September 23, 2012

Hello Friends and Family! We can’t believe that we’ve already been here for two months! We are starting to feel like real Coloradans, going on long walks, hiking, attending festivals, and I even registered to vote in the state of Colorado! (This swing state needs me) Dan has started class at The University of Denver, he has two communication classes that meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 4-8. I have been trying to learn how to fend for myself for dinner each night (not going so well). Thankfully, after a temporary deli job, Dan now has an office internship at a home healthcare company; it fits perfectly around his school schedule! Now I’ll only have to make dinner two nights a week J.

School is going very well. My students, parents, and staff seem to really love me which was my goal. My mentor had me visit a master music teacher on Tuesday which was fantastic. This teacher not only was amazing, but had great advice for me and said that she would be a resource if I ever needed anything. I feel so lucky to have so many people that I can go to in this district! I am so thankful every day for the job that I have, it is beyond perfect and amazing. On Friday we had a “no contact day” where the teachers had an in-service.  We learned about all of the different classroom features on our iPads and how to incorporate them into lessons. After the seminar, the former-former music teacher, who just had a baby and is moving to Chicago, volunteered her time to come help me learn how to use my SmartBoard. It is so cool and interactive! She had hundreds of lessons for each grade level and I am excited to start using it in my every day lessons. I have my 1^st grade concert coming up in a few weeks and I’m starting to get quite nervous, I hope we can pull it together!

Dan and I finally made it out to the mountains to go hiking last weekend. We went to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater which is in Morrison, Colorado, about 25 minutes from our apartment. I really hope that we can take our families there when they come visit HINT HINT MOM, DAD, AND DAVID! The park was absolutely beautiful! Dan and I were driving up the mountain and somehow missed the park entrance so we ended up driving quite a ways up the steep slopes. To make it even more difficult there was a bicycle race going on so there were hundreds of bikers going up and down the mountain too. Dan had never driven on a mountain before and I was one nervous passenger. Once we got to the park (and safely back down the mountain) we parked the car and started to explore the amphitheater. The ramp to get into the theater was very steep and I’m shocked that everyone can climb that just to see a concert! Once inside the theater we saw hundreds of people running, jumping, and doing push-ups/sit-ups up the seats of the theater. These people are nuts! I barely made it up the steps in a timely fashion and all these people were running up and down them. Once we got to the top of the steps we saw an insanity yoga class going on. Not just relaxing yoga but really intense yoga! With the altitude, there is no way Dan and I could ever do that.

We toured the amphitheater visitor center which had photos and videos of past performers. Some of the bands/artists that had played there were The Beatles, Bruce Springstein, U2, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Dave Mathews… Tons of amazing artists. Our goal is to see a show or two next summer. After we left the amphitheater we went hiking on a 1.5 mile trail around the park. The first part of the trail was all downhill which was very nice. Unfortunately Dan got stung by a bee literally 30 seconds into the hike (it might have been my fault for swatting it) but he was fine and we carried on down the path. By the time we got to the uphill part of the hike I was really feeling the altitude and my back muscles. Dan was a pro at hiking but was kind enough to go snail speed for me. We were not the only foreigners on the trail though as we passed people from Wisconsin and Texas, it made me feel better. I cannot wait to go on more hikes (perhaps some easy ones for a while).

Last night Dan and I went downtown to the Denver Oktoberfest. It was located in the ballpark district and right next to Coors Field. The festival was hosted by Samuel Adams Beer and we bought one giant beer stein to share between the two of us. We chose the Oktoberfest Beer and it was absolutely delicious. They had live bands playing, tons of German food, and hundreds of Denverites having a great time. We met up with one of Dan’s classmates and her friends and practiced our “making new friends” skills. Hopefully we will be able to meet more people soon J

Goals for this week are to finish planning my fall programs, Dan will start his new job, and I will be continuing my physical therapy. Photos of our hike are available on Facebook.

September 4, 2012

Happy First Day of School Michiganders! I still have not figured out what the equivalent of "Michigander" is in Colorado... Today was the end of my much needed four day weekend (holiday weekends are great when you don't work on Tuesdays). Last week was quite eventful, especially now that Dan has started his new job and is no longer at home in the evenings to cook dinner. PLEASE SEND FOOD. Just kidding...

Monday was exciting because my students and I sang at the Colorado Rockies game. This was the first time I had ridden on the Light Rail. It was very clean, fast, and convenient. Unfortunately we had to walk very far to get to the special entrance at the stadium and it was a bit harsh on my back. The game was really fun though and the Rockies ended up beating the Dodgers 10-0 or something like that. Dan and I were even on TV! The first home-run ball landed right above us while we were standing in the isle. It was a bit scary but very exciting. My students and their families really enjoyed themselves so hopefully we will be asked back to sing again.

This week I got to see all of the A group students. The difficult part about week "A" is that I have kindergarten in the morning and in the afternoon. This cuts my lunch break short and I have found kindergarten to be my most difficult class. Even though it is only 30 minutes I still find myself exhausted after each class. All of the students have A LOT to say about whatever is in their tiny brain and I am finding it hard to focus their attention. I have found new ways to play song games that require them to stay in a circle so they cannot drift off and get distracted. I have also noticed that they could sing and play "here comes a bluebird" forever and ever. This is kind of nice to keep under my tool-belt in case I find myself needing to kill time. My easiest grade to teach is 5th grade, I relate better to older students and they (sort-of) understand my humor. I found a children's book about the Star Spangled Banner for 3rd grade which went over very well. I hope to find more children's books for more lessons.

My S.T.A.R Mentor is one of the most fantastic people I have met. She comes once a week to observe me and to give me helpful tips on how to work on my classroom management, classroom organization, and much more. This week we worked on my "tool-box", things to say to grab student's attention. So far they have been great, "Ready, Set?!" "You Bet!" and "Have a seat!!" "So Sweet!". I have also come up with some pop culture ones like "Lady!" "Gaga!" and "Call Me?!" "Maybe!!". The students love this stuff and it is so much better than "clap. clap. clap clap clap". I also needed to work on making sure my classroom rules and consequences were made clear to the students. I have three rules: Respect Yourself, Respect Others, and Respect the Instruments. These are easy to follow and I spent each class period going over what each of those mean in the music classroom. All of the students seem to understand it and my classes have been amazing since. Also I have three consequences: First offense: Warning, Second offense: Call home, Third Offense: Meeting with parents, student, Ms. Pellerito, and principal. (dun dun dunnnnn)

My goals for this week at school are to create a choir packet with all of the songs they will be learning, attendance policy, t-shirt order form, calendar, and contact information. I also need to learn how to make posters (with our cool poster making machine), and clean out my room. There is so much junk in there including outdated text book and tons of costumes from past plays. I am going to need a lot of help doing all this so I'll have to rally some parents and volunteers.

Dan and I went to my first doctor appointment today at the University of Colorado Spine Program. It was set up exactly like the Spine Program at UofM and I really enjoyed my visit. My x-rays looked great (scary, but straight) and I am to start increasing my daily activity. One thing that surprised me was they said that I need to start swimming every day. I didn't know that I was allowed to swim and of course, our apartment complex swimming pool is closed now... Hopefully I will be doing some swimming at physical therapy which starts on Saturday.

Dan seems to really enjoy his new job at the deli. His work outfit is much better too, and he doesn't come home smelling like sour cream and tacos. (yay!) Dan is working every day this week and then has orientation at DU on Friday. It is strange to me that he is just choosing his classes on Friday, the day before school starts! That would stress me out. Clearly, I have long-term planning issues. Chai is also loving her new home and my iPhone may be filled with cat pictures.... We love her :)

Until next week... Mountain Pictures Coming Soon! (I promise, we will go there!)