Sunday was the 3rd quarterly voter's meeting at church. It was the first voter's meeting I've ever attended, and it was about what I expected. One thing that is different here (as opposed to my home church congregation) is that the women can vote. Since I haven't switched my church membership, I still couldn't vote because I'm not a church member.
At the meeting, I sat in the back (partly so no one would notice me and partly so I could see everything that was going on). It went along pretty much like you would expect a voter's meeting to go. And then came the school report. The principal reported that the new 5th and 6th grade teacher was doing a great job, fitting in well, and he threw out a couple of other interesting points about the school. Then asked, "Any questions?"
Some one's hand went up. "Am I correct that this year there are no 5th graders?"
"Yes."
"Well, it seems to me that if we're being good stewards, no offense to the current teacher, we shouldn't even have anyone teaching that age group. The students can go with another teacher."
There was a pause. Then he kept going, "How many students are in the upcoming class?"
I started feeling panicked; there are only four fourth graders who will be in fifth grade next year, even fewer students than my current six. If this guy was pitching a fit over paying me to teach six students, how was he going to react when he found out next year I'll only have four?
Thank the Lord, Mr. E figured out a way to sort of smooth things over, "I believe there are eleven students in third and fourth grade." Not a lie! But not really answering the question.
Then another voter raised his hand and said something along the lines of, "Isn't that a question for the Board of Education? And I think they're doing a fine job. Let's move on."
They did move on, and so did I. But then the principal's wife and the pastor's wife came and talked to me about it and that got me all worked up again. I tell you, it is the worst feeling in the world to realize that someone wants to take away your job. Later that afternoon, Mr. E called me to explain that this guy has been saying the same thing for the past five years and he's pretty much the only one. So I can rest assured I'll be okay for now. We'll cross next year's bridge when we come to it. But in the meantime, if you'd pray for a family with some 4th and 5th graders to move into the area...
In other news, one of my students got a splinter today during school. You'd never guess a little splinter could cause so much disruption, but man, we got derailed. First she tried to push it out. Didn't work. Then we dug around my first aid kit for a tweezers. Nothing. But we did find a splinter remover. She didn't know how to use it, so I had to dig around her hand. I felt so bad! I could tell the probing hurt. In the end, she ended up running to one of the other teacher's rooms to get a tweezers and I unearthed the splinter after a few minutes. Meanwhile, the other students had been calmly working on their spelling workbooks, waiting to begin their pretest.
All in all, the day was pretty calm. Calm that is, until we were supposed to switch for math. The 7th and 8th graders were on a field trip, so I was going to keep the 6th graders all afternoon. With our extra time, we were going to learn how to use features in Open Office. The best place to do this was the 7th and 8th grader's classroom. Unfortunately, about half of them forgot to log out of their accounts, so my sixth graders couldn't access their accounts. The passwords for the 7th and 8th graders weren't written down, so we were kind of stuck. Actually, we were really stuck. Finally, I ended up calling it a dud and we went back to our room.
There, we made posters for our upcoming election: Cats vs. Dogs. Which are the better pet? The 6th graders were pretty creative, trying to come up with a slogan and a bunch of pictures to put on their posters. On the dog side, the poster has a crazy/evil-looking cat and a cute, cuddly dog. "Which would you rather have? Vote for dogs!" was their slogan. On the cat side, the 6th graders wrote, "Are kittens cute? Vote for cats!" Then they drew some pictures of cats in the shape of a heart. I was hoping to get them finished sooner so we could work on our ice cream war: chocolate vs. vanilla, but it didn't happen.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Nothing like the smell of manure in the classroom...
Last night, some farmers took loads of manure and spread them all over the fields around our school. Today was very foggy and moist, so the smell just sat there and permeated the building. Since today is Wednesday, our school had chapel over at church. Not everyone enjoyed walking through the wall of smell. Thankfully, the wind started blowing a bit and moved the smell around.
My classroom got pretty toasty once again, but instead of cracking the door (like I did yesterday), I opened one of the windows. At first I didn't think the smell was coming in, but when the 7th and 8th graders came for science, they said it smelled gross. It's probably just as well that I left the door closed.
There are still flies buzzing around my head! My two 6th grade boys immediately grabbed the flyswatters this morning and started hunting. They kept finding more and more. And then one of them had a sudden inspiration, "Hey Miss Heintz! Guess what? We're going to save all the dead flies and make them into a Christmas present for you." Wow, what do you say to that? I ended up replying, "If you do, I will keep it and love it because you made it." The other boy said, "Yeah, we'll gather them all up and spread them all over her desk."
Speaking of presents... the first and second graders gave me a whole bunch of new drawings they had just finished (probably because I was late to art again; those 7th and 8th graders just suck up all the time!). The lovely drawings are currently hanging on the wall by my computer.
My classroom got pretty toasty once again, but instead of cracking the door (like I did yesterday), I opened one of the windows. At first I didn't think the smell was coming in, but when the 7th and 8th graders came for science, they said it smelled gross. It's probably just as well that I left the door closed.
There are still flies buzzing around my head! My two 6th grade boys immediately grabbed the flyswatters this morning and started hunting. They kept finding more and more. And then one of them had a sudden inspiration, "Hey Miss Heintz! Guess what? We're going to save all the dead flies and make them into a Christmas present for you." Wow, what do you say to that? I ended up replying, "If you do, I will keep it and love it because you made it." The other boy said, "Yeah, we'll gather them all up and spread them all over her desk."
Speaking of presents... the first and second graders gave me a whole bunch of new drawings they had just finished (probably because I was late to art again; those 7th and 8th graders just suck up all the time!). The lovely drawings are currently hanging on the wall by my computer.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Picture Day!
Today was picture day. You would think that a little thing like getting your picture taken wouldn't disrupt your entire day, but trust me. It does. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to see all the students gussied up for school. Girls wore skirts instead of sweatpants, and a handful of the 8th grade boys wore polo shirts to school!
BUT. There was no specific time for each class to go. It was kind of, "we'll come knock on your door when it's your turn." This, of course, completely threw some students off. I guessed our turn would come at 9:30am. 9:30 on the dot, one girl raises her hand in the middle of a lesson, "Miss Heintz, you said we were going to have pictures at 9:30." The rest of the class reminded her that I had only guessed what time pictures were, and they'd come knock on our door when it was time.
Two minutes later. "Miss Heintz, shouldn't we go for pictures? I thought we were going at 9:30."
The same thing happened five minutes later.
Finally it was our turn! We lined up in alphabetical order and filed into the gym. Our photographer was a super nice guy, really funny. He even let us look at our pictures before he called the next person forward. I was called a few times to help arrange the girls' hair. He made a joke that I'd have to go on the road with him to fix all the girls' hair so he wouldn't have to do it. I don't think my 6th graders got the joke.
After their turn was over, my 6th graders didn't really know what to do with themselves. I gave them a choice, "You can go back to the classroom and read a book, or you can sit on the bleachers until we're done." I was pleasantly surprised how many wanted to go back to the room and work. Since I am the teacher, I had my picture taken last. When I walked in the room, I was overjoyed to see everyone sitting quietly working on reading. The small group of students I had been working with was waiting patiently for me to sit in my seat and continue where we left off.
That was pretty much the only calm part of the day. It was pretty foggy, so we stayed in the gym for recess. That riled them up even more. We had a review day in MN history, and the boys started yelling out answers. It was very toasty in our room, so I propped our outside classroom door open. Unfortunately, that let in a ton of flies. I spent about ten minutes at the end of the day swatting flies. And they are still buzzing around my head! I'm sure the boys will have a blast catching flies tomorrow morning. Their teacher last year taught them how to be "fly whisperers." This explains why they always try to sneak up on the flies instead of just swatting them.
The 7th and 8th graders had a review day too. They also had a sub for the day so Mr. E could observe classrooms. Wow, they were super amped up. My 6th graders came back a little early from math, and they ended up sitting in the hallway/back of the classroom doing their math while I finished up with the 7th and 8th graders. After they left, one of the 6th graders commented, "wow, they sure are loud." That is a bit of an understatement.
We did line puzzles in art. The idea came from an old art book my mom found at a garage sale (thanks Mom!). It actually has tons of good ideas. This one involves drawing lines on a piece of paper, cutting out pieces on the lines, and gluing them down with a little space in between. For some reason, the 6th graders were having so much trouble figuring out what to do. I did this same thing with the 1st and 2nd graders yesterday, and they had just as much difficulties. We're going to do this project another day, so we'll see what happens then.
BUT. There was no specific time for each class to go. It was kind of, "we'll come knock on your door when it's your turn." This, of course, completely threw some students off. I guessed our turn would come at 9:30am. 9:30 on the dot, one girl raises her hand in the middle of a lesson, "Miss Heintz, you said we were going to have pictures at 9:30." The rest of the class reminded her that I had only guessed what time pictures were, and they'd come knock on our door when it was time.
Two minutes later. "Miss Heintz, shouldn't we go for pictures? I thought we were going at 9:30."
The same thing happened five minutes later.
Finally it was our turn! We lined up in alphabetical order and filed into the gym. Our photographer was a super nice guy, really funny. He even let us look at our pictures before he called the next person forward. I was called a few times to help arrange the girls' hair. He made a joke that I'd have to go on the road with him to fix all the girls' hair so he wouldn't have to do it. I don't think my 6th graders got the joke.
After their turn was over, my 6th graders didn't really know what to do with themselves. I gave them a choice, "You can go back to the classroom and read a book, or you can sit on the bleachers until we're done." I was pleasantly surprised how many wanted to go back to the room and work. Since I am the teacher, I had my picture taken last. When I walked in the room, I was overjoyed to see everyone sitting quietly working on reading. The small group of students I had been working with was waiting patiently for me to sit in my seat and continue where we left off.
That was pretty much the only calm part of the day. It was pretty foggy, so we stayed in the gym for recess. That riled them up even more. We had a review day in MN history, and the boys started yelling out answers. It was very toasty in our room, so I propped our outside classroom door open. Unfortunately, that let in a ton of flies. I spent about ten minutes at the end of the day swatting flies. And they are still buzzing around my head! I'm sure the boys will have a blast catching flies tomorrow morning. Their teacher last year taught them how to be "fly whisperers." This explains why they always try to sneak up on the flies instead of just swatting them.
The 7th and 8th graders had a review day too. They also had a sub for the day so Mr. E could observe classrooms. Wow, they were super amped up. My 6th graders came back a little early from math, and they ended up sitting in the hallway/back of the classroom doing their math while I finished up with the 7th and 8th graders. After they left, one of the 6th graders commented, "wow, they sure are loud." That is a bit of an understatement.
We did line puzzles in art. The idea came from an old art book my mom found at a garage sale (thanks Mom!). It actually has tons of good ideas. This one involves drawing lines on a piece of paper, cutting out pieces on the lines, and gluing them down with a little space in between. For some reason, the 6th graders were having so much trouble figuring out what to do. I did this same thing with the 1st and 2nd graders yesterday, and they had just as much difficulties. We're going to do this project another day, so we'll see what happens then.
Technology Troubles...
This week has certainly been challenging. My computer decided not to turn on this weekend, forcing me back into the "dark ages" before I had a computer I could take home with me. I've been staying extra late at school to get everything accomplished, but so far I'm surviving. The school's IT guys actually have my laptop right now, but they're still figuring out what's wrong with it.
Today, I wanted the 6th graders to type their personal narrative stories. We have six students and four computers (five if you count my desktop computer). Thankfully, one girl had typed hers over the weekend, so she didn't need a computer. I let one of them use my desk computer, so we had just enough for everyone. Unfortunately, the computers decided to take forever to turn on. Sometimes they go into a weird sleep mode, and then you have to hold the power button until it goes off, and then hold it so it turns on... but of course today it took 15 minutes for the log in screen to appear. That pretty much used up our time.
During the time their computer screens were blank, my students decided it might make the computers turn on faster if they pressed buttons on the keyboards. They discovered that pressing buttons equals a lovely pinging sound. So they kept pressing buttons.
Did I tell them to stop? Yes. Did they keep doing it? Just one boy decided to keep pressing buttons. Finally, I gave up and told them to come back to their desks; we would just do Spanish vocabulary until lunch. So we did.
Another technology development for my classroom...
We talked to a teacher at our neighboring school about using an iPad as a "SMART board" tool. All you need is an iPad, a desktop computer, and a free app that lets the user control the desktop from the iPad. After school yesterday, Mr. E told me to check out Craigslist for used iPads. I found one for $300. At Mr. E's request, I sent the guy an email seeing if he would go down to $200. A few minutes later, they guy replied saying he'd go down to $250. Mr. E and I discussed, made a decision, got a check from the treasurer (money from a family memorial donation), and I emailed the guy to set up a meeting time.
8:15pm. Met at Kwik Trip. I went by myself, sat in my car for about 20 minutes, and got a call from this guy's girlfriend. Her boyfriend was still in class, so she was going to meet me. To cut a long story short (or at least, shorter), our school is now the owner of a slightly used iPad.
I wanted to play around with it when I got it home, but I don't have wireless internet, so I had to wait until I was at school. Then when I got to school, I remembered that my classroom doesn't have a strong wi-fi signal. I ended up standing in the school office, messing around with it by the copier. Our IT guys said that it would be an easy fix to get a stronger signal to my room, so I could in theory have an interactive whiteboard by the end of the week...
Today, I wanted the 6th graders to type their personal narrative stories. We have six students and four computers (five if you count my desktop computer). Thankfully, one girl had typed hers over the weekend, so she didn't need a computer. I let one of them use my desk computer, so we had just enough for everyone. Unfortunately, the computers decided to take forever to turn on. Sometimes they go into a weird sleep mode, and then you have to hold the power button until it goes off, and then hold it so it turns on... but of course today it took 15 minutes for the log in screen to appear. That pretty much used up our time.
During the time their computer screens were blank, my students decided it might make the computers turn on faster if they pressed buttons on the keyboards. They discovered that pressing buttons equals a lovely pinging sound. So they kept pressing buttons.
Did I tell them to stop? Yes. Did they keep doing it? Just one boy decided to keep pressing buttons. Finally, I gave up and told them to come back to their desks; we would just do Spanish vocabulary until lunch. So we did.
Another technology development for my classroom...
We talked to a teacher at our neighboring school about using an iPad as a "SMART board" tool. All you need is an iPad, a desktop computer, and a free app that lets the user control the desktop from the iPad. After school yesterday, Mr. E told me to check out Craigslist for used iPads. I found one for $300. At Mr. E's request, I sent the guy an email seeing if he would go down to $200. A few minutes later, they guy replied saying he'd go down to $250. Mr. E and I discussed, made a decision, got a check from the treasurer (money from a family memorial donation), and I emailed the guy to set up a meeting time.
8:15pm. Met at Kwik Trip. I went by myself, sat in my car for about 20 minutes, and got a call from this guy's girlfriend. Her boyfriend was still in class, so she was going to meet me. To cut a long story short (or at least, shorter), our school is now the owner of a slightly used iPad.
I wanted to play around with it when I got it home, but I don't have wireless internet, so I had to wait until I was at school. Then when I got to school, I remembered that my classroom doesn't have a strong wi-fi signal. I ended up standing in the school office, messing around with it by the copier. Our IT guys said that it would be an easy fix to get a stronger signal to my room, so I could in theory have an interactive whiteboard by the end of the week...
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Getting Down and Dirty in Art
Last week we started an art project involving modeling/sculpting with clay. The sixth graders had to choose two animals and combine them, making a mutated animal. Since we have a limited budget, we used a bucket of clay that has been sitting in the community art closet for who knows how long. And being that the clay was for everyone, they were going to have to mush up their creations afterwards (I did say I'd take a picture of their sculptures so we could put them on the website). Well, you can probably guess how that went over. Everyone wanted to keep their clay (even though they hadn't made anything yet) and wanted to know why they couldn't. One of my students said she had some clay at home that she would bring in; then we could all keep our projects. In the meantime, we practiced with the old clay. It was super tough and rather hard to work with, but it just gave our fingers a workout.
When the clay finally appeared at school, it turned out to be Plaster of Paris, not actual clay. We decided to try it anyway. This was the kind you have to mix with water; we didn't have any measuring cups, so I eyeballed it and mixed with my hands. Some of the sixth graders didn't want to have anything to do with it because it was so messy. Others wanted to dive right in. (The boys were actually the ones who didn't want to touch it). Eventually they all grabbed some of the goopy mix and tried to mold it. It didn't work so well. First it was way too slimy and wouldn't hold a form. Then it got too dry and started crumbling. When we tried to rehydrate the dry stuff, it ended up turning even harder. Finally we gave up and everyone went to go wash their hands.
Our classroom survived the invasion of Plaster of Paris; only the floor is spattered with white flecks. Thankfully the janitors are cleaning tomorrow night, so we won't have to deal with the mess for long.
After school, the parent of the sixth grader who had brought the plaster came up to me and asked if I wanted her to buy some modeling clay for our class. Wow! That would be great! She said she'd pick some up and drop it off at school probably on Wednesday. Sweet! Now we can work with some new clay, and get to keep the finished results. The Lord definitely provides.
When the clay finally appeared at school, it turned out to be Plaster of Paris, not actual clay. We decided to try it anyway. This was the kind you have to mix with water; we didn't have any measuring cups, so I eyeballed it and mixed with my hands. Some of the sixth graders didn't want to have anything to do with it because it was so messy. Others wanted to dive right in. (The boys were actually the ones who didn't want to touch it). Eventually they all grabbed some of the goopy mix and tried to mold it. It didn't work so well. First it was way too slimy and wouldn't hold a form. Then it got too dry and started crumbling. When we tried to rehydrate the dry stuff, it ended up turning even harder. Finally we gave up and everyone went to go wash their hands.
Our classroom survived the invasion of Plaster of Paris; only the floor is spattered with white flecks. Thankfully the janitors are cleaning tomorrow night, so we won't have to deal with the mess for long.
After school, the parent of the sixth grader who had brought the plaster came up to me and asked if I wanted her to buy some modeling clay for our class. Wow! That would be great! She said she'd pick some up and drop it off at school probably on Wednesday. Sweet! Now we can work with some new clay, and get to keep the finished results. The Lord definitely provides.
Friday, October 12, 2012
It's not an adventure until you get lost...
Well, I survived my first field trip. Our class of six went to the Pipestone National Monument and the Jeffers Petroglyphs today. Since there were only six students, all of us fit into my vehicle (I asked for a parent chaperone, but no one stepped forward). We headed out bright and early at 7:30 in the morning.
I thought they'd fall asleep on the way there, but no, they were super pumped up and loud for about the first hour and a half. It took two and a half hours to get to Pipestone, so I figured the energy couldn't last too long. The boys ended up falling asleep after they used up their energy. Of course the girls thought this was wildly funny and wanted to prank them while they slept.
Once we got there, we watched the video they have visitors watch and then we looked at a few displays in the Visitor's Center. My students kept trying to catch my eye when they spotted the "millions of years old" wording on the displays. We had talked about that before we left (something along the lines of God creating the earth about 6,000 years ago, but it looks way older, but most scientists don't believe in the Bible, so they say millions of years).
After getting the chance to cut some pipestone, we headed out to the trail. It was only about 45 degrees and windy, so we kind of hustled through the Circle Trail. That didn't stop my kids from wanting to climb on every rock that stuck out of the ground or peer into every pit that looked like a quarry. I had to keep reminding them that this area was sacred to the Native Americans, kind of like our church, so we needed to stay on the path.
I cannot believe how often I heard "Miss Heintz!" today. Wow. Every two seconds one of my kids would spot something or have a question and would just talk over each other so I would answer them. Whew! I'm glad they had so many questions and were so observant, but I barely had the chance to catch my breath!
Of course we had some technology troubles. One of the girls brought extra batteries, but all the batteries she brought were dead. I let her use my camera while we were at Pipestone until we got to a place where she could buy batteries. We ended up stopping at a gas station to buy her some, but they went dead after about 20 minutes at the Petroglyphs (they were the cheap-o brand, so what do you expect?).
Another girl didn't have any batteries for her camera and had asked one of the other 6th graders to bring some. Of course he forgot to bring them and she didn't have any money along to buy more. So she was moping around for about half the field trip. Not once did she think to ask someone to lend her money or to borrow someones camera. I didn't know what to do. I kind of wanted to step in, but my camera was already loaned out and I'm a firm believer in having students do their own problem solving. If she would've asked, I would've helped her, but since she didn't, she was kind of stuck. Eventually, she shook it off and ended up having a good time anyway.
We left Pipestone with just enough time to cruise over to the petroglyphs. I had intended us to eat our lunch outside, but since we were running a teensy bit late, we ate in my car on the way over. Since I had never been to the petroglyphs, I borrowed my family's GPS so we wouldn't get lost.
From leaving school, we ran into at least three detours due to road construction. I was kind of surprised that I was able to follow the detours, but follow them we did. When going from Pipestone to Jeffers, we had to cross the road that runs between Slayton and Marshall. Right now it is completely closed down because they're redoing the whole road. Somehow, by following the GPS, we ended up on a gravel road that wasn't on the GPS map. I remember this road had been closed for construction earlier this summer, but I didn't see any signs saying that people couldn't drive on it. Of course this road led to the completely closed road (which was being repaved), but again, there were no signs saying that I couldn't drive on it! I only had to go a little ways on the new road, so I thought maybe I should chance it and just drive on it. But then, there were those roller machines smoothing the pavement, and I had a vehicle full of 6th graders full of energy from their lunch.
I stopped in the middle of the road, trying to decide what to do. My kids were completely oblivious. I ended up chancing it. Crossed the road, no problem. Then, after passing through Currie, the GPS told me to take this gravel road off the main highway. Hmm, well, the GPS must know best. We ended up following this gravel road for about 20 miles. Every once in a while a sixth grader would pipe up, "Miss Heintz, where are we?" I wasn't too worried because the petroglyphs are kind of in the middle of nowhere; I was more worried that I had typed the wrong address into the GPS because the location "Jeffers Petroglyphs" was not a preset location. It was a pretty crazy drive. The GPS took us down minimum maintenance roads, up hills, around curves, all on gravel roads. It did shave some time off, so we got to the petroglyphs right on time (even after stopping for batteries).
The petroglyphs were so cool! We did some things in the visitors center first, mostly looking at artifacts. As soon as we got in the center, they started looking at the artifacts that were on display. Once again, my ears were filled with "Miss Heintz! Come look!" This time it was because they recognized a lot of the artifacts from the topics we've been studying in Minnesota History. I was quite proud of my 6th graders; they knew 90% of the questions our guide asked. She was very impressed with them. They asked great questions about science and social studies.
They all got the chance to throw an atlatl (a large spear) at a fake bison. Everyone missed (including me). But it was super windy, so the wind took or arrows. After everyone got a turn, we headed out to the petroglyphs. About halfway there, one of the boys asks, "Miss Heintz, can I go to the bathroom?" Are you kidding me? I asked everyone to go before we left! Of course he didn't have to go then, so he didn't. I told him he could go back to the visitors center and just come find us afterwards, but then the other 6th grade boy realized he had to go too. I thought it was kind of suspicious that both of them had to go, so I came along too.
As soon as they were finished, they wanted to run back out. I wanted to catch up to our group, so I told them they could and with that, they were off like rockets! Not wanting to be left behind, I sprinted right along with them. Man, it was hard to keep up! But I did! They kept turning around to look at me. I think they were kind of surprised that their teacher was holding her own with two speedy soccer players. Eventually their energy petered out and we walked the rest of the way.
Out on the petroglyphs, the wind was even worse. But it was a nice, sunny day, so we could see the carvings really well. Our guide still brought a board and a mirror along. This was to create a shadow and then direct the sun so the petroglyphs would stand out more. About halfway out to the through, one of the boys asked if we were almost done because he was cold. We wrapped it up and headed back to school.
Then came the lovely time for contacting parents to come pick them up. One girl needed to be dropped off in New Ulm, since we were passing through. One boy didn't have a cell phone, so he borrowed mine to call his mom. Another girl didn't have her cell phone along, but couldn't figure out how she was going to call her dad. Eventually I helped her come to the conclusion that she needed to ask to borrow someones phone. After she got done calling, she told me, "Miss Heintz, you have to drop me off at my house." Excuse me? I have to? It sounded like she was ordering me around. I said, "What?" and then she amended her statement, "I mean, could you drop me off?" "Well, since you asked so nicely, we could probably drop you off."
We got her dropped off and left one of the boys at a gas station (don't worry, his mom wanted him left there!). Everyone else came back to school, grabbed their pumpkins and spider plants, and headed home. I cleaned out my car. It's amazing how much garbage can accumulate from one day. Whew! All in a day's work.
I thought they'd fall asleep on the way there, but no, they were super pumped up and loud for about the first hour and a half. It took two and a half hours to get to Pipestone, so I figured the energy couldn't last too long. The boys ended up falling asleep after they used up their energy. Of course the girls thought this was wildly funny and wanted to prank them while they slept.
Once we got there, we watched the video they have visitors watch and then we looked at a few displays in the Visitor's Center. My students kept trying to catch my eye when they spotted the "millions of years old" wording on the displays. We had talked about that before we left (something along the lines of God creating the earth about 6,000 years ago, but it looks way older, but most scientists don't believe in the Bible, so they say millions of years).
After getting the chance to cut some pipestone, we headed out to the trail. It was only about 45 degrees and windy, so we kind of hustled through the Circle Trail. That didn't stop my kids from wanting to climb on every rock that stuck out of the ground or peer into every pit that looked like a quarry. I had to keep reminding them that this area was sacred to the Native Americans, kind of like our church, so we needed to stay on the path.
I cannot believe how often I heard "Miss Heintz!" today. Wow. Every two seconds one of my kids would spot something or have a question and would just talk over each other so I would answer them. Whew! I'm glad they had so many questions and were so observant, but I barely had the chance to catch my breath!
Of course we had some technology troubles. One of the girls brought extra batteries, but all the batteries she brought were dead. I let her use my camera while we were at Pipestone until we got to a place where she could buy batteries. We ended up stopping at a gas station to buy her some, but they went dead after about 20 minutes at the Petroglyphs (they were the cheap-o brand, so what do you expect?).
Another girl didn't have any batteries for her camera and had asked one of the other 6th graders to bring some. Of course he forgot to bring them and she didn't have any money along to buy more. So she was moping around for about half the field trip. Not once did she think to ask someone to lend her money or to borrow someones camera. I didn't know what to do. I kind of wanted to step in, but my camera was already loaned out and I'm a firm believer in having students do their own problem solving. If she would've asked, I would've helped her, but since she didn't, she was kind of stuck. Eventually, she shook it off and ended up having a good time anyway.
We left Pipestone with just enough time to cruise over to the petroglyphs. I had intended us to eat our lunch outside, but since we were running a teensy bit late, we ate in my car on the way over. Since I had never been to the petroglyphs, I borrowed my family's GPS so we wouldn't get lost.
From leaving school, we ran into at least three detours due to road construction. I was kind of surprised that I was able to follow the detours, but follow them we did. When going from Pipestone to Jeffers, we had to cross the road that runs between Slayton and Marshall. Right now it is completely closed down because they're redoing the whole road. Somehow, by following the GPS, we ended up on a gravel road that wasn't on the GPS map. I remember this road had been closed for construction earlier this summer, but I didn't see any signs saying that people couldn't drive on it. Of course this road led to the completely closed road (which was being repaved), but again, there were no signs saying that I couldn't drive on it! I only had to go a little ways on the new road, so I thought maybe I should chance it and just drive on it. But then, there were those roller machines smoothing the pavement, and I had a vehicle full of 6th graders full of energy from their lunch.
I stopped in the middle of the road, trying to decide what to do. My kids were completely oblivious. I ended up chancing it. Crossed the road, no problem. Then, after passing through Currie, the GPS told me to take this gravel road off the main highway. Hmm, well, the GPS must know best. We ended up following this gravel road for about 20 miles. Every once in a while a sixth grader would pipe up, "Miss Heintz, where are we?" I wasn't too worried because the petroglyphs are kind of in the middle of nowhere; I was more worried that I had typed the wrong address into the GPS because the location "Jeffers Petroglyphs" was not a preset location. It was a pretty crazy drive. The GPS took us down minimum maintenance roads, up hills, around curves, all on gravel roads. It did shave some time off, so we got to the petroglyphs right on time (even after stopping for batteries).
The petroglyphs were so cool! We did some things in the visitors center first, mostly looking at artifacts. As soon as we got in the center, they started looking at the artifacts that were on display. Once again, my ears were filled with "Miss Heintz! Come look!" This time it was because they recognized a lot of the artifacts from the topics we've been studying in Minnesota History. I was quite proud of my 6th graders; they knew 90% of the questions our guide asked. She was very impressed with them. They asked great questions about science and social studies.
They all got the chance to throw an atlatl (a large spear) at a fake bison. Everyone missed (including me). But it was super windy, so the wind took or arrows. After everyone got a turn, we headed out to the petroglyphs. About halfway there, one of the boys asks, "Miss Heintz, can I go to the bathroom?" Are you kidding me? I asked everyone to go before we left! Of course he didn't have to go then, so he didn't. I told him he could go back to the visitors center and just come find us afterwards, but then the other 6th grade boy realized he had to go too. I thought it was kind of suspicious that both of them had to go, so I came along too.
As soon as they were finished, they wanted to run back out. I wanted to catch up to our group, so I told them they could and with that, they were off like rockets! Not wanting to be left behind, I sprinted right along with them. Man, it was hard to keep up! But I did! They kept turning around to look at me. I think they were kind of surprised that their teacher was holding her own with two speedy soccer players. Eventually their energy petered out and we walked the rest of the way.
Out on the petroglyphs, the wind was even worse. But it was a nice, sunny day, so we could see the carvings really well. Our guide still brought a board and a mirror along. This was to create a shadow and then direct the sun so the petroglyphs would stand out more. About halfway out to the through, one of the boys asked if we were almost done because he was cold. We wrapped it up and headed back to school.
Then came the lovely time for contacting parents to come pick them up. One girl needed to be dropped off in New Ulm, since we were passing through. One boy didn't have a cell phone, so he borrowed mine to call his mom. Another girl didn't have her cell phone along, but couldn't figure out how she was going to call her dad. Eventually I helped her come to the conclusion that she needed to ask to borrow someones phone. After she got done calling, she told me, "Miss Heintz, you have to drop me off at my house." Excuse me? I have to? It sounded like she was ordering me around. I said, "What?" and then she amended her statement, "I mean, could you drop me off?" "Well, since you asked so nicely, we could probably drop you off."
We got her dropped off and left one of the boys at a gas station (don't worry, his mom wanted him left there!). Everyone else came back to school, grabbed their pumpkins and spider plants, and headed home. I cleaned out my car. It's amazing how much garbage can accumulate from one day. Whew! All in a day's work.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Surprise Visitor
Today during reading, we had a surprise visitor. Well, I knew he was coming, so it wasn't really a surprise. There was a church counsel meeting earlier this week, and I'm guessing the people at the meeting were asking Mr. E, the principal, how much time he's taking off to do administration duties (he's supposed to take off a half day each week, but that never happens). So finally today, he took the morning off so he could observe the teachers teaching in their classrooms. Yes, that included me.
In reading today, we were doing an activity with books by David Wiesner (an author/illustrator who likes to leave out the words in his stories). The 6th graders were practicing their summarizing skills by reading a book with only a few words, and then retelling the story to the rest of the class. Of course we did an example together in class before I set them loose. We read June 29th, 1999 by David Wiesner. I had warned my students ahead of time that Mr. E would be visiting, but he sneaked in so quietly, half the kids didn't notice he was there! Well, we were tucked away in the reading corner, and he just sat at one of the back tables, so that might be why they didn't notice him.
I was kind of worried that he wouldn't like what we were doing. In my class, our whole group instruction is usually spent working on a reading comprehension skill by reading a picture book together as a class with me modeling what to do. We got new reading textbooks this year, but they are used during small group instruction. I guess I'm just worried someone is going to have a problem with my using these "kids books" with 6th graders when they're capable of doing more complicated stuff.
Well, Mr. E had only good things to say about the lesson he observed. He was really interested in the book we were reading and the whole setup of my reading instruction. (He took notes, but he didn't show them to me).
Tomorrow is our first class field trip! All the 6th graders were super excited today and kept asking me questions about our trip. At the volleyball game after school, one of the girls said, "Miss Heintz, it's almost tomorrow!" I also overheard a conversation between one of my 6th grade boys and an 8th grader,
"I'm so pumped for tomorrow!"
"Why?"
"We're going on a field trip!"
"Yeah? So? We get to watch a movie and have pizza." (since I'm not around, the 7th and 8th graders don't have geography or science tomorrow and Mr. E is letting them watch a movie and have pizza)
"Well I'd rather go on a field trip over watching a movie." I was so proud! Of course, he's probably just excited because we're not going to have any homework tomorrow and he'll get to run around outside with his best friend all day.
In reading today, we were doing an activity with books by David Wiesner (an author/illustrator who likes to leave out the words in his stories). The 6th graders were practicing their summarizing skills by reading a book with only a few words, and then retelling the story to the rest of the class. Of course we did an example together in class before I set them loose. We read June 29th, 1999 by David Wiesner. I had warned my students ahead of time that Mr. E would be visiting, but he sneaked in so quietly, half the kids didn't notice he was there! Well, we were tucked away in the reading corner, and he just sat at one of the back tables, so that might be why they didn't notice him.
I was kind of worried that he wouldn't like what we were doing. In my class, our whole group instruction is usually spent working on a reading comprehension skill by reading a picture book together as a class with me modeling what to do. We got new reading textbooks this year, but they are used during small group instruction. I guess I'm just worried someone is going to have a problem with my using these "kids books" with 6th graders when they're capable of doing more complicated stuff.
Well, Mr. E had only good things to say about the lesson he observed. He was really interested in the book we were reading and the whole setup of my reading instruction. (He took notes, but he didn't show them to me).
Tomorrow is our first class field trip! All the 6th graders were super excited today and kept asking me questions about our trip. At the volleyball game after school, one of the girls said, "Miss Heintz, it's almost tomorrow!" I also overheard a conversation between one of my 6th grade boys and an 8th grader,
"I'm so pumped for tomorrow!"
"Why?"
"We're going on a field trip!"
"Yeah? So? We get to watch a movie and have pizza." (since I'm not around, the 7th and 8th graders don't have geography or science tomorrow and Mr. E is letting them watch a movie and have pizza)
"Well I'd rather go on a field trip over watching a movie." I was so proud! Of course, he's probably just excited because we're not going to have any homework tomorrow and he'll get to run around outside with his best friend all day.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Recess = Blast from the Past
Recess is such a roller coaster ride; every day is different and you have no idea what to expect. One day, the older kids will be kicking a soccer ball around in a serious game, the next they'll be chasing leaves around, trying to keep them from touching the ground. Today we were in the gym. Some girls decided to build a fort out of some mats and the boys decided to play "bombard the castle." At first the girls were okay with it, but the boys got a little too gung-ho. Of course after recess everyone was like, "Wow! That was the best recess ever! Let's do the exact same thing tomorrow!" (Seriously, I heard at least two people say this.)
I've decided I hate being recess monitor. You are in charge of the welfare of at least 20 kids, if not more, and you have to decide if you're going to let them do the things they want to do. They try to convince you that it's not dangerous, and when you tell them to pick something else to do, they stalk off grumbling about how all the other teachers let them do it. Ergh! I feel like such a bad-guy-stick-in-the-mud.
With the younger grades' recess, you go through the same thing. They start messing around and you have to remind them to go down the slide feet first, or they can't play anymore. They're always asking for underdogs (or underfish, as they like to call them) until you're run ragged. One of the other teachers told me that you can set a maximum limit on how many underdogs you give in a recess. Lately I've been setting the limit at two per person.
On the other hand, the little ones are extremely creative. Watching them play reminds me of the things I would play with my sisters when we were little. Some girls like to play campfire or cooking class or beauty parlor. I remember cooking up lots of tasty things with my two partners in crime. We'd usually make something with cabbage or rice (dandelions and grass seeds). Some girls only swing at recess. They like to sing "Red Solo Cup" by Toby Keith. I'm not sure if they know what they're singing about, but they sing it at the tops of their lungs.
Today there was a group of four little girls and one first grade boy playing some sort of make-believe game. They all went down the slide together and the boy pretended to be dead once they got to the bottom. All the girls huddled around him calling him Lightning, trying to get him to "wake up." My guess is that he was supposed to be a dog or a horse. Somehow the girls found some way to get their lovely pet back to life. This was after a couple of second grade boys stopped their game of football to investigate whether their first grade classmate was alright. Once they saw he was just pretending, they rolled their eyes and went back to their game.
I got a nice surprise at the end of the day today. I had stayed a little longer to help the 1st and 2nd graders get cleaned up from their art projects (we made underwater portholes out of paper plates). By the time I got back to my classroom, I was a little late. But my 6th graders had cleaned up the room, checked their mailboxes, and packed up for the end of the day. It was amazing! They were all ready to go in record time. We even had enough time left to sing a hymn before the buses came. AND we were the first class out to the bus. Wow. I was super impressed. Hopefully this behavior will continue into Friday when we go on our first field trip.
I've decided I hate being recess monitor. You are in charge of the welfare of at least 20 kids, if not more, and you have to decide if you're going to let them do the things they want to do. They try to convince you that it's not dangerous, and when you tell them to pick something else to do, they stalk off grumbling about how all the other teachers let them do it. Ergh! I feel like such a bad-guy-stick-in-the-mud.
With the younger grades' recess, you go through the same thing. They start messing around and you have to remind them to go down the slide feet first, or they can't play anymore. They're always asking for underdogs (or underfish, as they like to call them) until you're run ragged. One of the other teachers told me that you can set a maximum limit on how many underdogs you give in a recess. Lately I've been setting the limit at two per person.
On the other hand, the little ones are extremely creative. Watching them play reminds me of the things I would play with my sisters when we were little. Some girls like to play campfire or cooking class or beauty parlor. I remember cooking up lots of tasty things with my two partners in crime. We'd usually make something with cabbage or rice (dandelions and grass seeds). Some girls only swing at recess. They like to sing "Red Solo Cup" by Toby Keith. I'm not sure if they know what they're singing about, but they sing it at the tops of their lungs.
Today there was a group of four little girls and one first grade boy playing some sort of make-believe game. They all went down the slide together and the boy pretended to be dead once they got to the bottom. All the girls huddled around him calling him Lightning, trying to get him to "wake up." My guess is that he was supposed to be a dog or a horse. Somehow the girls found some way to get their lovely pet back to life. This was after a couple of second grade boys stopped their game of football to investigate whether their first grade classmate was alright. Once they saw he was just pretending, they rolled their eyes and went back to their game.
I got a nice surprise at the end of the day today. I had stayed a little longer to help the 1st and 2nd graders get cleaned up from their art projects (we made underwater portholes out of paper plates). By the time I got back to my classroom, I was a little late. But my 6th graders had cleaned up the room, checked their mailboxes, and packed up for the end of the day. It was amazing! They were all ready to go in record time. We even had enough time left to sing a hymn before the buses came. AND we were the first class out to the bus. Wow. I was super impressed. Hopefully this behavior will continue into Friday when we go on our first field trip.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
VIP Day
Yesterday was VIP day at our school. (Basically the same as Grandparent's Day, but since some of the students don't have grandparents to bring, we call it VIP day so they can bring someone else important).
We started the day by showing our VIPs the classroom. My 6th graders were quite proud of their spider plants and painted pumpkins! Afterwards, we played Pictionary on the whiteboards until it was time to eat donuts. I thought it was kind of strange, but the VIPs sat at the tables behind the desks and watched while the 6th graders sat at their desks and shouted out the answers. It got quite loud in our room. Eventually I made a rule that they had to wait five seconds before shouting out a guess. That worked pretty well, but then I would forget to count to five (because they were being quiet) and then they'd start yelling again.
I had some other visitors that day before donuts. Almost all the 7th and 8th grade boys showed up in my room to watch the Pictionary game. They didn't want to play; they just wanted to sit. I'm still not sure why they came to my room. One of the 1st grade girls brought her grandparents into my room to meet me. I thought it was so cute! Her grandma was quite impressed with our variety of plants.
Finally it was time for donuts and everyone poured out of my room to the gym (which was decorated with tables and chairs that I had helped set up the day before). After that came the entertainment for the morning. Since October is Fire Prevention Month, we had the Courtland Fire Department come out to give everyone a talk. They also brought some trucks for the kids to climb on, hoses for them to spray water from, and a fire safety house that they could walk through. The VIPs got to come along for all of this. The 3rd-8th graders were outside first. My class got to spray the fire hose. They LOVED it. They all got to hang onto the hose, while each person took turns running the nozzle. Not many of the VIPs wanted to try, but I thought I should while I had the chance.
At this point, my two 6th grade boys decided to stand on the edge of the spray and try not to get wet. There's a place on the nozzle that you can twist to adjust the wideness of the water spray. Of course I experimented with that, but as soon as I made the water go wider, the boys decided to run underneath the spray. Unfortunately, that was right about the time I turned the nozzle back to full spray. Yeah, they got wet. I was more worried about the pressure hurting them than I was about them getting wet. But they were fine. The VIPs were laughing, so I took that to be a good sign.
We went to the safety house next. We found out that our class would probably die if we were in the upstairs room of a house on fire. One of the boys volunteered to throw the metal escape ladder out the window, but he threw the wrong end out! His VIP ended up tossing the end back up to the top so he could lower the right end of the ladder. But by that time, we probably would've been toast if it were a real fire.
After touring the fire trucks, we headed inside to listen to the fire fighters talk about safety and making sure you have two ways out of your house in every room. The VIPs left, and we started our day. Man, my kids were crazy after their VIPs left!
After school, we had a volleyball game in Mankato. Normally I don't go to the away games, but since this one was close and it's the girls' second to last game, I decided to go anyway. The girls played 8 games! Our B squad played two against their 5th graders, two against the 6th grade, and the A squad played two games against the 7th graders, and two against the 8th graders. All total, both the A and B squad lost one game apiece.
We started the day by showing our VIPs the classroom. My 6th graders were quite proud of their spider plants and painted pumpkins! Afterwards, we played Pictionary on the whiteboards until it was time to eat donuts. I thought it was kind of strange, but the VIPs sat at the tables behind the desks and watched while the 6th graders sat at their desks and shouted out the answers. It got quite loud in our room. Eventually I made a rule that they had to wait five seconds before shouting out a guess. That worked pretty well, but then I would forget to count to five (because they were being quiet) and then they'd start yelling again.
I had some other visitors that day before donuts. Almost all the 7th and 8th grade boys showed up in my room to watch the Pictionary game. They didn't want to play; they just wanted to sit. I'm still not sure why they came to my room. One of the 1st grade girls brought her grandparents into my room to meet me. I thought it was so cute! Her grandma was quite impressed with our variety of plants.
Finally it was time for donuts and everyone poured out of my room to the gym (which was decorated with tables and chairs that I had helped set up the day before). After that came the entertainment for the morning. Since October is Fire Prevention Month, we had the Courtland Fire Department come out to give everyone a talk. They also brought some trucks for the kids to climb on, hoses for them to spray water from, and a fire safety house that they could walk through. The VIPs got to come along for all of this. The 3rd-8th graders were outside first. My class got to spray the fire hose. They LOVED it. They all got to hang onto the hose, while each person took turns running the nozzle. Not many of the VIPs wanted to try, but I thought I should while I had the chance.
At this point, my two 6th grade boys decided to stand on the edge of the spray and try not to get wet. There's a place on the nozzle that you can twist to adjust the wideness of the water spray. Of course I experimented with that, but as soon as I made the water go wider, the boys decided to run underneath the spray. Unfortunately, that was right about the time I turned the nozzle back to full spray. Yeah, they got wet. I was more worried about the pressure hurting them than I was about them getting wet. But they were fine. The VIPs were laughing, so I took that to be a good sign.
We went to the safety house next. We found out that our class would probably die if we were in the upstairs room of a house on fire. One of the boys volunteered to throw the metal escape ladder out the window, but he threw the wrong end out! His VIP ended up tossing the end back up to the top so he could lower the right end of the ladder. But by that time, we probably would've been toast if it were a real fire.
After touring the fire trucks, we headed inside to listen to the fire fighters talk about safety and making sure you have two ways out of your house in every room. The VIPs left, and we started our day. Man, my kids were crazy after their VIPs left!
After school, we had a volleyball game in Mankato. Normally I don't go to the away games, but since this one was close and it's the girls' second to last game, I decided to go anyway. The girls played 8 games! Our B squad played two against their 5th graders, two against the 6th grade, and the A squad played two games against the 7th graders, and two against the 8th graders. All total, both the A and B squad lost one game apiece.
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