Present

One of the 8th graders gave me something this morning. It was a printout of this:

On a different note, the snow is pretty much melted (only to have more coming tomorrow...possibly a foot). It's in the 40s today though. My kids wanted outside recess today, but surprisingly, almost all of them forgot snow gear. They were still able to have a good time. Most swung on the swings. Two girls and I squished a snow pattern monster with our boots. 

They all brought their laptops home tonight so they could have a lunch chat if school is cancelled. The snow day predictor says there's an 87% chance tomorrow. Who knows! I am kind of hoping for one... Better make sure I'm stocked up on library books then!

IT updates

Can you believe it, I actually got ahold of the IT guys today? I called to ask when the new sound system is going in at church (this week, perhaps tomorrow) so we could be ready for setting the sound for our Christmas program. While I had him on the line, I asked about a broken audio cord in the gym (would make practice so much easier) and downloading iTunes on my computer finally. And he did it! He installed iTunes right away and made a note to check out the aux cord when he comes to church this week. Wow, I feel accomplished.

I also got the Christmas bulletin approved and sent to our church secretary and projector designer, plus recorded next week's memory work hymns with Mrs. L. Oh, and recorded a stack of new books for the class library and made a study Kahoot for the 7-8th graders tomorrow. Whew!

Now it's off for a quick walk, then Advent services with my sister.

Spending Money

A generous donor pledged $15,000 to our school before the end of the year. Mr. E asked us teachers to give him ideas. Mine were for an outdoor learning space and hooks to hang the folding chairs in the shed. Another teacher thought of the Ecology Bus doing an assembly for us. Someone else thought of a fort building area on the playground. So after our meeting while I waited for bible study, I did research on all of the above. 

I found some giant lego blocks that would be perfect for fort building, along with some other outside compatible building things. The outdoor learning space I liked the best is out of the UK, but we could probably replicate it with an awning, wood benches, and a fence. We'll see what happens with our ideas! Mr. E had some ideas of his own... replacing the hallway floor, getting a new janitor's closet sink, adding a bathroom to the preschool room. 

I thought about going home after our staff meeting, but it snowed today, and I don't want to drive on the roads more than I have to. The snow was a surprise. When I woke up, I immediately thought, "Maybe we'll have a snow day!" Ha! Not a chance. Nothing on the school closings page. Still, we got more than they said we would. The forecast said a light dusting, but we got at least two inches. There's more to come this Friday... 

Found!

I searched for my lens for over a half an hour on Saturday. Cobwebs coated my hat from brushing against the underside of the bleachers while I poked around with a flashlight. I found $0.51, a new hair ponytail holder, two lego guys, a chip bag clip, a cuff earring and chain, a few pencils, and lots of trash. No lens. I swept the gym... nothing. I used a flashlight and pencil to get in all the cracks on the topside of the bleachers. Nothing. I gave up in disgust. I had to be under there somewhere!!!

My kids did a quick search this morning. Nothing. I asked the kids at program practice to check by their feet. Nothing. 

Later in the morning, a 3rd grader knocked on my door. "I found your lens Miss H!" He and his friend held flashlights; they spent their recess time looking under the bleachers (not too much of a hardship... they love any excuse to go under the bleachers). Hooray! I feel like the woman in the parable of the lost coin. Having complete glasses again is definitely my high for today. 

More basketball games after school. Half my class stayed, so I put them to work. We put the legos into bins and moved all the STEM stuff to the games bookshelf. They'll be much more accessible now. But where to put all the games that had been in that spot... The games we never play moved to the office and I put a few in our classroom closet. We use the STEM stuff more than we do the games.

In the midst of that, the kids made a 'pizza' to deliver to Mr. D, who called to ask me a few questions. (They now answer the phone, "Hello, Papa Murphy's!" so Mr. D took advantage and ordered some breadsticks and a pepperoni pizza.)

Our basketball numbers are quite small, so a few kids from the public school come play on our team. One is a 5th grade girl, and since she knows the girls in my class, she hung out in my room before the game. My girls gave her a tour of the room... "Books are like family in here," one girl said. Aww. 😊 The girl was impressed with our library, the couch, our class garden, and the flexible seating (the ball chairs especially). "It's so cozy in here!" she said.

Lost

One of the lenses in my blue light blocking glasses is lost in the bleachers. I forgot they were on my head when we went to recess, then I took them off and set them down when I taught my kids how to play Lightning and Snake. That game was a blast; it was super fun playing with them. 

But right at the end of recess, someone put a ball away by tossing it and it popped both lenses out. We found one lens, but the other is nowhere to be found. Sigh. I miss them already. I might even buy another pair, just to have them. You might think they don't make much of a difference, but when I use them I've had way fewer headaches and backaches from the computer.

Gender Reveal

A conversation overheard before school as two 7-8th grade boys studied their morning memory work:

"Matthew 1:21... the first gender reveal!"

"...but wasn't Jesus mentioned in the bible before Matthew?"

"No, no, they just said a savior would be born. Not that he'd be a boy."

At afternoon recess, my kids played with bubbles. It was cold enough that the bubbles didn't pop right away, so the bubbles floated all over the kickball field and they chased after them, running and jumping to pop them. It was so fun to watch them play. 

Science with the 5-6th graders was epic. Today's topic was an intro to the planets. We watched a video that compares Earth to the universe. Their minds were blown. We watched the video twice and they would've watched it a third time, just to get everything to sink in. Of course they had a million questions (seriously, it was a lot), and the questions are all things we're going to learn very soon, but not today. I tried to give them quick, short answers, but their thirst for immediate knowledge is insatiable. Whew! They probably won't be happy when I tell them we're doing history tomorrow instead of science...

PS- we did finish our read aloud book today. We voted on the next one to start tomorrow, Notorious by Gordon Korman.

Earthquakes

The 7-8th graders learned about earthquakes today. They were super into it; it was great. A lot of them asked questions about things we were going to learn, like, five minutes from now. It happened at least three times during our half an hour class. During study hall, we read more of our read-aloud book. It took a while to get into it since it's been so long since we've read. The story is right at the climax, but things are happening slowly. They like it, but they're not riveted.

The 5-6th graders, on the other hand, are on the edge of their seats with our latest book! Me too, since I haven't read it before. Gah, I want to read ahead so bad! My eyes keep flicking to the next page, or I read things I shouldn't when I'm checking where the chapter ends. It's funny because if I pause too long, my kids are like, "Miss H... are you reading ahead? Stop right now!" 

The good news is, we might finish the book tomorrow. Only 40 pages left! It's been a quick read so far, so 40 pages is probably doable. And if not, they're willing to barter rounds away for more read-aloud. And since I'm sucked in, I go along with it, the stinkers. This is the only book I've ever been tempted to read ahead on (that I've read aloud without having read before). In case you're wondering, the book is Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix.