The First Seventh Grade After School Science Lab

For those of you who cruise regularly through my rants, raves and whines, you've obviously realized that this year's crop of seventh graders is - to put it mildly - a challenge.

Actually they're a freaking nightmare, but I'm trying to put a Pollyanna spin on it.

Anyway, the three of us who teach seventh grade science (and yes, we are the Queens of Collaboration), just couldn't put up with the bad behaviors anymore and have had to eliminate labs and go to demonstrations in our classrooms. Thus, the birth of the Seventh Grade After School Science Lab.

This Wednesday was our first meeting and it was - can you believe it! - a pretty amazing success.

We handed out about 60 permission slips (we only had space for 32 and that was pushing it) and had 16 kids get them signed and in by the deadline. On that day only 13 showed, and it was wonderful. Two teachers, thirteen kids, one great big awesome lab. (Mrs. Robin isn't able to do the labs with us yet as her hubby is deployed and she has two kids of her own to deal with.)

We are finishing up our unit on elements, compounds and mixtures and we decided to have them work with a mixture called a colloid. Colloids are mixtures where the particles are so small that they don't settle out.

Like butter, for example.

Yup, we had them making butter. It's really a pretty fun lab that we haven't done for a few years due to time constraints. It's pretty easy. You get some little plastic containers that are somewhat clear (Gladware works well), some marbles, and some cream. Basically, you fill the container with cream, plop in a marble, and give to a kid to shake. They had to shake their cream for ten minutes, stopping every minute to observe any changes in their mixture, and to make notations on their lab sheet.

(BTW, if you ever plan to do this do NOT ever use baby jars. Marbles can crash through a baby jar to create a mess like you wouldn't believe, not to mention glass everywhere!)

The changes the cream goes through is pretty cool if you're a kid and haven't ever made whipped cream with a mixer (these kids think whipped cream comes in a can or a plastic container in the freezer section of the grocery store). When it finally turns to butter it happens in a flash and all of a sudden you have a sloshing milky liquid and a yellow blob of butter in the container. The kids were a hoot - shaking their jars, and hopping up and down and trying to get their butter made the fastest.

The hardest part for them was the part of the lab where they had to let it sit for ten minutes and make more observations (the clear liquid settles out and the butter gets a bit firmer). After that we gave them crackers and they ate their butter and crackers.

They were ecstatic. They loved the big lab. They loved the fact that they got a lot of attention as there were only 13 of them in there. They cleaned up without complaint (and did a good job of it too). They filled out their lab sheets in detail and never once whined. No one asked if it was for a grade, which surprised me as these kids usually won't lift a pencil without asking if they get credit for it. They even worked together on a puzzler that we had to kill the last few minutes of class since we weren't too sure how long they'd take.

We walked them out to the parent pick up area, with their little containers of butter (if they hadn't already snarfed it all down), and they couldn't wait to show their parents what they'd made in science lab. A lot of the parents took the time to roll down the car windows and thank us for doing the lab, and off they went.

Mrs. Eagle looked at me and said, "This was the most fun I've had in a long time."

She's right. It was a lot of fun. It was nice to do a lab with kids who wanted to be there and who listened.

And we're already planning our next one.

Little Janie Appleseed

Take a look, dear friends, at my new toy.


No, it's not a torture device to use on my Fifth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself...although it did cross my mind. It's a super duper all in one apple peeler, corer, slicer do-dad.

This is one of the reasons why I needed this little gadget.


You can't quite tell in the picture, but this is my little apple tree. The same tree that was knocked down in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The same tree that maybe, in a good year, has produced a bucket or two of apples. The same tree that last year, after the April where it went from 80 degrees to 18, didn't produce a single apple having had all its blossoms freeze off. The same tree that survived a 22" deficit in rainfall last year and wasn't watered due to water restrictions.

This tree is, this year, going absolutely freaking crazy. We're talking apples beyond apples beyond apples. And no, I have no idea what variety of apples they are as the tree came with the house. I do know that they are tasty and sweet and make killer apple sauce. All organic and no sugar added, thank you very much.


Here are four of my buckets of apples. I've had at least seven, and there's still a lot more apples on that little tree. So, since I tend to be frugal (hey, free apples!) and I sort of think of canning as one giant science lab in my kitchen, I'm making apple sauce.

Lots and lots of apple sauce.

A week ago, I hand peeled, cored, and cut up a bucket of apples and made four quarts of apple sauce.

I thought my right hand was going to cripple up and never work correctly again. This was not, obviously, going to work. So, I found out that one of my favorite stores, Linens and Things, sold apple peelers. Cool! So I went over after church to get one.

And they were sold out.

But there were 16 coming on the truck on Tuesday. Apparently I am not the only one with a very productive apple tree this year. I asked the very helpful lady to hold one for me and went back on Tuesday (when I was sicker than a dog with the crud which turned out to be an ear infection), and got my new toy.

It is a joy.

It does everything but tap dance. A quick turn of the handle and I've got a perfectly cored, peeled, and sliced apple. Wonderful!


My father, the original gadget head, who was visiting for a few days, thought it was pretty cool. In fact, he thought it was so cool, he went and bought one. Not because he cans, but because he figures he'd make the doctor happier by eating more fruit because, hey, it's fun to jab it on the spikey thing, turn the handle and watch the peel curl off and the slices come off the end all perfectly even.

And he even took a bucket of apples with him.

And four quarts of apple sauce.

Crud

I think I've broken some sort of record.

First, a cold ten days into school.

Now, a full blown ear infection, along with heavy congestion, lots of coughing and general misery.

We're barely six weeks in and I've been sick twice. This one is a kicker, however. It started Saturday afternoon with what I thought was one of my rare asthma attacks. I'd had wicked bad allergies all day, which isn't surprising as fall is always bad for me. However, by Sunday morning it was a steady cough. I haven't missed school, but I've pretty much come home, did supper, and hit the bed.

Only to cough nearly all night long.

Fortunately, one of the benefits we have as employees of the school district (county employees get it too) is on-site health care. It's free, if you're part of the insurance plan, and although there are no walk in's it isn't difficult to get an appointment at one of the six clinics across the school system. The one closest to me is right up the road at the high school we feed into. I have a standing Wednesday appointment to get my allergy shots, so today I went in, looked pathetic and walked out with prescriptions for plugged up heads, cough, and the ear infection.

I just want to feel better.

So, I'm going to bed.

The Birth of the After School Seventh Grade Science Club

We tried.

Over the past five weeks Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I have forged ahead with our lessons on matter, which included a number of relatively easy labs which, in the past, have been hugely popular with our students. We've explored solids, liquids and gases with our popular "popcorn lab" where we use popcorn and Crisco to mimic the three states of matter. We've done our Layered Liquids lab on density involving colored water, syrup and oil. We've even done our Oobleck lab which has often resulted in parents requesting the recipe and students recreating it at home in their family kitchen just for fun.

It has been a disaster each and every time with this particular group of kids.

They cannot, will not, behave for a lab. They will not listen. They will not stay in their seats. They will not complete and turn in their lab reports, leaving them strewn across tables and the floor. And the noise level is unbelievable. This group still does not get the concept of using "lab voices".

And no amount of card punching, phone calls, time outs, and whatnot works. They just don't get it and they don't care.

The final straw for us this week was the Oobleck lab. For some reason they thought it would be fun to throw Oobleck at each other. Fortunately, Oobleck is simply cornstarch and water and can easily be washed out of clothes...however, my room (and Mrs. Robin's room and Mrs. Eagles room) and even the hallways outside our rooms looked like a powder bomb had gone off.

"This is insane," said Mrs. Eagle later that afternoon. "I have never, in eight years, had kids behave this badly during a lab. Never."

We both nodded and agreed and Mrs. Robin commented that she was starting to count the thirteen years she had before retirement.

So we've bagged the labs. We just can't trust that this group of kids can behave in a safe manner in a lab. They're so noisy that if we had an accident or an emergency, they wouldn't hear any instructions. And the thought of allowing these kids near a $200 microscope is just plain scary. They don't take care of equipment, and think nothing if something breaks.

This was not an easy decision. We have, over the past five years, tried to incoporate as many labs into our instruction as we can, and we've seen the pay off in rising scores and kids who are turned on by science. It's been tough, as our class time has been cut from 55 minutes to 45 minutes, and getting some of our labs done in this amount of time requires a lot of focus. And let's not even talk about budget issues.

But until this group, as a group, develops the maturity and the ability to behave appropriately in a lab setting, they're going to be getting demonstrations.

And yet...we weren't happy with that. Because we still have a few kids who actually care, who are actually put out with their peers who act like fools, and who are dying to do some real science.

So, with the blessing of The Principal (who's been cruising through our classrooms a lot this week and has seen for herself what behavior nightmares we're dealing with), we're starting an after school science lab club for the kids who actually care.

Basically the idea is that we'll put aside an afternoon of our time every other week or so, and allow kids to sign up to stay after school to do labs that apply to our current content. In order to do so, they have to get a permission slip signed by a parent, which will be due several days prior to the lab. We'll also have a cut off as to the number of kids that can attend as we want to keep the number managable. (We're starting to think a lot of our problems stem from the fact that our class sizes have jumped about 8 kids per class this year.) This will allow us to buy only the amount of materials we need for the labs, thus saving money.

And the best part is we'll have more time (however much we need), and we'll use the big lab, not our classrooms, to do the labs in.

Honestly, I'm hoping we won't have to do this for too long. The hope is that the kids who will be coming will talk up to the other kids about how much fun they're having and hopefully they'll figure out that once they grow up and behave, we'll do labs again in our rooms.

Hopefully.

Yes, Mom, You Didn't Get an A

Sigh.

Another helicopter mother. One who doesn't work, and apparently has nothing better to do than sit and email us all day long. She seems to pick at least one of us a week to torment, then calls guidance and complains about us in long drawn out phone calls.

Her son, however, is a delight. He's a small boy, who is absent a lot due to asthma (which probably wouldn't be so severe if Mom wasn't a chain smoker). He's smart as a whip, even with his absences. But his mother is still doing his homework.

And boy, does she get pissed when she doesn't get a perfect score.

Her son, Tiny Tim Boy, got a 10 out of 20 on his vocabulary cards because they were incomplete. He also got a 7 out of 10 as his homework was incomplete as well. I suspected, based on the fact that his vocabulary cards were typed and glued onto index cards, and the fact that his written homework looked nothing like his writing, that Mom did it. His math teacher from last year informed me earlier that she tended to do that. Which is weird as this kid doesn't need her help.

So, I get an email...why did he only get 7 out of 10?

And another email...why did he only get 10 out of 20? She remembered counting his cards, rubber banding them together, and making sure they were in his binder. (And why wasn't he doing this?)

And another email...why did I take half off when all that was missing on his vocabulary cards was the picture? And how can I expect the kids to draw pictures of science words?

And yet another email...how dare I fail a kid with a 50% when they don't draw pictures. If that was the way I was going to grade, why bother to do the work at all? Drawing pictures is stupid.

And so forth and so on.

So, I emailed The Principal, and let her know that I hadn't responded, but I told her what I wanted to say. She replied, "go ahead, and you might want to add that a 50% is easier to recover from than a zero for an incomplete."

And then those magic words "I've got your back. Make sure you copy me so she knows that I'm in the loop."

I love my Principal.

So...I responded with my points...

1. Usually once a student earns an incomplete, they start doing their work correctly.
2. A 50% is easier to recover from. I suppose I could give a zero, but that's a bit harsh.
3. There's this intrinsic thing about doing a good job. I would think having pride in your work and doing it right is more important than a 20 point assignment.
4. The purpose of the vocabulary cards, which may, at most, equal 100 points out of about a 1000 each grading period, is not so much as to get the 20 point grade, but to use as a study tool so the child earns 100% on a vocabulary test.
5. Many of our standards have the word "recognize" in them and emphasize the importance of pictures. Besides, people learn new language by visual associations. Many kids get quite creative when it comes to pictures to help them learn vocabulary.

I hit send this afternoon, copying The Principal.

Haven't heard from her and frankly, don't care.

Because if she wants to go to the principal and change teams because I'm not "fair", the Principal is going to tell her that all three seventh grade science teachers have the same assignments and grade the same way...so no matter how well SHE does on her work, she's going to get the same grade.

Maybe she'd be better off if her kid did his own work?

The Premier Paper Passer

One of the things I hate to waste time doing is passing out papers to my students. With only a 45 minute class period, I try to eliminate as much "fluff" as I can from my day. Passing out papers just didn't seem to me to be really productive, although it is necessary.

To solve the problem of returning work to the kids, I set up a mailbox system. I have a big plastic file box, and there's a folder in there for each kid, organized alphabetically by class period. I give the kids four minutes at the beginning of each period to fill out their agenda, turn in work, and check their mailboxes. Actually, I tell them that they have four minutes, but they really have three. That's pretty much all they need. That saves me the hassle of calling out a kid's name, and waiting for him or her to get out of his or her seat, walk to me, and then return...or me having to scamper all over the room handing out work. I've tried having students return work, but that's just a big fat mess because half of them can't read the writing on the paper, they don't know everyone's name, and then there's the issue of confidentiality. Honestly, they all know who the goobers are who don't do well, but they don't need to have it validated.

Okay, so that solved the returned work problem. Now there's the problem with passing stuff out that we need to use during class.

Back when I had desks in rows, and not tables, I could easily walk across the front of the room and hand papers to the first kid in the row and they'd pass it back to the students behind them. Easy. However, I now have seven tables, plus the isolation island seats, and it's definitely not as easy to do.

And I believe that having a kid pass out papers is ideal because it gets the squirmy ones up and moving. It's no secret that I tend to have the hyper kids pass out papers. They're also usually the first to practically leap out of their seats when I ask for a volunteer. In any case, I go through a big deal every year teaching them how to do pass out papers. They are not to hand each individual person a paper (this can take freaking forever), but instead, count out four papers, and put it in the middle of the table, and then the kids at the table grab what they need. It works great if you have a kid who can do this without taking forever to count out the four pieces of paper.

So, last week we had the kids return to afternoon homeroom, the fifteen minute period at the end of the day when our homeroom kids return and we're supposed to check and sign agendas, send them to their lockers and - you guessed it - pass out the Very Important Papers that need to go home. I had a ton of papers to pass out - team newsletter, principal newsletter, and three pieces of paper having to do with our fundraiser.

I started off with two volunteers, Pinball Boy and Sweetheart Girl, and off they went. Pinball boy was back at my desk within thirty seconds.

"Next!" he barked, his hand out. I handed him the next stack.

Thirty seconds later he was back again.

"Next!" he barked, his hand out again. I handed him the next stack.

By this time I looked up and watched what was going on. Sweetheart Girl was doing a wonderful job of going to table to table and passing out the papers, but Pinball Boy had her beat in the speed department. He was flying. I don't think he actually stopped at the tables, he simply tossed the papers at them as he flew by. Papers were everywhere. Kids' hands were in the air grabbing at the papers as they fluttered down like multicolored leaves. They'd catch the papers, and staple them in their agendas, and then he was back with the next batch. It was a sight to behold.

He covered the entire room four times by the time Sweetheart Girl was finished...and she went pretty fast herself.

I have never, in my life, seen such a fantastic job of paper passing. This kid is a marvel. If there was a way I could bottle up his energy and sell it, I'd make a fortune.

Open House....

Rooms cleaned. Floors swept. Student work posted. Email sign up sheets laid out. Smiles ready

It's Open House night!

And I even wore a skirt and blouse.

Amazing.

We had a huge crowd, which is strange because it began pouring rain around 5:00 pm when the doors opened. Usually, if it rains no one comes out. We even had a health fair in the gym with vendors of health-related services set up at tables giving out free blood pressure tests, visitor passes to local gyms, and more.

I saw a lot of parents, which is nice. I saw a lot of former students which I enjoy as well, including a few that are seniors now which freaks me out. When did we get older? One is already being scouted by the Yankees and the Diamond Backs and I hope he makes it to the Show. That would be beyond cool. Another invited me to the first band concert over at the high school and marveled at my silver hair. I was blonde a few years ago when I had them.

Again, when did we start getting old?

Thank goodness I have them around to make me feel young...

Carnival Time!

It's Kiddie Carnival Time, according to our host this week at Lead from the Start! Check it out! (It beats getting your room together for Open House!)

The Southern Tradition

I grew up in Pac Ten country, lived a dozen years in Big Ten country, and I can assure that there is nothing - nothing - like football in My Beloved South.

The high school football season kicked off last night and as we drove by the closest high school near our house my husband and father commented on the absolute and total lack of parking. The crowds are so big that people are parking in ditches, driveways, streets, and anywhere else you can squeeze a vehicle, even if it means walking a good hike to even get to the stadium. The stadiums are packed and it's often standing room only. The evening news spends a good ten minutes or more reporting on high school football on Friday nights, and today's sports page is thick with high school reporting.

But it's still nothing compared to SEC football.

Hubster, the military historian, born in Chicago but raised in Georgia, Texas and Arkansas (Daddy was in the poultry business), has often commented that Southerners play football as a way of getting revenge over losing the War Between the States. And truth be told, they're damn good at it.

When I lived Up North and would make the long trek down to see Daddy when he lived in Hotlanta, I would see car after car after car after car heading south with flags flying - UT, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina - to the game of the week. Many folks have season tickets and even with the price of gas think nothing of driving (or, in the case of UT, boating) to the games every weekend.

It is a passion here.

And truth be told, the game, as we play it down here, is awesome. It's a different style, although, what with some of the former southern coaches moving on to teach outside the SEC, I think we may see that migrate to other parts of the country.

And today, it begins.

Yes!

Go Dawgs!

Carnival Time!

Okay, it's a three day weekend, so celebrate Labor Day - and all the hard labor you put into your jobs all year - by spending some time over at Sharp Brains for this week's carnival!

Not feeling the love

We've finished three weeks of school.

We've taken our first unit tests. (Horrid)

We've sent out our first progress reports. (Pathetic)

And as Mrs. Bunny commented to me the other day, "I'm not feeling the love with this group." Mrs. Eagle and I both nodded our heads in agreement.

This group of seventh graders is a tough bunch. And that's being nice.

We kind of had a feeling that this wasn't going to be an easy year. After all, the sixth grade teachers last year spent most of their time looking frazzled and stressed and were eagerly planning their summer breaks in October. We also spent a lot of time watching these kids in the hallway (their hallway behavior was atrocious) and we all prayed that they'd mature and grow up over the summer. The majority of our discipline referrals last year were from the sixth grade and the time I spent doing admin while my student teacher was around convinced me that this bunch had a real problem with self control.

And they haven't changed.

For the first year ever, the team had to implement a locker schedule because these kids can't manage to go to their lockers without messing around, hitting each other, smashing fingers in their lockers (assuming they get them opened) and generally fussing and fighting.

The first fight at lunch happened this week...during seventh grade lunch.

Most of us had to do seating charts for our lunch tables within the second day of school because these kids can't sit and behave during lunch. We had to implement lunch detention (bless Coach Math for volunteering to do this duty) for kids that can't behave at lunch and in the classroom. This is another first.

I have had to take each class out in the hall at least once (third period has done this three times) to teach them how to walk into a classroom, get quiet, sit down, and get their agendas opened, because they come into the classrooms screaming at the top of their lungs and don't stop even when the bell rings. I have never had to do this before.

In School Suspension, which hasn't been busy at all, has had a few customers and, you guessed it, the majority of them are seventh graders. This week three of them were from my team alone. And these weren't minor offenses like having a cell phone. They were for cursing at a cafeteria lady during breakfast...showing off naked pictures of a girl from Mrs. Eagle's team on a cell phone...slapping a kid in the back of the head at lunch, knocking over his milk, then kicking him while he was at his locker later that day.

I've spent time watching video of kids bullying each other...calling parents about kids getting caught during their test with a study guide out on their table....emailing the Enforcer about witnessing a kid slamming another kid upside the head and then having the bully look me square in the eye and sneer, "What are you going to do, call my mom again?"

My Fifth Period From the Very Depths of Hell Itself...can't stay in their seats, can't get quiet, refuses to turn in work, throws things, and generally manages to waste enough time every day that they basically end up losing about ten minutes a day of instruction. I feel awful for the kids in that class that actually care because they're being exposed to a bunch of malcontents who don't care...and when you call their parents you get comments like, "Well, I can't make him do anything at home so what the hell do you expect me to do?"

That's if you even get a parent on the line.

On the plus side - and that's because I have to find the silver lining somewhere - Pinball Boy is still doing great for me. I have a few kids asking for extra help to bring their grades up and we may come up with a homework clinic since tutoring was canceled this year due to budget cuts. Some of my parents are great about emailing me with questions, letting me know their kid is absent, wanting to volunteer. My squishy toys are very popular and the kids that use them are calming down somewhat.

But it's still going to be a hell of a year.

Thankyew, Thankyewverymuch

As I sit here, head full of snot and with scratchy throat, I've discovered two of my blogging compatriots have seen fit to bestow upon me a blog award. Now, I love awards, especially those that are glittery and sparkly, so this is very cool. The guilty parties are Mr. Teacher (who I am going to adopt and pass off as my very smart and articulate son, especially as he's written the most hilarious book on earth and you all should buy it), and Melissa, the Scholastic Scribe (who's a Jane Austen fan and that puts her at the top of my list without even breaking a sweat.) Thanks you two...

Now, I'm supposed to add a picture of this little award, but blogger is being stupid and it won't let me add any pictures at all - even adorable ones of my adorable cats being adorable.

So I'm miffed.

However, I'm supposed to share the love, but I'm still so wacked out on Nyquil I can't think...so maybe later.

Anyhow...I'm flattered.

Contagion

Eleven days of school.

I already have my first cold.

Sigh.

*cough*

Carnival Time!

Ding! Ding! Ding! The Carnival is up over at Bellringers! Check it out!!

As always, good stuff to get you inspired, help you laugh, and make you think.

Hey Brother Can You Spare Some Copies?

I teach in a Title 1 school which means that over 50% of our student population is on free and reduced lunch. I think last year we were at 54% and I'm guessing this year it will be even higher. What this means is that we have a lot of Federal money sent our way to help our at-risk population.

Over the past three years this money has helped pay for things that have benefited our students. Hiring aides to work with our at-risk kids has been one of our expenditures that have seen real results. Another one has been the Reading 180 program that has moved kids up 2-3 grade levels in reading within a year. These have been the major expenditures.

Some of the minor expenditures were something as simple as extra copies. Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I got permission to go over our allotted copy budget to make individual copies of our tests. Now this may not seem like a real important thing to spend money on, but one of the things we really focused on last year was teaching kids good test-taking skills, and to make our tests more like the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests. This was something that Mrs. Standard, our Science Consulting Teacher from The District, had wanted us to do as it allowed kids to mark up the tests, cross out obviously wrong answers, make notes on the edges, highlight things and so forth and so on. Granted, it took longer to grade as I graded it by hand but it gave me a better idea of their thinking, and allowed the kid to see where the mistakes were. A bubble sheet doesn't quite do it. And, since we only get 3,000 copies a month, we got permission to use Title money to supplement our copies.

And we had the highest test scores in the school, so maybe there was something to it. I don't know.

So last week we get an email from The Principal, who had a meeting with her boss, and the long and short of it is that the Feds have decreased a lot of the funding to this program, and money we were expecting isn't coming. In fact, everything is frozen. Not just Title 1 stuff, but everything.

Frozen freaking solid.

So, when Mrs. Eagle and I wanted to give our health class kids a "fun food Friday", where we taught them how to make easy healthy snacks, we found out we had to pay for it ourselves. Which we did. (And weirdly, not one of them whined or complained about eating carrots, red peppers, celery and zucchini as a snack.)

However.

The bulk of our science labs where we use up a lot of consumables are at the beginning of the year, according to our pacing guide. And until something shakes loose, we may just have to pay for the supplies ourselves.

And don't even ask about copies. The way things are going now, we'll be lucky to get 2,000 a month this year.

Sigh.

The Pinball Wizard

Teachers can spot the kids that are going to be a challenge within seconds of them entering our classroom. It's like radar. Sometimes it's really obvious (swinging from the light fixtures is often a big clue) and sometimes it's something as subtle as how they make eye contact.

With Pinball Boy's case, it was the fact that he appeared to be physically incapable of sitting still for more than five seconds and his mouth was in constant motion. I've only had one other kid this hyperactive, and he was a kid who'd come out of a meth house in a neighboring county and had more issues than ADHD to deal with.

When I got the information sheet back from his parents, I noticed several things. One, he'd failed math and science last year. Not good. That means he has to pass these subjects this year in order to be academically promoted. Second, he was diagnosed with ADHD. And third, he was not on any medications. On the positive side, he had two parents in the home, they appeared to have jobs, and even had email. That's good.

On Monday, our newly minted teacher Miss Language, had a rough day with Pinball Boy. He'd pulled an attitude on her when she told him to get out his punch card as he couldn't sit down and be quiet (we're working on a reward system using punch cards - I'll explain in another post one of these days). She came to me asking for advice on what to do with him.

I decided to do some research, so I pulled his discipline file (no surprise there that he had one), and his academic records. One thing I discovered is that he has the potential to do well academically. His problem, obviously, is that he can't focus. The other thing I discovered was that he had 245 (!!!!) discipline points last year, was in alternative school for 30 days, came back, and was expelled in April.

Wow.

However, I wanted a bigger picture so I went to talk with the Guidance Goddess because she knows everything. I discovered that biological dad was remarried and living in another city, biological mom was remarried and there was a step dad at home. I also discovered that he was the oldest of five boys, all one right after the other - there's one in 6th grade, one in 5th, another in 4th, and the littlest is in 3rd. Mom has a fairly good job managing a local restaurant, but that also means long hours. And if all the boys are anything like Pinball Boy, they're probably pinging off the walls competing for attention.

What this kid needed was a lot of attention, and some strategies to help him focus. He needed "Mommy Time."

So, he got moved, on Tuesday, to the seat right next to my teacher station - my "right hand man" seat. Since he's in my homeroom class and the isolation seats are full, (not because kids need it, but because I'm out of lab tables) Pinball Boy didn't see this as a negative. He was thrilled to become my "right hand man". (I might add that he's kind of small, has braces, a huge smile, and glasses which he often forgets.) He is now in charge of my light switches which need to go on and off during the class as I'm using the document reader or my LCD projector. He is the first to get asked to hand out things and to collect things. Anything to give him a chance to get up and move a little bit.

And then I gave him the squishy ball. I asked him what he wanted to do this year and he said he wanted to pass all his classes and stay out of trouble. I told him that I knew he really was a good kid, and that I wanted to really help him with that so I was going to try some tricks that may seem a little strange - like holding a squishy ball in his hands and squeezing it during class to help him focus. He said he'd try it.

It worked like a charm. This child, who'd had write up after write up after write up for disruptive behavior, was my model student last week. He'd come in, ask for "Squishy", and sit at his seat and fiddle with the ball, but at the same time, he'd take notes, he'd jump up and turn the lights on and off when asked, and he was quiet. It was amazing. I see this group of kids three times a day - homeroom, 3rd period science class, and for fifteen minutes at the end of the day to check agendas, announcements, hand out papers, and all that. Every time he came into the room, he asked for Squishy and sat down and did what needed to be done.

On Thursday I called and left a message on his mom's voice mail, primarily to introduce myself, but also to brag on what a great job he was doing. I wanted her to know that I knew he had issues but I was going to see what I could do to work around them.

On Friday, as the kids were being dismissed to the buses, Pinball Boy ran back and gave me a big hug.

"My momma said you called and it scared me at first, " he said, "But then she said it was a good call and I've never had a good call before."

"Well kiddo, you earned it," I told him.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he beamed. "I love you!" he said and then he was gone.

Dang. It don't get much better than that.

What should I do with all this free time?

Nothing frosts my cookies more than hearing some nitwit going on about all the free time teachers have. I need to avoid reading the comments section in the on-line version of our local newspaper because it seems to be a cesspool of nothing but ignorant whiners who do nothing but aggravate my already frazzled nerves.

My favorite this week was someone who was whining about what a great gig teachers have because "they only work nine months out of the year while everyone else works twelve."

This twit obviously didn't do well in math because the last I looked, getting out the end of May, and starting the first of August, leaves June and July and I can assure you that that is TWO months, not three. And a lot of that is filled with in-service workshops and other things that we do to maintain our licenses along with finding ways to teach the offspring of the above-mentioned whiners. These people who complain about how teachers have summers off would be the same folks who would have a nuclear poop if anyone even suggested year-round school. The irony is amazing. Their kids need summers off, but teachers should not have summers off.

I love this kind of logic.

The other one that gets me is how people insist that our job is so easy because we get off at 2:30 and have all afternoon and evening to sit around and eat bon-bons and get pedicures. I wish.

Here's what this week looked like:

Monday - arrive at 6:15 am, leave at 5:15 pm. It was the first full day so I don't have too much paperwork to go over. Did spend about an hour checking off returned paperwork (the two pounds of "mandatory" paperwork we foist on kids the first day of school) for my homeroom.

Tuesday - arrive at 6:15 am, leave at 5:00 pm. Go to the market, buy groceries, go home and sling hot dogs and tomato soup at hubster for supper (good thing he actually likes this kind of meal). Spend two hours going over returned science lab rules, make parent phone calls, and set up file folders.

Wednesday - arrive at 6:15 am, leave at 4:45 pm. Run more errands (shoe repair, bank, etc.). Sling pizza at hubster for supper. Spend two hours grading health class papers and four classes of science class safety worksheets. Make some parent phone calls. Fall asleep on sofa.

Thursday - arrive at 6:15 am, leave at 4:00 only because I have allergy shot appointment at 4:30. Get home around 5:30, make quick supper for myself, as hubster won't be home until after 7:00, then make parent phone calls for two hours. Heat hubster up some soup and give him a salad for supper.

Friday - arrive at 6:30 am (after breakfast at Waffle House with Mrs. Eagle), and leave at 5:30 pm. Did not take any work home because the School is open tomorrow morning and I'm going in to work then anyway. Why lug it back and forth?

Saturday - arrive at 9:00 am and leave at 2:00 pm. Finish grading all turned in papers, file them away, set up assignments on new grading program, input grades, work on parent emails, get copies ready for the week, work with Mrs. Eagle on health unit, and then go home. Take no work home because I need to have a weekend.

Take a nap.

If I wasn't on a diet I guess I should be eating my bon-bons, eh?

Carnival Time!

For those of us who've already started back...take some time to chill and check out this week's Carnival of Education over at Joanne Jacob's place...it's worth the time.

And for those of you who haven't started...go on over there as well. You can certainly spare the time!

*grin*

Why Some Kids Don't Need a Pencil Pouch

Three days down on the first full week and I'm beginning to get to know my kids. This is pretty amazing because there's a big difference in learning 24 names as opposed to 32. It doesn't sound like that big of a jump, but when it's 12-year old bodies and they're crammed to the walls in your room, it can be a challenge. There are times it reminds me of the mosh pit at The Palace in Hollywood years ago in my college days. I'm lucky I remember my name by the end of the day.

So today one of my kids, Big Haired Boy, is up at my desk and I'm checking off that he has turned in his signed-by-a-parent science lab safety sheet. Now Big Haired Boy has really big hair. Really. Big. Hair. His head is a mass of tight blond curls and it's huge. You can't miss this kid in a crowd. And he's a really nice kid from what I can tell.

So he's standing there while I'm doing my thing, and beside him is another kid waiting his turn. The other kid is looking around and begins to stare intently at Big Haired Boy's head. It is, after all, truly a work of art.

"Dude," he says, "You've got pencils in there."

"Oh yeah," says Big Haired Boy, "That's where I keep them."

And people wonder why I do this???

**snicker***

It's a Good Thing I'm a Little Nuts Already

The saga of the exploding homeroom continues.

On Friday, 29 of 35 kids showed up. Whee!!! I had seats for everyone. It's not unusual to have a good chunk of kids not show up because a lot of them move over the summer and we may not have received a request for records yet from their new school. I was hoping, as you can imagine, that this number would stabilize.

This morning, three of my "missing" children appeared, so my number jumped to 32. I have, barely, 32 seats available. This means every single isolation island is being used, and those kids will need to have some spare chairs to pull up to a lab group when we do labs - there's no extra lab tables available to start with and there's no room to put when if I could find one. So, I sent a request to the head custodian to find me 4 plain chairs. Mrs. Social Studies, next door, had to get 3 more student desks. We are not alone. Chairs and desks are a hot commodity right now.

This afternoon I get an email informing me that a student was being transferred from Mrs. Eagle's team to my team. I knew the name right away - it's the younger brother of a kid I had a few years ago. His mom is very involved, but I actually kind of enjoyed her - if I ever needed a volunteer, she'd be there. She had told me a year ago she wanted her youngest on our team - however, the team her older son had isn't the same. I'm the only returning member from that era, and in fact, Mrs. Bunny's team has two of the teachers that were on our team that year. However, amazingly enough, her team's numbers are even higher than ours are, so I ended up with Little Brother.

Of course he ended up in my homeroom.

I informed Guidance Mom that he'd be sitting on the floor as things stood now. She's going to try to move another kid out of that class and into one of my others, and hopefully we'll keep that 32 number. As it stands, most of my classes are in the 28 range which is a pretty big group.

However, it beats sitting on the floor.

Our numbers this year are, well, unpredictable. The Principal informed that even before school started, we were running 100 kids over the prediction. I have no clue where they are coming from, but they're here and we're running out of chairs.

I have heard, however, that the 8th grade is rather empty, compared to sixth and seventh grade. Funny how things work out.

Speaking of 8th graders...I'm teaching an 8th grade Health Class this year which is going to be kind of fun, as long as my 8th graders don't get lost. I have 29 on my roster. When the bell rang for 7th period, only 7 had shown up. Something was wrong. I asked one of my kids from last year to show me his schedule and discovered that it had my name, my room number, and the title was "PE"...ah, health used to be part of the PE department and apparently that didn't get changed when they did the schedules. So, I had seven kids who read their schedules and came to the right room (and earned a Jolly Rancher for not being a goober), and 22 who, most likely, ended up wandering lose in the gym.

I got a hold of the Guidance Goddess to see if she could radio the gym teachers and send me my missing kids. About ten minutes later one of the coaches showed up with the missing sheep, and was on her way to drop off Mrs. Eagle's missing sheep (she only had 4 find her room!)

You know, I quit watching soap operas when I began teaching...it's just way more entertaining.

Worst Job Ever Meme

My friend, Mr. Teacher over at Learn Me Good, tagged me for a Worst Job Ever Meme, which is kind of ironic in a way. I'm a latecomer to teaching, having bailed the corporate world after about 15 years, and The Principal actually put me on the stop about that during a faculty meeting this week. Her question, "We know you came to us from the corporate world...what made you go into teaching?"

My answer sounds so stupid, but it's true. "I wanted to change the world and I wasn't doing it moving paper from one side of a desk to the other." Honestly, my job had no meaning at all. It didn't make the world a better place. And as someone without kids of my own, I wanted to help kids out there that may not have scored a prize in the parent sweepstakes. So it's trite, but it's me.

And on the way to teaching seventh grade, I've had a number of loser jobs.

In high school I did a year-long stint in a donut shop. To this day I can't stand frosting and I'm not wild about donuts.

I've stuffed envelopes for a realtor.

I've waitressed. A lot. It got me through college. It's hard, physically demanding work and you realize that most people are just plain rude. I am, as a result, a big tipper when I get good service.

I sold jams and jellies in a mall during the Holidays.

I typed for professors during college.

I sold payroll systems. I hated my boss who liked to have screaming fits at all the sales reps, so one day I went to work with my swimsuit on underneath my business suit, quit, and went to the beach for the day.

But I think the job I hated the most was selling a sales training program for an unnamed company. It was lonely. I hated doing cold calls. My territory, since I was new and all the seasoned reps had dibs on the good areas, was so awful that if you did an economic forecast for the area it would be in a depression during an economic boom. Face it, 2-man machine shops do not want sales training. It made me absolutely freaking, cry in my pillow, miserable.

After that, seventh grade is a breeze.

One Down, One Hundred Seventy-Nine to Go!

We had our first half day of school on Friday. Don't even ask why we start with a half day, then have a weekend, then have a full week beginning Monday. I have no idea what the thinking is behind this plan. All I know is that at 7:05 Friday morning over a thousand kids showed up and we just prayed we had schedules for most of them.

The new system we've put into place for grades, scheduling and all sorts of cool things (PowerSchool) tanked on Thursday, but was up again on Friday morning. I think most of the guidance department was putting in 20 hour days just to make sure we had a smooth opening.

Those folks rock.

In the meantime, I was hoping I'd covered all the bases with my new team. I have one returning team member, Miss Reading, who will be starting her second year teaching. The others are Mr. Math who transferred from another building, Miss Language, a brand new teacher, and Mrs. Social Studies, who was on Mrs. Eagle's team last year. As a new team leader I was just hoping I wasn't forgetting anything.

We did have a bit of a case of nerves when Mr. Math lived the nightmare all teachers have. He woke up that morning and asked his wife (also a teacher) what time it was. The clock said 5:00 am so they had a bit more time. He didn't think that seemed right as it was a bit too light outside. He checked his watch and it said 6:00. I can only imagine the chaos that ensued as they both raced to get ready, get the baby ready, drop the baby off at the sitter, and power on to school. Mr. Math rolled in about 2 minutes before the buses unloaded and was a bit rattled, to say the least. Fortunately, he's a pro and everything was ready to go so there weren't any lasting problems.

We put all the seventh graders in the theater and each of us called out our homeroom class and marched them off to our rooms. My roster had shrunk from 37, to 32, then up to 35 by the time Friday morning arrived. The problem, apparently, is that the advanced math, reading, and language classes are 4th, 5th, and 6th periods. I teach 8th grade during 7th period, have planning 1st and 2nd, so the only period they can take science is 3rd. So, most of these kids are advanced, but that also means they can be quite a talkative bunch. In any case, 29 showed up, so I did have enough seats for everyone although it meant I had to use isolation seats just to get a kid in a chair.

In the past, we've kept our homerooms for about 2 hours, then have them rotate through their schedules for 10 minute periods until it's time to release them to go home. This year it was decided that we'd keep our homeroom kids for the entire time.

I don't know how you elementary teachers do it. The thought of keeping 29 7th graders busy for a solid 3 hours and 30 minutes is daunting.

So, we handed out the ream of paperwork that needs to go home. And went over it piece by piece, and reminded them which needed to be signed and returned and which needed to be kept. I figure half of it will end up in the trash. I was astounded at the number of free and reduced meal letters I sent out. Well over one third of my class was apparently on free and reduced last year.

I did a PowerPoint on important things like lockers, and behavior, and lunch, and behavior, and supplies, and behavior, and so forth and so on. We took a bathroom break and I realized, as they were marching back to the room, that I have about 20 boys in this class. We did a group activity. We did a learning style inventory worksheet (which they thought was pretty cool). We did a word search and we did a vanity license plate drawing....and we kept them busy until it was time to send them to the buses.

And we waved them goodbye, went out to have our last sit-down restaurant lunch for a long time, and realized that it went pretty well.

We had seats for everyone.

All but four kids - in the entire school - had their schedules.

The system didn't crash.

Every kid knew what bus they got on to go home.

And no one cried or threw up.

Success.

Maybe We Can Stack Them on the Bookshelves?

As school starts on Friday, teachers and support staff had to report to work on Tuesday. It was actually nice to get back into the swing of things. I'm one of those people who do better (especially when it comes to watching what I eat) when I have more structure in my days, and school certainly provides that.

One of the new things we're piloting this year is a web-based gradebook program. I've already been through the training and this program is going to be light-years ahead of the ones we used last year. Last year we had continual problems with uploads, files getting corrupted, servers crashing and just about anything bad you can think of. It frustrated us and it frustrated the parents. The only people who were delighted with all our problems were the kids who loved it when mom and dad couldn't check up on them. Those days are past. Now, the grades are accessible as soon as you save them, we're doing attendance electronically, and it's a much more stream-lined and user-friendly. One of my favorite features is it allows parents to request an email progress report whenever they want - daily if they so desire.

However.

Being a pilot school means that we're going live with this program without much of a chance to test it. Instead of dumping data from an old program, (which was a dog and goodness knows what troubles that would cause) our guidance department (which is phenomenal) was going to go live with raw data. I don't know all the details, but I guess one of the biggest challenges was scheduling the students, not so much due to the software, but due to all the kids who have to been in classes that are offered only once a day - gifted classes, special education programs, and the like. It was apparently quite the nightmare.

So today the rumor went around that we could go look at our rosters as they were available. There's nothing a teacher likes more than getting his or her hands on new rosters. We all want to see if we got kids we wanted (or kids we didn't). I was particularly interested to see if some kids I'd requested (siblings of kids I loved, and one kid from gameclub who I really connected with) were on my team. It's always kind of like opening a Christmas present when you get your rosters.

Boy was I in for a surprise!

I pulled up the website, logged in, when to the gradebook section, and discovered that my homeroom class (which is also my 3rd period class as I have 1st and 2nd planning, and which is also the same group of kids I get at the end of the day for a 15 minute advisory) had 37 students enrolled.

That's 37.

That's not a typo.

I have 28 seats.

Do you see a problem here?

I could, if pushed, find room for 32 kids and that's filling up every available isolation seat. I only have 7 tables (because that's all my room can hold) for my students to sit at. That's 28 kids...so I need to find space for 9 more.

My other seventh grade science classes have 25, 25, and 27 kids, which is fine. My one eighth grade health class has 29, but that's fine as well. I knew that my science class sizes would go up as I'm teaching four, not five, sections due to volunteering to take the health class. Last year I had classes with 19 kids, and they lacked the dynamic, especially in class discussions, that a larger group of kids would possess.

But 37 kids?

I have been assured that this is temporary, that the rosters are not finalized, and that they'll try to even things out. I've also been told that a lot of kids move over them summer so hopefully they won't all show up.

We shall see.

Where's an Expert When You Need One

I've been working in my room a bit the past week or so mainly because we get paid a stipend for spending a day outside our contract doing this, and because it takes me forever to get everything together. Every year we pack everything up so that the maintenance folks can empty our rooms, strip the floors, wax the floors, and, if needed, paint. Since I'm in the old part of the building that means I have no built-in storage units, so everything is in rolling cabinets and bookcases. So, every August, I stroll in to the building and start unpacking and sorting. The plus side is that it gives me a chance to go through everything and to get rid of stuff I don't need anymore. The downer side is that it's a bit time consuming.

When I showed up a few weeks ago I discovered that my room had become the dumping ground for this part of the building. There were tables, cabinets, chairs, and more that did not belong to me, or in my room. I found one of the janitors, explained the situation, and discovered that all that had been put in my room when they'd remodeled the speech teacher's room. That's fine, but I needed it put back in her room so I could get mine put together.

By last week, most of the extra stuff had been removed, but I still ended up putting at least ten chairs, a table, and a file cabinet out into the hallway - my subtle reminder that this stuff needs to go somewhere else.

On an aside...it is stated clearly in The Principal's end of the year letter, that we are to label everything in our room with our name and room number. Why most of this extra stuff (and I later found out it belonged to not one, but three other teachers) was not labeled is beyond me.

And then there was the tech issue. (Isn't there always a tech issue?)

Before I left for the summer, I drew a map of my classroom on my white board so any of the maintenance staff could see where things went. Everything was put into its place except for my tech stuff which was apparently set up by "experts" sent to us by the district office.

Anyone remember our "experts" from last year? Well, they were back, apparently.

Although the room map was directly in front of where they were working, they didn't bother to read it. Consequently my desk and teacher stand (that holds my document reader and computer) were not where they were supposed to be. My printer was smack in the middle of my desk (my, that would be efficient, wouldn't it?). It was supposed to be on a table in another part of the room. My phone wasn't hooked up correctly. Nothing worked.

And someone had torn off all the labels I had put on every single wire and plug and outlet and hub and put them in a nice, neat pile on my document reader.

So...Mrs. Eagle and I had to unplug and rearrange everything. Which took an extra hour since all my labels were removed.

What a waste of time. I wish they'd just let us set the tech stuff up ourselves. And leave my labels alone.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering...they managed to crash the system - again - this year.

The End of Summer Song

Every summer, about a month before school starts back up in August, there's a sound that I hear that reminds me that summer is winding down.

It's the song of the cicadas.

I never heard of cicadas until I moved to the Midwest about 15 years ago. Suffice it to say, they don't thrive in Los Angeles, where I grew up. (Go to this site, scroll down to the cicada picture, and listen to the sound they make if you aren't familiar with them either.)

Every once in a while the media makes a big deal over a designated "brood" of cicadas, which can be impressive. However, there are cicadas that show up every single year and just hang out in the trees and do their thing.

What they do best is remind me that summer is almost over.

I'm not the only one, either. Mrs. Cardinal and I were walking to the tavern while I was up in Ohio and we heard them. "Ah," she said. "That means there's only about four more weeks of summer."

Sigh.

Still, I enjoy listening to them. It's nice to have a reminder that doesn't beep at me or need batteries.

A Final Fling

I haven't posted for nearly a week because Hubster and I have been having a final fling before I head back to another year of school and he gets even busier finishing up the book he's writing. According to him, the research phase is pretty much finished and now he'll be locking himself up in the bunker (our word for the finished basement which has about 2,000 books - nearly all history books - files, a computer, and a television) and writing for the next two to three months.

In the meantime I'll be herding seventh graders.

Since he had a speaking engagement in one of my favorite places, Washington, Georgia, which included a stay in a very cool bed and breakfast, I tagged along. For most folks, wandering around looking at old buildings, historical sites, and the occasional visit to a museum isn't the height of fun, but for us, it's just about perfect.

We had a delightful time. If you like antebellum buildings, you simply must go to Washington, Georgia. It isn't too far from Atlanta, and is just a bit south of Athens (which is important if you are a Georgia Dawgs fan). It's a delightful town, with wonderful B&B's, museums, and a great walking tour. We are definitely going back.


This is Wisteria Hall, the B&B we stayed at. It is delightful. Parts of the original house date to 1795, and it has had a lot of interesting owners over the years. The rooms are lovely, the beds comfy, and the owners a delight. Stay there.


We also dropped by the Chickamauga Battlefield in Chattanooga, and went to the top of Lookout Mountain since it's been years since we've done that. Unfortunately, we'd just come through a pretty nasty thunderstorm, so the sky isn't clear and you can see the humidity in the air. Still, an amazing view.
Here's another shot from the top of Lookout Mountain. I only wish the weather had been better but these pictures do show some great clouds!

All in all, it was a lot of fun. Now summer is pretty much over for me...I'm back in my room getting it ready, and we start next week. It's been fun.

Harvest...

I got out the canner. Then the jars, the lids, and the bands. Washed them all and put the jars, bands, and lids in simmering water.

Gathered heaps of fresh Roma tomatoes from my garden (not bad for only two Roma plants), fresh basil (also from the garden), onion, and garlic. Chopped, mixed, stirred, and simmered.

The house smelled like an Italian restaurant.

The result? Seven delightful pints of my homemade marinara sauce. Yum!

'Maters

Time to get out the canning equipment, I do believe.

Hey, Honey, I'm home!

I arrived home in My Beloved South on Saturday afternoon after a very pleasant drive from up North where I'd been teaching summer camp, visiting with friends, and drinking way too much beer. I had a blast. How many people get to have a paid vacation? Essentially I head up to the rural community I used to live in, check out what's going on, have reunions with friends, work a bit and get paid for it. Amazing.

Some highlights....

As always, staying with two of my best friends and their kids. And all the neighbor kids. Kids ranging in age from 16 to 3. To say that it is nearly always chaos is to put it mildly. It truly does make me appreciate my quiet little house with my, mostly, quiet little cats. However, it's a lot of fun. The kids are wonderful, and it's always fun with "Aunt Bluebird" arrives for the summer. Every year Mrs. Cardinal threatens to come home with me so she can have some peace and quiet.

Hanging out with Mrs. Cardinal at the pond at the end of the street. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal live in a rural town of maybe 150 houses. It's really a village. And at the end of their street is a huge pond with a beach, a diving platform, slide, and all sorts of fun things. The people that own the pond pretty much let all the folks in the neighborhood use it, so we would go down there in the evening and hang out while the kids swam and chat and enjoy the evening. And drink beer.

Hanging out at the town tavern with the Cardinals. Drinking beer. Good thing it's a five minute walk from the house. I gained five pounds and I think most of it was beer. I drank more beer in two weeks than I drink the rest of the year all put together.

Going to Junior Cardinal's baseball tournament games which they won. There is nothing like watching a ballgame in a cute little town park in the Midwest in July. Amazingly enough the weather was absolutely perfect. We went to four games and every one was exciting.

Having some great third and fourth graders at camp that were adorable, and a lot of fun, but made me appreciate my 7th graders even more. I ended up teaching the children of some of my former co-workers and that was a lot of fun. I did three classes - Pioneers, All About Water, and Cotton and Plants. We had a ball. It was fun seeing all the other teachers that I see there every year. And getting all the cool gently used supplies (paper, pencils, crayons, markers, etc.) that they can't store over the winter until next year. My kids will reap the benefits.

The reunion of all the girls I went to college with up here. We graduated in 2001 and some are still not working in teaching and are hoping that someday, somehow, some of these teachers will start retiring so they can get a job. It's sad. It's also why we moved and I ended up in My Beloved South. We usually do this at a restaurant but this year opted for a cookout at Mrs. Cardinal's house so everyone can bring their kids and they could run around and play in the yard. It was a brilliant idea.

I went to a wedding of the daughter of two of my best friends. It was gorgeous. The reception was very Ohio State Buckeyes. So Buckeye in fact, that the guests were given little boxes with Buckeye candies in them, along with scarlett and gray M&M's. (The bride and groom met at OSU). For those of you who don't know what a buckeye candy is, it's a ball of peanut butter dipped in chocolate and looks like a real buckeye. Which is a nut off a tree. (I didn't know that either when I moved there years ago).

Eating Mr. Cardinal's cooking. We've often teased him that he should have his own cooking show, most of which is done on a grill and a fryer in the garage. We're talking huge steaks, fried potatoes, sweet corn, beer can chicken, and awesome burgers. No wonder I gained weight.

Sweet corn. Enough said.

Still and all, it was good to be home. I missed Mr. Bluebird. I missed the cats. I missed going to the gym. Mr. Bluebird managed to not kill any plants this year (due to very explicit emails that said, "water the plants today") but he neglected to do a few things.

Like mow the yard.

Sigh. I drove up and there were weeds about a foot tall in some places. I could have baled hay if I wanted to. So, one of the first things I did that Saturday evening was to mow it all because I couldn't stand it. He didn't realize it was that bad. That's what I get for marrying someone who acts more like the absent-minded professor than I'd like. He also didn't do laundry (I'm surprised he still had underwear) and didn't take any of the recyclables down to the garage.

On the plus side, the cats were well fed and happy and Morgan kitty had her medicine every day. Mr. Bluebird didn't starve to death. The mail was nicely stacked on the kitchen table.

It's good to be home.

Heading Out...

Tomorrow I head up North to do my two weeks of summer camp. This is my ninth year at this camp which is a day camp for gifted children. Instead of teaching a bunch of jaded seventh graders, I will be spending two weeks teaching gifted second and third graders.

To say that this is always a huge change is a bit of an understatement.

However, it's always a fun two weeks. I stay with my best friend and her family (four kids, aged from 3 to 17) which is always an experience because her kids grow so darn fast. We'll have a reunion of all of us that went to school together (including the few who still haven't been able to find teaching jobs up North even though we've been out of school since 2001). I'm also going to the wedding of the daughter of another good friend so I'll see a bunch of my teaching friends from when I worked up there as a permanent sub.

However, I'll be homesick. I always miss my kitties and Mr. Bluebird a lot when I'm gone. I've left him an extensive list of things that need to be done - things that I usually do that he has no clue about. Hopefully I won't come home and find all my plants dead and weeds everywhere. I know the kitties will be okay because he spoils them as much as I do.

So, I doubt I'll be updating this until I get back, since I have to share the computer with a couple of teenagers. In the meantime, be good, have fun, and hopefully I'll have some fun stories when I return.

Carnival Time!

It's time for the Education Carnival! Check it out!!!

Where's Draco Malfoy when you need him?

"Are you going to be around next week?" Mrs. Eagle asked me last week while we were out shopping for really, really good shoes.

"I should be. I don't leave for summer camp until after the Fourth. Why?" I asked.

"Well, grandma is coming to visit and I need a place to keep Keiko while she's here. Would you mind snake-sitting?"

You really never know what kind of things Mrs. Eagle is going to say some days.

Keiko is Mrs. Eagle's ball python. She usually lives in her classroom, but The Principal is very adamant that we take all pets (especially snakes) home over the summer. However, Mrs. Eagle's grandma is absolutely terrified of snakes so Keiko needed a place to hang out for a week or so.

"Don't think it would be a problem," I said. "I don't think Mr. Bluebird would even notice she's here." I did, by the way, tell him we'd be snake-sitting. His comment? "Really?"

So, yesterday, Mrs. Eagle and I dropped by the school to drop off a file cabinet I no longer needed at home (and could use in my room), and then we continued on to her house so I could take Keiko home with me.

Keiko is now in my guest room, on a desk, along with her heat lamp. She hasn't budged from under her rock, which is pretty much what she does most of the time anyway. Mrs. Eagle informed me that she's probably shedding right now so she won't be very active.

I'll say.

Duke the cat was very curious about what this thing was that I brought into the house so after a few minutes of looking through the glass, he decided that was boring and took off to get into trouble somewhere else. I am, however, keeping the door shut so that he won't do something dreadful, like knock the aquarium over at three am.

I think we'll just let Keiko molt under her rock in peace.

A Teacher's Best Investment

I am not a big fan of shopping. At all. My mother will be the first to tell you that taking me shopping is not a really pleasant experience. I tend to get bored and cranky very quickly. I hate trying on clothes. Hanging out at a mall is not something I do. In fact, about the only place I enjoy shopping are bookstores and places like Home Depot or Lowes and hardware stores.

I guess I inherited my grandmother's practical side. She raised three kids during the Great Depression and the Dustbowl in Kansas and that woman brought frugality to an art. She also taught me to knit, but that's another story for another day.

In any case, one thing I have learned is that although I may buy my clothes at Good Will I will spend big money on shoes. (Good Will is the place to shop if you're in the weight loss mode and need clothes but aren't where you want to be size-wise yet. Why spend money when they hopefully won't fit in a few more pounds?)

One of the biggest revelations I had when I started teaching was that you are on your feet nearly all day long. I had moved from the corporate world where I sat all day long at a keyboard or in meetings, and all of a sudden I was on my feet constantly. From the looks of the footwear I've seen on the various education majors that have observed in my room, no one has told these kids about the standing on your feet all day thing either. It rapidly occurred on me that if I was going to be standing all day long, I was going to have to spend money on really good shoes.

Because when it comes to shoes, you get what you pay for. You buy cheap shoes and your feet will hurt all day long. If your feet hurt all day you will have a very bad day and the kids will seem even worse than they are. Your back hurts, you're cranky, and your spouse starts walking on eggshells. Spend some money and not only will your shoes be more comfortable, but they'll last longer and people will fear you less. Although I spend a lot of money on shoes, I don't do it very often. I take care of the ones I have and I don't have a lot of variety in styles. Truth be told, when it comes to school I have three pairs of Birkies (brown, black and blue), plus a pair of Noat sandals (brown).

For those of you who have never heard of Noat shoes, they are heaven. They are made in Israel and are some of the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn in my life. Fortunately I live where you can wear sandals nearly eight months out of the year and I wear these things a lot.

But I really needed a black sandal.

So, since I needed to go to the Big City Mall to pick up my replacement iPod, (another long story) I asked Mrs. Eagle if she'd like to go with me and we'd check out some shoes and do lunch. Like me, Mrs. Eagle knows the value of good shoes, and unlike me, she has to wear inserts (due to her 20 years in Army boots she says). Good shoes are really, really important to her.

We ended up at this store I discovered, The Walking Company, and had a great time. I love a nice, knowledgable sales rep who isn't pushy but who really works to find you the most comfortable shoe for your particular feet. Mrs. Eagle and I both ended up buying the same pair of shoes, some black Dansko sandals, and Mrs. Eagle even added in a pair of inserts which she said were more comfortable than the ones her doctor prescribed for her. We spent some money but we got a wonderful, quality product. (I have heard great things about Danskos from some friends who wear nothing else - I can see why.)

The fact that we bought the same shoes will surprise no one at The School. They already call us The Twins.

We are now ready to stand for hours on tile floors with our feet comfy and our smiles intact.

My most important advice for a new teacher? Buy really, really, really good shoes.

Carnival Time!

Head on over to the shore and check out this week's Carnival of Education at Where's The Sun? Enjoy!

Too Smart for His Own Good

Last fall, Mr. Bluebird and I lost our cat Bedford to a brain tumor. It was a pretty miserable experience, as we tend to view our pets as our children since we don't have any human children. Bedford was an awesome cat, very smart, lovable, and very large. We still miss him.

However, we realized that we missed having a boy cat around the house. We had three girls, and we love them to pieces, but we kind of missed the little personality traits we tend to find in male cats. So, I found a wonderful pet rescue organization, The Privileged Pet, and we found Duke.


Duke has been an eye-opener. He was under a year old when we got him, only about 8 months, so he still was very much a kitten. Our girls range in age from 10 to 12, so this little guy was a bundle of energy that really woke all of us up. He's a character. He was highly socialized before he came to live with us, so he gets along with everyone and he and Spicer, our youngest girl, tend to play together a lot. It's been great for everyone.

And he's also so smart he's beginning to freak me out a bit.

I tend to wear my hair in ponytails during the summer, especially when I'm going to the gym and working in the yard a lot. I recently bought a pack of about a dozen or so ponytail do-dads, not quite scrunchies, but similar.

Duke is obsessed with these ponytail holders.

I have found these ponytail holders, obviously chewed and played with, all over the house. He's completely destroyed an orange one so I decided to let him keep it for a toy, especially since I don't like orange anyway.

I then found a yellow one on the living room floor.

Apparently Duke has figured out that I usually toss these on the bathroom counter. Hubby and I have both caught him snooping around the counter, looking in baskets, and dashing off with a ponytail holder when he finds one.

So, I started making a very determined effort to keep them in a drawer, which is then shut, so he won't destroy all of them. After all, he won't figure out they are in there, will he?

Wrong.

I thought I'd solved the problem of Duke snagging and destroying my ponytail holders and was enjoying a cup of coffee and sudoko the other morning when he trotted by, went to his shoebox (a box he likes to play in, sleep in, and apparently hide toys in), grabbed a yellow pony tail holder, and trotted back to the guest bathroom where he hopped in the tub and played hockey with his new toy.

"Okay," I thought. "Maybe I forgot to put it in the drawer and he found it."

So I made another real determined effort to keep the ponytail holders in the drawer, and the drawer shut.

And the next day I caught him on the bathroom counter twice, and found two ponytail holders on the floor.

This morning he was sitting in the sink, looking innocent. Later on, I found the drawer open and another ponytail holder in the living room.

Duke has not only figured out that these ponytail holders are kept in a drawer, but he's figured out how to open it!

Which brings us to this question: Are they putting catnip on ponytail holders now?

****Silly Cat Update****

This is now a continuing game with Duke. I put the ponytail things in the drawer and shut the drawer. Next time I go into the bathroom, they're out on the floor. Repeat. Obviously he needs a challenge to keep himself occupied!

Of Dads, Birthdays, and the Dreaded In-Service Sessions

Yes, I'm still alive.

I didn't really mean to neglect this blog for so long, but sometimes things kind of get in the way and I keep thinking, "oh, I'll do that tomorrow." So very Scarlett of me, I suppose.

In any case, my father has been up visiting for about a week. He lives a little over three hours away and tries to get up several times a year. For someone who's retired, trying to find free time where he can actually come visit is insane. This man is busier as a retiree than he ever was when he was working for the airlines. In between activities with his church, his hobbies, and traveling, finding time to come up to our neck of the woods is a challenge. So, when he's here I like to devote my time to him and tend to neglect the computer. After all, I realize that my parents won't be around forever, so I do want to maximize my time with them.

Even if it means watching NASCAR all freaking day.

Honestly, we had a bit of a heat wave while he was here, and it was brutally hot and humid so we didn't do a whole lot of outside work (we did, however, fix my yard gate which was a mess). Daddy is a handy-man sort of guy (and has taught me quite a lot), so in between daily trips to Home Depot, Lowes and Harbor Freight, we managed to watch a lot of NASCAR, baseball, and golf in air conditioned comfort.

I don't mind the baseball or golf one bit. In fact, I really enjoy baseball and have had a lot of fun watching the College World Series. And truth be told, the U.S. Open with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate was amazing golf. But NASCAR is not my thing. I do, however, have to give my dad credit - he doesn't have a favorite driver. He likes anyone who beats Junior.

So Dad and I hung out, celebrated my birthday and Father's Day. Mr. Bluebird wasn't able to join us as he was up in Washington D.C. (or as he calls is, the "Lair of Satan") doing research at the National Archives. In other words, squinting for hours and inhaling very old dirt.

And then I had four days of in-service work. The first one, on podcasting, I took by choice because it sounded useful and interesting...and it actually was. The second one I took because I was the middle school teacher from the district that was going to a "train the trainer" session on our new standards, put on by the State. It was local (thank goodness) and had teachers from all over the middle part of the State, and actually was not, for once, a complete waste of time.

Which brings to mind the absolute worst in-service that Mrs. Eagle and I attended a few years ago. This was another one put on by the State and it was mind-numbingly dull. The major focus was a CD that the State produced that had all these very cool links and resources to help us find wonderful lessons that have lots of inquiry and align with the state standards. Not a bad thing at all except it was presented completely wrong. The fellow who did all the work to put together the CD basically sat up at the computer and we spent the whole day watching him click from link to link to link and talk about what he was doing. I wanted to put a needle in my eye. It would have been a lot more effective if they had let us play with the CD ourselves on computers.

Anyhow, I spent three days at this workshop and now will be expected to host some of these workshops (smaller versions, definitely not three days) to help our teachers become familiar with the new standards which go into place in the 2009 school year. There's some big, big changes in middle school science and the workshop really helped me get my mind around some of it. There was also a large section devoted to textbook adoption which should be interesting as new books are often the first thing axed when budgets are tight.

But hey, it's summer, and what else is a teacher to do on "vacation"??

Five Reasons Why You Need to Check out the Carnival!

It's time for the Education Carnival and here are five reasons why you need to go check it out!

1. It's hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, Mr. Teacher. You gotta admire a guy who's got the cajones to teach elementary.

2. It's better than a game show (go there and you'll get it!)

3. You'll find lots of cool, fun, interesting, sad, funny, and thought provoking stuff.

4. It's better than doing yard work for those of us who've already finished for the year.

5. It will motivate you to hang in there for those of you who haven't finished for the year!

When They Surprise You

The first group of seventh graders that I taught at The School will be seniors in high school this next year. I promised myself that when they started to graduate, I'd be going to graduations, just to see these kids get their diplomas. They were a pretty memorable group, both in good ways and in bad ways and in sad ways.

Talky Girl had a baby her sophmore year, but amazingly enough, she's still on the honor roll, the flag team and is going to make it to college. Another, Phillip, died in a drowning accident two years ago and I still think of him when I drive over the bridge near where he drowned. His sister was in Mrs. Eagle's class this year and looked so much like him that it would sometimes nearly startle me when I'd see her. I miss him still. Another, apparently, will be spending his senior year behind bars in a youth detention facility.

And then there's Motormouth Boy.

Motormouth Boy was a skinny kid with big glasses who could not, for the life of him, shut up. He came to us in late fall from a local private church school. His parents had decided that their children needed more exposure to the real world, and they'd heard good things about The School, so they enrolled them. After a week with Motormouth Boy I was wondering if maybe he hadn't been asked to leave the previous school. This kid had something to say about everything and anything. He'd talk to a wall, given the opportunity. He still holds the record for the fastest return to isolation island of any student I've ever had. I'd had him in an isolation seat, he'd been good, did his work, and earned his way out. It lasted under five minutes. He spent a lot of time in trouble and knew Mrs. Squirrel quite well as she tended to end up with his referrals. He was a regular in ISS.

I had his sister two years later. I didn't realize that she was his sister for two months (very common last name). She was one of the hardest working children I've ever seen, very quiet, very studious, and would beam when you gave her a compliment. She mentioned to me one day that I'd had her brother, Motormouth, and I about fell over. I couldn't believe that this quiet, well-mannered child was related to Motormouth, and chalked it up to the fact that she couldn't get a word in edge-wise.

This past May we had the traditional 8th grade dance which I always volunteer to work at since I get a kick seeing all the good kids dressed up and trying to act to sophisticated. It's a real big deal to them, and a lot of times parents tag along for a little bit to get photos and to see how nice everyone looks. Motormouth's sister was there, looking lovely, and her parents were there as well as a very nice looking young man.

"Mrs. Bluebird, I bet you don't remember me," the young man said.

I didn't recognize him, but I knew that voice! It was Motormouth!

"Oh my gosh!" I said. "Look at you!" Motormouth was no longer the gawky, geeky, dweeby, seventh grader. He had matured into a very well mannered, well-dressed, attractive young man.

His Dad piped up, "He's on the honor roll now! Can you believe it! After all the trouble we had in middle school?"

Motormouth looked embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm doing a lot better. Had to grow up, I guess."

We had a nice long chat. Motormouth is going to maintain his grades and is planning on doing something with computers in the Air Force. His Dad is a Marine (as there is no such thing as "was" a Marine), and he credits having his father as a strong role model to help him get over the middle school bump. His parents were positively beaming.

It's so gratifying to run into your former students and hear how they've managed to grow up. I honestly worry about quite a few of them, wondering if they'll make it in this world. Motormouth was one of them. However, with strong family support (he does, after all, have his Dad there to help him and many of my students don't), he did okay.

I'm so proud of him.

Eat Your Vegetables

A few months ago my knitting friend Mrs. Budgie (who really has a budgie at home named Franklin) and I got to talking about vegetables. The big article in the big city paper that Sunday was about CSA's - Community Supported Agriculture. In other words, a lot of local farmers are growing vegetables for the local community. You pay for a share, and receive a box of veggies, fruit, and good things every week. She knew someone who had done it the year before and raved about it. I was interested, but face it, there's no way on earth I'd be able to utilize a single box on my own, since Mr. Bluebird is a tad - shall we say it? - fussy, when it comes to vegetables.

So, Mrs. Budgie and I decided to go in on a half share and split that. She's home by herself right now (hub is in the 'Stan) so that would work out pretty well. I actually did an analysis of the cost as well and it's going to cost me $120 for the season, which runs May through November. That's pretty good. And the local farm that does it is certified organic so that's another plus.

We got our first box last week and it was an eye opener...for one, there were vegetables in there that not only had I never had, I'd never heard of. Like perilla. Perilla is apparently a Korean veggie, and has a bit of a minty zing to it. We also had Swiss chard, lettuce, greens, green onions, kale, and basil. Fortunately, the organic farm is really good about sending out a list of box ingredients as well as recipes, because Mrs. Budgie and I were both going, "what on earth?" when we saw our goodies.

So, we split our goodies up and I had a frig full of leafy green stuff. Now the creative part. What to do with all this?

Well...I stir fried the perilla with soy sauce and onion. Awesome. I made a homemade Italian soup with the kale. Incredible. Hubby actually loves vegetable soup so I got bonus points for that. The basil went into a garlic basil mayo spread. The lettuce I used up in salads. The Swiss chard and the greens both got steamed and topped with a vinegar dressing. Yummy.

I've probably eaten more vegetables this week than I ever have.

My own garden is progressing. The tomato plants are looking healthy and have a lot of blossoms on them. The red pepper has two little peppers on it. The sage, basil, tarragon, dill and rosemary are doing great. I'm looking forward to doing some canning of marinara sauce and tomatoes this summer. I've already done one harvest of oregano and it's drying.

And then I found the Amish farmer! We've been buying produce from an Amish farmer who had a little stand nearby. Except now there's construction at that intersection and he wasn't there...but I found him a bit further down the road near a church. Yeah! He has some of the best veggies around and Mr. Bluebird loves the homemade cookies he sells as well.

So, I'm eating a lot of veggies...and still thinking about school. (Do we ever stop?) For example, how can I encourage my students to eat more of these things, and less of the crap they eat every day? I may take some of my organic stuff in to show them when school starts back in August. Mrs. Eagle and I did our plans for our new health unit and we are including a few "healthy cooking days"...hummmmm...

If I'm on Summer Vacation, then How Come I Can't Find Time to Sit and Do Nothing?

I'll be honest. The end of the school year caught up with me and sort of took me by surprise. One minute it was late winter, and the next minute it was "Holy Crap! I've got to get grades finished!" I don't know where the time went.

So, here I am, on summer vacation, and I haven't really seen any vacation yet.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. Don't you hate it when people who aren't in education go on and on about how cool it must be to have three months off all summer to sit around and do nothing? I wish. First off, three months is a dream. I'll be back in my classroom by the end of July trying to get ready for our first full day - with kids - on the 8th of August. I think it adds up to something like nine weeks. As for doing nothing...I've already had one in service session, and I have about five more full days of in service before I head up north to do summer camp, then about two more before school starts. I think I spend more time in a classroom than I do on my deck.

Which brings me back to our topic. My deck needs to be painted - again. My white glider needs to be painted. I need to paint the porch. I'm still trying to finish painting two wardrobes I was given that will eventually become storage units in my craft room/office.

The same craft room/office I've been painting since March.

Last year we let the yard go to hell because of the drought. It did a beautiful job of doing just that. It looks much better than it did, green grass being something of a novelty after last year, but the weeds are amazing. And we had built some raised beds in the back yard that had no landscaping whatsoever but we never got around to putting anything in it. After all, with no rain, who wants to spend money on landscaping?

So I've been running to Walmart to buy bags of topsoil and trying to get these raised beds filled with something other than red clay and rock. Fun. And the wheelbarrow tire went flat so I had to get that fixed. And then I found a sale on daylillies at Lowe's and bought and planted ten of them. And then we're reseeding grass seed in spots that went bare over the winter and last summer, so that needs to be watered.

And that's just the yard. I need to mulch still, need to get more weeds under control and my riding mower is still in the shop so I'm push mowing this entire yard which takes two hours when the temperature is in the 70's. It will take much longer now that it's in the 90's.

I can't believe how many errands I end up doing when I'm not in school. I've been to the eye doctor, the allergiest, and the dentist. I've taken Morgan, my kitty with cancer, to the vet for a look-see. I've gotten a hair cut (finally).

I'm beginning to wonder when the vacation will start.

Carnival Time!

Sit down, grab a frosty one, and enjoy this week's Carnival, hosted by the Head Wonk!!! It appears The Education Wonk had some major technical difficulties and still managed to pull off another excellent carnival...gotta give this guy some extra credit.

It's Summer, Stoopid!

So Hubby and I were up in Chicago last weekend, enjoying one of our favorite cities. Hubby is a Chicago native, but left when he was ready for middle school and his dad got transferred overseas to South America.

Anyway, it's a great city. We had a lot of fun, went to the Randolph Street Market to look at the most amazing antiques and collectibles, checked out our favorite bookstores and ate vast quantities of Italian food. We were having a conversation while walking through the market about some landscaping ideas and yard work we needed to get done. Specifically, borrowing our friend Mr. Littlebird's pickup and getting a load of mulch. And this is where I apparently lost my mind.

"I'll be working all week at the museum," says Hubby. "That means you'll have to get the mulch since I won't be home until 7:00 pm or so."

"Yeah, I suppose, although it will be late afternoon before I can get out of school and hook up with Mr. Littlebird," I respond.

Hubby looks at me weird. He shakes his head. "Honey," he says. "You're out of school. Your last day was Thursday."

And it dawns on me that he's right. That I actually forgot that the school year was over and I was free (well, except for a bunch of in-service workshops).

"Oh," I say, "I forgot."

Hubby shakes his head. "You work too hard."

Obviously.

Honestly, though, I had a good group this year. Maybe I was just hoping it wasn't going to end.