This morning, I woke up to my radio alarm clock blaring out the names of schools called two hours late. I thought to myself, "What are the odds of having school two hours late today. It wasn't supposed to snow. We've already had two out of three days this week two hours late, they're not going to call it again." A few seconds later: school is two hours late because of the cold. Because our school is right on the borderline between two counties, we use two different bus services (corresponding with two different schools). This time, only one school called two hours late. The other one was still going.
So I still had to come to school at the normal time. I just had 1 student in the morning. The other ones were either on the two hour late bus, or their parents were going to drop them off later so they could sleep in.
We did a Classroom Switcheroo this afternoon as our activity. The kids had a blast! We played a couple of games in my room (kind of hard to explain in writing), but a few of the older kids said, "Hey, we should play this game at the tournament this weekend!" So I think it was a big hit.
The 7th grade girls were all abuzz with my love life (again). They now think I should date one of the cute boys from the BLC drum-line. They kept asking why not, or why wasn't I already dating him, and how old is he anyway? Are you older than him? Then they wanted to give me a makeover. I told them not during school. I thought about asking if they thought I really needed a makeover, but I decided I didn't want to know the answer to that.
If school is two hours late tomorrow, I don't have to come to school at all! All six of my students are leaving at 11:15 to head down to Cutty's, the place all the families stay at for this basketball tournament, to get checked into their rooms. The boys play at 3:00. So if school is two hours late, we'd only be at school for 45 minutes. Not really worth it.
In other news, I found out I received a $100 grant to use in the purchase of a classroom pet! Woohoo! I think with my extra time on Friday, I'm going to head to a pet store to check out the creatures they have.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
It's only Wednesday???
Wow this week seems to go by slowly! We had another late start yesterday, and it was Crazy Day, so everyone was dressed crazily. As you might have guessed, our day was very crazy. Last night after the basketball games we moved tables and chairs over from church. I helped set them up and then helped decorate the tables. Whew! What a job! At least we had some parents stick around to help. After that was lesson planning for the next day of school.
Today was Sunday-best Day, so everyone wore church clothes to church. We had chapel right before lunch in the gym and everyone's parents/grandparents came to eat lunch at school. Following lunch, the BLC drum-line came and played. Everyone seemed to enjoy hearing them. After their program was finished, we dismissed the parents and then our students got the chance to try out the drums. We divided up by ages and rotated to each drum (or cymbal). They had a blast! For the rest of the day, students were practicing their drumming on the table tops. One of the 8th graders asked, "Miss H, do you think I should be a drummer?" I said yes, he should, but not now during our class.
I had a Board of Education member/parent sit in on our science class today. He stayed after drum-line and plopped himself in a desk to watch. We were playing a game that helped us review pulley systems, so I'm sure it was interesting for him to watch! The boys took a while to settle down and then one of them got a bloody nose, so he was out for most of the game. I think overall it went well. Hopefully he liked what he saw.
After school, I had to deal with one of my 6th graders. I walked into our classroom after lunch to find a bunch of yardsticks lying on the floor and this student poised in the act of throwing another one across the room. He knows there is a "no throwing policy" in our classroom. So I told him I'd think about what consequences he'd have to face and let him know later on. I decided that he'd have to miss our afternoon recess to write a list of all the reasons why he shouldn't throw things in the classroom.
Well, he ended up only having about 5-10 minutes to write the list, not like the 30 minutes I was expecting. So I told him to stay after basketball practice to continue writing the list. He was having trouble coming up with the last one. Then, one of the 8th graders gave him an idea, so I had him write down two more ideas. Of course, he pitched a fit, so I gave him the choice: he could either write down two more reasons not to throw things, or he could come into our classroom and throw yardsticks for 10 minutes without stopping. When he heard that last one, his eyes lit up and he said, "for real?" It was so hard to keep a straight face. But I think I did it. And I told him I was serious. Then he tried to bargain, "Can I just do it tomorrow morning?" No. "How about for just five minutes?" Nope, 10. "Okay, I'll just come up with two more ideas." So that was that.
Here are the ideas he came up with:
Today was Sunday-best Day, so everyone wore church clothes to church. We had chapel right before lunch in the gym and everyone's parents/grandparents came to eat lunch at school. Following lunch, the BLC drum-line came and played. Everyone seemed to enjoy hearing them. After their program was finished, we dismissed the parents and then our students got the chance to try out the drums. We divided up by ages and rotated to each drum (or cymbal). They had a blast! For the rest of the day, students were practicing their drumming on the table tops. One of the 8th graders asked, "Miss H, do you think I should be a drummer?" I said yes, he should, but not now during our class.
I had a Board of Education member/parent sit in on our science class today. He stayed after drum-line and plopped himself in a desk to watch. We were playing a game that helped us review pulley systems, so I'm sure it was interesting for him to watch! The boys took a while to settle down and then one of them got a bloody nose, so he was out for most of the game. I think overall it went well. Hopefully he liked what he saw.
After school, I had to deal with one of my 6th graders. I walked into our classroom after lunch to find a bunch of yardsticks lying on the floor and this student poised in the act of throwing another one across the room. He knows there is a "no throwing policy" in our classroom. So I told him I'd think about what consequences he'd have to face and let him know later on. I decided that he'd have to miss our afternoon recess to write a list of all the reasons why he shouldn't throw things in the classroom.
Well, he ended up only having about 5-10 minutes to write the list, not like the 30 minutes I was expecting. So I told him to stay after basketball practice to continue writing the list. He was having trouble coming up with the last one. Then, one of the 8th graders gave him an idea, so I had him write down two more ideas. Of course, he pitched a fit, so I gave him the choice: he could either write down two more reasons not to throw things, or he could come into our classroom and throw yardsticks for 10 minutes without stopping. When he heard that last one, his eyes lit up and he said, "for real?" It was so hard to keep a straight face. But I think I did it. And I told him I was serious. Then he tried to bargain, "Can I just do it tomorrow morning?" No. "How about for just five minutes?" Nope, 10. "Okay, I'll just come up with two more ideas." So that was that.
Here are the ideas he came up with:
- it is a rule
- it will hurt people
- it is bad to
- the ruler could break
- it can make people cry
- it causes bad influence
- you will get in trouble for it
Monday, January 28, 2013
What a day!
National Lutheran Schools Week kicked off with a bang!
My whole class was present and accounted for for the first time in a week. My other 6th grade boy was back, but he'll be gone again tomorrow to get the wires/tubes taken out of his nose. He said he's feeling a lot better and hopes to be able to play in the basketball tournament this weekend. All day he was super loud, shouting when he didn't need to, getting really giggly... I think it was probably because he was cooped up at home for so long. He's not supposed to overexert himself, so he couldn't do anything at recess. He was SUPER bored. I saw him walking around with some hula hoops around his arms, wandering aimlessly around the gym.
We had a two hour late start this morning because of the icy roads. Last week we didn't have time to do God's Playbook, so we took the time after devotions this morning to act out a skit about cyber-bullying. I had one of the 7th graders read some mean things about Mrs. T. When she realized what she had to read, she literally took a step back and then she read through them as fast as she could. As soon as the kids heard what she was reading, they all gasped. They couldn't believe anyone would actually say that stuff out loud. And then Mrs. T came in and sad down right next to her. And she had to read the same stuff again to her face. She was super embarrassed. But our point got across.
Then we had some missionaries from Africa speak to our class. They were amazing! They brought so many visual aids that the kids could touch! Because they came early, my 6th graders got the chance to check out the stuff the missionaries had brought. The missionaries put on some traditional African dress and were very friendly. I had such a good time listening to them. And the 7th and 8th graders were paying really close attention too! Oh, it warmed my heart; I was so proud of them! I will most definitely ask the Loewes to come speak to our class again.
We ended the day with a service project. The whole school got together in the gym to cut out snowflakes and make place mats for the nursing home. Tomorrow is Minute to Win it- water edition. And everyone will be dressed up for Crazy Day. I didn't dress up for today's PJ Day, but I promised to dress up tomorrow. I wish I had a lab coat to wear... crazy scientist anyone? But my skeleton shirt will have to do. Maybe I'll wear some crazy mismatched socks or something.
My whole class was present and accounted for for the first time in a week. My other 6th grade boy was back, but he'll be gone again tomorrow to get the wires/tubes taken out of his nose. He said he's feeling a lot better and hopes to be able to play in the basketball tournament this weekend. All day he was super loud, shouting when he didn't need to, getting really giggly... I think it was probably because he was cooped up at home for so long. He's not supposed to overexert himself, so he couldn't do anything at recess. He was SUPER bored. I saw him walking around with some hula hoops around his arms, wandering aimlessly around the gym.
We had a two hour late start this morning because of the icy roads. Last week we didn't have time to do God's Playbook, so we took the time after devotions this morning to act out a skit about cyber-bullying. I had one of the 7th graders read some mean things about Mrs. T. When she realized what she had to read, she literally took a step back and then she read through them as fast as she could. As soon as the kids heard what she was reading, they all gasped. They couldn't believe anyone would actually say that stuff out loud. And then Mrs. T came in and sad down right next to her. And she had to read the same stuff again to her face. She was super embarrassed. But our point got across.
Then we had some missionaries from Africa speak to our class. They were amazing! They brought so many visual aids that the kids could touch! Because they came early, my 6th graders got the chance to check out the stuff the missionaries had brought. The missionaries put on some traditional African dress and were very friendly. I had such a good time listening to them. And the 7th and 8th graders were paying really close attention too! Oh, it warmed my heart; I was so proud of them! I will most definitely ask the Loewes to come speak to our class again.
We ended the day with a service project. The whole school got together in the gym to cut out snowflakes and make place mats for the nursing home. Tomorrow is Minute to Win it- water edition. And everyone will be dressed up for Crazy Day. I didn't dress up for today's PJ Day, but I promised to dress up tomorrow. I wish I had a lab coat to wear... crazy scientist anyone? But my skeleton shirt will have to do. Maybe I'll wear some crazy mismatched socks or something.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Blustery Day
It sure is windy outside! We had a little bit of snow on and off again for most of the morning... and then the wind picked up. For a few minutes I thought they might cancel school early! But then the snow all blew away.
National Lutheran Schools Week is starting on Monday. To kick off our week, the students are singing and playing hand bells for the church service Sunday morning. Since it was -30 on Wednesday when we normally walk to church for Chapel, we didn't get the chance to practice at church. The music teacher decided to wait until Friday (today) hoping the weather would be better. Not so much. We ended up having to shuttle the kids over to church in our vehicles. Each teacher only had to make a few trips.
We were supposed to do God's Playbook today (our anti-bullying program), but we ran out of time. This week's topic is/was cyberbullying. The 1-2nd grade teacher and I came up with a little skit/demonstration type thing to do for our school to give them an example of what cyberbullying actually is. The 1-2nd grade teacher is going to be waiting in the hallway. I'm going to ask one of the 7th graders to read sentences that are on a piece of paper. The sentences are things like, "Mrs. T's clothes look ugly. She's the worst teacher in the world. I don't want Mrs. T to come back next year; she should just leave. I heard she hates the 8th grade boys and tries to get them in trouble." And there are others.
Then, I'm going to call Mrs. T back into the room and this 7th grader is going to have to read the list to her face. We're hoping the 7th grader won't be able to do it or will rush through really fast. Then we can ask, "Why did you read it so fast the second time? How did you feel after saying those things the first time? After the second time?" "Mrs. T, how did you feel while this person read those things about you?" So hopefully everything goes as planned.
In other news, my 6th graders now want to get dwarf seahorses instead of fish. We found a place that sells them for $15/horse plus $30 shipping and handling. They ship overnight. I think I want to get some experience raising fish before I spend that much on a sea creature. The 6th graders have pretty much finished their research. Now we just need to vote/figure out which kind to get.
The 6th grade boy who broke his nose has been absent all week. He's been having a rough time after his surgery, but hopefully he'll be back Monday so he can be a part of this process. If not, it would be a good excuse to buy me a few more days before choosing a pet.
Tonight I'm going to do all my correcting for the weekend, or at least, I'm going to try. Saturday, I'm going to go home to help clean out the lambing shed for lambing this year. If there's time, I'm hoping to shear some of the ewes so I don't have so much to do next weekend.
Next weekend is the big Lakefield basketball tournament. Everyone at our school stays at a hotel in Iowa called Cutty's. It's like a family vacation for everyone. I probably had about 8 kids ask me today if I was going to Cutty's. And by Cutty's, they meant the basketball tournament. My brother Nolan will be playing at the tournament (at least, as far as I know), so hopefully we get the sheep stuff done so I can go watch him (and my 6-8th graders) play basketball. Preferably not against each other. Mr. E was trying to scope out the competition and asked how good the Fulda teams are this year. I had no idea, so I don't think I gave too much away.
National Lutheran Schools Week is starting on Monday. To kick off our week, the students are singing and playing hand bells for the church service Sunday morning. Since it was -30 on Wednesday when we normally walk to church for Chapel, we didn't get the chance to practice at church. The music teacher decided to wait until Friday (today) hoping the weather would be better. Not so much. We ended up having to shuttle the kids over to church in our vehicles. Each teacher only had to make a few trips.
We were supposed to do God's Playbook today (our anti-bullying program), but we ran out of time. This week's topic is/was cyberbullying. The 1-2nd grade teacher and I came up with a little skit/demonstration type thing to do for our school to give them an example of what cyberbullying actually is. The 1-2nd grade teacher is going to be waiting in the hallway. I'm going to ask one of the 7th graders to read sentences that are on a piece of paper. The sentences are things like, "Mrs. T's clothes look ugly. She's the worst teacher in the world. I don't want Mrs. T to come back next year; she should just leave. I heard she hates the 8th grade boys and tries to get them in trouble." And there are others.
Then, I'm going to call Mrs. T back into the room and this 7th grader is going to have to read the list to her face. We're hoping the 7th grader won't be able to do it or will rush through really fast. Then we can ask, "Why did you read it so fast the second time? How did you feel after saying those things the first time? After the second time?" "Mrs. T, how did you feel while this person read those things about you?" So hopefully everything goes as planned.
In other news, my 6th graders now want to get dwarf seahorses instead of fish. We found a place that sells them for $15/horse plus $30 shipping and handling. They ship overnight. I think I want to get some experience raising fish before I spend that much on a sea creature. The 6th graders have pretty much finished their research. Now we just need to vote/figure out which kind to get.
The 6th grade boy who broke his nose has been absent all week. He's been having a rough time after his surgery, but hopefully he'll be back Monday so he can be a part of this process. If not, it would be a good excuse to buy me a few more days before choosing a pet.
Tonight I'm going to do all my correcting for the weekend, or at least, I'm going to try. Saturday, I'm going to go home to help clean out the lambing shed for lambing this year. If there's time, I'm hoping to shear some of the ewes so I don't have so much to do next weekend.
Next weekend is the big Lakefield basketball tournament. Everyone at our school stays at a hotel in Iowa called Cutty's. It's like a family vacation for everyone. I probably had about 8 kids ask me today if I was going to Cutty's. And by Cutty's, they meant the basketball tournament. My brother Nolan will be playing at the tournament (at least, as far as I know), so hopefully we get the sheep stuff done so I can go watch him (and my 6-8th graders) play basketball. Preferably not against each other. Mr. E was trying to scope out the competition and asked how good the Fulda teams are this year. I had no idea, so I don't think I gave too much away.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Smells like Home Depot in here...
Today was the first day the 7th and 8th graders got to see the new addition to our classroom. Earlier in the week, some of them had commented on the "sandy gym floor" (sawdust left over from the closet addition). When they first walked into the room, one girl commented, "Hey, it smells like Home Depot in here!" Another 7th grader asked me if the boards they used were made of pine. I have no clue. All I know is that it's taking up a lot of space right now. But I did get my reading corner to fit! It's just way smaller.
All day, students were starting to come up to the front to hand things in... and then they remembered I moved the mailbox to the back of the room. This is going to take some getting used to.
This summer I'm going to paint the closet the same blue as our classroom walls. The parent who built it is going to put some trim on the corners to make it look prettier. I think I'm going to move my desk over by the closet and then put the reading corner where my desk is currently. There is just not enough room for all the books! Plus I'm planning to get even more books, and its current location doesn't give a lot of room to grow.
The piano got a new home, right in front of the cabinets. Now we have a lot of extra counter space. I believe we are going to use it as a stand for a class pet or two...
Today, I had the 6th graders brainstorming what type of pet we should get for our classroom. We set up general amount of money to spend on our pet, thought about information we should know before buying a pet, and then split up the possible choices to do research. Right now, our choices are a hedgehog, fish, a lizard, or a turtle. In the fish category, piranha, jellyfish, glow fish, and dragon fish were all possibilities. They are so excited!!! I was going to keep it a secret and just have a pet show up one day, but this is just as fun!
Friday, January 18, 2013
A little bit of remodeling...
Well, I got all the bookshelves moved out of the reading corner. My classroom doesn't look like much of a classroom anymore. There were about six people who stuck around to help me move everything. I just hope I can get some helpers to put everything back where it belongs on Monday afternoon!
My poor reading corner is so empty!
We had to take all the books off the shelves so they were easier to move.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Sound of Silence
Silence.
It was what everyone heard at 2:45pm when all the students tromped out to the bus. This was the first time all week we haven't had some leftover kids floating around school. Monday and Tuesday there were basketball games and Wednesday was basketball practice. It made school seem a bit like a ghost town.
Unfortunately, I wasn't too productive after school. The tech guys installed Windows 8 AND Microsoft Office 2013 on Mr. E's computer... and he was just getting used to Microsoft 2010. Let's just say he's not a happy camper when it comes to his computers. So every time he has something he can't figure out, he asks me. Usually I can figure it out.
Our second quarter ends on Friday, so we don't have school Monday to get all our grades in. Tuesday afternoon we're going to a nearby school for a play put on my MSU college students. The theme of this play is anti-bullying, so it will fit in perfectly with our God's Team plan.
We had a PTL meeting last night. It went from 6:00-8:15pm. Whew. I left everything at school, went home, heated leftovers, ate, and went to bed. Then I was back at school bright and early this morning at 7! It's like I never left.
But tomorrow is Friday!
It was what everyone heard at 2:45pm when all the students tromped out to the bus. This was the first time all week we haven't had some leftover kids floating around school. Monday and Tuesday there were basketball games and Wednesday was basketball practice. It made school seem a bit like a ghost town.
Unfortunately, I wasn't too productive after school. The tech guys installed Windows 8 AND Microsoft Office 2013 on Mr. E's computer... and he was just getting used to Microsoft 2010. Let's just say he's not a happy camper when it comes to his computers. So every time he has something he can't figure out, he asks me. Usually I can figure it out.
Our second quarter ends on Friday, so we don't have school Monday to get all our grades in. Tuesday afternoon we're going to a nearby school for a play put on my MSU college students. The theme of this play is anti-bullying, so it will fit in perfectly with our God's Team plan.
We had a PTL meeting last night. It went from 6:00-8:15pm. Whew. I left everything at school, went home, heated leftovers, ate, and went to bed. Then I was back at school bright and early this morning at 7! It's like I never left.
But tomorrow is Friday!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day...
I learned my lesson well today.
This morning, I wanted to finish up a bag of cereal I've had in my cupboard for a while: cinnamon toast crunch. It's been languishing in the cupboard partly because it's so sugary and partly because there wasn't a full serving left. But this morning I decided to finish it off.
I fully intended to eat something else in addition to the half a serving left in the bag, but I was correcting papers and drinking tea, so I didn't think of it until it was too late and I was walking out the door. The funny thing was that I didn't feel that hungry most of the morning. And then...
After English, right before lunch, I was kneeling down helping a student with her homework. All of a sudden I felt light headed and my vision started blacking out. I sat down on my heels, hoping it would go away. It didn't work. There was ringing in my ears and then I suddenly felt really really warm. I remembered my mom telling us about times she would get low blood sugar suddenly and have to eat something sugary right away, so I dug around in my purse for a lifesaver or something.
Thankfully, I had a granola bar stashed there and quickly took a bite. I didn't want to worry my kids, so I was trying to keep going with the normal routine. One of the boys noticed me eating during class and said something about me breaking the rules, but I just ignored him. I didn't want to explain what was going on.
We got started doing our math facts for the day. Lunch was in just three minutes. My thoughts were going wild and I almost started to panic. What would happen to me? Would someone have to drive me to the hospital? Who would take over my class? Would they be able to do the things we had planned for the day? I figured I would hold out until lunch, and then ask Mr. E what to do.
My vision started clearing up after a few minutes and then I felt normal enough to go to lunch. Of course, today of all days we were having french toast sticks with sugar and a fatty piece of ham. There was just enough for everyone, so I couldn't even beg extras from the cook. But there was some bread and peanut butter, and I took full advantage of that.
I ended up not telling Mr. E. I didn't want him to worry and I'm pretty sure that it was just because of my poor breakfast choice this morning. Of course during recess, all the kids wanted me to play with them: jump roping, basketball... I was feeling better, so I did jump a little bit. But all day I just felt off. Hopefully a decent supper and a good night of sleep will get me back to normal.
This morning, I wanted to finish up a bag of cereal I've had in my cupboard for a while: cinnamon toast crunch. It's been languishing in the cupboard partly because it's so sugary and partly because there wasn't a full serving left. But this morning I decided to finish it off.
I fully intended to eat something else in addition to the half a serving left in the bag, but I was correcting papers and drinking tea, so I didn't think of it until it was too late and I was walking out the door. The funny thing was that I didn't feel that hungry most of the morning. And then...
After English, right before lunch, I was kneeling down helping a student with her homework. All of a sudden I felt light headed and my vision started blacking out. I sat down on my heels, hoping it would go away. It didn't work. There was ringing in my ears and then I suddenly felt really really warm. I remembered my mom telling us about times she would get low blood sugar suddenly and have to eat something sugary right away, so I dug around in my purse for a lifesaver or something.
Thankfully, I had a granola bar stashed there and quickly took a bite. I didn't want to worry my kids, so I was trying to keep going with the normal routine. One of the boys noticed me eating during class and said something about me breaking the rules, but I just ignored him. I didn't want to explain what was going on.
We got started doing our math facts for the day. Lunch was in just three minutes. My thoughts were going wild and I almost started to panic. What would happen to me? Would someone have to drive me to the hospital? Who would take over my class? Would they be able to do the things we had planned for the day? I figured I would hold out until lunch, and then ask Mr. E what to do.
My vision started clearing up after a few minutes and then I felt normal enough to go to lunch. Of course, today of all days we were having french toast sticks with sugar and a fatty piece of ham. There was just enough for everyone, so I couldn't even beg extras from the cook. But there was some bread and peanut butter, and I took full advantage of that.
I ended up not telling Mr. E. I didn't want him to worry and I'm pretty sure that it was just because of my poor breakfast choice this morning. Of course during recess, all the kids wanted me to play with them: jump roping, basketball... I was feeling better, so I did jump a little bit. But all day I just felt off. Hopefully a decent supper and a good night of sleep will get me back to normal.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Is it Friday yet?
Wow, the boys were full of energy today. They don't normally run me ragged, but for some reason... maybe the weather is changing.
After school, I met with Mrs. E to go over plans for National Lutheran Schools Week. We figured out all the dress up days (the students voted for their favorites), and decided on our afternoon activities. Since the theme is "Baptized for this Moment", we're trying to tie in water as much as possible. Sunday is our kickoff day, so we're hosting a family outing of ice skating in the afternoon. Monday we're going to play Minute to Win it games- water edition. Tuesday we're going to make cutout snowflakes and decorate baptism/Valentine's theme place mats for a local nursing home. Wednesday is our big parent dinner/chapel service and we're having the Bethany Lutheran College drum line play for our school. Thursday's activity is still up in the air yet. Let me know if you have good ideas! Friday will be a classroom switcheroo activity. Each teacher comes up with an activity to play in his/her room for 10 minutes and the students rotate to other classrooms. After that, we're having a Baptism Birthday Party as a picnic in the gym complete with cupcakes to celebrate! It's going to be a very fun week.
This Friday is going to be a busy day. It's the last day of the second quarter. It's hard to believe a half a year has gone by already! I also need to take everything out of my reading corner since a closet will be built there over the weekend. We don't have school Monday, so a congregation member is going to build a few walls, throw up some shelves, and voila! Closet in Miss Heintz's room. The only thing is that I'll need to squish all my bookshelves back into some kind of corner Monday afternoon so we're ready to go for school on Tuesday. Pray that everything goes well!
After school, I met with Mrs. E to go over plans for National Lutheran Schools Week. We figured out all the dress up days (the students voted for their favorites), and decided on our afternoon activities. Since the theme is "Baptized for this Moment", we're trying to tie in water as much as possible. Sunday is our kickoff day, so we're hosting a family outing of ice skating in the afternoon. Monday we're going to play Minute to Win it games- water edition. Tuesday we're going to make cutout snowflakes and decorate baptism/Valentine's theme place mats for a local nursing home. Wednesday is our big parent dinner/chapel service and we're having the Bethany Lutheran College drum line play for our school. Thursday's activity is still up in the air yet. Let me know if you have good ideas! Friday will be a classroom switcheroo activity. Each teacher comes up with an activity to play in his/her room for 10 minutes and the students rotate to other classrooms. After that, we're having a Baptism Birthday Party as a picnic in the gym complete with cupcakes to celebrate! It's going to be a very fun week.
This Friday is going to be a busy day. It's the last day of the second quarter. It's hard to believe a half a year has gone by already! I also need to take everything out of my reading corner since a closet will be built there over the weekend. We don't have school Monday, so a congregation member is going to build a few walls, throw up some shelves, and voila! Closet in Miss Heintz's room. The only thing is that I'll need to squish all my bookshelves back into some kind of corner Monday afternoon so we're ready to go for school on Tuesday. Pray that everything goes well!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Wardrobe Malfunctions at a Basketball Game???
There were two basketball games after school today, and a wardrobe malfunction at each of them. The first happened at the girls game, about five minutes before the end of the game.
The boys had just run to get changed for their game, when one of the 8th grade boys poked his head into the gym, asking for his sister. She was a 4th grader sitting on the bench. She ignored her brother. He kept calling her. Finally her dad up in the bleachers stood up and called to her. It turns out she was wearing her brother's jersey and he needed it for the game.
The other malfunction happened just before halftime of the boys' game. Our team was pretty much creaming our opponents, so the 8th grade boys were benched. They decided that if there were any B squad boys floating around, they could dress and probably even play during the second half. There was only one boy, but man was he excited! He put on his jersey and shorts and was in the gym in no time. There was one slight problem... his boxers were too long and stuck out the bottoms of his gym shorts. Spongebob yellow. His parents and grandparents were all trying to give him advice, "Pull your boxers up!" "No, roll them up a little!" "Pull your gym shorts down a bit!" and so on and so forth. Finally his dad slid over on the bench and tried to tuck them in a little more, but he didn't know what he was doing either.
Someone ended up finding him a bigger pair of shorts to wear and Spongebob was seen no more.
I was just settling in to watch the second half of the boys' game, when a student came up to me and said, "Miss Heintz, my friend barfed in the hall and we need someone to clean it up." Oh joy, just what I want to be doing on a Friday night. But I put on my big girl pants, got the cleaner-upper stuff from my desk drawer and cleaned up the hallway. What an exciting basketball game!
The boys had just run to get changed for their game, when one of the 8th grade boys poked his head into the gym, asking for his sister. She was a 4th grader sitting on the bench. She ignored her brother. He kept calling her. Finally her dad up in the bleachers stood up and called to her. It turns out she was wearing her brother's jersey and he needed it for the game.
The other malfunction happened just before halftime of the boys' game. Our team was pretty much creaming our opponents, so the 8th grade boys were benched. They decided that if there were any B squad boys floating around, they could dress and probably even play during the second half. There was only one boy, but man was he excited! He put on his jersey and shorts and was in the gym in no time. There was one slight problem... his boxers were too long and stuck out the bottoms of his gym shorts. Spongebob yellow. His parents and grandparents were all trying to give him advice, "Pull your boxers up!" "No, roll them up a little!" "Pull your gym shorts down a bit!" and so on and so forth. Finally his dad slid over on the bench and tried to tuck them in a little more, but he didn't know what he was doing either.
Someone ended up finding him a bigger pair of shorts to wear and Spongebob was seen no more.
I was just settling in to watch the second half of the boys' game, when a student came up to me and said, "Miss Heintz, my friend barfed in the hall and we need someone to clean it up." Oh joy, just what I want to be doing on a Friday night. But I put on my big girl pants, got the cleaner-upper stuff from my desk drawer and cleaned up the hallway. What an exciting basketball game!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Mapping Minnesota
Who knew Minnesota could make kids go so crazy? Maybe it's just because it's Thursday. Maybe it's because of the rainy weather (in January!). Maybe it's because of the rough and rowdy recess the 6-8th graders had just prior to Minnesota history. Whatever the reason, my 6th graders were off the wall during history today.
This week, our study focused on the geography of Minnesota. They've been working in trios to create a big map of our beautiful state about 3 ft x 4 ft. There were certain requirements, but basically I set out a bunch of supplies and told them to dive in. Tuesday they worked really well together. Today... not so much. Everyone was picking at each other and getting into the other group's business... I almost wanted to pull my hair out.
One group was all girls. They did pretty well working together. One student was attracted to the buttons and rocks I had set out; she wanted to use all of them on their map, but couldn't think of anything they could represent. Her partners were chewing her out because she kept getting distracted and was kind of getting in the way. Eventually we figured out something the rocks could represent, and she excitedly placed them on their map.
Meanwhile, the group with two boys and one girl was working in the wood ramp entryway to our classroom so they had a flat surface (instead of carpet). The boys were yelling and arguing and releasing bodily functions (much to the dismay of the girl in their group). Even though I have two rough and rowdy brothers, I was coming to the edge with these two boys. The last straw came when they told me they were finished with their map. It still looked very plain. I asked, "Does this look like A+ work?" "Oh, yeah!" they answered. The female student shook her head negatively. The boys immediately clamored, "Well you can just get less than an A+, and we can both get As." Then they saw the principal and ran over, "Mr. E! Does our map look like A+ work?" He said, "I'm sure your teacher will be glad to tell you if it fits the criteria." I don't think they knew what that meant.
Apparently in their minds, it meant that their map was perfect and they didn't have to do anything else. I tried giving suggestions of things to add, but they weren't paying any attention. So I asked one of the boys to grab his book and come sit at his desk. "Uh, oh, I'm gonna have to do notes now," he said. Off the top of my head, I tried to come up with an activity still in line with MN mapping but not nearly as fun as working with his group. He ended up having to make a map of MN and label all the counties. The room got so quiet after that!
When he finished, he joined his group to work on their map again. They still struggled for the last five minutes of class, but after that they scurried off to math for a test and we put group work to rest for the remainder of the day.
This week, our study focused on the geography of Minnesota. They've been working in trios to create a big map of our beautiful state about 3 ft x 4 ft. There were certain requirements, but basically I set out a bunch of supplies and told them to dive in. Tuesday they worked really well together. Today... not so much. Everyone was picking at each other and getting into the other group's business... I almost wanted to pull my hair out.
One group was all girls. They did pretty well working together. One student was attracted to the buttons and rocks I had set out; she wanted to use all of them on their map, but couldn't think of anything they could represent. Her partners were chewing her out because she kept getting distracted and was kind of getting in the way. Eventually we figured out something the rocks could represent, and she excitedly placed them on their map.
Meanwhile, the group with two boys and one girl was working in the wood ramp entryway to our classroom so they had a flat surface (instead of carpet). The boys were yelling and arguing and releasing bodily functions (much to the dismay of the girl in their group). Even though I have two rough and rowdy brothers, I was coming to the edge with these two boys. The last straw came when they told me they were finished with their map. It still looked very plain. I asked, "Does this look like A+ work?" "Oh, yeah!" they answered. The female student shook her head negatively. The boys immediately clamored, "Well you can just get less than an A+, and we can both get As." Then they saw the principal and ran over, "Mr. E! Does our map look like A+ work?" He said, "I'm sure your teacher will be glad to tell you if it fits the criteria." I don't think they knew what that meant.
Apparently in their minds, it meant that their map was perfect and they didn't have to do anything else. I tried giving suggestions of things to add, but they weren't paying any attention. So I asked one of the boys to grab his book and come sit at his desk. "Uh, oh, I'm gonna have to do notes now," he said. Off the top of my head, I tried to come up with an activity still in line with MN mapping but not nearly as fun as working with his group. He ended up having to make a map of MN and label all the counties. The room got so quiet after that!
When he finished, he joined his group to work on their map again. They still struggled for the last five minutes of class, but after that they scurried off to math for a test and we put group work to rest for the remainder of the day.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Mystery Plant
Earlier this year, when the 6th graders were studying plants, we received some plant donations that have since been basking in our classroom, blooming under the loving care of the 6th graders (they really like watering the plants).
One of these is a bigger bush-like plant. I had no clue what kind of plant it was until about two days ago when I was preparing a science lesson for the 7th and 8th graders. We were doing a whirlwind adventure tour of the plant section in their book; all in all about 30 pages in one day. They'd just talked about this stuff last year and the year prior, so I thought we could do a skim of the information and call it good.
Sifting through the information, I came across a paragraph that was talking about a poinsettia plant. It stays green until the nights get long and then some of the leaves turn a brilliant red. Huh. That weird bush thing in my classroom was starting to turn red in the centers of some of the leaf swirls. The light bulb slowly flickered to life and DING! We have a winner; the mystery plant is a mystery no longer!
Yesterday, I gathered my 6th graders around and showed them my discovery. They were very excited. But probably not as excited as I was. They did get excited about a different plant I brought with me to school today.
One reading group is reading a story about pomegranates and they had asked me to bring one in for the class. Since I was at the store last night, I picked one up. This was the first time I'd ever cut a whole pomegranate, so I looked up a YouTube video before school so I at least looked like I knew what I was doing. It's actually not that difficult.
You cut a circle around the top and bottom of the fruit, pull them out, cut down the sides of the fruit where the white peel bends into the center, pry the quarters apart and brush the seeds out. If you do it in water, the white pulp will float away. Pretty neat! So the 6th graders got a kick out of seeing a pomegranate and eating it for the first time. Only one of them had ever eaten it before.
Now they all want to bring in exotic fruits on Mondays and have the Superstar Helper of the Day be in charge of bringing it in. I told them they could if they wanted to, but they didn't have to. So we'll see if any remember to bring something in. Ah, the joys of learning!
One of these is a bigger bush-like plant. I had no clue what kind of plant it was until about two days ago when I was preparing a science lesson for the 7th and 8th graders. We were doing a whirlwind adventure tour of the plant section in their book; all in all about 30 pages in one day. They'd just talked about this stuff last year and the year prior, so I thought we could do a skim of the information and call it good.
Sifting through the information, I came across a paragraph that was talking about a poinsettia plant. It stays green until the nights get long and then some of the leaves turn a brilliant red. Huh. That weird bush thing in my classroom was starting to turn red in the centers of some of the leaf swirls. The light bulb slowly flickered to life and DING! We have a winner; the mystery plant is a mystery no longer!
Yesterday, I gathered my 6th graders around and showed them my discovery. They were very excited. But probably not as excited as I was. They did get excited about a different plant I brought with me to school today.
One reading group is reading a story about pomegranates and they had asked me to bring one in for the class. Since I was at the store last night, I picked one up. This was the first time I'd ever cut a whole pomegranate, so I looked up a YouTube video before school so I at least looked like I knew what I was doing. It's actually not that difficult.
You cut a circle around the top and bottom of the fruit, pull them out, cut down the sides of the fruit where the white peel bends into the center, pry the quarters apart and brush the seeds out. If you do it in water, the white pulp will float away. Pretty neat! So the 6th graders got a kick out of seeing a pomegranate and eating it for the first time. Only one of them had ever eaten it before.
Now they all want to bring in exotic fruits on Mondays and have the Superstar Helper of the Day be in charge of bringing it in. I told them they could if they wanted to, but they didn't have to. So we'll see if any remember to bring something in. Ah, the joys of learning!
Monday, January 7, 2013
The Smell of Basketball
I had a meeting after school with Mrs. E about National Lutheran Schools Week this year. It is going to be really fun! I'm in charge of setting up the afternoon games/activities for our school. On my way back to my classroom, I walked past the bathrooms and caught a huge whiff of... cologne. Strong cologne, or axe, or whatever it is these kids spray on themselves these days. Heaven forbid they smell bad for a few minutes. They have to spray extra JUST IN CASE. The girls aren't as bad, but their bathroom has a particularly flowery scent. My nose is tingling just thinking about it!
In other news, the 6th graders and I had some very mature conversations during reading today. We read a picture book about the Holocaust today, so of course they had questions on that topic. We also learned the interesting word "inalienable" and whipped out their old American history books to talk about inalienable rights. This led to the right to bare arms, which led to the school shootings earlier in Connecticut, which led to our classroom lock down plan.
My 6th graders were actually excited to come up with a plan. They had all sorts of ideas about how to barricade themselves into our room and how to escape. When we took down the Christmas decorations last Friday, one of the boys brought a baseball bat up from the basement with him. He was swinging it around, so I confiscated it, but now I'm going to keep it behind my desk, just in case.
There's also a door hidden by some bookshelves in our reading corner. The door doesn't open, but I'm guessing if we popped the hinges off, we could escape out that door if we ever needed to. It's always good to be prepared. There's going to be a meeting of the principal minds in a few days to talk about more safety precautions our area schools can take to protect the people who work and attend our schools.
In the meantime, my dad sent me this really good article about being prepared and protection strategies. It's worth taking a look at: Self-Defense in Non-Permissive Environments
In other news, the 6th graders and I had some very mature conversations during reading today. We read a picture book about the Holocaust today, so of course they had questions on that topic. We also learned the interesting word "inalienable" and whipped out their old American history books to talk about inalienable rights. This led to the right to bare arms, which led to the school shootings earlier in Connecticut, which led to our classroom lock down plan.
My 6th graders were actually excited to come up with a plan. They had all sorts of ideas about how to barricade themselves into our room and how to escape. When we took down the Christmas decorations last Friday, one of the boys brought a baseball bat up from the basement with him. He was swinging it around, so I confiscated it, but now I'm going to keep it behind my desk, just in case.
There's also a door hidden by some bookshelves in our reading corner. The door doesn't open, but I'm guessing if we popped the hinges off, we could escape out that door if we ever needed to. It's always good to be prepared. There's going to be a meeting of the principal minds in a few days to talk about more safety precautions our area schools can take to protect the people who work and attend our schools.
In the meantime, my dad sent me this really good article about being prepared and protection strategies. It's worth taking a look at: Self-Defense in Non-Permissive Environments
Friday, January 4, 2013
Faster than the Speed of Light...
Whew! This short week just flew by. After a not-quite-long-enough break, we headed back to school for a three day week. It's amazing, even though I had to drag myself back into my classroom, as I was teaching, I had a revelation: wow, I really love my job.
A lot of great stuff happened this week. The 6th graders and I jumped right back into the thick of things. They seem pretty focused (although still a bit silly). We've been using a lever science experiment kit I borrowed from one of my old professors and now all the 7th and 8th graders are jealous. One 8th grader actually said, "How come the 6th graders always do the cool experiments!" I was just about to remind him of all the activities we'd done in the past, but then his classmate muttered under his breath, "probably because we never listen." Not exactly what I was going to say, but not necessarily untrue...
The 7th and 8th graders actually paid attention in science today! Our topic was on fungi and quite a few questions were asked about illnesses caused by these tiny organisms. We had a guest speaker come to geography and give a presentation about New Zealand. One of Pastor's sons had studied abroad there for a semester and he showed us a bunch of pictures he took while he was there. He is an earth science major, so it was more educational than I expected! He told us little facts here and there about the rocks and minerals that make up the landscape of New Zealand.
Before I knew it, it was 2:00 and time for 6th grade art. Today we took down our Christmas decorations and hung up a bunch of snowflakes we cut out on Thursday. My students convinced me to give them extra recess after we'd finished decorating, so for the last ten minutes of the day we played basketball in the gym.
So far, no one has gotten sick in our classroom. I'm battling a cold, but today it seems like I might be winning... who knows if that will be the case tomorrow. I plan to drink lots of tea this weekend!
A lot of great stuff happened this week. The 6th graders and I jumped right back into the thick of things. They seem pretty focused (although still a bit silly). We've been using a lever science experiment kit I borrowed from one of my old professors and now all the 7th and 8th graders are jealous. One 8th grader actually said, "How come the 6th graders always do the cool experiments!" I was just about to remind him of all the activities we'd done in the past, but then his classmate muttered under his breath, "probably because we never listen." Not exactly what I was going to say, but not necessarily untrue...
The 7th and 8th graders actually paid attention in science today! Our topic was on fungi and quite a few questions were asked about illnesses caused by these tiny organisms. We had a guest speaker come to geography and give a presentation about New Zealand. One of Pastor's sons had studied abroad there for a semester and he showed us a bunch of pictures he took while he was there. He is an earth science major, so it was more educational than I expected! He told us little facts here and there about the rocks and minerals that make up the landscape of New Zealand.
Before I knew it, it was 2:00 and time for 6th grade art. Today we took down our Christmas decorations and hung up a bunch of snowflakes we cut out on Thursday. My students convinced me to give them extra recess after we'd finished decorating, so for the last ten minutes of the day we played basketball in the gym.
So far, no one has gotten sick in our classroom. I'm battling a cold, but today it seems like I might be winning... who knows if that will be the case tomorrow. I plan to drink lots of tea this weekend!
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