Bring on the cookies!

Well, we made it to Christmas break!  My kids were super crazy today.  But we survived.  Our morning routine was thrown off because we had to move the bells over to church before school.  My 6th graders who ride the early bus headed over there with their bell teacher while I watched her 1st and 2nd graders. 

I kind of forgot about the two girls who ride the late bus.  When they got to school, they unpacked their stuff and then studied their memory work (probably thinking I was running an errand and would be back to the room soon).  A few minutes before the bell rang, they came down the main hallway, looking into all the rooms, "Have you seen Miss Heintz?"  It's nice to know I would be missed if I disappeared.

All of them did their homework!  Yesterday, a few had some late assignments and I told them they wouldn't get to open presents if they had unfinished work.  I pulled the same deal with the 7th and 8th graders (except they wouldn't get to watch the movie in the afternoon).  Man, the late work practically dove into my mailbox!

After memory work was said, we did a skit of the Christmas story for religion.  Next year I'm definitely finding a script.  First, we had to list the characters.  Then, we had to assign parts.  One of the boys wanted to be Mary.   I said no.  We ended up drawing sticks and people got to pick their parts.  None of the girls wanted to be Mary if a boy was going to be Joseph, but eventually we all had our parts.  And chaos broke loose.  Everyone was running all over the place, pretending to be barn animals or a baby or I don't even know.  They were diving into beanbags, running to different corners... it was a mess.  So I told them that if they couldn't handle doing a skit, we were going to work out of our religion books. 

Ugh. I should have just made them sit down and work out of the books.  But we were short on time and I wanted to let them do a skit, so we ended up doing it anyway.  And it was crazy.  After that, we decorated bags to put our little snowman tins in.  I kind of forgot about making an art project that could be a present for parents, but we decorated some tin cans with tissue paper to look like snowmen, and I figured we could stick them in a bag as a parent present. 

The only actual school stuff we did today was take a spelling test.  Some of the girls hadn't finished their stories yet, so I gave them time after the test to finish up.  Then we played Telephone Pictionary.  I had a stack of blank paper for each student.  For some reason, they had a hard time understanding how to play.  You just write a phrase about Christmas, and pass your papers to the person next to you.  Then they draw a picture on the next sheet that matches the phrase.  Then you pass it all over again going through the cycle of writing then drawing, writing then drawing, until your original stack of papers comes back to you.

I had students flipping their papers over, writing on the backs of the papers, drawing on the same page... two of them had to ask for help because they were so confused.  I wanted to do a second round (that probably would've gone better), but it was time to open presents so we could get to church on time for lunch.

They all loved their presents.  We did a different type of gift exchange (they wrote down something they wanted and their gift exchange partner only got the name of the person the initials of that gift).  A few of them got it right!  I gave them each a candy bar and a pack of paper with a cute design on it.  The only not so good part was that one boy doesn't like chocolate, so he didn't want a candy bar.  I felt kind of bad about that.  I got some cool presents too: a clip-on desk lamp, scarf, kitchen timer, lotion, an ornament... two of my students didn't give me a present, but that's okay. 

We walked over to church with the 1st and 2nd graders (their teacher was at church practicing bells with the 8th graders).  Wow.  It is pretty challenging to get 20 students ready to go out into the cold.  But we made it!  The board of education and their wives served our noon meal.  It was very tasty.  Then we had our last practice (which only had a few mistakes).  I think we're ready for Sunday night!

When we got back to school, we separated into the older kid group and the younger kid group.  The older kids watched "Tom and Huck" in Mr. E's room.  The younger group came into my room and borrowed the projector to watch a Kung Fu Panda Christmas movie.  I corrected the 7th and 8th graders' geography tests while they watched the movie.  Mr. E wanted to have them watch "Tom and Huck" because they'd never heard of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn.  I had seen the movie before, but it had been a while.  There was actually a bunch of swearing!  Every time someone in the movie let a word slip that maybe they shouldn't have, my kids all turned around to look at Mr. E and me.  Overall, they liked the movie. 

Afterwards, I passed back their tests and gave each of the 7-8th graders a candy bar.  When the dust had settled and all the kids were sent home, I shot some hoops in the gym to get rid of some energy (or maybe stress???).  One family of students were waiting for their mom to pick them up, so we played a few rounds of Lightning.  I lost most of the time, but I won once!!!  The oldest girl is in 7th grade and she is under the impression that I am an amazing basketball player because I swished two threes in a row once after a basketball game.  I've never been able to do it again, but she still thinks I'm the bomb.  I guess I won't complain about that! 

Our Christmas programs are Sunday night and Monday night, so I won't be able to head for home until after the program Christmas Eve (if the weather is good) or Christmas morning (if the weather is not so good).  Pray for good weather!!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Holy Smokes! It sure is windy today!  This morning we were going to bring the bells over to church to practice for the Christmas program, but it was way too windy, so we're moving them tomorrow.  Half of us ended up driving over to church instead of walking.  For some reason, a few of my kids wanted to walk/run to church.  They almost blew away!

Because of all the blowing, the snow kept drifting onto the sidewalks.  Thankfully, pretty much every boy at our school loves to shovel.  They were outside for about an hour shoveling!  Then after school, one of my 6th graders stayed to get picked up by his mom.  When she didn't show up for a while, he sauntered into my room and said, "I'm going to go outside to shovel for a while.  It's way too hot in here."  Hopefully it will calm down so we can have school tomorrow!  Otherwise we'll have to wait to open presents until after Christmas break!

Ah, young love...

So there was major drama going on in chapel today.  Remember that 1st grader and 4th grader that were "dating"?  Well, yesterday, the first grader bit one of his classmates and got in major trouble.  Today during chapel, his "girlfriend" wrote him a note telling him what his punishment was.  What did the note say?  "I am breaking up with you." 

Yep.  She broke up with him via note right before chapel.  When this little lady saw me watching her, she whispered, "Miss Heintz, did you see my note?  I broke up with him.  I need to date someone older plus it's been two days already."  Wow, talk about kicking 'em to the curb!

The drama increased even more after chapel when we practiced for our Christmas program.  All was going well until it was time to practice the procession and recession.  Somehow, these two star-crossed lovers ended up walking next to each other in the procession out.  The 4th grade girl was NOT happy.  She stomped out of church in a huff.  And then she refused to walk back in. 

Instead, she sat at a table in the back of the fellowship hall, pouting.  Trying not to roll my eyes, I asked her what the problem was. 

In our program, we have more students on one side of the church than are on the other.  If she had been paying attention, she would've learned that who you walk in with is not the same person that you walk out with.  Plus there were some people missing, so her aisle partner was not set in stone.  However, since she was lost in her own little world, she was absolutely positive she was going to be stuck with her ex-boyfriend.  Eventually I convinced her that she wouldn't have to walk by him and she reluctantly made her way back into church.  Lovely.  Now let's hope tomorrow doesn't put the two of them together again. 

Put your hands in the air!

This morning, my kids were being especially crazy before school started.  One of the 7th grade girls gave out presents (consisting mostly of candy) to her friends and they were certainly enjoying it!  I decided to give them something to do. 

I told them about this "magic" trick.  If you stand in a doorway with your arms at your sides and push them as hard as you can against the door posts for 30 seconds, then when you leave your hands at your sides, they'll magically float up.  That kept them entertained up until the bell rang. 

We spent most of the morning watching the movie Where the Red Fern Grows.  I previewed it last night (and cried at the end).  Before we watched the movie, I had my students describe how they pictured the characters in the book.  After the movie, they reviewed those descriptions and wrote how the movie was similar and how it differed from their idea. 

As an extra treat, I let them eat popcorn and drink pop during the movie.  We moved desks around, grabbed beanbags, and hunkered down to watch.  During the movie, I had them fill out Venn diagrams to compare the book and the movie.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the little details they remembered about the book!  Every two seconds it seemed like someone was saying, "But Miss Heintz! Didn't it happen this way in the book?"  Oh it warmed my heart!

At noon recess, I watched my two boys play basketball on the same team.  They were whipping the ball around, back and forth, passing it over and under and all around the eighth graders on the other team.  Wow! It was crazy!  It reminded me of the way Old Dan and Little Ann work together in Where the Red Fern Grows.  Cool stuff.  I told one of the boys and he just looked at me and laughed.  Hopefully he took it as a complement.

One Down, Four to Go

Our first Christmas program practice at church was today.  We got through everything (minus the bells) and there were no major mess-ups. 

I don't know, lately I've been feeling like a lazy teacher because I don't seem to be teaching anything!  The whole afternoon was basically shot because of program practice.  We squeezed all the other subjects into the morning to leave our afternoon open, but it still felt like I wasn't doing anything.  Grr... frustrating.

Last Friday, one of the 4th grade girls started "dating" a 1st grade boy.  It set the playground all abuzz with the news.  About five of them came running up to tell me.  They were planning a date for Monday (today).  She was going to wear her high heels and skirt.  I have no idea how they were planning to make school into a date but...  Anyway, the other teachers wanted to wait until Monday to see what happened; they thought it might blow over (this girl has been "in love" with a bunch of other boys already this year and it's changed on a daily/weekly basis).  But today rolled around and the two of them wanted to walk over to church together for Christmas practice.  Hmm.  It doesn't appear to be blowing over.  We'll have to see what happens tomorrow...

Surprise after-school visitors

I had some more surprise after-school visitors today.  The snowmobilers were back.  This time, they shut off their bikes, and knocked on my door.  The two boys were waiting for their friend and thought they'd stop in and say hello while they waited.  That was about a half an hour ago.  I think they're playing basketball in the gym right now, still waiting.

Speaking of basketball... I think next week, I might throw a little physics at the 7th and 8th graders, tying it in to basketball.  That might get them excited about science.  We'll have to see. 

Science supply update: we might be getting an aquarium!  Stay tuned.

Happier than a 6th grader riding a sled behind a snowmobile...

Today was super nice outside.  It was my turn to watch the 1-2nd graders during their afternoon recess and we went outside.  The weather was so gorgeous, it made me want to put on some snow pants and boots and run around making snowmen and snow forts.  Unfortunately, I was wearing shoes not appropriate for playing in the snow, so I was stuck on the playground (still covered in snow).  A few kids wanted me to give them underdogs, but I had to beg off because I didn't want my socks to get all wet from snow falling into my shoes.  I did give them pushes on the swings. 

During noon recess, one of the 8th graders said, "Hey Miss H, can you tell me when it's about eleven after twelve?"  I said sure, figuring he wanted to switch games at that time.  At the appointed hour, I let him know and he yelled out, "Sweet! It's almost 12/12/12 12:12."  Oh.  Right.  I forgot about that.

At lunch, one of the 6th graders said, "Hey Miss H, guess what I'm going to do after practice? ... [two of the 8th graders] are going to bring their snowmobiles to school and they're going to pull me around on a sled behind them."  I just stared at him, finally saying, "I don't think that's a good idea."  Immediately, the rest of the class tried to convince me that it was fine, mostly by arguing that they do it at home all the time, or they've done it before with their dads.  I ended the argument (at least in my mind) by saying something along the lines of it not being safe and they shouldn't do it at school and if they wanted to, they should talk to Mr. E about it first.  Like they would actually do that.  The worst part is, I think their parents were going to drop off the snowmobiles at school. 

Anyway, during Christmas program practice, one of the 8th graders talked about the snowmobiling plan for after practice (I had forgotten about it), so I went to talk to the principal.  I felt like such a little snitch!  But really, if any of them got hurt on school property, we would be held responsible.  I think Mr. E talked to them after school, but shortly after boys' basketball practice was over, I heard the gunning of a snowmobile engine.  Grr.  Those boys.  Well, I know my 6th grader is alive; he came back into the classroom for his book bag. 

I spent most of my time after school trying to scrounge up some science equipment for our school.  One of my professors had suggested calling some of the nearby colleges to see if they had any surplus or old equipment being replaced.  I did and it turns out they have a whole department for that kind of stuff.  I'm still waiting to hear back what things they can give us, but hopefully it will be something good!

2 hour late start!

Yay! We had a two-hour late start today.  I ended up cleaning my apartment and wrapping Christmas presents.

Our whole day was super crazy because of the mix-up.  My kids were okay in the morning, but they got a little spunky after lunch.  But we didn't have all that much time together because of switching class for math and then for Christmas program practice.

The 7th and 8th graders were actually excited to come to class today!  Of course, that was because they were going to get their tests back and I promised if no one failed, I would bring them gingersnaps.  No one failed, so they got cookies.  One boy asked if I would give them cookies for Christmas.  Another asked if they could have a third cookie.  I guess if my job as a teacher falls through, I can always bake gingersnaps! 

The 6th graders spent some time this afternoon making a card for the 3rd and 4th grade teacher.  His birthday was on Saturday.  The cards are a secret and are currently hidden under a poster on the lab table, waiting for students to sign.  It's a good thing I hid it because Mr. D came into my room at the end of the day to chat for a bit and he ended up standing right by the lab table. 

My Own Personal Weather Forcasters

Holy Buckets!  Today was definitely an indication snow was coming.  My normally calm 6th graders were off the wall!  It's so interesting how students' moods/actions correspond to changes in the weather.  They're almost better weather predictors than actual weathermen!

It didn't help that our schedule was messed around.  The 7th and 8th graders won a pizza party a few weeks ago and they finally cashed it in this afternoon.  Of course that meant they couldn't show up for my class.  We ended up switching for a half an hour in the morning so the 6th graders could have math and they could have their geography test.  (I promised to bring them cookies next week if none of them failed the test.  Hopefully I have to bake something this weekend). 

In the afternoon, we had program practice.  Some of them weren't singing, so I kept them in from recess for a while to practice the songs they hadn't sung with the whole group (a consequence we had discussed prior to practice).  Then we ended up going outside.

Half the class (the girls) wanted to come in early because they were freezing.  We stayed outside (there was only five minutes left).  Then we had art.  It involved balloons.  Never a good idea for hyper 6th graders to do a project with balloons.  They were grabbing them out of the bag, not listening, blowing them up way too big for our project... it was pretty much a disaster.  The girls finally settled down, but one boy just kept going.  So I sent him to his desk.  I don't think it was the best choice; he sat there and didn't care that he was at his desk.  But it was helping calm the other students down. 

We still had a half an hour left after art.  I didn't want to teach science because we're starting a new unit next week and they were so off the wall, I didn't think they'd pay any attention to me at all.  We ended up exchanging names for our Christmas gift exchange.  Then we cleaned the room and went home.  Yikes. 

About 45 minutes after school cleared out, it started snowing.  Yep, the kids were right, yet again.

You want the good news? Or the bad news?

I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news.  The good news is that Christmas is going to be here in less than three weeks!  But the bad news is that Christmas is going to be here in three weeks... Our faculty met after school today for our December meeting.  We had a surprise baby shower for the kindergarten teacher who is expecting a baby any day now.  She had no idea we were planning a surprise party!  There was cake, juice, a fancy table cloth and napkins... there was even some candlelight!  But after the cake and devotions we got down to business. 

Sigh.  The frustrations are back.  The majority of our time was spent talking about the Christmas program, which normally sounds like a good thing.  But there's some good news and there's some bad news. 

Bad news: the students don't know the Christmas music for hand bells, so they're going to need extra time to practice during the week.  This drastically cuts into my geography/science time.  The good news: During the extra time they're practicing, I get to read aloud to the 1st and 2nd graders.  And we're switching geography and science days so we don't always cut science short. 

Good news: we're actually staying on schedule with my lesson plans for geography and science.  We're barely squeezing in all the countries in the world in geography, so it's really important to stay on track.  And now the bad news: it turns out that during the entire last week of classes before Christmas break we are not going to departmentalize.  That means we're not going to switch classes.  So I will not be having science or geography with the 7th and 8th graders.  The good news= not as much to correct.  The bad news= having to completely change up my lesson plans so we can have a test before Christmas (so they don't forget everything over their break).

But let's end on a positive note:  Bad news- Adam and Eve sinned so now we are all dead in sin.  Good news- God sent his Son to take our place and wash away our sins, so now we will be with Him in heaven!

Vomitrocious

Well, I had my first encounter with cleaning up vomit at school today, after school actually.  One of the 8th grade girls had been feeling sick all day, and during practice she just couldn't hold it in anymore.  I was in my room at my desk correcting papers when some of the other players came dashing in to borrow my paper towels. 

Thankfully, I had some of that absorbent stuff you sprinkle over the mess, so I brought it out to the gym.  The 1st and 2nd grade teacher came and helped sweep it up.  I held the garbage bag. 

This poor girl!  When she started to throw up, instead of letting it fall where it may, she stuck her head inside her shirt so it got all over her clothes.  She had some extra clothes in her gym bag and ended up changing right there in the gym while her teammates kept guard at the doors.  Our first basketball game is tomorrow; hopefully no one else gets sick.