Never Ever....

As a lesson to you all, never ever slowly say the word horse in front of your students, especially those street smart students. I knew what I was saying as it was coming out but couldn't send the signal from my brain to my mouth fast enough.

Also, note to self, when a kid comes up to you and asks,
"Why is your hair golden?"
"Because I have blonde hair, sweety."
"Then why do you have some dark on top also?"

It is time to get your roots done! It's not even bad, like a bright blonde to a darker blonde, but man I made that appointment as soon as I got home today!

What a welcome back from Thanksgiving break. Gotta love it!

Being Creative...

I didn't get enough turkey yesterday. I actually went home feeling a bit hungry. I know how could that happen on Thanksgiving? I was very fortunate to go to my aunt and uncle's house along with twenty other guests. I still believe there is nothing better than mom's Thanksgiving dinner.

This year I have decided to make a holiday gift for each of my students. Crazy, I know. I went to Walmart and bought all the plain .95 cent clipboards they had. The checkout lady had to ask what I needed 16 of them for (I was short 4, need to hit up another Walmart)

Here is what I am going to do... I am going to take the plain clipboard and personalize it by stenciling each students' name onto their own clipboard with paint markers. It is actually really easy to do. At the bottom I put their name and then I did some kind of design along the edges of the board. They look really cute, which I will post a pic when I get a change. Time wise to complete one board is about five minutes, of course I am a fast worker, so that time could vary.

At less than one dollar per student, this is a great gift that will last them for years.

Oh Thank Goodness...

I have the week off!!! YEAH for Thanksgiving!!!! Last week was conferences, I obviously survived. Actually, they were very smooth and uneventful, almost boring. (Yikes, did I just say that?)

I think time off comes just at the right point. You know that point where your head is about to spin off? Where you feel that if you don't have a day off you are going to just drop? This break was very well timed. Now one week off, three crazy weeks, and then two weeks off! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Well, Duh!!...

My kids have to give monthly speeches on given topics. I usually have one to two students presenting their speech each day.

So yesterday one of my boys goes up starts to give his speech, starts talking about Vegetarians. Now in my head I am thinking, ok what topic did he choose? I start the list in my head of what they could choose from, but none of the topics matched his speech on vegetarians. He continues to talk about how they don't eat meat, etc.

At the end of his speech I kindly ask, "What topic did you choose for this month?" I was very curious as to what he was going to say. He gives me a look and before he can speak, several of my students turn to me and say, "Veteran's Day!" Said in a way, that was like, come on now teacher, what planet do you live on? Duh!

The four topics they could choose from were: 1. Discover memories, 2. Talk about three colleges, 3. Discover a constellation, and 4. Discover Veteran's Day, what are veterans and why is the day important.

Veteran's, Vegetarians, what's the difference? Now my kids probably think Veteran's Day is a day to celebrate vegetarians!

Can I Get a Massage for my Massage...

I don't know how I could have forgotten this one...

Last week it was arranged for a chiropractor's office to come into the building to give 15 minute massages to the staff.

So I go in to get my massage, sit down in that chair thingy (sitting forward, face down in that hole chair). The girl starts to work on me, then proceeds to tell me that I am really tight. Umm, yah I'm a teacher. No seriously, I've always had really tight neck, shoulder muscles. So she keeps on working the muscles. At one point I open my eyes to see her actually leaning her whole body to get enough pressure to stretch the muscle. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't relaxing. It was a workout for me and I was the one sitting!

She finishes, they try to sell me on the chiropractor. I say thanks, it was great and leave. I am walking down the hall and run into two teachers, who stop and had to inform me that my neck and shoulders were beat red. I get back to the room, check my mirror, sure enough looked like I had a really bad sunburn. They kids were all asking me how it was, if they worked my back.

Everyone had to stop and comment how red I was. Can I get a massage for my massage?

Bravo Bravo....

Do your kids give you a round of applause when you finish reading a book?

Mine do, every time. I can read a sentence and they would give me an applause. I chuckle inside every time. I have to admit, I love reading stories. I get so into the characters and make up voices.

The other day I was reading a short passage from the book, Childtimes, which is a memoir/biography. The name of the short piece was, "Hot Rolls." It takes place in the south and the author was trying writing about Sunday morning breakfast. I brought out my southern drawl accent. I had the kids so engrossed in the story, they were eating out of my hands. They were slightly leaned in, nodding their heads as I read along. It was the best.

Another book this week was, "Why Do Chickens Cross the Road?" In this book there are two chickens who are trying to figure out what animal they are. I imagine them both being pretty dumb. My accent for the female chicken ended up sounding like that lady from the SNL skit that Cheri Oteri did. You know the older, drunk, medicated, prescription addicted, crazy lady.

You just have to have some fun once in a while.