Farmamerica

Guess what... One of my college classmates who works in the Bethany theater department messaged me that she has a spaceman suit! It looks like it will work for a robot costume! Now I need to decide what to do with all the other robot costumes on the way...

Our field trip was great! They had us inside for most sessions, so even though it was windy, it wasn't too bad. We extracted DNA from strawberries, made a pleasantly presented salad and talked about food safety, learned about driver-less tractors from Kibble Equipment, did a mock corn marketing session where we projected our crop yields/figured out potential profit, tested soil samples for pH and other nutrients, and designed a logo/product box for a granola bar company (as if we were a marketing team). 

And on the way back we swung by my house where they were finishing siding the side. Only one more day of siding left! Not much different on the inside.

Elves and the Shoemaker

NaNos published and ordered? Check. Musical program made? Check. Balloon countdown to the end of the year? Check. Lessons planned/ready for next week? Check. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you stay up late. I'm paying the price today, but I feel waaaay more on top of things now. 

This afternoon was spent at the MLC spring children's play. This year was "The Elves and the Shoemaker." So well done. It is every year, but the actors really knocked it out of the park. My kids had a lot of connections to the story even though they'd never heard the story before! I wanted to read the original this morning, but they wanted to finish our read-aloud book and start the next, so they convinced me to read the story after seeing the play. We'll see if I remember on Monday. 

Tomorrow we go to Farmamerica for a Junior Achievement career day, the first ever. Also, it's my first time at Farmamerica. I hope the weather is good. It was cloudy and cool today. Now I'm even hearing thunder. Hopefully the rain holds off... I'm bringing a load of my stuff to my temporary summer home (until my house is finished). My garage items moved into my porch and it'd be nice to get them out of there so I can use the porch if I want. The apartment management wants to update their website with pictures of a staged apartment. The worker in charge of the project asked if she could take pictures of my apartment because she loves the way I have it decorated. Why not? I have a bunch of boxes shoved in my guest room, but I can make it presentable by the time they want to take the pictures. Plus they can pick up my garage door opener so I don't have to make a separate trip...

"Your Robot is So Cool!"

That's a quote from the spring musical. I'm really hoping I can make that statement a reality, but the costume world is working against me... First, there are not many robot costumes available for purchase. Second, a lot of the cool ones won't arrive before the musical. Then, the first costume I ordered was way too small and it was the last one so I couldn't order a bigger size. I found a replacement that wasn't as cool, but was still roboty and my actor could move in it. Except... the one they sent was completely the wrong size. The pictures said it was a size small adult; they sent a size small KID. Ugh. Thankfully I found the exact same costume in a bigger size from a different seller. AND it will arrive before the musical. Hopefully.

We had our last cast practice at church before the rest of the school joins us next week. Again, we didn't get through as much as I wanted, but the parts we did do went great. The robot practiced his part with the guitar my brother lent me. This kid plays his part very well. It involves an air guitar solo, followed by a lip sync rock song and fake guitar playing on a real guitar. His acting is great!

Now I need to order shirts for the chorus, make the musical program, set up the set (but not until after church Sunday), create the before-the-musical powerpoint/background, and coordinate root beer floats. And do all the normal school things. And publish my students' NaNos. And make sure field trip stuff is a go. Sigh. And take time to rest so I don't go crazy.

My high for today was the Prayer Partner Present tucked into my podium, aka Joe's class picture. So cute. Now I have a picture of him to go on my desk!

Snappy Dialogue

The 1- 2nd graders were full of great comebacks today. 

I ran into one of the 1st grade boys at the drinking fountain and commented, "You look taller today. You must be growing."
He gave me a sad, resigned look, "That's cuz I am."
"Are you excited to be growing?"
"No! I wish I were shrinking!"
"Why?"
"Cuz of all the hard work I have to do!"
It's only going to get worse buddy...

Then, at the outside portion of Latchkey, two first graders acted suspicious over in the wooden house on the far side of the playground. I walked over and asked, "Whatcha doin?" Right away the girl answered, "Living... Livin' the dream." 😆

Musical

Musical songs are on a constant loop in my head. Any given moment if I actually focus on what's running through my mind: musical songs. Good thing they're really catchy and actually sound good. The musical is next Friday already! 

The 6-8th graders had their first practice at church today. I couldn't find the key to the sound system, so my poor sound guy (a 5th grader) had to turn the volume up as loud as the laptop would go and do the best he could. The kids with smaller parts gave me grief about not having chairs to sit on/having to sit on the floor while they waited for their parts. I don't want anything too permanent set-wise until after church this Sunday. So we created a bare bones set with tables and folding chairs. 

With all of those asides, we didn't make it too far into the script, but I'd say we still made good progress. We worked on the emotions of acting and what the on stage actors should be doing when they're not speaking. Just two more days of practice this week. Then next week we'll add the rest of the school to the mix. Oh boy! Here we go!

Glitter Day

So. Many. Sparkles.

The kindergarteners had glitter day today, and the evidence is scattered around the school... on the gym floor and bathroom floor... even on an 8th grade boy! He complained about it on the way over to church to practice our bell songs. "I don't even know how it got here! But it's all over the place!"

Birthday

The 7-8th graders toured New Ulm High School this afternoon, so I had an hour of extra time. My class started pinatas. We did our newspaper layers on balloons in the gym since it's a little windy today. Then Miss H watched inside recess and I watched outside recess. 

I turned 32 today! It was a nice, low-key day where people made a little fuss, but not too much. Mr. and Mrs. E left flowers on my desk. Pastor and Mrs. B left chocolate chip cookies in my mailbox. Kids said happy birthday in the hall. One 8th grader (whose birthday was yesterday) brought me a piece of mint ice cream oreo dessert (delicious). Mom and Dad took me out for supper last night. And G has a mystery adventure planned for after school!

Banned Books

Our latest read-aloud book, Ban This Book by Alan Gratz, frequently mentions other books, many that we have in our library. Most of the books mentioned in the story are on the banned book list. The ones in my class library are not bad books, even though they've been challenged by others. From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and How to Eat Fried Worms are two of those books. I loved both of those and said so to my students, so some wanted to read them. It prompted an upsurge in my students picking up 'old' books, ones whose covers are not so modern. It brings joy to my heart!

So this morning in some downtime, I pulled out more books from the banned book list in our read-aloud to set on display. Just in case. 

Miss H's first day

Our student teacher dropped in right in the middle of things. She comes at 12:30 every day (today was the first). In past years, we started class at that time, but this year the 7-8th graders have class at 12:15. I shuffled a few things around so Miss H won't miss any instruction time, but that meant she arrived in the middle of bell practice. Always a crazy time, today made crazier because it's the first day back after a long weekend AND they just finished trying on costumes. 

Over break, I borrowed costumes from the Fulda Elementary School costume room, courtesy of the band director. Almost all my cast are costumed! My villainous side-kick has a Storm Trooper costume and cape. The main crew and villain are wearing the old black percussion band uniforms, our captain wears a red band uniform, and the earth people are wearing earthy-toned shirts/dresses. The earth people's costumes are a little lame. I need to brainstorm some more. Maybe Hawaiian shirts? I have two in my dress-up box that could work for the girls. One more needed for the earth boy... Hmm... G has one I'm sure I could borrow... 

Bell practice was crazier than normal not only because we ring on Sunday, but because one of the 8th graders can't make it, so we had to divvy up her parts. Always complicated. This time, the song is easy enough it went okay. And we have practice Thursday to work out the kinks. Whew. Only two more church performances this school year! Hard to believe.

So, Miss H's first day was pretty boisterous. She handled it well. She played catch with a 6th grader at recess. She's fairly quiet and just took everything in while she was in the classroom. No questions yet, but I'm sure she'll have some tomorrow. Her first lesson is this Friday!

Sheep

Our school had an impromptu guest speaker this afternoon. A church member who raises sheep wanted to bring two to school and talk to our students about them. So he did! He and his sister brought two lambs, each about a month old. They'll be weaned next week. 

The kids had a ton of questions for them and enjoyed holding, petting, and snuggling the lambs. It brought back so many memories! I kind of want to get sheep again... 😏

The other big news of the day is the drama we teachers have all been waiting for: the latest 7-8th grade romance has officially ended. This just in: 7th grade sports star breaks up with queen bee 8th grader during a noon recess basketball game. Sigh. It made for a rough 7-8th social studies class. She cried pretty much the entire class period. The boys acted up, glad to have their friend 'back in the fold'. Thankfully there's a break before they need to see each other again...

This is the last day of school for the week! Easter is right around the corner and so is spring, although the weather is not agreeing with that last part. Snow and cold weather is in the forecast for this weekend. The end of the school year is fast approaching too: 24 days of school left. I can't believe it!

Pencil

I spent the last half of the day walking around with a pencil sticking out of my bun. Completely forgot it was there. We had musical practice in the gym to get used to acting in a bigger space. I needed to make notes in my script, found a pencil in the bleachers, then stuck it in my hair and promptly forgot about it. I only realized it was there when I swung by the bathroom after school and caught a glimpse in the mirror. Oops!

Musical songs are going great! They're so catchy, our kids know them pretty well already. I should find time to have them playing in the background while we work. Maybe in the morning before school...

This week is a short one before Easter break. Only two days total! Tomorrow is technically Friday! It's still my day to do after school care, and it sounds like it will be a full house. That's all right. I'd rather have more than less. 

The other exciting thing is the start of the detour route. Well, not exciting really, but a big change. Highway 14 (the road from Mankato to New Ulm) is officially closed from Nicollet to New Ulm until Fall 2023. Access to Courtland is pretty restricted. Thankfully, my path to school is still normal. My path to New Ulm, not so much. I might make a library run tonight to see how tricky it is. 

The New Ulm bus riders have to get picked up 10min early and leave school 10min early to accommodate for the detour. The roads were still open this morning, so all my kids were at school early. We did a good job getting kids out to the early bus on time. The Nicollet riders stayed in the classroom for an extra 10min working on stuff. This will be interesting the more days in we get. Everyone was extra vigilant today, but I know we'll probably be more lax the more days we have to do it...

Apples

I am unofficially the class unwanted food vacuum. It started a few months ago with sub-standard bananas at lunch. I like ripe bananas and don't like seeing food go in the garbage, so I volunteered to take anyone's unwanted banana. The bananas piled up. All right, breakfast for the week! Joe gets their unwanted lettuce and a few carrots every now and then. Uneaten fresh broccoli and pineapple have also made it into my lunch. 

This week is apples. So many uneaten ones have lain around our classroom for what seems like weeks. Someone asked me if I wanted theirs and I said sure. When I told them I turn them into dried apples, they were thrilled and want me to bring some for the class. So I will do that sometime. Yesterday they gave me three more apples, and this morning one girl got an apple off the breakfast cart specifically to give to me. 

Making the dried apples actually goes pretty quick. I don't mind peels, so I leave them on. Then, I have a handheld apple slicer that cuts the core out and makes little 'breads' (it's like the one that cuts an apple into wedges). Dip them in kombucha, place them on the dehydrator tray overnight, and voila! Dried apples in the morning. 

Testing Testing

My 5-6th graders had a social studies test on the American government today. They did decent on it. The branches of government matching section tripped up some students. A surprising percentage of the class only got two wrong (four out of seven students). 

The big trouble was that I originally printed the wrong version of the test. They started reading the questions and complained, "Miss H, we didn't learn ANY of this." Normally a few kids complain about that, so it didn't faze me at first, but then they read the question to me and I didn't even remember the answer. I knew I had looked over the test recently and tweaked it, so I checked my lesson plan folder on the computer. Sure enough, there were two versions of the test, one that had been edited in 2022 and one edited in 2016. I had printed the old version. Oops. So they recycled the tests I had passed out and I reprinted them. Sigh. So much for me being ahead of the game.

House update: When I checked Tuesday this week, only one more window needed installing and the siding was almost all completed! That I could see anyway. It's been rainy/muddy, so I didn't check the back of the house. 

Haircut

When the class jungle, aka the garden plot, was in full swing earlier this year, little black gnats/flies appeared and annoyed everyone. So I put up a sticky fly trap in the corner by the garden, close to the plants, but out of the way of people. It's hung there minding its own business for months. 

Today, one of the 6th graders got it stuck in her hair. I have no idea how it happened. One minute I was reading aloud to the class, the next minute gasps and "oh gross!" filled the air. She'd already pulled her head away from the sticky trap by the time I looked up. Another student investigated the scene, examining the trap, "There's hair stuck on here!!!" 

The 6th grader, completely grossed out but staying calm decided to cut her hair. I made her try washing it out with soap first. Thank goodness for the class sink. Unfortunately, washing didn't work. So she took a scissors and chopped off the sticky chunk. She had hair mousse in her backpack and tried to style her hair to make the missing section unnoticeable. It kind of worked. I could hardly tell at all. She had her hair in a ponytail the rest of the day. We'll see if her parents notice...

Mystery Artist

The mystery artist struck again... 

Last week, Mr. E found a painting on his desk that says "world's best math teacher, from your star student." Before the meeting tonight he and I analyzed the handwriting and narrowed it down to two of my kids. 

After the meeting, I found a painting on my keyboard. Mine says "best teacher" with lots of smiley faces, a heart, and bright colors. I solved the mystery though... One of my students stayed for latchkey today. She's been staying after school on the days her grandma runs it and her grandma ran it today (she switched with me so I could go to the meeting).

Elementary, my dear Watson!

Student Teacher

I met my student teacher after school today. She starts the day after Easter break, but I usually meet with them ahead of time to show them the classroom, go over the schedule, pick out what days/lessons she'll be teaching. So that's what we did today. Very nice girl; my kids are going to love her. She is specializing in social studies and is ready to dive in with lessons. She's here for about three weeks in the afternoons. 

April Fools

Surprisingly, none of the 5-8th graders tried an April Fools joke today. The 3rd and 4th graders did, probably their teacher's idea since he tried to pull one on the rest of us teachers before school. He texted everyone to say a blizzard warning popped up for this afternoon, so we'd have to cancel the all-school outdoor recess/clean up day again (last week it was too windy). I saw it after everyone else responded, so it didn't fool me. 

The 3-4th graders showed up in my doorway before school claiming they couldn't come to musical practice this morning at 8:30. Yeah, they weren't even the teensiest bit convincing. The leader forgot what it was they came to tell me and looked at one of his buddies coming up behind him. Then they floundered for a reason why they couldn't come. 

"We can't come because..." 

I gave him my teacher eyebrow look, "Because it's April Fools Day?"

"No!!! Because... um... your shoe is untied! Ha! April Fools!" They scurried out of the room laughing, my kids staring after them in disbelief. Surprisingly, this didn't prompt them to do any jokes, but I'm okay with that.

Musical practice went awesome today. The songs we sang in the morning are really catchy and the scenes the 6-8th graders ran this afternoon went smoothly. My main actors are putting lots of inflection in their voices and doing great acting. I can't keep the smile off my face as they rehearse. Only one month until the performance! And just seven weeks of school left! ...that's not an April Fools... Yikes!