Fall Carnival

Today was such a fun day at school. My kiddos hosted the Fall Carnival and I think this year is the best year we've ever done it. The kids were laid back and confident, they had their booths set up and ran them well. They had not only candy as prizes, but stickers and some slinkys/fans/fake glasses/fingers to pass out. And, they made guessing jars. This one is "guess the calories." Answer: about 900. 

We had our book pumpkins on display:

(this 6th grader sewed her mouse herself)

The two 5th grade girls teamed up to make this book. In the gym they had them arranged so they looked like the book cover. 

(my new favorite book of the year)

Here's an update on my class jungle--I mean, plant experiments... We're hoping the succulents will be big enough for Christmas or Mother's Day presents.

My hydroponics boy ate his first pea pod this week! He could've let them grow longer, but he said they still tasted good. He also brought in the growlight in the bottom picture. He shares it with his classmates, switching it from shelf to shelf during and after school. There is so much teamwork and kindness in my classroom this year. I love it!

CPR

Got a refresher on CPR tonight after school. Planned, of course. We also got a refresher on how to use the AED and do first aid. Hopefully I'll never have to use it.

Afterwards, I worked on prepping lessons for next week. Normally on Thursdays I just make an outline of the next week. Then over the weekend I prep the lessons and make sure everything is up to date and ready. Buuuut, this weekend I'm going on an impromptu trip to Wisconsin to help a friend wedding dress shop, so no time to plan. (I get to be the maid of honor!) Everything is ready for next week except one science Kahoot for the 7-8th graders to review for their Friday test. I should be able to get that done next Monday or Tuesday though. All I need to do now is pack!

Pumpkins

Pastor and Mrs. B have a ton of pumpkins and gourds. After chapel each of my students picked out one to turn into a pumpkin "book report". It's an optional family project that I'm making mandatory. They fussed at first, but stopped when they realized I wasn't going to make them write an actual report. We're doing it for art. They get to decorate their pumpkin with stuff so it resembles a character from a book. So far, they're looking good!

We've been doing collages as our other art project, and one 5th grader made a frog out of her pumpkin using green paper as a collage. She partnered up with the other 5th grade girl to do the book Dog on a Frog? by Kes Gray. The other one is doing a dog. I'll share pictures when they're finished.

Swingin'

My class loves to swing. Every time we have recess outside, they play a game they made up. One person is the judge who gives the swingers a word and the first letter of the second secret word. The swingers have to jump off the swing in a way that the words describe their jumps. The judge then ranks them based on how well they matched the known word and the secret word. They come up with some crazy words. Sassy (teacher). Long (lion). Fancy (bird). 

We delved deeper into DNA and cell replication today. Man, science is just clicking with these guys! It's awesome! We talked about how cells know when to divide, how cells die, how DNA gets fixed if the bases get messed up, why sugar seems to give you energy, and vacuoles (the one thing from my lesson I actually planned to teach them about haha). But as always, I'd rather have them learn this stuff when they're interested in it. Plus, they'll be ahead of the game in science class in two years. We'll see how much of this they remember... 😁

Christmas Crazies

Ugh, the Christmas program is driving me nuts... but right now it's all speculation, so I should quit worrying about it prematurely. 

Results from Sunday's meetings: The church constitution doesn't specifically say who picks the church services/times, but the elders traditionally do it with the congregation's input. The elders really, really want the kids to perform on Christmas Eve. And it has to be the school kids, not just the Sunday school kids. They were willing to let us go down to one service, but it had to be on Christmas Eve. Except only 40% of families want to do it Christmas Eve. So after making our case for having just one service the Sunday before Christmas (as 60% of families want), the elders decided that school should still have two Christmas services, but families and teachers don't have to participate in both.

Sigh. So that means potentially more work for us planners... If families can only come to one service, we have to find substitutes for speaking parts, make sure their bell parts are covered (or record the bell song ahead of time), assign seating with more/fewer bodies in mind... 

As far as teachers only attending one, Mr. D runs the sound system, so he can't skip. Mr. E as principal feels like he has to be at both (and Mrs. E too). Mrs. L directs music and can't just skip. I'm directing bells and the rest of the program, so it could work for me to be gone, if I did a lot of prep work/filmed the bells (which we might need to do anyway if kids aren't going to be at both services), but I would feel so guilty being the only regular teacher gone from a service. (The preschool teachers are taking turns being at the services.)

But again, I'm borrowing trouble. We're sending a program signup home tomorrow, due back November 1st, and then we'll know more of what we're working with.

So nothing different was announced at the church meeting. Just that school will have two services in conjunction with the bible school kids, just like usual. The cast of players might be different, but it will be the same service and it will be amazing. 

The rest of the church meeting went surprisingly well. The vocal parishioner didn't say anything when school rolled around (he was going to suggest we cut a teacher because of low student numbers). He raised his hand, but others raised their hands first and were called on, and their questions/the answers calmed the vocal guy down. We got our lp locked in before the prices went up. Mr. E ran through the numbers of students in each grade, talked about how the free kindergarten has helped retain students. There were ten kindergarteners last year and there are ten 1st graders this year. Pastor went through how many baptisms there have been in church the past few years, and the numbers line up with how many kids are in grades at school. So all those things (plus the fact our church is doing okay moneywise) let us squeak by without any negative talk about the school. 

Downpour

I thought we might escape the rain, but no. This morning was clear and sunny, but as we walked to chapel a bank of dark clouds hovered in the distance. An hour before lunch the skies broke and a torrent of rain whooshed around us. This is the first big rain my students have experienced in my room; it's loud! Especially in the entryway to my room (tin, not much insulation). So they enjoyed that. They loved seeing the parking lot flood and a river of water rushing down into the kickball field too. 

We ended our half day of school with reading buddies. My kiddos LOVE reading buddies. As per usual, they squirreled away books earlier in the week to share today. Sometimes I think 15min isn't long enough!

During reading buddies, I got my continuing education paperwork ready to turn in at our teacher's conference tomorrow. I usually see the committee lady there and then I don't have to mail my gigantic packet of papers. Last year I never turned any in, so I have 14 things to turn in for hours. Some of them are for one hour webinars, but a few are for 10-25 hour workshops. My license needs to be renewed this summer, so it's a good thing I have so many hours!

Rapping Christmas

Bells today actually went really well! We practiced our two November songs (both sound decent just sight reading) and one Christmas song. That one could use a little work. While I focused on one half of them, the other half (ahem, the boy half) came up with a rap version of the song we were playing: Away in a Manger/Still, Still, Still. 

The end of bells was chaotic since no one wanted to pack up. The 6th graders and I brainstormed a solution and came up with the idea that everyone has one job they do. At the end of the day the 7-8th graders joined us and we picked sticks for who is doing what. One job for everyone! Now I'm going to type it and have it posted on the back of the door/on my music stand so everyone remembers what they have to do. 

Now I'm off to church for a Christmas program meeting with Pastor, our bible school superintendent, and Mrs. L. We're going to share survey results with them and hopefully come up with a decision about the service...