Interactive Whiteboards

I think these are a really cool idea that they came up with to get the students to interact with learning.  When I was in elementary school, we got to use the plastic overheads and it always hurt our eyes because it was always so bright when looking at it to edit what we were learning.  This way you can have no barriers in between you to teach or learn.  You dont have to have so many different gadgets to get this working either.  There are free programs to use if you do have an interactive whiteboard.  you can get on the internet when you are using it without having to stop and go to a computer.  The nice thing is you have everything digital so you can get away from having to make copies for everyone in the classroom and just have it posted on the board.  It's easy enough that the students can use it right along side you.  You can have 2 students working on the interactive white board at the same time even which is really cool.

Why Cant wedding planning be easy...

Ok. So I thought I would do another update since there is a lot of stress going on with it.  I will start off with the bridesmaid dresses...  

So we got them ordered and we were wondering when they were going to come in and the place where we ordered them (a bridal shop) said they would call me or one of the bridesmaids when they came in.  They never called so I had my maid of honor call them and they couldn't find any of our paper work except for the little sheet that they made me fill out the first day which they lost that when I went in there before and had to fill another one out.  They were going to call the company and let us know what they found out.  The lady at the shop I guess remembered the colors of the dresses what they were supposed to be and told us that there were some at the shop that were the same colors but as it turns out, they had no paper work on any of the dresses and they didn't have anyones names on them to tell which bridesmaid is which dress... 2 of the bridesmaids have tried on theirs that they think is theirs and they were big in the top and we are waiting for the on that is big in the chest to try on hers to make sure they didn't switch the tops on the dresses... and then when they were talking about do alterations, they wanted the bridesmaids to wait till after prom season to have the dresses altered... umm I don't think so since the wedding is in May. My maid of honor reminded them and they didn't see what the big deal was.  and then we found some shoes online that were green and we thought that they would look good with the dresses and i guess when the one bridesmaid got them, they were really green and the person at the dress store said that they look just fine with them but they are totally different shades altogether and the way the ladies at the shop are going, we are all going to check them out together to see what we all think because I do not trust them at the store since they are not very organized and the way they are trying to push off these dresses till after some stupid snotty girls who think they are all that for prom... i dont think so.

So that was those... now onto my dress....
I was supposed to get my dress today actually but we email the place where I am getting the dress and they told me that since February is a short month, they need 2 more weeks to make my dress.  That will give my grandma 3 weeks to alter my dress... hopefully she will be able to get it done by then.  If it was a week, I don't mind because my grandma and grandpa will be on vacation so hopefully it doesn't need too much.

My grandma made the flower girl's dress and she just wasn't happy with how it fitted her so she told me that she went to town and got all new fabric and pattern and started a new one. lol but she has it done and the flower girl thinks she is all that in that dress.  My aunt sent me a picture of her in it and she was standing on the table twirling around!!!

My fiance's best friend from high school was going to be the usher and piano player for our wedding but his band is going to open for Three Days Grace so he won't be able to make it.  But he did tell me that he can make me a CD of the songs which I think I am going to do.  That means I am going to make my half brother usher for the wedding which he is on my dad's side and I haven't told my mom the news which might make her mad...

We have the photographer booked and she knows what type of pictures we want and what not.  Things are starting to fall into place.. I just hope our dresses come out fine and done in time is my real big worry at this point.

Until next update....

Lincoln Elementary

We went to Lincoln Elementary and that school in general is really neat.  When you first go into the school there is a huge front that is open and you can go straight which is the library which is a circular area which I thought was cool.  That is where we got introduced to the mimio boards which is an interactive whiteboard.  I think it is really cool because you can have in on an existing whiteboard.  It is just a bar that is magnetic and you place it on the side of the whiteboard and you tell it where the edges are of the board and it works, well after plugging it in of course.  You can have a little pad with it that you can carry around with you so you don't have to be always standing by the board.  Another accessory that some of the classes use is a projector that you can use for books or anything.  The teachers at the school are deciding on not getting the big books because they can just put a book on there and the students will be able to see it.  We even got to watch a class use it for their daily beginning activities and the teacher said that she is going all digital and getting rid of the activities on the board because she can do everything on the interactive whiteboard which is really cool.

Visual Things

I took ASL last semester and my teacher showed us this guy that would sign the words of the songs and would use a lot of expressions while performing them.  He also has at least one song that I know of that has another person performing with him.Which on you-tube, it doesn't exist anymore.

The day my teacher showed us this video, we all started laughing because he does good expressions. 

ASL is one that has so much expression in their hand movements and also their facial expressions since that is what they have to use to communicate with others.

There is another video I found that shows about visual literacy even thought it doesn't have any sound, it talks about how everything changes throughout the years with visual literacy.

Another Wedding Update

Ok. There has been a lot going on lately so I thought I would just create another post for it.  

This weekend I went home and we got all the wedding invitations addressed and stamped and my aunt Michelle is going to mail them out tomorrow.  My grandma is actually starting to get into the whole wedding stuff because she asked about what pattern to use for the flower girl dress since she is going to make them, asked about the salads and how she can get recipes for them, asked about what bra I should wear and that she would pay for it, what outfit she should wear, and asked if the the material she has is good for the flower girl's dress.  

My aunt Laura was showing me pictures of different necklaces since she is making the jewelry for my bridesmaids and also me.  We figured that I would have a 2 stranded necklace and since the back of my dress is in a v shape she was thinking of having it go down the back of me too.  The bridesmaid necklace will be a 1 stranded and will be up closer to the neck because their dresses will be straight across while mine is a slight sweetheart.  

I got the samples of the fabrics of the bridesmaid dresses in the mail today so we can start thinking about tuxes which I think we are going to do this next weekend.  I think I will also take my wedding band in with my engagement ring so I can get them the right size and also get them put together.  

The only thing we have to do with the priest is give him Nathan's baptism papers from where he was baptized and then go on a couples retreat for a weekend which isn't until April. 

So the next thing on the agenda is my rings, tuxes, and getting the picture person paid for.  It's slowly coming together so hopefully it will be done in two months since that is how long I have left to plan it before it's here which isn't too far away.