The EFY Life

School got out on Friday May 29, I went to an EFY training on Saturday and began my EFY journey on Sunday. I was originally only suppose to work two weeks, but on Saturday of last week they called me up and asked if I would work that next week as well. I was more than willing to! I have just been loving it up this year!

I have worked with the same team all three weeks and have become very fond of them. Aaron and Jessica are the ones that run the show. They are amazing people that I look up to. Jessica inspires me! She is so knowledgeable and can teach with such power! I adore that girl! The BC (building counselor) team is also amazing. I have had the same BC for two of my weeks, Catherine. She is an adorable girl and I just love her! I also have become close to the health counselors, especially "Health Counselor Katelyn". She is so much fun and we have had some great times together! Each week has brought its own challenges, adventures, and rewards.

BC Catherine

"Health Counselor Katelyn"

Week one:

I had a whopping group of 12 girls. It is a lot of girls to keep track of and get to know. We had a company of 24 girls and 12 boys. There were some in our group that were so much fun and great kids, and others that challenged us throughout the week. That was also the week of sickness. There was a virus that was spreading that week and people were getting sick right and left. My roommate, co-counselor, three of my girls, and four of my co's girls all got sick. Needless to say, that is where my friendship with the health counselors began.

My company "What Ye Have Heard"

Week two:

I had my group of 8 girls. It was a lot nicer than the 12 girls. We had a company of 16 girls and 12 boys. I loved my co-counselors that week and overall we had an awesome company. There were a few here and there that caused a little trouble, but not much. One of my co's girls, Jessica, I just adored! She reminded me a lot of myself and we had some really good times together.

My company "Fellow Beings"

My darling Jessica

Week three:

Only six girls for me! I loved it! One of my girls was very visually impaired and it made for a neat experience. She was very open about her impairment and was a very outgoing girl. People in our company were so willing to help which I loved seeing! My girls were great girls and really didn't cause problems at all. There were my six girls and then my co's eight boys. It was a small company which I loved. We had four just amazing boys and four that were a bit of trouble. The four that were trouble acted like they were too cool for everything and were not making the most of the week. I just tried to show them love and by the end of the week they loosened up a little and I was able to have some neat experiences with them.

My company "According to the Flesh"

I would have loved to have worked this week (and it was very likely that I could have), but I have so much to do before I leave for my vacation in a week. I went shopping yesterday and picked up some items, but there is still more shopping to do. I still need to get my backpack and figure out what is necessary to pack, so that my bag doesn't weigh a ton. I also need to figure out what we will be doing in Munich, Germany, and according to Wendy, I still need to learn German. I'll be spending this week getting everything done. But let me tell you, I miss EFY already.

This past Saturday a group of counselors and I went to a Rodeo. It was a lot of fun. We had to remind ourselves however, that we were not at EFY, therefore, acting crazy is not normal. Haha. I really enjoyed being "real friends" with the friends I have made at EFY.

Me, Colby and Katelyn's brother Garrett

Isaac, Katelyn, and Jordan

Life has been great and I look forward to the adventures that await me this summer!

Roller coaster ride

If you have been wondering where I have been, I have been on a rollercoaster. Life lately has been having so many ups and downs. Where shall I start? The school year is coming to an end, and therefore, the kids, along with myself, are so ready for summer! Even my angle children have been acting up lately. I didn't know that reading time was an okay time for them to create paper boxes at their table, or that it was okay to wander the classroom and chat with friends during the time they should be working. My patience is about ran up and I am trying hard to just enjoy these last three weeks. We do have a some nice breaks throughout the last few weeks. Next week we have a day for "Hershey Track" where we go to the High School and the kids run in track events against other Elementary schools. It should be fun. I think the weather is suppose to be very nice, unlike last year where it SNOWED the day we went. The week after that we have a half day where we get to go down to Salem Pond to participate in some fun activities. This past month all the Salem schools took part in the "Salem Reading challenge" where they have to read set number of minutes for five nights a week and then their reward is this fun outing to the pond. Also that week we will have our 6th grade talent show. It is always very entertaining. The last week of school we have our 6th grade graduation. It is always quite the event. And the day before school gets out the 6th grade is going to Boondocks (a fun center) for a end-of-the-year-reward/celebration. It is so close to summer I can taste it!

In other events with school. Back in early April we got the word that we would have to cut back to only two 6th grade teachers next year. We were pretty devastated because we were told not too long before that, that we were set to keep the three of us. We knew it was going to be either Debbie or me that was going to have to go. We were stressing over it for a while, thinking one of us was going to lose our job. We had a talk with our principal and she let us know that yes, one of us would be leaving, but that they would place us somewhere else in the district. She said they would soon know which jobs were available in the district and then let us know and see if one job was appealing to one of us and we could make a decision on who would be leaving. A few days later our principal informed us that we had no choice in who was leaving or where we would be placed and she would let us know the next week. I was completely torn apart by the whole thing. It was affecting my teaching and my mood. The next week I was called down to the office right before school began and was informed that it was me who was to be leaving and I was placed in a 5th grade at Art City Elementary. I was definitely prepared to hear news that I would be leaving and thought I was ready to handle it, but boy was I wrong. I just broke down. It was very convenient considering that I had to begin class right then. I went and talked to one of my 5th grade teachers and she came and took over for a little while while I went out and composed myself. Now there was good and bad in this news. For one thing, Art City is much close to Provo and I did my 2nd half of student teaching there and really liked the school and really liked the principal. The bad news, I was going to have to switch grades and I absolutely love Mt. Loafer and didn't want to leave. Throughout the next week I was scoping the website to try and see if there was any 6th grade positions in the district that I could try and snatch. If I had to move schools I didn't really want to have to go through having to switch grades as well. There were a few places opened, but I was so torn between going to an unknown school, with an unknown principal, further away, yet staying in 6th grade or going to a school I knew, a principal I knew, and much closer, but switching grades. Debbie, one of the other 6th grade teachers, had been looking at this 6th grade opening at a school in South Santaquin (the most south school in the district). She had a friend that works there and it would be MUCH closer for her. Right now it takes her around 35 minutes to drive to work, driving to that school would take 15. Along with that, she would be able to carpool with this friend of her. It would cut back on how much she spends on gas immensely. She eventually decided it was the right thing to do, so she applied for a transfer. It was still up in the air for a few days while all the paper work went through and things were finalized. It finally was finalized and I am officially staying where I am. Now there are a few down sides to that. I will have a class of at least 32 children (7 more than I have now) and there will only be us two teachers, which will mess up our rotation set-up we had. I am grateful that I am able to stay however.

Besides school, life has been a roller coaster in other areas. One which involves a boy. I won't go into too much detail, but I'll give a brief summary. I started hanging out with a boy in my ward back in the middle of March. Things were great and I really liked him. I then got to my "freak-out stage". I have finally figured it out. I will start liking a boy and get those new and exciting feelings for him and that will cause me to jump into a relationship probably too quickly. Then a few weeks down the road I get to the point where the new and exciting feelings are gone and I kind of freak out. I am worried that I got myself into a situation I am not sure I want to be in. That is when I usually jump out of the relationship. So about two weeks into this relationship I kind of started questioning it. I wasn't sure exactly how "in" I was, and I was beginning to worry that I may have gotten myself into something I wasn't sure I wanted to be in. About three weeks into the relationship he wanted to define us as dating. I was honest with him and told him I wasn't sure if I was ready for that. The first few days after that were a bit rocky but I quickly decided I was being dumb and that nothing was wrong with the relationship so I had no reason to be afraid of it. I spent the next two weeks pretty much making up for me being lame and I thought things were going great. Key words, "I thought". Turns out he wasn't on the same page. Ever since I told him I wasn't sure about it, he kind of backed out a bit and it went downhill for him since then. Things were very rocky for a few days because of some events that took place and there were some hard feelings. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) my heart is just too good and I am quick to forgive. We ended things on a good note and we keep in touch. But let me tell you, it was quite the rollercoaster of emotions for me.

One other thing that has been a ride lately is my summer plans. The plan for the summer was for me and my sister(s) to take a trip to New York and then over to Europe. There is a bit of planning that has to be involved to make that possible. I am still in the process of knowing whether or not I can get a passport. You see....I don't have a name on my birth certificate. Whenever you have to answer those getting to know you questions like "what is something interesting about you?" I always use this one. My parents didn't name me until after they took me home from the hospital and they never got around to going back. Now that I am over the age of 18, I have to actually go through a legal court order name change. So I have been trying to get other documents in order to get a passport. I finally just sent some things in and should be hearing back from them shortly and they will either tell me that I am good and can have my passport, or they will let me know exactly what other items I need to send in. Hopefully this will all work out before the trip. We have been going back and forth between the time we want to travel. We were hoping to meet up with other family in New York as a fun family outing, but everyone's vacations are different. We did finally decided on a time and we finally booked our tickets. Since I did just spend around $1000 in plane tickets, I sure hope my passport works out. There is still a lot to do however. We still need to set in place or travel plans within Europe and places we will be staying. I am leaving most of that to Wendy and Angela, since they have traveled before and actually know what they are doing. According to Wendy, my job is to learn German. HA! We'll see how well that goes.

Other updates in my life...BYU has let out for the summer and many of my friends have left. Provo has calmed down immensely and my ward is about half the size it use to be. I received a new calling. I was on the Enrichment committee in relief society, but I am now a relief society teacher. EEK! I have never had a teaching calling and it is a little intimidating. I know you are all thinking, "You are a teacher, you know how to teach!" but teaching my peers about a gospel topic is MUCH different than teaching 11 and 12 year olds about math, science, etc. We'll see how it goes. I am staying where I am for the summer, however, I do not know where I will be living in the fall. That is still to be decided and figured out. I am thinking I'll probably stay where I am (that is, if it is still available). I did get accepted to be an EFY counselor again this summer. However, I did not apply for as many, since I will be traveling. So far I am only scheduled to do one week. I am excited to do it again, but a little disappointed to only have one week. We'll see if I can pick up any other weeks when I'm around this summer. I absolutely loved doing it last summer and not only was it great to help the youth, but it really helped me as well.

Shout out to my mommy on this mother's day. I love you very very much! You have made me into the person I am today and I could never say thank you enough. I am so grateful for the sacrifices you made for me growing up and that you continue to make. I love being able to call and talk to you whenever I want. I love that you care so much about what is happening in my life and always lend a listening ear. I hope to one day be the amazing mother that you are! I LOVE YOU!

This is what I like to do...just sit and chat with my mommy. This was from my first year back at home from college for Christmas.

This blog is probably more than anyone wants to read. I'm sorry it is so long, but it has been around four months since I have written on here. I'm sorry there are really no pictures. Perhaps next time. Once again, no matter how chaotic my life is, I always feel amazingly blessed for everything I have!

Non photogenic me

Remember how I put my school picture up here and said how my sisters use to make fun of me because I could never pose a smile and I looked constipated? Well...here it is. I think this is my 8th grade picture. Yup...I couldn't smile. Enjoy!

I have a dream...

In celebration on Martin Luther King Junior's birthday/holiday, I have been focusing some of my lessons and activities on him. My class watched a video that was about a group of 6th grade kids who went back in time to the time of Martin Luther King and learned all about him. We discussed his life a little and talked about how life might be if it wasn't for him. I then had the kids write their own "I have a dream" paper. Some of the kids really struggled and sat there for a long time. Apparently they think we have a perfect world. Some of them really touched me with the things they wrote. I was particularly impressed by one of my girls' and wanted to share with you what she wrote. Here it is:

"I have a dream that one day there will be peach throughout this world. That everyone will be treated equal and kind. I wish that nobody would judge by their outer beauty but by their inner beauty. I have a dream that one day every mouth on this planet will be fed, that their stomachs will be fulled for the very first time. I have a dream that everyone would be happy with their appearance and with who they are and be satisfied with the way God has created them. I have a dream that everyone will be happy with that they have and not grieve over what they want. I have a dream that everyone will one day get along and that there will be no jealousy, no hate, no racism. I have a dream that this world will become a better place for every nation, kindred, and tongue. I have a dream!"

Is that not so sweet? I can tell that she really did think about it. Many of my kids put great things like no more war, no bad in the world, enough money to support their family, no more drugs, no more killing animals and trees, that everyone will get along, etc. One kid even said that he has a dream that there will one day be peace on all planets. It is about time that we had peace with the aliens! Their papers really did touch me and they are such good kids.

Another thing we did is read a book called "Martin's Big Words". It mostly told of his life and talked about his "big words". This included things he stood for and fought for and the things he said such as: peace, freedom and love. I then made a poster that said "Miss Weathers Class' BIG Words" and they all wrote on note cards their "big words". Some wrote single words and others wrote quotes. I told them that if they wrote a quote it had to be their own, not one they have heard somewhere before. I am pretty sure that some still did ones they got from somewhere else, but oh well. They wrote some really cute things. Anything from family to courage to standing out and being a good friend. Perhaps I'll take a picture of our wall of "big words" and post it up here for you to see.

In all I think they have really enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he fought for and what he stood for. I have enjoyed learning along with them. He really was an amazing man. Nothing could stop him. He knew that everyone deserved equal rights and he was not going to step down until they received those rights. It was a terrible way of life back in those times and I am so grateful that he helped change it for the better. Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Junior!

6th grade quote of the week

I know I haven't written in a long time and I will do more of it. I even have a new years post saved that I just need to look over and then post. But I wast thinking about what one of my boys said this week and I thought it was too funny not to share. Before I tell it though, you have to understand that kind of relationship I have with my kids. We have a pretty teasing friendly relationship, meaning, I tease them a lot and give them a hard time and often times they tease me back. I think that a lot of 6th graders personalities work well with that kind of relationship. Well...Thursday we had our spelling test (since we had no school Friday) and I read the words to them and then put the word in a sentence. Well, sometimes I like to try to be funny and make the sentences amusing. The word was "attractive" so my sentence was "I am very attractive". My intentions to somewhat amuse the kids and get a laugh. Well one of my boys took it upon himself to humor the situation even more with a comeback comment of "If you were you'd be married by now." WHAT!? Now this kid is not the mean type at all. He is really a sweet boy, so I knew he wasn't really meaning it to hurt me. Many of the kids were shocked at his comment and thought I was pretty harsh. I got a bit of a laugh out of it, but made sure he knew the rest of the day that it wasn't a very nice comment. I made him do things for me to make-up for it. It was also so convenient that parent/teacher conferences were that night. We also have our students come for those. I told his mom about the little incident (not in a way that he was in trouble, just that I thought it was somewhat amusing and thought she would want to know) and she made a point in reminding my boy that his dad was not married until he was 32. Haha. I also told some of the faculty about it and they found it quite amusing as well. There you have it...my 6th grade quote of the week. Maybe I'll find one of these every week. I am pretty sure with the group of kids I have, it would not be a hard thing to do.

6th grade debate

Every week at school the kids have a list of spelling words along with 8 vocab words. These vocab words are what they call "real world" vocabulary and are based on one specific real world topic. For example, last week our words were based on the atmosphere and included: ozone, stratosphere, exosphere, etc. Well this week our words were based around the subject of "debate". Our words included: Orator, conviction, controversial, argument, philosophy, consideration, rebuttal, and persuasive. I wanted a way to help the kids remember these terms so I decided to apply them to our own classroom and hold a debate. One thing in 6th grade that is a very controversial issue is that 6th graders don't get morning recess. I split my class in half and had one side in favor of having morning recess and the other in favor of not having it. The half that I told was on the side of not having recess wasn't too thrilled about it at first because they all want recess. I gave them some time yesterday to come up with all their philosophy and all their reasons to support their argument, making sure they were applying the vocab terms. This morning I had them gather up the rest of their thoughts and then we held a debate. They had an orator give their first thoughts and then I let anyone else put in their two cents. It was SOOOO funny! Who knew watching 6th graders argue over having morning recess would be so entertaining. I even had my few quiet kids standing up and giving their opinion (I made them stand up when they were speaking). There was even a few "I objects" and pounding of fists on desks. By the end of the debate each half of my class was fully convinced that their way was right. Even that half that were suppose to argue in favor of not having morning recess convinced themselves that that was what they really thought. One girl had so much fun with it all that she told me she wants to be a lawyer now. I think it did help them with the vocabulary words because every time one came up during the debate I would hold up a card with that word on it and tell them why that term matched the situation. We'll see how they do on the test tomorrow. Anyway, I just thought it was too funny and wanted to share that with you all.

Some day my prince will come

Every girl has their Disney Princess. The one they look like the most or the one they just like the most. Mine has always been Snow White. I think this princess fits me in many different ways.
One of the most obvious reasons why she is my princess is because I resemble her in looks. I have the pale skin (unfortunately) and the shorter dark (not black!) hair.
Another reason is that she has her 7 little dwarfs. They sing and dance with her yet do all her cleaning and work around the house. Well, I have it even better than her, I have 24 dwarfs. I sing and dance with them and they do my cleaning and work around school. Pretty great I know! Here are my dwarfs:

Dopey: Have lots of Dopeys. He was always my favorite dwarf and I have lots of favorite students. I don't think I could pick one Dopey.

Grumpy: I don't have many grumpy kids. If I had to pick one I would probably say Ben who never seems to be happy. He's a good kid though.

Doc: I have a quite a few Docs as well. I have some stinking smart kids! There is definitely Trevor, Sierra, Joe, and quite a few others.

Happy: Allie is definitely one of my Happys, Sierra as well, and others depending on the day.

Bashful: I have a few kids that are a little more bashful than the others. There is Jared who is quite reserved and Esther who is just so quiet, but so sweet.

Sneezy: This is my Christian, he is sneezing all the time!

Sleepy: all 24 of my students! Haha. Depends on the day who is my Sleepy.

Another reason that I am Snow White is because "I'm wishing for the one I love to find me today". As the title says, "some day my prince will come". Hopefully I don't have to eat a poison apple and fall into a deep sleep in order for him to come. But I wouldn't mind waking up to a handsome prince kissing me!
I wouldn't say I am as big of an animal fan as Snow White is, but I do really like rabbits. So I guess I am kind of like Snow White in that way.
When I was a freshman in college all 6 of us were Disney Princesses and I of course was Snow White. Also last year a group of the girls in my class who decided they were all Disney Princesses and they also decided that I was Snow White.
So...this year for Halloween I bet you can guess what I was...

School picture!

Yes, I still get school pictures. In fact, I get LOTS of school pictures. Being a teacher we are forced to get out picture taken, but I don't mind it as much now as I did when I was actually in school. Growing up I had a really hard time posing a natural looking smile. My family always told me I looked constipated. Haha. Well, I think I finally grew out of it and can make myself look somewhat decent in a picture. So here is my 2008-2009 school picture. And check out the package they give to teachers (I don't pick it or pay for it):

1 - 8x10
4 - 5x7 (one with some white boarder thing and "Allison" written on the bottom and another one that is black and white)
4 - 4x6
16 - wallets

What am I ever going to do with all those pictures? If you want one, let me know and you are more than welcome to have one. I thought it'd be a good idea to write my number on the back of them and pass them out to good looking boys. Haha. Ok I am done now. By the way, it is a picture of a picture, so it's not that great of quality. Oh, and you can see my short new haircut if you haven't seen it.

I have great kids!

Oh, you didn't know I had kids? Well I do. 23 of them in fact! Haha. Ok, so I like to call my students my kids. Funny thing about that...I teach the other two 6th grade classes science and I was telling one of the classes about how I told my "kids" something and apparently a few of them thought I really had children. Oops! I just had parent/teacher conferences. Except in our district they are called SEPs (Student Education Plan) and the students are suppose to be there. I think I like it that way. I don't think the kids enjoy it so much. Except for one of my girls that was saying how much she loves SEPs. Yes, I worry about her. Anyway, I had SEPs and I had a hard time finding many bad things to talk to the parents about. I have just a great bunch of kids! I pretty much just had a day where I got to tell the parents how great their kids are. Of course I have my few that had a few issues that needed to be brought up, but over all I don't have many problems. I have so many wonderful students! First of all, they are very bright kids! A good majority of them are reading above grade level and they LOVE to read! I could probably just have them read all day and they would do it! Not only do it, but they would love it! I really wish I had that love for reading when I was their age. It will be so beneficial for them throughout their whole life. I have so many smart, smart math students, which make me excited! On top of being really smart, my kids are so responsible! I rarely have to nag them about doing their work and turning in their homework. They are so on top of their school work and the things they need to do. It makes my job as their teacher so much easier! But the best part about my kids is that they are so fun! They really do bring so much joy into my life. I don't think one day goes by where they don't make me laugh. Some of the things these kids do just crack me up! I love seeing them at this age and just watching them grow and learn and have so much fun in life! They are just a wonderful bunch of kids that are going to go far in life, I know that! Last week was Red Ribbon week (drug prevention/awareness). Along with having fun dress up days, we also had an assembly. There is a guy that goes around to schools named Corbin White. He talks to the kids about a "natural high" and how that is where you are just having so much fun you don't want to stop and that is the kind of high you want. He just has a karaoke party with the kids and they have so much fun! I even had my shyest girl get up in front of all the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Of course she wasn't up there alone, but still! It was fun to just see the kids be goofy and have a good time. After we went back to class there was about 5-10 minutes left before we needed to clean up to go home (the assembly didn't last as long as they said it would). So instead of getting into any class work or what not, I just decided to have a little dance party with my kids. Heck! Sometimes you just have to let loose and have fun with your students. I just put on some music and we all danced around the classroom (yes, even I did) and just had a lot of fun. I think it helps the kids to bond as a class and it helps me to bond with them. I even had some of my boys prancing about the classroom like ballerinas. It was quite the site! I had so much fun and I am sure the kids did too. I think that is something they will always remember. And hopefully all the school stuff I teach them too! Anyway, I just wanted to brag about my "kids"!

My Quirks!

Everyone has weird things about them and I think I have quite a few. I read my sister's blog all about her quirks and felt like writing about my quirks!

• My pajamas have to match. I will not wear navy blue pants with a black shirt, or even a white shirt with black writing. I will not wear my red pants with an all red shirt or my navy pants with an all navy shirt. I don't know why, no one really sees me in my PJs, but that's just the way it has to be.

• My alarm clock with never be set to a normal increment of time. If I want to wake up at 7:00am it will be set for something such as 6:57 or 7:01. I won't ever set it to an even time or a multiple of 5. Again, I have no idea why.

• Like my sister, I like the dishwasher loaded a certain way. I just think there is a very logical way to organize it so that you can fit as many dishes as possible and they will all still get clean. I have been known to completely unload a dishwasher to rearrange it. I hate it because I like it when my roommate clean up after themselves but it drives me nuts to put a dish into a poorly organized dishwasher.

• I hate cupboards and drawers being opened. If I am sitting in the livingroom and a cupboard is opened I have been known to get up just to go close it. I just think it looks messy when they are opened.

• I HATE it when people drink the milk out of their cereal bowl. I will not watch you do it and have been known to actually turn away or cover my eyes when someone is doing it. I don't like to drink milk in the first place and for some reason the cold cereal filled milk makes me want to vomit.

• My movies have to be in alphabetical order. I have quite the collection of movies all on a nice little shelf and they are all alphabetized starting with numbers and going to Z. I know when a movie is out of place. My roommates have been known to watch my movies, and not realizing they are in a certain order will randomly put them away. Yes I will go move them to the correct place.

• Now there are a number of things that bother me when it comes to my classroom and my students: (the ones I can think of right now, I'm sure there are more)
  
• Messy desks and unorganized papers
• Messy book shelves
• Folding over page corners in books (I threaten my children if they do that!)
• Not showing your work in math
• Writing all the math problem numbers down and then expecting to fit all the work on that one little line
• A messy turn in basket (papers not lined up nicely)
• Crooked desks
• Chairs not pushed in
• Messy floor
• My students calling me "teacher" instead of "Miss Weathers" (I just call them "student" back)
• Papers with not names!
• Misusing supplies
• Not using common sense (I guess they are 6th graders)
• Not reading the notes on the board
• Not listening to directions or following directions
• Disrespect of any kind (I will not tolerate it!)

• I really am kind of weird where I like a lot of things done my way. I have a hard time letting other people do things for me because if they don't do it the way I like to I'll kind of be irritated or I'll do it all over again. I know it is lame and I wish I didn't feel that way because it would make life much easier, but I just can't help it!

Anyway...those are what I can think of right now. I hope you don't think less of me because of them! I think I am still a good person! Haha!