The last day of October... that means tomorrow is November first, All Saints Day as well as the first day of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month!
My kiddos are super excited after all the novel plotting we've done with their characters and conflict and dialogue. One girl said she's going to set her alarm for 11:45pm so she can wake up and start writing right at midnight!!! I wonder if she'll do it for real...
I hung up our NaNo stat chart, where they can keep track of how many words they've written. Today I met with a few students who wanted to go over what their story is about (matching it up with the Plot Rollercoaster aka rising action, climax, falling action, etc.) so they know what to write tomorrow. And we also went over possible ways to start their stories. Show not tell!
Tomorrow is also a staff meeting right after school along with my meeting with our future student teacher! I broke the news in social studies today. We are studying colonial America and the possible jobs/apprenticeships they could have. To explain, I used a teacher as an example, how I had to learn from another teacher when I was back in college... which gave me the idea to say that we're having a teacher apprentice come to our classroom! It wasn't as grand a reveal as I'd been hoping; I think I confused a few of them with my referring to her as an apprentice. Then the 6th graders got all excited thinking our student teacher from last spring, Miss W, would be coming back again. No, our new teacher will be Miss M and she'll be here for most of November, starting on the 8th.
The 7th and 8th graders were extra quiet today. It's either lasting effects from Mrs. L, or they were just happy to have me back. Whatever the reason, it was nice. Bells went okay today too. We had to highlight our new songs and one of them threw me for a loop. The second page had two sharps instead of one but I hadn't noticed a key change, and when we played it, it sounded awful, like a totally different song. Just random notes. The bottom of the page didn't have the double bar showing it was the end of the song, so I figured we were just missing a page of the song. It turns out Miss S had accidentally copied the second page of a totally different song! So she copied the correct page and I stuck it in all the folders. Thursday they'll have to re-highlight that page, but I'm sure the song will sound MUCH better.
My kiddos said they're coming to my house trick or treating tonight, so I should head home to pass out candy. We talked about the tradition of Trick or Treating and where it came from, how Martin Luther probably went door to door and got cider and some kind of treat/snack... I said I thought about baking cookies too and passing them out. Some kids said they'd rather have cookies than candy! So maybe I will mix up a batch...
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
Back Again!
Well, Guatemala was fun! We had no trouble traveling there or back (or in the country, for that matter). We learned interesting things and have much to think about for next year's trip. They're talking about going again at the beginning of June. I already have travel plans at that time, so I won't be going along, but perhaps a future trip.
My students missed me while I was gone. Their parents told me so at church on Sunday, especially the 7-8th grade parents... that was a bit unexpected! One mom told me I'm never allowed to leave again because they miss me so much!
The reformation service went well. My kiddos said their parts wonderfully and knew their song verse the best out of all the grades. Our bell songs... eh, the first one was a bit of a disaster. It's a challenging version of "A Mighty Fortress" and we had trouble getting it down during practice. Miss S did the best she could practicing with them this week, but having a huge audience at church psyched them out and they got lost and kept messing up and all we could do was keep playing... Yeah, we've had better performances. But the point is to give glory to God, so even though it wasn't the best sounding song, our hearts were in the right place. On the other hand, the song we played for offering was great!
The mixed choir song at the end of the service sounded great too... quite a few of my kids commented on it after church and even at school today. It's called, "Here I Stand" and includes quotes from Martin Luther including his famous words, "Here I stand, I can do no other." The song ends with a high A for sopranos (optional) and each week we practiced I thought about trying to hit it, but I wasn't confident. Practicing before the service I gave it a shot and nailed it! Woo! So I ended the song on a high note ;) and hit it then too.
School today was pretty good. My kiddos literally ran into the classroom (still in their hats and coats) to say good morning to me. It felt good to be loved. The first 15 minutes of the day were spent complaining about the sub... not that she was bad, she was just stricter than I am and she wouldn't let them use the iPad to look up words the whole week, so spelling took extra long, and she wouldn't help them on their homework, they had to figure it out for themselves, and they had to be super duper quite during their rounds and she made them split up if they whispered too loud and she did lunch count weird... haha, I can't remember all the stuff they said. But I think the week went better than they made it sound, and I think they liked her more than they made it sound too.
They did say she didn't read our read-aloud book much while I was gone. They said she didn't seem too in-to the story and only read a few pages. And she didn't do the voices of the characters so they couldn't tell who was saying what. She ended up reading them other books, like a Martin Luther book I had left out on the podium. Can't say I'm sad about that. Now they learned more about Martin Luther and I get to read my favorite parts of our book!!!
In summary, it's good to be back.
The other exciting thing we did today was carve pumpkins! Mrs. B had about 20 left in her garden and she offered as many to me as I could use. So I brought 12 over to school over the weekend before the hard frost came. One pumpkin had frozen a little and was a bit mushy. One pumpkin was too thick and hard to cut into, so we left that one. It's a good thing I brought extras!
It worked out perfectly because the 7-8th graders were gone in the afternoon for a field trip to drug court (trials/hearings for people arrested for drug use/possession). No math, which gave us an extra hour to use up... art time!
I brought a few knives from home to cut the tops out, but otherwise we used the dissecting kits at school, specifically the scalpels (they're not that sharp). Most of the pumpkins were under-ripe so their skin was tough to cut into. Still, we made it work! We had to get creative with fixing bits where too much was cut away or attaching bits that fell off with toothpicks. I think they turned out great.
My students missed me while I was gone. Their parents told me so at church on Sunday, especially the 7-8th grade parents... that was a bit unexpected! One mom told me I'm never allowed to leave again because they miss me so much!
The reformation service went well. My kiddos said their parts wonderfully and knew their song verse the best out of all the grades. Our bell songs... eh, the first one was a bit of a disaster. It's a challenging version of "A Mighty Fortress" and we had trouble getting it down during practice. Miss S did the best she could practicing with them this week, but having a huge audience at church psyched them out and they got lost and kept messing up and all we could do was keep playing... Yeah, we've had better performances. But the point is to give glory to God, so even though it wasn't the best sounding song, our hearts were in the right place. On the other hand, the song we played for offering was great!
The mixed choir song at the end of the service sounded great too... quite a few of my kids commented on it after church and even at school today. It's called, "Here I Stand" and includes quotes from Martin Luther including his famous words, "Here I stand, I can do no other." The song ends with a high A for sopranos (optional) and each week we practiced I thought about trying to hit it, but I wasn't confident. Practicing before the service I gave it a shot and nailed it! Woo! So I ended the song on a high note ;) and hit it then too.
School today was pretty good. My kiddos literally ran into the classroom (still in their hats and coats) to say good morning to me. It felt good to be loved. The first 15 minutes of the day were spent complaining about the sub... not that she was bad, she was just stricter than I am and she wouldn't let them use the iPad to look up words the whole week, so spelling took extra long, and she wouldn't help them on their homework, they had to figure it out for themselves, and they had to be super duper quite during their rounds and she made them split up if they whispered too loud and she did lunch count weird... haha, I can't remember all the stuff they said. But I think the week went better than they made it sound, and I think they liked her more than they made it sound too.
They did say she didn't read our read-aloud book much while I was gone. They said she didn't seem too in-to the story and only read a few pages. And she didn't do the voices of the characters so they couldn't tell who was saying what. She ended up reading them other books, like a Martin Luther book I had left out on the podium. Can't say I'm sad about that. Now they learned more about Martin Luther and I get to read my favorite parts of our book!!!
In summary, it's good to be back.
The other exciting thing we did today was carve pumpkins! Mrs. B had about 20 left in her garden and she offered as many to me as I could use. So I brought 12 over to school over the weekend before the hard frost came. One pumpkin had frozen a little and was a bit mushy. One pumpkin was too thick and hard to cut into, so we left that one. It's a good thing I brought extras!
It worked out perfectly because the 7-8th graders were gone in the afternoon for a field trip to drug court (trials/hearings for people arrested for drug use/possession). No math, which gave us an extra hour to use up... art time!
I brought a few knives from home to cut the tops out, but otherwise we used the dissecting kits at school, specifically the scalpels (they're not that sharp). Most of the pumpkins were under-ripe so their skin was tough to cut into. Still, we made it work! We had to get creative with fixing bits where too much was cut away or attaching bits that fell off with toothpicks. I think they turned out great.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Packing Up
There are lots of notes on the board. We were a little rushed at the end of the day... I forgot to have them fill out their Writers' Workshop self assessments and their Daily 5 sheets before lunch, so it was a last minute scramble. And some of them still didn't turn their forms in. My sub won't know who hasn't turned everything in, so I made a note. We didn't finish our Thanksgiving webquest today, so I made a note of the students who haven't finished. And of course our daily to-do list.
Before I leave, I want to have everything laid out for my sub. It will be weird to leave my flashdrive and clipboard here! Those things are never far from my side since they hold pretty much my entire life.
Last night I packed my suitcase and backpack. I have plenty of room in there, even with my rubber boots (it's supposed to rain all seven days) and the extra toys people donated after Sunday. I'm bringing a bunch of snacks... crackers, fruit leather, and granola bars. Hopefully it's enough! I also started my malaria medication today; it starts two days prior to travel. Can you believe I leave in a day and a half? Yikes! I still find it hard to believe.
My plan for tonight is to finish correcting my papers, hand them back to students, and work on Upwork lesson plans. I have one more lesson assigned to me that I want to finish before I leave. After that, I can assign myself lessons to write (this is for the freelance writing work). Tomorrow's Lutheran Educator Conference starts at 8:45 and goes until 5. Then it will be an early bedtime! We're leaving for the airport Friday morning around 1:15am. Ufda! It will be a long day...
Before I leave, I want to have everything laid out for my sub. It will be weird to leave my flashdrive and clipboard here! Those things are never far from my side since they hold pretty much my entire life.
Last night I packed my suitcase and backpack. I have plenty of room in there, even with my rubber boots (it's supposed to rain all seven days) and the extra toys people donated after Sunday. I'm bringing a bunch of snacks... crackers, fruit leather, and granola bars. Hopefully it's enough! I also started my malaria medication today; it starts two days prior to travel. Can you believe I leave in a day and a half? Yikes! I still find it hard to believe.
My plan for tonight is to finish correcting my papers, hand them back to students, and work on Upwork lesson plans. I have one more lesson assigned to me that I want to finish before I leave. After that, I can assign myself lessons to write (this is for the freelance writing work). Tomorrow's Lutheran Educator Conference starts at 8:45 and goes until 5. Then it will be an early bedtime! We're leaving for the airport Friday morning around 1:15am. Ufda! It will be a long day...
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Picture Day
Today's high was 75 degrees. Normally, I'd just roll with the temperature, but today was picture day. I had my outfit all picked out... except I thought it was supposed to be in the upper 60s/lower 70s, so my outfit was built with cooler weather in mind. I thought about wearing it anyway, but my classroom is not a great conductor so it's hard to keep the temperature constant. I knew my room would be hot in the afternoon (we turned the air conditioner on today even!), so I changed clothes at the last minute.
Blech, guys have it easy! Throw on a shirt and tie and you're good to go! I found an okay outfit and my hair looked okay, so I guess picture day was fine after all. Still, I wish I could've worn my original outfit! It was way cuter than what I actually wore. Oh well.
We had an impromptu guest speaker before lunch. It was a volunteer coordinator from a Thanksgiving dinner celebration. They make homemade food and serve it free to anyone who wants to come. They have a garden to grow onions, potatoes, squash, and pumpkins for the meal. They've done it for the past 30 years and serve around 1000 people every year! Wow! The committee has placemats on each table, and they ask local schools to decorate them. This year our school was picked. They needed 400 placemats, which means each student would have to make 8. That's too many, so we're making 200 and the volunteer will ask another school to decorate some too. One last thing to start before I leave for a week!
I have most things ready to go. Tonight my goal is to pack my suitcase. Tomorrow I'm hoping to hang out with my farmer one last time before I leave the country, so today is kind of my last day to get things in place. Most things at school are printed out. I have a few more things to set in prominent places, but I can't do that until all the kids are gone (resetting the classroom for next week). Man, I hope I remembered everything. I'm sure if I did forget something, it'll be fine. Still, I'd like to be as prepared for all eventualities if I can be.
Blech, guys have it easy! Throw on a shirt and tie and you're good to go! I found an okay outfit and my hair looked okay, so I guess picture day was fine after all. Still, I wish I could've worn my original outfit! It was way cuter than what I actually wore. Oh well.
We had an impromptu guest speaker before lunch. It was a volunteer coordinator from a Thanksgiving dinner celebration. They make homemade food and serve it free to anyone who wants to come. They have a garden to grow onions, potatoes, squash, and pumpkins for the meal. They've done it for the past 30 years and serve around 1000 people every year! Wow! The committee has placemats on each table, and they ask local schools to decorate them. This year our school was picked. They needed 400 placemats, which means each student would have to make 8. That's too many, so we're making 200 and the volunteer will ask another school to decorate some too. One last thing to start before I leave for a week!
I have most things ready to go. Tonight my goal is to pack my suitcase. Tomorrow I'm hoping to hang out with my farmer one last time before I leave the country, so today is kind of my last day to get things in place. Most things at school are printed out. I have a few more things to set in prominent places, but I can't do that until all the kids are gone (resetting the classroom for next week). Man, I hope I remembered everything. I'm sure if I did forget something, it'll be fine. Still, I'd like to be as prepared for all eventualities if I can be.
Monday, October 16, 2017
"No Mom"
My kids were chatterboxes today. This seems to be the usual Monday pattern. They just can't seem to keep their mouths shut in my room. They all say they know when they're supposed to be quiet, but for whatever reason, they don't do it. It's super frustrating. The worst part is, they don't get that it's being disrespectful towards me. Or they do get it, but they don't care. Or maybe today was just a crabby day and tomorrow will be better.
During Daily 5 time, a few of them picked Read to Someone since we don't have spelling or handwriting (it's a short week because of MEA). One of the books they read is called No David and is about a boy who keeps getting into trouble. All the words in the book are from the adult/teacher chastising David until the very end when he does something good. They've read that book hundreds of times and might even have it memorized. To mix things up today, they decided to switch "David" for "Mom". Boy, that made the story silly. I'm sure they pictured their mothers sticking gum in their hair or shoving in the lunch line or digging up plants they weren't supposed to... "No running, Mom." "Clean up your mess, Mom." Lots of giggling from that corner of the room.
Mrs. L (my sub) visited today. She didn't stay as long as I thought she would, it was maybe a half an hour? My students wrote a 'Welcome' sign on the board and had everyone (me too) write their names up there. She and I went over a few things, but she's taught in a small Lutheran school before, so she didn't need too much going over. She had brought her baby along, and the kids couldn't keep their eyes off her (she was in a front pouch backpack thing on Mrs. L).
After school I printed a bunch of stuff for next week. I still have more to do, but I had to leave to run errands. I did get my errands run, one of which included putting money on a prepaid international card so I don't have to bring my debit/credit cards along. I snuck in right before closing time!
During Daily 5 time, a few of them picked Read to Someone since we don't have spelling or handwriting (it's a short week because of MEA). One of the books they read is called No David and is about a boy who keeps getting into trouble. All the words in the book are from the adult/teacher chastising David until the very end when he does something good. They've read that book hundreds of times and might even have it memorized. To mix things up today, they decided to switch "David" for "Mom". Boy, that made the story silly. I'm sure they pictured their mothers sticking gum in their hair or shoving in the lunch line or digging up plants they weren't supposed to... "No running, Mom." "Clean up your mess, Mom." Lots of giggling from that corner of the room.
Mrs. L (my sub) visited today. She didn't stay as long as I thought she would, it was maybe a half an hour? My students wrote a 'Welcome' sign on the board and had everyone (me too) write their names up there. She and I went over a few things, but she's taught in a small Lutheran school before, so she didn't need too much going over. She had brought her baby along, and the kids couldn't keep their eyes off her (she was in a front pouch backpack thing on Mrs. L).
After school I printed a bunch of stuff for next week. I still have more to do, but I had to leave to run errands. I did get my errands run, one of which included putting money on a prepaid international card so I don't have to bring my debit/credit cards along. I snuck in right before closing time!
Friday, October 13, 2017
Volleyball
Well, B squad volleyball is officially over. Our last game was last night; the A squad has a tournament this weekend. The girls played hard the first game and went into triple overtime. You have to win by two, so we went back and forth with Janesville about three or four times past the usual 25 points. But we lost. And we lost the second game too, although it was close for a while. The last game we finally won! Yay! But it was neck and neck towards the end again.
So many exciting things coming up... my sub visits Monday morning, I leave for Guatemala in less than a week, and I have a student teacher coming in November! This morning I got an email from the BLC placement teacher that told me what her name is and a little more about her. Now I'm even more excited. I told myself I wouldn't tell my kids right away because there are already so many exciting things happening and I don't want the student teacher to be overshadowed by the other stuff. So I'm making myself wait, even though I really want to spill... Oh it was so hard today! I kept thinking of how to get the student teacher involved in our reading routines which made me smile, and of course my kids noticed that, which meant they wanted to know why. Some chalked it up to other random things, but at the end of the day, they figured out I had something exciting to tell them. They were not happy when I wouldn't tell them. "Does it have to do with just you or does it include us?" they asked. And they were even more frustrated when they found out it had to do with them.
"Why won't you tell us????" they whined.
"I will tell you, just not until after I get back from Guatemala."
"But that's SO FAR AWAY!"
"You'll survive."
Boy, I hope I can hold out that long...
So many exciting things coming up... my sub visits Monday morning, I leave for Guatemala in less than a week, and I have a student teacher coming in November! This morning I got an email from the BLC placement teacher that told me what her name is and a little more about her. Now I'm even more excited. I told myself I wouldn't tell my kids right away because there are already so many exciting things happening and I don't want the student teacher to be overshadowed by the other stuff. So I'm making myself wait, even though I really want to spill... Oh it was so hard today! I kept thinking of how to get the student teacher involved in our reading routines which made me smile, and of course my kids noticed that, which meant they wanted to know why. Some chalked it up to other random things, but at the end of the day, they figured out I had something exciting to tell them. They were not happy when I wouldn't tell them. "Does it have to do with just you or does it include us?" they asked. And they were even more frustrated when they found out it had to do with them.
"Why won't you tell us????" they whined.
"I will tell you, just not until after I get back from Guatemala."
"But that's SO FAR AWAY!"
"You'll survive."
Boy, I hope I can hold out that long...
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Sub Plans
Whew, I think my sub plans are complete! I spent last night working on them again and I think I even have the week after I get back planned out two. Hopefully not too much changes!
In NaNo prep I introduced the concept of conflict to them. They understood the concept, but they're having trouble applying it to their stories. Monday I will meet with each of them and try to help them iron it out in their stories.
Mrs. L will be in school with us on Monday too. She's coming at 9:30, so it's really important that we stay on track! We'll see if that happens or not... although lately I have been better about sticking to our schedule.
Today started out right on track; we even wrapped up religion a bit early. But since there was a little time, I looked up a version of the song we're singing in church on the 29th on Youtube and they liked it so much we had to watch it twice. (It's funny because before that they had all been grumbling about practicing music. But once they recognized the song, they loved it!). That reminded me of another 'Christian power jam' song, so we listened to that one too. Which reminded them of another good christian song, so we listened to that one too. We still had time to do read aloud, DOL, Workshop, and all our rounds, so we weren't too far off schedule.
I had forgotten that a grandpa was bringing in his Native American artifacts today... he's brought them before, but not since my first year teaching when his other granddaughter was in my class. I forgot he was coming until I saw his head peek in one of our windows. So I had a 6th grader open the side door for him and he set up his artifacts while I kept teaching English. We took a break to look at his stuff. He had scrapers, arrow heads, broken knives, fire starters, and pottery with designs etched in. And a light up magnifying glass! Boy they had fun with that. Before the grandpa left, he told me if I want him to come back again (even if he doesn't have a granddaughter in my class), he still will come, I just have to let him know. I'll have to keep that in mind!
In NaNo prep I introduced the concept of conflict to them. They understood the concept, but they're having trouble applying it to their stories. Monday I will meet with each of them and try to help them iron it out in their stories.
Mrs. L will be in school with us on Monday too. She's coming at 9:30, so it's really important that we stay on track! We'll see if that happens or not... although lately I have been better about sticking to our schedule.
Today started out right on track; we even wrapped up religion a bit early. But since there was a little time, I looked up a version of the song we're singing in church on the 29th on Youtube and they liked it so much we had to watch it twice. (It's funny because before that they had all been grumbling about practicing music. But once they recognized the song, they loved it!). That reminded me of another 'Christian power jam' song, so we listened to that one too. Which reminded them of another good christian song, so we listened to that one too. We still had time to do read aloud, DOL, Workshop, and all our rounds, so we weren't too far off schedule.
I had forgotten that a grandpa was bringing in his Native American artifacts today... he's brought them before, but not since my first year teaching when his other granddaughter was in my class. I forgot he was coming until I saw his head peek in one of our windows. So I had a 6th grader open the side door for him and he set up his artifacts while I kept teaching English. We took a break to look at his stuff. He had scrapers, arrow heads, broken knives, fire starters, and pottery with designs etched in. And a light up magnifying glass! Boy they had fun with that. Before the grandpa left, he told me if I want him to come back again (even if he doesn't have a granddaughter in my class), he still will come, I just have to let him know. I'll have to keep that in mind!
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Pokey Little Puppies
Holy cow my kiddos were pokey at the end of the day! They came back from PE and lingered at the lab table, talked to each other a while, turned off the computers... but they never came back to their desks so we could pray and go home! They wasted almost 10 minutes! Finally I got most of them rounded up, but man, it took a while.
My sub binder is finished. I still need to write plans for the week I'm gone, but the 'Sub Tub' has allllll the info my sub will ever need while I'm gone. Routines and procedures, student lists/photo directories, fire/tornado evacuation plans, nurse contact info. For real. It's all in there. Whew!
The fire fighters came today. My kids were quiet at first, but they got warmed up after a few questions. I got some good pictures of them outside by the fire trucks. They got to try on the uniforms (boots and helmets too!) and even sprayed the fire hose for a while. That took up most of our morning after chapel. We finished the morning with extra read-aloud time and a short round of read to self. They are super into the new read-aloud book we switched to! I've read it before, but I'm still sad that I'll miss reading to them for a week. I hope the sub has as good a time as I do reading it!
My sub binder is finished. I still need to write plans for the week I'm gone, but the 'Sub Tub' has allllll the info my sub will ever need while I'm gone. Routines and procedures, student lists/photo directories, fire/tornado evacuation plans, nurse contact info. For real. It's all in there. Whew!
The fire fighters came today. My kids were quiet at first, but they got warmed up after a few questions. I got some good pictures of them outside by the fire trucks. They got to try on the uniforms (boots and helmets too!) and even sprayed the fire hose for a while. That took up most of our morning after chapel. We finished the morning with extra read-aloud time and a short round of read to self. They are super into the new read-aloud book we switched to! I've read it before, but I'm still sad that I'll miss reading to them for a week. I hope the sub has as good a time as I do reading it!
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
NaNo
My kids started brainstorming about their characters today. I did too, and now I'm excited to write my story! Only 21 days and counting... My writing prompt board on Pinterest is full of funny dialogue lines that seem spy-ish, so my main characters are 21 year old twin brothers who are spies; one is smart/sarcastic/responsible and one is kind of crazy/doesn't always think before acting. Their family is rich and they have a sister getting married (and the wedding goes wrong because of them). My students want the boys to meet a girl and argue over who gets to be her boyfriend... we'll see if that actually happens. That's about all I have so far. Tomorrow we're having a work day and then Thursday we'll talk about conflict and what our characters want most in the world. I have no clue what my characters want. Things to think about!
Monday, October 9, 2017
Mondays
Oh Mondays... my kiddos are so chatty on Mondays! We got eight blurts today, which means that three people have sentences. Yikes! I told them their sentence assignments would be on their desks tomorrow, and my intention was to have them written down before I left school today, however, another teacher was feeling chatty and someone stopped in for their silent auction items, and I had to leave school early to get to our second to last volleyball game on time, so I did not write them down.
The games went well. The A squad played great, as always. The B squad didn't go for the ball nearly enough, as always. B= lost all three, A= won all three. After the game we went out to eat as a team as our end of the year volleyball party. Only one more practice, one more game, and one more tournament... all this week! I will be glad once it's all over. Hopefully I'll have time to focus on other things, like writing.
We started preparing for NaNoWriMo today, writing a list of Good Books and Gross Books. We also analyzed why the books are good or gross and talked about how to make our own books good instead of gross. They gave me suggestions on what to teach them for NaNo, like how to start a story, how to end it, how to make it suspenseful or exciting, so now I have plenty of ideas for November. We even updated our class NaNo page (it's a site where students have accounts and can write their stories online wherever they have internet, at home or at school). Now they want to start writing! But they have to wait to write this story. Only 22 more days! I'm excited and at the same time I'm slightly dreading it... how am I going to have time to write my story??? My teacher goal is 30,000 words, same as last year. 1000 words per day.
Our practice fire drill and other fire drill went very well today. The first one was just our room practicing by ourselves. I knew there'd be an official drill later on and I wanted my students to be prepared, so we practiced lining up and walking out to 2nd base on the kickball field. They did great! I asked them to stay standing in a line once we got out there so it would be easier to count them, and they did! About an hour later, Mr. E pulled the fire alarm for our official drill. Everyone in our classroom jumped when the alarm went off, even me, and I knew it was coming! Still, they all remembered what to do and we got it done in record time. The fire fighters come Wednesday morning for Fire Prevention Week. I should ask them if they'd let my kids use a fire extinguisher. We talked about how to use the one in our classroom, but it'd be cool if they could actually practice on a fire. I did it once for RA training back in college and it was neat.
The games went well. The A squad played great, as always. The B squad didn't go for the ball nearly enough, as always. B= lost all three, A= won all three. After the game we went out to eat as a team as our end of the year volleyball party. Only one more practice, one more game, and one more tournament... all this week! I will be glad once it's all over. Hopefully I'll have time to focus on other things, like writing.
We started preparing for NaNoWriMo today, writing a list of Good Books and Gross Books. We also analyzed why the books are good or gross and talked about how to make our own books good instead of gross. They gave me suggestions on what to teach them for NaNo, like how to start a story, how to end it, how to make it suspenseful or exciting, so now I have plenty of ideas for November. We even updated our class NaNo page (it's a site where students have accounts and can write their stories online wherever they have internet, at home or at school). Now they want to start writing! But they have to wait to write this story. Only 22 more days! I'm excited and at the same time I'm slightly dreading it... how am I going to have time to write my story??? My teacher goal is 30,000 words, same as last year. 1000 words per day.
Our practice fire drill and other fire drill went very well today. The first one was just our room practicing by ourselves. I knew there'd be an official drill later on and I wanted my students to be prepared, so we practiced lining up and walking out to 2nd base on the kickball field. They did great! I asked them to stay standing in a line once we got out there so it would be easier to count them, and they did! About an hour later, Mr. E pulled the fire alarm for our official drill. Everyone in our classroom jumped when the alarm went off, even me, and I knew it was coming! Still, they all remembered what to do and we got it done in record time. The fire fighters come Wednesday morning for Fire Prevention Week. I should ask them if they'd let my kids use a fire extinguisher. We talked about how to use the one in our classroom, but it'd be cool if they could actually practice on a fire. I did it once for RA training back in college and it was neat.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Holes
We finally had a chance to watch the movie Holes. I only planned to watch a little of it today, but they convinced me we should finish it. One 6th grader has seen it over 10 times, so as you might imagine, he could quote pretty much the entire movie. I'm glad we watched it all. Quite a few kids made plot connections from the movie that they didn't connect while reading the book. So reading the book ahead of time helped the movie make more sense.
We were supposed to practice our fire procedures today, but I forgot in the morning and then it down poured the rest of the day, so we didn't. I did tell them where we're supposed to go in case of a fire... out our side door and stand on 2nd base by the kickball diamond. Maybe we'll have a chance to practice right away Monday morning.
I got slightly more caught up on my correcting. Pastor had an electronic copy of the Reformation service and emailed it to me. My students picked their parts today and we'll work on them next week, so I'm feeling more relaxed about that project. This weekend will hopefully give me a chance to get caught up on a few other things. I do wish it would stop raining though! We're going to float away pretty soon.
We were supposed to practice our fire procedures today, but I forgot in the morning and then it down poured the rest of the day, so we didn't. I did tell them where we're supposed to go in case of a fire... out our side door and stand on 2nd base by the kickball diamond. Maybe we'll have a chance to practice right away Monday morning.
I got slightly more caught up on my correcting. Pastor had an electronic copy of the Reformation service and emailed it to me. My students picked their parts today and we'll work on them next week, so I'm feeling more relaxed about that project. This weekend will hopefully give me a chance to get caught up on a few other things. I do wish it would stop raining though! We're going to float away pretty soon.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Radio
My kiddos were on the radio today, KNUJ community events, to promote the Pork Chop Dinner. Before the five of them left school (I didn't go along), they asked if I'd be listening to them on the radio. So I found the live streaming and listened.
During school, we talked through some of the possible questions, but I didn't give them specific things to say. They did great! The DJ asked them what their favorite subject in school was, why it was their favorite, what part of that class was their favorite, why they go to ILS... and their answers were amazing. Almost every one of them said because it helps their faith to grow and the teachers are nice. Of course, they said more than that too, more things about the dinner and what they'd be doing to help. A parent gave more details about the silent auction and the dinner menu, etc. of course.
I had thought about going along, but it was my only night free this week, and then it turned out to be not so free anyway. After school, a parent dropped off more silent auction items, but we decided to store them at church. Another parent wanted to talk about silent auction things too, so I ended up leaving school at about sixish. Then I ran errands in New Ulm and got home about 7:45. I still have a huge pile of papers to correct, but my gumption is running low.
The stress is catching up to me... getting midterm grades ready and working on all the things I need to do before Guatemala and getting hand bells ready to play the Sunday I get back and prepping stuff for the sub, and working on the special service the kids are doing in church to celebrate the Reformation in church (also the Sunday after I get back from Guatemala), and current lesson plans, and coordinating communication between parents for the Pork Chop Dinner/Silent Auction this weekend, and volleyball stuff, and my freelance writing... whew. I wish I had a pause button so I could get everything done. But it will all get done eventually. So I'll keep plugging away. But a few extra prayers would be appreciated.
During school, we talked through some of the possible questions, but I didn't give them specific things to say. They did great! The DJ asked them what their favorite subject in school was, why it was their favorite, what part of that class was their favorite, why they go to ILS... and their answers were amazing. Almost every one of them said because it helps their faith to grow and the teachers are nice. Of course, they said more than that too, more things about the dinner and what they'd be doing to help. A parent gave more details about the silent auction and the dinner menu, etc. of course.
I had thought about going along, but it was my only night free this week, and then it turned out to be not so free anyway. After school, a parent dropped off more silent auction items, but we decided to store them at church. Another parent wanted to talk about silent auction things too, so I ended up leaving school at about sixish. Then I ran errands in New Ulm and got home about 7:45. I still have a huge pile of papers to correct, but my gumption is running low.
The stress is catching up to me... getting midterm grades ready and working on all the things I need to do before Guatemala and getting hand bells ready to play the Sunday I get back and prepping stuff for the sub, and working on the special service the kids are doing in church to celebrate the Reformation in church (also the Sunday after I get back from Guatemala), and current lesson plans, and coordinating communication between parents for the Pork Chop Dinner/Silent Auction this weekend, and volleyball stuff, and my freelance writing... whew. I wish I had a pause button so I could get everything done. But it will all get done eventually. So I'll keep plugging away. But a few extra prayers would be appreciated.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Jogging
We were on time to chapel today! It was close though!
Firefighters dropped off Fire Poster information yesterday, so when my students saw they could get started, my students put that at the top of their priority list. Of course when the bell rang they didn't want to stop. After we did our normal morning routine they were sure we didn't have enough time to do our pre-chapel hymnsing, but we still sang a few songs (partly because they said it... what can I say, I'm stubborn!). They have a habit of writing random numbers on the board, not even checking what song it is. There were two who picked a real song, and by real, I mean they actually requested a song they wanted to sing. So those were the ones I picked.
We had about five minutes-ish to walk over to chapel. I wasn't sure if we'd make it or not so I directed the class to speed walk. That still wasn't fast enough and soon we jogged. Nothing like getting the blood pumping before chapel! My students were surprised I jogged with them and had no qualms about sharing that fact with their seat partners. "Miss H, were you really running???" everyone wanted to know. "No, absolutely not! We were jogging!" was my answer.
Firefighters dropped off Fire Poster information yesterday, so when my students saw they could get started, my students put that at the top of their priority list. Of course when the bell rang they didn't want to stop. After we did our normal morning routine they were sure we didn't have enough time to do our pre-chapel hymnsing, but we still sang a few songs (partly because they said it... what can I say, I'm stubborn!). They have a habit of writing random numbers on the board, not even checking what song it is. There were two who picked a real song, and by real, I mean they actually requested a song they wanted to sing. So those were the ones I picked.
We had about five minutes-ish to walk over to chapel. I wasn't sure if we'd make it or not so I directed the class to speed walk. That still wasn't fast enough and soon we jogged. Nothing like getting the blood pumping before chapel! My students were surprised I jogged with them and had no qualms about sharing that fact with their seat partners. "Miss H, were you really running???" everyone wanted to know. "No, absolutely not! We were jogging!" was my answer.
Volleyball
We're on the downhill slope of volleyball. Only two games, two tournaments, and two practices left. This is good because with volleyball stuff almost every night, I haven't had enough time to get everything done that I want to. My paper correcting has fallen behind, I have a box of books to sort through, and midterm grades to enter. And I leave for Guatemala in about two weeks. Yikes!
Yesterday we had an away game at Mt. Olive in Mankato. I was a little worried about getting there on time because our game was at 4:00 so I'd have to leave at 3:15, plus I brought some players with me, so it was even more important to leave on time. Five minutes before we were supposed to leave, the tortoise vet called me to talk about Joe. He doesn't think what Joe has is shell rot; he thinks it's because Joe needs more variety of nutrients in his food. So even though Joe doesn't like it, we have to sprinkle mineral (calcium) on his food. And it's okay to give him a little tomato or a grape or other fruit/veggies as long as it's a little amount not all the time. We'll see if my picky tortoise eats it!
The games went all right. The B squad team played four games since they had a 5th grade team and a 6th grade team. We won one out of four games. It was hard to watch because the girls wouldn't go for it! They stood there and let the ball drop right in front of them. Or it'd hit their arms and fall off because they didn't try to hit it. Grr... frustrating. What can you do? The A squad did better. They played the A team and won all three games.
Yesterday we had an away game at Mt. Olive in Mankato. I was a little worried about getting there on time because our game was at 4:00 so I'd have to leave at 3:15, plus I brought some players with me, so it was even more important to leave on time. Five minutes before we were supposed to leave, the tortoise vet called me to talk about Joe. He doesn't think what Joe has is shell rot; he thinks it's because Joe needs more variety of nutrients in his food. So even though Joe doesn't like it, we have to sprinkle mineral (calcium) on his food. And it's okay to give him a little tomato or a grape or other fruit/veggies as long as it's a little amount not all the time. We'll see if my picky tortoise eats it!
The games went all right. The B squad team played four games since they had a 5th grade team and a 6th grade team. We won one out of four games. It was hard to watch because the girls wouldn't go for it! They stood there and let the ball drop right in front of them. Or it'd hit their arms and fall off because they didn't try to hit it. Grr... frustrating. What can you do? The A squad did better. They played the A team and won all three games.
Monday, October 2, 2017
VIP day
Guess what? Our guest speaker for VIP day didn't show up. The parent who had originally suggested him gave him a call and he had totally forgotten all about it and was in a different town. So we fed the VIPs donuts as planned, had an impromptu singing concert with the 1-4th graders, and sent them home. The songs were ones they'd sung at the nursing home's annual birthday party (minus the Happy Birthday song), so they were able to sing them on the spot. Some of my kids were bummed we didn't do an 'open mic' time where they could tell jokes or something. Oh well.
After that my class helped put away the tables and chairs. We put the chairs out in the ball shed behind school instead of in the closet by Mr. D's room. The preschool teacher wants to store stuff there, which makes more sense than her putting her stuff out in the shed. We only use the chairs 2-3 times per year, so having them in the shed isn't a hassle. We did have to move a ton of stuff to make room for the chairs. Ugh, the ball shed gets to unorganized so fast! It was just organized over the summer and now it needs it again! Part of the problem is that we took out a bunch of stuff to be disposed of and someone (we're not sure who) went back there and put it all back in the shed. Probably because that person thought we should keep it.
The rest of the day was a blur. The 5/6th graders presented their Native American tribe powerpoints, or started to anyway. We made it through two groups leaving three groups for tomorrow. They've been great so far! The 7/8th graders are on the Weather unit in science. Today's topic was Thunderstorms and we had the weather to match! It's been raining all day. We talked a bit about lightning (also Wednesday's topic) and after school one of the 7th graders said, "Guess what! I saw that thing we talked about today... that lightning thing... leaders!" Yay! He remembered something from class!
After that my class helped put away the tables and chairs. We put the chairs out in the ball shed behind school instead of in the closet by Mr. D's room. The preschool teacher wants to store stuff there, which makes more sense than her putting her stuff out in the shed. We only use the chairs 2-3 times per year, so having them in the shed isn't a hassle. We did have to move a ton of stuff to make room for the chairs. Ugh, the ball shed gets to unorganized so fast! It was just organized over the summer and now it needs it again! Part of the problem is that we took out a bunch of stuff to be disposed of and someone (we're not sure who) went back there and put it all back in the shed. Probably because that person thought we should keep it.
The rest of the day was a blur. The 5/6th graders presented their Native American tribe powerpoints, or started to anyway. We made it through two groups leaving three groups for tomorrow. They've been great so far! The 7/8th graders are on the Weather unit in science. Today's topic was Thunderstorms and we had the weather to match! It's been raining all day. We talked a bit about lightning (also Wednesday's topic) and after school one of the 7th graders said, "Guess what! I saw that thing we talked about today... that lightning thing... leaders!" Yay! He remembered something from class!
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