At lunch today April told Ashley that she hates her and wants to kill her.  Fantastic.  Of course, April denies ever saying such a thing, but unfortunately, Ashley doesn’t really have enough going on upstairs to fabricate such stories.  April’s response went something like this …  “I don’t kill people; I don’t even use knives.” Well, okay then.  She then followed that up with “But my dad does.” I guess she read the shocked look on my face and quickly clarified that her dad doesn’t kill people … he just uses knives in the house to cut things.  Whew!

I have my fingers crossed that the AC people finally come tomorrow to fix my perpetually broken air conditioner.  The classroom tends to take on an overwhelming funkiness after lunch, especially when it’s stuffy … maybe you all remember the sweaty head smell from your younger years?  I guess I shouldn’t complain; my colleague had to temporarily relocate her classroom to the teacher’s lounge because a skunk died beneath her classroom and they can’t remove it without taking out the floor.  Yuck!

And so ends another day in Room 10 … or at least I hope so.  I’ve been dreaming about my class every night since school started … I’m hoping for a break tonight, so I’m going to go think some happy non-school-related thoughts and cross my fingers!

Quote of the Day:

“You can get the monkey off your back, but that doesn’t mean the circus is gonna leave town.”

The fair was fun, but we only had about an hour and a half to look around.  We made the mistake of starting off in the barns and then got caught in major traffic with the entire elementary school population of LA County.  We saw the cows, fed the goats, held a baby chick (poor thing), petted a donkey, marveled at an ostrich, held our noses at the piglets, and got free chocolate milk to drink.  After escaping the barn mob scene, we made a mad dash to the kids exhibit and looked at student artwork.  Then it was time to go.   I think that may have been the most exhausting hour and a half of my life.  I felt like I was doing crowd control.  I took the front and Toshi and my parent volunteer took the flanks.  I figured if I could keep the kids behind me and in front of my other two grownups, we would be okay, but somehow the kids kept leaking out the sides and getting absorbed into other classes.  Scary, I tell you.

It is literally painful to watch, and yet I can’t make myself stop. 

In other news, my little darlings have been getting into all sorts of trouble.  Case in point … on Friday Erik forgot his cookie in the classroom during lunchtime.  To a seven-year-old child, this apparently is a dire emergency.  One of my smartypants girls decided to come to Erik’s rescue by attempting to pick the lock of the classroom door with, of all things, a wood chip from the playground.   Betcha can’t guess what happened next.  Yep, the wood chip broke inside the lock, and we all ended up being locked out after lunch.  Aren’t kids a hoot?

On Wednesday the WHOLE ENTIRE SCHOOL is going to the L.A. County Fair.  Thankfully, the weather has finally cooled down.  Let’s just say that hundreds of farm animals and hot muggy weather aren’t the best combination.  The kids (and me too!) are bummed that they won’t be able to eat junk food, shop, play games, or go on any rides, but I keep reminding them that it beats staying at school.  I’m going to try to get them to the more exciting animals and maybe the homemaking building.  I love looking at the decorated cakes and the table settings.  If not there, maybe the kids’ science and art exhibition halls.   We’ll see what time and behavior permit.   

Quote of the Day: