It's amazing how one little thing can throw off an entire week. For us it's Week of Prayer. That means that the first half hour of every day is over in the church for assembly. Sounds good, and they've been enjoying the meetings, but it means that the routine of the day is different. Routines being as crucial as they are, this is a bad thing! We'll survive for one more day, then have a three day week next week...then a long weekend! Woohoo!
Joke of the day: Why do we carry umbrellas when it rains? Because umbrellas can't walk!
Non-Joke of the day: What do you get when you combine a sunrise at 8:26am, dark clouds, heavy rain, a migraine, a couple of burned out lights, a change in routine, and cranky children? Grumpy Teacher.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I'm baaaack!
It's amazing how one messed up summer can drastically change all plans. Yikes! That said, with the school year well under way again, I'm finally ready to get back to blogging. What better way to do so than with humour?
First: Student wails, caterwauls, shrieks, giggles, and generally makes a huge ruckus for no apparent reason. What does any sane teacher ask the student to do? Stop the noise, of course! How did this charming student respond? "But teacher, I'm just making a joyful noise to the Lord!" I didn't pursue it.
Next: Knock, knock? Who's there? Toilet. Or, monkey on the toilet. Or, any other possible attempt to get away with using bathroom words. At lunch time. *sigh*
Then: M says "Teacher! O pinched me!"
I say "O, why did you pinch M?"
O replies "He told me to pinch!"
I say "M, why did you tell O to pinch you?"
M replies "Because I was spanking her."
I didn't pursue that, either.
Finally: We took a field trip to the local police station. A wonderful time was had by all, the students all behaved, no one got tied into the restraint chair (though they did ask), no one was left in jail (again, they asked), the students were thrilled to find out that prisoners get to eat Eggo waffles for breakfast (and wanted to become prisoners, themselves!)...and the officers mostly kept straight faces. Why is this important? Here are the questions that I dropped off ahead of time...as a warning! I felt that they deserved to know what sort of things they were in for, and was actually very pleased that the kids remembered so many of them so that I could watch the reactions!
Kindergarten-Grade One Questions to ask the Police Men and Women
1. What do prisoners drink? (Around here? Nothing suitable for students, haha.)
2. Do Police Officers go to jail?
3. Do Police Officers get tickets?
4. What do prisoners sleep on?
5. What do pregnant prisoners sleep on?
6. What do prisoners eat?
7. Do Police Officers take care of mean animals? (Fortunately, I was able to redirect this one when the officers looked worried about having to talk about their answer!)
8. How and where do prisoners go to the bathroom? (One little darling sniffed the jail cell's sink, to see how clean it was. Who does that?)
9. Do on-duty officers sleep in the station?
10. Do Police Dogs get bathroom breaks? (NEWS UPDATE! Police dogs are trained to go before a mission, and then just "hold it"! If dogs can do this, why can't five year olds?)
11. Does Port Hardy have Police Dogs? Nope! The nearest Police Dog is two and a half hours away.
12. How does the Police boat catch speeders?
13. Do Police Officers deal with people who break the law by taking their boats too close to the whales in the water?
14. Where do officers store their gear? In lockers, like the big kids at school.
15. Where do Police Dogs stay? With their trainers.
16. What do Police Officers do when people are shooting?
17. Do bad guys in P.H. throw people to the whales to get eaten? No.
18. Do Police Officers get bathroom breaks when they are on a mission?
19. In the olden days, where did Police Officers keep their horses? In their barns.
20. Do Police Officers get in fights with each other?
21. Do Police Officers get bathroom breaks? (Clearly, this was VERY important!)
22. Do Police Officers take care of people who are in danger?
23. Do Police Officers kill dangerous animals who are attacking? Not unless they have to.
24. Do Police Officers save animals from danger?
25. Do Police Officers find fossils?
Then, these unexpected gems came up:
26. Can you use your cell phone to call heaven? No, the long distance charges would be expensive.
27. Can you use your cell phone to call hell? No.
28. Why do you have a wheel chair with a seatbelt? (That was the chair with restraints. The officer froze up, I thought fast and told the students that sometimes prisoners forget that it's in their best interest to just sit still and behave...just like students sometimes forget that it's best to just stay in time out and be still. The officer looked very relieved. Hahaha...)
29. Do you get to eat lunch?
30. Will you shoot me with your gun?
The officers only choked once. I had to step out once to laugh, and repeatedly ensured that I didn't make any eye contact with the adults in the room.
Gotta love the little ones!
First: Student wails, caterwauls, shrieks, giggles, and generally makes a huge ruckus for no apparent reason. What does any sane teacher ask the student to do? Stop the noise, of course! How did this charming student respond? "But teacher, I'm just making a joyful noise to the Lord!" I didn't pursue it.
Next: Knock, knock? Who's there? Toilet. Or, monkey on the toilet. Or, any other possible attempt to get away with using bathroom words. At lunch time. *sigh*
Then: M says "Teacher! O pinched me!"
I say "O, why did you pinch M?"
O replies "He told me to pinch!"
I say "M, why did you tell O to pinch you?"
M replies "Because I was spanking her."
I didn't pursue that, either.
Finally: We took a field trip to the local police station. A wonderful time was had by all, the students all behaved, no one got tied into the restraint chair (though they did ask), no one was left in jail (again, they asked), the students were thrilled to find out that prisoners get to eat Eggo waffles for breakfast (and wanted to become prisoners, themselves!)...and the officers mostly kept straight faces. Why is this important? Here are the questions that I dropped off ahead of time...as a warning! I felt that they deserved to know what sort of things they were in for, and was actually very pleased that the kids remembered so many of them so that I could watch the reactions!
Kindergarten-Grade One Questions to ask the Police Men and Women
1. What do prisoners drink? (Around here? Nothing suitable for students, haha.)
2. Do Police Officers go to jail?
3. Do Police Officers get tickets?
4. What do prisoners sleep on?
5. What do pregnant prisoners sleep on?
6. What do prisoners eat?
7. Do Police Officers take care of mean animals? (Fortunately, I was able to redirect this one when the officers looked worried about having to talk about their answer!)
8. How and where do prisoners go to the bathroom? (One little darling sniffed the jail cell's sink, to see how clean it was. Who does that?)
9. Do on-duty officers sleep in the station?
10. Do Police Dogs get bathroom breaks? (NEWS UPDATE! Police dogs are trained to go before a mission, and then just "hold it"! If dogs can do this, why can't five year olds?)
11. Does Port Hardy have Police Dogs? Nope! The nearest Police Dog is two and a half hours away.
12. How does the Police boat catch speeders?
13. Do Police Officers deal with people who break the law by taking their boats too close to the whales in the water?
14. Where do officers store their gear? In lockers, like the big kids at school.
15. Where do Police Dogs stay? With their trainers.
16. What do Police Officers do when people are shooting?
17. Do bad guys in P.H. throw people to the whales to get eaten? No.
18. Do Police Officers get bathroom breaks when they are on a mission?
19. In the olden days, where did Police Officers keep their horses? In their barns.
20. Do Police Officers get in fights with each other?
21. Do Police Officers get bathroom breaks? (Clearly, this was VERY important!)
22. Do Police Officers take care of people who are in danger?
23. Do Police Officers kill dangerous animals who are attacking? Not unless they have to.
24. Do Police Officers save animals from danger?
25. Do Police Officers find fossils?
Then, these unexpected gems came up:
26. Can you use your cell phone to call heaven? No, the long distance charges would be expensive.
27. Can you use your cell phone to call hell? No.
28. Why do you have a wheel chair with a seatbelt? (That was the chair with restraints. The officer froze up, I thought fast and told the students that sometimes prisoners forget that it's in their best interest to just sit still and behave...just like students sometimes forget that it's best to just stay in time out and be still. The officer looked very relieved. Hahaha...)
29. Do you get to eat lunch?
30. Will you shoot me with your gun?
The officers only choked once. I had to step out once to laugh, and repeatedly ensured that I didn't make any eye contact with the adults in the room.
Gotta love the little ones!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Roller Coaster
This has been a summer of emotions! Big ups, huge downs, and everything in between.
I'm down to only a few days before returning to P.H. and have way too much still to accomplish.
Will I make it? Today I think so, tomorrow, who knows?!
I'm down to only a few days before returning to P.H. and have way too much still to accomplish.
Will I make it? Today I think so, tomorrow, who knows?!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Summer! Or, "My Rebuttal to Those-Who-Believe-That-Teachers-Have-Summers-Off"
Well, look at this! It hasn't even been a full week, and here I go posting again. Woohoo!
I am so excited to only be teaching two grades this coming year: Kindergarten and Grade One. Yay for revamping the elementary end of the school! Suddenly, school life seems manageable again! Granted, I have absolutely no idea how many students I might end up with (due to tuition incentives and a public school in town closing)...but at least I know what I'll teach!
I'm also excited to have my Math, Language Arts, Science, and PE course overviews ready to go, my thematic units planned out by month, and all of the subjects planned for the year (I just don't have all of the learning outcomes/official stuff attached to each). I have to get my "theme boxes" filled with all of the resources and supplies for the different units, but that will be fun. Hours of work, but fun. I'm also hoping to get to my actual lesson plans for the first few weeks of school.
I have to buy the school supplies for all of my students, as they really aren't available up on the North Island. Unfortunately, without knowing how many students to buy for, this will be a challenge! I'm hoping to hold out until Teacher Appreciation Days in August at Staples!
Along with those, I've been down to Montana while Mom defended her Masters' Thesis, spent a small fortune at book stores, spent another small fortune at fabric stores, and made a baby quilt (well, it still needs to have the edges bound). I've made a running trip back to P.H., spent time cleaning out my classroom, re-did my apartment (thanks, in most part, to Mom's hard work!), and divided resources to send all of the Grade Two materials to the Grades Two and Three teacher.
I have my new classroom blog up and running, our new travelling buddy off on his first adventure, and lots of little projects lined up for the summer (doll quilts, new curtains for the classroom, etc).
Did I mention Camp Meeting? Yep, Mom and I are leading out for the 3&4 year old division again (yay!). We'll head down next week to clean out spiders and mice in preparation for all of our little people.
I have to take two courses this summer. Neither one holds a whole lot of interest for me, but they are required. *sigh* At least I am able to challenge the exams! I just have to do a lot of studying.
It's been busy so far, and the summer is only going to get busier.
Teachers' Meetings, August 24-26. during this time I will be labeling pencil boxes, markers, crayons, pencil crayons, erasers, notebooks, duotangs, waterbottles, and everything else which will go on the student desks. Each. And. Every. Crayon. Seems ridiculous, but saves a lot of hassle later on.
Race up to P.H. for an intense five days of reorganizing and setting up my classroom, prepping for all of the students who will (hopefully!) have registered, packing up the school supply kits, photocopying madly, laminating like a maniac, slapping name tags everywhere, labeling everything in the room so that students see real language at work, tripping over the horrible carpet in my classroom (unless, by some miracle, it's been really repaired or replaced. That, however, would mean hauling everything out of my room and then bringing it back in), and then racing back to Kelowna before Friday, September 3.
Labour Day weekend is my cousin Danielle's wedding (for which I am official coordinator). Then, race back to P.H. and get back just in time for school to start on Tuesday, September 7. There will only be a month of consistency before I'm racing back to Kelowna for my brother Shaun's wedding to Sarah (for which I'm helping to make the cakes, taste tests and such to be done in August)!
I'm tired just looking at the list! My saving grace is that so much of the studying, course outlining, label-making, supply sorting, and quilting can be done outside. In the sun. Or, in the shade. In the mountains. At the beach. Without getting up at 5:00am.
*bliss*
I am so excited to only be teaching two grades this coming year: Kindergarten and Grade One. Yay for revamping the elementary end of the school! Suddenly, school life seems manageable again! Granted, I have absolutely no idea how many students I might end up with (due to tuition incentives and a public school in town closing)...but at least I know what I'll teach!
I'm also excited to have my Math, Language Arts, Science, and PE course overviews ready to go, my thematic units planned out by month, and all of the subjects planned for the year (I just don't have all of the learning outcomes/official stuff attached to each). I have to get my "theme boxes" filled with all of the resources and supplies for the different units, but that will be fun. Hours of work, but fun. I'm also hoping to get to my actual lesson plans for the first few weeks of school.
I have to buy the school supplies for all of my students, as they really aren't available up on the North Island. Unfortunately, without knowing how many students to buy for, this will be a challenge! I'm hoping to hold out until Teacher Appreciation Days in August at Staples!
Along with those, I've been down to Montana while Mom defended her Masters' Thesis, spent a small fortune at book stores, spent another small fortune at fabric stores, and made a baby quilt (well, it still needs to have the edges bound). I've made a running trip back to P.H., spent time cleaning out my classroom, re-did my apartment (thanks, in most part, to Mom's hard work!), and divided resources to send all of the Grade Two materials to the Grades Two and Three teacher.
I have my new classroom blog up and running, our new travelling buddy off on his first adventure, and lots of little projects lined up for the summer (doll quilts, new curtains for the classroom, etc).
Did I mention Camp Meeting? Yep, Mom and I are leading out for the 3&4 year old division again (yay!). We'll head down next week to clean out spiders and mice in preparation for all of our little people.
I have to take two courses this summer. Neither one holds a whole lot of interest for me, but they are required. *sigh* At least I am able to challenge the exams! I just have to do a lot of studying.
It's been busy so far, and the summer is only going to get busier.
Teachers' Meetings, August 24-26. during this time I will be labeling pencil boxes, markers, crayons, pencil crayons, erasers, notebooks, duotangs, waterbottles, and everything else which will go on the student desks. Each. And. Every. Crayon. Seems ridiculous, but saves a lot of hassle later on.
Race up to P.H. for an intense five days of reorganizing and setting up my classroom, prepping for all of the students who will (hopefully!) have registered, packing up the school supply kits, photocopying madly, laminating like a maniac, slapping name tags everywhere, labeling everything in the room so that students see real language at work, tripping over the horrible carpet in my classroom (unless, by some miracle, it's been really repaired or replaced. That, however, would mean hauling everything out of my room and then bringing it back in), and then racing back to Kelowna before Friday, September 3.
Labour Day weekend is my cousin Danielle's wedding (for which I am official coordinator). Then, race back to P.H. and get back just in time for school to start on Tuesday, September 7. There will only be a month of consistency before I'm racing back to Kelowna for my brother Shaun's wedding to Sarah (for which I'm helping to make the cakes, taste tests and such to be done in August)!
I'm tired just looking at the list! My saving grace is that so much of the studying, course outlining, label-making, supply sorting, and quilting can be done outside. In the sun. Or, in the shade. In the mountains. At the beach. Without getting up at 5:00am.
*bliss*
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Meet Blackberry
I'm looking for classrooms for a small black bear (stuffed, of course) to visit over the next school year. Blackberry would like to visit students of all ages in their classrooms...all over the world, preferably! His adventures will be chronicled on my classroom blog and will also be tracked on a big map in my classroom. This year I will be teaching Kindergarten-Grade One. Let me know if you are interested!
Blackberry's picture will be posted...but I think that I may have left him in Port Hardy! It might be a few weeks before you get to see him!
Blackberry's picture will be posted...but I think that I may have left him in Port Hardy! It might be a few weeks before you get to see him!
Link to my Classroom Blog
Sooooo...this whole blog more often thing isn't working so well for me. I've now set my cell phone alarm to remind me to post! *sigh*
That said, I've set up a classroom blog. It will involve pictures and details about what's happening in my classroom. It's going to be a daily blog...enforced!...as I will be using it to keep parents informed. As it is going to include pictures of my students, it will be set to "private" once the school year has started. Feel free to check it out before then, and to request access if you want it! :)
http://shannong.edublogs.org/
Many of the postings will be duplicated, minus the specific student details and pictures, on this site.
That said, I've set up a classroom blog. It will involve pictures and details about what's happening in my classroom. It's going to be a daily blog...enforced!...as I will be using it to keep parents informed. As it is going to include pictures of my students, it will be set to "private" once the school year has started. Feel free to check it out before then, and to request access if you want it! :)
http://shannong.edublogs.org/
Many of the postings will be duplicated, minus the specific student details and pictures, on this site.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Almost...Summer...Can't...Wait...!
How do I encourage myself to blog more frequently? What would it take to get more stuff up on this silly page? Perhaps I should set a "blog now!" alert on my cell phone, every week or so. That might help.
That said, it's almost summertime! Woohoo! One more day!
That said, it's almost summertime! Woohoo! One more day!
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