Leap Day

Ever tried to explain leap year to third graders?

I showed them a Mystery Science video about it on Monday that did a pretty good job of explaining.  I had a few students say, "I still don't get it."

I will try again today.

But if they don't get it?  Not the end of the world.  In four years maybe their teacher can try again.

One year I was in London on leap day and the next leap day I was in Palm Desert and I decided I should go somewhere wonderful every leap day.  

Today I'm going to school.  

It is no London or Palm Desert (Palm Desert in February is my love language), but it is pretty wonderful.

Yesterday we went to library.  

Before going, a student asked me to write Bible on a piece of paper.  He said, "I want to see if they have it in the library."

I wrote it down.  He couldn't find it.  I asked the librarian if she had the Bible in her library.  She said no but directed me to books on religion (the 200s in the Dewey Decimal system).

He picked a book on world religions.

He came up to me after a few minutes, "What's this word, Teacher?"

"Israelite."

"What's that?"

I asked him if he'd ever heard of Joseph and his coat of many colors.  He hadn't.

I gave him a very brief description.  Jacob had 12 sons.  His name was changed to Israel, so then all his family, all those sons and their families, were called Israelites.

He said, "Wow," and went back to reading.

I had SO MUCH else I wanted to tell him, but I could not.  Hopefully he will keep on his religious search until he finds truth.

After I finished talking to him, a girl came up to me, "Teacher!  I have a would you rather question for you!"

She had a mischievous look on her face and read from her book:  would you rather ride the world's fastest roller coaster or one with lots of loops.

I said, "Neither!" and she laughed because they all know I'm afraid of roller coasters.  She said I had to pick one so I picked the fast one.  She looked so satisfied with herself and her ability to know her teacher that it delighted me.

While I sat in the library, I graded informational essays they had recently written.  They were supposed to write about a hobby or sport they love.  A boy wrote about digging a hole.  It was perfect with a topic sentence, facts and transitions and a concluding sentence.  About digging a hole.

“Secondly, holes can be very useful.  You could turn it into a place to store water balloons.”

After lunch, I read aloud to them and it is my favorite part of the day.  I am reading Beezus and Ramona and I'm going to keep reading Ramona books until I run out of time for the school year.

I love those books.  Part of the reason I love them so much is because my students love them so much.

My boy who had a come apart the previous day and who daily tells me how much he hates math, me, the school, our class, everything, said, "This book is awesome!"

It is.  Beverly Cleary is magic.

These are the days

These are the days of wild temperature swings.  It was in the low 60s for a few days and then yesterday was freezing.  I had recess duty and I told them to bring their coats (it was 90 minutes since they came to school and complained about how cold they were, long enough that they needed to be reminded it was cold).  One boy insisted he wouldn't be cold and I insisted he would and he finally grumbled, "Fine, I'll take a sweater."

He grabbed his hoodie.

Once outside, the kids all told me it was SO cold.  It was.  They told me 2nd grade had gone inside.  I checked my phone.  14 degrees with the wind chill.

I blew my whistle.  Inside recess.

These are the days of wild mood swings.  I was telling Jamie during art how great one of my students had been--very willing to work.  Then a girl came and told me the substitute in art needed me.

This same student was having a complete come apart.  Banging things and yelling.  He swung at me, but I dodged it.  (Am I an athlete? No.) I got him to leave the room with me. We went to my room and he threw a chair then he went to a corner and kind of settled himself down and I talked to him in soothing tones.  

Sometimes that is all I've got.

These are the days of heartbreaking news.  One of Miriam's students is a pawn in a custody battle.  She came to my room and asked if there was anything she could do.  I said, "We want to drive over there and take the student ourselves, but we can't.  There's nothing we can do."

It is so sad.

Speaking of futility....These are the days of trying to figure out how to help ease Adam's burden.  I think work is the biggest thing right now and I've got nothing.  I can make sure the kitchen is clean when he gets home?

These are the days of trying to communicate.  My new student is struggling.  I'm struggling.  Google translate is inadequate.  We were doing grammar and one of my ML students was arguing with another one over whether or not the past tense of go was goed or went.  I said it was went and the native English speaker laughed a little and the ML got tears in his big brown eyes and I told him to say the sentence in Spanish.  I said, "There's no way I can do that.  You're amazing!"

Another ML was writing about her favorite sport.  She is so whip smart and great at English because she is constantly asking clarifying questions.  She said, "What is that thing when you are playing soccer and you try to get it in there to score.  What is that called?"

I said, "Goal?"

She said, "Really?  In English?"

Hurray for words that mean the same thing in both languages!

These are the days of poetry.  We are reading poetry for literacy this week and I love it.  Judith Viorst!  Shel Silverstein!  Robert Louise Stevenson! Christina Rossetti!  (None of those were in the curriculum, I just brought a bunch of stuff to add.  Also some of my favorite picture books are poems, so I had a happy read aloud bonanza.)

These are the days.

Tiny joys

At the end of Adam's (seriously) packed day Sunday, the sister missionaries came over to talk to him/us.  The Orem mission is very unique!  They serve 17 wards and scramble to get to know the bishops and meet whatever needs they can.  We had a nice visit with them; they seem like really good missionaries.  They shook Adam's hand at the end and gave an earnest, "Thank you, Bishop!" which still sounds strange to our ears.  They looked at me and said, "We can hug."

I said, "Sure!" and they each gave me a big hug and I'd like to think that I was proxy for their moms who I am sure would like to hug them.  It made me happy.

Speaking of hugs, one of my little students who is a poster child for jovial charisma walks behind me when I'm sitting at my desk sometimes and says, "Sneak attack!" and throws his arms around me.

Other times he will walk up to me and say, "Hug!" and put his arms around my waist.  He is a hugger.

***

Mark was sick on Sunday, but he came over for dinner last night and we were glad to have him.

***

It is light when I drive to work and light when I drive home and I love changing seasons.  

***

Adam read a book to me and it was so bad it was good.  It reminded me of the cheesy Christmas movies Emma and I love to hate.  It wasn't a romance, it was a murder mystery, but it was just so bad.  We'd stop and talk about how dumb it was and then keep going.  

We couldn't look away.

I like Adam.

***

I had physical therapy and he is lengthening the time between visits.  I can't sing the praises of physical therapy enough.

***

Yesterday we had the 3rd grade spelling bee.  The top three from each class competed.  There were tears.  It is really good for those kids though, the high achieving kids, to be challenged.  It's good for them to lose and realize the world won't stop spinning.

***

Also, we met with our reading specialist after school and our students are improving!  It is so exciting! 

Now, if we could just master fractions....

***

Our neighbors, Kim and Rod stopped by last night with a plate of cookies for us.  I invited them in.  They said, "We don't have time."

Adam came to the door and said to Kim, who is the primary president, "Come in.  I need to talk to you."

So they came in and sat in the living room and Adam and Kim chatted and then when they got up to leave, I said, "Before you can leave, we have to set up a time to go to dinner together."

We finally let them escape.

Be cautious when you take the Davises cookies is the takeaway.  

We do have good neighbors.

Making me feel loved

Yesterday in Relief Society, the teacher asked us what our parents or children or spouses do to make us feel loved.

I didn't answer, but I thought about it for the rest of the day.

There are the universal ways that families show love that I think most grateful people can acknowledge:  service and affection and trust and loyalty.

I love the very unique ways my people show me love too though.

My mom knows by the tone of my hello on the phone if I'm OK or not.

My dad is an ever ready man of solutions and he also calls me Patty Punkety.

Braeden understands me like very few people do.  Sometimes when I am talking about some situation that maybe isn't even about me, he can tell I feel stressed and asks, "But how are you feeling about it?"

Emma bought me a book the other day because she had read it and it had "caught her by the throat" so she wanted me to read it too.  I love when Emma gives me advice and when she shares her creativity with me.

Mark tightens the kitchen chairs whenever he notices the slightest wobble.  When he is home and hears the garage door, he comes outside to see if I need help carrying anything.  

All our children know exactly how to make me laugh.

Whenever I want to go somewhere, Adam wants to go with me.  Even if he just got home.  He knows being with him makes me happy.

The next question was how do you show love to them.  

I've been thinking about that too.  I could do more.

Grateful Friday

Hello from the fraction trenches.  We are in deep.  After a lesson that didn't go well, I plopped myself down in a chair across from Jamie's desk and we talked it out.  She gave me an idea to have the students compare different representations of fractions on number lines and see which was correct.  The comparing makes them think more critically.

I devised an assignment with 5 questions and had random answers correct.  I randomly assigned which of my kids answered which way.

My students were SUPER engaged.  They were delighted to report back to me which of my kids are good at fractions.

One of them said, "I think Braeden needs to go to summer school."

Since Braeden just officially became a PhD candidate and he's preparing to teach a college course next quarter, I think he's a bit busy for summer school, but maybe he can squeeze it in....

I was grateful for the idea.  I need all the help I can get in so many ways to mix it up and add interest and opportunities for them to discuss.  

The opportunity to create the lesson plan, the angle, the how can I get through to them is so exciting to me.

Yesterday I read them the book, The Magical Power of Yet.

I'm grateful that just like them, I get to keep trying.  

Sigh

Oh, we've got mean girls.  

Yesterday a ring of them were giving away trinkets to certain girls and making other girls buy them.

There were hurt feelings.  Some girls respond by being sad and some girls respond by being really nasty back.

It's a lot of fun.

I sat them down and told them a story of my very own mean girl cousin experiences from my childhood.  They gasped.  (Do you recognize yourself?!?  Because I do.)

I am going to keep beating the drum of don't let the mean girls have your power.  The best thing to do for a mean girl is walk away.

Why would you want to be friends with them anyway?  I ask that question.  A lot.

Because you can't control anyone else, just yourself.

We have the Wellness Room.  Students can request to go if they need a ten minute reset/ they are feeling upset for whatever reason.  The idea is that they can't really learn when they are amped up emotionally, so letting them reset gets them back to learning.  I usually have a pretty high bar to going to the Wellness Room.  If someone asks to go, I ask why.  I try to see if they can do something to feel better and still stay in class.  When they can't, I let them go to the Wellness Room.

Yesterday I had a record three girls go to the Wellness Room for the following reasons:  fractions, an upcoming dentist appointment and a broken hair tie.

None of these problems were things that could be resolved or cajoled or dealt with in any other way.

The handful of boys in my classroom mostly stay to themselves and rejoice that they are not girls.

I don't blame them.

Monday/Tuesday

It was a Monday/Tuesday back at school after a long weekend.

One of my students came in mad.  He threw a chair and tried to hit a kid and was so impossible to console that the special ed. aide who I had called, called the office.

Matt came in smiling and said, "Don't you think he feels the way we all feel this morning?"

He talked the student into coming out from under his desk and joining the group.

Later, my student reverted to the same behavior.  This time Matt took him away for a little while.

Welcome back to school.

During math, my students were sitting on the rug and I noticed one girl sobbing, her shoulders heaving up and down.

"What is wrong?!?"

"My tooth is bleeding!"

I had her show me.  She had a loose tooth and one small drop of blood on her finger.  I instructed her to  go get a Kleenex and said her tooth would probably come out soon.  She got a Kleenex but kept crying so loudly that everyone kept looking at her and when I am at the whiteboard pontificating about fractions, I want to be the center of attention. 

I sent her to her desk.

I hope she gets it together before she embarks on childbirth someday.

Later in the morning we were sitting and reading about the Wright brothers and heard a loud crack and one of the wall panels separating my room from Miriam's fell towards my room about 3/4 of an inch.  It was...alarming.

There is a fairly heavy shelf on my side that houses their cubbies and hopefully that will help keep the wall up.

I saw Riley later.  He saw me coming and I must have had a look on my face.  "Did someone throw up?"

I said, "No, but my wall is falling down."

He said, "That's a new one."

And considering where he works "a new one" is a pretty rare occurrence.

So my day was a little crazy, but also, not that unusual.  It was good to be back.

After school, Adam and Braeden and Geri and QE stopped by so I could show her off to all my friends.  They were kind and long suffering just like they are every time I show them her latest picture.  Jamie was in my room and when QE pulled the book Madeline off the shelf and said, "Madeline!" Jamie was impressed.  

When QE grabbed another book and said, "Madeline and the Bad Hat," Jamie was even more impressed.  The girl loves books!

We went to UVU and met up with Mark and he gave us a tour.  Sweet QE hadn't had her nap and she was a good little soldier.  We were all exhausted so Adam picked up Thai food and we had it at our house.  (Except Adam.  He went to the church for meetings.)

Emma came for dinner.  They convinced me to play a round of Qwixx after dinner even though I was tired and ready for bed.  I won so it was worth staying up for.

Emma had come on Saturday, Sunday and Monday also.  When she left she said, "As much as I love seeing you, I will be glad not to drive here from Salt Lake tomorrow."

All good things must come to an end.

And I'm off to school to see if I have a wall.

Lasting influence

Neither of Adam's brothers have attended church much or at all since they were teenagers.  That has not stopped them from showing their love and support to Adam with his new calling.

With their own brand of personality and humor, they have reached out to him multiple times.  One (and I can't remember which right now because it could have been either) asked him if he had hired his offensive and defensive coordinators yet (picked counselors to recommend).

On Saturday, Brian called to let Adam know he was thinking of him and then he proceeded to give him advice.  It was advice based on how their dad served as bishop back when they were all teenagers.  Brian reminded Adam (which Adam has fully had on his mind anyway) of all the good things their dad had done as bishop.

I marveled at the lasting influence of a good dad.  All these years later, he is not here with us physically, but he is here with us.

Brian told Adam that he was sending something for him.

After Adam got off the phone, he told me about the conversation.  He said, "I have no idea what he is sending me."

Then he said, "Wait!"

A slow smile spread over his face and he told me about a picture of a copper beaver Linn had in his bishop's office.  

Adam said, "Maybe that is what he is sending."

Linn was called as bishop right before their family embarked on a 4 week cross country road trip from Seattle to Florida and back.  He flew back a week early to prepare for becoming bishop and the rest of the family drove the last leg.  They stopped at a copper mine in Montana and bought the picture for Linn.

Sure enough, when Geri arrived later that day, she had a gift for Adam.

I love that Adam will have this tangible reminder of his dad and family while he serves.

I also love that he doesn't really need it to remember.  His dad is imprinted on him in many ways.  

I am grateful to be a part of the Davis family.  Linn and Geri are wonderful parents who loved and supported and sustained their family through ups and downs like any family experiences.

Geri has continued on in that without Linn by her side, but I know he is not far away.

And I know this separation isn't forever.  What is forever is their eternal family and the lasting influence of good parents.

Weekend

It's been a busy one and it's not over yet!

Saturday was Emma's birthday.  We also had Geri, Braeden and Anna and QE fly in.  Emma did the airport runs and brought everyone in time for dinner.  We had spaghetti with mizithra cheese and I made a lemon strawberry cake that Emma and I kind of made up and didn't turn out as pretty in real life as I envisioned. 

Story of my life.

After dinner my parents arrived.  My dad had cake, my mom had berries and Mark had some tarta de Santiago which I had tried out.  

It was good.  A definite gluten free keeper!

QE was just going to bed when my parents arrived so they got to say goodnight and the rest of us enjoyed some time visiting.

Sunday Mark and Emma joined us and we all traipsed into church and I had already told everyone, we are not sitting on the front row.  When we were walking in, I told Braeden, "We're not."

Our first day in this ward, I didn't want to sit on the front row (which is our normal spot) and bring attention to ourselves.  Braeden strided in first and the rest of us followed and there we were, the new people drawing attention to ourselves.

We sat in the back and the reason I didn't want to cause a big stir was because we were getting a new bishop and it was Adam.

I sat next to him at the start of the meeting and his always warm hand that I was holding was ice cold.  It was that way before we got married and whenever he's speaking in church.  I guess you could call it his tell.

When they sustained him and his counselors, they walked up to the stand and it occurred to me that I would not be sitting by him in church again for a while!

They had the outgoing bishop and his counselors speak as well as the bishop's wife.  They wanted me to bear my testimony and I was mostly thinking I wasn't going to be asked to because Adam had seen two versions of the program and I was speaking in one, and not speaking in the other.  But they announced my name.  Adam spoke and the stake president was the last speaker.  

I felt like I needed a nap after that!

I think I feel a lot of sympathy stress.

I am grateful for Adam.  I appreciate being married to a man worthy and willing to serve.  I'm grateful to our family who came to show their love and support.  

When Adam was first extended the call, I told him I would support him however I could.

He said, "Will you go to Girls' camp with me?"

I said, "Yes, to the night when the bishop goes?"

He said, "What if I want to go all week?"

I said, "No."

He said, "So the first thing I asked, you said no?"

I said, "Yep."

He said, "There's nothing in the handbook that says the bishop's wife can't sit on the stand with him."

I said, "I'm not doing that."

He said he wondered if I actually would be supportive.

He doesn't really want me to do either thing, he just knew which questions to ask to demonstrate the limits of my support!

We had a nice afternoon together, visiting and playing with QE and reading to her.  For dinner, we invited Anna's parents and sister Natalie, so they could visit and Liberty and Nikki came (the rest of the kids were in Nevada for the long weekend).  It was very nice to all be together and as I watched QE ricochet around the room between people who love her, it made me happy.

This morning Anna flew home very early to get back for work.  Adam and Geri and QE are here until Wednesday.  My parents are staying until tomorrow when Ruben is going to the Provo temple.  I wish I could do that too, but I have schoolchildren to teach!

So our life is going to change and I don't 100% know to what extent yet.  I was talking to my dad about the new windows we got in our house in Nevada and he said, "Maybe in 5 years you can go and enjoy them."

Maybe.

I don't know.

Grateful Friday

 This was my Valentine from one of my sweet students.  Give me a homemade scotch-taped present and it makes my day.  That is all.

We went from a rainy inside recess morning to a sunny afternoon.  But...my classroom stayed 72 degrees all day long!

That's something to be grateful for!

Lunch recess was cold, just like every recess in February.  My new student, fresh from Colombia, is not a big fan of the cold.  She kept trying not to go to recess.  Then I realized how very thin her coat is.  It's like what you would wear on a sunny day in April when you may or may not need a coat, but a light jacket feels kind of good anyway.

I emailed Katie, because I know enough to know to email Katie, who is our amazing community outreach coordinator.  Within minutes, she came to my classroom with a warm brand new, tags still on coat.  I sent my students' parents a message (through an app we have that translates) to let them know that I was sending home a coat she could keep. 

I wish you could have seen her face.  She was so happy and so grateful and I had to keep it together so my own gratitude at being able to give her a warm coat didn't come out my eyes.  I put her lightweight and also way too big coat over the top of the new one to send her out the door to go home.  She squirmed in delight of the rapturous warmth of it all.  

I'm grateful that we have a mini family reunion this weekend.  My parents, Geri, Braeden, Anna and QE are all coming.  

Finally today, I'm grateful for Adam.  My Valentine.  I love how thoughtful and stalwart and good and funny and helpful and generous and smart he is.  

I love when I talk to one of our kids about him and they say, "Well, you know Dad.  He will...."

And it's always something good.

Like Halloween, but prettier

Valentine's Day.

Oh,Valentine's Day.  You make me tired.

So much energy and so much candy.  I don't know at what point valentines shifted to just bring a bag of candy and pass it out.  Maybe just at my school?  I don't know.

Everyone brought their candy and some kids made boxes for their valentines.  I had everyone put their stuff on a table.

It was a constant battle to keep them away from it.  One girl kept wanting to do inventory on hers:  count the candy and make sure no one had stolen any.

No.

I caught her hiding under the table, waiting for the chance to count her candy.

I thought why me several times.

Two days ago, my classroom started out at 58 degrees and reached 63 and hovered there.  On both Monday and Tuesday I sent notes to the office telling them the heat wasn't working.

Yesterday it was 80 degrees in my classroom.  I sent another note.  I signed it: The Squeaky Wheel.

But it got the heat shut off.  It is either off and we're freezing or it's warm like a thousand burning suns and the only thing controlling it is my sticky note going to the office.  From there, Riley climbs up in the attic and does something.  There are more efficient thermostats in the world, but we're making it work.

Almost immediately in the morning, minutes after these two walked in the door, this happened:

They were DEEPLY asleep.  I took this picture when everyone else was at recess.  We'd had little chocolate bars that they had partitioned into 1/4 pieces during math because we started fractions.  We had Red Vines they'd partitioned into halves.  Through all that excitement, these two didn't budge.  

I let them sleep.  Self preservation.

(I also texted their moms after school.  Maybe get your kids to bed earlier?)

Math was its own adventure.  "I don't like chocolate." 

Then throw it away.

"I don't eat red dye.  I can't eat this licorice."

Then throw it away.

Eating the candy isn't the point.  Partitioning it is the point.

Also, introducing fractions in a different language is not for the faint of heart.  Children whose language I share have a hard time understanding the concept.  I explain it several different ways and ask questions to gauge understanding.  With my new student, I had google translate (which isn't always 100% accurate) and pictures I'd drawn and hand gestures.  My ML students weren't much help because they 1) don't know the Spanish words to explain fractions and 2) don't understand fractions themselves.

A few hours into their naps, my boys finally woke up when Matt, at a full sprint, was chasing another teacher who was screaming her head off down the hall.

I should explain.

One of Matt's goal's in life is to increase morale at our school.  Last year it was positively funereal sometimes in those halls and especially in the work room.  

This year, not so much.

We were playing a game of Clue.  Every teacher got a piece of paper that said another teacher's name, a "weapon" and where we had to kill them.  I got a sixth grade teacher named Scarlett (which was pretty perfect), a ball and the vice principal's office.  I could not conceive of a way I could pull that off. "Hey, want to join me in Noemi's office for some dodgeball?"

Other teachers were being more successful.  (There were shrieking and shenanigans all day long.)

During library I heard an eruption of noise in the work room.  I slipped out of the library and into the next door work room and said, in my best teacher/mom voice, "Settle down."

They all froze and looked at me, the teacher old enough to be their mother, and one of them apologized.  Then they realized I was joking so they told me all the things that had transpired: who had killed who and who was still safe and who better be on the lookout.

At lunch time, Jamie stopped by my room.  She wondered how I was faring in Clue and I told her I couldn't imagine me making my scenario work.  I said, "I don't even have a ball."

She said, "I'll figure it out."

Later she came and told me that during sixth grade recess, she would take over my class and I could go to the office and have the secretary call Scarlett down to the office.  She handed me a Nerf ball.

She came at the appointed time.  I went to the office and had them call Scarlett.  I hid in Noemi's office.  Noemi stood in the outer office and when Scarlett got there, I heard Noemi say, "Will you come in my office for a minute?"

Scarlett said, "O-kay?"

I was there with the ball.  I said, "I got you!" and Matt came out of his office and had a smile on his face like it was Christmas morning.

Later, another 6th grade teacher said to me, "Wow, Thelma.  You play dirty!"

I said, "It was all Jamie's idea!

Since I had "killed" Scarlett, my next job was to kill the person she was supposed to kill.  It was my friend Nicole.  She and I had chatted earlier about the game and how it felt impossible.  

The task was to kill her in the gym with a plastic fork.  She is directing a school play and they rehearse after school in the gym.  I had my plan.

We had our Valentine's Day party.  Two moms came up with games and the one I was running was a memory matching game that was cute animals holding hearts and my already amped up girls who had talked all morning nonstop about crushes and candy just about lost their minds.  The new non English speaker can swoon like the rest of them.  Squealing over cuteness crosses language barriers.

I gave my students little mini Lego sets of insects.  There was a card attached that said, "We were BUILT to be friends."

One of the girls came up to me later and said, "I get it Teacher!  Instead of we were MADE to be friends, we were BUILT." 

They passed out all their candy and my little one who is such a struggle presented me with a gift.  He had been telling me all day that it was going to make my "head explode."

I hoped he meant figuratively.

It was an enormous box of chocolates.  He was so pleased with himself!  It melted my heart.  Such a sweet boy!

After school, I went down to the gym with my plastic fork in hand.  I had to unlock the gym door and interrupt rehearsal and as a drama mama, I know how inappropriate that is!

I walked up to Nicole and said I had a question about Battle of the Books (that was pressing enough to interrupt rehearsal?!?) and then when I got close enough, I got out my fork and told her I had killed her.

She said, "Well I was supposed to kill you, so you are safe."

There was more running and yelling and chasing going on and I complacently made copies and felt safe in the knowledge that my killer was out.

At 4:00, they made an announcement that everyone still alive could go to the office for a prize.  

Jamie and Holly met us with cheers.  The prize was heart shaped scented soap.  They said it was so we could wash the carnage of the day off our hands.

Later I saw this email from a teacher:

Tyler, a 6th grade teacher, responded:  I did that.

No one ever said you can't have fun while you are at work, especially at an elementary school.

Tiny delights

Happy Valentine's Day!  I am looking forward to spending a quiet evening at home with Adam tonight.

I came up with the itinerary.  French Onion soup from Trader Joe's.  That is all.  Maybe frozen pizza if we are feeling like frozen pizza (the Detroit style from Costco).

Sometimes less is more.

Yesterday I wore a sweater with a big red heart on it.  Jamie wore a Valentine's Day t-shirt.  I saw her and I said, "I have that same t-shirt, but I am wearing mine tomorrow!"

Jamie said, "I am wearing a sweater with a big heart on it tomorrow."

She said, "I love how we both have our outfits carefully planned."

Well, yes.  They didn't throw out the cookie cutter when they made us.

Also, I went in her office yesterday at lunch and huddled by her space heater because my classroom was freezing.  

Eventually I said, "OK, I have to be brave and go back to my classroom.  Lunch recess is over."

She handed me some candy.  "Take this," she said, like she was sending me into battle and didn't want me to go empty handed.

She is on a path to become a principal and I can't lose another work bestie!  Janelle leaving was bad enough.

I had recess duty and coincidentally was wearing black pants and black shoes and the sun was shining and I am very happy in February when I'm wearing black and the sun is shining at recess.  

It's the little things.

It's the little things like Adam and our kids sending each other song lyrics on our group text.  It's Anna sending a picture and video of QE at story time. (Story time at the park because it's California.  Show offs.)

During my prep, I enlisted my BYU teacher to help me organize the biome articles my class is going to be reading for a project.  I handed her my stapler.  She said, "I feel like a real teacher!  A stapler!"

It is a really good stapler, but the shine does kind of wear off of the shuffling of papers.  I felt a little cheered by her enthusiasm though.

Tiny things can delight.

Kids can be so nice!

Yesterday I got a new students from Colombia.  She speaks no English.  Zero.  She was terrified.  We said good-bye to her mom and I put my arm around her and I could feel her heart just pounding.

School hadn't started and my charismatic Salvadoran wasn't there yet, so I introduced her to my boy who is the nicest kid on the planet and just so happens to speak Spanish.  

He just looked at her solemnly.  I said, "Well...say hello."

He broke into Spanish and they chatted away and I saw her tense shoulders drop a notch.

My sweet girl arrived and her face lit up and it turns out she is really good at interpreting.  Some people just have a gift.  She seamlessly shifted between Spanish and English all day long with a brilliant smile on her face.

When my new student would leave her seat, her little mentor was never far behind.  She hovered and made sure everyone was understanding everyone.  I finally told her, "You don't need to go with her every time she goes to the bathroom.  She knows where it is now."

She gave me her thousand watt smile and said, "OK, Teacher, I was just getting a sip of water."

One of the other girls had a birthday party on Saturday.  She knew we were getting a new student and she brought a little gift bag for the new girl.  Other girls slipped her pink hearts and notes.

Kids can be so mean.  100% true.  But also, they can be just incredibly kind.  

Also, I can't explain enough how grateful I am for the champion multilingual students we have.  They have been rebranded from English as a Second Language (ESL) to English Language Learners (ELL) to ML.  Multilingual.  I like it because I think it better captures their awesomeness.  They navigate two languages, helping their parents and their younger siblings.

And they are a lifeboat for both new students and me when we have someone who doesn't speak English!

 

Weekend

I am done with being sick, but it is apparently not done with me.  I spent most of the weekend feeling knocked pretty flat and trying to rest.

I googled it (like you do) and fatigue can last a few weeks after having the flu.  I felt OK earlier in the week, but I think it was a tiring week and that made me backtrack a little.

Also, I did errands on Saturday which I think was a bad idea.

Ugh.

I just want to be healthy and do all the things.  It makes me feel a lot more empathy for my mom and people who have illnesses that sideline them for way longer than they would like to be sidelined.

We have a big weekend next weekend (lots of family coming which I'm very excited about) so I'm going to try to be lazy this week and rest as much as I can so I can finally shake this thing!

Grateful Friday

Grateful to have made it!

Another Parent Teacher Conference week in the books.  I love and adore that the district has the Friday after conferences a teacher work day!  I have high hopes today of all that I will get done.  (Largely unrealistic hopes...)

I had so many parents show up for conferences that I didn't accomplish as many things during conferences that I was hoping for.

It was amazing to see some of them though.  I was not expecting such a great turnout.  I'm grateful for the parents who earnestly ask what they can be doing at home to help.

I'm grateful they share their children with me.

(If you ever want to have a really heartwarming experience, have a group of third graders write a paragraph about their favorite holiday.  Most of them chose Christmas and presents were mentioned, but they talked mostly about loving time with their families and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ because they love Him.)

It kind of makes me laugh at conferences to look across the table at my students, looking so small and timid.  When parents aren't around there is very little timidity going on.  

I'm grateful for a really fun time I had yesterday.  My WIN (What I Need) group is the second highest group of readers.  We are working on fluency.  I had them learn to read "Whirligig Beetles" by Paul Fleishman.  It's a poem for two voices from the Newbery winner, Joyful Noise.

They worked on it all week.  It was hard.  It had words like gyrating and tortuous.  They had to read together and in rhythm.  We performed for the other two WIN classes.  I wanted to perform for Jamie, but she was gone.  We went down the hall and found Matt.  He was appropriately appreciative and told them they did a great job.

I loved how happy they were and proud of their hard work.  I love that we have a principal now who they were excited to share with.  We were so heady with success we stopped at the office and shared it with the secretaries.  They clapped and oohed and ahhed.

I'll never not be grateful to work at that good school.

Bye-bye now. Bye. Bye-bye

Yesterday I was making copies and a 5th grade teacher came into the work room.  She stood there, trying to remember what she was doing, and said, "I am SO tired."

Parent teacher conference week is quite a week.  It is exhausting on many, many levels.

On Tuesday I only had two parents not show up, which is kind of amazing.  We'll see about tonight.  It is great to talk to parents and give them both compliments and...suggestions.  Inevitably someone cries.  A mother of one of the criers told me she was grateful that I was "so frank."

I don't sugar coat it.

I also try to pile on the good things too.

One of my little ones comes to school hungry and pretty much catatonic from staying up too late playing video games.

I told his mom (through his 6th grade brother who was translating into Spanish) that he was struggling in math because of how he comes to school.

She started rapid fire Spanish aimed at my student.  I asked the older brother, "What did she say?"

He said, "No more video games."

My student came yesterday morning a different kid.  After math, I said, "You were great today!  Did you go to bed earlier?"

He said, "Yes.  And my mom made me quesadillas for breakfast."

I hope it lasts!

Also, he can get breakfast at school, if he comes early enough.  Getting the parents on board is half the battle.

By the time we had our dinner break, I felt the Barbie in Toy Story.  

So much smiling.

I went home completely spent from how people-y it all was.  One really bright spot was that during one of my lulls, a student I had years ago stopped by because she was there with her kindergarten brother.  As a third grader she struggled a lot with reading and math, going to special ed for a good portion of the day.  She has a sparkling personality and she happily told me about how seventh grade is going.  She told me math is really hard.  "How do you feel about pi?" she asked.

I said, "I love apple pie."

She said, "Well, yeah, but I'm talking about 2 pi r."  She shivered with the horror of it all.

She seems to be thriving and I felt so proud of her.  She told me she is getting an A in Spanish (which is easy to believe since it was her first language).  I loved seeing her poise and confidence.

Every day I'm grateful for the interactions I get with so many wonderful people.  These children make my heart sing.

Peace as a river

 

Oh, that thou had hearkened unto my commandments--then had thy peace been as a river, and they righteousness as the waves of the sea.

1 Nephi 20:18

I talked about that scripture in my Sunday School lesson on Sunday and when I was preparing (and I was home sick), I went on a whole journey thinking about rivers.  I guess I had a lot of time on my hands.  It turned into a sentimental journey so I decided I wanted to record it on my blog.

The above picture is of 11 year old Braeden overlooking the Stillaguamish River, which is probably one of our family's favorite places in the world.

Rivers are peaceful.  Here's the Columbia, Mississippi and Snohomish:

They are mesmerizing to watch, kind of the same way a campfire is mesmerizing.  Rivers bring me peace and to think that if you keep the commandments your peace will be as a river is a comforting thought.

Except there are more than one kind of river.

Here is the Yellowstone River.

I still remember standing here with Megan and our kids.  There was no guardrail and it was kind of terrifying.  Megan and I realized that if we or our children fell in, there would be no rescue.  It roared terrifically and didn't feel peaceful.

That picture still makes me anxious because I remember standing there.

Here's another picture of what a river can do.  I don't think the rocks that have been worn away and transformed would call it a peaceful situation.  (You know, if rocks could talk.)

The transforming power of the Colorado River making something beautiful could be a whole other lesson, but the point is, rivers aren't always peaceful and idyllic.

On that same trip to Yellowstone, we went white water rafting.

The not great swimmer that I am, I felt nervous about it.  When we were on our way to the river, I said to Adam, "You would jump in and save me if I fell in, right?"

He said, "No.  That's now how it works."

You'd better believe I listened to every safety instruction given.  I made sure my life jacket was properly buckled.  I dug my foot deep into the space where the bottom of the boat meets the side of the boat.  At one point Talia, our niece, was "riding the bull" (sitting on the front of the raft) and fell in.  Adam quickly reached in and pulled her right back up.

Sputtering water, she said, "Thank you Uncle Adam!  Thank you!"

Because of our guide and heeding all the instructions (and the quick reaction of a strong uncle) we all had a great time.

I would go again.

The main river I thought about though, was the Stillaguamish.  If we talk about The River in our family, that's the one we mean.

While we lived in Washington, we went to the river many times every summer.  A handful of times it was hot enough that I actually swam, but usually I sat happily in the shade with a book and everyone else swam.

And Adam taught them how to swim in the river.  There are places where it is shallow, rocky, sandy, smooth and very swift and deep.  You can't just tell from the shore what it is like underwater.

For example, here is Adam standing on a smooth ledge while Mark is in the deep swift current.

Growing up swimming in that river, Adam knew it.  He knew the pitfalls and taught our kids early and often about it.  He also rescued more than a few kids from drowning while we were there.  If you don't understand the river and its currents, you can needlessly tire yourself out trying to navigate.

Beloved in the river is Hippo Rock (named by our kids).  Sometimes it was completely underwater and sometimes it stood out about 3 feet above the surface.  It just depended on how high the river was.  Even when the river was fairly low, it was deep enough near the rock that you could do a shallow dive off the rock.  It was their favorite place to hang out.

Adam taught our kids the way the river responded to the rock.  Water speeds up as it goes around the rock but then curls back around.  You could get very exhausted in the swift fast water trying to get to the rock, or you could let yourself go and then give a few strong strokes and get pulled in behind the rock.  

From my comfortable vantage point on the shore, I was always very grateful to have Adam teach our kids to be safe in the river.

That made it an even more peaceful place.

All this reminded me of another time we were hiking to the ice caves in the North Cascades.  It had been a particularly stormy winter and a bridge that we needed to cross in order to make the journey had washed out.

Someone had put a big log across the swiftly moving river.  I thought it was our cue to give up and try another day and Adam thought we could cross the log.

If that isn't a microcosm of our marriage, I don't know what is.

I was a little nervous traversing the river and looking down at all that water from the precarious log, but in that moment it occurred to me that I was the weakest swimmer of the family.  I figured if I fell in, I would probably be OK so our kids would for sure be OK.  Especially since they all knew how to swim in rivers.

So back to the scripture:

Oh, that thou had hearkened unto my commandments--then had thy peace been as a river, and they righteousness as the waves of the sea.

1 Nephi 20:18

All rivers aren't exactly peaceful.  Life isn't exactly peaceful.  There are guides and rules and strategies and strong uncles and people who know the way.

If we heed them, we can have peace.

Even more than that, we have the Prince of Peace.  Even in the swiftest, scariest river we may find ourselves in.  We can find peace.  Because of Him.

It is that good

I had a new BYU practicum teacher start yesterday and I like her.  She has the basic instinct of a teacher.

She got up at one point and let a student, who had just returned from ESL, know what was happening and got him set up and I heard choirs of angels singing because not everyone would know to do that.

She is from Portland, Maine and her husband is from Guilford, Connecticut.  I told her we'd lived in New Haven, which is near Guilford.  She said her in-laws love New Haven pizza.  She said, "Do you know Pepe's?"

Yes.  Yes, I do.

She said her in-laws practically have a shrine to it.

And it is that good.

Braeden, 2015, having some Pepe's clam pie.  Yes, he was a drama kid.

I told her that New Haven bumped us up a pizza bracket we've never recovered from.  She said her husband is going to do an internship in Connecticut this summer.  I said, "Go to Pepe's."

I am jealous.  I want to spend the summer in New Haven.  Pizza every day.

Then I remembered the humidity.

Weekend

Friday evening, Adam and I went to Boys in the Boat.  We had both read, and loved, the book and it was good to go to our beloved little Water Gardens theater to watch it.  We met there so I bought the tickets and waited for Adam in the lobby even though there was no one to actually show the tickets to.  They very much work on the honor system at Water Gardens and I love them for it.

We went to Kneaders for French dip sandwiches afterward and yes, we are loving the empty nest life.

Saturday we did all the Saturday things and as a bonus, got to have lunch with Marianne and 3/4 of her girls: Clarissa, Liberty and Carolina.

Marianne insisted on buying our lunch and I said that I would have to stop inviting myself to crash her party unless she stopped buying me food. 

She promised she would.

It was wonderful to spend a little time with them.  

I forgot that I wanted to go to JoAnn Fabrics for more embroidery floss.  We also forgot a cucumber when we went to Winco earlier, so we were going to get some.

We were talking to Braeden in the car while we drove and I said, "I'm going to leave you talking to your dad while I go into JoAnn's."

Braeden said, "I feel bored now just knowing you are going there."

You never met anyone who hated a craft store more, except maybe Mark.  

We stopped by Walmart for the cucumber and bought several other things and forgot the cucumber.

These are the times we are living in.

I taught Sunday School on Sunday and was nervous, but it went OK.  The Book of Mormon is way more of a comfort zone than the Old Testament.  

I'll tell you that for free.

We had our kids and Clarissa and Lili over for dinner.  It was a good time as always.  I shared some of my lesson with them and Mark gave us an involved presentation about pizza he had given for a work function.

Basically coming to our house is like coming for a TED talk.

Grateful Friday

I have mean girls being mean again.

I think because I dealt with mean girls (one in particular) as a kid, I don't like mean girls.  Also it is super disruptive.

My student who is mostly non-verbal told me yesterday he hated me.  I was going over a behavior chart with him.  If he stopped making shooting noises (because they are making us all crazy) and is respectful (such a low bar), he can earn a break to play with Legos at the end of the day.

So he said he hated me.

I said, "That's OK.  You can hate me.  But if you want to earn a break, you need to stop making shooting noises and be respectful."

So I presented him with a grammar page we would do together.  He said he hated grammar.

I said, "That's also OK.  You don't have to like grammar, you just have to do it."

He looked at me like that was kind of a new concept and then he went ahead and did his work and earned his break.  I already have lots of good friends.  You don't have to like me or school, little darlings.  You just have to do your work.

Despite the mean girls and the unhappy student, I am grateful to be a teacher.

There are many bright spots that illuminate the rest.

I have one student who I just love so much.  I had his brother too.  I know I break into a grin every time I see him first thing in the morning.

I also love my fashionista.  Over the course of several days, she has been asking me my hierarchy of favorite colors.

Yesterday she said, "OK, so I know you like red best.  Then blue, then green, but then what?

"Pink."

"OK," she said, like that was important information to file away.  "What next?"

I was kind of running out of favorites.  I said black.  I said, "I don't really love purple and orange and yellow."

Another girl was lingering nearby (and I just wanted them to go to recess) and she walked away.  She said, "I can't talk to you.  I love purple!"

The fashionista said, "Orange is the worst!"

"OK," I said, "Now go to recess."  She smiled appreciatively because we had just divulged our secrets about colors and left.

Yesterday after school we had a viewing of the movie, Right to Read.  It was pretty incredible and pointed out the truth that learning to read in the Information Age is the most important thing we can teach our students.  It also made me cry.  There is a huge divide racially and socioeconomically.  There is a steep hill to climb because there are many curriculums and colleges that don't teach the science of reading.  

I read a story in the NYTimes yesterday about how students were recovering from Covid.  There was a way to plug in school districts.  I was interested in it and sent it to my kids.  Braeden plugged in Davis and Newport News (where he served part of his mission.)

It haunts me:

My heart breaks for the disparity of it all.  I want all children to learn and thrive.  I remembered last night Mother Teresa saying if you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

I'll keep toiling away in my little spot.

I'm grateful that I have been able to learn more about teaching reading.  I have so much to learn!  But I am here for it!  I will go back every day and try again.  

(Even if they hate me.)

So good

 I was very happy to be back at school yesterday.  You could have convinced me that it was any day of the week.  I had no idea.  During math I thought it was Tuesday.  We went to library after recess like we do every Wednesday and then came back and I did what we do every Thursday for reading.

I kept saying, "Wait.  It's Wednesday isn't it?"

My students were mostly very well behaved while I was gone.  They did their work and the classroom was pretty tidy.

They're such a dreamy class.  

They wanted to hear all about why I was gone and how I was feeling.

My voice is 100% back.  It was pretty amazing to be back at school and 1) not feel awful and 2) have a voice.

A random 2nd grader threw her arms around me in the hall.

A random 1st grader excitedly said, "Mrs. Davis!" 

One of my former students was nearby and he said, "Yeah, I was in her class a few years ago."  He is way too cool now, as a fifth grader, to show me too much enthusiasm, but he gave me a nod.

I texted a parent to ask about a student and she texted back!

It doesn't take much to make me really happy.