Ugh. I need a weekend to regroup and refresh. It took a half an hour for one of our students to pack up to go home. No amount of cajoling or prodding could get this student to hustle up. Sigh.
Last night I started glazing my pottery. Let me tell you, it's a whole lot more fun to MAKE the stuff compared to glazing. Next week is our last time, and I'm going to have to buckle down and get glazing if I'm going to get everything of mine glazed.
Last night I stopped at the library too. (I know, big night for Emily). Of course I checked out a huge stack of books. Now I just want to read them and not do my other homework. But the end of the quarter is tomorrow, and I need to get stuff corrected to put it in the grade book. Sigh, the things teachers have to do. I know I'm being melodramatic. What I need is to go home, eat some Halloween candy, and get a good night's sleep. Ready? Team break.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Pen Pals
Oh boy, the 5th grade was in an uproar today!
Our Slovakian pen pals sent their October letter, this one about their families. And this time, they addressed the letter to a specific 5th grader. I glanced through them before printing them off and I noticed one letter was addressed to one of the boys... it was from a girl. Ohhh!!! All the girls started teasing him that this girl had a crush on him. There is one girl that both 5th grade girls want to write to, and at first, I thought that this girl (Teresa) was the one who wrote specifically to this boy. But after taking a second look, I realized it was a different girl, Laura. She also asked him to send pictures. :)
PS- This is the same boy who was "fluttered" at during our spelling test last week. The poor kid just can't get a break!
Our Slovakian pen pals sent their October letter, this one about their families. And this time, they addressed the letter to a specific 5th grader. I glanced through them before printing them off and I noticed one letter was addressed to one of the boys... it was from a girl. Ohhh!!! All the girls started teasing him that this girl had a crush on him. There is one girl that both 5th grade girls want to write to, and at first, I thought that this girl (Teresa) was the one who wrote specifically to this boy. But after taking a second look, I realized it was a different girl, Laura. She also asked him to send pictures. :)
PS- This is the same boy who was "fluttered" at during our spelling test last week. The poor kid just can't get a break!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Weather Report
Not a whole lot to report today... so being from good farming stock, I think I'll give a weather report (because everyone wants to talk about weather)!
It rained last night, but no snow that I saw. Our day at school was precipitation free. Who knows about tomorrow. Huh, I guess that was pretty short. I suppose I can find something about my class to talk about...
The 2nd graders are doing great on their double-digit addition, so we finished about six pages in their math workbooks today. The 5th graders finished up their cursive-name skeleton art projects and also finished another art project (where they make a tree out of tape and paint over it, then take the tape off to see the negative space). We need to put up some new art on the church bulletin board, but I'm not so sure how the church members will react to skeletons in church... we'll see what the other teachers say.
The Fall Carnival (sponsored by the 5th graders) is this Friday. It's hard to believe that it's almost November! Next week we'll have Parent/Teacher Conferences and pretty soon basketball will start up. Whew, this year's going fast!
It rained last night, but no snow that I saw. Our day at school was precipitation free. Who knows about tomorrow. Huh, I guess that was pretty short. I suppose I can find something about my class to talk about...
The 2nd graders are doing great on their double-digit addition, so we finished about six pages in their math workbooks today. The 5th graders finished up their cursive-name skeleton art projects and also finished another art project (where they make a tree out of tape and paint over it, then take the tape off to see the negative space). We need to put up some new art on the church bulletin board, but I'm not so sure how the church members will react to skeletons in church... we'll see what the other teachers say.
The Fall Carnival (sponsored by the 5th graders) is this Friday. It's hard to believe that it's almost November! Next week we'll have Parent/Teacher Conferences and pretty soon basketball will start up. Whew, this year's going fast!
Monday, October 28, 2013
It's Alive!
Our little plants are growing!!! Well, the soybeans are. So far, nothing on the corn. I set them on the lab table tonight so they're not freezing on the windowsill all night.
In other news, my brain is officially gone. This morning, I wrote a note on the 7th/8th grader's board asking them to bring their books/notebooks to class today. Then I remembered that I had their notebooks, so I didn't need to write that part up there. However, I hadn't gotten around to writing notebooks (but I thought I did), so I unconsciously erased the whole thing. With the roll of paper towels that was lying on the ledge. Yeah, the 7th/8th graders got a kick out of that, "Hey guys! She just used the whole roll! Hey, Miss H., how come you didn't just tear one off." Well it was right there. So anyway, I went back to my room and forgot about the whole thing. Until science.
One of the boys forgot his book. I asked him if he saw the note on the board. He said he didn't look at the board. And then one of the girls asked, "Miss H, didn't you erase that note." Well, I thought she had said that she was the one who erased it, so I started to ask her why when one of her classmates chimed in, "Yeah, Miss H, you erased the whole thing and we were like, 'whaa?'" And that's when it all came back to me. Whew. It's only Monday and my brain is already shot. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who knows what will happen to the papers I have to correct tonight?!
In other news, my brain is officially gone. This morning, I wrote a note on the 7th/8th grader's board asking them to bring their books/notebooks to class today. Then I remembered that I had their notebooks, so I didn't need to write that part up there. However, I hadn't gotten around to writing notebooks (but I thought I did), so I unconsciously erased the whole thing. With the roll of paper towels that was lying on the ledge. Yeah, the 7th/8th graders got a kick out of that, "Hey guys! She just used the whole roll! Hey, Miss H., how come you didn't just tear one off." Well it was right there. So anyway, I went back to my room and forgot about the whole thing. Until science.
One of the boys forgot his book. I asked him if he saw the note on the board. He said he didn't look at the board. And then one of the girls asked, "Miss H, didn't you erase that note." Well, I thought she had said that she was the one who erased it, so I started to ask her why when one of her classmates chimed in, "Yeah, Miss H, you erased the whole thing and we were like, 'whaa?'" And that's when it all came back to me. Whew. It's only Monday and my brain is already shot. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who knows what will happen to the papers I have to correct tonight?!
Friday, October 25, 2013
What does the fox say?
That song seemed to be the theme song of our trip. I probably heard it (or at least the chorus) at least 50 times the past two days. We had to outlaw it both yesterday and today. One of the 5th graders started singing it in the shower, but she modified the words so she "wasn't actually singing it." "What does the cow say? moo moo moo, ma-moo moo moo moo." Not so different afterall.
Okay, so summary of the trip.
Everyone got to school. We fed Joe, checked on our plant experiment, and corrected our spelling tests together. After a devotion and prayer, we left right on schedule. Upon arrival, we dropped off our things in the cabins and then went on an ABC nature hike. The two girls went with me and the three boys went with Aaron, the director of outdoor ed at Camp Omega. We found all sorts of cool things on our excursion: webs, lots of fungi, nuts, foam, and even a praying mantis! We thought it was dead, but it was just a little frozen from the cold. We left it on the clipboard and it warmed up enough to walk around. We also saved a leaf, and the mantis crawled underneath and stayed there for the remainder of our scavenger hunt. The boys thought it was really cool. The hardest letters to find were a, j, k, and of course x, y, and z. The girls and I came up with a sneaky way to get these letters; we looked for the shape in nature... and we found A, X, Y, and Z this way. The first three letters were made by trees and we found a bunch of little plants growing in the shape of a Z.
Lunch was hot dogs roasted over a campfire. Then we did archery using both a compound and a recurve bow. Man, did it make me want to watch Top Shot! That was my all-time favorite part of the trip. I really liked the recurve bow; it had a lot more power behind it. After archery was canoeing time. Most of the 5th graders had gone canoeing before... just one girl hadn't. The boys decided it would be boys in one canoe and girls in another. Aaron would lifeguard on the jetski. The person in the back is supposed to be the heaviest or most experienced canoe person. The people in the middle and front are the power. So I was in the back.
The boys were pretty speedy in their canoe. We had trouble getting our rhythm down... and then there was the splashing. My pants got pretty wet from all the accidental water flinging going on with the paddles. Then the two girls decided they wanted to switch spots. While we were in the middle of the lake. So with Aaron's permission, we did it. I steadied the boat while the girl in front scrunched down and slid her way to the middle. The girl in the middle carefully stood up and stepped cautiously to the front seat. And we made it!!!
Everyone else was pretty wet after canoeing, so we took a little break to get dried off. The 5th graders wanted to read Holes, so we congregated on the boys' side of the cabin (it was a lot warmer than the girls' side). I'd say overall we read a good 30 pages of the book. They were so excited; they wanted me to keep reading.
Some other things we did: archaeology dig, wilderness survival scenario, supper in the dining hall, and kickball (most of which was in the dark). We read for a little bit more and then had a campfire/devotions. It was super dark walking down to the campfire area. I forgot to mention to bring flashlights, but thankfully one girl brought hers anyway. Thank the Lord we did have one or I don't think we would've found our way down there! The other 5th grade girl was scared; she wouldn't let go of my arm the whole way down.
Before bed, the 5th graders wanted to read more of the Bible, so this time we met on the girls' side and read our favorite parts of the Bible together. And then we read more Holes. And then it was bedtime. The hard part wasn't getting everyone ready for bed. The hard part was getting them to stop yelling across the cabin.
The doors separating our half from the boy's side were locked, so I told the boys if they had any issues to knock on the door and I'd talk to them through the door. Well, everyone had finally gotten quiet(ish) when there was a knock. I thought it was one of the girls knocking against her bunk, so I didn't get up. But the knocking came again. The first time, the boys found something on their ceiling. I asked what it was. "It looks like glue." "...Okay. Is it hurting you?" "No." "Is it bugging you?" "Maybe." "Well, there's not a whole lot I can do. You can move to another room if it's really bothering you." "Uh, it's not bugging me that bad."
I had just gotten settled when another knocking started up. One of the 5th grade boys' tummy hurt. Not much I could do about that either. I thought he was probably homesick, but it was too late for him to call his mom to talk to her, so I told him to try rubbing his tummy. Silence. "What?" "Try rubbing your tummy. If it still hurts after 5 minutes, then knock again." Once more I got situated in my sleeping bag... and the knocking came again after less than two minutes. UGH! Unzip the sleeping bag, try not to wake up the girls, stumble to the connecting door. Same problem as before. Except this time, he couldn't sleep. "Try it one more time, or just lay in bed for a while," was my response. He didn't knock again the rest of the night.
Unfortunately, the 5th grade girls were feeling chatty (when are they not?). First one had a story to tell about another time she had a sleepover and another about when she was at Cutties. And when she finally stopped talking, the other one started up. I wondered if I'd ever get to sleep! This girl was scared someone would come attack us. And then when I tried to protect her, I'd get killed and then what would they do? And so on and so forth. Eventually, the other girl suggested we play the no-talking game to see who could be quiet the longest. And it worked for a while. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard, "Mmm! Mmm-Hmmm! (aka- Hey, Miss H.!)" I ignored it, so the groaning got louder and more complex. My eyes stayed shut. Again, the groaning. Then a lantern flashed in my eyes (Aaron had let the scared 5th grader borrow his mini-lantern for light during the night.) I rolled over to face the wall. FINALLY, she drifted off to sleep.
But at 6:30 the next morning, "Hey Miss H. what time is it?" "Not time to get up yet, sleep for a little while longer." Everyone was up and ready by about 7:30, so we went outside to play around a bit. Frost covered the ground. We ended up using our feet to make designs in the frost: our names, crosses, signs of the Trinity... and the boys discovered the joy of sliding on frosty grass.
We ate breakfast, had Bible time/devotions, and then studied animal tracks. The 5th graders were more distracted today, so there wasn't nearly as much learning going on as there was yesterday. After animal tracks, we did a ravine study. Not so good. They were too distracted to focus. Each one found sticks that they used to dig in the mud and fling water around. So Aaron and I decided to scrap it and play kickball. By then it was lunchtime and time to pack up and go home.
Before we loaded the vehicle, I asked my students to get out their reading books they'd brought along. Each one said they had them. But after the vehicle was loaded... "Uh, Miss H.? My book is at he bottom of my bag." "Me too!" "Me too!" "Me too!" Sigh. The vehicle got unloaded and reloaded once again. Pictures were taken, prayers were prayed, and we were off! (after much arguing over who got to sit in which seat)
15 minutes down the road, "Uh, Miss H? I have to go to the bathroom." All the other 5th graders chimed in in agreement. Mental kick in the face! I was in such a jumble about the books, I'd forgotten to remind them to use the bathroom before we left! Though you'd think 5th graders would think of something like that. So ten minutes later we pulled into a gas station and zoomed through the restrooms. They did read their books about half the trip back. And we made it to school with time to spare! It was a little crazy when we got back, but we got through our end of the day routine and shipped everyone off for home without a hitch. Whew!
Okay, so summary of the trip.
Everyone got to school. We fed Joe, checked on our plant experiment, and corrected our spelling tests together. After a devotion and prayer, we left right on schedule. Upon arrival, we dropped off our things in the cabins and then went on an ABC nature hike. The two girls went with me and the three boys went with Aaron, the director of outdoor ed at Camp Omega. We found all sorts of cool things on our excursion: webs, lots of fungi, nuts, foam, and even a praying mantis! We thought it was dead, but it was just a little frozen from the cold. We left it on the clipboard and it warmed up enough to walk around. We also saved a leaf, and the mantis crawled underneath and stayed there for the remainder of our scavenger hunt. The boys thought it was really cool. The hardest letters to find were a, j, k, and of course x, y, and z. The girls and I came up with a sneaky way to get these letters; we looked for the shape in nature... and we found A, X, Y, and Z this way. The first three letters were made by trees and we found a bunch of little plants growing in the shape of a Z.
Lunch was hot dogs roasted over a campfire. Then we did archery using both a compound and a recurve bow. Man, did it make me want to watch Top Shot! That was my all-time favorite part of the trip. I really liked the recurve bow; it had a lot more power behind it. After archery was canoeing time. Most of the 5th graders had gone canoeing before... just one girl hadn't. The boys decided it would be boys in one canoe and girls in another. Aaron would lifeguard on the jetski. The person in the back is supposed to be the heaviest or most experienced canoe person. The people in the middle and front are the power. So I was in the back.
The boys were pretty speedy in their canoe. We had trouble getting our rhythm down... and then there was the splashing. My pants got pretty wet from all the accidental water flinging going on with the paddles. Then the two girls decided they wanted to switch spots. While we were in the middle of the lake. So with Aaron's permission, we did it. I steadied the boat while the girl in front scrunched down and slid her way to the middle. The girl in the middle carefully stood up and stepped cautiously to the front seat. And we made it!!!
Everyone else was pretty wet after canoeing, so we took a little break to get dried off. The 5th graders wanted to read Holes, so we congregated on the boys' side of the cabin (it was a lot warmer than the girls' side). I'd say overall we read a good 30 pages of the book. They were so excited; they wanted me to keep reading.
Some other things we did: archaeology dig, wilderness survival scenario, supper in the dining hall, and kickball (most of which was in the dark). We read for a little bit more and then had a campfire/devotions. It was super dark walking down to the campfire area. I forgot to mention to bring flashlights, but thankfully one girl brought hers anyway. Thank the Lord we did have one or I don't think we would've found our way down there! The other 5th grade girl was scared; she wouldn't let go of my arm the whole way down.
Before bed, the 5th graders wanted to read more of the Bible, so this time we met on the girls' side and read our favorite parts of the Bible together. And then we read more Holes. And then it was bedtime. The hard part wasn't getting everyone ready for bed. The hard part was getting them to stop yelling across the cabin.
The doors separating our half from the boy's side were locked, so I told the boys if they had any issues to knock on the door and I'd talk to them through the door. Well, everyone had finally gotten quiet(ish) when there was a knock. I thought it was one of the girls knocking against her bunk, so I didn't get up. But the knocking came again. The first time, the boys found something on their ceiling. I asked what it was. "It looks like glue." "...Okay. Is it hurting you?" "No." "Is it bugging you?" "Maybe." "Well, there's not a whole lot I can do. You can move to another room if it's really bothering you." "Uh, it's not bugging me that bad."
I had just gotten settled when another knocking started up. One of the 5th grade boys' tummy hurt. Not much I could do about that either. I thought he was probably homesick, but it was too late for him to call his mom to talk to her, so I told him to try rubbing his tummy. Silence. "What?" "Try rubbing your tummy. If it still hurts after 5 minutes, then knock again." Once more I got situated in my sleeping bag... and the knocking came again after less than two minutes. UGH! Unzip the sleeping bag, try not to wake up the girls, stumble to the connecting door. Same problem as before. Except this time, he couldn't sleep. "Try it one more time, or just lay in bed for a while," was my response. He didn't knock again the rest of the night.
Unfortunately, the 5th grade girls were feeling chatty (when are they not?). First one had a story to tell about another time she had a sleepover and another about when she was at Cutties. And when she finally stopped talking, the other one started up. I wondered if I'd ever get to sleep! This girl was scared someone would come attack us. And then when I tried to protect her, I'd get killed and then what would they do? And so on and so forth. Eventually, the other girl suggested we play the no-talking game to see who could be quiet the longest. And it worked for a while. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard, "Mmm! Mmm-Hmmm! (aka- Hey, Miss H.!)" I ignored it, so the groaning got louder and more complex. My eyes stayed shut. Again, the groaning. Then a lantern flashed in my eyes (Aaron had let the scared 5th grader borrow his mini-lantern for light during the night.) I rolled over to face the wall. FINALLY, she drifted off to sleep.
But at 6:30 the next morning, "Hey Miss H. what time is it?" "Not time to get up yet, sleep for a little while longer." Everyone was up and ready by about 7:30, so we went outside to play around a bit. Frost covered the ground. We ended up using our feet to make designs in the frost: our names, crosses, signs of the Trinity... and the boys discovered the joy of sliding on frosty grass.
We ate breakfast, had Bible time/devotions, and then studied animal tracks. The 5th graders were more distracted today, so there wasn't nearly as much learning going on as there was yesterday. After animal tracks, we did a ravine study. Not so good. They were too distracted to focus. Each one found sticks that they used to dig in the mud and fling water around. So Aaron and I decided to scrap it and play kickball. By then it was lunchtime and time to pack up and go home.
Before we loaded the vehicle, I asked my students to get out their reading books they'd brought along. Each one said they had them. But after the vehicle was loaded... "Uh, Miss H.? My book is at he bottom of my bag." "Me too!" "Me too!" "Me too!" Sigh. The vehicle got unloaded and reloaded once again. Pictures were taken, prayers were prayed, and we were off! (after much arguing over who got to sit in which seat)
15 minutes down the road, "Uh, Miss H? I have to go to the bathroom." All the other 5th graders chimed in in agreement. Mental kick in the face! I was in such a jumble about the books, I'd forgotten to remind them to use the bathroom before we left! Though you'd think 5th graders would think of something like that. So ten minutes later we pulled into a gas station and zoomed through the restrooms. They did read their books about half the trip back. And we made it to school with time to spare! It was a little crazy when we got back, but we got through our end of the day routine and shipped everyone off for home without a hitch. Whew!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Day of Departure
Well, I got everything packed up that I needed to. My car is set to go: full of gas, GPS programmed, back seats folded up... After looking at the inside of my car, I realized I probably should've vacuumed it before our trip. Oh well.
Now it's just a waiting game for the kiddos to arrive. It only takes an hour to get there, (and we're supposed to be there by 10:00), which gives us about a half an hour to do stuff at school. Huh. I suppose we'll do flag pledges and devotions, and it will take some time to load the vehicle. We probably should talk about behavior expectations, just in case. That should be enough to take up that half an hour. And we can always leave a little earlier.
The 1st and 2nd grade teacher thinks I'm crazy to go on a trip with the whole class by myself. If I dwell on that too long, I start to think it too. Maybe I should've asked parents to chaperone. Miss H. said she would've come along if we'd asked her. Too bad I didn't think of it sooner. Well, it will be what it will be.
Now it's just a waiting game for the kiddos to arrive. It only takes an hour to get there, (and we're supposed to be there by 10:00), which gives us about a half an hour to do stuff at school. Huh. I suppose we'll do flag pledges and devotions, and it will take some time to load the vehicle. We probably should talk about behavior expectations, just in case. That should be enough to take up that half an hour. And we can always leave a little earlier.
The 1st and 2nd grade teacher thinks I'm crazy to go on a trip with the whole class by myself. If I dwell on that too long, I start to think it too. Maybe I should've asked parents to chaperone. Miss H. said she would've come along if we'd asked her. Too bad I didn't think of it sooner. Well, it will be what it will be.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Cluttered
Boy does my brain feel cluttered! I have about a million things floating around in my brain... from next week's lesson plans, to things I need to pack for our trip tomorrow, to things I need to do before I go to pottery tonight. Whew! And to top it off, my desk is very messy.
I've found that my brain works better when my environment is neat and tidy. So I guess that's the first order of business. We have a list going on the whiteboard of things not to forget, and we've been adding to it all day. All my students want to bring their read-to-self books along to read on the way! Yay! And after our read aloud time, they asked if we could bring the book along to read before bedtime. Double yay! (We're reading the book Holes). In science, we talked about ferns and spores, so the 5th graders want to look for some on our trip. I'm going to bring some waxed paper so we can collect/flatten the leaves we find. We'll use them in an art project next week.
Another funny incident today happened during our spelling test. The word was lashes, and my sentence went something like this, "The girl batted her lashes at the good-looking boy." The next thing I know, one of the girls is pointing to the boy next to her. Then she fluttered her lashes at him. He looked so confused!
This same boy is getting glasses (hopefully tomorrow before our trip). He was a little nervous when he first found out he needed them, but Ms. J and I told him he would look good in glasses, and since then he hasn't been nervous. He's actually quite excited.
Well, this entry is also going to be a short one... I have to stop at the bank to deposit our registration checks and the bank closes at 3:30.
I've found that my brain works better when my environment is neat and tidy. So I guess that's the first order of business. We have a list going on the whiteboard of things not to forget, and we've been adding to it all day. All my students want to bring their read-to-self books along to read on the way! Yay! And after our read aloud time, they asked if we could bring the book along to read before bedtime. Double yay! (We're reading the book Holes). In science, we talked about ferns and spores, so the 5th graders want to look for some on our trip. I'm going to bring some waxed paper so we can collect/flatten the leaves we find. We'll use them in an art project next week.
Another funny incident today happened during our spelling test. The word was lashes, and my sentence went something like this, "The girl batted her lashes at the good-looking boy." The next thing I know, one of the girls is pointing to the boy next to her. Then she fluttered her lashes at him. He looked so confused!
This same boy is getting glasses (hopefully tomorrow before our trip). He was a little nervous when he first found out he needed them, but Ms. J and I told him he would look good in glasses, and since then he hasn't been nervous. He's actually quite excited.
Well, this entry is also going to be a short one... I have to stop at the bank to deposit our registration checks and the bank closes at 3:30.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Last Volleyball Game...
Today is our last volleyball/soccer game. And it's cold outside. I decided to skip the soccer game and work on stuff inside the warm school. Miss H. offered to let me watch the game through her window, and I think I'll take her up on that (as soon as I'm done writing). We also have our team volleyball picture today before the game. Since today was picture day, everyone is dressed up a little more, so our picture should turn out pretty good.
I was a little worried yesterday because my eye started turning red. Of course, I immediately jumped to the worst conclusion, "Ahh! I have pink eye!" But then my logical side kicked in, "You probably just need to change your contacts, especially since you were in a dusty attic and a windy field all weekend." So change them I did, and my eye was not red today. Whew! Vanity saved.
I was a little worried yesterday because my eye started turning red. Of course, I immediately jumped to the worst conclusion, "Ahh! I have pink eye!" But then my logical side kicked in, "You probably just need to change your contacts, especially since you were in a dusty attic and a windy field all weekend." So change them I did, and my eye was not red today. Whew! Vanity saved.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Mini-farmers
This week is all about plants in 5th grade science. Normally, we alternate science/social studies every other day, but since last week was only 3 school days, we did social studies all week. This week I'm trying to wrap up our unit on plants.
We started class today by planting some corn and soybeans in wet paper towels in clear cups. Some of the seeds were planted upside down, some right way up, and some sideways. This is to prove geotropism, or the idea that plant roots grow down and plant stems/leaves grow up, no matter which way they're facing. I asked the 5th graders what they thought would happen, and they said the plants aren't going to know which way to grow because these seeds are different than the kind in the picture that I showed them. Well, we'll soon see what happens. After they grow a while, we'll put some of the cups in the dark and leave some in the light to show phototropism. The 5th grader who is moving at the end of the month asked if he could bring his cup of plants with him so he can keep experimenting with them after he leaves. Oh such eager young minds! :)
Then we talked about hydrotropism, or plants growing toward moisture in the ground. They tried to come up with a way we could test that idea. Most of their ideas involved the big fish tank in the closet and lots of dirt. If I can find a smaller container, we might be able to accomplish it. We'll have to wait and see. Also in the news of classroom plants... one of my sisters bought our class a plant this weekend. The 5th graders were super excited to find out it would stay in our classroom for the rest of the year. It really makes me want to get some more plants!
Our schedule for Camp Omega arrived today. I kind of forgot which activities we were going to do, so I was very excited to see the list again. Here's what we'll be doing (at least, all the exciting stuff): Archaeological Dig, cookout, Archery, Canoeing, Wilderness Survival, Kickball, campfire, Animal Tracking, and a Ravine Study. One of the 5th graders was reading the list over my shoulder and when he came to Archaeological Dig, he jumped up and down with excitement. His excitement only grew when he reached the Ravine Study, "Hey Miss H, do we get to go in a ravine for the ravine study?" "Yep." "Hey guys! We get to go into a ravine! Oh I'm so excited!"
I'm really looking forward to our trip. Mostly because I had a great time at Camp Omega when I went in 5th and 6th grade, but also because the 5th graders will stop asking questions about what we're going to do at camp. Of course, they'll probably still be distracted, this time asking, "Hey Miss H., do you remember that one thing that happened at Camp Omega?" Sigh. Oh well.
Speaking of distractions... Mr. D had car trouble this morning. His car started smoking on the way to school and the battery gauge went way down. He thought it was trouble with the alternator, so he called a tow truck. Now, in case you haven't heard, Mr. D's car looks almost the same as mine. We also park next to each other in the mornings. So around lunchtime, my 5th graders and I see a tow truck pull up outside school. My first thought was, "Oh boy, I hope they don't take my car by mistake." My second thought was, "That's right, I have the keys in here so they wouldn't be able to drive it away." My mind was at ease once again. Not so the 5th graders. They jumped to the same conclusion that the tow truck drivers would take my car instead of Mr. D's, so they all got up from their lunches and huddled around the window until they saw that Mr. D's car was indeed the one being loaded onto the tow truck. After school, Mr. D dropped by and gave me an update on his car; it was just a broken water pump, and the fix-it shop had it fixed up by 3:15. Hopefully he doesn't have any more problems with it!
We started class today by planting some corn and soybeans in wet paper towels in clear cups. Some of the seeds were planted upside down, some right way up, and some sideways. This is to prove geotropism, or the idea that plant roots grow down and plant stems/leaves grow up, no matter which way they're facing. I asked the 5th graders what they thought would happen, and they said the plants aren't going to know which way to grow because these seeds are different than the kind in the picture that I showed them. Well, we'll soon see what happens. After they grow a while, we'll put some of the cups in the dark and leave some in the light to show phototropism. The 5th grader who is moving at the end of the month asked if he could bring his cup of plants with him so he can keep experimenting with them after he leaves. Oh such eager young minds! :)
Then we talked about hydrotropism, or plants growing toward moisture in the ground. They tried to come up with a way we could test that idea. Most of their ideas involved the big fish tank in the closet and lots of dirt. If I can find a smaller container, we might be able to accomplish it. We'll have to wait and see. Also in the news of classroom plants... one of my sisters bought our class a plant this weekend. The 5th graders were super excited to find out it would stay in our classroom for the rest of the year. It really makes me want to get some more plants!
Our schedule for Camp Omega arrived today. I kind of forgot which activities we were going to do, so I was very excited to see the list again. Here's what we'll be doing (at least, all the exciting stuff): Archaeological Dig, cookout, Archery, Canoeing, Wilderness Survival, Kickball, campfire, Animal Tracking, and a Ravine Study. One of the 5th graders was reading the list over my shoulder and when he came to Archaeological Dig, he jumped up and down with excitement. His excitement only grew when he reached the Ravine Study, "Hey Miss H, do we get to go in a ravine for the ravine study?" "Yep." "Hey guys! We get to go into a ravine! Oh I'm so excited!"
I'm really looking forward to our trip. Mostly because I had a great time at Camp Omega when I went in 5th and 6th grade, but also because the 5th graders will stop asking questions about what we're going to do at camp. Of course, they'll probably still be distracted, this time asking, "Hey Miss H., do you remember that one thing that happened at Camp Omega?" Sigh. Oh well.
Speaking of distractions... Mr. D had car trouble this morning. His car started smoking on the way to school and the battery gauge went way down. He thought it was trouble with the alternator, so he called a tow truck. Now, in case you haven't heard, Mr. D's car looks almost the same as mine. We also park next to each other in the mornings. So around lunchtime, my 5th graders and I see a tow truck pull up outside school. My first thought was, "Oh boy, I hope they don't take my car by mistake." My second thought was, "That's right, I have the keys in here so they wouldn't be able to drive it away." My mind was at ease once again. Not so the 5th graders. They jumped to the same conclusion that the tow truck drivers would take my car instead of Mr. D's, so they all got up from their lunches and huddled around the window until they saw that Mr. D's car was indeed the one being loaded onto the tow truck. After school, Mr. D dropped by and gave me an update on his car; it was just a broken water pump, and the fix-it shop had it fixed up by 3:15. Hopefully he doesn't have any more problems with it!
Friday, October 11, 2013
Fun Friday
I had a late night correcting papers last night... 11:30! which is way past pumpkin time for me. I did get them all corrected though!
At school, we had a fun day (but still full of learning!). The sentences in our English book have recently focused on the Odyssey and Odysseus, so I found the Wishbone episode about the Iliad. The 5th graders loved it! One boy asked if he could find a website to watch more of "that show with the little dog." I think I'll have to introduce my students to more of the classics later this year.
We were a day behind in English (since we ran out of time yesterday), but I wanted to meet with individual students about their independent reading books, so time slipped away again and I ended up punting on the assignment. Instead, we played our usual Friday English Adjective Game. The class splits into two teams, I find an object in the room for them to describe, and they have three minutes to write down as many adjectives as they can that describe the object. And they get to use Thesauri. They love it! We only got to play for 10 minutes before it was time for lunch. We didn't even have time for Spanish vocab.
In the afternoon, the 7th and 8th graders got their tests back, watched a Bill Nye episode about Earth's crust, and then watched two short videos about money: where it comes from, how it got started, and inflation. They were really into it! I was surprised! They were asking questions and making connections to our government and our country's debt. It was great.
Volleyball practice was interesting too. It was our last practice of the season. Just one more tournament and one more game to go! The girls actually listened to me for once, although there were a few eye rolls and talking back. So then Miss H. and I made them run laps. We ended practice with a scrimmage of the girls (10) vs. the coaches (3). They played with 6 on the court and rotated the other girls in on the serve. Everyone played really well! Especially the coach's team. I actually spiked the ball twice! Something I never accomplished at any point in my short elementary volleyball career. The coach's team won, 15-3. It was really fun. A good ending to the week. Now we just have to survive the Pork Chop Dinner on Sunday. Oh boy, here we go...
At school, we had a fun day (but still full of learning!). The sentences in our English book have recently focused on the Odyssey and Odysseus, so I found the Wishbone episode about the Iliad. The 5th graders loved it! One boy asked if he could find a website to watch more of "that show with the little dog." I think I'll have to introduce my students to more of the classics later this year.
We were a day behind in English (since we ran out of time yesterday), but I wanted to meet with individual students about their independent reading books, so time slipped away again and I ended up punting on the assignment. Instead, we played our usual Friday English Adjective Game. The class splits into two teams, I find an object in the room for them to describe, and they have three minutes to write down as many adjectives as they can that describe the object. And they get to use Thesauri. They love it! We only got to play for 10 minutes before it was time for lunch. We didn't even have time for Spanish vocab.
In the afternoon, the 7th and 8th graders got their tests back, watched a Bill Nye episode about Earth's crust, and then watched two short videos about money: where it comes from, how it got started, and inflation. They were really into it! I was surprised! They were asking questions and making connections to our government and our country's debt. It was great.
Volleyball practice was interesting too. It was our last practice of the season. Just one more tournament and one more game to go! The girls actually listened to me for once, although there were a few eye rolls and talking back. So then Miss H. and I made them run laps. We ended practice with a scrimmage of the girls (10) vs. the coaches (3). They played with 6 on the court and rotated the other girls in on the serve. Everyone played really well! Especially the coach's team. I actually spiked the ball twice! Something I never accomplished at any point in my short elementary volleyball career. The coach's team won, 15-3. It was really fun. A good ending to the week. Now we just have to survive the Pork Chop Dinner on Sunday. Oh boy, here we go...
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Ridin' in the Combine
Not a lot of time to write today...
I have to make it to the post office by 4:30 so I can get a package mailed.
One of my 5th graders' dads was combining in the field next to school (green tractor... blech!). All the other classes got to ride in the combine, so my students asked if they could. I told the student to ask his dad if it was okay. It was. So the whole class (except myself) got to ride one round in the combine, 3 people at a time. That left me the odd man out, not that I minded. I've ridden in the combine many-a-time. After recess was over and we were walking inside, the 5th grader asked me, "Miss H., did you not want a ride because it was green?" My students know me too well.
I have to make it to the post office by 4:30 so I can get a package mailed.
One of my 5th graders' dads was combining in the field next to school (green tractor... blech!). All the other classes got to ride in the combine, so my students asked if they could. I told the student to ask his dad if it was okay. It was. So the whole class (except myself) got to ride one round in the combine, 3 people at a time. That left me the odd man out, not that I minded. I've ridden in the combine many-a-time. After recess was over and we were walking inside, the 5th grader asked me, "Miss H., did you not want a ride because it was green?" My students know me too well.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Hose 'em Down
Fire Prevention Day.
Who knew it would be so chaotic?
It was supposed to start at 9:45, but the trucks didn't pull in until 9:50. And the fire alarm went off at 9:47. It only took 58 seconds for everyone to evacuate school. The firefighters were going to come around to each classroom and give a talk about fire safety, so the 5th graders and I did read aloud and waited. And then did Daily 5 and waited. And listened to all the other classes having fun honking the truck horns and waited. And just when I thought they had forgotten about us, someone came to talk to our class. Whew!
Since our class is so small, the students got tons of prizes. They got those plastic fire hats (I told them they could wear them until lunch, then they had to go in the backpacks), Frisbees, and a water bottle filled with an eraser, bookmark, tattoo, and two color changing pencils. Cool! Then we got to go outside to look at the trucks. No one was giving us any directions, so we bopped around from truck to truck, honking horns, taking turns sitting in the driver's seat. Then a firefighter finally appeared and let the students try on the fireman's uniform.
The coolest part was when they got the hose out for everyone to spray. The wind blew the spray right into the faces of whoever was spraying the hose. One of the 7th graders came running over to me, "Want a hug Miss H?" I didn't really have a choice. He rubbed his wet head all over my shoulder! It was a nice day out, so pretty much all the 7th and 8th graders thought it would be fun to run through the spray... and my 5th graders followed suit. All except one boy who apparently didn't get the memo; when everyone was back inside, he was the only dry one. He said, "How come no one told me we were going to run through the water?" I pointed out that his classmates were going to be wet the rest of the day, and probably uncomfortable. One of his classmates with a shirt completely soaked through said, "Yeah, she's right. Now I'm really cold. Can I go get my sweatshirt?" By the time we got inside, there was only 15 minutes until lunch. Not enough time for English. I decided to punt English for the day.
Our day ended with the 5th graders running the mile in PE followed by volleyball practice. Now I'm going to pack up and head to pottery class!
Who knew it would be so chaotic?
It was supposed to start at 9:45, but the trucks didn't pull in until 9:50. And the fire alarm went off at 9:47. It only took 58 seconds for everyone to evacuate school. The firefighters were going to come around to each classroom and give a talk about fire safety, so the 5th graders and I did read aloud and waited. And then did Daily 5 and waited. And listened to all the other classes having fun honking the truck horns and waited. And just when I thought they had forgotten about us, someone came to talk to our class. Whew!
Since our class is so small, the students got tons of prizes. They got those plastic fire hats (I told them they could wear them until lunch, then they had to go in the backpacks), Frisbees, and a water bottle filled with an eraser, bookmark, tattoo, and two color changing pencils. Cool! Then we got to go outside to look at the trucks. No one was giving us any directions, so we bopped around from truck to truck, honking horns, taking turns sitting in the driver's seat. Then a firefighter finally appeared and let the students try on the fireman's uniform.
The coolest part was when they got the hose out for everyone to spray. The wind blew the spray right into the faces of whoever was spraying the hose. One of the 7th graders came running over to me, "Want a hug Miss H?" I didn't really have a choice. He rubbed his wet head all over my shoulder! It was a nice day out, so pretty much all the 7th and 8th graders thought it would be fun to run through the spray... and my 5th graders followed suit. All except one boy who apparently didn't get the memo; when everyone was back inside, he was the only dry one. He said, "How come no one told me we were going to run through the water?" I pointed out that his classmates were going to be wet the rest of the day, and probably uncomfortable. One of his classmates with a shirt completely soaked through said, "Yeah, she's right. Now I'm really cold. Can I go get my sweatshirt?" By the time we got inside, there was only 15 minutes until lunch. Not enough time for English. I decided to punt English for the day.
Our day ended with the 5th graders running the mile in PE followed by volleyball practice. Now I'm going to pack up and head to pottery class!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!
Well, actually, I didn't fall down today at all. I stayed on my feet during 2nd grade math (a rough and rowdy crowd today) and during the 7th and 8th grade review session. I think that was our most productive study session of the entire year. Probably because I let them pick their own groups. We actually got through most of what they need to know for the test. They still want me to make a study guide though. And none of the 5th graders fell down while working on their PowerPoint projects about Native American tribes in early America... so who did fall?
One student was walking to her desk and gracefully tripped over someone's bag strap. I heard a big thump, but by the time I turned to look, she had popped right back up and wasn't hurt. The second one was a bit more serious. We were at our 2nd recess and since we'd ended recess early yesterday, the 5th graders decided to play a friendly game of swing tag as opposed to the more controversial game of kickball. Ms. J and I played with them and all was well and good... until one 5th grader had an itch on his back. He reached around to scratch his back and promptly fell off the swing, right on his hip. Ouch! He kept saying his back hurt, so I didn't know how much to move him just in case something was wrong back there. He was able to move his legs and said it was hurting a little less as time went on. No ice pack necessary for this tough guy. One of his classmates asked if she should call the ambulance (we didn't). He turned out to be fine. Didn't want to call his mom or dad or anyone. What a tough guy.
So that was the excitement for the day. Then we found out that one of the 5th graders didn't have a ride to the soccer game at Camp Omega today. There was no room in anyone else's car, so she was out of luck. Her brother had to come pick her up. I felt so bad for her; she was in the gym, bawling her eyes out because she couldn't go. It's a hard way to learn a lesson.
In other news, the firefighters are coming tomorrow for Fire Prevention Week. We'll get to shoot off the fire hose!
One student was walking to her desk and gracefully tripped over someone's bag strap. I heard a big thump, but by the time I turned to look, she had popped right back up and wasn't hurt. The second one was a bit more serious. We were at our 2nd recess and since we'd ended recess early yesterday, the 5th graders decided to play a friendly game of swing tag as opposed to the more controversial game of kickball. Ms. J and I played with them and all was well and good... until one 5th grader had an itch on his back. He reached around to scratch his back and promptly fell off the swing, right on his hip. Ouch! He kept saying his back hurt, so I didn't know how much to move him just in case something was wrong back there. He was able to move his legs and said it was hurting a little less as time went on. No ice pack necessary for this tough guy. One of his classmates asked if she should call the ambulance (we didn't). He turned out to be fine. Didn't want to call his mom or dad or anyone. What a tough guy.
So that was the excitement for the day. Then we found out that one of the 5th graders didn't have a ride to the soccer game at Camp Omega today. There was no room in anyone else's car, so she was out of luck. Her brother had to come pick her up. I felt so bad for her; she was in the gym, bawling her eyes out because she couldn't go. It's a hard way to learn a lesson.
In other news, the firefighters are coming tomorrow for Fire Prevention Week. We'll get to shoot off the fire hose!
Monday, October 7, 2013
What's the story Wishbone?
Oh man, what a day!
It started out great, got bogged down in the middle, and is ending on a high note. Strange how that works, isn't it?
VIP Day was today, aka- Grandparent's Day. My 5th graders brought their families to school and showed them the classroom. We started with our normal routine of lunch count, flag pledges, and devotions. Then I had the 5th graders pick some books to read with their VIPs. Most of them chose Robert Munsch books. Speaking of Robert Munsch... my students love his books so much. I'm amazed at how many times they'll go back and reread a book or listen to it during Listen to Reading time. One 5th grader is bummed every day when he tries to listen to his favorite book, 50 Below Zero. The link doesn't work, but he tries every day. So I secretly emailed "Bob" through his website and got the following email in reply,
It started out great, got bogged down in the middle, and is ending on a high note. Strange how that works, isn't it?
VIP Day was today, aka- Grandparent's Day. My 5th graders brought their families to school and showed them the classroom. We started with our normal routine of lunch count, flag pledges, and devotions. Then I had the 5th graders pick some books to read with their VIPs. Most of them chose Robert Munsch books. Speaking of Robert Munsch... my students love his books so much. I'm amazed at how many times they'll go back and reread a book or listen to it during Listen to Reading time. One 5th grader is bummed every day when he tries to listen to his favorite book, 50 Below Zero. The link doesn't work, but he tries every day. So I secretly emailed "Bob" through his website and got the following email in reply,
"Hi Emily:
Thanks for writing and for sharing my books with each other. I really
appreciate it.
If you send me a class letter I will send back an unpublished story using
some names from the class, a poster and a letter answering questions that kids
most often ask. My mailing address is 15 Sharon Place, Guelph, Ontario N1H
7V2
Bob Munsch"
Guess what we're going to do tomorrow in reading???
But back to VIP Day... after reading for while, it was time for donuts in the gym. And after donuts it was time for The Amazing Magic Jack, our entertainment for the day. What's really ironic was that I watched the movie Now You See Me yesterday, so I was in a magic frame of mind. Since I stood to the side, I could see how he did a lot of his tricks. He was a great hit with the students and their VIPs. After the VIPs left, we got back to business with our spelling pretest. Or not. The spelling list in my teacher's manual was not the same words as what was in the 5th graders' workbooks. Sigh. Great. After flipping through my manual, I found this week's list about three weeks later in my book. This is getting ridiculous! Last week I finally got around to emailing the company about their lack of a 2011 teacher's spelling book. So now it's just a waiting game. We did get our spelling pretest figured out. But the computers weren't working today, which involved a call to the IT guys. They got fixed right when it was time to start English (so, right when we didn't need to use them).
The sentences in our English book were about Odysseus and the Trojan Horse. Of course the 5th graders wanted to learn more about them. I found a picture of the Trojan horse, which led to a website with the story, which led to a memory dredged from my childhood... The Odyssey. Togas. A guy shooting an arrow through a bunch of axes. Wishbone. Bingo! I found the full episode on Youtube, so now I just need to figure out when our class can watch it...
In science today, we watched an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy. It was a review of what we learned about food webs last week. The 5th graders kept turning around to look at me every time someone onscreen mentioned something we talked about last week. Then during recess, they were singing some of the songs played in the episode. But recess ended on a less than high note. Everyone was super grouchy and whiny, it was ridiculous. I finally got fed up enough to call off recess. We went in 10 minutes early and on the way inside everyone was pointing the finger at everybody else in our class. "It's your fault!" Ugh! I told them all to go to bed early tonight to get a good night's sleep.
Then we took another class picture to send to our Slovakian pen pals (because someone made a weird face in the one we took last week). But there was an argument over who got to hold Joe in the picture. I drew a name out of a jar and Ms. J. (our para) was the winner! She gave up her "holding rights" to the student whose turn it was on Friday. This made today's helper angry because she didn't get to hold Joe and she felt that it was her right (she was also the student who made the weird face in the last picture). So as soon as the picture was done, she stormed out of the room and hid in the loft outside our classroom. I thought she was in the bathroom, so no one went looking for her. Pretty soon she climbed down and another 5th grader blew the whistle on her. She got even more upset, "Tattletale!!!" and ran into the gym where she promptly hid. By this point, I was done playing her games, so I got the rest of the 5th graders ready for the end of the day and Ms. J talked her back into our room. Whew!
But like I said, the day ended on a high note. I printed off the letters from our Slovakian pen pals. They turned out great! The Slovakian students have very neat handwriting, wrote in cursive, and included pictures. It kind of made our letters look shabby in comparison. Oh well, we'll redeem ourselves with this next project. I think we're going to do, "Tell About Your Family" or something along those lines.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Weeding the Shelves
The Lion's Club in our area is sponsoring a book drive, so all the teachers received permission to go through their classroom books and get rid of some of the old ones/ones we don't want anymore. Yay! I had a ton of books on the shelves (and in a box in the closet) that were old and worn out or we had multiple copies of. So I filled up three bags of our extra books. They're on the bench in the hallway waiting to be picked up on Monday. We now have loads of room on the bookshelves for more books... which means I can get even more at the $ bag sale coming up in a few weeks and at the New Ulm Public Library book sale in November. Books, books, everywhere!!!
The books I ordered from BetterWorldBooks.com have still not arrived yet. One of the 5th grade girls keeps perking up every time a large vehicle pulls into school. "Miss H., are those the books? Do you think they're here? Are they coming by FedEx? UPS? I think they're here!" Sigh. I'm glad she's so excited about books, though I do wish she wouldn't get so distracted.
Our school's "grandparent's day" (known around here as VIP day) is on Monday, so we had to get tables set up in the gym this afternoon. The volleyball team was supposed to have practice, but the tables in the gym kind of make that impossible. The head coach said we'd just have practice outside, weather permitting. Everyone kind of made a stink about that (although I do remember having volleyball practice outside once when I was in grade school). Practice ended up being cancelled due to the misty, drippy weather. I was very happy about that, even though I'm still not getting out of school very early.
We have our first tournament tomorrow in Northrup. Miss H. and I are going to be the sole coaches; the head coach is going to a wedding that day. So she's going to drive over to my house tomorrow morning, bright and early, and we'll carpool down there together. It should be a good day. Hopefully our players' attitudes will be a lot better with a night of sleep under their belts.
Today in class the 7th and 8th graders were off the wall! On Fridays, the plan is for me to teach their class for an hour. I figured I had plenty of material for them to work on. Guess again. I handed back their science tests and told them they could fix the ones they got wrong for an improved test score. Most of them handed their "corrected" tests back to me after about ten minutes. So much for looking up the correct answers in the book. There were about five of them waving their tests in my face and I just didn't want to take them back! Eventually, I gave up and handed them their other assignment: do research on African tribes in today's world that were around in ancient Africa. Yeah, they finished that assignment in 15 minutes. So it was 12:55 and I had nothing for them to do.
The whole time they were whining and complaining about how they had to do homework on Friday when I told them they'd never have homework. and we'd only do fun stuff on Fridays. I did say that, but their behavior on previous Fridays has shown me that they can't handle doing fun stuff, so now we do boring stuff. They can't seem to wrap their heads around that concept. I think I may need to write the class a letter telling them why we aren't doing experiments anymore. UGH! It's driving me nuts!
Without having anything for them to work on, they pretty much did nothing the rest of the time. Sure I tried to get them to work on other homework, but their answer was, "Oh, I already have all my stuff done." A few minutes later they'd be working on a speech PowerPoint or working ahead in spelling. There were a few kids who were playing games on the computer and listening to music when they weren't supposed to. We were in Mr. E's room, which makes class tricky. I don't know what his rules are about the computers, so I don't know if they're breaking the rules or not and if I should get them to stop what they're doing. Sigh. I was ready to pull out my hair at the end of the hour. But the other teachers said that they had a hard time with the 7th and 8th graders too, so that makes me feel a little better. I'm at the end of my rope! What can I do with these students so that they care about what we're learning and act respectful in class? Maybe a good night's sleep will give me inspiration.
The books I ordered from BetterWorldBooks.com have still not arrived yet. One of the 5th grade girls keeps perking up every time a large vehicle pulls into school. "Miss H., are those the books? Do you think they're here? Are they coming by FedEx? UPS? I think they're here!" Sigh. I'm glad she's so excited about books, though I do wish she wouldn't get so distracted.
Our school's "grandparent's day" (known around here as VIP day) is on Monday, so we had to get tables set up in the gym this afternoon. The volleyball team was supposed to have practice, but the tables in the gym kind of make that impossible. The head coach said we'd just have practice outside, weather permitting. Everyone kind of made a stink about that (although I do remember having volleyball practice outside once when I was in grade school). Practice ended up being cancelled due to the misty, drippy weather. I was very happy about that, even though I'm still not getting out of school very early.
We have our first tournament tomorrow in Northrup. Miss H. and I are going to be the sole coaches; the head coach is going to a wedding that day. So she's going to drive over to my house tomorrow morning, bright and early, and we'll carpool down there together. It should be a good day. Hopefully our players' attitudes will be a lot better with a night of sleep under their belts.
Today in class the 7th and 8th graders were off the wall! On Fridays, the plan is for me to teach their class for an hour. I figured I had plenty of material for them to work on. Guess again. I handed back their science tests and told them they could fix the ones they got wrong for an improved test score. Most of them handed their "corrected" tests back to me after about ten minutes. So much for looking up the correct answers in the book. There were about five of them waving their tests in my face and I just didn't want to take them back! Eventually, I gave up and handed them their other assignment: do research on African tribes in today's world that were around in ancient Africa. Yeah, they finished that assignment in 15 minutes. So it was 12:55 and I had nothing for them to do.
The whole time they were whining and complaining about how they had to do homework on Friday when I told them they'd never have homework. and we'd only do fun stuff on Fridays. I did say that, but their behavior on previous Fridays has shown me that they can't handle doing fun stuff, so now we do boring stuff. They can't seem to wrap their heads around that concept. I think I may need to write the class a letter telling them why we aren't doing experiments anymore. UGH! It's driving me nuts!
Without having anything for them to work on, they pretty much did nothing the rest of the time. Sure I tried to get them to work on other homework, but their answer was, "Oh, I already have all my stuff done." A few minutes later they'd be working on a speech PowerPoint or working ahead in spelling. There were a few kids who were playing games on the computer and listening to music when they weren't supposed to. We were in Mr. E's room, which makes class tricky. I don't know what his rules are about the computers, so I don't know if they're breaking the rules or not and if I should get them to stop what they're doing. Sigh. I was ready to pull out my hair at the end of the hour. But the other teachers said that they had a hard time with the 7th and 8th graders too, so that makes me feel a little better. I'm at the end of my rope! What can I do with these students so that they care about what we're learning and act respectful in class? Maybe a good night's sleep will give me inspiration.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Books and Butterflies
The library book sale trip was a success! I got 33 books for $7.50; what a steal! One of the books was given to the Kindergarten room. It was called "Shout It Out" and as you might have guessed from the title, readers are encouraged to shout it out along with the story. I figured this book would be too loud for my class, so I sent it down to the younger grades. Mrs. E said they loved it! Tomorrow I'm going to do Book Commercials on the older kid books I picked up at the sale. We'll see if I have any takers. Maybe I'll just have them laid out on the table so the 5th graders can peruse them at will. Hmm...
It was so weird in 7th/8th grade history today. Everyone was super quiet and seemed to be really interested in what we were talking about. Maybe it was just me. They actually asked some questions about what we were learning (even some of the snarky kids who normally sit and stare menacingly). Hopefully their interest continues!
Today was the last day I wanted to spend on getting our "butterflies" ready for migration. I found a program through Journey North about butterfly migration from Canada/USA to Mexico. Students are asked to make mini butterflies that will be mailed to classrooms in Mexico. In the spring when the real butterflies migrate north, the Mexican students will make butterflies to mail up to our classrooms! As a class, we've learned some Spanish phrases to write on our class butterfly. They've been really excited about the project. I can't wait to see the butterflies we get back in the spring!
There's both a soccer and a volleyball game after school today. The team we're playing is Truman/Northrup/Fairmont and the volleyball coach is intense. Mr. E said that the coach is the new principal at one of the schools and he takes his volleyball very seriously. He told Mr. E that he's been yellow carded once this season already for yelling at the ref who made an incorrect call. And Mr. E is the lucky guy who gets to ref our games tonight. Our head volleyball coach is not here to coach, so Miss H. and I are going it solo. It will be good practice for this weekend's tournament, but I wish it weren't against such an intense team!
It was so weird in 7th/8th grade history today. Everyone was super quiet and seemed to be really interested in what we were talking about. Maybe it was just me. They actually asked some questions about what we were learning (even some of the snarky kids who normally sit and stare menacingly). Hopefully their interest continues!
Today was the last day I wanted to spend on getting our "butterflies" ready for migration. I found a program through Journey North about butterfly migration from Canada/USA to Mexico. Students are asked to make mini butterflies that will be mailed to classrooms in Mexico. In the spring when the real butterflies migrate north, the Mexican students will make butterflies to mail up to our classrooms! As a class, we've learned some Spanish phrases to write on our class butterfly. They've been really excited about the project. I can't wait to see the butterflies we get back in the spring!
There's both a soccer and a volleyball game after school today. The team we're playing is Truman/Northrup/Fairmont and the volleyball coach is intense. Mr. E said that the coach is the new principal at one of the schools and he takes his volleyball very seriously. He told Mr. E that he's been yellow carded once this season already for yelling at the ref who made an incorrect call. And Mr. E is the lucky guy who gets to ref our games tonight. Our head volleyball coach is not here to coach, so Miss H. and I are going it solo. It will be good practice for this weekend's tournament, but I wish it weren't against such an intense team!
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