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!)

August 26, 2012

I have officially survived my first week of school as a real teacher. Monday was crazy because I met all 421 of my students and saw each class for 10 minutes. There were a lot of questions like "who are you, what happened to our old music teacher, and what grade are you in?" After school got out on Monday I was completely overwhelmed and exhausted. Thankfully I had the day off on Tuesday to recover and regroup. Wednesday was probably the worst day of the week because I had not prepared enough material to cover an entire 45 minute class for the younger grades. I forgot, from teaching high school all last semester, that the students need to be changing direction every 15 minutes or so, or else they go crazy. I spent a long time on Wednesday evening reflecting and over-planning for the next days lesson. Thursday went much smoother and I left the school feeling energized and excited about the next day. Friday was crazy because they were setting up for the after school picnic/carnival right outside my window and they decided that during my first grade class was a good time to set up the bouncy house (and plug the extension cord to it into my classroom). Clearly these people were not teachers.

Some of the things that I have been teaching are warm-ups, proper classroom behavior, rhythm (macro beat vs. micro beats), the history and lyrics of the star spangled banner, "Here Comes a Bluebird", rhythm machine, and my all-time favorite cheer "I said a Boom Chicka Boom". I always do this cheer at the end of the lesson because it gets the students up and moving and I can do "I said a boom chicka boom" really quietly as I direct them to the door to settle them down. I have also stolen a fantastic lining up song from one of the first grade teachers that I am teaching to each of my classes. It is to the tune of Yankee Doodle and goes "My hands are hanging by my sides, I'm standing straight and tall. My eyes are looking straight ahead, I'm ready for the hall". I find myself singing this every time I leave the classroom and it really helps the students calm down and prepare to walk quietly in the hallway from my class.

Since each grade level has three classes, they are divided up into groups A, B, and C. This past week I saw group B and next week I will see group A so I will not see group B again for 2 weeks. I like this schedule better though than only seeing each class once a week because I felt like I had accomplished more and gotten to know each student better this way. Dan and I attended the after school picnic on Friday which was really great to see all of the students and meet parents. Everyone seems to have very positive things to say and all of the students seem to really like me. I hope it stays this way :)

Dan has been job searching all week and got a job at a local Deli :) I'm sure he's going to enjoy making sandwiches, wraps, and salads for people rather than serving greasy mexican food like he was at Monterray. He also applied to a few jobs on DU's campus so hopefully he will hear back from them soon. It will be rather weird to work all day and then have Dan work during the evenings and weekends. The deli is not open on Sundays so I guess we'll have one day to go on our adventures :) Dan is anxious for classes to start and excited to be challenged in a way he never was in his undergrad. I'm sure I'll be learning about a lot of experimental films and such this year, just as Dan will be learning lots of elementary music songs.

The weather has been consistently hot and sunny and we are hoping for some cooler weather to come our way, especially since our pool is closing after labor day. My fall wardrobe is ready to be worn, especially because my classroom is so cold! Tomorrow my choirs are singing at the Colorado Rockies game so that should be fun! We are taking the light-rail down to the game, singing the national anthem, and then staying for the game. The game is against the LA Dodgers and I don't think the Rockies stand a chance, they are pretty bad. If only they were in the same league as the Tigers...

Until next week...

August 19. 2012

8/19/2012

Denver has a distinct feel that sets it apart from a lot of other cities:

1) It’s really spread out. There are no bodies of water that limit it from expanding in all four directions, unlike Detroit, NY, Chicago, etc… It’s a fairly patchy city and suburban area.  There are giant sections of undeveloped land, or undevelopable land because of rocky patches, reservoirs, and foothills.  Denver is also very segregated, not racially, but between commercial, residential, business, and entertainment areas. I think that the zoning is stricter than Detroit area. I suppose “compartamentalized” would be a better word. For example, the area where we live is all apartment complexes, and corporate technology businesses.

2) The streets are hilly and winding. They’re not in neat grids except in the downtown. The streets have more lanes and are in better shape than Mich roads. Also, when entering the freeways, the freeway traffic is not obligated to let you in, you have to yield to them. At some entrance ramps, there are little traffic lights that only let one car in every seven seconds or so during busy times.

3) The downtown is immaculately clean. I think they scrub it every night or something, it’s totally weird, but great.

4) White people. Tons of white people. (who like country music)

5) It’s sunny almost every day, which is jarring to a Midwesterner, but also awesome.

6) Everybody has a bike and a dog. And most people are really active and fit. I feel like I’m at the gym everywhere I go. I gotta catch up, apparently.

7) It’s really refreshing to see glorious mountains when you go up a certain freeway ramp, or to one of the southwestern suburbs. They’re so impressive and majestic; I forgot just how giant the Rockies are.

8) Speed limit 75? Don’t mind if I do!

9) Everything costs 10% more, but I guess it’s because of the previous eight reasons.

I’ve been super lazy the last two weeks other than unpacking, grocery shopping, and setting everything up and settling in. I finally got down to watching the short lived sci-fi series “Firefly” (2002). It’s amazing. Also,” Louie” season two was real good. Emmy and I have been powering through “Community” as well. I’m finally turning in my job apps on Monday. Hopefully somebody will bite and my six hours a day of cuddling with the cat while watching TV shows will come to an appropriate end.

I’m kind of lonely, just because all my friends and family are so far away (except Emmy and Tom J), but I assume with a job and starting class (Sep 10) that’ll change and get easier. The public transportation looks solid, I just haven’t got a chance to use it yet.

Emmy starts her first day of teaching tomorrow, and I’m really excited for/proud of her.  She’s had to overcome a ton with her surgery and back pain. I have the highest of hopes for her to succeed with great passion and enthusiasm and inspire young people musically.

August 12, 2012

Dan and I haveofficially lived in Denver for a week now. I finished my first week of teachertraining, and tomorrow, I begin my first day of training within my building. I amexcited to meet all of the other staff members and organize my classroom. Overthe past week, we have been running around trying to get all of mypaperwork together for the school district and for the state of Colorado. Ithas been quite frustrating; I hope that my contract will be all set by the end of the week.

The weatherhere in Denver has been hot and sunny every day. We had our firstrainstorm yesterday, but it did not last very long. The storm looked crazy and apocalyptic coming from over the mountains, and we saw a rainbow in the middleof the storm. The weather today feels much cooler and more comfortable, sohopefully we can go out to the parks sometime this week. Everyone has beentelling us that we need to go hiking and do a few trails in the mountains, but I’mnot sure how long it will be until I am well enough to do that.

Yesterday we went to IKEA and found agreat couch, coffee table, and desk that matched the IKEA furniture that Ialready owned. Now our apartment seems complete and Chai is excited to havelots of new places to sit and hide.

Last night wewent out with our friends Tom and Caroline to a dessert bar in the northeastside of Denver. It was a very hip and happening place and the desserts were todie for. Dan and I shared a piece of chocolate cake with salted caramel and avanilla milkshake. I have a feeling my mom would really like this place.

After spendingthe day building our IKEA furniture, Dan and I made dinner and are now spendingthe evening poolside. I have a lot of lesson planning and classroom organizingto do this week while Dan will begin his job search. We hope to check out thedowntown area soon and see Dan’s university. Hopefully we will make friends soonand have lots of dinner parties (since the restaurants are quite expensivehere). Looking forward to another exciting week, here are some pictures of ourapartment…

August 7, 2012

August 7, 2012

                Dan and I have officially made it to Denver and have unpacked almost all of our belongings. Our friend Tom was gracious enough to come over yesterday to help Dan unload the moving truck since I am absolutely no help with my restrictions. Our drive from Detroit to Denver started out very eventful .The cat and I simultaneously had panic attacks when we hit Jackson because Dan felt bad for her and let her out of the cage (bad, bad idea) but by the time we hit the Indiana border we were both ok (and the cat was back in the crate). Chai had some drugs to help her calm down but it made her loopy and uncomfortable. I am just glad that we all made it alive. When we hit Iowa we drove through a crazy rainstorm which we had to immediately pull over to the side of the road. We couldn’t see a foot in front of the vehicle and it’s a miracle that Dan got us over safely. The rest of the drive was easy and we made it to Lincoln Nebraska for the night. Dan, Chai, and I had the best night’s sleep of our lives that night and were ready to finish the trip the next day.

                We arrived in Denver around 3:30 MST and signed all of our apartment papers, got our keys, and unpacked the car. We had a gift certificate from my cousin Jeff and his wife Katie for J. Alexander’s that we had been saving for a nice occasion so we drove about 7 minutes and had dinner there. The waiter was very kind and gave us lots of great tips about Denver. We learned that we are living in a very nice and safe area, that I am teaching in one of the richest school districts in the country, and that you can go to jail for 6 months for having ANY amount of alcohol in your system when driving. Not .08, ANY amount. After dinner we went to Target and found out that everything in Denver has an 8% sales tax. Garbage bags were $7.00!! We are going to be poor, really fast.

                On Monday Dan and I ran a million errands trying to get all of my hiring stuff together. I met with the head of human resources and she gave me my forms to get fingerprinted, forms to send to GVSU to verify my graduation, and a ton of other papers. We then drove 20 minutes to the DMV to get my Colorado drivers license but after waiting in line I found out that they don’t give licenses there? It was frustrating. Next we went to the sheriff’s office and got fingerprinted which was only $10.00 for two sets of fingerprints! Take notes Michigan! You’re $67.00 is bolognas. The county sheriff’s office was right next to the field where the Bronco’s practice and they were having a training day. Lots of people were there to see Payton and I was secretly hoping to see him. When we got home Dan and Tom unloaded the truck and then we went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was not nearly as good as Monterrey’s.

                Today I had my first day of teacher training called “first year forum”. It was for first year teachers and it was nice meeting people who were just as scared as I am for the first day of school. We learned that in the state of Colorado you don’t actually get your real teaching license until you have completed a certain amount of professional development hours your first year and most districts make you go to a bunch of classes on your days off, super far away, that are terrible. But, in my district, these first-year forums count as ALL of those credit hours! So that is pretty awesome. I got to meet my superintendent and she is absolutely wonderful. I can tell she has high regards for music and was very straight forward with us about everything. I have a feeling that I’ve hit the school district jackpot. All of the mentors are super nice and have a passion for teaching and I can’t wait to get assigned one for the year.

                When I came home today, Dan had unpacked most of the apartment, and we are finishing setting everything else up tonight. The only thing we can’t figure out is where to put the liter box. Once we go grocery shopping I will feel settled. I have so much to do this week with all of my PD, forms for certification, classroom set-up, and lesson planning. Two weeks is not enough time before the children come! Hopefully everything will be ready by then. Dan is enjoying his few weeks off before he starts school, obviously the first thing that he set up was the television and sound system. I can only imagine that our neighbors are going to hate us. 

August 1, 2012

Happy August and welcome to our new blog. As you may have heard by now Dan and I are moving across the country this Saturday to Denver, CO. Dan will be attending The University of Denver for graduate studies in film to pursue a career in cinematic studies and I will be teaching elementary music at Greenwood Elementary School in Greenwood Village, CO. We will be living in an apartment just 10 minutes from my school and 1 stop on the Light Rail from DU. We have a new addition to our family, our kitty Chai of the Tiger who we are super excited to have live with us.

Chai has her first vet appointment on Friday and we are hoping to get a few tips on safe and comfortable travels for her. I had my check-up last Friday where we learned that I healed from my surgery very quickly and I only have to wear my brace for another week, until I start teaching. Unfortunately I still have all of my limitations (no driving, no drinking, no lifting more than 20 pounds, no twisting) so Dan is going to have to drive the entire way from Detroit to Denver. We are planning on leaving Saturday morning, spending the night in Nebraska, and then arriving in Denver Sunday afternoon.

The moving truck came Monday morning, was loaded up by my dad and brother, and shipped off yesterday. We are hoping to have our stuff arrive on Monday which Dan and our friend Tom will unload while I attend to school things. As we tie up loose ends in Michigan, (appointments, lunches, finding a PT and spine doctor in Denver, paying rent...) we are looking forward to a farewell party Friday night at my parents house. We are hoping to see lots of our friends and family for the last time until the holidays.

Goodbye Michigan! It really is a GREAT state :)

Love,

Dan and Emmy