It's time for summer...

Yes, I'm ready.

Ready for summer.

I think that we should shorten the school year from 180 days to 170... that's when I really started being done with school this year.  The kids have been a little trunky since spring break 5 weeks ago... and last week, everything seemed to come to a head, and I'd had it.  So had they.  But... we still have 3 more days to get along with each other.  Well.

So I was thinking that I needed some reminders as to why I actually like teaching most of the first 170 days of school.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Last week, my students were writing their letters to next year's teachers to introduce themselves and to serve as a first impression writing piece for their new teacher.  We brainstormed a few minutes about what should go in each paragraph of their letter... about themselves, what they liked about 5th grade, what they're looking forward to in 6th grade.

I was more than a little surprised to read how many students said something to the effect of "Miss Ferrin is a big reason why I liked 5th grade so much!"  There are always a few kids who you know that's true for without them saying so, but to see it in writing was more than a little shocking, especially the kids who wrote it.  Ah, shucks!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Last Friday, we went on a field trip to Timpanogos Cave.  That 1.5 mile hike is a killer - especially when you are an old-ish, out-of-shape person such as myself.  There can be a lot of support found in 11-year-olds yelling encouraging words from on top of a mountain.  "Hey, Miss Ferrin!  Are you okay?!?!  Do you want me to come down there and help you get up there?!?!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 My kids are really fun this year.  There are, as always, a few stinkers, and a few parents I could really do without, but for the most part, this has been a good year.  My kids have interesting things to share, tell funny stories and jokes, laugh at themselves and with one another, and are hard working most of the time.  Each group is different, and I don't have a favorite - but this year has definitely been memorable.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And while I do look forward to summer - a lot - the change that comes with the end of the year gives me a little anxiety.  I trade in my 33 darlings now for new ones in the fall... (and, let's be honest, some of them I'm not so sad to lose, but others I will definitely miss)  I am moving classrooms... (to a bigger room, which is good, but moving is still so stressful!)  I'm losing a friend on my team... (only to a team down the hall, but still...) and have to get used to someone new...

The Pickle

I've been on the same team as Ryan for the past 6 years, in both 3rd grade and 5th grade.  I can't remember exactly when he acquired the pickle, but it's hung in his room for a long time.

For April Fool's day, it's tradition on my team to do something big to Ryan.  Why pick on him?  He gives great reactions that keep up coming back for years.  Last year, we borrowed a set of twins from 4th grade and put them in Ryan's room as new students.  He even administered our reading assessment to them!  We also told him that we left something in his room, and if he didn't find it soon, he'd soon know it.  He scoured for a few days and came up with nothing... which was probably good, since there was nothing left to begin with.

Yes, we're childish.  Especially around each other.  We can't help it.

So this year we knew we had to outdo ourselves.

Jami cut down the pickle.

I hid it.

Then the fun started.

Ryan started receiving emails from a strange address... inna_pickle@whatever...

Your pickle is safe and secure.  For now.

Watch out - or the pickle gets it!

Two is company... and three's a crowd!

I've escaped!  Too bad your car was locked, I might have taken it on my adventures in the real world!

PDC TLC

These people look familiar... Maybe I'll be up here one day too!

My spring break... I played at the school playground.  I looked for you but the school was locked up tight.

Spring break... I went to visit some family.  I think I must be adopted!

Spring break... A nice long leisurely Sunday nap.  Ah!

Congrats on graduating!

Home sweet home!

Nearly the whole school was in on it and loved it.  It was fun to share the pickle's adventures with others, and even funner to tease Ryan about it.  He took it well, but is glad to have the pickle back safe and sound.

Because of Mr. Terupt

I really, really needed a good book to read.  Something uplifting.  But quick.  This book was it! 

Because of Mr. Terupt made me re-remember that teaching is more about the tests-at-the-end-of-the-year.  It's more than the book-learning that goes on.  It's more than passing AYP and NCLB standards.  Sometimes being a teacher is just being a good person, helping students on their way in other parts of their lives besides the 'school life'.

The 'telling' of this book is through 7 different student narrators.  What a great, effective way to tell such a great school story.  Of course everyone sees and feels and experiences something different in class.  Yet the commonalities the kids share is incredible.

Loved it!

Totally recommend it!

Thankful - Linky Party

1.  What are you thankful for in your classroom?

My class this year - I love them!  A lot!
My Promethean board, Elmo and projector - I couldn't teach without them!
Books - a lot of them.  Never is "I can't find something to read" an option.



2. What people are you most thankful for?

My family - I wouldn't be where I am without my Mom, Dad, and Holly
My lunch group - I am sane thanks to Karen, Jami, Ryan, Vickie and Megan!




3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?

 What the Teacher Wants - of course!
Read This!?!? - my BFF's new book blog
Heartland Paper - to keep me sane!




4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?

Diet Coke
Chocolate
Dancing with the Stars!



5. What are you most thankful for?

Family, friends, the gospel, a great job, health, and wellness!

still here

yeah.

haven't blogged for a while.

i'm sure a lot of really great things have happened...

school... 33 5th graders... who are actually really quite great...  just time-consuming...

40 books for the school year... most my kids are keeping up... me not so much... this is week 8... and at one a week i am about 3 weeks behind... but i have some really great books lined up...  the new ranger's apprentice books for example...

math class... reading that i skim... lesson plans to re-write... but a lovely wednesday evening that passes by fairly quickly... and the best part is that i can come to school the next day with new ideas for discussion in math.

history class... even more reading that i just barely skim... does anyone get through it all?.. doubt it!... but good knowledge... and my favorite for dinner - golden corral... ick...

crochet class... really great students that don't need lots of help so i can stitch too... coming up with projects that will work is a little challenging... but good...

the utes... started out the season great... and now i have no idea what happened to them... except to say that they could give me a scholarship to fumble 10 times in the last two games... it's probably a good thing that the most important game of the year was early on, and they played a lot better than they really are, and the cougs played a lot worse than they really are...

general conference... was good... lots of things i need to work on... but i have apparently a lot of time to do that now... and not just to 2012 like all my great students say every time someone reports a new volcano or earthquake in the world...  but i probably should be telling you this in person instead of sending it into the great cyber void...

so yeah.

see you in a few weeks... or months... or whatever...

"Thanks to your Dad..."

In December, Lone Peak HS sponsored a food drive at the elementary schools.  The class with the most cans got a pizza party, in addition to school-wide incentives.  My class was doing okay with their can count, but it really picked up the last week when I told them that whatever cans they brought in, I would double it.  Well, actually - my Dad would double it.  He always supported the Food Bank, and we thought this would be a good use of some of his money.  (He usually supported them with money, as the food bank gets more for their/our buck with that, but thought this would be a worthy exception.)

By the time the end of the week rolled around, the kids had brought 238 cans in... so I dutifully went to the store with Mom and bought 240 cans... of everything!  All totaled up, it was only $119.37 - not too shabby!  The receipt is still hanging up in my room, over 3 feet long!

My kids were so impressed that I'd be willing (well, that Dad'd be willing) to help them out to meet our goal of getting that pizza party.  I'm glad that I could help out their morale a little bit, and maybe help demonstrate what a good cause a food drive is, and the people it helps.

The kids brought in more cans that last day, so we ended up with over 500 cans, and ended up winning that pizza party.  When I told the kids that we won (oh, and that we were going to be good sports about it!), one of my students who really doesn't see outside himself much said to me, "It's thanks to your Dad that we won, you know."  Awwwww...!

So thanks, Dad!

11 Birthdays

I loved this book!

I started reading it last Thursday, when my students were doing some Super Bowl of Reading reading.  I pulled out my book so that they could see me reading also (I don't usually read when they are - I have too many other things to do!).  I really, totally meant to be a good teacher that day - but alas, it didn't happen.  Once I got a few pages into this book, I was totally hooked.  The kids and I ended up reading for about an hour - all the way from recess until lunch.  Oh well.  I'll be a good teacher another day.  (The kids, by the way, didn't mind - they've been making good progress on their reading goals at home, without a lot of reading time at school, and think that I'm "awesome" because I "let" them read all that time.  Hmmm...)

Amanda and Leo are best friends who share the same birthday, and who have combined birthday parties, up until their 11th, because of an overhead conversation on their 10th birthday.  Because of an enchantment placed on their great grandparents, both Amanda and Leo end up having their 11th birthday over and over until they get it right and the enchantment's requirements have been met.  It reminded me a lot of one of my and my family's favorite movies - Groundhog Day - and that's a good thing.  It was cleverly written and a quick read - because you get sucked in.  I found myself wondering what I'd do differently (or not) if I got stuck on a day and couldn't progress to the next day, and which day I'd want to live over, hopefully to improve the outcomes and attitudes of the events taking place on that day.  I'm still undecided - I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Loved it!  You will too!

First Fun Fantastic Friday

This is what I'm doing tomorrow at school. Except without the Coke in the eye.

4 short days

Ah.

176 days down.

4 short days to go.


Well, they'll undoubtedly be loooong days...

but that's all there is left to this school year.
Hard to believe.

I'm excited for summer... probably even more so than the kids. Sad, but true. I'm anxious to have my evenings and weekends to myself and not filled with teacher homework. True, I am teaching a week-long computer boot camp here at the school (7 kids signed up so far!), but that should prove to be pretty fun. Also true, I am taking home a pile of books and such over the summer to work from, and plan to meet with my team a few times over the summer to collaborate (whoa!) on some things, but it won't be the same kind of pressure has having to get my pile of papers graded and put into the computer and prepare for math tomorrow and write a spelling list out and get my history powerpoint ready and read ahead the next chapter in five different books and and and and and...

Whew.

4 more.

Then...


summer!

Reasons why...

Reasons why I love (yes, love) my team:
We found out Friday that there will be some staffing re-arrangements at school this year due to budgets, lower student enrollment projections, etc... It would make me so sad to lose members of my team to another team, or another school. So here's my ode to them, even though they won't be reading it.

Karen: I love how she calls us her "kids" - she makes a great "mom"! She's a fellow Ute. She is my female support on the team. I am so alone on this team of men when she's gone - all that "manly" talk could drive me crazy! She's willing to share her stuff and ideas. She knows where to find all her stuff and ideas. She doesn't mind four techies trying to teach her stuff, and embraces what she can comprehend from us all. When I taught computers, she always walked through in the mornings with a cheery "Good morning, Miss Ferrin!" She was a great help as I planned things for 5th grade to do when I taught computers, and gave me realistic expectations for those students. She's very level headed. She expects a lot of her students and of us. She's a great person to talk to and text with.

Jeff: He is willing to take on anything. He's our go-to guy for Hope of America, the Christmas Sing, UTIPS. He very willingly took on the toughest science rotation for the year. He is very cool and collected and knows what's going on. I also love his understated sense of humor and timing. It always comes out at the most unexpected times, and almost catches you off guard, which is one of the best parts of his humor. I also love how he doesn't always know how to take Jami and Ryan's immaturity (which is a lot of the time - the immaturity, I mean).

Jami: He fits in so well with us - probably too well. He got a head start with us last year being a student teacher on our grade last year, and we all knew immediately he needed to be on our team. I love how if he has a question that he needs a serious answer to, he asks me because he knows that I'll give a serious answer. Just being out of college, some first year teachers think they know it all, but he gives an appropriate amount of respect to all of us, and adds in with his new-fangled college learnin' when he thinks it'll help. I also love how he and Ryan are such boys when they are together. A very strange relationship they have... but we all love the humor it provides.

Ryan: We are on our fourth year of teaching together. We've done a lot together - moved from 3rd grade to 5th grade together, survived eMints and history classes together, and have a fair amount of glances, eye-rolls, and looks that we share. I was the first person he told that his wife was pregnant last year (awwww, on the one hand; ewwww on the other...), and the one he called when the baby was born. (Oh, and also the one he called to go up to Timp Cave when he thought his wife would go into labor when he was up there... so guess who hiked back up for the second day in a row?) He also was very concerned when my dad died, and was glad when I came back to school. We're the resident techies on the team - if I don't know the solution, he does, and vice versa. We co-teach our school tech group. We share treats at eMints (well, he shares my treats), and we used to share a ride over to the district for eMints and then to his home afterward - more for his wife than for him, really (there's no reason to make his little kids stay up late just to come get him when it's kind of on my way anyway). Now I 'cry' on my way to class in my messy car because he has his own car and takes himself. He fully endorses my cooking and crafting abilities as demonstrated within my Domestic Portfolio blog. It's a very symbiotic relationship that we carry on.

My favorite team story:
When we learned last year that we'd be a team of three men and two women, Ryan was so excited to finally have "manly conversations": hunting, camping, guns, dirt, cars, etc... no sports though, because he's not really into sports. When we graded our DRA tests together in September, Ryan and Jami started talking about their new babies and sleeping schedules, and their wives feeding schedules. Jeff has two girls of his own, so he jumped into the conversation as well. I burst out laughing as their conversation got more and more detailed and less and less manly. They couldn't quite understand why I would be laughing so at them. Silly boys. :)

We've built a lot of team this year - I hope that we can remain intact!


Reasons I like going to conferences:
I've been to two conferences for school in the last two weeks - the Literacy Promise and UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Technology). Love them!

1. Change. I get to get away from my students for a few days. I like them fine, but it's nice to get away once in a while. Change is good.

2. I learn a lot. Sometimes it's just things that I remember, and remember that I once knew that trick/strategy/resource. Sometimes it's totally new. On occasion, this remembering makes me feel guilty - it's things that I should be doing and I knew at one point that I should be doing them. Generally, this guilt goes away as I re-incorporate the technique back into my teaching. Sometimes it's just learning that I am doing some of these things, which is reassuring.

3. Commute time. I love conferences that are in Salt Lake - Trax, here I come! (I can't believe how much I enjoy taking Trax now... I got to where I despised public transit when I was using it every day. Now, I envy those days when I didn't have to drive myself. Ah...!) Last Friday and Saturday the conference was at Murray HS - 10 minutes drive time, and only because I got stopped at all the lights!

4. People. It's fun to be with people from school in a slightly different environment. For example, I have never seen my principal laugh quite so hard, or the sixth grade teachers let quite so loose. It was also great to see my fellow fifth-grade team mate pull out his iPod touch to play a game during a session. (I was doing exactly the same thing)


Reasons why I need a life:
I don't have a life. I am prone to staying at school for 12 hours at a time, or longer, more times per week than I would like to admit. The other days aren't much better. Even when I do come home somewhat on time (early for me), I bring school work home to do. Even though I don't always do it when I bring it home, it still comes home with me and taunts me. So I need a life that doesn't involve school.

1. All this school stuff is going to drive me crazy. I'm burnt out. Not good. I have 3 more months to teach this year, plus about another 30 more years before I can even think of retiring (thank you Utah State Legislature, Social Security, and poor interest rates).

2. I'm not sure my teaching or my students are better for all my time. No one wants a cranky, overworked teacher, and that's what my kids have right now. Granted, me on a bad day is probably better than a sub on a good day... but still.

3. I really do have things that I could do if I left school at school and left school before I'm too pooped. Lots of things. Crocheting, scrapbooking, reading, blogging... See? Lots to do.

4. People who are my age and who are still single are still single for a reason. While there are probably many reasons I'm still single, probably one of the major reasons that I am still single is that there are no single men at school when I'm there at 6 at night. Nor are they knocking on my door when I am exhausted and grading papers at home. Not that I am specifically going to include "going out to places to meet guys" in my "getting a life" campaign, but at least I won't be stuck at school where there definitely won't be anyone to meet.

I heart Alan Katz - even more!

A follow-up post to my first post about Alan Katz. About a month ago, I get a comment on that very post from guess who - Alan Katz himself! I was ecstatic! Elated! Overjoyed! And greatly impressed! I would have never guessed that he would have read that post - that totally wasn't the intent. But I'm glad he did!
I told my class that he left a comment on my blog, and I sent our original email to him again after school (this time using my gmail and not my school email account - I think that was the problem before). He emailed back within 10 - yes, ten! - minutes. He took the time to answer the class's questions, and will email us back as often as we email him. We haven't gotten back to email him a lengthy response yet - but the kids are totally impressed with him, as are other teachers, parents, and the principal.
So - if your class is looking to write a real-life author, give Alan Katz a try! Just don't use your school email. :)

I heart Alan Katz

Why didn't I think of doing this before? How long have I been teaching again? And I have never done this before? Really?

I decided this year that I would start each track time by having my students read a poem. I've worked a few classics into the rotation, but mostly have stayed with fun and funny poems that I thought my kids would like.

Enter Alan Katz. He's the author behind the Silly Dilly Song Books - hilarious and kid-like lyrics set to common tunes. Love them. I found his book of poetry - "Oops" - at my local library and typed up lots and lots of his poems. Love it. My class spent most of the fall reading his poetry, talking about how his titles are often a play on the poem's meanings, and how fun they are to read and enjoy. We even wrote Mr. Katz an email (which he hasn't responded to, dang) with our own class poem in response to one of his - it's included below. We're working our way through his Christmas Silly Dilly song book - "Where Did They Hide My Presents?" - right now. Love it.

My kids love reading the poems every day. They have started checking out volumes of poetry from the school library to read. (Alan Katz as well as other authors - we've read a wide variety of poets, despite our fascination and love with Alan Katz.) I've never had kids who liked reading poetry so much. I don't think that I've ever enjoyed reading poetry this much, either. I also have quite a few kids now convinced that to be a successful children's poet, one must be a middle-aged, slightly stocky and slightly balding man. Don't believe me? Look for pictures of Alan Katz, Shel Silverstien, Brod Baggert, and Jack Prelutsky. Convinced yet? This has some of my young female poetesses a little frightened...

So thanks, Alan Katz. Can you respond to our email please? Pretty please?

Um…

by Alan Katz


People with bubble gum…
chew some.

People with coffee grounds…
brew some.

People with tomatoes…
stew some.

People with baseballs…
threw some.

People with crayons…
drew some.

People with bad colds…
blew some.

People with gooey tissues…
gruesome.



Um…

by Miss Ferrin’s 5th Grade Class

People who are twins…
two some

People with cows…
moo some

People who are detectives…
clue some

People with dirty hair…
shampoo some

People who clean up after dogs…
doo-doo some

People with ghosts…
boo some

People with roosters…
cock-a-doodle-doo some

People with lawyers…
sue some

People with knowledge…
knew some

People who have toilets…
poo some

People in Miss Ferrin’s class are
coo’ some

And some that didn't make it into our final copy:

People who are Utes... U some
People who are Cougars... Blue some
People who read Leven Thumps... Foo some
People who play Pokemon... Picachu some
People who know rams... Gnu some
People who like Mountains... Dew some
People who have assignments... Due some
People who like condensation... Dew some
People who have to use the bathroom... Loo some
People with flies... Shoo some
People with sheep... Ewe some
People who stick... Glue some
People with Mr. T pity the Foo' some
People who live in Hundred Acre Wood Winnie the Pooh some



Visit Alan Katz's website!

January... blah!

So I realized that it's been a while since I blogged last... I don't even have a good reason for not blogging! It's not that I've been too busy having a life that I didn't have time to blog about it... I haven't done much of anything, really... so what is there to blog about? I'm working on a novel about Christmas break that is back-dated, so in the meantime, here's a few tidbits about January 2009 so far...

Our first week back to school was the longest week ever! The kids were used to sleeping in, being lazy, and getting to play all the time! Not to mention their teacher! It was tough, getting them (and me) back in the routine, but I think we're there... almost!

There were only a few storms that first week back that make the commute treacherous. The school parking lot has been a sheet of ice for the past two weeks - I've gotten great at ice skating across!

Recess duty has been a blast! We've only been inside once, which is okay with me! The kids don't really mind being out in the snow and cold. I have one student who moved to Utah from Arizona this fall, and it's his first winter with snow and all... he's pretty stoked about the snow, and could spend all his time looking at it, playing in it, and talking about it. When the kids get all excited about it snowing outside and try to gather at the windows, I always tell them, "You've seen snow before! Now sit down!" (always using a nicely controlled teacher-voice, of course!), and someone inevitably says, "But he hasn't!" Maybe by May we'll be done with looking at the snow...

My class has earned a few extra recesses for being good for substitutes (finally - it only took until January!), and the boys love playing King of the Hill on one of the mounds of snow on the playground. They don't play at regular recess time, because, as they tell me, they like that they know the people in our class aren't playing and pushing and shoving to be mean... they are comfortable in assuming that boys in our class are playing for fun... and they really have taken pretty good care of each other while playing. Personally, I'll be glad when the mound is melted and they're back to playing football on the field or playing soccer against the girls.

Thank goodness for Martin Luther King! I've always admired the man and the kind of leadership that he showed during the Civil Rights movement... and I'm also grateful that Congress decided we needed the day off to celebrate his memory!

10 days down, 170 to go!

Not that I'm counting or anything!

I was really worried about making the change to 5th grade. It was pretty bad at the beginning of the summer (school dreams already?!). Coming back in August didn't help any. It is so overwhelming to come back anyway - let alone learn a new curriculum and get to know a new team (well, two-thirds of a new team anyway), and even being with kids of a new age and not knowing how they act and react to things and what they can handle - ahhhh!

But the first day of school was the best first day I have ever had! Granted, that hasn't been too many - but it really was the best day of the 4 previous first days. And the first week - definitely the best first week ever! And I am keeping up on my curriculum - but I am excited for the day when I am ahead a day or two or three. That'll be great! I also have 6 kids in class this year that I had as 3rd graders two years ago. I'm pretty sure that most of them were excited about that (hopefully no one cried!) - and I'm excited about them. I have a great class - 29 little darlings!

This past Wednesday - 8 days into school - we went on our first field trip! We hiked up the trail to go through the Timpanogos Caves! Wow - try herding 56 10-year-olds up a mountain and back in one piece! (well, 56 pieces) But we made it - 56 kids have nothing on 4 moms and 2 teachers, one of whom is Mr. Grimley! (I guess I did contribute... I made my presence known in not allowing kids to run down the mountain like they wanted to!)

And now the first week is over, and I have a lovely 3 day weekend to look forward to! Can't wait for the last 3 day weekend of the year - let's hear it for Memorial Day!

4 days and counting...

Where did the school year go to? I know we were busy doing what we were supposed to be doing for the past 176 days... but really, where did it all go? The year really went by quickly, especially the last 5 weeks after our spring break (the last time I found the time to blog!).

We've had a lovely time at school since testing. We dissected owl pellets (a very cool kind of gross...), have been working on scrapbooking our yearbooks (it's fun to see how creative the kids are... I'd bet many of my kids have moms who don't let their kids do their own scrapping, and the kids have done pretty nice jobs of their pages. Plus, I get to release some of my excess paper for the project - yay!), and have listened to the first Harry Potter book on CD (they like listening and have to stay pretty quiet to listen well - a bonus!)

I'm also busy packing up my room for my move down the hall to the fifth grade! I've known for a while, but didn't want to say anything until the end of the year, mostly for my own mindset - I needed to get through with the year with these kids at the forefront of my mind, not what I'll be doing in the fall. I haven't told my kids yet... so we'll see what they say this week when I do tell them. They might not care so much... but then once the rumors spread throughout the 3rd grade and the school, well, someone might care then. Hee hee. It'll be sad in some ways to leave 3rd grade. My team was great - Liz, Charlotte, Bobbi, and Ryan. Liz and Charlotte are staying, Ryan's moving up the 5th grade, and Bobbi is leaving to teach 6th grade at another school. I've spent a lot of time working on things for 3rd grade. But I am excited for the challenge of new curriculum and using the technology they got from a grant last year - laptops, a projector, digital cameras, document handlers... right up my alley!

Well... more next week when I am less pressed for time - yay!

Big News!

Well... I'm anxiously engaged!

And, while you probably didn't fall for that... 27 third graders did, as did several teachers at school - and the principal! My ring was pretty convincing (as long as you didn't look to close). The picture of Edward, my prince charming, did the trick, though.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Gimme a break!

Whew... Finally made it to Christmas break!
What a week it was at school. Monday we spent the morning at the school's Christmas Sing school-wide rehearsal. Tuesday, the kids made their Christmas gifts for their families - cute fleece pillows that they tied and stuffed. What an experience! I would have never known which kids can't tie their shoes without it! :) It was fun to sit with just a few at a time and listen in on their conversations - they're so funny! Wednesday, Holly came to school with me and took pictures during our two Christmas Sing performances. The kids liked meeting Holly after hearing so many stories about her (some completely true and some embellished just a bit...). Thursday, the kids watched The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in the morning and enjoyed the party in the afternoon (thanks to my great room-mom and her crew of volunteers!). I got to leave on time from school (more or less) and come home and enjoy my evening.
Today, I got to sleep in, read in my PJs, watch Pirates, and enjoy the afternoon at home.
Hooray for a break!

Field Trip Friday

Whew, am I glad that today is Friday! 3rd grade went on a field trip to American Fork HS to see their production of "Peter Pan." It was an excellent show. Engaging enough even for our little darlings, who sat and allowed themselves to be taken to Neverland. Until intermission, that is. Then there was a mad dash for the drinking fountains and rest rooms! (6 grades of kids in 5 minutes!) We got back to school just in time to go to lunch and recess. It was amazing to me - the kids were really ready to work when they got back, like it was a relief to be doing something normal. Can't wait for the next one!

Happy Halloween!

Well...
I just survived Halloween with 27 3rd graders. It was actually a fairly pleasant day, as these kinds of days go. First track enjoyed scary stories and playing spelling games. We had our parade through the school once second track arrived. We walked nice and slow this year! (So all those pictures the parents took better come out good!) We did some Halloween puzzles and activities and made cards before going to lunch. After lunch, we took a class picture and cleared space to watch a movie with the rest of third grade - all about Halloween and El Dia de lose Muertos. Then we started our Jazz math (go Jazz!) and did some review activities and made a few more cards. By then, it was time for our party. My Room Moms are the best! Everything was planned and carried out so well - I didn't have to worry about a thing! The kids had a great time. Second track was a little more resistant to listening to more stories, but we all made it through. And now, it's time to head home, for more trick-or-treat fun.