In Which I Sit in Mud While Wearing White Pants

 Not the smartest move- I know. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. And my crew kids were calling.

Quick Note about my job: It’s basically a cross between a teacher and a camp counselor. In addition to teaching three classes of biology and journalism, I have a “crew” of 8 kids for whom I’m a mentor, leader, big sister, and all that jazz.

Basically, it’s the best job in the world.

Alright, so yesterday was fun. I guess the boring part was the classroom rules, the syllabus, and you know, the same thing you do every single year of your grade school career?
Just so you know, not a good life decision to wear white pants and sit in mud.
Please pray for my pants tonight.
just kidding- you have much more important things to pray about. 

The fun parts: 

Sorry for the messy room- It's never really clean. 

Enter white jeans. 

1. Nervous selfie-ing in the morning. 

2. Greeting the kids. Every morning, we form a soccer-mom tunnel with high fives that the kids run through. It's a great way to energize the kids in the morning and pull some of the quieter kids out of their shells!

Our tunnel looked a lot better than that one though: 

We're so cute!

3. One of my kids, when asked by another teacher, said that my class had been her favorite of the day.

cue heart melting. 

#breakthroughlove

Oh shoot. Did I just hashtag on Blogger?

I don't know whether to feel like I'm venturing into unknown territory or disappointing a whole lot of potential blog readers. 

4. Crew partner, Michael. He’s basically my best friend ever. We have yet to take a picture together, but it will happen soon.

5. Cooooookies. Made these for a staff meeting tomorrow.

Just call me Suzy Homemaker.

Just kidding- don’t. All I had to do was break the precut dough apart and throw it in the oven without burning myself.

And I succeeded. But hey, you win some, you lose some. Remember Birthday Cake Pancakes?

Things I learned: 

1 Minnesotans are the nicest people. ever. 

Here's proof.

They're also great because they invented bundt cakes. 

2. Actually teaching validates all the tedious hours spent lesson planning. 

3. Skipping is dangerous. One kid almost got a concussion today. 

And before I wrap up this super long post, BLOGLOVIN!
I'm sure you've been loving getting Hima Hearts delivered to your Google Reader every day, but as of yesterday, poor Google Reader is a thing of the past.
SO please please pretty please follow Hima Hearts on Bloglovin'
Just click that beautiful button below.

yeah, so pretty much the best Monday ever. How was yours? 

xo, Hima

4th of July Fun!

I love the 4th of July! It's my favorite holiday after Christmas and my birthday. 

Yes, I did just list my birthday as a holiday. 

I mean cookouts, sparklers, flag clothes, friends,yummy themed foods. What's not to like?

It's always about the food isn't it?

15 year-olds can teach?

Hey Ya'll! Hope you had a fabulous weekend. I'm sure you're wondering what on earth my title means, because, duh... 15 year-olds are still in high school right? 

But that's my classroom!

That's right, I'm teaching this summer- 7th grade bio and journalism. It's part of a program called Breakthrough Collaborative. 

Here's their mission: 

Mission: Founded in 1978, Breakthrough Collaborative has changed the lives of tens of thousands of students, utilizing a unique dual mission to:

• Increase academic opportunity for highly motivated, underserved students and put them on the trajectory of a successful college path; and• Inspire and develop the next generation of teachers and educational leaders.

Pretty cool huh? I start teaching today, and I'm incredibly nervous. Any advice from all you blogger-teachers out there? Anything would be appreciated. 

They gave us there little packets of seeds to remind us that this summer is all about growth! How cute is that!

On Saturday afternoon, my former third grade teacher took me shopping to get classroom supplies. She's the absolute best!


I've also been inhaling this all weekend. Amazeballs.

Saturday night, we went to a dinner party up in Fremont, which is in the hills, out of the valley. Around 9:30, we took their dog for a walk, and we had the best views.

 

Then we turned a corner to see the entire Bay Area twinkling under the stars. And to top it all off, there were fireworks. 

Needless to say, this was definitely the highlight of my weekend. 

When we got home, we didn't have power. We just happened to be one of the 10 houses on our side of the street who didn't have power. Everyone else did, just us. Even better- it has been 100+ degrees here for the last few days, so it was HOT. 

This explains why I don't have pictures from Sunday- my phone died and I didn't have anything to charge it with. 

Power is back now, so it's all good!

How was your weekend everybody? Any teaching advice?

xo, Hima