I can be asked at anytime of the day what sounds good and my answer will always be pizza. My Mom and I share this obsession and maybe I'm addicted to it because she ate so much of it while I was in the womb. That being said, Andrew and I have pizza at least once a week (and that's when we are hold ourselves back). Yes, this obsession can be quite costly, but we usually eat homemade pizza.
I love trying out new pizza crust recipes, so homemade pizza usually tastes different every time. The best news of all is that I now can make delicious homemade crust. Here's the trick... use a cooking thermometer! I have always had the hardest time knowing how long to heat up the water to use in the dough. Often, I over-heat it and end up killing the yeast, thus making a disguising pizza which usually results in a pizza run to a place we can trust. This is usually the protocol we take anytime a meals goes south. Sometimes I might even intentionally mess up dinner, just so we have an excuse to get pizza. Anyway, back to the heating up water... I usually just put it in for a minute in the microwave because that's how long my Mom does it for at home. The only bad thing about this theory is that I have a different microwave that cooks at a different speed. (Science has never been my strong suit.)
We have had a kitchen thermometer for who knows how long (Andrew had to buy one for a class) and I haven't been using it. Now that I have discovered ours, I have used it every time without fail. When the water temperature gets to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, some wonderful pizza is produced.
Andrew and I are still kind of newlyweds and have had fun making traditions. Anytime a holiday comes around, we usually make pizza the tradition. I'm quite excited for Halloween because I know that we will be eating pizza. When Andrew asked me if I wanted to go to the haunted straw maze, he wasn't surprised when I told him I would rather spend that money on a pizza! On Christmas Eve in the Denning home we always had pizza from my recollection as well, so I have that to look forward to this year as well.
I'm often asked where my favorite place to get pizza from is. To be completely honest, I don't have one. Pizza is pizza and I find that every place has its pros and cons. Little Ceasar's is often chosen because of the price, but we visit every pizza place in town. At the beginning of the semester, my teacher assigned each of us to bring in an object that describes us well. I brought in a pizza cutter. (I was a little embarrassed when many classmates brought in quite serious things.) My description of myself was that I love to cook and eat pizza. Now everyone knows me as the pizza lover, but I don't think that's a bad thing.
At my summer internship, I was known for having an obsession for pizza. The other day, one of my co-workers posted that she felt like a pig after eating 2 pieces of pizza and 2 bread-sticks. My response was, "only 2!? Go big or go home." Another co-worker then commented something like, "Jenna, not everyone can love pizza as much as you." This is probably true. And let me just tell you, I'm not one of those girls that can only eat 2 pieces before feeling full.
Pizza is probably on my mind because our friends invited us over tonight and they're providing pizza. I can't wait and it has been on my mind since the day they invited us. In fact, on Andrew's note in his lunch today I wrote, "pizza tonight!" Nothing else needs to be said.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
My First Relief Society Lesson
At 9:30pm Thursday night I got a call from a member of the Relief Society Presidency. She asked if I would be willing to teach on Sunday (today). I have always thought that being a relief society teacher would be fun. I told her I would teach and I immediately paused "Psych," our newest Netflix addiction, and skimmed through the lesson. (Lesson 18- Joseph Fielding Smith)
I was pleased when I saw the title of the lesson was, "Living by Every Word that Proceeds from the Mouth of God." I immediately texted my mother telling her the news. She is the go-to woman whenever you need to teach or speak. She has an entire filing cabinet full of various folders on different topics. She had just heard this lesson taught in her ward, and gave me some great ideas the teacher used.
I started the lesson with an object lesson. (What do you expect, I am an Elementary Education major.) I had a shoe box full of candy, but kept the lid on. I asked the class if they wanted what was in the box. I then let one person look in the box and tell the class if it was good or bad. We then took a vote, and I passed out the candy. I related this idea to the fact that sometimes we really like what the prophet says (the candy), but sometimes we might have a hard time with one of the commandments we have been given. (a piece of candy we don't like, or a shoebox full of rocks.) I figured I would start the class off on the right foot with candy. (Thanks mother for the idea.)
I'm not going to go into every detail of my lesson because that would probably be boring. I do want to share a few of my favorite parts though. At one point, I posed the question, "Which commandment do you think is most important?" I was surprised by the dead silence because usually about 10 hands go up for each question. After a few seconds, someone said to the love the Lord thy God. I then read the following quote by Harold B. Lee, "The most important of all the commandments of God is the one that you are having the most difficulty keeping today. If it is one of dishonesty, if it is one of unchastity, if it is one of falsifying, not telling the truth, today is the day for you to work on that until you have been able to conquer that weakness. Put that aright and then you start on the next one that is most difficult for you to keep. That's the way to sanctify yourself by keeping the commandments of God."
At the end of the lesson, we talked about the blessings that come from keeping the commandments. I shared the story of our wedding book. A few weeks after we got married, we had an open house in Spokane. We flew there, and I brought our wedding book along with us to show some family. I made a point of keeping the wedding book in my sight at all times so I wouldn't lose it. (It cost several hundred dollars.) I made the mistake of leaving the book on the airplane. I was so sad when I realized it was gone when we got home. A few weeks later, I got a call from a flight attendant in Tennessee. She had found the book when cleaning out the plane. She looked through the book and found out we got married in the Oquirrh Mountain temple on December 28, 2012. She called the temple and got my number. She then mailed the book to me. What a blessing. The Lord has promised us all that he has when we keep his commandments.
Let me back up to last night. (Saturday night) I slept HORRIBLY. I was extremely nervous to give this lesson. I had never taught Relief Society before and didn't really know what to expect. I'm used to teaching Kindergartners, not adults. I spent most of the night tossing and turning and finally ended up just getting up before my alarm. At the beginning of the lesson, I was a little nervous, but I was surprised by how calm I felt while I taught. I am glad to have the lesson over with, but I really did enjoy preparing for it and learned a lot. Maybe they will call me as a Relief Society teacher or maybe not. One of the best parts of this whole teaching adventure is that there is a lot of leftover candy! (and one of the pieces was even a Reese's, but it didn't last long!)
I was pleased when I saw the title of the lesson was, "Living by Every Word that Proceeds from the Mouth of God." I immediately texted my mother telling her the news. She is the go-to woman whenever you need to teach or speak. She has an entire filing cabinet full of various folders on different topics. She had just heard this lesson taught in her ward, and gave me some great ideas the teacher used.
I started the lesson with an object lesson. (What do you expect, I am an Elementary Education major.) I had a shoe box full of candy, but kept the lid on. I asked the class if they wanted what was in the box. I then let one person look in the box and tell the class if it was good or bad. We then took a vote, and I passed out the candy. I related this idea to the fact that sometimes we really like what the prophet says (the candy), but sometimes we might have a hard time with one of the commandments we have been given. (a piece of candy we don't like, or a shoebox full of rocks.) I figured I would start the class off on the right foot with candy. (Thanks mother for the idea.)
I'm not going to go into every detail of my lesson because that would probably be boring. I do want to share a few of my favorite parts though. At one point, I posed the question, "Which commandment do you think is most important?" I was surprised by the dead silence because usually about 10 hands go up for each question. After a few seconds, someone said to the love the Lord thy God. I then read the following quote by Harold B. Lee, "The most important of all the commandments of God is the one that you are having the most difficulty keeping today. If it is one of dishonesty, if it is one of unchastity, if it is one of falsifying, not telling the truth, today is the day for you to work on that until you have been able to conquer that weakness. Put that aright and then you start on the next one that is most difficult for you to keep. That's the way to sanctify yourself by keeping the commandments of God."
At the end of the lesson, we talked about the blessings that come from keeping the commandments. I shared the story of our wedding book. A few weeks after we got married, we had an open house in Spokane. We flew there, and I brought our wedding book along with us to show some family. I made a point of keeping the wedding book in my sight at all times so I wouldn't lose it. (It cost several hundred dollars.) I made the mistake of leaving the book on the airplane. I was so sad when I realized it was gone when we got home. A few weeks later, I got a call from a flight attendant in Tennessee. She had found the book when cleaning out the plane. She looked through the book and found out we got married in the Oquirrh Mountain temple on December 28, 2012. She called the temple and got my number. She then mailed the book to me. What a blessing. The Lord has promised us all that he has when we keep his commandments.
Let me back up to last night. (Saturday night) I slept HORRIBLY. I was extremely nervous to give this lesson. I had never taught Relief Society before and didn't really know what to expect. I'm used to teaching Kindergartners, not adults. I spent most of the night tossing and turning and finally ended up just getting up before my alarm. At the beginning of the lesson, I was a little nervous, but I was surprised by how calm I felt while I taught. I am glad to have the lesson over with, but I really did enjoy preparing for it and learned a lot. Maybe they will call me as a Relief Society teacher or maybe not. One of the best parts of this whole teaching adventure is that there is a lot of leftover candy! (and one of the pieces was even a Reese's, but it didn't last long!)
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Kindergarten
A common question I get as an Elementary Education major is "What grade do you want to teach?" To be completely honest, I will take a job in whatever grade there is an opening, but if I could choose, I usually say 3rd grade. This is because by 3rd grade, nose picking isn't as prevalent and I won't be asked to help tie shoes or zip zippers consistently. Along with my response, I usually say, "anything but Kindergarten." I think I made a big mistake by telling my teacher these words this semester in a pre-semester interview. A few days later, we got assigned a school and a grade and I suppose I signed myself up for Kindergarten with my big mouth. I was quite disappointed with my placement, but have tried my best to grin and bear it.
This is my 3rd week with my Kindergarten class. (I spend all day at the school on Mondays and Wednesdays.) It has definitely been a big adjustment for me, but I'm surprised by how much I actually like it. I don't know that I would say I would choose it at this point, but who knows. One of the biggest perks of working in Kindergarten is the fact that school is only half of the day. So, you basically get to teach the same thing twice which makes planning MUCH easier. On the first day, learning 41 names of students seemed pretty daunting, but I have most of them down now. (Let's not talk about the time I called a student Cadence in the middle of teaching and asked her to come to the board. She came to the board without hesitation. No, there is not a student by the name of Cadence. What a good student for listening even when being called the wrong name. Luckily the teacher corrected me.)
Something I didn't realize is that things that seem like they should be common sense to students are not at all at this age. You really have to explain every little detail and even then you still have kids that don't write their names and ask what to do when they're done. I taught the students the game "4 corners" and they have now played it twice. Even after reviewing every rule the second time we played this game, the children still don't understand why everyone shouldn't go to the same corner.
I love the compliments kids this age give though. They notice all of the little things and make sure to tell you. One thing that surprises me is that most of the students still don't know my name. In fact, they don't even know their classmates names. They refer to friends by what color shirt they are wearing. It's quite funny.
Based on the 3 weeks I've spent in the classroom, the biggest setback for me in Kindergarten is content. I have been taught numerous fun ways to teach multiplication, and other math topics. By the end of Kindergarten, they will just barely be introduced to a plus sign. It is sometimes difficult to come up with activities for this age group when the material is so simple. I teach daily, and I have taught the Letter U, the Letter R, P.E, etc. There are only so many ways to change up how to teach a letter. It needs to be done though. Just like we need to go over the day of the week daily because many students still struggle with that.
Although I would NEVER have chosen to be placed in a Kindergarten class, I'm grateful that I have been. I don't know that I would have gained the experiences I'm having now any other place. Part of me thinks that after putting so much work into lesson plans, it would be easy to just take a job teaching Kindergarten, but then my gut says no. All I know is that I won't be placed in Kindergarten for Student Teaching next semester. I'm anxious to know what grade I'll be working with... Regardless, kids are kids and there are cute ones no matter where I go.
This is my 3rd week with my Kindergarten class. (I spend all day at the school on Mondays and Wednesdays.) It has definitely been a big adjustment for me, but I'm surprised by how much I actually like it. I don't know that I would say I would choose it at this point, but who knows. One of the biggest perks of working in Kindergarten is the fact that school is only half of the day. So, you basically get to teach the same thing twice which makes planning MUCH easier. On the first day, learning 41 names of students seemed pretty daunting, but I have most of them down now. (Let's not talk about the time I called a student Cadence in the middle of teaching and asked her to come to the board. She came to the board without hesitation. No, there is not a student by the name of Cadence. What a good student for listening even when being called the wrong name. Luckily the teacher corrected me.)
Something I didn't realize is that things that seem like they should be common sense to students are not at all at this age. You really have to explain every little detail and even then you still have kids that don't write their names and ask what to do when they're done. I taught the students the game "4 corners" and they have now played it twice. Even after reviewing every rule the second time we played this game, the children still don't understand why everyone shouldn't go to the same corner.
I love the compliments kids this age give though. They notice all of the little things and make sure to tell you. One thing that surprises me is that most of the students still don't know my name. In fact, they don't even know their classmates names. They refer to friends by what color shirt they are wearing. It's quite funny.
Based on the 3 weeks I've spent in the classroom, the biggest setback for me in Kindergarten is content. I have been taught numerous fun ways to teach multiplication, and other math topics. By the end of Kindergarten, they will just barely be introduced to a plus sign. It is sometimes difficult to come up with activities for this age group when the material is so simple. I teach daily, and I have taught the Letter U, the Letter R, P.E, etc. There are only so many ways to change up how to teach a letter. It needs to be done though. Just like we need to go over the day of the week daily because many students still struggle with that.
Although I would NEVER have chosen to be placed in a Kindergarten class, I'm grateful that I have been. I don't know that I would have gained the experiences I'm having now any other place. Part of me thinks that after putting so much work into lesson plans, it would be easy to just take a job teaching Kindergarten, but then my gut says no. All I know is that I won't be placed in Kindergarten for Student Teaching next semester. I'm anxious to know what grade I'll be working with... Regardless, kids are kids and there are cute ones no matter where I go.
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