Quick Update!!!

I am sorry it has been a while. I have been busy teaching the week away. I can't believe it is already Friday! Oh how happy I am!!!! I survived another week. Monday is PDD, so I have meetings all day but the students won't be here. And then we have parent teacher conferences Wednesday and Thursday night. Those will be my longest nights.

Joe Jonas is gone and the kids kept asking when he was coming back. I finally went to the store to buy a new one and of course they didn't have a look alike. I ended up getting a girl beta that doesn't even look like a Beta fish. (In my opinion) I ended up telling the kids that Joe had died, but I didn't tell them how-or that I was the culprit. haha. The kids weren't even that sad when I told them. They were really excited for the new fish. We voted on a name for our new little addition and Rose was the winner. Here she is for your viewing pleasure:Today was a bad day for the 3rd grade. Well I am sure that it was a bad day for everyone in Alpine School District. Because of the economy, our budget has been cut. We had just planned a field trip for the 3rd grade in March. But because of the budget cut, they took all of that money away from us. So no more field trip. The kids have been waiting all year to go, and are going to be disappointed that there won't be one. My first year of teaching and we don't even get a field trip. So sad. We will see if we can get someone to come visit us at the school, or have a pizza party or something to make up for the lack of fun.

Our new class pet

I went to walmart to pick up a new Joe Jonas. He actually wasn't as replaceable as I thought he would be. There were no Male betas when I went, and the females were a lot smaller than the Joe Jonas. I knew I couldn't substitute a new fish. So I picked out a pretty whitish with a tint of orange beta. At the moment, she is nameless. Only half of my class has seen her, and when the rest of the class comes in from recess I will tell them about Joe and we will pick a new name.

"We will tlak about Joe Jonas later. Don't ask!"--- I put this on the whiteboard as the students came into class.

What an eventful day, and it is only 7:10AM

Today I woke up and was carpooling with my friend Jen. I decided to bring Joe Jonas (our class fish) back to school. (I had taken him home for the long weekend and then couldn't bring him back when I was driving.) I had to drain some of the water out so it wouldn't slosh all over on the ride to school. As I was pouring the water into the sink, I was going slowly.... Joe decided it was time to escape. He escaped, but not to a better place. Poor Joe Jonas quickly slipped into the garbage disposal. After many failed attempts, of trying to scoop him out with spoons, I had to give up. There was no way to get him out. I even tried pooring water in their, but it would drain before I could float him to the top. So today I am empty handed, I killed my class pet. How did this happen? This was the longest I had ever had a fish. 2 and half months! So today after school I will be buying a Joe Jonas look alike, and will not be telling my students this story.
(I feel horrible and really do miss Joe Jonas, I will always know, that the fish in our bowl is not the real Joe Jonas!)

On the way to school, I got a bloody nose. Thankfully I wasn't driving. For some reason I get a bloody nose almost every month. Eh. Gross.

On a good note, Bob and I have been dating 2 months today. I know that sounds wimpy, but it seems like forever. Last night we decided to stay up late and go to the movies. Late for us equals going to the 9:30 movie and getting in bed at 11:00. We saw Madagascar 2 and it was so cute. I laughed the whole time. I am so lucky to have Bob in my life. He is my best friend and I love him so much!

new hair cut- done by Emily

My cousin Emily gave me a hair cut last night. She has saved me the past few months by treating me to hair cuts and scalp massages and wonderful conversation. I trust her and would let her do whatever with my hair. It's always a treat to get my hair cut. Thanks Emily!

Dear Miss Hales

January 16th 2009
Dear Miss Hales,
I was reading Helen Keller but now I am reading twenty and ten. It is intristing. What type of books do you like? What moud are you mostly in? To be honest I am all ways angry but i Have been practicing not to be little miss atitude like I am all the time well most of the time atleast. do you like being a teacher? did you like school when you were not a teacher? thank you for giving me a curcive lisence! are you crasy sometimes? I like your first name Alyse and I like your last name hales it is cool. Have you read all the books in our class libery? did you get what you wanted for christmas?
- K

(This girl is never moody or mean in class, that is why I think this letter is so funny. She is one of my best students and she loves writing. Every Friday the class writes me a letter telling me about the book they are reading. It is supposed to be 1/2 page long. She always writes longer than a half page, but it is usually questions for me about my personal life. haha.)

New Years in Washington!

On Monday the 29th I flew to Pasco, Washington to spend the week with Bob and his family. The plane ride went by quickly- maybe too quick. I was a little nervous, as the cute old lady sitting next to me, told me to keep Breathing. (I later found out that this cute lady works in the temple with Bob's grandma.)

When I arrived, it was a relief to see Bob and my nervousness went away. (I was glad to know that Bob was nervous for me to come too!) I was blinded by the setting sun coming through the window as I met his brother David, sister in law Kelsey, brother Brad and his parents Lowell and Shannon. I was embarrassed that my suitcase was so big... luckily we didn't have to wait too long to pick it up. We went to dinner at Anthony's a fancy fish restaurant. Where I also met brother Levi, his wife Heather and Grandma Barber. --- I didn't take any pictures at dinner, but will post them when I get them.) We played games that night and then went to bed.

The next day- Tuesday we went bowling. Bob once said in a church talk that he was the best bowler. I think he said his best score was 225. We played four games and I beat Bob 3 out of 4 games. Each game I only beat him by 5 pins or so. The game he beat me, he beat me by 50 pins.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a car for Bob's parents. It was fun to test drive a few different cars and to hang out with the family. We finished off the night by going to Levi and Heather's house for a New Years Eve party. Bob's Mom got a Ice Cream birthday cake for me.

Wednesday- We woke up had breakfast and watched What About Bob. We then decided to go bowling again. This time we played 3 games and I won all 3.... I also won $50 from Bob for beating his Dad. (All of the games his Dad was bowling 170ish. So Bob told me he would give me $50 if I beat him that game. It was my best game 154 and Lowell ended up bowling a 130.)
Bob and I ran to the store to get a skirt because we were going to chaperone the stake dance that night. After we picked up Chineese food and went home and ate it. I then met Staci and Nate and kids. We had planned on going to play games with friends and then go to the dance- But we were so tired we ended up not going out and just watched a movie on TV. It was so nice to relax. We watched Hairspray until midnight.

Thursday- Bob went and played basketball. I got wasted playing Shannon and Jackson in backgammon. Then we went to the taco truck and the Mexican bakery. We went to Grandma Barber's house and hung out for a while. We finished off the night playing games.We woke up to a bunch of fresh snow the next morning-- And then flew home that afternoon My parents picked us up and then we went to my house for yummy calzones. Thanks Mom!

I'm so glad that Bob asked me to come to to his house for the break. I absolutly loved his family and they were so good to me. It was the best part of my Christmas break!

5 days later

It has been 5 days since laser treatment. My long weekend relaxing and healing was such a blessing! Friday and Saturday were my worst days and I was glad I could take a break from work. I am back at school, loving my kids and class. Here is an update on my face.... Hey I am actually smiling, and most of the grossness is gone! And I actually can tell a difference with my face! I'm not going to say I like laser treatment or recommend it at this point, but I am past hating.
*** I know I know I know! You want updates on my Christmas Break in Washington with Bob. It was wonderful, amazing, fun and relaxing. I lost my thingy-ma-jiger that you use to upload pictures from your card. I will find it and post soon!

Pro's and Con's of the Trailer!

As I got to school today after a wonderful 3 day weekend, I forgot about the problem of having a trailer classroom in the winter time. Here are some of the Pro's and Con's I have come up with for having a trailer as a classroom.

Pro's:
1. You can control your heat/ac
2. You don't have a hallway where kids are talking outside
3. You can open the door and get fresh air
4. You can easily transition your lesson/teaching to outside
5. You can staple things onto the wall
6. You can drive your car back to your classroom door and unload supplies
7. You can walk different ways to lunch depending on your mood, and the weather
8. I can blame my messiness/ unorganized classroom on the fact that I have no place for storage

Con's:
1. You can control your heat/ac-- if you forget to turn the heat on, your classroom is the same temperature as the outside and your fish, Joe Jonas will freeze. (He will thaw though!)
2. You have no storage/organization
3. You have to leave for assemblies, lunch and classes 2 minutes earlier because you are so far away
4. You can't just peak in next door or across the hall to ask a question to your teammate
5. You will have to walk through a foot of snow to get to your classroom after a huge snowstorm
6. That snow will then turn into slush or ice
7. You will slip on that ice/slush mixture and your pants will be soaked and your arm will be scraped.
8. The slush freezes and there is a 4 inch layer of ice surrounding your door to your trailer
9. You will slip on the ice
10. You will slip on the ice

Laser Face--- How can I be Positive?

I went to the doctor yesterday and I was going to tell him I wanted to tone down the laser and do 300. That is what I had signed up for, a LIGHT laser treatment, but when I went the first time they lasered me at 500.

When I got there he said we would need to do my cheeks at 700 if we were going to get all of the scars. I thought, well I am already going through all the pain, I might as well get rid of everything cause it will hurt either way. Needless to say this is what I look like:

As soon as the procedure was over he showed me my face with a mirror and I started bawling. Last time my face didn't look this bad, and this time I could see the lines on my cheeks from the laser. I am in a lot of pain, but I do have numbing cream, so that does help. It will get a lot worse before it gets better, so I am going to stay home tomorrow and rest!

My kids have been funny today. Some have been nice, some have just been blunt.

Michael: WOAH!!! Teacher did you get your face lasered again?
Me-Yes
Michael- WHY?

Michael- When are you going to do it again?
Me- In February, only one more time.
Michael-OH THANKGOODNESS!
His final comment: Your face looks as brown as a rasin

Payton- What happened?
Me- To what?
Payton- Your face.
Me-I got lasered.
Payton-Again? Why is your face brown?

I took my class to computers and the computer teacher met us in the hall, Ashley yelled to her, "Miss Hales got laser face again!"

I can only laugh. And keep away from all mirrors. I really can't believe I am posting this picture. But-- It's a memory, and soon, hopefully I will have a nice face.

Have a great day!

numb face...

I just put the numbing cream on my face and soon I will be at the doctor's getting my face lasered again. I don't know why I am doing this. Wait, I do, Mom paid for it to happen 3 times so I am going back for my 2nd treatment. I got some of the cream on my lips, they are really numb at this point. I hope that it isn't as bad as my first treatment, but I am afraid that it will be.

If you don't hear from me for a while, it is because I am hiding- Again. Please let this one treatment be nicer to me.

*Brittany, I am sure I will have a good post for you soon, I didn't tell my kids that I will be going to school looking scary tomorrow. Haha. I am sure they will say some awesome things!

I'm back...

Christmas break was Amazing, but amazingly too short. I spent the first ten days wishing I was in Washington and then the week I was there went by way too fast. I have lots of pictures and fun stories, but will share them later.

Today started out crappy. I had a bad night, couldn't sleep and I was totally unprepared for today. I wasn't ready for school to start. But I got to school early and I got the things that I needed to do done.

I was walking into the school around 7:30 and my student Michael was waiting between the set of doors. I can not tell you how happy he looked when he saw me. He was the sweetest thing ever and yelled MISS HALES! I told him it was inside recess and he ran to the trailer. He later told me when school started that I looked beautiful. My little innocent 3rd grader, made my morning. I had a lot of my mind, and wasn't very happy. What a joy and a blessing it was for me to hear that my kids love and missed me.

We were talking about my Christmas break so I could get the students to brainstorm a personal narrative. I told them what I got for Christmas and told them I got new clothes. Ashley, my little sweet heart who sometimes drives me crazy shouted out, "Is that a new outfit Miss Hales?" I told her it was and she proceeded to tell me she loved it. Before school got out she came up to me and hugged me goodbye telling me again I looked good. (This may or may not be the same girl that told the class I was pregnant at the beginning of the year- but that's ok.)

After a long lazy break, I wasn't ready to go back. I knew that once I got to school I would remember why I loved teaching. The students are amazing and they are full of love and joy. I love every single one of them and can't wait to teach them everyday.

*** After lunch recess my student Payton told me that his tongue was hurting and I said, "You didn't stick your tongue to a pole did you?" He stuck his raw and soar tongue out at me and I knew right away he had. Oh man, gotta love third graders!