9 weeks later...

Can you tell that I have been busy? This school year is going very well and I am very lucky to have two great classes and great people to work with!

We have already read "Fourth Grade Rats" and "The Cricket in Times Square". Currently, we are reading "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", another one of my favorite fourth grade books.

We just finished our first writing and reading benchmarks and the scores are great! I have some kids that love to act and put on quite a show with the commercials they produced.

We are using a new writing program this year and I am really enjoying it. It has been a challenge since I didn't go to the actual training but I am seeing a great response through the student's writing. I have some kiddos that love to write stories this year so I am very excited to see their writing develop.

One week down....

I can't believe how fast the first week of school went by. We had a great first week and learned a lot. We did several activities to bond us as a school family and learn more about each other. This year is going to be a great year! It has been a change teaching two classes but I am really enjoying it. First, I get to teach kids my first passion, which is reading. I hope to instill the love of reading in all of my students.  Also, I only have to plan 3 subjects instead of 5! I love it! This week I cam home exhausted pretty much every night. I hope this week I will be used to the schedule a little bit and have a little more energy.

First Day of School

As you can see, I did a whole lot of nothing after my trip. Today was the first day of the school year and it was great! My feet hurt but I can live with that. This year I am teaching fourth grade language arts and social studies. I have two great groups of kiddos and I think we are going to have a lot of fun!

The kids were very excited about our pets. The hermit crabs are back for another year of 4th grade. I believe there are 2 crabs, maybe 3. We also have a new addition, Hammy the Hamster. He is an active little guy and I think the kids are excited about him, but not so sure about having to clean out his cage. I'm with them.... gross!

If you are a parent, we will have plenty of updates here. Be sure to check back here often for updated information. Please send in a picture of your family for our friends and family board. I love my family but would love to have some other faces on there. Also, we will have a snack since we are the last lunch. Please send a healthy snack that is not too messy since we will eat and work. If you have any questions, please email me. I am looking forward to working with you and your child and building a successful year!

Last Day of G Camp

Today was our last day of G Camp, aside from a post test I have to take tomorrow morning. Today we went to Canyon Lake Gorge. A flood occurred here in 2002 (I think). While touring the Gorge, which you can only do by reservation with a docent, and you have to basically sign your life away, we found dinosaur footprints!!! This is actually slightly common in Texas but seriously, how cool is that!?!? Here is a picture of the footprint.

Being the teachers we are, we had to give you an idea of scale. Each person is holding their arms apart for the length of the footprint and is standing in the track the prints went.

Most of the gorge was formed by a slick and slide fault that lies there and erosion from the river. However, you can see a lot of damage from the flood because it is the spillway and you can also find a ton of fossils. The bad thing.... you can't take them.  In the picture below, I am standing on a fault line.

After the Gorge, we went to Wendy's for lunch, which was refreshing after a hot morning in the sun. Then, we went to one of the G Campers cousin's land (did you follow that?) to collect fossils that we could take home!! So, I now have fossils to add to my collection.

We arrived back in College Station around 6:00. I promptly came home and showered!!! I was so stinky from our walk in the Gorge. Then, I showed Brad my new collection of rocks, sand, and fossils. I can't wait to share everything I have learned with my students. This has truly been an eye opening experience and I will never look at land forms in the same way.

Day 15

Man, I can't believe that G Camp is almost over. I have had so much fun but I am also ready to get home to my own bed and family. Today we started off at Sonora Caverns and walked in the 98% humidity 70 degree cave. It had a lot of beautiful formations and had fun checking them all out. After the cave, we went to lunch at McDonalds (again). Then, we started our way to Fredricksburg, being teased with all of the stores and cute shops. We finally made it to Enchanted Rock and I saw the size of that thing *gulp*!

Okay friends, I would like to introduce you to Enchanted Rock. It is made of Granite. Notice the lack of clouds in the sky. The clouds that were there didn't do much protecting from the heat. It was hot but I made it to the top and back down! Plus, I wasn't as out of breath as I have been with all of the other stuff I have been doing and didn't feel like I was going to die! I would consider coming back here for fun. Tonight we are in Blanco, TX. We took the scenic route and saw LBJ's ranch on our way in town. Tomorrow is our last day, aside from turning in supplies and a post test on Monday. I am looking forward to seeing Brad. :) We will spend our last day in the Lake Canyon Gorge, which was formed by a flood within the past few years. We have studied the effects of glaciers so it will be interesting to see how fast moving water impacts geology. :)

G Camp Day 14.... on the road

What a long day! We were on the road for most of the day, with 2 stops. One at a road cut and the other at The American Talc mine and processing plant. The picture above is the mountain that they get the talc from. We had an opportunity to increase our rock collection and I got some soap stone, talc, and calcite. I also got a really cool piece of talc with veins of calcite. It looks like a zebra.

These dump trucks weigh 60 tons and the tire is bigger than I am!!! Check out how huge they are!

After looking at the mine, we went to the processing plant and looked at what happens to the talc when they fire it and grind it. This picture was taken after I happened to put my foot in a huge pile of talc trying to get around a group of people. I had talc EVERYWHERE! However, my shoes were as white as they were before G Camp. :) We finally made it to Ozona, TX around 6:30. Our bus didn't have air conditioning so the back of the bus got very hot. We had a new bus delivered today so the rest of our trip should be very cool. *Whew* I am really looking forward to tomorrow. We are traveling to Sonora Caverns and Enchanted Rock. Plus, I heard a little birdie say we may go fossil hunting. How cool would that be if I found something???

Day 13

Wow! I can't believe how amazing this trip has been. Some days it feels like time is flying and other times it feels like it is creeping. Today we started off at Valley of the Fires in New Mexico. The lava flows here were created by vents in Earth's surface, creating about 40 miles of lava! Who knew lava would be so beautiful! After Valley of the Fires, we started towards Wal-mart because some people needed some items. On our way, our bus driver got pulled over for speeding and I felt so bad for him because he has driven up crazy mountain roads I wouldn't take my car on and gotten us where we need to go safely. Then, we ate our lunch in the Wal-mart entry way. I felt so trashy. People were staring at us because we were all wearing the same shirt and standing around eating. I'm sure we looked like real winners.

We finally made it to White Sands National Park, one of the places I have been so excited to see. This is where the Atom Bomb was tested and they still conduct military tests here. In addition, it is one of the shuttle landing spots. It rained so we didn't get to spend a lot of time here and we didn't see the gypsum sparkle. However, the contrast between the white sands and the sky was AMAZING! Below is a group picture of everybody on the trip but our bus driver. Tomorrow we head to a Talc Mine and will be back in Texas.