Wednesday, February 22, 2012

I laugh every day

Here we go again, my 8 year old friend is full of surprises. Same friend who left during school, wants to shut Vineyard down, and same friend who tried to shorten pasta to past.

Our school is in it's own little area and sometimes some random things appear on our playground.  My friend brought this box in from recess, held it up for the class and told everyone he was taking it home to keep. Needless to say, I took the box away, he was mad, and I won. (Teacher's usually do.) He knew exactly what it was and he was so excited to have it in his possession. Until I crushed his dreams. I would love to know what his parents would've said if it had made it's way home.




I had to throw it away in another garbage in the workroom so he wouldn't steal it from our class garbage. He really wanted the box.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

30 pounds of Apples

I know I have posted before about Bountiful Baskets, but again I have to remind everyone. I love waking up on Saturday mornings and picking my basket up. I pick up at my school because it is at 9:00. There are sites closer to my house, but they are earlier. Sometimes I go to the gym before I pick it up and sometimes after. Today was an after day. I just couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

A couple weeks ago we had these awesome apples in our baskets. Junami apples! Never heard of the them before but they were amazing and I ate the quickly. So this week when I ordered my basket I saw that you could order a case of them. So I did. I read that it was 30 pounds, but didn't think much of it. I was in for a special treat today when I got my basket and apples. I counted, there are 80 of them. Good thing my Mom said she wanted to split the box!



And just incase you wanted to see what we will be eating this next week, here are my fruit and veggies. (Oh don't worry, I got even more apples... haha)


Apples, oranges, bananas, pineapple, mangos, and lemons


Spinach, tomatoes, jerusalem artichokes, squash, cucumbers, and lettuce.

One quick trick that I love is to clean and cut up my leafy greens. Then I store them in the plastic container that I got when I bought some spinach at Costco. I've been eating a lot of salads for lunch and this makes life a lot easier.

Friday, February 17, 2012

He did what?

Okay yes this is another school post, but I promise that this one is a good one. Before I begin let me tell you a little background info. Half of my class comes at 8, and I teach reading until 9:15. The other half comes at that time. At 2:15 my early group goes home and then the late group stays until 3:30. At the end of the day we have flex (Tuesday through Friday) for the last half hour before the early kids go home, the kids go to different activities around the school. As a teacher I get to choose who stays and who goes. I can work with low kids who need extra help, or high kids who need higher level activities. Because this happens at the end of the day, my early students take their backpacks and leave from that activity.

So last Thursday I sent my kids to flex, and then taught my late kids reading. When I got home from school I felt like I needed to check my school email. When I saw an email from this boys mom, I wasn't surprised. We communicate a lot about his daily behavior. But when I read the email I was shocked. My student didnt go to flex, he just started walking. Luckily the crossing guard went to work early that day and she stopped him. He told her he was walking home and he wasnt going to go back, until she threatened to call the principal. So the office called his mom, she came and got him, and then she emailed me. The office forgot to tell me, so I had no idea until hours later when his mom told me. Needless to say he can no longer go to flex.

The next day he came to school wearing a CTR ring. He told me his older sister gave it to him to help him during the day. It made me SOOO happy, and I am happy to report it worked for two days. I havent seen it since and his behavior has gone downhill since then.

Today he had a great morning, and he went to his reading class. Halfway through the class he was escorted back because of bad behavior. I had him sit down and work on the class writing project that the rest of the class was working on. He doesn't like writing so when I saw him working, I was surprised. And surprised I should be, because this is what he wrote:



On a happier note, here are some Valentines day stories.

For writing, I listed the following on the board. School, Cupid, someone slipping, a dozen chocolates and a large pink cake. I told the kids they needed to write a story and it needed to include those five things. When we were sharing, these were the two that stuck out the most.

1- A girl tells about how Cupid came in the class. The girl was sneaking chocolates under her desk, so she didnt get hit by the arrow, but I did. And I fell in love with Mr. Harward a 6th grade teacher at our school. (Who is around the age of my father.) When I saw him later in the day, I laughed a little to myself. He then wondered what was up, and I died of embarrassment as I told him the story.

2- Using the same 5 things, a boy wrote a story about how the cake  he got for Valentines day made you fall in love with whatever you saw. The kid fell in love with a bunch of different objects including a chair, a desk, the TV and some other objects. When he told the class that he fell in love with scissors and his tongue got cut up, I about died laughing. Where are they coming up with this stuff?

Thank goodness it is a 3 day weekend!!!!!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

darlings of 3rd grade

It's been a while... Here are a few things I've heard and seen in the 3rd grade.
*All pictures are poor quality, sorry phone pics only.

{How they talk}

We were reading spelling words at the back table. We were working with words with a's in them. We talked about long a and short a sounds and other sounds they can make. One boy was reading his words when he came to the word past. Instead of saying past, he said it like pasta, but no a on the end. I asked him what the word meant. He said "It's short for pasta. You know, pass the past." -- Hopefully that makes sense.

{Lying - or Sucking Up}

For parent teacher conferences I had my kids fill out a self assessment on math, writing, reading, and general behavior. I read through them to see how honest they were.... and this kid got caught. He definitely has 2 different views on math, and 3rd grade. But he was honest about his behavior which I am happy about.


{Dad's and Donuts}
Dad's and Donuts was last week. Each grade gets a day where Dad's or another parents are invited to come to school. They read together and get to eat a donut at the end. These were two of my favorites.

Mom and Son both reading their own thick chapter books.

McDonald's breakfast along with reading and donuts!

{Happy Birthday Mrs. Barber}
I seriously have the sweetest class. They are a handful and I do have crazy days with 32 of them, but I do love it. It's things like this that help remind you why you are there!

I came in to this present on my desk.

And found this quilt inside. My class each colored a square at our Christmas party and over the break, one of the moms pieced the quilt together.

{Moving in and out x2}
This year has been a crazy year for 3rd grade. When we came back from the break we had 7 new students. All of our classes jumped to 32+. One of my new students wasn't too new. He moved here in October and was in class for a couple weeks. Then we had Fall Break and he never came back. Then he moved back after Christmas break. He was here for 2 weeks and now he is gone again. It's sooo hard to have constant move ins and outs. Who knows what will happen in the future.

{Random fact about 3rd grade weight}
We learn cursive in 3rd grade. When they pass it all off, they get a cursive license. Our licenses are similar to a drivers license and has height, weight, hair and eye color listed on the card. So I brought my scale to school this week and had all of my kids weigh in. My kids weigh anywhere from 49- 120 pounds. I'd say the average though is 65-75. Some kids would get off the scale and say, "But I'm wearing boots, thats why its so high." -- Why are they already caring about their weight???

Want to run with me?

A lot of people have recommited with the new year to be healthier and exercise a little more. And it's about that time where you are in limbo after a month of trying. Do I keep at it? Or do I go back to my old ways? Even this afternoon I found myself craving a treat. Something that helps me to continue to stay motivated is having a goal to work towards.

I am trying to stay active and work harder at the gym. What is pushing me, is my goal of running a 5k. I love 5k's because they are short! I love races because you are running with other people around you, and that pushes me. I don't care who I pass or if I win, I just want to beat my previous time. You can read about my last 5k here if you want.

If you need a little motivation in your life, (or if you like to run-walk, or if want to support local elementary school students...)  I have the race for you.

Here are the details:
Race:   Luck of the Irish 5k Fun Run & Walk
When: Saturday, March 17th - You have plenty of time to get ready
Place:  Vineyard Elementary (620 East Holdaway Road, just off Geneva road in Orem)
Time:  10:00 AM - Yes you can still sleep in
Price:   $8 - Yes you read that right, and that includes a shirt!
- Proceeds go to Vineyard Elementary for a new reading room.

Perk: You get to see me in my glory with my 3rd grade tots.

Go here to sign up.

One of my students has given some advise for the race: "I'm going to be super lazy until the race so I can save up my energy for the race."

Any of my students who participate get $50 Viking dollars. If they beat me, they get $200 additional Viking dollars.

25

I have now been 25 for one full month. I feel like 25 is one of those big years. A milestone of some sort, I guess. It's been a great month except for 2 things. I don't think that these things should ever go together.

1. I have had the worst acne I've had in a long time.
2. I have found and removed 5 gray hairs from my hair. (All in the same general area.)

What???? How do you have both acne and gray hair at the same time??? So not fair.