Congrat "U" lations!

To the many of you (ok..3 of you) who participated.... here are the answers to last week's quiz:

1. Capital- Salt Lake City (Wendy was right, the capital in Utah is"U") j/k
2. Highest point- King's Peak
3. Origin of name - Ute Indians
4. Nickname- Beehive State
5. Motto- Industry
6. Bird- California Red Gull (seagull is incorrect)
7. Animal- Rocky Mountain Elk
8. Flower- Sego Lily
9. Tree- Colorado Blue Spruce (Blue Spruce and Colorado Spruce were accepted)
10. Insect- Honeybee
11. Fossil- Allosaurus (i did however accept "dinosaur")
12. Fruit- Cherry
13. Fish- Bonneville Cutthroat Trout
14. Rock- Coal
15. Mineral- Copper
16. Gem- Topaz
17. Emblem- Beehive
18. Dance- Square Dance
19. Cooking Dish- Dutch Oven
20. Bordering States-Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona
    

Drum Roll..... ( no really, be drum rolling )....

In 1st place:

Nikki @ REID reviews (private blog) will be receiving this prestige Utah-Topia award for her 12 points!

And in 2nd place...Wendy @ View From the Grove received 10 points...

Right behind her with 8 points was Jenny @ Oh Fiddlesticks!

Congratulations ladies :) Let me know your addresses so I can ship your prizes.

Thanks for participating!

Utah-Topia

I had the privilege (it was required actually) to attend part of the UEA Convention for teachers on Friday. It was held at the South Town Expo Center this year--and I've never seen so many freebies being handed out...

Anyway,
There was a booth that was advertising a U.S. Geography Computer Game and I just had to play! (Map Play)




Here's your test: without cheating (a.k.a. google-ing) see how many of the UTAH facts you can get right on the first try---post your answers by commenting on this post and whoever wins will receive a prize!


Ready?

Go!

1. Utah's state capital:



2. The highest point in Utah:



3. The origin of the name "Utah":



4. State nickname:



5. State motto:



6. State bird:



7. State animal:



8. State flower:



9. State tree:



10. State insect:



11. State fossil:



12. State fruit:



13. State fish:



14. State rock:



15. State mineral:



16. State gem:



17. State emblem:



18. State dance:



19. State cooking dish:

and finally...

20. List all 6 states that border Utah:

Well--good luck to everyone, I will post the answers and the winner on

Sunday the 26th of October (that's one week!)

Entertainment of the Season

This is before it all went down.

USU vs. BYU

I went to Logan this weekend for the most entertaining football game I've ever been to. I was really excited for BYU to wipe out Utah State. (Yes, I am an Aggie but c'mon, does anyone really expect me to cheer their football team on?)

Anyway, I made it to the game just before BYU scored the first touchdown. Typical.

While watching the game, I realized there was just as much entertainment going on around me, as there was on the field.

• To the left; One intense Aggie fan who was fond of saying bizzarre things such as: "#22, where's your house?" Also fond of picking a fight with the BYU guys behind us and brushing the dreadlocks out of his own face.


• To the front; a couple of older gentlman who happened to be die-hard BYU fans. They also happened to be severly annoyed with the fact that no one would sit down. (especially during time-outs and media breaks). "Why doesn't everybody take a seat?!!"


• Above; the BYU marching band


• Below; the USU marching band


• The ENTIRE stadium; decked out in blue and white.

Not one person was surprised when half time came and the Cougars were winning.

Everyone was surprised when the Aggies scored their first, then their second touch down.

So many flags, fumbles, play reviews, fight songs, banners, fan-fights, and more. Seriously, an entertaining game. I have never seen a team so mad about winning, and the other so thrilled about losing. Hilarious.

Utah State never expected to win, hence the reason many Aggie fans were found wearing a shirt specifically designed for this game.
---"Win or Lose.... you still live in Provo.... "nuff" said."

Congrats to the Cougars for winning!
Congrats to the Aggies for surpassing all expectations.

Courage

Today I taught a reading lesson to my 6th graders about a man during Hitler's time and the
Holocaust, titled Passage to Freedom. Quite a remarkable story about a Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of lives.

Behind this story lies a theme that was so fitting for today.

Courage.

What a great opportunity I had to talk to my students about courage and the significance of this day. As we talked about September 11, 2001 I was reminded of the horror, the sadness, and the fear. I was reminded also of courage.

• The courage of the firefighters and police officers who gave their lives trying to save others.
• The courage of those passengers who went down in a Pennsylvania field.
• The courage of the families and friends of those inside the World Trade Center and the airplanes.
  
  

  

I remember being in highschool on this day. I remember being scared. Watching the television for weeks, feeding off the news converage, searching for hope. I remember feeling torn apart yet united.



Today, as we discussed courage in school, I remembered all of these things and I felt proud to be an American. I came home and watched some videos, read some blogs and felt motivated to share my feelings.


I will always remember this day and the people who lost their lives.

I will remember the courage.

Teaching 101

It's been awhile.

Update: I have spent the last 7 school days student teaching in a 6th grade classroom, where I will remain until the middle of October.

A few tips (basically for myself).


#1 Spend some time in the principal's office. Seriously--Let's just say the principal and I have become friends. A very long and involved story goes along with this--and actually this is a good thing. Believe it or not-that was my first time in a principal's office!


#2 Make sure you don't laugh outloud while observing when a student makes a comment that you think is clever and hilarious, but is not so to the teacher. Awkward.


#3 Before you accept a 6th grade teaching position, find out if there is a height test required. If so--move on. I think I have noticed the few missing inches more than the students, but still.


#4 Remember that there is more to learning then testing. Weird isn't it? I know... this news is ground breaking. Below you will find my favorite clip (so far) on standardized testing.





Quite the catchy tune don't you think?
(I think this song should be sung to every kid at home and school.)



Which brings me to...

#5 Remember and remind kids that acutally learning and feeling good about oneself is far more important than filling in the correct bubbles on a test.




This has been my edition of "Teaching 101."

27 Dresses

My week long class is over!
I've worked hard all week long and am quite proud of what I accomplished. My English 3440 (writing) class was an inspiration.




Classtime usually brings just doodles of flowers or the alphabet. But this was no oridnary class. My idea began the first day after a guy told a poem about all his wife's dresses. I thought to myself,


"Hmm...dresses. Interesting." and it began.




I drew one, then another and another. Grad students analyzed, and I doodled. Don't worry, I was listening, even participating. But mainly, I was drawing.

The girl next to me asked me what I was drawing. I sheepishly told her I had A.D.D and she just laughed. She asked me if I had seen the movie 27 Dresses?

I really quite like that movie.

Ah-ha! My simple-minded doodling just took on a new qwest. 27 DRESSES

Friday 1:00pm. I finished.

Hmm...now only if I could turn this in as my portfolio instead of the poems and prose!

This project led me to one question: do I really want to spend the rest of my life being a teacher, or should I try designing dresses? Hmm...I'll have to give that some thought. ;)

There are seriously some scary ones.

But I do have a few favorites.

Which one, of the 27 Dresses do you fancy?

English 3440

Becoming a teacher has it ups and downs. One includes (which I'll let you decide which category it falls under) attending a week long workshop at Utah State; English 3440; Creative Non-Fiction Writing.


It began on Monday and ends on Friday. It is only Wednesday night and I'm not sure I can take two more days of this. Ok, it's really not THAT bad, but c'mon if you were stuck in a blistering hot classroom on the far end of campus, told that a B in the class is considered exceptional, and surrounded by grad students majoring in English, classical literature, or technical writing...you'd be glad it's half way over too :)


Let's just say we begin every day by meditating. Yes, meditating. (it is better than getting more assignments though). Followed by reading poetry and prose (which is also known as writing) and analyzing it to DEATH. There's always multiple hidden meanings and parallells; a reason for every word.




You see...one girl wrote a poem titled "Grasshopper." I read the poem and took it as information/details about a grasshopper (the title kind of gives that away). Come to find out this poem was really about the author's first fight with her new husband.


>Really?

There were no fighting words, examples, yelling, saying sorry, making up, etc. It described grasshoppers and apparently, they are much like a first fight. (Wow, those of you who are married can you please, please enlighten me?)

I wrote a poem about Lake Powell and guess what? It's about Lake Powell.

So the week goes. It really is interesting and I'm learning something new everyday.

I've been working on something this entire time while in class and as soon as it's finished I'll be posting.