Instead of packing, a little funny story :)

Mrs. Ward: Why W! This is such a neat gift bag! Did you draw on it yourself?

W: Yeah, My mom made me.

W's mom: "W! That does not make the bag so special. I asked if you would decorate it and you said you would."

W: Yeah, so I could have desert.

:) It was a cute bag with a snowman sitting next to Tober :) The important things in a 2nd graders life.

Adult Supervision

I got sick this week on Tuesday, after I had already gone to school. I wasn't able to get a substitute until 9:00, so I had to teach for 45 min. While I was teaching I was getting plans ready for the rest of the day. Before the substitute got there, I was walking my kids through the rest of their day.

Me: Okay, so for reading you're going to be working on a word sort. The glue is in the cupboard, the papers are on the stool. For writing I would like you to work on your "how to" illustrations. Your papers are in this divider right here. After writing you will go to Art, then lunch, then you'll play a math game with dice. The dice are on the back table and the papers are beside the dice. And to finish the day you are going to work on your Windsor time lines.

At this point, a timid hand is raised by one of my little children and he asks...

"Mrs. Ward, will there be an adult here to supervise us?"

:) In his mind the kids were on their own :)

"That's right kids, I'm out. See you tomorrow. PEACE!"

:) Silly kids.

Also, never trust men to do the packing. I left Scott in charge of packing while my mom and I went on a run over Thanksgiving. On the way home, Scott stopped suddenly and said "shoot (but in a naughtier way)" and I thought we were being pulled over (he has a tendency to speed) but no, he had just forgotten his overnight bag with our toothpaste etc. That's nothing, I said, trying to be kind, we have others at home. A few miles later, another "shoot. I forgot my glasses." This pattern continues all the way back to Greeley where we realized *we (Scott) forgot the following:

His glasses
His extra contacts
His contact solution
Our toothbrushes/toothpaste
Face wash
Shampoo etc.
The dog's bowls (food and water)
The dog's collar
The dog's leash

And his response: "I packed all the clothes."

Yes. He managed to pack the clothes that were already either in or right beside the suitcase :) Nice work dear :)

A feel good moment

The days right before break are always the toughest. Everyone's schedule is off, you can't start anything new because the kids will forget after 5 days away from the classroom, and everyone is excited to see their family/NOT have to work. Yesterday, I had to be gone, so really, I only had to teach ONE day this week :) The kids did not know I was going to miss school, so I opened the door to a LOT of hugs, a lot of "where WERE you's, and a lot of I'm GLAD your back. I also came back to a sweet pile of papers. I thought I would share them with you as a way to start the holiday being thankful you're friends with such an amazing teacher :)

So to begin: I will translate first and then break the photos down :) This picture says "You are the most bestest teacher in the world" And as you can see I am SO great that I get my favorite candy attached to the bottom. And the picture is addressed to "Mrs. Sarah and Ward"

Next we have a stencil stating "Best Teacher Ever. Mrs. Ward Rocks" This picture obviously explains itself :) I know...you're jealous...

This picture is a holiday scene depicting a very happy turkey and some other kind of bird, perhaps a goose? This one really says nothing about my AWESOME teaching, but it's a pretty good drawing!.

And last but not least, my favorite. A letter from one of my QUIETEST little girls. It states " Dear Mrs. Ward, I really miss you. I love it when you let us have extra recess (which was like...once) And when you help me and ___. So please come back soon. Love, ___.

Now, don't you wish you got letters like That every day???

I'm From Africa

Hello all :)

Today, we discussed ancestry and immigration in second grade :) The kids' homework last night was to find out which countries their ancestors came from and bring the information back so we could graph the info today in class.

So of course not every student brings their paper back, but of those who did we have enough to list 19 different countries on our chart.

Now, I wish I could post a picture on the internet without risking being sued so you could see the complexions of all my children. They are all white. WHITE with blond hair and blue eyes... it's rare that anyone has hair a shade darker than brown. I have one little Hispanic girl, and one girl with the same complexion as my brother David (for those who know him) so a little darker than pale, almost like a sun tan. She is constantly trying to convince us that she is black. I've met her parents. She is not black. Perhaps generations ago :) but for now, she is not black. I also have one boy whose mom is white and his dad is black, my only actual child who has any hint of actual color to his skin.

So we're going through the list of surprising countries like Russia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, etc. Very European :) And someone says Africa, so we list it.

After we have our master list I let the kids raise their hand if I mention a country that one of their ancestors is from. So it should come as no surprise when half the class raises their hand for England and Germany.

My little sped friend did not bring his paper back, so as we're going through the different countries, he is raising his hand for every one. Russia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, etc and his vote is being counted because I'm a nice teacher. So because of his vote every country we list has at least two votes. So we get down to Africa, and I'm expecting him to raise his hand and vote again, and low and behold the only person raising HER hand is my tan skinned little girl. My half black child does not raise his hand...the ONLY time he does not.

I love teaching kids because they always keep you guessing.


(On a side note. I do realize that you do not have to have dark skin to have ancestors from Africa, and you do not have to have pale skin to have ancestors from Europe. But this story would not be very funny if I was politically correct don't you agree?)

Spaghetti dinner

Tonight, I cooked probably one of the largest meals this condo has ever seen...in celebration of being a bachelorette for the next three days?

That's right...I lost my husband to an affair....with basketball. He's traveling with the UNC team to Oregon, and happy as a clam, and I'm eating away my loneliness. I had plans to make spaghetti for a friend tonight, and there were complications (silly sports!) but I had my heart SET on spaghetti all day, so I decided "Hey, what the hell, I'll make it any way." And while I was at it I made rolls, and salad, and rice crispy treats. It's not Thanksgiving meal, but when our dinner usually consists of warming up something someone else has already prepared, frozen and packaged, it's a huge step. So something that required like 5 pots, and a pan for the rolls, only took me 5 min. to eat, and now I have to do this dishes.

Fantastic!

I also think I traumatized my kids today. We were reading a book and they were not paying attention ( I KNOW! THE NERVE OF THE 7 YEAR OLDS!!!) and I just started laughing. And one of the kids looked up and said "Mrs. Ward, why are you laughing?" And I said, "Because if I don't laugh, I will yell. And I don't want to yell" And for the rest of the day they were angels. Perhaps I should threaten yell laughing at them more often! I don't think they knew what to expect! We all remember how we felt when we'd made such a big mistake that our parents would laugh, just thinking about how much trouble we were in? YIKES!

Now...off to do the dishes... Darn.

So: District walk through.

Let me set the stage. Our district is coming up with a new way to evaluate teachers quickly with "10 min. walk throughs" where someone comes in your room for 10 min, looks at what you are currently doing, and gives you feedback. This is nothing new to me, we did this all the time in Missouri, but for the friends in Colorado, this is a big deal, and everyone was nervous.

I know they were nervous because when I walked in the building everyone was dressed in slacks and nice shirts with jewelry, while I had on a jean skirt and a t-shirt that said "Laugh. Dance. Vote" Already off to a great start.

So this day happens to be the most rediculous day in my classroom so far (of course). We are in the middle of learning about campaigns (this comes in handy later). The kids have written a campaign speach for their favorite holiday, and made a campaign sign, and one of my highest reading groups is reading "Ramona and her Father" where campaigning is involved (more on that in a bit).

SO right before the superintendent walks into my classroom to observe, all hell breaks loose. One of my kids has asthma, and she's crying because she does not feel well. One of my kids is, how do we say nicely, IMPATIENT and stuck her hand in the pencil jar while someone else was choosing a pencil and got her hand stuck, so she was crying (large dramatic sobbing tears), one of my kids got in trouble in his reading group with another teacher, so he comes in sobbing, and my autistic child is feeling "itchy" so she's sobbing, and loudly saying "I'm itchy. I'm itchy". I get everyone settled, and sobbing quietly, while being watched in the mean time and think "well, nothing else could really go wrong...the kiss of death of course.

I sit down with my highest reading group, which is reading Ramona and Her Father (which I mentioned earlier). Well, in this story, Ramona, who is also in 2nd grade, father loses his job, and takes up smoking as a stress reliever (the book is obviously from a while back)...and the day before, when I was NOT being observed, we had talked at LENGTH about the dangers of smoking, and why it is not good for you, and why it was in this book. Well...of course the superintendent MISSED that part. All she got to overhear was us reading the word "cigarette" over....and over....and over... and over....

So when she left I went to my principal and said "Whatever they say about my classroom, sadly it's all true..."

I promise, I'm a really good teacher! It just happened that day to look like I was smacking my kids around and teaching them the word "cigarette"....over...and over...and over...

I got the set of books from our library thank you very much.

DANGER...DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN.

I'm going to bury this part of the blog hoping that I won't make any of my friends upset :) If you did not know I voted for Barak before, perhaps you should know that I did, and if that is upsetting, you should stop reading :)

I really am warning you...I have a lot to say, and it's not always pleasant.

Number 1: HIP!
Number 2: HIP!
Number 3: HOORAY!

To me, the difference between being a democrat and being a republican is we both feel strongly about what we believe, the democrats are just smarter (just kidding, just kidding, but it's my way of making sure you TRULY want to continue reading).

I am so happy that finally, the person I felt would be the best man for the job, won the election.

I had a lot more typed, but I erased it. It's not important. What's important is that I love my family, I love my husband, I love my dog, someday I want kids and I'm thankful I have the freedom to do so.

Also, I love gay marriage. I can't believe you California. You really let me down.

Scott is grumpy

but in a nice way