Our Australia speaker showed up today! I hadn't checked in with him since we scheduled this date about a month ago, so there was a small part of me that didn't know if he'd come or not. He came at noon (I thought I'd told him 12:30, but I guess not). He brought Vegemite with him and let the kids sample it while they ate lunch. Most thought it tasted disgusting. One 7th grader said he threw up after eating it. Our speaker said most people compare it to road tar. I thought it tasted like soy sauce; it wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't eat a whole sandwich of it. It's made from yeast extract. Overall, it's a very strange food...
This guy has a very exciting life. He used to be a pilot (for a Canadian airline I think) and was in the military. Now he lifeguards for the state of MN at Flandreau State Park (after he said that all the kids recognized him) and occasionally for the city of New Ulm. When he's not doing that, he judges white water kayak racing, sometimes for the World Cup and even the Olympics! And he's acted in various things (extras in movies we haven't heard of), even in Crocodile Dundee! He was part of the airplane scene, except his section got cut. Bummer. He just got back from England from doing a callback audition to be on Dr. Who!
How'd I get in touch with him? The library! One day, in passing, I mentioned to the librarian that I am teaching geography this year and I like to have guest speakers from each continent visit my class. She knew of this Australian gentleman who frequents the library and thought he'd be a good speaker. So she passed on my name/number the next time he came in! (I gave her permission of course).
We've missed two days of bells due to speakers, so the 6th graders convinced me to have bells Friday to make up for lost time. That's actually a good idea; we haven't practiced our new song yet and we perform in less than a month...
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Monday, September 24, 2018
Bake Sale
After school Friday was so busy I didn't have time to write a post before I left! My main objective was to order the pre-ordered books for our author visit coming up October 1st. Easier said than done. Only four families ordered a total of five books. They are through two different publishers, and one of them has a minimum order number (10). We only want to buy one from them. A guy was going to check around and see what he could do, but so far I haven't heard anything from him. The other order needed to be faxed. After getting that straightened out, I headed to Mankato for Theater Physics with one of my college friends.
I heard back from the faxed order today and I'll probably have to put the order on a credit card (mine, since school doesn't have one). Of course they're on Eastern time, so by the time I called it was ten minutes until closing time. The lady I talked to will get back to me tomorrow for my payment information. I'll probably have to call the other guy back to see where we're at for the one book order.
Sunday we had another bake sale to raise money for Camp Omega. We did even better than last week even though there weren't as many people in church. The leftover items were sold at today's home soccer game, and we ended up with about $200 towards our trip. Most families don't have to pay anything since they helped out. A few decided not to do the bake sale and just pay. I can't believe our trip is next week already!
Well, my brain is shot. I'm headed home, grabbing supper, and then heading to bible study. Our normal schedule is disrupted since our bible study hostess's work schedule has been switched around. Next week I think we're back to a Wednesday night.
I heard back from the faxed order today and I'll probably have to put the order on a credit card (mine, since school doesn't have one). Of course they're on Eastern time, so by the time I called it was ten minutes until closing time. The lady I talked to will get back to me tomorrow for my payment information. I'll probably have to call the other guy back to see where we're at for the one book order.
Sunday we had another bake sale to raise money for Camp Omega. We did even better than last week even though there weren't as many people in church. The leftover items were sold at today's home soccer game, and we ended up with about $200 towards our trip. Most families don't have to pay anything since they helped out. A few decided not to do the bake sale and just pay. I can't believe our trip is next week already!
Well, my brain is shot. I'm headed home, grabbing supper, and then heading to bible study. Our normal schedule is disrupted since our bible study hostess's work schedule has been switched around. Next week I think we're back to a Wednesday night.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Antigua
First round of guest speakers today! Since the 7-8th graders are learning about North America, I teamed up with MLC to get student (teachers) from other countries (or travelers to those parts of the world) to come speak to my class. Today's speakers were two girls from Antigua, which is an island in the West Indies (near the Caribbean). It turns out I've been pronouncing it wrong. It's pronounced an-TEE-gah. No "gwa" sound in it at all. Learn something new every day!
I had a lady from church pick them up from MLC since they didn't have a car. This is the first time I've tried that and it worked fantastic! The lady said they had good conversation in the car on the way here and back to MLC. I think we'll keep doing it that way. The 5-6th graders stayed for half the time, going to math the other half. The girls were mostly done presenting by 1:00, so the 6th graders got gypped a little, but we kept coming up with questions, so they did learn some things.
Lots of pretty tropical beaches and clear, blue, water. Both girls are here on scholarship, being trained at MLC so they can go home and teach at a Lutheran Antigua school. They've taught in Antigua previously (preschool) and they had pictures of their classes, so I'm wondering if they started teaching right out of high school and now are officially being trained. They mentioned needing more classrooms to student teach in, so I volunteered to let them come back anytime. I wonder if the teachers at MLC would be okay with sending students out for clinicals at our school since we're Missouri Synod. Our school is so close to New Ulm that it wouldn't be too difficult to send people out here. Ah well, I guess we'll see!
I had a lady from church pick them up from MLC since they didn't have a car. This is the first time I've tried that and it worked fantastic! The lady said they had good conversation in the car on the way here and back to MLC. I think we'll keep doing it that way. The 5-6th graders stayed for half the time, going to math the other half. The girls were mostly done presenting by 1:00, so the 6th graders got gypped a little, but we kept coming up with questions, so they did learn some things.
Lots of pretty tropical beaches and clear, blue, water. Both girls are here on scholarship, being trained at MLC so they can go home and teach at a Lutheran Antigua school. They've taught in Antigua previously (preschool) and they had pictures of their classes, so I'm wondering if they started teaching right out of high school and now are officially being trained. They mentioned needing more classrooms to student teach in, so I volunteered to let them come back anytime. I wonder if the teachers at MLC would be okay with sending students out for clinicals at our school since we're Missouri Synod. Our school is so close to New Ulm that it wouldn't be too difficult to send people out here. Ah well, I guess we'll see!
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Training
It was a long day. The dreary weather had everyone feeling droopy, and my kiddos were harder to engage than usual (to say nothing about the 7-8th graders... their class was rough). After school I had plans to buckle down and cross things off my to-do list, but it wasn't meant to be.
A stranger showed up after the buses left. He had a clipboard and looked pretty well put together, not a dangerous sort. We couldn't figure out who he was and why he was here. Then one of us remembered a topic at our last staff meeting about doing active shooter training sometime in September. Today was one of our top choices for the training. Except no one told us it was officially on the calendar. So we had an impromptu (for us) session. It was depressing and sad, but good.
Instead of schools going into lockdown mode, law enforcement officers are teaching people to Run-Hide-Fight, depending on the situation. Barricading the door is a big yes, and escaping is also a yes if you can do safely. We need to come up with a few safe rendezvous points for kids/teachers to go to if a situation were to happen and we escaped school. Then we can do headcounts of our students. Also, to cut down on congestion when parents come to pick their kids up, we could have the buses pick people up from the safe zones and drop kids off at a central location parents know about (but is away from the school). Lord willing it will never happen to us, but it's always good to be prepared.
Mr. E will work on putting an action plan together with this officer. When it's done, he's going to come back and talk to the upper grades about what to do, and also to parents so we're all on the same page (and explain why we're doing things the way we're doing them). Whew.
After that I had a short time in my room before we teachers headed over to the Ice Cream Social fundraiser at church for supper. It was fun to interact with them in a social setting, plus I could talk to a bunch of church people I needed to talk to all in one place!
We're starting a once-per-week lunchtime book club- 5-6th grade girls are the primary members, plus a sweet older lady from church who volunteers at school often. She's very excited to start next Tuesday! The girls unanimously picked out the book today before lunch.
Some of the girls have expressed an interest in learning how to sew, so I talked to a different lady about doing sewing lessons during afternoon recess (the time those students requested). We haven't set up a specific date to start. I brought my sewing basket from home and another student said she'd bring scraps for the girls to use. We might start tomorrow if she remembers to bring the stuff.
A stranger showed up after the buses left. He had a clipboard and looked pretty well put together, not a dangerous sort. We couldn't figure out who he was and why he was here. Then one of us remembered a topic at our last staff meeting about doing active shooter training sometime in September. Today was one of our top choices for the training. Except no one told us it was officially on the calendar. So we had an impromptu (for us) session. It was depressing and sad, but good.
Instead of schools going into lockdown mode, law enforcement officers are teaching people to Run-Hide-Fight, depending on the situation. Barricading the door is a big yes, and escaping is also a yes if you can do safely. We need to come up with a few safe rendezvous points for kids/teachers to go to if a situation were to happen and we escaped school. Then we can do headcounts of our students. Also, to cut down on congestion when parents come to pick their kids up, we could have the buses pick people up from the safe zones and drop kids off at a central location parents know about (but is away from the school). Lord willing it will never happen to us, but it's always good to be prepared.
Mr. E will work on putting an action plan together with this officer. When it's done, he's going to come back and talk to the upper grades about what to do, and also to parents so we're all on the same page (and explain why we're doing things the way we're doing them). Whew.
After that I had a short time in my room before we teachers headed over to the Ice Cream Social fundraiser at church for supper. It was fun to interact with them in a social setting, plus I could talk to a bunch of church people I needed to talk to all in one place!
We're starting a once-per-week lunchtime book club- 5-6th grade girls are the primary members, plus a sweet older lady from church who volunteers at school often. She's very excited to start next Tuesday! The girls unanimously picked out the book today before lunch.
Some of the girls have expressed an interest in learning how to sew, so I talked to a different lady about doing sewing lessons during afternoon recess (the time those students requested). We haven't set up a specific date to start. I brought my sewing basket from home and another student said she'd bring scraps for the girls to use. We might start tomorrow if she remembers to bring the stuff.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
It's Raining, It's Pouring
Holy buckets did it rain this morning! I put off leaving my apartment until the very last minute, hoping the rain would stop, but it didn't. The wind blew and blew (thankfully going the direction of school), and I had to run from my car to the building. It stayed dark for a long time, but it's actually kind of sunny out now. The rain stopped around noon. It sounds like almost all week will be rainy.
Last night was a big correcting papers night... I haven't had much time to correct since I've had so many things going on over the past few weekends, but last night after bible study I buckled down at got almost everything corrected. Of course they turned in more assignments today. I don't have much going on tonight, so maybe I'll spend another night correcting.
I wish I could pause time to do some reading! I have a stack of library books on my shelf waiting patiently for me... Did you know the New Ulm library system automatically renews your books for you? Best thing ever! Now I don't have to worry about getting late fees on my books. I still keep an eye on it though, just in case I reach the renewal limit.
Today was the first day my students could pick their own rounds for Daily 5. It actually went really well. I met with all my Tuesday people, it was quiet, they seemed productive, and I even had time to re-shelve the 'on display' books I've had out from the beginning of the year. I have to make room for our first book order! They will hopefully arrive this week (but maybe next week). I had a lot of kids order this time! Yay, more books!
We had a bake sale Sunday to raise money for Camp Omega. Two moms are going to chaperone. They decided to split the free registration PTL paid for and each will pay $43. This morning another girl told me her grandma wants to come and her uncle is going to pay the $86 fee for her. Still waiting for a male chaperone though. There are a few nibbles, but no bites yet.
Last night was a big correcting papers night... I haven't had much time to correct since I've had so many things going on over the past few weekends, but last night after bible study I buckled down at got almost everything corrected. Of course they turned in more assignments today. I don't have much going on tonight, so maybe I'll spend another night correcting.
I wish I could pause time to do some reading! I have a stack of library books on my shelf waiting patiently for me... Did you know the New Ulm library system automatically renews your books for you? Best thing ever! Now I don't have to worry about getting late fees on my books. I still keep an eye on it though, just in case I reach the renewal limit.
Today was the first day my students could pick their own rounds for Daily 5. It actually went really well. I met with all my Tuesday people, it was quiet, they seemed productive, and I even had time to re-shelve the 'on display' books I've had out from the beginning of the year. I have to make room for our first book order! They will hopefully arrive this week (but maybe next week). I had a lot of kids order this time! Yay, more books!
We had a bake sale Sunday to raise money for Camp Omega. Two moms are going to chaperone. They decided to split the free registration PTL paid for and each will pay $43. This morning another girl told me her grandma wants to come and her uncle is going to pay the $86 fee for her. Still waiting for a male chaperone though. There are a few nibbles, but no bites yet.
Monday, September 17, 2018
Huff and Puff and Blow Your House Apart!
In other news, we got two new fish over the weekend, male guppies: Apollo and Zeus. So many name suggestions this time! The names I liked best were Marco and Polo. Ha! Clever. Maybe next time we get fish we'll use those names. The darker one is Apollo, named after the guy who got too close to the sun (my kids decided that).
We're under a severe thunderstorm warning for the next 10 minutes... the storm is moving fast (about 60mph) with winds gusting the same. This round started at 4pm, but earlier today it was totally sunny!
Noon recess was hot and sticky. It all changed at 1pm when the 1-4th graders played outside at recess. The wind came up all of a sudden, the sky was brown with dust being blown up by the strong gusts. Kids screamed and almost got blown over. It's the fastest I've ever seen the wind come up! The 7-8th graders were fascinated by the sudden change. We paused our mini-experiment to watch the air front move in... and connected it to today's topic: diffusion! Awesome!
Once we switched from science to study hall, they convinced me they should be allowed to go outside to pick up all the toys and cones before they blew away. So they went. From the window, I saw one of the 8th graders holding a section of a plastic play house the preschoolers like to play in. The wind was so strong it literally blew the house apart! Wow! They didn't carry everything inside, but they put all the movable pieces inside the wooden triangle tree house.
For a while it rained really, really hard. I didn't realize it was going to rain today, so I left my jacket at home... since the storm's moving fast, it will hopefully be done raining by the time I go home.
We're under a severe thunderstorm warning for the next 10 minutes... the storm is moving fast (about 60mph) with winds gusting the same. This round started at 4pm, but earlier today it was totally sunny!
Noon recess was hot and sticky. It all changed at 1pm when the 1-4th graders played outside at recess. The wind came up all of a sudden, the sky was brown with dust being blown up by the strong gusts. Kids screamed and almost got blown over. It's the fastest I've ever seen the wind come up! The 7-8th graders were fascinated by the sudden change. We paused our mini-experiment to watch the air front move in... and connected it to today's topic: diffusion! Awesome!
Once we switched from science to study hall, they convinced me they should be allowed to go outside to pick up all the toys and cones before they blew away. So they went. From the window, I saw one of the 8th graders holding a section of a plastic play house the preschoolers like to play in. The wind was so strong it literally blew the house apart! Wow! They didn't carry everything inside, but they put all the movable pieces inside the wooden triangle tree house.
For a while it rained really, really hard. I didn't realize it was going to rain today, so I left my jacket at home... since the storm's moving fast, it will hopefully be done raining by the time I go home.
Friday, September 14, 2018
The Voice
Today the 6th grade girls played "The Voice" at afternoon recess. If you're familiar with the TV show, you know how it works... During tryouts for the show, three judges (in our case) face the audience, their backs to the singer. The singer sings a song and if the judge likes it, he/she turns around. If no one turns around, the singer doesn't make it on the show. If more than one turns around, the singer gets to pick which team he/she is on.
So the girls took turns being the singer, belting out whatever pop song was on their minds. The other three sat on the swings with the chains twisted so they could dramatically spin around. They even reenacted the hugging that always takes place after a contestant gets accepted to a team. Hilarious!
So the girls took turns being the singer, belting out whatever pop song was on their minds. The other three sat on the swings with the chains twisted so they could dramatically spin around. They even reenacted the hugging that always takes place after a contestant gets accepted to a team. Hilarious!
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