February Vacation!!!!!!

Although I have not actively written here in the blog, I have kept a paper journal with hen scratch notes!
I made it through to my first "paid" vacation and I so need it!  I have been working on evidence for MCAS Alt Portfolios since November and am looking forward to finishing them up early in the week to be able to take some much needed time off.

I have all 5 students folders lined up in the spare room and am busily matching evidence of progress to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.  I am running into a real issue because the Know Atom program (7th grade) I have been following does not align with 8th grade standards.

To apostrophe or not to apostrophe; that is the question.

ARGHHHH! I FORGOT THE APOSTROPHE!!!!!!

Thank you to my brother, Tom the last standing member of our family's grammar police (did I get the apostrophe correct???) for pointing out my incorrect use of the dreaded apostrophe in my blog title....Mea Culpa! I created this blog as an assignment in graduate school and no one there caught it...That should have been a clue!  If any one can help me un-do my era, I will be foevah indetted to youse! Good to know my brother is still taking care of me!

Keep calm and carry on.

Field trip went great....only a wee bit of drama (love those adolescent hormones), a few tears (not mine) and a big disappointment (.....mine and one student) Nothing that a good strong cup of tea won't cure......ummmm.....or a teeny martini! Keep calm and carry on!

Stink, stinking, stank, stunk

I had to have a "talk" with the 6th graders yesterday, and draw from my Health Teacher Hat......(Yes, this is still my first love of teaching...wish I could get hired as such!)  Many of the staff have have been complaining about a particular student's odor; the student ultimately being sent to the nurse. The student admitted he hadn't showered for 3 weeks.  I highly doubt that, as he appears to be grime free, but as a mother, I recognize that particular, on the brink of puberty, stench!  So. I pulled the, "we have a few items on the agenda." chat.....segueing from missing assignments, to cold weather cautions to facing the gossip wagon of," ewwww, so and so stinks!"  I broad brushed it to, there comes a time in everyones' life that we all stink,,,,our hair stinks, our breath stinks, the toe jam stinks, arm-pits and knee-pits stink........and there is a time when we ALL have stunk the worst....EVERYONE has.....when our bodies start changing from little kids to adolescents.....the dreaded puberty........then I switched to actual body maintenance....we brush our teeth to keep gums and teeth healthy, we exercise to keep heart and lungs healthy, we go to school to keep our brains healthy.....so let's not forget the biggest organ in our body, which is...............YOUR SKIN!  We talked about how it is so important to keep skin  whole and healthy to act as the protector of all the other body parts and how it is so important to wash it every day, especially during the big change!  We also talked about how important it is to keep it clean by covering it with clean clothes......

Today, the student who precipitated this talk, came in to school shiny and clean wearing fresh clean clothes; not a skink in the air!  Success........I hope it lasts!  Baby steps.......I love the Health Teacher Hat.

January 2, 2013
Back to school!  I faced today with both excitement and trepidation.  I know I wanted a few more days of vacation and I am sure the kids did, too!  But once I beeped into the school and saw how the custodians had really worked to shine it up, I was actually glad to be back and looking forward to seeing my kids.

We had a sad occurrence during the break, as we lost a student to a very rare, but fatal infliction, (HLH) I asked Paulette if she knew anything about it, and in her 40 years of being a Pediatrician, she had neither seen nor heard of it.  This, I passed on to the kids who were struggling with Julio's death, and were confused at how and why he caught it.  I used Paulette's word, "just, dumb, awful luck.....really bad luck...."  This seemed to help.

I got my lesson plan binder back from Rich, today....looks like I dodged that bullet.  There were no comments!  I may have Stephanie Doucette look at it anyway to get some insight.  But for right now, so far, so good.

I firmed up the lunches for the field trip on the 10th.  Looks like we are set to go!  I just have to get the permission slips out and signed... collect $3.00 from each student and hold my breath!  I LOVE field trips, and I know something will go wrong, but I really think we will have an amazing time!

My 6th graders came in today, with tales of seeing Orion in the sky during  break and had truly checked it out on the Internet!  They even asked what was that big bright, non-twinkling star-thingy in the low horizon.....JUPITER!  They were psyched, but not as much as I was!

This week, I am going to have them play with the triple beam balance and try to grow some soil/yeast.......

Next week we move on to the ice-age in anticipation of the Wooly Mamouth and Mastidon exhibit at the museum,

I am saving up some of the Know Atom activities for Spring, when I know we will have some down time to fill.soil growing may be one of them!