Last Day as Miss H

This is my last day of school with my maiden name! Hard to believe it. 

Our last day of school in 2022 was also filled with curveballs... The weather forecast for the next three days includes a winter storm warning, blizzard warning, and wind chill warning. Fun fun. It's up in the air whether we'll have our Christmas program Friday and Saturday or not. Just in case, we still had practice.

We got the news at 8:45 that New Ulm was letting out at noon. That mixed up our whole morning schedule... We moved chapel an hour earlier as well as program practice and lunch. The all-school movie got cancelled and we had to open presents before chapel. 

My rule is all your homework has to be turned in before you can open your present. Getting out of school early killed that rule. They had no time to work on anything. Ugh. Most got their spelling done. Most did not finish their handwriting. We pushed off a bunch of assignments to be due in the new year. I had planned to correct all my papers during the movie. Guess I'll be spending the afternoon doing that. Bummer. 

Nicollet didn't call off school until the middle of program practice. Those kids are getting picked up at 1pm, so we're keeping an eye on them an extra hour. I have everything I didn't bring over to Mankato packed up in my car and I'm heading over there as soon as the last kid leaves. Right now it's snowing big fluffy flakes. No wind so far, but when it does come up, it's going to be yucky. 

T-1 or T-6?

I'm not sure which countdown I'm more looking forward to... the last day of school this week or my wedding day. 😜 Program practice today went well. I think we're ready. We'd be even better off with our practice tomorrow, but we'll be okay if not.

Update: I only had the top paragraph written by the time I left school. I had planned to finish writing it later last night, but I got thrown a few curveballs! My car has been leaking coolant very noticeably. I had planned to have someone check it out when they had time, but a few people came into school to tell my there was a puddle under my car. So G called a place for me to drop my car off after school. I only made it a few miles. My low coolant light came on, but the temperature stayed steady until all of a sudden lights flashed and my car said to pull over immediately. 

I couldn't tell if the engine was smoking or just venting steam in the -4 degree weather. So I popped my hood, planning to wait a while and then fill up the coolant. A friendly passerby offered to send her husband over to help. He came fairly quickly and we filled up the coolant. But it dripped out right away. My car wouldn't start either. So, I called the place I was going to have it fixed at, but they didn't have a tow service. The one they recommended had a one hour waiting list. G was my next call; he called Triple A who said they'd send someone between 4:30-6:30. So much for marriage counseling at 4pm. 

The Good Samaritan let me sit in his truck with him and his son and we had a nice chat waiting for G to arrive. G and I waited about an hour before we got a call from the tow service... they were in the wrong place. They told us we didn't need to wait at the car, so G and I went to my house for me to pack for the rest of this week. (With a blizzard in the forecast for the next few days, I wanted to make sure all my wedding stuff got to Mankato ahead of time. And then it wouldn't need to sit in a frigid car all day.) We got another call from the tow truck; their tow wasn't working. 

G and I went to Mankato to run last minute school/wedding errands and got another call from the tow service around 8pm that they were finally bringing my car to the shop. Whew! What a day! I drove G's car back to my house and that's what I've been driving today.

Christmas Crabbies

I haven't had too many crabby days this December... except today. My kids were pills, picking at each other, messing with stuff, muttering comments under their breath. Ugh. It drove me batty. 

Program practice didn't go as well as it did last week. I found out another storm is rolling in starting either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning lasting until Friday or Saturday. So, there's a chance for a snow day Wednesday which would cancel our last program practice and make us miss our class party. We don't have school Thursday and Friday, but our first program is Friday night. I wonder if that will be cancelled if it's bad enough... 

On a happier note, my wedding is just one week away! There's not too much on the to-do list yet. We have one more marriage counseling session tomorrow and we need to finalize our dance playlist and seating chart. Aside from that, just little things. I've been distracting myself with writing a marriage themed hymn verse for one of our songs... "By Faith" by the Gettys. Stay tuned! Just one week away! 😁

Stuck in My Head

I've been waking up singing Christmas program songs in my head... it's that time of year! After today's practice, we only have three more practices before our performance. 

Yesterday was a snow day. A well needed day. I feel much more rested after having a day at home to putter in the kitchen, sleep in, and go to bed early! Today was a two hour late start, so another day to sleep in... I should've checked my driveway sooner. It looked clear from my living room window, but when I went to leave, there was a drift in my way. Not a super tall one, but one that took about 15 minutes to shovel away. So I got to school later than I wanted to.

Yesterday was also supposed to be our first program practice at church. Both Mrs. E and I were nervous about the kids being ready with one less session, but really, they nailed it today! The parts sounded good. The songs sounded good. People weren't horsing around during rehearsal. All in all, a solid practice.

Christmas Christmas Christmas

My classroom looks like Christmas exploded. Well, that's how it feels anyway. My kiddos have been making parent presents this week, which means we've taken almost all the art supplies out of the closet and cupboards and turned the kids loose on them. While I've attempted to keep the art supplies contained, some areas just won't comply... the lab area for instance. So many things left out, partly because the students are going to work on them the next day and can't put them away. 

It's funny how a few kids just don't register how many messes they're making as they're working. It'll be close to lunchtime and I'll point out areas to tidy and everyone will say, "That's from [student]." How about over here? "That's [student's] mess too." I'll point out another place... Pretty soon he'll chime in, "Oh yeah, that's mine too." 

I think we're just about set for the Christmas program. Mr. E's class set up risers today; we'll set up bells tomorrow. I have the bulletin out for approval before I send it over to church for printing. The AV coordinator has the program to make her slides. We finalized the preservice music line-up. So, I just need to look over the seating chart and bring a few more things over to church. Woo!

In other news, my new fridge is working great! I like the way the door shelves are laid out in this fridge much better than my old one. Plenty of space for things. Now, I need to grocery shop to fill it back up... 

Extra Time

It's especially these dog days of December I wish I had a pause button. If I had a little more time, I could... sneak home before marriage counseling to put my food (currently in the garage) in my new fridge... pick up a present for my school secret santa (HC initials stand for Hot Chocolate, I think)... finally turn the apples I picked months ago into dried apples/apple sauce... correct papers... finish the Christmas program bulletin... read a book! But, I can only work with the time I have. So, I'll get done what I can!

After school, Mrs. E and I created a Christmas program seating chart. Boy, that is a tough one. Which kids can handle sitting next to which of their classmates? Which ones have to have an easy way out to pop down for solos? Which kids are going to have to maneuver around costumes? Another factor: we have 19 bible school kids coming for Friday's performance and three on Christmas Eve. Yes, that's correct. Just three. There's only so much room on the risers, so we're setting up a row of chairs in front for the first performance. Again, we do the best with what we have!

Slow Start

My day started out with fridge troubles, which then threw me off for the rest of the day. I noticed condensation on the ceiling of the fridge and it felt kind of warm in there, so I put a thermometer in. Within a few minutes it had climbed to 60 degrees. Great. Thankfully, not much in there was absolutely critical to keep cold, so I moved everything to the garage or the freezer. I am so thankful for that tiny freezer... I don't know what I'd be doing without it. I texted Habitat and they said they'd go to the appliance store today. Long story short, a fridge is being delivered tomorrow morning. A better quality one than my original with a warranty! So, all's well that ends well. 

Moving all the food took extra time, so I got to school later than I wanted to. I didn't have time to set out all the art supplies for making parent presents, nor did I remember that we had program practice right away in the morning. Thankfully, all that worked out and everything went fine, but boy was my head in a loop for most of the day! I hope I'm not getting sick... I had two kids out for the count today.

The second half of the day went better. Miss K, my student teacher, taught the 7-8th graders and helped set up the 5-6th lab. We went outside for recess even with the bracing wind, which helped me wake up a bit more. Now, on to the next thing! G and I are applying for our marriage license today after school. Just two weeks to go!

Snoofy

Lots of drippy, snoofy noses in class today. The 7-8th graders took a test with me and the room was completely silent save for the sniffles. 

Today was all sorts of messed up... We had a two hour late start for Nicollet, but it wasn't announced until 6:45am, which is very late. Since New Ulm was on time, I had to get to school pretty much at the usual time. It only snowed an inch or two, so my driveway wasn't too hard to shovel. G is coming over later and volunteered to shovel the rest, so I just scooped out two tire tracks in the driveway. 😆

Most of my kids arrived by 8:15. Two of mine are teacher's kids who show up when she shows up. Three ride the New Ulm bus. Two of my Nicollet bus riders were out sick. I told my class whenever the last student showed up, we'd start class. So they had about an hour and a half study hall. I worked on lesson plans for the next three weeks and got pretty far. 

It was a pretty quiet morning. A pretty quiet day overall, I should say. We started a new read-aloud book, one about a Christmas pageant that gets taken over by a family with the worst kids in the school (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever). It's a great book. We made it halfway or so and will definitely finish before Christmas break. Not sure if we'll start another book or if we'll read choose your own adventures or Encyclopedia Brown stories to tide us over...

On The Edge

I have a 6th grader whose voice is dropping. I've never had that happen before! It either happens over the summer after 6th grade or sometime while they're in 7-8th grade. He commented on it first and said he hates it, how his voice is cracking. 

Today was an emotion-filled day at ILS. Lots of tears and near blow-ups. Is it the full moon? Changing weather? Parents on vacation? Trouble at home? Maybe all of the above... 

A 6th grade boy and a 7th grade girl got into it after school over putting stuff away in the gym shed. They yelled at each other and hit each other. With cones, without cones. I don't know. All reported by various classmates. 

Then a 6th grade girl was in tears because she brought a colorful sports bra for the game and her jersey doesn't cover it up all the way. The other girls were making mean comments about it and she was afraid of what the boys would say. So she stayed in my room (the girls' 'locker room') for fifteen minutes trying to be brave enough to go out into the gym. I had some safety pins in my desk, so we pinned her up a little bit, which made it better. My one 5th grade girl, bless her heart, was such a help. She voiced a second opinion, "I think it looks fine now. No one will notice." And said she'd go with the basketball player out to the gym when she was too nervous to go by herself. Whew.

Glad we got that sorted out. And glad tomorrow is Friday!

STEM Time

It's been a long time since we did a STEM activity. Since I forgot to buy alternative colors of glue for our next science lab, I whipped together a STEM project. Today's topic was "how many times can you do this in a minute?" They estimated ahead of time, then timed each other. They loved it. There were a few things they had to do (write their name, jumping jacks, stand/sit in a chair, draw a square) plus one they could choose. A lot chose to run laps. It was a great physical activity too! I need to remember to pull this out again later this year...

Sickness has hit our school. Influenza A, B, and covid. My class has been doing pretty good. We haven't had anyone home sick; it's been concentrated in the younger grades. Except one stayed home today. Another boy was absent in the morning so he could sell steers with his dad. I remember those days... not getting to skip school to do them, but going with Dad on 'farm field trips'. 

Fort Builders

Today was a much better day. Everyone was much calmer and got along better, although there were still a few dustups. Very minor though.

Tuesdays and Thursdays we've been going outside for noon recess. We haven't been following that routine very long, and I have mixed feelings about the outside part because it usually takes me time into recess to eat my lunch. Thinking about that ahead of time, I started eating my lunch at my desk a little early so I wouldn't have to eat it outside in the cold. It worked! I had enough time to eat all my lunch inside! Not sure I'll be able to do that every Tuesday/Thursday, but maybe if I bring lunches smartly...

My kids have been on a fort building kick. They built their second one today and made it much more sturdy so they could keep it up all morning. It's in the reading corner and they love to sit in it during their Daily 5 rounds. 

In other news, my dishwasher is officially fixed. Hooray! My freezer is not, and Habitat said they are working on getting a replacement fridge for me. My car has been behaving itself so far this week. Let's hope the good news keeps up!

An Alexander Day

Not my favorite Monday of the school year... In fact, I would probably label it as a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, after the picture book. There were a few redeeming qualities, but overall, it was a rough one, folks. 

It started before the bell rang with a 5th grader taking a bite out of a cork stopper for some scientific vessel. Just because. So we had to have a conversation which ate up all my time for errands in the morning. We barely made it to program practice on time, making me further frazzled and grumpy. 

The same kid was playing games and chatting with classmates on the computer when he was supposed to be working, so I had to lay the hammer down again. Later I found out he sent swear words to a website "chat bot." Except it wasn't a robot; it was a real person on the other end.

Noon recess resulted in me eating my lunch on the bleachers again, watching kids play basketball, majorly foul each other, then get mad when I call them on it saying "you only ever see us! you never see the big kids foul! it's not fair! you're prejudice against us!" Ugh. 

Three kids in my class were on the verge of having meltdowns constantly through the day.

Class with the 7-8th graders was nice. They had a read-aloud workday and I started a new book with them, a continuation of the book we just finished but following a different character. I've never read it before. 

Afternoon recess was windy and chilly, but with my snowpants on, it wasn't too bad. Until my zipper got stuck. I tried working on it most of recess with little success. Thankfully, a pliers applied after recess inside worked and now the zipper is functioning. That was both my high and my low for the day. 😅

Stunt Man of ILS

The snow hill continues to grow taller... 

My kids have been having a blast at recess carving the snow into sledding channels for the most hair-raising rides. They use shovels to carve away bits and use sleds to transport gigantic snow clumps to add snow to better locations for making ramps. Then they use their feet to stomp drop offs into the snow. It's quite the operation. 

The smallest 5th grade boy always seems to be the first to test them. When I commented about that today, he said, "I guess I'm the official stunt man!" Once he got that idea in his head, he hammed it up. All serious, he asked a classmate, "Pass me my sled." They started to hand him one. He said, "No, orange. It's gotta be orange." 

Every time they try out a run, "Watch Miss H! We're making history!" Today, they wanted to film him. I didn't have my phone, but one of the 6th grade girls asked to grab hers. She likes making videos, so I said sure. The kids must've watched the video at least ten times. 

Speaking of videos, the music video script is making progress. At Christmas program practice this afternoon, our stunt man leaned over and whispered, "Our song is coming up!" Then later, "Should we tell them about our plan?" I said no, keep it a surprise. He loved that. His eyes lit up and he whispered back, "Boy they're not going to know what hit them!" We shared a secret eyebrow wiggle. 

It's so fun to watch them sing this song. It's called "O What a Glorious Night" by the Sidewalk Prophets. The kids clap and wiggle. Even my 5-6th graders dance, like actually moving their arms in dance moves from the heart, not making fun of someone. I love it.

Grand Plans

One of the Christmas program songs is super perky and catchy. It's definitely the clear favorite of the students. A 5th grader leaned over to me as practice wrapped up and whispered, "Man, I have such a good picture in my head of this. It's like a guy is in a dark room when the song starts, and then a spotlight gets on him, and then at the end of the song there's a ton of people singing with him. Wouldn't that be a cool video?"

I said yes. He asked if he could make a music video for the song. I said yes again. Who am I to stifle creativity? So he and a 6th grade computer nut are working on a script/screenplay now that their NaNos are done and all their classmates want in on it too. They asked me to be the director. The rest of the class agreed to act in it. If the momentum keeps going, we'll have a filming day at church. If it turns out really, really good, we might show it at church. I haven't officially agreed to that, but it might fly if they do a professional job of editing. 🤔 I have confidence in them!

Backpack

I happened to pass one of my students hanging up his backpack in the coatroom this morning and he made the comment, "I hope angry squid is ready for war!" 

He was referring to the hook he hangs his backpack on; the two hook parts remind him of tentacles and the two screws look like eyes. The ready for war part was about the weight of his backpack. 

"It's really heavy!" he said. I asked why. "I keep tools in there, just in case. A hammer... a wrench... a flashlight..." I think his NaNo is getting to him! His story is all about a boy who helps save the world from natural disasters. I knew he had a flashlight in there, but he's added tools to the list!

Speaking of NaNo, only one student has yet to finish his. I'm 1,500 short on mine, but I should have time to finish tonight in between my errands and the Advent service. Boy will that feel good to be done!

Not a Snow Day

😩😩😩

We had school today. 

There was only about an inch on the ground when I woke up, no wind or anything. Not enough to call school off. Sigh. I kept checking my phone, hoping for news. Some of my kids shared they did the same. One girl's mom didn't wake her up until 7am because they both thought school would be at least two hours late. Nope. Another girl stayed in bed until 7:20, hoping. 

The snow got pretty thick and the wind did come up a bit. Our preschool teacher from Mankato said they were horrible on her way home at noon, so Mr. E suggested I tell my student teacher not to come. She was supposed to run a science lab today- extracting DNA from strawberries. We'll bump that back to Thursday. I was also supposed to go over wedding songs with our piano teacher, but she didn't come in for lessons today, so that will be bumped to tomorrow. 

We all hoped school would let out early. Nope. No such luck. The public school wouldn't even take Mr. E's call. But, by the time the buses arrived at our normal school-let-out time, the snow had stopped and the wind died down. It's very clear out right now. 

I'm not sure how the roads are, but I'm guessing things will get cleared up pretty quick. So, I am going to wrap things up here and head home to shovel my driveway... 

Snake

I played the basketball game "Snake" with some of my kiddos at noon recess today. I think they asked me to play because they know I can make baskets and the running away from the ball part is the most fun. Little by little a few more kids joined, until we had seven of us playing. It was pretty fun!

After school I saw I had a weather alert on my phone. Winter Weather Advisory for tomorrow. I checked snowdaycalculator.com and lo and behold, there's a 94% chance of a snow day tomorrow. Hmm... Do I want a snow day? Yes. I could get so much done at home! Not to mention, finish my NaNo. I need to write about 3,800 to finish and I have until Wednesday at midnight to do it. But... tomorrow our student teacher Miss K gets to do a DNA extraction lab with the 7-8th graders and it's the first time she'll get to be with the 5-6th graders for class and I know they're looking forward to it. So. It's a mixed bag. 

Another reason to not want a snow day is I have errands to run in Mankato tomorrow... I'm picking up my wedding dress and G and I have another marriage counseling session. Maybe the storm will be through by then? I think the wind is going to keep giving us trouble though. 

We'll see what happens!

In other news: Last night G and I dug a hole for my mailbox. This morning I called the post office and they're going to deliver mail to my house now! Hooray!

Favorite Things

My favorite part of Family Write Night last night was watching the kids come in my room after basketball practice, hot and sweaty, red in the face, and pick out a writing game to play, looping in their friends. "Hey! Remember this game? I LOVE this game; let's play it!" The top games were Mad Libs and Story Cubes, both games they're allowed to play during their Daily 5 writing rounds in my classroom. A handful of 7-8th graders banded together to play, scurrying off to grab a cookie in between.

I loved watching the parents making stories with their kids, or just sitting back to watch their kids and their friends create stories together. 

This morning, a 7th grader rushed into my room holding a thick book. "Miss H! Guess what! I read half this book last night. It's really good." After reading the back, I told her she needed to give me a spoiler when she finishes because it did sound really good. I love when my former students want to discuss books with me in their down time.

At noon recess, an 8th grader was bursting with excitement to tell me she had finished her NaNo last night. She had 2022 words! She is the first 7-8th grader to ever meet a NaNo goal. A few 7-8th graders have attempted the challenge over the years, but it's really hard to keep momentum going when you don't have a whole class going. This student wrote a book of poems with an intro poem telling what poetry is, four sections based on season of the year, and a conclusion summing up. I can't wait to read it!

PT

It's time to pick Christmas gift exchange partners in 5-6th grade. Like usual, I had them write down the initials of a gift they'd like to receive. Some are not surprising: NG= nerf gun, MD= Mountain Dew. One boy wrote TH for top hat. I only know because he wrote "top hat" above the letters. I blacked those out so it's still a challenge for whoever got him. 

A different kid asked me if I was going to participate. I said no. He then asked if he could get me a present anyway. Sure! Then they wanted me to write my initials up on the board. I asked for PT, peppermint tea. I wonder what sorts of things I'll get...

After school a 5th grade girl brainstormed her letters. I had forgotten what letters I'd written, so when she said, "Hmm, what could PT be?" I said, "Party Time!" She countered with, "Or pineapple. I could get you a pineapple." That you could. Apparently they're on sale for a dollar at Aldi this week. Or at HyVee for $2. One of my kids had pineapple for a snack this morning and gave me the update. That's almost too good a deal to pass up!

Tonight is Family Write Night. My classroom is full of tables and games to boost people's creativity. I will probably be too busy being hostess, but I do hope to get a little of my NaNo written. Even though I lowered my goal to 20,000, I still haven't been writing much. I wrote about 800 words yesterday. I don't have anything going on tonight after Write Night, so I should be able to get more in... 

Is That You?

After school I popped into the restroom and a few seconds later a little preschool voice called out, "Hello?" So I returned the greeting.

She went into the stall next to me and then said, "Is that you Miss H?"
I said, "Yes, it is. How did you know?"
She said, "Cuz I recognized your voice!"
I said, "Well that's pretty good!"

Then she said, "How do you know who I am?"
I said, "Because I recognized your voice too!"
"We must really know each other, to know our voices!"

Tonight is Parent Teacher Conferences. I'm about halfway finished with mine and they've all gone very well. I don't anticipate any of them going poorly; nothing too big to bring up with any parents besides "can't keep hands to himself" or "rushes through work and slops answers down". One of the boys in my class got caught playing a game on the computer when he was supposed to be writing. Ha. Bad day to be caught doing that. 

The other big one was actually with a parent who doesn't even have a kid in my class (just a 7th grader). One of her other kids, a 4th grader, bit some of my students during PE (allegedly). They came back abuzz that this kid had bit multiple people, mocked them, and was being generally rude. So I brought up the incident when the parent met with me about the 7th grader. She said she'd check into it. 

No school tomorrow. My whole day is booked though... many wedding-related errands to be done! After tomorrow I think we'll have pretty much everything planned and ready to go! That's hard to believe. It's also hard to believe next week we only have two days of school and then Thanksgiving break. Woohoo!

Glove Retrieval

Yesterday one of the 5th grade boys threw his glove at the roofline of my classroom, trying to knock down ice cycles. We watched it hover in the air before landing with a plop on the roof. Yeah, called that one from a mile away. He even said it himself as it hung in the air. "Yeah, that was not a good idea. I probably shouldn't have done that." He didn't feel like getting it down at yesterday's recess, so he left it up overnight. "I'll just tell my mom I forgot it at school." He came to school today with a different pair of gloves and plans for getting it off the roof. 

Mostly, it involved finding a ladder. Couldn't find one. So he got a broom. Then he wasn't tall enough to reach the roof. So he and a classmate dragged a bench over to stand on. He still wasn't tall enough; the broom could reach the glove, but the angle was wrong to try to pull it down. He tried his best! Other classmates came over to give it a try. The rest were onlookers from the playground, calling out instructions on how to position the broom. 

"To your left..."
"Now up a little higher..."
"Tilt it! Tilt it! Quick!"
"Okay, now sweep it down!"
"Hooray!"

In the end, he did get it, crusty with frozen snow, but he got it!

Petition

My kids want to get rid of spelling. And handwriting. And memory work. They wanted to make a petition and give it to me. I said if they wanted to ban it, they'd have to go higher up...to Mr. E and the school board. 

They got suuuuper excited at that. One 5th grader said, "I'll just tell my mom! She's on the school board! I'll just sweet talk her!" I warned them it probably wasn't going to fly. And if they wanted a better chance, they should get parent signatures too. Another girl suggested they put together a list of reasons, because they would pay more attention if it was thought out with reasons instead of "just get rid of it because we don't like it". Yes! Excellent point. 

Snow

I woke up to the brown fields in my backyard coated in a nice dusting of white. Thankfully, it wasn't too much of a dusting! I didn't have to shovel my driveway. The roads were a little slippery, but I made it to school without too much trouble. There were more vehicles out and about on this route to school than I'm used to, and some of them drove super slowly, so I'll need to plan more time to get to school on snowy days. 

The first snow of the year has the kids very riled up. My kids wanted to go outside for recess even though they didn't bring any snow gear. We stayed in for noon recess and went out for afternoon recess (that way they didn't have to spend as long in their wet clothes). 

Other strategic things from the day... Our student teacher starts tomorrow! She has very limited days and times she can be at our school, so I talked to the 7-8th graders about flipping science/social studies days. That means they don't have study hall two days per week, but they were all okay with that so the student teacher would have the best experience possible. In their words, "so she can get the most out of it." Aren't they sweet? 

My dishwasher got fixed last Friday. The Habitat construction manager came over to take a look. One of the water lines didn't get tightened as much as it should have. I left the water off over the weekend since I wouldn't be around. I'll turn it on again when I get home tonight probably. My NaNo is doing better than it has been. I'm still about 8,000 words behind, but I haven't written my words for today. Hopefully I'll cut down that gigantic number. Correcting and unpacking are both at a standstill so both are on the agenda for my evening plans!

Rocket Launch

One of my 6th grade building boys brought a bottle rocket, vinegar, and baking soda to school to shoot off at recess. Too bad it's not a nicer day: below freezing, cold, and windy. Not pleasant to be outside. Still, I said we could go out for afternoon recess. (I figured the 7-8th graders would freak out if I made them go outside for noon recess). 

The rocket launch was a success, although the second one didn't go off as quickly and took some help from the other sixth grade boy. Vinegar sprayed all over his shoes so we could smell him from a mile away the rest of the day. After shooting off the rocket, we came back inside out of the wind. I had hoped we could join the younger kids in the gym, except by the time we got inside, it was only kindergarten and Mrs. E likes it to be just her class. Bummer. We ended up doing indoor recess with a plan to go out earlier in the afternoon next Friday. Although, come to think of it, we are off the next two Fridays... one is the day after Parent Teacher Conferences and the following week is Thanksgiving break!

Speaking of break, I need a break to catch up on my NaNo. I am about 7,500 words behind. Yikes. I had everything set up to write this morning and then, standing in my kitchen, I noticed my slipper felt wet. On closer inspection, the kitchen rug was soaked and there was a big puddle of water all over the floor. My dishwasher leaks. Ugh. So I shut the water under the sink off, cleaned up, and texted Habitat. On my way to school, I happened to glance down the stairs into the basement. Another puddle. It dripped down through the ceiling. Noooo!!! Thankfully, last night I had moved most of my boxes out of the way, so only 1.5 boxes had wet books. Most seem salvageable. 

Someone from Habitat is meeting me at my house at 4pm. I had planned to leave for Fulda straight from school, but I guess my plans have to change. Sigh. I wish it were for a better reason...

Mixtures Lab

I surprised my kids with a lab today. Normally I give them more notice, but it was a PE day, so I had time to set it up when they were out of the room. It's one of the more labor intensive labs involving test tubes, pipettes, and beakers, plus mixing things together, so it's a fun one. They finished the extensive part before the end of the day and even did all the dishes before we had to go home. 

NaNos are going well for them. I typed for a few of the lagging typers and most are caught up to where they need to be. Or they will be caught up if I type for them another day. Many of them are counting their tokens so they can buy a Miss H typing coupon! 

My house is still a mess, but very slowly things are getting put away. I tried using my dishwasher this morning and it didn't run. G is coming over after bible study to take a look for me. Otherwise I'll have to add it to the Habitat list. They still haven't installed my garage door opener or mailbox. I've survived so far, but I really need to get my mail soon... it's hard when the post office closes at 4pm.

Calm

My kiddos were super calm today; it was weird. Probably the weather. It was oddly warm and foggy/misty all day. They saw the 4th graders and preschoolers heading outside and asked if we could go too, "Because the little kids are so fun!" Hmm... that's not the conversation I remember having a few weeks ago...

Regardless, we went out with them and they all had a blast. I kept our class out a little extra so they could enjoy the nice temps. Now it's raining and dark. Man, it gets dark fast now that daylight savings time is over. I keep hoping to watch a sunset from my new kitchen window but it hasn't happened since the day I moved in!

Whirlwind

My life is definitely a whirlwind these days. 

I moved in on Monday (no school, end of quarter), unpacked a bunch of things. I slept at my own house in my own bed for the first time ever! I had things set up enough to make my normal morning cup of tea. I skipped breakfast at my house though since I couldn't think of any easy breakfast food close by. Don't worry, I ate some snacks from my desk stash and I have a plan for tomorrow's meal. I also found teacher clothes to wear too, but my closet needs some drastic help tonight. 

My weekend was so busy, I only wrote a few words of NaNo. Hopefully I can make time tonight in between picking up my car (it's finally fixed!), voting (Election Day!), correcting spelling (so I don't fall too far behind in my school work), and more unpacking. 

On top of all that... wedding planning. Yes, for those of you who don't know, G proposed on Sunday at our Arboretum date. It was windy and chilly, but still sunny, and he found a good spot to do it.

I wasn't going to tell anyone at school; I wanted to wait to see if anyone noticed. No one did by the time school started. There's a tree poster in the hallway where people can write what they're thankful for on a post-it note and stick it to the tree. I wrote that I'm thankful for "my fiancé" and left it unsigned, wondering if anyone would catch that. By lunchtime no one had and it seemed like the right time, so I texted all the teachers in a group chat and asked them if they could guess which thankful note was mine... 😁 A few minutes later a wave of teachers and students swarmed my classroom, teachers getting in line for hugs. Kids wanting to see the ring. It was very sweet.

Bang, Bang, Bang

I'm officially a Habitat home owner! My house closing this morning went very smoothly. I had a surprise in the parking lot afterwards... G showed up to say congrats before he went off to work. 

I made it back to school just in time to hop in a car for our field trip. The play was awesome! It was a murder mystery, and they actually used fake guns or guns with blanks in them to shoot various characters. It made us jump every time! 

Even better, the play was only an hour, so we made it back to school in time for the buses. I was able to get a few last minute things wrapped up at school, and now I'm out the door on the way to the rest of my weekend plans! Whew! 

Thursday=Friday

One more day until I close on my house! I had a phone call with the Habitat mortgage lady and she answered some questions for G and me (he's been helping me make sense of the paperwork) and all the kinks are worked out. Mr. E and I figured out a plan so I don't need to come to school in the morning since my closing is at 9am. That made today our Friday, end of the quarter day. It was a bit of a scramble for some of them to get all their work turned in since they won't have time to do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow, my kids are going to do STEM stuff with the 1-2nd graders until Pastor arrives for confirmation class. Then, my kids pop over to watch a religious movie with the 7-8th graders until it's time for us to leave on our field trip. I should be back to school by then.

Afterwards, we're off to the Fairmont Opera House to watch a play put on by MLHS students. It's a mystery; I can't wait. Before it starts, we're eating at Subway (the students voted). I'm also excited I don't have to pack a lunch! I've been doing enough packing lately! Everything except for what I need in the morning is boxed up and ready for moving Monday morning. One enclosed trailer is already dropped off and ready for loading, although we won't put anything in there until Monday. 

This weekend G and I are headed up to the Cities for a weekend with some of his friends. Since I won't have time to lesson plan/enter grades, I did as much of that as I could beforehand. I'm sitting pretty good school-work-wise. NaNo words... that's another story. I'm falling behind, but I hope to catch up tomorrow morning before I need to leave for Mankato!

Shoe on the Roof

Another rowdy day in 5-6th. I leave the classroom for a little bit before school starts, and when I get back there's a kid crying in the coatroom because everyone was yelling at him for being crazy/slapping another kid in the face. Turns out he was retaliating because a classmate said the f word to him. That kid said he only swore because the other kid was writing on his desk and wouldn't stop. Ugh. I think I need to start taking one of my troublemakers with me when I leave the room. 

A different student thew another kid's shoe on my classroom roof at afternoon recess. That was an accident though. Kind of. They were playing Green Boogers (basically slow tag on playground equipment with eyes closed). He somehow got a classmate's shoe and was (with eyes closed) going to throw it in the woods. I told him to give it back to the owner. So, eyes still closed, he turned around and threw a great arching pass across the playground. It seemed like slow motion as it hovered and glided to a gentle stop a few feet fr the edge of my roof.

So, they problem solved. I recommended a ladder. Too much work. Those creative boys grabbed a snow shovel and the nearby loose drain spout/gutter. They shoved them together to make a long arm to pull the shoe off the roof. With classmates' help directing their movements, they got it down in just a few minutes. 

Rowdy

Another rowdy day. Probably due to the excitement of trick or treating later tonight with friends. Or the fact that it's a Monday and Monday's are always a little crazier than the other days of the week. My theory is because they haven't seen each other all weekend and have a lot to catch up on. Still, even with the chitter chatter, we had a good learning day.

The 7-8th graders got through one slide of my planned lesson. We're learning about meiosis, which is how sex cells divide and how genetics get passed down. Boy they have a lot of questions about how bodies work. We're learning about the reproductive system later this year, but if they have questions now, it's still related, so we've been going down the rabbit hole. Today they had question after question and asked them for forty five minutes straight. They would've kept going, but I cut them off so they'd have time for study hall. 

Stressed = Desserts Spelled Backwards

That's the story of my life today, minus desserts, unless you count Halloween candy my kids gave me. 

More closing details are coming out, such as paperwork from the USDA, but not the right paperwork that tells me how much money I need to close. There's a number, but it might change. You wouldn't think that's a problem, except if I'm going to pay that money, a check has to be dropped off TODAY so there's enough time for it to clear the bank before closing. Or the money has to be wired. Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem... except I bank out of town, you have to request a wire transfer in person, and I don't know how much money I need to request when I'm around my bank tomorrow. I'll have to make a special trip after school next week after I know my final numbers and I gotta make it before the bank closes. It's going to be tight. Sigh. Just what I wanted to do after school next week. 

Today was a fun day, but also stressful. Figuring out sub plans for next Friday, figuring out singing practice schedule/setting up Pork Chop Dinner stuff at church, figuring out Fall Carnival set up, while also juggling closing details with Habitat. Holy cow am I glad it's Friday!

All that being said, the set up at church went super fast and super smooth with the kids. We even had time to practice bells. Music practice was also good; our songs sound beautiful. The fall carnival went off without a hitch. My kids were great hosts to the younger grades! And my classroom is mostly tidy after all that. 😆

Lost Has Been Found, and BIG News

Picking up the bookshelves yesterday went moderately smoothly. We spent more time at the Mapleton school than Good Thunder and got over to Good Thunder five minutes before they shut down for the day. My bookshelf pickup took about 15min. On the way back, we went out to eat at the Thunder Bar. After unloading at school, I took a look at the goodies left on the two bookshelves. There were lots of puzzles, math manipulatives, and games. Lost of lower grade level stuff I set out for the other teachers to pick over. A few things I chose to keep. There's still a bin of things I need to sort through, but it was getting late and I made myself go home. A task for another day!

I've been missing the tiny garbage can right next to my door. It disappeared one day, nowhere to be found. I can't believe how much I miss that thing! My kids too. So often little scraps get tossed in there as we walk out the door or work at the folding table next to it. It's probably our most used garbage can. I finally wrote a note on the board in the office to see if anyone has seen it. The 1-2nd grade teacher said a tiny black recycling bin appeared in her room recently, was that mine? Yes! Woohoo! She said she'd switch to using a box for her bin. My kids will be so excited.

The bigger news is... I have a closing date! Next Friday, November 4th. It stinks because they have to do it during the day. Another stink is that the only time that works that day is 9am. The 5-8th graders are going to a play in Fairmont in the afternoon so none of those options worked. Mr. E will take my class for the morning until I get back. Pastor is showing a movie in confirmation class, so my class can watch that for part of the morning. I'll probably only get back with a half an hour to spare before we need to leave. Boy, that will be a crazy day. 

I won't be able to move in until the following Monday. G and I have plans to visit his friends in the Cities and attend another friend's wedding. Thankfully I don't have school Monday! Hopefully I'll be able to find enough help. So far, it seems doable...

Oops

After school today Mr. E, a retired grandparent, and I are hustling over to Maple River schools to pick up our auction items. The way it was worded on the website, I thought it was optional to sign up for a time. I thought you could just show up between the times listed and get your stuff. Apparently, everyone is supposed to sign up for a time. Oops. I only found out because I called the on-site guy to make sure we wouldn't be locked out since the time ends at 5pm. Mr. E thought it was six. Another oops. 

Mr. E found out that some of the stuff he bid on is at a different school than the other stuff both of us bought. Oops. Still, even with all that, we should be able to make it... as long as our ride shows up on time!

Tech Support

Another tough technical day in 5-6th grade. It took practically all morning for my kids to take their spelling tests with the audiofiles. 🙄 They were trying to access them through Microsoft Teams, but it took them to a page they didn't have access to and I couldn't give them access to it. And the IT guys didn't answer their phones. Again. Sigh. I tried texting after school and he did respond to one of my questions. He didn't say much about the other two. 

The other big news of the day was the online auction of the contents of a nearby middle school. I heard about it from a lady at one of the volleyball games (from the other team!) and passed on the info to Dan. Both of us bid on a few things. I had more luck than him. I won four super sturdy, high quality bookshelves. They'll be perfect in my basement for my books. The start of wall to wall bookshelves! One will be a great bench in my entryway closet. Now, where to put them until I can move in? 

My closing date tomorrow is officially cancelled. However, I did get word that the problem with the county has been ironed out and the title work was hopefully sent off to the USDA today (or whoever needed it submitted). Habitat is hopeful it will get moved through quickly since the other organizations involved know how long I've been waiting. I'm skeptical that it will be quick, but maybe I'll be wrong. 🤷‍♀️ Now my hope is to be moved in before the snow flies!

Busy

Boy it was hard for me to come back to school this morning after being off for three days last week. It was a great break. I tent camped with my travel buddy; the weather even cooperated! I got a few things done at home, mostly making dried apples/applesauce/fruit leather. And participated in the Heintz sisters' favorite day of the year: Dollar Bag Day.

My shoe twin donated another pair of shoes in my size and my style, a black pair of flats. I wore them to school today and multiple students thought I had forgotten to put on shoes and was in my sock feet. Apparently they blend in with my socks. I found a bunch of things for friends with kids, a few things for school, and a bunch of new clothes. I really need to go through my closet now... too bad most of it is still packed away. 

I haven't heard anything new about my closing date which means it's not happening this Wednesday. Habitat said they're working on a plan to get me into my house very soon, but it has to be approved by their board, which meets tonight. I'm still skeptical the plan will be approved/actually work. So we'll see. No news yet. 

This week will be crammed with Christmas program prep, bible study and an internet safety night hosted by school, and finally the annual Pork Chop Dinner and Silent Auction this Sunday. Whew. I better make sure I get to bed on time...

Defeated

My house closing is probably pushed off again. It's not 100% official, but the county found something wrong with the title work and it's been slow going to fix it. Habitat told me it would be good to plan on it being postponed and they'd let me know when they get the official word. Sigh.

Another low from today is that I left my computer glasses at home. I thought about driving back to get them but decided to tough it out for a day. I've had a mild headache almost all day, probably from the computer work. Something about this screen...

On the plus side, today is the last day of school for the week! Thank goodness. My kids were crazy again today. One went home sick with a bad cold/no energy. I had energy until I read the email from Habitat. But, I have all my lessons prepped for next week and not too many papers to correct, so at least I'll be able to take the weekend off from teacher stuff. 

This morning my kids (with a little help from me) made black eyed peas, a recipe from one of our read-aloud books (a version of the princess and the pea story). Each student brought an ingredient or two. Everyone arrived at school early, so we got them started around 8:10am. They were pretty good, although we didn't cook the peas long enough. I'd make the recipe again.

Bell practice also went very well. Our songs are sounding really good, both songs for October and the ones for November! I wanted to start our Christmas songs, but ran out of time. Mrs. E and I met yesterday to rough plan the Christmas program. It won't be our best, but it will be decent, in my opinion. The school board voted to have the Christmas Eve program at 2pm instead of 4pm since Christmas Eve is on a Saturday. Sounds like a good idea! Another change this year is Mrs. E and I decided to make it optional for everyone to be at both services, even bell people. If we're missing someone, we'll have to record the bells and play the video on the screen. Not great, but such is life. Maybe that will convince the congregation we should only have one service. Ha!

Snow

Just a hint of flurries in the air yesterday and today. Of course my students freaked out and ran to the window (that was yesterday). Today, we were outside at afternoon recess when the barest hint of flakes descended. 

It was a pretty quiet day today, aside from that. The preK-2nd graders were off on a field trip all day. No reading buddies. My kids were super excited to skip that. For whatever reason, this class does not enjoy reading with the 1-2nd graders. My class caught up on NaNo prep, learned next week's spelling, and said memory work. 

We made litmus paper from that blue butterfly pea flower tea. It's a pale blue on the paper, so I'm skeptical that the color will change much. Maybe we'll have to dye it twice. Right now the paper is drying on the table. One 6th grader is certain the table will be stained. I'm not worried about it; it's pretty light. Although, it's a bit darker than it was when we first put it down. Guess we'll see on Monday!

Dishes vs Papers

I've discovered I am choosing between staying current on correcting papers or staying current on my dishes. No time for both. Well, there probably is, but then there's no time for fun stuff. 

What's changed from last year? My best guess is latchkey, or after school care. I'm supervising one day per week until 5:30 (like last year), and a second day I supervise from 3:45-3:30 until the high school girl we hired can arrive. Somehow that extra forty five minutes pushes me back so much!

The other thought is my spelling due dates are all mixed around. Since my class went to Camp Omega, we switched which days spelling workbooks and tests are due. Now they're due at different times than the 7-8th graders, so I have papers to correct every night. Not too many, but just enough to make a difference. Thankfully, we'll be back in sync after MEA. 

One other thing... today after watching latchkey, I found this cute note on my desk... Pretty sure it's from a 7th grader...

Fire Safety Day

In the course of our fire drills the past three days, we've learned my class can get out of our classroom quickly in the event of a fire. And back in. 

Today was cold and windy, and they're not in the habit of bringing coats, so they all huddled together for warmth. When Mr. E gave the all-clear, we were the first group back inside. It was a good thing too because my phone was ringing. Normally, I let the phone ring since it's not usually for me, but I knew no one else was back in the building yet, so I answered. Turns out, it was the official fire alarm people! No one had let them know it was a test, and our fire chief wasn't answering, so they called the school to see if there was actually a fire! Oops! 

I put my kids to work and went to find Mr. E/the fire chief. I ran into our fire chief first. Turns out, our not calling was a test from him to them because last year the call didn't go through! He wanted to make sure that chain of command worked. Whew!

The rest of the day passed quickly. 5-6th graders prepped characters some more. 7-8th graders had the first science test of the year. A lot of them said they failed it... I thought they knew the content pretty good, but some of the things they asked me about while taking the test, yikes, maybe they did. 😧 Not sure if I'll have time to correct them tonight.

5-6th graders did double science/social today. We did MN history first and then STEM, making paper airplanes. The boys have been on an airplane kick, so I thought we'd put it to good use. How many pennies can your airplane hold? The goal was to have the plane fly 8ft with at least two pennies attached. We turned it into a personal challenge: can you add more pennies or adjust the coins' positions to make the plane go farther? We found that yes, the placement of the pennies can either help or harm the distance it can fly. That lab was a lot of their highs for the day. Most of the lows were that we didn't get an afternoon recess.

OMG LOL, Eh?

Latchkey kiddos are all girls today. They are all either playing school or playing with dolls. Two kinds of dolls are their toys of choice: OMG dolls and LOL dolls. I can't tell which is which, but one of them is the size of a barbie doll but with a much bigger head. The other is super tiny, like maybe an inch and a half tall. They all have cute clothes and shoes and accessories. Fun stuff. I think they might be content to play in the classroom the whole time! And here I was scratching my head, trying to come up with something for myself to do while they played outside. Most of my work today is computer work. 

I'm getting a student teacher in November, just for the afternoon science/social studies classes. Her schedule is pretty rigid, and the only day she can come check things out here before her clinical is this Thursday. Normally I have the class schedule mapped out so we can pick out lessons for the teacher to teach and I have a class roster/textbooks set out. I can do all that, but I'm not sure where we'll be with lessons. Hmm. I suppose that can wait. Maybe I'll map things out and tell her it's subject to change. We'll see what she's like when we meet on Thursday.

The best part of the day was our guest speaker from Canada. She's a student at MLC and was an EXCELLENT teacher. Her talk was very engaging with lots of interaction; she has a great personality. I had planned to have bells after she spoke for an hour, but we ended up going the whole hour. The 6th graders came down at normal bell time, so they got to catch the last half an hour. Poor 5th graders, they were bummed they missed out. Oh well. Maybe another time!

Free

Today is my only 'free' night this week. Somehow, events have popped up all the rest of the week after school. Funny how that happens. And 'free' is in quotations because I need to run errands tonight. But after that, I'll have the evening to myself. The question is, do I work on school stuff to try to get ahead? Or do I make dried apples like I've been waiting to do for weeks? Hmm... guess we'll see what time I get home from errands...

School was a much better day today than last Friday. The kids were pretty restless and chatty, but we held it together and did some learning. My favorite part of the day was our NaNo prep in Writers Workshop time. Today we brainstormed story ideas. I have two kids who struggle with creativity, so I worked with them one on one and I think we came up with a pretty good idea for each of them. The trouble will be keeping them excited for the rest of the month until they can write their story in November...

Long Day

Holy cow this week was long and today was even longer. Hardly any of my kids had their memory work ready. They were crabby. I was crabby (but I hid my mood better). This week I had two parent incidents to deal with. Not major, but stressful. Today, I had a student swearing incident at lunch. Lunch recess featured a fifth grader crying because he couldn't get his memory work AND he forgot his math book at home. At afternoon cleanup after recess, I had a kid-throwing-something-at-a-classmate-to-be-silly incident. On top of that, tons of people emailed me, needing me to do something, multiplying my to-do list with things that don't take long, except you have to have time to do them.

So. Kind of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day kind of day. But, as Alexander's mom tells him in the book, "Some days are like that." 

I do have most of the piddly things finished. Some things I'll try to get done this weekend. Some things I'm pushing off until Monday. I'd say it's time for me to pack up and go home!

Butterfly Pea Flower Tea

G and I found some unique tea in an Asian market. When brewed, it's a bright blue. We discovered it turns pink when lemon juice is added, telling me it's an acid-base indicator. Thursday, my kids and I made some in class since we're learning about acids and bases. We're hoping to make our own litmus paper from the tea. 

They drank a little (before I officially made it "lab stuff" ending the edibility of the tea... no eating or drinking EVER in labs) and I don't think anyone liked it. It's a very bland tea. Tastes like water with a hint of grass. But it looks super cool. 

The way it reacts reminds me of cabbage juice. If it truly reacts the same, acids turn it pink and bases turn it green. Time will tell!

Shuffling

Funniest part of the day... Read aloud with the 7-8th graders. They took Joe out of his tank because he was scratchy. He ended up in the reading corner with the rest of us and one of the 8th graders plopped a small pillow on top of him. Then the pillow began creeping slowly across the floor... 

It was hilarious. Slowly, it shuffled over to my foot. We thought Joe was stuck, but he turned around under the pillow and changed direction... Slowly it creeped the other way. It looked like one of those scenes in a movie where the character hides under something and shuffles around trying to remain undetected!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. A few kids forgot things in their suitcases/at home, but not as many as past years. The 5-6th graders and I planned the Fall Carnival and started prepping for our NaNos today. I had a two hour staff meeting after school followed by a bunch of internet work (the internet at home isn't working otherwise I would've gone home way sooner).

But the highlight of the day was videochatting with the Fulda fam to say hello/happy birthday to my goddaughter. Added bonus: watch her eat cake and open presents! A great ending to a long day. 😊

Camp Day Two

Last night was probably the best night of sleep I've gotten at Camp Omega. My kids slept until 7:15! I had to wake them up! Apparently I slept through a bit of whispering and a sleepwalking boy, but I didn't hear anyone tossing and turning at night except me (and the sound carries like crazy in the cabin). 

G was a chaperone for me. He had a meeting Monday night and left after shooting off the rockets. He hadn't planned to come back, but I guess he could tell I really wanted him to, so he came back for breakfast and stayed for canoeing. He dropped off a little surprise for me in my car... A bouquet of flowers! 

Canoeing and archery were the main events of the day. No one got super wet or super crabby canoeing. Success! We saw a bald eagle on our paddle. My canoe had a small leak, so there was a bunch of water in the bottom at the end, but not enough to make my shoes soggy. Archery also went well. They kids wanted to Robin Hood an arrow (where a second arrow splits the first). Crazy rare, but my kids were sure they'd be able to do it. Nope. Not even close. They weren't super accurate either.   Just one made a bullseye. But they had fun. 

The coolest thing of the day was the 5th grader getting to climb the rock climbing wall pole to get to his rocket at the top. His rocket launch broke a Camp Omega record! They've had rockets hit the wall before, but none have ever stayed stuck on top! This student was too young to climb the wall, but since his dad chaperoned and gave permission, Bob (camp director) allowed it. 

We ended our time at camp with another delicious meal, a bit of read to self time outside, and one last round of gaga ball. 

Camp Omega

Day one has been a success! I think most of the kiddos have settled down and are hopefully falling asleep... 

We had a blast exploring camp, building fires and pop bottle rockets, shooting them off, hatchet throwing, and of course playing Gaga ball. 

My favorite part of the day was the night hike out to the peninsula (suggested by Bob to burn energy off). The campfire was also great. We all built it together. Bob met us there and we sang a ton of camp songs, I did devotions, and we all said our highs and lows. Not many lows today! 

Oh yeah, my low was forgetting to bring our read aloud book. ☹️ I planned to read before bed, so I had to find a replacement on the fly. I have the audiobook version, but they didn't like the voices, so I picked a book from the library's Libby app. Unfortunately, I forgot that the book I picked gets kind of violent. Maaaybe not the best bedtime story! 😅 Thankfully I caught it in time and I stopped before I gave anyone nightmares. 

Only one girl got homesick. We called her mom a bit ago and it seemed to help. Praying we make it through the night without any incidents! 

Help Harry

The 5-6th graders did a STEM lab today. I think they had a good time, but I'll see when I check their papers. The bottom of the page had them do an evaluation of their experience with each other and how they liked the activity as a whole. I had the time split into: planning, building, testing/tweaking, and reflecting. Their task was to make a perch for "Harry", a puffball with googly eyes, to better watch the classroom. They had to build a tower to get him as high as they could. Supplies: 12 pipe cleaners, a paper clip, two index cards, 12" of tape, and a small paper cup.

It was interesting to watch them work. Some groups planned super well, drawing diagrams and talking through the steps of what they were going to do. Others only talked it out. All but one group completed the challenge! 

Now they want to help Harry survive a nuclear holocaust... Eh, probably not. But there can be more Harry challenges in the future. I just gotta think them up...

North America Trips Part Two

The last three groups presented today. Actually, they were all individual students, which is kind of rare. I guess they learned that some classmates are not great partners and they'd rather do all the work than have their grade lowered for a partner who doesn't hold up his/her end of the deal. 

One girl, arguably the smartest in the class did her trip for free. Yes. That's right. Free. She went to Colorado with her aunt/uncle, stayed with them, and they paid for everything. She went panning for gold and made $20 to add to her future trip budget. That's her whole motivation for the cheap trip, so she has more to spend on cooler places coming up. Well, I guess that's okay. She still planned a trip and it's not like she can do this for every trip she needs to plan this year. 🤷‍♀️

Smart cookie!

Storm Before the Calm

I meant to write yesterday, but I couldn't gather my thoughts well after the way the school day ended. The whole day had been fine up to the last five minutes of the day. One of the sixth graders had had enough picking and just exploded: full on yelling, crying in rage, then storming out to the coatroom to collect herself. In between, she flipped off one of her classmates (the one who had been poking her buttons all day, but he wasn't the one who broke the camel's back as far as I could tell). After she left, the whole class was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on our carpet. No one knew what to say. No one knew what had set her off. So I asked the class to do their highs and lows while I talked with her out in the coatroom. It was so sweet; one of the 5th graders asked me to share my high and low before I left.

This poor girl. The first thing she said was, "I already texted my mom what I did, so you don't need to tell her." I could tell she was beating herself up for blowing up. I also know that she has some family stuff going on and that her computer/testing didn't work for her this morning. Lots of little things adding up. So we talked. It seemed like we left it in a good place. She wrote her classmate an apology letter and left school out a different door so she wouldn't blow up at him again (both her ideas). I need to find tools to teach her to manage her emotions in a more healthy way. A friend is helping me with that. 

This student's best friend was in tears as well and didn't want to share. She stayed after school for volleyball, so I checked in with her after the rest of the class got on the bus. Yes, she was fine. Yes, it had to do with her friend yelling and the other classmate always picking on each other. We talked through some things as well until it seemed like she was doing better.

Sigh. I wish I had more knowledge of what to say and how to say it! I think I did okay, but I know there's always room for improvement. 

Thankfully, today was a much more peaceful day. 

Travel the World: Part One North America

The 7-8th graders presented their trip projects for North America today. Or... they tried to convince me that they shouldn't present today. Most of them weren't done this morning and wanted to wait until Thursday. 

Every year this happens. They get tons of class time and then wait and wait to do their projects. I know they've been working on them. Just not enough I guess. I told them they could trade their order with their classmates, but they had to work that out themselves. Two 7th graders swapped, even though they both presented today. One needed "just five more minutes Miss H!" 

The two 8th grade boys tried to work the system... They were supposed to present second, but they traded places with a classmate who wasn't going to be in class. Their thinking was: she wouldn't have to present today since she wasn't here, everyone else would get bumped up in order, and they'd both get to go on a different day. Getting to the bottom of the story more, one of the boys couldn't finish his part of the project because his computer got a virus this morning. Although, both of them went out to recess instead of working on it... Still. Not much you can do about a computer virus, so I gave them a one day reprieve. 

The three that presented today did a fantastic job. They picked cool places to visit and were thrifty in their spending! One girl's trip to Arizona only cost $500 including the flight. She stayed at her grandparents' house and used their car so she only had to pay for gas. Another girl went to Mexico City and rented a bike for a week to see the city. She was inspired by her grandparents too. Her grandparents did a resort-type place, all things included, but they gushed about the place so much she wanted to visit. The third presenter did a trip his family actually went on... to Colorado Springs. All super neat! I hope the last four presenters' projects are just as cool!

Chemical Reactions

Another super chatty day in 5-6th grade. I woke up with a sore throat (there's a cold going around school), so that didn't help either. But overall we had a good learning day. 

The 5-6th graders had their first lab today. It went pretty well from my point of view. We went over the lab prior to today so they'd know what to do. Before we began, I gave my safety spiel. Boy, they would not keep their goggles on their faces! They had a great time mixing liquids and checking for chemical reactions. I thought they'd have some supplies leftover. Nope. Two groups used them all, dumping various combinations of things together in the test tubes to see if they could 'make an explosion'. The closest they came was mixing vinegar or lemon juice with baking soda. Still, they got the test tubes to overflow! 

I split the class into three groups according to academic level. I don't think the kids realized how I split them up. The upper and middle level groups had three in them and I joined the low level kids to make them an even three. Those two worked at their own pace; I kept them on track and popped over to the other groups from time to time to check in. It worked fantastic! Tomorrow we'll work on conclusions during Writers Workshop. That was a sudden brainstorm I had five minutes before clean-up. In the past, we've struggled to cram the whole lab into the short science time. Conclusions always get gypped. Not this time! 

Boisterous

Holy cow my kiddos were loud today! And very touchy. The boys especially kept grabbing each other, roughhousing and such. 

It was raining outside, so we were in the gym for afternoon recess. We share a recess time with the Pre-K and kindergartners and when we're outside, it's no big deal. But crammed in the gym when my kiddos are crashing into each other... It makes Mrs. E very nervous. We split the gym in half to combat potential physical altercations. It worked, but all my kids' lows for the day were having recess with "the little kids". They unanimously agreed they'd rather have free time in our classroom than go in the gym with them. 

I offered the option of joining with the 1-4th graders. "Nope! They're even worse! I'd rather be with the preschoolers." Another student said, "Well, the 3-4th graders aren't so bad." Too bad they're a package deal for recess. 

We teachers discussed after school and are taking a poll of recess/PE times, but I have a feeling my kids' indoor recess solution is probably going to be our best option. 

Fly Swatters

Who knew fly swatters would be such a distraction?! The two sixth grade boys sit next to each other. They both like to be helpful. They've taken it upon themselves to be the designated class fly swatters. At first it wasn't such a big deal. They know where the two swatters are and they'd quietly take their weapons and patrol the room, on the hunt for pesky flies. But now they sit at their desks during lessons gripping the swatters, flicking them back and forth. One of the swatters, already old, is getting quite mangled. 

When I see the swatters in hand during class, I ask the boys to set them on the folding table behind their desks. And they do. For a while... A few minutes later somehow the swatters have magically appeared in their hands again, whisking back and forth, their eyes roving the room for flies. Ugh! Today it was so bad I made them put the swatters back in the closet. Sigh. 

In other news, my financial troubles with the USDA have been figured out FINALLY! The numbers have been adjusted and things are right as rain. The only downside is my closing date will most likely need to be pushed off by a week (hopefully not two) so paperwork can be finalized. I'm in the process of selecting homeowners insurance. Once we have a new official closing date, I can set up utility start dates. Another big sigh. The end is still in sight!

Finished

The 5-6th graders and I finished our first read aloud book of the year. It's a book that usually makes me cry even though I've read it three or four times. This time my eyes welled up and a few tears trickled out, but not too many. This class hasn't been as in-to the book as past years, so that definitely had an effect. It's funny, the kid who likes read-aloud least was so excited about the next book we're reading, he asked if we could start it this afternoon during STEM time. So we did. It's a really good book, Restart by Gordon Korman. One of my favorites.

My 7-8th graders are getting close to finishing their read-aloud book too. I'm not sure what I should read next with them. Normally we have trouble getting through one book in a year, but this class loved read-aloud so much when they were with me, I've made a commitment to giving them read-aloud every day, even if it's just fifteen minutes. 

After school I had a final walkthrough of my house with Mike, the construction manager, Luke, his intern, and Sondra, head honcho. We had a checklist of things to look at in each room. I made a list of things I need to do/buy for my house and Mike made a list of things he needs to wrap up. We're still waiting on paperwork from the USDA. There's been another snag. Apparently I'm too good at saving money, so they're changing things again. Sondra was hopeful we can keep my September 30th closing date (if all goes well). Just keep praying!

Full House

Lots of latchkey kids in my room after school today. Lots of whining too. And not wanting to share. But we persevered. 

It's hot outside... 97 degrees! My latchkey kids and I spent a bit of time playing out there, then hung out in the cool gym and my cool classroom. I got a bunch of correcting done and a little bit of lesson planning. But mostly "put out fires" between arguing kids. They all stayed until the almost end. 

Now my classroom is quiet and it's time for me to go home... Well, go to the library and pick up groceries and watch the MLC vs BLC volleyball game in New Ulm.

Spanish at the Water Cooler

Remember that kid who always filled up my water bottles for me at the drinking fountain last year? We ran into each other at the fountain this morning. He was on his way to the bathroom, but he said he'd watch them for me once he was done. 

When I came back from running my other errands, for whatever reason, I thanked him in Spanish. His reply as he walked back to his classroom: "Gracias, mi amor." I doubt he knows what that actually means. 😂 

My last Habitat meeting is tonight! It's hard to believe. It still doesn't feel real that in two weeks I'll be a new homeowner and moved into my new house! The paperwork is going slow, but it's going. So as far as I know, we're still on track. Two people told me they saw cars outside my house one night. My guess is those were the habitat families cleaning my house to earn sweat equity hours. Again, I'm so thankful there are others volunteering to do that task for me! 

Jennifer the Toad

One of the 6th grade girls is obsessed with toads. If I remember correctly, she has five as pets at home. She used to have six but one either died or escaped. 

She found a little toad near the mud kitchen at noon recess and promptly announced, "Hello little toad. Oh, you are a girl. Your new name is Samantha!" Apparently, you can tell a toad's gender by looking at its belly. Who knew?

I called them in for recess a while later and she came back over to the mud kitchen still clutching the toad, looking for a place to put it. She decided to put the toad in a cupcake tin. "Okay Jennifer the toad..." A classmate cut in, "Wait, I thought you named her Samantha?" She said, "I changed my mind. Okay, Jennifer, we're going to bake you in a cupcake! Ha, just kidding, we're not going to bake you." 

And then I lost the rest of what happened because Mr. E came out to ask me a question and we got sidetracked discussing what to do about the 7-8th graders' foul language at recess. I never hear them, or if I hear something suspicious, they always claim they didn't say the bad word. This time, some younger classmates tattled on them. One girl fessed up and then squealed on other classmates who do the same. Ugh. I think we've dealt with them all now. Mr. E had a big talk with his kids and I talked to the mom of the kid in my class. 

On a positive note, everyone said their memory work before the bell rang today!

Country Living

The smell is worse. We did a lot of breath-holding walking to and from my classroom... The trustees came last night and emptied the live traps, but there were only a few mice. The smell was strongest in the hallway into my classroom and the coatroom. That made me think it died further under the building. One of my early arrival students volunteered to search for an animal hole. He found one on the playground side of the building, but it was filled in with leaves. Hmm... it was a bit windy yesterday. Maybe the leaves blew in? Either way, the smell is there. 

This kid, a farm boy through and through, also volunteered to unscrew the tin from the side of the building. "I think if I took the tin off, I'd be able to squeeze under there and see what's there!" Uh, thanks but no thanks. So the trustees are coming after work to poke around again. I'm not sure what they'll be able to do. 

I let my kids bring their backpacks into the classroom so they wouldn't absorb the smell. We kept our door closed and held our breath entering and exiting. The smell got better as the day went on, at least to me, but my kids said it was still horrible. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Calendar Writing

English ended up being a whole lot more fun today than I originally planned! Our topic was author's voice and being descriptive with our writing. I referred to a game we played last year, the Calendar Writing game, and said we could play it on Friday. The class said, "Why can't we play now, since we're thinking about it?" Huh. Good point. So I got out the supplies and away we went!

How to play: a picture from an old calendar is tucked in a folder so no one can see it. Each student picks one and secretly describes what it looks like, sounds like, feels like, time of day/year, nearby objects, etc. Then the pictures are revealed and students guess whose description goes with which picture. I had the pictures grouped based on seasons to make it a little harder to guess. Our topic today was fall. These guys got really into it! Some had amazing descriptions and found little details from the picture to include. We had some good guesses! 

My kids were on a fly hunt today. For some reason, flies are all over the place! There might be a dead something in the live trap under my deck. If you stand out there, sometimes you catch a whiff of something unpleasant. All the boys fought over who got to hold the three flyswatters. During read-aloud they patrolled the room, swatting and whacking the air. Then they asked if we could leave the door open to let in more flies for them to swat. 

7-8th grade science was possibly my favorite class of the day. They all wanted more read-aloud time, so they tried to convince me we didn't need to do science, but I held firm. We were reviewing something they learned in 5-6th grade, probably something I had told them (back then) that they'd be learning in 7-8th grade and they convinced me to teach it to them right at that moment so they wouldn't have to wait. 

Since it was a review, some of the kids said, "We know this! Why do we have to go over it!"
Me: To see if you remember it.
Them: We do!
Me: Well enough to teach it?
Them: Yes, Miss H!
Me: Okay, go ahead!

So an 8th grade boy taught science today. He actually did really well and the whole class was engaged the entire time. I had to step in every once in a while (I was a student and took notes for him), but we had a great review session. I'm also impressed with how well he was able to mimic my mannerisms and teaching phrases. 😆 

When someone asked a question about something related... "Just hold tight! That's on the next slide."
When they were getting too loud, he did my sign for internalize/calm down.
When one girl answered the question but another student also had a hand raised, he said, "Do you have anything to add to what [first student's] said?"
Someone said they had a connection to what he'd said. His response, "Great! What kind of connection is it? Text to self? Text to text? or..."

I'm so proud! 😅

House Updates

I can't think of anything to write about school today since it was very normal, so I'll give some updates on my house!

The building inspector walked through the house today to make sure everything is finished to code. If it went well, he gave Habitat a certificate of occupancy which then passed on to the USDA. The USDA emailed me this week asking for updated financial documents (I sent them this morning). I'm meeting with Habitat next Monday to go over the closing paperwork/if I have any questions before my actual closing date on September 30th! That night is also my last homeowner's meeting (they're planning a small celebration honoring the completion of my sweat equity and the closing date being set). Two days later, I'm meeting Habitat people at my house to go over how everything works and go through a maintenance checklist. Then, my move in date is set for October 1st! Woohoo! I already have a few people lined up for trailers, muscles, and food. I can't believe in less than three weeks I'll be in my new house! 

Hair

I wore my hair down at school, something I rarely do since it's so long. I've been thinking about getting it cut because it's starting to slip out of my bun easier, but when I mentioned it to my kids, one of the boys said, "No, you shouldn't Miss H, it's so pretty long." I'll probably let it grow some more; it's not quite long enough to donate and still have it long enough to put up in a bun and clip. 

The 7-8th graders (and I) made it through a whole hour of science! We accomplished everything I wanted to for last Friday and today, plus had a few tangents. I need to figure out a new game plan for the 5-6th graders... I have a few low level kids and a few high level kids, so for the first time in a long time, I have bored kids or completely lost kids, depending who I cater to. A flipped classroom might be the way to go. I just need to get it started. Mr. E and I talked a little after school and he's having the same problem. It's nice to have another person to bounce ideas off!

Extremely Convincing

Man, the 7-8th graders are at it again, wheeling and dealing for more read-aloud time... It worked. Big shock. But they did have their plan well-laid out.

They first asked how long science would take. When I said it might not take the whole time, they proposed that we read a little bit more.
I said, "We should do science first and then read after that with the time that's left." 
They said, "But we're so comfy, we should read now while we're all in the right mindset."
"But we might run out of time then."
"Well, we could do extra science on Monday!"
Another student, "Actually, we should read aloud the rest of class today and then do science the whole hour on Monday."
Me, "So we wouldn't have any read-aloud time on Monday at all."
Them, "Yep. We're fine with that!"
I was suspicious, "Are you sure you want to do a whole hour of science all at once? Will you be able to concentrate that long?"
"Yes!"
Me, "I don't know if I can concentrate that long!"
"Oh come on Miss H!"
Another student, "If that happens, we could take a five minute brain break. Or we could switch to working on geography projects!"
Me, "But what about the half hour of science we're missing?"
"We could do it the next day since we'd be doing geography on Monday! Same amount of time for each class!"

At that point I gave in and just enjoyed the read-aloud. 🤷 We were at a really good place in our book...

Paint Mystery

One funny thing from the day... a 5th grader put on his gym shoes and exclaimed in shock and horror, "Someone dripped something white in my shoes!" The whole class broke into an uproar. What? How is that possible? 

Class comments:
"Is it whiteout?"
"No, too big. Maybe it's paint."
Sarcastic classmate, "Oh yeah, someone stood over his shoe and purposefully put paint in it."
"Why would there even be paint anywhere?"
"I saw a paintbrush with white paint on it in the fridge! That means someone was painting!"
"Maybe it dripped down from the ceiling."
"Where did you have your shoes? On the shelf? On the floor?"
"We should probably check it out if it's dripping from somewhere."

Everyone stared at me, waiting. Of course we had to solve the mystery! No way would they settle down for class until we did. So out we went to the coatroom to investigate.  

Some kids examined the student's hook area, searching for paint. Others tried to climb in the loft to see if paint was up there. I asked the student to show me his shoe so I could inspect the paint splatter. Hmm... it seemed awful flat. Wait a second... 

"Could I see your other shoe? It might be the brand name printed on."

He took off his other shoe (which wasn't so worn inside) and low and behold the marks matched. Mystery solved! Now, on to science!

Outer space Adventure

Our afternoon recess was possibly my favorite part of the day. We shared the playground with the preschool 4s and it was so fun to see my kids playing with the youngers. Two 5th grade boys pushed the little girls on the swings, lifting them up to sit. There's a big circle tire swing that can swing in a circle, so soon the preschoolers clamored for a push. The boys acquiesced, but they didn't just do normal pushes... No, they pretended the swing was a space ship. When it was still, it was docked. In motion, it had to avoid asteroids and aliens (the boys pushing), complete with sound effects and dramatic falling to the sand when they were vanquished. A 5th grade girl joined them on the swing too. Man, the giggles of pure joy! And the best part is, we get these recesses three times a week. ☺️

Tattoos

I supervised after school care today. There were seven preK-2nd grade girls with me this afternoon. They built forts in my classroom and played in the mud kitchen outside. A few of them went over to the sandbox and sat on the huge sand pile together. 

"Hey, do you want to know how to make a tattoo?" one of them asked. "All you do is spit like this..." she dribbled some spit on her leg. "And then you just go like this." Then she pours sand on top of it. "See? Tattoo!" The other girls immediately copied her. 

It's crazy how quickly they can sneak! Two girls had been running around without their shoes on for the longest time before I even noticed. Another girl snuck water out of the school faucet to play in the mud kitchen because there wasn't enough for her cup of tea. Thankfully most of them ask before dashing off to the bathroom so I can at least keep track of them there. 

School today went well again. Man, my kids love to write! I introduced them to Duolingo today and so far they've decided to learn Spanish, German, Hawaiian, and Japanese. I hope they keep it up!

No tech issues today either. The biggest problem (for me) was my tiredness! My flight back on Sunday got delayed four hours total, so I didn't make it back to Minnesota until 2am. My college travel buddy graciously picked me up, and then we stayed up talking for another two hours... Oops! 

So, early bedtime for Miss H tonight! 😅

Relays

Another whirlwind day! We practiced all the rounds we learned about so far this week, took a spelling inventory test (so I can place them in spelling groups), and highlighted bell parts. All the computer issues were worked out today and we had smooth sailing with the laptops and accounts. Whew! 

This class loves to write; it's pretty awesome. A bunch of them are hung up on their stories so any chance they have a minute, they're writing. It should be a good NaNo year. 

We ended the day with all-school relays. It is a scorcher, so it's a good thing we ended the relays with popsicles. My class opted to eat them inside in the a/c. 

I'm keeping this short today so I can be on my way sooner... my classroom is packed up and I even have my lessons done for next week! Woohoo!

First and Second Days

I'm out of the habit! I forgot to post yesterday! 

The first two days of school have been great. I have three new students in my classroom: a brother/sister pair (one in each grade, children of the new 1-2nd grade teacher) and a classmate of theirs from their old school (it closed down this summer). They have already acclimated to Immanuel and are fitting right in with their classmates. 

My favorite first day of school memory: The 1-6th graders were out at recess together and a big group of them played gaga ball. The 3-4th graders were called in and my class waited for a 6th grade boy to start the round again. He kept holding the ball practically shouting, "3-4th graders are supposed to go in!" Everyone looked around like, where are those sneaky 3-4th graders who didn't listen? He repeated this message two or three more times. I didn't see anyone left from Mr. D's class, so I said so. The 6th grader pointed to two fifth grade boys standing against the side of the gaga pit, "They're right there! Those two are in Mr. D's class and they didn't go inside!" We all stared at him. I finally said, "Uhh, those two are 5th graders now. They're in our class..." Ohhh! Lightbulb moment. Two seconds later we were back to playing.

My least favorite first week of school memory: Our IT guys are up to their usual standard practice. My most frustrating moments these two days have involved tech not being ready for us. They took all the student laptops over the summer to update them and didn't return them until last night. Their excuse to Mr. E, "You told us school started next week!" Nope. Definitely not. Even though we had devices today, about half the class couldn't use their accounts because their password was incorrect or their account didn't have permission to use the programs they needed to use. Ultra frustrating. But I talked to the IT guys after school and it seems like the bugs are worked out... 

I've had two late nights at school. For whatever reason I have a ton to get done and it's either taking longer to do it, or more people are talking to me/adding things to my list before I can leave. Thankfully I've been eating good even with these late nights. Last night Mr. E grilled me chicken and a pork chop (with a spinach salad on the side), and tonight Dad took me out to eat after dropping off mom and one of my sisters in Mankato. 

I'm trying to work ahead on things for next week so I don't have to lesson plan over the weekend. My sister is in a jiu jitsu competition in Las Vegas and I'm flying down there to cheer her on with my mom! I leave after school tomorrow. So, not a very restful weekend ahead, but a fun one for sure!

Last Day- Read Aloud All Morning

Drumroll please... I've officially completed my 10th year of teaching! 

My kids were a lot calmer today for some reason. Our day was all sorts of mixed up, but it was a good day nonetheless. Before school I made posters for the upcoming plant/bake sale. They're signs to go out by the highway, so I wrote bubble letters. My kids wanted to color them in, so I let them. We had to make six signs, which took a while. Everyone worked peacefully on coloring or their late work. So we had devotions and did our morning prayer later in the morning than usual. 

Last night I wrote a huge to-do list on the board of cleaning things to accomplish today. We got them all done! When they got tired of coloring, they'd do a cleaning break. My classroom looks so bare and empty now. Except the lab table. That still has a ton of plant stuff. They said they're bringing things home tonight after the carnival. Hopefully they remember. 

Read-aloud was fun. We finished our latest book and still had time to read, so we read a Choose Your Own Adventure story. That was a blast! The class picked the options most likely to lead to death. We made it through two stories before it was our turn at the ice cream truck. We ate our ice cream on the playground and picked up a few things while we were out there, then drove over to church for closing chapel. Chapel ended early so we prayed, did our final highs and lows, and hung out on the playground until the buses came. 

I wrapped up my report cards after school and am going to sneak home for a little more packing before tonight's potluck at 5:30. My 'movers' are moving my big furniture and whatever else I have packed on Sunday after church. The other stuff not packed should fit in my car for me to take later next week. 

2- Use a Beanbag All Day

Holy cow the natives were restless today. Not a great day for read aloud all morning. Today was the only day in the schedule that worked to use their class prize. We're doing read aloud all morning tomorrow as the balloon prize. Now I wish I had split them up more. We only have a few chapters of the read-aloud book left and I'm not sure what to read after that. Something that would only take a few hours to read. Hmm. Pippi Longstocking? Encyclopedia Brown? A Time Warp Trio book? I guess we'll see. 

They were turning in tokens left and right today. Some wanted chew gum coupons or to eat lunch in another classroom tomorrow. A few bought more marbles for the class prize jar. They're gunning for extra recess tomorrow afternoon. Some want a token 'garage sale' tomorrow where they can buy prizes from the prize box with their tokens. We'll see. I think they bought all the good stuff the day we did reading BINGO prizes. 

The 7-8th graders had extra recess today too. We finished our final social studies lesson a few minutes early, and since the majority of them had their spelling turned in, we played gaga ball for the rest of class. Then they made smores with Mr. E. They'd brought supplies along on their class trip and never made any, so Mr. E decided to do it today. One 8th grader snuck up behind me as I sat on the playground bench. He passed me a smore over my shoulder so I couldn't see him and whispered, "Shh, don't tell anyone!" And then disappeared before I could tell who it was. Except I recognized his shirt as he ran back toward the smores-making area. It was delicious. They ended up giving my whole class smores since they had enough ingredients.

It was quite the day for treats! Besides the smores, our lovely volunteer cook brought homemade ice cream dessert for everyone. I saved my piece for later because one of the 5th graders brought high class donuts for the class! Mine was so massive it almost ruined my lunch...

4- Wear a Hat All Day, 3- Play Whatever Game in WW/WR

Yesterday was our one day softball season at Caswell Park in Mankato. It rained off and on, but thankfully never on during the games. The games went better the more we played: we lost game one, tied game two, and won the last two games. Still didn't place, but it was a fun day. I pitched all four games and am not sore today! Well, my ankle is tender. I got smucked in the ankle by one of the 8th grader's hits in the first game; I couldn't get out of the way fast enough. 

It's surreal that there are only two days left of school this week. We had a normal day in the 5-6th grade room. They have a few writing assignments due tomorrow we worked on. It'd be nice to have another week to polish them up, but we'll make do with what we have. 

During latchkey, I finished correcting that assignment I've put off for two months. All I have left is 7-8th grade spelling and whatever assignments they turn in tomorrow. My goal is to finish report cards by Friday evening's award night. Doable. 

My mind is split between wrapping up school and packing my apartment. The final walkthrough is next Thursday the 26th at 4:00pm. I don't have much going on today and tomorrow after school, so I should be able to pack quite a bit. It's a little easier to pack when I think, "Am I going to use this in the next week? Will I use this in the next two months?"

I have a hard time picturing living anywhere else after ten years in the same place. A few loads of boxes have made their way to my hosts' basement. I'm not sure how many nights I'll stay there vs. in Fulda at the farm. Habitat says my house will probably be ready at the end of July/early August. We'll see. Moral of the story is, label all the boxes really well and put things I might need close to the front of the pile.