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| Today I found out about a new poisonous insect that inhabits Florida, the puss caterpillar, aka the wooly slug. I had some students bring one in to class today on a leaf. It is completely covered in hair--thankfully, my students know that hairy and spiny caterpillars are often poisonous, so they hadn't touched it. (I also learned that this summer at a butterfly house I visited, and I'm very glad I didn't touch this guy either.) Enough of my students thought they had seen a similar caterpillar before and that it was one of the most poisonous ones out there that I had one student look up information about these furry guys on the computer. When he found a page, I read it and discovered that these guys have hollow spines hidden in their hair...and the spines are connected to poison glands on the caterpillar. Even brushing up against these guys causes intense pain from the encounter stories I read on the web. They are the weirdest looking caterpillars I have ever seen (look at the link below): http://www.bugsinthenews.com/puss_caterpillar_092602.htm Their range is mostly throughout the southern United States and down into Mexico, so my northern friends, don't worry, you won't come across one of them in your backyard! :) We ended up throwing our specimen over the school fence, though after reading the horrible encounter stories, I wish we had flushed him down the toilet. I really hope the caterpillar doesn't come back to school grounds and a student touch it! Or walk to the nearby houses and someone else touch it. May you have a bug-free day (well, at least of harmful insects!). Becky :) | | |
| Dear friends and family,
I hope you all are doing well and had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a very special Thanksgiving, since as most of you know, I am now engaged! :) Many of you have asked to see pictures and hear details, so here is the story. :)
I flew home to NJ on Tuesday night and got in rather late. Wednesday morning I woke up and spoke with Robbie, who told me he was on his way driving to NJ from college. He said he would probably get in around 3 in the afternoon. So, I went to eat breakfast with a family friend, the same friends who Robbie stays with when he visits me in NJ. She invited me in when I got to the house, and we talked for a little bit. She then asked me to sit down while she went upstairs for a bit, so I sat down and started reading some Bible verses that were at the table. Before she left, she turned on some music, which I didn't really pay attention to while I was reading. :) I looked up when I heard someone at the doorway, which ended up being Robbie!!! :) I was so surprised, I couldn't say anything, and then I was curious as to what he was doing there in NJ early, and why he had a pitcher of water, a basin, and a towel with him. He also was dressed really nicely...the same as in a picture of the two of us from our first big date together. He had that picture on the table the whole time, which I also had not noticed when I first sat down. 
Robbie walked towards me, and at some point, I realized that my friend had turned on the song "How Beautiful" that Twila Paris sings, where she talks about the hands and the feet of the body of Christ, and how they are beautiful when they serve Him. So Robbie came over and began to wash my feet and then my hands while the song was playing. I was listening to the song and thinking that Robbie was serving me just as Christ has served his church, which made me tear up. At some point I realized that he was probably going to ask me to marry him!!!!!! :) When the song was finished, then he asked me to marry him and of course I said yes! :) He pulled a gorgeous ring out of his pocket and put it on my finger. We are so happy!!!! :)
We talked a while...and ate breakfast...and I made Robbie tell me all about how he surprised me. My whole family knew since October, and didn't tell me! They did such a good job of keeping it a secret. And I thought Robbie was still in Hillsdale all day Tuesday, since he wouldn't answer the phone right away when I called him, but would pull over to the side of the road while he was driving out to NJ and call me back so I wouldn't hear him driving. :) Robbie told me how he designed my ring himself too, using a family diamond for the center one. I think he did an amazing job. :)
I've enjoyed calling lots of you and telling you our story. It's been great to be back at school this week and tell people here in FL too. I got to tell my students yesterday and today, and I've gotten some funny responses. :) Two of my first grade girls, when they heard, were all excited and began jumping up and down. "So Miss Smith is married now!" they said when they saw my ring. "No, I'm engaged," I said, to which they replied, "What does engaged mean?" :) So I explained the difference between the two to them. When I told my 2nd and 3rd graders today, I had to explain the same difference...a lot of them thought my name had already been changed. I also had lots of the little girls ask me if they could be my flower girl! I had to tell them no, my wedding will be in NJ, so they can't. They weren't too disappointed though. :) I also had a mom tell me that her daughter prayed last night that God would bless me in my new life now. :) I love these little kids that I'm teaching. I'm blessed to be able to teach them. So that is our story...I know many of you have been wanting to hear it for several days now.
I've posted pictures on facebook and I can email you them if you want...just let me know! We would appreciate your prayers as we plan now for our wedding!!!! (It's so crazy to think that we're getting married next summer!!) We would also appreciate your prayers as Robbie looks for a place to live and a job for next semester as he comes down here to Orlando.
God bless,
Becky :) | | |
| On Tuesday, I had my 3rd graders study salamanders from a magazine article and make a paper salamander of their own. They colored the front to look like a real salamander, and they wrote facts and the amphibian life cycle on the back. Here is one of the "facts" I got: "They [salamanders] have built in winshild wipers" (original spelling preserved) I have NO IDEA where this came from!!! :) Guess I need to go talk with my little student and see what he was thinking! Here's a funny yet true fact from another student: "Some men salamanders have sweet smelling patches to make a female salamander like him." And another student: "This creature never leaves the water isn,t it crasey. Across the world in North America, it ways less than 15 centimeters wow that is crasey. In a mountain stream in japan, a creature is as big as an adult human waits in to a creature comes." (that last part is talking about the Japanese Giant Salamander waiting for some prey) Here's some more info I just learned (I looked this up to try to understand what my student wrote above): The Japanese Giant Salamander can grow to 4-5 feet long and 50 lbs in weight!!! Ugh! They live in mountain streams in Japan. I don't know what I would do if I ever came across one in the wild, but I would probably run screaming away. Some live for as long as 80 years! There's a similar species of giant salamanders in China. And...right here in the eastern United States (including the Susquehanna River basin in PA) is a salamander from the same family known as the hellbender. Thankfully they only grow between 11-20 inches long. I still wouldn't want to see them in the wild though. | | |
| Wow, I haven't posted on here all summer! Well, I'm back in a new school year now, and so far it's off to a good start. :) Here's some highlights: ~Classical teaching styles often emphasize chanting and/or songs to help young students remember different facts. I always thought I would never be able to make up a chant or song, until yesterday, that is. For some reason I had the kid's song "Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes" stuck in my head. Somehow, I got the brainwave that I could change it to be singing about our 5 senses! So I started thinking of things I could make up, and soon I asked my fellow elementary science teacher, Vanessa, to help. We came up with "Eyes, fingers, ears, nose, tongue, (repeat), ears, nose, tongue, My 5 senses are God's gift to me, Eyes, fingers, ears, nose, tongue!" Anyway, instead of pointing to their heads and shoulders, etc., I'm going to have my students point to the body parts of the 5 senses! I know it's rather silly, but now I feel a bit more classical! ~This morning, there was a total lunar eclipse. My boyfriend called me at 5:40ish to look out the window at the moon, and we watched it until 6:20. It was really neat! I think I've seen an eclipse before, but I think it was when I was little, and I can't remember it too well. The next total lunar eclipse is Feb. 21, 2008. Here's some cool websites that I found about eclipses: http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html --this one explains what a lunar eclipse is http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html --this one is from NASA about the eclipse this morning ~Some of the 7th grade boys have really enjoyed coming into the science lab when they are done with their classes and taking out our pet hamster, Benjamin, to play with. It's really funny to watch the boys...they are laughing and giggling over the dwarf hamster! Vanessa and I laugh that the boys like doing that...but at the same time, we're happy they like to come in, and we're happy they'd rather play with the hamster than discuss the latest movie or video games like some of the other students. And...if we need help cleaning up, they know they have to help us before they play with Benjamin. So, after 2nd grade made a mess of the desks today while practicing to measure liquids, I had 4 helpers to clean my tables for me! :) It's pretty sweet. (And...I wasn't just being lazy...I had to clean up lots of other things from my 3rd grade microscope lab.) Well, I should get going now! Hope everyone is doing well! Becky :) | | |
| Another cockroach in my room today!!! This one thankfully did NOT come in close contact with me. I was teaching the same class of kids when the students on the other side of the room from me started shouting "Cockroach!" I looked over to see the insect running across the room. Before I could think what to do, Will ran over and stepped on him and he squished onto the floor. Gross. I gave Will some paper towels and had him flush the roach down the toilet. It was at least 2 inches long...bigger than the other one that invaded my room. I am really thankful that Will is in my class...he said he gets all the roaches for his family too. Ok, back to planning for the rest of the day... | | |
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