Baseball

Well we went to the Big City to watch the Baseball game. It was a long ride there. We have a new travel bus! The seats are much more comfortable in this one! There are even overhead racks. It came with a bathroom but the School District tore it out! Maybe they didn't want to deal with emptying the tank. I don't know but what a bummer! The seats are higher than the old bus so the little guys were constantly wanting to stand in their seats to see what was going on. The Baseball game was billed "Education Day" with baseball related instructional activities. The activity was a worksheet. A WORKSHEET! Seriously?  I didn't have my kids do the multi-page worksheet. They were just excited to be at the park. So we checked it out and found our seats. A couple of the players came to chat with the schools visiting and even that was lack-luster. They were definitely told you will do this! So that wasn't very interesting! Then the game finally started and sno-cones and cotton candy started rolling around. Yeah....not happening Kiddos! They whined, begged, pleaded, negotiated....and their  mean teacher never stopped saying "NO".

My students don't really know even the basic rules of baseball. So I pointed things out and asked them questions. That lasted for awhile and they were very bored. Luckily the park had a "Bouncy House" and a playground. We visited that twice and then it was time to go. My colleague bought her daughters cotton candy in front of all the other kids after I had told my class nope! Of course the other kids were very upset. All I could say was "Wow, that really isn't fair is it?" I was pretty ticked off. I am so lucky with my students. They really accept the boundaries I lay down. I thought that was very rude.  The day was a hot one so I constantly applied sunscreen and made sure they drank often.

When we arrived home I was hot, stinky, sweaty, dirty, and tired. My shower felt fabulous! When possible I will be avoiding field trips with my colleague. It is just a headache I really do not need!  The kids were very tired the next day and so was I! It is a very good thing that we have a four day weekend. I can catch up on everything from laundry to school stuff.

My proposal was submitted to the Superintendent so hopefully I will find out something very soon. I will keep you posted. A large local business donated some funds to help purchase curriculum. The lady who works in the donations department asked me to let her know the next time we had an event at school. I asked her to come to our final awards assembly. She said she would come so I am really looking forward to meeting her. Our principal will not be joining us that day. Hopefully, the other teachers make some kind of effort. We hired a new math teacher who will be joining us at our last PLC. I am really relieved he can attend. I was worried we would be making scheduling decisions on his behalf, and I really didn't think that was right. I am trying not to be stressed about the last meeting but it will be interesting. My colleague wants to change the whole plan so she doesn't have as many students to teach.  Which would add more to my schedule and the high school schedule.  All of us have a lot and find it difficult at times. She isn't unique or alone in that regard. I don't know....what it will look like...or what will happen. I want to say "quit whining and do your job". We'll see.

I have made a few of my own decisions about next year. I decided to do math first thing in the morning and then after our a.m. recess doing reading. I am also changing the time of our recess. I didn't really ever like the time but I changed it to be flexible for others. The problem is it isn't working for me or my students. So that is going out the window! Afternoons will be writing, social studies, and science.

We also worked on planning our "Field Day" on the last day of school. Hopefully the weather co-operates and is nice. You never know. The teacher who is on his way out promised to pick up some things for field day. We are nervously trusting he will follow through and show up. Well at least follow through with what he is bringing even if he decides not to show up!  Anyhow, I'd better go