Quiet

The kids must be tired; it was a much quieter day today. 

Surprisingly, my favorite part of the day was Writers Workshop. We just started a historical fiction writing unit and I'm feeling good about the writing the students are doing and the brainstorming/help I'm giving them to get started writing. 

This is the first time I've tackled historical writing in English, and it helps that we've read a few historical fiction read-alouds. All those details help my kids figure out what to write. But I have a feeling I'm going to have to push them to add more historical details. I worked with one student who had quite a long story, but it could've taken place in any time period. If there's one, there's got to be another...

I caught a few students wasting time on their computers during rounds today. One kid said he was reading articles online (a task I'm very skeptical of, but a few of them have actually been reading news, so I let it go). This particular student had been staring at his spelling test audio file for at least ten minutes. Yeah, not a great move buddy. I kicked him off for the rest of the round and he snagged a book off the shelf to read. Or maybe 'read'. Not sure since I had to get back to the other student I was working with. 

The next round the same guy tried to pull the same trick again, reading articles. That stopped when I told him he could go back on his computer as long as he sat at the folding table with his screen out so I could easily see what he was doing. For some reason, he didn't want to do that... probably because it's not very comfortable. Guess he should've thought of that before messing around on the computer. I did a few random browser history checks of other students and they were all okay. A different kid I'd previously caught messing around took me up on the "sit at the folding table" deal and he actually read an article. 

Today is the last day of February. Last day to read. Tomorrow is the last day to turn in pages! I'm not sure how close to the goal we are... with the field trip yesterday and our two snow days last week, we're all playing catchup and no one has had a chance to tally the reading logs. I hope we make it. If not, we're not watching a movie Friday and that will be a bummer...

Trip to the Capitol

Today was a full, but awesome day. We had an interesting start to the trip when we got word that the New Ulm bus would be late because so many of their buses had gone in the ditch. Thankfully we only had one student on that bus, so two parent chaperones waited at school and drove up separate. 

We had to rush because the parent planning the trip got Mr. E the opportunity to say the prayer at the Senate opening. We made it in plenty of time and he did great. We got to sit on the opposite side of the Senate chambers than visitors usually get to sit. It's very steep there, which is why they don't allow it. 

After that we headed to a meeting with our local representatives: Jeff Brand and Paul Torkelson. We told them about our school and asked a few questions. Then the leader of the high school page program spoke to us. Then we went to the Senate building to meet Senator Nick Frentz at his office. He was fun to meet with. We got an inside look at the offices and behind the scenes of our government workers. He took us to the Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate Committee Meeting (he is committee chair). After that we finally had lunch (around 1pm). 

Our tour of the Capitol was delayed slightly so we could catch a glimpse of the governor and lieutenant governor. It was Muslim day at the capitol and they each gave a speech in the rotunda. 

The last thing on the agenda was to sit in on the House Session. Michele got the 8th graders and Mr. E tickets to sit on the floor (which means they got to sit where the action happens instead of the balcony, like the rest of us). 

While we waited for session to start, a state trooper asked if a few of us wanted to do a special side trip. Of course! He said he'd take one chaperone and two students. Me! And two of the 7th grade girls (we did bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish). Turns out he took us up to see the golden horses! They don't have that on the tour anymore. You have to have to ask a trouper or sheriff specially and they'll take people up, but only after April. So it was extra special to go up this time. 

We tromped over snow piles and roofs (safely of course). We came to a vertical ladder and he looked at it and said, "huh, I don't remember it being that difficult to get up there... maybe we got off too early." So we went back to the stairs and up another flight. That was much easier! 

We rejoined everyone five minutes later just in time for session's beginning. It was supposed to be a very short meeting, but that plan derailed. The republicans wanted to call into a vote (and skip the committee hearings) for cancelling social security taxes. It's been a 'oh we'll get to it later' topic for years and they wanted to make it a right now thing. It felt like a bazillion representatives stood up to talk. We had to leave before we heard the outcome, but later I asked someone in the hall I recognized had been in there and he said the motion had failed, 68 to 64. Major bummer. 

The ride home has been good. We're making good time and the kids have all had a bunch of snacks. A few have been dropped off at Nicollet and the rest will arrive at school soon! I hope everyone has a chance to rest up before class tomorrow, or we'll have some cranky kids...

Again, great trip. Michele put together an awesome schedule. She had a few people make bars and treats for the ride up and back. We had great chaperones. One was a retired lady from church who had never been to the Capitol before and decided now was the time. She was awesome with the kids and we want her to come on all field trips from now on. 😂

Fizzle

We had two snow days, called on Tuesday night already. It was great having the days off! G took the days off too, so we hung out at home together and caught up on a bunch of things. I didn't get my stack of picture books read or my papers corrected, but I cooked and cleaned and shoveled. 

The storm wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be (at least in Nicollet), so we had school Friday. Everyone was bummed about that... I had a student on vacation this week. I'd been worried about him catching up when he got back, but he won't have too much to catch up on!

Just Snow? Or Blizzard?

The school was abuzz today with the upcoming weather system. Word on the street is we're getting about 18 inches. Now, I'm not sure if that's on one day or over the course of the storm, which started this afternoon and is rumored to last until Thursday afternoon. It's snowed steadily since 1pm, light, fluffy stuff just perfect for blowing around. And the wind is supposed to pick up Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. Some people predict no school the rest of the week. Others say only Thursday is a for sure snow day. My guess is both Wednesday and Thursday off, but depending how bad it blows, we might need Friday to dig out. I guess we'll see what happens!

Tomorrow we were planning to sing and play bells as part of the Ash Wednesday service. That's now postponed until next Wednesday. Mr. E and I decided that this morning so I wouldn't have to lug all the bell stuff over to church. The kids were disappointed we still had bells today, but we need the practice.

Most everyone else is gone from school. Mr. and Mrs. E are still puttering, along with our janitors, but my car is lonely in the parking lot. Tonight's plan is to get as much correcting finished as I can, read my stack of picture books (or save that for a snow day), and then start watching The Chosen. It's been on both G and my watch lists for a long time. It's a tv show (available to watch for free) about Jesus's ministry told in a narrative that makes the stories come alive. The show producers have done some speculation on the disciples' personalities and conversations, but I've heard from others it's really good. 

Guest Speaker

Boy am I glad it's "Friday"! No school tomorrow or Monday! Woohoo! Granted, I have a bunch of papers to correct and a few lessons to plan, but still, a nice chunk of time to get all that done.

We had a great guest speaker this afternoon for 7-8th grade geography. Nadine is a nontraditional student from China at MLC. She's 51 and in her first year learning to become a teacher. You can tell she loves teaching people; her powerpoint was 99 slides! It had lots of pictures and she told stories about her life that tied in with the pictures. Unfortunately, we didn't make it very far though those slides before our time was up, but we did learn a lot about the food of China! She told us the story of how she came to be a student in here. The short version is that her son goes to high school in the Twin Cities, her husband encouraged her to learn to be a teacher in the US (he stays in China to work), and she decided to listen to God and do it. Very cool lady.

Two Hours Late

The roads were horrible this morning. It rained all day yesterday and the wind howled all night giving us glare ice on most of the roads leading to school. New Ulm had a two hour late start, but not Nicollet, so I had to go in at my normal time. G called me a minute after I left the house to warn me about the roads and then stayed on the phone until I made it to school, just to be safe. 

I did safely make it, but I passed one car in the ditch. Then the wind blew snow around and covered the roads some more. Both buses were late dropping kids off. We had a strange morning with just half the class at school. Some Nicollet kids got dropped off by their parents later in the morning, so I started the day with three, then bumped up to four until the other bus came. I had a big to-do list on the board for them. Most of them worked on their Invention report which was supposed to be due tomorrow. But that deadline is pushed off until next week. 

Since it's Wednesday, a chapel day, we had chapel and music practice at 10:40 after everyone arrived. This left only fifteen minutes of worktime before lunch; we had just enough time to go over spelling for next week. And our afternoon was normal. 

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the week! We have Friday and Monday off for Presidents Day. My good friend L has a birthday on Saturday, so I'll go up to visit her for a few days. G is sticking around and will hopefully get a few house projects taken care of... installing our garage door opener perhaps...

Valentine's Day

We went to Nicollet for a play put on my MSU students. This year's offering was really good! It was a good message (not all heroes wear capes... parents, teachers, doctors/nurses, police, etc. are everyday superheroes) and the music was pretty good. Not super strong lyrics, but catchy. The main character, Blastogirl, called kids up to the stage to ask her questions, both before the show and after. That was a neat twist to the typical question/answer segment. Although, we had a lot of little ones sharing their favorite superhero instead of asking a question about their production. Oh well! I think they all had fun.

I had a good time until the bus ride home. Man, these kids love to get mad at adults! Any time I call someone out for misbehaving, they get mad that I'm not getting everyone else in trouble too. Ugh. The constant muttering under their breath is driving me bonkers. So far I've been choosing to ignore it, but I might need to try another tactic. The 5-8th graders are going on a field trip to the capitol in a few weeks and we're taking a bus. Maybe it would be a good idea to have assigned seats on the bus...

The rest of the day was fine, although they were suuuuper chatty all morning. My class was going to read in the gym for one round, but it rained all day so the other classes took their morning recess in the gym and that would've been way too loud for us. 

On a positive note, we had a good bouncy house session today. No roughhousing. Although I had given them all strict warnings that any pushing, hitting, or kicking would result in immediate expulsion from the bouncy house and that seemed to work!

G and I don't have big plans for tonight. Neither of us are huge Valentine's Day celebrators (why celebrate love on just one day?), but I do like spending quality time together, so we're doing a "no work" night and will probably play some board games after supper.

Football

My whole classroom was abuzz with Superbowl talk this morning. Super chatty is more like it. They stayed in the football spirit all day playing football at noon recess in the gym and outside on the parking lot for afternoon recess. 

In other news, my late memory work kiddos all said their memory work today! Woohoo! We're all caught up! Now, if only I could catch up on my papers to correct...

Blue and Gold Day

Our home basketball tournament is today. We had a half a day of school so we can get everything ready for it. It's a very short school day... the parents threw in a pep fest at 11am, so we only had 2.5 hours to get all our normal Friday stuff in. I warned my kids many days in advance that they'd need to get their memory work and handwriting done before they leave for the day!

There were still some kids who didn't get their work done. Ugh. Most of them made some kind of deal with me to study it and say it before the game. That actually worked pretty well. For the basketball kids anyway. 

Update: I forgot to post this on Friday before the games. Here's an update on how they did: the girls lost big time Friday afternoon. One of our 8th graders fractured her ankle Wednesday and sat out, otherwise we would've done better. The boys won Friday night and Saturday morning, which put them in the championship! I didn't hear how they did in that game. 

Crazy Day

In keeping with the 'clothes from other countries' theme, I am wearing bright checkered pants from Ecuador. They are green, red, yellow, and black. G got them on one of his trips and was going to get rid of them months ago, but I said we should save them for this exact purpose. They are super comfortable and have quite a few pockets! 

Mr. E and I took our classes in the gym this morning to read for 20 minutes. We invited the other classrooms to join us, but didn't have any takers on such short notice. I read a few library picture books I've been meaning to read. Now I have another pile to take back to the library. G has been picking up and dropping off books for me on his way to basketball practice in New Ulm. I'm getting spoiled! Basketball season will be over soon and then I'll have to get used to getting books less often. Hopefully I'll have more time to read though! 

Jersey Day

My one time per year outfit: Croatia soccer jersey! I bought it on a trip with my friend L in Croatia when they were in the World Cup semifinals and finals. Great memories!

School today was pretty typical. We read in the bouncy house in the gym for a while this morning and did a brain break afterwards. That was a lot of my students' highs for the day. Our morning and afternoon were productive. 

Today is their last day of basketball practice. Everyone except the 8th graders are ready for the season to be over... Dog days of February. Lots of tired kids, which makes them crabby and quick to react. The bouncy house got really rough at afternoon recess, so I'm banning it tomorrow. They know we need to; there weren't many who voiced objections about it. 

My after school plans are exciting today... G and I have a date in Mankato! One of his aunts gave us money with instructions to use it at Emily's favorite restaurant. So we're going to Mongolian Grill and swinging by a few thrift stores to see if we can find something to use as a beverage station in our house.

Decade Day

I wore my vintage 70s mini dress with leggings today and hair in pigtails. Nothing fancy for shoes. I thought about wearing my tall boots, but they have heels and I didn't feel like wearing them all day. 

Today seemed a bit more calm in 5-6th. Kids weren't as loud and seemed more apt to focus, although I caught a few of them avoiding their late work. One boy played a game on the computer instead of doing research for his next project. Another boy has at least three late things he said he'd get done during study hall in Mr. E's room. Except there wasn't time and he didn't take it home. Now he wants me to let him go to recess and he'll get it done in Mr. E's room. Ha. Nice try. 

We're supposed to have STEM time today: 

I'm thinking if they have their name on the board, they'll have to sit out until their late work is done...

PJ Day

It's tournament week at ILS and with that comes dress up days! I completely forgot about them when I got ready this morning, so I started putting teacher clothes on until I remembered it's Pajama Day! So I changed. 

This week is always interesting figuring out what to wear to school while keeping in mind after school activities... 

Ready

Everyone was ready for the day to be over and ready for the weekend. Me too, but even better I am ready for next week! I got all my lesson plans ready, including Writers Workshop, which needed a lot of tweaking from last year's lessons. If only I had gotten all my papers corrected too... 

The bounce house has made its appearance in the gym at recess. In theory it's a great way for kids to get their energy out. The downside is that there can be too much energy. Kids knock into each other, push and shove, don't pay attention to who else is nearby. Or else they do, and then craftily 'slip' or 'we're just playing Mrs. H!' Not that that happens often.

Still. I'm ready to be done policing. There's a rule only 8 people can be in there at a time. Now we have to come up with rules for trading who is in and who is out. Some big kids want to flip. Now there has to be a rule about when you can flip (when there are only four people or fewer). Of course, we figured out all those logistics, it's just hard to know when to let kids be kids, and when to step in and be protective. It seems like the younger grades don't have these problems! But they probably do too. 😜

Tea Time

Someone bought a Keurig coffee maker for the office. It's been there for a week or so, but I don't drink coffee, so I didn't think much of it. That is, until someone suggested hot cocoa or tea. Hmm! They might be on to something! An extra cup of tea would be nice on these cold winter days... 

I brought a spare mug and a few packets of Sweet and Spicy tea to school with me today and while my kids were at PE with Mr. E, I decided to test it out. 

It seemed pretty straightforward in the beginning. Press a button here and a button there. Voila! But nothing happened except the "add water" light flashing. So I added some water. Still flashing. I refilled the whole tank. Finally the light shut off! Soon hot water sputtered into my mug and my tea was brewing. It didn't take long for it to be a drinkable temperature either! I finished my mug before the end of the day and drank most of it before my kids came in from PE. 

The kids saw me bringing my mug back to the classroom. "Is that coffee?!" I held up the tea string. "Oh tea. Lucky!" When they came in from PE, some of them asked, "It smells in here." Smells like what? "Like spices or something. Cinnamon." Ohhh, must've been my tea. 

Books

I had the loveliest time with the 7-8th graders today. First, we learned about the skeletal system. Then, during study hall, we reminisced about books we loved back in 5-6th grade. Some of the 8th graders grabbed books for the 7th graders to read. I grabbed some books for kids in both classes to read (new ones in series they'd devoured in my class). 

Why all the books? It's the first day of February... aka I Love to Read Month. We read in the gym for 15 minutes this morning, and my class would've read even longer. The 7-8th graders stayed in there an extra 10 minutes! A parent had the idea to do a read-a-thon to raise money for our school. I'm not sure how the fundraising is going, but the kids are fired up to read for sure. 

Each of them set an individual goal, a minimum of 20min a day for each day of February. Most challenged themselves to go higher than that, although not by much, maybe an extra hour or two above that. Our class goal (including 360min of class read aloud) is 7020 minutes. I haven't set a minute goal for myself, just to read more than I recently have been... not too many papers to correct tonight, so I'm hopeful I can get an hour or so in!