#10

The big rainstorm was all anybody could talk about today.  It rained before school, so the ground was a little wet and everyone was wondering if we'd go outside for noon recess.  We did, but Mr. E told the 7th and 8th graders we'd be going inside so they wouldn't complain when we told them we were going outside... middle school logic.


In the afternoon, the 5th graders made their Mother's Day presents.  Our cook saved some large fruit cans for us to decorate.  Then we piled dirt inside and shoved, I mean, planted flowers (French marigolds).  They had a blast picking stuff to put on the outside.  Originally, I wanted them to glue things from magazines in a collage sort of thing.  They decided they wanted plain paper wrapped around the outside with shapes cut out of more plain paper (or pictures printed from the computers).  I dug around the closet and pulled out my collection of ribbons and acrylic paint which they were more than happy to put on their cans.  The presents turned out super cute!  (some cuter than others)  One of the boys grabbed a purple ribbon and glued it on his can.  Then he found a mostly red ribbon that he wanted to use too.  I cringed inside, but told him he could use it if he wanted.  He wrapped it around to see what it would look like... "No, I think it's too much," he decided.  I breathed an internal sigh of relief. 


Then it was time for the dirt.  Since the glue wasn't dry and we didn't want the dirt to stick to it, I made a funnel of paper that corralled the dirt inside.  The 5th graders picked three flowers to plant (I had three different colors of marigolds), and once they were planted, they watered them and set them on their desk to bring home.  Right in the middle of adding the dirt, the 1st and 2nd grade teacher poked her head in to tell us it was time to do ice cream (a treat celebrating the end of the musical).  Dirt was coating my hands.  We needed to pack up for the end of the school day in 10 minutes.  My brain couldn't figure out a way to make both work.  I ended up sending them down one by one as they finished their present.  Of course, this meant they were eating ice cream while they picked up the mess... and then it started thunderstorming. 


"Woah!  Miss H!  I saw lightning strike literally right over there.  Right in that field!"  Connection!  This week we discussed why thunder follows lightning, and the thunder after that lightning strike came awful fast.  The student who saw the lightning reminded me all about what we'd learned.  It took us a while, but eventually everything got picked up (storms are so distracting).  I had to calm down one of the girls; she was scared something bad was going to happen.  And the boys weren't making things better; they kept talking about the storm and how dark it was and all the things that could go wrong... sigh.  But we got through it!  And they all made it on the bus with their Mother's Day presents.


Another round of storms went through about a half an hour ago.  All of a sudden the wind picked up and whooshed through the open windows in my classroom.  I got up to close them and noticed the sky getting darker.  No sooner had I closed them then the rain came pouring down.  I couldn't even see my car in the parking lot (which is right outside my window).  Thinking it might be a good idea to turn on the radio in case there was a tornado alert, I went back to my desk.  Sure enough, we were in a tornado warning.   I should've gone to the basement, but I didn't want to miss any of the weather alerts, so I stayed in my classroom (and prayed).  Next time I'll go.  The radio said the tornadoes were popping up slightly west of Mankato, near Minneopa State Park.  That's a fairly good distance from our school; I figured I was probably safe.  Then the rain stopped and the sun came out and I'm still in one piece!


Track and Field Day is tomorrow.  I'm giving at least one girl a ride down there.  It was a little complicated finding her a ride back since I'll be heading straight to Fulda afterwards.  We did get it figured out.  Right before noon recess, one of the 7th grade girls came up to me and asked for a ride.  Sigh.  She didn't think of it sooner?  My answer: Yes, but you'll have to be to school by 7:45am and find a different ride home.  I made her repeat the time to be at school at least three times so she wouldn't forget.  By the end of the day she told me her grandma would probably drive her, but what time should she be at school, just in case? 


Balloon activity for tomorrow: Recess all day.  (I'm hoping this won't bite me in the butt tomorrow.  If it's raining, Track and Field is cancelled and we still have a day of school.  Ahh!  The forecast says it's all supposed to come tonight; tomorrow should be a little cold, but dry.) 


Since we're not going to be around to pop the balloon tomorrow, I popped the balloon so we know what's going on Monday: Special activity with a special guest.  Ha!  They thought the special guest would be our Junior Achievement speaker (someone who's been coming to teach the 5th graders about economics and jobs).  Nope.  It's not him!!!