What does ....

this .................

and this...............

have in common, do you ask??


Well, if you must know -- it has everything to do with my debate team. We went to ISU for an overnight debate tournament this past weekend and let's just say that it was quite the par-tay at the hotel Friday night. All the girls were sharing a room and the boys were in the room right next to the girls. I felt super sick on Friday night, but the girls insisted I hang out with them. So when I was in the room with them, they said they wanted to play a prank on the boys. Hmmmm....what could we do that was legal and sane at midnight?? .............

Well, we drove over to the neighboorhood grocery store and bought four cans of whipped cream...in the can. We also bought paper plates. They made whipped cream "pies" with them. They came up with a sneaky trick to get into the boys room and I even had to use my teacher priviledges to get into them in the boys room. Okay... so I like a good prank, k? They got in the room and smashed a plate of whipped cream into one of the boys faces but then another boy was screaming for them to get out of their room. So the girls ran back to their room (where I was waiting). Out of nowhere, the girls turn on me and smash a whipped cream plate on the side of my head. Mind you, I forgot to bring my shampoo or conditioner and we all know how much the hotel ones STINK (not literally, but they make my hair ratty). :) Okay, well..... that night as I take a bath in my hotel room ..... I had to DIG whip cream out of my ear. It was majorly stuck in there, weird huh?


Moral of the story: Don't plan pranks unless you are willing to have them played on yourself. Ha ha.

Hall Passes

Since starting my stay at Rigby High School, I have been informed that I am missing something from my classroom...a hall pass. I guess this is a pretty big deal at this school. Students were giving me ideas any where from toilet seats to bowling balls. I took a trip to the nearests D.I. and found myself a rather rare find....

Introducing.... The AFRICAN BOTTLE-CAP MAN

A close-up of the nose and ear jewels. Oh and notice his bottle cap arms. His legs match.

Me with the African-man.

What's in Your Package?

So this has been my boring life lately: eat, sleep, and teach. I spend my life at school and then come home and plan for the next day. I love it though. I love my students, the lesson planning, but not the grading. Yuck. I have had some funny moments in class -- that's what makes my job so much fun -- being with the students and learning.

So this is the deal. I ordered all these fun books to help me teach in more creative ways. I had been waiting for them for a few weeks. Then during 3rd hour (one of my most fave class, they are so much fun), the office aide brought a package in with (what I assumed) was my books. Anyway.... I was busy teaching when the aide brought it in, but later on in class, I said, "I can't wait to see what's in my package," and then I started opening it with a pen. This really shy, appropriate student said to me, "Mrs. Gonzalez, what's in your package?" Sorry, but I started laughing so hard when he said that. Just think of someone asking you, "What's in your package?" It sounded really funny to me. This kid turned red in the face and started laughing too, but the dorkiest, most hilarious kid in class was right there when this other student asked that question. He almost peed his pants and fell on the floor laughing. This is what makes my job worth it.

You might not get the next funny moment, because you may of had to "be there," but my debate students have been giving speeches all this week (and that's three whole class periods of listening to speeches). Well, today, during one of the speeches, this little fly kept on flying from head to head and even on the speaker's head. It was the fly that wouldn't take a rest. And it made it even funnier since we were all trying (well, maybe just I was) to pay attention to what the speaker was saying. We were trying not to laugh....remember trying not to laugh in church or somewhere where you're not supposed to? Yeah, that's what it was like today, but ten times worse since you're the teacher and you're morally obligated not to laugh or something. Okay, enough stories for now, but there are bound to be more soon. And I haven't taken any pictures as of late, so sorry about the picture-less post. :)

GO TROJANS!

My job is working at Rigby High School as the debate/speech teacher and debate coach for the debate team. Which, by the way, only has one person on it so far. I need to recruit students from my current debate classes. OK, so that leads me to what I've been doing the last week. I absolutely LOVE teaching, it is my passion -- but it has seriously been one of the hardest things I have ever done. I love stretching myself and learning new things. If any of you have ever learned about debate or what its about, you will know what I am talking about. I actually really, really like teaching high school. I was extremely nervous, but they are pretty awesome to work with. No getting out of their seats a million times like in sixth grade, and they do their work for the most part. It's just that I have to learn so many terms and procedures for debate that it has kind of stressed me out. But I feel that I will get through it, I think I'm tough (I guess...) and I want to succeed and learn all I can.

Speech is another thing entirely. It is easy and fun. My one speech class this trimester is really quiet, so I've had them do all these group activities to get them to talk to each other and feel comfortable. I had them do this activity where I split the class in half and gave them each a small tarp to stand on. The ground was "lava" and they couldn't touch the ground, but the goal was to switch the side of the tarp they were standing on. It took them about 20 minutes to do, but it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I think that really helped them out to loosen up and feel comfortable talking in class. :) All in all, I love my job, I just have felt stress and pressure to be the best I can be! I'.ll keep you updated on funny stories, experiences, and thoughts as I go through this process of mastering a subject I've never learned about. Wish me luck....

They Love Me, They Really Love Me

Here is me and my 7th period class playing kickball. It's American Education's favorite pasttime. They would beg and beg to play it. I always had a good laugh whenever I went out there to play though. Here are some shots from one of our games--

Me and Hannah K. What a goof.

Hey guys

Ready to kick

My students wrote a bunch of notes and pictures on my white boards the last two weeks of school. I even would erase it (after reading them and even taking a few pictures of them...) and then the next day it would be full of notes again. I love my students, well most of the time. Here are a few of my favorite notes and some were a revelation to me:

Miqui, the little shorty, wrote this. If you can't read it, it says, "As you know I'm writing from way down here. You're the best. Fun Size." Fun size was my nick name for her because she was so short, but man she had some attitude! ;)

I didn't know my student, Logan, felt this way about me. It was quite a shocker.
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Another one from the same student

I'm going to miss these kids....

End of the Year activities, etc.

So it is the end of year . . . and that means more FUN ACTIVITIES! YEAH! On Cinco de Mayo we had a Mexican Hat Dance ... where I put a sombrero in the middle of a circle and they go around in a circle until I call one of their names and then they go in the middle of the cirlce and dance around the sombrero. It was pretty funny. Then most of the students wanted to do tricks and stuff, including pyramids and stuff. So you will see that below. Then this previous Friday, our team went to the Musuem of Idaho and then went swimming at the aquatics center. It was nice to be out of the classroom, but on the other hand, it was exhausting! It was hilarious seeing the kids swimming and goofing around on the high dive. I got some pretty sweet pictures of them jumping of the high dive. It really brings me back to the days when I used to go swimming at the pool in my home town just about everyday!

3rd period S.S.

The boys trying to make their pyramid...

The girls making a pyramid...they did so much better than the boys. I guess they just know how to work together...

Justin acting feminine...Heyyy

6th period Social Studies. No pictures of 7th period S.S. because they were being bad on that day...

Some of my students in the hot tub

Chadlin going off the high dive in a very flexible way

One of the Hannah's with her smiley guy

Celina, Ana, Keira, Emmy, and Hannah chillin'

Gabby acting like she's DEAD

Hannah going off the high dive

Cassidy, Hannah, Keilei, and Gabby hanging out in the pool

Healthy Tips for Pregnant Ladies

During my health class that I was teaching a few weeks ago, we were talking about healhty habits for people who are pregnant. My students drew these pictures and wrote the following captions for ladies who are pregnant. Hope it helps:

Someone in labor, apparently.

You gotta drop & give me ten even though you're pregnant because exercise is important

When you smoke, make sure its a carrot, not a cigarette. That's how you stay healthy when you're pregnant!

Remember to eat healthy...notice the banana mouth, pepporoni eyes?, watermelon nose, and noodle hair.

One of the better depictions of healthy pregnancies

Crack Kills

This is a random post, but I think it is really funny. Last week, one of my students raised their hands and said, "Mrs. Gonzalez, there is something I really have to tell you." I was thinking, "Oh no, what is it now??" because this students always says retarted things in class. Anyway...I let her tell me, and this is what she said: "This morning I was out in the hallway and you were out there too talking to some students. You were bent over and your crack was showing. It was like a mile long and it was whiiiiite." Oh my gosh! And everyone in the class is cracking (no pun intended) up! I was laughing to, of course, because my crack NEVER shows that I'm aware of. I always make sure I am crack-free. But not that day, apparently. So I try to get the kids back on track so we can continue with class. But for the next few minutes they keep on chatting and laughing about this new-found information. Then I told them: "I know you get a kick out of my crack, but you guys need to settle down." All was lost after that. Kids were falling out of their seats, crying, and laughing so hard there was no sound coming out. I know it was my fault, but I just couldn't contain myself.

Moral of the story: Check your crack and make sure ain't showin', or you will never hear the end of it!

The Coldest Place in the Northern Hemisphere

These are kind of random shots from the last few weeks. It has been crazy busy, but lots of fun too!

Me and my old roomie, Danielle, before she left on her mission to the Cape Verde Island Mission. The islands are off the west coast of Africa. I love Danielle and being friends with her. It was fun to see her before she heads off to serve the Lord! Good luck Danielle (she is in the MTC now!)!!!

My new lipstick color, pretty color huh?

Zoomed in on my sun. I loved the sun because of the pretty yellow color it was.

An upclose look at my trees I painted

We were able to have free painting time. This is my first oil painting. I know it's kinda ugly, but it was so much fun. Below are pictures of the week before when we learned about the color wheel and how to mix colors and we learned about complimentary and primary colors. Really cool class and I plan on taking an oil painting class this summer.

The art teacher modeling how to do the color wheel, with the students gathered around listening.

Some of the students' color wheels

My oil paint color wheel

Celebration!

We WON!!! Our team won! I am sooo happy and proud of my kids. Yesterday we had about 18 dollars, and just TODAY we raised $248! Only in one day. So our team won the contest. But...more importantly, as a 6th grade, we earned over $500 for the needy family. I can't believe it! And the students donated ALL of the money. I will try and post pics of the celebration.

Vote for the Deere!

So this is the update on our doors. Last Friday, as 6th grade teachers, we decided that the students would vote by putting change into the stocking (which is outside our doors) of the teacher's door they like the best. Starting on Monday, the students all around the school have been putting money into the stockings all down our hallway. Whoever has the most money in their stocking by this Friday, December 21, then that teacher will win. We will donate ALL the money to a charity that is here in town. Which is for a good cause and all the students are having fun as well as the teachers! So here are some propaganda ideas from the teachers down the hall:

Two males teachers in the hallway named their 10 foot Santa "Pedro Claus" and have all their students wearing signs that say "Vote for Pedro," which is hilarious, but totally is beating us so far. Our class has $8.66 and they have $23.56! So this morning, while getting ready for the day, I thought of something for our door: Vote for the Deere (since we have reindeer on our door)...but I have this HUGE sign of the John Deere symbol. Then Mrs. Munns and I made a dozen posters with the John Deere sign that says: "Vote for the Deere: He's more of a 'man' than Pedro! And he can run him over too!). So far, this Christmas has been so much fun, especially with all the "friendly" competition going on amongst the 6th grade teachers. I have gotten about $8.00 since I put my signs up! I will inform you via this blog what the outcome is in a few days.

Welcome to the North Pole!

Let the war begin! Last week another teacher in our 6th grade hallway said that our hallway of teachers were going to have a decorating contest. Once I told my students that, they were like my little slaves. No, not really, but they worked SO hard to win this contest. I got the idea to make my door into a huge candy cane door (like the ones they have in the "North Pole") and make it the North Pole. The only thing I made was the candy cane door and the sign that says "Welcome to the North Pole." But every single other thing you will see in the pictures below were made by my own, dearl little students. They worked very, very hard. And on Monday, December 10, all the students in our hallway will vote on the best decorations. I hope this gets you into the Christmas spirit a little, because it sure did for me and my students. :)

**Addendum: Because there was some confusion, I would just like to clarify that I have two sides of my door to the classroom. The front/outside of my door is decorated with as a candy cane and it has a tree and presents next door. The inside of my classroom's door has reindeer and Santa on it. BUT--I can prop my door open, so people can see the reindeer when they are walking past, which is what I do a lot of the time! Hope it's all clear now!

"Oh, hello...Welcome to the North Pole."

The whole view at 201 North Pole Drive! (a.k.a. Mrs. Gonzalez's classroom!)

The snow at the bottom of our candy cane pole at the North Pole

One of the three freakin' HUGE snowflakes in front of our classroom. A girl and a boy in my class took about 3 hours making these. Pretty tight. I think that might help us to win baby!

All the presents my students made--most of it was home-made wrapping paper and bows. So cute, seriously! Everyone walking by wants to know if they're real presents, and I tell only one of them is real. They want to know what it is--a dictionary. Then they leave.

The top of our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, topped by hand-made angel and ornaments

All nine reindeer, minus Santa. This is the inside of my door, so you can see it from the inside--but I have my door propped open a lot, so people can see the reindeer when they walk by my classroom! It's so cute :)

Until recently, the reindeer were flying solo. I just put the Santa up this morning because one of my students barely finished coloring him. I still need to put up a sleigh and more trees.

Some of other reindeer (Blitzen and Donner, I think)

Close-up of Rudolph

The top of the candy cane pole, with our North Pole sign, also my hand-made nametag for my door!

In front of my classroom. See how big those snowflakes are? They are bigger than my head! They are pretty much the coolest part of our decorations. Well, tied with the reindeer.