I can't wait for two years!

Lots of cute things happened in school today. 

We had a little time before recess with the 3rd/4th graders, so I pulled up a map of the United States and the 5th graders played the flyswatter states game.  They did a lot better than the 7th/8th graders.  When someone finally knocked on our door to let us know the gym was open, the 5th graders asked if we could keep playing the game. :)  We played a little more and then went to recess.

At noon recess, the 7th grade girls found some little beach balls in the bleachers.  They discovered they were just the right size to shove up their shirts so they could pretend to be pregnant.  Then they wanted to jump rope that way.  It was at the same time funny and disturbing.  One of the 5th graders thought we should take a picture for the yearbook but I told them no because someone might think it was real.  The girls with the beach ball babies had no clue why people would think it would be real.  Such innocence!

The cutest thing happened this afternoon.  The 3rd/4th graders came to our room to see pictures of my trip overseas.  They brought pizza.  Homemade pizza to be exact.  Part of their English assignment was to give a "how to" speech and most of them chose to show how to make some sort of food.  One boy showed how to make pizza and then wanted to share with us.  :) 

But that's not the cutest part yet.  One of the 4th grade girls walked into my room and said, "Whoa, I really like your room.  It's cool!"  This is the first time she's actually talked to me.  Then, when the rest of the class was assembled, I heard two of the 2nd grade girls whispering together, "I can't wait for it to be two years!" Meaning they wanted to be in my class.  Oh how cute!  It's things like these that make the bad days seem not so bad.

Ready for Tuesday

Boy oh boy, am I ready for Tuesday. 

This week everyone has zero motivation for getting stuff done.  The kids are feeling antsy (or maybe that's just me).  One of the public school teachers had a meeting over here today and she said her students are acting the same way. 

We tried to do a lab at the tail end of 7/8th grade science today.  It sort of worked.  There were three stations for them to go to, each one covering a different topic we've learned about this/last week.  One was making sand dunes with a hairdryer.  I tested it this morning and our room got really dusty, so I had them take it on the porch outside the classroom.  Of course the girls were all complaining about being cold.  And it was windy too so the sand already blew around.  Another station was making waves to change the "seashore."  Some groups got a little crazy making waves in the tub and splashed water over the edges.  "TSUNAMI!" they shouted.  The third station was for measuring the angle of repose (aka- the slope where material stops falling down- think of a pile of corn).  I didn't have enough sand out for them or else my protractors were too big.  They had a hard time measuring.  Plus we didn't have quite enough time to finish every station.

However, the 5th graders benefited from the lab materials left behind by their peers.  Our topic in science today was meteors and meteorites.  One student didn't believe that a little rock could make such a big dent in the earth.  So we tested it.  Each student got to take an object (tennis ball, rock, penny) and drop it from the same height to see how big of a dent it made.  It kind of worked.  We tried it on both wet and dry sand.  I think it would've worked better to have thrown it with a bit of force.  Oh well.  Maybe we'll try it again next week.

Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a fun day.  We have chapel, possibly reading buddies, and need to finish writing our NaNo stories/pen pal letters.  In the afternoon, Mr. D invited our class to have recess with his after we're done with math.  Then after that, I'm going to show pictures from my Ireland trip to the 3rd-5th graders (since they haven't seen them before).  Once that's done, we just have Christmas program practice and it's already the end of the day!

I've been working up a storm trying to get my lessons done for next week so I don't have to bring them home with me over Thanksgiving.  I think I have almost all of them done.  Maybe three more lessons to do.  Hopefully I can knock some more of those out of the way tonight.

Matchmaker, matchmaker...

Oh those 4th grade boys are at it again...

Mr. D stopped me in the hall today to tell me a story about a few of the boys in his class.  One of them told Mr. D that he thought Mr. D and I would make a good couple.  Mr. D explained to this student that I was half his age and young enough to be his daughter.  Then he added that my dad is only a few years older than he was.  So it wasn't going to happen.  They thought about that for a little while and another kid added, "Yeah, she likes International tractors and you like John Deere.  It would never work out."  I've discovered in my limited amount of experience that for some reason, kids have a hard time seeing their teachers unmarried.  They just don't like it at all.

In other news, we had a really good day, behavior-wise.  I don't think any of the 5th graders had homework.  Since we only have two days next week, there is no spelling or handwriting or memory.  Everyone was excited about that.

The 7th and 8th graders took their test with time to spare, so we played the flyswatter game United States style.  I had an unlabeled map of the US on the board and teams would go head-to-head to tap the correct state after I said its name.  We really need to do this game more often.  They have no clue which states are which. 

One of the ladies of the Immanuel-lites stopped by our classroom this morning to say thanks for presenting.  My kids all wanted to know why she was there.  Then that brought up the whole story of "Oh I wanted to come but I forgot to ask my mom so we didn't go and could we sometime look at the pictures you took and could we maybe do it today?" 

We played a rousing game of SNAKE (or, as we like to play, BRAVES) during recess.  We ended our day by practicing a few songs for the Christmas program.  I can't believe that when we come back from Thanksgiving break, it will be December!  And then it will be only three weeks of school until Christmas.  Wow!

Deh!

What. A. Day.

I have no words.

By far, the worst day of school to date.  The day started out pretty good.  The morning was fine.  But after lunch everything went downhill.

One of our families is going down to Florida until December first (take me with you, please!) so the teachers had to get their homework ready ahead of time.  Since one of the brothers had an appointment in the Cities this afternoon, they were pulling all their kids out of school in the middle of the day.  Well, the 7th grader had to take his history test for my class before he left, but he really wanted to go to recess, so he decided he wasn't going to take it.  Mr. E and I changed his mind.  He got done within ten minutes, so I'm not sure how well he did, but he got it done.  His 5th grade brother had to say his memory work before he left (which he hadn't studied much).  He ended up missing recess so he study his memory.  He didn't think he could do it.  But he did.  Maybe they weren't memorized as good as they should've been, but he got 'em said.

The 7th and 8th graders had a great review day once we got the teams picked out.  That was a drama in and of itself.  We always have a hard time coming up with teams so this time I told them to pick their teams before class.  It didn't work.  I thought something like this might happen, so this morning I came up with a backup plan.  Unfortunately, the backup plan fell through.  The program thing I used to create teams didn't work on my school computer so I was left with the old "pick the stick" option.  While I was out of the room, one of the girls switched the teams around and another girl wasn't happy with the changes, so she came tattling to me and then rubbed it in the other girl's face when I made them change the names back.  So we had to have a conversation about that.  And then no one wanted to do the review game so I gave them the option of sitting and working through the study guide together and then everyone wanted to do the review game again. 

After that, the 5th graders came back and we did history, which was great!  They remembered so much of the things we'd been talking about.  And then it tanked when I gave them the assignment.  I think the 5th grader who left early forgot his instructions at school.  And then the girl with the para completely shut down because she didn't have enough time to finish the assignment so she'd have to take it home for homework.  Plus she misbehaved in math so she was getting time taken away from playing tone chimes so she could work on her math (something she hates). 

We brought out the bells and that's when this girl decided she was going to finish her history instead of working on her math assignment like she was supposed to.  And then she stormed out of the room and ran up into the loft (an off-limits zone) and then we had to get Mr. E and he had to leave PE to have a talk with her in the office.  After the talk she stormed through the gym and into the classroom where she curled up under her book bag.  I tried to talk to her.  Didn't work.  We did the packing up with the timer again but one of the boys wasn't in the room when the timer started.  And then I did something I probably shouldn't have.  I gave him an extra fifteen seconds to pack up so we could watch the video. Wince.  I shouldn't have done that.  I know it's going to bite me in the butt later.  Sigh.  But I really wanted to watch the video!

It was the one with the opera singer who messes up and there's a picture of a cat that shows up... it's funny.  Well, the girl who'd been having the bad day thought the video was stupid, so she got even more upset and then we had the whole "I don't have a high; my entire day was bad" scenario all over again.  This time, I let the other kids go right after the prayer.  Ms. J and I had to block the exits so she couldn't leave without permission.  Her brother ended up coming in and still she made him stand around for another 15 minutes!  Finally she came up with something and I let her go.  Ugh!  I fell so petty doing that, but it's a power struggle, plain and simple.  Today she was seeing how long I would hold out against her.  And I won today, but it's not a proud victory. 

We called her mom after school to get some ideas of how to handle her complete disregard for authority and her tendency to ignore people she doesn't want to listen to.  Her mom gave us pointers straight out of the Love and Logic philosophy book.  I took notes during the thirty minute phone conversation and I think we have a good start on some more effective ways to deal with her behavior.  Sigh.  I just don't want another repeat of today.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.  Ending on a positive note: I don't have a lot of correcting to do tonight since I corrected the 5th graders' spelling books yesterday.  And the presentation last night went very well.  There were about 25ish people there and none of them fell asleep!  (haha, lame attempt at a joke).  But for real, I had a great time reliving the memories made on that trip. 

A day without a para...

Boy, what a convoluted, crazy day we've had.  Actually, it hasn't been that crazy.  It just felt different than normal.

Last night, I called the sick student's mom to see if she'd be in school today (so I could let the para know).  Her mom said that she'd probably keep her home another day.  I called the para and left a voicemail for her.  Then, this morning, her mom called again and said that the student was feeling better and wanted to come to school (I guess my phone call the night before meant a lot to her so she really, really wanted to come back to school).  We came up with the plan to have her come to school at 9:30ish.  One problem.  The para didn't answer her phone.  I left a voicemail again and told her she could come in if she wanted to.  Just now, I checked my phone and saw she left a message at 12:45.  Her phone stopped working yesterday and she didn't notice until about 12:30 that I had called this morning.  Oops! 

Our day was... okay.  The student had some trouble focusing during Daily 5, took a long time to eat, and dragged her feet in math.  It was about what I expected.  I do know that I definitely underestimate how much help my para is.  Most of the time this morning I couldn't redirect/keep the student on task because I was busy helping other classmates. 

Before PE, the 5-8th graders have to run 10 laps.  This student said her tummy hurt so she couldn't run.  I'm pretty sure she was trying to get out of running.  I told her she could walk her laps.  She started walking with her stocking cap pulled down over her eyes, making some kind of statement I guess.  It took FOREVER, but she got them done!  It helped that one of the 7th grade boys ran some extra laps calling out, "I'm gonna beat you!  Look, I'm passing you!"  That made her pick up the pace.

Then after PE, she took her time in the bathroom, so she didn't make it back to pack up her stuff in the two minutes that were on the timer.  She asked if we could still watch the video.  Nope.  She pretty much shut down after that.  She did get her stuff written in her assignment notebook and her homework shoved in her backpack.  But highs and lows did not go well.  She had about five lows and said she didn't have a high for the day.  Well, that's not what highs and lows are all about.  I told her she couldn't leave until she thought of a high.  Kind of silly when you think about it, but for some reason I didn't want her to leave without thinking of a positive thing about the day.  We skipped her and let the rest of the class and say theirs.  Then we said our end of the day prayer and she still didn't think of one.  Not couldn't think of one.  Didn't think of one.  Her classmates and I gave her tons of options, but she didn't like any of them, "they're too boring."  Finally I let all the others go so they wouldn't be late for practice.  Then she came up with one that someone had suggested a long time ago, "My high is that I got to come to school today." 

She tried to use, "I might not come to school tomorrow." as her high, so I'm a little worried she'll tell her mom that she isn't feeling well again and her mom will keep her home.  Which will cause a lot more stress and confusion between Ms. J and me figuring out whether she should come to work or not.  Sigh.

In other news, I got a refresher course on how to use the projectors at church (for my presentation to the Men's Club/Immanuel-lites on my trip overseas). 

Chapel today brought me back to my childhood.  Remember that song "Jesus Loves the Little Children"?  When I was little, my mom taught me the words, "red and yellow, black and white; they are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  Well.  I did not like it at all that the brunettes were kept out of the song altogether.  So I added in the word brown so my hair color would be represented, "red, brown, yellow, black and white; they are precious in his sight."  Mom tried to tell me that the song was about skin color, but I was positive we were singing about hair.  Anyway, we sang that song in chapel today, and Pastor sang it with the right words, including the word brown.  That kept me smiling for a good long time.

One down

A parent called me last night to tell me that her daughter was throwing up.  She actually started laughing while telling me the story because the student had been doing her math homework when her mom saw the "I'm about to throw up" face.  She quick hustled her to the bathroom saying, "Don't throw up on the homework!"  It had taken such an effort to do her math the first time, she would've had to do it all over if she'd have gotten sick on her homework.  Thankfully her homework was safe.

We needed to let Mr. E know so he could tell our para not to come to school today.  I thought he was going to take care of it, but she showed up at school this morning, bright and early.  She ended up going home.  Her sudden day off was actually a blessing in disguise.  She told me her heater wasn't working in her apartment, so now she could be around when they came to fix it. 

Hopefully the student will be back in school tomorrow.  It was very strange only having three kids today.  It was a lot quieter but they got distracted more easily, probably because it seemed like a fun day with only three.  But we did a lot of learning today!  The coolest thing was playing the Jamestown colonist simulator.  We got to make choices about where to start our colony and then the program gave us a score at the end.  The 5th graders wanted to do it over and over again!  One of them got fired.  Another got promoted to governor.  It just depended on the choices they made.

One of the 7th graders popped in to ask a question about a worksheet.  When he saw what we were doing, he asked, "How come we didn't get to do that last year?"  Well I hadn't found it last year!  And just now I remembered we learned MN history that year.  I didn't teach them American History. 

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week.  Everyone at school is ready for a break: students and teachers.  We only have five more days of school until break!  Yay!

Cold!

All day I've been really cold.  I hope I'm not coming down with something.  Both 5th grade girls weren't feeling well today.  We took their temperature, but they didn't have fevers!  So I don't know.  I think we all need a good night's sleep.

I can't believe it's the week before Thanksgiving!  One of the boys is going to Florida on vacation over Thanksgiving, so they're leaving on Friday and will be gone Monday and Tuesday next week.  That means I have to have his homework ready before then. 

The IEP meeting that was after school today was postponed, so theoretically I could get out of school at a decent hour.  I need to add pictures to a few powerpoints, but other than that I don't need to stick around.  My goal is to leave at 5:00pm. 

My 5th graders finally decided that it would be okay to put their plant experiments in the dark.  Before today, everyone wanted to keep them in the sun to see how much they would grow.  Nobody wanted to move theirs to the dark closet.  And then suddenly everyone wanted to!  Only one person kept theirs in the sunlight.  It will be interesting to see what happens with the plants in the closet.  There's no door, and the 7th and 8th graders turn the light on when they get the bells out.  So it won't be completely dark.  We do have one plant that is in a cupboard that gets no light (or only a little through the cracks).  We'll see what happens.

In other news, we're starting to learn music for the Christmas program on Friday.  And we're doing reading buddies with the kindergartners tomorrow morning so everyone gets a chance to participate.  Basketball practice this week.  The 7th/8th food drive was today.  On Wednesday, I'm giving a presentation to church members on my trip to the UK last summer.  I wonder how many people will show up.  I'm not too concerned.  I'd be fine if only a handful come.

Other than that, this week should cruise by without too much excitement.

More Reading Buddies

It was very strange with one less student today.  My students kept commenting that the room seemed so empty, like tons of people were gone today even though it was only one.  I haven't gotten rid of his desk yet.  I don't know if I will or not because the 7th and 8th graders need the desk.

Speaking of 7th and 8th graders.  We had a lab today, something I was a little leery about since our previous labs were very crazy and chaotic.  I wrote expectations on the board (good choices and bad choices) and told them to read through their packet.  We even had to wear goggles and aprons. 

Yesterday I told them they could bring different liquids from home to use in our penny cleaning experiment today.  Only a few took me up on it, but then they started looking for liquids at school.  One girl got ketchup from the kitchen (with permission of course), a few groups used hand sanitizer, one girl brought bleach and alumina (something she said is used to take rust off pennies).  I had all the groups use water for one of their trials.  Their behavior was great!  They were all sad to have to clean up, but I think we had just enough time.  Mrs. M took them over to church to practice bells for Sunday's service, and Mr. E kept the 5th graders for the full hour so I had a little time to clean up from the lab.  That was very nice.

That pretty much took care of our afternoon.  We worked on our NaNo stories a bit and then the kindergartners came for a visit with their Bookmobile books.  There's enough of them that each 5th grader gets two kindergartners.  One of the girls had an appointment at the public school, so I read with two of our visitors.  It was super fun!  I can't wait for them to come next week. :)

Holes

When we finished reading the book Holes, my 5th graders asked if we could watch the movie.  I told them I'd check it out from the library.  Well, one of the girls decided we had to watch it before the one 5th grader moved (henceforth known as A.), so she took it upon herself to rent it from Family Video. 

It was actually a good thing she rented it.  I had placed a hold on the library copy of the movie, but it wasn't in when I stopped last night.  And this morning I checked my library card account and saw that it just arrived today.  Shucks.  A day too late.  I was going to roll with it, thinking we'd do enough fun exciting stuff at the end of the day to send A. off with a bang.

Imagine my surprise when this 5th grader came bursting in the classroom this morning, "Miss H!  Look what I got! [shows me the movie]  My brother had to get the movie War Horse for school and so I asked if they had this one and they said that it was in the family section and so I found it and got it and can we watch it today since it's A.'s last day?"  Of course, I tried to be nonchalant about it, "We might be able to arrange that."  Then she said, "We should keep it a secret from A. and surprise him.  Quick, quick, hide it!"  She flipped it upside down on my desk so A. wouldn't see it as he walked into the room.

And yes, we did watch it.  It was chunked in bits and pieces since we had to take a break for 2nd grade math (that gave the 5th graders time to finish their spelling).  Then we had to break again for lunch right at the exciting part!  I had them fill out a Venn diagram during the movie, identifying the similarities and differences between the book and the movie.  It was surprising how much they enjoyed looking for that stuff (a pleasant surprise).  They remembered the plot of the book really well and got scared at all the right parts.  It was really fun watching it with them!  The movie froze in a few places, which upset everyone, but they weren't major freezes so we didn't have to stop the movie.  I think this is one I'll have to add to my collection so we have it on hand when needed.

The party for A. was also a success.  We played floor hockey with the 3rd and 4th graders.  His mom and dad brought ice cream cake, which we ate while playing games.  We ended the day with the last fifteen minutes of the movie.  Gave him a group hug.  Took a class picture.  Everyone else took off and then we unpacked his desk. 

I gave his parents his Christmas present early, telling them they could let him open it early or they could save it.  I think they're going to try to save it for Christmas. :)

Student Council

The first ever student council meeting was today.  I almost forgot to send our representative, but one of the 5th grade girls was on the way back from the bathroom and saw the other reps lining up for lunch so she reminded me. 

It seems that they had a good discussion.  Mostly they talked about items to add to the lunch menu, that they don't have enough time to eat/recess, and the issue of paper towels on the bathroom floor.  A few of the other teachers and I had a mini-powwow to discuss some of the things they discussed and we all agreed that the first meeting was a success.  There will be much to discuss at our next faculty meeting.

The first day of basketball practice is also today.  It was so cute seeing the boys saunter down the hall to the gym, raring to go.  One of the 4th graders is super tiny.  He had his shirt tucked into his shorts and they were hiked up past his bellybutton. 

About half the 3rd and 4th grade boys were wearing long socks and one of the 7th graders (a "cool" one that everyone looks up to) commented, "Boy, are tall socks the style now?"  Mr. E happened to overhear him and he responded, "Well you're not wearing them, so I guess it's not."

These kids are so protective of their shoes!  This morning, one of the 5th grade boys comes up to me, "Miss H!  Look!"  He sets his basketball shoes on my desk, "They're all scuffed!  How do I get them off?"  So we googled it and found tons of ideas.  Of course, he wanted to try them right away. 

"Miss H. do you have any baking soda?"  "Sorry, why don't you go ask the cook?"  He came back a few minutes later with the baking soda.  "Now what?"  So we went over the recipe.  He dabbed some on with a pencil, "It's not working!"  Well, you have to use more than a few drops. 

I don't think it worked, but by that time it was time to start the day.  Maybe he'll forget about it, but I'm thinking he'll ask to try another method tomorrow.  Maybe Vaseline will work better.  Oh the things you do as a teacher!

Another day, another sub

Yesterday afternoon, the 1st/2nd grade teacher was gone for a public school choir concert (she teaches choir at the high school in the mornings), so one of the education students from Bethany subbed in her room.

Today was another principal's meeting, so Mr. E had a different Bethany student sub in his room.  Both of them had great things to say about the school and they said they had a great experience. 

At the beginning of the year I told the students who had birthdays in the summer that they could pick a day in the school year to bring birthday treats and we'd celebrate on that day.  (I give them a Brain Break certificate as their bday present).  So today one of the 5th graders brought in cookies to share with the class.  I don't think she planned this, but she had an extra cookie.  She wrapped it in a paper towel and asked me if I would make sure the sub in the 7th/8th grade room would get it.  My kids have such giving hearts!

Once again, the 5th graders got everything packed up in three minutes at the end of the day.  This morning, one of them told me that they're making a book based on the "What does the fox say?" YouTube video which reminded me of another YouTube video that got made into a book: Marcel the Shell with Shoes on.  They loved it.  So much.  Ms. J was laughing her head off over by her desk.  Then everyone started quoting the video while we did our highs and lows for the day.  One of them saw that there's a second Marcel video, so now they want to watch that one tomorrow. 

Another Rambunctious Day

There's a change in the weather coming...

The 2nd graders were off the wall, the 7th graders were off the wall, the 8th graders were off the wall. 

The 5th graders were actually okay today.  Everyone was really tired and had TONS of stories to tell about their deer hunting escapades this weekend.  I listened to 30 minutes of solid deer hunting stories before school started this morning.  And they still had more to tell me!  Whew!

One of the boys was gone today (the one who is moving).  It was amazing how the atmosphere of the room changed without him here.  Our classroom almost seemed unbalanced.  I really missed his energy.  I'm sad to see him go.

We made him a going away card and had the whole school sign it.  One of the girls chose green and yellow paper for the card since "it's John Deere and [the student] really likes John Deere."  His mom is going to bring ice cream cake to share on Thursday (his last day) and we're going to play floor hockey with the 3rd and 4th graders so they can spend a little more time with him (and say goodbye).  Sigh.

I wonder what sorts of things I need to send with him on Thursday.  He'll need to clean out his desk for sure and turn in his books.  Other than that?  I don't know.

Day after

What a day.

Everyone was completely zonked.  Including all the teachers.  You could see on everyone's face how tired and worn out we felt.  Whew! 

Conferences weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be.  I found out that one of my students doesn't like to write, so she'll drag her feet on writing anything.  That was a great revelation for me.  I wasn't finished until 8:00pm.  Long day at school.

Thankfully, the morning started out pretty easy.  The 5th graders were extra chatty, so we started up the old no talking game (which they take very seriously).  There were only a few slip-ups.  Everyone got lots done on their stories.  I helped a few more students flesh out their outlines.  I acted as secretary for the student who was digging in her heels on writing.  Ms. J and I figured out that she has so many ideas in her head, her hands and fingers can't keep up with them all, and her writing doesn't sound good.  So that's why she's not a fan of writing.  Our new plan is that Ms. J will type for her, and this student will dictate her story.  The only hurtle in this plan is the student herself; she might not want Ms. J to type.  We'll have to see once we run the plan by her.

The 7th and 8th graders earned a class reward for answering enough challenges of the week.  They voted earlier in the week on what to pick for a prize and they chose extra credit points over extra recess or a class movie.  Since they made such a good choice, I decided they earned the privilege of a movie in class.  Of course I controlled the movie choices: Aladdin or Mulan, both of which take place in the time period/corner of the world we're studying now.  I really wanted to watch Mulan because we are currently learning about the Mongols (and we just finished the Han Dynasty, the era in which Mulan supposedly took place). They chose Mulan and we watched about half of it.  They really liked it!  About five or six of them had never seen it before; I could tell they were really into the movie.  Everyone groaned when we had to stop.  Maybe we'll finish it up on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the day ended on a low note.  The 5th graders spent an hour taking a math test with Mr. E.  They came back moaning and groaning that it was really hard.  And then I had a science test waiting for them.  Lovely.  We did a brain break.  Then decided that wasn't enough to freshen them up.  Took a fifteen minute recess.  Then passed out the test.  Except I forgot to give them a little time to look over their books/notes.  They just had to jump right in.  Here I thought the test was going to be easy for them.  Only one out of five said it was pretty easy.  The rest didn't get it.  They didn't understand what the questions were asking.  I think their brains were just too tired.  So I sent them home with their science books and told them to look at it over the weekend.  We'll try again on Monday.  Sadly, that means we won't be able to start outer space until later next week.

One of my students is moving next week.  His last day is Thursday, so I'm trying to plan a send off for him too.  Basketball starts next week.  We have PTL next week.  So lots of stuff going on.  Hopefully my weekend is relaxing!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Sigh.  Parent Teacher Conferences. 

I remember last year I was actually excited for conferences.  This year... eh, not so much.  Maybe it's daylight savings time.  Maybe it's because I've been so busy I want to stay home for a night.  But it's probably because I have 7th and 8th grade parents questioning me about their kids' grades.  Stuff like that makes me feel like I'm being attacked (even though I'm not) and I get nervous, hoping they won't get mad at me.  Though I really shouldn't worry about it; the reason they got the grades they did is because they earned them (or didn't earn them, as the case may be).  Sigh.  Grades.

On a lighter note, the 5th graders are packing up in a much more timely fashion.  I've been setting a timer for 5, then 4, then 3 minutes, and if they get packed up before it beeps, we get to watch a youtube video.  Today's video was "Working Farmer Style" (which also unfortunately features John Deere tractors).  Tomorrow's will be slow motion giant water balloon breaking.

The 5th graders have begun their NaNoWriMo stories.  I made them fill out a plot outline organizer, so they know what their story will be about.  I was surprised how much it helped them!  They were getting really excited about the stories they'll be writing, and I know that enthusiasm will transfer to their writing.  I can't wait to read them when they're finished.

In other news, I too am doing NaNoWriMo.  So far, I've been able to keep up with the word count; I'm currently at 10,129 words, or about one fifth of the way finished.  I figured out I can write my words for the day in about an hour.  The best part is, I don't have Internet to distract me, so nothing prevents me from pounding out my daily quota of words!

Since we're talking all about me today, let me give you an update on my pottery class.  We met for the last time last night to glaze our pieces.  I didn't finish.  I still have about 6-7 more things to glaze.  So we're meeting on Saturday night to finish up.  I hope I can get them done in the two hours or so we'll be there.  We get to pick up our finished products next Wednesday.  I realized we have a PTL meeting that night, so I have to ask if it's okay if I'm late...

Well, I suppose I should get back to being productive.  If I have to be at school until 7:30 tonight, I might as well get some lesson planning done.

Gunpowder Tuesday

We sure packed a lot into our day today. 

Only a few chapters are left in our read aloud book, and it's getting really good.  The 5th graders don't want me to stop reading!  They actually asked for extra copies of the book so they could read ahead.  We might be able to finish it tomorrow. 

In 2nd grade math, we started 2-digit subtraction.  They have a hard enough time with subtraction as it is, and now to add in two digits?  I think the first day went all right.  They were a little surprised they didn't get to work out of the packets today, but I wanted to teach them the concept first.  I think we'll do the same thing tomorrow too, just to make sure they get the whole idea down.

The 5th graders were working hard all the while I worked with the 2nd graders.  But afterwards there was some tension on who got to use which beanbag and who got to sit in the reading corner.  One girl wanted it all to herself, but two boys chose to read to someone in the same corner.  She complained that she couldn't concentrate and wanted them to move somewhere else because they were too loud.  I asked the boys to lower their voices, but she said she still couldn't concentrate.  I told her she could either deal with it or pick a new spot.  But she didn't want to pick a new spot.  "It's not fair!  I was here first!  I shouldn't have to move!"  Well, life's not fair, and the boys are being quiet, so if it's not working for you, then you need to make a good choice on where to sit.  After a lot more fussing, she ended up picking a new spot.  This same kid had trouble in math and that carried over into social studies, but somehow she got off the wrong track and ended up finishing the day really well.

We got everyone packed up and good to go in 5 minutes!  So we got to watch the "What does the farmer say?" video.  They thought it was hilarious, especially the part about the farmer tan and pasty white legs.  They also couldn't get enough of the John Deere... sigh.  I don't have any hope of converting them to the red side.

I told them that if we get packed up in 4 minutes tomorrow, we'll watch the "What does the fox say?" video.  We'll see if they can be that fast.

Oh!  The gunpowder thing!  In 7th/8th grade history, we learned about the Chinese making gunpowder.  One of the 8th grade boys asked if we could make some gunpowder at school.  Ha!  I told him no.  He kept trying to convince me, "But what if I brought in..."  Nope.  Sorry, no gunpowder making at school.

All day, everyone was abuzz about the storm that's moving in.  The 7th/8th graders are convinced we are not going to have school tomorrow.  I'm slightly more skeptical.  Two-hours late?  Maybe, but I'm not holding out hope. 

My grades all got sent out and now I just need to get ready for parent teacher conferences Thursday.  I keep forgetting that today is a Tuesday.  Only three more days left this week!  Wow!

Fall Carnival

The 5th and 7th grade Fall Carnival was a success!!! 

Once again, I forgot to have bags for the candy prizes.  I had a few paper bags tucked away, and enough of the other teachers had them in their stash to help cover it.  Everyone had a great time.  I loved seeing all the little ones' costumes! 

Twin brothers in Kindergarten dressed up as Iron Man and Captain America (what's funny is that those characters actually match their personalities!)  My favorite costume of the day was a little preschooler (who is already cute to begin with) who dressed up as a minion from Despicable Me.  Adorable!  He even had the glasses and minion overalls!  So cute!  And then there were the usual princesses and firefighters and doctors and angels. 

Most of the other teachers dressed up.  I didn't.  Oops.  I felt pretty out of place at the carnival.  So I let the girls at the hairspray booth spray my hair with glitter.  Close enough for this year.  Next year, the kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade teachers want us to dress up as Pinklicious, Purplicious, and Yellowlicious (they're characters from a picture book).  Sounds like a plan to me!