Well, I think we have everything ready for the Lenten supper. We went over to church after school today to get things set up. I realized that we used flour in all the egg bakes we made on Monday. Normally not a big deal, but we've been advertising them as gluten free. So Pastor gave us a dozen eggs and some corn starch so we could make an actually gluten free batch. I don't think there will be too many gluten free eaters, so one pan should be enough.
After sticking all the egg bakes in roaster pans, cutting up the fruit, setting out all the eating supplies, I came back to school to work on things. The kids stayed over at church with a parent. I gave them strict rules to only be in two rooms. They were bummed because they'd been planning to play hide and seek... instead they played house.
I'm feeling slightly more caught up on things in my classroom. Grades are all entered in the gradebook and I gave Mr. E midterms for his class. I just need math grades from him and I can send mine out.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Tuesday
My kiddos made creatures last week to "hide" in our classroom. We've been learning about ecosystems and niches and food webs lately, so I had them create creatures that would blend in our classroom and they would be the predators trying to find them. It's an activity I copied from my 5/6th grade teacher. In fact, I still have the little creature guy I made back then!
I was a little disappointed in their creativity; many of their creatures looked the same, most being made of painted walnut shells. Still, only one person out of 11 found 17. I hid 18 creatures total. Some kids forgot to look way up and way down. Before I hid them, I let students write me a note detailing where they thought their creature should be hidden. A few still couldn't even find theirs, even with the instructions they gave me!
We started working on our Biome presentations today. I put a fun twist on it this year. Each group works for a 'tour company' and has to sell a vacation package to their biome to the 1-2nd graders. So they'll make powerpoints trying to convince their peers to go to their location (desert, rain forest, tundra, taiga, savanna, etc.). They are super pumped! I introduced the project yesterday and today each group picked their biome. Pretty much everyone had the one they wanted to do picked out yesterday, but we waited today to draw sticks.
Two 5th grade girls had their hearts set on the savanna. They had this awesome plan to dress up as African safari guides with binoculars and khaki and panama hats... but the two boys also wanted the savanna. Today, right before we picked, I heard the girls saying, "Lord, please let us get the savanna... if it is your will!!!" I commented that it was great they were praying to God about it. Their reply, "Oh, Miss H, we've been praying since yesterday!"
Guess when they got to pick. Second. They were so excited!!! After everyone else picked, the boys were lamenting the fact they didn't get savanna biome. The girls said, "Well, that's cuz you didn't pray!"
After school, Mr. E and I went over to church to check out what more supplies we need to buy for our Lenten supper tomorrow. Then at 4:30, Angie and I had our first youth group meeting. I had no idea how many kids were going to come. I knew one was coming for sure and I thought that's probably all we would have. We had three! A brother and sister came right away. Pastor and Angie were also there. Angie had great snacks and games, Pastor had a great bible study, we all had great conversation. Right as we were finishing up at 5:30, one more kid showed up. His mom thought it started at 5:30 instead of 4:30. Oops... We had him do some of the games we'd done earlier and he got in on the snacks and bible study, so it wasn't a total waste. I actually had a fun time!
Pastor's bible study was based on the verse in Timothy that says, "don't let anyone look down on you because you are young" and then stuff about being good examples in speech, love, faith, purity, and life. Then Pastor challenged us to think of youth in the bible that fit those characteristics.
Ooo, okay, first to think of youth in the bible. Then to put them in categories. All I could think of were young men... but once Pastor gave us a few hints, young ladies came to mind too. Here are some names we thought of; see if you can put them in the categories: Joseph, Isaac, Mary, Jesus, Esther, Miriam, Daniel, David, Jonathon. Are there any we missed?
I was a little disappointed in their creativity; many of their creatures looked the same, most being made of painted walnut shells. Still, only one person out of 11 found 17. I hid 18 creatures total. Some kids forgot to look way up and way down. Before I hid them, I let students write me a note detailing where they thought their creature should be hidden. A few still couldn't even find theirs, even with the instructions they gave me!
We started working on our Biome presentations today. I put a fun twist on it this year. Each group works for a 'tour company' and has to sell a vacation package to their biome to the 1-2nd graders. So they'll make powerpoints trying to convince their peers to go to their location (desert, rain forest, tundra, taiga, savanna, etc.). They are super pumped! I introduced the project yesterday and today each group picked their biome. Pretty much everyone had the one they wanted to do picked out yesterday, but we waited today to draw sticks.
Two 5th grade girls had their hearts set on the savanna. They had this awesome plan to dress up as African safari guides with binoculars and khaki and panama hats... but the two boys also wanted the savanna. Today, right before we picked, I heard the girls saying, "Lord, please let us get the savanna... if it is your will!!!" I commented that it was great they were praying to God about it. Their reply, "Oh, Miss H, we've been praying since yesterday!"
Guess when they got to pick. Second. They were so excited!!! After everyone else picked, the boys were lamenting the fact they didn't get savanna biome. The girls said, "Well, that's cuz you didn't pray!"
After school, Mr. E and I went over to church to check out what more supplies we need to buy for our Lenten supper tomorrow. Then at 4:30, Angie and I had our first youth group meeting. I had no idea how many kids were going to come. I knew one was coming for sure and I thought that's probably all we would have. We had three! A brother and sister came right away. Pastor and Angie were also there. Angie had great snacks and games, Pastor had a great bible study, we all had great conversation. Right as we were finishing up at 5:30, one more kid showed up. His mom thought it started at 5:30 instead of 4:30. Oops... We had him do some of the games we'd done earlier and he got in on the snacks and bible study, so it wasn't a total waste. I actually had a fun time!
Pastor's bible study was based on the verse in Timothy that says, "don't let anyone look down on you because you are young" and then stuff about being good examples in speech, love, faith, purity, and life. Then Pastor challenged us to think of youth in the bible that fit those characteristics.
Ooo, okay, first to think of youth in the bible. Then to put them in categories. All I could think of were young men... but once Pastor gave us a few hints, young ladies came to mind too. Here are some names we thought of; see if you can put them in the categories: Joseph, Isaac, Mary, Jesus, Esther, Miriam, Daniel, David, Jonathon. Are there any we missed?
Monday, February 26, 2018
Mega Monday
Whew, this day... Overall good, but very full.
It started this morning with a terrifying school nightmare. I was in Fulda getting ready to leave to teach in Courtland, gathering my things up, chatting with the family. In my head my plan was to leave Fulda at 7:30 to get to school on time, but suddenly I remembered that it takes almost two hours to get to school from there! I would be late to school! I needed to leave earlier! Except it was already 7:30!!! Ahhh!!! In my dream I called my principal and explained what had happened. He was super mad. When I asked if he could take over my class for me until I could get there, he said no, we'd have to hire a sub for a few hours. I asked if I should email sub plans to him (already scrambling in my head what I was going to teach that morning and if the sub would be able to handle it), but Mr. E said no the sub would call me and I could explain it to him over the phone. So I hung up and worked on gathering up my stuff again (it was already 8:30 at this point). My mom told me to just take a personal day and stay home, but I wouldn't. I kept looking around for my snow boots. They had just been on the rug! But there were all sorts of middle school kids rushing around cleaning/organizing the house and they had moved my boots somewhere else where I couldn't find them. I woke up in total panic. Yikes!!!
Then over breakfast I read some picture books I need for lessons this week, which calmed me down and perked me up. Books: they cure what ails you!
At school my students reminded me that today was the day I said we could do our class prize. Shoot, I forgot all about that. I had some really great lessons planned for this morning! Our prize was to watch the movie Wonder, a movie I've heard is really great, but haven't seen yet (the book was really good). I pointed out to the class that maybe we should watch the movie at the end of the week in March so they have more time to read pages for our Popping Party. We are still way behind our goal. However, they're confident that they can make their goal in two more days, so they almost unanimously voted to watch the movie today. I kind of hope we don't make our goal this year. Ha. No, I shouldn't have a bad attitude just because they picked the opposite of what I wanted.
After school, basically the whole class went over to church to bake our egg bakes for this week's Lenten service (my class is hosting). I thought it would take at least two hours to get everything done. Boy was I surprised when we finished mixing everything together after only 30 minutes! Great teamwork! Of course, it took until 5:30 to get all the pans baked, so I still didn't get to go home early. It's very handy there's snow on the ground; we were able to cool the pans in the snow before we put them in the fridge. We'll reheat them in big roasters on Wednesday.
One thing down, only a bazillion more to go! Tomorrow after school is the first ICY event (what we call our youth group at Immanuel). We're doing games and snacks at church with a little devotion. Not sure how many will come. One for sure. Aside from that, who knows? This coming Sunday is a tubing day at Mt. Kato in Mankato for the Redeemer and ILS kids. I've been scrambling to put the word out to ILS families since the date changed and I never got new information (turns out we were supposed to use the old information but just change the date, oops). One parent messaged me asking why the ICY isn't going to pay for everyone because there is money in the group's account. I said I didn't have access to the checking account yet. Then the parent tried to convince me that I should get access and pay the fees because that's what the money in the account has been used for in the past. I chose to not respond at that point. If I would've had a little more notice, sure, I would've set something up in that regard, or had ICY pay a part of the cost ($18). But since I've never seen the checkbook and just got started as youth leader, I'm going to wait a bit before I go spending all the money in the account. Sigh.
So, the rest of this week will be busy with youth group, Lenten supper/services, staff meeting, getting ready for the Fine Arts Fair and our field trip next week. I could use prayers for patience and good sleep!
It started this morning with a terrifying school nightmare. I was in Fulda getting ready to leave to teach in Courtland, gathering my things up, chatting with the family. In my head my plan was to leave Fulda at 7:30 to get to school on time, but suddenly I remembered that it takes almost two hours to get to school from there! I would be late to school! I needed to leave earlier! Except it was already 7:30!!! Ahhh!!! In my dream I called my principal and explained what had happened. He was super mad. When I asked if he could take over my class for me until I could get there, he said no, we'd have to hire a sub for a few hours. I asked if I should email sub plans to him (already scrambling in my head what I was going to teach that morning and if the sub would be able to handle it), but Mr. E said no the sub would call me and I could explain it to him over the phone. So I hung up and worked on gathering up my stuff again (it was already 8:30 at this point). My mom told me to just take a personal day and stay home, but I wouldn't. I kept looking around for my snow boots. They had just been on the rug! But there were all sorts of middle school kids rushing around cleaning/organizing the house and they had moved my boots somewhere else where I couldn't find them. I woke up in total panic. Yikes!!!
Then over breakfast I read some picture books I need for lessons this week, which calmed me down and perked me up. Books: they cure what ails you!
At school my students reminded me that today was the day I said we could do our class prize. Shoot, I forgot all about that. I had some really great lessons planned for this morning! Our prize was to watch the movie Wonder, a movie I've heard is really great, but haven't seen yet (the book was really good). I pointed out to the class that maybe we should watch the movie at the end of the week in March so they have more time to read pages for our Popping Party. We are still way behind our goal. However, they're confident that they can make their goal in two more days, so they almost unanimously voted to watch the movie today. I kind of hope we don't make our goal this year. Ha. No, I shouldn't have a bad attitude just because they picked the opposite of what I wanted.
After school, basically the whole class went over to church to bake our egg bakes for this week's Lenten service (my class is hosting). I thought it would take at least two hours to get everything done. Boy was I surprised when we finished mixing everything together after only 30 minutes! Great teamwork! Of course, it took until 5:30 to get all the pans baked, so I still didn't get to go home early. It's very handy there's snow on the ground; we were able to cool the pans in the snow before we put them in the fridge. We'll reheat them in big roasters on Wednesday.
One thing down, only a bazillion more to go! Tomorrow after school is the first ICY event (what we call our youth group at Immanuel). We're doing games and snacks at church with a little devotion. Not sure how many will come. One for sure. Aside from that, who knows? This coming Sunday is a tubing day at Mt. Kato in Mankato for the Redeemer and ILS kids. I've been scrambling to put the word out to ILS families since the date changed and I never got new information (turns out we were supposed to use the old information but just change the date, oops). One parent messaged me asking why the ICY isn't going to pay for everyone because there is money in the group's account. I said I didn't have access to the checking account yet. Then the parent tried to convince me that I should get access and pay the fees because that's what the money in the account has been used for in the past. I chose to not respond at that point. If I would've had a little more notice, sure, I would've set something up in that regard, or had ICY pay a part of the cost ($18). But since I've never seen the checkbook and just got started as youth leader, I'm going to wait a bit before I go spending all the money in the account. Sigh.
So, the rest of this week will be busy with youth group, Lenten supper/services, staff meeting, getting ready for the Fine Arts Fair and our field trip next week. I could use prayers for patience and good sleep!
Friday, February 23, 2018
Half Day
Whew, it's been a crazy morning! We started the day with Teacher Classroom Swap; I read books with Mr. D's class and he read books to my class. The other classrooms switched around too. We all had a blast! The book Mr. D read to my students was pretty long, so I ended up reading all three books I brought with me to the 3rd and 4th grade room. I could've used a fourth book! Actually I had one set aside, but I thought four books might be overkill, so I left it behind.
Thinking we'd only have time for one, I had them vote which book to read. The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors won by a landslide, and since it's hilarious, they loved it. They were surprised by my crazy voices for the different characters! Since we had time, we also read Dog vs. Cat and my all-time favorite read aloud, Grumpy Bird.
We got a lot of 5/6th grade read-aloud time too. Miss S forgot about reading buddies, but the timing worked out pretty well anyway. By the time her 1/2nd graders made it down to our room, we had just wrapped up the last spelling test.
As my class worked its way through the lunch line, parents arrived for the pep fest. It was supposed to start at noon, but we pushed the start back a few minutes since my class got back to our room at 11:55! A few of us had to finish our lunch afterwards so we could watch the festivities in the gym. We ended up dismissing the 5-8th graders at 12:30. The other classes had recess until one, then watched a movie in Mr. D's room for the rest of the day.
I had one student who didn't say her memory work in the morning, so she had to stay for a while until she could say it. Grrr!!! I hate late memory workers! Thankfully everyone else had theirs said before the morning bell rang. Only one student (a different one) stayed until the end of the day. I've been working in my room, and will hopefully get to duck out early!
Pastor and Mrs. B offered me space in their car to ride up to the games tonight. It sounds like the weather will be good for driving, not like tomorrow with all the snow in the forecast. We'll come back home tonight though. Go braves!
Thinking we'd only have time for one, I had them vote which book to read. The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors won by a landslide, and since it's hilarious, they loved it. They were surprised by my crazy voices for the different characters! Since we had time, we also read Dog vs. Cat and my all-time favorite read aloud, Grumpy Bird.
We got a lot of 5/6th grade read-aloud time too. Miss S forgot about reading buddies, but the timing worked out pretty well anyway. By the time her 1/2nd graders made it down to our room, we had just wrapped up the last spelling test.
As my class worked its way through the lunch line, parents arrived for the pep fest. It was supposed to start at noon, but we pushed the start back a few minutes since my class got back to our room at 11:55! A few of us had to finish our lunch afterwards so we could watch the festivities in the gym. We ended up dismissing the 5-8th graders at 12:30. The other classes had recess until one, then watched a movie in Mr. D's room for the rest of the day.
I had one student who didn't say her memory work in the morning, so she had to stay for a while until she could say it. Grrr!!! I hate late memory workers! Thankfully everyone else had theirs said before the morning bell rang. Only one student (a different one) stayed until the end of the day. I've been working in my room, and will hopefully get to duck out early!
Pastor and Mrs. B offered me space in their car to ride up to the games tonight. It sounds like the weather will be good for driving, not like tomorrow with all the snow in the forecast. We'll come back home tonight though. Go braves!
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Forgotten
Grr... I forgot my clipboard at home this morning! and the pile of papers still needing to be corrected! I was so focused on getting to school on time/a little early that I forgot to grab them off my kitchen table. When I went to pull things out of my teacher bag, I realized it was much lighter than it should be. I debated going home for it, but would it be worth the time? In the end, I decided I could get along without it for a day. Well, I survived, but it was tough sometimes! The pile of papers proved to be troublesome too. Normally I wait to collect the papers in the spelling mailbox until Thursday when their workbook pages are due, but yesterday I must've emptied it without thinking because there were three kids today who said they'd handed their pages in, but they weren't in the box! They're surely in the pile in my kitchen, but I'll have to wait until I get home to check.
The kindergarten class is going to try flexibility seating. Mrs. E picked up a few of our smallest balls to show her students. Some of my girls went down to teach her students the right way to sit on them. It was a great way for them to be teachers to the younger students! We're running out of exercise balls though... one got popped earlier this week by a student smacking the sides of the ball with her fists (she'd been holding a pencil at the time). Another one mysteriously loses air but we can't find a hole. We sent that one down too since kindergartners are much lighter than 5/6th graders.
The kindergarten class is going to try flexibility seating. Mrs. E picked up a few of our smallest balls to show her students. Some of my girls went down to teach her students the right way to sit on them. It was a great way for them to be teachers to the younger students! We're running out of exercise balls though... one got popped earlier this week by a student smacking the sides of the ball with her fists (she'd been holding a pencil at the time). Another one mysteriously loses air but we can't find a hole. We sent that one down too since kindergartners are much lighter than 5/6th graders.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Match the Selfie to the Shelfie
Blech, the gym smells like basketball, the sweaty kind. Even though the season is technically over, State Basketball is this weekend and both boys and girls teams are going. Friday there's a pep fest from 12-12:15, and afterwards the 5-8th graders are dismissed. I might go up to Friday's games with Pastor and Mrs. B since they offered me a ride.
Nothing too out of the ordinary today again. No mice. No one sick. We're working on planning National Lutheran Schools Week and we're still pushing reading lots of pages for "I Love to Read Month". The latest teacher bulletin board is "Match the Selfie to the Shelfie" where students have to guess whose bookshelf belongs to which teacher. This one is way easier than last week's. Everyone guessed mine right away from trick or treating at my house! I knew I should've moved the plant away from the shelves and taken the elephants off! Oh well, it will help the kids who didn't do so well last time feel better about getting more right. :)
Nothing too out of the ordinary today again. No mice. No one sick. We're working on planning National Lutheran Schools Week and we're still pushing reading lots of pages for "I Love to Read Month". The latest teacher bulletin board is "Match the Selfie to the Shelfie" where students have to guess whose bookshelf belongs to which teacher. This one is way easier than last week's. Everyone guessed mine right away from trick or treating at my house! I knew I should've moved the plant away from the shelves and taken the elephants off! Oh well, it will help the kids who didn't do so well last time feel better about getting more right. :)
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Mouse Mouse Get Outta My House
No, there wasn't a mouse in my house today. ...But there was in my classroom! A little one about two inches long scurried around the lab table and the reading corner. Many of the girls screamed and jumped up on their desks. Grr. Their loud talking and shouting made the mouse scurry even more! I had hoped to chase it out of our room, but that was not to be. Finally I got our resident 8th grade fix-it man and he set up a trap with peanut butter in a corner. So far the mouse has not been caught, but we haven't seen it again either! This is the first mouse I've seen in my classroom in all the years I've been at this school (six). I've seen them in the coat room or in other parts of the school, but never my room. Man! I hope there isn't a hole anywhere! Hopefully it gets caught tonight when no one is here.
The other exciting thing today was the MSU play at Nicollet. They moved the time of the play to 8:30, so we had a super quick turnaround time from when our kids arrived on the bus to when they had to get back on the bus to get over to Nicollet. We made it by 8:30! And we expected to sneak in after they'd already started. But when we walked through the doors of the auditorium, no one was there. Strange... only the actors were there. It turns out they adjusted the time so that we could make it there before the show started. Well, that was nice of them!
The other exciting thing today was the MSU play at Nicollet. They moved the time of the play to 8:30, so we had a super quick turnaround time from when our kids arrived on the bus to when they had to get back on the bus to get over to Nicollet. We made it by 8:30! And we expected to sneak in after they'd already started. But when we walked through the doors of the auditorium, no one was there. Strange... only the actors were there. It turns out they adjusted the time so that we could make it there before the show started. Well, that was nice of them!
Friday, February 16, 2018
Paint Splatter
We did a cool art project this afternoon that involved straws and watercolor paint. First, we drew a picture of a person's head, leaving a space on the top to add paint hair. Then, we dripped wet blobs of watercolor paint in the hairline and used straws to blow the paint around. Wild and crazy hair!!!
A bunch of them had such fun blowing on their hair that they got lightheaded! I told them they should take a break from blowing if that was the case. Another girl cautioned, "Don't stand up or you might faint!" No one fainted, thankfully. And the faces/hair turned out really neat!
Joe totally buried himself at lunchtime today; there must be a storm coming. I heard we're expecting snow on Monday. Why do the big storms happen on days we don't have school? I'm Fulda-bound again this weekend, and was looking forward to a nice long weekend at home, but depending on the weather, I might have to come back to Courtland early...
A bunch of them had such fun blowing on their hair that they got lightheaded! I told them they should take a break from blowing if that was the case. Another girl cautioned, "Don't stand up or you might faint!" No one fainted, thankfully. And the faces/hair turned out really neat!
Joe totally buried himself at lunchtime today; there must be a storm coming. I heard we're expecting snow on Monday. Why do the big storms happen on days we don't have school? I'm Fulda-bound again this weekend, and was looking forward to a nice long weekend at home, but depending on the weather, I might have to come back to Courtland early...
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Food Fear Factor
The wind is howling out there. We had a few nice days and now it's time for the weather to dip down to it's normal temperatures. It's so blustery it's making the internet slow! Well, maybe the wind isn't causing that, but man, computers are dragging today!
It's unfortunate because I had/have a lot of computer work to do today. Miss S and I signed our school up for Fine Arts Fair events. A very kind lady gave the teachers a gift card for Teachers Pay Teachers (a site for teachers to sell/share resources they've made for their classrooms with other teachers). There's a sale today, so I have been searching for items on Teachers Pay Teachers to spend my gift card. Yay good deals! Boo slow internet! But I think I have my purchases figured out, so hopefully I can go home soon.
This afternoon the school nurse did Food Fear Factor with my students. She had 17 different fruits and vegetables of all the colors available for my students to try. For each three they tried, they got one marble in the jar. Almost everyone tried everything! They earned 48 marbles which put us over the top of the jar. That means tomorrow they get to pick a prize. I'm guessing they'll pick that we watch a movie. One student has been asking to watch Hidden Figures, a movie about the African american women who programmed NASA's first space mission. It's PG, so there's a good chance we can watch it, as long as there's no bad language.
Some of the fruits/veggies we tried today: guava juice (really good even though I don't like guava fruit), dried okra (very strange to eat), blood orange, mango, fennel root, beet greens, beets, mashed cauliflower, mushrooms, red peppers, dates, prunes, avocado, and carrots.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Valentine's Day/Ash Wednesday
Surprisingly, my class was much calmer today, even with all the candy and assorted treats they've been consuming all day!
Our chapel message was about how people show love for each other on Valentine's Day and how God shows his love for us, so love was on the brain when they got back to class. As we picked our Daily 5 rounds, they asked what my farmer and I were doing for Valentine's Day. "Going to church of course!" I answered. "And eating takeout spaghetti from the 7-8th grade Lenten supper."
My students kept going with the idea, "So after you're done eating, you'll maybe watch a movie."
"And pop some popcorn!"
"And you'll both reach in the bowl at the same time and grab each other's hands!"
"Oooo! And there will be a ring in the bowl!"
"Miss H! That might be your Valentine present!!!"
"You could get engaged on Valentine's Day!!!!" the girls were almost in hysterics.
"Nope. Too obvious," was my totally calm reply. Then my mischievous side snuck in, "I'm going to tell him you said that!"
"WHAT?!"
"Okay, moving on!"
The rest of the morning was uneventful compared to that. They did convince me to listen to music this morning during Daily 5. "It's Valentine's Day, Miss H!" they cajoled, "and Ash Wednesday! It's a special day!" But they weren't able to convince me to read more of our read-aloud book. We started a new one yesterday, All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook.
Other classes must have had their parties at the end of the day (we did ours at snack time) because little ones from other classrooms kept up a sporadic stream of valentine card deliveries while I tried to teach my class science. My after school snack stash is back to brimming again! It is so sweet that they thought of me! One 4th grader handed me his and explained, "I only wrote Emily on the card because I didn't know how to spell your last name."
We tried giving Joe the tortoise a little Valentine treat... a chunk of apple (which he loved), a bit of banana, and a tidbit of pineapple. The pineapple must not have sat well with him. We noticed him foaming at the mouth a little and using his tongue to lick the roof of his mouth. Then he pawed at his face with one of his front legs. We've never seen him do that before! I tried wiping his mouth out, but he didn't want me touching his face and went in his shell. Someone had the great idea to give him a bath, and when we did, he stuck his face underwater and rinsed out his mouth. Too tangy? Too rough on the tongue? Whatever the reason, we will avoid pineapple from now on.
We tried giving Joe the tortoise a little Valentine treat... a chunk of apple (which he loved), a bit of banana, and a tidbit of pineapple. The pineapple must not have sat well with him. We noticed him foaming at the mouth a little and using his tongue to lick the roof of his mouth. Then he pawed at his face with one of his front legs. We've never seen him do that before! I tried wiping his mouth out, but he didn't want me touching his face and went in his shell. Someone had the great idea to give him a bath, and when we did, he stuck his face underwater and rinsed out his mouth. Too tangy? Too rough on the tongue? Whatever the reason, we will avoid pineapple from now on.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Antsy
No snow overnight, and another day of antsy and chatty kids. Joe is still buried, so maybe there's still something coming??? Or he's just pouting from being displaced during the tournament.
I had two surprise visitors today... my dad and youngest brother swung by at lunch time in between college visits. My students told them a little about the fire stories they've been writing, and we finally found out what happened with that mysterious car!
A husband/wife were on their way somewhere and thought they could drive their car through the snow on the road (it hadn't been plowed), so they kept trying and backing up, trying and backing up. Some snow must've gotten into their engine which caused it to start on fire. They're all okay, and my brother said the car was gone the next morning by the time he went to school.
Nothing as sinister as my students came up with, but I'm glad the mystery is solved at last!
I had two surprise visitors today... my dad and youngest brother swung by at lunch time in between college visits. My students told them a little about the fire stories they've been writing, and we finally found out what happened with that mysterious car!
A husband/wife were on their way somewhere and thought they could drive their car through the snow on the road (it hadn't been plowed), so they kept trying and backing up, trying and backing up. Some snow must've gotten into their engine which caused it to start on fire. They're all okay, and my brother said the car was gone the next morning by the time he went to school.
Nothing as sinister as my students came up with, but I'm glad the mystery is solved at last!
Monday, February 12, 2018
Basketball
I wonder if there's a storm coming that we don't know about... my class was off the wall today!!! They couldn't stop talking and they were picking at each other all day. Super mean. I couldn't get them to stop for the life of me! Also, Joe buried himself after school. We did add new bedding to his tank and fluffed it up, so that could be why he's hunkered down too.
Our home basketball tournament was a success again! Both boys and girls won first place. And we found out both teams made it into the state tournament. Even though I lectured my students about getting into stuff, a few of them didn't listen. Some of our ILS kids were playing with the exercise balls (they'd been safely tucked in the closet when I'd left on Friday) and one got popped! The kid who broke it is buying a new one, but still. They knew better than to be playing with them.
A clipboard fell off the shelf today during class and broke in half. My students said it was broken before it fell; some boys had been playing hide and seek in here (in a girls locker room???) and knocked it down causing it to break. They stuck it back up there hoping no one would notice. I'm debating whether I should confront the student about it or not. It's just a clipboard, but at the same time, there aren't many unbroken clipboards left! We had to throw this one away.
Aside from those minor incidents, all was well. As far as I know, no one got injured. The cheerleaders did a fantastic job! A few of my 5th grade students planned and organized the whole thing. They taught the 1-3rd graders all the cheers and even had them get into a pyramid during the school song. I am so impressed with them!
To end on a fun, non-school-related note, one of my college friends had a birthday yesterday. She said she's always wanted flowers delivered to her at work, so another friend and I went in on a bouquet together and had it delivered to her at work. She was surprised!!! Definitely money well spent.
Our home basketball tournament was a success again! Both boys and girls won first place. And we found out both teams made it into the state tournament. Even though I lectured my students about getting into stuff, a few of them didn't listen. Some of our ILS kids were playing with the exercise balls (they'd been safely tucked in the closet when I'd left on Friday) and one got popped! The kid who broke it is buying a new one, but still. They knew better than to be playing with them.
A clipboard fell off the shelf today during class and broke in half. My students said it was broken before it fell; some boys had been playing hide and seek in here (in a girls locker room???) and knocked it down causing it to break. They stuck it back up there hoping no one would notice. I'm debating whether I should confront the student about it or not. It's just a clipboard, but at the same time, there aren't many unbroken clipboards left! We had to throw this one away.
Aside from those minor incidents, all was well. As far as I know, no one got injured. The cheerleaders did a fantastic job! A few of my 5th grade students planned and organized the whole thing. They taught the 1-3rd graders all the cheers and even had them get into a pyramid during the school song. I am so impressed with them!
To end on a fun, non-school-related note, one of my college friends had a birthday yesterday. She said she's always wanted flowers delivered to her at work, so another friend and I went in on a bouquet together and had it delivered to her at work. She was surprised!!! Definitely money well spent.
Friday, February 9, 2018
Disarray
My classroom is in tidy disarray... The desks are shoved in the reading corner with the focusing folders blocking them from view. The plants line the top of a book shelf instead of crowding one end of the lab table as per usual. The exercise balls are jammed inside the closet held in place by the podium. If you've guessed it's tournament time, you'd be right!
School ended today at 11:30, which is when the reorganizing began. My room is always used as a girls' locker room, so everything must be moved to the side and tucked away. Joe is in his 'travel' home, and instead of making him face the cold outside, he's under my desk with his heat lamp on top. The kids are all excited that he's hiding, and they keep telling people who come in my room, "Guess where Joe is!" So, I'm not sure how much of a secret his location will be. Hopefully once the tournament actually starts, they'll be too busy to pay him any mind.
My students are like little guard dogs, saying they'll come check on him every day this weekend so no one messes with him!
We got everything done this morning that we needed to, so it was pretty easy for my students to convince me that we should have extra read-aloud time. Plus we're super close to the end of the book and it's exciting!!! We weren't able to finish it though. Oh well, there's always Monday!
Now I'm headed home to eat some lunch before coming back for the games this afternoon. Go Braves!
School ended today at 11:30, which is when the reorganizing began. My room is always used as a girls' locker room, so everything must be moved to the side and tucked away. Joe is in his 'travel' home, and instead of making him face the cold outside, he's under my desk with his heat lamp on top. The kids are all excited that he's hiding, and they keep telling people who come in my room, "Guess where Joe is!" So, I'm not sure how much of a secret his location will be. Hopefully once the tournament actually starts, they'll be too busy to pay him any mind.
My students are like little guard dogs, saying they'll come check on him every day this weekend so no one messes with him!
We got everything done this morning that we needed to, so it was pretty easy for my students to convince me that we should have extra read-aloud time. Plus we're super close to the end of the book and it's exciting!!! We weren't able to finish it though. Oh well, there's always Monday!
Now I'm headed home to eat some lunch before coming back for the games this afternoon. Go Braves!
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Scoliosis
The school nurse always does scoliosis screenings with the 5-6th grade girls this time of year. Normally she doesn't find anything, but this time two girls need to be checked out by the doctors. One girl was totally fine with it; it didn't bother her at all. The other girl though, she's pretty freaked out. The past few days she's been complaining that her back hurts (I think it's all in her head though). She didn't want to do anything at recess today, so I sat with her on the bleachers and we talked about what scoliosis is, what the doctors might say, and how she'd still be able to do her normal physical activity, even with a brace on. That made her feel better, and by the time recess was over, she was doing back-flips and somersaults with her friends.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Dressing Up
Yesterday I forgot to post because I dashed out of school so fast! I actually left a little early so I could be in New Ulm early enough to meet my sisters/mom. My youngest sister is getting married this summer and we got to go dress shopping yesterday! Mr. E dismissed my class for me and I was in New Ulm by 2:45.
Today my sick student was back, but I sent another one home. This one had the shakes and felt hot and her stomach hurt. ...Let's hope it stops with her. So far my classroom has been pretty healthy this year. I want to keep it that way!
Yesterday's dress up day was "Past vs. Future". No kids took me up on the wear pjs again idea, but that's okay. One girl wore a suit coat and brought a brief case (she's going to be an engineer). A few dressed up like the 80s or 90s. One wore a Renaissance costume. I was a stay at home mom and wore a sweatshirt and jeans. Someone said, "You should've stayed at home today! Cuz you'd be doing what a stay at home mom would do!"
Today was Jersey Day. I didn't have a jersey, so I wore normal teacher clothes, but everyone in my class dressed up someway. A few wore actual jerseys, one borrowed an extra basketball jersey from school, and a few wore shirts advertising specific sports teams.
Tomorrow is class color day. We are purple! And everyone is complaining that they don't have any purple to wear. We'll see if they scrounge some up...
Today my sick student was back, but I sent another one home. This one had the shakes and felt hot and her stomach hurt. ...Let's hope it stops with her. So far my classroom has been pretty healthy this year. I want to keep it that way!
Yesterday's dress up day was "Past vs. Future". No kids took me up on the wear pjs again idea, but that's okay. One girl wore a suit coat and brought a brief case (she's going to be an engineer). A few dressed up like the 80s or 90s. One wore a Renaissance costume. I was a stay at home mom and wore a sweatshirt and jeans. Someone said, "You should've stayed at home today! Cuz you'd be doing what a stay at home mom would do!"
Today was Jersey Day. I didn't have a jersey, so I wore normal teacher clothes, but everyone in my class dressed up someway. A few wore actual jerseys, one borrowed an extra basketball jersey from school, and a few wore shirts advertising specific sports teams.
Tomorrow is class color day. We are purple! And everyone is complaining that they don't have any purple to wear. We'll see if they scrounge some up...
Monday, February 5, 2018
Fired Up
Last night on my way home from Fulda, I had a strange encounter... it was already dark out, and as I turned out of the driveway heading down the gravel road, I saw tail lights far ahead of me on the road up ahead by the corner. They didn't seem to be moving, so I slowed down, hoping they wouldn't be blocking my way.
It turns out the car was on the other side of the road, not blocking my way at all. But it was on fire. The whole hood of the car was engulfed in flames. Both driver side doors hung open and no one was around. I called my dad, who said he'd come take a look, and by the time I drove through Fulda, the fire trucks were on their way out.
What's even more strange than a car abandoned on a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere is that this car appeared to be new! There were no license plates! Just something advertising the Vikings football team. My mind immediately raced away... why was it there? who were the people driving it? where did they go? are they okay?
I turned it into a writing prompt for my students today. Once they found out it was based on a true story, they were pumped. First I dramatically set the scene, having them close their eyes so they could picture it, using descriptive language we've learned how to use earlier this year. Their assignment was to continue the story. They could be me, coming upon a fiery vehicle in the snow; my dad, answering a phone call from his daughter and then going to check it out; a firefighter; the neighbors; the people in the car... possibilities are endless! We had time for a few of them to share today and the stories are great so far! We'll do more sharing tomorrow and I can't wait to hear what they come up with!
It turns out the car was on the other side of the road, not blocking my way at all. But it was on fire. The whole hood of the car was engulfed in flames. Both driver side doors hung open and no one was around. I called my dad, who said he'd come take a look, and by the time I drove through Fulda, the fire trucks were on their way out.
What's even more strange than a car abandoned on a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere is that this car appeared to be new! There were no license plates! Just something advertising the Vikings football team. My mind immediately raced away... why was it there? who were the people driving it? where did they go? are they okay?
I turned it into a writing prompt for my students today. Once they found out it was based on a true story, they were pumped. First I dramatically set the scene, having them close their eyes so they could picture it, using descriptive language we've learned how to use earlier this year. Their assignment was to continue the story. They could be me, coming upon a fiery vehicle in the snow; my dad, answering a phone call from his daughter and then going to check it out; a firefighter; the neighbors; the people in the car... possibilities are endless! We had time for a few of them to share today and the stories are great so far! We'll do more sharing tomorrow and I can't wait to hear what they come up with!
Friday, February 2, 2018
Reading in the Gym
Reading in the gym together went well today. We read in the morning and in the afternoon and kids were focused both times! We added lots of pages to our I Love to Read page goal.
Not a whole lot else to say about today. My heat worked fine. The students were pretty well-behaved for me (the 3rd and 4th graders on the other hand... uff! They had a rough day). We had art, reading buddies, worked on Mystery Class, took spelling tests... all the usual things.
This weekend my grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! (Today's the day actually). We'll be going out to eat this weekend to celebrate. My farmer and I are going to change my oil tonight before he leaves for his up north snowmobile trip this weekend. My mom's birthday is Sunday and it's the Super Bowl, so lots of exciting things going on!
Not a whole lot else to say about today. My heat worked fine. The students were pretty well-behaved for me (the 3rd and 4th graders on the other hand... uff! They had a rough day). We had art, reading buddies, worked on Mystery Class, took spelling tests... all the usual things.
This weekend my grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! (Today's the day actually). We'll be going out to eat this weekend to celebrate. My farmer and I are going to change my oil tonight before he leaves for his up north snowmobile trip this weekend. My mom's birthday is Sunday and it's the Super Bowl, so lots of exciting things going on!
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Cold, Cold, Cold
My classroom was 43 degrees when I arrived this morning. The south heaters weren't strong enough to heat the whole room I guess. Maybe they got overwhelmed and stopped working. Or maybe there was an electronic glitch. Either way, they weren't running when I came inside. I kept my coat and hat on while I got the room ready for the day and I flipped the fuse back on for the north heaters. Then both kicked in. By the time the kids got to school it was a balmy 48 degrees. It took until 11:00 to get up to our normal 68.
The electricians came to work on it about halfway through the morning. I was a little worried about my kids' focusing abilities with strangers doing interesting things in the room. It's never an easy task to focus with visitors around, and with their behavior lately I was not optimistic, but they were little angels. We got an English lesson in, had a great half hour work time for Writers Workshop. Our rounds were quiet and focused. Towards lunchtime they got a little chattier, nothing too crazy though.
We had to set up extra tables for lunch since the electricians' supplies and tools covered up part of the table where we eat lunch. Then the kids couldn't get the table legs to extend. And everyone moved so slow and no 3/4th graders knocked that they were going to lunch, so we were very late to lunch.
Today was the first day of the Fruit and Vegetable challenge. Our cook does not agree with the idea that a chef's salad equals four servings of vegetables. She wanted it to count for one, but my class had purposely gotten salads for that reason and they would've mutinied if our cook hadn't acquiesced. I'm not sure who's winning so far. There's lots of 'talk on the street' over who ate how many servings, but I can't piece it together. Eh, lots of time for the servings to even out.
It's also the first day of "I Love to Read" Month. We read 12 pages of our read-aloud book today and each student read a ton during read to self. Tomorrow we'll be reading in the gym in the morning and afternoon as another kickoff to the event. Today was also a Chew Gum Day, where kids can bring $1 so they can chew gum in the morning. There were a bunch of 1-2nd graders who thought school was providing the gum. Oops. Nope, it's bring your own gum. The money raised will be used by teachers to buy more books for their classrooms. Yay! Tomorrow is a Lunch Swap day where they can pay a dollar to eat lunch in a different classroom.
The electricians came to work on it about halfway through the morning. I was a little worried about my kids' focusing abilities with strangers doing interesting things in the room. It's never an easy task to focus with visitors around, and with their behavior lately I was not optimistic, but they were little angels. We got an English lesson in, had a great half hour work time for Writers Workshop. Our rounds were quiet and focused. Towards lunchtime they got a little chattier, nothing too crazy though.
We had to set up extra tables for lunch since the electricians' supplies and tools covered up part of the table where we eat lunch. Then the kids couldn't get the table legs to extend. And everyone moved so slow and no 3/4th graders knocked that they were going to lunch, so we were very late to lunch.
Today was the first day of the Fruit and Vegetable challenge. Our cook does not agree with the idea that a chef's salad equals four servings of vegetables. She wanted it to count for one, but my class had purposely gotten salads for that reason and they would've mutinied if our cook hadn't acquiesced. I'm not sure who's winning so far. There's lots of 'talk on the street' over who ate how many servings, but I can't piece it together. Eh, lots of time for the servings to even out.
It's also the first day of "I Love to Read" Month. We read 12 pages of our read-aloud book today and each student read a ton during read to self. Tomorrow we'll be reading in the gym in the morning and afternoon as another kickoff to the event. Today was also a Chew Gum Day, where kids can bring $1 so they can chew gum in the morning. There were a bunch of 1-2nd graders who thought school was providing the gum. Oops. Nope, it's bring your own gum. The money raised will be used by teachers to buy more books for their classrooms. Yay! Tomorrow is a Lunch Swap day where they can pay a dollar to eat lunch in a different classroom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)