Shout out...

This is for my dear friend Michelle: "Jetsons live in a futuristic utopia in the year 2062[2] ". I guess I won't be flying around in an aerocar anytime soon *sad cakes*. In other news, I just got word that The Vintage, a cute little restaurant in Eugene, wants to display some of my third graders photography upstairs. I am so excited! Roxy and I will be going there tomorrow to check out the venue and see what I'll need to actually hang the pieces and how many I'll be able to bring. They also said that they would do a little reception for my students. It would be so much fun for them to come with their parents, see their artwork up, and have some sparkling cider. Unfortunately, I don't think many of their parents will take them to the reception so I am kind of wondering if I should just plan a field trip for them instead. I kind of like the idea of a reception because then families and staff members can be there, but I'd really like all my students to come. If I had lottery money, I'd rent a limo and pick them all up at their houses. There's only 28 of them. Perhaps I can rent a bus at night and do that for families. Hmmmm... things to think about!

Plus
- The whole photography thing has me so excited.
- My report cards and finished, stuffed, and sealed with Snoopy stickers. How classy am I?
- Got to talk to my Michelle and it wasn't even May ;o).

Minus
- Gagging cough is pissing me off.
- Tomorrow I have a Hooray party. The student chose a "make a fort with their blankets and have their stuffed animals and flashlight" party. Does that make sense to anyone else? I'm a teacher and that still doesn't make sense to me. How's that fun?

When we were writing possible movie choices (for our party), this is the list that I got:
- Madea Goes to Jail
- We Are Marshalls
- Dumbo
- Bringing Back Woodstock
- Rose Bowl (how's that a movie?)
- American Idol (again I have to ask... how's that a movie?"
- Black Beauty
- Kicking It Old School (wtf?????)
- My Girl (did you know that was PG13? I didn't.)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks (they voted on this one)
- Snowbuddies and all the buddies flicks
- Star Wars
- Indiana Jones
- Sponge Bob movie
- Up (love this one)
- Narnia
- Whip It (again... WTF?)

I swear my class is quite "out there" in the creativity department at times. It's amazing.

TGI(almost)F peeps!

Sunny Days

What's harder than doing report cards? Doing report cards when it's sunny outside. Luckily, I am an overachiever and started most of it beforehand. All I have left is the dreaded comments. I need to do this when the TV is not on because what usually happens is I start typing in what is being said on the TV. Not a good thing. It's like report card Mad Libs. Hee hee.

I did take a break from report cards and ran into a bunch of people at the Oakway mall. First I ran into our kinder teacher and got to shop with her for awhile. Saw a parent that I had 6 years ago, which was really nice. Then I ran into my friend Roxanne and her daughter Ivy, who also works at our school. Lastly, I ran into another parent from our school. I also spied an old friend of a friend but I didn't want to talk so I hid. Surprisingly I do this a lot.

Plus
- Found some cute jeans and a couple of shirts.
- My clothes are fitting a lot better.
- Made a good breakfast this morning. Also the sunshine I woke up to wasn't bad either.

Minus
- My cough is back. I hate it. Boo Hoo.
- I won't be able to get Chinese food with the Mickster.
- My jeans were a lot more than I wanted to spend, but I need a good pair.

Totally AWESOME

Went back to the cardio kickboxing class today and I felt so good. Too bad my choice of clothing wasn't as awesome. I forgot to pack some socks so I got to wear my lovely black work socks with my green short and brown shirt. On top of that, my choice of top and bottom didn't work in harmony. During my jumping jacks my shirt decided to go one way and unfortunately it was the opposite way that my pants decided to go. Not a pretty site at all. Eeek! I can tell my running has been helping out. I think if I wore a different outfit it would have been even better.

Plus
- I met one of my goals this week. Running around the track 4 consecutive times.
- Got my package from my uncle today. I can't wait to unwrap it and show it off!
- My friend Linda is thinking of adding another one of my photos to her house. So excited!!!

Minus
- My throat is really hurting. I really need to make another appointment.
- Kind of worried Shae won't be at school on Thursday because of her funeral in Ohio. I really need her for Thursday.
- Wish my class could control themselves. I've got so many needy ones this year. I know I'm not alone, but I miss the days of well behaved and excited students. Less attitude and more appreciation would be nice.

I'm sore

Today I had my regular jogging buddy cancel on me and my back up buddy. I was almost going to head to the gym when Laura came to my rescue, although I probably would have burned more calories at the gym. It's funny because when I was first hired on, Laura and I use to walk on the track. Back in the days.

Plus
- Exercised even when all my buddies canceled on me.
- My SMARTboard lesson went well and I think I got those ladies excited about starting their lesson.
- Tomorrow is my coffee day. One of my NY resolutions was to cut back on coffee outings. I've allocated one day a week and I always look forward to coffee day.

Minus
- Coughing a lot today.
- My tan is almost gone and I still miss Hawaii.
- The Mickster MADE me eat McD's, which was very counterproductive to my running.

My favorite time of day

My favorite time of day is usually around 4:30-5 p.m. It's after my workout and dinner. It's around that time when I know I have an hour before the Mickster gets home and I can get done with all the stuff the Mickster hates, which basically consists of me Facebooking and my Desperate Housewives fix. It's AWESOME!

Plus
- I'm able to jog more and more each day. Even though my lungs are still coughing up brown stuff, I feel better than ever!
- It was a pretty good day even with a substitute. The kids weren't too crazy and it's probably because it was a 3 day weekend.
- Having my Desperate Housewives fix right now. I wish I could convince the Mickster to add it to our Netflixs cue.

Minus
- I had a wonderful chat with the lovely Emily yesterday, but I found out that our friend Frank had taken his own life. He was such a vibrant individual and his death was very shocking, as is any death, but for me his was different.
- Our art project still isn't looking too good. We will see if it's art show worthy.
- I need to make it out to the Post Office, but I hate going to the post office.

Naughty Me

So here's a funny "teacher" story for you. Let's see if you can follow it via blog. I'm sure it's funnier in person. Once a week our class goes into the computer lab to practice their word processing with the hopes of breaking their "hunting and pecking" habit. Sometimes I don't know what the purpose is because they all just "text" these days and soon word processing will become obsolete. Anyhow, in the computer lab we have this program installed on the "teacher" computer called, Apple remote desktop, which is used to manage student computers. With this program I can observe what's going on on my student's screen and it also allows me to control and chat on these computers. Well... the kids don't know about this option and so I decided to have a little fun with the kids. I chose a quiet student in my class who wouldn't freak out when I did this. This is what I typed to him:

"Gabe... how are you doing?"
"I'm inside of your computer and I am trapped."
"Will you help me get out? I am sooooooo bored in here."

Then he typed in "yes", but his neighbor Sam started to look over at Gabe's computer to see what was going on. So then I typed:

"You should ask your friend Sam to help us. Do you think he'll help me get out?"

At this point Sam decides to help out and comes to my computer to tell me that there's something wrong with Gabe's computer. I calmly tell Sam that I will be there in a second. By now Gabe's other name Joshua is looking over and reading. So I proceed to type:

"Oh good. You're sitting next to Joshua. Ask him to also help us. I hear he's a smart kid."

I decide I should also go up to "see what's wrong" before these boys decided to tear into their computer, but I know it's all an act now. I stand up and then I type to Gabe:

"Oh no, I think your teacher is coming I better go!"

Then I walk over to Gabe and I ask him what's wrong. I'm trying to keep my best poker face on. He proceeds to tell me that there was a message on his screen. I pretend he's talking about the one on his screen right now and I explain to him how All The Right Type works. Then he tells me, "No, someone is in my computer talking to me." I had to joke with him and tell him, "Darling, computers don't talk." Then I walked away.

I love messing with my kids minds. Ah, it's great being a teacher.

Plus
- Slept in until 9 today. So I got some rest, but I didn't waste my day completely.
- The Mickster's conversation yesterday gives me hope.
- Moving Up is on and it's the greatest show ever.

Minus
- Bored.
- Wanting to work on the Snapfish project, but some people aren't done uploading photos. You know who you are ;o).
- Bored.

Artsy Fartsy

So... I had my class try a project I had seen on someone's blog. The results, well... let's just say that they are "interesting". Then again, we aren't quite done yet. Here's a run down of the project and I will post photos of how they are progressing. I'll probably post only photos of Lindy's and Joshua's paintings because they were the only ones I didn't cringe at when I looked them over. The overall lesson that I learned was that kids and watercolors just don't mix. Literally. Kid's don't know how to mix watercolors. Wasn't that a kinder skill?

Lesson:

1) Traced the outline of everyone's head on large watercolor paper with pencil
2) Students filled their "heads" with symbols that they think about or that they represents them.
3) Today's lesson was to add watercolor to their heads. All of the head needed to be filled with color. I HATE white space in art, unless it's intentional.

I'm afraid I should have left the art as is because it now looks like an utter mess. We will see. I've done this premature "freaking out" before and it usually turns out fine. Cross your fingers.

Plus
- Can you say 3 day weekend? I can!
- Watching "The Soup" which I love. Right now Joel is talking about the Jersey Shore, which is my other vice. I can't believe I admitted that.
- I'm so looking forward to sleeping in.

Minus
- I forgot to do sub notes which means I will have to head back to school this weekend.
- Math articulation meeting on Tuesday morning. Not a good way to start the week. At least I got the "cute" sub to come in.
- The kiddos were crazy again. I can't believe a full moon isn't coming up. It sure feels like it. I need another vacation.