One step closer to being a “real” teacher!

Kohls is giving away money to the schools who get the most votes, so head over to this link to vote for Sunrise Mountain High School!

Sunrise Mountain High School is entering into its 2nd school year. While it is in a new building, it serves a student body who are considered “under-privilaged” and come from families who are not involved in their children’s education. I am excited to join the Sunrise Mountain faculty this year buy teaching 4 Physics courses as well as supporting 12th grade students who have not passed the state science exam yet. I know that a grant like this will give students the opportunities they deserve to explore the world through the lens of science!

Check out the pictures of my classroom to help me with ideas for getting my first classroom set up and decorated!

Also, I’ll be writing a series on my first year as a teacher at Just Call Me Ms Frizzle, so please sign up for posts to be emailed to you or subscribe to the feed in order to keep up with me and my class!

The Air Force took our stuff away…

…and I’ve never been so happy to see it go! After my graduation, we headed back to Connecticut to facilitate our move:

First, two guys came down from Massachusetts to make sure our things were packed safely.

Before the packing and loading…

Can you spy the tractor trailer?

Our little red salamander friend :)

…and after it all got packed away!

Looking forward to seeing it all unloaded in Las Vegas! Stay tuned for updates on the move and graduations :)

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[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

I feel a sore throat coming on…

I wish I could say that since the last time I posted, things have calmed down. Haha, not so lucky.

Student teaching has taken up most of my time. I’m working with 6th and 7th graders. They say the craziest things, but I miss being in a high school. One interview so far and still waiting to hear from others!

Grad school is almost over (finally) and that means projects, galore! I’m writing a Magnetism Unit, finishing my portfolio, and presenting on a Teacher as Researcher project I did on Parent-Teacher Communication.

Hubby is on a surgery rotation, so I’ve got to go buy more chicken so he can practice suturing.

I’m making time each week to do something fun. I’m working on two lap quilts for my nieces and finishing up that London Scrapbook (only 4 pages left!). Here’s the top of one of the quilts. Finished product pictures to come:

My mom and sister came down for two days and we tore up Manhattan looking for a suitable prom dress. Sadly, the perfect one had a stain and the store was unwilling to take enough money off to be worth it. So then we went to Eleni’s in Chelsea Market and had a Cranberry Everything cookie.

As grad school and our time in New York City is coming to a close, we’ve been getting nostalgic. We’re going to miss the greenery of the North East as well as the beaches and wooded areas. I don’t know what I’ll do without good bagels. Donations welcome.

But saying goodbye also means saying hello to something new. I can’t believe how blessed we are to have found an apartment with good mountain views – a place where I can unpack my four bags and settle for awhile. And what better place to start teaching than Las Vegas? They’ve got the Hoover Dam and an Atomic History Museum! Hopefully Vegas will also be the revival of my performance life as I am pursuing a few options down that road. Who knows what other pleasant surprises will come.

One not so pleasant surprise is the sore throat I feel coming on from all the ups and downs of life. Here’s to hoping it’s gone by the time school starts tomorrow!

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[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Ode to Dance

The last two years of life have been nothing less than exciting: grad school, marriage, moving around, losing cars and apartments, making great new friends, and looking forward to things to come.

One thing that has been not so exciting is that the chaos has meant I have not been able to be involved in dance or musical theatre. I’m hoping that will change when we get to Las Vegas. In preparation for that (as well as a fantastic way to waste time over spring break) I started my performance website.

I realize that I am in dire need of some new pictures (feel free to volunteer your time and/or camera, haha). But this will have to do!

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[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

My Life In Aladdin Verse

Last night hubby and I had dessert with a couple that has been extremely faithful to us throughout the last few years of our crazy life. We were sharing some of our anxieties regarding moving out to Las Vegas and our friends gave us great advice.

“You know that part in Aladdin when he’s up in the tower with the princess?”

Wait a minute, hard core advice on dealing with hard transitions in life coming from Aladdin? Awesome.

“All the palace guards are chasing after them and their stuck up there. He turns to her and he says, ‘Do you trust me?’.

She says, ‘What?’.

He asks again, ‘Do you trust me?’

She says, ‘Yes.’

He says, ‘Then juuuuuuuuuuummmpp.’”.

Brilliance. What our dear friends aptly described was the fact that we’re about to take a huge leap of faith together, but at least we’re together and we trust each other. I’m so glad to be taking a huge risk with my best friend!

For your entertainment:

(I realize this isn’t the clip I was talking about it, but this one’s still funny. I love Abu)

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[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Highlights of 2009 Dreams for 2010

As 2010 is well under way, I’ve been thinking a lot about how crazy this year is going to be. Which also makes me think how crazy our 2009 has been. Here’s the break down of last year:

• In January and in June, Keith continued his “extracurricular activities” in coming down with and overcoming appendicitis and meningitis.  Becky also became sick with the flu (possibly the swine variety) soon after our experience with Keith’s brother and sister-in-law at a Hillsong United concert in NYC in early June.  Thankfully, she recovered just in time to take her Physics Praxis exam and pass it (she passed her General Praxis exams in April)!  Keith also passed both parts of his Step 2 Board exams in August as well as his PET scan “test” on July 17^th; we anticipate another clean PET on Monday, the 28^th. [side note: it was clean!!]
• Becky completed her 1^st year at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College in May and recently finished the 1^st semester of her 2^nd year on a strong note.  After searching long and hard this fall for places to student teach this spring, Becky settled on Beacon Academy (for 12^th grade physics) and the Clinton School for Writers and Artists (for 6^th and 7^th grade general science), both in Manhattan.
• Keith completed his 3^rd year core medical school rotations in the Newark, NJ area in August and kicked off his 4^th year rotations with 4 weeks of Family Medicine at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in Las Vegas before returning to Connecticut for more rotations.  It was Keith’s first visit to the hot and dry Southwest!
• We worked through a series by Andy Stanley called iMarriage with our Bible Study/Life Group through Liquid Church in NJ last winter and had the opportunity to enjoy our 1^st anniversary on the Jersey Shore.  It was really hard letting go of our Life Group over the summer when we moved out of our apartment in Elizabeth but we hope to reconnect with them again soon!
• An electrical fire and resultant water damage prevented us from moving into our new apartment in Manhattan in late August.  This, in addition to a tree falling on and totaling Becky’s car in mid-October, made life increasingly difficult for us.  But God provided for us in huge ways through family and friends who opened their hearts and their homes (and even their cars and car services) to us during our time of need.  We’re glad to be living together again this holiday season after enduring 4 months of “touch and go” (seeing each other only on weekends).  We’re also excited for the chance to live together in Manhattan as Keith was able to schedule the remainder of his 4^th year rotations there and Columbia offered us an apartment in graduate student housing for the spring semester (we move in January 17^th!).

Yea, crazy year. Here’s what we anticipate this year:

• Finally living together again starting in February (Keith has rotations in CT until then).
• Finishing grad school (!!) with student teaching and one more certification exam.
• Graduating within 2 days of each other (me in NYC and Keith in Maine).
• Moving to Las Vegas. Thanks to the Air Force, we will not be moving our things, but we decided to drive out there anyways as our “vacation”. Since we’ve got 12 days between graduation and reporting in, we don’t have the luxury of anything else this year.
• Keith starting residency at Nellis Air Force Base. His title will be Dr. Mr. Captain G. Keith McCoy D.O. I need more letters with my name!
• I finally get to decorate a home! This will be the first time we’ve spent more than 13 months in one place. I’m dreaming of paint colors already.
• After 20 not so long years of being a student, I finally have to look for a “real” job. I am really excited to teach Physics in Las Vegas and go on frequent field trips to the Hoover Dam and the Atomic History Museum!
• We are so excited for all the blessings and adventures God has in store for us. Bring it on :)

I wish I had a picture of all the boxes I’m in the process of packing and unpacking – our NYC apartment is more like a large dorm room, so we’re trying to bring as little as possible!!! A post will soon follow on the topic of packing boxes.

Anywho…Happy New Year!!