Most kids thought I was a janitor today. Or a mechanic. Though I guess Rosie the Riveter was technically a mechanic. I wish I would've printed a picture of her to show the kiddos who asked. I made a little nametag sticker that said "Rosie". A lot of kids actually called me Rosie instead of Miss H!
The carnival went super well. There was a great variety of games that lots of kids could be playing at the same time. No one had to wait in line very long. The hairsprayers and face painters were close to the back door so no one was overpowered by the fumes. The fingernail polishers had a vast array of colors (some of which they couldn't open... Rosie the Riveter had to use her muscles to twist them free). Two girls painted the nails and one girl dried them with a special nail dryer machine thing. I let each painter paint one nail on each hand (I'm not much of a nail polish girl). One finger ended up neon orange with blue confetti (a layer called fuzzy paint?), and the other hand sports a blue nail with subtle yellowish sparkles. I'm so fancy!
Aside from the carnival, not too much was accomplished in our room. We had religion and read-aloud like normal. Halloween cookies with frosting and sprinkles were for snack (some assembly required), so that took more time than usual. And our chapter ended on a cliff-hanger, of course, so we had to keep reading, of course. Reading buddies got moved up a bit so we could set up in the gym for the preschool class to have carnival time. After the preschool carnival, we took spelling tests and it was time for lunch!
Normally, we eat lunch at two folding tables, but the kiddos used them in carnival set up and left them in the gym... so today and today only we ate lunch at our desks. I hate doing that. Desks are for learning, not eating meals, and there's more community sitting around a big table. Tacos were for lunch today, another time-consuming serving. Before I even got back to the classroom with my tray, a student asked if he could go out for recess. Are you kidding me? I sat down at my desk and three more boys huddled around asking if they could go out. At least let me eat my taco first! One kid actually tried to argue with me, "But Miss H, it's almost noon! It's time for recess!" Yeah, and we could wait to go out until I've eaten all my food. That shut him up quick. So recess was definitely the low point of the day. But the rest of the day made up for it!
Friday, October 30, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Star Wars Battle
Whew, it feels like a Star Wars battle is going on inside my head... pew! pew! pew! lasers going everywhere! My thoughts are bouncing in a million directions!
The good news is the plug in my tire is still holding. There really isn't any bad news today. My kids have been a little overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork I'm having them do for NaNo prep, and so have I in trying to keep everything straight in the grade book. One whiteboard is covered in names of assignments and students who haven't handed it in yet. Then came the questions, "Miss H, I'm done with spelling, can I do an extra Work on Writing round instead?" Or "I'm done with everything, can I do Read to Self?" One after another, and each one I had to think over in my head, should I let them or shouldn't I? When I wasn't meeting with students on their writing ideas, I met with them on their read-to-self books.
Finally at lunchtime I had a break! For about a minute. Chicken Fajitas were on the menu, and they take forever to serve. By the time I got back to the classroom with my tray, the boys were raring to go to recess. Watching me like a hawk, they raced to the gym when I took my last bite of fajita. I finished eating my lunch standing in the gym. And then they complained when I called them in from recess at the normal time. I didn't even get to go to the Bookmobile today! Sigh. But enough of the pity party.
My class is getting excited about the Fall Carnival tomorrow. I've had kids bringing in candy and supplies all week! I've decided to be Rosie the Riveter tomorrow. I should've planned that last week and brought a coverall/boots/red bandanna from home. In my classroom I have a red/orange/yellow bandanna that will have to do. I'm borrowing a coverall from someone, so that's covered. Not sure what to do about boots. Eh, if all else fails, I can wear all black and be a mime.
The good news is the plug in my tire is still holding. There really isn't any bad news today. My kids have been a little overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork I'm having them do for NaNo prep, and so have I in trying to keep everything straight in the grade book. One whiteboard is covered in names of assignments and students who haven't handed it in yet. Then came the questions, "Miss H, I'm done with spelling, can I do an extra Work on Writing round instead?" Or "I'm done with everything, can I do Read to Self?" One after another, and each one I had to think over in my head, should I let them or shouldn't I? When I wasn't meeting with students on their writing ideas, I met with them on their read-to-self books.
Finally at lunchtime I had a break! For about a minute. Chicken Fajitas were on the menu, and they take forever to serve. By the time I got back to the classroom with my tray, the boys were raring to go to recess. Watching me like a hawk, they raced to the gym when I took my last bite of fajita. I finished eating my lunch standing in the gym. And then they complained when I called them in from recess at the normal time. I didn't even get to go to the Bookmobile today! Sigh. But enough of the pity party.
My class is getting excited about the Fall Carnival tomorrow. I've had kids bringing in candy and supplies all week! I've decided to be Rosie the Riveter tomorrow. I should've planned that last week and brought a coverall/boots/red bandanna from home. In my classroom I have a red/orange/yellow bandanna that will have to do. I'm borrowing a coverall from someone, so that's covered. Not sure what to do about boots. Eh, if all else fails, I can wear all black and be a mime.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Sleet
The big news of the day came at 2:40, right before we were about to pray. "IT'S SNOWING!!!!!" someone shouted, and the class flocked to the windows. Some didn't stop their. About five of them opened our outside door and went onto the porch to appreciate the first snow of the year. It was actually more like sleet, and it melted by the time we finished praying. Oh man, I was not sure if I'd be able to get those kids back in the room. Eventually they did come back and we prayed and dismissed. One kid had a meltdown because he insisted it was sleeting outside and a classmate repeatedly said "it's snowing, it's snowing!" most likely to make the first kid mad. Sigh.
Our day actually went pretty smoothly overall. We've been having noise issues in class for a long time now, but this morning Mrs. B reminded me about the noise level chart I have stuck on the board. I don't think I ever explained it to the class, so in the middle of our NaNo prep, I did. We went over the five noise levels (0= Silence is Golden, 1= Spy Talk, 2= Low Flow, 3=Formal Normal, 4= Loud Crowd, 5=Out of Control... only to be used outside). Then came practice time. It was amazing. We started with a level 3 and they did it perfectly! Way quieter conversation than they'd been doing moments before. We practiced each level... even #5. I prefaced it as "this is the ONLY time you will ever do this indoors." I can't believe how well it worked to change our noise levels.
NaNo prep for the day involved planning our villains. I shared my homework with the class, the drawn pictures of our rainbow lady. The boys were bummed she was pretty looking; they want ugly and action-y. Our villain... well... since our rainbow is a Korean rainbow, they wanted the villain to be someone in Korea. I'll bet you can guess who they picked to be the villain. I'm going to have to do some tweaking; there might be more than one villain in this story. My idea is to have the old rainbow woman (my class's choice of protagonist) tell a story to the audience about something that happened to her when she was younger. Maybe, how she got to be a rainbow in the first place, kind of like a constellation story or a myth. Isn't it neat how all the other stuff we talk about in class gets tied in somehow? So with that in mind, I wanted the villain to be the reason she was turned into a rainbow. Korean dictator? I don't think he'd be able to do that. One girl had the idea that the main character is bad and being a rainbow was a punishment; she had to do a certain number of good things before the spell would be broken. Aha! Then the other villain (dictator) would try to stop her or undo the good things, or he could be the last good thing she has to do before the spell is broken but he's too bad. Or something. I'm still working out the kinks. But I think I can get 50,000 words from that story. Ugh. That's so many. My kids are getting excited to work on theirs. I have some chomping at the bit... "Can we start on Saturday?" Nooo, that's still October. "How about Sunday?" Yes, Sunday is in November, you can start. Some have even picked their editing partners for after NaNo! I've been checking off their character sheets as they finish them, and let me tell you, there will be some pretty interesting stories this year. I'm excited!
Normally this would be a good place to stop my post for the day, but yesterday after school I had a wee bit of car trouble... so I wanted to give an update. I found a slow leak in my back left tire. Turns out a shingle nail had poked in right at the place where a patch might not stick. So the tire guys stayed a little late and patched it for me. They cautioned it might not stay in place and I should watch it over the next few days. So far, so good! No tire pressure light has come on. Hopefully that will be the case when I go out to my car tonight!
Our day actually went pretty smoothly overall. We've been having noise issues in class for a long time now, but this morning Mrs. B reminded me about the noise level chart I have stuck on the board. I don't think I ever explained it to the class, so in the middle of our NaNo prep, I did. We went over the five noise levels (0= Silence is Golden, 1= Spy Talk, 2= Low Flow, 3=Formal Normal, 4= Loud Crowd, 5=Out of Control... only to be used outside). Then came practice time. It was amazing. We started with a level 3 and they did it perfectly! Way quieter conversation than they'd been doing moments before. We practiced each level... even #5. I prefaced it as "this is the ONLY time you will ever do this indoors." I can't believe how well it worked to change our noise levels.
NaNo prep for the day involved planning our villains. I shared my homework with the class, the drawn pictures of our rainbow lady. The boys were bummed she was pretty looking; they want ugly and action-y. Our villain... well... since our rainbow is a Korean rainbow, they wanted the villain to be someone in Korea. I'll bet you can guess who they picked to be the villain. I'm going to have to do some tweaking; there might be more than one villain in this story. My idea is to have the old rainbow woman (my class's choice of protagonist) tell a story to the audience about something that happened to her when she was younger. Maybe, how she got to be a rainbow in the first place, kind of like a constellation story or a myth. Isn't it neat how all the other stuff we talk about in class gets tied in somehow? So with that in mind, I wanted the villain to be the reason she was turned into a rainbow. Korean dictator? I don't think he'd be able to do that. One girl had the idea that the main character is bad and being a rainbow was a punishment; she had to do a certain number of good things before the spell would be broken. Aha! Then the other villain (dictator) would try to stop her or undo the good things, or he could be the last good thing she has to do before the spell is broken but he's too bad. Or something. I'm still working out the kinks. But I think I can get 50,000 words from that story. Ugh. That's so many. My kids are getting excited to work on theirs. I have some chomping at the bit... "Can we start on Saturday?" Nooo, that's still October. "How about Sunday?" Yes, Sunday is in November, you can start. Some have even picked their editing partners for after NaNo! I've been checking off their character sheets as they finish them, and let me tell you, there will be some pretty interesting stories this year. I'm excited!
Normally this would be a good place to stop my post for the day, but yesterday after school I had a wee bit of car trouble... so I wanted to give an update. I found a slow leak in my back left tire. Turns out a shingle nail had poked in right at the place where a patch might not stick. So the tire guys stayed a little late and patched it for me. They cautioned it might not stay in place and I should watch it over the next few days. So far, so good! No tire pressure light has come on. Hopefully that will be the case when I go out to my car tonight!
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Constellations
My kids had a blast in science today. We started our unit on Space with a lesson on constellations. There isn't a whole lot in the book about this subject, but I have a make-your-own constellation activity that I usually do. This year, I used my document reader to show a constellation map (one that spins to show the stars in the sky at different times of the year). Then I showed some of the better known constellations and told them the stories behind the shapes. It was super interesting because the 7th graders had just given presentations on the Greek gods and goddesses, and many constellations have to do with these same beings. My kids don't know a whole lot about Greek mythology, and they love stories, so they were very interested. After showing pictures, I gave them a star map and had them connect dots to make a creature. They got to write a myth to go along with it. I couldn't believe how much fun they had! One boy even asked if he could stay in from recess to keep working on the story! A bunch said they wished we could do stuff like this every day. I have no clue what made it so fun for them.
The 7th graders and I had great discussions going during the presentations. They presented information on one god/goddess and since Greek mythology is all intertwined, they made connections between their person and their classmates' people. We found brothers and sisters and aunts and parents... lots of good stuff.
Our NaNo characters were created today. I model building a character for the class (and let them help decide things about it) to use in my NaNo story. We ended up with an 11,000 year old Korean rainbow who lives in North Korea in a dynamite forest. Yeah. How's that gonna work? I have a plan though... The old rainbow is going to tell a story about when she was younger, so it will be a kind of 2nd person narrator. The only thing is, I don't know what her story should be about. We're creating villains tomorrow, so maybe that will jog my creativity.
The church year chain was finished today! Now I just need to hang it up. But I think that's a job for tomorrow. I need to get gas and groceries, and maybe sneak in a trip to the library...
The 7th graders and I had great discussions going during the presentations. They presented information on one god/goddess and since Greek mythology is all intertwined, they made connections between their person and their classmates' people. We found brothers and sisters and aunts and parents... lots of good stuff.
Our NaNo characters were created today. I model building a character for the class (and let them help decide things about it) to use in my NaNo story. We ended up with an 11,000 year old Korean rainbow who lives in North Korea in a dynamite forest. Yeah. How's that gonna work? I have a plan though... The old rainbow is going to tell a story about when she was younger, so it will be a kind of 2nd person narrator. The only thing is, I don't know what her story should be about. We're creating villains tomorrow, so maybe that will jog my creativity.
The church year chain was finished today! Now I just need to hang it up. But I think that's a job for tomorrow. I need to get gas and groceries, and maybe sneak in a trip to the library...
Monday, October 26, 2015
Camp Omega Recap
Last Friday after we got back to school, I thought about writing about our trip, but my feet were wet and I was tired so I told myself I would write it once I got to Fulda. And then once I got there, I decided it could wait. So here we are!
Thursday was the perfect weather for Camp Omega. We were outside in sweatshirts and no jackets! The sun was shining, there wasn't much wind, perfect for a nature walk. Our first task was to find non-man-made things for each letter of the alphabet. We split into our "car" groups; the 5th grade girls had ridden with me, and I was their team leader for pretty much all of the trip. It was so fun! Normally I'm working with the boys, putting out behavior fires and helping with homework, and the girls don't demand as much attention. They were so excited to be with me; it was nice! We missed some tough letters like J, Q, U, V, X, Y. We were bummed we didn't find all of them.
Afterwards, we moved on to archery, always a fun activity. There was enough time for the kids to do two rounds and the chaperones one. Recurve bows were our only option to shoot, and it was hard for the kids to pull back the string, so Zach (our Camp Omega leader) moved the quivers/line of fire closer. Then they could hit the target! We took lots of good pictures.
For lunch we had chicken strips, which coincidentally was what was on the school lunch menu for the day. Camp Omega added a session to all school groups... service project. Our group was split into three: one group split wood with a wood splitter, another swept leaves off the sidewalk, and my group swept out the shop and put hoses away. It didn't take my group long to do our job. No one was supervising (except me) so we were at a loss of what to do afterward. We watched some cats they had running around, took a "nap" in the sun, rolled down the big hill by the dining hall (I did not participate in that one), then saw the other sweeping group playing Gaga Ball and joined them. It took the wood choppers the longest to finish. Then on to canoeing.
It was then I realized I had not put on sunscreen. Oops. Everyone found a canoe and paddles and life jackets and jumped right in! Or should I say, paddled right in? Some of the boys tried to ram canoes and splash everyone. For a while there was a splash war going on. The boy I was with was a good partner and we were too fast for anyone to splash us! I had given my camera to one of the 6th grade girls to take pictures on the water (she was a middle sitter and didn't have to paddle). Then we handed the camera to Zach to take a group picture. That took some finagling! We grabbed paddles and pulled each other's canoes close together and hung on to each other's gunwales. But we were all facing the wrong direction! So the outside canoes paddled while the inside canoes held on. And we spun around! It was pretty awesome. And the picture turned out fantastic.
Fort building was next, or should I say Survival Shelter Building. Again, car groups were sent off to build a shelter that would blend in and withstand rain. My 5th grade girls and I found a big stump we could make a lean-to shelter. Our roof was pretty solid. We had two big branches leaned up on top of the stump and we filled in the space between with smaller sticks. On top of all that we threw a layer of leaves. The side of the lean-to was more sticks leaned against it, but that wasn't as air-tight. The other groups came up with some pretty neat shelters too. Afterwards we played more Gaga Ball and had supper (turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.).
Right as we finished cleaning up, the power went off. And it didn't come back on. Zach called the electric company and they said it'd be on by 9:00pm. Okaaay. We played Eagles Eggs and Flashlight Gaga Ball until it was time for campfire. Oh, and we did read-aloud while it was still light enough. By the time campfire/worship/highs and lows was over, the power was back on. More Gaga Ball until 9:00 cabin time. Everyone got ready for bed and we had lights out by 10:00. Most were sleeping by 10:30. And with the sleeping came snoring, the kind of snoring you hear in movies. I'm not entirely positive which people were snoring, but there were at least three! Still, with all that, I was out light a light! No kids got homesick this year, although there were some who got up at 4:00am to play Gaga Ball. They were dressed and ready to go and even left the cabin! The walls are so thin, you can hear what anyone says anywhere in the cabin, so even though the boys were on a separate side, we girls could hear their Gaga Ball plan. One of the other female chaperones got up and chewed them out and sent the 4:00am-ers back to bed. I'm so thankful she did it instead of me! I could stay snuggled down in my sleeping bag.
The boys still got up pretty early to play Gaga Ball, but at the more decent hour of 6:30am. Breakfast was egg/sausage/cheese sandwiches. The weather started out nice before breakfast (sweatshirt weather again), but in the time it took to walk to breakfast it had cooled down enough we wanted our winter jackets if we were going to be outside. Fire building was our first activity... and of course it started sprinkling. Still, all of our car groups got a fire going, even my group of little 5th grade girls! Annnnd then it began to downpour. We hustled to the Beta Center (where they do the teaching of sessions before going out into the wilderness) to learn about orienteering. Most chaperones had brought one or two umbrellas along, so we snagged those from the cars as we had more wilderness to explore yet that morning. Zach taught us how to use compasses to find directions (something I've never been able to figure out... but I know now!), then he gave us a scavenger hunt questionnaire to find the answers to. By that point it was merely sprinkling, so we felt confident in braving the weather. Partway through, it downpoured again. The 5th grade girls and I were close enough to our shelter from yesterday that we ran ahead and hunkered down inside. It was waterproof! Well, it dripped in a few places, but it kept us mostly dry! Eventually we had to move on. We only got partly soaked. One girl didn't bring a spare sweatshirt and jeans, so once we were finished being in the rain I loaned her one from my winter emergency kit in the back of my car. She is so tiny she practically drowned in it, but it was warm and dry and fuzzy, so there were no complaints!
Normally at the end of Camp Omega there are tons of complaints and it's hard to drag them away. This year it was too wet to play Gaga Ball the second day, so they couldn't argue about that. And their shoes were so soggy from walking in the wet grass and leaves I think everyone was mostly ready to go home when we did. We packed up our stuff, did a little read-aloud, and left camp by 1:15 to put us back to school by 2:15; just enough time for recess before going home for the day. I love my kids, but being around them all for over 30 hours with no breaks is tough. Let's keep it in 9 hour increments.
Today was back to normal. We began work on our church year chain (colors of the liturgy) and I think we'll finish stapling tomorrow. We did more NaNo prep work. And we did a plant science experiment. Ugh, I'm so mad! I was going to bring back corn and soybeans from the farm this weekend and I totally forgot! I got halfway home last night when I suddenly remembered. But I wasn't about to turn around and go back. I had some sunflower seeds in the closet and a few kernels left from last year, so we made due with what I had on hand. Hopefully the experiment works!
Mrs. B invited me over for supper tonight since all her people are gone (Pastor's conference). So I best head over there soon!
Thursday was the perfect weather for Camp Omega. We were outside in sweatshirts and no jackets! The sun was shining, there wasn't much wind, perfect for a nature walk. Our first task was to find non-man-made things for each letter of the alphabet. We split into our "car" groups; the 5th grade girls had ridden with me, and I was their team leader for pretty much all of the trip. It was so fun! Normally I'm working with the boys, putting out behavior fires and helping with homework, and the girls don't demand as much attention. They were so excited to be with me; it was nice! We missed some tough letters like J, Q, U, V, X, Y. We were bummed we didn't find all of them.
Afterwards, we moved on to archery, always a fun activity. There was enough time for the kids to do two rounds and the chaperones one. Recurve bows were our only option to shoot, and it was hard for the kids to pull back the string, so Zach (our Camp Omega leader) moved the quivers/line of fire closer. Then they could hit the target! We took lots of good pictures.
For lunch we had chicken strips, which coincidentally was what was on the school lunch menu for the day. Camp Omega added a session to all school groups... service project. Our group was split into three: one group split wood with a wood splitter, another swept leaves off the sidewalk, and my group swept out the shop and put hoses away. It didn't take my group long to do our job. No one was supervising (except me) so we were at a loss of what to do afterward. We watched some cats they had running around, took a "nap" in the sun, rolled down the big hill by the dining hall (I did not participate in that one), then saw the other sweeping group playing Gaga Ball and joined them. It took the wood choppers the longest to finish. Then on to canoeing.
It was then I realized I had not put on sunscreen. Oops. Everyone found a canoe and paddles and life jackets and jumped right in! Or should I say, paddled right in? Some of the boys tried to ram canoes and splash everyone. For a while there was a splash war going on. The boy I was with was a good partner and we were too fast for anyone to splash us! I had given my camera to one of the 6th grade girls to take pictures on the water (she was a middle sitter and didn't have to paddle). Then we handed the camera to Zach to take a group picture. That took some finagling! We grabbed paddles and pulled each other's canoes close together and hung on to each other's gunwales. But we were all facing the wrong direction! So the outside canoes paddled while the inside canoes held on. And we spun around! It was pretty awesome. And the picture turned out fantastic.
Fort building was next, or should I say Survival Shelter Building. Again, car groups were sent off to build a shelter that would blend in and withstand rain. My 5th grade girls and I found a big stump we could make a lean-to shelter. Our roof was pretty solid. We had two big branches leaned up on top of the stump and we filled in the space between with smaller sticks. On top of all that we threw a layer of leaves. The side of the lean-to was more sticks leaned against it, but that wasn't as air-tight. The other groups came up with some pretty neat shelters too. Afterwards we played more Gaga Ball and had supper (turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.).
Right as we finished cleaning up, the power went off. And it didn't come back on. Zach called the electric company and they said it'd be on by 9:00pm. Okaaay. We played Eagles Eggs and Flashlight Gaga Ball until it was time for campfire. Oh, and we did read-aloud while it was still light enough. By the time campfire/worship/highs and lows was over, the power was back on. More Gaga Ball until 9:00 cabin time. Everyone got ready for bed and we had lights out by 10:00. Most were sleeping by 10:30. And with the sleeping came snoring, the kind of snoring you hear in movies. I'm not entirely positive which people were snoring, but there were at least three! Still, with all that, I was out light a light! No kids got homesick this year, although there were some who got up at 4:00am to play Gaga Ball. They were dressed and ready to go and even left the cabin! The walls are so thin, you can hear what anyone says anywhere in the cabin, so even though the boys were on a separate side, we girls could hear their Gaga Ball plan. One of the other female chaperones got up and chewed them out and sent the 4:00am-ers back to bed. I'm so thankful she did it instead of me! I could stay snuggled down in my sleeping bag.
The boys still got up pretty early to play Gaga Ball, but at the more decent hour of 6:30am. Breakfast was egg/sausage/cheese sandwiches. The weather started out nice before breakfast (sweatshirt weather again), but in the time it took to walk to breakfast it had cooled down enough we wanted our winter jackets if we were going to be outside. Fire building was our first activity... and of course it started sprinkling. Still, all of our car groups got a fire going, even my group of little 5th grade girls! Annnnd then it began to downpour. We hustled to the Beta Center (where they do the teaching of sessions before going out into the wilderness) to learn about orienteering. Most chaperones had brought one or two umbrellas along, so we snagged those from the cars as we had more wilderness to explore yet that morning. Zach taught us how to use compasses to find directions (something I've never been able to figure out... but I know now!), then he gave us a scavenger hunt questionnaire to find the answers to. By that point it was merely sprinkling, so we felt confident in braving the weather. Partway through, it downpoured again. The 5th grade girls and I were close enough to our shelter from yesterday that we ran ahead and hunkered down inside. It was waterproof! Well, it dripped in a few places, but it kept us mostly dry! Eventually we had to move on. We only got partly soaked. One girl didn't bring a spare sweatshirt and jeans, so once we were finished being in the rain I loaned her one from my winter emergency kit in the back of my car. She is so tiny she practically drowned in it, but it was warm and dry and fuzzy, so there were no complaints!
Normally at the end of Camp Omega there are tons of complaints and it's hard to drag them away. This year it was too wet to play Gaga Ball the second day, so they couldn't argue about that. And their shoes were so soggy from walking in the wet grass and leaves I think everyone was mostly ready to go home when we did. We packed up our stuff, did a little read-aloud, and left camp by 1:15 to put us back to school by 2:15; just enough time for recess before going home for the day. I love my kids, but being around them all for over 30 hours with no breaks is tough. Let's keep it in 9 hour increments.
Today was back to normal. We began work on our church year chain (colors of the liturgy) and I think we'll finish stapling tomorrow. We did more NaNo prep work. And we did a plant science experiment. Ugh, I'm so mad! I was going to bring back corn and soybeans from the farm this weekend and I totally forgot! I got halfway home last night when I suddenly remembered. But I wasn't about to turn around and go back. I had some sunflower seeds in the closet and a few kernels left from last year, so we made due with what I had on hand. Hopefully the experiment works!
Mrs. B invited me over for supper tonight since all her people are gone (Pastor's conference). So I best head over there soon!
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Tobacco Education
We had a guest speaker today. A dental hygiene student from MSU came to talk about tobacco with my students. She was a little late because of the detours (supposedly going to be opened back up on Saturday!) and we had some issues getting her laptop set up, but better late than never. Mr. E was good about letting my class show up to PE late.
Overall, our day was much better than yesterday. After chapel, Mr. E took four of the boys into the office and had a chat with them. Meanwhile, we finished our read-aloud book, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. I had to read the sad chapter today. I've been warning them that this chapter was coming up and I just might cry when I read it. One of the boys grabbed the box of Kleenex and set it next to me, just in case. Always so thoughtful, my students! Their faces while I was reading... they were absolutely riveted. Completely sucked into the story. It was awesome. And of course we couldn't stop at just one chapter, so we finished the book and skipped Writing Workshop today. We'll start our new read-aloud at Camp Omega tomorrow. They want to read a fantasy book, but I think we're going to go with Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.
The 7th graders have been great this week. We started a unit on Earth's layers and tectonic plates, and they're soaking it all up. Such good discussions. Instead of doing a test on this chapter, I might have them build a model of Earth's layers... maybe with some kind of food! I'll work on that this weekend.
I'm ducking out of my classroom much sooner today than usual. I have to deposit all our class funds into our class account so we're ready for tomorrow, and the bank closes at 3:30. I'm not planning to come back to school afterward, so I'm booking it to get everything packed up and ready to go. Tonight there is ladies' bible study and I still need to pack. It's going to be busy!
Overall, our day was much better than yesterday. After chapel, Mr. E took four of the boys into the office and had a chat with them. Meanwhile, we finished our read-aloud book, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. I had to read the sad chapter today. I've been warning them that this chapter was coming up and I just might cry when I read it. One of the boys grabbed the box of Kleenex and set it next to me, just in case. Always so thoughtful, my students! Their faces while I was reading... they were absolutely riveted. Completely sucked into the story. It was awesome. And of course we couldn't stop at just one chapter, so we finished the book and skipped Writing Workshop today. We'll start our new read-aloud at Camp Omega tomorrow. They want to read a fantasy book, but I think we're going to go with Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.
The 7th graders have been great this week. We started a unit on Earth's layers and tectonic plates, and they're soaking it all up. Such good discussions. Instead of doing a test on this chapter, I might have them build a model of Earth's layers... maybe with some kind of food! I'll work on that this weekend.
I'm ducking out of my classroom much sooner today than usual. I have to deposit all our class funds into our class account so we're ready for tomorrow, and the bank closes at 3:30. I'm not planning to come back to school afterward, so I'm booking it to get everything packed up and ready to go. Tonight there is ladies' bible study and I still need to pack. It's going to be busy!
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Roasty Toasty
Yesterday was supposed to be the hot one, but it's even toastier in my classroom today! I thought it was going to be cooler, so I wore a sweater... not the best decision ever. Even with the windows open and my sleeves rolled up, I am pretty roasty! And since I can't bring myself to turn on the AC, I should suffer in silence and not complain. Pretty soon it will be winter and then I'll be wishing for some of this warm!
Picture day was today. It's funny to see how people react to it. Some of the girls come to school super spiffed up with their hair curled and extra fancy jewelry and clothes. Some of the boys come to school with nicer clothes than usual, itching and scratching until after pictures and then scurry off to the bathroom to change into something more comfortable. And other boys wear their typical comfy clothes and just throw a nice shirt on over top two minutes before it's their turn with the picture man. Hey, the picture is only from the waist up!
I think a storm is coming. My kids were kinda crazy today... really at each others' throats. We all made it to the end of the day, but life got a little rough. We took our first science test in the afternoon right before our end of the day recess. Two students took the longest time to finish. Of course the majority of the class finished way sooner... no one wanted to find something to do. They all stared off into space or made faces at the people still working on the test. Lovely. Just lovely. The boys especially wanted to go out for recess. I could feel the dissension in the ranks, but didn't want to abandon the test takers in the classroom while the majority went out. And then one particular student got on his soap box about how at noon recess there were seven people in the classroom unsupervised and way less than seven people were still taking the test now! And everyone should get to go out for recess RIGHT NOW! Oh, it was not good. They nearly mutinied! ... I need to find a better way of doing that, giving longer-test-takers the time they need while the speedsters aren't sitting there bored.
I finally came up with an alternative assignment for the two boys not going to Camp Omega. I made up a research worksheet for them... they have to find five survival facts and list where they found them, draw pictures of three types of shelters and describe how to build one in detail, write a 1/2 page paper on orienteering, and list four methods of fire building and pick one they would do and explain why. All stuff we're going to be doing at Camp Omega, but something they can research and hand in. So. Hopefully that's not too much and everyone is happy with it. They are missing a two day field trip after all. I don't think the rest of the class knows these two boys are not going. We'll find out on Thursday I guess.
Oh! The Fall Carnival is planned! I still need to come up with a schedule for next Friday, but the kids all know what they're doing and have been making signs for their stations. Next step, figure out a costume!
Picture day was today. It's funny to see how people react to it. Some of the girls come to school super spiffed up with their hair curled and extra fancy jewelry and clothes. Some of the boys come to school with nicer clothes than usual, itching and scratching until after pictures and then scurry off to the bathroom to change into something more comfortable. And other boys wear their typical comfy clothes and just throw a nice shirt on over top two minutes before it's their turn with the picture man. Hey, the picture is only from the waist up!
I think a storm is coming. My kids were kinda crazy today... really at each others' throats. We all made it to the end of the day, but life got a little rough. We took our first science test in the afternoon right before our end of the day recess. Two students took the longest time to finish. Of course the majority of the class finished way sooner... no one wanted to find something to do. They all stared off into space or made faces at the people still working on the test. Lovely. Just lovely. The boys especially wanted to go out for recess. I could feel the dissension in the ranks, but didn't want to abandon the test takers in the classroom while the majority went out. And then one particular student got on his soap box about how at noon recess there were seven people in the classroom unsupervised and way less than seven people were still taking the test now! And everyone should get to go out for recess RIGHT NOW! Oh, it was not good. They nearly mutinied! ... I need to find a better way of doing that, giving longer-test-takers the time they need while the speedsters aren't sitting there bored.
I finally came up with an alternative assignment for the two boys not going to Camp Omega. I made up a research worksheet for them... they have to find five survival facts and list where they found them, draw pictures of three types of shelters and describe how to build one in detail, write a 1/2 page paper on orienteering, and list four methods of fire building and pick one they would do and explain why. All stuff we're going to be doing at Camp Omega, but something they can research and hand in. So. Hopefully that's not too much and everyone is happy with it. They are missing a two day field trip after all. I don't think the rest of the class knows these two boys are not going. We'll find out on Thursday I guess.
Oh! The Fall Carnival is planned! I still need to come up with a schedule for next Friday, but the kids all know what they're doing and have been making signs for their stations. Next step, figure out a costume!
Monday, October 19, 2015
Attack of the Lady Bugs
Noon recess was a battle zone. Apparently, all the girls in my class are terrified/grossed-out/completely disgusted by lady bugs. And guess what was cruising around the playground today? Yep. Lady bugs. One of the 5th graders stood on the picnic table to get away from them. "[friend], come over here! There are less lady bugs... I think!" Mmm, not really, but it gave her slight peace of mind. We spent recess pointing out the latest attackers and flicking them off each other. Thankfully, not too many have found their way into our classroom. Most of the other rooms have swarms in the corners near the ceiling, but we have escaped thus far.
I made another girl cry today. It's the same one who usually cries, although this year the tears have not made as many appearances. She was upset because I made the groups for our science review game and she got stuck in a group with all boys (boys she does not like/get along with) and no girls. After the game she came up to me and said, "Miss H. I did not like that." Yep. I totally get it. But we all have to do things we don't like in this world. Since they were pretty good during the game, next time I'll let them pick their own groups. Our test on plants is tomorrow, and I noticed a bunch of study guides lying on the floor/on desks... this does not bode well. Actually, those boys are pretty bright and will probably do well on the test without studying. But I still worry anyway.
Today I introduced our big project for November... National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. As soon as I brought up NaNo, the 6th graders wanted to show off last year's chart! They were able to color in their part of the graph each day to show how many words they had so far. It was a huge hit. I guess I'll have to do the same thing again!
Some of my kids have started NaNo stories already, but once I made it clear their word count starts at zero on November 1st no matter how much they've written beforehand, they decided it would be too much work to figure out how many words they have. So I think everyone will start a new story from scratch. I'm also going to let each of them make their own word count goals (with a minimum goal of 2,000). We'll set our goals next Friday, right before NaNo starts. All the NaNo sites for teachers say it's important for teachers to write with their students to set a good example. I guess that means I need to do NaNo too. I just don't know how I'm going to write 50,000 words this year! Although, I think that every year. But this year has been crazier than normal. We'll see I guess! With my kiddos egging me on, watching, it might be enough motivation to get the job done.
I made another girl cry today. It's the same one who usually cries, although this year the tears have not made as many appearances. She was upset because I made the groups for our science review game and she got stuck in a group with all boys (boys she does not like/get along with) and no girls. After the game she came up to me and said, "Miss H. I did not like that." Yep. I totally get it. But we all have to do things we don't like in this world. Since they were pretty good during the game, next time I'll let them pick their own groups. Our test on plants is tomorrow, and I noticed a bunch of study guides lying on the floor/on desks... this does not bode well. Actually, those boys are pretty bright and will probably do well on the test without studying. But I still worry anyway.
Today I introduced our big project for November... National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. As soon as I brought up NaNo, the 6th graders wanted to show off last year's chart! They were able to color in their part of the graph each day to show how many words they had so far. It was a huge hit. I guess I'll have to do the same thing again!
Some of my kids have started NaNo stories already, but once I made it clear their word count starts at zero on November 1st no matter how much they've written beforehand, they decided it would be too much work to figure out how many words they have. So I think everyone will start a new story from scratch. I'm also going to let each of them make their own word count goals (with a minimum goal of 2,000). We'll set our goals next Friday, right before NaNo starts. All the NaNo sites for teachers say it's important for teachers to write with their students to set a good example. I guess that means I need to do NaNo too. I just don't know how I'm going to write 50,000 words this year! Although, I think that every year. But this year has been crazier than normal. We'll see I guess! With my kiddos egging me on, watching, it might be enough motivation to get the job done.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Shout Outs
Miss N gave me a pretty cool idea today. She has a "shout out" box at the front of the classroom where kids can write compliments to each other and they'll be read to the class at the end of the day. Today, one of her kids wrote one to me! "This compliment is for Miss Hins. This person is a nice prcine [person] she dus reding buttes [reading buddies]. From your friend, [student]" How sweet is that? I think I'm going to start doing that with my class. Miss N said she got the idea from Pinterest.
I also had a good idea today. Our iPads are never charged up because I always forget to plug them in. The open outlets are on the other side of my desk where I can't get to them easily and the charging cords are in a desk drawer. I found a metal hook in my desk, bent it slightly so one end is flat, then stuck it to the side of my desk by the iPads with a magnet. Now we can hook the charging cords to my desk so they're by the iPads, but not in the way! And my kiddos can charge them when they need it. Yes!
After school today we teachers got together in the office to make gift bags for the LEC speakers. Here I was thinking it would take us a half an hour or so... it only took us 10-15 minutes to make 36 bags. We got an assembly line going and stuffed the bags with candy, granola bars, gum, mints, fruit snacks, water, etc. Then someone put tissue paper in the top. We divided the bags amongst the teachers so one person doesn't have to bring all 36 to the conference tomorrow. The back of my vehicle is a lot more slippery than my old car (things tend to slide around when they're back there), so I put my portion of the bags on the floor behind my seat. Hopefully they don't get too mushed!
I actually got my to-do list for this week entirely done! And a few things on next week's list as well! I think I'm going to focus on schoolwork tonight, planning everything for next week so I don't have to think about it on my days off the rest of this week. And after posting this, I should be finished with my things at school, and I can even go home early! Woohoo!
I also had a good idea today. Our iPads are never charged up because I always forget to plug them in. The open outlets are on the other side of my desk where I can't get to them easily and the charging cords are in a desk drawer. I found a metal hook in my desk, bent it slightly so one end is flat, then stuck it to the side of my desk by the iPads with a magnet. Now we can hook the charging cords to my desk so they're by the iPads, but not in the way! And my kiddos can charge them when they need it. Yes!
After school today we teachers got together in the office to make gift bags for the LEC speakers. Here I was thinking it would take us a half an hour or so... it only took us 10-15 minutes to make 36 bags. We got an assembly line going and stuffed the bags with candy, granola bars, gum, mints, fruit snacks, water, etc. Then someone put tissue paper in the top. We divided the bags amongst the teachers so one person doesn't have to bring all 36 to the conference tomorrow. The back of my vehicle is a lot more slippery than my old car (things tend to slide around when they're back there), so I put my portion of the bags on the floor behind my seat. Hopefully they don't get too mushed!
I actually got my to-do list for this week entirely done! And a few things on next week's list as well! I think I'm going to focus on schoolwork tonight, planning everything for next week so I don't have to think about it on my days off the rest of this week. And after posting this, I should be finished with my things at school, and I can even go home early! Woohoo!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
UGH
I had to do a bunch of hard things today. It makes me want to bang my head against my desk and yell "UGH!"
First, one of my students who hates reading was super obstinate today. Not sure why. He decided he didn't want to read and was going to do everything in his power to avoid it. And he did the same for bell practice. I had to use my scary teacher voice on him. Never a fun thing to do. Eventually he joined the class, but he was still being a poop during practice.
After school I had to have a conversation with a potential chaperone for our Camp Omega trip next week. PTL agreed to pay for two chaperones (besides me), so I told parents the first two to send back the permission forms would get the paid for registrations. Anyone else would have to pay the $76 fee. Well, wouldn't you know, I get two permission slips from female chaperones back within five minutes of each other. And the first one says she's willing to pay if she doesn't get it, but the second/later one doesn't have that option checked. So now what? Fifteen students won't fit in three cars that hold only four passengers! Mr. E and I got it all straightened out with the mom, and the board of education is going to try to find the extra money somewhere so this parent doesn't have to pay.
As soon as we had all that figured out (and I sent the signed forms back to Camp Omega), I got a call from a parent asking if it would be okay for her two sons to not go on the trip because their sister was coming home from college and Thursday night would be the only time she could spend time with them. UGH! Right after I sent the forms back.
I hate it when parents ask if their kids can stay home from field trips. I'm putting in a lot of work to get everything in order, and it's supposed to be a fun time! And if I let one kid stay home, what's to stop the others from saying, "eh, think I'll stay home too." But I already let one kid do that for our Fort Ridgely field trip, so if I told the other family the boys have to go, they'll cry, "unfair, unfair!" and I'll be in trouble. Sigh. So once again, I talked to Mr. E and we decided not to fight the parent on this. So those boys will be staying home. And now I have to refigure all my money calculations on how much each family owes.
Sunday we're doing a bake sale/serving donuts after church to raise more money. I don't know how that's going to go. It sounds like a lot of parents aren't going to be helping. I just don't want to be the only one there on Sunday. Wouldn't that be great?
On the plus side, we did get a volunteer for the male chaperone. And one of the first graders brought me a piece of rhubarb pie fresh from the oven at snack time (their class made a pie I guess?). The 7th graders got excited about the Greek mythology project I'm having them do. And we had a really good Writing Workshop/Daily 5 morning jam-packed with learning. After school we had a Christmas Program planning meeting (I know, Christmas already?) and have a good start on all that. So really, most of the day has been good... it's just this last part that's been stressful.
With all this stuff going on for Camp Omega and our fundraiser and finishing up Silent Auction stuff and getting midterm grades ready for tomorrow, my brain feels like it's going in a million directions at once! So. Now that everyone else is gone and my room is quiet once again, time to get things done, one little bit at a time.
First, one of my students who hates reading was super obstinate today. Not sure why. He decided he didn't want to read and was going to do everything in his power to avoid it. And he did the same for bell practice. I had to use my scary teacher voice on him. Never a fun thing to do. Eventually he joined the class, but he was still being a poop during practice.
After school I had to have a conversation with a potential chaperone for our Camp Omega trip next week. PTL agreed to pay for two chaperones (besides me), so I told parents the first two to send back the permission forms would get the paid for registrations. Anyone else would have to pay the $76 fee. Well, wouldn't you know, I get two permission slips from female chaperones back within five minutes of each other. And the first one says she's willing to pay if she doesn't get it, but the second/later one doesn't have that option checked. So now what? Fifteen students won't fit in three cars that hold only four passengers! Mr. E and I got it all straightened out with the mom, and the board of education is going to try to find the extra money somewhere so this parent doesn't have to pay.
As soon as we had all that figured out (and I sent the signed forms back to Camp Omega), I got a call from a parent asking if it would be okay for her two sons to not go on the trip because their sister was coming home from college and Thursday night would be the only time she could spend time with them. UGH! Right after I sent the forms back.
I hate it when parents ask if their kids can stay home from field trips. I'm putting in a lot of work to get everything in order, and it's supposed to be a fun time! And if I let one kid stay home, what's to stop the others from saying, "eh, think I'll stay home too." But I already let one kid do that for our Fort Ridgely field trip, so if I told the other family the boys have to go, they'll cry, "unfair, unfair!" and I'll be in trouble. Sigh. So once again, I talked to Mr. E and we decided not to fight the parent on this. So those boys will be staying home. And now I have to refigure all my money calculations on how much each family owes.
Sunday we're doing a bake sale/serving donuts after church to raise more money. I don't know how that's going to go. It sounds like a lot of parents aren't going to be helping. I just don't want to be the only one there on Sunday. Wouldn't that be great?
On the plus side, we did get a volunteer for the male chaperone. And one of the first graders brought me a piece of rhubarb pie fresh from the oven at snack time (their class made a pie I guess?). The 7th graders got excited about the Greek mythology project I'm having them do. And we had a really good Writing Workshop/Daily 5 morning jam-packed with learning. After school we had a Christmas Program planning meeting (I know, Christmas already?) and have a good start on all that. So really, most of the day has been good... it's just this last part that's been stressful.
With all this stuff going on for Camp Omega and our fundraiser and finishing up Silent Auction stuff and getting midterm grades ready for tomorrow, my brain feels like it's going in a million directions at once! So. Now that everyone else is gone and my room is quiet once again, time to get things done, one little bit at a time.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Pork Chop Update
A few more people stopped in today to pick up their Silent Auction items. We had a very successful day... all the items went home with someone and our grand total for the auction was $2281.50! Not sure how the dinner went, but it was always busy and we didn't run out of food.
The bell songs went well; our melody player got a little shy and we lost her for a moment or two, but she found her way back and it still sounded good. The singing went all right too. It turns out the ladies' choir was also singing during the service... they like to have me join them when I can, and they had a practice before church started, but I was in the Silent Auction room getting last-minute items added, so I didn't have a chance to look over the song. Right before we had to sing I quickly scanned the music, and thankfully it was a familiar hymn. Miss N had been sitting by me and she even joined us singing! Mr. D gave a children's message. It was about building on a firm foundation, and making sure that the rock you were building on was firm. He had two rocks, both that looked real, but one was fake. He slammed the fake rock into his head! That got everyone's attention!
After everything was over, some of the 5th and 6th families helped me bring the leftover Silent Auction items to my classroom. We tucked them in the closet. Man that thing comes in handy! Hopefully everyone stops by this week to get their items so we can get the books closed on that fundraiser.
As for classroom stuff today... oh it was windy. So windy we had to be in the gym. They all wanted to play hockey, but they get a little crazy with hockey and they were already in a crazy mood to begin with, so I said no. That went over well. We did go outside for a little bit to find leaves. In science we classified plant leaves according to simple/compound and monocot/dicot. We nearly blew away!!!
We've been praying for the grandma of one of my students, and we heard that she passed away yesterday. Their family is going out to Michigan tomorrow for the funeral and such, so our classroom will be down one for the rest of the week. There's only two more days left this week; we have the Lutheran Educator's Conference on Thursday. Our school is in charge of making gift bags and introducing some of the speakers. And it turns out we also have to help do the offering and usher people up to communion during the worship service. The worship service is the very last thing of the day, and I know a bunch of us teachers at ILS were planning to skip out early to get to our various other plans for the weekend... I guess not anymore! Worship is supposed to be over by 5:30, so it won't be all that much later in the day that we get to leave.
The bell songs went well; our melody player got a little shy and we lost her for a moment or two, but she found her way back and it still sounded good. The singing went all right too. It turns out the ladies' choir was also singing during the service... they like to have me join them when I can, and they had a practice before church started, but I was in the Silent Auction room getting last-minute items added, so I didn't have a chance to look over the song. Right before we had to sing I quickly scanned the music, and thankfully it was a familiar hymn. Miss N had been sitting by me and she even joined us singing! Mr. D gave a children's message. It was about building on a firm foundation, and making sure that the rock you were building on was firm. He had two rocks, both that looked real, but one was fake. He slammed the fake rock into his head! That got everyone's attention!
After everything was over, some of the 5th and 6th families helped me bring the leftover Silent Auction items to my classroom. We tucked them in the closet. Man that thing comes in handy! Hopefully everyone stops by this week to get their items so we can get the books closed on that fundraiser.
As for classroom stuff today... oh it was windy. So windy we had to be in the gym. They all wanted to play hockey, but they get a little crazy with hockey and they were already in a crazy mood to begin with, so I said no. That went over well. We did go outside for a little bit to find leaves. In science we classified plant leaves according to simple/compound and monocot/dicot. We nearly blew away!!!
We've been praying for the grandma of one of my students, and we heard that she passed away yesterday. Their family is going out to Michigan tomorrow for the funeral and such, so our classroom will be down one for the rest of the week. There's only two more days left this week; we have the Lutheran Educator's Conference on Thursday. Our school is in charge of making gift bags and introducing some of the speakers. And it turns out we also have to help do the offering and usher people up to communion during the worship service. The worship service is the very last thing of the day, and I know a bunch of us teachers at ILS were planning to skip out early to get to our various other plans for the weekend... I guess not anymore! Worship is supposed to be over by 5:30, so it won't be all that much later in the day that we get to leave.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Roll a Monster
The most fun part of the day was art... I thought most of them had Fire Posters and Peace Posters to work on, but I guess we read-aloud so much today that all but one finished. So instead of doing a fancy art project, I came up with a filler one that was super easy and didn't require a lot of thought... "Roll a Monster". I have these gigantic dice they rolled. Each time they rolled they added something else to their monster: body, arms, eyes, nose, mouth, hair, feet. The number they rolled went with a different shape/style. They had a lot of fun!
My kids were super crazy this afternoon. We went over to practice bells for a bit and they spent five minutes arguing over seats in the car! They couldn't just get in anywhere. And we went through the same song and dance coming back to school. Ugh. On the plus side, our songs sound pretty good. Not perfect, but we'll sound all right. Hopefully they don't freeze up in front of such a huge audience.
I'm headed over to church to get stuff ready for the Silent Auction. My friend Kristin got free tickets to the Maverick's hockey game tonight, so that's my other plans for the evening. Tomorrow, our first volleyball game is at 9:20 and after the tournament I'm hanging out with Laura. Sunday= Pork Chop Dinner for most of the day. Hopefully I'll have a little afternoon left afterwards!
My kids were super crazy this afternoon. We went over to practice bells for a bit and they spent five minutes arguing over seats in the car! They couldn't just get in anywhere. And we went through the same song and dance coming back to school. Ugh. On the plus side, our songs sound pretty good. Not perfect, but we'll sound all right. Hopefully they don't freeze up in front of such a huge audience.
I'm headed over to church to get stuff ready for the Silent Auction. My friend Kristin got free tickets to the Maverick's hockey game tonight, so that's my other plans for the evening. Tomorrow, our first volleyball game is at 9:20 and after the tournament I'm hanging out with Laura. Sunday= Pork Chop Dinner for most of the day. Hopefully I'll have a little afternoon left afterwards!
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Last Practice
My life has been filled with Silent Auction items. I think I have most of the bidding sheets filled out (and the items organized somewhat in the closet). Some of the smaller items, like gift cards, I'm waiting to put together in case we want to pair them with another smaller item. A few parents are meeting tonight to wash potatoes for the dinner... no parent told me about it, so I'm hoping I can sneak home before they ask me to stay...
This morning one of the boys quoted a line from one of my all-time-favorite youtube videos... bacon is good for me. I added more quotes from the video and half the class looked at me like I had lost my mind. Actually, the other half of the class looked at me almost the same, like "wait, you actually know what we're talking about???" So at the end of the day we watched the video so they would all realize that their teacher was not totally crazy. I couldn't help mouthing along to some of the best lines... one of the 6th grade girls caught me at it (more than once) and laughed. That video was so fun, we watched another one! This time it was Top 60 Ghetto Names. Their favorite name was "guuuuuurrrrllll".
Our last volleyball practice was good. It seemed kind of silly to put up the net for only one hour of use, but set it up we did! To make matters worse, half of the younger girls forgot about practice and didn't stay. So we had six girls. But we got a lot accomplished and I feel ready for the tournament.
We play handbells for the first time on Sunday, so we had to get the tables set up over at church. For some reason they just couldn't get it through their heads that we had to go over to church. Why? What for? Yikes! I couldn't have them walk over with all the heavy traffic our road gets, so we piled into my car and cruised over. Overall the songs sound okay if they remember to play them right... we could use some more practice. Maybe we'll go over tomorrow too. I'll have to check with Mr. E what's going on in his math class if can steal my 6th graders back early.
This morning one of the boys quoted a line from one of my all-time-favorite youtube videos... bacon is good for me. I added more quotes from the video and half the class looked at me like I had lost my mind. Actually, the other half of the class looked at me almost the same, like "wait, you actually know what we're talking about???" So at the end of the day we watched the video so they would all realize that their teacher was not totally crazy. I couldn't help mouthing along to some of the best lines... one of the 6th grade girls caught me at it (more than once) and laughed. That video was so fun, we watched another one! This time it was Top 60 Ghetto Names. Their favorite name was "guuuuuurrrrllll".
Our last volleyball practice was good. It seemed kind of silly to put up the net for only one hour of use, but set it up we did! To make matters worse, half of the younger girls forgot about practice and didn't stay. So we had six girls. But we got a lot accomplished and I feel ready for the tournament.
We play handbells for the first time on Sunday, so we had to get the tables set up over at church. For some reason they just couldn't get it through their heads that we had to go over to church. Why? What for? Yikes! I couldn't have them walk over with all the heavy traffic our road gets, so we piled into my car and cruised over. Overall the songs sound okay if they remember to play them right... we could use some more practice. Maybe we'll go over tomorrow too. I'll have to check with Mr. E what's going on in his math class if can steal my 6th graders back early.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Fire Prevention Week
The firemen came to school today. They brought their "fire house", the one that you can go in and see what a house on fire looks like (they pump nontoxic smoke through the house) and try escaping through the windows/down the ladder. Yes, it's a mini-two story house. Two of the 5th grade girls were scared to go in it and would only do it if I went in with them. So I did. Maybe not the best idea with my cold and all, but it turned out fine. Mr. D charged me with taking pictures of the older kids... I used the new school camera and it was actually somewhat fun! Normally taking pictures is not my favorite thing to do, but for some reason this camera made it better than usual.
We also got to sit in the trucks, try on helmets/other gear, and spray the fire hose. They really go all out for Fire Prevention Week!
After "playing" outside, a fireman was supposed to come to our classroom and give the fire prevention/safety spiel. No one came and no one came and when it looked like they were packing up outside I finally asked one of my kids to poke his head out the door to see if they were going to send someone in. Sure enough, they had forgotten about us. But a fireman came right in and gave us the talk. By 5th and 6th grade they pretty much know everything, so there weren't a whole lot of questions. The fireman passed out a bunch of free stuff... plastic hats, lanyards, bracelets, safety stickers to put in bedroom windows, and a fire prevention coloring book. Like I said, they go all out for Fire Prevention Week.
In the afternoon, the 7th graders presented their first powerpoint of the year... it went okay for most of them. They had a week to do the powerpoint and plenty of time in class. For some reason, these kids have a hard time getting their work done. They always have tons of homework and never enough time to get it all done. I don't think the entire class has been allowed out at noon recess once this year because someone always has something late they haven't finished/turned in yet. Time management, I think. Hopefully it gets better.
Tonight there's an anti-bullying speaker at New Ulm High School... Bob Lenz is his name. The 7th graders went there this morning to hear him and they said he was good. And you know when a 7th grader says a speaker is good, he really is. So I'm going. Mr. D also expressed interest in going, so I'm going to pick him up and we'll go together.
Update on last night's volleyball games... it was close! but we lost all three. We have one more practice tomorrow and one more tournament on Saturday and then our season is over. It's a bit bittersweet.
We also got to sit in the trucks, try on helmets/other gear, and spray the fire hose. They really go all out for Fire Prevention Week!
After "playing" outside, a fireman was supposed to come to our classroom and give the fire prevention/safety spiel. No one came and no one came and when it looked like they were packing up outside I finally asked one of my kids to poke his head out the door to see if they were going to send someone in. Sure enough, they had forgotten about us. But a fireman came right in and gave us the talk. By 5th and 6th grade they pretty much know everything, so there weren't a whole lot of questions. The fireman passed out a bunch of free stuff... plastic hats, lanyards, bracelets, safety stickers to put in bedroom windows, and a fire prevention coloring book. Like I said, they go all out for Fire Prevention Week.
In the afternoon, the 7th graders presented their first powerpoint of the year... it went okay for most of them. They had a week to do the powerpoint and plenty of time in class. For some reason, these kids have a hard time getting their work done. They always have tons of homework and never enough time to get it all done. I don't think the entire class has been allowed out at noon recess once this year because someone always has something late they haven't finished/turned in yet. Time management, I think. Hopefully it gets better.
Tonight there's an anti-bullying speaker at New Ulm High School... Bob Lenz is his name. The 7th graders went there this morning to hear him and they said he was good. And you know when a 7th grader says a speaker is good, he really is. So I'm going. Mr. D also expressed interest in going, so I'm going to pick him up and we'll go together.
Update on last night's volleyball games... it was close! but we lost all three. We have one more practice tomorrow and one more tournament on Saturday and then our season is over. It's a bit bittersweet.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Drooping and Dragging
Not gonna lie, this morning was rough. Possibly the roughest start to the day I've ever had teaching, all because of this stupid cold. Fear not! I'm feeling more human now and can actually breath through my nose (and though my ears are still pluggy, that's getting better too as the day goes on). I kinda just went through the motions this morning.
One of the boys who was sick yesterday was back. On a usual day he can need some reining in... today I could tell he still wasn't feeling 100%, which meant even more surly behavior. And I did not feel up to containing his outbursts. So. Like I said. This morning was rough.
But after lunch was good! I even felt better enough to join in the 4-square game at recess. Just in time too, we have our last volleyball game tonight... I should leave in a few minutes actually. I was supposed to bring some players with me, but they all told me today they now have other rides. Fine with me I guess. I have everything done for tomorrow, so I can actually go straight home after the game and not even stop back at school! Woohoo!
Oh, we had a fire drill today. I knew it was coming, but even with knowing, the sharp sound of the alarm startled me. One kid looked at me with panic and raced to line up at the door... and then he realized it was a drill. No one told the cook, so she actually screamed when it went off! Although she said she probably would've screamed either way. We always time our drills to see if we pass. I think we did today. Tomorrow the fire fighters are coming out to visit and test us again!
One of the boys who was sick yesterday was back. On a usual day he can need some reining in... today I could tell he still wasn't feeling 100%, which meant even more surly behavior. And I did not feel up to containing his outbursts. So. Like I said. This morning was rough.
But after lunch was good! I even felt better enough to join in the 4-square game at recess. Just in time too, we have our last volleyball game tonight... I should leave in a few minutes actually. I was supposed to bring some players with me, but they all told me today they now have other rides. Fine with me I guess. I have everything done for tomorrow, so I can actually go straight home after the game and not even stop back at school! Woohoo!
Oh, we had a fire drill today. I knew it was coming, but even with knowing, the sharp sound of the alarm startled me. One kid looked at me with panic and raced to line up at the door... and then he realized it was a drill. No one told the cook, so she actually screamed when it went off! Although she said she probably would've screamed either way. We always time our drills to see if we pass. I think we did today. Tomorrow the fire fighters are coming out to visit and test us again!
Monday, October 5, 2015
VIP Day
Of course I come down with a cold right before VIP Day! My ears aren't quite as pluggy as they were yesterday, but my nose has been stuffed up all day. Between my students and me, we've gone though a whole Kleenex box! I had two boys out sick today... tis the season I guess.
We had a large number of Very Important People visit our classroom this morning; it was standing room only! We started our day normally and I finished up the religion lessons we didn't quite finish last Friday. Then we did Pictionary! Only one VIP got up in front to draw. Donuts in the gym afterward went well. The 7th graders served each table. It was a little tricky finding room for everyone... a new attendance record was set this year... 131! Our enrollment this year is around 62, so we had a lot of guests! I never know where to sit at these things, so I usually stand awkwardly on one end of the gym until everyone is done eating or I finally pick a spot to sit. This year enough people talked to me that I never had to pick a spot. Of course then I didn't have firsthand access to the donuts... though I did sneak one out of the extras left in the kitchen.
Our entertainment for the morning was the Zoomobile, a program run by the Minnesota zoo. The speaker was super good! He was funny and interesting and he showed us lots of animals. I was expecting cute and cuddly, exotic animals, but we got some creepy crawlies and Minnesota animals instead. He showed us hissing cockroaches, a possum, a red-tailed hawk, and a ball python. The kids got to pet the python at the end. That was a hit with the kids! The adults... not so much.
The rest of the day flew by! More people dropped off Silent Auction stuff (we're running out of room in the closet! I need to reorganize!), the 7th graders worked on their powerpoints (we're getting to the really good part in our read aloud book), my class did Presidential Physical Fitness tests in PE.
We're still learning about plants in 5/6th science, and today we did a mini-quiz on the four tropisms of plants. Then they remembered I was supposed to show them a video of sunflowers turning toward the sun. So we looked it up and couldn't quite find a video that showed us what we wanted. So we looked up another one, and another one, and another one. And then I wondered how they harvest sunflowers... turns out they use a modified combine to cut the heads off. The seeds are shipped to three plants in America where most of them are turned into snacks/bird feed. About a third is sent to an oil processing plant to become sunflower oil. All this from 3 million acres of sunflowers. Pretty cool.
We had a large number of Very Important People visit our classroom this morning; it was standing room only! We started our day normally and I finished up the religion lessons we didn't quite finish last Friday. Then we did Pictionary! Only one VIP got up in front to draw. Donuts in the gym afterward went well. The 7th graders served each table. It was a little tricky finding room for everyone... a new attendance record was set this year... 131! Our enrollment this year is around 62, so we had a lot of guests! I never know where to sit at these things, so I usually stand awkwardly on one end of the gym until everyone is done eating or I finally pick a spot to sit. This year enough people talked to me that I never had to pick a spot. Of course then I didn't have firsthand access to the donuts... though I did sneak one out of the extras left in the kitchen.
Our entertainment for the morning was the Zoomobile, a program run by the Minnesota zoo. The speaker was super good! He was funny and interesting and he showed us lots of animals. I was expecting cute and cuddly, exotic animals, but we got some creepy crawlies and Minnesota animals instead. He showed us hissing cockroaches, a possum, a red-tailed hawk, and a ball python. The kids got to pet the python at the end. That was a hit with the kids! The adults... not so much.
The rest of the day flew by! More people dropped off Silent Auction stuff (we're running out of room in the closet! I need to reorganize!), the 7th graders worked on their powerpoints (we're getting to the really good part in our read aloud book), my class did Presidential Physical Fitness tests in PE.
We're still learning about plants in 5/6th science, and today we did a mini-quiz on the four tropisms of plants. Then they remembered I was supposed to show them a video of sunflowers turning toward the sun. So we looked it up and couldn't quite find a video that showed us what we wanted. So we looked up another one, and another one, and another one. And then I wondered how they harvest sunflowers... turns out they use a modified combine to cut the heads off. The seeds are shipped to three plants in America where most of them are turned into snacks/bird feed. About a third is sent to an oil processing plant to become sunflower oil. All this from 3 million acres of sunflowers. Pretty cool.
Friday, October 2, 2015
Memory Soccer?
Ah, Friday. There's no other day of the week quite like it.
I had one 6th grader out sick today, and one 6th grader who was supposed to be gone but was in school... his grandma from Michigan isn't doing so good and their family was going out to visit her, supposedly this weekend, but he showed up in school all grouchy this morning saying they were going to go in a week or two.
One of the 5th graders had trouble with Luther's Evening Prayer. I told her she could practice it outside at noon recess and then say it to me when she was ready. She and her best friend tried playing soccer as she memorized... it was hilarious. This 5th grader has her nose in her folder, trying her hardest to memorize those tricky phrases that have been tripping her up. Her friend is 20ft away, kicking the ball to her. Once memory-work girl has the ball, she (still with her nose in her folder) kicks where she thinks the ball is. But she can't keep her balance. Down goes the foot! She tries again, this time keeping her balance, but completely misses the ball! Again, she tries again, loses her balance, re-aims without looking, and tries to kick the ball. Another huge miss. Her friend and I exchange grins as we watch her focused dance with her memory work and the ball. I couldn't help chuckling! And then her concentration was broken enough she could pause to kick the ball. She did get her memory work said before the end of recess!
VIP day (aka- Very Important Person Day, or Grandparent's Day) is on Monday. We always set up tables in the gym for our VIPs to eat donuts with us. There aren't enough tables at school for us to use so we have to have someone bring some over from church... all the guys who usually help are in the fields. So Mr. E borrowed one guy's truck and hauled a couple over this afternoon while I watched his class. We were working on one of the many posters contests we're involved in... there's the Lions' Peace Poster contest and the Fire Department's Fire Safety Poster contest, both due next Friday. I wish they could space them out a bit. My students always freak out because they don't have that much time to work on them. But they always get them done.
At 2:00, the Lions came to talk to the 6th and 7th graders about helping out with their annual Halloween party. My 5th graders and I set up the tables and chairs in the gym. They did a great job taking action without me having to hover over them constantly telling them what to do. Unfortunately, we finished just as it was time to pack up... no time for recess. But my class is a convincing bunch and since they packed up in record time we went out for five minutes of four-square.
My weekend is a little more relaxing than last... a college friend is coming over tonight for movies/hanging out and Saturday afternoon I'm headed down to Fulda to hang out with the fam. That's about all I have planned. Next weekend is going to be whirlwind! Faribault volleyball tournament (last volleyball event of the year!) and the Joint Service with Redeemer/Silent Auction/Pork Chop Dinner... and all the set-up that goes with it. Yikes! I better rest up while I have the chance!
I had one 6th grader out sick today, and one 6th grader who was supposed to be gone but was in school... his grandma from Michigan isn't doing so good and their family was going out to visit her, supposedly this weekend, but he showed up in school all grouchy this morning saying they were going to go in a week or two.
One of the 5th graders had trouble with Luther's Evening Prayer. I told her she could practice it outside at noon recess and then say it to me when she was ready. She and her best friend tried playing soccer as she memorized... it was hilarious. This 5th grader has her nose in her folder, trying her hardest to memorize those tricky phrases that have been tripping her up. Her friend is 20ft away, kicking the ball to her. Once memory-work girl has the ball, she (still with her nose in her folder) kicks where she thinks the ball is. But she can't keep her balance. Down goes the foot! She tries again, this time keeping her balance, but completely misses the ball! Again, she tries again, loses her balance, re-aims without looking, and tries to kick the ball. Another huge miss. Her friend and I exchange grins as we watch her focused dance with her memory work and the ball. I couldn't help chuckling! And then her concentration was broken enough she could pause to kick the ball. She did get her memory work said before the end of recess!
VIP day (aka- Very Important Person Day, or Grandparent's Day) is on Monday. We always set up tables in the gym for our VIPs to eat donuts with us. There aren't enough tables at school for us to use so we have to have someone bring some over from church... all the guys who usually help are in the fields. So Mr. E borrowed one guy's truck and hauled a couple over this afternoon while I watched his class. We were working on one of the many posters contests we're involved in... there's the Lions' Peace Poster contest and the Fire Department's Fire Safety Poster contest, both due next Friday. I wish they could space them out a bit. My students always freak out because they don't have that much time to work on them. But they always get them done.
At 2:00, the Lions came to talk to the 6th and 7th graders about helping out with their annual Halloween party. My 5th graders and I set up the tables and chairs in the gym. They did a great job taking action without me having to hover over them constantly telling them what to do. Unfortunately, we finished just as it was time to pack up... no time for recess. But my class is a convincing bunch and since they packed up in record time we went out for five minutes of four-square.
My weekend is a little more relaxing than last... a college friend is coming over tonight for movies/hanging out and Saturday afternoon I'm headed down to Fulda to hang out with the fam. That's about all I have planned. Next weekend is going to be whirlwind! Faribault volleyball tournament (last volleyball event of the year!) and the Joint Service with Redeemer/Silent Auction/Pork Chop Dinner... and all the set-up that goes with it. Yikes! I better rest up while I have the chance!
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Slow...
My computer is being slow. Has been all day. It's super annoying.
Another normal day today. More kids said memory work. They all turned in their spelling. My last presenter finally presented his powerpoint. We had fun playing 4-square at recess. Typical Thursday-ish stuff.
Bookmobile came... along with the movie I ordered! Yay! I refrained from checking out more books, so that's good.
Our staff meeting lasted 2 and 1/2 hours. Part of it was a teacher came to tell us about a new type of testing instead of NWEA or Iowa tests. It seems like a good system. The tests are 30 minutes long and students take them three times a year. The best part is the questions change to fit the level of the student, so if they get them wrong the questions get easier, and if they get them right the questions get harder. And scores are reported right away. We'll probably do those next year since it takes a while to figure everything out about them.
I wore my new arm-knitted scarf to school today. It's made of hand-dyed wool, so it's a beautiful blend of purples and blues. And not too scratchy either! It was so fun to spend time with Mrs. E outside school. We talked about taking another artsy class together at some point... maybe cake decorating or painting or something.
Another normal day today. More kids said memory work. They all turned in their spelling. My last presenter finally presented his powerpoint. We had fun playing 4-square at recess. Typical Thursday-ish stuff.
Bookmobile came... along with the movie I ordered! Yay! I refrained from checking out more books, so that's good.
Our staff meeting lasted 2 and 1/2 hours. Part of it was a teacher came to tell us about a new type of testing instead of NWEA or Iowa tests. It seems like a good system. The tests are 30 minutes long and students take them three times a year. The best part is the questions change to fit the level of the student, so if they get them wrong the questions get easier, and if they get them right the questions get harder. And scores are reported right away. We'll probably do those next year since it takes a while to figure everything out about them.
I wore my new arm-knitted scarf to school today. It's made of hand-dyed wool, so it's a beautiful blend of purples and blues. And not too scratchy either! It was so fun to spend time with Mrs. E outside school. We talked about taking another artsy class together at some point... maybe cake decorating or painting or something.
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