Reverse Shopping

We spent the day in an unusual way for us-- returning things that didn't work out the way we thought they would when we bought them. We hopscotched from mall to strip shopping center to box store to outdoor gear co-op to good old Target and returned home with more money in our accounts than when we left.

Weird!

Self-Care

Today was a ukulele playing, gym workout, haircut kind of a day.

Just what I needed.

Dime a Dozen

Heidi stopped by my room today after school today and found one of the regulars hanging out making a 2D model of the Hydro Flask she was hoping her dad would buy her this weekend out of modeling clay. "Are you going to come back and visit Ms. S. next year when you're in 7th grade?" she asked.

The student shook her head.

"Oh, I think you will," Heidi smiled. "You really seem to like it here."

"I'm going to another school next year," the student sighed, "boundary changes," she explained.

Heidi nodded sympathetically.

"It's okay, though," the student said. "I'm sure I'll find another cat-loving, ukulele-playing teacher over there."

I snorted and almost spit out my water.

"They're not as uncommon as you think," she told me.

Spreading the Sweetness Around

The Jolly Rancher Challenge for the day was for students to express their appreciation for a teacher and then come tell me about it. I figured it would be encouragement for kids to say what they were thinking anyway, and for the most part I was right. Once they started thanking, the candy really did become secondary to most.

Many students wanted to appreciate me, mostly because I was standing right there with a bag of Jolly Ranchers, but I stopped them. "Not me," I told them, "another teacher. There are plenty of them around here!"

"Why?" asked one girl. "I do appreciate you! You're my favorite teacher!"

"Thanks," I said, "but--" I hesitated.

"It would be pretty pathetic for you to give candy for compliments, right?" she finished.

Much Appreciated

Teacher Appreciation Week was halfway over when a student walked into my room with a cardboard box filled with beribboned jars. "I appreciate you!" she proclaimed, handing me some Christmas Jam.

"Thank you very much!" I replied, politely. "This is so nice."

"I'm glad you like it," she said, "because my mom hates this stuff, and my grandma sends it every year, so we have like 10 jars we can't get rid of."

And So It Will Be

Yesterday I hung 40 writing pieces that students over the last 5 years have completed as part of the journalism unit we close the year with. The assignment is to interview a classmate and then find an angle and write a 500 word human interest piece. The results are often stunning, some of the most genuine writing kids do all year, and I'm confident that this year's writers will rival those of the past.

Today my current students got the chance to skim the work of their predecessors, and then use a set of questions to analyze some of the articles to determine just what task lay ahead. As I introduced the assignment I swept my hand grandly around the room. "Look!" I proclaimed, "we can all read the writing on the walls!"

Ukes for Sale Chapter 4

"I'm so depressed," my student sighed Friday afternoon.

"Where's your ukulele?" I asked. "That might cheer you up."

"In my locker," she told me glumly.

"Well?" I said, grabbing my own from it's hook behind my desk. "How about a little jam session?" I strummed a few chords and looked at her expectantly.

She shook her head with a frown. "I don't know why," she said, "but ever since I actually got my ukulele, I'm just not excited about it anymore."