Jumpin' Jackrabbits

Ohhh Good grief those Jackrabbits were playing chicken with my car tonight. I probably needed to help with population control and take a few out. I didn't though. I attempted honking the horn but quickly found out that their sensitive ears triggered an more aggressive panicked state. I almost hit so many I started twitching at long blades of sagebrush. I drove a different route back from my Christmas visit up north. It was shorter but somewhat more stressful.. with its curvy roads, road-crossing deer, and Jack Rabbits playing chicken in the road. I also drove for about two hours without seeing another car. Not one single solitary pair of headlights. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Cell-phone service was even poorer than my corner of the boonies. I don't know it might be a little better in daylight. I will think about it before traveling that way again.

I made it back and partially unloaded my car. The coolers and my suitcase were the priority. A few other items came in then I decided... the rest could wait. Much of it will be taken down to the school. It was a whirlwind trip. I think next time I need to have everyone meet me at the local pizza place. I was beginning to feel spread a little to thin. I did get to finally see my new cousin J about 4 months old and his big sister. That was a lot of fun! I missed my cousin from Texas. I guess I will just have to take a road trip down there.

I want you all to know that I have pretty much helped guarantee a snow-less winter. I got cross-country skis. So look around... see any white stuff?? Yea well go ahead and thank me!! :) I really want some snow now... sigh! Well I turned the heat down while I was gone and just realized my fingers are a little chilly. The air is a little brisk... perhaps I turn up the heat! Goodnight all

Merry Christmas 2011

Well Twas the night before Christmas.... and Ma was reading a book while Dad tickled the ivories and I procrastinated on Wrapping presents. The Creatures Rudy the dog was snoring and Squeak the Cat is soaking up the heat of the fire.

I was able to expand my book collection over this break. The "gently" used children's clothing store had a good selection, as well as the local book store. I also had sent a lot of books I ordered to the Parents address to save on shipping costs. So I have been "leveling" books AGAIN! Granny sent a pile of books over that I haven't had a chance to check out yet. Looks like they might be for older kids. I also have books waiting at home to level and label. My friends Christmas gift to me has not been prepared for my classroom. Also a parent purchased a non-fiction set about Planets that was on my wish list! On my way up north I stopped in the "big" city and purchased books on behalf of our school for the school library. I will probably level those to save the librarian some time. The "librarian" is a parent, or the town Librarian. It is all volunteer and really everyone at the school is a librarian.

It has been fun to hear whining about the lack of shopping and local products available. I just smile. One of the parents got me a really good book for Christmas called "Leaning into the Wind" It is full of short stories, narratives, and essays written by western women. I read a little bit every night. She told me it was one of her favorite books and I can see why.

Well, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!

The question..

The unintended and sometime intended question is "WHY ARE YOU TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE." A lot of people think because of the economy there was a lack of choice. This in part is true. However, when I applied for jobs I looked for a job.. "in the middle of nowhere." Then when I come up north for a visit. I am even more glad I took the job. I feel really, really, lucky. For the most part the people I have around me are really quality people, with great family values. I am away from the "drama" and don't have to be around people who are making poor choices. It is terrible watching people on a collision course with disaster. You want to yell "STOP... can't you seen you're running in front of a train?". Eventually the train is going to catch you. I have learned the hard way to cut the chaff. Sometimes I have probably been the chaff.

So why am I teaching in the middle of nowhere. Come visit me, meet my students, and you'd never ask again.

Christmas Program....

IT all seems to come together in the end. Even when my brain quit working :). It is always interesting to see how the kids react to the crowd. One of our kindergartners kept talking. "There's my mom".... " Hey I see your mom!" There was a couple of times that I got the giggles because of the kids reactions. Everyone remembered their lines... a couple of pauses while they thought about it... but they remembered. Our classroom Drama major had stage fright. How that happened I don't understand. They all did well and they all showed up. Then we loaded them up with cookies and hot chocolate and sent them home. Revenge for Halloween wa ha ha ha (sinister laugh)! hee hee. At the end of the school day I told them they needed to go home so I could get my patience back. It was GONE! Vacations are for Teachers not for kids. I had a lot of compliments on my Foyer Decor. The faux fireplace and lunch counter turned into a gingerbread house. If you know me you know you can give me some colored paper, tape, a marker, and cardboard then wait for the creative juices to flow. Tonight was a welcome ending to a difficult week. It left an absolutely nutty week on a high note.

Santa came out at the end of the program to hear students Christmas wish lists. Santa was wearing SNEAKERS! UH OH... The kids asked me and I said. Well Reindeer they poop a lot. Santa got it alllllll over his boots and they were really stinking. So we had to find him a pair of sneakers really quick. OH THE LIES we tell at Christmas. I also told the kids today that Santa has a direct line to teachers. He calls and checks in with teachers not his elves. HEE HEE. HEY It worked!... Now I am off to sleeeeep

Nativity 2011

Twenty-six degrees and cooling off rapidly. Sitting on Metal stands.... brrr. My fault for not dressing a little warmer. I will be better prepared next year. The nativity was pretty cute. A local opened with a Christmas Carol, he had a nice voice! Joseph pulled Mary out on a Donkey, the shepherd's came with a sheep, and the three wise men came by horses. The Donkey's tether came loose and he tried to make a break for it. The shepherds caught him before he reached freedom. Several of my students were angels. They were all girl angels by the way! I guess they are better actors! HA HA! The last Christmas Carol went by the wayside as it got to cold for the computer to cooperate. We then all went to the firehouse for a turkey raffle, hot chocolate, and cookies. I went for the Hot Chocolate. My fingers were numb. It is always good to hear the story of Christ's birth.

Next year... Double Layers, gloves, and a blanket! I am a little overwhelmed by everything this week... but we will get it done!

Update: If you have to transport a sheep to your nativity play... the back seat of your pick up truck is the best method!

Sugar and Spice and ACKKKKKKK

Okay the day of the Christmas party one expects barely controlled chaos. I had this brilliant idea to make Salt Dough Candy Canes. The problem with delegating is sometimes it doesn't work as planned. Sometimes the dough gets too dried out and barely sticks together. Sigghhh. The kids still liked it. Many of them acted as though playing with dough was a completely foreign concept. Siggh. Our local Deputy and his fiance came in to hang out with the kids and help out. Thank goodness. We needed a lot of help. We had only 1 student in tears over the gift they got. WAAAAAAAA... even after the conversation about "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit"!! Sigh.... Then there was a Koolaide spill.... sigh....

It has been a rough week at school and it is only Tuesday. A staff member lost their child to suicide. This person was the uncle of one of my students. There's just not the words.... Their family is in my thoughts.


Tonight is the Town Nativity. I drove by earlier and saw a LIVE Donkey and a couple of horses. A few of my students are angels... and I know at least 1 of the High School students is participating. So I am going to go and watch that this evening. Live animals..... seriously.... it is like out of a movie or something. :) I will take a lot of photos...

Santa Claus is Coming to TOWN.....

Today I had over half of my class out sick. It gave me an opportunity to really bond with the other students because there were so few today. We were at kidney table all working on an art project together when one of the kids said "Miss C.. Do you have a Chimney at your apartment?" I said "Well no I don't"..."Well HOW Is Santa going to come on Christmas????". I said " Well Santa is magic..he has all sorts of tricks to figure it out." This was discussed at great length for awhile but then I said. "but don't worry because I will be in Oregon and we have a chimney there." They looked pretty relieved that Santa would have no problem visiting me. Awwwwww so stinking cute.

The week before......The week before....

Well there is still tomorrow to make it through. The plague is traveling around our classroom. Hopefully we have enough healthy kids to have a Christmas Program next week. We got out the Lysol and the Lysol wipes. Kids cleaned their desks and then we started sanitizing everything too. I sent one home today and already had 4 out. We'll see who shows up tomorrow. There was a lot of pale faces at school today. I want to make it through without catching their bug. You sometimes wish that you could wear a surgical mask to school.

The wind turbines that were paid for by an energy grant went up this week. They still have to run electrical from them into the school and their control panel. We took the kids outside today to watch the crane lift one into place. It was a bit of a yawn. :) We have 6 wind turbines out there now. This will hopefully be enough to cover our schools electricity needs and have a little extra to sell to the grid. They aren't the huge wind turbines like you'd see out of Bakersfield, California but they are pretty large. I'll try to remember to post a photo.

We have 5 whole school days left till Christmas Vacation. WHOOO HOOO! I think vacations are for Teachers not for students! :) It helps us to come back refreshed when they've sucked us dry. When your kids are testing your patience, boundaries, etc etc. Imagine multiplying your kids by at least 5 all testing you. If I didn't like the little boogers and really enjoy teaching them.... well I'd have a lot more gray hairs ;). So next week is our Christmas Program. Practice is going very well....other than for the kids who've been out sick. They know the songs pretty well... and aren't singing too off key. :) They've even been correcting the older kids when they don't say their lines correctly.

Update: It was strongly suggested to me that I find a Reading Curriculum for my classroom. The district is discussing buying a new Reading Curriculum for the entire district. Often our school gets left off that list or only receives the "sample pack". So I must do some research into that. In one way it is awesome to be able to choose curriculum.. in another way totally overwhelming. I will keep you posted on how this goes.

I also forgot to share our continued reading of "Little Britches, Father and I were Ranchers" by Ralph Moody. A beautiful connection was made while reading this story. In the story the main character Ralph, chooses to do something in a dishonest way. His Father and Mother are very upset by the choice he made. They tell him he has "injured his character". We had a long discussion about what this meant. The boys mother in the story for many days sang a song around their house called "the bird with the broken pinion". (Pinion: wing or wing feather). We discussed why and how the boy had injured his character. We also discussed what he might do to heal that injury.The father in the story had suggestions on what he would do. About a week later a student made a dishonest choice. The whole class was aware of that choice. One student raised their hand and said that he/she had injured his/her character. I asked if they remembered what Ralph in the story did to heal that injury, and what this student could do. It changed the tone of the discussion from the students classmates in a more constructive direction. They quit berating him/her for his/her choice. It empowered that student to choose another path. Lots of suggestions were given. It really seems like that lesson in the story resonated with my students. It also makes me think of ways that I have injured my character. Have I done the work to fix it? I hope this lesson read in the story stays with my students.

CHILLY........ BRRRR

So.... when you are having below freezing weather. What should not happen at school.. is the BOILER not working. We turned on the space heater and did school work in Hats and Coats. Finally a parent from town who helps manage one of the "hotels" brought us Space Heaters. That helped till they over-loaded the system and threw the circuit breaker. Our Maintenance Personnel is 90 miles away and they had people out sick so no one was available to help come fix it. Our secretary (queen of the universe) who knows it all was out today. Sooo the maintenance guy told the Janitor/ fill in secretary how to reset the system. The long and the short of the story is... my classroom was warm just in time for us to leave to go home. So it was an interesting day.

Play practice continues and my kiddos remembered their lines better than the older kids. I think it is going to be fairly cute. It is hard to believe that NEXT week is the program. Time is flying..... I am feeling like I am fighting getting a cold. Not sure if that is it or if my lungs are just bothered by the cold. I had trouble sometimes last year. I think my brain is checked out soooo
Goodnight

Resources the never ending question...

So I am constantly seeking the best possible resources to help my students. The problem it you start looking and the possibilities get more than a little overwhelming. The best resource is.... People. I am sooo grateful for those people I can call on that help me with this. Sometimes it is a simple idea that makes me go... DUH why didn't I think of that?? The point is ... I DIDN'T. :) At other times they just have the experience and connections that I just don't have yet. I am really, really, really, glad I have people I can call on who are willing to help me out. I sometimes keep asking, and asking, and asking... until someone knows how to help me.

Sometimes I have to create my own resources. For instance... my students were struggling with a Math concept this week and needed more practice. After reviewing almost every worksheet website out there and finding nothing. I remembered (thanks to typing math reviews for my math teacher at k.c.c.) HEY I can write my own. Ding, Ding, Ding :). Even better the problems included my students..making it more fun and meaningful to them. Pretty fun stuff!

We drew the name for our butchered lamb fundraiser. Okay how crazy is this? It probably doesn't get much ummm fresher than this. The winner was drawn today... it is butchered this weekend and delivered next week. Thanks to EVERYONE who contributed to the fundraiser. We did very, very, well. The secretary said it was the most successful fundraiser the school had for several years. So I will keep you all posted on that. Also, thanks to some generous friends we purchased some adorable elf hats, and sunglasses for our Christmas Program. Elfis and the Sleighriders will be looking "cool".

Well that electric mattress pad is calling my name. Goodnight