Food for Joe

Yep, I forgot the lettuce for Joe in my fridge.  It happens every time!  You'd think I'd learn by now, but no.  Sometimes I'll leave it in my car overnight for this exact reason, however it's been pretty hot out and the forecast didn't sound like it'd be cool last night, so I left it in my fridge.  I also thought there'd be more food left at school.  Nope.  Well, the only lettuce left was pretty slimy so we threw it away.

Yesterday in our talk of flowers, one of the pictures on the board reminded my students of a hibiscus.  One girl had some in her garden, and when she found out Joe could eat them, she volunteered to bring one today.  Joe hasn't eaten it yet.  He's kind of a picky eater, so that doesn't surprise me.  Still, we needed some lettuce to give him (since a flower isn't all that much).  The new cook has been buying iceberg lettuce instead of romaine, which Joe can't eat, so we can't feed him any of that.  When she found out we were looking for food for Joe, we got to talking about leafy greens, etc.  She might bring some kale from her garden for him.  Or some other stuff.

Later this afternoon, while I taught the 7/8th graders, she poked her head in and laid a paper towel on the end of the table, "I just thought maybe Joe would eat some dandelion greens, so I went outside and picked some and washed them off."  Aww, how sweet! She's definitely a keeper.

We did our first round of FAST testing this morning.  Since some students forgot their earbuds, we did the oral fluency test.  Overall they did all right.  I can tell some of the 6th graders slowed down over the summer... one boy said his goal is to get all the way up to 150 words per minute!  He has about 50 wpm to go.  That's a hefty goal!  Still, I noticed today he volunteered to read out loud twice when normally he doesn't at all.  Progress!

Another cute thing happened when the 7/8th graders had study hall... the girls didn't have much work to do, so they all sat in the reading corner and read the 'new' library picture books.  One girl even read the others a story!  Aww!  It was the one I would've picked to read aloud too.   I still haven't made it all the way through my stack of picture books at home.  There are maybe 15 more on the pile?  I read two more last night, but then spent the rest of the evening doing my freelance writing.

Before that, I had stopped to get the last shot I need before traveling to Guatemala.  Afterwards I went grocery shopping and I did something dumb... I held the basket with the arm they put the shot in.  Yeah, not a good idea.  It was fine at first, but by the time I got home my whole left side was so sore I could hardly move it.  I never realized how much I rely on my left arm!  Throughout the day it's been feeling better, but I still can't lift it very high without feeling sore.

Tonight in addition to volleyball practice (I'm skipping out), there's a PTL meeting and a Pork Chop Dinner planning meeting.  So my work day won't end until at least 8:30, probably later.  Sigh.  At least there's dinner on the menu.  The Nicollet County chamber of commerce always puts together a back-to-school meal for teachers, and lucky us, it's tonight!  Thank-you God!