thats what she said

whoop! i'm now officially on christmas break, as of 2pm today. unfortunately i'll be up taking a certification exam by 7:30am in the morning. ross is also off for the next 2 weeks with me, so we hope to get some good quality time in. this afternoon we took the dog and walked down to one of our neighborhood parks to shoot some hoops. there were lots of people there and everyone wanted to pet peyton and some kiddos asked us to play knockout with them. now ross and his friend mike are out buying christmas presents for their wives, as good husbands should do on dec 21st. i hope they are not too overwhelmed by the mall. i'm really bad about keeping secrets from ross, but i think so far i have him bewildered as to what i got him for christmas, and i'm trying to make it through the next few days without him discovering or guessing it.

several of my students brought me teacher christmas presents and cards. 3 girls went in together to buy me a tin of cookies, which was super sweet, but the "best teacher" bear was probably my favorite. yesterday i gave my students a 20 question survey to see how the semester went. i was relieved to see most of my kids say that i was "really nice" and "fair". when asked what one thing they would change for next semester, i was surprised to see about half the kids put either the desks or new decorations. i told them today that i would consider these changes- they are not too hard to change! their least favorite thing about my class was overwhelmingly not enough chances to talk, homework, and too much work. with the exception of possibly a little more talking, i don't think these are going anywhere!

here's some of MY faves:
What do you like the most about this math class?
mrs. hytnen
nothing
well, the teacher is cool
sometimes she doesnt give us homework
the group activities and of course ms. hytnen
the activities we do
projects
how she helps us understand
i like most is my teacher
it is so fun
everything
its my last class almost
we learn new things
it helps your brain

What do you like the most about Mrs. Hytnen?
she gets mean and she's nice when she's nice
her personality
she's kinda nice
she is cool!!!
she's kinda fun
very nice
she helps me get good grades
everything
she's cool (sort of)
she's happy
she is nice and she know what she's talking about when she teaches us
she understands when i have a problem
her happy attitude
that she is a fun teacher that can crack jokes! (2 stars)
she's thoughtfull and generouse
how she's patient with the class and hardly ever yells
she is a good teacher
she's fun to talk with
her jokes
she's nice...sort of :)
she is funny
she is nice, cool, helpful, and i guess fair
she likes football and gives good explanation
nice you are ok
thumbs up and when we talk about our weekends
everything
that she is smart
i think she my favorite
she talks about her family
that she respects me
that she is nice and she teach so so good
well, i know one thing, she is better than ms. (other teacher's name)

What would you like to see Mrs. Hytnen do differently next semester?
i don't know
nothing
wher her contacts more
be cooler with us
change lesson to fun
nothin much
not as much work
more group activities and less presure
give us really challenging work
i think she needs to do the same next semestre
get a little nicer
be more specific
i like to see more math games
go outside to see math problems
be more strick, give more work
yes a little
i don't know what do you think?
make hard, but not to hard problems
more projects
teach a little bit hearder stuff
i would like her to give us candy when we make an A
the way she teaches
teach us new stuff like algebra
funner stuff
more chalengly stuff
i will like her to teach us more

and so i shall. teach them more. but i will enjoy these 2 weeks first!