Cherries, teaching, and Washington, D.C.

How long has it been since my last post?

I'm scared to do the math. 

I assure you, it has been time well spent.

6 weeks working in the cherry warehouse, with my cousins.

During this time, I was hired for a 4th grade teaching position at a local elementary school! There is a story behind this, but, seeing as how the time I've allotted for myself to write this post is almost up, it will have to wait for another time. [Sorry!]

After the cherries, and after a week of making a mess of my classroom, my brother and I headed out for a 10-day D.C./Virginia trip! SO much fun! We had been planning it for a long time, and, even though at first I felt guilty for leaving my messy classroom for so long, I believe it was worthwhile.

Allow me to throw some photos at ya.

We had a red-eye flight to D.C. If you've done one of these before, you understand how we felt -- red eyes, indeed.

Remember the Titans? We had the privilege of seeing T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. [Not actually where the movie was filmed, as we were disappointed to discover.]

We spent LOTS of time in the American History museum [6 hours, to be exact.] So fascinating. George Washington was there to greet us at one of the levels [but I honestly can't remember if we saw him at the American History or the Natural History museum...I guess the former makes more sense].

My primo Silve accompanied us when he was free. Here he is pictured with my hermano in front of the Washington monument.

See Mr. Lincoln in the distance? In front of him is the World War II memorial. Close-ups follow.

Library of Congress, ceiling.

One of the best tours we had was that of the Capitol. Because we requested it through our senator Patty Murray, my brother and I got a personalized tour from one of Murray's interns, who was from Seattle!

Mt. Vernon [home of THE George Washington] ended up being very close to where we were staying in Alexandria, Virginia.

George Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon:

Soldier's Home, a.k.a. Lincoln's Cottage [where Lincoln and his family stayed for part of his presidency. It is just 3 miles from the White House, I believe].

The women's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. While we were there, a young man dressed in a suit walked in. He left behind a bouquet of roses. 

The highlight of our trip: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Wow.

Okay, so this next photo might seem out of place. Let me explain. After our tour of the Pentagon, we visited the Pentagon memorial honoring those who died from the plane crashing into it on 9/11. Just outside the memorial was an outhouse. THE fanciest outhouse I have ever seen. Proof:

Supreme Court:

Iwo Jima memorial:

Our final stop we took while on our way to Virginia Beach: Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. See his grave below, followed by his house.

That's all I have time for today. 

Coming soon: classroom before and after photos, and a full report from your very own 4th grade teacher. :)

From graduation to summer break

I figure it's high time for a graduation post!

One week ago, I graduated with my B.A.Ed in Elementary Education!

My lovely family was there to support me.

A local graduation celebration preceded the ceremony by a week. That was a good time.

And a week full of math games, poetry, movies, and snacks followed it.

Oh, and, before I forget, remember my suspicion that the kids were writing poems for me?

Haha, I was right. They did.

So now I am a university graduate.

But the train doesn't stop there. I have job applications pending, a trip to D.C. in the works, and today was my first day working cherry season 2012. (Cherries are big around here.)

Got any summer plans?

Sudoku: What happens when the teacher messes up

I thought you might enjoy a story straight from the classroom today. I wish I could say it's a success story. But it's not. It was total sudoku failure.

Here's what happened:

10 minutes beforehand, I decide to teach the kids to solve sudoku puzzles.

Me: So, Kevin, are you teaching this, or am I?

Kevin: It doesn't matter. Do you want to do it?

Me: I can try.

Yikes! Bad idea, Dahlia!

Does Dahlia know how to solve a sudoku puzzle?

Psh, yes.

Does Dahlia know how to teach 4th grade students to solve sudoku puzzles?

Heck no.

But onward I went, and - what a sight! I'm talking, pointing, asking, showing, looking at their faces. They're spacing, staring, snoozing...not a good situation. So I decided to just STOP and let them have at it. That worked okay. A few needed some intense one-on-one, thanks to my catastrophic attempt at providing instructions.

Poor kids.

But, in the end, most of them got it. So the sudoku will continue, no thanks to me.

I made sure to congratulate the students on their tremendous effort and cooperation.

Moral of the story: PLAN, PLAN, PLAN, even for sudoku.

Good thing we can learn from our mistakes, huh?


On another note, I have a sneaky suspicion that Kevin had the kids write poems for me today, while I was helping another teacher for a couple of hours in the afternoon. At least, when I got back, I looked over one boy's shoulder to notice that he was finishing up a poem that had my name in it. Then, I saw Kevin calmly collecting papers from the students [not something he usually does.]


Just a suspicion.
I'm not saying it's true.
But if it does turn out to be true, I'll be so happy I just might cry.
Maybe I'll write poems for them...

2-week review, in pictures

The past couple of weeks have flown by!...flew by...flied by?

JUST kidding. I really do know how to speak English.

About two weeks ago, upon the culmination of "Teacher Appreciation Week," I got a wonderful surprise at my front door: a student of mine, his mom, and two gift bags full of tamales!

Isn't that unbelievable?

I mean, this kid's mom had to put in some time figuring out where I live, how to get here [google maps doesn't have the correct address for us], and then driving half an hour from their town to mine. Half an hour! And I think they even got lost along the way, thanks to google maps.

And, the tamales were warm.

I'm pretty sure I was glowing for the rest of the night.

The following day was Oliver's big birthday shin-dig.

Family.

[My grandma was wearing the cutest hat.]

[Grandpa must have thought so, too.]

Piñata.

And cake.

PC: Holly Avila

[Isn't it amazing? My mom has a gift.]

The following days have brought more and more tamales.

It must be that time of year.

But I'm definitely not complaining.

My recently wed sister and brother-in-law came over for the first part of Memorial Day weekend.

It was great to have them here.

It was also great that my mom sneakily bought a pie for my birthday so we could have a mini celebration while they were here. 

[My birthday actually isn't until tomorrow.]

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any photos of them, so all you get is me, and the pie.

PC: Mario Avila

And that, my friends, is a snapshot recap of the past two weeks.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have lessons to plan.

Enjoy your Memorial Day!

Family time

For the first time since my sister Ivory's wedding on December 10th, our family was together.

Well, maybe not the first time.

But it was the first time anyone thought to snap a photo!

So there we are, in all our campfire-clothes glory, a.k.a. clothes we were already wearing that day combined with other clothes that were old enough that we didn't mind if they stank like smoke and had to be washed after only 1 hour of roasting hot dogs over the fire pit.

Yes, I am making excuses for my outfit.

And, as for my hair, I blame the outdoors.

Jared and Ivory pleased us Monday with a surprise visit. So phonecalls were made, plans were changed, and everyone came together at our house for some hot dogs and a game of Monopoly Deal.

It was really good to have the whole family in one place. I miss it. Call it the youngest-child syndrome or whatever you like, but I am a sucker for family time.