Getting Ready for School

For the last couple weeks I've been getting Joel's classroom ready for him.  It was a complete dirty, disgusting, disaster when we walked into it for the first time 2 months ago, but the janitor told us just to wait 2 weeks until he could clean the carpets and it would look a little better.  So, we did and he was right.  Then we tackled clearing all of the bulletin boards off, because the other teacher just left all of her stuff on there, along with the year of dirt on the tables and cupboards.  So, we wiped EVERYTHING down so we could get a nice fresh start. Then with a clean stale we started.  I began with out school logo.  Gotta have out mascot up in the room!  The last teacher had this table covered with green and white contact paper and Purple and Orange duct tape.  It was hideous.   So, David and I took it outside and uncovered it to find and nice black table.  But in the process, ripped of some of the black paint.  So I decided to paint the table.  It turned out spectacular. 

Which lead to this.  And no, I didn't even ask. I just figured I was improving the oldest school in the district and they would be happy that I did it.  Maybe one day I won't be so forward.  But don't count on it.

Then I got to work brainstorming on what to do for the other walls.  He had a 25 foot back wall.  That he hung his marathon posters over.  Two 8 foot panels in the corner and and entry.  Not to mention the hallway outside that had not been changed since SHAYNE went to school there.  Yeah, I wasn't going to let those stay the way they were. 

He also ha a 6 inch by 3 foot piece of paper that needed to cover his window for his classroom.  The one he had on there was just a regular green piece of paper which was not going to work with the decor.  So I had his awesome name and some paw prints made out of silver vinyl and put them on black and made this amazing little window cover.  It was 100% better.

Joel said that he wanted Dodgers Baseball somewhere in the room, the St, George Marathon, His Star Wars stuff and Ironman.  So I went with that. I looked up Dodgers and Math and low and behold the Dodger Corp has a Dodgers Mathletics Program that puts together math packets that go along with their players and their stats for the season for grades 1-8!  Easy Peasy!   I had Brad print me up the Dodger Mathletic Logo and I created Dodger Corner for Joel to post worksheets for kids to do. That took care of my one of my 8 foot walls.   

This is Joel's C.O.W.  Computer On Wheels.  It holds all of the little laptops for the kids to use each class period.  So, they call it a COW.  So, I cleaned her up and named her Bessie and gave her her Dodger Corner to graze in.  Ben liked helping out, since it is his school. The suitcase on top of her is full of calculators.

Under the Panther logo's I bought some gray material and while looking online for some ideas about solving Math problems, came upon this idea which fits perfectly into his running theme so much that it tied running into Math.   Therefor creating the perfect theme, "EVERY STEP COUNTS!"  I'm a freaking genius!  If you miss a step in math you're basically screwed.  Not only do you miss points but you'll more than likely get the wrong answer.  Then a poster on the steps to solving math problems.  Oh so nice. 

I had Brad print up this perfect poster and I slapped some paw prints on it.  STEPS, get it?

Which leads out the door through the Ironman hallway.  You can't tell but the Swimmer is Angles and Distances,  The Biker is Geometry, and the Runner is Linear Equations.  With more paw prints. 

Outside between his door and the other teacher's door is this new adorable sign that says, "8th Grade Math is Easy as PIE".  Oh my heck.  That is so dang cute!  I just love it!

Then there is this massive wall that goes all the way behind his door and I didn't want to take all the signs away so I put the school ones behind his door and redid the first part of the wall with funny Math Meme's that the students would like and understand instead of 15 year old posters that were super lame!  I liked it.  It looked a lot cleaner and more inviting. It made Math look a little less intimidating.  And let's face it, Math needs all the help it can get!  

Then for the last but certainly not least bulletin board of all bulletin boards.  The 25 foot wall of death!  I had no idea what to do.  The one thing that we still hadn't touch was my detested ALEKS!
So, go big or go home.  The ALEKS MARATHON.  25 feet of 26.2 miles!  Yep that's right.  The ALEKS Marathon.  It looks something like this.

For every 26 topics they move 1 mile.  Of course they have a placement test first to see where they need to start and all that wonderful stuff.  But, each student is given a paw print with their name on in.  Thanks again BRAD!  He printed them and I cut them out, had them laminated and then had Shayne and Ben cut them out again.  210 of them!  This is the, just cut into manageable strip stage.  We also went with the bare backboard look to represent St. George's red dirt.  Hahaha.  Mainly I figured that they were going to be stapling in the paw prints over and over and that would look horrible in a paper background.  So, picture this with 200 Panther Paw Prints all over it.  It's going to looks awesome!  They will be spread out because they will all start at different levels.  It is not necessary to complete the marathon.  Just an incentive.  Something to make ALEKS fun.  Because it's not.  I can't stand Aleks.  Can you tell?  I think it's the worst!  Anyway, my bulletin board is the best!  

Here is the finished product.  The only problem is Joel is missing the 2009 St. George Marathon poster.  If anyone knows where we can copy one we'd really appreciate it!  Right now he has a frame up there and we are just waiting to see which student notices first.  His desk is in the corner with his Star Wars things.  Everything done and done.  Joel's ideas executed in my style because he didn't' get a choice.  He can change it next year.  Right now we just needed to get something on the walls. 

Goodbye Red Rock

Joel's last day at Red Rock Canyon School was last week.  After 10 years of service the actually gave him a plaque and recognized him and David Pace after a high school graduation ceremony of one of his students.  It was really unexpected and super nice of them.  We have made life long friends here.

Wedding Season

It's that time of year!  Everyone getting married before school starts.  Emma and Spencer got married yesterday.  It was very nice but SOOOO HOT!  It actually was only 101.  It was cooler than it has been but still.  Her ceremony was supposed to be at 11:20 and they were so far behind because of all of the weddings that it really didn't start until noon.  So we didn't get out of there until 1 and then after we took picture's at the temple and got up to the church to finally eat the luncheon it was 2pm and her reception was supposed to start at 4.  It was a little bit of a time crunch and the A/C wasn't working in the gym of the church.  So, it was warm in there too especially with all of the people.  But it was a special day and we are very happy for them.  In between lunch and reception, Shayne and I ran over to Brianna Esplin's bridal shower.  I'm telling you, Love is in the AIR!   Here are the other wedding invitations that are on our fridge right now.  

 John and Emma dancing.

 Here was Emma's invitation.

Here is Brianna's!  We had fun at her shower even though we were late.  We played a, How well do you know the Bride? game and Leighton won.  Mainly because Sophie wasn't there.  Shayne and I should have worked together because I knew one's that she didn't. 

We got her this super cute and tasteful black nighty and told her it was from her favorite missionary. 

 And of course we hung out until it was over and talked and then Ryan came out of hiding and Spencer showed up. So we took some picture's and then headed back over to Emma's reception. 

Here is Mitchell Hutching's.  He actually got married first.  He found this cute girl named Lizzie up at school. 

 He's such a crack up!  I just love this kid.  You know he was dancing to I'm Sexy and I Know it at his reception.  I just wish I was there to see it!

 Then Miss Mary is getting married...she found this guy on her mission.  They both speak ASL.  He's darling.  She's darling.  They are perfect for each other. 

 We just got this one the other night and super excited for the Iverson's!  Mackeel is marring a super cute cowboy named Tyson.  They are so cute together. 

And this is a picture of Chase's invitation that we saw on the Beckstrand family chat group that Holly posted.  We haven't gotten our yet.  Everyone else has but ours seemed to have gotten lost in the mail.  I hope that's the reason anyway.  She gets married August 31st in the Portland Oregon Temple.  We are very proud of her.  She is an amazing young woman.  I'm sure that she and Logan will be very happy together.  He fits in that family well.  He reminds me a lot of a good mix of both of her brothers.  We are trying to see if we can make it but Joel starts a new job just 2 weeks before this so it's kind of hard to ask for time off so soon.  But we love she and Emma so much and are so proud of their decisions to get married in the temple.  Now we just have Ashley next!