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.