Been Way Too Long

Hello my friends in blogland! My apologies for my absence!!!

It's true. School has finally ended for me. The last day was on Thursday the 29th of June. Whoever said that the last couple of weeks for a teacher are a breeze is an ass. This is probably the most hectic time. Why you ask? Well, you're finishing curriculum. Writing report cards. Grading tests/assignments needed for the reports. Cleaning up your classroom (and if you're moving classrooms, putting everything in boxes). Putting together student portfolios. It's just not a fun time. But it's over! I can't believe that it is done.

I've had no real witty stories to share. I am teaching grade 1 next year so be prepared for some new stories (and hopefully ones that won't be erased because I had to switch to stupid beta). Perhaps throughout the summer I may post some old posts that were lost in the switch (luckily I saved them on a word document). Just so I've got something up for July and August.

Sooo ... I've been tagged by Mister Teacher to do a Meme. I need to give 8 random facts about me and then I need to tag 8 more people and let them know that they've been tagged. I'm really bad at tagging (and I don't even think I have 8 people on my blogroll) so I declare all those on my list to be tagged!

Here goes:

1) When I was 16 years old I found out I was allergic to cats when my eye suddenly blew up when I was around a cat.

2) I've taught grades 1, 2, 7, 5, 1 (in that order) since I started to teach in 2003. I've finished my fourth year of teaching. Does that still make me a rookie?

3) I have some major blog crushes.

4) I'll be done my Master of Education program at the end of August.

5) I'm the youngest girl in a family of 4 children. I'm also the only girl.

6) There's a dad at my school who is oh so yummy. I hope I get his son when he gets to grade 1 just so the dad can come on all the field trips with us. He's that kind of dad. Damn I need to get laid.

7) Part of the reason why I want to work in a high school is because I know that there are more guys who teach in that environment. I swear I'm not boy crazy.

8) I've tried pot. 3 times.

Less than 3 weeks ...

.... of school left.

So. Psyched.

Can't come any sooner.

SO HECTIC

Such a busy, busy time!

School is almost done!! Can't believe it!

Clocks

I'm starting a new math unit with my class on time. One of the activities for this unit is to have students make their own clocks. So they coloured the template and pasted it onto a paper plate to make it more sturdy. The template even included a minute and hour hand (which I would fasten to their clocks so they could actually move around). I had a feeling that there would be at least one student who either lost their hands (not their own but those belonging to the clock) or cut them too teeny tiny that I couldn't fasten them on.

One of my students lost a minute hand so I told him to make another one so I can fasten it properly.

Doesn't the little bugger make a PAPER AIRLPLANE and give it to me saying, "Here's my arrow." Granted the plane had a point so I suppose it could be misinterpreted as being an arrow but compared to the 2-D, one inch arrow that he had started out with, one could clearly see that the very large paper plane would just not suffice.

Mother's Day Bonanza

I swear no holiday stresses me more than Mother's Day or Father's Day. Why you ask? Could it be because I always want to do something special and unique for my own parents, never giving them the same gift? Nope. Sadly my own parents are an after thought ... the first thought that comes in my head is, "What the hell am I going to get my students to make for their mom/dad??"

I busted out the popsicle sticks and started to build with it. My original idea was to have the kids make this container type thing where we would put tissue-paper and pipe-cleaner flowers in it. Or pencils. Anyways, it took me no time to finish mine but then I realized that I'm dealing with less dexterous midgets who not only take their sweet time when completing tasks but have not yet mastered the art of having a conversation and doing work simultaneously. Add on top of it them needing to paint the sucker so it doesn't just look like a bunch of wooden sticks glued together? Yeah. Scratch that. Problem is I have like a day to figure out something cute/useful/won't see the wastebin in the near future craft for them to bring home.

I went through this mother's day file that a friend of mine has and came across this cute poem that was like four lines that said something along the lines of: I've made this mat so that when you take a sip of tea you'll always think of me. Then I had this ureka moment. (How the hell do you spell that word?) I figured the popsicle sticks wouldn't go to waste afterall! They/I would make coasters for their moms and glue that poem (laminated of course) on top of the coaster. How cute and original. I basically made the damn things. I made 23 frames with the popsicle sticks and the kids had to then close off the top and bottom. They painted it. They decorated that piece of paper with the poem on it. I laminated those papers and cut them out. I glue-gunned the papers on each coaster. I glue-gunned the "jewels" that the kids picked out to have on the edges of the coaster to make it look pretty. I wrapped them. I glue-gunned a daisy in the middle of the wrapped product.

I think that this went well (though I was feverishly working all day on Friday with multiple hot glue burns on my hands) but it's a cute idea. I think for next year I'll do it again but this time maybe shellack the finished product.

Mother's Day down. Father's Day to go. Damnit.

*I technically started this post on Thursday but finished it today, Saturday.

Two Months Left

I cannot believe that there are 2 months left of school. My does time ever fly. I have nothing interesting going on other than the fact that I'm trying my best to finish up curriculum before I send the buggers off to grade 2.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

I hand out a phonics sheet for the students to complete. It's a rhyming sheet and they need to cut and paste the pictures that rhyme. One of the pictures is "dice" and the picture that needs to be pasted beside it is a picture of "mice". I guess some of these pictures are a bit confusing for some as some of them aren't sure what goes with what.

"I don't know what goes with mouse." My student shows me the picture of the 2 mice as she tells me this.

"That's not mouse. What's it called when there are two of them?"

Ever so softly she says, "Rat."

So cute ... I chuckled a bit and told her it was mice.

-----------------------------------------

There's this little boy in my school who looks exactly like Webster ... that tv character?

(this guy)

"You know, you look just like a person who's name is Webster!"

"Yeah ... a lot of people have told me that. I haven't seen a picture of him so I don't know what he looks like ... but I have his dictionary."

Fuckin classic.