Last days HS student teaching, elementary student teaching exp., Zoolights with Sarah Mable, and Temple Laundry assignments

As mentioned in the last thing written about student teaching in the high school, the classes were very nice in all they did for me on my last day. First of all, I received a positive "roast" from each one of the classes (as something Cami likes to do for a student teacher's or 12th grader's last day). They said things like: Cami said I was patient and she was impressed that I don't get paid student teaching. Said I would be good working with little ones. A positive attitude even in the face of adversity(car troubles)...Spending individual time with Giana and friends...I give good feedback, Addy...Bella, leading the choir when Cami was gone...Riley, festival glasses...Ethan, Derek, Andrew, Leiah asking sit how they were song and show I care...Warmups bdflmnptvvvv Dumbledore zigga Zoo...Zora meeting me the first day and thinking I was cool.

Dolce gave me cookies, a spotted-pink plant (that unfortunately died in one day), and a card that had Dumbledore on it and a ghost for ghost of John. Encore's party for me was just awesome. I got a wooden crate full of lemonade, twix, and a card filled with people writing in green. The "G" party was the craziest assortment of Foods that start with G I have ever had. Things that you would not normally see together like grapes and gummy worms. In Triple Threat, they gave me a poster-board saying that they will miss me and signed by the whole class. Paige M. made me a nice card. Cami gave me a card and a balloon with Twix wrapped around the string. Overall, it was a good end to my student teaching experience at Casteel High School.

Since I've been back at Centennial, there have been many things that have happened. First of all, I have 2 weeks left in my student teaching. It's really crazy. When I first got back I started teaching the fifth grade students my Peruvian Folk Music lesson. It's really been going well. And I just love the stuff that I taught the kids about that kinda music. Today was the first time I taught them El Condor Pasa on the xylophones. It went rough, but I decided to switch things up so that we can have time to do stuff with Papagayo (the Brazilian Folktale I have in my slides).

Last week was the first week I taught all the classes of grades, and overall, it went really well. Besides the Peruvian lesson, it was all lessons that Dusty showed me how to do. I taught two starbucks lessons in fourth and sixth, The Mitten lesson in first grade. Owl lesson and Froggy lesson in Kindergarten, and two snowmen matching games in 3rd and 2nd about matching notes and solfege, respectively. This week I'm teaching stuff about The Nutcracker to First through 4th grade. The Snowy Day and Jingle Jangle in Kindergarten, and Album cover lesson in 6th grade (but Dusty taught it this first day).

Dusty also asked me before I returned if I would be capable of doing Carols with the Choir during the Windmill Lighting in Power Ranch without her because she would be out of town. I said yes, and we did it. Sarah came and helped me out by playing the music on my phone that was connected via bluetooth to a speaker that they provided. I also had help from another Sarah so that we could speak through the microphone and announce the songs. I met the students in choir on the lawn of the place next to the stage and then we passed out the carol papers, and started the concert of carols. The only hitches we had were when during We Wish You a Merry Christmas, the song turned off and it also started raining a little bit. I was like (to the parents), the show must go on, right? And they all said yes. The only two problems with the rain were the papers all got soaked and also the parents handed umbrellas during the performance, which was great and all, except it was during and I'm sure some kids were being covered by the umbrella.

We also did a second grade performance of music that had to do with a book called How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World. It had songs from all over the world (that were mentioned in the book) like Funga Alafia, The Banana Boat Song, This Land is Your Land, Peace Round, Frere Jacques  and others. I was like the co-director on the left side of the stage for those that had a harder time seeing Ms. Schmidt.

We've been hanging out with Sarah Mable a lot. We were lucky to be invited to go see Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo, a Christmas lights event. We were invited because Sister Marcene Higley, bishop's wife, was the one involved with getting Sarah an apartment and we referred Sarah to her, so it was a nice gesture. We met her at the front of the park and got our tickets and started the tour. The zoo was roped off so that you would go in one direction. We had a picture scavenger hunt. We were able to go with Sarah, Dmitry, and the two kids, Lilly and Abigail. It was a great experience. We even bumped into the Bishop's and Marcene's family during the walk when we were about to watch the "Light Show" We've been able to help Dmitry and Sarah out by cleaning their home for money. We've done it while they've been away to Idaho for Thanksgiving. We also hung out with them and I played a fun bit of video games with Dmitry.

We have been in need of money, since our car has been in the shop multiple times. It was a miracle that in the mail we received a check from my mom and dad for a good amount. We had already gathered the money for the car but it helped us with bills we had been falling behind on. We were so grateful for the extra unexpected help from them.

I had never worked so hard at the temple than when we were there on Black Friday during our shift. If I haven't written about it already, Sarah and I have started working at the temple on Fridays during an evening shift. We were instructed to help out in the Laundry, which has been really great for us because it helps us make friends, as well as be close to one another, and we get to help out with the temple laundry washing the whites of the baptisms for the dead, as well as other clothing. Our main focus is the whites from baptisms for the dead. Well, we were put to the test on Black Friday. We assumed that the influx of people doing baptisms and other ordinance work were people that were visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday who had set appointments to be there. But every washer and every dryer was going and I was on my feet the whole time, which doesn't normally happen. It was the most tiring shift I had been on. Since then it has died down. That was the same night that Mesa Temple Lights had turned on and we took a small walk to see them, even though we were so tired.