Tomorrow is NaNo! And I still haven't figured out what I'm writing... My kiddos are super pumped though. I am too, but my excitement is tempered by all the things I need to accomplish in the near future... end of the quarter grades/report cards, helping a friend move, finishing cleaning/reorganizing my apartment, reading the books I checked out from the library, parent teacher conferences, Family Write Night (in conjunction with NaNo), Thanksgiving, Christmas program planning, and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.
Sigh. Baby steps. Just do one thing at a time.
I actually left school before 3:30 today. I went for a walk with a friend, then went to Mankato to help a different friend go through her stuff pre-move. She was in a purging mood and gave me a whole bunch of stuff for my classroom. I had told my students if they wanted to trick or treat at my house, they'd have to come after 7:30 because I wouldn't be home before then.
Right after I unloaded my car, I heard voices and saw a group of kids coming up the sidewalk (it was 7:31). In a few minutes I had a knock at my door. Only two groups of kids came, but that's okay! That's usually about the amount of trick or treaters I get. My neighbor to the left had said she'd be home for visitors, so I pointed them in her direction too. I hadn't talked to my neighbors on the other side, but their porch light was on, so I sent my kiddos that way too.
I'm pretty sure everyone is home for the night, so my light is off and I can settle in to more correcting papers. I guess the rest of the candy is mine!
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Smoke
There was a bit of excitement at the end of the day... Two boys had a 'contest' to see who could touch the long light bulb in the coatroom while they packed up their bags. As soon as one boy touched it, the light began to flick bright and dim, and pretty soon smoke came out of one end of the fixture. Everyone freaked out! I had them shut the light off, which made the smoke quit, but the air in the coatroom still smelled burnt for a while after that.
After school Mr. E and I checked the light; it still worked and nothing smoked again, but we changed the light bulb anyway, just in case. When we took the other one down, one of the metal prongs was bent and charred and the lighting casing also showed burn marks. We're keeping an eye on it.
A lovely grandma had her first sewing club session this afternoon during our last recess for the day. She was super prepared (she used to be a teacher) and came with supplies, expectations, and a plan. The girls had a great time! She's hoping to come once a week. She had nothing going on earlier today and came at 1:30 to help with our lab. Then, after school, she did clean up too!
Her grandson is in my class, and I heard him ask before he went out to recess, "Grandma, would you be upset if I didn't stay in here and do sewing class with you?" Aww! So thoughtful of his Grandma's feelings. She waved him outside saying, "No, I'll still love you if you go out to recess."
After school Mr. E and I checked the light; it still worked and nothing smoked again, but we changed the light bulb anyway, just in case. When we took the other one down, one of the metal prongs was bent and charred and the lighting casing also showed burn marks. We're keeping an eye on it.
A lovely grandma had her first sewing club session this afternoon during our last recess for the day. She was super prepared (she used to be a teacher) and came with supplies, expectations, and a plan. The girls had a great time! She's hoping to come once a week. She had nothing going on earlier today and came at 1:30 to help with our lab. Then, after school, she did clean up too!
Her grandson is in my class, and I heard him ask before he went out to recess, "Grandma, would you be upset if I didn't stay in here and do sewing class with you?" Aww! So thoughtful of his Grandma's feelings. She waved him outside saying, "No, I'll still love you if you go out to recess."
Monday, October 29, 2018
Coming soon! Class Zoo
Mrs. L put her construction zone bulletin board up! My 5th graders were confused when they had bells in her room. I still need to put mine up...
Another zoo idea popped into my head this weekend... disaster cards. If students are being naughty, they can get a red token, which means they have to draw a disaster card from a pile. Some of them could be small disasters, like pick up litter, turn in 2 tokens. Or it could be bigger ones like, celebrity visitor, hire more security, turn in 10 tokens. We made a shared document on Google and started listing animals to buy, the rules for purchases, and possible disaster cards. It's going to be fun! My mom gave me some drawstring bags for them to put their tokens in to start with. I'm sure some kids will upgrade their container, but that's fine with me!
Slowly but surely, kids' names are getting erased from the board for late/missing assignments. The end of the quarter is this week, so it's pretty crucial that they get things done before then. I had three students stay after school today. They were pretty productive, but they didn't get everything done. I really need to be on top of correcting this week (and entering grades in the gradebook) so I'm not working on grades and then realize I'm missing something from someone still.
Nano starts in two days! (Still need to brainstorm my story... maybe tonight).
Another zoo idea popped into my head this weekend... disaster cards. If students are being naughty, they can get a red token, which means they have to draw a disaster card from a pile. Some of them could be small disasters, like pick up litter, turn in 2 tokens. Or it could be bigger ones like, celebrity visitor, hire more security, turn in 10 tokens. We made a shared document on Google and started listing animals to buy, the rules for purchases, and possible disaster cards. It's going to be fun! My mom gave me some drawstring bags for them to put their tokens in to start with. I'm sure some kids will upgrade their container, but that's fine with me!
Slowly but surely, kids' names are getting erased from the board for late/missing assignments. The end of the quarter is this week, so it's pretty crucial that they get things done before then. I had three students stay after school today. They were pretty productive, but they didn't get everything done. I really need to be on top of correcting this week (and entering grades in the gradebook) so I'm not working on grades and then realize I'm missing something from someone still.
Nano starts in two days! (Still need to brainstorm my story... maybe tonight).
Friday, October 26, 2018
No David!
My class loves the "No David" books by David Shannon. Most of my past classes were obsessed with them too. A new one came out this month and they've been begging me to get it; it finally came in at the library last night.
It was the first book grabbed for reading buddies. Thankfully they were willing to share it, so there weren't any fights. The 8th graders even had a chance to read it during their work time in my classroom today. It brought back so many memories they dug through my picture books until they found their favorites from when they were in my class... Be Brown, Chicken Cheeks, Black White Day Night, the other David books... They read them so many times they had them memorized. Today, they bet each other they still had the books memorized. I think one of the books they wanted is on 'vacation' in the closet. I have a bunch stashed there to pull out after Christmas so they don't get sick of the same old books.
At the end of the day the student council led us in making scarecrows. My group's had a pumpkin for a head and a sombrero. One 3rd grader named him Taco John. His legs look like he's doing the splits! Or maybe the Mexican hat dance?
After school Mrs. L and I brainstormed behavior problems in our classes. She and I attended a sectional about using classroom games (and virtual prizes) to improve student behavior. We decided to have a contest between our classes. Students can earn tokens to be turned in to 'buy' animals to put in our class zoo. If they buy the animal, they can find a picture of the animal, print it, name it, and choose where it goes in our zoo. Each animal costs a different amount of tokens, and they have to buy food for it too. They can buy trees, plants, landscaping, etc. to put in the enclosures. It's perfect because we're reading aloud a book that takes place in a zoo, so my class should have tons of ideas. We decided to start next quarter, which is in about a week (Nov. 6th). Mrs. L is going to put up 'under construction' signs on one of her bulletin boards. I'm doing the same in my entryway. I wonder if my kids will notice it at all...
It was the first book grabbed for reading buddies. Thankfully they were willing to share it, so there weren't any fights. The 8th graders even had a chance to read it during their work time in my classroom today. It brought back so many memories they dug through my picture books until they found their favorites from when they were in my class... Be Brown, Chicken Cheeks, Black White Day Night, the other David books... They read them so many times they had them memorized. Today, they bet each other they still had the books memorized. I think one of the books they wanted is on 'vacation' in the closet. I have a bunch stashed there to pull out after Christmas so they don't get sick of the same old books.
At the end of the day the student council led us in making scarecrows. My group's had a pumpkin for a head and a sombrero. One 3rd grader named him Taco John. His legs look like he's doing the splits! Or maybe the Mexican hat dance?
After school Mrs. L and I brainstormed behavior problems in our classes. She and I attended a sectional about using classroom games (and virtual prizes) to improve student behavior. We decided to have a contest between our classes. Students can earn tokens to be turned in to 'buy' animals to put in our class zoo. If they buy the animal, they can find a picture of the animal, print it, name it, and choose where it goes in our zoo. Each animal costs a different amount of tokens, and they have to buy food for it too. They can buy trees, plants, landscaping, etc. to put in the enclosures. It's perfect because we're reading aloud a book that takes place in a zoo, so my class should have tons of ideas. We decided to start next quarter, which is in about a week (Nov. 6th). Mrs. L is going to put up 'under construction' signs on one of her bulletin boards. I'm doing the same in my entryway. I wonder if my kids will notice it at all...
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Big Spenders
Book order time! My kids had a bunch this time... Over $100! That means I got lots of points to order books for our class. Woohoo! And I had a big list of books to buy, so it worked out for everyone. There's one 7th grader who might still order books online tonight, so I'm waiting to officially place the order until tomorrow. So far, nothing, so she might not be ordering anything.
Don't worry, I'm not still at school at this late hour. Time slipped away from me after school (I was quite productive) and I had to run errands before I had a chance to write on here. One of my errands was a flu shot... my arm is starting to get sore. It gives me a good excuse to take the night off from cleaning and focus on other things.
Our morning was full of brainstorming... lots of kids needed sparking for NaNo ideas, and I think all of them have ideas they're excited about now. One girl's story is particularly intriguing... There's a girl who cleans houses for people. An old lady died and her family hired this girl to clean the house to get it ready to sell. The girl has a pet pig that comes with her, and she puts her hand on a door to open it and gets sucked through into a new world. On the other side her hair and clothes are transformed into crazy things, her pig can suddenly fly and talk, and her cleaning stuff has turned into things that she might need in this world. Everyone is going to hear the queen talk, so she heads to the palace too to see what's going on, and a guy knocks her over as he's running away. It's the prince! He's on a mission to do... something she's not sure yet, and her main character has to help him. In the end she has to decide if she's going to stay in this world or go back to being a cleaning lady in the real world. Dun dun dun!
Another boy is going to have his character get knocked off a bridge into a river. He can't swim, so he thinks he's going to die. But he gets sucked into a tunnel and in the tunnel is a thing that can make his dad not be dead (the dad died in the story right away in the beginning).
And that's just two of the stories! We focused a lot on character wants vs. character needs and conflict in stories, so I'm sure our stories this year will be better than ever! Only six days til NaNo starts... I still need to figure out what I'm writing. Or at least find a first sentence. Again, a few prompts/dialogue chunks on my pinterest board popped out at me while I brainstormed with students, but nothing that I wrote down. It's a task for this weekend.
Last night I buckled down and got my papers graded. But there's another big stack to work on tomorrow morning. Sigh, oh well, it's the nature of the beast.
Don't worry, I'm not still at school at this late hour. Time slipped away from me after school (I was quite productive) and I had to run errands before I had a chance to write on here. One of my errands was a flu shot... my arm is starting to get sore. It gives me a good excuse to take the night off from cleaning and focus on other things.
Our morning was full of brainstorming... lots of kids needed sparking for NaNo ideas, and I think all of them have ideas they're excited about now. One girl's story is particularly intriguing... There's a girl who cleans houses for people. An old lady died and her family hired this girl to clean the house to get it ready to sell. The girl has a pet pig that comes with her, and she puts her hand on a door to open it and gets sucked through into a new world. On the other side her hair and clothes are transformed into crazy things, her pig can suddenly fly and talk, and her cleaning stuff has turned into things that she might need in this world. Everyone is going to hear the queen talk, so she heads to the palace too to see what's going on, and a guy knocks her over as he's running away. It's the prince! He's on a mission to do... something she's not sure yet, and her main character has to help him. In the end she has to decide if she's going to stay in this world or go back to being a cleaning lady in the real world. Dun dun dun!
Another boy is going to have his character get knocked off a bridge into a river. He can't swim, so he thinks he's going to die. But he gets sucked into a tunnel and in the tunnel is a thing that can make his dad not be dead (the dad died in the story right away in the beginning).
And that's just two of the stories! We focused a lot on character wants vs. character needs and conflict in stories, so I'm sure our stories this year will be better than ever! Only six days til NaNo starts... I still need to figure out what I'm writing. Or at least find a first sentence. Again, a few prompts/dialogue chunks on my pinterest board popped out at me while I brainstormed with students, but nothing that I wrote down. It's a task for this weekend.
Last night I buckled down and got my papers graded. But there's another big stack to work on tomorrow morning. Sigh, oh well, it's the nature of the beast.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Piling Up
I need to devote time to correcting papers... I have a large stack that doesn't seem to be getting much smaller. With NaNo starting in about a week, there's even more paperwork being generated by my class. Some stuff takes more time/brain power to correct than others; I just need to make myself do it. The trouble is, I'm still focused on getting my apartment put back together after cleaning (and finishing the cleaning). There's only so much a girl can do in one day!
My class was more focused this morning, but the afternoon, not so much. We had a quiet, productive morning working on NaNo ideas. Some kids have super great ideas! A few have no clue. I am in the same boat. Closer to lunchtime I remembered I have a pinterest board of writing prompts, so I scrolled that a bit and found some potential ideas for myself. Tomorrow I'll show it to students who need a story spark. I can't believe next Friday is November already!
The end of the quarter is near too... next Friday as well. There are a lot of kids with their names on the board for redos/late work! I talked to parents today and a bunch of kids are staying after school tomorrow to get things done if the soccer game is cancelled. There's one on the calendar that's been rescheduled two or three times already. The only thing is there's rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so it doesn't bode well for playing. It's the last one and won't be rescheduled again since it's been postponed so many times already. It'd be a bummer to end the season with a cancelled game, but we'll see what happens!
My class was more focused this morning, but the afternoon, not so much. We had a quiet, productive morning working on NaNo ideas. Some kids have super great ideas! A few have no clue. I am in the same boat. Closer to lunchtime I remembered I have a pinterest board of writing prompts, so I scrolled that a bit and found some potential ideas for myself. Tomorrow I'll show it to students who need a story spark. I can't believe next Friday is November already!
The end of the quarter is near too... next Friday as well. There are a lot of kids with their names on the board for redos/late work! I talked to parents today and a bunch of kids are staying after school tomorrow to get things done if the soccer game is cancelled. There's one on the calendar that's been rescheduled two or three times already. The only thing is there's rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so it doesn't bode well for playing. It's the last one and won't be rescheduled again since it's been postponed so many times already. It'd be a bummer to end the season with a cancelled game, but we'll see what happens!
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Daily 5
Look what I made! I am so proud of this:
First, I can't take credit for the cute rainbow Daily 5 graphic at the top of the page... I did a screen clipping from a download from Teachers Pay Teachers. But I put together everything else.
The version we actually use in class looks a lot cooler... I have my students' names typed on the side along with a star showing which color spelling group they're in. Above each day of the week are the names of the students I meet with individually that day (that way both they and I remember). Those little clip art pictures at the bottom right corner of each category are reproducible, meaning a student can click and drag a copy to their name to show which round they want to do.
We tried it for the first time today. Everybody seems to be a fan! I like being able to see at a glance who's doing which round. I can keep an eye on which rounds people are skipping, or which ones they repeat a lot. Students can pick their rounds before school starts (as long as I remember to have the flipchart up on the screen. And if they want to switch rounds around during Daily 5, they can easily do that too.
Now, we just need to figure out how to make Word Work go better... everyone was off the walls today for word work. They all wanted to do their sorts on the board, but when it wasn't their turn, they lolled around on the exercise balls doing nothing! I had to repeatedly redirect them. So that's on the agenda to talk about tomorrow: how to do word work more efficiently. I think we need a whiteboard checklist...
The version we actually use in class looks a lot cooler... I have my students' names typed on the side along with a star showing which color spelling group they're in. Above each day of the week are the names of the students I meet with individually that day (that way both they and I remember). Those little clip art pictures at the bottom right corner of each category are reproducible, meaning a student can click and drag a copy to their name to show which round they want to do.
We tried it for the first time today. Everybody seems to be a fan! I like being able to see at a glance who's doing which round. I can keep an eye on which rounds people are skipping, or which ones they repeat a lot. Students can pick their rounds before school starts (as long as I remember to have the flipchart up on the screen. And if they want to switch rounds around during Daily 5, they can easily do that too.
Now, we just need to figure out how to make Word Work go better... everyone was off the walls today for word work. They all wanted to do their sorts on the board, but when it wasn't their turn, they lolled around on the exercise balls doing nothing! I had to repeatedly redirect them. So that's on the agenda to talk about tomorrow: how to do word work more efficiently. I think we need a whiteboard checklist...
Monday, October 22, 2018
Revamping
We had quite the talkative day today... Mondays usually are much chattier. Maybe it was worse today since we're coming off a long weekend? Hmm, I'll have to gather more data.
After getting frustrated at their lack of filling things out completely, I revamped the Writers Workshop Check-in sheet. Instead of writing how they did at the end of the week and goals for next week, we're starting Mondays by writing a goal (or goals) for our writing. Friday we'll assess how we did on our goals. Hopefully making it more concrete will help them know what to write. Other weeks I had it phrased, "how did you improve your writing this week?" and a lot of them didn't pay enough attention to their writing or didn't try to improve, so they wrote 'nothing' or left it blank. Only a few filled it out the way I wanted them to. So we're trying goals.
After school today I worked on a different way to record our Daily 5 rounds for the week. It seems to take so much time every day to write down what everyone wants to do each round. I'm looking for a way to streamline it (or even have them do it before school starts!). I created a flipchart on the smartboard where they can write their rounds in for the day and see what they've been doing throughout the week. We'll try it tomorrow and see how it goes! It's going to take some trial and error, I'm sure...
After getting frustrated at their lack of filling things out completely, I revamped the Writers Workshop Check-in sheet. Instead of writing how they did at the end of the week and goals for next week, we're starting Mondays by writing a goal (or goals) for our writing. Friday we'll assess how we did on our goals. Hopefully making it more concrete will help them know what to write. Other weeks I had it phrased, "how did you improve your writing this week?" and a lot of them didn't pay enough attention to their writing or didn't try to improve, so they wrote 'nothing' or left it blank. Only a few filled it out the way I wanted them to. So we're trying goals.
After school today I worked on a different way to record our Daily 5 rounds for the week. It seems to take so much time every day to write down what everyone wants to do each round. I'm looking for a way to streamline it (or even have them do it before school starts!). I created a flipchart on the smartboard where they can write their rounds in for the day and see what they've been doing throughout the week. We'll try it tomorrow and see how it goes! It's going to take some trial and error, I'm sure...
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Long Week
I know it's been a short week, but man, it's felt long. My brain needs a break. I don't know how many times today my kids looked at me like, "Huh?" Whatever I had said made no sense! They were all a little stir crazy too... But our afternoon was productive! Morning, not so much.
Thankfully, MEA break starts tomorrow. Of course I don't get the whole rest of the week off; we teachers are 'going to school' at the Lutheran Educators Conference tomorrow. We get Friday off though! I heard it's going to be nice, so I'm bringing a bunch of my painting projects home to the farm so I can paint outside while the weather is nice.
We had a school safety planning meeting with us teachers after school today. It's just to come up with basic procedures in case of fire/tornado/intruder/bomb threat/etc. We mostly copied Nicollet's plan (since it's so good) and changed the wording a bit. We'll delve deeper at our next staff meeting. At least we have the ball rolling!
Speaking of safety... the IT guys finally installed the fob entry system at the main door of school. Each teacher got a fob that will let us in any time. Starting this weekend, the doors will be locked from 7:45am-5pm every weekday. I assume it will be locked the whole weekend. Hopefully this will put some of the church naysayers at ease (or quiet them down a little).
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Picture Day
Ugh. Picture day. It's so hard to decide what to wear. I thought about wearing my favorite scarf, but I wore it in last year's pictures, so I went with a different outfit. I thought pictures would be a quick thing... how long does it take to pose and snap a few shots?
Nope.
It took FOREVER.
The lady had them stand with their feet on the footprints. Then they had to turn their body. Then they had to turn their heads. Okay, now drop your shoulders. Now lower your hands. Just a little lower. Okay, now turn your head again. Lift your chin. Oh wait, now your shoulders are up, drop them again... Okay say 'puppies'! Wait, your eyes were closed. Try again. Except now you turned too much.... And the process starts all over again.
It took over half an hour to do my class of 12 students, closer to 40 minutes. One kid wouldn't smile. Or he would, but then drop it right as she took the picture so it looks like he's biting his lips. That kid took over five minutes just for him.
Thankfully, it's over for another year. And tomorrow's the last day of school this week since it's MEA break. Woohoo!
Nope.
It took FOREVER.
The lady had them stand with their feet on the footprints. Then they had to turn their body. Then they had to turn their heads. Okay, now drop your shoulders. Now lower your hands. Just a little lower. Okay, now turn your head again. Lift your chin. Oh wait, now your shoulders are up, drop them again... Okay say 'puppies'! Wait, your eyes were closed. Try again. Except now you turned too much.... And the process starts all over again.
It took over half an hour to do my class of 12 students, closer to 40 minutes. One kid wouldn't smile. Or he would, but then drop it right as she took the picture so it looks like he's biting his lips. That kid took over five minutes just for him.
Thankfully, it's over for another year. And tomorrow's the last day of school this week since it's MEA break. Woohoo!
Monday, October 15, 2018
Pork Chop
Can you believe it snowed Sunday?! I had no clue. Through the cracks in my blinds I saw bright white on the bushes outside my windows and thought, "huh, that looks like snow. But we weren't supposed to get any precipitation this week..." Sure enough... snow. And it didn't stop until lunchtime! I thought for sure it'd be done by the time church got out.
The Pork Chop Dinner/Silent Auction was a success. We didn't run out of chops. The Silent Auction went smoothly. I had everything dropped back off at school by 2:30pm, not terribly late. Now we're just waiting on seven people to pay/pick up their stuff. Hopefully they do that this week. I hate having to hunt people down.
School was crazy today. All the kids were wound up, talking non-stop. Not just my classroom, everyone said their kids were off the wall. We're going to try a science lab tomorrow. I'm not sure if I got enough content in today; we'll have to start tomorrow's science class off with a little more information before we dive into the lab. I still have to correct the last lab. This weekend was too busy for me to correct any papers. Oops... maybe tonight when I get home from errands.
I can tell it's past time for me to go home; my room is feeling cold. I have the heater set to drop down to 60 degrees after 4:30 to encourage me to leave school in a timely manner. It didn't work today! Tomorrow, I'll be better.
The Pork Chop Dinner/Silent Auction was a success. We didn't run out of chops. The Silent Auction went smoothly. I had everything dropped back off at school by 2:30pm, not terribly late. Now we're just waiting on seven people to pay/pick up their stuff. Hopefully they do that this week. I hate having to hunt people down.
School was crazy today. All the kids were wound up, talking non-stop. Not just my classroom, everyone said their kids were off the wall. We're going to try a science lab tomorrow. I'm not sure if I got enough content in today; we'll have to start tomorrow's science class off with a little more information before we dive into the lab. I still have to correct the last lab. This weekend was too busy for me to correct any papers. Oops... maybe tonight when I get home from errands.
I can tell it's past time for me to go home; my room is feeling cold. I have the heater set to drop down to 60 degrees after 4:30 to encourage me to leave school in a timely manner. It didn't work today! Tomorrow, I'll be better.
Friday, October 12, 2018
Silent Auction
A full day, but a good one. We did art in two chunks today. The project involved gluing string in a loopy line on cardboard, then covering it with tinfoil, pressing it down so the string parts bump up, then coloring the lower parts. It looks cool when it's finished! So we glued before lunch. Art time= tin foil time! (and coloring) We turned on some tunes and jammed out while pressing the foil and coloring. One girl even salsa danced! She got pretty crazy, chasing the boys trying to get them to dance with her (and did some of the strange salsa arm movements around them... she went a little too far I think). I did a mini-salsa lesson with a few of them so now they actually know how to salsa instead of just copying the movies.
After school we moved tables around for the Silent Auction. A parent volunteered to write in all the minimum bids, etc. so it was much less work than I thought it would be. I need to drop a student off at home now that she's gotten her math corrections all finished. Hopefully they're finished correctly!
Tonight I'm going to a book gala with a college friend. She convinced me to volunteer with her at the book sale the next day. I'm going to wear my new shirt that says "bookmarks are for quitters". Then I have a youth group painting event in the afternoon Saturday. Sunday is the Pork Chop Dinner and Silent Auction for school. I work the Silent Auction part. After that I'll hopefully be able to see my farmer for a while!
Mold update: last night when I got home, my bedroom didn't smell moldy. It smelled kind of strange, but that could be because I have machines going and the door closed. I cleaned a few more things and slept in the living room again. The apartment manager didn't smell anything (and she even got down to sniff the carpets she said). She thought I could go back to using the rooms again. Her only suggestion was to open the ceiling air vents since they're mostly closed and don't let much air move around. So, now I can put my house back together again. I still have to clean my guest closet; a job for tomorrow.
After school we moved tables around for the Silent Auction. A parent volunteered to write in all the minimum bids, etc. so it was much less work than I thought it would be. I need to drop a student off at home now that she's gotten her math corrections all finished. Hopefully they're finished correctly!
Tonight I'm going to a book gala with a college friend. She convinced me to volunteer with her at the book sale the next day. I'm going to wear my new shirt that says "bookmarks are for quitters". Then I have a youth group painting event in the afternoon Saturday. Sunday is the Pork Chop Dinner and Silent Auction for school. I work the Silent Auction part. After that I'll hopefully be able to see my farmer for a while!
Mold update: last night when I got home, my bedroom didn't smell moldy. It smelled kind of strange, but that could be because I have machines going and the door closed. I cleaned a few more things and slept in the living room again. The apartment manager didn't smell anything (and she even got down to sniff the carpets she said). She thought I could go back to using the rooms again. Her only suggestion was to open the ceiling air vents since they're mostly closed and don't let much air move around. So, now I can put my house back together again. I still have to clean my guest closet; a job for tomorrow.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Testing, Testing
The 7-8th graders took their first science test yesterday. I corrected them this morning. There were mixed results... Most of the 7th graders didn't do so hot. It's not a big surprise since they haven't been paying much attention in class. There are a lot of redos! Grr...
It feels like they're giving up and hating school, which I definitely don't want. But I don't want to make the tests any easier either. And I don't want them to fail. I guess I mostly want them to pay attention and to learn what I'm teaching them. I probably need to try some new tactics with them. More things to think about.
After school my kiddos staying for the soccer game loaded my car with silent auction items to bring over to church. It didn't take too long since we stacked items in a few tubs I found in the closet.
Mold update: no one has been in my apartment. I got an email from management today asking if everything got picked up by maintenance... so they didn't have any plans to do more cleaning or fixing. We emailed back and forth a little, and tomorrow morning she (the apartment manager) is going to stop by to smell my apartment. Hopefully she has some bright ideas of what to do!!!
It feels like they're giving up and hating school, which I definitely don't want. But I don't want to make the tests any easier either. And I don't want them to fail. I guess I mostly want them to pay attention and to learn what I'm teaching them. I probably need to try some new tactics with them. More things to think about.
After school my kiddos staying for the soccer game loaded my car with silent auction items to bring over to church. It didn't take too long since we stacked items in a few tubs I found in the closet.
Mold update: no one has been in my apartment. I got an email from management today asking if everything got picked up by maintenance... so they didn't have any plans to do more cleaning or fixing. We emailed back and forth a little, and tomorrow morning she (the apartment manager) is going to stop by to smell my apartment. Hopefully she has some bright ideas of what to do!!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Christmas Program
Our Christmas program meeting was a success! It turns out there is NOT a CD for the music, but most of the songs are tunes from the hymnal if not just hymns, and the program did come with sheet music, so we're okay there. We chose to switch up a few of the songs for some modern-ish, upbeat, versions just to mix it up a little. Mrs. E will contact the bible school teachers to find out how many kids they have this year. After that we can assign group parts. I typed up our edits so we are all ready to go for next week's xmas planning meeting.
It's Fire Prevention Week, and today was the day the Courtland Fire Department visited our school. The rain stopped and the sky brightened a little while we toured the trucks they brought out. It was our year for the smoke house (a tiny model house on a trailer that imitates the smoke from a fire so we can practice how to escape from windows); everyone was excited to go through that! Smokey the Bear also paid us a visit. Cool! The younger grades were terrified of him. One 1st grader hid in the kindergarten room until the bear went outside school. My class all wanted to pose with him. So I took advantage and snapped pictures!
This year's visit went super smoothly. Normally kids run amok, honking the horns too much, chaos everywhere. This year we teachers made a schedule of who goes outside when and which classrooms have the inside conversations at which times. Way less of a mess. We made a note to do it this way every year!
Mold update: a friend came over last night and helped clean my guest room. Now I have my spare closet and both bathrooms left. Since it's rainy, the moldy smell is back in my bedroom, so I hauled my mattress to the living room and slept there last night. No maintenance guys have been there yet (unless they came today). I might end up having to swap rooms. I moved a few of the lighter pieces of furniture out of my bedroom already and will probably move the rest tonight, unless maintenance has made any progress...
It's Fire Prevention Week, and today was the day the Courtland Fire Department visited our school. The rain stopped and the sky brightened a little while we toured the trucks they brought out. It was our year for the smoke house (a tiny model house on a trailer that imitates the smoke from a fire so we can practice how to escape from windows); everyone was excited to go through that! Smokey the Bear also paid us a visit. Cool! The younger grades were terrified of him. One 1st grader hid in the kindergarten room until the bear went outside school. My class all wanted to pose with him. So I took advantage and snapped pictures!
This year's visit went super smoothly. Normally kids run amok, honking the horns too much, chaos everywhere. This year we teachers made a schedule of who goes outside when and which classrooms have the inside conversations at which times. Way less of a mess. We made a note to do it this way every year!
Mold update: a friend came over last night and helped clean my guest room. Now I have my spare closet and both bathrooms left. Since it's rainy, the moldy smell is back in my bedroom, so I hauled my mattress to the living room and slept there last night. No maintenance guys have been there yet (unless they came today). I might end up having to swap rooms. I moved a few of the lighter pieces of furniture out of my bedroom already and will probably move the rest tonight, unless maintenance has made any progress...
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Chemical Reactions
The 5-6th graders had their first big lab today. And by big, I mean we pulled out the goggles and aprons and had a safety talk. We just mixed different household liquids to see if a chemical reaction happened; none of the supplies were toxic, but it's still good to practice safety from day one. They handled the lab really well. We need more ice cream pails, dish towels, and lab aprons. Clean-up was pretty good too. We had to rush to tidy up since it was the end of the day. I'd been hoping we'd finish in time to have recess, but it took a full hour to do the lab. Oh well. They had a good time.
After school some of the girls were interviewed on the radio to promote our Pork Chop Dinner fundraiser on Sunday. I listened online; they did just fine. They had to rush back to school for a 4pm volleyball game.
A helpful parent came to the game early to put together a list of Silent Auction items that have been accumulating in my closet. There are still a bunch to come in. Hopefully they'll trickle in throughout the week so it's not a lot of paperwork to do on Friday.
Mold update: I have a few rooms left to clean. The ones left smell alright, but my bedroom still smells moldy. I think it's coming from the outside walls... and it keeps raining. I called the apartment manager this morning and left a message. We'll see if anyone did anything.
After school some of the girls were interviewed on the radio to promote our Pork Chop Dinner fundraiser on Sunday. I listened online; they did just fine. They had to rush back to school for a 4pm volleyball game.
A helpful parent came to the game early to put together a list of Silent Auction items that have been accumulating in my closet. There are still a bunch to come in. Hopefully they'll trickle in throughout the week so it's not a lot of paperwork to do on Friday.
Mold update: I have a few rooms left to clean. The ones left smell alright, but my bedroom still smells moldy. I think it's coming from the outside walls... and it keeps raining. I called the apartment manager this morning and left a message. We'll see if anyone did anything.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Bank Run
Two parents waited until the last minute to send their money for Camp Omega registration. I had their checks all set to be deposited in the bank's night deposit drop Friday morning, but when I tried to open the slot, it wouldn't go! I asked Mr. E if he'd deposit it for me later and put it out of my mind.
This morning I found the envelope in my box, checks still inside! He hadn't dropped it off! Worried about an overdraft fee (since we paid for camp on Friday), I called the bank during lunch (thankfully a grandma stopped by and offered to watch the kids at recess so I didn't have to worry about supervising them). They said the Camp Omega check hadn't come through the bank yet and if I dropped off the checks today, the account would be fine. Whew! I went there while my kids were at PE and had no other troubles. Cutting it a little close though!
It's already time to start planning the Christmas program... It's always a challenge to find a program to use, one that's fun but biblical and hasn't been used recently. Pastor has one about angels we haven't done yet that we've kept as a backup for the past few years. I thought we'd have to use it this year, but it needs polishing up since it's a little formal and dry. Mrs. E had the idea we should find one on prayer since our school theme is "Prayer Power". After school I did a quick Google search and found one based on the Lord's Prayer. Awesome! It has all the songs and everything, including a CD of music available for download. Definitely a God thing. It almost seems too easy...
This morning I found the envelope in my box, checks still inside! He hadn't dropped it off! Worried about an overdraft fee (since we paid for camp on Friday), I called the bank during lunch (thankfully a grandma stopped by and offered to watch the kids at recess so I didn't have to worry about supervising them). They said the Camp Omega check hadn't come through the bank yet and if I dropped off the checks today, the account would be fine. Whew! I went there while my kids were at PE and had no other troubles. Cutting it a little close though!
It's already time to start planning the Christmas program... It's always a challenge to find a program to use, one that's fun but biblical and hasn't been used recently. Pastor has one about angels we haven't done yet that we've kept as a backup for the past few years. I thought we'd have to use it this year, but it needs polishing up since it's a little formal and dry. Mrs. E had the idea we should find one on prayer since our school theme is "Prayer Power". After school I did a quick Google search and found one based on the Lord's Prayer. Awesome! It has all the songs and everything, including a CD of music available for download. Definitely a God thing. It almost seems too easy...
Friday, October 5, 2018
Camp Omega
The past two days have been full, but fun. We had no troubles getting to Camp Omega; we actually got there a little early. Yesterday's weather was sunny, but chilly. A few weeks ago a tornado went through camp. It knocked down a ton of trees and we could definitely see the aftermath of that. Much of it is already cleaned up. No buildings were damaged. We learned that the cook had been in the kitchen during the tornado. She hid in the freezer and called the owner to let him know where she was. They said it took them four hours to cut a path for her to leave camp so she could get home.
Our service project for this trip was to haul wood. We had to sort out the big logs/pieces into the back of a pickup to be brought to the chopping station up the hill. The smaller pieces had to be stacked in the dry wood shelter. We got a lot done in an hour, but there's still so many brush piles (and bigger piles) to deal with. They've had many volunteers helping with cleanup and I'm sure more are coming still.
Normally by 5pm Thursday I am about ready to pull my hair out and need alone time. This trip, I didn't get that feeling. There were enough parent chaperones along that I could relax a bit more and take time to watch the kids in the cabin during canteen (aka- sit on my bunk reading while reminding the kids who popped in that they had to eat their snacks outside... there were some girls who chose to lie on their bunks and talk instead of being outside). Most of the kids were good listeners too.
Rain came after supper, so no after supper bonfire, but we had a good time singing indoors. Afterwards we had free time for reading, playing cards, making bracelets, or playing other games. Some girls played dance, most played dark hide and seek.
The boys got pretty crazy at bedtime. The dad who came along didn't do much shushing (I think he's a pretty sound sleeper), so the boys talked past when they were supposed to. This class didn't beat the record for earliest risers (one year it was 4am- they wanted to go outside and play gaga ball), but they were up around 6am. The boys were at any rate; our male chaperone had to leave early in the morning to bring his wife to the hospital for a scheduled surgery (she made it through surgery fine). We had enough room to bring everyone back, and we mostly needed a male chaperone for the night part of the trip, so it was fine he left. But that meant the boys were left to their own devices for a few hours before the rest of us got up.
The cabin we stayed in had two sides, one for girls and one for boys, with the doors in between locked so there isn't any 'purpling'. The doors are super thin though, and you can hear anything said on the other side of the cabin. The boys got loud after our male chaperone left, but after a while they got really quiet. We female chaperones thought they had disobeyed orders and went outside to play gaga ball without an adult. It turns out they were all in their cabin still; no one was outside at all! What a pleasant surprise!
Yeah, this group of students is definitely more relaxing than some years past.
Since I'm pooped after two full days of activities, I'll give you a quick list of the things we did and then I'll head for home: ABC nature hunt, wilderness survival scenario, hatchet throwing, fire building challenge, read to self, gaga ball, soccer, canoeing, archery, our service project, and read-aloud.
Our service project for this trip was to haul wood. We had to sort out the big logs/pieces into the back of a pickup to be brought to the chopping station up the hill. The smaller pieces had to be stacked in the dry wood shelter. We got a lot done in an hour, but there's still so many brush piles (and bigger piles) to deal with. They've had many volunteers helping with cleanup and I'm sure more are coming still.
Normally by 5pm Thursday I am about ready to pull my hair out and need alone time. This trip, I didn't get that feeling. There were enough parent chaperones along that I could relax a bit more and take time to watch the kids in the cabin during canteen (aka- sit on my bunk reading while reminding the kids who popped in that they had to eat their snacks outside... there were some girls who chose to lie on their bunks and talk instead of being outside). Most of the kids were good listeners too.
Rain came after supper, so no after supper bonfire, but we had a good time singing indoors. Afterwards we had free time for reading, playing cards, making bracelets, or playing other games. Some girls played dance, most played dark hide and seek.
The boys got pretty crazy at bedtime. The dad who came along didn't do much shushing (I think he's a pretty sound sleeper), so the boys talked past when they were supposed to. This class didn't beat the record for earliest risers (one year it was 4am- they wanted to go outside and play gaga ball), but they were up around 6am. The boys were at any rate; our male chaperone had to leave early in the morning to bring his wife to the hospital for a scheduled surgery (she made it through surgery fine). We had enough room to bring everyone back, and we mostly needed a male chaperone for the night part of the trip, so it was fine he left. But that meant the boys were left to their own devices for a few hours before the rest of us got up.
The cabin we stayed in had two sides, one for girls and one for boys, with the doors in between locked so there isn't any 'purpling'. The doors are super thin though, and you can hear anything said on the other side of the cabin. The boys got loud after our male chaperone left, but after a while they got really quiet. We female chaperones thought they had disobeyed orders and went outside to play gaga ball without an adult. It turns out they were all in their cabin still; no one was outside at all! What a pleasant surprise!
Yeah, this group of students is definitely more relaxing than some years past.
Since I'm pooped after two full days of activities, I'll give you a quick list of the things we did and then I'll head for home: ABC nature hunt, wilderness survival scenario, hatchet throwing, fire building challenge, read to self, gaga ball, soccer, canoeing, archery, our service project, and read-aloud.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
DNA extraction
The 7-8th graders had a fun lab today... DNA extraction! We smashed strawberries to break down the cells, then added salt and soap, then layered it with icy cold rubbing alcohol and the DNA came out of suspension in thin, white strands. Everyone got it to work! (Probably because the alcohol was so cold; I stuck it in the freezer a few days ago so it'd be super cold.)
After that we tried bananas (not as much, but still some strands) and wheat germ (kind of saw some, not as much time to do that one). I still have a lab table full of stuff to clean off, but it was really fun. Now the 5-6th graders are jealous.
We have a faculty meeting, like, right now. Then I have bible study tonight too, plus I want to get a little more cleaning done. We leave for Camp Omega tomorrow, so I need to pack too. It's going to be a busy night!
After that we tried bananas (not as much, but still some strands) and wheat germ (kind of saw some, not as much time to do that one). I still have a lab table full of stuff to clean off, but it was really fun. Now the 5-6th graders are jealous.
We have a faculty meeting, like, right now. Then I have bible study tonight too, plus I want to get a little more cleaning done. We leave for Camp Omega tomorrow, so I need to pack too. It's going to be a busy night!
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Flashback
Another wet-ish day at school. It wasn't raining during recess times, so we did go outside. Underneath the big tire swing sat a puddle of water. One of the 5th graders somehow ended up sliding off the tire into the puddle. Oops. Wet pants. It brought me back to one of my earliest memories... pre-school.
It had rained and filled the track marks under the swings with water. That was before pea rock was added to our playground, so it was all dirt and mud. The other girls in my class figured out we could still swing on them by pulling the swing to the side, carefully climbing on, letting it swing back out, and pumping our legs to get higher. I wanted to try too! But, I wasn't all that coordinated and slipped off the swing straight into the mud puddle. My favorite dress= totally soaked in brown water.
Earlier that day I had been playing with a big, fancy, white dress up dress. I had wanted to bring the dress home with me earlier, but my teacher said we had to leave it at school so other kids could play with it too. I got to wear that lovely dress the rest of the day, and maybe even got to wear it home... although my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point. Maybe Mom brought me a change of clothes at the end of the day.
Anyway, this kid wasn't too upset about it. There's a soccer game after school, so his mom would be bringing his soccer clothes and he'd end up changing anyway. No harm done.
It had rained and filled the track marks under the swings with water. That was before pea rock was added to our playground, so it was all dirt and mud. The other girls in my class figured out we could still swing on them by pulling the swing to the side, carefully climbing on, letting it swing back out, and pumping our legs to get higher. I wanted to try too! But, I wasn't all that coordinated and slipped off the swing straight into the mud puddle. My favorite dress= totally soaked in brown water.
Earlier that day I had been playing with a big, fancy, white dress up dress. I had wanted to bring the dress home with me earlier, but my teacher said we had to leave it at school so other kids could play with it too. I got to wear that lovely dress the rest of the day, and maybe even got to wear it home... although my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point. Maybe Mom brought me a change of clothes at the end of the day.
Anyway, this kid wasn't too upset about it. There's a soccer game after school, so his mom would be bringing his soccer clothes and he'd end up changing anyway. No harm done.
Monday, October 1, 2018
God is Good
VIP day, check. One big stressor off my plate. The author showed up, the books we ordered came in time for families to get them and her to sign them (I didn't think they would), people enjoyed her presentation (some said it went a little long).
The pastor's daughter we've been praying for lately is out of the hospital and was in church yesterday.
There's enough room in cars for going to Camp Omega on Thursday/Friday.
God protected my farmer's uncle from injury yesterday too. While his uncle waited for a load of corn to unload, his coat got hooked on an auger and he got trapped! His uncle used his free hand to call my farmer, who could only hear yelling, nothing understandable. He rushed over from across the farm, shut the machine off, and cut off his uncle's coat so he could get free. Thankfully, the sleeve of the coat had stopped the auger from turning, so his uncle escaped with no broken bones, just some internal bleeding and bruising on his upper arm. Again, God is good.
My apartment is still a major stressor. My bedroom is still musty smelling, so I slept on my couch last night and kept the apartment fan going. The maintenance guys are going to try washing the carpet again tomorrow. I guess that means more cleaning is on my agenda tonight. I need to enter grades and get midterms out to students. Pray that God gives me the energy to get everything done!
The pastor's daughter we've been praying for lately is out of the hospital and was in church yesterday.
There's enough room in cars for going to Camp Omega on Thursday/Friday.
God protected my farmer's uncle from injury yesterday too. While his uncle waited for a load of corn to unload, his coat got hooked on an auger and he got trapped! His uncle used his free hand to call my farmer, who could only hear yelling, nothing understandable. He rushed over from across the farm, shut the machine off, and cut off his uncle's coat so he could get free. Thankfully, the sleeve of the coat had stopped the auger from turning, so his uncle escaped with no broken bones, just some internal bleeding and bruising on his upper arm. Again, God is good.
My apartment is still a major stressor. My bedroom is still musty smelling, so I slept on my couch last night and kept the apartment fan going. The maintenance guys are going to try washing the carpet again tomorrow. I guess that means more cleaning is on my agenda tonight. I need to enter grades and get midterms out to students. Pray that God gives me the energy to get everything done!
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