it was only 14 dollars and I had heard of the movie, but not seen it.

This book was SO good. I got it on Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday evening. All 470 pages. It was SO good. After looking on wikipedia it seems that there are a lot of differences between the book and the movie but I am still excited to see it. This being on the third book ever that I have read then seen the movie. The other two were with my student teaching class, Holes and Bridge of Terabethia. I am super excited to see the movie, even though they have adapted it to be in New York instead of Ireland. It was a GREAT book and an easy read. So if you are looking for a good book this is the one!

A long week

2008-03-28T09:05:00.000-04:00

Why do weeks that are shorter seem SOO long? O wait. That's because my days have gone SOOO slow. I have worked only four days and I'm ready for a vacation. Its not like it has been a particularly challenging week but just slow.. each and every class has gone SO slow. But only three weeks till I get a week off. Spring break.

Though I am sad that I didn't have this entire week of to be with friends from Oregon, but my friends teaching in Oregon don't have a single day off (week day) until Memorial Day weekend. I have three weeks a week off then four weeks till Memorial Day. Then four weeks and we're done!

Summer school? Still not sure yet. We shall see. I kinda just want time to hang out and enjoy the city without having to teach. Or do ANYTHING but get a tan!!! Which I can do after I teach the half days of summer school but meh. A whole summer to myself and STILL getting paid would be AMAZING. I just wouldn't be able to pay for anything bc I would be spending all my money on food in the city for the day!

Great Weekend

2008-03-25T08:28:00.000-04:00

It is the end of a long weekend for me. First, I had Friday off because it was Good Friday. Sweet. Jesus died and I get a day off!! I mean... it was a FUN day.

I spent all day Friday at the DMV. I literally spent 4 hours at the DMV. Then, in their grand fashion they took my Oregon licence (which I expected) only to give me a piece of paper without a picture on it. So they took five hours of my life and left me without photo id. I them got asked for my id twice this weekend. Once for something I cant remember, and once for the Letterman show (we didn't get on..:( ). This is Annie without photo id!

Then Saturday was amazing. Only in NYC you can you find a four block square, four different things going on. I ran into a HUGE pillow fight. It lasted over an hour. A real political rally about the war and Bush (big surprise right). A fake political rally for the new Dark Night Batman movie, Harvey Dent is running for District Attorney and they were shooting video of a fake rally. I even JOINED IN!~!! It was super fun. I handed out buttons and got on camera, being one of three girls there. And in Union Square there was also the weekly farmers market. I got some GREAT apple cider. That was all in about 2 hours!

Sunday was a day of productivity. I got up at 8. I cleaned the house, headed to the laundry mat to wash the blankets for my friends to come into town, went grocery shopping and was done with all of that by 12! Then I hung out until 1, where I was going to go check on my taxes because I haven't gotten them yet (I'm worried it's the wrong account number bc of the lack of info when I got my taxes done.) But of course, it was apparently Easter so I couldn't check on my taxes. I headed towards Manhattan, with a stop off at Borders to get a new book, I headed to the airport to pick up Meg and Brian!!! We had fun carting their luggage around Times Square, Rockefeller Center and into the Burger Joint (easily my FAV nyc restaurant). Then to Columbus Circle to head home. That was a good, productive but long day.

Monday was even longer. We were out of the house by 915. We headed everywhere. To Letterman to get tickets (which we didn't). Then to the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) which wasn't open on Monday's apparently. Then to the Guggenheim for an AWESOME display by a Chinese artist who apparently likes to create art using gun powder and then blowing it up! Then we headed to Limbardi's Pizza. It was great as always, if you want good authentic Italian pizza GO THERE!!! Then it was on to the World Trade Center and Wall Street. Then to the best restaurant that I can find that it unique (the Burger Joint is burgers), SuperMac is mac 'n' cheese with different kinds. I had some really goog cheese steak mac 'n' cheese! It was so good, though I really wasn't that hungry. Then, after waiting 45 minutes for a train at Penn Station, we headed home to get home at like 1030 My friends stayed up a little more and Annie hit the sack for work today! Sounds like fun hu!?!

Lookign forward to this weekend

2008-03-20T08:11:00.001-04:00

It is going to be a great weekend. First, today is my friday! I am headed to department of motor vehicles tomorrow to get a NY drivers licence. So exciting. I just figure people are having issues finding the nearly rubbed off expiration date on my OR licence so might as well. I would get a regular id, which is 40 bucks cheeper, but this way I dont have to go through the process of getting a licence again when I move to another state. AND I can drive when I go home and/or rent a car.

Tomorrow night also opens the Duck basketball playoff run to the top. I might go watch in lower Manhattan with the Alumni chapter. It should be way fun.

The saturday I am taking my new dishes back because they came cracked. And maybe Ill see a movie or something.

Sunday. My friends from Oregon come into town. Im so excited to see them and show them my city. And because they are in town from sunday though thursday, I decided to take my frist official day off. That's right folks Annie's playing hookie from work to be a tourist guide to the city!!! Happy times. That should be my weekend..

You know. Im ok with four days on, four days off, four days on. It should be like that all the time!

Thinking of what can happen

2008-03-17T20:24:00.001-04:00

Today at work one of my coworkers told me that her boyfriend passed away. He has been sick for only a couple of weeks. His life slipped away quickly. My friend was telling us that he had everything in order. He knew how he wanted to be taken care of and what he wanted to happen after he passed. She thought it was crazy that they had had these conversations just weeks ago and now here it was the day before his viewing. Crazy.

Situations, though morbid, make you think. What will happen to me? Who will take care of things? And what the hell am I doing now? He was completely healthy (as far as he knew) weeks ago and now hes not here. I just wonder when I will go and what the situation will be. I want to live for today. This living for today makes me want to do so many things but also makes me thankful for what I am doing. I am living for today... in NYC. I will never regret moving to NYC and the changes in my life since moving here. I do miss somethings... friends...places... but NYC was the best decision I have ever made. (<--rambling)

It makes a girl think. There is no way I want to be buried. Putting a dead body in a ground to take up more space just seems to be worthless. I want to be scattered in so many places. I want to be in NYC (Manhattan. top of the rock. statin island ferry. the bronx. the two and five trains!... Oregon. so many places in oregon. the dorms! the college of ed. cascade head up by lincoln city. newport. old town florence.) all of these places have so many of my memories. I just feel like if i was in these places the 'after life' would be SO much better. enjoying the places i enjoyed in life.

o. and yall need to celebrate my damn life. I am here to live it. and party while here. party when i leave!

A Great weekend

2008-03-10T08:36:00.000-04:00

It was a GREAT weekend. I got to do some great stuff.
First, Friday was a day of finishing. FINALLY I got the project that my fifth graders worked on for six weeks DONE!!! It is printed and copied. They get to see them today! I am super excited for them to decorate the covers and be able to give a copy to the principal and assistant principal. The extra five dollars they cost are worth it (that way they can see what the kids have been doing!).

The other exciting thing this weekend was that a friend and I went to a Blazers game. Thats right. Blazers in the big apple. We got to see the Blazers beat the Knicks in over time. 120-114! It was a close game at the end of the fourth but Ptown prevailed. It was fun because we went with my alumni chapter, so we were in a section of Blazer fans! One guy sitting next to me had to ask me if I was with the Oregon fans or not... because I had bought a Knicks foam finger. I had to laugh. Yes, I was with the Oregon peeps, but beign the weirdo that I am (and this is partly mom's fault) I have a foam finger collection. Since I was at Madison Freaking Square Gardens, I had to buy a finger! It was awesome though. Knicks were coming back in the fourth and allthe fans were talking crap to us, because we were gunna lose. Yeah...they were quiet when we dominated in overtime! Life's great! now I shold probably think about going to teach! Love yall and miss you.

Looking toward the future.

2008-03-05T18:00:00.000-05:00

I am looking toward the future these days. Of course, that is all I ever seem to do. Never really content in my current life. If this is true... not sure but it sure seems like it.

I am looking forward towards two things.
1: Next year. I am thinking I am going to continue in my current position. In looking at my job it seems that it would actually be easier to stay in my job. First, those students that I have this year will have me next year, know me and respect me more. Second, the principal said it was not an issue. Third, the principal also stated that we will sit down and have a discussion of what has and has not worked as well as how the job should be restructured for next year with what is and is not working.

2: The coming years after next year. It seems that I am dying to run away from hom.e NYC is amazing. I love living here and I am super excited for the summer to enjoy NYC in the hot swealtering heat. Then into next year. But after that...? I have been looking at teaching over seas. In 18 months I cannot see being in such a place that I cannot leave NYC and my job here... and over seas would be amazing. I am thinking... SPAIN!! Or maybe Greece!? I am thinking these look like freaking great experiences. Learning another language, being able to travel as well. Seeing Europe, which is something that no one in my family has done. I could see it. I could imagine it. We shall see....

Leave your thoughts!

Missing a Karen

2008-02-24T19:54:00.000-05:00

Ahh... today ends the end of the four day whirlwind of tourism. I loved having Karen here. It was AMAZING! We went everywhere and saw everything. I miss her already! But needless to say my legs are excited to go back to work tomorrow. Should have told her to come wed through Sat instead of Sunday but o well! I lvoe her...we had way fun and took lots of pictures~ craziness!

Single

2008-02-20T22:20:00.001-05:00

I am now single. Eric and I broke up. Just a general fyi.

Forgetting A Step

2008-02-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

It seems that the weather around here has forgotten a step.

Back home... when it snowed, the snow melted. Not a problem. Or the snow melted when it rained... not a problem. But when it snows the DAMN RAIN IS SUPPOSED TO MELT IT!!!

It is not supposed to rain cats and dogs while there is still snow on the ground. The freaking streets here are discusting. There is snow on all of the side walks and on the sides of the streets. Now that it's raining there is plenty of water around, under and on top of the damn slush. It is freaking rediculous. And because there is so much excess water, the puddles on the side of the streets go ut at least 2 feet if not 3 or 4. That also doesnt account for the slush in these side puddles that make it look like just a little bit of a puddle, only to be stepped in and go down like four inches!!!

Needless to say it was not fun to get to work this morning... and now I have a double prep with nothing to do!

A good weekend

2008-02-12T07:44:00.000-05:00

It was a good weekend. I did nothing really... but it was good.
I got a new couch. For those of you that don't know, I sat on my couch about three weeks ago and broke it. That's right..the couch that is less than six months old broke on me! The framing on the bottom of the couch broke. I called the company... after weeks of trying I finally got a new couch this weekend. AND because there was no saving the other one to resale it, they left the other one. So now I have two couches! It will be great when I have other people in my apt!

The other half of my weekend was productive. I got up on Sunday, went shopping for food, did laundry, tried to bake cookies (they burnt) and then made a very good batch of strognoff (sp?!) It was all in all a good weekend.

Now all I have to do is make it though the week... I have next week off and Karen will be here!!! I am SUPER excited!

Finding a ballance

2008-02-06T17:59:00.000-05:00

As I sat with my mentor today, I am thinking ahead towards next year. The kids this year are driving me insane and so we were talkinga bout what to do. I am hoping that next year I can grow and do a better job, as it should be.

Things I am thinking about tend to center around the begining of the year. I need to

get a grip on rules at the begining of year. rules need to include policies around computers, checking computers at the end of class, raising hands, getting my attention, plugging in computers
also when it comes to behavior. calling home. i need to start early calling home for good and bad behavior.
the using of a projector needs to happen early so they can get used to it
the use of assignment sheets needs to be used early so that they can get the hang of it. start easy. a couple of steps then work up to it.
go through the stuff i have this year and pull out good and bad stuffs. start with typing, then go with projects.

These are just some of the things that I need to do next year. Keep watch of more things to come.

an exciting project

2008-02-06T07:36:00.000-05:00

After my kids finish their current project... newspapers, we are going to embark on movies. The kids are going to have a choice of two different projects. They may either choose to do a movie including pictures from the school (taken my yours truly) or they can use the ducky pictures that I am going to demonstrate with.
This weekend I am going to go on an adventure. As a tourist I have been a lot of places. I remember what it was like to see each for the first time and I want to convey that in video. But I really cannot take pictures of myself by myself in the city, so I have come up with a plan. It is going to be, A Day In The City with Ducky. Ducky will be getting on the subway... heading into town, getting on and off the subway, doing all the stairs and seeing the sites. Ducky is lucky because he will have me to document his journey. Then, after returning home with these documented pictures, I will be putting these pictures into a video. The cool thing that I can do is to narrioate what Ducky is doing then present the video to the kids. I am super excited about this project. It should be way fun. Hopefully I can get a large part of it done on Friday and the rest done on Saturday. Then I can spend the majority of Sunday putting the vidoe together. This is going to be super fun I hope. Ducky will get dirty, like every other NYC tourist, but we are super excited. Leave me a note if you would like to see Ducky's adventures. Maybe I will finally figure out YouTube and post it there and here. We shall see.

a great day

2008-02-04T08:10:00.000-05:00

Sundays are usually a day of rest, or at least laundry. But this Sunday was SO awesome. Yesterday it was like 45 in the city and sunny. So, on a wim, I headed into the city. By myself.. that's it... just me. Walking around the city for like three hours.. enjoying the warm air that had just a nip of cold, the people..so many people enjoying the same, walking past fashion week, and getting a great deal on a fabulous new red top. It was a great Sunday. (ps. Go Giants! so sad I can't go to parade tomorrow..stupid people should wait till the weekend so morepeople can go!)

ah good movie

2008-01-31T07:47:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to a free movie showing. It was for the new movie Forgetting Sara Marshal. The movie doesnt actually come out for another couple of months so it was a rough cut but the movie was REALLY good. Coming from the director (or producer i dont remember) of Knocked Up and Superbad, it was super funny and entertaining. I really want to go see the final theater cut so I can see what they took out and what they fixed but it was super funny. That's all I can really say bc I am swarn to secrecy..or I signed the weiver..

100th Post with some exciting news

2008-01-17T07:39:00.000-05:00

So.. my friend REALLY wanted to get the new Mel Brooks cd of Young Frankinstein and we found out that he was signing them at Barn's and Noble on Tuesday in the city right... WELL!! Let me tell you.

After TWO hours of waiting in line we got down to two people in front of us. TWO!!! And they said he would not be doing any more signing. The people in front of us were very not happy. One was a bonified signature hounder and the other had worked on the opening production in Seattle this spring. Needless to say they were very upset and wanted to stay. So we stayed! After about 20 minutes they said 20 more people! BUT YOU MUST HAVE A CD! Crap. I didn't have a cd... so I let my friend go in to say hi and get a pict with my camera. O well right? Wrong.

The signature hound in front of us talked my friend into walking around the building to find the exit so we could meet him. At the back end of the building was the service entrance. Thats where he was gunna come out. WE knew it. After about another 15 minutes the big garage door opened and out poped MEL BROOKS! He stoped to sign the other guys stuff and then asked if I had anything to sign. I said no, he cracked a joke of can he read my book, shook my hand and he was off. Into his car and gone. Freaking cool! I shook his hand.

This is what NYC is all about!

Dang..gotta see movie

2008-01-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

When the movie Spelling Bee came out I thought I would not need to see it. It seemed like a movie that I did not want to see. As it turns out.. I watched some of it with my fourth graders today and I NEED to see the rest of it.

They had watched the begining of it before I showed up and it was not over at the end of the period. I am going nutz to see how it ends!

And now I have some funny fifth graders trying to read my blog! They seem to think that it is funny to read over my shoulder when I am typing, though it seems very distracting!

Been a while

2008-01-10T08:09:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while.. for those loyal readers...I am sorry. Its been busy getting back to school and the swing of things.

School is...fine... kids are nutz and driving (or pushing) me in the same direction. It is state testing time here in the great state of NY so the kids are a little off. When you spend an hour to an hour and a half taking a test in the morning, computer time is not a time you want to sit and be quiet...even for five minutes apparently. I don't remember state tests being this guarded in Oregon last year, especially since they were on computers and we all took them at different times. These tests are almost as guarded as the tests I took on college to become a teacher. Its crazy... gotta love high stakes testing.

As for the home front... Eric got an internship! It is a three month internship in Seattle, WA. The company pushed it from 20 to 40 hours a week so he can actually afford to live in Seattle... if he doesn't find someone to crash with. It is a very exciting time bc this is all he needs to actually propel him into a career in marketing. The company (no idea of the name) is a SMALL company, with about 10 employees and services as a type of consulting firm (I think) and they said any interns that they have not directly hired have gone on to get jobs with their clients. So that's promising. As for actually living in Seattle... we shall see if he likes it.

Nothing else really major happening in the Annie world. I should probably get to work on some stuff for next week. Have a great day.

Ah a new year...

2008-01-02T07:36:00.000-05:00

A new started out right... back to work on the second. Wait..that's not right.. damn them people who think we have recovered by day two of the year.

It has been a good year so far. I spent the last nine of '07 standing in Times Square NYC to see the HUGE ball drop its 77 feet to ring in the new year. After watching myself on the jumbo screen a billion times (the camera guy was stationed at our section) and walking about 25 blocks I made it home safely in about 2 hours. Not bad considering what it would have been if I had tried to get into the Times Square subway station. Suprisingly I had a seat by the second stop and slept a little once I was in the Bronx.

After sleeping away most of yesterday, sadly, it is time to return to work and make sure I have stuff for the little ones to do today during class.

24 hours....

2007-12-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

In 24 hours I will be on a plane to come home! WooHOO! Im a little excited. It is a combination of being away for so long and needing a break from the city. I love the city..don't get me wrong, but it will be nice to go up to the cabin and enjoy the clean air and no traffic. I am sad that I have to leave the Suz home for a week by herself, but my manager is going to come check on her each day.

The issue now is... cleaning. I have to clean.. pack... and everything else that comes with leaving for a week. Dishes... clothes... Christmas light (so Suz doesn't eat them!).. all that fun stuffs. Along with being up at 245 tomorrow so I can put my clothes on (if I dont wear them to bed!!) and walk out the door to the train. Then ride the train and the buss the hour and a half to the airport. Find the right terminal and get the heack out of here!

23 hours adn about 20 minutes and counting. All I gotta do is make it through the next 6 hours and Im home free! Wish me luck!

Long time no see

2007-12-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

So I know it's been a while.. to those of you who are loyal readers I am sorry. Ok.. I probably dont have any loyal readers but hey. I can hope right?

So ... NYC in a nutshell the last week. COLD! On Thursday we had snow. It didnt melt on Friday or Saturday for that matter. But.. by the end of Saturday at least you could walk on the side walks. WAIT! Another winter blast called a NorEaster hit us on Saturday night. That's right folks. Smacked us upside the head. Ice.. Snow... and lots of it. Now while it wasnt that deep... its still here. Thats right.. Sunday morning to Wednesday morning there is still crud all over the ground. It is still slippery to get to the curb from the street and sidewalks where there are no businesses still have ice on them. That is because the snow/ice had melted.. then froze again. Doesnt all this sound like fun!?! Today we are supposed to get up to the 40's so hopefully the little stuff will finally get off the streets. The big stuff will still be here for a while.

On the Christmas front, I am super excited to come home for a week. It will be so great to see my friends and family. Though it's going to be a busy week..if you want precious Annie time, let me know and we shall see what we can do! My plane leaves here at 7 am on Saturday arriving in Ptown on Sat at like 1pm. I cant wait. Hope to see you all next week!

Well winter is here

2007-12-13T16:22:00.001-05:00

That's right folks. Winter is here in the big city. It has been snowing and icing all day. There wass about 2 inches of ice when I came home about a half hour ago. Now.. who knows. Its still going out there. In true Oregon fasion I am going to run inside and hide from the scarry weather.

Frustrating days

2007-12-12T17:14:00.000-05:00

So. My question to all the teachers out there. How do you get 25 kindergartners to sit still when you only see them once a week for 45 minutes? Between the kids who are doing cartwheels on the carpet to those who are jumping off tables, it makes me quesiton my idea to move here sometimes. Mainly Wednesdays when I have three kinder classes in a row.

I am trying to assume that they wouldn't be that way if I was their regular teacher and some authority.... I am hoping that if I was a regular teacher. That is part of the reason that I want my own classroom. But at the same time, my job would be amazing if the students respected me. It would be so fun if the students sat down and acutally listened once and a while. We shall see...

if you are going to fight do it right

2007-12-11T20:44:00.000-05:00

Well. Two of my girls yesterday definitely decided to make this their motto. The girls got in a fight in my room yesterday. It was a knock down drag out... two hands full of each others hair. It was great. Once they finally got pulled off each other one took off with four other kids to the stairwell and the other one disappeared off the other way down the hall. After calling security, I got back to my class. When the phone rang I assumed it was security.
Nope. It was a teacher up on the fourth floor (one floor up). The girls had continued their fight on the next floor up. One of the girls threw a book at the other one and hit an innocent bystander in the process. Gotta love it.

If you are going to fight... do it right.

Gotta Love New York in all of it's glory

2007-12-08T17:18:00.000-05:00

Today I experienced another one of New York City's amazing things. Guy with piss on subway. What the exact sitation was I am not sure. But as the train approached one car was full and the next was empty... always head towards the empty car so I can get a seat. WELL! As you walked onto the car you could smell it. It was horrible. Now sure if it was the guy in the middle of the car (because the only people on the car were at the ends besides this guy) or if it was the liquid on the floor but it was bad. It was so bad that I decided there was no way I was going to make it the four stops to 180th where I could transfer to the 5 train. I had to get out of this car. AT the next stop, the other three guys at my end of the car and I opened the door and went into the otehr car.

Gotta love it. But the rest of the day was spent shopping for Christmas. So far... mom, russell, eric, karen, lili and Jessica are done.

Ah the big city life...

2007-12-06T07:40:00.000-05:00

Chasing a rooster around in front of the building before school. That's big city life for you. Wait.. rooster... o right... local killing factory about a block from school. Gotta love big city life.

Always squeeze from the bottom up..

2007-12-05T18:25:00.000-05:00

A wise woman once said.. you should always follow the directions on the back of a tube of tooth paste... For best results, squeeze from the bottom up.

This week I was watching Oprah (don't judge) and they were talking about the book "Eat, Pray, Love." One of the underlying themes (Im assuming of the book) is to take life by the horns, which is the same theme as squeezing from the bottom up. It got me thinking...

I really want to travel this summer. I will have just finished my first year as a teacher... should have money from a grant.. and have a passion to travel. I want to combine the treat of surviving my first year in NYC along with the money I am getting and my urge to travel. Looking at prices of traveling to such places at Europe and the Caribbean it seems that you have to be rich to travel... or at least plan more than a year in advance.

But, in thinking about these two concepts together it seems that I need to find a happy medium. To me... one idea jumped out. A while ago I heard of the newest trend in vacations... Volunteer vacations. One of these organizations is i-to-i. They take your money... and help you volunteer half way around the world. I took theirplacement test thingee and it said I should look into going to Kenya to work in a school of course. How cool would that be? Travel to Kenya and spend two weeks teaching English.

Travel to another country and help others. Im ok with that. Look for updates.. who knows. Annie.... July... Kenya?

Cold in the city!

2007-12-04T17:11:00.000-05:00

It is freaking cold in the city today. Though snow seems to not be so much fun if it doesnt freak out the kids. It snowed for an hour today and the kids went about their day. Though it was nice to be able to teach...not so fun for snow. O well...

Off to pretend I have stuff to do.