Halloween

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Let Vacation Commence

As the chaos came to a close, we were all standing in line at the door waiting for the bell to ring and signal the beginning of vacation. One girl shouted above the chatter, "I'm gonna miss you guys!" All the moms waiting for their kids after cleaning up our party issued a collective, "Awwww!"

Aren't fourth graders cute?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Sack Lunch

Earlier this year we had sack lunches to go home with kiddos on a half day. One of my kiddos brought his Saran Wrapped sandwich up to me. Here's our conversation:

Him: What's this?

Me: Looks like ham.

Him: No, not that. This.

Me: Oh. That's cheese.

Him: Nooo, this.

Me: What? The bread? That's wheat bread.

Him: But it's still bread?

Me: Yep.

He walked away apparently satisfied with my answer, but still looking perplexed.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Whine Alert

Teaching has lot of perks...vacation time, great health insurance, fun colleagues.

One of the not so perky things is grading papers. Every day I get to the end and just don't feel like doing it, so they start to pile up. On Friday afternoon I have such high hopes for catching up over the weekend. Then the weekend comes and whaddya know? I don't want to sit and correct piles of friggin' paperwork. I want to do a little Christmas shopping, watch some TV, knit, goof off online, eat out, even clean out the garage. If I chose to go ahead and do any (or all) of those things, there's this nasty nagging feeling of guilt for not doing that paperwork.

It just can't all get done in the hour and a half of daily planning time I have (usually used for something awesome like photocopying or setting up a science experiment). Isn't there some way I can not work on the weekend and not feel guilty about it?

The worst: A kiddo in my class asking when he'll get his corrected math test back because his twin sister in the other class got it back days ago.

My response? "Let's just face it. Her life is so much better than yours." That got a smile.

End of venting session. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Don't ask if you don't wanna know

Yesterday a mom brought in cake for her child and stayed to cut it and celebrate. I used my standard birthday interview before singing. Here's how it went:

Me: Today you are...

Student: Nine.

Me: And tomorrow you will be...

Student: Ten.

Me: Do you think you will wake up feeling older and wiser tomorrow?

Student: No. I think I'll wake up still feeling like I'm five because my mom treats me like I'm five.

(Engage teacher game face and avoid eye contact with mom. Moving on...)

Friday, December 11, 2009

Nighty night.

I don't know if I've mentioned before that I let my class vote on a reward to work toward. One of my all-time favorites was when they decided to work for "nap time." When the anticipated day arrived we turned off the lights, tipped the blinds, grabbed our coats and snuggled in...okay, I didn't, but they did. About 20 minutes later I opened the blinds and they started to stir. I overheard one kiddo asking another, "Did you fall asleep?" The reply: "No, but I drooled."

Hello again!

Sorry for dropping off the face for a bit.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

"Hello, I'm trying to reach..."

Okay. I did it. I made all 50 (yes 50!) of my levy calls to random individuals. I hated every minute of it. In fact my palms are still clammy as I type. Even the enthusiastic supporters were awful because I felt bad bothering them. Blech! Thanks to those who just dumped me into their voice mails. Bet you never thought of your fourth grade teacher acting as a quasi telemarketer, didja?

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Snack Time

Ever smelled a rancid graham cracker? That smell will stay with you for a while. I guess that's what I get for mentioning cleaning out the pantry in my plea to parents for class snacks. Pew!