Student Teaching....OVER!!!

So I am now officially completely done with college. 100 percent college graduate, 100 percent no more tests, quizes, classrooms....well, that's not entirely true, but I am SO excited:) I finished my student teaching last Friday and I am going to miss my class so much! Here is the present that they gave to me, along with a few other very cool presents presented on my last day.
So they basically took this class picture and then my teacher got this mat and they each wrote a little note to me and signed their name. I love it! I keep looking at it and rereading it. Some of the things that they said were so good and I keep getting sad every time I read it. I really enjoyed my student teaching experience and I really liked my class and cooperating teacher. I learned so many things from this experience, and I think that I am finally one step closer to being a great teacher. I think that it is so interesting what I learned in the classroom seemed to go out the window and I was just in survival mode, trying to get through everything I needed to teach. Which, in all reality, didn't surprise me because we were warned that it might take a year to really get into doing things differently. My teacher that I was with was so supportive and taught me a lot and answered all of my questions. My students were so much fun. I really enjoy the fifth grade, I just felt like there were some things that I was teaching them that weren't necessarily solidified in my own mind (It reminded me of the show Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader)
All in all, I found that I love the school district and system in Vegas and I really enjoy the area. I decided to stay in the area for at least a little longer and so I moved into a house with three other girls that are in my singles ward. I will have my own bedroom and share a bathroom. I have applied to be a sub, and interviewed and everything, and I will be seeing in the next week or two whether or not that will work out. I am excited to go into different classrooms and to teach all different students. I will be happy to learn and grow even more by being a substitute teacher. Hopefully I will be able to get a teaching job by next school year. There are a few new elementary schools opening in the district, so I will be seeing if I can find a job at one or something....we'll just have to see:)
I feel like Vegas is the place for me right now, and I am happy to be staying there. I am thankful everyday for the Lord's guidance because I don't know if I ever could have made the decision to stay without His help.

Oh Las Vegas

A little trip to the strip on one of the last weeks of Students Teaching. We went to M&M World, where I bought a cute magnet and key chain, and a walk down the strip in the morning, when you don't have drunk people staggering around:) We also went to the newly opened hard rock cafe. That place was a lot of fun, and their food was pretty good too, if not a little expensive:)

Halloween

The day before Halloween, it was actually the day before Nevada day, we had a Halloween party at school. They have this huge Halloween parade, and with about 900 kids that were not on track break, this was a huge massive caos in lines....The kids costumes were adorable, my favorite was the little kindergartners, they were so cute! There was a little buz lightyear that made me smile! After that, we had a halloween party. I decided that since it was Halloween, I was going to dress up, as a student:) I had my students guessing all day as to what I was dressed up as! I was wearing my Pyro shirt, so they were guessing things like "fireworks salesperson" and such. It was fun....still no one guessed who I actually was:) It was a lot of fun, and I loved my students costumes as well.
Nevada day creates a wonderful day off before Halloween, so I decided to go to Utah! I had so much fun hanging out with my sister Angela and her family. I must admit, though, that the wonderful warmness of Las Vegas was missed:)
Anyways, we went to my nephews school Halloween carnival. That was a lot of fun, I was reminded of my own elementary school days when I had those amazing carnivals:)
We also carved Pumpkins. Angela and I shared this pumpkin and made a super cute face on it.
The next day, we went trick or treating at Macy's, and then we went to visit my grandma. My sister and I decided that we needed to go to the mall, and it was complete madness because of the trick or treating in the mall, although Bath and Body Works is quite nice. We went back home and I helped make some jack-o-lantern grilled cheese sandwiches. We also had potato soup, french bread, and ghost pie:) It was so delicious.
I went out trick-or-treating with the nephews, they looked adorable in their fireman outfits:) They were cute running around and knocking on doors.
I had a lot of fun, I don't think that I have ever done Halloween with little kids before. They are so cute with how excited they get, and even though they don't get a lot of candy, they are fun to be with on such an exciting holiday!