Halloween In Celebration

Well last week was a very entertaining, long, exciting, busy week. It was my first week in the classroom! Things are going very well in the classroom. I'm still trying to adjust to the differences but I am so blessed to have been given this experience. I am learning many new things and I am definitely learning about a completely different style of school. The standards are very structured by the district so the teachers know what topic they are teaching and for how long. This is different from the Ohio standards completely, where the teachers are given the standards and they are free to teach their own way. Here in Florida they have little room to be creative due to how structured the standards are. I do love having the opportunity to see how another state's standards work though. I'm trying my best to adjust to the changes. My mentor teacher is being very helpful. Tomorrow is my first lesson being observed, I will be teaching science.

Over the weekend all of the Ashland Interns and Ashland Teachers went to Gatorland, alligators, crocodiles and snakes Oh my!!!! There were so many different kinds of reptiles and believe it or not they even had goats, chickens, and lambs. Not sure why but it smelled like the Ashland fair which made me feel at home! :) While at Gatorland I got to see alligators and crocodiles jump up from the water to eat some chicken and we also got to see an "alligator wrestling match" if that's what you want to call it! It was awesome to sit down with the "old" Ashland Interns and talk about their experiences and have them give us tips! Then we went to chipotle to have lunch together.





We have already done so much with our host family! I couldn't have asked for a more genuine, loving family to stay with for 6 weeks! I know that I have made lifelong friends that I will stay in close contact with. Aubrey and I eat dinner with them every night as well as just hang around the house with them. They have truly made this experience much easier on me since I'm such a homebody. I can't wait to have many more great times with the family over the next 5 weeks! I got to experience Halloween the McDowell way, with lots of family friends! It was a great time to get to know lots of people as well as just relaxing with the family. Aubrey and I decided to dress up for Halloween as Miss Frizzle and the Magic School Bus! We were super cute!


Aubrey and I also decided to help coach middle school volleyball. Tonight was our first game and they won! Aubrey and I made a fast trip downtown to get cute Celebration shirts. We looked pretty official! It's nice to get involved and help out in any way that we can! We really like working with the 6-8 graders and the team is co-ed which is also different for us! We love it though!

This week has been a long one and I honestly started this blog about 3 days ago! Oops! I will try my best to keep this updated a little more! I will also attempt to post all of my pictures on facebook that I have taken so far!