P to the B to the isher

I LOVE, I mean love Publisher. I used this program quite a bit when I was in Jr. High and High School for projects both personal and for school. I had not used it for quite a while because I did not have it on my personal computer. So when I was able to use it on the school computers, I fell in love all over again! It is such a user friendly program. I love how they have the templates all ready to use and there are so many. For the assignments on the final it was easy to be able to pull up a template and make it your own, but the pages are there for you to use and give you good ideas.

In my classroom I can use so many of these templates to make flyers, etc. for classroom activities and events coming up. I could also have the students help with the process, it is pretty user friendly so they can help with the topics, graphics and stories in the newsletters. There are so many templates that you can use in the classroom. There is one for card making that would be fun for kids to use for the different holidays. We could upload their pictures to use on the cars. There is also a template for certificates. I would love having this available for easy access. It would be fun to give away random certificates every week making the students feel special.

This is a great program to have in your home and in your classroom. I wish that it came standard with windows and word. It is pretty expensive, but I think that I may invest in it. I think that there many programs that some schools may have that are available for the students and teachers to use. But I may need this in mt home for my personal use!

R.I.P. Cougars!!!

"Take this back to Provo!" guy

Me on the 30 YD line after the WIN!

On the field

We got on camera, but I am not sure who's camera it was?

Best Fans ever!

CRAZY!

Watching the players celebrate!

Jake in the craziness!

On the field!

UTES are #1~!

Nice score, you wave that flag Jeff!

Trash talk before the game.

Rickey and I at the game, and our season ticket holder friends in the back!

There were a few BYU flags being waved at the start, but they soon faded!

GO UTES!

#1 UTES

Shot"ski" guy at the tailgate area, "playing" his ski with the live band!

Tailgate~crazy!

Go Brian Johnson!

Ute Fire Truck!

The game on Saturday was so good! We killed BYU 24-48. I cannot believe how crazy the UTE fans are they are Die hard BYU haters. In the tailgate area if someone walked through in BYU attire, first how dumb do you have to be? 95% of the people in there are so drunk they have no idea what is going on and second, they HATE BYU, I mean HATE BYU. They were booo'd and had beer and silly string thrown on them. I don't agree with the whole throw stuff on them, but for real you should know better. It was insane, I am surprised that we did not see any fights. UTE fans are die hard, oh man I cannot even describe the madness! When BYU entered the field they were booo'd and if a BYU fan dare walk down the stairs they were heckled to death. They are brave, I would never do it! The BYU hater shirts and memorabilia was insane. One of the pics shows one guy that showed his true feelings. I have never seen so many hung cougars in my life. This rivalry is bigger than any other I think because it incorporates religion. BYU fans have strict morals and UTES, well they may may have morals but at this game they do not show them. It was good ole college football. Now we just wait and see what happens with the bowl games, but we are planning on attending with the "crew" that we had season tickets with. I am sad the season is over, but Oh so glad I was able to be part of it! GO UTES!!!!

Web page

I have finished the whole fiasco of finishing the flyer, brochure, newsletter, classroom rules etc. So now I have to move onto the the Google Web page. So far so good! It really helps that we are able to work on it in class. This way you have not only your teacher as a resource, but also other students. It has been really helpful so far. Google is not super user friendly, I do not think but I am working my way through it okay so far. I wonder if I will use google sites, when I have a classroom or some other type of site, because I also think it is not very easy to navigate around and find things on. For example the site for our class there are so many links to follow and go back to. It just seems kind of repetitive.

I would want a more kid friendly site since I will be teaching third grade. One that has photos for icons to click on. For example a pen, paper and books for homework. A lunch sack for the lunch menu, etc. I just like that kind of site better. I will not even look at a site if it is not appealing to me. Also some of the parents, caretakers may not have great computer skills so this will make it easier on them too.

I am excited for this semester to be over. I have learned tons in this class that will be helpful in my teaching career. It has been a fairly easy class, just a lot of material to cover. I am not going to lie. I will be excited to be able to post on my blog for fun and not for homework. I am thankful for this class to MAKE me start a blog it is something that I have wanted to start, but just procrastinated it, but now it is here and set up so it is easy now!

History

So tonight I was going through an old recipe book that has all of my Great Grandma and Grandpa's recipes in it. I am looking for a brownie recipe for the Golding family party because there is the best recipe for brownies that My Great Grandma Moon made. Now I remember my Grandma Moon, always had a tissue in her hand and watching Price is Right. I think I was only 5 or 6, but I remember her. As I read some of the stories in this book, I think to myself I never want to forget her. I hear the storied of the good ole times that my grandma Taylor had with her. They lived on a sheep camp in Hanna for most of their lives, they worked so hard. It makes me think how many things we take for granted, they had nothing, but at the same time they had it all. They have so many good stories about playing as a family after all the work was done, the butter frozen on the counter when they woke up in the morning trading food with the Indians, etc. Not yet have I heard one of the kids complain about the way of life they had. Life is too easy now, for example there are 100+ recipes in here. They had to make dinner from scratch, not run to Wendy's or microwave a dinner and they ate it together as a family. Great Grandpa Moon would finish the chores and come in to meet his family for a good home cooked meal, I am not sure if life could get better than that?

As I am starting my family it makes me think that I want these things for my kids. I want them to feel the strong family bond and where they came from. I know growing up my mom did this for us. Growing up on a farm. Playing baseball and using cows or cow pies as bases. Swimming in the horse trough, being able to go outside and hop on a horse and go for ride where ever. We had bummer lambs every spring that we had to feed 6+ times a day. Fighting off stray dogs to save our babies, I remember many times not getting there in time. Breaking the ice off of the troughs and feeding all of the animals in freezing cold temperatures. But it was all so worth it, THANKS MOM! I want my kids to experience this too. I know I am emotional being pregnant and all so as I go through these memories I am balling my eyes out and I do not think it helps I am listening to Alison Krauss. I just love my family and the values it has always had, I hope I can pass it on to our kids. It also helps that Rickey's family has good values too.

Technology can be a pain in the buttocks!

So this week we started on our final projects. I was thinking that it would be no problem, piece of cake, lets get the party started! Well I had chosen Publisher to do all the first part of the final in, the flyer, brochure, newsletter and classroom rules. So I did all if them and then I saved them on my USB port and figured I would finish posting them on my UEN site at work. Well, that turned out to be a nightmare! First, they would not transfer because my computer at work did not have Publisher 2007 so they would not open. So I figured I would try Google Documents because that is apparently the magic place that can fix everything. Well it will not support Publisher documents, so at this point I am having a small wig out! I had a co-worker helping me through out all of this and even he being as computer savvy as he is, was at his wits end. So I decide to remake some of the documents in word and transfer them to Google documents because I have to have them saved as a PDF, to make things more complicated! I am not sure what PDF stands for, but I know what the F stood for this day! Well when I transfer them over, it completely changes the format, so I have to try and reformat the whole document in Google. When I get it looking somewhat like the original, I save it as a PDF and it looks so messed up! AAAHHHHH!!!! At this time I have to walk away. So my other co-worker came in and said well if you had a Mac this would be easy! Oh do not even get me started, I hate that Macs and PC's cannot perform the same things. Do they not realize how difficult this makes life for me??? So she tells me to e-mail her the documents that I have made in publisher and it will take her two clicks to make it into a PDF. And you know what it does, 2 clicks and it is a PDF. WTF!!! I am so over it now. I have given up, I do not know what the more simple ways would be to transfer it to a PDF from a word document, but at this point I really do not care! I know I sound bitter and angry at this point, and I am, I really am. If I had 4 people helping me accomplish this I can only imagine how others feel! So if it weren't for the whole PDF thing, this assignment would have been a breeze and I would have really enjoyed it. Because I love working on Publisher and making creative, colorful things, but this may have ruined it for me for a while at least. Give me a few months break and I think I may be able to face the PDF/Publisher thing again, but maybe not I may be ruined for life! Oh and I will never make my students use this, not in 3rd grade and if they are older, I will personally find an easy way to make it happen for them and teach them, rather than let them struggle and get frustrated. I know I can ask for help, but for now I am good!??!

Announcement time!

So excited about the news!

Our second reaction to the news, ummm what did we do?

So for everyone that does not know, we are expecting our first baby June 14th 2009! We are so excited! We had felt the baby hungry thing before, but the feeling had always gone away. Last January at dinner at Wingers when Rickey brought it up again. So we decided to think about it and if in June we still felt the same we would start trying. The feeling never went away and we were still stressing about this being the right time to start or not. We decided that we would never be ready, so now was the time to start! So it took up about 5 months and we found out. I had promised myself that I was not going to test until I was really late. Well that Friday at work one of our really good clients asked me if I was pregnant, I was like no just fat. So then on the way home I was like I think I am going to take one, just for kicks and giggles. S0 that night I took one and it was positive, I asked Rickey to come and double check and we compared the box and it was positive, so I then took a different kind, a digital one and it said pregnant. So then we were so excited, still a little shocked but super excited! We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful life and lucky to have the chance to share our love with this little bundle of joy! I am 9 weeks along now, I have been sick and am ready for this trimester to be over. I do not complain, because it is worth it and I would not trade it for anything, but I am sick of being sick! Rickey has been so cute and he is so excited. He has gone to the Dr. with me every time so far and is very supportive. He talks to my belly and rubs it. He has been very supportive during the food cravings and the moodiness. I feel bad for him because I am in bed by 8:30 PM if possible every nite, I cannot help it. We will be so excited with what ever "flavor" we end up with. (That is what my mom and dad say, flavor, instead of boy or girl! I think it is cute.) Everyone one is so excited especially my parents, since this is their first grand baby, they are already spoiling it and it doesn't even know it. My mom has bought it a whole wardrobe and my dad is looking for it a pony. Oh that poor poor baby has no idea what it has coming. HA HA HA! Thank You to everyone that has been so supportive to us throughout this and always we love you all!

Kidspiration/Inspiration

Kidspiration

I has do much fun playing on this. At first I just started out by plating with all of the pictures that they had. I liked how were categorized so you were able to find a group of pictures that coincided with one and other. Also it was nice to be able to search for a certain subject. There were so many ones to choose from, I especially liked the animated ones. I also loved the Pattern Blocks it was way cool to make the different patterns, I made a way awesome butterfly. I think that it would be very useful to learn comparisons, fractions and colors too. The already made games/graphs/etc. would be helpful for students to learn how to move things around and not be afraid to make it their own. It was easy to follow and fun to play. The concept of the programs were very kid friendly and I think that it will teach them concepts on the computer that they will later be able to use on other programs.

The set up on both programs was displayed in such a way that it is similar to everyday programs you use in your everyday adult life. Such as Word and Publisher. It gives you a lot of the same options you can make graphs, add shapes, change the fonts, make paragraphs, insert pictures, etc. It also makes the icons kid friendly and easy to find. I think that this is a good program for students to start out on as young as possible. Even Kindergartners should be able to play around and figure out the concept. There is no better way to learn that experimenting and clicking around. It did not seem like a program that you could cause any major harm to or break anything by clicking on something too many times.

The different aspects that it then lets you develop, like the social studies, math, reading and other programs is all easy and fun. It will help the students better improve their skills in reading, writing, math, vocabulary and other important learning skills.

Inspiration

This was definitely more of an "older" kid program. The structure is a lot more professional, and not "fun" feel like Kidspiration was. This also felt a lot like Word. The templates that were pre-made for students to follow are easy and give students the the right guide lines to follow. By doing this it allows the students to process their thoughts and ideas in a constructive manner.
I could even use this program in my college writing classes, it makes it easy to focus on key points.

In the template wizard you could customize your own templates, this would be helpful for teachers to be able to get the students to cover the right material and the material you want them to cover. There is also an area for the library so you can go there and find information to add to your projects. By having your students use their resources and library you know the information is safe and secure, also that it is accurate and scholarly.

I would love you use Kidspiration for my classroom. Even if I had one or two computers in my classroom for the students to take time to learn and work on the projects. I think that this program would work as a reward for the students. It will also help to have the students be broken into different groups to work on different homework. While some are working on math or spelling, some can be working on the computers as a reward or part of a homework assignment.

Happy Halloween!!

This year for Halloween at work, I was not very creative with my cotume this year, because of time and all, but it was fun!Super cute monster/spider cake I bought for the pot luck. Just so you know Kohler's has the best bakery EVER!!!

This is me and my Grammy Gwen, she was a cowgirl. I could not believe how freaking cute she was! She is so young at heart!!!


The gang at work! From left to right. Kendra-hippie, Brandon-Bunny, Heather-Peacock, Yoeny-Geisha, Jillian-Prisoner, Chris-Puppy


We had all the babies dressed up and posing for the camera. It was quite a feat!

Winston and I were firefighters, thanks Daddy for letting us borrow your gear!

Groups: To be or not to be.......

The past few classes, we have ad to work in groups. I have never been a huge fan of group work, personally. It seems like every time I am in a group there is at least one slacker that is there to observe, at the least. I am one of those people that feels that everyone should contribute, but it is hard because I feel if I give that one person a task to complete, and he/she fails, then the whole group suffers. I am maybe a control freak??? I like the idea that everything is done that needs to be done in order to get the grade I need. I know that sounds really bad, but I am not one to do the least amount of work possible to get at least a passing grade. I was always taught to go the extra mile in order to minimize my chances of a low grade. There are some positives I guess when it comes to group work, or so I hear. I think it helps get more ideas out and meet people that you may never talk to. It also helps people that may have a hard time being social be more social.

My experience in the first group (Second Grade Safety) was good. I think that it was a good experience because we were able to pick our own groups. In this group I was with people that I had socialized in class with and we were all kind of on the same page. We all took control and worked really well together. It was hard to do a PowerPoint together because there was only so many things that three people could do. We were able to divvy out responsibilities to make it even, but at the end, I felt like I did not do as much as the other girls in my group. Not because I did not want to, but because there was not a lot to do. So I felt that this may have effected my group grade. Not because of my non-willingness, but because you can only spread out so many things.

In my second group (50 Power Point Activities) was not so good. I was the only one with a book, so I was the ring leader. I did not mind having this responsibility, but I had a hard time getting any kind of input from the group. It was a large group and people were into their own things on their own computers, so I had to take charge. This is why I do not like group work. I had to make all the decisions and do all if the work. I tried to get help/input from other group members, so that I did not have to do all the work. In the end, I did the project and then everyone was very interested in what I did because they found out we had to present it front of the class. This group was a prime example of why I do not like groups.

In my own classroom I may use groups, but if I do, I will assign the different tasks to each student, with this they can come up with their own ways of presenting. For example,they can choose their subject and then in each group there will be different assignments that they can draw from a hat or decide on their own. So one person can be in charge of the pictures, one in charge of writing down ideas, etc. That way everyone is responsible for something and there is no room for slacking and if there is slacking it will reflect on that person and not the group as a whole. This is a way that the students can work together, but have structure.