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. 

5- Read Outside in the Morning

It was a great day to read outside. The wind was strong, which caused a few runaway papers and things, but my kids were able to catch up to everything. We did our whole morning besides religion and English outside. I caught up on correcting. It's hard to believe there's only four days of school left this year! 

I had a Habitat meeting after school today. I selected my countertops, kitchen and bathroom flooring, and narrowed down paint choices. The electric work was approved Friday, they're installing insulation this week, and will hopefully be ready for sheetrock by Friday. Closing will probably be late July/early August, depending how many volunteers they have and how much they get pulled away to work on the St. Peter house. 

My apartment move out date is getting bumped up with how Memorial Day falls. They want me out by next Friday so they have time to do some work. They'll prorate my rent for those days and I can end my electricity early. I'm not sure if I can get all my stuff packed, moved, and the apartment cleaned by then. Probably. I did a little packing on Sunday but I ran out of tape for boxes. Maybe I'll do a bunch after school this week...

6- Book Unboxing Party!

Originally, I'd been planning an all morning read-aloud as the prize for today, but we needed to go to church to run through the bell song, practice the singing song for church Sunday, and do reading buddies. Not much time left for reading. So, I traded next Friday for this Friday. 

The books arrived over the weekend and I wrapped them up on Tuesday night, so they were ready to go anyway. It was only this morning I remembered I'm missing a student; he's going to his brother's graduation at Bethany today. My kids thought we should put his book in the box and tape it up again so he could have his own unboxing on Monday. Good idea! 

I took a half day of school today so I'd have time to help my friend with wedding preparations! My sub is the daughter of a teacher from Truman, a junior education major at Concordia, and she's been getting lots of experience subbing for Mrs. L and Miss M (the preschool helper who also had a baby). Now it's my turn!

We've accomplished a lot on this half day of school for me. We practiced singing the musical songs we're singing Sunday with the replacement soloists (a bunch of kids aren't going to be there), we practiced bells, had reading buddies, made a plan for next week with Mr. E/math/science/social, updated the school website... Whew!

7- Tour the Farm and Miss H Brings Treats

I forgot to bring my iPod along, so I let a parent take pictures for me. She's so good at taking pictures, I'm sure hers will be better than mine would've been anyway. 

We had a great day out and about in my hometown neck of the woods! I had three parent chaperones, so I didn't even drive! End-O-Line was the first destination. My class was the first tour of the year and our tour guide is the brand new director of the park. He was a little rusty, but he did a good job, my kids enjoyed the tour. He needs to work on the pacing a bit more; the tour was over an hour and a half and I was getting antsy! Our tour didn't even include two of the buildings, the general store and grist mill, because they're being moved due to water damage. 

Next stop was the farm. We traded shoes for boots (in some cases). Case behaved himself; my kids loved him. My sister and niece accompanied us around the farm. We pet a day old calf, swung on the haymow rope, sloshed through puddles, scoped for peacock feathers, held teenage chicks, and of course played bale tag. It was great! After a quick snack and drink break, we checked out my brother E's farm place. That was a much shorter tour, just ten minutes before we had to head back to school. All in all, a very fun day!

8- Break Pinatas

Well the pinata breaking was a success when we actually did it. Miss H ended up staying for the whole day, so we bumped her lesson to the afternoon so we could have a normal morning. Then I realized I had her teaching during one of my student's piano lessons! Ugh! So I bumped the piano lesson back a half an hour (taking the place of an 8th grader on his class trip). Then I realized the piano lesson would be at the time I'd planned pinata breaking. Not such a big deal, except the preschoolers were going to watch us smash them and had adjusted their school day accordingly. Sigh. Thankfully the preschool teacher was very flexible.

It turned out the piano kid didn't have his piano lesson because he forgot his books! So we could've kept the schedule. By that time I didn't want to mess with it anymore, so we did a study kahoot for the light/sound science test Friday until the newly agreed upon time.

The pinatas didn't like staying tied to their yarn. Eventually we switched to a baseball pitching style of smashing. My kiddos liked that way even better. So did the preschoolers. They wore the leftover pieces like a hat! 

10- Track and Field Day, 9- Redo Round

As suspected, my students were not pleased with their balloon prize for yesterday's Track and Field Day. It was "recess all day! unless it's raining, then read-aloud all day." They said they felt gipped because they were going to get to do that anyway. Tomorrow's prize is no better: break pinatas. Again, something we were going to do anyway. Well, we don't have to do the balloon prizes! 

School was quiet today. Both Mr. and Mrs. E are on the 7-8th class trip. They're gone Tuesday-Thursday after school. I'm on a field trip on Thursday and Mr. D is on a field trip Friday. Mrs. L had her baby Saturday (she'd planned to be on maternity this week and next anyway), so she has a sub all week. In fact, my student teacher is subbing for her Thursday. I hope it goes well; they're a rowdy bunch and Miss H hasn't had to deal with many classroom management issues. Pretty much the whole remaining school will have a sub Thursday, except 3-4th grade. 

Track and Field Day was great. The wind kept things cool, but sometimes almost blew us over. They got rid of the hop-step-jump this year, so my station finished the earliest we ever have! I even had time to watch some of my kids on the high jump! The afternoon warmed up significantly, but stayed overcast. Even so, my face got a little rosy.

Musical recap: it was a smashing success! They looked great in their costumes, sang with gusto, remembered their lines (well, the evil villain needed prompting on a few). My robot with the guitar solo hammed it up even more than practice, and the villain's sidekick did some phenomenal breakdancing. Mr. E said it's the best one he's ever seen! (But he says that every year). The only downside was the video recording. The person running it panned too fast and the faces of the cast are blurry, plus he zoomed in on one person while and cutting out other people speaking. Sometimes for a whole scene! And on the songs, he focused on one area when the soloists stood in another. Ugh. I wish we would've talked about where to aim the camera before the show. 😞

Now that the musical is over, a huge cloud of tension has lifted off the school. All we have to get through now is one more singing and ringing Sunday. We're just singing a few musical songs, so that's no big deal. The bell song had sounded pretty good before we quit practicing bells during musical rehearsal. The only problem is the 7-8th graders are gone so we can't practice until Friday... My kids set up the tables and bells today, so at least that's all set. We'll have to practice Friday morning because I'm taking the afternoon off for a friend's wedding!

11- Eat Lunch Outside

My goodness, what a beautiful day today! Perfect for our annual Swan Lake canoe trip and our balloon prize of eating lunch outside. 

We paddled at the Poor Farm Bay lake access point this year (my second time there, first time with my class) because of the Highway 14 construction shutdown blocking our normal access point. The north entry is way nicer... fewer reeds, shorter channel to the main lake, easier to see where to enter/exit. My kids had a great time. Miss H came too and it was her first time! I think she had a good experience. But the trip ended on a slightly sad note; the DNR guy who always leads us is retiring this year. We were his last paddle group. I'm bummed because he was the right balance of tough yet kind and let us just experience being out on the water yet pause to educate. I hope his replacement is just as good.

Musical practice went MUCH better today. Tonight will be a good show. Hopefully there won't be too many mess-ups. I definitely didn't give as many cues as I did yesterday; we're as ready as we're going to be. The sound board is still a little worrying, but our IT guy and Mr. D weren't up there the whole time running things. IT guy kept busy replacing mic batteries and teaching Mrs. E to use the spotlight while Mr. D took pictures of the cast. I wish we could've had one practice with both of them solely doing their sound jobs, but oh well. It is what it is.

Yesterday's end of after-school care got pretty exciting... I had all the kids outside, they were playing house, etc. on the far side of the playground. One of the 4th graders (who tends to be a bit melodramatic) walked over to me saying, "Miss H! We have an emergency!" Since he was walking and not sounding too panicked, I didn't think much of it until he added, "I dropped a rock on my finger and I think my fingernail fell off." And then the panic entered his voice. "I'm bleeding all over the place. There's a lot of blood." There was. With more coming the longer we stood there. 

So I gathered all the other three chickies to come inside with us. Most of them didn't understand what was going on, which I was glad about. My first aid training kicked in and I gave them jobs to do while I assessed the situation and calmed him down. We wrapped paper towels around the thumb in layers adding more when they bled through (it only took three). He wanted to check it, but I wouldn't let him. His mom is a nurse, so I knew she'd doctor him up once she got here. And it only took her 10 minutes to arrive! Then she whisked him and his brother away. He was in school today, thumb wrapped up, good to go. 

12- Drink Gatorade or Juice

Holy cow the younger kids were crazy today at musical practice! I'm watching them at latchkey now and they're just as crazy. Good thing the rain stopped and water dried up so we could be outside. They're having a ball playing house while I correct papers. Not a bad arrangement. Thursdays aren't my normal days, but I'm covering for Mrs. L who had an appointment at noon today. 

Program practice was rough. They didn't sing loud on the songs; their brains were elsewhere. The main cast forgot their lines and needed cue after cue. I'm hoping tomorrow will go better. It has to since we perform tomorrow night! Mrs. L will be there (and Mr. E), which will help. Somehow Mrs. L always gets them to sing louder than anyone else can! 

One the plus side, the costumes look good! My robot costume came in the mail today at lunchtime and this one actually fits! We're using the robot head from the too small size costume since the one that came today could fit two 8th grade heads inside. 

The 5-6th grade did not accomplish much lesson-wise today. The Gideon's passed out bibles to the 5-8th grade and Pastor asked them to talk for a while... They talked for a half an hour... Then we had reading/writing buddies with the 1-2nd graders. That was awesome. Watching my kids give feedback to the younger ones was heartwarming! And the 1-2nd graders shared their book report shirts with us too. Very cute. 

Miss H taught the 7-8th graders for the second and last time. It went better than the first time, classroom management-wise, and she got them going on a really good discussion about the philosophers of the British Enlightenment period. Surprisingly, of all the kids in the school, they were not that crazy (until we got to musical practice of course 🙄). 

To end on a high note, one of my dear college friends stopped by to give the 3-4th graders poetry books from the United Way! She popped into my classroom on her way out to see Joe and say hi. 

13- Chew Gum All Morning

Remember that 'school picture' of Joe I got from my prayer partner? Well, she has more pictures of Joe, these ones of adventures he's been on without me...

Here are the originals from his photo shoot:

Now, the fun part...

Wouldn't you know it? He was in our Christmas program too! The sneaky sneaker!

The girl who did them said her mom and grandma had a lot of fun photoshopping Joe in random places. Her grandma did one with Joe on a plate, her cousin about to eat him!

14- Sit Anywhere For the Day

A trio of cranes flew over the soccer field while we were at recess! Their honking is quite unique. 

Today's schedule was all sorts of crazy. Our new nurse did puberty ed for the 4-6th graders. Seems simple enough, until you figure in that the boys and girls have separate sessions PLUS the 4-5th graders just learn about their own gender but the 6th graders learn about the opposite gender too. So, that took care of the morning. It felt like we didn't accomplish much. 

Then Miss H taught the 7-8th graders history. Sigh. They were rowdy today and gave her a tough time. She didn't try to rein them in at all, but this is her first clinical experience and she's only worked with younger grades prior to this. I took a bunch of notes and we had a quick conversation about what she could try next time (especially since she's teaching again Thursday and they'll be even more wound up). She seemed positive about it. I tried to keep my comments positive and constructive. She's coming for the whole day tomorrow, so we can talk more then.

Musical practice was also crazy. The IT guy came for mic set-up and he stayed the whole practice, popping in and out to have kids try out headsets and adjust the volume. With the new sound system at church, we have six wireless mics! Holy cow! It's fantastic for the acting they're doing. A few kids have hand-held mics, but they're doing great with holding them and passing them around. T-minus three practices until the musical...

15- Make a Mother's Day Present

Only 15 days of school left? How is that possible? 

Our balloon activity for the day was making a Mother's Day present. I cleared out some of the wine bottle decorations from my kitchen for them to transform into vases for their moms. A few potted plants in mugs or decorated boxes. No one used the frames I had. Oh well, that'll save for another year.

We had our first musical practice this afternoon at church. Some of the 7-8th graders set up the set in the morning, so there wasn't a ton to set up when the rest of the class went over there. It's looking good. It's sounding good too! Most of the speakers have their parts memorized, which makes the rehearsal run smoothly. They remembered when they needed to say their lines too! We ran through the whole thing in our one hour practice. Woo! I thought for sure we'd only finish half. 

Since the buses pick kids up at 2:35 now, we arranged to have the bus pick everyone up at church. The kids had to bring their backpacks over, but it worked great. It was weird not to have an end of the day routine. My kids popped tomorrow's balloon at lunch so they'd know if they needed to bring anything for tomorrow. We discussed doing highs and lows at lunchtime, but they were in a rush to get out to recess, so I think we'll add that to the morning routine for this week. Flexibility is definitely the motto of the week!