Veteran's Day

The Veteran's Day program at Nicollet was really good. The high school band was phenomenal; it made me miss band and wish our students at ILS could participate in band.  The main speaker was a bit long-winded and a lot of what he talked about was over my students' heads, but he was still good.  He went on for a bit about many of the threats and dangers America faces from nations overseas (and cyber threats too).  It was very sobering.  He also said the US is preparing for offensive cyber attacks to retaliate against countries who have already attacked us through cyber means.  Yikes!  That came towards the end of his speech; it's too bad it didn't end on a happier note.  He did leave students and community members with some life tips, mostly things like eat healthy, get exercise, do stuff besides video games, etc.  One thing that impressed me (and surprised me a little, but not a lot) is that Minnesota military men have a great reputation around the world for being great people, hard workers, good to be around, and good overall soldiers.  Our speaker said that's because of the communities we have in the Midwest and the work ethic we grow up learning (especially from our farming families).

On a completely different note, earlier this morning I had read an article about flexible seating options in classrooms.  What that means is that students can sit on things besides chairs, things like: exercise balls, wobble chairs, stools, beanbags, cushions, etc. This is to keep them from having their chair legs off the floor (something my class struggles with A LOT) and to give them a way to fidget and use up energy without distracting the class.  My students LOVED this idea.  They thought we should buy exercise balls right now and have them at school on Monday.  When I said we would need to get funding for the project, a whole bunch of them remembered they had exercise balls at home, could they just bring those? Nearly 90% of the class had some at home they thought they could bring!  Still, I thought it would be better to check with Mr. E about it.  I gave them a weekend assignment to sit on their exercise balls and work for 15 minutes on something... reading, writing NaNo, whatever.  Just try to get a feel for it if they like it and can work like that or not.  I'm curious to see how many remember to do it (and how many can actually work like that).

After school I brought it up with the other teachers and it turns out they've been curious about it too! One teacher was thinking about doing a Thrivent Grant for it.  She'd have a parental education night about how important motion is throughout the day and then use the Thrivent money to buy stools/balls/chairs for her preschoolers.  I think it's a great idea!  Mr. E said he'd check with the school board at their next meeting and see what they think about it.  So we need to hold off on bringing the exercise balls to school for now.

My LuLaRoe party went well last night. It was fun having my sisters around, and it was fun having the teachers from school over for a non-school event (even though we did talk about school stuff a little).  Not too many other people showed up, just a friend from my college days, and she had to run off for a meeting in Mankato.  But such is life! It was still a fun time with the people who were there... something different to do besides correct papers and lesson plan!