Sorry for the long absence.  It has been a crazy couple of
weeks.  Testing finally ended … only to have Open House two days
later.  So here’s a bit of what I’ve been up to …

This is what the parents saw as they entered the room.  The kids
did animal dodecahedron reports; each of the twelve sides had different
information about the animal … habitat, predators, physical
adaptations, behavioral adaptations, anatomy, etc.  Those were
definitely the hit of the night.  They also did country reports
… the little books next to the dodecahedrons.

These turned out really cute.  They wrote about music class with
our principal.  Since we are such a small school, everyone wears
many hats.  We are lucky because our principal makes time to teach
music to our third graders.  I plan to make memory books for them
out of the pieces of writing you see on the walls.

This is where we mark countries that we come across in our reading
throughout the year as well as the countries from their country
reports. 

We went on a field trip to the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art. 
They each chose their favorite piece and wrote about it.  This
will be part of their memory books.

This is our classroom library.  I am forever telling them to take
the beanbags out of the library before sitting on them or else it ends
up being a roiling mass of children in the library when someone wants
to get a book. 

This is writing the kids did about their all-time favorite books. 
On top is a picture of each student with his or her favorite
book.  Another page for the memory books.

The front of the room.  The TV in the corner is playing the
slideshow we made.  Each student wrote about one aspect of our day
or about a special event, and we added pictures.  On the kidney
table in the front, there are guessing jars for Open House.  This
is the first year that I’ve had two current students win.  Usually
parents or former students are the winners. 

The kids were actually in the room as I was taking these pictures.  Can you see them hiding? 

Here they are … my babies.  They are so proud of their
dodecahedrons.  I wanted to keep one as a sample, but nobody
wanted to part with it.  One student is moving to Maine this
summer, so I may be able to snag hers because her mom says it’s too
difficult to pack.   

On top of the craziness of preparing for Open House, we’ve been tearing
up the house.  Everything is a total disaster right now.  No
kitchen counter or sink, furniture piled high all over the place, and
rubble everywhere.  It’s not moving along as quickly as I had
hoped.  Toshi’s friend who is helping us said it would take about
five days.  What he didn’t mention was that it wouldn’t be five
days in a row.  Right now it’s looking more like one day a week
for five weeks.  Ugh!  But, I can’t complain because we’re
getting a much reduced rate.  I’ll try to post pics of the
progress soon.

  I’ve been reading here when I can, but just haven’t had much
time to comment or post.  I hope everyone is well and enjoying the
three-day weekend. We went to Palm Springs yesterday just for a quick
getaway.  Nothing says vacation like lunch at IHOP surrounded by
gay men! 

Great news … the kids are doing really well on the math portion of
the test from what I’ve seen.  I feel so much better about
it. 




Not so great news … open house is coming in one week and I’m a
basketcase.  I spent the day trying to get three projects done at
once with everyone in different stages of completion on each one. 
The fast workers, of course, had finished everything and decided to
spend their time taking turns asking me if I needed help or just
plopping down at the table to share whatever happened to be passing
through their minds at the moment. 




“Miss G., my dog has cute ears.”


“Can I help you with something, Miss G.?”


“Yesterday my hair was much cuter than today.  My mom is trying a new style on me.”


“Can I help you with something, Miss G.?”


“I can make paper airplanes with my eyes closed, Miss G.  Wanna see?”


“Can I help you with something, Miss G.?”


“I had Cocoa Puffs for breakfast.  Do you think that’s making me hyper?”


“Can I help you with something, Miss G.?”


“My sister’s new school says she can’t wear any jewelry.  Can you imagine that, Miss G.?”


“Can I help you with something, Miss G.?”




(See, I was listening.)




Finally, I had to stop everything and explain that the best way to help
me would be to find something productive to do and stop asking me if I
need help.  I felt like I literally had someone in my face all day long!  By the end of the day I felt so cranky.  
I warned the kids that I was feeling like a grump, but they looked so
sorry that I had to laugh.  “You’re not grumpy, Miss G. 
You’re laughing!” 




 So, anyway, I’m sure you can’t guess what happened when I got
home. Toshi had spent the day working on the floor at home alone …
and he’d saved up a whole day’s worth of random thoughts I just had to
know the moment I stepped through the door.  Aiya! 




I am now enjoying a very brief moment of solitude.  Then I’m off to bed.  Where did the evening go? 



Quote of the Day:

For disappearing acts, it’s hard to beat what happens to the eight
hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.  ~Doug
Larson

I am so proud of myself!  I finally figured out how to put music on my site.  Yes, I realize that it can be kind of annoying, but I promise that it won’t loop.   
And you can always use your mute button … or just subscribe so you
can visit me sound-free in your subscriptions.  See?  I’ve
got it all worked out for you!



So, now who’s gonna tell me how to get the more sophisticated heart?  The smiley one ( ) is so five minutes ago!



The language arts portion
of testing is officially over.  Woohoo!  Our kids always do
much, much better on math.  That’s why we save it for the second
week … so they (and we) have something to look forward to as they
suffer through all that reading.  Their performance was really
disappointing, but it’s behind us now.  There’s nothing we can do
to change it, and in a way, that’s a big relief.


On a more cheerful note, I received a card today from
two of my former students wishing me a happy mother’s day.  It was a
“to our ‘other mother'” card.  It was so touching.  The two girls who
gave it to me are sisters who were in my class five years ago … they have been through so much, and if I
could adopt them, I’d do it in a heartbeat. 


Anyway,
I came home in a great mood, it being the weekend and all, and Toshi
and I proceeded to get in a big argument.  Yes, Indigolady,
your prediction was correct; remodeling leads to all manner of
conflict.  Our fight was over something totally stupid, too. 
One of those “it wasn’t what you said … it was how
you said it” arguments.  It started at Home Depot, our new home
away from home, and ended in our kitchen with “So now I can’t even
empty a spaghetti sauce jar to your satisfaction?”  Yep, it really
was that ridiculous.  Have I mentioned that I can’t wait for this
whole process to be complete?


Okay — very
sleeeeepy.  Will save visiting and commenting for tomorrow when
hopefully I’m not experiencing residual grouchiness. 


Quote of the Day:




When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you’ve growled all day long.  ~Author Unknown

I think that kids
only have about two hours of “well-behaved and civilized” in them for
each day.  Normally, it’s spread out throughout the day, since in
a regular day we have outlets for the antsiness.  During testing,
however, we use up all two hours at once, meaning that for the rest of
the day they are WILD!   If we didn’t have Open House two
days after testing ends, I would just let them have movies, art, and
P.E. for the whole afternoon.  Unfortunately, I have to continue
to crack the whip through much of the afternoon or we’ll never be ready
in time.  Somehow everything will get done, and even if it
doesn’t, life will go on.  But, in the meantime, they are driving
me nuts! 

Ever since coming back from spring break, I have felt the impending
departure of my kids weighing on my heart.  Half of my class has
been with me for two years because I had a combo class last year and
got to keep my second graders when they became third graders this
year.  That makes it especially hard to let them go.  Not
every year is like this.  There have been years when I’ve felt
like doing cartwheels on the last day of school, but this isn’t one of
those years.  So, even though they are being naughty, I can’t bear
the thought of them leaving in just a few short weeks.

Quote of the Day: (in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day)




If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one
time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to
be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist,
without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence
for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom
teacher’s job.
                   
                   
                   
                   
              ~Donald D. Quinn

Okay … two days
down, seven days to go.  Yesterday’s test wasn’t so bad … it was
spelling.  Today was another story … much akin to driving by a
horrible accident on the freeway.  You know you shouldn’t look,
but you just can’t help yourself.  I can’t divulge details because
of the security affidavit I signed.   (No, I’m not
kidding.  Anyone who will be sharing the same air space as 
THE TEST has to sign one.)  Suffice it to say, the fact that the
kids have been doing something since Kindergarten is no guarantee that
they will perform said act when it counts.  Now if a question is
challenging or tricky, I completely understand them missing it, but why
the easy ones … the no-brainers?  And it isn’t the kids who are
struggling who are missing these easy questions … it’s the ones I
recommended for the gifted program.   That’s when I just want to assume the fetal position under my desk.  Have I taught them nothing this year?

Seven more days … then we get to cram all of the music, art, science,
social studies, P.E., field trips and fun that we’ve been skipping all
year into the last three weeks … it’s the best time of the
year.  Although it’s bittersweet, I’m looking forward to really
enjoying the last few weeks with my babies. 

“You can’t jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable


And life’s like an hourglass, glued to the table


No one can find the rewind button, girl.


So cradle your head in your hands


And breathe… just breathe,


Oh breathe, just breathe …”

   
              
              
              
             ~Anna Nalick, Breathe (2am)

The
Oprah wore off, I had an ugly day, it’s a week before testing, I want
to wring my kids’ necks, and I’m sure they’d like a crack at
mine.  I’m itching to escape from my life, but this is what it is
right now.  Just breathing and wondering when my real life is
going to begin …