Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

First grade was full of Halloween festivities today! We started out the morning by carving a pumpkin:



The kids were eagerly waiting!



First we read a fun book called Pumpkin Heads and voted on which one we should try to re-create on our own pumpkin. Then we started the carving. It smelled up my whole classroom! Some of the kids helped me scoop our the "guts" and others were just silly:



And then our pumpkin was finished! I put a flashlight in it and turned off the lights in the classroom. As soon as he started shining, the kids broke out in the song "Happy Birthday." At first I was confused so I asked them why. They matter-of-factly responded "Mrs. White, it IS his brithday. He was born today in our classroom!" I really thought that was pretty clever for a group of six year olds. They're a very creative class!


The kids decided to name him Jack O'lantern, and call him Mr. O'lantern.



Later in the day, we did word problems on our bar diagrams in math using skittles.





Then in the afternoon we played Sight Words Bingo:





Have you ever seen anything cuter than this excited little boy? He hadn't even WON, he just got to cover up a word and he had only 1 MORE!!!!!



It was a very good day! We also started preparation for our new fluency boxes which will go into effect next week. More on those another day, but I am so excited about them. The only bad thing is that I have already been to 3 Dollar Trees collecting the containers that I need and I am still short 8 of them. So we know what I'll be doing tomorrow :)
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When I got home Kevin, Bella, and I got dressed for Halloween and headed out to sit in our driveway and hand out candy for our first Halloween in our house. I was a cat, Kevin was a hunter (B-O-R-I-N-G), and of course Bella was a bee. Tex wasn't aloud outside after about 5 minutes because he kept growling at small children. :(





I hope you had a great Halloween, also!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Just what I needed :)

It seems like every time I start feeling frustrated with things at work, something happens that puts things back into perspective and makes it all worthwhile. Let me tell you about today!

I have been KILLING myself trying to get the little boy I've written about before, "D," to learn to read. He was in Kindergarten twice and could still not match letters with their sounds at the beginning of the year. Since the kids are supposed to be reading 20 words per minute by January, he is waaaay behind. Our CRS has been working with him in a small group daily, he is one of the few first graders with access to Imagination Station, a reading recovery computer program, and I am still also working with him in a small group setting daily.

Today we were working on sight words in our reading group. D actually knew some of them! And the ones that he didn't recognize he tried to sound out. Yes, you read that right, the kid SOUNDED OUT letters to read words! Not ONLY was he able to recognize the letters, but ALSO match their sounds to them and blend them into words! Every time he read even the smallest word I made a HUGE deal out of it and about how smart he was! He was saying "Yeah, I know I'm smart now!" The coolest thing was that the other kids in the group, who of course knew way more words than he did, were so supportive and encouraging as well! One little girl even said "D, I am so proud of you for being so smart!" It almost brought tears to my eyes; this is the kind of classroom I have been striving to have - supportive, caring kids working together.

So then I gave D TWO stickers, one for each hand. Another little girl came up to me and tattled that D thought he was "smarter than her." I assured her that she was just as smart, but explained to her that we should let D feel extra special because of all the new words he read today. I asked her if she would help me make him feel special. She agreed, walked over to him, and gave him a HUGE hug and a high five. Again, are these kids amazing or what? At 6 years old to be able to do that for another student, seriously.

I turned my back to go get E (the girl) a sticker, and by the time I was walking back over to her, D had already given her one of his stickers, saying that she was smart and such a good friend and he would share. Wow.





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Then this afternoon we had the most awesome assembly ever. It was this guy doing digital mixes of music and sounds, and teaching the kids about using technology in music and entertainment. He was so talented and so funny with the kids! He made a mix using weird sounds that different kids made into the microphone and played it for us. He turned the sounds into drums and all kinds of other things. Then he called up 8 kids to dance in the front of the cafeteria, with the WHOLE school watching. 'Jake's' hand shot up so fast when he asked for volunteers. I stood up behind him and pointed to him so he would be called on, and he was. OMG it was so funny. I laughed until I cried and my sides hurt. That little boy has some MOVES, let me tell you. He was down on the ground break dancing and his little feet were moving 100 mph. I wish I had a video of it. Then afterwards I held him on my lap for a few minutes until the program was over. I do my very best to make 'Jake' independent and 'grown up,' but sometimes I just need some 'Jake' love, lol. He always asks to hold my hand etc, and I usually say no, but I just couldn't turn down his sweet request to sit in my lap today. I love that kid.

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In other news, Kevin is outside playing war with the neigborhood boys. Nice. We havent even had dinner because he won't put down his airsoft gun. And he's upset because the neighbor kid has three and they are "so much cooler than his." Haha. Boys will be boys I suppose. :)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Tattle Book

I am so tired of kids running up to me to tattle on people for silly things! A "tattle" is defined, in my class, as any "telling" when there is not someone getting hurt or in danger of getting hurt. If someone takes your pencil, you are not in danger or getting hurt (unless of course you pounce on that person and subsequently get punched - another story for another day). Thus, it's a tattle.

Today I started the "Tattle Book." It's a yellow spiral notebook with sad faces on it. I told my kids that any tattles can be written in it and I'll read it at the end of each day after they go home. I had no intention of actually doing so. However, for some reason I picked it up and thumbed through it today after school; let me tell you it was HILARIOUS. We started the book at 1pm, and before school was out at 3pm they had two pages filled! Here are some of my favorite tattles. See if you can decipher them, it will be fun!

1. I am mad at you MW for sotping my gam.
translation: I am mad at you Mrs. White, for stopping my game. YES. The first tattle in the book was on me!

2. J din let D du hre tr.
translation: J didn't let D do her turn.

3. A mak me ciy.
translation: A made me cry.

4. I tadd bcuz i told vat piipol wr plug tag.
translation: I taddled because I told that people were playing tag. (tag is a big issue because, in this version of the game, you get tagged by being kicked in the shins).

5. N was rasting.
translation: N was wrestling.

6. K is copin.
translation: K is copying.

7. J rast avbde in awr tabl.
translation: J raced everybody in our table.

8. K hit me on the leim win I was seeing on rag and I was seeing and iren wen you was redn a Book abot pumpkin.
translation: K hit me on the leg when I was sitting on the rug and I was sitting and I ran when you were reading a book about pumpkins - I know, what???

9. N didon gif me my peso.
translation: N didn't give me my pencil. At first I thought...peso? Like the money? Then I remembered a scuffle over a pencil.

AND PROBABLY MY FAVORITE, BLUNT TATTLE:

10. be quit evrybady.
translation: Be quiet everybody. This one was written in all bold AND underlined. Somebody meant business.

So I ask you, if these tattles all were written in less than 2 hours...do you see the need for the tattle book? Maybe these tattle give you just a teeny bit of insight into what goes on in my classroom every day!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Mrs. White and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

Have you ever read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Let me tell you how my very own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day turned into a pretty good one!

First the bad - and I'll make it quick, because that's not really the point of this post. To make a long story short, at 1:15 today all hell broke loose in 1st grade. All within 5 minutes, I had a boy kicking and screaming (for the 2nd time that hour) on my floor interrupting math time, a potty accident on my rug which was very dramatic, and a very unhappy parent (unfairly, but completely related to the potty accident). For some reason all of this struck me at the wrong time and I completely lost it. It wasn't until the school counselor saw me in the hallway and asked me to go talk to the unhappy mom in the clinic that the floodgates opened. She has the same effect on me as a mom does, apparantly. You know when you're so upset and your mom comforts you and it makes you cry more? Yeah.

So there I was, trying to dry my eyes with a cardboard paper towel before re-entering my now out-of-control class of 22 6 year olds. I was standing in the hall wondering if the tears were going to stop any time soon when the second grade teachers and the campus reading specialist saw me. Tracey took me down to her room to let me calm down and Pat, Karen, and Kathy took over my class for a few minutes until it was time for recess. Then my sweet team-mate Emily traded her day off of recess with me so that I could have some extra time to myself. Those teachers gave up their down time today to help me out. That kind of thing does not happen at just any school. I'd be willing to bet there aren't many schools out there in which women so willingly and happily sacrifice to help others.

Then our principal said that, due to 2nd grade and Kathy being such team players, we all get to wear jeans and our team shirts tomorrow! Score. Another up side of the terrible day.

Then some of my good friends from school went out for happy hour with me. It was nice to enjoy some grown-up company after a day like today.

So my point here is that 6 hours ago I was so, so, so, so unhappy. Then, because of the kind hearts of some good friends and co-workers, everything got better! I can end the day on a happy note :)

I'll say it again: I am so blessed to work at my school!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Not Me Monday!



It's time again for Not Me Monday! Check out this blog to see where it all started: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Here are a few things I did not do this week...

It would just be embarrassing if I HAD had this conversation with Kevin:
-Kevin: I never spent any time in the MSC.
-Me: That makes sense because I spent time in study groups there and we both know you didn’t study.
-Kevin: Study? Yeah that’s just another 4 letter word in my book.
-Me: ….It has 5 letters. Maybe you should have studied more.

I did NOT pull up to Petsmart to return the costume that, sadly, is after all too small for Tex and realize that it was covered in hair. This thought did not lead me to believe that I should not return the costume in this condition. Then, it would just be SILLY to, while sitting in my freshly detailed car, SHAKE THE COSTUME to get the hair off. Of course I would have thought about the fact that all of the hair that flew off would land in my clean car. Man I’m glad I didn’t do that; that would have been so ridiculous.

Certainly did not get so broken up with laughter while trying to redirect an irate 1st grader last week that I could not look him in the face without laughing, leading him only to more anger. If you knew this kid, you would understand how this could (not) happen!

Did not, while trying to find the best of the picked-over pumpkins in the tall cardboard boxes at Walmart, accidentally drop my purse into the box. And if that did happen, I would not have been wearing my church clothes as I balanced on the edge of the box on my stomach to fish it out. And even if it WERE true, I would have never let this happen in the front of the store with traffic driving through the parking lot.

I certainly have not already started shopping for Christmas decorations! I did NOT spend 3 hours doing so today. Christmas is definitely not my favorite holiday.

I would never sit at the dinner table with my husband and both of our laptops. He is not that obsessed with his fantasy basketball draft and I am not that obsessed with blogging.

I did not sit down with Kevin today and work on our budget through the end of the year…which resulted in us staring blankly at the computer for a good ten minutes before deciding that next year we should be better money managers.

Kevin and I positively did not spend an hour tonight laughing at Chuck Norris facts online. We have more exciting lives than that!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

It's been longer than usual....

Hi everyone. I know it's been a while since I wrote. This week was so super busy that I was lucky to get to bed before midnight and without a migraine each day!

First of all, it was Red Ribbon Week (for drug awareness). We wore fun things all week long which was fun, but also slightly disruptive - well worth it though :) We also had things going on for RRW all week long that changed our schedules, like pep rallies, planting flowers, and various events during lunch time. If you know anything about kids, you know that consistency is what holds things together. Needless to say it was a rough week!

Also, this week was the week in which we talk about bus safety and evacuations - another highly needed and useful event - but also disruptive. We had a video to show and then we actually had to practice evacuating a bus.

Wednesday night I taught my first night at church. I am helping the 1st-4th graders with our Christmas play - "The Animals of Chirstmas." It is going to be so cute!

Thursday happened to be Dad's Day Lunch Invasion, which is totally unrelated to RRW. A bunch of dads showed up (in their suits and ties lol) to have lunch with their students. It was a cool thing, but again...you guessed it...highly disruptive.

We also looked at some reading test scores from last year at our faculty meeting on Thursday that got me really stressed out about this year. I'm so worried about not getting ALL of our kids where they need to be! My goal for this year is for every single one of them to kick butt on DIBELS, but it's going to be a challenge. When I get in one of those moods, the only thing that makes me feel better is to go home and work, work, work, until I am completely exhausted but feel as though I have accomplished something. I was up very late that night working on Intervention lesson plans, analyzing data, and typing up passages to work with my students for oral reading fluency. In December they are supposed to read 20 words per minute! Right now I have several that are reading about 10, and a few that are only reading 5! Talk about stress...

Friday was our Fall Carnival and the kids were so pumped about it all day that hardly anything I taught got into their heads. Then I worried all day because my classroom was to be used for the "Little Tykes" (under 3 yrs) during the carnival.

Then this morning I taught Saturday school again, which was fun but tiring! I think I just need a break...

Yesterday the kids were so funny! I am working with them on using more advanced vocabulary, especially to express their feelings. Yesterday we worked on frustrated, embarassed, concerned, furious, proud, ecstatic, and exhausted. At any given time, 'Jake' was furious, frustrated, and EXHAUSTED. That one's in all caps because it is his new favorite word. He is always saying "But I'm just so tiiiiired...." Well not anymore. Now he's EXHAUSTED! He is also apparantly very frustrated with me because I was giving them stickers any time they used the big words. I was not aware that he did not like stickers, until he made that very clear by using his new words. He said "I am so furious because I am frustrated with stickers. I don't like them and every time I say a word, all you say is (mimicks me sarcastically) 'Would you like a sticker?' No! I don't want a sticker! I hate stickers!!! Ahhh I'm so EXHAUSTED." D-R-A-M-A!!! At least he used a lot of words, right?

One little boy lost the math game that he was playing and threw himself down on the floor screaming and kicking. A few minutes later he came up to me and said "I feel both embarassed and concerned by what I was doing on the floor." I told him that I felt the same way (lol), and then gave him two stickers.

I'm about to go for a walk with my sweet husband and our sweet dogs, and then I'm taking a long nap. A looooong nap. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Team Up Against Drugs!

As part of Red Ribbon Week, today was called "Team Up Against Drugs" and we were all supposed to wear jerseys or other team shirts. I, of course, opted to wear my Aggies jersey. Imagine my surprise when I walked into school and was greeted by my teammate wearing a (hideous) t.u. shirt. And I used to like her, too... ;)



When all the kids arrived I was so pleased to see that all but two of them had worn sports shirts of some kind! They were so adorable. Here are a few pictures:



Here's our "tough sports guy" faces, as 'Jake' called it:

Jerseys


Dirk Nowitzki doing calendar math:


This is the funniest story! A little girl was wearing the exact same Aggie jersey as me and she was so excited! As you can see from the pictures, I was wearing my hair in (purposefully) messy pigtail bun thingies today. The little girl was looking for more ways that we were alike. She said "Mrs. White, did you make your own pigtails?"

When I answered that I had, she said "Yeah. Sometimes I try to make my own pigtails, too. I'm not very good at it either!" I was like.....um thanks. Haha. Here's a cute pic of us:



Tomorrow is camoflauge day - something about fighting off drugs. Yay!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Not Me! Monday



I am so happy to have found this idea from an awesome blog found here: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Here are some of the things that I definitely did NOT to over the weekend or today.

1. On Saturday night when Kevin bumped into me and made me drop what I was holding, I did not jokingly yell out at him "Watch it you big oaf!" I definitely did not deserve it when he picked me up by my legs, through me over his shoulder, and tossed me onto the couch, either.

2. I would never let a play fight get out of control and run for the airsoft gun (the play gun that shoots out little yellow plastic balls which actually hurts more than you would think). Then I did not shoot my husband in the chest with it. And even if I did, I would not have run, laughing, into the bedroom, locked the door, and hidden the airsoft gun in the pocket of one of my skirts hanging in the closet so that he will never find it. Shh....

3. I did not "pants" my husband while he was carrying his full laundry basket into the living room this weekend. That would be so immature!

...Wow...if I really HAD done these things, which I didn't, it would sure seem as though Kevin took the brunt of them....

4. Remember the comment I made in my last post about trying a new thing with the pumpkin seeds? Well I actually did NOT try it and they did not turn out so DISGUSTING that even my chihuahua wouldn't eat them. And there has (really) never been another thing that she turned up her nose at :(

5. I did not tell Kevin that we needed to go to the grocery store on Saturday night to get a couple of emergency things, and then trick him into coming in with me, only to break the news that we should go ahead and do our semi-weekly grocery shopping. At least if I HAD have done this, it would have saved me a trip by myself on Sunday.

6. I did not scream like a little girl when T snuck up behind me before the other kids had come in from recess and yelled "Boo!" Then I did not get really broken up in laughter when I asked him why he would scare me like that and he answered: "That's just the kind of man I am."

7. I would never laugh at a child who, instead of working quietly in his desk like the rest of the class, decided to get down on his knees and walk around acting like a chicken. Even if it just so happened that it took me totally off guard and for some reason was so random that it was funny, I would never laugh. That would encourage future misbehavior.

8. I swear I did not force my husband to clean the house with me at 11pm on Sunday night because I am unable to get up and go to work in a good mood unless I start the week with a clean house. And then I did not claim that it was "his own fault for watching football all weekend."

9. I would most certainly NEVER take advantage of my 45 minute drive by jotting down my Not Me Monday items. EVER. That would be so unsafe!

What did you NOT do this week?

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Pumpkin fun!

Today after church I carved my Fall pumpkin! It's an absolutely beautiful day and the dogs enjoyed being outside with me for a little while. They had to go inside, though, once they picked a mean fight with the dog next door through the fence. :(

Here's a couple of pictures of my scarecrow pumpkin!





Then I decided to roast the seeds. I've never done that before so I looked online to figure out how. The problem is that I wanted SWEET seeds and all the recipes used salt and garlic to make salty seeds. So I created my own version using cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar. Will that work? I guess we'll find out in...37 minutes. They sure make the house smell delightful, though!



Why do I love Fall so much? Probably because my mother raised me that way :)

Kevin and I are headed to Home Teams in a little while so I'm going to the grocery store to get the drinks we're going to bring. Later!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saturday School and other news

So this morning I taught my first Saturday school ever. I did 4th grade Language Arts and Reading. I was nervous to work with the older kids because I only have experience with the little ones.

How did it go, you ask? I LOVED it! I loved planning for it last night when I only had to worry about one subject and I knew that the kids would be more independent. I loved reading with kids who can read. I loved writing with them as they wrote at nearly the same speed I did, as opposed to slowly looking up at the board before copying each letter that I wrote. I loved using more complex language and examples. I loved at the end of the class when a few of them exclaimed: "We learned a lot today, Mrs. White!" Most of all, I loved going 3 hours without having to say any of the following things (common in 1st grade) even once:

-Get your hands out of your pants.
-Take your finger out of your nose.
-Get your hands off of his throat.
-Who peed on this rug?

It was a great day!

In other news, T's 6,578 T-Rex eggs hatched yesterday. We almost had quite a fight on our hands when Alexander tried to dump them out of their den (an old gatorade bottle) while laughing maniacally. Then apparantly their house blew up, but luckily all of the babies were at the doctor so they are still "surviving."

Also, I showed like 3 kids at recess the magic trick where you take half of your thumb off. Then the news spread and somehow I even had fourth graders today asking to see me take my thumb off! I also did some cartwheels with the boys, which was apparantly pretty entertaining for Mariel and Kelly, who were watching my foolishness through their classroom window.

I'll update later in the weekend! I hope you have a fantastic day!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Giving birth to 6,578 T-rex babies

Today at recess T gave birth to 6,578 T. Rex babies. He filled his shirt with rocks, laid down on the ground under the jungle gym, and proceeded to yell out in labor pains as he slowly dumped handfuls of rocks out of his shirt. He's a proud dad, too. Apparantly all 6,578 T. Rex babies are "surviving since they left the doctor."

Also, 'Jake' fell down the steps of the large metal slide. He didn't get hurt, so don't worry. You kind of had to see it to appreciate the humor. Emily and I were laughing so hysterically that we had tears streaming down our faces! He was all bundled up in his neon yellow hoodie with only his little pale face sticking out. Then here he comes, holding onto the railing on both sides, barreling down the steps, knocking his little butt on each one. The best was when he landed (on his feet), dusted his hands and butt off, and walked off like nothing had just happened.

I am tired. This week has been exhausting. Also, I'm teaching 4th grade Saturday school this week. And don't forget the babies on Sunday morning and the Christmas play kids on Wednesday nights starting next week. Talk about teaching overload! I figured out that I will be teaching kids of one age or another for 20 days straight without a break. At least I love what I do, right? Because I sure do a lot of it!

Kevin's working late tonight. I usually take that opportunity to go shopping, since I don't feel guilty about not being at home with him and it keeps me from being bored. Today I got a new pair of jeans! Now I'm going to go have a glass of wine and watch The Bold and the Beautiful that is recorded from this afternoon. I love my husband more than anything, but I enjoy my "me time" occasionally!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rain, rain go away!

Yes, it rained on our field trip to the Dallas Arboretum. That's the bad news. But I don't want to dwell on the fact that we had to leave 2 hours early, we didn't get to visit the pumpkin patch or Texas Town, or the fact that we all got drenched when the sky opened up during our picnic lunch. Or the fact the for the last few days I have been coming down with something, and being wet all day might have put me over the edge.


Let's focus on the positives. The first good thing is that we were able to get through our entire hour of educational stations during the Treeworks program. The kids were initially very well behaved and I was really pleased with the program.

We learned about habitats, and then even discovered some of our own:






Then we learned about the needs of a tree and made bracelets to remind us of them:



By this time, 'Jake' was pretty much done:


Then, we learned about the inside of a tree trunk and made 'tree cookies' to remind us:



Then we took a class picture in front of some beautiful purple flowers with butterflies in them:


The last thing we were able to do before it rained was START to eat lunch:

Unfortunately, that's when it started raining. This is where we tried to "wait out" the storm, until we realized that it was only getting worse, called the bus, and headed back to school.


All in all, today worked out. It could have been better, but it definitely could have been worse! Plus, how cute are my kiddos???

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A Sticky Situation

Glue your bottoms in your chairs and don't move unless it's an emergency!!!!






....That's just a saying, right?






....Yeah. Well tell that to my two first graders who decided to ACTUALLY glue their bottoms to their chairs today!

It must have been during centers, while I was stepping back and forth between the classroom and the hall, where I was giving a make-up test to two children. The boys thought it would be a good idea to empty an entire bottle of elmers evenly onto their two chairs. We're not talking a dot or two, people. This was PUDDLES of glue. The unfortunate thing is that I never noticed what they were up to.

I didn't notice when they SAT on the glue. I didn't notice when they tried to clean the glue off of their butts and their chairs with KLEENEX. I didn't notice the rapidly drying kleenex shrapnel adhering to their chairs or to their butts.

That is, until the end of the day, when one of the boys had already gone home (because he got kicked IN the eye at recess...that's a whole other story). I had a talk with both of their moms about this disprespect of school property! I told them that one of our tribes agreements is Mutual Respect: for ourselves, our friends, AND our SCHOOL. Both boys are probably in pretty big trouble tonight. Good!


That's not all that happened today to make it interesting! Where shall we begin?

How about with 'Jake?' Those stories are always good.

Today jake slammed his butt into his chair and said "Ouch, I hurt my {insert unknown spanish word}!" Then he looked around the room and proudly announced "THAT, everyone, is the SPANISH word for BUTTOCKS."

He also somehow managed to get his finger stuck in sentence linking cube during centers. I thought we were going to have to go to the firestation to get it cut off for sure! But luckily, after about 10 minutes of lotion, twisting, and blood-curdling screaming, he was free.


I had another interesting conversation today:
D: "One time the doctor pulled out my eardrum!"
Me: "The DOCTOR pulled out your EARDRUM?"
D: "Yes. And then he pulled out the rock, too!"
Me: "Why on earth would you ever put a rock in your ear?"
{enter E - straight faced, without skipping a beat}: "He didn't want to hear anything."


I swear, I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried!!!


The good thing about today is that my kids performed very well on their math benchmark test. After the sad outcome of the last unit assessment, I was very nervous about this test, the scores of which are reported to and analyzed by the district. This test was so tricky! I showed Kevin and he, again, couldn't believe that first graders are expected to do that stuff, especially so early in the year!

I was so worried about this test that I actually taught a ton of extra math for the last several days - like 2.5 hours each day - to review for it. We played games, completed a 50 question review packet that I made together, and did about a zillion math journal questions. The kids and I were so tired of math, but I guess it paid off!

Tomorrow is supposed to be our outdoor field trip to the arboretum, but it looks as though it might get rained out. This would be a very bad thing for a multitude of reasons. We'll see how it goes and roll with the punches! What else can you do?

Have a great night!

Monday, October 13, 2008

'Not Me' Monday!!!




I found this great blog online and she does this really cool "Not Me Monday" thing. It looks like fun so I decided to try it this week! Check out the original here: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Things I would never, ever do - and certainly did NOT to this week:

1. I definitely did not tell a little boy that he had a great imagination and then laugh as he replied “That’s because I removed the boulder from my imagination tank!”

2. I would never make a child throw away his show-and-tell simple because it consisted of three live bug wadded up in a tissue, waiting to make an escape. I am too good of a teacher for that.

3. I would never laugh out loud when a child proudly yelled out in the middle of my lesson that he 'touched his penis.' That's plain inappropriate!

4. I certainly did NOT lose a child last Tuesday when our superintendent was doing a site visit of our school. And then I would never make matters worse by loudly talking into the air phone right by my open door, saying that I could not go find said lost child simply because we had a "visitor" at our school that day. (cringe).

5. I did not get excited about red-ribbon week next week and the fact that I get to wear my Aggie jersey to school. I then definitely did not go try it on and notice the "XL" badge on the front, remembering that I had bought a youth XL to save $10 off of the adult small. I really, really, did not get my seam ripper and rip off the XL. I don't care if people mistake it for an adult XL, I know I'm not fat. Pshhh.

6. I promise I didn't get a piece of chocolate out of Paige's office every time I passed by.I watch what I eat.

7. I did not go out in my front yard on Saturday to take a picture of my halloween decorations. And I was not wearing my nightgown. And it was not 2pm.

8. I swear I didn't make too many cookies for our company Friday night and then throw the leftovers in the trash to keep my husband from gorging himself on them. And I would REALLY never lean over and SPIT on the cookies in the trash when he tried to dig them out. Our marriage is too healthy for all that!

9. I would never buy my dogs halloween costumes. It's cruel to dress dogs. And then, even if I did, I would never cram my dog's head into it after realizing that it was a size too small, just "for the picture."

10. I did not make enemies with my across-the-cul-de-sac neighbor guy due to my sarcastic, road rage - induced, driving actions...and my turbo.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Our dogs' halloween costumes!

These are the adorable halloween costumes that I bought today at Petsmart for our doggies! They pretty much hate me for it, but I think it's worth it :) Kevin and I are going to sit out on our driveway with them to treat all the cute little trick-or-treaters!

Bella is going to be a bumble-bee!!!


Look at the little stinger!


Tex is going to be a devil!


I have a feeling it will be worn off the head, like so:


Our furry children, all dressed up for Halloween!



Only 19 more days!!!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

This week at work was really great! My kids were actually very well behaved for the most part. That in itself is a little bit of a surprise :)

Yesterday was a funny day for sure. I'll just tell you the top 3 funny things that made me laugh. Hopefully they'll do the same for you:

1. This one is slightly disturbing, but less so to me because I know that the little boy would never actually try to hurt a fly. T was sitting on the carpet with the rest of the class and we were singing our word wall songs. He was angry at me about something, but I didn't know why. I kept looking at him, smiling, trying to encourage him to make good choices. He was giving me a death glare. Then, he put his little hand in his pocket and pulled it back out, holding it like he was holding an invisible apple or something. He then proceeded to throw whatever it was he was pretending to hold at me (with a big smirk on his face). A second later, he made an explosion sound. Yes, Taryn blew me up with an invisible grenade.

2. 'Jake' was sitting on the carpet with both of his hands WAY down his pants. I told him to get them out off there. He pulled them out and started waving them around wildly, giggling hysterically. Then he yelled out "I touched my penis!" As other students started to lean away from his in disgust, he proceeded to wave his disgusting hands in their faces while he laughed maniacally.

3. It was time for show-and-tell and one boy brought up a tissue that was wadded into a ball. Many of the kids try to hide their show-and tell until they reveal it to build up the element of surprise, so I thought nothing of it. That is, until he brought it over to me and whispered in my ear: "You might want to open this. It really flies." After a series of exciting events, I discovered that he had caught three bugs at recess and put them away in his tissue dungeon for show-and-tell. Talk about the element of surprise!

In other news, I have been a very busy girl decorating our home for Fall and Halloween! Last year I didn't decorate the apartment, so it has been fun. I made a lot of the arrangments myself! It's not much, but I figure my collection will build over time. Here are some pictures:

The mantle in our TV room:


Our kitchen island:


The adorable scarecrow I bought at a flea market with my mom and my favorite pumpkin:


I traded out my flowers for fall colors:


I bought this gorgeous vase and all of the little things in it separately:


Our formal dining room table. Love the pumpkin:


The front of our house. I put up spider webs, window decals, tombstones, a light up pumpkin, a door mat and sign, and some fake rats and spiders:


A little view of the VERY front of our house. I love that ghost hanging from the tree. There are also some glow-in-the-dark bats hanging there also. The spider web is all over the bushes further on down the house also, but I couldn't get a picture of those because there were neighbors outside and I just MIGHT have still been wearing my nightgown at 1pm!!!



The last picture is of the only inside Halloween decorations I have; the rest are fall. Notice the halloween ornaments on the tree!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Making money and embarrasing road rage

Today was a fun day!

I have a funny story for you. At school today the kids were working in groups and one of my little boys was being really bossy to his table group. I finally told him that if he wants to boss other kids around, he should grow up and be a teacher, and then if would be okay. He said that he would "NEVER, in a ka-jillion years, EVER be a teacher." When I asked him why he said that being a teacher would make him want to "kick himself in the throat." Then he said the funny part. He goes "And besides, I gotta get me some MONEY. Teachers don't get any." Haha. It's funny that kids know/think that so young!

Then I was actually able to leave school at 3:40pm!!!! That is actually 5 minutes before I'm even technically allowed to leave! I think I've paid that time many times over, though. So then I made it to Sonic happy hour at 3:57 (it ends at 4pm) and was able to get my large Diet DP with extra vanilla syrup for only 97 cents!!!

Then I was on my way home...which is when I made enemies with a neighbor that lives right across the cul-de-sac from me. :( Here's the story: I was on the home stretch of my drive. I was trying to get out from behind this really slow car in front of me in my lane. You know when people do that thing where they notice when you are trying to change lanes and then speed up to block you from doing so? Well that's what the blue suburban next to me did. So at the next light I swerved around it into the next lane, and when the light turned green I nailed it. With my turbo, I shot in front of them with no problem. Then I cut back in front of them and waved very "sweetly" and sarcastically.

As I turned into the neighborhood, the suburban also turned. That's when I realized that our neighbors have one that looks suspiciously like it. I held my breath as I turned onto our short little dead-end street. They turned behind me. Crap. Then as I pulled into my driveway my fears were confirmed. My neighbor, Bryan, turned the mean blue suburban into his driveway across the street.

Road rage is bad.

Kevin is not happy with me about this.

As I turned into the neighborhood,

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Hi, all!

I'm writing from San Antonio. Kevin is in Gruene this weekend for his best friend's bachelor party. I didn't want to be lonely, and since I have a long weekend (Fair Day is Monday), I decided to fly here to spend some time with my family. We've been having a good, relaxing time. We did some shopping today and then I helped my sister get ready for Homecoming. I did her hair and her makeup. She looked really beautiful! I would have taken pictures, but Kevin insisted that I let him take my camera to Gruene so I don't have it.

Speaking of Kevin, I have a good story. I had a long day at school on
Thursday because it was a PTA night. Kevin called me at about 5 to tell me that he had "a great surprise" for me. When I asked him if it was something that he did or something that he bought, he said it was both. He really talked it up, like I was going to be soooooo happy. So when I pulled up to my house at 9pm, I was excited. Then I opened the garage and noticed the massive TV box by the recycling bin. Great. In a time when the economy is so shaky, we have just purchased a TV that came in a box large enough for me to sleep in, apparantly. I walked in and was introduced to our new 61" Samsung flat screen TV. I must admit, it is beautiful. But how is this a surprise for me, you ask? Here's the kicker: He put the old TV in our bedroom, and now I GET to record all of MY SHOWS in there and watch them on the OLD tv. Sounds like a backwards surprise to me.

I have another funny story, this one about school. I picked up my kids from specials Friday morning and had this conversation with 'Jake.'
Jake: "Mrs. White, I made a mistake in specials."
Me: "Thank you for being honest. What mistake did you make?"
Jake: "Well.....well.....I...accidentally.....punched Norman in the nuts."
Me: (stifling laughter): "That doesn't sound like something that happens by accident, 'Jake.'"
Jake: "BUT IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!"
Me: "Did you apologize?"
Jake: "He wouldn't listen to me!!!!!!!!!!"

So then I had a talk with Norman about forgiving our friends when the make mistakes and say they are sorry. Then Jake walks to the back of the line and asks "Do you forgive me for punching you in your nuts?"

OMG, so funny! There is never a dull day.

Anyway, tomorrow will be filled with church and hanging out with the fam some more. Then my flight leaves at 1:15pm on Monday. I actually enjoy travelling alone; it gives me a chance to study my stinkin' GRE vocabulary word flash cards.

Did I tell you about those? I found this list of 1000 most commonly used words on the GRE. I printed it out and started to highlight the ones I needed to learn. I figured maybe like 300-400 of them or so. I was wrong. I highlighted 800 words! How did this happen? No one will even play Scrabble with me...I thought I knew vocabulary! Apparantly not. I only need a very low score for admittance into my program, because of my high GPA in college. But I defintely do not want to shoot for a low score - that's not how I roll :)

I am so fired up about my job lately! I am just really loving my work more and more every day. I have a challenging class, but the good thing is that it is never boring in there. I also have parents who really appreciate (and express that appreciation for) the work I do for their kids. Most of all, I work in the most supportive, loving, encouraging, and fun faculty that I think has ever existed. I was thinking about it the other day on the way to work. What are the odds that I would have ended up in RISD? I have no family in North Texas. I happened to meet my wonderful husband at A&M and he got a job in Fort Worth. Then I got the internship in RISD in place of student teaching so it worked with Kevin's plans to move to DFW. I stumbled upon Mackie at the Teacher Job Fair that April, and the rest just fell into place! I am convinced that the way things have fallen together for me is no coincidence; God has truly blessed me and I am so thankful!!!

Sorry for the long post. You probably won't hear from me again until Monday or Tuesday!

Love,
Meagan

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Brainwashing, Jumper Cables, and Milkshakes...

This morning started off so cute! Somehow my class got into a discussion about where I went to college and where they were going to go someday. I pretty much convinced them all ot be Aggies. Here's a picture of our Aggie pride:


Aren't they cute?

Then we had a wonderful day full of NO BUZZ CARDS! You probably have no clue what buzz cards are, but it is good not to have a single one all day long, trust me. 'Jake' even told me at the end of the day today "I love this day. I love this class." To hear this from him - especially at the end of the day - is huge. It means a lot to me. I recorded a couple of really cute short videos of my kids singing some word wall songs today. We have like 30 of these songs! Here's my favorite:



Then things got interesting. As I was about to leave for "Milkshakes" (happy hour) with friends from work, I tried to start my car. As it turns out, my tolltag had once again fallen off of my windshield, hit my hazard lights button on the way down, and turned them on. It just so happens, though, that this time no one noticed it and it ran my battery completely out. I went back in and my principal said she could jump my car, so here we go in our high heels out to the parking lot to give it a try. I had to take out my owner's manual to figure out how to pop my hood!!! Then we got the battery working and both cars were running.

Mackie then went to take the clips off of my battery and as she did it, I was asking "Are you sure it's safe to take those off while my car is ruuning?" As it turns out, THAT is safe. What is not safe, however, is what she did next (If you're reading this Mackie - I ♥ you but this was too funny!) She goes "Of course. It's perfectly safe. Watch this." Then she touched the positive and negative ends that she was holding together, while they were still hooked up to her running car. Sparks flew everywhere, and we both screamed and she thre them down. What an experience. It gets better, though.

I know, right?

Well then I went to Milkshakes. I only had 2 milkshakes, but since I don't treat myself to milkshakes all that often, thats kind of a lot for me. As Alexis and I were heading out to our cars, I saw flashing lights in the parking lot. Two police cars had some guy pulled over and handcuffed. I quickly noticed that one of them was parked right behind my car, which was squeezed into it's spot between two big trucks to begin with. Some nice guy in the parking lot tried really hard to help me navigate myself out, but we soon discovered that I was indeed stuck. All I could think about it how terrible it would be if I slammed into a police car trying to leave Milkshakes. I decided to stay put until he moved. Finally, he came and moved his car up a little just for me. It was so scary! I made it home, and all is good.

Talk about an adventure-packed day!!!