17!

This week we started a new read-aloud book, Where the Red Fern Grows, a book I haven't read since 5th or 6th grade. I remember my teacher making us read the last few chapters of the book on our own because she was going to cry if we read it together. I remember thinking, "This book is not sad, I don't see what she was so worried about..." And then the end comes. Yep. I sobbed my little heart out as I read the pages. But I still liked the book!

So, now we're reading it. My class is not big on historical fiction, and this isn't technically historical fiction, but it's set in the past. I wasn't sure if they'd like it as much as other books we've read this year... Today, though, I discovered that they are indeed liking it.

My Microsoft Teams app has been crashing at least 2-4 times per class in the morning. Highly annoying. My class just waits for me to jump back on and we try to pick up where we left off. Today, I was in the middle of a paragraph about a fight Billy had with a town kid (who had picked on his new puppy) when I got kicked off. Once I rejoined the call, two boys told me exactly where I had left off, just in case I hadn't noticed. Huh, I guess they are paying attention. We also went a little over our hour long class time and no one made any mention of that... Good. I bet enough of them have connections to hunting/farming/dogs that they're into it.

One negative side effect of reading this book, particularly the part describing Billy's new puppies, is that I really want a puppy now!!!

18!

My behind kids are finally making progress on their Writing City assignments! Well, two of them are anyway. A third one said she was going to work on it. We'll see if she does...

The 5-6th graders learned about sound today. I had them do a mini experiment at home by tapping their fingers on their desk, then put their heads on the desk and tap again to compare the difference. Then they took cups and rested their ears on them while tapping to compare sounds again. I'm not sure if they all did it or not, but hey, this virtual learning is really "If you want to learn, no one can stop you. If you don't want to learn, no one can make you." I'm putting all this stuff out there for the taking; it's up to you if you take advantage of that. So we press onward.

I've spent a lot of time on the computer these past two days. Whew, my eyes and brain can tell! I've been looking over their check-in sheets, conferencing with them to go over late stuff, putting together a virtual trivia night for families to do via Facebook on Friday, and emailing lots of people about lots of stuff. I haven't spent any time scanning books in my library.

The weather has been kind of gross the past few days too. I haven't gone out for walks. Maybe I will today; it's windy but looks sunny. Last night in addition to the usual sister virtual chat, I watched a Zoom meeting reunion of the cast of Austenland, one of my favorite movies. It was really fun to hear the actors/actresses tell their favorite parts of filming and what was ad libbed/in the script. Tonight I have virtual bible study. It's crazy how even during quarantine my nights are filling up!

19!

A pretty good chunk of my kids remembered to send me their check-in sheet from the day's learning. A bunch of kids baked or helped their parents with meals. Some kids helped their parents fix farm machinery. One drew a picture to enter in a wildlife poster contest. One made a lego house. One choreographed a dance. One practiced a language on Duolingo.

They didn't all write in complete sentences and use perfect punctuation, but I expected that. Only half the class filled it out yesterday. I sent a reminder this morning and had a few more turn it in. Three kids needed an extra nudge. I think I'm still missing two. I hope they don't fall too far behind! This is what I'm basing some of their grades on.

In other news, I officially signed my will last night! Another thing I can check off the "important adult things to do" list.

20!

Guess what... only 20 days of school left!

For those of you just joining me on the countdown, here's some backstory: Back when I was in 5-6th grade, to countdown to the end of the school year my favorite teacher would draw a picture on the board every day for us to find how many days were left. Since my normal end of the year balloon activity countdown is kind of lame from a distance, I decided to do the picture countdown with my kids.

I emailed Mrs. W to find out where she got her ideas from, or even if she remembered doing the pictures. She remembers! But she doesn't remember the specifics; she said she made them up every night. So, I contacted my old Lutheran school classmates to see if they remembered any of the pictures (it wasn't as hard as it sounds... Facebook is a wonderful thing). They remembered how fun it was but they didn't remember pictures.

So. I made a post in the Lutheran Educator's page to see if any of them had bright ideas. One person recommended checking out Lunchtime Doodles with Mo Willems (author/illustrator of the Pigeon books) since he doodles the date as part of the video. Excellent. Some of those videos were helpful, others not. He only did 15 episodes, but I did get some good ideas from him.

I got excited about the project as I came up with ideas for each number, so I began to draw. And message my sister about which drawings she wanted to do. And draw. And message my sister some more. And draw. And eventually I drew 18/20 of the drawings! All that are left are #10 and #15. If my sister doesn't get working on the drawings, I just might end up drawing all of them. I'm impressed with myself; I didn't think they would turn out as good as they did!

See if you can spot the number...

And stay tuned for further pictures! 

Growing Up

As many of you know, this year's class has been a big challenge behaviorally. Our time of distance learning has been the most relaxing part of my school year! So when other teachers have said how much they miss their students, I couldn't empathize. Except today. Today was the first day I really missed my kids.

It's a Friday, so I meet with each student individually to hear their memory work. They have to have their cameras on so I can tell if they're actually reciting it. Some of them don't like to have their cameras on during live class during the week, plus Teams only lets me see four of them at a time anyway, so for some students, it's been a while since I've seen their faces.

They look different! Their faces are maturing, their haircuts are changed, they're tanner... I'd venture a guess they are taller too. Normally when I'm with my students, those slow changes fly under the radar because I'm with them every day. They really are like my own children. It makes me sad to see their appearances 'jump'.

On a happier note, I've also noticed I've been more relaxed in class and letting my goofier side peek through. This normally happens towards the end of the school year. Other teachers have mentioned that they are missing being together in school for the 'sweet spot' of the school year. March-May is the time of year when students knows the procedures, they know their classmates and how to get along; the end of the year is in sight, but it's not close enough to get ants in pants. It's the time of year when everyone is ready to learn and you can buckle down and get stuff done! It's the best time of year to do projects and mix things up. But all that is a lot harder to do remotely.

At the end of the year, I do a balloon count down to the last day with a special activity for each day. One of the 6th grade girls asked me if I would find a way to still do that with our class remotely. If I pick and choose carefully, I can come up with "special" things for them to do at home each day (optional of course, I can imagine some of my students not caring a whit about this). They won't have the same 'wow' factor that they would at school, but it will be something. Sit anywhere for the day is a lot different at home than it is at school!

Another thing I'm working on requires a bit more planning. When I was in 5-6th grade, at the end of the year my teacher Mrs. W would draw a picture on the board every day for the last 20 days of school. Hidden in each picture was the number of how many days we had left. I remember being excited to see what the picture would be and if I could find the number. That's something I could do remotely with my kids! So I emailed her to see if she remembers doing that with us. If not, I'll have to go with plan B. One of my sisters is an artist and she agreed to help me make pictures (*ahem* she'll probably do all of it) to countdown with my kids. Time will tell!

Drop Day

The school board did approve to end school one week early, so we are officially finished May 15th.

Tomorrow is our next Drop Day so I'm getting papers ready to send home with families. The good thing about older grades is that I don't have to give them a lot of papers. I can send home all the papers they need for the rest of the year in one fell swoop. We only have three weeks left! Can you believe it? Neither can I.

I'm starting to feel the itch though, and my kids all feel it too. Both today and yesterday were beautiful. Kayaking on Swan Lake yesterday was wonderful. Today was too cold to kayak, plus I had a webinar to watch (talking about virtual summer reading programming at the library), so I went for a walk instead. Praise the Lord he's given us nice weather!

Wrapping Up

I feel pretty good about life today: I got a bunch of things wrapped up that have been on my to-do list for a while.

A few of my kids finished (or will finish) their Read to Self book before the next drop day, so during our weekly meeting we picked out a few books for me to send home with them. The piles are stacked on the white table, ready for me to send out on Friday.

Our read aloud book is wrapping up too. Only a few more chapters left! I'm hoping to finish tomorrow or Friday so we can start a new book next week. I want to read Where the Red Fern Grows for the last book of the year and I think we can read the whole thing in the time we have left if we read at least 17 pages per day. Hopefully doable!

The Lutheran Church Extension Fund had grants available for teachers who's income has been affected by the coronavirus, even if it's non-church related income. Mr. E learned about it at his last Principals' meeting where the District encouraged the principals to encourage their teachers to apply. I wasn't able to work at the library over Easter break, so I was eligible to apply for the grant which would replace some of that income. I got approved! I just sent off my signature to complete the paperwork.

Finally, this morning I wrote the christian preamble to my will. I've been working on estate planning with my lawyer for a few months (always good to be prepared!) and I finally had a chance to look through the ideas she sent me. It feels good to get that written and sent off!

Now, I'm wrapping up things at school, will quick run errands in New Ulm, and then take my kayak out for a spin on Swan Lake! The weather is gorgeous today; too nice to be inside!

Birthday

Yesterday I got a whole bunch of cards in the mail for my birthday (which is today). I saved reading them for this morning over breakfast. I didn't have any papers to correct! Last night, Mrs. B dropped off a cooler of food for me for supper tonight so I don't have to cook: spaghetti hotdish, salad, strawberries/grapes, lemonade, sparkling water, and a piece of pie. Plus she gave me a daisy plant. Such a thoughtful lady! 

At school today I discovered the entryway to my classroom had been decorated by Mrs. E. She hung up balloons and made a Happy Birthday poster. Then I found a plate of cookies (packed with chocolate chips), some crocheted dish rags, and a card in my mailbox in the office. 

My kids found out it was my birthday (probably from the Remind message sent out to the school by the Es) and wished me a happy day. The 7-8th graders actually sang for me when we met for class! That is not an easy feat over video: usually the sound lags and you sing slower and slower and slower to try to keep the same pace as everyone. They did very well considering! 

Still sad that I don't get to physically be with loved ones, but technology is helping. I have a few virtual hangouts planned with friends and sisters later today. So, even with social distancing, it has been a pretty good day. 

Spin

Today's religion lesson was on the 6th commandment. In other years, we've gotten into some pretty heavy class discussions on this topic, and with this class's family situations I was a little leary. But it actually went really well and we steered clear of the really touchy aspects of this commandment while still getting the full meaning of it.

We did highs and lows today at the end of our Morning Meeting. It sounds like a lot of them went out fishing or played outside in the nice weather. My high was that I participated in a virtual trivia tournament (one of my aunts invited me to join the team she plays with). It was really fun; I had a blast scouring the internet for answers to the questions (announced on the radio). We communicated via Facebook messenger to go over what we found and what answers our team leaders submitted to the official scorers. Our team placed 38th out of 102 teams! My low was that I didn't go outside for a walk on Saturday when it was so gorgeous out. I had planned to take a break from trivia, but I got sucked in and never did. One of my students pointed out, "Well, if you forgot about going outside, that means you were really having a good time for you to forget about it!" Good point!

One of the other 6th grade boys said for his low, "My low is that when I get bored during school, I spin around in my office chair and I get really dizzy." Hmm...

That comment stuck in my mind, along with the number of students I'm missing things from. They're actually pretty good about turning things in when we have drop days, all except for Writing City which is our English assignments online. I don't want to overwhelm parents or students and I think Writing City might just be too much for them to handle. So I revamped our e-learning plan, or put a different "spin" on it. Using a tweaked form another teacher came up with, I feel pretty good about the level of work/creativity/accountability my students will need to do each day. If you want to see it, check it out here. I'm going to give my students a preview on Wednesday to see if they have any concerns. If not, we'll roll it out next week (probably).

Why not tomorrow? Well, I want to sleep on it a bit. Plus, the school board is meeting tomorrow night to talk about what school will look like in May. I had previously mapped out the rest of the year as far as science/social lessons, but I'm probably going to need to revamp those plans based on what's decided at the meeting (and/or announced by the governor) and I don't want to redo my plans more than I need to. So. Patience Miss H!

Friday Field Trip

Today's field trip was a pre-recorded one from a 6th grader who lives close to a motorcycle club. The club has a dirt racing track and a big hill where they have a 'hill climb' event once a year in August. So her neighbor (part of the club), took her and her dad on a tour (which they filmed). She spliced the videos together and showed it to our class along with her commentary of what they were doing/seeing. It turned out pretty good once we figured out how she could show it to our class. Video files are huge and she couldn't email it to me. She ended up downloading the Teams app on her phone, joined the call there, and shared her phone screen with the class.

When you are in a video call, the other people can't hear any sound coming out of your computer, so we could see the video but couldn't hear it. Since it was kind of short notice to figure out a way to get sound, I told her to just tell us what they were saying in the video. That worked just fine.

Next Friday field trip is another student's farm!

Tears

Biome presentations today went much smoother than yesterday! The two girl groups went last and they were definitely prepared. They even practiced their presentations beforehand to make sure each one knew what they were supposed to say. Very impressive.

My favorite part was during the Tropical Rainforest presentation. One of the girls said this biome is like a life bomb. "Just picture a bomb of life getting dropped there and... BAM. Life everywhere!" 

Today, when I met with my three Thursday people, one of them had waaay exceeded his page goal. Another had been bored with the book she was reading and read one Dr. Seuss book each day (because, nostalgia). The third one... well... When our video chat connected I could tell something was wrong right away. It looked like he was about to cry. He hadn't connected with our morning chat because (according to his classmates) he had internet troubles. So of course I jumped to conclusions. When I asked if everything was all right, he shook his head no. I asked if he wanted to talk about it. He surprised me by giving me an answer: he hadn't read a single page all week. He said he kept putting it off, telling himself he would read forty minutes the next day, and then put it off and promised he'd read an hour the next day. And he still didn't do it. He said he cleaned his room, did his math, worked on his biome project... all good things, but not reading. So we brainstormed some ways he could hold himself accountable and do his reading. Poor guy. He really beat himself up about that.

My kids fall into three categories: the ones who do all their work and finish waaay ahead of time, kids who are behind but are slowly catching up, and kids who are falling behind. Easter break was great, but I'm thinking a lot of the 'behind' kids didn't take advantage of the no-new-homework days to work on their late stuff. I wonder how long we can keep this up. 

The Midwest governors met today to talk about how to reopen things. I heard Wisconsin's 'stay at home' mandate is extended until the end of May. Our governor is considering calling off school as soon as May 1st. I've heard it two places: one source says it's because there aren't equal learning opportunities for all kids because of access to help/internet/resources. The other source says it's because homeschooling is too much of a burden on parents. Mr. E and I talked about what our school would do if even virtual school is called off by the state. The plan currently at the top of the list would be to keep doing school until May 15th. We'd be able to wrap up our school year, but end a week early. Getting out a week early could be justified by thinking of all the days we'd normally be going on field trips, having track and field day/softball, practicing for the musical. That's about a week's worth of stuff right there. Plus we went to school for the two weeks the governor gave public schools to plan e-learning. I'm torn. I wouldn't mind getting out early, but I just mapped out my lessons for the rest of the year until May 22nd! If we let out early, I'll have to adjust accordingly. Not that big a deal, but still more work. Ah well, time will tell.

Good news: our school found out that we received 2.5 months of expenses covered by the aid package dispersed by the government. That is a big relief! They're giving us the money in one lump sum, delivered this Friday. Our salaries will be covered until the end of May at least.

Technical Difficulties

Day Two of biome presentations. It didn't go as smoothly today, mostly because the first group presenting couldn't figure out how to share their screen. Then when they could figure out how to share their screen, they couldn't figure out how to get to the powerpoint they wanted. Eventually we had the second group present theirs while the first group regrouped. By the end of the Temperate Rainforest group, my Arctic presenters were ready... or so they said.

The kid who had the presentation ready suddenly had his computer totally crash. Thankfully, his brother is in my class, so he took over his brother's computer to present (he had the powerpoint saved on a flashdrive). Finally they presented. It took us an hour to do two presentations that would normally take about 10 minutes each (in the classroom). To compare, yesterday's presenters took about 25 minutes total.

But we powered through and none of their classmates complained about how long it was taking, so I'll count that as a victory! Only one more day of presentations and I'm sure it will go much smoother tomorrow.

Back At It

I forgot to post last Tuesday. After school that day I had a bunch of calls (three were to coach Mr. E through his Zoom meetings... principal, board of ed, and scheduling another meeting). Another was for Mrs. E to coach her through attaching our school's weekly newsletter to a message to parents. And finally I had a meeting of my own to attend, a virtual IEP meeting for one of my students (IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan). After the meeting, the parent wanted to talk (her child might go to the public school next year...but their family hasn't decided yet. The parent asked for prayers for wisdom to know what's best on where to send the student). So. In all that chatter I forgot to post! And then we had a nice, long Easter break.

I did a lot of baking over break: kombucha, fruit roll ups, Portuguese Easter bread, hot cross buns, Bible bread (a recipe for bread the widow of Zaraphath would've made... basically a flatbread. It didn't taste the best; I should've put salt in! The recipe came from our bible study book.), monster cookies, rice crispy bars, muscle bars (kind of like Special K bars but with Cheerios and no chocolate on top), French toast. I think that's it. I also read a lot of books over break too.

Today was our first day back. I was hoping some students would use break to get caught up on late homework. Only a few did as far as I can tell. There was a drop day on Friday and I had a good number of assignments handed in, but definitely not everything that has been assigned. Now I have more papers to correct. Hopefully I will get them done faster than it took me to grade the last batch. My intention is to correct a bunch over breakfast tomorrow, but that will involve me going to bed on time and waking up on time. This virtual school makes it very tempting to stay up late and get up late since I don't have to be to school so early!

One cool thing we did at 'school' today was the biome projects. Finally. They have been working on powerpoint presentations about the world's biomes (the different climates/habitats in the world: desert, rainforest, tundra, etc.). They were supposed to present them the middle of March, but that's right when we switched to virtual school. Since I didn't know how long we'd be at virtual school, I put off their presentations, but now it's been long enough. So, two groups presented today. They can share their screens with the class and teach us what they learned. Both presentations were good! One group forgot to include tourist information, so I said they could add that to earn back some points. So far they haven't turned it in yet. I thought I told them to turn it in to me by tomorrow, but I can't remember if I actually said that. I suppose I should give them a firm due date. We'll have two more presentations tomorrow and two more on Thursday.

Report Cards

I finally got my report cards sent out to parents. Yesterday I spent practically the whole day correcting papers (I also watch a bunch of movies while correcting, hence the long time to finish) but everything is now corrected! All the grades are in the gradebook and report cards got emailed to parents. I did fill in the physical report card, but I'm not going to send that out right now.

We had a virtual staff meeting after school today. I was the one to set it up, and I don't have a school-connected Zoom account, so we had to keep it to 40min. Zoom has a restriction of 40min for all non-school related meetings. Mr. E had trouble connecting because he set everything up on his desktop computer which doesn't have audio/visual. He needed it on his laptop. So he and Mrs. E connected on her phone and I helped him get Zoom set up on his laptop after the staff meeting.

My marine friend got our card in the mail Saturday. He enjoyed all the jokes! The package he mailed us coincidentally arrived Saturday. I waited until this morning at school to open it. The package was bigger than I expected, and C said that's because he stuck something else inside besides the rocket cover for one of my students.
Here it is:

The tag says "Teacher of the year!!" so I suppose that means it's for me. ;)

Here are pictures of the rocket cover, back and front. The rocket breaks the cover in half when it launches. After the mission, the crew members sign it and it's a big honor if you get to keep it! Other facts: the rocket leaves the launcher going twice the speed of sound. It's really loud!

 

Friday Field Trip Day

Fridays in 'real' school are usually a bit more lax. Today in our virtual school, it was a bit of the same. We spent some time scheduling individual meetings of students (saying memory work, meeting for Daily 5, etc.). I realized today that I connect with students either one on one or in a small group (three or less) at least three times a week: Monday with spelling, Friday for Memory, and once during the week for Daily 5. I'm so thankful for technology that lets me connect with my students! It makes the day pass quickly. I think I'd be a lot more lonely if I couldn't meet with them.

Other things we did during our Friday morning meeting: read devotions, asked for prayer requests/did a special prayer, did highs/lows for the day, had a short religion lesson, and did read-aloud. All in one hour!

After that I met with students followed by our first Friday Field Trip. One of my 5th grade boys volunteered to show us his farm via video. It went much better than I expected! The video was blurry sometimes and our connections weren't great today (not the best weather), but we could hear everything and see most things. After a forty minute tour of the main farm, one of the 6th grade farmer boys asked if we could see their pig barn which is on a different site. They agreed, and I told the class if they didn't want to stick around to see the pig barn, they could go. Most of them were tired of looking at machinery, so only four (including me) stayed for the pig barn. It was neat to compare it to my family's barn! Theirs was built within the past two years, so theirs is more confined and high tech. They don't have autosorters though!

My favorite part of the tour was a question from a 6th grade girl (about the dairy heifers), "Do you ever bathe the cows?"

A long pause, then the 5th grade tour guide answered, somewhat hesitantly, "Uh... just during the fair."

Her follow up question was how bathing a cow works. A few of the 4-H boys in my class chimed in with their experience. It was great!

"Early" Out

I'm hoping I can get out of school early today. Not that I have anywhere to be, but the 7-8th graders are doing an "on your own" assignment today so I don't have class with them at 1:00. I didn't have 10:30 class with the 5-6th graders either. We had a tune-in-if-you-want-to meeting to go over how to do Mystery Class. I got the four girls going on searching for the mystery locations, then I helped one of the 6th grade boys figure out how to do his graph for the project. Only one kid wanted to say memory work today. I had meetings with my usual three Thursday people.

I've been keeping up with correcting Writing City assignments every day this week, which has made that workload more manageable. This morning I chipped away at the pile of physical papers I need to correct. My current plan is to work on that more this afternoon. But, plans are very fluid these days!

I brought them all home with me last night with the intention of correcting more, but I got distracted hanging lights on my porch (lights I bought last year but never hung up) and then I remembered I had some pumpkin that's been thawing in the freezer for way too long, so I did baking instead (another example of fluid plans). There was a lot of pumpkin! I made pumpkin spice pancakes, pumpkin bread/muffins, and pumpkin pie. Although, by the time I got to the pie, it was too late to make a crust, so I have the pie mix in a container in the fridge to bake today. My freezer is getting full! Too bad there aren't many people I can share my baked goods with...

Spring

Yesterday after school I went for another long walk, this time on the gravel road leading out of town close to my apartment. A surprising number of vehicles passed me as I walked, including our school trustee, who stopped to say hi. I'm glad we bumped into each other because I had a question about my classroom's heat. It quit working again last week and someone came out to fix it. I had heard it was going to be a seven hour fix, yet the professional wasn't here for seven hours. I figured he needed to get a part or something, but since I saw the trustee, I asked just to be sure. Yep. Waiting on a part. So my classroom continues to be chilly for the time being. 

After my walk I puttered around on my porch and before I knew it, I'd taken my container plants out of their winter mulch containers. I love seeing the green buds popping out on my plants. It appears that all my plants survived the winter! Well, my bigger blueberry bush hasn't begun to bud, so I'm skeptical about that one, but the branches are not all bone dry, so there's still hope! I transplanted it into a bigger container with some of the mulch. Maybe that will help. I also swept things, combined my mulch into two containers, dragged them to my garage, and arranged the plants neatly in front of my living room window. 

Some of the mulch is pretty much compost, so I put that in a separate bin. Since my mini compost buckets are nearly full, I thought I'd dump one of them in this new mulch/compost stuff. Surprisingly (to me) a lot of the scraps were well on their way to 'dirt' status. Cool! From the top, it didn't look like it was doing much. So that's one adventure/experiment that turned out well. 

Not being sure how the compost would do in my garage, I left it on my porch for the time being. I might plant some carrots in it. We'll see! I have the seeds!

School today was pretty typical of our new 'normal'. No kids tried April Fools jokes on me. Whew! I forgot what day it was (Wednesday, in case you forgot too) and started class with the 7-8th graders at 12:30 instead of 1:00. They were so confused when I called them all into the virtual classroom! Oops! Probably won't be the last time I do that. It's hard to keep track of the days when you're social distancing.