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

I wonder what it's like to be undecided. Scott and I were talking at dinner, that to us, it's obvious who should be the next president, but I also know friends and family who feel the same about the opposing candidate. So my question is, truly, what is it like to be undecided?

There is only one liberal talk radio show in Northern Colorado, and our alarm clock is too weak to receive the signal, so instead we get the news from the conservative point of view. If I were undecided, would listening to these shows be enough to make up my mind? If I were to only hear one side would I start to agree? Or is there something born within us that helps us form our beliefs and make our choices? Would I feel differently had I grown up in a conservative household or would I still feel passionately for the liberal point of view?

I held an election in my class and without knowing anything about the candidates except for where they were from, who was in their families, and what their favorite sport was, each one of my kids was able to vote. Do we carry those beliefs born through family forever or as we have our own life experiences do we shape our own opinions.

And again, what's it like to be undecided?

We listen to the radio, we watch debates and educate ourselves on issues. We read the reports in the newspaper and on the news sites on the internet, and to us the choices seem so obvious and easy. And I'm sure people on the opposing side feel the same way as well. So what must it be like, with a little over a week left, to still not know who you're going to vote for?

I haven't felt the gut wrenching feeling that comes with worry since the race began, but now, with only 10 days left, I feel it. I'm nervous. I'm anxious for change. I'm anxious for the future of our country. And I know that it's the same for everyone, republicans and democrats the same.

What I have to have faith in is that people are making their decisions truly on what they believe is best, and not because they are following a party majority leader, or following the trend in their neighborhood. That goes for Obama and McCain supporters alike. I hope that when we all go to vote that we vote for someone that means change for us. That means a better life for our children and our neighbors. And most of all I hope we vote.

I feel myself get angry when I hear people voice their opposing opinion, my blood pressure rises and I want to hold their cheeks in my hands and say "think about your choices!" but then I have to remind myself that were they to do the same to me, it would make no difference. So instead, I listen to their thoughts and hold them with me, to think about and wonder over.

We have a long life to live, and with our children, our lives continue indefinitely. I believe this election will carry a life-long legacy. And when my children are old enough to understand, and they ask me questions, I want to be sure they know I took part and engaged, and voted my one vote proudly.

A few cute stories from school

With Scott now working at the university, we thought it would be a cute idea to have some of the student athletes come and read to the kids. Our first choice was basketball, mainly for their size :)

4 willing mens basketball players loaded into a car and drove to Tozer to read to the kids. Each class got their own basketball player to read and play basketball with.

As the players came in the room everyone was crowding around, and someone said "Hey! Don't touch them! They're famous!"

And as the students left for the day the players lined up by the doorway to give everyone a high five. There were 3 white players and 1 black and one of my students said "I'm going to high-five the brown one!"

After the players left the students wrote thank you notes, and some of the things they shared were hilarious:

"Dear Devon and Michael. Don't worry about knocking me down. My knee only hurt a little bit."

"Dear Devon and Michael. You're going to need to practice if you're going to go professional"

After basketball day was a long week of parent conferences. During the conferences our library was closed for the school book fair. One of the things I do as a teacher is choose a few books that I would like to add to my classroom library, and sometimes the parents purchase that book and donate it.

The last day of the book fair, as they were closing shop, one of my kids rummaged around in his backpack and pulled out a check. He told me it was for the book fair. I sent him to the library, and he came back and handed me a book with my name and his name written in it. He had no book for himself, just one for the class. He then said "I have 5 dollars for my lunch money". Later in the day the librarian came to my classroom with a check, made out for 10 dollars to the school cafeteria service. Turns out my friend had decided instead of 10 dollars for lunch money, he would use 5 for a book for me, then turn the rest in for lunches. The librarian hadn't noticed, since they were packing everything up. She told me he said he had a crush on me, and had taken a long time to choose JUST the right book (it's a football book about Tiki Barber...)

We haven't told him that we caught him in his trickery. Sometimes we should just let kids be kids.