titanic!

ALL ABOARD!

 

a little titanic watercolor fun

 

 

last year i made up a little game on the whim when we read the TITANIC story in our reading book.

i wanted to find a way to engage the students more than just reading words off a page.

 the students loved it so much i decided to do it again the next year and jazz it up a bit.

boy did that cost me!

now all i hear from my 5th graders this year is,

 "how unfair! they got to do so much more and their tickets are even laminated!"

i keep reminding them- they were my guinea pigs...

 

so this year i postponed the story until the actual day of the sinking. april 15th.

each student was given a name and ID card (yes, laminated) of a real person aboard the titanic.

they were given an ID with an actual picture of them and their real birthdate and actual ticket #.

oh they loved them and carried it everywhere with them.

 they got to research about their character and find out if they were a survivor or one of the many who died; if they were a hero or a coward.

it was so fun watching them find out things about themselves and share it with their classmates.

 

"what! i died because someone took my seat!? how unfair!"

"i died trying to find my dog? i don't even like dogs!"

"i am the reason the ship sank, i made the blueprints bad."

"why didn't i just but more lifeboats on the ship, all i cared about were appearances!"

"i am the reason the men went back to get the people in the water! i'm a hero!"

"i died with my husband, how romantic."

 

for 2 weeks all they ever played at recess was "titanic"

 

 

i divided the class into 4 groups: crew, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class.

 they got to choose which class they wanted.

 

on the acutal day of the sinking the students came in prepared! most of them all dressed their best. i acted as a stewardess and all welcomed them aboard as they were entering the classroom. they all addressed each other as their titanic character and tried so hard to talk in an accent.

 i decorated the room a bit and tried turning the classroom back in time.

 

Crew Members

Featuring: Captain Smith, Frederick Fleet, Harold Bride, Robert Hichens, Frederick Barrett, and Charles Lightoller

1st Class

Featuring: Colonel Peuchen, Molly Brown, Isador and Ida Straus, Thomas Andrews, Joseph Ismay, and John Astor

2nd Class

Featuring: Theo Brailey, Reverend Bateman, Ruth Becker, Marjorie Collyier,

 Clear Camerson, Annie Clemmer, and Dagmar Jenny Ingborsen

3rd Class

Featuring: Ernst Perrson, August Anderson, Eugene Daly,

Elin Haggarienian, Margarent Devaney, and Rhoda Abbott

 

i treated the crew and 1st class members extra special and the 2nd and 3rd class kinda sour.

ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

the first class and crew got little goblets (thank you dollar store) to drink out of and a nice table cloth and fancy treats. lucky ones.

i had classical music playing and gave each class a real menu that they actually were served from and took their order.

 it was so funny hearing them say "i will take the quail eggs and creme broulet please" in their finest british accent.

they would say" cheers" and lift their little pinkies. yeah, they got it good.

 

the 2nd and 3rd class got not so nice table clothes, a ripped up one for 2nd and newspaper for 3rd. they got burnt popcorn (on accident! i swear!) and still devoured it all- it was gone in seconds!

i gave them half the proportions sizes of all the food and drink.

 (don't worry, i made up for their sorrows in the end).

 

we played a couple of titanic simulation games i put together- like which group could spot the iceberg the quickest, which group could collect and pack their luggage the quickest, who could send the message in morse code the quickest, who could find our latiutde and longitude the fastest, which group could fit themselves all in the lifeboat, who could get in their winter clothes the quickest.

... all the sorts. so fun.

 

it was a day to remember. at the end of the extravaganza one student says,

 "miss brassell, can we take a moment of silence for all the real titanic people who died that night." isn't that the sweetest? and we did.

 

all aboard!

 holding up fingers to represent what class they were in

 



my crazy kids

 

it's hard to believe i never get tired of this. as lame as it sounds, each sunday night i am excited to get back to my students and back to teaching. i find it to be the most rewarding experience. these students teach me so much and keep me on my toes!  we love to learn and enjoy it too!

hert thums

my sister in law mary started a 'picture a day' challenge today and i'm saddling right up next to her. 

hopefully it will help cure my i'm-too-behind-to-catch-up nonsense.

granted, i don't have 3 cute tykes nor hilarious journaling skills but here i go

- - - - - - - - - - <3 - - - - - - - - - -

i have a student (let's call him whiteout) who comes to class late every single day.  

it doesn't bug me too, too much since i know he will grow up to be a name heard around the world

he's an absolute genius (uh, minus the spelling, that is) 

everyday he slowly drags his feet through the door and over to me and hands me his little white slip.

i give him the eye, he bows his head in shame and goes and sits down.

and each day i find myself silently laughing of his many, many excuses.

each day is something different

he's original, i'll give him that

some of my favorites:

- fell in a pudel (yep, came in soaking wet)

-reading

-brekfast was good

-reading

-tore my pants (true, too)

-mom drove to slo

-brother teezed me

-reading

-i walk slo

-rain on my glasses

-my shoez are incomfterble

-brother punched me

-reading

-i made my teacher cookes (yum!)

-reading

-dad kept talking 

-no exquse

last month's 'brother punched me' conversation:

"Whiteout, why are you late?" 

gives me slip.

"you're late because your brother punched you?"

"yes...."

"as in your 2nd grade little brother? your little brother who comes up to your belly button?"

"yes...."

"Whiteout,  that is not a good excuse to arrive late to school."

"but Miss Brassell, you didn't let me finish why it hurt so bad."

"ok, tell me why it hurt so bad that it caused you to be 30 min late to school."

"i was naked."

monday's 'reading' excuse conversation:

"you're late again whiteout, this just isn't acceptable."

"i know, i know, i just couldn't put down my book."

"what are you reading?"

"harry potter" (gives me a big grin)

"oh? now you're talking, that is a good book. first time?"

"no, my fourth."

"whiteout! why couldn't you just read it during silent reading time."

"i was on the toilet."

and today's... 'hert thums' excuse conversation:

"Miss Brassell i know i'm late again but i have a really good excuse this time."

hands me white slip.

"hert thums??"

"yeah, see i have bandaids on them and need to wear them all day. also, i probably shouldn't do a lot of writing today because they don't feel so good."

yes, writing/spelling is his least favorite subject.

"whiteout, how did you hurt your thumbs?"

"i was testing some pencils at home to see how sharp they were and poked my thumbs. 

so i also don't have any sharpened pencils which is another reason i won't be able to write."

truth is, i live for his excuses every day.

temple run

one goal i have made for 2014

 is to visit all 14

 of the utah temples and do a session inside them 

afterall, who knows how long i will live in utah! i might as well take this opportunity now and it's a very realistic goal to achieve. in fact, you are more than welcome to join me! (:

i'm already so excited about it that i have my utah temple passport book ready to use!

here's my plan...

i will travel to visit one temple per month and double up on two of the months

and of course continue to go with my ward to our bountiful temple sessions

 1. logan 

 

2.  brigham city 

3. ogden (will be finished by the end of this year)

 

4. bountiful 

 

5. salt lake city 

 

6. jordan river 

 

7. oquirrh mountain 

 

8. draper 

 

9. mt. timpanogos

 

10. provo 

 

11. manti

 

12. st. george

 

13. vernal

 

14. monticello

 

15. payson (2015) 16. provo city center (2015) 17. cedar city (2016) 
both the payson (currently buliding) and ogden (reconstructing) temple are said to be completed by "late 2014, early 2015" so i am hoping at least one of them will be. i'm really thinking ogden will be, i drive by it many times and it's looking great!

of course a life goal would be to visit all the US temples and i hope one day i do! i have already been to a good number due to many moves and road trips. 

they are truly wonderful places where i find so much peace and purpose. i am so grateful for temples and plan to gain and even greater appreciation along this journey. 

i will blog about each month's temple experience, until then! 
<3

where the buffalo roam

from my last wyoming post (below) that is now a year old, i've gone back to the land of buffalo, twice. here are some of my favorite moments of being out in the old west with my cowboy.



buffalo bill

buffalo are the state animal. they are such a majestic animal. i can never get enough of staring at them and watching them. he took me to the buffalo bill museum in cody where we were able to explore the wild west. it was a cool experience. i would have loved to take my students there on a field trip!

mud on the tires

what would a grand adventure be if it didn't involve getting a little dirty? or in our case, muddy! this monster got soaked-covered! i loved every minute of it. even him taking it the moment after our dirty shenanigans to the car wash. and washed it 3x. he's such a clean nut, i love it.

playground

we went to his old elementary and played in this tricky little contrapment. they breed these WY kids tough because it was straight wood! not even sanded! splinters?? YES.

blue mornin

he took me for a drive up a canyon and it was just beautiful and very peaceful. quite a good sunday drive. we saw deer of course. but this must be one of my most favorite pictures ever because they were looking right at me. always will be my most favorite animal.


fields of gold

we went out on a little walk and walked through this wheat field. the sun was just heading down and you could only hear the sounds of nature. something i had been missing living in the city. 

peep, peep

why do i love chicken so much? i don't know. but when i have a house of my own i will get a chicken coop and have a couple broads and let the little tykes collect their colorful eggs. 

pool shark?

i got the first 3 balls in back to back and he got worried there for a second! sheer luck it was. cause that was about the last ball that i knocked in for sometime.

but he on the other hand, well of course, he was the master. 

fly time

is there anything he can't do!? well, ballet is as far as i've gotten with him. trying to show him the positions and getting him to point his toes was just a laugh (: 

but when it comes to fishing. he is the most serious. for good reason too, he knows the water and the fish like the back of his hand. he was a guide up in Alaska his teen years and took karl malone fly fishing a time or two! this is the river where he first learned to fly when he was just 3. sacred grounds. 

he really is a river master. i love watching him fish and seeing that line gracefully hit the water with such ease. looks like he's graceful in other ways than dancing (;

i didn't get a picture of me fly fishing, but i must say i absolutely love it. i took a fly fishing class in college to just try it out and since then have grown to love it. he bought me my first rod for our one year anniversary. i got to use it for the first time on this river. it was heaven.

carpenter

and if that wasn't enough i went to the plant and got to see his and his dad's offices and this was on the table in his dad's room. i kept looking at it and his dad asked, "Do you like that? Forrest made it." i was blown away! a master carver too. i knew he took wood shop in high school but am always learning new things about this boy. ya know, now that i know, i have been dreaming of a handcrafted rocking chair...

them bear rugs

a black bear and the grizzly. i wrote about how he got them in the first wyoming post, check below.  this time i visited, i dared to lay on them (; i was sneaky and from the looks of it, rather enjoying it. 

jackson

i have fallen in love with this pup. he's 4 years old and is just the sweetest dog. forrest grew up training and breeding dogs so jackson is royal! he loves holding hands (really!) and never barks. he is playful and respectful. not to mention gorgeous. when i took him around jackson hole i can't believe how many times i was stopped. people kept asking if they could pet him and kept telling me how beautiful he was. over and over and over. there was a man who even was talking to me about breeding him with his lass. good thing forrest was there, heaven knows i don't know a thing about siring out a fella! 

corn pickin

so i failed to take pictures of the clay estate, as i tease him. i just took a grand 16 minute video of the house and property. i wish i had snapped some more pictures. this place is heaven. this is his neighbors property and they let us take some corn. running through the stalks, learning how to pick the best ones, and then he cooked it up for dinner along with some of his meat, of course. when is this boy not eating meat? 

a bit too corny?? 

little toe head!

and you better believe when i was at his home i cracked out the old albums! and this is the picture that stole my heart. look at him! can you believe it? he was such a blondie! and the cutest one ever too! in fact, he was a blonde up until he got cancer. when his hair grew back he was a brunette! 

my love

on the road again. driving me to the airport. it is always a great trip when forrest is your guide. he's a true blue wyoming boy. he went to high school in nevada but always ends up back in wyoming.

 he doesn't like the camera much (if you can't tell!!) which he is getting used to because i love taking pictures! but he let me snap this one of him which is one of my favorites. just him and the open road. oh and because he's so handsome. (:

i hope that updated a lot of you on my WY adventures! most of these pics i put on instagram but i know most of my friends don't have one so i knew i needed to do a blog post! 

**also, i'm in the middle of doing a blog makeover. posts will be categorized in sections. whether its a religious post, or a craft, or a teaching story, or other. i just put up my first craft post on my yarn bottle wraps. also the 'pin it' pin hovers over every single picture which isn't what i was going for, so bear with me. 

"the cowboy state"

the rodeo

yellowstone

tetons and bighorn mountains

jackson hole

dude ranches

wide open spaces

sitting bull and buffalo bill

the Old West

indian paintbrush

bison and antelope

teepees

the cowboy state

I boarded the SLC aiport and 1.5 hours later landed in Cody, Wyoming! A spot that has always rang curiosity in my ears. The sweetheart bought me a ticket to come out and see him and officially meet...
WYOMING!

the lone ski lift

Below is Meadowlark Lake where we had ourselves a little picnic and I fell in love with cherry's.

                             

where'd he go?

We drove up the mountains quite high and then hiked to one of his favorite places. It was a beautiful view! I was so busy taking pictures when I turned around he was gone. Then he yelled from above and there he was. That boy had me stressin'!

jackson

He is the prettiest golden retriever and such a good, friendly dog. He doesn't ever bark and is so well trained. He liked to join us on our travels.

a dear moment

We drove past a cemetery that was packed with antelope! Interesting fact I learned: There are more antelope than people in Wyoming!

rumors

There are [3] restaurants in this small town. This one is so appropriately named (:

It was kinda cute and fun, just a local sports bar and grill. And he's eating steak yet again!

Don't interrupt a man while he's trying to eat his meat.

teepees

i love them! and they have them all around. and you can even rent them and bunk there for the night, which was immediately added to my must do's.

wind river canyon

this was the prettiest drive. i fell in love with wyoming over and over again. this is the boulder he likes to climb and read on top. did i mention how brave he is...

 population 50

i made him stop on our drive when i saw this here town of OTTO, pop. 50! i couldn't believe it. he just smiled and said, "just wait a little longer up the road till we get to Shell, pop. 8."

famous malts

on our way back to his house we stopped by "Dirty Sally's" to get a world's famous chocolate malt. It was yummmmmmy. This part of town near Ten Sleep looked so Western, I loved it. I asked, "how did this place get it's name?" His reply, "It used to be a brothel." Eeee!

Cabin in Ten Sleep

There is a cute little town called Ten Sleep. Story goes that from Worland to get to Ten Sleep it took 10 nights (sleeps) to get there on foot. I loved this little place, it definitely stole my heart. We saw a momma and baby moose just right near the cabin too! The cabin and town was fun to visit for a few hours. 

grizzly

I realize that I just may be the only female on this planet who finds hunters attractive and wants heads adorning my walls. So when he brought me into the den to show me the gun collection and rugs, I gasped! To the left a black bear, to the right, an Alaskan grizzly. My favorite part, he caught the brown bear at age 12 and the black bear at 15.

I'm pretty sure I took off my training wheels at 12 and wore my bike without a helmet for the first time at 15... 

ribeye time

This boy sure knows how to cook a mean steak. And we devoured, 2 nights in a row! It's no secret I can't (don't) cook, so I sure got lucky! (;

the old barn

While he was cooking he told me to run off with Jackson and go explore the land. So off we went and I loved it all. I adored this old memory. I got to sit on one of the tractors and look at ALL the many, many, deer prancing through the fields as the sun was setting. What a place!

  

fields of gold

The little deer were leaping and prancing and dancing and bouncing and gliding through the fields. It's a blurry shot, but I caught 2 on this picture. But there were tons and tons.

graceful doe.

I never knew how graceful a deer was until I was able to see so many up close.

 Loved it.

peace.

No city noises, just the delicate sounds of nature.

So inviting.

through the window

I came back to see him in the kitchen getting dinner all prepped and ready.

Quite darling, isn't it?

Back in February, I wrote a post about the fifty nifty US states. And this is what I had to say about WYOMING:

√ 50] Wyoming-------------------------------------------

Last the best for all the game. Wyoming is the state that my dreams are made of. Sure, I know I said Alaska gave me butterflies, Virginia was the best, but WYOMING- is my dream.

 WHY Wyoming?

One of my favorite places in all the US is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Yellowstone is up there too. There is just nothing that beats it. I love the country, I love cowboys, I love buffalo, I love the outdoors, what more could a girl want. Wyoming is pretty much the spot where every teacher wants to work, they pay good $$ there.

Call me crazy but I sure am in love with Wyoming.

  Funny how I wrote that then getting myself a Wyoming boy bred and fed!

Can't wait to go back!