Sixth Grade Social Studies, or "What's the difference between a country and a continent?"

I have had a headache all day, for the seemingly third day in a row. Let's hope nothing is wrong, because in all honestly I don't have time to get sick right now.

Had my first observation today at one of the local schools. My field mentor is a great teacher who's been there for about five years. You can definitely tell that these kids are smart, but when I watch them I was constantly wondering "was I like this in sixth grade?" They frantically wave their hand to get called on (as if the teacher can't already see you in a relatively small room), they love to tell stories of their friends ("Oh! I have a friend that has this book that had pictures of people in it that looked like monkeys.") and they can not stay still unless they are about to fall asleep.

All in all it was a great class and I can't wait to go back. I've been itching to get into a classroom since the semester started and now I can finally do some work. Also took a copy of the book-- which is tiny compared to my middle school geography book-- to read up on.

Tomorrow is Lauren's housewarming party and I'm making miniburgers. I've been wanting to test some more recipes out on the grill but I'm going to do the ones I made at home Labor Day weekend. Bought a cheap-ass portable grill to get the job done. It'll be fantastic. Tomorrow is also Krush Girls at 40 Watt. Comments on the momentous event will be done later.

Going to buy my plane ticket for Germany this week and also another for NY at the end of October. Anna and I are visiting some kids from work this summer and I can't wait to see them. It's crazy how much I miss some of these people. And besides, Fall in upstate/central NY? Hell yeah.