Well.
It's not been a good year for the Bluebird family, which is why I haven't posted much. Truth be told, my heart just isn't in it.
We lost a good friend to a heart attack (he was only 42) in January.
That was hard enough, but then, three days later, my beloved Daddy Bird passed away suddenly.
As you can imagine, it has been quite a blow to Mr. Bluebird and I and we have had our hands full with the funeral, getting his house gone through, and I am acting as executor of his estate. The fact that I have always been a Daddy's Girl, makes this even harder. My father and I were best of friends as well, something that not everyone, sadly, experiences with their parents. So, Mr. Bluebird (who is awesome and is my rock) and I have been driving back and forth to where Daddy Bird lived (three hours away) to get things taken care of.
Taking care of an estate is a second full-time job, I've decided.
Fortunately, The Principal is an angel and is letting me have as much time off as I need. However, the thought of leaving my kids with a sub for too long is somewhat daunting. And truly, I kind of need to see my kids. They have been a lot of comfort for me these past few weeks.
So, I'm not feeling funny, or witty, or particularly motivated to blog.
I'm just missing the best Daddy a girl could ever have.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Popsicles Anyone?
It's that time of year when you feel like you have to have a bit of flexibility in your plans because you never know what the weather will be like, and how that will impact your day.
For example, a little over a week ago we had a fire drill because it was 70 degrees outside. That was a Friday. That following Monday we had a two hour delay due to ice. Tuesday we had a two hour delay, then an early dismissal, due to ice. And Wednesday we didn't even go at all, due to ice.
So, I tossed away a few activities we had planned simply because we had run out of time. It's not ideal, but that's the way it goes.
I just hope we don't end up having a lot of cancellations like we did a few years ago. We ended up adding 30 minutes to the school day to make it up.
No one liked that.
For example, a little over a week ago we had a fire drill because it was 70 degrees outside. That was a Friday. That following Monday we had a two hour delay due to ice. Tuesday we had a two hour delay, then an early dismissal, due to ice. And Wednesday we didn't even go at all, due to ice.
So, I tossed away a few activities we had planned simply because we had run out of time. It's not ideal, but that's the way it goes.
I just hope we don't end up having a lot of cancellations like we did a few years ago. We ended up adding 30 minutes to the school day to make it up.
No one liked that.
Monday, January 14, 2013
If it's 70, and January, it's a Fire Drill Day
There are certain things you can almost bank on when it comes to predictability.
For one, if it's January or February, and the day is clear and unseasonably warm, we'll have a fire drill. We're required to have one a month, and trust me, it's much nicer to have one when the weather is nice than it is when it's stupidly cold and rainy or snowy.
So, Friday, last period of the day, we had a fire drill.
Which was fine with me as it was nice out and the kids were bouncing off the walls anyway.
And today? Well, it was 25 this morning and never got about 30.
Good thing we didn't do the fire drill today!
For one, if it's January or February, and the day is clear and unseasonably warm, we'll have a fire drill. We're required to have one a month, and trust me, it's much nicer to have one when the weather is nice than it is when it's stupidly cold and rainy or snowy.
So, Friday, last period of the day, we had a fire drill.
Which was fine with me as it was nice out and the kids were bouncing off the walls anyway.
And today? Well, it was 25 this morning and never got about 30.
Good thing we didn't do the fire drill today!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
When Technology Bites Back
It has been a day.
We had our Learning Links math test, an on-line test, scheduled for the first two periods of the day today. This means that every seventh grader had a laptop and was trying to access the network at the same time everyone was trying to send in attendance and get the day going. Well, with nearly 400 kids, that's a lot of activity on our network. Many kids had to be patient, a challenge for most seventh graders, and kept trying until they finally got online. I finally gave up and simply walked my attendance up to the front office.
For the record, listening to 30 kids fuss about computer issues can fray nearly anyone's nerves.
After much fussing and trouble-shooting, all my kids finally got online and got their test finished before third period arrived. Mrs Social Studies wasn't so lucky. She had kids that couldn't get on for nearly an hour so her kids had to take their laptops to another room to finish, under the supervision of someone from guidance, while the rest of the kids went to class.
And that wasn't the end of the craziness.
We were about two thirds of the way through third period when the building lost power. This usually happens once or twice a year, usually when the weather is bad, and after a few minutes we get power back. Today it was simply rainy and drizzly, so the weather wasn't an issue.
And it took nearly two hours before we had power.
I know we had it easier than the PE department did, what with 200 kids in the dark in the gym, but goodness it got old really quick being stuck in the room in the dark with my third period.
I did have the emergency lights working in my room, so we could at least see a little bit. In fact, I did have the kids take their quiz by writing the three questions on the whiteboard directly below the emergency lights, rather than put it on the document reader. They were not wild about that, but hey we were still in class and at that point I thought the lights were going to come back on shortly.
After a while however, it became apparent that this was going to take a while. And then the whining began. First they all had to go to the bathroom, so Mrs. Social Studies took the boys and I took the girls and we walked them to the bathrooms. The girls at least had an emergency light in their bathroom, but the boys were faced with pitch black. At this point we suggested they use their cell phones as flashlights.
After that adventure we went back to the dark classroom and tried to keep them somewhat quiet. Which was a challenge. They kept asking if they were going to get to go home. There were a few I would have gladly sent home by this point. Then, when the clocked ticked past our usual lunch time, the cries of hunger started up.
Good gracious. I found a box of graham crackers left over from a lab we did this fall and had just enough to give each kid half a cracker. Surprisingly that settled them down somewhat.
Finally, after just a little over two hours, the power came back on. We completely skipped fourth period, and sent the kids to fifth period, used part of fifth and sixth for lunch, and finallyhad a normal seventh period.
And those kids who didn't finish the online math test? Some were still working when we lost power. And they'll have to start over and take it again, poor kids!
So glad tomorrow is a Friday.
We had our Learning Links math test, an on-line test, scheduled for the first two periods of the day today. This means that every seventh grader had a laptop and was trying to access the network at the same time everyone was trying to send in attendance and get the day going. Well, with nearly 400 kids, that's a lot of activity on our network. Many kids had to be patient, a challenge for most seventh graders, and kept trying until they finally got online. I finally gave up and simply walked my attendance up to the front office.
For the record, listening to 30 kids fuss about computer issues can fray nearly anyone's nerves.
After much fussing and trouble-shooting, all my kids finally got online and got their test finished before third period arrived. Mrs Social Studies wasn't so lucky. She had kids that couldn't get on for nearly an hour so her kids had to take their laptops to another room to finish, under the supervision of someone from guidance, while the rest of the kids went to class.
And that wasn't the end of the craziness.
We were about two thirds of the way through third period when the building lost power. This usually happens once or twice a year, usually when the weather is bad, and after a few minutes we get power back. Today it was simply rainy and drizzly, so the weather wasn't an issue.
And it took nearly two hours before we had power.
I know we had it easier than the PE department did, what with 200 kids in the dark in the gym, but goodness it got old really quick being stuck in the room in the dark with my third period.
I did have the emergency lights working in my room, so we could at least see a little bit. In fact, I did have the kids take their quiz by writing the three questions on the whiteboard directly below the emergency lights, rather than put it on the document reader. They were not wild about that, but hey we were still in class and at that point I thought the lights were going to come back on shortly.
After a while however, it became apparent that this was going to take a while. And then the whining began. First they all had to go to the bathroom, so Mrs. Social Studies took the boys and I took the girls and we walked them to the bathrooms. The girls at least had an emergency light in their bathroom, but the boys were faced with pitch black. At this point we suggested they use their cell phones as flashlights.
After that adventure we went back to the dark classroom and tried to keep them somewhat quiet. Which was a challenge. They kept asking if they were going to get to go home. There were a few I would have gladly sent home by this point. Then, when the clocked ticked past our usual lunch time, the cries of hunger started up.
Good gracious. I found a box of graham crackers left over from a lab we did this fall and had just enough to give each kid half a cracker. Surprisingly that settled them down somewhat.
Finally, after just a little over two hours, the power came back on. We completely skipped fourth period, and sent the kids to fifth period, used part of fifth and sixth for lunch, and finallyhad a normal seventh period.
And those kids who didn't finish the online math test? Some were still working when we lost power. And they'll have to start over and take it again, poor kids!
So glad tomorrow is a Friday.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Ka-Boom!
It's been a year so far. And I'm the lucky one. Mrs. Angora and Mrs. Eagle have absolutely horrid kids when it comes to behavior, and mine are, in comparison, pretty good.
Or so we thought.
Firecracker Boy is smart as a whip, but has issues with behavior. He's new to The School, being one of the kids that was rezoned from another school into ours when The Powers That Be redrew all the lines. The first nine weeks he was awesome - polite, hard-working, a great student. It sort of surprised us, based on what his file said. And then the second nine weeks shows up, he's now comfortable in his new school and has figured out his circumstances, and the "real" Firecracker Boy appears. It was like two different kids. Disrespect, disobedience, slapping other kids, threatening kids, you name it. Dad has a meeting with us to ask us about moving him to 8th grade (as that's where he should be) because he feels that he's acting immature because he's around younger kids. That didn't go anywhere, simply because of his behavior (and that group of 8th graders aren't all that swift either.) What we didn't know at the time, because Dad didn't bother to share it, is that Dad calls the authorities on Firecracker Boy quite frequently when he gets out of control with his behavior.
So, a few weeks ago, I write Firecracker Boy a referral after I had him sent out of class, basically for disruption and disrespect, and he gets one day in In School Suspension. I also noticed that on the bottom of his discipline slip, after it is worked and a copy is put in my mailbox, is the note that he has 100 points and the next infraction will earn him a trip to the alternative school. So, he spends his day in In School Suspension, comes back, then is absent for two days, supposedly (according to his sister) because Dad caught him smoking weed, called the cops and he spent two days in a juvenile detention facility. Okay, so he's back, and he takes his test and all is well and good.
Until 5th period when Mr. Math emails me to let me know that Firecracker Boy has just been escorted from his room by the Enforcer because he apparently threw a firecracker down a toilet in the boys' restroom, thereby busting the toilet and flooding the bathroom.
I guess he really didn't want to stay here much longer.
Needless to say, he's gone for a while, and even better, has a $500 repair attached to his name.
Brilliant.
One and a half days.
Or so we thought.
Firecracker Boy is smart as a whip, but has issues with behavior. He's new to The School, being one of the kids that was rezoned from another school into ours when The Powers That Be redrew all the lines. The first nine weeks he was awesome - polite, hard-working, a great student. It sort of surprised us, based on what his file said. And then the second nine weeks shows up, he's now comfortable in his new school and has figured out his circumstances, and the "real" Firecracker Boy appears. It was like two different kids. Disrespect, disobedience, slapping other kids, threatening kids, you name it. Dad has a meeting with us to ask us about moving him to 8th grade (as that's where he should be) because he feels that he's acting immature because he's around younger kids. That didn't go anywhere, simply because of his behavior (and that group of 8th graders aren't all that swift either.) What we didn't know at the time, because Dad didn't bother to share it, is that Dad calls the authorities on Firecracker Boy quite frequently when he gets out of control with his behavior.
So, a few weeks ago, I write Firecracker Boy a referral after I had him sent out of class, basically for disruption and disrespect, and he gets one day in In School Suspension. I also noticed that on the bottom of his discipline slip, after it is worked and a copy is put in my mailbox, is the note that he has 100 points and the next infraction will earn him a trip to the alternative school. So, he spends his day in In School Suspension, comes back, then is absent for two days, supposedly (according to his sister) because Dad caught him smoking weed, called the cops and he spent two days in a juvenile detention facility. Okay, so he's back, and he takes his test and all is well and good.
Until 5th period when Mr. Math emails me to let me know that Firecracker Boy has just been escorted from his room by the Enforcer because he apparently threw a firecracker down a toilet in the boys' restroom, thereby busting the toilet and flooding the bathroom.
I guess he really didn't want to stay here much longer.
Needless to say, he's gone for a while, and even better, has a $500 repair attached to his name.
Brilliant.
One and a half days.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Drama, Drama, Darama
It's that time of year.
No, not the holidays. It's the time of year when the kids decide they are all Sick And Tired of Each Other and the Drama starts. The nitpicking. The name-calling. The arguing. It's like being on one hell of a long car ride with six kids who can't get along.
We have two types of drama - boy drama (rare, but I have it going on in my homeroom) and girl drama (every freaking where).
Now, I rarely see boy drama because boys just don't go into this sort of thing - usually. This year, however, I have several boys who just can't stop talking and messing with each other. It usually revolves around disparaging comments regarding athletic ability and the ability to keep girlfriends. I have one kid, Whiner Boy, who is constantly wanting to go to guidance to talk with a counselor because someone said he was a lame football player.
Really.
I can't wait until this kid hits the real world and a boss yells at him for doing something stupid. He'll be on the floor in a puddle of tears.
And then of course I had the two boys get in a tussle over their STEM project because Boy One accused Boy Two of being lazy and Boy Two accused Boy One of not doing his share of the work. Next thing I knew, they were slapping each other. (That earned them a two day stint in ISS, plus Mrs. Sparrow had to eat her words about how the kids would love doing STEM so much they'd behave like angels.)
That's just a taste of the boy drama in my homeroom.
As for the girl drama...there's too much to even go into here. I do know that the Guidance Goddess and the Guidance Diva are so fed up with Girl Drama that if one more girl walks through the doors wanting to write a statement or complain about another girl talking trash, that they just might hurl a book at her and shove her out the door. Or, better yet, let the two girls get into a tangle so they can both be suspended, hopefully until January.
One thing about Girl Drama...the girls aren't too bright about who they stir up trouble with. Mrs. Eagle has one little, and I mean little, girl who's a complete pest and who wants to talk trash and stir up trouble wherever she goes. I have a girl on my team, Amazon Girl who is, easily, about 5' 10" tall and very big-boned. She's not fat, she's just big and solid - and bigger than most of the boys and nearly all the girls. In any case the Pest has been bothering Amazon Girl for well over a month and Amazon Girl has been doing the right thing, going to guidance, writing statements, walking away, and generally ignoring the little brat that's 1/3 her size. Finally, on Friday, the Pest walked up to Amazon Girl at a dance, started messing with her and then slapped her in the face. Amazon Girl had had enough, grabbed the Pest by the hair and just beat the snot out of her. The result? Amazon got one day suspension, but the Pest, who had thrown the first punch and who had been bothering Amazon for a month, got three days. (Good thing there was all that documentation that Amazon Girl had done in guidance about the bullying she was getting via the pest.)
It's never boring.
Five and a Half Days.
No, not the holidays. It's the time of year when the kids decide they are all Sick And Tired of Each Other and the Drama starts. The nitpicking. The name-calling. The arguing. It's like being on one hell of a long car ride with six kids who can't get along.
We have two types of drama - boy drama (rare, but I have it going on in my homeroom) and girl drama (every freaking where).
Now, I rarely see boy drama because boys just don't go into this sort of thing - usually. This year, however, I have several boys who just can't stop talking and messing with each other. It usually revolves around disparaging comments regarding athletic ability and the ability to keep girlfriends. I have one kid, Whiner Boy, who is constantly wanting to go to guidance to talk with a counselor because someone said he was a lame football player.
Really.
I can't wait until this kid hits the real world and a boss yells at him for doing something stupid. He'll be on the floor in a puddle of tears.
And then of course I had the two boys get in a tussle over their STEM project because Boy One accused Boy Two of being lazy and Boy Two accused Boy One of not doing his share of the work. Next thing I knew, they were slapping each other. (That earned them a two day stint in ISS, plus Mrs. Sparrow had to eat her words about how the kids would love doing STEM so much they'd behave like angels.)
That's just a taste of the boy drama in my homeroom.
As for the girl drama...there's too much to even go into here. I do know that the Guidance Goddess and the Guidance Diva are so fed up with Girl Drama that if one more girl walks through the doors wanting to write a statement or complain about another girl talking trash, that they just might hurl a book at her and shove her out the door. Or, better yet, let the two girls get into a tangle so they can both be suspended, hopefully until January.
One thing about Girl Drama...the girls aren't too bright about who they stir up trouble with. Mrs. Eagle has one little, and I mean little, girl who's a complete pest and who wants to talk trash and stir up trouble wherever she goes. I have a girl on my team, Amazon Girl who is, easily, about 5' 10" tall and very big-boned. She's not fat, she's just big and solid - and bigger than most of the boys and nearly all the girls. In any case the Pest has been bothering Amazon Girl for well over a month and Amazon Girl has been doing the right thing, going to guidance, writing statements, walking away, and generally ignoring the little brat that's 1/3 her size. Finally, on Friday, the Pest walked up to Amazon Girl at a dance, started messing with her and then slapped her in the face. Amazon Girl had had enough, grabbed the Pest by the hair and just beat the snot out of her. The result? Amazon got one day suspension, but the Pest, who had thrown the first punch and who had been bothering Amazon for a month, got three days. (Good thing there was all that documentation that Amazon Girl had done in guidance about the bullying she was getting via the pest.)
It's never boring.
Five and a Half Days.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Kissing Pigs
My home room kids sold 98 tubs of cookie dough.
As a reward, someone (a certain silly bookkeeper), got the idea that we should borrow one of Mrs. Angora's baby pigs and those of us who had classes that sold the most got to kiss the pig.
The kids loved the idea. Some of us, not so much. I actually didn't mind because there's not much that can go through a nice red layer of Avon lipstick.
In truth, I felt a bit sorry for the pig as he was obviously overwhelmed by the screaming kids. He was kind of cute, even if a bit smelly.
Kind of like a typical seventh grader, come to think of it.
What we do.....
As a reward, someone (a certain silly bookkeeper), got the idea that we should borrow one of Mrs. Angora's baby pigs and those of us who had classes that sold the most got to kiss the pig.
The kids loved the idea. Some of us, not so much. I actually didn't mind because there's not much that can go through a nice red layer of Avon lipstick.
In truth, I felt a bit sorry for the pig as he was obviously overwhelmed by the screaming kids. He was kind of cute, even if a bit smelly.
Kind of like a typical seventh grader, come to think of it.
What we do.....
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