Three Things Thursday

Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a Haiku Sprint Duffle!

ONE

Has anyone else watched the Fault in Our Stars extended trailer?

OMG.  June cannot come soon enough--I am so pumped about this movie.  I LOVE John Green, and this is my favorite of his books.  Better get my box backpack of tissues ready, I will surely have no mascara left by the end of this movie!

TWO

I was able to cross something off my list of 2014 goals recently--I finally got clipless pedals!  I'd been resisting bike shoes and pedals for so long because I was just plain terrified.  I was certain that I was going to forget how to unclip and wipe out on my bike, either into an unsuspecting runner or into oncoming traffic.  Enough triathletes and cyclist friends had sung the praises of clipless for long enough that I decided to go for it this year.  If I'm going to step up my game and make it through an Olympic tri, I need all the help I can get.  

Guess what?  It's really not as hard as I'd built it up to be!  Guess all of my friends were telling me the truth. :)  I've gotten out for a couple rides, and while I'm still not as quick clipping in as I'd like to be, it really is simple to clip out.  No falling or flying into uncoming traffic--yet!

This just in--I definitely need to do some more "bricking"... #jellylegs

THREE

We are on third grade social studies curriculum this year (multiage classroom = switching off between two curriculums year to year), which IMHO is pretty lame.  I mean, I got to teach American History when I was a 5th grade teacher, so "Our Community" leaves a little to be desired.  However, this past chapter we were reading and learning about individuals who have made a difference in their communities--some big names like Ruby Bridges and a few others who I'd been unfamiliar with.  After completing a group project about their "Community Hero," we had the kids write letters to their heroes.  Grading them, I think my heart melted a little bit.  Here's a little bit from one of my favorite's:

Overall, it's been a long, tiring week, and I could not be happier that tomorrow is Friday!!

Tell me about your week!  Highs and lows?

Six on Sunday

Hey guys!  I realize "Six on Sunday" is in no way a "thing," but it has been so long since I blogged I figured a bulleted list would be best to get me back in the game.  Things were busy in spring, and I just needed a blog break.  Do you ever feel that way?  I hate for blogging to become a "chore" when it's supposed to be something fun that I do in spare time, so if it ever does become "work," I have no problem giving myself a blogging time out vacation.  Anyways, onto the "six"...

1. I ran my 5th half marathon this morning!  It was an awesome race and a beautiful course on the lakefront path in Chicago.  I wasn't shooting for a PR, but I ended up coming in just 1 second slower than my PR from the Space Coast Half in November, and I felt WAY stronger--what a great feeling!  Check back for a full recap and more pics later this week!

2. Speaking of running, I am officially signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October!  Not only will I be running my first full marathon, but I will be running as part of Team Up!, the charity team for Autism Speaks. I'm thrilled to be supporting such an awesome organization and am excited I've already raised almost $2,000!  Check out my fundraising page here if you are interested in hearing more about my connections to autism and why I'm running this race.

 3. My class is completely falling apart in the last weeks of school.  One girl was out midweek with stomach flu, another went home sick Friday with diarrhea, and another threw up on the carpet Friday mid-morning.  YIKES.  My fifth graders almost always made it to the trash can or bathroom to throw up, but this was our second floor accident of the year.  Must be a third grade and below thing...oh well!  Anyways, since all of this I can't help but view my classroom as a giant petri dish of germs, and I convince myself every stomach twinge I feel is the flu...my fingers are crossed that the large amounts of hand sanitizer I've been using will protect me!!

4. Speaking of school, with EIGHT DAYS of school left, I'm reflecting on what an awesome year this has been.  The kids are totally driving me crazy right now (HELLO MAY!), but seriously this year has been a breath of fresh air.  I loved fifth grade, but 3rd/4th is totally my niche.  Yes, they cry more than 5th graders, but then they write something cute on a spelling test like this:

Adorable.  That being said, I am so ready for summer!  Pool days, nonstop reading, and vacations are calling my name!!

5. Tuesday is my LAST DAY of grad school!  I am presenting my final project, turning in my loooong paper, and calling it a day!  It all feels a little anticlimactic because I didn't walk at the graduation ceremony, but after Tuesday I will have my master's degree.  Woohoo!!  What an awesome feeling.

6. I'm not much of a field trip girl--I think I am still scared from a field trip with my insane class my first year that almost killed me or at the very least almost drove me to quit.  Seriously, it was THAT BAD.  Anyways, like I said, I'm not much of a field trip girl, but Wednesday morning I will board a bus with a billion 3rd & 4th graders bound for Springfield, IL to visit our state capitol.  It is a 3 1/2 hour dive.  We leave at 6am and will be back home at 9:45pm.  Hold me...

By the way, I have some upcoming posts in the making including ones detailing my guided reading structure and notes, a typical day in Daily 3, how I ran guided math this year, updates on my marathon fundraising, and a giveaway for tart cherry juice!

Five Things Friday + Giveaway Reminder

Reminder to enter my CLICK protein powder giveaway!  Ends tomorrow at midnight!

1. I got a new student from Syria yesterday.  He speaks exactly no English.  I have since learned that not only am I completely incompetent when it comes to Level 1 ELLs, but that I was able to neither spell Syria (kept spelling it Syrria) nor locate it on a map (thank you google...).  This could be a bumpy ride...Who had tips for me???  Please.  I'm dying.

2. After going to my parents' house last night for dinner and to watch Grey's Anatomy with my mom, I realized after I was home, in my jammies, and with my contacts out that I'd left my phone charging on their kitchen counter.  Of course it was also raining out on top of being after 10pm.  Hence me leaving my house after 10 like this...

Which would have been fine had I not run into a family on the stairs on my way back in...I'm pretty sure they were all just jealous of my unique and forward thinking fashion sense.

3. Current obsession = pumpkin pie oatmeal.  I KNOW.  Best. breakfast. ever.

In the mix:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk (or regular milk)
1/4 cup oats
Cook on stove.  Stir in 1/2 cup purred pumpkin, a generous shake of pumpkin pie spice, and a scoop of brown sugar.  Top with sliced almonds.  Devour in about 2 minutes flat.  You're welcome.

4. I went to a math workshop Wednesday where I ended up doing math all. day. long.  I kind of hate math.  Only if kind of hate actually means loathe.  It was like being trapped in my own personal math curse.

Just two of my 10 pages of furious notes... And by notes I mean MATH WORK...

It was actually a great workshop, but I am still digesting all of the content before I can implement anything with my kiddos!  On the plus side, I got my FIRST EVER positive sub report.  I swear, the kids at my old school were just MONSTERS for subs--even the good kiddos turned totally naughty!  I had the sub read Miss Nelson is Missing to the kids and asked them to write about where they thought I might be while I was not there...some total gems in the responses.  Many thought I was either shopping or running.  HAH.  I wish.  Two of my favorites:

Miss "teacher" could be at the movie.  She could be at a lot of nice areas because she need it.  She work her butt off in the class room.  She is the best in the whole world.  I bet she could win a gold medal if there was a thing you try out for being the best teacher in the whole world.

I'm just glad SOMEONE around here notices I work my butt off!!!

One day Miss "teacher" was not at school and I think she went shark swimming and got attacked but got saved by a handsome man and she is marrying him so when she comes to school tomorrow she will be a Mrs. "teacher" now and she will become with a happier life and also she won't be alone in her apartment.

Well...I'm glad this little girl is concerned about my chronic single-ness and the fact that I live alone.  Also, I love my bright red hair, pink dress, and rail thin torso (see bikini shark swimming picture).  I'd say that's all a fairly accurate depiction...

5. Even though I am swamped in work for both school and grad school, fighting off some weird illness (that may actually be just extreme exhaustion)...I am looking forward to the weekend.  I'm going to a Halloween party tomorrow night--are you shocked that I am doing something social for a change instead of watching marathons on netflix instant and writing grad school papers?  Me too.  Anyways, Halloween isn't my favorite holiday adn I am never really "inspired" when it comes to a costume.  Here's a hint for this year's lame costume:

What are your weekend plans?

A LONG Week...+ The Saddest Note Ever

This has been a LONG week.  I know that sometimes when i read other teaching blogs, I think about how everyone else has the *perfect* classroom with *perfect* students and *perfectly* organized cabinets...but then I realize that sometimes the bad days are just less fun to blog about!  There's no need for me to go through my week play by play--it is Friday after all.  But I am not feeling great and have had a few students who have been a bit *off* these days...oh, and we ended on a bad note with me upset that the kiddos couldn't get the floor clean until 5 minutes after the bell.  (I'm a stickler about clean floors!)  I know that's nothing huge, but I hate ending the day upset!  Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  (Plus, I've completely fallen apart in terms of my workout/training schedule, and being out of the routine like that always makes me a little down.)

Anyways, I'm committing to making this a relaxing, refreshing, and productive weekend!  I started it off right with some napping in hopes of beating whatever the heck is wrong with me, some Downton Abbey, and a little online shopping...I have a problem...it's bad!!!!  I guess I figure that if I'm not going out and spending money, it's okay to shop a little bit...right??  I just discovered Lands End Canvas via a pinterest pin.  When I hear the words Lands End I think of hiking clothes and this ugly jacket I had from there in 4th grade, so I couldn't believe when I clicked on a pin of an adorable belted dress and was brought to Lands End Canvas!  Super cute clothes, and amazing sales!

In other news, I need to share this adorable note from one of my neediest and challenging students.  He wrote it to me last week after a couple of REALLY trying days together.  I know these kind of things lose their novelty the longer you've been teaching, but I don't think I will ever get tired of this kind of note, especially from a student like this little guy:

Dear miss teacher.  i am so sorry that i refused to do my work.  And refused to ask for help or talk miss teacher you are the best teacher in the world and i act like a Jerk im so sorry miss teacher this will not happen again

sinsely

Student

Oh. my. goodness.  In case you can't tell from the handwriting, spelling, and drawings, this letter is from one of my little LD/ED kiddos.  He struggles with reading, writing, and motor skills in general.  He has all sorts of emotional troubles, and we have had some particularly trying days lately.  On a few different days, this little one basically decided he wasn't going to speak, answer my questions, or follow directions.  (I swear, with my group this year, "I need you to use your words" is by far my most frequently used saying..)  Doesn't this letter just break your heart, though?  When I read the part where he said, "I act like a jerk," I almost cried.  It is so important to be in contact with parents when kids are struggling at school (or when they're successful!), but it breaks my heart when I think about the things that might happen after I call home, especially in a high-needs, low-income school like mine.  For example, I know this student's mother loves him, but I'm pretty sure he didn't come up with the phrase, "I act like a jerk" all on his own.  This difficult student has become one of my favorite kiddos of all this year--funny how that works.

What are you most excited about this weekend?  I'm excited to SLEEP and get healthy!  Oh, and FINALLY get myself back on track with training.  (I am NOT excited to work on grad school HW--just had my first class Tuesday to start working on my Reading masters and am already wondering what I was thinking...)

True Life: 5th Grade Writing (+ Handful Giveaway Reminder!!)

Have you entered my giveaway to win a Handful Bra?  What are you waiting for??? (Note: If you have MORE than just a handful, don't assume this bra won't work for you!  It is surprisingly supportive, but if it's not quite up to the challenge for you for running, it would still be a great bra for yoga, lounging, or low-impact sports!)

It's been awhile since I shared some of the epic, hysterical writing I get to read on a daily basis from my 5th graders. Seriously, while I despise grading and while grading writing can be time consuming, reading kids' writing can be pretty darn hilarious.  I haven't had anything quite as epic this year as the Ode to Justin Bieber or the amazing truth about boys song, "Big Big Lie," but these gems are pretty darn great...


Assignment: "Write a narrative about a problem you have solved."  This student wrote about when her dog, Julie, escaped.  Love the figurative language at the end of this paragraph...

Assignment: "Write about an animal that has a bad reputation, but who you think is really just misunderstood."

Worms!!! People think that words are nasty and slimy.  They are wrong.  Words are very helpful to your plants.  They eat all the little bugs that try to eat your plants.  Thanks to worms they protect them.  Worms also make great compost.  Their poop helps make compost.  Compost really helps your plants.  Worms are great helpers.  Worms are the best helper that help your plants grow.  Worms can not be used as a pet.  Only in your backyard and your garden.  Go worms!!

Another animal that has a bad reputation is an alligator.  Alligators are very misunderstood.  People think alligators want to kill them, but really alligators just want to go the opposite way and ignore people.  The only reason alligators bite is because they want to protect themselves from enemies or things that dislike them.  They have a reason to be upset with us.  We kill them for their skin to put on shoes and purses.  We kill them for fun, and we kill them for their meat.  I'm not trying to say that I'm on their side, but they have a reason to be viscid.  But to them we're the vicious ones.

"Aaaah!  A spider!  Kill it!"  That's what most people say when they see a spider because they think they are really dangerous.  Actually, some spiders help us a lot because they eat and kill insects that are pestful or harmful.  Not all spiders are dangerous because some spiders bite and put venom in, but not all spiders do.  Some spiders help us by protecting us from harmful things by eating them.  Did you know that we're actually invading their home?  From now on when you see a spider let it be or set it free and we'll all be okay."

This one isn't funny, but it melted my heart.  This is from one of my tougher kiddos who has a rough home life, struggles with a learning disability, and is prone to shutting down when things are tough.  I loved reading this.  Assignment: "What Native American 'true name' would you give yourself?"

And of course, what post about elementary student work would be complete without a teacher portrait...

The resemblance is uncanny...Sweater boots and all. :)

Serious Issues.

No, these aren't MY issues we're talking about for a change...although I certainly have a lot of them (or "ish" as my college roomie and I like to call them)! :)  Today I am going to share some of the SERIOUS day to day issues plaguing 5th graders.  After a long and exhausting institite half-day today, my team and I were getting a bit silly as we munched chocolate covered espresso beans when I happened to discover Mrs. Mentor Teacher's long forgotten "issue bin" which had been instituted early in the year by Mrs. Social Worker and completely abandoned.  Taking a quick peek inside, I noticed that it was PACKED with issues.  Of course we took this as a sign to immediately stop all work (or stop pretending we were working) and read them all.  

Cue hysterics.  Every "issue" topped the last, and Mrs. Mentor Teacher attempted to identify her students' handwriting on them since they hadn't written names...which makes it pretty hard to solve any of the issues!

Some of our favorites...(now remember, these are VERY SERIOUS issues and must be taken VERY SERIOUSLY.

 "Somebody make me frown"

 "No one has respect"

Our response: You are right.

 "Someone keeps on staring at me."

Very specific.  We'll get right on that.

 "I think some people need to use a steerch ball to cuntrell there anger."

(Spelling original) ^My personal favorite.  Not so much an issue as a suggestion...

 "the New girl"

"I Have A Issue with the people in Front of me"

Anyways, after a LONG LONG LONG day, these certainly lightened the mood. :)

Note:  Please don't think I'm a bad teacher or a bad person.  I take issues of bullying very seriously in my classroom.  But you have to admit, this is pretty hilarious...

I thought it couldn't get any better...but then it did.

Did you get a chance to read my student's tribute to Justin Bieber?  When I read that, I thought that my class had peaked in (creative!!) hilarity in the writing department...then today another student shared these epic song lyrics with me.  A.MAZ.ING.

Sorry about the photo quality...her pencil marks were SO LIGHT so I had to darken it up...gosh, don't these kids KNOW they need to write darkly and legibly so I can take awesome pictures?!?

In case you couldn't decipher that...
Boys try to figure you out, 
then try to get to your head
and leave you roaming alone
through this cruel, cruel world
leave you roaming alone,
leave you roaming alone
They might be the light of your life
to lead into a lie
Well it's a big big lie
Big big lie


^True. Wisdom.  Out of the mouths of 10 year olds...

God I love my job.

True Love, 5th Grade Style

You cannot even know how much will power it took to sit through a writing conference with a student last week while she shared this piece without bursting into HUGE FITS OF LAUGHTER:

Don't worry, there was another whole page. :)  AMAZING!!!!!

More Writing Gems & The View from Here

First off, a big THANK YOU to What the Teacher Wants for featuring my post 12 Tips for Surviving Your First Year Teaching as part of Management Mondays!  Also, welcome to my new readers!  I'm glad you're here. :)

This week in literacy we read a short article about Lewis and Clark.  Needless to say, my already social-studies challenged students are now sufficiently chronologically mixed up, as we are also studying the american revolution...we talked about valley forge and how the soldiers didn't all have shoes yesterday, and sure enough today one of the kids is worrying about lewis and clark not having shoes...ANYWAYS, I was hysterical when I read this writing response from  one of the kids:

PROMPT: Do you think you would have wanted to be a part of Lewis and Clark's expedition?  Why or why not?
(Warning--spelling is FRIGHTFUL...)

How is THAT for voice?!

On a different note...I also wanted to share with you the view from my desk...it's now facing the wall after one of my many furniture moving adventures, and I like having my little bulletin board right at eye level.  Here it is:

Memos, to do lists, and some smile-inducing things like pictures of my family (including the adorable kid pic of me and big brother with our halloween pumpkins at the top!) And some quotes...on the left side is a page I pulled from a magazine with one of my favorite quotes:

Do not ask what the world needs.  

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.  

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

This quote was really special to me my senior year in college when I was spending a lot of time puzzling over my life and post-grad choices...it's a great reminder that I teach because, even when it's draining, it really makes me feel alive.  :)


Hanging in the bottom center is another piece of inspiration.  I was recently reminded of the poem "Undivided Attention" by Taylor Mali by Lauren, my fellow Girls on the Run Coach.  A beautiful poem about teaching, I decided to hang a copy right at eye level.  (Read the full text here) Because some days you just need a little reminder why you're doing this job...

Hope you're having a great week!  Yay for a day off school tomorrow!

Out of the mouths of babes!

Writing Prompt: Write about a place you would like to explore.  Explain why you would like to explore this place. (Sorry this picture quality TOTALLY SUCKS but the writing is just too good to miss.  I typed it out below...) 

"I would like to explore Bahamas because that's where my mom went for her honey moon.  If I go to the bahamas then I could look for old precious things like from the 1800s or something or a leprechan dancing around a pot of gold!!!!  I could go rock climbing!  I could go in dark deep tunnels to see if there's any diamonds!  If I could go to the bahamas I would take Miss Teacher with me and the leprechan and making shamrock shakes!"

Note the picture of me holding at least 6 Shamrock Shakes.  She knows me so well... God I am obsessed with this! :)  I guess the Bahamas are really a magically land where anything goes!  Go figure. :)  

Fashion Advice from 11 Year Olds, Test Prep, and other Thrilling Events in my Teacher Life :)

Hi Friday.  It's been too long. :)

This week has been, in a word, exhausting.  It definitely has not dragged...in fact, it's been so jam-packed that I feel like I've barely caught my breath!  Tuesday I didn't get home until 10pm...no, not because I was working in my classroom until then like that one horrible day from last year (my first year)--thank goodness!!  I had lots of work to do in my room, a parent meeting at 4, then a school event I was volunteering at from 5:30-7.  Then I packed up/finished my work, and headed to the gym for a run.  By the time I stretched, showered, and got in my car, it was already 10.  YIKES!  Nothing like days when you are only home an hour before you head to bed...Yesterday I didn't even walk out of the building until 7.  Thankfully, my to-do list has shortened SIGNIFICANTLY this week, which means this weekend will be low-stress. :)  Yay.  This includes a mountain of grading (I actually have NONE home this weekend!!!!!!!!!), report cards (!!!!!), test pencils sharpened, desks moved into rows, and name tags covered with construction paper.

^Those last three things are all ISAT (our state tests) related...testing doesn't start until the week after next, but with me being at school only Tuesday and Wednesday next week because of Presidents Day and heading to F L O R I D A (!!), I knew that I'd kick myself in the face if I didn't get those little things ready beforehand.  I like getting the kids into "test formation" a week early so they have time to adjust.  I have tons of posters and anchor charts around my room that we use all year round, and we are allowed to keep things like that up for the Big Tests (as long as they have been up all year and been part of our teaching).  Throughout the year, I have trained the kids where to look when they need help with certain types of problems, and it's important that they get used to looking for these things from the place in the room where they'll be sitting for the actual test.  Also, kids suck with routine changes.  Fact of life.  Just like runners don't try anything new on race day, teachers don't try anything new on testing days!!

You'll notice the clotheslines of signs in the background.  Those have my math vocabulary and formulas.  We literally ran out of wall space... I also covered name tags with construction paper.  The Test Police don't allow us to have any visuals (multiplication tables, place value charts, etc.) on desks, and they are printed on all my kids name tags.  It's a shame we have to cover them, because the kids use them all year round, and now suddenly they can't.  Another reason to cover everything a week early and get used to it...

I am so sick of test prep BTW.  It is the bane of my existence.  I know any non-teachers out there are probably thinking, "Then do less!" and any teachers who teach in a school where the kids just naturally meet/exceed on your tests are probably thinking, "Test prep is not best practice!" let me assure you I understand your point of view.  But not doing mountains of test prep is simply not an option in my school.  There is so much at stake and so much pressure...our kids are so behind that we basically try to cram every math/reading term or concept they haven't learned yet into the weeks before the test, hoping something will stick.  It's sad, really.  I apologized to the kids today for subjecting them to this crap, assuring them it is literally as stressful and painful for me as it is for them...little do they know that it is most definitely MORE stressful and painful for me!!!

In other news...I had a FANTASTIC post-observation with Mr. Principal this week!!!  He came in last Friday to observe my reading lesson and left me a very kind note, so I knew he would have positive things to say, but I was literally floored by some of the positive feedback I got.  Mr. Principal is leaving next year, so I think that had something to do with his praises, especially after the hell he's been putting us through lately.  I was completely touched by his kind words (which included fantastic and dynamite)--and it is just so wonderful to know that someone sees how hard I work (especially when I was already yelled at by an unreasonable parent once this week!)...and more importantly, to know that I AM in the right profession and that all of that hard work has really paid off.

I'm a bit exhausted...it may be time to curl up with ice cream and a book. :)  But first, my student work gems of the week.

Prompt: Write about a time you gave someone advice.

Of course there is an OH SO GOOD illustration...

The classic jersey girl style reminds me of a bondi band...perhaps I will rock that look tomorrow, without the circles of blush... ;)

God, I love my job. :)

Hmmm...good try, but no...just, no...

Okay, seriously.  I know we fail at teaching social studies these days (no, thank YOU NCLB!), but...I mean...honestly...I have no words.

Sail America

In Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell, super teacher Miss Pointy calls math class "Puzzling" science class "Mad Science" and social studies "Time Travel."  I pretty much love those labels.  Well, my kiddos and I have been engaging in a little bit of Time Travel lately...for our social studies unit on Colonial America, we've been doing the Interact Sail America, a "time travel" research project that had the kids research colonies and create travel brochures to attract new settlers.  After weeks of hard work, most of the kids finished their brochures this week.  The results are priceless:

 Such wisdom.  The printing press and firearms DID indeed change the nature of things.  Although I have a feeling neither were invented in New York...and that gun does not exactly appear time period appropriate...

Well, while Native Americans did not actually FOUND Pennsylvania, at least she acknowledged that they were there first!

 This one could only be better if it said "Enjoy our Southern Comfort."  :) 

Henry Hudson is looking pretty good these days!

Definitely a full-moon kind of week...

Oh my, another long day.  You know it's going to be a rough one when you get into the car and are greeted with this:

Actually, it continued to drop to -6 by the time I got to school.  Yikes!!!  And yet, some of the kiddos still showed up with unzipped jackets and no hats and gloves...parenting at its finest... For a four day week, this week certainly was insane...but isn't that always the case?  Plus it was a full moon on top of it all.  I will never understand how full moons and kids' behavior are linked, but trust me--they are!!!  (For example, Mrs. Literacy Specialist was told by a student today that she was going to "punch her in the face."  f'real.)

This pretty much sums it up

Today, though, it wasn't so much that my kids weren't behaving.  It was just that they all seemed to develop partial hearing loss.  For example:

Miss Teacher: (passing out the math extended response) You'll see on here that it asks for the mean (average) number of letters in the names of the group of students.   Who remembers where the poster is in the room with the formula for mean?  (kids point)  Very good.  Plus, we just took a quiz on finding the mean so you should all be experts at it.  A good first step here would be to count the number of letters in each kid's name.

[60 seconds pass]

Student: Miss Teacher?  What does it mean by "find the mean"?
A very disgruntled Miss Teacher:  Are you kidding?  I'm not going to be answering that question, I'm sorry.
Another student: Miss Teacher?  What do I do?
An even more disgruntled Miss Teacher:  *sighs in disgust*

Thank goodness it's Friday.  All I have to say is that this day started with copying a million ISAT practice pages and ended with being screamed at on the phone by a lunatic parent.  I still don't actually understand what her problem was, but I did successfully convince her not to come into school to continue the discussion...or just flat out tell her, "No, you can't come to school now.  Absolutely not."  Can we say CRAZY??

I've had a couple of complain-y posts in a row now, so let me share some "little happys" of today and yesterday:

This one almost brought tears to my eyes today--that should be an indicator of how stressed I am!  I have a computer cart in my room with 12 laptops in it.  Students from another class have been in and out all week borrowing them, and they were just plugging them into any random power cord or shoving them in.  They were A MESS!!!!  The disarray was killing me, but I knew that fixing them would take longer time than I had to spare.  So as we were packing up at 2:50 I had the brilliant idea to ask which students walked home and wouldn't mind staying 10 minutes to help me.  I was shocked when at least a third of the class raised their hands!  An untapped resource!  Why hadn't I thought of this before?!?  I picked two girls to call their moms, and then put them to work plugging the power cords into the correct outlets, winding up the cords, and arranging the laptops.  They finished so quickly, and here is the final product:

They must have thought I was a lunatic with my reaction to this--I practically hugged them and wept. :)  Then I proceeded to show off my beautifully organized cart to two other teachers.  God, is it sad that that was one of the highlights of my week???

Another little happy was this spelling error on a quiz.  The question asked which type of figurative language was used in the text, and the answer was simile.  Or, smiley as the case may be. :)

And okay, yesterday wasn't a COMPLETE train wreck.  Actually, it had a very happy part.  One of the wonderful things about my district is a literacy initiative they have to help teachers build their classroom libraries.  Every month they have a "book room" day that the newer teachers can go to and take up to 100 books.  You can do this until you have gathered 1,000 books!  Technically the books belong to the district and if you leave you are expected to donate them to another teacher or the school library.  But I don't think there are exactly book police....Well, the books are usually a collection of gently used cast-offs plus some new titles.  But this month I'd been tipped off by Mr. Principal that TONS of new books had been purchased and would be available!  My loot:

100 brand spanking new books, including new copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the entire Percy Jackson series, several Maximum Ride books, and too many others to count.  Part of why I was at school so late last night was that I was putting my name in all of them and hand-picking a new book for each students' book box.  Yeah, it's tedious, but they LOVE when I tell them, "I picked this book JUST FOR YOU!"  And I love it too :)

So the week wasn't a total wash.  But let's just say it's a good thing it's the weekend, because if I had to endure 1 more day I might have strangled someone...

(Weekend dilemma: Do I attempt my long run this weekend if my tibia is still acting up?  I'm thinking give it a good rest tonight and see how it feels tomorrow...:-/)

Test Stress and Straight Answers

I'm a little...stressed.  Wednesdays are staff development after school, and always end up a big headache.  Today we had an hour of PLC time, and you'd think that team planning would RELEIVE sterss.  But what inevitably happens, especially lately, is that we get unbelieveably overwhelmed by all that we have to do and the little time in which there is to do it.  Lately it's ISATs (state tests) that are stressing us out big time.  Ironically the start the day after my half-marathon, so I've been telling the students that we are ALL working really hard over the next 5 1/2 weeks to get ready for a big challenge.  

I swore I'd never be a teacher who is consumed by these darn tests.  But there is a lot of pressure.  And I'm an anxious person.  You do the math.

The to-do list/schedule for the next couple days I frantically scrawled after school:

Okay, *breathe*...

In other news, I really enjoyed reading this response when I was grading literacy work this morning:

Question: The variety and quality of life in the desert depends upon how much water is available.  What do you think your life would be like if you had no water for one week?  What would you miss?

Answer: If I didn't have water for one week I would miss myself because I would die by then.


Fair enough!