Science Fair Projects

Remember those elementary school days when you had to do science fair projects? If not let me remind you how it works. Your teacher tells you that you have to do a science project for the science fair. They try to make it sound all exciting and wonderful and loads of fun. Then they hand you a packet of things you have to include and tell you that it is due in four weeks. So what do you do next?....you run home and hand the packet over to your parents. It then becomes their problem where you just have to do what they say to. So they think about it and some of them even pull out these wonderful books full of science project ideas. Then they pick one that they don't think is to hard and that can be done really quickly.. because the odds are that you did not give them the packet right away and then that they did not pick a project right away either...so that means that you now have about a week to do everything that you need to..if you are lucky you have two.

From here you do some project and take some pictures. then you make a pretty board and write some bogus paper about how you thought this project was great and you learned so many things. Then guess what you get to do....You get to present about a thousand times int he science fair at your school. You get to tell your classmates about it, your teacher about it, and then you get to tell judges about it. If you are lucky it ends here. if you are not so lucky, they all think you did a really great job and send you onto the district science fair. Where you then get to present your project another thousand times to a bunch of people you do not know. what fun!! and hopefully your journey ends here. if not, you need to pick projects that aren't so cool.

As you can tell doing science projects was never my favorite thing. I did have some cool projects and I did even go to district one year. the next year we choose a project that was not as cool so i did not have to go again.

When i left elementary school i thought I was done with these. Because in Jr High and High School, science projects were optional. And was I going to choose to do them.... no I was not.

Now imagine my feelings then when i walked into my Science Methods class on the first day and find out that we are going to have a science fair. and guess who gets to do the science fair projects..... each of us; the students of the class, which just happens to include me. So what do I do next? I run and tell my daddy that I have to do a science project! and what do you think he said.... nothing. he just laughed at me and said "good luck with that". I think he is sick of these as well. so what do i do next....i go home and forget about it.

At the time i am thinking that it is not due for a couple of months and that i have plenty of time to do what ever I choose to do. So i leave it alone and don't think about it anymore. that is i don't think about anymore until i get to class two weeks ago and my teacher tells us that our projects are due in three weeks time. He then wants us to come with our science project ideas ready and planned out for, and maybe even started, for the next week. This is when i realize that i need to do something. so i start asking around for ideas and start thinking about them myself. and what responses do you think i get back..... These are them: a Volcano that you back in on a flat bed truck, a Cup of Dirt, a Solar System where the yellow one is the sun.

Needless to say, these didn't help me much. They all made me laugh and made me think that the people I am friends with and myself all watch Brian Regan way to much. Therefore i went to class the next week with no idea of what i was going to do. I listened to everyone else's thoughts and realized that some people get way into this and had some really great projects. and i...well i still had nothing. because what i wanted to do i could not figure out how to do. so that was thrown out.

Now my project is due on Tuesday. Yep, the Tuesday that is coming up...the 7th of April. We have to have a board with pictures and all of that other stuff and be ready to present it to the class. We will also be getting judged by the graduate science students at the University of Utah. Now some of you may know this and others may not, but i work for the Molecular Biology and Biological Chemistry Program for science students at the U. This means that my students are going to be judging my project. Won't that be fun. not really.

So...I have now finally come up with my project. Now i just need to do it before Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Pay It Forward!!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something, handmade or homemade, from me! However there are some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It will be done sometime within a year from now.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be
5-I have to know you so that I can customize the gift!

The catch is if you choose to do this, you must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog!

Yoga Class

So me and my go to the gym a lot. well...my mom goes more then i do, but i usually go about 3 times in a week. since we go so much we have kind of gotten tired of doing the same things each time we go. to help mix it up a little we have started taking some of the different classes that they offer on Saturdays. This last saturday we went to a step class that started at 9:10. each class is an hour long. so after spinning around and jumping up and down for an hour we were finished. When we were cleaning up our steps we noticed the next people coming in had yoga mats with them.. the teacher cam in turned off the lights and put on some ocean sounding music. My mom and i just looked at each other. we then had the grand idea that we should stay for the yoga class as well. we figured why not? it could be fun right?

well this is how the class went...first i am sitting on the ground all hot and sweaty from the class before. second i am sitting in a position where my legs are wrapped around each other and my back is arched and the lady up front is telling me to breath. ok..so far not so hard..i can do this. then we proceed to move into downward dog..also not so hard. i can do this as well. then she tells us all to swing are right leg up and behind our backs. bend your knee so that you right foot now touches your head.....my thoughts - yeah right. how in the world is my right foot supposed to go behind and over my back to touch my head that is down by my hands on the floor? not going to happen. my foot can touch my butt...and maybe the small of my back..but in no world is my foot going to touch my head that way. Then guess what comes next.....we get to do the same thing with the other leg. This time since i already knew tht i could not do this i decided to look around and see how people actually could. and do you know what i saw? i saw a bunch of people with their foot touching their head. men included. i do not know how this is possible, but i will figure it out.

from here we continued with a variety of different postions and streches. the teacher kept telling every one to breath and to relax. to take in the heat and the enegry around you and to release the stress. if this didn't almost make me laugh it might have worked. the part that really got to me though was the lift move. we had been doing postions for a while and were really getting into it. then she had us all sit on the floor with our feet in front of us. these were her next words. "now take your right leg and throw it over your sholder and around your neck. slip your hands under your left leg. extend your left leg and then lift yourself off the ground and breathe..."

this is about the point where i loose it. it is about all i can do not to lie on the ground laughing. why am i laughing so hard you may ask...well there is this brian regan segement on yoga. if you have not heard it it is attached for your convinance..if you have heard it go and listen to it anyway because you will realize that what the teacher just said is about the same as what brian is making fun of. since i had heard this before and had made fun of it myself it was all i could do to just sit on the ground and not move. and then to make it better...she wants everyone to repeat it with their left leg. just imagine... me sitting on the floor trying not to laugh. my mom sitting next to me trying not to laugh. and everyone else in the room trying to throw their leg over their sholder, lift and breathe...now you tell me if you could sit through that and not laugh. i just about lost it. good thing that after that the class was almost over. we just did some more wrap your legs around your body things, breathed and were done. it was a good thing to because i don't thinki could have held it all in much longer.

needless to say i don't think i will be going back to that class for awhile. not until i can touch my head with my foot at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0rIWaICJI

My life

once again it is time for an update on the life of brittney.

i finally made it through last semester..and i made it through with pasing grades! yeah!! i even got good grades in the ELL class and the Teachers and the Law class. both classes that i could ahve fallen asleep in everytime and did as little as possible. last semester really was not that bad though. yes, i liked some classes more then others, but overall it was really good and actually pretty useful. i am finally at the point were the classes that i am taking all work together and are useful to what i want to do...which is teach. My favorite class of last semester was my art class. i loved doing all of the different projects in class and i loved having a reason to draw and to color and to create. all to often it seems like i don't have enough time to do that..so it was nice to have a reason to.

also, i finally turned in my application for the Elemntary Ed program at the U. you have to fet into this program in order to do your student teaching and to graduate. i was a little bit worried because this is something that i have been working for and towards for awhile now and there are a lot of people applying to the program this year. so needless to say when i had finally gotten everything done for it (which includes a personal statement, background check, 3 letters of recommendation, my PRAXIS Test scores, and the applicaiton) i was pretty nervous. i handed it in on the last day of classes before the break. my advisor told me that it would take about a month before i knew anything and tht they would notify me by mail. so i handed it in and then just moved it to the back of my mind. i tried not to think about it and just to enjoy the break. it actually worked pretty well. and then work got crazy busy and school was starting agian so needless to say my mind was somewhere else. then i came home on a tuesday night during the first week of school...and there it was. the letter from the admissions office. My mom told me to get my but upstairs the second i had walked through the door. she was about ready to rip it open herself to see what it said. it made me laugh and also made me not want to open just to see what she would do. the didn't last very long though. she is pretty good at pestering and then if that doesn't work she just does it herself. so i decided that if i wanted to open my letter i would have to do it pretty quick. so i did....and it said i was in!! so that means that i get to do my student teaching next year and then i graduate!! yeah...i will finally get to be the teacher. yes, i have about a year and a half until i am there..but i am getting closer. it is fun and scary all at the same time. we will see how it goes.

but, first of all i have to make it through this semester of school. this is my schedule...so far anyway

Monday
tutoring: 8:40-10:015
Work: 11:00-4:00
SP ED 3011: 4:35-7_35
FHE:7-?

Tuesday
Old Testament: 9:40-10:30
Work: 11:00-4:00
Science Methods: 4:35-7:35 (my favorite class so far)
Enrichment: 7:00-? OR
Last Lecture: 8:00-9:00

Wednesday
tutoring: 8:40-10:15
Work: 11:00-4:00
SP ED 5021: 4:35-7:35
OMEGA: 7-?

Thursday
Old Testament: 9:40-10:30
Reading Methods II: 10:45-1:45
Work: 2:00-5:00
(guess what..i actually have a night free..well unless there is OMEGA or Enrichment)


Friday
Work:9:00-4:00

then i have church, enrichment meetings and activities, firends, family....oh yeah...and i have another online class as well..Integrating Technology in the Classroom 2. We will see how that one goes.

once agian i am busy, but once again i would not want it any other way. it will be crazy but it will be fun and i am sure that i will have many adventures along the way.

It feels like home to me....

Some of you asked me why I want to be a teacher. My answer is simply that I love it. I love to teach. And I love children.

Ever since I was little I have wanted to be a teacher. I remember playing with my sister and friends and making them be my students. I loved being the teacher and having them do projects. As I got older I went through stages where I wanted to be a nurse or a chef. At one point in time I just wanted to be an artist. I even looked into each of these careers and tried to figure out how to achieve them. When it came down to it though, none of them really worked out or fit. I just couldn’t see myself doing any of those careers for a lifetime. They were all just fun to think about.

Going through the teaching class up here at the U and the experiences I have had in the elementary schools have made me fall in love with teaching all over again. The first time I thought I would like to be a teacher was when I was little and fell in love with my own first grade teacher. She made learning fun and entertaining. That’s when I started making others be my students. My third, fourth, and sixth grade teachers all did the same thing. They made learning exciting for me, not a job. I wanted to be just like them when I grew up.

The second time that I thought I might like to be a teacher was when I was sixteen and started to teach dance classes to little kids. I loved going to the dance studio each week and seeing what they had learned and remembered from the last previous one. It was such a joy to see them try and to see them succeed. By then I had gone through the ideas of becoming a nurse or a chef. But when I started to take those classes and pursue those careers, I would always come back to teaching.

The third time I came around the idea of teaching again was when I became a primary teacher in my church. I was called to teach the five and six year old's, and I was scared out of my mind. I had no idea of how I was going to teach them or where to even begin. I soon fell in love with the kids in my class though and looked forward to teaching them each week. I also began to learn which ways worked to teach them the best. I learned that you have to ask questions to get them involved and to keep them entertained. I learned that you need to have activities planned each week that will help them understand what you are supposed to be teaching. I also learned very quickly that the lesson doesn’t always go as you planned and that as a teacher you have to be flexible and willing to change things that just don’t work.

I truly knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in a classroom for one of my first education classes. I believe it was Intro to Teaching. I was helping in Mrs. Jeppson’s first grade classroom. This was the first classroom I was in and I was scared out of my mind. I had no idea of what I was getting myself into or what I would come away with. With each week that went by I felt that I could come back and I began to relax a little. Each week I would get there the students would come charging in when the bell rang. They would race to the backpack station and hang their stuff up. They would then proceed to come to me and tell me about all of the new things going on. Each week I would also feel nervous again when Mrs. Jeppson would give me something new to do. I went from just helping the students with math and sitting in the back ground to helping them read, giving them spelling tests, playing math and vocabulary games with them, and coming up with a lesson to teach them. With each week came nervousness and joy. Each time I went more and more of them would come and talk to me at the beginning of class. More and more of them would ask for my help when doing assignments and more and more of them asked if they could leave with me when I left and then when I said no would say that they would wait till next week then.

My favorite day in the classroom was on Valentine’s Day. I had gotten to help each student make a bag the week before. They were all so excited that a holiday was coming up. On Valentine’s Day when I went in the classroom I was happy to see each bag lined up on the shelf by the back wall. Among the students bags I saw my own. I saw that some of the students had already brought in there treats for the others and I was excited to give them mine. When they students came running in after the bell you could tell that they were so excited to see what was going to happen that day. The ones that had not given their treats yet hurried to do so. They were all so excited to give each other what they had brought and to see what they had gotten so far. After the handing out of treats we did Valentine’s activities. The whole day was filled with laughter and excitement. It was very hectic but very fun at the same time. When I left that day I took my Valentine’s Day bag with me full of Valentine’s from each of the students. I was surprised that night when I went through it and found notes from some of the students along with their Valentine’s. The notes made me realize how much I had come to care for the kids and how much I had affected each one of them. The notes weren’t anything spectacular to people who didn’t know the kids, to them they were just scribbled sentences on a piece of chocolate covered paper. But to me they were amazing. Each one was special in its own way. That day something inside me clicked, and I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and always would.

People say that home is where the heart is. If this is true, then my home is in the elementary schools. I love going into those classrooms and helping out in anyway that I can. I love teaching the students and helping them to understand something that they did not get before. I love that look in there eyes when they finally understand something or when they have an idea. It is so exciting to see people learn and to discover. For that is what learning is. It is discovering the truths and myths about the world and connecting it all together in one crazy place called life. It is seeking for knowledge and gaining access to the mysteries of the world and I want to help others find it. I want to help people figure out the world and love to learn.

When I have told other people that I love to teach some of them said it is because I like kids. Others have stated that it is because I like to act like a kid and I like the same things the kids do. Some people think it is just because I am animated and the kids are the only ones that respond to my goofiness. But for me it is simply that I love it. I love being in the classroom. I love teaching them. It is where my heart is and when I walk through those elementary schools doors it feels like I have just come home. It is where I belong and it is where I want to be.