Student Teaching

What a CRAZY adventure Student Teaching was....

Don't get me wrong I absolutely LOVED it. But it was definitely interesting. Never a dull moment thats for sure. Fall semester 2010 I did my first student Teaching Practicum (5 week IPT) at Harry Ainlay High school in Edmonton (I know ridiculous name right?haha) Anyway These students were awesome there were a few times I could have pulled out my hair but for the most part it was awesome! the students were so fun you never know they are going to say or do so they definitely keep you on your toes. But it was so fun at first its awkward just butting in and teaching part way through the semester but once the students get to know you a bit better it's great! they are so easy to work with and most of them have never welded before so no matter how TERRIBLE my welds might look one day they are still impressed so that was fun haha. 

These are some pictures that my Mentor teacher took during one of my Demo's for the students.

In this pic I am the one sitting on the Table watching a student try it out himself.

 so just look for the polka dotted Welding Beanie right by the bright light thats me helping the students try it out

Before starting my winter Semester I went back to Ainlay to check up on the students and see what they were up to. Their semester was almost over so most of them were doing project work. Majority of the class were building "rocket ships" except this one student who I always thought was hilarious he's just a different bird.... I asked him "Bubba what are you working on?" and he replied "I'm making a cat" A classroom full of high school boys making rocket ships and Bubba decides to make a cat. 

(not the construction type but the animal)

It actually turned out better than I thought it would haha but I guess he made drawings for this and everything he was right into it.....I love how creative they are sometimes its awesome!

I LAUGHED soooo hard when I saw this finished Cat!

Don't worry Bubba wasn't around lol

although he would have laughed right along with me

Winter Semester 2011 I did my 9 week APT student teaching practicum at Jasper Place high school in the west end of Edmonton. I really enjoyed the 9 week practicum because I had more time to get to know the students and help them along I felt like during the 5 week placement they barely got used to having me around and then I was gone. 

So My mentor Teacher at Jasper Place's wife was due with their first child the 3rd or 4th week of my practicum so when he took his leave for a few days to go enjoy being a new daddy, the students decided they wanted to get him a little something. So I told them if they would all pitch I would go pick up whatever they wanted to get him and we could have it ready the day he got back. They decided they wanted to get him a Teddy Bear with a welding helmet and lots of balloons (because thats what every new parent needs is a crap load of balloons, right? but I wanted it to be from the students so we went with it.)

For those of you who don't know.....

THEY DO NOT MAKE WELDING HELMETS FOR TEDDY BEARS!!

Apparently build a bear hasn't thought of that one yet. Believe me I checked.

So we had to improvise I went searching for something small enough and the right shape to become a teddy bear welding helmet and found a bear and the students did the rest. The bear did not cost very much so I asked what they wanted to do with the rest of the money, they decided they wanted to get his wife flowers.... which I thought was so sweet and I was quite surprised seeing as this was a class of ALL grade 12 boys.

Anyway in the end it turned out SOOOO cute I LOVED it and did not want to part with it haha

So this was the helmet we made out of half an easter Egg I found at the dollar store...

Then one of the students decided Welder Bear Also needed a "Stinger"

For those of you who don't know that is what hold your electrode while stick welding...

and this is a pretty accurate replica... I was SO impressed :)

 The balloons and welder Bear and the flowers

Auntie Jen picked up the flowers for me that morning and dropped them off at noon because I couldn't hide them all day from Curtis. They had a little boy so she searched for blue roses they were beautiful! 

Needless to say Curtis was super impressed and he loved the little Welder Bear!

I was so impressed by the students desire to do this and their creativity! It turned out Perfect!!

My last few days were bitter sweet I was SOO ready to be done school and doing assignments and grading and writing reports on my progress for the U of A and all that jazz but I was having so much FUN teaching I did not want to leave!

This is a photo of my grade 10 class that I took on my last day

They surprised me by writing on a card and they gave me this......which Curtis had John (my Mentor teacher from Ainlay) cut out on the CNC plasma table he just got.

I LOVE IT!

I have been wanting to make one of these for ever!! I couldn't find the pattern! Now I have the pattern and the REAL DEAL!!

Then my Grade 12 class....

These are the guys that went super crazy creative with the baby gift....they knew how much I loved it and they also knew that my favorite color was pink and that I REALLY REALLY miss my Dog.....so this is what these creative high school boys made me as a parting gift....

A PINK WELDER DOG!!!

Fully equipped with his own welding beanie! haha

They made this Mini-welder! It was so funny because they made it while I was in class and they were all acting really strange and I couldn't figure out what all these weird little parts were they were working on...

I LOVE IT! they put so much detail into it! I'm so impressed! seriously the most creative group of guys I've ever met! They were a fun class! don't get me wrong there were days I could have strangled a few of them and they can be pretty Moody sometimes! and once the questions like "Ms. Needham are you married? or Ms. Needham Do you have a boyfriend? or Ms. Needham will you be my date for grad?" stopped coming they turned out to be a GREAT bunch of guys and I wish them all the best in their futures! and hope I was able to teach them something along the way!

All in all I LOVED teaching! So am I sad that I will no longer be teaching in the fall with Livingstone?

No, not really...teaching is more my long term goal. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to get a major head start on my degree, I am so grateful for all the leaning and growing I have done over the past year and I am grateful for all that I have. However at this point in my life I am not ready to settle down in Pincher Creek by myself for 8 years.... there is so much more I want to do, and I would really like to have more experience under my belt before I lock myself in a classroom.....

Plus I have a few other plans that I'm working on for the next few years of life that I am pretty excited about 

;)

Life Size Barbie Dolls!

Those of you who knew me growing up knew that I LOVED my Barbie dolls. In fact I had what was commonly referred to as "Barbie World" in one of the biggest rooms in my parents house. The One Barbie item that I never got my hands on was the "life size" barbie that they came out with. This past Easter the family gathered at Mama and Papa's for our traditional Feast and Egg decorating en devour and something 

STRANGE happened at the STANGE house...

It all started when Auntie Nita asked me if I could show her how to curl Amy's hair with a straightener.... so I did and Amy looked GORGEOUS! as always!! that girl is growing up way too fast! Anyway I have been wanting to have Amy try on my grad dress to see if it fits her for a while now so while we had her all dolled up I figured hey lets have her try it on. It fit her better than it fit me when I wore it!

 This chicky is only 13! 

I LOVE her to pieces!!

Amy is 10 years younger than me and we are the only 2 girls out of the 8 grandkids at these gatherings. 

It was SSOOOOO cute once we got Amy all dressed up I thought it would be SUPER cute to have Chet put his suit on and take some pictures with her (Amy and Chet have always been SUPER close they are really close I think they are only about 8 or 9 months apart). 

And once I suggested that ALL the boys decided to get their suits on to get pictures with Amy.

First to join was Amy's little Brother Cody... 

 Then Levi wanted in on it as well....

A.J. is at the "too cool for school" age of 15, but with fairly little persuasion he took part as well. 

He's a good sport.

Philip forgot his suit and I didn't have a dress to put on so Auntie Jen and my Mom went hunting and found some unique treasures hanging around Mama's house so that Philip and I could Play dress up to.

Mama and Papa ACTUALLY wore these together in Hawaii in the 80's

Hahahahahahahahaha 

she wore a Moomoo! who wears a moomoo? hahaha

We also discovered my Mom's Grad dress, when I saw it I asked if it was from Trek..... Oopsy Daisy didn't like that comment too much..... Just think mom give it a few more years and I'm sure it will be back in style...?

 Then we took the Party outside.....

Chett and Amy Driving to America

(I was the first of the grandkids to get my Drivers licence and all my little cousins used to play in my car in front of Mama and Papa's house and pretend they were driving to america. This time they were driving in Pip's car.)

Once Everyone was a "G"-ed up from the feet up we decided we needed a group picture..... Me not really wanting to wear the moomoo decided to hunt down some more Grad dresses from friends in town and Pip ended up sinching up Papa's suit and wore that for the event....

Needless to say I did not fit into my friend Jen's dress that had a zipper so Amy and I had to trade because my dress laces up the back so more room for growth lol.

During the Formal event that I later named Stange Prom, my dearest brother was out mud bogging with his friends and missed majority of the festivities.... But when he got there we wanted him in the pictures with us so he just rocked his regular Jessie James look, It was PERFECT because it was SOO Jessie. 

Man I love that kid.

This was my favorite picture of the day.... describes this bunch of cousins to a T

I love these guys so much I refer to them all as my "little" cousins and I probably always will even though majority of them tower over me now..... they will always be my little cousins.

Amy is SOOOOO GORGEOUS!!!!

LOVE that girl!!!!!

We had soooooo much fun messing around playing dress up all day we actually didn't even do our annual easter egg hunt.... we were to distracted playing "life size" Barbies.... So it goes to show it's never too late for your dreams to come true no matter what they were...... hahhaha

I Love my family so much! they are so much fun! We had so much fun! 

I had Amy in so many different Grad dresses that I gathered from friends in Claresholm is was funny to see her Dad squirm when he saw how his little girl is lookin so grown up allready!

She's a beauty Uncle Marty your gonna have to watch out pretty quick here....she is 13 now!

Final Farewell

Twas the night before D-day (Lauras last day) and all through the house, 

Megan was sleeping like a small little mouse. 

We had BIG plans of Broadway and had never gone through.

So since it was our last day we decided what the hoo!

This all started one day as Emma was "studying" as she always does and showed me this cute little clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2sKH8yjVsM

From this day forward Laura, Emma and I had this song stuck in our heads.

Each day as we sung it at home, in the car, at FHE, at the store, on the street. We began dancing to it and each day something new was added. One day we thought it would be funny if we dressed up in "Rainbow" attire and did our dance on film. So we grabbed a bunch of junk at the dollar store and it sat on the stairs for about a month. Until our last night together we finally decided the show must go on.... 

Just as Clayton Payne walked out the door we called him to come back on film our little music video and ended up giving him a leading role. We got Megan to be our Cinematographer.
Hands down top 3 most random things I've ever done.

ENJOY:

The Cast

So I went downstairs to put on some colorful clothes and came upstairs wearing pink pajamas....

saw Emma & Laura & realized Woah BABY! were goin all out! so back to the change room.

This picture makes me laugh every time! 

When Clayton saw this picture he said,

"What the heck am I doing? it looks like we've got chester molester in the background."

LOVE these girls!!!! so sad to see them go....

Laura moved out last weekend and Emma is gone in like 3 weeks :(

We have had SOOO much fun together in such a short time!

LOVE you both!!

Pizza Night

One night on her way home from the South Emma & Clayton "Hey-telled" Laura and I and Said, "We should make Pizzas this week." I was excited after-all Pizza is one of my fav's and you can't beat home made pizza.

So we Planned it for Tuesday night...not realizing that Tuesday night Laura had also agreed to teach Nathan Stelnicki how to make pies. O well in our house we go by the motto 

THE MORE THE MERRIER!

This is Laura

This is my VERY favorite Picture of Laura because I feel it describes her to a "T"

Laura is home-maker 5000

she is always baking and looking after us, making sure we are fed and making AMAZING pies 

(Hence why Nathan wanted her to teach him)

She makes everything from scratch! and everything she makes is SSOOOOOOO good!

Worlds BEST chocolate chip cookies hands down!

She is SUPER nice and is always worried about everyone else. I'm gonna miss her sooo much she is moving home for the summer and is getting a new place in the fall. SSOOO SAD! I love her to BITS we have had so much fun together in the few short months we have lived together.

this girl is going to make the best mom/Grandma OF ALL TIME!

Allright back to pizza night...

Studley Martha Stewart....I mean Tyler Bohnet

Aprons All around!

 Surprisingly we had enough Aprons for everyone to have their own.

Nathan is the one with the Rolling pin.

Funny story about that rolling pin...

Laura's dad got the Marble roller and made a handle for it and gave it to Laura, her mom doesn't even have a decent rolling pin apparently haha. just goes to show home-maker Laura.

Clayton Payne made a heart shaped Pizza for "our house only" we had a ton of people over and we cooked this one first and ate it in the kitchen hiding from our guests ninja style.

Notice Claytons face I'm impressed he made the exact face twice it almost looks like I was photo shopped in.

I Love my room mates thanks for all the Fun

P.S. the Pizza was delicious.

and of course the dough was made from scratch.......thanks to Mama Laura ;)

Fancy Pants

This particular post is for my Dear Friend Bohnet.

Who by the way referred to me as one of his best friends the other day :)

What a cutie!

So this tale begins in a far away land across the ravine from where I currently live in an enchanted house of boys men the most manly men you've ever met (they would probably beat me up if I called them Boys). One enchanted Sabbath afternoon I was invited over for dinner right after church. It was roughly -49'C and I was freezing to death. All I had was my Sunday clothes which consisted of Skirt & shirt.

Bohnet very politely offered me a pair of sweatpants and when doing so said, "I have just the pair for you, I never wear them and they are Cobras pants." (Bohnet and I went to high school together and Cobras was our sports teams name)

So I wore the pants (as I do in our relationship) hahaha and wore them home to block the cold. I fell in Love with these pants and started to wear them all the time. 3 months later after wearing my "new pants" to Bohnets on many occasions he finally asked when he might get them back....

I tried to return them I washed them almost everytime I wore them and I would fold them and put them by my door and everytime I did this I would end up wearing them again.

Finally after I was accused of being a pants thief I decided it was time to return the pants to their enchanted home. It was a sad sad day in Kayla Town, the day I parted with those coveted pants. 

But Alas someone had a plan!

As I sat with Brett one day while going through his belongings prior to leaving for his mission His mumsy came across a pair of Cobras Pants... Just like the ones I "borrowed" from Bohnet! they told me to take them. so I did after all I'm Kayla Needham I do not ever turn down Free Merchandise.

As soon as I got back to Edmonton I called my friends from the Enchanted Manly house and said "Bohnet QUICK it's an emergency! you must come to my house ASAP and wear your FANCY PANTS!!" so he did...

 Bohnet Thinking it was a serious Emergency Grabbed his Fancy Pants out of the Laundry, not knowing what was on them or why he needed to wear them to my house. This picture was taken as we were teasing him saying he wet himself.... I was pretending I had to go as well to make him feel better. hahaha

Bohnet are #8 and "mine" are #9 its like it was meant to be! hahaha

In the end all is well:

 Bohnet got his pants back.... 

we lent him some clean pants for the night after the emergency had been taken care of.

And now we BOTH wear the fancy "PANTS" in our relationship!

haha LOVE you Bohnet!