Grateful Friday

Some weeks the best thing I have to be grateful about is that it is Friday.  It has been a long week--exacerbated by the distributive property.  They. Don't. Get. It.

One of them wondered, "Why do we even have to learn this anyway?!?"

At this point, I have no idea.

I'm also grateful that I don't have recess duty today.  I have recess duty on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  They are learning basketball in PE and so all the kids want to play basketball at recess.  So far in PE they apparently haven't covered that basketball isn't a contact sport.

I physically separated fist fights, I gathered kids up off the pavement, I slapped on bandaids, I put my arm around a boy who had been elbowed in the stomach (hard and on purpose) until he got his breath back.  It was a wild ride..because there are also soccer fights happening.  There are always soccer fights.  Then the soccer ball got kicked into the parking lot and it was wedged under a car.  I recruited a boy who is wiry and athletic and he owed me because he had been the instigator of a lot of soccer fights.  I walked him over to the car and had him climb underneath and kick the ball out from under the car.

Then I had to gather up a boy from another third grade who has special needs.  He won't go in despite recess being over.  (He hates the sound of my whistle so my strategy is to tell him I'm about to blow my whistle and he runs to his teacher.)

When I finally made it into my room, my class was already inside, waiting for me.  A few boys were tossing their water balls into the air and not catching them (because they're 8 and not that coordinated).

I said, "I will take those bottles away.  You can survive a day without water.  If you want to keep the bottles, STOP THROWING THEM."

Everyone looked around like who is this mean lady?

Then one of my students needed three bandaids on her legs because she had fallen and scraped them (while playing basketball). 

I took my kids to PE.  There was a young male substitute teacher there who my students love.  He was holding a basketball and I thought it was a perfect opportunity for him to tell them not to kill each other while they are playing basketball at recess.  I thought they like him so much, they will listen.  I explained the situation to him and I asked him if he could talk to them during class about not being so...aggressive (we'll put it mildly).

He looked nervous, like I was accusing him of something.  He said, "We're only dribbling.  That's all we're doing."

"Never mind," I said.

It's Friday.  And I'm grateful.

The state of things

 Things that aren't going well:

1. The distributive property.  They don't get it.  Tomorrow will start day 3.  I have a new plan of attack.  Hope springs eternal.

2. Also, the writing of imaginative narratives.  The misspelled words, wonky grammar and punctuation is all very fixable and expected.  But the stories don't make sense.  They either are not stories or they are super confusing.  This is after weeks of prewriting (coming up with characters and settings) and graphic organizers (problem! solution! beginning! middle! end!).  One thing that (maybe?) made me feel a little better is that when they tell me stories they don't always make sense either.  Maybe the writing isn't the problem.  Maybe it's the age.

Taking pictures of Adam's throat (foreshadowing...see below).

Things that are going well:

1. Mark's powers of persuasion. He texted us a persuasive essay about why we should go to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.  He didn't have pizza with us on Monday, it was on his way to work, etc. etc.  It worked.  Mark and I had dinner there.  (Adam was still at work + not feeling well and said he didn't want dinner anyway--more foreshadowing.)

2. Telemedicine.  Adam called in on his computer and the nice man was very patient as I tried and failed over and over to get a picture of his throat.  Adam's new phone has the flash controls in a different place than I was used to.  Also, I'm not what anyone would call a good photographer.  I did have a big popsicle stick in my bag because I use them for my job chart at school.  So that was the tongue depressor.  The diagnosis was strep throat.

Adam was thrilled that it only cost $5.  That man loves a bargain.  We drove together to pick up the prescription and it was also $5 (and 3 cents).  

I told Adam he was a cheap date.

Inside recess

 It was just starting to snow when I left for school.  I didn't think it would amount to much but then it kept snowing more and more.

My students were excited and kept wanting to look at the weather app on my phone to see how long the snow would last.  They are growing up in a different world with different sources of information than I did!

Peering out the window, one boy said, "It is almost pitch white out there!"

Braeden texted this:

I didn't have to say anything because Emma covered it for me....

Shortly before recess time, the principal announced that it was up to the teachers whether we had inside or outside recess.  

I didn't want to deal with wet shoes and socks and cold hands and all of that.  They mostly do not dress for cold weather very effectively.  I have a drawer of gloves I hand out and then collect so we'll have them another day.

More importantly though, I had recess duty.

I decided we would have inside recess.

It was the first time we've had inside recess and they wanted to know what to do.  I gave them all the options:  computers, drawing, reading, games.  A few boys played on the computers, one girl wanted to work on multiplication (I said sure!), some boys played Battleship, there was a raucous Uno game happening and four kids set up Jenga under my desk.  They love to crawl under my desk (which is really a kidney shaped table) and I'm always worried I'm going to accidentally kick them.  

It felt chaotic but also cozy. Sometimes inside recess is the worst because they need to run but this is such a mellow group that they do OK without a run.

It had stopped snowing so lunch recess was outside.  I had a line of wet gloves drying, everyone complained about cold wet feet and two students had slipped and fallen and their pants were wet.

Inside recess is not terrible.

Quilt binding

 One upside of us all having had Covid is that we feel less worried being around my parents.  They were in Utah for doctor appointments and they stopped by last night to help me with the binding on Braeden and Anna's quilt.  

My mom said, "How are you with cutting now?"

I said, "Really bad."

She said OK and handed my dad her other pair of scissors.

When I was growing up and my mom was (trying to) teach me to sew, it would annoy Marianne that she would cut out the pattern and fabric for me but not Marianne.  But I'm really really bad at cutting a straight line.  I am better than I used to be, but not much.

So I "supervised" and they trimmed the edges, then my mom showed me how to fold it.  She showed me how to fold the corners and said, "Were you watching?"

I said, "No."

Why does being around your parents make you revert to being about 13 years old?

She showed me again but every time I got to a corner, I let her do it.

We pinned it and my mom even kindly pinned "backwards" so that when I do the hand sewing around it with my left hand, I won't encounter the sharp ends of the pins.

We ate pizza and visited for awhile.  It was a nice evening.  We need Covid to go away so we can have less social distancing and more visiting.

Weekend

It was a weekend of it's-about-time snow.  It looked pretty and I was grateful for it.

It was a weekend of me feeling sort of blah.  I had the vaccination which was nothing except a sore arm until I felt sort of lousy.  That was compounded by me having a flare up of my eye infection because for reasons beyond my understanding I forgot to take my medicine several days last week.   

I don't know.

It was a weekend of stake conference.  I loved watching it from home in my comfortable chair.  I see no reason why we can't do that forever going forward.  

It was a weekend of Mark reading.  He stays up until the wee hours because he says his mom didn't raise a quitter.

I (finally) raised a reader.

It was a weekend of just Emma for Sunday dinner.  We talked and laughed and played the bean game the Jorgensens gave us for Christmas.  I can't remember the real name of it.  

Since she had a flat tire, Adam and Mark changed it for her.  I told her I wanted her to remember if she ever felt slighted as a girl that her dad and brother were changing her tire for her in the cold.  

She said, "I know."

(Because I think chivalry should be appreciated and acknowledged.)

Adam had to go to an ordination and Mark was reading so she and I perused Netflix and had more fun reading the descriptions than actually watching anything.

Have a daughter who cracks wise with you over Netflix descriptions.  That's the secret to happiness.  (Also stake conference from a comfortable chair.)

Grateful Friday

I'm grateful for audiobooks.  I just finished Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane.  It was good.  I listen while I drive.  I listen while I clean the kitchen and do laundry.  I would prefer to cozy up with a paper book in hands, but I love being able to read anyway.

I'm grateful that I am getting vaccinated for Covid tomorrow.  My three month immunity is up and teachers are up next for vaccinations.  I'm grateful for the smart people that made the vaccination a reality.

I'm grateful for the entertaining internet and my entertaining children.  Our family group text has been chock full of pictures of Bernie Sanders at the inauguration.  Here are some of my favorites:

Braeden sent this.  It's the first slide in a presentation he is doing for a class he TAs.

As long as I'm in the family texting group, I'll be happy. 

Peaceful transfer

 I missed the inauguration because it was during writing and if you think I can watch an inauguration while trying to coax words out of third graders, I can't.  Sometimes it feels like I have to use the jaws of life to extricate those words.

I did get analysis (and pictures) from my family though.  Braeden commented on the speech, Emma on the music and Adam pointed out that Chief Justice Roberts has now sworn in two presidents who voted against him.  Mark had opinions on everything and shared them over bowls of soup last night before he went to work.  He is, after all, 18 and knows everything.

Here's what struck me (I caught myself up a little when I got home).

I loved the poet.  Everything from her coat to her delivery style to her words.  I love words.  Also, poets make life richer.

I loved the former presidents (well, except one...) sitting behind the new president.  To me they were a message of we've got your back to the president as well as a reminder of how power transfers peacefully in our country.  I love the idea that despite all our differing opinions and ideologies and priorities, democracy means we get along anyway.

(Sometimes getting along means keeping your opinions to yourself and I'm OK with that.)

What struck me the very most was the moment of silence for those whose lives were lost to COVID.  I wonder if by now everyone knows at least someone who has died from it.  

The new administration has their work cut out for them and I wish them all the best.