I wonder if there's a storm coming that we don't know about... my class was off the wall today!!! They couldn't stop talking and they were picking at each other all day. Super mean. I couldn't get them to stop for the life of me! Also, Joe buried himself after school. We did add new bedding to his tank and fluffed it up, so that could be why he's hunkered down too.
Our home basketball tournament was a success again! Both boys and girls won first place. And we found out both teams made it into the state tournament. Even though I lectured my students about getting into stuff, a few of them didn't listen. Some of our ILS kids were playing with the exercise balls (they'd been safely tucked in the closet when I'd left on Friday) and one got popped! The kid who broke it is buying a new one, but still. They knew better than to be playing with them.
A clipboard fell off the shelf today during class and broke in half. My students said it was broken before it fell; some boys had been playing hide and seek in here (in a girls locker room???) and knocked it down causing it to break. They stuck it back up there hoping no one would notice. I'm debating whether I should confront the student about it or not. It's just a clipboard, but at the same time, there aren't many unbroken clipboards left! We had to throw this one away.
Aside from those minor incidents, all was well. As far as I know, no one got injured. The cheerleaders did a fantastic job! A few of my 5th grade students planned and organized the whole thing. They taught the 1-3rd graders all the cheers and even had them get into a pyramid during the school song. I am so impressed with them!
To end on a fun, non-school-related note, one of my college friends had a birthday yesterday. She said she's always wanted flowers delivered to her at work, so another friend and I went in on a bouquet together and had it delivered to her at work. She was surprised!!! Definitely money well spent.
Monday, February 12, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
Disarray
My classroom is in tidy disarray... The desks are shoved in the reading corner with the focusing folders blocking them from view. The plants line the top of a book shelf instead of crowding one end of the lab table as per usual. The exercise balls are jammed inside the closet held in place by the podium. If you've guessed it's tournament time, you'd be right!
School ended today at 11:30, which is when the reorganizing began. My room is always used as a girls' locker room, so everything must be moved to the side and tucked away. Joe is in his 'travel' home, and instead of making him face the cold outside, he's under my desk with his heat lamp on top. The kids are all excited that he's hiding, and they keep telling people who come in my room, "Guess where Joe is!" So, I'm not sure how much of a secret his location will be. Hopefully once the tournament actually starts, they'll be too busy to pay him any mind.
My students are like little guard dogs, saying they'll come check on him every day this weekend so no one messes with him!
We got everything done this morning that we needed to, so it was pretty easy for my students to convince me that we should have extra read-aloud time. Plus we're super close to the end of the book and it's exciting!!! We weren't able to finish it though. Oh well, there's always Monday!
Now I'm headed home to eat some lunch before coming back for the games this afternoon. Go Braves!
School ended today at 11:30, which is when the reorganizing began. My room is always used as a girls' locker room, so everything must be moved to the side and tucked away. Joe is in his 'travel' home, and instead of making him face the cold outside, he's under my desk with his heat lamp on top. The kids are all excited that he's hiding, and they keep telling people who come in my room, "Guess where Joe is!" So, I'm not sure how much of a secret his location will be. Hopefully once the tournament actually starts, they'll be too busy to pay him any mind.
My students are like little guard dogs, saying they'll come check on him every day this weekend so no one messes with him!
We got everything done this morning that we needed to, so it was pretty easy for my students to convince me that we should have extra read-aloud time. Plus we're super close to the end of the book and it's exciting!!! We weren't able to finish it though. Oh well, there's always Monday!
Now I'm headed home to eat some lunch before coming back for the games this afternoon. Go Braves!
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Scoliosis
The school nurse always does scoliosis screenings with the 5-6th grade girls this time of year. Normally she doesn't find anything, but this time two girls need to be checked out by the doctors. One girl was totally fine with it; it didn't bother her at all. The other girl though, she's pretty freaked out. The past few days she's been complaining that her back hurts (I think it's all in her head though). She didn't want to do anything at recess today, so I sat with her on the bleachers and we talked about what scoliosis is, what the doctors might say, and how she'd still be able to do her normal physical activity, even with a brace on. That made her feel better, and by the time recess was over, she was doing back-flips and somersaults with her friends.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Dressing Up
Yesterday I forgot to post because I dashed out of school so fast! I actually left a little early so I could be in New Ulm early enough to meet my sisters/mom. My youngest sister is getting married this summer and we got to go dress shopping yesterday! Mr. E dismissed my class for me and I was in New Ulm by 2:45.
Today my sick student was back, but I sent another one home. This one had the shakes and felt hot and her stomach hurt. ...Let's hope it stops with her. So far my classroom has been pretty healthy this year. I want to keep it that way!
Yesterday's dress up day was "Past vs. Future". No kids took me up on the wear pjs again idea, but that's okay. One girl wore a suit coat and brought a brief case (she's going to be an engineer). A few dressed up like the 80s or 90s. One wore a Renaissance costume. I was a stay at home mom and wore a sweatshirt and jeans. Someone said, "You should've stayed at home today! Cuz you'd be doing what a stay at home mom would do!"
Today was Jersey Day. I didn't have a jersey, so I wore normal teacher clothes, but everyone in my class dressed up someway. A few wore actual jerseys, one borrowed an extra basketball jersey from school, and a few wore shirts advertising specific sports teams.
Tomorrow is class color day. We are purple! And everyone is complaining that they don't have any purple to wear. We'll see if they scrounge some up...
Today my sick student was back, but I sent another one home. This one had the shakes and felt hot and her stomach hurt. ...Let's hope it stops with her. So far my classroom has been pretty healthy this year. I want to keep it that way!
Yesterday's dress up day was "Past vs. Future". No kids took me up on the wear pjs again idea, but that's okay. One girl wore a suit coat and brought a brief case (she's going to be an engineer). A few dressed up like the 80s or 90s. One wore a Renaissance costume. I was a stay at home mom and wore a sweatshirt and jeans. Someone said, "You should've stayed at home today! Cuz you'd be doing what a stay at home mom would do!"
Today was Jersey Day. I didn't have a jersey, so I wore normal teacher clothes, but everyone in my class dressed up someway. A few wore actual jerseys, one borrowed an extra basketball jersey from school, and a few wore shirts advertising specific sports teams.
Tomorrow is class color day. We are purple! And everyone is complaining that they don't have any purple to wear. We'll see if they scrounge some up...
Monday, February 5, 2018
Fired Up
Last night on my way home from Fulda, I had a strange encounter... it was already dark out, and as I turned out of the driveway heading down the gravel road, I saw tail lights far ahead of me on the road up ahead by the corner. They didn't seem to be moving, so I slowed down, hoping they wouldn't be blocking my way.
It turns out the car was on the other side of the road, not blocking my way at all. But it was on fire. The whole hood of the car was engulfed in flames. Both driver side doors hung open and no one was around. I called my dad, who said he'd come take a look, and by the time I drove through Fulda, the fire trucks were on their way out.
What's even more strange than a car abandoned on a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere is that this car appeared to be new! There were no license plates! Just something advertising the Vikings football team. My mind immediately raced away... why was it there? who were the people driving it? where did they go? are they okay?
I turned it into a writing prompt for my students today. Once they found out it was based on a true story, they were pumped. First I dramatically set the scene, having them close their eyes so they could picture it, using descriptive language we've learned how to use earlier this year. Their assignment was to continue the story. They could be me, coming upon a fiery vehicle in the snow; my dad, answering a phone call from his daughter and then going to check it out; a firefighter; the neighbors; the people in the car... possibilities are endless! We had time for a few of them to share today and the stories are great so far! We'll do more sharing tomorrow and I can't wait to hear what they come up with!
It turns out the car was on the other side of the road, not blocking my way at all. But it was on fire. The whole hood of the car was engulfed in flames. Both driver side doors hung open and no one was around. I called my dad, who said he'd come take a look, and by the time I drove through Fulda, the fire trucks were on their way out.
What's even more strange than a car abandoned on a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere is that this car appeared to be new! There were no license plates! Just something advertising the Vikings football team. My mind immediately raced away... why was it there? who were the people driving it? where did they go? are they okay?
I turned it into a writing prompt for my students today. Once they found out it was based on a true story, they were pumped. First I dramatically set the scene, having them close their eyes so they could picture it, using descriptive language we've learned how to use earlier this year. Their assignment was to continue the story. They could be me, coming upon a fiery vehicle in the snow; my dad, answering a phone call from his daughter and then going to check it out; a firefighter; the neighbors; the people in the car... possibilities are endless! We had time for a few of them to share today and the stories are great so far! We'll do more sharing tomorrow and I can't wait to hear what they come up with!
Friday, February 2, 2018
Reading in the Gym
Reading in the gym together went well today. We read in the morning and in the afternoon and kids were focused both times! We added lots of pages to our I Love to Read page goal.
Not a whole lot else to say about today. My heat worked fine. The students were pretty well-behaved for me (the 3rd and 4th graders on the other hand... uff! They had a rough day). We had art, reading buddies, worked on Mystery Class, took spelling tests... all the usual things.
This weekend my grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! (Today's the day actually). We'll be going out to eat this weekend to celebrate. My farmer and I are going to change my oil tonight before he leaves for his up north snowmobile trip this weekend. My mom's birthday is Sunday and it's the Super Bowl, so lots of exciting things going on!
Not a whole lot else to say about today. My heat worked fine. The students were pretty well-behaved for me (the 3rd and 4th graders on the other hand... uff! They had a rough day). We had art, reading buddies, worked on Mystery Class, took spelling tests... all the usual things.
This weekend my grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! (Today's the day actually). We'll be going out to eat this weekend to celebrate. My farmer and I are going to change my oil tonight before he leaves for his up north snowmobile trip this weekend. My mom's birthday is Sunday and it's the Super Bowl, so lots of exciting things going on!
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Cold, Cold, Cold
My classroom was 43 degrees when I arrived this morning. The south heaters weren't strong enough to heat the whole room I guess. Maybe they got overwhelmed and stopped working. Or maybe there was an electronic glitch. Either way, they weren't running when I came inside. I kept my coat and hat on while I got the room ready for the day and I flipped the fuse back on for the north heaters. Then both kicked in. By the time the kids got to school it was a balmy 48 degrees. It took until 11:00 to get up to our normal 68.
The electricians came to work on it about halfway through the morning. I was a little worried about my kids' focusing abilities with strangers doing interesting things in the room. It's never an easy task to focus with visitors around, and with their behavior lately I was not optimistic, but they were little angels. We got an English lesson in, had a great half hour work time for Writers Workshop. Our rounds were quiet and focused. Towards lunchtime they got a little chattier, nothing too crazy though.
We had to set up extra tables for lunch since the electricians' supplies and tools covered up part of the table where we eat lunch. Then the kids couldn't get the table legs to extend. And everyone moved so slow and no 3/4th graders knocked that they were going to lunch, so we were very late to lunch.
Today was the first day of the Fruit and Vegetable challenge. Our cook does not agree with the idea that a chef's salad equals four servings of vegetables. She wanted it to count for one, but my class had purposely gotten salads for that reason and they would've mutinied if our cook hadn't acquiesced. I'm not sure who's winning so far. There's lots of 'talk on the street' over who ate how many servings, but I can't piece it together. Eh, lots of time for the servings to even out.
It's also the first day of "I Love to Read" Month. We read 12 pages of our read-aloud book today and each student read a ton during read to self. Tomorrow we'll be reading in the gym in the morning and afternoon as another kickoff to the event. Today was also a Chew Gum Day, where kids can bring $1 so they can chew gum in the morning. There were a bunch of 1-2nd graders who thought school was providing the gum. Oops. Nope, it's bring your own gum. The money raised will be used by teachers to buy more books for their classrooms. Yay! Tomorrow is a Lunch Swap day where they can pay a dollar to eat lunch in a different classroom.
The electricians came to work on it about halfway through the morning. I was a little worried about my kids' focusing abilities with strangers doing interesting things in the room. It's never an easy task to focus with visitors around, and with their behavior lately I was not optimistic, but they were little angels. We got an English lesson in, had a great half hour work time for Writers Workshop. Our rounds were quiet and focused. Towards lunchtime they got a little chattier, nothing too crazy though.
We had to set up extra tables for lunch since the electricians' supplies and tools covered up part of the table where we eat lunch. Then the kids couldn't get the table legs to extend. And everyone moved so slow and no 3/4th graders knocked that they were going to lunch, so we were very late to lunch.
Today was the first day of the Fruit and Vegetable challenge. Our cook does not agree with the idea that a chef's salad equals four servings of vegetables. She wanted it to count for one, but my class had purposely gotten salads for that reason and they would've mutinied if our cook hadn't acquiesced. I'm not sure who's winning so far. There's lots of 'talk on the street' over who ate how many servings, but I can't piece it together. Eh, lots of time for the servings to even out.
It's also the first day of "I Love to Read" Month. We read 12 pages of our read-aloud book today and each student read a ton during read to self. Tomorrow we'll be reading in the gym in the morning and afternoon as another kickoff to the event. Today was also a Chew Gum Day, where kids can bring $1 so they can chew gum in the morning. There were a bunch of 1-2nd graders who thought school was providing the gum. Oops. Nope, it's bring your own gum. The money raised will be used by teachers to buy more books for their classrooms. Yay! Tomorrow is a Lunch Swap day where they can pay a dollar to eat lunch in a different classroom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)