Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Wonderful World of Disney Web- January 31 to February 6

Here is what is on tap for the Disney Online Community for this week!

Monday, January 31
  • 1:00 PM Eastern- Cosmic Reid's Starlight Cafe- Listen at www.magicalmouseradio.com for 90 minutes of great Disney music and AMAZING Disney interviews hosted by "Cosmic" Chris Reid! You can join his chatroom during the show as well at http://cosmicreid.com/ 
Tuesday, February 1
  • 8:00 PM Eastern- Live Recording of innermouse- Go to http://innermouse.com/blog/ to see and chat with the hosts of innermouse as they make this week's episode. 
Wednesday, February 2

  • 7:30 PM Eastern- WDW Radio NewsCast- Lou Mongello fills you in on all of the lastest Disney news live via webcam. Click Here to find out more about NewsCast and Go to http://WDWNewsCast.com to join in the NewsCast live!
Is there anything on this list that you think should be here? Do you have an event you would like me to advertise? Send me a message and let me know!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Our Next Trip to the World!!

Yes, it's true!! We are going back to WALT DISNEY WORLD!!! Of course, a few questions would immediately pop into your mind: When are you going? Where are you staying? Who the heck is We?!  In the last year, I have been to WDW with my boyfriend, Chris and with my family. So who am I going with this time?.....Both!!

That's right, this is a full family vacation!!! I am going with my mom, dad and sister Emily plus Chris and my sister's boyfriend, Drew! 6 of us, celebrating just as many celebrations; we are celebrating Emily, Drew and Chris' birthday, Em and Drew's high school graduation and my college graduation! It's gonna be one HUGE party!!

Here are the trip details:
Dates: July 19 - 26
Resort: Wilderness Lodge Villas, a 2 Bedroom Villa!!

Here is our schedule:
Tuesday, 19th
My family and I arrive by lunch and Chris arrives sometime in the afternoon. Chris and I head to Epcot and have dinner at Biergarten, spending the evening in Epcot for Extra Magic hours.

Wednesday, 20th
The whole family is heading to Animal Kingdom and we are having breakfast at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. After the day in AK, Chris and I are heading to Downtown Disney to walk around and have some dinner at Raglan Road.

Thursday, 21st
Blizzard Beach has Early Magic Hours, so we are all heading there for the morning and in the afternoon, we are going to do Mini Golf at Fantasia Gardens! After freshening up at the hotel, we all head to Downtown Disney. Around 8pm, Chris and I are hosting a meet at Bongos Cuban Cafe! All are welcome! RSVP for the meet on Chris' site by clicking here.

Friday, 22nd
Chris and I are off to Epcot this morning, taking advantage of EMH.  After the day there and dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh, we head over to Magic Kingdom to meet with the family and watch the nighttime parade and fireworks and to take advantage of the EMH there until 2am!

Saturday, 23rd
Saturday finds the whole family at Hollywood Studios for EMH (Can you tell we absolutely love the EMH times?!) In the afternoon, Chris and I head back to the Magic Kingdom area and spend the afternoon and evening doing the Monorail Loop.  We are going to explore the three resorts on the loop, have dinner at 1900 Park Fare, Watch the MK fireworks from a beach, and just have fun!

Sunday, 24th
Chris and I begin with a very early breakfast at Kona Cafe and then make it over to Magic Kingdom for Rope Drop.  Our Plan: Magic Kingdom all day, Rope Drop til Close! And whats even better about this day? They do not close until 2am!

Monday, 25th
This day is kind of our free day, we are not entirely sure what we are doing this day and all plans, except for our evening plans can be changed.  Our current plan involves us going to Typhoon Lagoon in the morning for a couple hours and then heading back to our hotel for lunch and some swimming.  We want to walk around Fort Wilderness to see what it is like and after that, we will meet the family in Magic Kingdom and then go for dinner at 'Ohanas.

Tuesday, 26th
Our last day in WDW has the whole family in Hollywood Studios.  We are having dinner at Hollywood and Vine with the Fantasmic Package so we can spend our last night together watching an awesome show!  Epcot has EMH that night which we are thinking about doing along with stopping by Beaches and Cream and tackling a Kitchen Sink!

We all head home on the 27th unfortunately, but I think this is going to be an awesome trip and I am so excited for our time!

Are you going to be in or near Walt Disney World July 19 through the 26th? Let us know! We would love to meet up you, whether it is at our scheduled meet at Bongos or just meeting in the parks somewhere!

Friday, January 28, 2011

The Resort Romp: The Beach Club

With so many places being cold and filled with snow, I thought it would do us all good to remember the warm times and warm places! Here's a little reminder of the beauty of The Beach Club, a Disney Deluxe resort about a stone's throw away from Epcot.  My family and I were wandering around here in August one morning before our ADR at Cape May Cafe and these are some of the sights we saw!

A quiet morning on the water

An early morning view of the Gazebo by the Boardwalk

Quiet morning along the boards too

Lovely place for a walk

View across the water at The Boardwalk

Walking along the boards down part of the resort

I love Disney's Lawn...

The beach where you can relax

More beach and the port where you can pick up the boat

Part of the pool, Stormalong Bay! The pool has a sand bottom and is very unique

Another view of Stormalong Bay

Stormalong Bay

Stormalong Bay

Stormalong Bay

Stormalong Bay

This is the boat that is connected to the pool via a tube slide

Said Tube Slide

Campfire Sing-A-Longs and Movies on the Beach schedule for the week!

What a relaxing view!

Part of the resort

Where you walk into the lobby of The Beach Club

Some of the hotel rooms and a really cool butterfly bush

The Entrance

Inside the Lobby

The door at the end is the entrance to Cape May Cafe

The center of the lobby. Those chairs are really cool

The inside of Cape May Cafe

Love the beach umbrellas, they add so much color

Outside at the front of the resort

Walking towards where the bus stops are

The view off of the bridge

What a beautiful view to end this mini tour with!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Student Teaching Shenanigans: The Early Dismissal

Last Night, some of the teachers and I stayed a bit late to get some work done for the classroom.  We ended up talking about the weather and how not a single meteorologist seemed to know what the heck was going on. They all forecasted snow and rain mixes, starting and ending at all different times, from Tues night through Wednesday.  All we could hope was that we had off for the next few days.  After our planning and our "See you on Friday" wishes, we went home, keeping our fingers crossed for, if nothing else, a delayed opening.

I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 disheartened.  No phone call had woken me up to say that we were delayed or off.  Mom tells me that it has been snowing, there is probably about 2 inches outside and no end in sight. My dad takes my sister to school at her high school and calls to say that the roads are awful! My co-op even calls me when she was on her way in to tell me the roads are crap and the students shouldn't be going in under such conditions.

I got on the road to school and they weren't exaggerating.  Slush, snow and black ice were everywhere, a hazard for not only buses, but for cars and for the poor students who would have to walk to school.  I finally get to the school and begin to set up for the day, ready for a crazy, workless day.

We had 18 of our 23 students show up to class, which shocked me.  The kids arrive around 8:20 to the school on average, but today, we had buses still pulling in around 9:00 because of the conditions.  It was an absolute wreck.  People were very upset with the day and the phones were ringing off the hook in the office.

After everyone finally got settled and we did a bit of our usual routine, we decided to do a butterfly project with the kids to go with the book we were reading.  Around 10:00, as Maria was explaining the instructions, her phone went off.  I looked at the number and it was 411-000-000, which made no sense to me at all.  She said to ignore it, but I was curious, so I googled the number on my phone.  Here's a tip for anyone: If you see this number, answer it, it means there is a school announcement of some kind! The website I found said they got a call from this number and it was a school calling about a school closing announcement.  I tell my co-op this and she has me listen to the message that was left.  The internet was right, it was a school announcement, we were going to have an early dismissal.  We were getting out at 1:00.  We inform the kids of this and then begin the project.

About 10 minutes into the project, the principal enters the room.  My co-op was out, so the aide and I were the only ones in there.  He tells us that the lunch schedule has been changed to accommodate the early dismissal and that there would be no recess.  He also tells us that we are now responsible for calling all of the students parents and finding out how they are to be getting home. At hearing this, I will admit I was pretty upset.  Not only were we called in under crap conditions only to be sent home in a few hours and waste a day, now our day was made completely insane for us! How are we supposed to take care of a classroom and try to keep an order while making at least 18 phone calls???

I say at least because just calling a phone number and getting the answers you need is never that simple.  You get an answering machine at the house, so you have to call the cell phone, but that is turned off, so you have to call the work, but they are not working so then you have to call the emergency contact...And then you get the houses that are no longer listed under the numbers on the emergency card or the number is no longer a working number.....get the picture? Making these phone calls was beyond insane.  I am glad that the aide, Feo, was there though to help with the Spanish speaking callers; I got a couple calls where the first words were "You speak Spanish?" where I would simply say, "No, un momento" and hand the phone off. 

So after the phone call fiasco, it was time for lunch, where Maria and I had duty.  We warmed up our lunches and went to the cafeteria where we proceeded to stuff our food down our throat while making sure the kids did the same.  After this, there was only about an hour or so left before dismissal, so we did calendar and another butterfly worksheet and then got the kids ready to go home.  This was probably one of the only times that I will see all of the buses there in time for dismissal. We got the kids where they needed to go and sent them on their way.  And once they were gone, I had a brief chat with some other student teachers about their crazy days, grabbed my things and went home!

Moral of this story: When you think you are going to have to send the kids home early, Do Not Bother Sending Them At All!! It is dangerous for both parents and children who not only have to make the dangerous trek to school, but then turn around a few hours later and do it again! Not to mention, its a pain in the ass for teachers and a waste of a day! We would much rather make up one day than waste one in this fashion!

Oh! and of course I have a couple one liners.  To show how out of it my co-op and I were, she had this great one liner while trying to tell the students to do a page in their "I'm Done" books: "I want you to do I'm one done page one. (Said after I burst out in laughter)....That didnt make sense did it?" 

And this lovely one liner came from a boy who was in the cafeteria. He was strutting with his food to his table and randomly burst out "I had a dream about Twilight".  Completely random but hey, that's what these one liners are all about! :)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Oscar Nods for Disney!

The Press Release, which came out today from Disney, excitedly announces the 12 Oscar Nominations that Disney and Pixar have received! Read to find out more:


THE Walt disney studios Celebrates
12 Oscar
® Nominations for TOY STORY 3,
ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND MORE     
Disney•Pixar animated film earns Best Picture nomination for second straight year
BURBANK, Calif. – January 25, 2011 – The Walt Disney Studios is proud to announce its 2010 films have earned 12 Oscar® nominations. Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced five nominations for Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story 3, including for the coveted title of Best Picture; three for Alice in Wonderland, and one each for Day & Night, Tangled, The Tempest and TRON: Legacy.

“2010 was a banner year for The Walt Disney Studios, and we are thrilled that the Academy has chosen to recognize both our animated blockbusters Toy Story 3 and Tangled and our live-action hits Alice in Wonderland and TRON: Legacy for their artistry, technical achievements and storytelling,” said Rich Ross, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Toy Story 3 marks only the third time in history that Academy members have honored an animated film in the Best Picture category. It also earned a nomination for Adapted Screenplay – making it the fourth consecutive screenplay nomination for a Disney•Pixar film. The Toy Story trilogy’s tally of Oscar nominations now stands at nine.

Commenting on the announcement, John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, said, “To have Toy Story 3 represented in the Best Picture category is a great honor, and a fitting tribute to director Lee Unkrich, producer Darla Anderson, screenwriter Michael Arndt, and all of the talented people at Pixar, who worked so hard to live up to and exceed the standards and expectations of Toy Story fans and moviegoers all over the world.” 


A summary of nominations for The Walt Disney Studios is as follows:

Toy Story 3
Best Motion Picture of the Year - Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) A Pixar Production
Darla K. Anderson, Producer

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year - Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) – “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Achievement in Sound Editing - Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

Adapted Screenplay - Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

Alice in Wonderland
Art Direction - Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)

Achievement in Costume Design - Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood

Achievement in Visual Effects - Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

Day & Night
Best Animated Short Film - Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton

Tangled
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) – “I See the Light” from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Glenn Slater

The Tempest
Achievement in Costume Design - The Tempest (Touchstone) Sandy Powell

TRON: Legacy
Achievement in Sound Editing - TRON: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

Monday, January 24, 2011

Weekly DDL Post

This Week on the Disney Driven Life, I bring up a HUGE rumor related to the River Country Ruins.  Are there possible plans for this patch of property? Will I stop with the alliteration already? Read my DDL article and find out!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Wonderful World of Disney Web- January 24 to Jaunary 30

Here are you Disney Web events for this week:

Monday, January 24

  • 1:00 PM Eastern- Cosmic Reid's Starlight Cafe- Listen at www.magicalmouseradio.com for 90 minutes of great Disney music and AMAZING Disney interviews hosted by "Cosmic" Chris Reid! You can join his chatroom during the show as well at http://cosmicreid.com/
Tuesday, January 25
  • 8:00 PM Eastern- Live Recording of innermouse- Go to http://innermouse.com/blog/ to see and chat with the hosts of innermouse as they make this week's episode.
These are all the events I know of for this week. Do you know of any more that should be on this list? Send me a message and let me know what they are and I would be happy to add them to the WWDW page at the top of the blog!

Student Teaching Shenanigans: The Unexpected Day

Let me paint a picture for you: It is a Friday (a Friday that could have been off for snow if we had gotten more than we did) with a room of 22 first graders, with occasional periods of snow outside.  And if that isn’t scary enough, imagine taking on all of them on your own with no lesson plans!

That, in a nutshell, is what happened to me.  The morning went well, few problems, then the kids went to lunch and that all changed!

My co-op wasn’t feeling so well (there is reportedly a stomach flu going around the school) and she decided that she should lay down for about 20 minutes after lunch.  Not a problem at all, I’ve gotten the kids at lunch before, totally cool. So I got the kids from lunch, took them on a bathroom break, and then brought them back to the room.  I had to make them sit with their heads down for 5 minutes because of bad behavior in the cafeteria, but after that, we started calendar. 

Halfway through calendar, my co-op walks in with sunglasses on (not a good sign).  Still not feeling well, she wants me to start a project with them for about a half hour why she tries to get her strength back.  She hands me a project to do with the kids, along with a book about butterflies.  So after calendar, I read a book to them about the butterfly life cycle.  With the help of 3 4th graders who come down some afternoons to help, I flubbed my way through the project, hoping that I was doing it right, since I really had no idea what I was doing.  While working on the project, I get a call from the nurse saying my co-op is feeling worse still and wants me to give the spelling test.  I tell her not a problem.

Once we get the project done, I give the spelling test.  A few words into it, a boy points out to me that most of the words are written on the board or under the vocab list (the spelling words were related to butterflies), so I thanked him for his honesty and took all the words down, shaking my head at myself.  After the spelling test, I look at the clock.  It was only 1:55, we had til 2:40 until the kids had to go to computer lab. I scrambled to find something for them to do, pulling out a morning work paper on time.  The children started to do the paper and then the guidance counselor walks in.  He tells me he is here to give the guidance lesson to the kids, which would last from 2 to about 2:35. Feeling kind of relieved to have another adult in the room for a short time, I had the children put the papers away and he took over for the guidance lesson.

This “down time” gave me a chance to grade some tests and run some errands I had to do.  Someone saw me in the hallway and asked if I had left the kids by themselves, which made me laugh (please, I am not that much of a rookie!). Watching the time and realizing I had to get the kids packed up and ready to go home, I made the executive decision that they would not be going to computer lab today, there was just not enough time, we would walk all the way to the other side of the building where it was (Claymont is a big school, used to be a high school) and once the kids were settled, they would have had about 3 minutes on the computer before dismissal. 

Once guidance was over, I had the kids pull out the worksheets and work on them for about 10 minutes before I had them pack up.  I had about half the class raises their hands to tell me they had to go to computer lab.  I tell them that there isn’t enough time and that we aren’t going to go. One boy, who had been bouncing on my last nerve like a trampoline all day, came up to me and insisted about 3 times that we had to go to computer lab. Let’s just say that by the end of the day, that boy owes me a whole weeks’ worth of recess. 

The end of the day comes (finally). The kids pack up, we play a short “I Spy” game, I walk them out to their buses and the day is over!!.....or so I thought…..

Me and my relieved self are walking back into the school, towards the library and the first grade hallway.  As I get to the hallway, I see a boy with a lollypop just standing in the front of the hallway staring at something. I stop to look and see relatively large drops of water falling relatively fast from some tiles in the ceiling.  Mind you, we have a second floor to the building, but I was pretty sure that there was not a bathroom right above that area.  Another teacher walks by and stops, turns to me and says, “Oh my, that can’t be good”.  I run to the office, which is just down the hall, and tell the two secretaries that there is a leak in the first grade hallway.  One pulls out the walkie talkie and the other gets on the intercom and calls a custodian to the area right away.  I run back out to where the drip is. 

After the intercom call, several teachers start to gather around me and the boy with the lollypop. (I turn to my fellow student teacher, Vinnie, and ask if he know who the heck the kid is.  I was finding it hilarious that this boy was just standing there, watching this, mesmerized.) One of the secretaries comes out to check the damage and I suddenly hear her go, “Oh my God, the Books!”  I knew what she meant as soon as she said it; the wall where part of the leak was belonged to the library! Right underneath the possible source of the leak was about 500 or so books!!

Being the book lover that I am, I run after her into the library and look for any damage.  We spot water dripping down one of the walls and decide that we better start moving the books out of the way, in case water starts coming in here too.  Some more teachers and my friend Vinnie came into the library to help.  One of the teachers pointed out that you could hear water rushing above where the one set of shelve were.  There was about 8 or so of us helping in all and it took between 5 and 10 minutes to move all of the books to a safe area.  Half way through moving the books, the library aide comes in the room and almost freaks out wondering what we are doing.  We explained to her and she came over and started helping too.  I felt so bad for her because it will take a long time to put the books back where they need to go, so Vinnie and I offered to come back after the weekend and help her put them back if she needed. 

I walked out of the library and checked on the leak, which was still steady, but the custodians were taking care of it now.  Some water was coming down the walls and ruining a few pieces of artwork by some third graders which was really sad, so I tried to move them a little.  Then I walked back to my classroom, sat down, and finished grading some tests. 

Overall, it was an incredibly insane day, one that I surely will not forget any time soon and one that few other student teachers can say they have experienced.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Cars 2 Turntables

Recently Released by Disney/Pixar, meet some of the characters from the new movie Cars 2! The videos and character descriptions are from the good people at Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar.




Lightning McQueen (aka Lightning)
Number 95 Lightning McQueen is still a hotshot racecar, but his rookie days are past him. Now a permanent resident of Radiator Springs, Lightning has become a bona fide worldwide celebrity as winner of four Piston Cups.

After his latest win, Lightning returns home to enjoy life in the slow lane for a while with sweetheart Sally, best friend Mater and the rest of his Radiator Springs family. His off-season is unexpectedly cut short when Mater inadvertently prompts Lightning to enter the World Grand Prix, a high profile, three-part exhibition race that will take him around the globe.

With a fresh custom paint job and real, working headlights, Lightning sets off to Japan, Italy and England with Mater in tow for the adventure of a lifetime. But competing against the fastest cars in the world tests more than his racing skills when Lightning realizes his wide-eyed best friend may not be the pit chief nor ambassador he needs to navigate the unfamiliar international terrain.



Mater
In the now popular tourist destination of Radiator Springs, the rusty old tow truck Mater has a number of roles, including proprietor of Tow Mater Towing and Salvage, grand storyteller and the heart and soul of the town. But Mater’s favorite title is best friend to Lightning McQueen. Mater values each and every dent he’s earned on his escapades with Lightning over the years, and anxiously awaits further fun with his friend when Lightning returns with his latest Piston Cup.

Cheerful, honest and loyal to a fault, Mater rushes to his best friend’s defense, which ultimately lands the off-duty Lightning in an international racing exhibition: the World Grand Prix. When Lightning invites Mater to come along as a member of his pit crew, Mater leaves Carburetor County for the first time ever.

Not long after their arrival in Tokyo, Mater learns that the world outside of Radiator Springs is decidedly different and its newfangled ways may take some getting used to. But when he’s mistaken for an American secret agent, he falls into an intriguing adventure of his own. Caught between supporting his best friend on a globe-trotting racing competition and his new role in international espionage, Mater ends up in an explosive chase through the streets of Tokyo and Europe alongside a team of British spies and international bad guys.



Finn McMissile
Finn McMissile is a master British spy. Though charming and eloquent, it’s his stealth maneuvering, intelligence and years in the field that enable him to thwart unexpected attacks from bad guys, making quick daredevil escapes.. Finn’s design is sleek and timeless, but he’s also prepared for any tricky situation with an arsenal of ultra-cool gadgets and weaponry, including front and rear grappling hooks, a missile launcher, deployable magnetic explosives and a holographic disguise emitter. As a seasoned professional in the game of international espionage, Finn believes there is a conspiracy brewing during the World Grand Prix. His clandestine work surrounding the global exhibition race puts him on a collision course with Mater, whom he mistakes for an undercover American agent with a genius disguise.



Holley Shiftwell
Holley Shiftwell is a beautiful young British desk agent, turned spy-in-training who’s stationed in Tokyo. Well-educated and sharp, she knows every trick in the book—or rather, she relies on every trick in the spy manual. She’s armed with the latest state-of-the-art spy equipment imaginable, from hidden cameras and concealed weapons to a telescoping utility arm and a holographic pop-up display. Holley is a highly motivated agent, but is fresh out of the academy, so her experience is based on lessons learned in school rather than real-life situations. When seasoned international spy Finn McMissile requires Holley’s technical expertise for his latest top-secret field operation, she finds herself pursuing a rendezvous with the most unlikely candidate—Mater, an innocent caught up in the intrigue, who is mesmerized by the beauty of his newest friend.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Student Teaching Shenanigans: First Observation

Today was my first observation with my supervisor, Marilyn. She is very nice so I was not really that nervous at all when I was doing the phonics lesson.  The lesson was about 50 minutes long and she observed the whole time.  After the lesson, we went to an office and did an interview where she told me about what she observed.  The observation was aimed at seeing if I had a good "teacher voice" and if I had good control over the class with positive interactions.  She said I did an excellent job, saying my voice was firm yet friendly and I was able to use it as a tool to keep the kids under control.  She said that I did good a reinforcing the students' positive behavior, kept a lively pace, and was well organized. What she would like me to improve is using the phrase "Ok" in my directives and increasing the wait time when I ask questions.  Overall, I think I did very well and I am so excited!  My next observation is for math an is at the beginning of February.

On another note, yesterday was another 2 hour delay day, which went a bit better than the day before because the delay was not for anything nearly as serious as last week, so almost all of our students came to class.  I was able to teach the phonics lesson in the afternoon and my co-op taught reading, making it a day that was useful.

Next week, I begin my unit on solids and liquids and make my first bulletin board with a snowman writing piece the students are going to do!  Got a lot of planning ahead!

Of course, I could not finish this post up without putting my new favorite one-liner, heard today.  I gotta tell the story that goes with this one liner though: A student came up and was complaining that a girl was telling her something that was wrong and my co-op says to her "If she told you to jump off a bridge, would you?".  the student said no and walked away.  Hearing this, another student comes up, taps on her desk and says "Someone told me to jump off a bridge once and I didn't do it."  It was all I could do not to break out in laughter right there!  I am having such a fun time with these kids!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, I talk about the fire in the Enchanted Tiki Room that happened last week. Read the article by clicking here and dont forget to check out all of the other amazing articles over at The Disney Driven Life!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Wonderful World of Disney Web- January 17 to January 23

Here is your schedule for this week in the Disney Online Community:

Monday, January 17

  • 1:00 PM Eastern- Cosmic Reid's Starlight Cafe- Listen at www.magicalmouseradio.com for 90 minutes of great Disney music and AMAZING Disney interviews hosted by "Cosmic" Chris Reid! You can join his chatroom during the show as well at http://cosmicreid.com/
Tuesday, January 18
  • 8:00 PM Eastern- Live Recording of innermouse- Go to http://innermouse.com/blog/ to see and chat with the hosts of innermouse as they make this week's episode.
Wednesday, January 19
  • 7:30 PM Eastern- WDW Radio NewsCast- Lou Mongello fills you in on all of the lastest Disney news live via webcam. Click Here to find out more about NewsCast and Go to http://WDWNewsCast.com to join in the NewsCast live!
This is all that I have on my schedule for this week. If you know of something that you would like to see on the schedule, just send me an email at lady_aurora_yensid@hotmail.com

Thursday, January 13, 2011

unKNOWN Actors: Phil Harris

Phil Harris, Born June 24, 1904 in Linton, Indiana and died August 11, 1995 in Rancho Mirage, California, is a guy who I knew was a Disney name.  He has a very familiar voice; one I thought was more involved than it turns out that he is.  He did only 3 movies, but you will immediately recognize his characters and voice.

His short stint with Disney began in 1967, providing the voice of Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book.

Three years later, Phil lent his voice to Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley, also known as Thomas O'Malley in The Aristocats.

1973 was his third and last performance for Disney, playing Little John in Robin Hood.

While this is a very short list of performances, the three characters are very well known and it is Phil's very recognizable voice that brings them to life and makes them the characters we know and love.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Student Teaching Shenanigans: 2 Hour Delays = Waste of Time!

My first little post about my student teaching! It is going well so far, I know all of my students names already and have even come up with some of the nicknames that I will call them when I write about them.  I have already taught a little bit, doing some simple worksheets with them and playing a bingo game.

I wanted to write a little post today because today was my first experience on the teacher's side of a 2 hour delay due to weather.  What I discovered: It is just as FRUSTRATING as it is on the student's side, if not moreso! We only had a little over half the class today, 15 instead of 23, not that we can really complain, there was a teacher that only had 5! Missing so many kids, it was pointless to begin a new lesson with them because we would just have to reteach it tomorrow to the other students. So instead, we gave worksheets to do that went over some of the concepts they have had difficulty on as a class, such as time and money.  We also played a sight words bingo game. Really, what else could we have done with a class this size??

Even if we did have a majority of our students today, we wouldn't have had time to do any real work! The kids came in around 10:20.  Once they were settled and working on their morning work, it was time for them to go recess, at 11:05! After that came lunch and then we had about an hour and a half, maybe a little less for us to try some kind of constructive work before they had their special. Once they came back from that, there was 20 minutes before they had to be packed up and ready to go home.  This day flew by!! It was insane and I really hope that we do not have another day like this.

A positive from today: I got two really good 1 liners to close this post out with!

This was a conversation between my co-op and a student about another student.

Student: "*other student* isn't coming to school today"
Co-op: "Why?"
Student: "Because."
Co-op: "Um...Because Why?"
Student: "Because it snowed."
Co-op: "That makes no sense, you live right next door to him and you came!"

And my second one liner:
 "I didn't do my homework because my mom thought we weren't going to have school today"

Ah the joys of teaching!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Hershey Vs Disney: Numerous Similarities

I have been working on this post for a while, but I have finally been able to write it now.  This past summer, I had a season pass to my local amusement park, Hershey Park.  I have gone here for years, ever since I was little, but this was our first year going as annual pass holders.  Since we had these, we went more frequently than usual and I was able to notice more of what happens in the park, what they added and that, surprisingly, there were quite a few similarities to Disney parks.  Here is my list of some of the similarities I have seen:

Characters: While there are not princesses or Mickey Mouse at Hershey Park, there are interactive characters that you can meet, including some singers in shows and candy characters that will pose for pictures with you.

Country Name Tags: This has happened in the last few years, but on the bottom of the name tags that the workers wear is the name of the town or country they are from, like on the bottom of the Cast Member name tags in Disney.

Buses to Resorts: Another addition that has been fairly recent is the bus transportation to the two resorts and the campground directly to the park, smaller but much like the Disney Bus transportation.

Pin Trading: Yet another new feature at the park, just within the past year actually.  The parks sell lanyards and they have about 20 or so total different pins that are for holidays, a couple rides and characters. Not nearly as elaborate as Disney pins, or much variety, but they are around the same price.  The workers in the park all have lanyards as well and will trade with guests for different pins.

The Smell of Turkey Legs: Ok, odd similarity, I know, but this smell hits me every single time I go past this restaurant that is in the Pioneer Frontier area of the park.  The restaurant is called Freeman's Texas BBQ and every time you walk down this hill from the roller coaster Storm Runner, you smell the sweet smell of Turkey Legs!  I always am taken back to Frontierland when I smell this.  Sidenote: We did try the turkey legs before and they are not a terrible substitute for Disney Turkey Legs, though they are smaller and have less meat. Disney still has the best by far though, of course.

Sneaky Queues: Some people may know what I am talking about with this, but others may need an explanation.  You know how the Disney queues are designed so that you look like you are nearing the end, but then they take you into a whole separate room with 15 more switchbacks before you get to the end? I refer to these as sneaky queues and there are a few of these in Hershey as well.

Photographers: At the entrance of the park, there are photographers that will take your picture in front of a statue of Milton Hershey and you can pick it up at a special photo are later.  Not as technical as the Photo Pass system with the portable cards, but still the same general idea.

Package Pick-Up: You are able to buy something in a store and have it sent to a store at the front of the park to pick up as you leave.  As far as I know, they do not have the package service to send them back to the resort as Disney does, but they still have this convenient first part.

Similar Attractions: Roller Coasters aside, there are a couple specific rides in the park that remind me of Disney attractions.  The first of which is the monorail, which is not a form of transportation as in Disney, but just a relaxing ride through the park and zoo to show off what there is to do.  The other that comes to mind is Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge, a ride that is similar to Buzz Lightyear in that you use lasers to hit targets to try to accumulate points.

If you have ever been to Hershey Park and have more to add to this list or you have any questions about Hershey, feel free to ask! Want to learn more about Hershey from a Disney-lovers prospective? Tune into Inside the Magic, episode 289, where host Ricky Brigante talks about his experience at Hershey, including a look at the resorts which I have never had the opportunity to experience.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Weekly DDL Post

On my article this week on the Disney Driven Life, I talk about a new technology in use in the Disney parks that will hopefully be able to enhance your experience in the parks! To read about this new technology, just read my article on the Disney Driven Life here!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Wonderful World of Disney Web- January 10 to January 16

Here is your schedule for this week in the Disney Online Community:

Monday, January 10
  • 1:00 PM Eastern- Cosmic Reid's Starlight Cafe- Listen at www.magicalmouseradio.com for 90 minutes of great Disney music and AMAZING Disney interviews hosted by "Cosmic" Chris Reid! You can join his chatroom during the show as well at http://cosmicreid.com/
Tuesday, January 11
  • 8:00 PM Eastern- Live Recording of innermouse- Go to http://innermouse.com/blog/ to see and chat with the hosts of innermouse as they make this week's episode.
Wednesday, January 12
  • 7:30 PM Eastern- WDW Radio NewsCast- Lou Mongello fills you in on all of the lastest Disney news live via webcam. Click Here to find out more about NewsCast and Go to http://WDWNewsCast.com to join in the NewsCast live!
Friday, January 14
  • 1:00 PM Eastern- Spin- This is the January Friday show that Cosmic Chris Reid will be hosting, with him as your DJ spinning the hits! Tune in at www.MagicalMouseRadio.com and find out more details and chat at www.CosmicReid.com
This is all that I have on my schedule for this week. If you know of something that you would like to see on the schedule, just send me an email at lady_aurora_yensid@hotmail.com

Have a Great week everyone!

And so it Begins...

I am going to be student teaching tomorrow.

As I type that sentence, my brain is looking at it saying "What? No you are not! You still have years til that, what are you talking about?" But no, its not years or months from now. It's here, now! I have been preparing for what seems like forever for this, but at the same time I feel that I am not yet ready.  Where have these last 3 1/2 years of college gone? Wasn't I getting ready for prom just last week? It just doesn't seem like a reality to me.

But it is a reality. Tomorrow morning, I will be walking into a first grade classroom as their student teacher for the next 7 weeks. And boy what a crazy 7 weeks it will be: Learning all of their names and traits, slowly teaching all of the lessons, making plans, putting up bulletin boards, grading homeworks and tests.

It's not fear that I am feeling; I feel prepared from my classes and I will know how to teach these kids.  I have worked in a classroom before, many times, but I guess it just wasn't under as much pressure as this is. Maybe it is just a mix of nervous and excitedness, finally being where I have been working towards for years now.  I am really not sure how I am going to feel walking in there, but I will walk in with confidence and ready to begin this semester!

Let me end this post with the beginnings of what will be my Student Teaching Shenanigans postings.  These will be the little stories I have from my time student teaching.  This first story is from the first grade room that I am beginning in tomorrow.


My first day in the classroom, I was standing in the classroom with the Paraprofessional waiting for the children to come in.  The teacher, Maria Natalie, was running late, so we were going to greet the children and have them unpack as we waited for her to arrive.

The students started coming in, including this adorable little curley-haired girl.  She stopped at the door and looked at me with a very puzzled face.  She then immediately walked to the para, Ms. Fio's desk and began to cry.

"I do not like substitute teachers" she said through tears.  My heart broke for the girl and Fio and I could only look at each other and laugh. She gave the girl a hug and assured her that I was not a substitute and that Ms. Natalie would be arriving soon. I walked over to her and bent down to say Hi and told her I was just visiting and that after Christmas, I would be helping Ms. Natalie teach so that I could learn to be a teacher like her. Once she heard this, she immediately calmed down and proceeded to be my shadow all day, wanting to hold my hand in the hallway and help me with anything that I needed. She even gave me a hug as I left the classroom that day.

Wasn't even in the classroom for five minutes, didn't even say a word and I made someone cry, that must be a Student Teaching record of some kind!  Well my little shadow will definitely be welcoming when I walk in tomorrow morning!

As often as I can, I will be posting stories about my experiences in the classroom, as well as keeping up on my Disney news.  With some good planning, I am hoping to keep on top of my updates and not fall in to the unorganized trap I have seen other student teachers fall into!


Send your Pixie Dust, this is the beginning of my entrance into the real world!!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

An Addition to the Magical Mouse Radio Family

Today launches what can officially be branded as the beginning of the Magical Mouse Radio Network! Magical Mouse Radio now has two radio stations: Magical Mouse Radio and Magical Mouse Radio 2!

You may be thinking "What's the big deal, they just added a 2 to a new station", but that is not all! While these two stations are in the same family, they are different beasts! Magical Mouse Radio is known for playing Disney music that we all know and love and will continue to do so. Magical Mouse Radio 2 is the first Talk Disney Station! "Magical Talk Around the Clock!"

This station will have news and weather near the top of every hour and when big news hits, you can go to MMR2 to hear what is going on! There will be live shows, ride thrus, Disney Interviews as heard on Cosmic Reid's Starlight Cafe, Live Broadcasts by the ADR group (More on ADR to come soon) and lots of other live fun! At night, there is a Pleasure Island Hour and in the morning, relaxing music to get your day started! It's a station that is unlike any out there!

See the new Advertisement and article for MMR2 on www.CosmicReid.com and follow the station on twitter at www.twitter.com/mmrtwo.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

"Have a Happy, Have a Happy, Have a Hap- Hap- Happy New Year! When the Bells Ring out, everyone will shout, Happy New Year!" - Rudolph's Shiny New Year

May 2011 be the best year yet!