Halloween

Halloween is coming. Holiday's have gotten a bit out of control. Parents expectations of what we should do are ridiculous.  I keep it simple. One treat and  a couple healthy snacks. Many parents want to come in and hang out with their kids all day. It is so disruptive.  I do the treats at the very end of the day. We do a guided drawing and while they are coloring it we watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"  It is simple and relatively quiet. They enjoy it, but it isn't rambunctious. In years past the specials teachers would have  the "Monster Mash" which is dancing to Halloween songs such as THIS.  This year they decided they didn't want to have grade levels in the gym dancing. They didn't do all grades at once and they had 4 teachers and parent helpers. Apparently, this wasn't enough. So, they are watching movies and sitting the whole time. They expect less behavior issues. Since they are choosing to do that, I am throwing in an extra recess for my students. There is NO WAY we can make it through the day without moving about. YIKES! I can do my own version of the "Monster Mash" throughout the day and get them moving when they are out of control.

We have a field trip Monday. I've had a couple of nightmares about it. I hope it goes smoother than my terrible dreams. The field trip is organized by our state outdoor school program. They often have Americorp  volunteers that want to be teachers do the teaching. They usually do a great job because the lady that runs the program is a great trainer. They teach the kids about our local watershed and the water cycle. Speaking of the watershed. I had a colleague come ask me "Where the water-shed was?" I had to explain it wasn't a place but a process of getting snow or rainfall and how the mountains "shed" the water and it runs down into streams, rivers, lakes etc. I was a little horrified. This colleague has ONLY lived in the biggest city in our state which is in the desert. I think that the perception was the whole state was like this city. We are providing shocking revelations all the time like we stay outside when it snows, we buy our own snow-boots for recess duty, and winter jackets are a must. Every time the weather is slightly inclement this teacher is asking if we are cancelling whatever is going on.  The rude awakenings might send this one back down south to warmer climes.