Driving Destractions

There are many distractions while driving and we are more than likely to be effected by them in one way or another. Whether your guilty of the distraction, or your a victim its still dangerous. At one point in my life I learned my lesson first hand that the distractions we encounter sometimes while driving are serious and banned for logical reasons.

After dropping off my friend Lexi one night, I was driving through her development approaching a stop sign. Excited about my date later on that night with my boyfriend, I grabbed my phone and dialed his number. Accidently, driving through the stop sign. What a terrible mistake because as I looked to my left I noticed a police station. Shortly after the stop sign I saw the lights flashing in my rear view mirror. Apparently, one of the police officers had seen the run through. A lesson learned quickly that distractions are expensive! For now on, I wait to use my cell phone until after turning off the car!

My First Public Library Experience!

Martin Memorial Library

Thinking about the fact that my speech on effective teaching is due in less than a week I felt very overwhelmed because I had barely started and I had so much ahead of me! Unfortunately, I need a lot of credible sources for my speech and I was so lost on where to turn! While thinking about what I could do, I was talking to a friend and she had mentioned going to the Martin Memorial Library to see if they had any books that could help! What a fantastic idea! I went home from work that night and collected by things. I thought it might be a wonderful idea to take my two year old nephew along as well as my ten year old niece. It was absolutely the best idea, they loved the children's section and I recommend anyone with children, giving them the opportunity to freely explore the Martin Library. The librarians were so helpful when I was searching for books I needed. If you haven't been to the Martin Memorial Library yet, I suggest you do. It is such an amazing site to see!

New Moon

The movie New Moon is set to come out in theaters on November 20, 2009. This is very exciting for me because I have been waiting since Twilight came out on video to see it! The timing works out perfectly because my birthday is on the 21 of November. I am hoping that my boyfriend takes a hint and treats me to the movie after dinner! I am almost positive he will, since we share our love for this movie together. :-)

If you don't know a lot about Twilight, Bella, a shy, normal girl, moves to Forks, Washington to live with her dad in order for her mom to have some time alone with her new husband. In her Biology class, she meets Edward, a member of a mysterious family which keeps to itself. Edward hates her at first sight. The next time he sees her, though, he seems perfectly okay and willing to get to know her. Later, he saves her from a car crash... by lifting the car off her. Bella is lured in by Edward's charm and mysteriousness and she discovers that he is a vampire who practices drinking animal blood rather than human in order to save lives. He also has the gift to read minds. However, he cannot read hers for an unknown reason and this makes him interested in her although Edward's natural instinct as a vampire is to kill her. As they fall deeply in love, despite Edward warning Bella that their relationship is dangerous, a group of nomadic vampires comes to visit Edward's family and discovers that Bella is the ideal meal and the perfect hunt because she has vampire friends to protect her and this would provide a 'fun' challenge. Bella selflessly sacrifices herself so that Edward and his family will not be in trouble, however, Edward comes just in time and saves her as James (one of the nomadic vampires who thought that Bella would make the perfect game) swoops down to kill her. However, James's mate, Victoria seeks revenge.

I haven't read any of the books by Stephanie Myer, although I wish I would have. What makes the movies so interesting is, the director says he tries to reinvent Edward a little bit, in order to keep it interesting for himself, so even if you read the book you might be a little suprised to see what happens in the movies!

Sunday Night Dinners

So I'm sure no one cares to hear about my sob stories, but lately I've just been feeling the need to vent them out. Everyone in my family seems to be acting out in such a depressive manner, and I felt the need to help. My Grandma used to cook Sunday night dinners every week. It was something I always looked forward to, since our family was so large and close to home it always worked out. Well all my cousins grew up and had kids and moved away because of jobs within the government and such. This was traumatic for me because I didn't want to see them go, and I knew this meant only one thing, less Sunday night dinners. I was right! This past year we've had about 5 dinners in all, which is such a drastic change from having them every weekend. This all ties into to my weekend plans. My father has been going through a rough patch and so I was thinking of something that might cheer him up. Last week he shot a seven point deer and this weekend I'm going to build on his happiness! I am having a Sunday night dinner with spaghetti, meatballs, salad, garlic bread, and best of all dessert! I am so excited to see how this turns out. Please pray that this helps to cheer up my father!

Certification Conference

On Saturday I spent most of my day at Penn State - York Campus's Conference for Early Childhood Educators. Each year at Sunbeam we are required as a Keystone star to complete at least six hours of training. I chose to complete mine all in one day to try and get it out of the way early. I was extremely excited to go there was free food, who doesn't love free food? My first course was about active learning. The instructor presented so many ideas that could be incorporated in many different age groups. His demonstrations were phenomenal. I also took a Kindergarten Readiness course. Even though I work with two year olds I was still curious about some things from previously working with preschoolers. I learned that in the West York Area School District, the principal does not expect incoming students to know how to spell their name, count to 20, as much as she expects them to have a desire to learn. It was interesting to hear that coming from a principle. Note to self: Make sure to encourage excitement for Kindergarten. In this course I also came up with some great ideas of my own to incorporate in the center. Parent involvement was one of the most important things that was brought up to the class, I think this topic is so crucial for classrooms because without communication what would be the point? Note to self: Gather ideas for a section of the room for volunteer opportunities. Last but definitely not least, I took a course on time management. I thought this course would be most useful for me because our classroom is a little crazy. I'm sure you can understand why, there are eleven two year olds running around all day. I found this course to be uplifting for personal reasons but I didn't feel it quite connected to the classroom environment as much as I would have preferred. I was a bit disappointed about that. Although I have some great time tips that I would like to share with everyone.
1.) Group and consolidate activities
2.) Get a good start
3.) Develop routines
4.) Avoid congestion
5.) Take advantage of your mood
6.) Coordinate personal care needs far in advance
7.) Be a "wait watcher"
8.) Think about being early
9.) Double your pleasure
10.) Call ahead
11.) Those bits and pieces add up
12.) Become a speed reader
13.) Eliminate when possible
Something else that could be useful for many of you is creating time management quadrants. Simply categorize your events or responsibilities into four different quadrants. As you finish one activity rearrange your categories to fit your needs at the moment.
1.) Urgent and important
2.) Not urgent, critically important
3.) Urgent, not important
4.) Not urgent, not important
Hope this helps everyone else as much as it's helped me! :-)

Not enough hours in a day!

I began a second job at Sunbeam Education Station at the beginning of August right about the time that I was transitioning into my first semester of college. When I applied for the job I was really excited because my passion is to work with children and watch them reach their many milestones. As the director of the center hired me she informed me that I would be working in the two year old room. I found this to be a little scary, only because I had previously only been exposed to working with the preschool age. As I began my first day I thought it went wonderful, two year olds closely resemble the preschool age although their attention spands are much shorter and they find it harder to understand simple intsruction at times. The only downfall to the job was that I would have to assist them with being potty-trained. Yippy, not! Many children seem to be grasping the idea quickly however some have not. Overall I really enjoy working with these children and thankfully they easily lift my spirits when I'm not so confident. Lately, I've really been pounded with school work and working almost full time at the daycare really doesn't help. My hours are 7am to 6pm Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday's and work at wonderful Party City Saturdays from 8am to 4pm and Sunday's which vary. My main struggle in college is time. I spend many nights up until mid-night working on homework. I am blogging about this for many reasons but one in particular has been on my mind. I wonder whether my fellow classmates feel this same way. I know college is supposed to be stressful and I realize its importance in my future. I just find myself having a hard time adjusting to this new lifestyle. Does anyone have any tips or thoughts about this?

Blogging

Somehow, lately I've found myself logging into "blogger" more than usual. It's almost as if its become my new addiction. When you think of blogging, you might possibly perfer facebook. "Not I said the fly!" I find this extremely more fun, why you ask? Because I'm not just constantly reading posts that say, "Ugh.. off to work again." Instead, more informative things which is definately more eye catching! I must say this blogging idea was great and I would recommend it for any teacher to use in their class. It keeps me up to date with what is going on in class as well as keeps me from straying away from my homework! Although people are less likely to comment others on here I at least try and "believe" my classmates will read it sometime or well, someday! :) Well thats all for now, just in a mood to ramble about my love for blogging!

Burning Bright

"For everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing will ever happen to me others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities. Except that there are! But let's not talk about them eh? By the time the consequences catch up with you, its too late, isn’t it, Montag?" As the chapter began I started to think that Beatty knew about all the books that Montag had been hiding. My thought was that Beatty was waiting to see if Montag would come clean about them first and if not Beatty would take it upon himself to show Montag the consequences to his actions! I also believed Beatty told Mildred about what was going to happen. Because when they arrived Mildred was already packed and ready to go. She brought the books back inside which then had made me wonder if she called in an alarm on Montag. Later it was interesting to find out that it was Mildred's friends who first called in an alarm. Although since Beatty ignored the women's alarm that’s when Mildred felt it was necessary for her to call in her own alarm, which this time Beatty didn't ignore! As Beatty said the words "me" and "I" in his quote it seemed coincidental that he was actually the one who found it to be uncertain that he would go on forever.

I thought it to be attention-grabbing that Beatty wanted Montag to burn his own home and clean up the mess he had made. The turning point in the chapter was when Beatty said "Montag, don't face a problem, burn it." Because once Beatty caused a problem for Montag that’s exactly what he did.

Montag's view of fire suddenly changed during the point when he's running from the police. He continued walking along the railroad as he saw fire, but this fire didn't look like the fire to burn things but merely for warming. As he approached the fire he met a group of men who offered him some coffee. Later in the chapter Montag learned some very valuable lessons from the group of men.

I think the climax in Fahrenheit 451 is when the city gets bombed because that is when all the loose ends get tied up and it is also the turning point for Montag.Montag is walking through the forest with Granger and the men. Granger had just finished telling Montag about what his grandfather once said, that “everyone leaves something behind when they die,” when all a sudden Guy sees the bomb in the sky. The war had begun. The bomb completely destroys the city and leaves nothing, just a pile of rubble and lost lives. At this point he is overcome by the fact that he finally remembers where he met Mildred. Montag suddenly is able to recall what he read from Ecclesiastes and the Revelations.

I found myself with many mixed emotions during the end of the chapter. I was happy for Montag and the men, they would finally be able to start a new life and rebuild what has been destroyed. This is an uplifting moment for Montag although for the innocent and blindsided people who died it was a devastating one. They kept on living their normal lives and had no idea what was even going on, and before they knew it everything was over, gone! They never even had a chance.

Laptop!

Lately while I've been doing my homework on my desktop computer it has really been acting up for me. Fortunately this gives me a reason to buy a new computer that is more "up to date." The only bad part is in the meantime I have a computer that is deleting all my hard work and I have no clue what I'm looking to buy. Somehow everything I find that I might like is not what I'm looking for price wise. I really need some valuable help! If anyone has any tips on picking out laptops, I would really appreciate to hear from you!

:( ...Help!!