Happy Halloween/Happy Nevada Day (for those who celebrate)

 If I could bottle up the energy at the school the past few days, my mom could stop worrying about me drinking caffeine.

I could drink that instead.

Here's hoping we survive the day (and tomorrow, which will be worse).

It is happy to be around happy and excited children though.  It's contagious and even though Halloween lives at the very bottom of my favorite holiday list, here I am, sort of excited right along with them.

I helped decorate the hall a little after the faculty meeting.  We don't enter into things lightly.

(Speaking of the faculty meeting, I got a shout out--and the gift card that goes along with it--from Maren, who had been testing ML students in the classroom next to mine for the past two weeks.  She said she wanted to give me a shout out because she had eavesdropped on me the whole time and "it was hilarious."  I'm not 100% sure how to feel about that, but hey, I got a gift card.)

Also, besides being beside themselves with excitement, my students have been delighting me.

One was looking for a book recommendation and he had just finished reading Christopher Mouse and loved it.  I showed him the Beverly Cleary shelf and handed him The Mouse and the Motorcycle. I told him a 30 second book review and a huge smile spread on his face and he grabbed the book and went straight to reading it.

Adam gets bonuses at work and I never do, but I felt like I did in that moment.

Here are some other good things:

At the faculty meeting, we were asked to submit names of students who could use some extra holiday love. Being part of a school that cares so much about their students and families makes me happy.

At the end of the day, my students were coloring Halloween pictures and I played Ghost Girl for them which is my very favorite song of Emma's.  They were stunned.  They said things like, "Wait, you know her?!?" and "Is that actually her singing?!?" and, "She made this song up?!?"

They are a very easy crowd (but it's a good song, says her mother).  

Some of them walked over to look at my family picture on the wall, suddenly more interested in Emma.

They make me laugh and often I have to suppress it like when a girl came mournfully to my desk and asked in an injured voice if she could go to the wellness room.  (And the Academy Award goes to....)

I asked her why she wanted to go and she paused and then said, "I can't remember."

I told her to go sit down.

The final thing delighting me is that I got an email from one of my room parents and she said they had the entire Halloween party handled and hopefully I could "just sit back and relax."

Usually the Halloween party feels like juggling flaming torches, so I will take it!

Fear and outrage; us and them

I had a conversation with a friend who shrugged like she didn't care when I said that if the district split, there wouldn't be the educational resources for children in the district that there are now.  She didn't care and I was effectively stunned into silence.

I strive to be informed about the presidential election, but it leaves me feeling depleted and often revolted.

Adam and I were talking about the fear and outrage that is dished out in the media from both the left and the right.  It is discouraging and bears very little resemblance to the country we thought we grew up in.

There's a lot of us versus them and very little we the people.  Most people I know are like me and don't want to align with us or them, but here we are.

So after school yesterday, my team and I cut out pumpkins and hung up Halloween decorations in the hall (I have two former college basketball players for teammates which comes in handy, I must say.)

We talked about ways to make the holiday fun.

We planned lessons and graded the math test we'd given.  

We sent texts and emails to parents.

In short, we did what we could.  We'll keep doing what we can.  It's all any of us can do.

That, and be kind.

I am constantly telling my students, "Just because someone does something wrong, doesn't mean you should do something wrong."

I hope I have the fortitude for the next month.

We survived it

Yesterday was...a day.  I don't even know.

I had traffic duty and then a parent waylaid me in the office to find out about the field trip and then another person stopped me and then my student whose birthday it is wanted to walk and talk with me and all the while I was wading through people to get to my classroom.  

Matt was there when I got there and said, "There are kids outside."

I said, "I'm coming!"

(They aren't going to die if they wait three minutes outside.)

The kids were all keyed up and one student threw a tantrum because of their field trip group.  (Also threw their desk.)

We got everyone sorted and got the lunches sorted and went for the buses and someone forgot her jacket, so I had Miriam watch my class and we went back for it.

It was 9:00 AM and I was already looking for my serenity!

We got to the field trip, at the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point.  They always love it and everyone behaved pretty well.

In with the butterflies, one of my boys said he wanted to leave.  His tone of voice told me that he was terrified.  I took him outside the enclosure and a few more students wanted to go too, so we watched through the window.

Three of them decided after a while to go back, but my little buddy stayed with me and flinched every time a butterfly came close to the window.

We finally got everyone gathered up when it was time to go and we headed to a park.  They had to eat before we let them play.  One of my students had two full-size Hostess cupcakes, a sleeve of powdered donuts and a quart-size bag bulging with candy for lunch.  He had two large sugary drinks to wash it all down.  I had already eaten my sandwich, but I gave him my orange, which he happily took.  (I offered to peel it.  Even still, my children are more inclined to eat an orange if I will peel it.  He wanted me to peel it.)  His lunch explains a whole lot.

It's a new big park in Lehi and it was a lot of fun.  And fraught with injuries.  Kids were crying and limping right and left and it was up to us to parse out who was actually hurt.

One kid had hit his head and was bleeding and an enthusiastic chaperone went to her car and had some  bandages she wanted to stick on his head, which would have stuck in his hair.  I vetoed that.  I had him sit by me for a few minutes and then he was good to go again.

At the end, one of Miriam's students was wailing because she had lost her glasses.  Alissa and I both wear glasses and we sent out students back into the playground to find them.

Miriam stood there nonchalantly waiting for us.

Finally we decided if she didn't care, we wouldn't either.  We gathered everyone up again and the glasses were on the bus all along.

One of my girls wanted to sit by me on the bus, both on the way and on the way back.  We chatted about Halloween and scary movies and her brother (who used to be my student) and her primary program.

She was quiet, looking out the window, as we drove back to the school.  She suddenly turned to me and asked, "How do people who paint His picture know what Jesus looks like?"

I said that was a good question and I think they made their best guess.

She said, "Hmm, OK."

The minute we got back to the school and everyone needed to use the bathroom and get a drink, we were supposed to go to the 1st grade Halloween program.  We hightailed it to the gym for the program and then back to class to celebrate the birthday in the few minutes before school was out.

In our haste, there was a kerfuffle in the line behind me that I didn't see and I had to go to the office after school and identify just who shoved who.  Luckily no one was badly hurt.  

A fifth grade teacher happened to be in the office while I was watching and gasped at them shoving each other to the ground.  I said, "Lucky you!  You'll get them in two years."

She said, "I'll retire by then."

I told her nice try, but she was too young.

When it was all said and done, I just wanted a nap, but we had to plan next week and realign our literacy groups and I had to meet with Matt to go over my observation.

Mondays.  I'm telling you.  I felt dysregulated when I got home, but we had YEN and YEN is fun.  We ate a delicious dinner (it's always delicious) and played a few games that no one really cared too much about winning, but were fun.  We dabbled in political talk, but not too far.  We mentioned our children, but not too much.  We mostly just talked and it was just the antidote I needed for my day.

Weekend

 Friday night I hosted my connections group.  It's basically book club without books.  Emily and Jamie and Janelle came and I loved visiting with them.  Neither Emily nor Janelle are at Bonneville anymore so it is nice to catch up with them.

Adam helped me set up for the party.  You've never seen anyone arrange vegetables with that kind of precision.

Saturday morning Adam went and helped someone move and I went to CVS and got shingles, flu and Covid vaccinations.

The lady checking me in raised her eyebrows and said, "Wow.  All three."

The lady administering the shots was getting all ready and I asked, "Was this a mistake?"

She said, "Well, I just hope you don't plan on doing anything tomorrow."

Gulp.

I started feeling kind of weird in the afternoon.  My joints got a little sore and my head was a little floaty, but I was OK.  

We went to the Jordan River temple with Carolina and her fans.

I loved being there with so many people I love.  

On Instagram (where I swiped the picture from Marianne), she said that this must be what heaven feels like and I agree.

After the temple we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner and the guy in charge was the least customer-is-right person you ever met.

He said he didn't have room for us.  We said, "We are OK being at separate tables."

He said, "You say that, but then you'll move the tables."

We promised we wouldn't.  Adam became the ambassador talking to him.  We had to stand off to the side until the entire group had paid, then he led us to the back and reinforced that we weren't to move tables.

In the line, he chided Robert for using the wrong plate.  Robert didn't know what to do with the wrong plate he was holding (put it back in the pile of plates?) so he held onto it under another correct plate.  The guy was waiting for him at the end of the line and said, "I told you you couldn't use that plate."

Robert said, "I didn't know what to do with it."

The guy said, "Give it to me."

Later, most of the people had left and Marianne, Robert, Emma and Adam and I were lingering and chatting.  The guy came up to us and said we needed to leave because people were waiting for the table.

Wow.

If you didn't think someone could take a pizza buffet restaurant that seriously, you were wrong.

I slept OK considering my sore arms woke me up whenever I moved, but I woke up feeling awful.  I was nauseous and achey.  I kept thinking, "Maybe I'll feel better after I take a bath."  But then it took me a very long time to have the gumption to take a bath.

Adam sent me the link to watch church from home, which I appreciated, but I missed going to church.  We were gone last week too and I like going to church.

I spent the day thinking, "OK, I'm feeling better," and then realizing, "No, I'm really not."

I better not get shingles or the flu or Covid!

By late afternoon, I was feeling more like a person.  Emma and Mark came over and I had heated up some Costco soup, so it was very fancy.  Mark had a new Nerf gun that he had won as a prize.  I said, "What is your life like?"

He just smiled.

Adam had been at church from 7:00 until 5:30.  He had tithing declaration and meetings and I appreciate him and how much he serves.

We sat around and visited and told Mark not to shoot us.  Then we played dominoes.  It was a different domino game than we had ever played and I read the rules, which doesn't ever happen and here's why.

After the first round, Mark read the rules and then we played it the correct way.

We played a few rounds and at one point someone said, "Are we keeping score?"

We weren't.

We're very uncompetitive (except sometimes Emma and me with word games).

Then we played Pass the Pigs.  It's so nice to have our kids over on Sunday evening.

Yesterday I talked to Braeden and Anna and QE and she was zooming around in her crazed I-didn't-have-a-nap-but-I-still-kind-of need-one state.  She was running a circle around Braeden and Anna and singing at full volume, "I love Mama she loves me, I love Daddy yessiree.  He loves me and so you see, we are a happy family!"

Braeden said, "Pray for us...."

If they lived close by, my Sunday evenings would be peak Thelma.

Grateful Friday

 Yesterday I put this on my door:

I saw the idea and bought a little Teachers Pay Teachers set.  I asked my class to help me remember the books I'd read to them so far this year.  I wrote the titles on the book covers.

It made me very happy that they remembered a lot of the books that I had forgotten about!

(It also made me happy that the set came with plants.)

I will keep adding to it as the year goes on and I read more books to them.

I am constantly preaching to them that I am teaching them math (trying to at least) because they will use it all the time as adults.  To that end, I presented them with my problem.  The shelves were two inches tall, the books were nine inches tall.  The door below the window was 38 inches.  I had them help me decide how far apart to place the shelves.  (I gave them guidance because we haven't even learned division yet.)

I love my little corner of the world.  Sometimes it is sheer chaos and sometimes it is aggravating, but sometimes it is downright delightful.

I'm grateful for room 108.

Man, no wonder I don't know what 9 x 9 is!

 Yesterday I went to Trader Joe's after school to pick up a few things for my Connections party on Friday.  I decided to name my quarterly gathering I have with my teacher friends Connections because it needed a name and I want to stay connected to them.

The guy at the check stand said, "Third grade teacher?"

Pointing to my Third Grade Crew t-shirt, I said, "How did you know?"

He said, "Lucky guess."

Then, like people often tell me, he said, "I remember my 3rd grade teacher."

I was prepared to hear some warm and cozy memory and he said, "She was pregnant and we had subs all the time.  All we did was watch movies.  It seems like we watched movies every day."

I said, "That's terrible!"

He said, "Yeah, I loved it at the time, but now I think, 'Man, no wonder I don't know what 9 X 9 is!'"

I don't show my students movies every day, but sadly some of them might emerge not knowing what 9 X 9 is.

Yesterday I had a little knot of students playing with something under their desks.

I said, "Put whatever you are playing with on my desk."

One of them sheepishly asked, "All of them?"

I said, "Yes."

Why they had four of these pens between them under the desks is beyond me.

At recess, I broke up the band.  I moved desks, like I do.

They had been in class a full 30 minutes when one of the chatty kids almost fell off her chair, because she was so startled by the quiet girl sitting next to her.

"How long has she been there?!?" she gasped.

"Since recess," I said.  "I moved desks."

It made me feel better about them not always picking up what I'm setting down.  I'm trying. 

It isn't always a me problem....

(And I need about twelve more quiet girls to slip next to students.)

When Tuesday is a Monday

 Yesterday I woke up with a headache, which is no way to live.

If you noticed the format was wonky on my blog, it's because my computer went a little haywire.  I was typing and the cursor started moving on its own and deleting things.  I did all the things, turned it off and on, turned wi-fi off and on.  It was crazy.

Adam, on his way to high stakes meetings, offered sympathy but was too busy to help.

It finally stopped being so wacky, but when I tried to fix the weird spaces, it freaked out again.

So far so good today.  Hopefully it will last.

At school, my computer (different computer) wouldn't connect to airplay so I couldn't cast my screen on the board.  It seems like that wouldn't be as vital as it is, but some of our curriculum is only in slides that I show on my computer. 

I was thwarted.

My students were all shouting Harry Potter spells at the screen to try to make it work.  (8 year olds shouting Harry Potter spells isn't as great for headaches as you might think.)

During my prep, I found the innovative learning coach who truly is one of the most helpful people I know.  She said the same thing happened to a second grade teacher and what finally fixed it was climbing up on a chair and unplugging the AppleTV and then plugging back in.

So then it worked.

The day improved, but my headache did not.  (Can someone show me how to unplug and plug back in?)

Monday night we had fruit and cheese and crackers for dinner, which is truly one of my favorite meals, but I decided to go to the store and get actual groceries after school yesterday.

I did my shopping, but was stymied at the checkout.  I've had the same PIN for my debit card for a few years and I entered it wrong and then I couldn't remember the right way (still with the headache).  I was at Winco and they only take debit cards, so I didn't know what to do about my recalcitrant brain.

I finally entered the four numbers in the right sequence.

Also at Winco, I ran into a Bonneville family.  One of the girls, a sixth grader who wasn't in my class, said, "Hi Mrs. Davis!"

It made me feel better.

The takeaway is to say hello.  It just might be the lifeline a person is looking for to lift them out of a Tuesday that is feeling a lot like a Monday.