16

 Filming Mrs. L and my duet went fantastic today. So funny. I can't wait to share it. There are a few mess-ups, but it kind of works with the song, so we just left them.

There was a half day of school today which made everything feel just a little crunched. My kids wanted extra read-aloud (no surprise) but we had too many other things to do: spelling tests, finish our static lab conclusions from yesterday, finish NaNo edits, read to self... I had to meet with a student who didn't get a chance yesterday and we had to practice our Talent Show skit. Plus lunch and a little recess. Whew. We did get all that accomplished though!

17

The caterpillar skit is coming along nicely. My kids keep coming up with ideas of things to say and do, so it's becoming more cohesive. Their latest idea is for me to make an appearance at the end and ask where Joe is (answer- he got eaten by the caterpillar). 

Mrs. L and I just came up with an idea for our teacher skit: Immanuel's Got Talent. Mr. E will be the judge, the rest of us teachers will have terrible talent. I will hula hoop (can't hula hoop), Mrs. L is juggling, Mrs. E will jump rope. Everyone else TBD. It ends with Mr. E saying "our school has to have better talent than this!" Then we cut to the rest of the class videos! Tada! Then at the end, Mrs. L and I will come in and say we want a redo... cue our "Anything You Can Do" video. It's gonna be so good.

My 5-6th graders did a lab involving static, cereal, and balloons. It kind of flopped, but was still a learning experience. Miss K and I tested if the balloon would pick up cereal prior to the kids trying it (rubbing the balloon in Miss K's hair to build up friction), but when they tried, the balloon didn't pick up anything. We tried all sorts of ways to increase the static. Nope. Didn't work enough. So then we brainstormed reasons why the balloon wasn't doing what we thought it should do. Maybe it was too humid. Maybe the sugar coating on the cereal played a roll. Maybe only the cocoa crispies picked up because they're made of rice flour and the other three kinds were corn flour. Maybe the metal tray caused the static to disperse instead of the cereal. We ran out of time, so they're supposed to finish it in the morning. We'll see if they actually do. They tend to move slower before school starts. I might have to carve out some time to write conclusions together. Or prod them into trying the lab again.

18

Another good day at school. The morning started foggy and ended up sunny and beautiful. I actually went for a walk outside after school! 

We were able to walk to chapel, instead of having it in the gym like we do when there's inclement weather. We were also able to get outside to do some spring cleaning. Instead of having a preschool roundup open house, our school had parents schedule individual tours of the school, so we wanted everything looking spic and span. My class washed outside windows and weeded the sidewalk and flower beds. They worked on that during their math study hall time. 

They came up with a grand afternoon scheme to get more recess while still getting their work done: after math, do science right away, pack up for the end of the day, then finish weeding, then go straight into recess. Miss K and I were both okay with that, so that's what we did! They ended up with a lot of recess time because it didn't take long to finish weeding. 

After school Mrs. L and I practiced our duet for the talent show. It is so fun to sing with her. Our acting is looking pretty good and we almost have our parts down. We did a few practice videos today to get the sound and lighting looking good. Maybe we can film next week. 

My class practiced their Amazing Caterpillar Show skit for the first time. They had dragged their feet starting it, but once we were going they said, "Hey, this is kind of fun!" Hopefully they won't fuss so much tomorrow when I say it's time to practice...

19

My kiddos were much calmer today. They also behaved very well for Miss K, even the 7-8th graders. They all raised their hands and asked good questions. Good learning day.

This morning during read-aloud, my kids focused on adding tissue paper to their pinatas. They got super far! A few of them are pretty much finished! Of course they bartered their focus for extra read-aloud time, so we finished our latest book. We haven't done much art this year, and this class is so anti-art, if there's a project they actually want to work on, I better capitalize on it. 

It was dreary and rainy on and off. Mr. E sent a 7th grader outside to check out the field conditions to see if we could have recess outside. I was there when he gave his report; it was very thorough. "The ground is a little damp, but it's not sticky and the dirt doesn't stick to your shoes. There's a wind from the northwest at about 10 miles an hour that's making things dry out real nice. So by the time we'd go out for recess, it'd be perfect." Yes, this is a farm kid. So, Mr. E said he'd take the kids outside for noon recess. Well... 30 minutes later, just as they got outside, THUNDER. Gigantic thunder. Pretty soon it poured and they scurried into the gym for hockey. 

The rain stopped at the end of the day, but Miss K finished her lesson with the 5-6th graders early so we could have an extra 10 minutes of recess (since our tone chime practice went long and cut into their afternoon recess). These crazy kids. They never want to go outside if it's even the slightest bit yucky, but now that there's a softball tournament coming up, outside recess is all they can think about.

20

Only 20 days of school left. Yikes.

My kids were excited to finally finish the Old Testament in religion today. Tomorrow we start the New Testament! 

We started prepping for our talent show skit during English today. I thought I had "The Amazing Caterpillar Show" saved as a file somewhere, but no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find it. So I google searched and found a version of it that my class tweaked. Tomorrow we're going to start acting it out. 

Miss K (our student teacher) taught her first lesson to the 5-6th graders today. It was on the Cold War and she did very well! I could tell she was nervous, and she wasn't hesitant about confirming that. She said she paces when she's nervous, but once she does one lesson, she's good to go. She's teaching both the 5-6th and the 7-8th graders tomorrow. The 7-8th graders are a little trickier than the 5-6th graders. They were super chatty today; hopefully they'll be better for her tomorrow. But Miss K said she wants to work on her classroom management, so either way, she'll have a good experience!

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

Spring brings the talent show, aka Variety Night, and Mrs. L and I decided we were going to make it happen, covid or no covid. Our plan is to have classes record themselves doing their talent, and then we (ahem, Mrs. L) will compile the videos into one movie to show on the screens at church the evening we choose to show it (or people can watch in their own homes online if they're more comfortable with that). 

My class is doing the Amazing Caterpillar Show skit again, as we've done the past two talent shows. We've been studying skits all week for English in preparation for writing ours. Mrs. L had a fantastic idea that she and I should do a duet of Irvin Berlin's "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better", so she and I practiced that today. It was so fun. We changed some of the lyrics to be more school appropriate and we marked who is going to say which part. Now my homework is to listen to people singing the song so the notes stick in my head better! 

We teachers want to do something as a group as well, but we haven't settled on an idea yet. The best (and only) idea so far is to do a skit about teaching during covid and all the things we have to talk to our kids about. Meh. No good ideas come to mind on that topic; my kids have been pretty good about the regulations. Maybe if I do a quick Google search...

School today was awesome, especially science this afternoon with the 5-6th graders. They were remembering stuff we learned at the beginning of the year, making connections left and right, having deep discussions about serious science stuff. Sigh. It made my heart happy. AND it was our student teacher's first day in class, so she got to witness it. So good.

I also heard from my marine friend yesterday. He sent some pictures and videos from the latest mission they'd done. It was artillery practice in the desert again. He said next week they're going to the Mojave desert for three weeks for a mock war with another unit. My kids wanted to know if they are actually going to fight each other, or if they'll use rubber bullets or something. I asked him, but haven't heard back.

This morning when I checked kids' temperatures, a 7th grade girl commented, "Wow, Miss H, you're looking very bohemian today. It's like, you're 31 now and you're all zen!" The funny thing is, I had been thinking the same thing about my outfit... not the zen part, but the bohemian look. My outfit today: hair down and flowy, dusty red skinny jeans, and a white tunic-y shirt that does have a bohemian vibe. Not my normal style, but it's fun to mix it up sometimes!

Birthday

It was a pretty good day as far as birthdays go. My kids were a little argumentative, but that's kind of this group, always wheeling and dealing. Yesterday they convinced me I should bring birthday treats, specifically something from one of the read-aloud books we just finished. "Something that Gladys would make, something from Classy Cakes or something!" was their specific idea. I couldn't remember any specific recipes, but one kid suggested the rhubarb blueberry crumble. I didn't have blueberries, but I do have rhubarb in my freezer and a super easy rhubarb crisp recipe. So I prepped everything last night and popped it in the oven this morning so it would still be warm at snack time. By the time we got back from chapel, the rhubarb crisp was slightly warm, so it wasn't at its peak, but it was still tasty. My kids all liked it! 

Mr. and Mrs. E gave me flowers and a birthday balloon and the 7-8th graders made a card that everyone in school signed. An 8th grader gave me a card and some fancy soap (it's in the shape of a cross and I have a feeling it might be a leftover confirmation present, but it smells nice and is pretty, so I don't mind if it's a second-hand present). 

The kindergartners sang to me as we crossed paths on our way back/to chapel, and the 7-8th graders sang Happy Birthday as I left chapel with my class... they forgot to sing during chapel, which I am totally fine with. To wrap up my birthday celebration, I'm having supper with my two best college friends and saving all my paper correcting for tomorrow morning. 😁