Read Me.

2012-02-09T16:20:00.002-05:00

I was feeling totally wiped yesterday by noon, so I asked my assistant principal if I could skip the grade-level meeting after school and go home to take a nap. She very nicely said I could, so I left right away and took a lovely nap. I felt much better afterwards. Unfortunately, I realized I'm coming down with another cold and I took a decongestant and I couldn't sleep afterwards. I was awake at 12:30 coughing and waking up in a sweat with a dry mouth. I finally fell asleep and slept solidly until I woke up at 7:04 am. I'm supposed to be at school at 7:05 am. That was not a fun surprise. I called the school and explained what happened and asked if someone could watch my kids until I arrived. I then zipped around my house getting dressed and making lunch for myself and ran out the door. I made it to school at 7:42 am. Considering that my drive is 20 minutes, that was fairly impressive.

The rest of the day went well until about lunch time when everyone got crazy. We ended up having another silent lunch and then walking silently around the outside track for recess. I decided that tomorrow the kids are going to have a chance to understand how their behavior hurts them. I've typed up a note saying that the kids are going to be able to earn money for their good behavior and lose money for their poor behavior. Homework assignments are worth $2, correct uniforms are worth $2, and I'll give lots of bonuses for good behavior. Breaking the rules, having a bad attitude, or being out of dress code will cost them. Talking lunch, recess, and avoiding an extra assignment at the end of the day each cost $5. So, if a kid turns in all of his/her homework and is in dress code, he/she can earn $14 right off the bat. That means they have to earn bonuses in order to get all three of those payments made. I will be ruthless with fines. We'll see how this goes. I'm hoping kids get the message that when they are not behaving and not doing their work there are definite negative consequences. I don't know that I will do this in the future much since it's time-consuming. Still, maybe every once in a while.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

2012-02-07T12:28:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we enjoyed Silent Day in my room. I gave five math problems for each slip a kid made. About half the kids had no math problems. A few had twenty problems. The one with the most was a chatty girl with 85 extra math problems. Despite the work, all the problems were turned in today. And Silent Day was a success because the talking is back to a reasonable amount today.

Yesterday's writing prompt was: What is the most important thing you've learned in math?
Student M wrote:
I think math is a very important subject in our school. I think its important because you have to know that to be able to count your money or to teach your kids about how to add or subtract numbers. The most important thing I ever learned is that you have to subtract and add numbers. If I didn't know how to subtract or add I wouldn't know nothing on this planet called earth.

So now you know that math is important. I hope you think about that today. ;)

2012-02-02T07:06:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Joy & Thor who had a baby girl on Tuesday night! I'm sure Joy will not be reading this, and is instead resting and enjoying her squishy fresh new baby.

You'll be happy to know that my cold got a lot better after my sinus drained on Monday. I'll spare the icky details, but I will say that there were several interesting colors flowing from my nose at various times. I was blowing my nose and thanking God that the pressure was letting up. My teeth were hurting on the right side from the pressure! I'm still coughing and have a slightly runny nose at times, but on the whole the cold is over! It only took 19 days....

On a less gross note, my students have a fire under them after the last poor report card. I have a few who have been working at being more focused and are asking me how they're doing with not being distracted. I have a few who are using their work checklists to make sure they are on task. And I've had several interesting parent-teacher-student conferences that have produced some good solutions for poor grades. Today is our awards ceremony for the second quarter, and I have 8 of my 20 kids not getting an award. That will certainly be disappointing, but I only have certain awards I can give. I hope that not getting an award will be an inspiration to improve.

Yesterday we had a grade level meeting and our principal had told us he would be coming and speaking with us about the data we've been collecting on our students. Well, he arrived and we all had our binders with our data ready and then we ended up talking about all sorts of other things. When the principal comes to discuss our data we brace ourselves for a "you need to do better" speech. That didn't end up happening. What did end up happening was me suggesting that the principal start reading with some of our reluctant-working boys one day a week before school in the hopes of getting them more interested in reading and building a good connection with the principal. He was very excited about that idea and left the meeting with a stack of novels and a list of boys who will meet with him on Monday mornings before school. Instead of the teachers getting more work, for the first time in living history, the principal walked off with more to do! We should have done that a long time ago! ;)

Well, folks, the morning bell will be ringing soon and so I need to don my apron and get the SMARTboard running. Have a great Thursday!

2012-01-31T12:38:00.005-05:00

The journal topic was "Describe a time you were perfectly happy." Student Q wrote this:

Well today I am going to tell you guys about the perfectly and happy day of my life. So one day I went outside and checked the mail it said "From ___ Elementary School" so I opened it and it said "Student Q I am so excited for you to be in my class" Ms G. I ran inside the house and I said "Mom! Mom!" I am in Ms. G's class! My mom said haven't you always wanted to be in her class I said who doesn't want to Ms. G is the best teacher you could ever have because she is very smart and funny I love Ms. G (that's you!). I said I can't wait until I go to school tomorrow because it is going to be a best!

Except for teaching this girl punctuation, I think that proves I'm doing pretty well! :)

2012-01-27T21:26:00.002-05:00

One of my girls is a very smart, cute little girl. She is already in "middle school mode" which is fine for her, but it makes all the rest of the girls in the class want to act bigger than their britches so they can impress her. We've been enjoying some drama in my class lately and it has been driving me crazy. All of that "who likes who" and "who's mad at who" stuff which gives everyone something to talk about and makes the person the gossip is about upset. This particular girl really hasn't been involved, but because she's so cool all the other girls want to get her attention with their drama. I figured a good way to calm the drama down was to get this central girl to help me after school on Fridays as a way of getting her on my side. (I also have been calling parents and having conferences to try and sooth the other drama. It's been super fun.) Well, this little girl stayed after today to help with organizing and cataloging all of the new books we've gotten. She has really neat handwriting and I knew she'd be a help. I didn't realize that she would do more chatting than writing. She talked a blue streak for an hour and wrote four cards which cataloged about six sets of my books. That's about 1/20th of what I wanted to get done. She was surprised when her ride came that the time went so fast. I didn't get the goal of getting work done, but we sure did get some bonding done. I closed the door after her and just cracked up. She was so cute and nice and just yakked and yakked and yakked. I think I was so tickled because it reminded me so much of myself at that age! :)

I stayed until six tonight. Isn't it amazing how cluttered and dirty everything seems after you've been sick? I guess I've just been piling things up rather than putting things away. This afternoon I cleared quite a lot of papers and books off of my various tables and put them away. Then I made my plans for next week and got the room ready. I was working on my class's Accelerated Math program when the custodian opened my door. They usually come in around then to tell me they're locking up soon. But, not tonight. The custodian laughed and said that he'd turned on the alarm, locked the school, and was in his car when he saw my light was still on! I was glad he noticed because I would have had a heart attack if I had opened my classroom door and the alarm had gone off!

I have big plans to grade papers and work on my master's class at Barnes & Noble tomorrow. Should be wild and crazy. If you're in town, feel free to drop by and grade some papers. I have lots to go around!

2012-01-25T16:04:00.002-05:00

I have three little boys who have spent most of the year playing, drawing, giggling, and generally not working. I have spoken with all of their parents several times and all sorts of grounding has happened at home, I'm sure. Today I got to see the results of these consequences in all three boys. One completed all of his work for the day except for one assignment which he took home for homework. The second boy worked hard all day and took home one assignment. The third boy didn't draw a single thing or read under his desk at all and actually spent most of the day working. I had such a good, calm day, I hardly know what to think! This is just further proof that no matter what I do the parents have infinitely more influence than I ever will.

Student O needed new glasses. He came to tell me that his parents were going to take him to Wal-Mart to buy new pants, new shoes, and pick up his glasses. He told me that the glasses were round like Harry Potter's glasses. I told him to be sure not to try and get a lightning-shaped scar just so he could look more like Harry Potter. He told me I was ruining his entire plan. (I'm pretty sure he was kidding.) The glasses were here today and looking very round. The new shoes were here and they made a slapping sound every time he walked, which made for a long day for Student O.

I woke up this morning and lay in the dark wondering if I should look at the clock to see if it was time for more cold medicine or if I didn't care. I decided to look. It was fifteen minutes after I was supposed to get up. Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm last night. I hurried through my morning ablutions and got out the door on time despite the delay. I'm sure it helped that I jumped out of bed with my heart pounding and adrenaline running.

I'm tired and I'm going to go home and rest. :)

2012-01-24T16:16:00.003-05:00

I didn't know it was possible to blow my nose this many times. I've gone through an entire box of tissues since Saturday! I think I used half of the box today alone. Luckily I know about tissues with lotion, so my nose isn't hurting despite all this wear and tear. I also am excited about severe cold pills which really stop my nose from running long enough for me to get some sleep. For the past week and a half I've been waking up to myself hacking every two to three hours. I actually slept for five straight hours last night, woke up, took more cold pills, and was back to sleep for another three straight hours. It was wonderful!

I had a very nice weekend, thank you very much. I met Ben's parents and found them to be very nice. They were easy to talk to and the time just flew by. Whew! That's always a bit of a nervous experience. Ben took me to the Body Exhibit at the state museum and that was fascinating! They've taken real human bodies and opened them up (and cleaned them up) and shown them artistically so you can see all the muscles or the whole digestive system, etc. They also took some thin cross-sections and back lit them so that you can see what you look like on the inside. It was so cool! If it comes to your town, you need to go see this exhibit!

Yesterday I asked the kids to write about what makes a good friend and if they would be friends with someone who didn't have those characteristics but was very popular. Here are my favorite two answers (spelling in context):

1) To be a good frend is to be nice frendly not be a bully. Yes I would hang out with a popular person. A good frend shold be respectful and be clean and not dirty.

2) If someone is nice to you, won't make you do something bad. No, I will not be willing to hang out with someone who is not kind even if they where very popular. They would not be kind and they would make me try drugs.

So, there you go. You can be my "frend" if you're clean but don't try to make me use drugs!

2012-01-20T15:07:00.002-05:00

I am back to work today. I know you were waiting with bated breath to hear that announcement! Last night I was feeling ready to get back to work, which is always a good sign. The kids survived two days with subs, so that is happy news. However, one of the boys helped himself to two of my good pens and destroyed them in music class. These are the pens that were bought to replace the set that a student stole last year. I don't know if they're just really tempting pens or if they are cursed. Probably cursed.

The kids were happy to see me, but not so much after I let them know what the subs had written in their notes. We ended up enjoying silent lunch since apparently the class had earned it both days with all their chatting and they weren't silent at all either day. It was silent at lunch today. Oh, yes, it was.

I have two little girls hacking and coughing so either they got this from me or we got it from the same source. When the doctor asked if I'd been around anyone who was sick I said, "Not particularly. But I'm a teacher." The doctor laughed and just started the exam. I work in a cesspool of germs, apparently.

Book order came in today. We got quite a haul this time. I think several kids got money for Christmas and were keen to spend it. The kids were super excited to have me hand out what they bought. I had to tell the kids to keep writing in their journals and not stop to look at their books. We also got three boxes of the books I ordered from the grant. Now I just have to keep finding a place to put all these books! I'm going to be a book hoarder, I think. I'll retire and they'll open my closets and they'll be jammed full of books.

Well, I'm off to visit Ben this weekend. We have big plans to go to a museum and meet his parents! Be afraid. I wasn't sure if I'd make it this weekend since I felt so sick, but I was hungry today and not too tired, all things considered. If I can get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, I think things should go just fine. I'll be sure to let you know how everything goes!

2012-01-17T12:21:00.003-05:00

How am I? I am sick, thank you very much. I got sick Friday night and spent the entire long weekend feeling awful. While I was glad that it was a weekend and I didn't have to spend any time worrying about whether I should go to work, it was a crummy way to spend three days. I'm at work today, but I am taking tomorrow off. I am throwing my perfect attendance for the year away and going crazy. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and I'm hoping that will result in a reduction in my coughing and overall grossness. I'm to the point where my back and ribs hurt from so much coughing.

I would have liked to take today off, but it just wasn't going to work out. So, when I got to school this morning I wrote a letter to my kids that I was sick and I needed them to be quiet and I posted it on our classroom door. Sure enough, they all came in quietly except for Student C who yelled, "Oh, man! Ms. G is out sick! We have a sub!" outside the door. He felt sheepish when he entered the room, saw me there, and noticed everyone staring at him in horror.

Today we were discussing the word "honor" which is one of our vocabulary words this week. I showed the kids what a medal of honor looks like and Student R called out, "Is that what you get if you save the world?" I just nodded. I don't have the pep to elucidate on that one.

Student N was kind enough to come up to me and tell me that even though he can't play at PE he thinks his toe is well enough to play at recess. I informed him that I didn't want to take chances. Hey, I have to get my giggles some where! ;)

Okay, I am off to write sub plans for tomorrow! I'm so excited!

2012-01-12T16:50:00.003-05:00

Hugging is the cool thing in my class right now. I have one little girl who is very cute and she hugs all of her friends in the room, boys or girls. Everyone likes here, so she has created quite the hugging fad. Yesterday one of my little boys had to pack up and go home early. Without really thinking about it, one of the other boys reached over and gave him a hug good bye. He immediately looked slightly abashed. It's hard to be cool, I guess.

Today I sneaked a little Jesus into my reading lesson. We finished our reading book story earlier than planned so I grabbed Max Lucado's You are Special off the shelf. I told the kids it was an allegory and that they were supposed to find the moral of the story. If you haven't read it before, it's all about how these wooden people called Wemmicks give each other star and dot stickers to show if they like someone. The main character is a Wemmick named Punchinello who has all dot stickers and feels bad about himself. He ends up going to see the puppet maker, Eli, who tells him that the only thing that matters is that Eli thinks he's special. At the end of the story I asked the kids what the moral was and they told me it was that you shouldn't care what other people think about you and you're special just the way you are. I giggled to myself about all the Jesus in that story that I'd just read. Sweet!

I told my friend, Student O, who had a trip and fall yesterday about my accident. I told him we were Fall Twins. He asked me if my hands stung because his knee stung. I asked him to please be careful on the way home from school because I didn't want to fall again. He promised he would do his best for at least ten minutes.

2012-01-11T19:37:00.002-05:00

I did something today and I can't remember the last time it happened. Let me preface this by saying one of my kids tripped over nothing on the wet sidewalk today, fell flat on his chest, scraped his knee, tore his pants, and lost a shoe. I cleaned him up and got him a band-aid before he headed home. Then, on the way out to my car I tripped over nothing and ended up flat on my chest in the parking lot! I'm happy to say that I didn't rip my pants. However, I have two bloody palms and a bruised knee. I can't wait to tell my student I did the exact same thing - I think he'll feel better that he's not the only one who falls and the strange coincidence of the whole thing. I can't remember when I last fell like that. Maybe elementary school. Can you remember the last time you fell totally flat?

Our journal topic yesterday was "What makes a person cool? If you could do one thing to make your self more cool what would it be? Would you make that change?" I got several funny responses. Student L wrote that he's already cool and doesn't need to make any changes unless he could get contact lenses. Student H wrote about how if you get wet and stand in the wind you will be cooler. (I'd like to think he was being funny, but I think that was written seriously.) The girls all either talked about getting better clothes (which they would do) or being "rood" and "meen" (which they wouldn't do). Student K said he'd get rid of his glasses and that would be all he could do to be cooler. It was such a fun set of reading material! Student Q often will write her journal then write me a note at the bottom asking me questions. I always have to read her journal extra carefully so I don't miss what she wants to know. Journals are some of my favorite things from this year. I will never not have the kids write journal topics. So fun!

2012-01-10T15:59:00.003-05:00

I couldn't wait any longer, so I went online to purchase the books for the grant I just got. This grant gives us a personalized cheque for our proposed grant and we buy the materials. I decided to go ahead and order the books since I was just so darned excited. I had first looked on Barnes & Noble.com to get the prices for the books and figured sales tax into the total. However, today I thought I'd try Amazon.com instead. As it turns out, a few of the prices were a tad better, but they were mostly comparable. Since I have an Amazon account I figured I'd just buy the books there. I didn't know until checkout that they were having a deal: buy 3 books and get the 4th free! I planned to buy about 80 books which means that 20 of them were free! I was able to order an additional $120 worth of books for my classroom with my grant money! And there was no shipping or sales tax! I ordered an additional three sets of books and still have some money left over which I'll use to buy some tubs to use to organize all the new books. Yay!!!!

Today at lunch Student R was sitting at the silent lunch table when he started yelling. I reminded him he was at the silent lunch table. He yelled, "I swallowed my tooth!" He'd been pulling on it all day, so I wasn't surprised. I told him he'd find it again in a few days. All the kids at that table looked grossed out at that thought. The moral of the story is, you never know what's going to happen in fifth grade!

I had four students out today and a fifth went home sick. I had one girl go to help in a kindergarten room after lunch, two went to tutoring, and another three girls went to meet with the counselor. That left me with nine students for recess and silent reading. That was nice. I could do nine students more often!

2012-01-09T16:08:00.003-05:00

We're going to play the Fortunately/Unfortunately game about my day today. Here we go:

Fortunately, I heard back from Ms. Jones at my university.
Unfortunately, she said I had to reapply to the college in order to sign up for the class I've already done but need to complete.
Fortunately, she'll waive the fee.
Unfortunately, it is a completely useless form. (It asked for my father's address and had the option to put Ontario but required a five-number zip code. They have 6-alphanumeric postal codes in Ontario.)
Fortunately, I can still sign up for the class.
Unfortunately, I have to reapply to be readmitted and be signed up for my class by Friday.
Fortunately, I got the application done and submitted. We'll see what happens next.

Unfortunately, Student C's mother was out of town on Friday and he was not very well behaved. Fortunately, I sent her an email detailing exactly what he was up to.
Unfortunately, she was gone all weekend so he didn't get in trouble.
Fortunately, I stayed on him all day.
Unfortunately, he changed his colors so many times that he went to the office.
Fortunately, his grandmother called during the last few minutes of the day.
Unfortunately, she had no idea he'd been in the office.
Fortunately, she's hard of hearing so I had to explain very loudly in front of the entire class what had gone on.

Fortunately, I got the county grant I applied for in December.
Unfortunately, the award dinner is on a day when we have an early release.
Fortunately, I get a delicious dinner at a nice restaurant and almost $500 to buy books with!

So, as you can see, even though my day had some downs, the ups definitely were better. I am so excited that there might be some resolution with my degree finally! I actually smiled each time I logged off the university's email system. Usually I'm trying not to throw up or throw something. I'm super thrilled about the grant, too! Yay! We're going to get quite a few book sets for use in small groups. Hooray!

2012-01-04T15:42:00.002-05:00

We've been enjoying a cold snap the past two days. This makes lives all kinds of crazy for us down here. Many kids don't have cold-weather clothing since they really only need it about five days a year. We get a lot of kids who come to school wearing to sweatshirts instead of a coat. I let my kids play outside during recess yesterday and they were so cold they kept curling up on the playground to keep warm after they got tagged. Normally I find this fairly entertaining, especially after I come back from Canada the week before. However, today we made it into the teens overnight and it was in the low twenties when the kids came to school this morning. On the news they said there was a warmup in the north and we were colder this morning than North Dakota and Minnesota were. And the kids came to school in sweatshirts. (This total lack of cold-weather knowledge also accounts for why everything shuts down when we get snow flurries. Can you imagine a parent who sends his kid to school on a twenty-degree day wearing only a sweatshirt driving sensibly in snowy conditions? Me either.)

I was reading my students' journals from yesterday and I was impressed with how well many of them are writing these days. Now, I do still have kids who forget the last e on because every time they write. But I've got some really good writers coming out! I guess that's proof that the more time kids have to write the more they improve. I've never done journals the way I have this year and the kids seem to be doing well. Yay! It's fun to pick up new things that work well that I can do over the next few years.

I get to go get a few more groceries after school today. I have big plans to go to a place where I can get sushi to go. Yum! Talk to you later!

2012-01-03T10:01:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope you're enjoying 2012 as much as I am. I always do better in an even year. Odd ones are.... odd. Last year was the worst because it was prime. Next year has a chance since it's composite. (That's for you, Jenny!)

My flights back home were right on schedule and my second one left ten minutes early. When does that happen? I feel like I must be doomed for some really bad flights soon since this Christmas's flights were so good. I did end up with a really annoying mother and her four daughters on one of my flights. And then a really annoying divorcee who wanted to tell me all about her cheating husband. But, I survived.

Ben came up for New Year's to visit and we went to see Mission Impossible which was really good! (Thanks for the tip, Mark!) We sleepily watched the ball drop. It was a wild night. ;) I think I might be the most boring person in the world on New Year's Eve. If I didn't have company I would have been in bed by nine. Oh, the thrills.

I could NOT fall asleep Sunday night. I was awake until after midnight then kept waking up all through the night. Needless to say, I was extra not happy about coming back to work. However, it was a super day. My students were very ready to be back. They came in quietly, worked hard all day, and I was actually feeling glad to be back at work. Isn't it funny how the lack of routine on vacation weirds you out so much? Today has been good, again, so far. Boy, I hope this lasts! The best thing about coming back to work after Christmas break is that the kids are ready to work but they already know the classroom routines so it's like the excitement of the beginning of the year without all the lack of knowledge about where to put things.

Here are some happy thoughts about my students:

1) Student C got a "bb gun" for Christmas. (Squirrels of the neighborhood, beware.)
2) Student N was extremely cold this morning because, even though he got a ride to school, he "had to walk all the way from C building!" (Which he told me, then immediately turned to the student right next to me and repeated that story. Awesome.)
3) Two of my girls got electric scooters for Christmas. One ran into a car and got scratched up.
4) Student K had to carry firewood on Sunday and was so sore he was extra quiet.
5) Student N is very relieved not to have tutoring this week since he has an appointment to get his ingrown toenail fixed. I told him his tutor would have missed him too much. He said, "Probably not." (He was right about that one! ;)

2011-12-28T12:45:00.003-05:00

I hope your Christmas holidays have been lovely. I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in Canada enjoying some writing time with my good pal Jenn. I've been admiring the Canadians and drinking peanut brittle hot chocolate. (So, yeah, not so much writing going on this time...)

I've had a great week and a half. I think I've actually moved to perma-nap stage where a nap is never far away, thus proving that I could be a cat in another life. My sista Krista has made sure we've had plenty of games being played and my mother has been plying us with delicious eatables. I can't say that I'm really ready to go back to work, but with such an easy class this year it isn't quite as horrifying as it has been in past years.

In case you were thinking that I was unique and a rare gem, I'd like to share with you what happened last night with my family during the car ride to the movies:

Krista: Let's sing "The 12 Days of Christmas" but put in things we actually got. (singing) And a crochet magazine. (speaking) Okay, Joel, your turn.
Joel: Two gift cards.
Krista: And a crochet magazine. (speaking) Okay, Mom, you go next.
Mom: Three yards of fabric.
Joel: Two gift cards.
Krista: And a crochet magazine. (speaking) Go, Dad.
Dad: Four bad hands of cards.
Mom: Three yards of fabric.
Joel: Two gift cards.
Krista: And A crochet magazine. (speaking) Laura, your parts different since it's five.
Me: Five tubes of chapstick!
Dad: Four bad hands of cards.
Mom: Three yards of fabric.
Joel: Two gift cards.
Krista: And a crochet magazine.

I won't force you to listen to all twelve rounds. See? I grew up this way. My specialness comes from many years of unusual car trips. I'm not a unique gem. I'm a small piece knocked off a bigger unique gem. ;)

2011-12-16T09:44:00.002-05:00

This week has been about two weeks long. At least. My week included: two Christmas dinners out, five Secret Santa gifts, five small group gift baskets, 20 student gifts, four trips to Target, packing to go home, planning my lessons for the week when we get back, preparing work for a child who would be out for two days, four after-school naps, 1 Christmas lunch, Skate Night, tutoring, a 3-year-old's birthday party, an Alfred Hitchcock movie night, writing the grades for our writing task in each child's permanent folder, 20 unruly children, 1 fruit tray (with caramel dip for the kids' snack), 1 cookie tray (for the students' snack), 2 roaches in my apartment, 60 degree weather all week, and when I go home after school I get to take out the trash, turn on the timers, finish my final packing, and go to the airport at 3:15. Yeah, so I haven't had a chance to blog much lately.

My kids are testing right now. This year, again, I'm giving my students the gift of a structured day before break. It's a wonderful gift. I don't think they appreciate it, though....

Student L wrote in his social studies work: "The people begged for mercenary when they were out numbered." The question was: "Use the word mercenary in a sentence." So close, and yet so far.

Student M wrote that if he could give a gift to the children of the world it would be an education. The journal prompt was "Tell me what you expect to happen over winter break." I guess that was an ambitious answer.

I have received many lovely gifts from my students this year. They were less strange than in past years, which is nice for my real life but sad for my blogging life. :) I've been given two Christmas tree ornaments, a cactus, a set of candles, quite a few used novels for the classroom (what a great gift!), a 2-liter of Dr. Pepper, and several paper punches for crafting from a parent who was cleaning out her scrapbooking table. My best gift is that my most difficult student went on vacation early. I like him a lot, but it has been so calm and quiet these past two days!

My Secret Santa this year was super! I wrote on my form that I liked getting a snack every day and she really came through for me! I got Reese's Pieces on Monday, chips and soda on Tuesday, a big bag of hard candy on Wednesday, a bag of Munchos and Pepsi on Thursday, and today she gave me a beautiful big blanket (I don't intend to eat that). Wow!

My best gift of all came from my "fella", Ben. We've been talking on the phone for about 11 months now. He lives about 3 hours away and teaches high school science. Ben was up on Sunday for the day and gave me a silver ring engraved with runes. I asked him what they meant and he told me to open my next gift. He had written out what each of the words meant and why he chose them for me and then put them in a frame. That was the best gift! It was very sweet and a very thoughtful present. Ben isn't officially my boyfriend since we live so far apart. But as his students say, we're "cake baking" which means that we're in the beginning stages of a relationship. I haven't spread the word to a lot of people, but you, my faithful readers, can be in the know.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-12T13:49:00.003-05:00

I guess this was a wild weekend for my fifth graders. One boy was out watching a WWE match until midnight (and then he fell asleep repeatedly in my class), one was out playing and got all scratched up when he fell out of a tree and grabbed a thorny branch, and one went home sick (although there weren't a lot of visible symptoms other than shifty looks). Everyone came to school excited and giggly. Today was the longest day I'll have with my kids this week since our science teacher wants the kids an hour Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and a half hour on Friday. This was one of those days where I kept thinking, "If I make it through this day, it'll all be down hill."

Actually, that's more true about tomorrow. I have a grade level Christmas dinner out (delicious hibachi! I'm so excited!) tonight and small group Christmas dinner tomorrow night. I have errands to run today and a big stack of things to do tomorrow. Once that gets over I just need to keep my house clean and finish my packing. That will be a much nicer place to be. Isn't it funny how busy things get around the holidays? I feel like once I get on the plane home on Friday I will be ready for a rest!

I had a conference with Student C and his mother on Friday. We decided that I would give Student C a checklist for the week which I would initial as he completed his work. He came in ready to go this morning! Unfortunately, the checklist can't take all the credit. Student C's dad told him that unless he improves this week he won't get any Christmas presents. Needless to say, Student C has been very diligent today! I hope it lasts....

2011-12-07T17:39:00.003-05:00

Student N came in this morning and announced, "Who knew you could have so much fun in a book store?" Student R stated that he would be returning to Barnes & Noble later because it was so interesting. Apparently many of my students had never been to B&N before. I told them that their journals had been many times because I graded papers there every Saturday. That, apparently, was a very shocking statement. There was a lot of quiet contemplation afterwards.

We had an interesting discussion this morning about Pearl Harbor. Student C raised his hand and explained that Hitler was like the devil. Thank you so much, Student C.

My sista Krista got me thinking about crocheting again and I've found some really cool websites that have free patterns. My favorite is ravelry.com which has thousands of free patterns for just about everything you can imagine. You have to create a free account, but then you can go crazy! I found a pattern to make cupcake ornaments. I'm going to a 3-year-old's cupcake birthday party on Saturday so I think I'll whip up a few of these ornaments for her. I'm not going to specify, but some of you can look forward to some exciting crocheted Christmas gifts. If I get myself going pretty quickly here....

2011-12-06T21:44:00.002-05:00

Tonight was our Barnes & Noble book fair. Never heard of that? Neither had I until we decided to have one. A school gets to come to B&N for a late afternoon/early evening and a percentage of the proceeds of all sales goes to that school. It's an easy fund raiser for the school. You can do almost nothing or go all out. We hit somewhere in the middle. Our art teacher put up student work in the windows. We had people wrapping gifts for donations (I think we made one dollar off of that, actually.) Then we had performances in the children's section where there's a little stage.

The kindergarten and first graders sang songs with great enthusiasm. The second graders read fables from their reading books. The third graders read poems. The fourth graders had a scavenger hunt around the store. What did the fifth grade do? Well, as a whole, we did nothing. My class, however, signed "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." It was a big hit. We had a good-sized crowd watching and lots of cameras and video cameras followed our every move. No one fell of the stage or did anything embarrassing. I ended up with 13 of my 20 kids who came, which was a super turnout. They smiled and sang along with the music and did a great job. It was especially fun to do something that seemed so mysterious and cool. I heard a little kid behind me say, "I wish I could do that!" while we were signing. Very fun.

I did a skit with my friend Kelly who teaches first grade. We got up on the stage and said we were going to read some important literature and then read exerpts from Dr. Seuss very dramatically. We had a good crowd, too, and got lots of applause. Then my kids did some book talks which they had prepared in advance. Finally, the teachers went outside and sang carols.

Needless to say, I am pooped! 14 hour-days really take it out of you! So, now that I have written, I am going to sleep. Good night!

2011-12-01T18:30:00.002-05:00

My super reader student borrowed my copy of The Hunger Games today which practically brought tears to my eyes. LOVE IT! I teased him that he'd have to promise to eat and sleep and not get stinky because he's refusing to take showers because he can't put the book down. He agreed. I told him he was going to like it so much he'd want it for Christmas because all the cool people ask for books for Christmas. Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: "All the cool people like, um, me..... And, um...."

Student R: "Clark Kent."

Student L: "And me!"

Me: "Okay, me, Clark Kent, and Student L are all cool because we want books for Christmas."

Student R: "And you all have glasses!"

Good point. Good point.

2011-11-29T12:20:00.002-05:00

How was my Thanksgiving break? Very good. My Thanksgiving Day was wonderful and then I spent the next three days in bed dealing with a sinus infection. I was super thankful for getting sick when I already had time off. You'd think I'd be upset about that, but I wasn't. (It was Thanksgiving after all.)

Here is how my students' breaks went:

Student K: [sic] it was horable we wanted to go inside and play. But noooo we had to do leaves to show the person coming over we take care of are yard. but the prson didn't even come so we did that for nothing. and we had to get dinner at 12:00 cause we missed dinner with every one else. so we went to the table and I got some terky and my brother fell asleepin his mash potatos. I fell asleep in the dog kennel. NO GOOD AT ALL!

Here are some of the foods I had to decode in order to understand what my kids ate:
han, turcky, mackarony and cheese, maspathato, machs chess, callard gruns, yans with mashmellcews, patata salad, punkin pie, doubled eggs, lama beans, terkey, biscut

Sounds delicious, right?

2011-11-23T12:45:00.002-05:00

I apologize profusely for my lack of blogging of late. I think this is proof that I need time off from work! I stop thinking of the things my students say as funny and then I have nothing to blog about. :)

The kids just headed home. We had a 2-hour early dismissal today. Student N was so excited he had trouble doing things like walking (he kept breaking into dance), not singing, and talking in a regular voice (I think he was channelling his inner chipmunk). I had a girl who kept jumping in the air and twirling as we went to recess. One boy was needing to act like an octopus wherever we went. I read a story and had so many little voices interrupting me I almost couldn't get through it. Whew! I am happy to send those kids home to their lucky, lucky parents.

As I was typing the above paragraph I just heard a car smash into something on the road as it was revving up. Looks like it lost control and hit a light pole. I guess it isn't just the kids acting crazy today!

I think the best thing about Thanksgiving break is that it heralds only three more weeks of school before Christmas break. That will be a very happy day indeed.

My Thanksgiving plans involve a lot of napping, reading, and generally resting. I have a friend coming up tomorrow, so that should be fun. Other than that my plans are relaxed. Boy, does that sound good!

I hope you have an equally calm and restful Thanksgiving, although, I don't know if that's possible!

2011-11-14T15:56:00.002-05:00

In December we're having a Barnes & Noble book fair night where the school gets to put on entertainment, wrap gifts, and put up artwork. We earn 10% of the profits for the night, so we're trying to get as many people into the store as we can. My class is going to sign a Christmas-y song. Today I sat with my co-worker, Amy, and we tried to find something that would work on Amazon.com. Amy suggested unhelpful songs like "I Farted on Santa's Lap" (this is a real song. The second line is "now Christmas is going to stink for me"). We found a good version of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." I taught the kids the signs for the first bit this afternoon. After some practicing we tried it to the music and, my goodness, are we talented! It is just the coolest thing ever. (Whew! I was afraid they'd think it was dorky and refuse to participate!)

This week we are studying homophones for spelling. For the past two weeks we've had at least two pairs of homophones in each spelling list, so on Mondays I play the Veggie Tales homophones song for the kids on YouTube. So, today I busted out the song yet again. The kids all groaned, but then they started belting it out. They even are starting to get the end where Larry sings about pronouns, prepositions, and adjectives. Thank goodness we can get on YouTube now! There are so many great things there for use in my classroom! I was telling the kids about Helen Keller today and someone asked if we could watch a video of how to sign to someone who was blind and deaf at some point. If I can find it, we will spend three minutes on it! (My new motto. What do you think?)

Yesterday I got into Susie Homemaker mode. I baked a kuchen (a German breakfast thingy), ironed some clothes, cut out and ironed pieces for seven aprons, and sewed two aprons together. I am headed home now to sew another couple aprons. Some of the ones I wear every day at work are in need of retirement....

2011-11-10T07:10:00.002-05:00

I am thrilled to tell you that I survived this week. I felt under the weather the whole time but I stuck it out and got through conferences, the AR store set up and tear down, and a visit from the county science organizer.

Student N came into my room and told me a (looooong) story about getting a drink for the art teacher. He said that a woman walked by and looked like Lady Gaga. I said, "She must have a lot of flair with her dressing," flair being one of our spelling words. Student N said, "Oooh! Spelling word.... Nice!" I felt so smart. ;)

Later that day Student N told me another (looooong) story about someone who gave him a new planner which he keeps calling a binder. His aunt works at the school so I'm sure she got him one since he's lost his old one that the school gave him. He told me, "Someone gave me a new binder. I can't say who. It's anomynous." I said, "Wow." Student N then whispered, "I can't tell you who. That's what anomynous means."

Yesterday Student K came into the room wearing his backpack on his front. He said he felt like Santa. He unzipped the bag and was pulling things out and said, "Look! Santa has his stomach unzipped!" Later he was stapling his papers and said, "Now I know what Santa feels like when he's stapling." You know, I never gave much thought to Santa stapling before.

2011-11-04T10:20:00.001-04:00

Two student conversations:

First
Student K: (came bursting through the door first thing) So I was just in the cafeteria and my eye hurt so I decided to get rid of my eye boogers. I bumped my glasses and I caught them, just like this!

Me: Wow, I don't know what to think about your amazing reflexes.

Student K: I know!

Second
Student N: (came bursting through the door first thing) I was talking to my friend and she said that the myths are true. I said, "They're gods. Duh." Look at this picture of Medusa. She's so pretty. That's when she was pretty and nice. I guess that goes to show you what being ugly and bad does. I was reading Hercules but then I got bored so I started reading Medusa. Hercules wasn't very nice. He killed his wife and his kids.

Me: I guess being married to Hercules is a bad idea.

Student N: No kidding. I think if you were married to him you'd be like, "Wow! This is bad!"

Me: How about that morning work?

Oh yeah, it's all kinds of fun in my room today!

2011-10-29T18:57:00.002-04:00

Friday was a no-student school day for me. It began with a professional development about caring for students with diabetes. Each school has to have two trained staff members. Lucky me. This training is especially poignant since we currently have no diabetic students. However, I got to give a squishy ball shots from three different types of needles and get my blood sugar tested, so it was totally worth my time. :)

I spent the rest of the day at school planning for next week, setting up my word and focus walls which we were just told we HAD to have (how have five years' of students survived the end of grade tests without my having a word wall and a focus wall? A miracle, I tell you!), and cleaning. I had two extra fun surprises in my day; first, the custodian decided to wax my floor for hours and hours (using groady chemicals and lots of loud noises) despite there being only 25% of the teachers actually at school; and the custodians decided to wax the cafeteria floor so we couldn't use the copy machine in the room off the cafeteria. While I'm thrilled to have a clean and shiny floor, I could do with less noise, chemicals burning my throat, and inconvenience.

My car spent the day getting its oil changed and inspected. I was running to the bathroom at 5:09 before heading home when I realized I hadn't picked up my car and I wasn't sure if the place closed at 5:00 or 5:30. I raced back to my room, grabbed my purse and ran across the street while my mind raced to think of how to handle getting home since the school was empty of everyone I knew well. Luckily, they closed at 5:30 and I was just fine. Whew! Boy, did that get my heart rate up!

Saturday night I had friends over for my second annual Alfred Hitchcock movie night. We had a very fun and delicious time and made plans to watch more Hitchcock films again soon. My highlight from Monday was being paid by a co-worker to put up her word and focus walls. I'd saved everything I'd done on my computer, so that was a very easy job. Tomorrow night I'm going out to eat with a friend and I will be using my word wall money to pay for it. Yesterday we enjoyed a science egg drop project showing. The kids all made containers that they hoped would keep an egg from breaking when dropped from the roof. Our science teacher got 2 firemen to drop the projects from the school roof for us and most of the other classes came to watch. It was a very fun time and the kids LOVED it.

This has been the busiest start-of-school yet! All the teachers are feeling like we're treading water. I'm very thankful for my nice set of students, amazing grade level teachers, and a roommate to help with costs. I don't know how I'd be surviving otherwise!

2011-10-26T20:42:00.002-04:00

We had another fun and fabulous field trip to the Super Scientific Circus. This was my third trip and it was as good as always. All the kids get laughing and cheering from the first few moments and really stick with the flow through the entire show. Even the tough kids who are too cool for everything. It made for a nice fun day today. As we went into the theater today Student N grinned at me and said, "This has my two favorite things: science and theater!" It's hard to argue with that kind of enthusiasm. :)

Tomorrow is our last school day with kids this week. I LOVE work days, so I'm thrilled to have Friday alone in my room. I've been able to come home right away every day this week and take a nap, so I feel better than I have lately. I have a lot of planning, prep, and grading to do on Friday and I hope it isn't too much. I'm giving 8 kids a reward after school tomorrow: a movie and fun snack. I hope to be able to work at the same time and possibly get everything on my to-do list done.

I'm having my second annual Alfred Hitchcock movie marathon on Saturday. Last year we watched "Psycho" and "North By Northwest." Two people came and we had a really fun time. I have four confirmed for this year so we'll see if "Rebecca" and "Strangers on a Train" are equally as well received. I'm excited!

2011-10-25T16:00:00.003-04:00

Student N was out yesterday. It was a quieter day yesterday. He was back today and had a weekend's worth of tidbits to share with me. The conversation went something like this: "Sunday was my brother's birthday. He's older. My mom played a prank on him by pretending she didn't get him a present. She made him go to his room. He's got a TV and one of those things with doors. He opened the doors and we said, 'turn on your game!' He turned on the game and then had to take out his monster contacts. He said, 'What the h!' It was funny. Even though he said the 'h word'." At this point I figured that he could go all day, so I reminded him of his morning work. He happily got working on that for awhile. That kid could talk to you all day if you let him!

Yesterday I went to Target to buy a new iron because mine died while I was ironing and talking to my mother on the phone. As I was checking out I got stuck behind a pregnant woman who seemed to be doing all her grocery shopping. We don't have a Super Target, just a regular store with extra food for sale. After ten minutes of ringing her up I began to have hope that she'd be done soon. Silly me. The woman handed the cashier a huge stack of coupons! Which had to be scanned one at a time and often something on the computer had to be clicked between coupons. Finally the stack dwindled to nothing and I thought, "Surely we'll start moving here!" Silly me. The woman then busted out a STACK of gift cards! And they were all baby gift cards. I then got to spend the remaining five minutes of her checkout fuming over the fact that she was probably spending gift cards from a baby shower on things like bread and a new wallet which the baby will probably only minimally benefit from. It was an angry time all around.

Tomorrow we have our first field trip of the year. It's in town and one I've been to twice. I'm very excited to get to go again! I'll fill you in on the details later. Stay tuned...

2011-10-21T16:49:00.002-04:00

Okay, do you remember the great letter to a Colonial friend from last week? Well, I had to update you on the new letter this same cute little girl wrote this week. They were supposed to write to a Colonial kid and explain electricity and what they did with it. She wrote that letter yesterday, then today she wrote one back from her Colonial "friend" whom she's named Ella.

Dear Kid,

I just wanted to tell you about electricity. I get to watch movies on TV, I also can watch cartoons. I have some video games. I play that on the TV or on a game device. I have an iPad. I listen to music on it. I hope to hear back. Bye! From, Student E

Dear Student E

My name is Ella. I got your letter. Tell me, what kind of things do you listen to? What things are on the TV? What is a video? I know what a game is I just don't know what a video is. I know these are a lot of questions but I'm very curious. Please write back. From, Ella

P.S. Are you a Girl Scout because you sound like one!

Hahahah! Too cute. I loved how much thinking she put into that reply. I have a flipbook of story starters that we use once a week. This week the kids had to use the phrase: "What on earth is going on here?" said the teacher as she burst out crying. One girl wrote a story about how I had a brand new car and accidentally tracked mud into it. Another girl wrote about me and said that she gave me Girl Scout cookies to make me feel better (we talked about our favorite cookies while we made graphs at one point). I felt just like a celebrity.

Tomorrow is our annual reading walkathon. I love giving up my Barnes & Noble grading time to stand around and support reading along with 20,000 other unhappy county employees. I would support a readathon much more than a walkathon. I should suggest that for next year! I bet after 9 years they'll change it. I'm sure.

2011-10-19T19:19:00.003-04:00

This blog is entirely about my sinuses. So, if that doesn't thrill you, you have my permission to stop reading now.

I had a new and fun experience this week: I started getting a sinus infection while I was still getting over my last sinus infection. I woke up Tuesday night with a very sore throat and had trouble falling back asleep. I went to school on Tuesday but was able to get a doctor's appointment after tutoring. So, I scooted out early for the appointment.

I figured I'd probably just be prescribed another antibiotic and that would be that. However, I had a doctor and doctor-in-training who were good at listening to what I had to say and trying to come up with a solution to all these sinus infections. Crazy idea, right? The doctor told me to try using a Neti Pot, which is a device you use to wash out your sinuses. You have to pour warm water in your nose. Which sounds great, right? Ew. I was not looking forward using that at all. However, it was much better than I thought. I kind of felt like I'd been swimming. And my nose started running and running and I felt much better today. I have to keep using the Neti Pot for six weeks every day. We're hoping that this totally clears out my sinuses and reduces the infections by a lot. I actually feel hopeful for the first time that there might be an end to these infections. Yay!

I'll be sure to keep you up to date with my fabulous sinus news. I hope you can sleep while waiting to hear about the excitement!

2011-10-17T13:27:00.003-04:00

We've been studying Colonial American life. Before I can teach the kids about the Revolutionary War I have to get the kids to have a framework for what life was like back then. We've been reading books and exerpts about what life was like in Jamestown and in the other colonies. The kids wrote a letter pretending they were from Colonial times to a kid in current times to explain how life was different. Here are two of my favorites:

Dear Anyone,
Life now is very different. We make our own candles. We do more work than you. My favorite doll is a potato. My mom and dad are having a breading bee. We are (the kids) are doing that. My parents are really going to love a reading bee. Well, please write back.

Then she wrote back later pretending she'd gotten a response from the modern kid:

Hello, it's me again. I just had to say hi and thanks for the letter. I thought it was "cool" to hear about a cellphone. So do you "call" someone from far away? Does it work on other worlds?

Pretty creative. We talked about how there were quilting bees, corn husking bees, and other bees. That seemed to hit home there.

Here's my other favorite:

Dear Student Q,
You said that you wanted to interview me, but I can't make it across the world to the 21st century but I thought that I could answer your questions by letter, okay?
-Are you farmers? What do you do?
Yes, we are farmers. We plow our field with a plowing machine and oxen. It takes a lot of work. We pick berries and other things like veggies.
-What types of clothes do you wear?
My mom makes our clothes. We don't have sewing machines like you guys have over there. It takes us a whole year to make a outfit.

I also got a lot of information about how soap is made from pig fat and women died having babies. We learned a lot last week. :)

2011-10-11T16:04:00.002-04:00

I was remembering the college definition of a "busy" day. It would involve having to get up for an 8:00 class, maybe have two more classes, then work for a few hours, and possibly have something to do at night. I remember thinking how horrible that sort of a day was. Now I think of that sort of day with envy. Ah, to go back to those difficult college days!

I've been in a panic to get the AR store set up. I worked an hour yesterday and another hour today. It's all set up. However, at the last minute, we decided to ask Wal-Mart for a donation which meant I needed to type up a formal letter on school letterhead. I had 15 minutes to complete that. We also realized, at the last minute, that there was no adults to actually run the store! Ahhhhhhhh!!! Because of a regularly scheduled meeting (which was new this year, not okayed by the school improvement team, and added after we decided on the AR store dates) all the available adults in the school are occupied! The assistants are busy covering teachers who have to attend these *ahem* important meetings. I have a parent volunteer who is able to help, but it's really a two-person job. I'm confident we'll find person #2, but until it happens I'm a bit nervous.

We started tutoring today. Because I needed more to do today. I was supposed to have 4 nice kids, one of whom I had last year and really like. I ended up with SEVEN kids today, one of whom I am constantly yelling at (from another class, thankfully). Surprise. I brought them to the room and we started the reading workshop again from scratch. We read two good picture books and started Number the Stars which usually goes over very well since it has to do with Nazis. Tutoring went well. I did get the little boy I was hoping to get and his mother gave me a hug at the end of tutoring because she was so glad he was in my group.

Our school is also a polling station. We don't have a gym, so the polling takes place in the FRONT HALLWAY! This means we have one set of bathrooms for the entire 3-5th grades and have to reroute ourselves constantly.

And it rained.

The good news is that one of the teachers on grade level, Matt, ran a big errand for me at the end of the day for the AR store. Tutoring was very good. I have three new people who are coming to small group tonight (maybe...). I passed out invitations to my second annual Alfred Hitchcock movie night (and the invitations look really cute). There is no Glee tonight, so the small group ladies will go home at 8:00 and I can go to sleep early. Tomorrow is not Terrible Tuesday.

Only four and a half more hours until I can get in bed and go to sleep. I think I can! I think I can!

2011-10-10T15:46:00.002-04:00

I spent Saturday rearranging and cleaning my room. Since my roommate moved in, I had to find a place for everything that was in that room. I put some in the storage unit which got cleaned and reorganized in August. However, the things that went to my room had not found a permanent home until this weekend. I ordered a set of shelves and a small dresser to help with the clutter. So, at 8:30 am I started assembling the dresser. Then I moved everything out of the plastic storage drawers I'd been using since college and put it in the new dresser which went in my closet. Then the furniture got moved all around the room. I put together the new shelves (very quick and easy - let's hope they last!), reappropriated some canvas bins, changed the old shelves in my room into book storage, ran to Jo-Ann's for some baskets and containers, and by 9:30 pm my room was looking great! Needless to say, I didn't get to my grading or resting until Sunday. Still, my room was in a desperate state and I am very pleased with my day's work. Yay!

Today was the funeral for our assistant principal's husband. About half the teachers wanted to go, so we had to accommodate half of the students at school. I didn't go to the funeral since our after-school staff meeting was cancelled which was the meeting where we were going to write out all the AR coupons for all the students. Wouldn't you know: they cancelled the USEFUL meeting I was looking forward to. The PE teacher took the kids whose teachers went to the funeral. It was our day for PE. Rather than go out and have to watch my kids during my resource time when I was DESPERATE for some work time, I took my kids to the computer lab and they researched Colonial America on the Williamsburg website and I worked on grading everything I didn't get to over the weekend. So, all in all, my day was minimally affected by the funeral. Thank goodness! I needed this day to go well.

Also, my fabulous co-worker, Amy, came by and volunteered to write out half of the AR coupons for the school! So that is entirely finished. After school I spent an hour organizing and opening all of the prizes from last year's AR store and the new things I bought this year. I won't be able to get it all laid out until the custodian puts tables up on the stage where we conduct the store. However, I know how many little baskets I need, so I'm headed to the dollar store after school so I can be ready for tomorrow's final preparations. Whew!

Today we started reading about the Jamestown Colony. Here was the awkward conversation taht ensued:
Me: The Jamestown Colony was named for the king of England, James Stewart.
Student R: Where was that colony?
Me: Virginia.
Student R: Why did they name it Virginia?
Me: After the popular queen.
Student R: Her name was Virginia?
Me: No. She was Queen Elizabeth the first, but because she wasn't married they called her the virgin queen.
Student R: What's a virgin?
Me: Someone who isn't married.

I can't wait for parent phone calls on that one!

2011-10-05T17:01:00.002-04:00

Oh, sweet medication! How I love thee! I also love parent volunteers, Halloween candy, and the dismissal bell. :)

Yesterday I asked the kids to write about what they would do if their parents let them change their appearance. A lot of the kids would "die" their hair a variety of colors. Most everyone would buy new clothes (specific items mentioned: Aeropostale shirts, Converse high tops, tights, and overalls). There were also many interesting tattoo ideas. Let me tell you, the thought of an eagle tattoo on the chest of an 11-year-old boy is less than impressive. I had a girl who wanted to get a tattoo of an "angle" (angel) with her parents birth and death dates (although that one would be tricky since they are both still alive). One girl decided she'd like to get "Queen of Snexiness" tattooed on her arm.

The county-wide email has been out since yesterday morning. On the plus side, no one is sending us more work to do. On the negative side, we can't send work to anyone else. We've been assured we won't lose any of our data like we did last year. I guess the server is down. I think we should cancel school if we can't get to our email. Good idea, right?

On a sad note, our assistant principal's husband passed away yesterday. He has had years of medical problems and was in the hospital with something serious every year I've known the assistant principal. She was writing on Facebook that she was hoping he'd pull through like he has in the past, but we were told today that he didn't make it. I know the Wright family would appreciate being remembered in your prayers!

2011-10-04T14:47:00.002-04:00

My sinus infection is back and I am sneezing up a storm! My nose is sore from so much blowing. Ugh. I've survived school for both days this week so far so I'm feeling like I might survive. Today I took an Aleve-D which totally knocked out my mucus, but it made me feel kind of goofy all day. So, that was a new take on school...

The past two days have both been fine, but today I've had several weird moments and I'm left with a frustrated feeling about school. I wore my black boots and a pair of patterned tights today and teachers and students have commented all day. Right at the end of the day, though, the male custodian was passing and made a comment about my boots which my boys interpreted as "booty." So they were super goofy about that. Sigh. Then one of the boys found two books on artists and proceeded to giggle about the nude pictures. How do boys find those every year? Sigh. During math one of my normally well-behaved kids made a mistake on his graphing book and refused to make a new graph to fix it. Sigh. A parent who tends to have looooong phone conversations with me asked me to call to explain the math contract. Sigh.

I think I'm going to cut out early, go home and rest, then have Bible study. Maybe that will help make my day better.

2011-09-30T17:41:00.003-04:00

Today the kids were allowed to dress as a character for a book to get them excited about Reading Rocks week which is a county-wide fundraiser. I had a very clear Pippi Longstocking and all the rest of the kids had to tell me who they were. Some I'd heard of, some were a bit of a stretch. Of course, I'd stressed that the kids were not to wear jeans, even if their character was wearing jeans. NO JEANS. Remember the "no high heels" rule from June? Yeah, one kid showed up in jeans, suspenders, and a plaid shirt. I asked him who he was. He said he was "the boy from Scarlet's Web." Two problems. A) There's no boy in the book. B) It's Charlotte's Web. Nice try, kid.

We had to watch a back-to-school speech by President Obama Wednesday afternoon. He gave a very good speech, even admitting that he wasn't a perfect student and prefered basketball to his economics class. I asked the kids to reflect on the speech in their journals. One boy wrote "I still can[not] believe that he was not perfect because every president is almost perfect." At least this kid was paying attention!

I've got to wrap this up. The custodians just made an announcement that it was time to go. They even said, "Ms. G it is time for you to go home." Hahahaha! Our custodians are two sisters and they are too funny. Then came over to my room after and peeked in the door to see if I was upset. I was not. I was laughing. It was a great way to end this week!

2011-09-28T16:17:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I asked my students to tell me what pet they would choose if they could have any animal, real or imagined. Here were their answers:

1) T-Rex named Paul
2) Monkey named Jack
3) Yorkie named Skittles or Starlet
4) Dragon named Spike
5) Pitbull named Rose
6) Dragon named Jenny
7) Bunny named Levi Rocky Ray
8) Dragon named Nickita
9) Turtle yet to be named
10) Rabbit named Oreo (because it will be black and white like an oreo)
11) Zorse (this is a mix of a horse and a zebra) named Hollowzuna
12) Gryphon named Kleif
13) Toy "puddle" named Charlotte

All good choices, I think.

2011-09-26T12:08:00.002-04:00

The kids were too funny today and I had to write before I forgot what they said. Today was a red-letter day. We started new social studies projects and were assigned explorers to research. We practiced taking surveys in math and walked around the room asking each other questions. The kids each received a short-ish novel to read for their story this week. We played a hilarious game called Elephant-Monkey-Alligator in which the kids worked in groups of three to quickly make each animal when I called it out. So much fun all in one day.

During the surveying the kids each were given a "What is your favorite..." topic. They then had to think of four or five answer choices. Then they surveyed everyone in the room. I thought this was pretty straightforward, but I guess I was wrong. One boy said he'd do "What is your favorite sport?" but then was walking around asking about everyone's favorite color. One boy chose "Who is your favorite president?" (can you guess what we're memorizing right now?) but then couldn't remember names, so he picked random numbers instead. My personal favorite was a girl who picked "What is your favorite state?" and her answer choices were Texas, New York, New Mexico, Mexico, and Britain.

During the small group time I called up my two lowest-level reading groups. I figured several of the kids would struggle with their books too much unless we started them together and they figured out who the characters were. The first group is reading December Secrets by Patricia Reilly Giff, which is about a second grade class. My group was laughing and totally on level with that story. One boy (who spent most of last week staring into space) told me he thought it was a great book. The second group is reading Stone Fox which is about a dog sled race in Wyoming. I got to this group second and they'd already begun to read. It was a good thing we reread the first chapter, because I asked them where the story took place and they all said Alaska. On the first page it said that they lived in Wyoming. I'm guessing the kids don't know that's a state. (What Ms. G learned today: We need to work on learning which place are states and which are not.)

Yesterday I made a ridiculously delicious steak on my George Foreman grill. I've been wanting to figure out how to cook steak and researched some recipes. I was hoping for something very easy with minimal prep time. I was hoping for an okay-tasting steak for my first attempt. I can NOT stop thinking about how good that was! Luckily, I bought several on-sale steaks for the week so I could have several tries to figure it out. Yum! Hurry up, supper time!

2011-09-25T15:01:00.004-04:00

Gosh, this was another crazy busy week. Even Saturday seemed to go by quickly and I didn't even nap it away.

For the past two weeks my students have been working in groups on a Native American research project. They chose their own group members, which is often very risky, but I wanted to see what would happen. I had 2 groups of boys that I was very afraid for, but they all showed up with something. I assigned them which tribe they'd study. Then they all had to produce five vocabulary cards, a tribe fact sheet, a display, and a presentation. Friday was the culmination of their work, and I have to say I was impressed. Last year my kids did a Colonial America project and most of the kids showed up the day the project was due with nothing. They couldn't even talk about what they learned. Needless to say, that was the last project I did with that class.

However, this year the kids really ran with the projects! There were 6 groups, and every one of them worked hard and had something to show what they learned. One group wrote a skit and brought glow sticks to use as a fire. One group made a bow and arrows. (One of the kids in this group tripped and scratched his nose with his arrow. So that's why weapons aren't allowed at schools...) I walked around and wrote notes on how the kids worked in class, so that was part of their grades. They also evaluated each other and themselves, and that was part of the grade. The highest grade was 97% and the lowest was in the upper 60s. I've never had a group that was as good at mostly passing as this group! Even their test scores have been higher than my previous five years'!

We're going to start researching explorers next. The kids will each have a 30-50 page picture book about an explorer, have time to research in the computer lab, and they will need to write a speech, make a poster, write an essay, or complete a circle book (which is a mini-display that can be hung from the ceiling) by Friday. I'm excited to see what this group does. I've always wanted a class that loves projects! Yay!

2011-09-21T18:12:00.003-04:00

How did a whole week go by since I last blogged? Oh, yeah, Curriculum Night last Thursday, working until 6:00 pm Friday, School Improvement meeting until 4:30 Monday, professional development AND small group last night. Whew! Needless to say, I've been sleeping well lately!

On Monday the kids wrote about what they would do if they found a $100 bill. Here are some responses:

1) I would be happy that I found it and I would probably keep it for myself. If I knew that the person lost it and they really needed it I would probably find who lost it and return it. Now if this personw as very rich then I would keep it because they are one of the lucky [ones] and they would have wasted it on things that they don't really need.

2)What I would do is take it for myself because I really need the money for clothes and food and for the school for fund raisers and for a school t-shirt. I like the shirts. And the rest of the money I would give it to homeless people.

3) If I founda $100 bill I would turn it in to the employee. If I saw someone drop it but they were rich I would keep it. IF someone dropped it and were poor but I need the money I would give it to them. Those are different cases anyway. I really think these are the responsible things to do. I really would like to keep it. I would love money but do what is right.

Yesterday I asked the kids to write about what they would do if they could change their names to anything they wanted. Among the chosen names were Rose, Charlotte, Anthino, Drake, and Dasia. Here are my favorite three:

1) I would change my name to Jenny if I had to. I just always liked the name. My middle name would be my [same] name. I love my name that's why.

2) I would change my name to Max. I would change it because I like the name Max.

3) My new name would probably be Spectra because I really like and love this name and I am very sneaky like a ghost. The reason I didn't change my middle and last name is because I love my real name but I just don't think it fits me right.

Tomorrow one of my kiddos is going to start staying after school for about 45 minutes in order to make sure his homework is getting completed. His mom has contacted me twice to express her concerns with him. I've assured her that his lack of homework completion seems to be pretty typical and I think he'll be fine. She really wants her son to do his best, and he's a really nice kid, so I'm happy to have him stay and get some work done at school. We made the plan yesterday on the phone and I checked with him this morning to make sure he knew he's going to stay tomorrow. He gave me a big smile and looked excited to stay. Such a nice kid.

2011-09-13T12:12:00.003-04:00

Some updates on yesterday and a few things I forgot:

The Teacher of the Year banquet was delicious and quicker and less dull than I feared. It started on time and they kept things moving, which was a huge help. I didn't win Teacher of the Universe (I know: what a shock!), but the woman who did win looked experienced and like a good choice.

Yesterday morning I was talking to one of my colleagues and my sandal felt really loose. I looked down to see what was up and I realized that the stitches attaching the back strap had broken off. I busted out my scissors and my sling-backs became slip-ons. Then on my way to the Teacher of the Year banquet my hair tie snapped. It just let go. It was a good day.

Two funny conversations I overheard this morning involving the word "brother":
1)
Student K: My brother just got his license.
Student N: Go, your brother!

2)
Student N: Yes! I got my morning work done!
Student K: Nice work, my brother.

The specialness abounds in my room.

2011-09-12T16:37:00.004-04:00

This morning Student A burst into the room and announced, "Hey! This is fancy music!" Which was true. It was also a delayed observation since this is the 12th day that "fancy music" has been playing when he walked in the door. Student N told me that he hit his head on the freezer door this morning. I guess it was a rough morning for many of my students.

We just had the new small group catalog handed out at church yesterday. We had our small group connection night last night and we met several good candidates for our group. I also received two more emails today from teachers who were interested in joining. We often get a lot of interest but end up with about half who stick around. That puts us at 3-4 new members! We're needing some fresh blood, so I'm excited. I'll let you know how things go tomorrow.

I'm less excited about tonight's Teacher of the Year banquet. Yay. There's nothing like having to go and be talked at for 2 hours when you'd rather be home wearing sweats. I hear the food is really super, though, so that will be fun. I just ran into the principal in the hall (who has to come to this banquet) and he introduced me to his wife as his date for tonight. Fortunately she has a good sense of humor. Whew!

I'm least excited about my latest sinus infection. This one is a doozy! Fortunately it's mostly controlled with some strong medication I have and I don't think I'll have to miss any work. Having a roommate has put a new spin on taking sick days.... Will they be as restful as they were before? We'll see, I guess.

2011-09-09T17:07:00.002-04:00

We've just finished our second full week of what I'm calling Reading Workshops. Every day we meet and we work on tracking our "inner conversation." This means paying attention to and taking notes about what the text reminds us of, predictions we have, emotions we're feeling, connections we can make to ourselves and other texts, etc.

This week we read books by Eve Bunting. She writes picture books that are on really serious topics. Fly Away Home and December are both about children who are homeless. The Wall and Gleam and Glow are about children and war. Rudi's Pond is about a little boy who dies of cancer. Mom's Wedding and The Memory String are about children learning to deal with stepparents. The books are all very sweet and end well, but they don't shy away from tough subjects. After reading these books and paying special attention to connections between Eve's books I had the kids make posters today and write in their writing journals. There's now a large poster in my room that says, "We love Eve Bunting books!" Student T wrote "I love Eve Bunting books, she is now my favorite author because she writes about personal feelings." Yay! I'm feeling like my Reading Workshops are pretty successful so far. Next week we'll be making notes about things we learn as we read nonfiction books. Stay tuned...

Yesterday we had a Code Yellow lockdown. This means that students couldn't walk around the building without an adult. Our rooms had to be locked and window shades drawn. A few years ago we had this kind of a code due to a bank robbery five miles away. We found out later that someone broke into someone's apartment building about a mile from us and was evading the police. Of course, we don't know what's going on until later. Student C (who is my extra special kid this year) announced that we have Code Yellow drills when there's a criminal or a tiger in the area. He was half right...

2011-09-09T17:03:00.002-04:00

Last week we had a writing prompt that read "Imagine that the principal of our school is thinking of making a rule that teachers can't give homework. Write him a letter about whether or not you think this is a good rule." A very funny journal entry from Student F:

Dear Principal:

Hi there my best friend. I heard your making homework against the rules. Let me tell you a story. There once was a man who let his students down. They were unhappy, and he got karma, THE END! You don't want that do you? Of course not! So change the rules and no one gets hurt! But I mean in just helping you. I'd hate that if my poor BFF got hurt. So no homework! Yay. IF you just said we DO have it you will be KARMARIZED!! GRRRRR. *cough* ahem I mean consequences will be made.

Love, Bieber (secret name so you can't get me! HA!)

P.S. I'll (destroy, crossed off) love you forever

(I just HAD to share that with you, faithful readers. TOO funny!)

2011-09-07T18:44:00.002-04:00

Today I was out of my classroom from 10:30 until the end of the day. We have a new reading system that we're required to be able to use. I only had four students I needed to test, but since everyone on my grade level was new to the computer system, the principals called in subs for us so we could work uninterrupted. That was a pleasant part of the day! When I was in college we were trained to do this type of reading assessment, but on paper. The computer was kind of tricky, but not too bad.

I have happy news that will thrill my sister. When we returned from Canada, Mom and I were wondering why there was a third dumpster in our parking lot. My new roommate went out to investigate it last week and realized that it is for recycling! Hooray! I've been struggling with how to handle my recycling since I moved in a year and a half ago. This makes things soooooo easy!

On Monday I went to lunch with my co-worker, Jessica. As we were leaving she pointed out that there was a piece of metal sticking out of my rear right tire. I went and looked and saw a thick metal shard as long as my hand in my tire! However, the tire wasn't deflated at all and I drove around looking for a place to get my tire patched. It was Labor Day and I learned that mechanics take Labor Day off. I drove home and the tire was fine, so I figured I'd pray hard and see if I could make it to school the next morning where I could drop off my car at the shop next door. I made it to the repair shop and dropped my key in the dropbox the owner showed me when I was there in June. At 2:30 I ran over to the shop to pick up my car before heading back for a 2-hour meeting. When I arrived the mechanic looked at me like I was crazy. He told me they didn't get my key and asked where I'd dropped it. I showed him the dropbox the OWNER told me to use and the mechanic said they never used that one and didn't have a key for it!!!! I was not happy. The mechanic said he'd be happy to look at my tire and could fix it within ten minutes. Fortunately, my mother always made me keep a spare car key in my wallet, so I'd dropped that one in the box, not my key ring with all my keys on it. I went to the meeting and when I returned the mechanic told me they didn't need to patch the tire since nothing important was punctured or leaking air. He'd filled all my tires and broken into the dropbox to get my key. They didn't end up charging me anything. I guess I just earned Opportunity Knocks points. Why do these things always happen to me?

2011-09-03T09:29:00.003-04:00

I am profusely sorry for not blogging sooner than this! My internet is out at home, so I'm writing to you from Barnes & Noble while ignoring a huge stack of grading sitting next to my computer, begging to be marked. Feel very special that you matter more than my grading. ;)

I'm actually experiencing a very cool moment right now. I am writing to you from a new laptop. No, I did not feel the need to own a second laptop or a third computer. Our county decided to use its Race to the Top money (don't ask me why we get that - I don't know) to buy a laptop for each teacher to use. Of course, my brother's school is moving from individual laptops to iPads before long, so it's not exactly a cutting edge move by the county. The best thing about this laptop is that it comes equipped with SMARTboard software. A SMARTboard is a big white board-esque contraption that works as a touch pad. It takes up about half of my regular white board, and when I project images on it, I can move things around with my finger, manipulate the internet with a touch, or use special "pens" to write on it. The software takes up a huge amount of memory on a computer, so it has been an option to download it before, but it takes up so much space it wasn't really possible to do on my computer. I've always thought it would be really nice to be able to use the program from home. Today, for the first time, I'll be sitting outside of school and be creating our vocabulary SMARTboard page for this week! Needless to say, I'm pretty excited.

This week has been really busy. I mentioned earlier that I didn't have a lot of time to work in my classroom before school started. Because my amazing mother (who turned 39 yesterday! Happy birthday, Mom!!) came and worked in my room while I was at some really super meetings I'm ahead of most of the teachers at school. (One teacher on my grade level still doesn't have anything on her walls or bulletin boards!) However, I'm still finding lots of things that need to be done. I stayed after school until the principal kicked me out on both Thursday and Friday. I didn't get anything more than homework graded. My principal actually carried three tote bags of various notebooks and journals that need grading to my car for me yesterday while I brought out a fourth bag and a plastic bin of writing notebooks. I'm working on a new daily work plan for myself so that I can get a little more done each day and have less to do on the weekend. My hope is to save one of my big grading duties until Saturdays each week and come and drink my coffee and grade here at Barnes & Noble. We'll see how that works...

I am in heaven at school because of one boy and his love of books! I have a boy who was sent specifically to my class by his fourth grade teacher who knew we'd do well together. This boy, Student O, picked up a fantasy book that has never been selected by any other student in my room EVER! He came to me on Wednesday of this week and told me he was finished with that book and needed a recommendation for something new to read. I handed him Fablehaven by Brandon Mull and told him to give it a shot. The next day I asked him how he liked it. He told me he thought it was pretty good. I asked him what part he was on. He told me and I realized he was on page 300-ish! My heart is filled with joy just thinking about it! I picked out a book last night and put it on his desk with a note that reads, "Dear Student O, I am a very interesting story. Please read me! Sincerely, this book." I'm going to put together a box of books for him to borrow from my personal library. That way he can just go help himself whenever he's ready. I've been waiting for a reader like this my whole teaching career! Yay!

Okay, I've put grading off long enough. I've got to go and do something productive. Sigh...

2011-08-30T17:36:00.002-04:00

Today one of my boys went home sick. Usually I don't let the kids call to go home unless I can tell they're feeling really bad. I could tell this boy was feeling bad because he was quiet all morning. I knew he felt terrible. I was sorry that he felt bad, but the quiet was nice.

We had science lab for the first time this year. I dropped my kids off and had an extra 40 minutes to work on other things. I ran to the post office because I sold two textbooks. While I was glad to sell the textbooks, I was not so glad that half.com forgot to tell me about it and I only found out because I checked my bank account. I was supposed to send these books on the 19th. Oops. Thanks a lot, half.com.

I was expecting to be really tired this week. I haven't slept particularly well the last two nights. But I'm doing much better than I'd have guessed. Hooray! I just feel normally tired. Like, normally tired for a normal person. It's crazy! So, thanks for the prayers, everyone.

My Bible study girls are coming over any minute. I guess I should log off and make sure everything's ready. (Yeah, that pretty much means using my chapstick before they come.)

2011-08-28T19:15:00.002-04:00

I always play classical music first thing in the morning. I had a boy come in and tell me that he felt like he was "in a pizzeria in Paris with this music!" Oh yes, those French pizza places. Great music there! ;) I guess that meant he enjoyed the ambience. Good to know.

Yes, the excessive talking continued on Friday. We will be enjoying a lecture by moi about how that is going to stop while I'm talking. Students who talk will change a color. If I nip it in the bud now I hope it'll pay off later. So, that's going to be something to look forward to tomorrow. I know, my life is so exciting.

Hurricane Irene came through here this weekend with limited effect on my life. It poured for about an hour on Friday afternoon after the kids left school then slowed to a drizzle. I made it home without getting much more than dampened. Yesterday it rained for most of the day. The wind was blowing very hard and there were a lot of branches down when I drove around today. I took a lovely nap yesterday while it rained. Those are always the best naps! I have friends who lost power, but I had no problems.

An exciting bonus in my life is that I realized I have an additional 4 channels. Okay, one is QVC (home shopping), and one is CSPAN, but the other two are really good. Considering that I spend very little on cable, it's nice to get more channels for the same price!

Well, I'm off to vacuum. I know! The thrills that I enjoy! ;)

2011-08-25T15:34:00.003-04:00

Whew! I survived another first day.

I have never had a class who liked to talk as much as this group does! I had to ask several kids to stop talking over and over today. I definitely didn't go easy on them! One little boy kept blurting things out, but it was because he was so curious about everything. (Like what everything meant or what things were for or why we did something.) Another little boy just couldn't be quiet. (He thinks out loud.) Another little boy likes the attention. It's going to be an interesting year!

Every year I give out the school supply list several weeks in advance. I give the parents a copy at Open House. Still, there's always a few kids who don't have what they need. It's heart breaking to see these little guys here without everything they need (and some without much that they need). Fortunately, we were able to get everyone what they had to have to get started.

It's always funny that the kids want homework the first day. We had so much to do that we didn't get to any actually class work. A few kids were sad to write "no homework" in their planners. This is the only day that happens, let me tell you!

Well, I have to go read their journals, set up morning work, and get ready for tomorrow. Let's hope it's another good day!

2011-08-24T19:25:00.004-04:00

And so it begins....

Last night was Open House. I had 16 out of 20 students come. Some years they sit and work on some of the forms I have for them, but last night they were on the move. I never had more than three kids at a time (along with their family members) and no one stayed more than a few minutes. Some years it feels like a zoo, but not last night.

My favorite thing at back to school time is the little kids who are really excited about school. I had one little boy with big glasses who beamed up at me as he told me he couldn't wait for fifth grade. So cute! Sometimes I have black boys who look really tough, but then I ask them if they're looking forward to school and they smile a huge grin and tell me they're ready to be back. I just love that.

You'll be happy to know that I got Mom to the airport today. I dropped her off bright and early. I haven't heard if she made it home or not, but I'm feeling hopeful. Of course, she might have decided not to go home and is instead walking back here. It would take about this long to get back from the airport. I guess I'll have to stay up all night just to be sure. ;)

I ask my students to write goals for themselves all the time. I ask parents what their goals are for their children at the beginning of the year. So, here are my goals for this year:

1) To do a really good job teaching reading with all that I learned in my studies this summer.

2) To not explode under the stress of being grade level chair.

3) To be very firm with behavior from the first day (I'm usually a little more flexible, but I have a tricky boy this year and a lot of talkers. The hammer drops day one!).

4) To have a good attitude about the quiz bowls our school does which I hate with a fiery passion. (Still working on the "good" part of the attitude....)

Congrats to faithful reader Joy who is preggers. She is due the day before my birthday. The pressure is really on since I'm sure she'll want to give birth on February 28th, but it will be a leap year, so she'll want to avoid the 29th. So tricky. Good luck with that, Joy!

Okay, off to the shower and bed. Yay, bed! (Boo, return to early mornings!)

2011-08-17T16:43:00.002-04:00

Summer is over, and I'm back to work. This is a sad, sad post. ;)

Mom and I drove back in two days. We stopped at our favorite little town in Ohio and I bought a first edition Nancy Drew book with the original illustrations. We made it back to town, unpacked, got groceries, and I crashed while Mom made supper. Yesterday we stayed at home for the most part and I cleaned out my storage unit, moved things from my extra bedroom in there, and then attempted to pick up my bedroom. We went to school for about an hour and unloaded more stuff from the car and moved some furniture in from other classrooms.

Today was my first day back to work. I did not start off the day too well. I felt really tired and sore from the previous day's working. Mom got started in my room and I sat through meetings all morning. At lunch I had to run around and turn in my Teacher of the Year paperwork to the central office. Then I had another long meeting. Fortunately the administrators took pity on us and we were allowed to work in our rooms for an hour and a half at the end of the day.

So far we have the furniture mostly in place and cleaned. The library area is set up, the crates are all unpacked, and my amazing friend Wash got my computers up and running. Mom straightened up and repaired all my class sets of books and put out the textbooks. We have lots of piles of things all around the room, but I feel much more peaceful in my mind about completing the room. Tomorrow will be bulletin board days, more cleaning, and putting together of crate quartets. I doubt I'll get any time in the room, so I am even more thankful that my mom is here helping than ever!

Okay, time to crash on the couch...

2011-07-07T15:28:00.002-04:00

Highlights from the last week:

1) I have finished reading 3 books, totaling 1,000 pages.

2) My 3-yr-old nephew, Ryan, has taken to wrestling and cuddling with me. Today he got very upset when he wanted to close the door of my room for my "night-night" but his sister interrupted. He fussed and fussed until I told Maggie to leave. Then he closed the door and was fine. Weirdo.

3) Dill pickle potato chips

4) My almost-5-yr-old niece, Maggie, and 7-yr-old niece, Emily, have taken to playing well together in the afternoons when Ryan's taking a nap. Those little girls play and play and play down in the family room for an hour each day. It's fun to hear their little voices talking.

5) I had a dental appointment, got a new mouth guard that seems to be working really well, and had no cavities! My dentist told me that in dental school they make a lot of jokes about the "9 out of 10 dentists recommend...." comments. He also told me he switched from an electric toothbrush to a manual one. Oh, the dentistry gossip I now have!

6) I've started reading up on teaching reading. I bought four teaching reading text books so I can improve my reading instruction. So far I'm thinking I'd like to improve my reading corner. So, if you have any spare carpet pieces, cool pillows, bead curtains, or plastic storage, let me know. I'm going to have the best reading corner in the school!

7) LOTS of delicious cooking

8) I get to sit next to Maggie at meals. I've found that the trick to keeping her in her seat and chewing quietly (instead of roaming or deciding we need to have a no-talking contest which she then whispers through because whispering "doesn't count") is to keep the next bite of food handy on her fork or spoon. If I do that she just munches quietly.

9) Emily has a loose front tooth. It is, like, hanging from a thin string of slime at this point. She doesn't want ANYONE to touch it and chews all around it. My brother has chased her with a pair of pliers around the kitchen table. Screaming ensued.

10) The kids go to bed very early.

11) The weather has been amazing here! Cool and windy most days. I'm wearing long pants and a short-sleeved shirt and the window is wide open. Awesome.

My favorite Maggie quote of late:

We were riding in the car on the way to the grocery store. Maggie decided we needed to play a game.

Maggie: I'm going to think of an animal and you have to guess what it is. This animal begins with the letter.... hippo.

Not surprisingly, I guessed that one quickly. Then it was my turn.

Me: This animal has a looooong nose (I make my arm look like a trunk) and begins with the sound "eh".

Emily: An alligator?

Mom: Is it gray?

Me: Yes.

Maggie: Is it a dog?

Me: Close.

Mom: Does it have four legs?

Me: Yes.

Maggie: Is it a chicken?

At that point Mom and I were laughing too hard to continue. Good game, Mags. Good game.

2011-06-29T18:18:00.002-04:00

The road trip adventure is at an end. After two fun-filled days with my friends down in the south, we started the 14-hour drive home. It's always strange to leave my home knowing I won't see it for several weeks. The girls were a HUGE help when it came time to do my final packing preparations. We got on the road on time on Sunday. The best part of the first day of driving northbound is that we get to go through some beautiful mountains. The girls hadn't driven through them before, so that was fun. By the time we pulled into the town where we'd spend the night, we were ready to be out of the car! We got a little slap happy during dinner, and I think the restaurant staff were happy to see us leave. :) The second day we drove all day before finally making it home. We all tumbled out of the car, mumbled good-bye, and went in to rest.

Yesterday I got to enjoy a very quiet day at home. Mark got in late, and with his flight pushed back he got in even later. I was asleep before he and Dad got home. So, I first saw him this morning. Today Mark, Mom, and I got to go shopping across the border. We send Mark gift cards for Christmas and his birthday, so we got to be with him while he spent them today. I have to say that I've spent more time in the men's underwear section today than I have in the last year put together. It was fun to get to help Mark pick out things to try on and think about what color of polo shirts would be good additions to his wardrobe. I got to run around and find new sizes and colors while he was in the dressing room. We made it to Barnes & Noble, too. Mark was looking for a couple of books to read with a student he tutors, so I was able to make some recommendations. My teacher's discount helped Mark get a good deal on everything he bought. So, yes, today was all about my brother. (Like always. ;) I did get into Hobby Lobby where I bought four stamps on sale for 40% off! So fun!

Tonight we're calling Krista one last time before she and her husband head off to China for a summer trip. Then it's on to So You Think You Can Dance. A good ending to a good day!

2011-06-24T18:59:00.004-04:00

Last night I went to the train station to get my friends who came in on the train from Canada. I knew in advance that the train was running an hour late, so I ended up getting to the station around 2:00 am. The train was a bit later than expected, but it came in at 2:45 am. No problem. During those 45 minutes I got to make friends with a deaf man who carried bags at the station for tips. He was walking around showing people that the train was running late with a message on his hand. He managed to say that he was deaf and I signed "ok" to him. Well, when he saw that I knew some sign language, his hands started flying. It's funny, but after knowing sign language since I was 9, he was the first deaf person I actually had a signing conversation with. It was so cool to be able to communicate with him! When he saw we weren't going to give him tips, he took off pretty fast. Still, I have a deaf friend! Yay!

The girls and I were back here and in bed around 3:30. We got up around 10:00 and went to the Waffle House for a truly American experience. ;) Then we drove to my school and walked around looking at everything. We drove around town and I showed the girls my personal highlights. We wandered through Target for a bit, but we were pretty pooped by then. Naps and a movie ensued. Then after the naps we went to a Japanese restaurant. Our chef was super funny and he had us all say where we were from. Everyone was very impressed with my Canadian guests. When we left everyone at the table (whom we didn't know at all before tonight) wished us a good trip and we all said good-bye like we were old friends.

So, I have made 4 supper friends and 1 deaf train station friend. Too funny.

Okay, we're off to watch a movie! So fun!

2011-06-22T12:39:00.003-04:00

Three days of sitting around discussing school are over. We spent all day Monday in conversation, part of Tuesday, and today we were done by noon. There were between ten and fourteen teachers, staff, and administrators each day. We began Monday by covering things that went well and things that needed improvement. We worked on the calendar for the next year. We went over the staff and parent handbooks. We wrestled with some issues that ranged from the dismissal process to uniforms. Despite sitting and talking ALL day, the time went quickly and I think we got a lot done. We were able to have good conversations and really listen to others' opinions. And we were fed lunch every day. Hooray!

I'm currently in that I'm-leaving-soon phase of life that involves cleaning, making sure my car is in good order, packing, leaving instructions for my house sitters, and on, and on, and on. Today I checked off the list: getting my oil changed, fixing a friend's dress, printing driving directions, copying my will, and sending information to my "adviser." Dusting and vacuuming still need to be done, and I hope bathrooms get wrapped up too. I was thinking I'd have all day tomorrow to work, but a friend decided to drive up for the day, so that changed my plans a little.

I think a nap is going to be put on my list, too. We've had very hot and humid weather the past couple of weeks. Last night we finally had a big rainstorm with lots of thunder and lightning. The rain was great, but the thunder was not so conducive to sleeping. And we're right back to hot and humid today. It's nice to be able to spend most of the day indoors.

Oh, good. The base is shooting off their cannons. I hope this wraps up within a few minutes rather than a few days....

2011-06-16T20:00:00.002-04:00

Slumber party highlights:

1) We made a grocery store run right away to get pop, chips, candy, and ice cream. The older girl was happy to go in her pjs, the younger girl needed to get back in her street clothes first. Obviously, she's not quite ready for college. ;)

2) We watched So You Think You Can Dance, but had to take a break to look through my books for about 30 minutes. They're watching my place this summer and I wanted to give them book recommendations for later when I'm not here to recommend.

3) We spent a half hour painting our fingers and toes (sometimes several times) My toes are green, purple, pink, blue, and yellow. I'm finding that the girls with the best variety of nail polish tend to be in Jr. High. (My collection peaked at that point, I think.)

4) We watched a movie last night and the younger girl conked out for awhile around 11:30. When the movie was over, the girls were ready for sleeping. I turned off my light at 1:00 am! I set my alarm for 8:00 the next morning just in case the girls got up early. I finally woke them up at 8:40 because their mom was coming soon.

I had a very fun time! It was low key and easy. The girls chattered and giggled with me the whole evening. I need to fix my toenails before my friend's wedding on Saturday. Otherwise, a super slumber party! Yay!

2011-06-15T18:25:00.003-04:00

You're right, Mom. It is time to update my blog.

Friday was our last day of school. Last year I under-prepared and didn't have enough activities to keep my students busy. This year I did a much better job. We had a fifth grade kickball tournament first thing. The kids had a great time playing and cheering for the other teams. Krista and I watched and giggled and cheered, too. I challenged the kids to a second round of word search puzzles. This time I let them work in groups of four and they worked and worked while Krista and I worked by ourselves. We had to interrupt this to go to the first grade and read to the little kids. We were able to spend forty minutes reading, although Student L almost expired from having to expend so much attention on someone else for so long. We said good-bye to our first grade friends and headed to lunch, which we ate in our room as we worked on our word search puzzles some more. I handed out the "time capsules" we made on the first day of school. The kids were very excited to read what they had written about their fifth grade expectations and see how much they grew (we measure with a piece of string). Finally, it was time to clean out and stack up the desks and put the rest of the books in the closet where the kids keep their book bags. The day ended with the kids sitting on the big blue rug. I told the kids that I'd had a great year and that I hoped they would do their best in middle school and read over the summer. One of my little dramatic girls started crying and all the girls ended up hugging and crying while the boys looked on, mystified (as they always do). By this point the rest of the school was gathering around the fifth grade rooms, so we opened the door and sent them on their way with the sound of cheering and clapping. Friday ended with me driving Krista to the airport and a staff luncheon in which they announced I was teacher of the year (with cheering and clapping). I spend the rest of the day sitting at my computer trying to convince myself to get do something while just wanting a nap. Which I did as soon as I got home.

I had a very lovely uneventful weekend. Full of extra naps and catching up around the house.

Monday was a work-in-the-classroom day. One of my co-workers came and lifted all the heavy stuff in my room up onto the shelves and counters and covered them with butcher paper to keep out whatever happens in my room during the summer. I sat and completed his cumulative folders. It's a lovely arrangement which I hope to continue in future years. After lunch I sat with my grade level and we did a second check of all of our cumulative folders. By the end of that time we had our class lists for next year from the fourth grade teachers. I took mine around and asked the teachers to tell me what they could about the kids I was going to get next year.

However, in an interesting Tuesday development, it looks like my class list will most likely be changing quite a bit. I knew one of the fourth grade teachers was supposed to be coming up to fifth grade to replace the teacher who was out sick for much of this year. Unfortunately, a friend at work told me it was looking like this might not be happening. I had many groans and moans about that! Well, Tuesday a second fourth grade teacher came up to me and said she was coming to fifth grade. I asked her how she knew about that. Apparently the principal had made some grade level changing decisions and had emailed those involved. The good news is that two capable fourth grade teachers are coming up to fifth grade next year, replacing this not-so-great teacher. The bad news is that there were three fifth grade teachers remaining and only room for two. The really bad news is that the one who is moving down to fourth grade is the current grade level chair and school improvement team (SIT) member who runs the Beta Club for fifth grade. I really like working with her and she is not going to be happy about switching grades. That also means that I am the fifth grade chairperson and SIT member for next year and I have to attend a three day "retreat" here in town to make plans for next year. I was expecting to have to go, but hadn't been asked yet and was beginning to think I'd be in the clear. Hooray for more work next year! :P

Today I slept in until 9:30! Glorious! I read in bed for an hour. Then my past roommate, Teri, called and said she was in town early. I showered and tidied my place as she made her way across town. We hung out for a little then went to lunch with our friend Lydia. We sat and talked for two hours then headed out for ice cream and talked another two hours. The weather is gorgeous here, and we sat out on a little screened-in porch at the farm where we bought our fresh ice cream.

I'm looking forward to a slumber party tonight with two of my friend's daughters. These girls are 13 and 15 and have never been to a slumber party before because their parents are very cautious. But, I get along very well with these two and I'm excited to get to host them overnight. Should be lots of giggling and fun.

I'll let you know how it goes!

2011-06-09T20:17:00.003-04:00

It's so strange to have end of the year days. Everything is a little bit different and the schedule is unpredictable at times and the kids really have trouble staying calm. Needless to say, it's been a tricky week. Yesterday on my way back to our class celebration and watching one of the 2-3 movies we watch in my room ALL YEAR, I was told no movies allowed. At all. For the end of the year. I can't tell you how frustrating that was to hear. Especially since I owed my kids a celebration and had just lost the hour-and-a-half event I had planned. Arrrgh. Happily, I had some fun coloring pages ready and got those out. We had our soda and chips as planned. Then I pulled out a couple of games and the kids had a ball playing life and the Allowance Game. Whew!

Today was the promotion ceremony. It went well, but felt a bit unrehearsed, which made it more, um, exciting. (?) After the ceremony we went to the classroom where pictures were taken and we had to fill in an undisclosed period of time. The kids were needing some structured time, so I taught a lesson about multiplying and dividing fractions and gave them homework. Who does that? Who gives homework the day before the last day of school? Yeah, that's right. Me.

The phone rang this afternoon and Student B answered. He then hung up and announced that "they" wanted to know if I wanted ice cream. I asked him who "they" were. Student B said, "Oh no! I wasn't supposed to hang up the phone!" Luckily, "they" called back. A second grader showed up with a bowl of ice cream for me a few minutes later. So, crisis averted. ;)

Tomorrow is my last day with Krista! So sad. I'll be taking her to the airport after school lets out tomorrow at noon. We've had a lot of fun hanging out. It's really fun to have her in my class and getting to know my students. She started getting hugs from the kids. Three today so far. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Off to bed!

2011-06-06T20:18:00.002-04:00

Krista and I had a very fun day today. It started in school, which wasn't that fun. My kids were very excited to have Krista there. They kept coming up to me and asking me if "that lady" was my sister. Student L felt the need to point out all his observations about what we have in common and what was different. He also made us both pictures over the weekend and promised to draw us some more tonight. Oh boy. Krista has already memorized all my students' names and been very helpful. I had to test my students for three hours. It was not so fun.

However, after school things got much better. I had felt like I should use the tithe from my tax return to buy some clothes for Krista. Dressing well is a big part of her job, but it's hard to have enough money to spend on that when you're raising funds. I had a $25 off a $75 purchase. When we got to the store we found out they had a Buy 1 Get 75% Off sale. So, for about an hour and a half Krista and I walked around the store, picked out everything that could possibly be interesting and Krista tried it all on. Then I went back to exchange for new colors and sizes and picked up a few things. Then Krista did the same. We had no idea what our final price would be since clearance items weren't included in the deal or "new arrival" items. We went up to the register to check out and admired all the pretty jewelry. The woman who was at the register was Samantha, and she was amazing. I showed her my $25 off coupon, and she went and found a $60 off $125 sale. Samantha broke our sale into two sales and used the coupon twice! Krista had to go back and pick out some of the jewelry we really liked in order to make it to the right total. After all the discounts, the two sales totaled $5 less than my tithe amount! We went to Target and picked up a pair of leggings for $5 and hit our total. Amazing! Krista ended up getting $500 worth of clothes for a fraction of the price! It was SUPER fun!

2011-06-03T13:48:00.002-04:00

I am very, very happy to be able to tell you that I am done with remediation at this moment. There's nothing quite like spending four consecutive hours reteaching reading to uninterested kids. Actually, my first remediation group was quite good, and it has the most difficult boy in fifth grade in it. I think the change of scenery and getting him fresh in the day helped. I kept telling them I wished I could keep them instead of getting my other group. I think they liked hearing that. This difficult boy told me that I taught him how to look back in the text when taking a test in order to find answers. Considering that I'm probably the eighth teacher to tell him that, I wasn't overly impressed. But, if it makes a big difference for him then this week of teacher torture will have been less annoying in the long run.

Student B is doing extremely well today. I think his mom finally read all the emails I've been sending her about his not-so-hot behavior of late. He is wearing a button-up shirt and paying attention and putting in a great effort. I gave him a note saying that he has done a fabulous job today. He made me a "Teacher of the Month" sign in return. In fact, the office just called needing someone to come get something, and I was able to send him. If only it hadn't taken 175 days before this wonderful student emerged!

In 50 minutes I'm headed to Columbia, SC to pick up my sister! I'm hanging out with a friend for the weekend while Krista attends a conference. Then we're coming back here for the week. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to spending that dreadful last week of school with my super sister. She makes everything funner (in the words of Elle Woods).

I can't believe that next week at this time I'll be on summer break! YAY!!!!

2011-06-01T12:19:00.002-04:00

I didn't blog before this for the simple reason that I didn't do anything blog-worthy all weekend. It was lovely. :) Saturday I flopped around the house, Sunday I went to church then flopped around the house, Monday I ran some unexciting errands (unless you're one of the people who will benefit from the raspberry iced tea I'm bringing home this summer!) then cleaned my house. Super fun. Actually, as always, it felt very good to get my condo clean. Then I feel like I've really earned more flopping around the house.

Yesterday we were back to school. I have 2 groups of about 12 kids who need to be remediated in reading. Fortunately, I've got some really good stuff to work on. Today we worked on figurative language and poetry. One of the poems I had was called "Hyperbole Cafe" and was full of exaggerations, which the kids loved. On the back they had space to create their own hyperboles. Then we wrote our own similes, etc. I'm thrilled to tell you that we have 4 days of remediation down and 2 to go. Soon it will be no days of remediation left, and then I will be extremely thrilled.

I just got some very exciting news. I found out that I was voted Teacher of the Year this year! Wow! That's chosen by my fellow staff members, so it's very special to be picked. I can't say that I was shocked to win, but I wasn't counting on it, either. We have a lot of good, hard-working teachers at our school, so there are many who deserve to be picked every year.

My life is also much more thrilling because So You Think You Can Dance is back on for the summer. Summer vacation AND my favorite show? Awesome!

2011-05-27T15:22:00.004-04:00

It is pouring rain. We watched the clouds come rolling in after lunch. All the kids were worried about making it home before the rain started. About fifteen minutes ago it started raining cats and dogs (and water). I figured I'd sit and blog for a bit before trying to run to my car. Maybe it'll let up a bit...

Thursday morning I got the results of the tests. I had six kids pass both math and reading. One passed just reading and three passed just math. That means seven kids have to retest everything. None of them were shocking. Just about everyone made growth, so that's good news. We've spent yesterday and today remediating. Sadly, I have a group of very goofy kids who have been driving me nuts. In my other reading group I have the most difficult kid on the grade level, and he's been fine so far. The goofy ones include some of my personal goofy kids who then get to drive me nuts after the other goofy kids leave. Also, sadly, I have another four days with these kids. Sigh. I hope I will survive.

On a much happier note, I am about to spend three days not working. It will be glorious!

2011-05-24T18:52:00.003-04:00

Well, dear readers, all I can say is that I am tired. I have a grungy cold and my legs hurt from administering HOURS of tests, and I have had enough student drama to last me until August. This morning I figured I was going to feel awful, so I cancelled my Bible study today. My small group girls are super, but I couldn't handle it today. I am, therefore, writing to you while eating potato chips, sitting in front of the fan because it is in the 90s here again.

I would have written a cheerier note to you yesterday, but my internet was out. I was worried that I would have to do without since it seems that my upstairs neighbor has moved out, but I'm back online today. I will miss the guy upstairs as he was very quiet and had no little kids. Oh, and he carried in my coffee table and rang my doorbell to tell me that I'd left my car lights on once. So sad. But the internet is back on, so that is happier.

Today I made chicken with soy sauce and raspberry jam in the crockpot. I would like to tell you that it was delicious. But, I can't taste anything right now. Other than mucus. Oh, I'm going to say the word mucus so if you're eating, stop. I hope my warning is effective retroactively....

Okay, obviously I'm a little goofy from the cold pills. I will go to bed and hope to be back on track for tomorrow.

2011-05-20T20:02:00.002-04:00

I made a class webpage this week! The school's art teacher sent us a link to a really easy webpage design site. It's free, and I put it together in about an hour and a half! I update the week's homework every day, and I've decided to move from printing a weekly newsletter which just gets tossed anyway to a digital newsletter. If you want to see my website it is: www.wix.com/lauragriffi9/fifthgrade. Feel free to be amazed. ;)

Today we had our pre-test pep rally. Usually this is not a very fun event. However, this year they decided to have the k-2 classes make banners for the 3-5 classes to run through. This made my students very excited. They all wanted to run through the banner first. As fifth grade, though, we had to wait for five third grade classes and then five fourth grade classes to go first. And each of the younger grades had to get into position with their banners. I played a rousing game of "Put your____ on the wall." We were standing by the building so I would have the kids put one ear on the wall, or their stomach on the wall, or combinations like their nose and one heel. So, from across the playground where the rest of the kids were with their banners, my class probably looked pretty goofy with all their butts on the wall or all facing the wall in weird positions. I got a good kick out of it, and it kept my kids from being as obnoxious as the other fifth grade classes.

When we finally made it to the blacktop to run through we watched the last two classes come. There was only one major accident. Then the entire first grade sang a song they'd been practicing. They had all the motions down pat and sang along with a cd player. They were enthusiastic, as only first graders can be, and before long the rest of the school was singing along. The pep rally ended with several support staff dancing to Michael Jackson and pulling up kids to dance with them. I have to say that this pep rally was better than many I've attended.

Today I enjoyed preparing all of the morning work worksheets for the next school year. It involved around 3500 copies and 3 hours of work. First, I organized all the extra copies I had left over from this year. Then I made a list of all 180 days' worksheets and how many copies I needed of each based on my leftovers. I then went and copied for about 45 minutes. I now have a two-foot stack of copies just waiting to be paperclipped and sequenced for next year. Ah.....

2011-05-18T18:46:00.002-04:00

I had a new experience on Monday. My student with the broken femur has strict orders from his doctor not to be moved if he can avoid it. So, I went to this boy's house with my assistant during school on Monday morning and gave this boy the science end of grade test. We've been talking at school that no one has ever done anything like this or been in this situation before. One of my colleagues gave the test to students in prison when she worked as a high school assistant principal, but that was the closest we've gotten. I don't know who will test him on the other subjects, but it might end up being me. Of course, sitting on a soft couch for an hour and watching a kid take a test is much more restful than trying to get a group of 23 fifth graders to listen as I review reading strategies. All in all, not a bad experience.

Today I intercepted two letters from one of my little girls. The first was to her friend and said that she was in LOVE with one of the boys in my room. She said she thought he was hot and she wondered if he wanted to take things to the next "lever." The second letter was to the boy asking if he was still her boyfriend since he wasn't telling people he was. There was definitely a "circle yes or no" section in both letters. I can't say that I'm all that surprised to find this to be the content of these letters as she's been acting a bit silly lately and seeming to hover around a couple of kids. I think the funniest part of this is that these two drive each other crazy. I can't put them together in line, or their desks near each other, and today the boy asked to be moved away from her in computer class. I emailed her mom about the notes, and mom wrote me back a very surprised email. This little girl has been grounded for writing notes in class and my email was forwarded to the father who's out of town. Parenthood is not easy. Especially when kids get to the middle school years where they want to test out different roles. That mom has my sympathy.

2011-05-14T09:50:00.002-04:00

What a lot of drama we've had at school over the science test! 18 students out of the 70 or so kids passed. About 50 didn't pass. Sigh. I was dreading hearing the principal's reaction, but he handled the news well. We spent Wednesday reviewing furiously. We had a meeting during resource and worked out a plan for the kids who needed to retest. I was afraid that the principal would change his mind about letting me take the next two days off. He did ask if I had to go and I told him I did. After that he didn't mention it again. I haven't heard yet how we did after the retest. We're hoping we can bump a few kids up to passing. Even if the kids just improve a few points from the first testing, we'd be in a lot better shape.

I took off Tuesday to pick up Dad in Virginia. The drive was an hour shorter than I'd thought, so I surprised Dad by getting to the DQ early. I almost didn't recognize him! There was a gray-bearded man in the corner with a baseball hat and a big backpack. Everyone else was in pairs, so I knew which one had to be my dad. ;) We drove to Asheville, NC after a quick lunch. Dad had lots to say about his travels and I caught him up on all the news I could think of. We stayed at a nice little motel. Dad has been into eating multiple meals lately, so we ate a country-style supper at a restaurant, then about an hour later, Dad had a second supper from the lunch fixings I'd brought .

Yesterday we explored the Biltmore House. It is so amazing! The tour starts in the entry hallway, then moves to the billiards room, then through the banquet hall, to the breakfast room, then through the salon, the balcony, the tapestry room, and the library. And that's just the first level of four that are open to the public! Dad and I both liked the newly renovated King Louis XV room. It's the room where Mrs. Vanderbilt gave birth to her daughter. It has been gorgeously restored, and with the sunlight that streams in, it is breathtaking! We watched a brief video about how they had to have a special textile house in France recreate the original fabric so that they could renovate the room. It was a rich yellow and burgundy design and was used on all the walls, the bedspread, and the drapes (or "draperies" as Candace Olsen would say). So beautiful.

We drove home after the Biltmore house and garden tours. We had a good night's sleep and are sitting at Barnes & Noble sipping coffee and having alone time together. :) We're meeting my friend from small group for lunch today at noon. We don't have any set afternoon plans, but I believe shaving of the beard is on the agenda. (Dad's beard, not mine) I've taken pictures, which I'll share with you at a later date.

2011-05-10T20:23:00.002-04:00

We had our science test today. My kids worked so hard! They put down lots of notes before testing and took their time and really showed good thinking skills. I couldn't have asked for more. They even did a super job with their stretch breaks. I found out today that we have to remediate tomorrow and Thursday and then retest Friday. I'm not here Thursday and Friday so I'm doing all the remediation for tomorrow and letting someone else handle the other two days.

During testing one of the boys was stretching and accidentally hit me in the butt. He was so worried about it that he finger-spelled sorry to me. Then he apologized in the classroom. Then he apologized in the hallway. I told him it happened a lot and since it was an accident it was okay. It's so hard being a pre-teen boy, I guess.

2011-05-09T16:56:00.003-04:00

Today is our last day before the science end of grade test. I was expecting this to be a really long day. Not only do I have to do my regular prep for tomorrow, I have to take down everything in the room that could possibly be helpful. I am sitting here with three empty bulletin boards and blank walls. It feels kind of weird. And kind of exciting. It's fun to get to the point in the year when I start thinking about packing up.

I was also expecting to be here much later. Our AR store is due to open Wednesday, which means that the AR coupons have to be ready by tomorrow or else we simply don't get them done. Well, my correlate met today and between the six of us we got all of the coupons done in about fifteen minutes. It usually takes me two hours. Hooray! Since we've all done it now, I don't mind having them do them on their own later. I'll be happy to have less time doing this chore.

I have my final answer about graduation: not this semester. Yeah. Remember the incomplete that I resolved in February? My brilliant advisor never received my fax and didn't think to ask me if I'd sent it. Awesome. So, I'm resending it and I'll reapply for summer graduation. I would like to not have to think about this, but in all honesty I can't say that I'm surprised. This school messes up just about everything, so what should I expect? I hope try number two is more successful.

2011-05-07T17:53:00.003-04:00

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. After getting told off by the woman at the post office, I decided that practicing writing letters would be beneficial (the woman at the post office learned I was a teacher and yelled at me for all the people who never learned to write letters who come in and ask stupid questions. Apparently she was on a roll because another teacher at school heard all the same stories from this same woman.) So, we divided up all the teachers and the kids wrote appreciation letters. I delivered these Thursday morning and teachers kept coming up to my kids all day and thanking them for the nice letters. Several teachers wrote thank you letters for the thank you letters. My kids were so proud!

Student B is a poet. He decided to write poems to the two teachers he was assigned. Here is my favorite of the two poems which was written to my friend Kelly who teaches Student B's little brother:

Thank you for all you do at our school.

I think that you are very cool.

You did so much for my brother

You treated him just like a mother.

If you were on the Titanic

I wouldn't let them sink you.

Hahaha! Isn't that too cute?

I am going to use this paragraph to complain about the checkers at Food Lion. Be ready. So, I always bring my own bags when I go shopping. I'm trying to reduce the plastic bag mountain that inevitably grows in my house when I don't use my own bags. I have a lovely reusable bag that is lined to keep cold things cold for longer. Today as I went through the line I put this bag first then lined up all the cold things that should be placed in that bag. Then I put my other reusable bag and all the things that are not cold that should be placed in this bag. Things started off well. The bagger correctly took my hint and put all the cold things in the cold bag. But then things went sour. He continued to put the not-cold things in the same bag. Even though it was clearly getting heavy. Even though another bag had come through. Even though what he was placing in the bag was FIVE bottles of juice. He had trouble lifting the bag into my cart. I know that I am a fairly muscular looking person (that is a lie), but didn't it occur to him that this was a bad idea? The second bag ended up with some bananas and two loaves of bread. The first had a pack of meat, three frozen dinners, two frozen snacks, five bottles of juice, a bottle of coffee creamer, half-and-half, and two large potatoes. I had to rebalance everything in the cart before I carried it outside. Sigh. Kids today. ;)

I am off to take a shower. I've started using Saturday nights as Spa Night. I use my special facial cleanser then a facial masque. I wash the hair I wish to keep and remove the hair I don't want. I clip and polish my nails. I usually eat a delicious snack. I occasionally whiten my teeth. Tonight I will be watching The Lovely Bones whilst I clip and polish. It's a great tradition! I am so gorgeous when I get done that it's a good thing I live alone. No one would be able to stand not being me at that moment. Okay, off to get gorgeous! :)

2011-05-04T19:43:00.003-04:00

Classroom adventures:

1. A student in my room has a sibling with lice. So we all got checked. He came back with a short haircut, so everyone thinks that he stayed home because he was embarrassed about his haircut. I encourage that belief. ;)

2. A student in my room broke his femur riding his bike Monday night. This is my first student with crutches. He'll be back either Friday or next Monday. He has to keep his weight completely off his leg for six weeks. Can't wait for that challenge!

3. This is teacher appreciation week. I keep getting not-so-hot compliments from my kids. One said I was his "second favorite" teacher. I think he meant that I'm the second teacher he's had who was a favorite. At least, I'm trying to believe that. ;) Student D asked me, quietly, if she could bring things for teacher appreciation week. I didn't know what she had in mind so I said, "Yes, you may bring diamonds." Student H said, "NO!" Then she thought about it for a minute and said, "Maybe for my fourth grade teacher!" Student L wrote me a note telling me that he loved me. Student Q gave me an American Girl foldout background book. I've been using it daily with my American Girl dolls..... Oh, wait....

4. One of the little boys who's in the new group in my room is doing so much better than I expected. I was really not excited about this very loud, very hyper kid. I had his half-brother two years ago and he and I did well, but this brother has made my ears hurt for years. I've been pleasantly surprised with this guy. He's been making an effort to get his homework turned in and participates nicely in class. He's really in control of himself when he's in my room. Now, once he leaves, that's another story....

5. Student J was lovely today. Her dad let me know that he had a talk with her about school yesterday. I could certainly tell! Any time he "talks" with her about school issues she is very much improved. Further proof that she could be super if she tried! I appreciate it so much when parents step in at home. I am no replacement for parents, that's for sure!

And tomorrow is Thursday! Yay!

2011-05-02T18:41:00.004-04:00

You know how my university is out to get me? Today was no exception. My last assignment, a final assessment, is due tomorrow at 5:00 pm. That time is not going to work tomorrow, so in order to make sure I was done in plenty of time, I completed it today. At least, that was the plan. In order to get to the assignment I needed to login to my school's website. My login WOULD NOT WORK!!!!! I tried it over and over and over. I tried resetting my password, but I couldn't get anywhere near a place to reset it! I called the help desk and explained all of this to Christy. Christy assumed I was not very bright and made me retry everything I'd already tried. When it didn't work, she tried to send me over to another area. The phone number DID NOT WORK!!!! So, I redialed the help desk. I explained all of this to Shawna who assumed that Christy and I were both not so bright and we went over everything for the THIRD time!!! Finally Shawna gave up and patched me through to a different help desk. The guy there listened to me, asked me for one thing, then reset my password. In under a minute. He even had me stay on the line with him until I tried the new password and got into the school's website. I don't know his name, but he saved me from screaming.

Unless some unforeseen disaster occurs, it looks like I'm graduating after all! Actually, just saying that makes me nervous..... Never mind. I'll go back to uncertainty. It's safer.

School today was actually quite good. My kiddos were ready to be back. The four new kids from next door had no

problems. That should last at least one more day. ;) Student L wrote me a letter about how much he loved me as his teacher. The substitute from the now-disbanded class sat at my desk and went through my math textbooks and erased pencil marks and noted damages. I hate that job! She even tidied my desk and swept the floor. I was not looking forward to this, but it turned out to be a "happy thought indeed" (quoting Elizabeth Bennett from P&P - the good movie).

Here is the picture of my spring break paint job:

My brown couch pushes up here, so you just see a subtle dark stripe behind the edge. It looks great! Just the way I hoped it would. There are a lot of white walls in my living room/dining room/kitchen area, and this isn't overpowering at all. Feel free to come and visit and admire it in person! :)

2011-04-28T18:03:00.003-04:00

I'm writing to you from my ever-so-comfy chair. I can't write to you from the couch or the table or the bar because I am in the middle of a painting project. Yay! My living room is open to the kitchen, and the two rooms are joined by a bar. A friend advised me to paint the bottom of my bar a darker color (it's white) so that people sitting at the bar don't get visible shoe prints all over it. I thought about that and I had a completely brilliant idea! I've always wanted to paint vertical stripes onto something. So, I got dark blue-gray and lighter blue-gray. Today I got to work taping everything into place and getting my dropcloths all organized. Then I painted the first set of stripes. Once it dries I'll peel the tape, retape and paint the second set of stripes. I'm very pleased with the color so far. I think it'll look super next to my brown couch. Hooray!

As I was painting I watched the movie "Doubt" with Meryl Streep, who was brilliant in it. It's not the type of movie I'd want to own, but Meryl Streep blew me away. Considering that the theme of the movie is kind of dark, it was handled very well and I'd recommend this one to anyone who enjoys Meryl Streep. (Mom, this means you!)

I ran a bunch of errands this morning. I mailed a birthday package to my favorite brother and nephew. Why is it that going at 9:00 in the morning on a rainy day means that the line is very short? I wish I could do that more often! I then went to Target where I found many fun things I needed, including my summer sandals for the year. I've found that every year I like to buy one pair of new sandals and I am good to go. I then went to Old Navy looking for shorts. I got a great pair that have an elastic waist. They are super cute. Yes, I'm wearing them now, and they match my chair nicely. I then went to Barnes & Noble where I spent an hour completing an assignment. When I got home I ate some lunch and got painting. I'll be sure to post pictures tomorrow once I finish.

Did I mention I love spring break?

2011-04-27T21:01:00.002-04:00

Yesterday began with a little Saved by the Bell. I then read a bit and took a nap. Once I woke up for the second time I gave my bedroom a good cleaning. I went through my clothes and put aside the things I hadn't worn in a long time and wasn't really interested in wearing again. After cleaning I played around on the computer for awhile. I ended up going out for an early dinner with my friend Kelly. I went to Best Buy to look into replacing my phone which is not in good shape. I went to Best Buy to avoid the obnoxious repair shop, but Best Buy didn't have the phone I needed in stock in the store! I had to order it and now I'm hoping it gets here by Saturday or else I'll be playing get-home-before-the-UPS-guy-gets-there. That is NOT my favorite game. After being annoyed at Best Buy I headed home to Bible study and then we watched the extra long Glee episode. Good day.

Today I woke up, watched Saved by the Bell, read, then took another nap. Ahhhh, this spring break thing is truly wonderful. I was eating breakfast and working on my puzzle when my friend Wash called to make lunch plans. We ate at a Mongolian grill, which was very exciting and delicious. Then I ran a few errands, which included getting baskets at Hobby Lobby for my linen closet. When I got home I put my flannel sheets into storage and used my baskets to get things looking better. Very fun. I keep walking by my linen closet and peeking inside at the beautiful organization, which is a big change from before when I would avoid looking in there because it was slightly chaotic. I played on my computer, worked my puzzle, and watched Survivor. Another good day!

2011-04-25T20:00:00.002-04:00

Here's the spring break breakdown so far:

Friday: I was so tired Friday I came home and took one of those naps where you wake up feeling weird. I stayed in bed watching TV until just about time to go to sleep again. That as lovely.

Saturday: My Bible study signed up for a Servolution project through the church. We were standing at a stoplight here in town handing out free bottles of water and cans of Coke. We would tell people that God loves them, no strings attached. It was a fun way to hang out with two of my small group girls and participate in our church's acts of kindness. We then grabbed Chinese food and then I headed home. I took a good nap, enjoyed a quiet evening, then went back to bed.

Sunday: I attended our church's Easter program, which I never like as much as their regular services. I know Easter is a great opportunity for evangelizing to the people who only come at Easter and Christmas, but I would enjoy a service for people who already know Jesus. I came back home, then went to enjoy an Easter dinner with my friend and her family. I came back here just in time to talk to my mom for our weekly conversation. Mom finally told me to get off the phone because I sounded really tired. I did as she said. But I ended up talking to three different people on the phone later that evening, so I'm not sure how restful Mom's plan was. :)

Monday: I ran to Target this morning and ran into a past student. Sigh. They follow me everywhere, it seems! At noon I met up with two small group girls and we headed to a fourth's house where we watched all five hours of the older Pride & Prejudice. It was lovely. Unfortunately, the girls have decided that I have to watch the new movie that, sadly, has Keira Knightly in it. I will resist! I just got home from this looooooong day, but it was very pleasant. I took a huge stack of papers that needed to be returned to my students and organized them so they can easily be put into the kids' mailboxes when I return to school. I can now put school out of my mind for the next six days. Hooray!

2011-04-21T19:38:00.002-04:00

Tonight we had the 2nd and 3rd grade musical performance. They sang three songs about choosing a good code of conduct and being responsible. It was very cute. One little boy played air guitar for much of one song. The kids were very into their performance. But, the best of all was an autistic boy who LOVED singing. There were probably 80 kids there, but you could hear this one little boy over everyone. And he made up his own hand motions to go along with the songs. He pointed to his head when he sang the word think, he pointed to himself when he sang the word me, he made muscles when he sang about how he had the power to choose good behavior. In between his hand motions he'd wave out at people in the audience. The best part of all is that two songs ended with the kids yelling the word "Me!" and pumping their fists in the air. This little guy got ready a good two lines in advanced with his little fist all ready to go. Then he'd yell the word "ME!!" and thrust his fist in the air with gusto. He was too cute. I couldn't stop watching him and laughing. So much enthusiasm for singing. I told the teachers near me that he had a future career in opera.

I am very happy to tell you that tomorrow is the last day of school before Spring Break! Hooray! Tomorrow at this time I'll be jumping and singing with glee. If I'm not too tired, that is. Of course, being me, I've planned a full morning of testing for tomorrow. We will start with spelling, vocabulary, and reading then move to a timed addition then multiplication, next is a math test, and we'll finish the day with a surprise open notes science test. I can't wait! Kind of cruel, right? It runs in my family..... ;)

2011-04-20T19:59:00.002-04:00

One and a half days until Spring Break! I am ridiculously excited. At least, I would be, if I had any energy to spend on ridiculous excitement...

We found out that the fourth fifth grade class, whose teacher is out on extended sick leave, will be further divvied up between the other three fifth grades. Yay! Another six kids! Awesome! It'll be a flashback to last year when I had 26 kids. Unfortunately, this class has received almost no instruction all year. They pretty much do whatever they want. It has take 150 school days for our administration to realize that things are so bad over there. When we come back from Spring Break we'll get our new kids and start on our big review before the End of Grade Tests (EOGs). Oh boy.

This morning Student B was disagreeing with something I said. Student M piped in with, "Look out, Ms. G gives you your math grade!" I said, "That's right! Now, what were you saying?" He looked at me and smiled and went back to his work.

Yesterday Student G came in with a worried look on his face. He told me he'd have silent lunch because his homework was incomplete. Then he started to pull it out of his bag. It was all in pieces. As it turns out, his dog really did eat his homework! Today the assistant principal walked through my room and saw his homework. He told her his dog ate it. I told I figured it was all a cover-up because yesterday afternoon he'd been in the office with an upset stomach. We all had a good laugh. Kids this age are too, too funny! Student G is always making up puns about things we're talking about. Then he'll tell me he has a joke and tell me whatever he's thought up. Student L is usually around and overhears the joke and then tries to make up a joke of his own on the same lines. His jokes don't make much sense, though....

2011-04-18T20:00:00.002-04:00

I wanted to blog on Saturday, but adventure struck and I was not able. Here's how things went for me this weekend:

Friday night I came home exhausted, went to sleep at 8:30 pm and slept for twelve hours straight through. I woke up Saturday, got dressed, and ran some errands. These errands included picking up a super pair of black dress pants at Old Navy that were exactly what I was wanting, all thanks to the gift certificate from M&J! Thank you so much! I wore my new pants Sunday to church and today to work. Very spiffy.

I came home Saturday, took a nap, and woke up with big plans to watch a movie and fool around on my computer. A big thunderstorm blew in about this time, just as I was waking from my nap and watching a little TV. The electricity started flickering and then went off around four-thirty. My sister called, but we were only able to talk for a few minutes before my phone totally died. I was stuck with no power and no phone. I didn't think it would be a big deal.

I waited. And waited. And waited. The sun set. I lit candles and ate cold leftovers. No power. I went to bed around ten, no power. I got up Sunday morning and still, no power. I got dressed in the dim light in my room, put on my make up and hoped it didn't look too scary. I got in the car to go to church and used my car charger on my phone.

At that point I was pretty annoyed about the lack of power. The housing development across the lake from me had electricity as of Saturday evening, so I thought it might just be my development that was out. Well, as I drove around Sunday morning, I realized that wasn't the case. Stoplights were out randomly as far as five miles away from me. There were police directing traffic at the major intersections. When I got to church, I looked at my phone and found several texts from people asking if I was okay.

As it turns out, a tornado came through my town, less than a mile from me! It tore up houses, businesses, and one school's roof was torn off. The damage was from my city north about sixty or seventy miles! So, there I was huffing about no electricity, when it had been a major tornado! About twenty people were killed due to the storm, and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed.

We had a two-hour delay this morning because some places were still without power. The kids had so much to tell me! I told them to wait and I'd give them a chance to talk. They just went on and on with their stories about where they were and what happened to their friends and family members. Everyone we knew was okay, but we had a good review about tornado safety. Apparently the last time a tornado like this came through our area was 1984. We are now in a state of emergency! One teacher's assistant at our school had a tree come through her living room. Other than that, though, no one else suffered major damage, as far as I know.

Whew! What a crazy weekend!

2011-04-15T15:28:00.002-04:00

So. Tired. Yesterday was one of those days they warn you about in school. They say, "Teachers have to be flexible." Yesterday was the proof. It started with the principal coming in and telling me that I had to attend a professional development meeting that afternoon at one o'clock. There goes my tutoring and planning time. I'd planned a science lesson first thing, but the kids were so slow to follow directions we didn't get started on it. Then we went to a Law Day presentation, which we were told about two days beforehand.I tested my kids, which was mostly fine. We had to change lunch times with second grade who was out at field day. So, we couldn't get to our math test. I loaded up the kids and walked them to library. It was cancelled. So, we hiked back here and I told them to sit silently and work while I ran around trying to get things ready for the next day. The assistant came to cover me, and I headed off for three hours of listening to talk about science. That was a long day. Today was Field Day. I went and sat on a stool and it was still exhausting. It went from 9:00-12:00. Good things about Field Day: the weather was perfect, Student L lost an hour of Field Day and came out afterwards with a great attitude, the kids loved the movie I showed them (the live action Jungle Book), Field Day is over. Bad things about Field Day: this makes the third straight day I had no break from my kids, I had no time to get any planning done for next week, the kids were whiny, one student had a complete and total melt down. This was a long day. Tomorrow I am going to REST.

2011-04-13T19:24:00.003-04:00

How was my purse party? Fun. We played a game where the consultant called out a letter and we had to find something from our purses that began with that letter. Things got pretty competitive. I learned that I'm not so good at that game. I gave up trying to think of things and just focused on a few items and waited for the consultant to call my letters. Needless to say, I didn't win. But I had fun laughing at everyone else!

I was tormented yesterday afternoon by three of my tutoring girls for an HOUR. What did they do? Oh, they were just pre-teen girls doing their thing. One of them started singing, "Celebration times, come on!" Then the other two would sing it. Then they'd all sing together. Then I said, "It's 'celebrate good times, come on'." Then they all sang it that way. Then I said, "That's the last time we're singing that song out loud today." Then one of them would start singing, "Celeb..... Oh, yeah." Then another would sing, "Celebrate goo..... Oh, yeah." In addition to the Fun With Singing portion of the day, they were also saying really goofy things. One of them would say something annoying, then another would say, "Haha. You just said...." and repeat the annoying thing the other girl JUST SAID!! It was like an echo! Argh!!!!!

We have Field Day on Friday. You might be thinking that it's my favorite day of the year. You're wrong. I'm sure lots of people think that following a group of sweaty, whiny kids around for three hours in the blazing sun is super, I do not like Field Day. However, last year I brought a stool and sat and watched the kids at each station and wasn't so tired. I'll be doing that again. The kids LOVE Field Day. It gives me ammunition all week. I came up with six categories and told the kids that they could get a point in each category if their behavior was good each day. There's a possible total of 24 points. Anyone with 20 points or more gets to go to Field Day. Below 20 points kids have to start spending time sitting out. If they get less than 12 points they don't participate in Field Day at all. I haven't had a line this quiet all year!

2011-04-11T18:54:00.002-04:00

Right...... so, remember how my student called 911 on Friday when the sub was there? He also hacked my accelerated math account and started printing exercises for his partner in crime. Let's hope he gets in trouble for this from the principal. After a number of crazy hijinx, maybe this will finally get him suspended for a few days. Sigh.

Tomorrow I'm throwing a purse party. There's a company called 31 that makes some pretty cool purses and organizers. My friend is a consultant, but just about everyone at school has been 31-ed practically to the poor house. Since the girls in my Bible study don't go to my school I thought I'd see if they had experienced 31. Turns out they haven't. So, we're going to use this party as an outreach event for the small group. We're supposed to be inviting friends so they can hang out with some church-y people. I have a couple of school friends coming (somehow they've missed all the parties) who I'd like to have come with me to church.

So, I came home today after only staying an extra hour at work. I cleaned the kitchen, dusted, picked up all of the last minute things I missed yesterday (like the 1,000 piece puzzle I finished). I washed two new pitchers. I made the best punch recipe known to mankind, made a big batch of delicious iced tea (raspberry, Mark & Mom!), and cut up three blocks of cheese. Tomorrow I'm going to vacuum (I just love how good the fresh vacuum lines look!), change clothes, and set out the food. If there's time I'm going to put together a quiet party playlist on my iPod to set the shopping mood. I'm excited! I've never done this before! I'll let you know how it goes!

2011-04-10T12:36:00.002-04:00

I'm sure you're dying to hear about how my day off was. I took a 12-hour Aleve-D because I knew it would make me feel tons and tons better. However, the first dose is always a big whammy to my system, so I knew that if I took it I'd need a whole day for it to work its magic. Sure enough, I felt weird. I could feel things in my sinuses moving, my hands were tickly, my legs felt jumpy, and I felt pretty out of it. So, I spent much of the day napping, reading, and watching a movie in bed. Now I'm on my third dose and it actually makes me feel energized in addition to clearing out my sinuses. It was a day well spent.

Friday night my friend from work came over. She told me that during the morning announcements the principal asked that if anyone knew who was "making phone calls" to please call the office. That's a pretty weird thing to say since every room has a phone and the kids probably make dozens of phone calls daily to ask their parents to bring them forgotten items or to remind their parents that chorus is cancelled. As it turns out, someone called 911 from one of the classroom phones. And, no surprise here, it came from one of the kids in my room. Sigh. Magically, Student J knew who it had been (that girl is in on everything shady, it seems). I'm so proud.

Yesterday I got to Barnes & Noble right at 9:00. I ordered my coffee and got to work. When I sat down, I sat at a table in a corner. There was a little table with no chairs behind me, and little 2-person tables in front of me and on my left. Before ten minutes went by a couple sat in the tables in front of me and began talking loudly about their lives. Then a family of at least six moved all the little tables to my left to make one big table and sat down to talk and drink coffee. I put on my headphones and tuned in to the classical station online (theclassicalstation.org for those of you who are interested). It was fine until about an hour and a half later when two women came and grabbed the table behind me and put it with another table for a loud study group session. That was when I moved. I sat at a table with nothing behind me, a railing to my left, a table with two people reading silently on my right, and no one in front of me. Much better. I worked for four hours and sent my paper off at 1:00.

Unfortunately, my friend's birthday party started at 1:00. I decided not to rush and ran a quick errand, got gas, went home to take a shower and get dressed, then wrap her gift. I didn't get to the party until 2:30, but it worked out well since that's when everyone sat down to eat. The food was amazing, and it was fun to meet her friends and family.

Our church is a part of a nation-wide movement during April called Servolution. The idea is to participate in acts of kindness in our communities. Well, my church never does anything part way. With 5,000 members and a budget of a quarter of a million each year Servolution is going to be done well. In the past years we've been encouraged to do random acts of kindness and were given little cards that explained what was going on and the times of our church services and the website for people to write about what they experienced. The pastor has read some super notes about how God really used this to touch people.

So, I figured it was my turn. In past years it has slipped my mind, and I was feeling like a slacker. I sat and prayed about what to do during the service. It came to my mind that I was headed to Target after the service. I planned to buy a few gift cards and put them under the windshields of cars in the parking lot. I was buying what I needed, and one of the things on my list had a special deal where if you bought three of the products you could get a free $5 Target gift card. I needed these things anyway, so I bought them and in addition to the five cards I bought, I got an extra gift card! I handed it back to the checkout girl with one of my church's cards and asked her to give it to someone who needed it. Then I went to the parking lot, put my things away, wrote on the cards the amount and a short message. Then I walked around and put the cards under the windshield wipers of five cars. My heart was pounding the whole time! I got in my car and drove off feeling pretty cool. Isn't it crazy how giving works that way?

Well, I have "Sunday Chicken Dinner" cooking in the crockpot. I'll have some for lunch every day this week, I think. So fun! I'm going to take a quick nap and then do some intensive cleaning. I'm throwing a purse party on Tuesday night as a small group outreach, so things need to look good around here.

2011-04-07T19:43:00.003-04:00

The top funny moments from the past two days:

1) Yesterday I was teaching multiplication and division algebraic expressions. I let the kids use calculators to solve ones with decimals and fractions since that's not a fifth grade skill. As they solved the problems on the calculator I solved them by hand on the board. I finished one and Student B said, sadly, "I didn't even get the numbers put in my calculator yet!" So, then we raced and I beat him again. Student L then wrote me a note telling me that I was the smartest, best, most awesome teacher in the whole school. Hahahaha!

2) This morning Student L turned in his homework and said to the kid next to him, "I'm a beast at doing my homework!"

3) Student J has been her usual, special self for the past few days. I've had several talks with her, but today I wasn't feeling well so it was especially frustrating. She asked me if she'd turned in all her homework and so didn't have silent lunch. I told her that I wasn't sure if she'd get talking lunch even if she did turn in all her homework because her behavior has been so bad lately. After that she still kept coming up to ask me things, but then would answer them herself and walk away. She'd say, "Ms. G, where do you want me to put my work? I know, in the homework folder." It was like she was showing me how good she was by answering her own questions. Because sitting quietly would not be a good way to show me... ;)

Today I made Chicken Delicious in the crockpot. And, you guessed it, that chicken was delicious! It consists of a can of soup, cooking sherry (a first for me!), and Parmesan cheese poured over chicken. Mmmmmm..... Another hit!

Tomorrow I am staying home. I can take Aleve-D and it'll make me feel much better, but the first dose makes me feel kind of woozy and weird. Since I have my big final paper due for my class on Saturday, I don't want to feel weird then, so tomorrow is my best choice. Plus, I don't have to set my alarm! I can just sleep as late as I want! I'll probably wake up at 7:30 like I do on Saturdays when I set my alarm, but it'll still count. ;)

P.S. Notice the return of the paragraph breaks? I'm typing this at home, not at a school computer. I'm happy to have my friends back in my blog.

2011-04-05T16:35:00.004-04:00

I just heard a commercial for hair clips that was talking about how you just "bend and snap" to put them in place. Does anyone else think that's funny? If Elle Woods read my blog she'd appreciate it. The other day Student L came in and was chatting with some of the students in the room (like he does every morning. And afternoon. And evening, too, if we'd let him stay at school). He gave one of the kids a nickname then looked surprised and said, "Wow! I'm going to give everyone a nickname! Except you, Ms. G. I'll call you Ms. G." Good call. Sometimes the kids want to tell me something but they're old enough to realize that they need to show interest in others. This was how one such conversation went today: Student Q: Do you go to church? Me: Yes. Student Q: Do you know about Easter? Me: Yes. Student Q: Are you wearing a new dress? Me: Yes. Student Q: (Pause.) Me: Do you have a new dress for Easter? Student Q: Oh, yes! It's pink and has a puffy skirt like this. And I'll wear it and we'll walk around outside the church and do things like Jesus did on Easter. And there's going to be a play. And my brother's in the play.... (Unfortunately, at that point I had to break in and yell at someone in the line.) Tonight I'm at school until late. It's a combined Book Fair/community thingie/parent-teacher conferences evening. The downside is I'm stuck at school and having to have a hotdog for supper. The upside is that I get to spend three and a half hours in my room working. No parents want to meet with me, I guess, so I can work on other things! I spent an hour and a half planning literacy for next week. Awesome! P.S. Again, sorry for the lack of paragraph breaks. I think the school computer eats them.

2011-04-04T13:33:00.004-04:00

It is 80 degrees today. And sunny. And windy. Very, very windy. All of you in the north are probably feeling sad that you're not here today. Well, enjoy your snow. Hehehehehe. I had a nice, quiet weekend. No driving to my class. I'm happy to say I'm done with that for now. I did some more research for my paper and took a quiz, but other than that I was able to just do what I wanted to do. Which involved playing on my computer, reading, napping, shopping, and buying a book about easy slow cooker recipes. I made beef stroganoff yesterday and made a pot of rice to go along with it rather than noodles. It was extremely delicious. I'm planning to cook a lot of the recipes, and I'll let you know which ones are hits. Then you can beg me for the recipes and I will consider giving them to you. Or, you could go and buy the book and be as cool as I am. (Major points to Jenn for the gift of the slow cooker, all those years ago!) This week is the Scholastic book fair. This is set up in our library and the kids get to shop for books and school supplies. The teachers fill out wishlists and we often get surprised with a couple of things that our kids buy for us. It's a fundraiser for the school and a chance for kids and teachers to get new books. Today was the walk-through. Everyone is ridiciulously excited and dying to come back tomorrow with money. It's pretty exciting, although it does make for quite a few headaches. Today was fairly monumental. The county-wide transfer list came out and a friend from a different school sent me the link. I filled out the form and sent it off to the county. I am officially, possibly able to get a job as a librarian next year! Please pray that I make the best decision about what to do next year - whether to stay in my current job or change to a new one. I'm excited to be a librarian, but I want to be where God wants me to be. Yay! Red-letter day! P.S. I'm sorry for the lack of paragraphs. I keep putting them in, but they get deleted when my blog posts.

2011-03-30T20:08:00.002-04:00

I bought some flowers today. I always buy some impatiens to put in a hanging basket. But this year........ (wait for it)...... I bought a pot of violets TOO. I know, I know. WILD! I'll replant my impatiens tomorrow. I usually name my impatiens a different flower name. Like, Rose, or Violet, or Posie. It makes me giggle. This year I'll name my impatiens Patience. Get it? Hehehehe.

I had a good day today. One of my kiddos was bent on self-destruction. Fortunately it didn't stress me out and I was able to just calmly take him to the principal. I think he's got a lot going on at home, so I understand where he's coming from, but it's hard to watch him disrupt the class over and over. Poor little guy.

Is anyone else watching Survivor? Phillip is such a goofus! He and Coach should get together and have an aren't-I-amazing quote challenge. I think it would be very funny. It would be the Dragonslayer vs. the Federal Agent. I would watch that.

2011-03-29T16:13:00.004-04:00

Student J forgot her snack today. She called her mom to bring her something to eat. Her mom asked to talk to me, so I got on the phone. It turns out that her mom works at a local sub shop and wanted to know if I could use a snack. I said that it would be really nice to have a treat. She brought me a six-inch sub, a bag of chips, and a bottle of Pepsi. Nice! We got our new tutoring groups today. I took six girls who have been difficult for their tutoring teacher in the past. Four of them were here today. We got started and two of them wouldn't stop giggling. I had them working on multiplying two-digit by two-digit numbers. All of a sudden one girl yelled, "There's a bee in here!" It was a fly and she was just trying to be disruptive. I told her (as nicely as possible) that I didn't like it when students interrupted me. I said that if she continued to behave this way that I would send her to the principal and ask that she not come back to tutoring. She got quiet, worked on the problem, and by the end of the session she was smiling and behaving nicely. We had a good day and the girls excited to tell their parents that they had a fun time at tutoring. Yay!

2011-03-28T21:35:00.003-04:00

I am a celebrity. Of course, you're probably thinking, "I already knew that." ;) Today the kids left school early so I enjoyed the sublime silence by entering grades and listening to the online classical music at theclassicalstation.org (which, I know, ruined the sublime silence thing). They are currently in their funds drive and were asking the listeners to consider how much time we spend listening to their station and to consider what would happen if it wasn't available. Then they said that with a certain level of support they would send us an insulated tote bag. I've been thinking of getting one of those but haven't yet. Then they said we could give a monthly donation over time. And there was a woman who pledged to match any donation over $50. So, I went online and pledged five dollars a month for a year. (I know, I know. I am so generous.) There was a place to type a message, so I said I was a fifth grade teacher and we listened to their station every morning before the tardy bell rang. Well, wouldn't you know, they read my comment on air! Then they talked about how they knew people who used their station to help them study in school, and so on. Then the woman said, "And, folks, Laura chose to give a repeating gift over time." I just felt ever so amazing.

Today Student L walked in the room and announced, "Ms. G, this weekend I found my nemesis." Then he headed off to talk to someone else. Must have been an interesting weekend.

2011-03-26T20:06:00.002-04:00

I'm excited to tell you that I am officially done driving to my Saturday class! I have a paper left to write and then I'm done with that class. My online class runs until early May, but it's nice to be done driving three hours every other Saturday. Weekends seem to go too fast that way.

Our lovely warm spell is past for a few days. We have what should be the last freeze of the winter coming this week, then the temperatures will head up and up and up. It's fun to cuddle under my blankets, knowing that it's the last for several months. Or, until I visit Canada again...

I was watching a documentary about Princess Diana today. It was showing how she interacted with her sons. There was even a video of her running full out in a jacket and skirt at one of the boys' schools during a "Mom Run." The narrator said that she would give the boys pocket money so they could buy themselves candy at local stores. Prince Charles disapproved, but she went ahead. She said she wanted them to get to know everyday people. I was impressed by how hard she fought to make their lives normal-ish.

Well, tomorrow I'll go to church, take a nap, and get to rest. I'm very excited about that. We have a 2-hour early release on Monday, but that usually is just as much work. Plus, I'm getting two kids from another fifth grade class. They'll be with us for math and reading until the end of the year. I'm glad to help, but another two kids adds quite a bit of work for me. Just what I needed.... ;)

2011-03-24T16:03:00.002-04:00

I took a shower this morning and wore my hair down without clips or a headband or anything. Student L told me that he'd never seen my hair down before (only 2-3 times a week since August). He said, "You usually wear a ponytail with a bang." I'm not sure what that means. I've decided to take it as a compliment.

During tutoring today I ended up with two kids from another teacher who wasn't here. One of the kids is one I had last year. We were playing Bingo today with multiplication and division facts. All of a sudden this little boy announces, "When I get excited I have to go to the bathroom!" I cracked up, then said, "Do you mean that you need to go to the bathroom now?" Apparently the answer was no because he ended up playing a few more cards before asking if he could be excused. We ended the tutoring session by flipping circular chips into the basket. Then we started flicking them at one of the kids. We were all laughing and getting hit by flying chips. Very fun. It would be nice if I could be fun when I teach my whole group, but that would just be chaos.

The weather here has been gorgeous. Yesterday we broke the record when we hit 85. Today we were in the 70s with sunshine and a light breeze. We're supposed to be getting a temperature drop this weekend when the Canadian air blows down our way. It'll be in the 50s. Those darned Canadians! ;)

2011-03-21T19:33:00.002-04:00

What a long day this was! We didn't change classes, so I was with my own kids all day. I had several parts to each lesson and not a lot of independent work time, so I had to stay on top of the kids the entire morning. Then I worked with small groups. I was pooped by noon when they went off to music!

Fortunately the school improvement team met today, which I'm not on. I came home immediately after school and got to take a long nap! I was having a weird dream in which I was such a good friend to Catherine Zeta Jones that she gave me a memento from when she was in The Wizard of Oz. Then I rushed home to tell Phoebe and Rachel (from Friends) about my new friend but suddenly we were outside the house because a thief had sneaked into our house. We couldn't figure out how he got past us because we have a "noisy roof" on our porch. When I woke up I had no idea what time or day it was. Good nap.

You'll be happy to know that I sewed two new aprons yesterday. One is medium blue with little pictures of fruit in all sorts of different, funky designs all over it. The other is white and has all the state names in red and white on it. I have another one cut out and the seams ironed that is a dark gray swirl pattern on a black background. It's what quilters call "tone on tone" (right, Mom?). In fact.... I might go sew that one up right now!

Later!

2011-03-19T19:08:00.003-04:00

I took today off. I took it off from doing anything that would make me work hard. It was glorious. I stayed in bed reading, watching TV, and taking naps. Then I talked on the phone, ordered a pizza, and played on my computer. It was super awesome. I feel very rested. Did I write my paper? No. Did I leave the house? Other than to get the mail, no. Did I clean? No. After all of the cleaning, organizing, and planning I did this week I needed this day. Lovely.

Yesterday my students and I spent two and a half hours getting organized and going over changes that are coming. I had them put all of their books and supplies in their crates in an exact order. I've changed who does what job. I've added several new procedures. Then I read two chapters to them. After school I read for 45 minutes to the boys in the novel club. I talked on the phone to my sister for half an hour in the evening. By bedtime my throat hurt! I wasn't surprised to wake up feeling very tired. I spent about 55 hours at work last week. I'm excited about how neat the room is and how prepared I am for next week. I can tell I'm in the right line of work when a tidy classroom and a well-prepared set of lesson plans makes me feel accomplished. I even have the math journal topics for the week typed up and in a SMARTboard slideshow. This is why I took today off.

Tomorrow I'm going to church, running a few errands, writing a paper, and doing some cleaning. I figured if I took a day to rest today I'd be better prepared for tomorrow. I'll let you know how that works out! :)

2011-03-17T12:34:00.003-04:00

The dangerous thing about letting a teacher spend hours and hours and hours wandering around her room is that she spends much of the time thinking of improvements that could be made. After our short(er) test today my mind was so full of plans! I read to the kids and they started on their work.

As they worked I called up groups of students to bring me their books and supplies. This all heralds back to my childhood. One summer before we headed off to the grandparents' for two weeks, Mom had a completely brilliant plan. She sat in the living room and had the three of us kids go and get things for her and bring them to her. Mom would calmly be packing our suitcases while we ran around and brought her our swimsuits, shorts, underwear, etc. So, I stood calmly by the newly-cleaned counter and asked the kids to bring me their reading books, data notebooks, and whiteboards.

Well, that was just the beginning! My pen-stealing friend finished his work early, so I put him to work moving things for me. He brought me extra textbooks from one shelf and I put them away under the sink. I had him group my practice testing booklets based on subjects. Then I started moving the crates around and he sat and wiped them down with wet wipes. Another student then came and asked if she could help. I said, "Grab a wet wipe and get to work." And soon, a la Tom Sawyer, I had five kids wiping down dusty, grungy crates. I then moved to my back shelves and traded out the nicer crates there for some smaller crates that were now wiped down. Then the kids organized a big tub of square tiles into bags of 24 same-colored tiles. While three kids worked on that, two more counted out and regrouped my fraction bars and put them into the math kits. Two more students organized a set of small group books that had never been opened. Another student handled our growing piles of recycling. Another student organized some posters that had been piling up.

Through all of this Student H sat in her seat and moaned, "I want to help!" However, since she'd wasted the first forty minutes of work time she was "grounded" to her seat and wasn't allowed up. She finished the last of her work as it was time to go to the library. I have a very sad Student H on my hands. :)

2011-03-16T20:50:00.002-04:00

Yes, today was much better. I got the results from both science and reading today and some of my kids made some big jumps from the first round of testing this past November. We've got about six more weeks of actual teaching before we get into hardcore reviewing for the end of grade tests. It's amazing to think that here I am at the end of my fifth year of teaching already! Tomorrow we have a short math test and I'll be done walking the aisles endlessly. Until May.

My little friend who stole my pens yesterday was a bit quiet this morning, but I just left him alone. He started getting rowdy a little later and when I called him on it he pulled out his big attitude. Sigh. I've suggested that he work off the price of the pens by working for three hours in my room. I have a huge amount of cleaning, tidying, and organizing that he can help me with. Plus, I think some one-on-one time could help him get over needing to act up. We'll see.

My principal, very generously, today handed me money to replace my pens. Being the "gift" person that I am, I appreciated that a lot. I ran right over to Target at the end of today's cleaning binge and I am happy to announce that the Pen Crisis of '11 is officially coming to an end. ;)

You'll be thrilled to know that my classroom is looking much more organized. Because my friend threw some of my pens into the closet the kids use for their coats and bags I had to pull out everything from the shelves above in the hopes of retrieving my pens. I found two (of 15). However, I pulled out some things that I was able to get rid of, some things that could be moved around to make more room, and somethings that could be repackaged to be of more use. I then worked on the cupboards under my sink and counter which always hold things I never use. I threw out a huge garbage bag full of stuff, reorganized the manipulatives in the math kits which haven't been opened in years, and moved some text books from the counter to down below. I left school yesterday at 5:30. Today I was motivated to clean my desk, the shelves behind my desk, and anything in that general area. I left school today at 5:30. Tomorrow I will conquer the students' crates. I'm thinking of a new plan for them and tomorrow is the day I will spring into action. Why do I feel so much better after a crummy day when I spend some time organizing and cleaning? I don't know, but that's why I do it!

2011-03-15T20:26:00.002-04:00

I am happy this day is over. One of my students took my special "treat to myself" markers. He gave some away and just threw two into the closet. There is talk of his suspension but not of his paying me back. Sigh. We're going to get fussed at on Friday because of our low test scores. A parent refuses to listen to what his daughter probably did. Stupid day.

Tutoring was okay. Bible study was fun. Glee is very funny. I'll get to go to sleep soon. Those are the good points of this day.

That's all I have to say about today.

2011-03-14T20:11:00.004-04:00

The mystery shrouding my potential graduation in May continues. I received a letter from the school with a checklist of things for people to do who are planning to participate in commencement. Considering my application for graduation was returned to me, I have no idea if I'm graduating or not. I'll be excited to see what happens when I send in my graduation fee. Of course, if the school takes my money it still doesn't mean that I graduated. I won't know until the diploma arrives in the mail. Or not....

Today was the first day of our second progress assessment testing. The fifth graders tested in science. I was a little nervous when the second bell rang this morning and six kids were missing from my class. I'm not sure that scheduling a big practice test like this the day after Springing Forward was such a hot idea. Fortunately, three arrived late, so it could have been worse. The kids did a very nice job of using their time well. Student J and Student B used every moment for their tests, which always makes me happy. I guess we'll see tomorrow how they actually scored. Tuesday is the long reading test. I'm very excited to walk up and down the aisles for two hours tomorrow. Lots of thinking time. Right.

Conversation overheard at lunch:

Student L: "Don't look at me. I know you said I was a robot last week at lunch. I heard you."

Student O: "Shut up."

Student L: "You shut up."

Student J: "Ohh! Ms. G, they said shut up!"

Ms. G: "Yeah, like you've never said that one before. All of you drop it."

Did I mention that I have the best job ever? Only five weeks 'til spring break. Come on, spring break, come on!

2011-03-11T11:14:00.002-05:00

It happens every year. We read about World War II and the Nazis and we all start freaking out about everything German. Student L announced, yesterday, "Ms. G!! Student H is German! Are we still fighting with them?" And about half the class is officially traumatized because they were born in Germany on American bases.

I can't tell you how excited I am for it to be Friday. Right now the kids are finishing a math test and I'm typing without looking at the monitor so I can give the goofy ones who won't sit quietly the hairy eyeball. They have been very whiney and weird this week. Student J has regressed a little and is demanding almost constant attention from me. I had to send her out of the room earlier because she was refusing to do what I asked her to do. At least she left before I had to call the principal to come get her.

Tonight I'm meeting a teaching friend from my Bible study at the movies. We're going to see "Red Riding Hood" which is a retelling of the fairy tale. I have big plans to run to Wal-Mart first for a few things I can't get anywhere else. Tomorrow I'll write a paper, run some errands, and hang out with other teaching friends in the evening. I'm really looking forward to not being in class tomorrow and not having to go the next week either! Yay!

Okay, back to my crazy kids. Come on, 2:15!

2011-03-09T20:04:00.003-05:00

Today was crazy hair day. Student L wore a huge black, curly mullet wig. Everyone wanted to try it on. They all ended up looking like little girls. So funny! I'm sure the boys thought they looked tough, but they did not. Fortunately Student L was okay leaving it in his bag through the day and only had it out before the second bell in the morning and after we packed up in the afternoon. Student D had three cups under her hair, so she had three huge bumps on her head which she spray-painted different colors. Student A used mascara to draw a widow's peak and sideburns. Student H showed up with a French braid. She complained quite a lot that her hair wasn't crazy enough. Life is hard in fifth grade.

I went through the high school book order from Scholastic. There were probably ten books that looked good. So, I went online and reserved as many as I could find from the public library. Three of them came in today! Yay! I went to the library and had a fun time. I found an audio book I didn't know had been written by an author I recently discovered. I also found a sequel to a book I'd read a couple years back and enjoyed. Oh, the joy of the library!

Speaking of joy, happy birthday, Joy! I hope I can come and stay at the J&T B&B this summer. ;)

Gotta go, Survivor is on!

2011-03-08T12:06:00.002-05:00

I'm on spring break. From my college classes. Not from work. This means that I will have one less paper to write this week and everything else will be the same. As you might guess, that's not much of a break. Still, one paper less is one paper less. I'll take it.

I drove up to my class on Saturday. I would like to tell you that it was as challenging and stimulating as the previous session, but, alas, it was not. I had a VERY hard time paying attention to the professor's dissection of two research papers. Ms. Look-At-Me who sits behind me ended up backing up everything the professor said with a comment or a giggle. If you've ever read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader you've read about the Dufflepuds who all have to say something to back up their leader every time he finishes a sentence. Ms. Look-At-Me might be related to the Dufflepuds.

My new student is fitting in well. It's so hard to switch to a new teacher and a new set of procedures, but the other kids are helping her out quite a lot. She's good at asking me questions when she's confused, which helps. I think she'll be a good addition to her room. Yay! I've had several bad additions in previous years, so it's lovely to have a good one.

This morning Student B's mother came to the room before the second bell rang. She asked me if her son had received his progress report (from two weeks back). I said yes and Student B went on to say that he'd never gotten it. Well, Mama wasn't going to listen to his nonsense (thank you, Mama!) and asked if I had a copy. I did and handed it over to her. His grades are abyssmal. She asked how he was doing and I said that he was doing a lot of playing in class. Mama then started telling him off in front of everyone and announcing his lowest grade (which was in the teens). She said, "If you're going to act up in class, I'll come and act up too. How do you like it?" I was embarrassed for him a little, but he needed to hear it. Mama told me that if he even changes his color once to call her at work and she'd come over. Well, the other fifth grade teacher who teaches math in my room was here and had the kids who forgot their belts call home. Student B had to leave a message, but when Mama saw that the school had called she assumed that he was acting up. I assured her that it was just because he needed his belt and the kids were calling home. She said, "He'll have it tomorrow after I get done using it on him." Wow! He's in for a rough night, but he's worked very hard all day after getting yelled at.

Today is crazy sock day. Student M wore socks that are up to his knees and fall down a lot. I suggested that he get suspenders for his socks. He laughed about that as he hopped along in line tugging up his socks.

2011-03-04T17:08:00.003-05:00

Student L lives next door to a past student of mine. Student L delivered a letter to me from this other student. In the letter was an essay he'd written in sixth grade about "a teacher or friend you have had that you will remember for a long, long time." He'd written about me! Here's what he wrote:

The person who made a diffrence in my life was my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. G. Mrs. G was a nice teacher. Mrs. G told me to work harder and to do my best. I helped her with some work. In addition Mrs. G helped me. She was the best teacher I ever had in fourth grade. She was funny and sang funny songs. She gave me too much home work which helped me very well for my grades. She was the person who made a diffrence in my life.

And he got an A! What a nice moment. I'm going to write him a thank you letter back.

Yesterday my class played a trick on the principal. This week is Dr. Seuss week and we set a school-wide goal to read 250,000 pages in four days. If we made our goal our principal had to dress up as the Cat in the Hat and deliver pencils to our classes. He's been making announcements all week (that I wrote) about how the kids couldn't do it and how they should stop reading. (That really confused Student B. He was used to principals telling him to read more. I had to explain that it was a joke.) Well, we were using the bathrooms right after library yesterday, so everyone had a book, when our principal went right past us into the staff bathroom. I told the kids to get their books out and start reading, and Student L suggested we huddle around the bathroom door. I thought that was a good idea, so they were in a half circle around the door reading when the principal came out. He pretended to be very upset, so we thought it was a completely successful prank. And, yes, we did make our goal. Actually we read 400,000 pages in four days, so the principal dressed up and gave us pencils. Mine has Yertle the Turtle on it.