Fourth Grade Gossip.

I have been thinking of this moment since I left my field-base block for my undergrad:

I am in a fourth grade classroom twice a week for about four hours each day. On Thursday, I sat with a group of the girls in my class during lunch. We were talking about usual 11 year old girl stuff and then - the boy talk! The gossip about which girl had a crush on which boy, tragic break-ups, and flirting tips (naturally, all of the tips were for me to follow). They shared their secrets with me and, for the first time, I started to think about how much fun teaching an older grade would be.

I have had my heart set on teaching second grade for as long as I can remember. However these fourth graders are already tugging on my heart strings and I've only been in their classroom for a collection of less than twenty hours.

I can already see the enormous impact that these students are going to have on me as a future educator!

Limps.

My sweet puppers has been limping for three days now and I still have no idea what she has done. Leaving her this morning, knowing that I would be gone from 7am until after 5pm, was insanely difficult for me. I didn't stop worrying about her - until I got into the classroom with 22 fourth graders all whispering "yay" when I walked in (they were supposed to be silently reading). 

I am in my field-base blocks for my undergrad as an ECE generalist and today was my first "real" day (I was able to go and spend a couple of hours with them last week) in the classroom that I have been assigned to for the semester. These kids are so happy to have me in their classroom and they deserve my full and undivided attention for the short time that I'm there. Worrying about my puppy's limping wouldn't help her from thirty minutes away, anyways.

We ended up getting out extremely early so I was able to rush home and be with my sweet Lyla, limps and all, but I already miss those kiddos and can't wait to see them again on Thursday!

Spy Glass.

The amount of hiking trails and natural areas in the ATX area that I have yet to uncover and explore continues to baffle me. This week, I took on the Spy Glass entrance of the Barton Creek Greenbelt with my friend and our pups! We hit the trail after class and were set on finding a body of water for the dogs to swim in. A mile and a half in, the only body of water found was an oversized puddle covered in a green layer of gunk. Nevertheless, both dogs took of running and jumped on in. Thankfully, the dogs were both dry by the time we hiked the one and a half miles back to the car.

As usual, we were both starving by the time the hike was all said and done and took off for ABGB (best pizza around!). The beer is great, the pizza is incredible, and the atmosphere is to die for. The outside seating has Christmas lights hanging and best of all, dogs are allowed - thank you, Austin! If you haven't been to ABGB (Austin Beer Garden Brewing) you need to! You won't regret it.