Party After Party

The wedding is getting closer, less than two weeks now. The family had a bridal shower for H. yesterday. She received lots of nice things. The luncheon was very nice with delicious foods. And the company was fun to be with. Today is another shower from the ladies at work. H. will be showered with gifts again as well as deserved attention. My other daughter and I will need to drive a long way, but it will be worth it. Besides the shower today, I have two graduation parties to attend and a surprise 40th anniversary party for my brother and wife. Don't think I will be able to make all of those events this day due to the long drive and most are scheduled for the same time. I have already given my regrets to several. But I will make a special effort to attend the 40th!

School's Out for Summer

The day finally arrived--school is out till August 13! It was a weird kind of day in many ways. The children were misbehaving. After all, what did I have to hold over their heads? Nothing. And they knew that. We were able to complete the planting of the outdoor classroom where they have worked so well this past two weeks. I encouraged them to come by the place and take a look over the summer to watch their plantings grow. If I didn't guard my time this summer so much, I would schedule regular days to work and picnic in the outdoor classroom this summer. But...

Have Dress

My girls and I went shopping for wedding clothes today. We were successful for each of us, finally. Now we can get on to other things to worry about.

A Time to Plant

I took my class outside yesterday to plant flowers. We had 78 to plant, but in an hour and 45 minutes were only able to get 32 in the ground. Why? Each wanted his or her turn and did not want to wait for it or several were over pulling leaves from the tree, our only shade at that end of the area. I mixed the Miracle Grow in water but asked for them to figure the right amount to use per the amount of water. You would have thought I had given them a high level math problem to solve without enough information. It would have been so much simpler to have planted the stuff all by myself. But then the reason why I do it with them became clear when one girl thanked me for letting her plant. She went on to say she had never planted anything in a garden before.

Meet My Brother, the Balloon

I had my granddaughter, Toots, with me the other night. She received a helium-filled balloon while eating at a fast food place. While driving to church to sew flannel diapers, she talked to the balloon and called it her brother. I overheard her say, "It's okay. You don't have to be shy. Mommy is right her. I will let you go for a walk, and I will hold your tail to keep you safe." Where does she get such imagination? When we were walking across the parking lot, she accidentally lost the "tail" causing the balloon to sail away for a long walk. There were so many things she could have said, but chose not to comment. Neither did I.

Accelerated Math

Sorry it has been a week since my last post. School is coming to a close and the stress and work increase. With so little blogging, no wonder only one visit per day to see my blog. That's probably me when I post. Sigh! We have a new math program that we are piloting since January of the year. It is called Accelerated Math. And it is. All of my students are working at some level whether it be second grade or all the way to fifth grade. A computer program will print out the assignments for the students after I direct which objectives the students will work to master. The program has been very beneficial for my top math student. He completed/mastered all 143 objectives in the fourth grade program by spring break and has since mastered 140 of the 167 in the fifth grade program. He has needed only a little instruction on a few new concepts. He hopes to master the fifth grade by the end of his fourth grade year. I have two others who has just completed 4th and are ready for 5th grade work. So you can see that the program is highly motivating for the top students. While there are strugglers in math, the program allows for them to be placed at their level for a challenge and success. My lowest student has had such success that he said he wished we only had Acc Math to do!

Fly Under Your Middle Name or Else

Have you heard the latest about airline tickets? Now your name on the ticket must match your name on your driver's license exactly. It must contain your middle name. It must match other documents such as Passport. How many people have their middle names on their drivers' license? Right, most of us have only the initial. And some of us are using the initial of our maiden names as we were directed to do in college. And if you have frequent flyer miles, you best be finding the form to amend your name on the site or else you will not be eligible for the miles earned. Could this be the real reason the new change is coming?

There He Blows!

School is never dull! While taking a math test this afternoon, one of my students cut the cheese very loudly--rip! I couldn't help myself. I laughed, the class laughed, the student laughed. We giggled, shed tears, tried to suppress both to no avail. I know we should not have laughed. I know that was not very professional of me, but I couldn't help it. I laughed, a lot. The students will all surely go home to share their new-found wisdom by posing the question, "Do you know how loud flatulence sounds when sitting on a plastic chair?" Their families will laugh, too. Tomorrow we will all return for more school and a glimmer of hope for a repeat.

The Soloist Reviewed

Hubby and I went to the movies to see The Soloist last night. It was very good, slow in a few places, but worth seeing. The movie is based on a true story written by Steve Lopez, the same character in the movie that played a writer for the LA newspaper. The scenes of the homeless people congregated were very realistic, enough to make one wonder if the people were not actors, but homeless people playing themselves. It is an eye-opener to their plight. Early in the movie one lady doesn't want to take the new medicine because it quiets the voices that guide her in life, and that is not fair. She needs the voices. Perhaps when we become depressed, we would be better off if we had the voices to talk to us and guide us. Could they be better off than we thought?

Life-plans for a Cricket

I just finished reading A Cricket in Times Square to my class. We got started with it because two chapters were in our reader. Even though written in the 1960s, the class seemed intrigued by it enough for me to finish the book this week. The book ends with a promise to return for a visit next summer. So I began thinking, just what is the life expectancy of a cricket? We should have be suspicious after the whole book takes place in just one week although it seemed like a significantly longer time. Alas, a cricket lives about 2 weeks. I'll have to break the sad news to the class next week after we brain-storm the possibilities of the cricket returning next summer. You see, the news isn't so hard if based on science.

ISTEP Again

We are in the middle of giving ISTEP again, only this time the multiple choice section questions. The test does seem to be easier than the part we took in March. At least the kids are not totally frustrated with the test. Something new this time is an answer grid where the children are instructed to transfer their answers on to the sheet by coloring in the circles. Why did they have to put the circles so close together? Some children still have poor fine muscle control and are unable to color in those small circles that are placed so close to the next line of circles. There is enough room on the page to have separated them a little more. But then they didn't ask me.