Teaching

The first day of teaching preschoolers and kindergarten environmental ed. was definitely interesting. The preschoolers are adorable, but they're still getting over being too shy to speak and aren't used to paying attention for more than a minute at a time. I re-wrote my lesson plan for them today, and it was much more effective. They really need hand's-on activities.

I was amazed by the intelligence and enthusiasm of the kindergarteners. I decided to engage them in the process of thinking through rules for how they should act outside, which appeared to work very well. I asked them what their indoor rules were, and 10 hands shot into the air. The rules they mentioned were the typical - no pushing, no talking when the teacher is talking, no yelling. I must admit the "no biting" rule took me a bit aback (seemed rather too self-explanatory to need to be a formal rule), but then, they are kindergarten.

Then, I asked them if they could think of any rules for outside. Their hands shot into the air - some even stood up or shouted out rules in their enthusiasm. They thought all of the rules I had planned to mention, and a few more. I decided, just for good measure, to repeat all the rules a few more times, and the kids listened attentively. All was going according to plan (or so I thought).

After we entered the woods, I realized otherwise. Within the first 2 minutes, every rule we had just established had been broken - multiple times. In addition, the kids seemed to have a bit of trouble with the concept of a no-pick scavenger hunt where I was supposed to be the one reading out items to find. They kept on picking up things they found, poking them with sticks, and calling Ms. Crystal, Ms. Crystal, look what I found!!!! And, I soon discovered, it was not very easy to get them to listen to or discuss more complex ideas such as "Now where do you think that moth you found lives? What do you think he eats? Would you like to know the difference between a moth and a butterfly." We ended up dealing more with basics like "now lets not poke Mr. Moth with the stick, and now remember, we're not supposed to put things in our mouths."

Then, they started picking up acorns. They seemed to find this to be an infinitely fascinating pursuit, and they all seemed to feel the need to show me every acorn they found. "Ms. Crystal, Ms. Crystal, look what I found!!!!!" "Yes, Bobby, it's an acorn, just like the one you showed me 10 seconds ago, and the ones Timmy, Sally, Jeffy, Anny, and Tommy are showing me right now." You've gotta love little kids.

[note, all of the names, besides mine, in the account, have been changed, to protect reputations of the 3-7 year olds. heh]

Most recent artwork - finished right before trip to Chicago. Can you tell I love horses?

5 questions

To spread the good idea from heidi and kindli - if you read this, please ask me 5 questions you would like to know my response to. (Ask anything at all!) I value honesty very highly in myself and others.

Camp ended well, I feel. I really enjoyed family camp (it was much more relaxed, parents tend to be more appreciative than campers, and I had some free time to myself). I even had time to go on two trail rides, which strengthened my conviction that horses are God's gift to woman. I would give almost anything to have a horse some day. If I am not married by the time I am around 50, I will calculate the amount of money I would have wasted on a family, and use it for purchasing and paying upkeep for a horse. It would in many ways be a more rewarding use of funds, I feel. Yay for horses!

artwork

Now that I have discovered how to post photos on this, you may be seeing more of them. This is a colored pencil drawing of a horse that I did for my mother. I figure I have to start putting my artwork on here at some point. Hopefully in the future I will have better pictures of it to put up, though. :)

Since the computer is determined to be stupid and uncooperative, I have had to resort to the option of posting this photo as a regular blog instead of in my profile, as I had meant to. My apologies.

Flitzy stupidity gains new heights

Yesterday I raised the bar for how dippy I can be. Always a good thing to do, I figure - you can never have enough humiliation. Sorry, the sarcastic angst got a bit out of control there.

Anyway, so I was going on a shopping trip for supplies for the banquet at camp with a guy I feel sort of awkward around (due to the fact that I have not yet managed to talk myself out of liking him, though yesterday definitely helped in that department), and I was hungry, so I purchased an ice cream bar as we were going through Sams Club. This was foolish on many levels. Firstly I knew I wouldn't really have time to eat it, as we were in a bit of a rush. Secondly, I knew I would have to eat it while walking (very dangerous proposition). And thirdly, I Know from repeated experience that it is physically impossible for me to eat one of those darn things without getting it all over myself.

Yet still, I decided to purchase one. I guess part of the problem was that it was already half-melted before I started eating it. It got everywhere, and I only had one already-used napkin. I was absolutely useless when it came to getting things into the car, and once I was in the car, I started dripping ice cream everywhere. When we arrived at the next store, I decided in frustration to stay at the car and finish off the stupid ice cream bar before it finished me.

Once I finally finished the darn thing, I was covered in stickiness, and the guy hadn't come out from the store yet (0r so I thought), so I decided to go in and see if I could be any use in finding the hula hoops he needed to buy for the little olympics at camp the next day. I looked all over the store, going down practically every isle (while parents and store workers watched me warily-It was ToysRUs, and I was frazzled, covered in ice cream, and still wearing paint tattoos on my leg from painting day in arts and crafts) then came to the realization that he must have left the store as I was entering. He had. He was waiting with the car in front of the store. It was not one of my finer moments. My level of airheadedness seems to rise exponentially whenever I am anywhere near a guy I find even in the slightest bit attractive, which is dratted inconvenient. Clearly the only acceptable solution is to avoid all of them from now on. :)
If only it were that simple