Dead.

Children really do not have a concept of death. I observe them playing all the time: someone "dies" and moments later miracle of miracles the dead person rises to their normal playtime capacity. It is probably for the best and all. Death is a pretty gray subject. I mean as gray as it gets knowing that the person gets to rest from the trials of this temporal existence. However, today I decided to test a theory. I was curious to see what my kids (the ones I nanny) would do if I played real dead instead of the fake kind. After they killed me in a rousing game of Evil Witch, I became a helpless, dead weight, eyes-closed observer. Looking back on the experience I tried to imagine the series of events playing out from their points of view. In their innocent minds it must have gone something like this:
*imagine all this playing out with the mad giggles that only a 5 year old girl can produce.

The evil old witch has locked us up for the last time. We will use her poison candy to kill her! Eat this!

Ha ha! It has worked perfectly and she is dead. Now we will just continue the process 5 more times after she wakes back up.
...

She is still not moving. My hyperactivity cannot handle this much anticipation. Must hurry the waking-up process.

Lift her head up! Pull her arms out! She is a Bouncy! Jump on her! Oh golly, that has only moved her to the floor instead of the chair. She still hasn't woken up yet. Does she even know how to play dead?

Yell louder! Pull harder! Oh, lets poke her. Still nothing...punch her!

Witch wake up! Wake up or I will spank your bottom! I am going to do it. Slap! No reaction. Slap more! Still nothing.

Witch, we don't want to play with you anymore. We are going inside. We are going to do it. You better wake up and stop us.

Wake up! Stretch it farther that will work. Nothing.

--- and then they pulled out the big guns and I could no longer play along ---

Bella! Come lick the witch!

--- Bella, one of the family dogs, is one of the dirtiest creatures. She lives in a paradise and manages to get into everything. No more than 20 minutes prior to playing Evil Witch I saw the wretched beast gnawing on something that was beyond succeeding at playing dead. The smell wafted along the canyon breezes and made my nose hair curl. ---

That threat did the trick and I was up. Even though I was a little battle torn from the 5 minute experience, it still makes me chuckle. Oh the logic of children.

summertime means...

I love summer, not as much as late spring, but it is as close as it gets. There are so many exciting things that come along with the "summer package." Things that bring smiles, tans, sweat, road trips, and most of all dying brain cells from lack of use. This summer has come to me after a two year dry-spell. Studying year-round had left me in a desert of fun. I'm not saying that my "Endless Summer of '09" wasn't enjoyable; it just lacked some of the typical elements of summer and included an unusual element: studying and tests. That being said, this year opened the flood gates and allowed summer activities to come pouring back into my day-to-day. Here is what my binge summer-ing has included:

Puerto Rico

Nursing
*spending time with mom after her surgery

Nanny-ing

Dinosaur Day

The desire to accomplish still unfinished tasks
*painting and blogging

Nerves about an upcoming year of teaching

Costa Rica

Sun bleached hair

Lake Pineview

Replaced a car

Skydiving

Fantastic toes

And yet to come: St. George, Classroom set-up, and Washington DC

freedom...

So I guess it's about time that I started using this space to write things that might actually interest my friends and family. I guess the problem was really that I had no idea what to write about and no time to come up with things to write about. Well, here comes my first real summer in quite some time when I won't have the pressure of homework weighing down on my time. Bam! Time is no longer an issue. If only I had something good to write about. So I guess if you are reading this you must know a little bit about me. Get ready for some randomness. The kind of random that busts out of you in song when you least expect it. And not the kind of song that someone else could join in on, but the kind where it is just you letting your thoughts wander out in the form of a tune. Yup, that kind of random.

Yesterday it hit me. It was a kind of strange thought, but powerful enough to make me think "I guess I could blog about that."

Why I LOVE springtime in Provo:
Notice the beautiful color on those trees. Although the smell can be kind of intense, these trees are one of the most pleasing parts of my walks home in the spring time.

While I was enjoying that pleasing sight right outside my window it was interrupted by this:Notice that is in fact a parking enforcement vehicle. It drove by our apartment more than three times yesterday. This is one of the reasons I always dislike Provo no matter the season.

Final Assignments

I have checked my grades on blackboard and completed the Course Feedback Survey. However, I was misinformed about the due-date of the Route Y evaluation. I believed that today was the deadline, but they have all closed. I planned on taking this evaluation today because I do not do school work on Sundays.

Internet Safety

1. What article did you choose to read for your article of choice?

I chose to read under the "Internet" section on the church website. There were great websites that I found. This one is especially useful for teaching children. It is fun for them to navigate.
http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/

1. Describe the video resources you watched?

I watched BYU's animation department's video on internet safety. It was cute and fun, and kids would enjoy watching it. It taught about not giving personal information online and not meeting in person people you met online.

Next I watched Katie's Story on WebWiseKids. They talked about how she encountered an internet predator. Her parents were worried about her conversations with this supposedly nice man and they got advice from an officer. They gave the family a game to play called "Missing." While playing the game Katie realized the similarities of the situation and was able to have the man convicted after further investigation. There were also lots of videos of internet predators. They are scary and so sad. They manipulate these poor young girls who are searching for comfort. Finally, I watched a video about how easy it was to track people online. These videos were really informative.

Next I went to the netsmartz website and watched several videos. I have heard there has been a problem with cyberbullying. I watched these videos to understand the problems that are out there. This is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed.

1. Write a paragraph describing what your most important "take-aways" were from the readings and video?

My favorite part was reviewing Elder Bednar's CES talk. I remember the feeling I had after he gave the talk, and it was great to recall all that he shared. He made some wonderfully bold statements about cyber life on the internet. It can be dangerous and addictive. It has destroyed families and skews morals. We need to keep ourselves and our families safe.

1. Write a paragraph or more describing the details of your "doing" experience (you don't need to include any names).
   

He knew about how it was important to protect yourself by being careful with the information you place online. He also talked about protecting your software from internet viruses. He believes that for children it is absolutely crucial that you keep the computer in a public place and have proper filters built in. It surprised me that he already knew so much about internet safety. He has obviously been taught well from his family, church, and school.

My Technology Lesson Plans

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd25jrrn_1cffbs7gt&autoStart=true

Technology Lesson Plans

One of our computers isn't working and this one does not have Word. I saved my lesson plans as a PDF from my Mac program.

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bw_kbhTI6FBcYjkyNDFiNWEtODEyZi00MGJlLTlmMjgtNDQ1MTU4N2VjMTI1&hl=en