Halloween Gala

Each year our school has a fundraiser cleverly disguised as a Halloween Party. The Halloween Gala is the most anticipated fundraiser and as such brings in the most money for our school. This year the theme was Phantom of the Opera. We had live entertainment (songs from Phantom of the Opera) before dinner and enjoyed watching the silent movie version of the famous play during dinner. We enjoyed quite a high class event at the Ritz in Beaver Creek. Great food, amazing decorations, and quite a few laughs. Before making an appearance at the Gala, a few staff members gathered in one of the hotel rooms at the Ritz for a few pictures....





The 7/8 team in the shuttle on the way to the Ritz.

The girls of the 7/8 team (Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies)

Posing for a few pictures before heading to the party.

Middle school math teachers unite!!

It all makes sense now...

Last Monday Andy and I went to Denver for the day. After a delicious lunch at Olive Garden (thanks mom and dad!!) we decided to visit the Nature and Science museum. While there we learned about the geography of the great state of Colorado, the intricacies of the human body, animals from around the world, and so much more. One of our favorite exhibits was the infrared camera. Andy and I stood next too each other and all of a sudden things seemed to make sense. You see, Andy is normally quite warm and I am generally colder than he is. Now we have proof. When we stood in front of the camera and sensor, my face was mostly green but his face was mostly red. Red is warmer than green. it's all clear now! Check out the differences:

Andy with sunglasses on--they really seem to make a difference!

It is interesting to see where we are the warmest and coldest.

Zip Adventures

At the end of last school year, one of the parents gave all of the teachers a free zip line pass for two (you can do that kind of thing if you own the place I suppose!) Well, we saved the passes all summer and decided to use them for an unforgettable 25th birthday celebration. We had so much fun!! Our adventure began at the 4 Eagle Ranch about 25 minutes west of Vail. After signing the appropriate forms we were strapped into harnesses, given our stylish yellow helmets, and told to load up in the army style 6 wheel transport vehicle. After a short bumpy ride down a dirt road, the 15 of us filed out and made our way to the first of 6 platforms. The first line was the shortest and is likely designed to help people ease into the experience. The ride is short, not too fast, and helps people lose a bit of the "I'm scared out of my mind" feeling. The second line is a bit faster and higher, crossing the canyon in the opposite direction. They encouraged us to jump off the platform backwards on this line for added fun. On the third line we were told to get a running start. Now we were flying! What a great feeling!! The next challenge was to let go, lean back, put your feet up, and pretend like you are sitting in a reclining chair. The trick is to hold yourself up at such an angle that you are lying down without flipping upside down. Just for the fun of it the guide flipped upside down though to give us a thrill. There is something crazy about feeling completely out of control yet knowing you are completely safe. We had so much fun and were sad when the experience finally ended 2 hours later. Here are a few pictures and videos of our adventures. If you would like to learn more check out the following link: http://www.zipadventures.com/


On my way down!!


Waiting our turn :)

"I'm a bird!! Wheeeee!!"

Andy getting ready to take off...

"Look mom, no hands!!!"

Zoom, there he goes!!

The river through the bottom of the canyon.

We made it!! What a fun way to celebrate a quarter of a century!!

A day in the life of a middle school math teacher

Last week was a bit crazy as weeks go. First, Thursday was picture day. Somehow the picture schedule managed to mess with 3 of my 4 math classes. Needless to say, we didn't accomplish too much on Thursday. Friday didn't fare much better for the seventh grade. Apparently the flu is going around the school. Four people were sent home on Thursday because they were throwing up. Lovely. Thankfully the sick people stayed home on Friday. Unfortunately, most of the sick population must be from the middle school. I was down 12 7th grade students on Friday. 12 out of 32--that's a huge percentage!! Again, we didn't really accomplish much because I didn't want to introduce new topics with only half of a class present. Friday was also notable because we finally came to a conclusion about why my room is always so cold. When I arrived on Friday morning, the temperature gauge in my room read 41 degrees. I had to wear my winter coat, scarf, and gloves in order to stay warm!! The room across the hall was about 25 degrees warmer than my room. The temperature steadily rose by about 3-5 degrees an hour and by lunch it was in the 50's!! Wearing a coat during class turned out to be a good thing when someone decided to set off the fire alarm. Apparently someone was warming food up in the microwave during lower school lunch when the thing began to smoke. The smoke set off the fire alarm and we were forced to go outside. My students were warmer than the rest because they were already wearing an extra layer thanks to may insanely cold room! A few minutes later the fire department arrived, checked the school, and cleared us for reentry. We had to laugh though at one of the little kindergarten kiddos. The kindergarten had a dress up day (I'm not sure why) and one of the kids came to school as a fireman. When the alarm went off he rushed to his cubby, grabbed his fireman's hat, and told everyone not to worry because he knew what to do! Too cute! After the firefighters had completed the search, the little boy was given an opportunity to meet the real deal. You should have seen the smile on his face!! After lunch we discovered that the heater in my room had been turned off for some reason. We flipped the switch and lo and behold by the end of the day we were in the 70's (it was so warm the kids wanted to open the door to cool off a little!) What a crazy couple of days. The craziness will likely continue this week as well because it is conference week. As a result, 7/8 will run on a half day schedule Monday and Wednesday so we can meet with parents in the afternoon. Tuesday and Thursday will be full days for us. At least we have a long weekend to look forward to!!