Crabby Crab

I was a bit of a crab today at school... I had a headache and my ears were pluggy again and I just wasn't ready to put up with anything from anyone... so I was crabby at some of the boys who like to push the line.  I saw the ringleader giving looks to his friends like, "Oh man is Miss H in a bad mood today! What is her problem?"  So I tried to be nicer. 


As the day went on I felt a little better, and so did my mood. 


We only have two chapters left in our read-aloud book.  They convinced me to read extra today, (partly because I wasn't feeling in tip-top shape, partly because it was such a cliff-hanger ending, but mostly because I had a project for them to work on).  Since we don't have any snow around (and none in the forecast), Mrs. E thought we might not get to do our December service project of shoveling the white stuff for people, so she added another facet to the project: making Christmas cards for shut-ins and the military members of our church.  Each student picked a person and started making a card.  A lot of the kids recognized names on the list and picked those people.  It was fun to hear them asking each other, "Hey, what do you think [insert name] would like on his card? An elf? A snowmobile?" I can't wait to see what they all come up with.


Another five students presented their powerpoints today.  They all did really well!  Everyone was SUPER impressed with the quietest girl in school.  She's a 6th grader who rarely raises her hand and hardly ever speaks in class.  Everyone is a bit on eggshells around her because she used to cry at the drop of a hat... mostly if she was ever embarrassed or didn't know the answer to a question she had to answer.  And she HATES public speaking.  She is such a good writer with great tongue in cheek humor, it's a shame more people don't realize that about her.  But.  A little of that came out today when she presented.  Oh it makes me smile just thinking about it! 


Picture this: it's 2:09 and the boys are antsy to get out to recess, but we have one speaker left for the day and we're going to squeeze it in no matter what.  Once they see she only has seven slides, they calm down a bit.  She starts her presentation completely facing the board with her back to the audience, but after she presents for a while (complete with changes in inflection and even some slight jokes), she gradually turns toward her classmates. 


I was blown away.  She did amazing!  Afterwards, one boy turned to me and said, "Wow Miss H, [student] is really good at powerpoints!"  Then at recess, this girl asked me, "When can we do another powerpoint? That was fun!"  Whoda thunk?