Ice Age... the Meltdown!

So the "big melt" started today. I woke up around 7 to a temperature of 40 degrees! What a welcome sight after temps ranging from -13 to 15 degrees the last 2 weeks! I said to myself, "Self, now some of this dang snow will melt!" I am thinking that we got about 25-30 inches of snow in 4-5 inch increments in the last 2 weeks. I am thankful for it because as a teacher, I got rid of the "much anticipated" Christmas party due to a 1.5 day school week last week!

But now I am yearning for a road without snow where I can DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT! Well today was that day! I went to Tri-Cities with a friend and sped a little... just because I could! But before I went...

I stopped by my house on the way to take my mom to her friends house. I picked up a couple of movies for them and raced back in to grab the pretzels that she needed to make white trash. (more about that delicious comfort food later)

As I went to grab the pretzels I stepped in a huge puddle of water. I stepped to the side and slipped a bit on the sopping wet door mat at the back door. I look up in the pantry and water is dripping at quite an impressive rate from the ceiling. I look to the side, next to the dining room table, and the sheet rock is bubbling out and has a softball sized pocket of water about to bust through!

Throughout the afternoon we noticed that all of our cookbooks, boxed and bagged foods, and linens are pretty much ruined. We called the landlord who is the HS basketball coach, but he was out of town. His wife sent over her father and he climbed up on the roof to shovel some of the snow off. Unfortunately he shoveled himself off and had to scrap himself off of the ground some 12 feet below. After he shoveled the roof off there was a sheet of ice left that will continue to melt and drip into my dining room. But the dripping slowed down quite a bit.

That was my afternoon in a nutshell. I need to take a picture of the wall that is all bubbly. It is SO wierd!

3 inches in an hour?

Sunday Morning- my mom misses church because she is shoveling the sidewalk in order to GET TO THE CAR. (not happy about this, it's Christmas Sunday!)

Sunday Afternoon- I have to pump up my tire with a BIKE PUMP because it is super flat. (not happy about this either, stupid Les Schwab!)

My sister and I head to my Aunt's in Hermiston to cook and bake for goodie baskets for the fam. We also made a delicious roast and potatoes, if I do say so myself!

Whilst we were there it started snowing super hard, you know, those big flakes that block your entire field of vision when you are looking out the window. We couldn't see the tree at the end of their pasture!

We tried to get the semi started so that we could spin some cookies in the pasture, but she was froze up, real dead. (bad grammar, I know)

My uncle jumped on the 4-wheeler and promptly got it high centered in the field. My sister had to go and join him on it to get it to move!

We got like 6 inches of snow this afternoon, 3 of which came down in that hour I believe.

Mark my words- I WILL be riding that 4-wheeler on Christmas Eve before dinner... I will!

We came home at about 6:30 pm to find my MOM cleaning off her mini-toyota puddle jumper of a car. This car WILL high center and/or get stuck in this snow. It practically high centers going up the curb into our driveway on a sunny August day. This is one impressive pile of snow!

This was like 4 days ago!

At least there is one road they are keeping clear! HWY 395!

What happens when you lose a key in the snow?

We discovered the answer to the above question last Sunday, December 14, 2008.

I got a call from a friend asking if we had a metal detector. I said no, but that we had a strong magnet. My dad headed up to the high school, in the frigid cold, at 8:30am in leiu of Sunday School. Mind you, it was still snowing out.

After church I headed into town to do some shopping and on the way back found this happening in the HS parking lot. It involved several people, a real metal detector, and a blow torch. This key was GOING TO BE FOUND!

Finally, after quite awhile, the key was found. It was like 10 degrees that day, with an arctic wind. This was the kick-off to the current storm we are having. This one's for you, Tara!

Snow Day #3- Friday

After 4-bying it through the snow this morning to go out to the country, turning around because I was about to get stuck, and then re-braving it back out there an hour later, it has finally quit snowing! Here is where we are with this! 11.5 inches!!!!

So we had this idea... so our lab wouldn't get lost in the backyard we would tie a gopher trap flag to her tail. And so the cats would get lost in the snow, we would paint them white!

And thank goodness the plows came through BUT now it is next to impossible to park on the side of the street in my parent's neighborhood. Hallelujiah for 4WD!

So Christmas break starts like 4 days early, which is AWESOME!

Here is my new house. I only have pics of the outside since the inside is SO not unpacked yet. You would have thought that it would be with all of the extra time on my hands, but baking and hanging out are higher on the priority list!

Snow Day #2

After a wonderful snow day on Tuesday, 2 hour delay on Wednesday, and another snow day today, I am having a wonderful week!

What a great before Christmas week. And if there's no school tomorrow, no party to host and clean up after for my lovely 2nd graders!

It's still coming down! Six inches on top of what we already had, and counting! Off to do some Christmas baking!

No School!!!

There is no school tmw! That's what I like to hear!

After a whole night of snow, snow, snow, and all day as well, they called at 4:55 to tell me that there was no school for Tuesday.

I only had 13 kids today... and 5 in lit block. What a waste!

Crickets...

One of the teachers has a bearded dragon in her room. Every morning her students come to my room to get the lettuce to feed this dragon (it's in my fridge. The lettuce, not the dragon). Well today we got through the day, went to a meeting in the library, and back to the classrooms. We have bathrooms that connect all of the rooms together. Basically each classroom has a boys and a girls, but share that bathroom with the room next to it.

We hear "chirp chirp"ish sounds coming from our bathroom AND...

The crickets, which are also dragon food, got dumped out or something and have nested in a few of the bathrooms, nowhere to be found! They must have burrowed into the rotted molding in there because we can hear them, but can't see them!

FYI- the bearded dragon's name is FLUFFY!

What would it be like...

In lit block we were talking about how life would be if the world had no cars. We were chatting and one student was waiting patiently to make his comment.

"If the world had no cars, there woudn't be any fat people... like my mom!"

And I kid you not... from the mouth of a 2nd grader.

I like to move it, move it...

So Madagascar 2 has been a huge hit with my students. I haven't even see the first one, so I have no clue whether or not it is appropriate for them. I did, however, learn a new song from that movie.

It all started with my adorable little student, you know, the one that dressed up like a southside gangster for Halloween. [I kid you not] But truth be told, he is super short and has one of those smiles that just melts your heart, and annoys you to death. We were talking about a compass rose, maps, and working on a map to use to find directions. I was just in the middle of labeling Idaho just east of Oregon when I hear, from the back of the room, "I-daho, I-I-daho," kind of in a singing voice. I look up and say, "P** are you singing back there?" He jumps out of his chair and starts to do kind of a backwards walk slide thing, while singing, "I like to move it-move it, I like to move it-move it... I like to [pause pause pause] MOVE IT!" He was like moonwalking and waving his hands around, it was hilarious! The entire class was watching his performance, my compass rose lesson was forgotten [even by me!], and I couldn't even contain myself!

Here it is! He even looks like the little racoon thing at the beginning!

Ho Hum...

This week has been draining and I don't know why. It is grades time, and I have never seen so many reports, cover sheets, analysis printouts, and blanks to fill in. They need to let me streamline this process. It is ridiculous!

The kids have been pains this week as well. Too many birthdays, too much sugar, and back to a normal schedule have them freaking out. I have had to write 2 office referrals for fighting and I need to write one for stealing when I get there tomorrow. When will the madness end?

I remember this time last year. Kicking off the Thanksgiving/Christmas season was crazy then too. I am ready for January 10th or so to come. Although that gets us all the closer to having Obama in office, which blows. I was reading about Sarah Palin online and watched her special of Fox News last week. What an amazing person! I loved what she said about praying that she doesn't miss an open door for anything, even if it is just cracked open, to notice and plow through. That is a good way of thinking. We don't know what tomorrow is going to hold, so why plan plan plan? We need to be prepared for anything, so organization is key, but it's nice not to be tied to a statement... like she would be if she said for sure that she was going to run in 2012.

Well, whatever, I admire the gal.

I think I found a house to rent. We'll see tomorrow what the guy says, but it has 5 bedrooms, 2 family rooms, brand new kitchen stuff, tons of built-ins because it is pretty old, and a huge basketball court outside! 1.5 bathrooms, the works! I would be renting it with my friend, so it will be nice to have a buddy there! If it goes through I will post pics, as it is really nice but still has the old house type charm.

I wore a dress today...

All day!

The funniest thing that happened this week was:

I turned on Christmas music and "Good King Wencesles" (how the heck do you spell that) was playing. Two words- Manheim Steamroller. So it was peppy and whatnot...

The class was pretty quiet but one student said, "Wow! This song rocks, my legs even started dancing!" His legs were going wacko under the desk! Come and find me for the demonstration because I can't do it justice on this blog!

Tonight was sports awards, which explains the dress, and it was a nice ceremony minus the 45 minute speech by the football program. All in all, it was a good night!

Time to watch The Office!

The Calm Before the Storm...

Today, November 10, was wonderful. We had no school! Whoever invented taking a day off to transition and then Veteran's Day right after, is a genius! Thank you so much Hermiston School District! I know there will be some very refreshed teachers that are in great moods after such a long break.


Now on to report cards and conference scheduling...

My Classroom

Finally! Here are some pictures of my classroom. I posted pictures during the first week of school, (while the room was still clean) last year. This year my camera broke/then I lost it camping during Labor Day weekend! I now have a new camera so I am ready to post more funny things and the illustrations to prove them!

Check out my beautiful Promethean board! That is one amazing piece of technology! I am having a blast figuring out how to integrate this interactive teaching tool into my lessons. The kids crack me up as they ohhh and ahhh when I bring out the cool stuff. Like the handwriting recognition tool or the wand! They are just beside themselves with its "coolness".

The only exciting thing that pertained to Election Day was that our school bond measure passed! 2011 and new school here I come! Hopefully I can wait it out, because that is a long wait with chunks falling out of my walls at any given moment! I have to keep my air conditioning on to combat the extreme heat in the room now that the boiler has been turned on. It is quite funny! My hands are always freezing and never warm up during the day. I still have the ability to laugh!

On a second election note, I want Sarah Palin to move to Eastern Oregon. I think she would be a great mayor of Stanfield or Hermiston! I think she is amazing and needs to move to the lower 48, probably Oregon. She has a great career ahead of her.

I had a kid who stole something and lied about it, and another student who cheated on a test. He got up and walked over to another kid's desk and was just copying down answers. So now I get to write 2 office referrals! How exciting! I haven't written one since the beginning of September, so I am overdue! Thank you kids for letting me exercise my power as a disciplinarian!

One last funny thing: Yesterday the kids were taking a math test and my "Indiana Jones" finished really early. I was digging out some add/subtract sheets for him to do and he said, "Are those mine?" I said, "yep." He said, "Well I kind of had something else in mind... like dancing!" He was ready to bust a move in front of the class! I did let him do it while the kids were on their way back to their own classes (we level for math) and it was like that irish jig thing where their arms are together and the only thing that is really moving is their legs kicking! This kid cracks me up!

Windy...

Well today we find out who our new president will be. I REALLY hope it is McCain! I also think Sarah Palin is amazing! I wish she could be the governor of Oregon... but of course, we are too liberal to have anyone like her in our government. GO McCain/Palin!

Today was freezing cold, rainy, and windy. The mountains got snow! The wind was so bad it was practically blowing 1st graders across the playground. That was pretty funny! The kids, during our recess, were over by the fence throwing leaves over it in big gobs. The yard teacher finally noticed and told them to stop, but not before they hit several cars with handfulls of leaves as they drove by. It's kind of like getting a wall of water on your car as you are driving down the freeway... you can't see!

This was what the fence looked like with the leaves and the wind, and you should see the garbage all over the place!

What are you dressed like?

A teacher at my school, well most of the teachers except for me, came dressed up on Halloween. I am loser-ish, and hate dressing up silly. I am not cool enough I guess.

One student asked this teacher what she was dressed like. She asked what he thought she was. He said, "A pig!" She looked at him and showed him her tail, which was clearly not a pig's tail. Then he said, "A cow!" She was thinking he was kidding... he really wasn't! This boy's older brother, a 4th grader, put his arm around the teacher and said, "No! Look at her. She is clearly a cat, and an adorable one indeed!"

Nothing like a little flattery!

New funnies...

For the last 2 weeks we have had "scientists" from the U of O at our school. They taught our second graders all about balance, motion, spinning, and rolling. I had to teach 2 of the days to get a free credit from the U of O!

One day we were using straws and disks to make wheels on an axle. We had been using these straws all week, as had the other 3 second grade classes. The straws were handed out and the kids proceeded to put them in their mouths and whatnot. The scientist told the kids that it was unsanitary and they should not lick the straws. They didn't listen... of course! One of the 2nd grade teachers said she would take care of it. She said, "Hey kids, there is poop on those straws!" Immediately the straws hit the ground and the situation was taken care of!

TODAY- I owed the kids a treat because they earned 60 classroom points. I made sugar cookies last night and got the frosting and sprinkles for the kids to decorate them. 1/2 way through the decorating and eating... THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF! I accidently yelled "holy crap", but what a way to end a party... a messy party. The kids were painting at this time as well.

I have a student who likes to entertain the class. One day last week he came up to me and asked if he could perform Indiana Jones for the class. I said yes because I was dying to see what he would do. He went up to the board and started humming the theme song! It was hilarious! You know, duhduhduh duhduhduh... so funny! Well today I have him tugging on my shirt after lunch recess. He was asking if he could entertain the class with his wooden flute! I again said yes. He got up there and squeaked and squawked his way through some song, probably Indiana Jones again, but he doesn't realize that in order for the notes on a recorder type instrument to change you have to hold all of the holes shut from the top... so pretty much it was the same squeaky note the entire time. Funny kid though...

I had to CORE test my students, which is a test on words that have the same target skill. Like r-controlled vowels, or short vowels... the test took 15 mins per kid! I have the low reading group, so that was expected. One of the words was "held" and the kid sounded it out but said "swimmin pool"! We also got a ton of cuss words out of the real words. The kids didn't really pick up on what they were saying except one kid who looked up and said, no that's not it! I didn't mean to say that!!!

CSEPP Drill

Well... if you are from Eastern Oregon you will empathize with me. Tomorrow is the county wide CSEPP drill. I am shakin' in my spaceboots here. Let me explain CSEPP. It stands for "Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program" and no I didn't have to look it up! It has to do with those "shelter in place kits" that everyone in the Umatilla and Morrow counties have in their house. It has to do with those little "tone alert radios" that everyone also has. Those annoying little gray boxes that can tell you the weather but when they go off during a CSEPP test, you about wet yourself.

A little background: we live less than 10 miles of one of the most dangerous places in the US. It is called the Umatilla Army Depot. They store chemical munitions there, and are in the process of safely destroying them. Well guess what... if they drop one of those bombs on accident while they are moving them, or while they are being burned in the incinerator they blow up, everyone WILL DIE! It is mustard gas yucky stuff that they drop on countries during war. They created this PLAN to keep everyone safe during an emergency of that sort. Well for any plan to work, you have to practice... which brings me to:

Tomorrow at 9:30, during lit block, the big drill will happen. I will probably be sweating bullets at like 9:24. When I hear these words, "We are sheltering in place..." I have to take roll of my 12 lit block kids, walk them down the back way to the gym, count them again, and release them to their own teachers. I then have to round up my own lovely 25 second graders, sit them down, and take roll again! All the while 19+ teachers are doing the same thing, in the same room. All the while this EAR PIERCING SHRIEK is blasting through the entire county. ALL THE WHILE THE FEDS ARE EVALUATING THE PROCESS OUR SCHOOL IS GOING THROUGH... WE ARE GETTING GRADED.

You know what? I value practice. If something of this nature ever happens, we will be glad there is a plan that will save most of the lives on this side of the state. But holy crap... At least we can shelter in place at school. When I was in HS in Stanfield we practiced getting on the bus and getting on the road within 5 minutes. We were supposed to be headed to Pilot Rock to shelter in their school gym... can you imagine the pandemonium on the roads if this were to happen? I'll let you know how it goes... I am getting observed by the principal on Thursday and am less nervous about that!

A long time again...

Man, I am not doing very well at keeping up with this thing! School is going really well! Today was probably the best day in awhile. No kids got lost when we were switching classes, no one bit anyone, and no one flooded the bathroom! (Yes the bathroom flooded yesterday!)

I am also coaching volleyball at my old HS and that is so fun! My team has beaten 3 other teams in the league, but had a yucky weekend, going 0-2. We'll see about this weekend!

It was SO cold this morning! 34 degrees!!! I am so not ready for winter, but it is coming FAST! My dad is up hunting and when I checked the roads this morning up there, they got snow! Hopefully he will get an elk so we can have jerky for the rest of the year! I'll try to be better at posting this fall... volleyball/teaching/and church stuff have me running around ragged!

My First Day in 2nd Grade

Holy moly! We had a great day but 2nd is a little different than 4th...

• You have to talk slower and louder
• You have to write really clearly on the board
• Not all of them can read, or even sound out words
• They are shorter

They do have things in common...

• They can ignore you like 4th graders
• They don't raise their hand either
• They call you "teacher"
• They have to go to the bathroom just as much

So we practiced walking down the breezeway, practiced our morning routine, talked about our rules, and wrote them on sentence strips. We did an apple activity where they had to color things they liked to do, read it together as they worked, and talked about how to correctly sit in a chair (because apperantly they haven't ever sat in one...). I have a naughty little girl who looks like a naughty girl from Pendleton that my friend had last year. I kept on calling her the Pendleton girl's name! She got so mad at the end of the day, but seriously, if she didn't act like her, I wouldn't get confused...

Volleyball is going well aside from kids skipping practice. We only have 12 girls that can play next Tuesday. Guess what? We need 12 girls, at minimum, to field a V and JV team! I am really enjoying coaching but it's hard because I am working in HErmiston and coaching in Stanfield.

I didn't get my final class list until this morning! I am so frustrated because some of the kids were taken off of it and then they showed up! I also can't pronounce some of the names! One great thing about 2nd grade: since they take so long to do things I don't have to plan so many activities! More later...

It's sure been a long time!

Sorry about my lack of posts this spring/summer! I have been SO busy this summer and nothing really interesting has been going on in my life. School will be starting in about a week and a half, which is unreal! We started open gyms again for volleyball, which I am the assistant coach of at Stanfield. Monday we have 5 hour team camp, as well as Tuesday, and then W-F we are running daily doubles. Tuesday I have orientation for the Hermiston SD, and W-F I have workdays and inservice! Life is over as I know it... this weekend will be my last free weekend until the beginning of November. Unless we make it to State, then I don't know what to do because I am using all of my personal days for early games... like leaving for Enterprise at noon. Who wants to go to Enterprise at all? And to top that we are going to E 2 times in the same week! That's like a 3 ish hour drive!

Headed to watch some olympic softball and gymnastics... this is my favorite 17 days in 4 years! I love watching sports!!!

Back in Oregon...

Man it's been a long time again! I am back in Oregon and been here for about a week now! It's everything I remember and more.... meaning DRAMA! Haha...

It is good to be back though, but I miss the open spaces in Southern Idaho- and living in the country! I don't miss the ghetto of Caldwell however!

I got my keys to my new classroom last Wednesday! I think it is about as big as my old classroom, maybe a tad smaller. But... it has bathrooms! It is a REALLY old school and I have one bathroom on one side, and the bathroom on the other side is shared with the classroom next door. I am on the end of the building, that's why I don't have to share the one side. I have a tv, am getting a document camera and projector, and a flat screen monitor for my computer which saves desk space! Take that Caldwell SD! It's called technology which I have desperately missed!

I had to be a waitress last night for a fundraising dinner at church. That was a fun experience! I fortunately bypassed the food service industry on my way to a degree-seeking job.

I played in a softball game on Friday night. I hadn't practiced or anything and did fine out in the field, but hitting was a different story. I am in desperate need of some batting practice tomorrow night. I flew out 2x! Our hoser of a pitcher tried to tell me what to do! The nerve! He told me to HOLD THE BALL when I was on 2nd base! I got the lead runner out 2x and turned to 1st for the double. She missed the ball once and the second time she was too slow to step to the base (she didn't have the sense to stay on her base after they threw me the ball). The pitcher said no harm done and hold the ball and I told him to do his own job and let me do mine. If I get the lead runner out on my base I WILL turn to get the double, especially if there is a girl running to 1st.

Alright, enough information for tonight. We'll see if I keep this up or not. It was mainly to keep in touch with my peeps from OR while I was in ID, but now I am here! I can tell them stories in person!

Ski Trip 2008

I got to chaperone a ski trip for the 4th-5th graders from school at the end of February. The bus ride up and back was PURE H-E double hockey sticks! It is a nice ride from Caldwell to Boise, but no one thought to enlighten me with the information that the road b/n Boise and Bogus Basin was a one-ish lane twisty-turny peice of work. NOT COOL!

Skiing was amazing. I fell getting off of the ski lift the 2nd time I went up. Not the 1st time, just the 2nd time. I think I am a natural... haha, but that is one amazing sport! I only got one picture, another teacher took it and sent it to me.

Only 7 of my students went on this ski trip, ironically 6 were my BOYS who are the ones that I would have liked a break from! Go figure... One broken arm, one lost chaperone (and no it wasn't me), and one barfer on the bus coming down the mountain (where there was no way to pull over for like 10 mins), but we had a fun time!

Away for so long...

I have been without the internet for so long, I have almost forgotten how to use it! I don't know how much I will keep up with this blog because come Sunday I will have no internet again.

School is crazy and hectic. Spring testing is just around the corner. We have been doing an extra hour of school in the mornings for students who could potentially benchmark on spring ISATS, so I have been subbing for that about once a week. Our funny student just gets funnier all of the time. Here are some new lines:
* "Who busted a grumpy?" ( I think this means "who farted")
* "No beans, no business"
* You'll do for today...
* We are back to "No you are not my boyfriend!"
* Oh yeah! He thinks that he is "boyfriend/girlfriend" with a little girl in my class! Kill me now!

Guess that's all for now. I'll explain the -isms from above when I have a little more time. I also have a ski trip to write about, complete with pictures.... so fun!

El Nino

Boy uncle El Nino is doing a great job this snow season! I am stuck in Stanfield at my parents house, probably not leaving tomorrow like I had planned! I woke up this morning to 3 inches and counting! After last weekends snow storm here, I figured it wouldn't snow for like a decade so it could reload! The freeway to Boise was closed last night for 70 miles! Clear from Baker-Ontario!! I'll be calling in on Tuesday I am pretty sure...

Snow Day Indeed

Well the storm that slammed Umatilla County and etc. finally made it's way to Southern Idaho! I was VERY pleased to see snow falling at a rapid rate on my way to school yesterday morning. I almost fell on my heinie getting out of my rig at school, but enjoyed the incredible snow and the thought of a snow day for Wednesday.

They let the jr. highs and high schools out early, but not us... They cancelled Nampa and Vallivue school districts, but not Caldwell. It was 9:20pm when I was emailing a friend to complain about the fact that we were the only ones that weren't getting a snow day. My phone jingled at 9:29pm, and to my delight the caller ID said Adam, the person above me on the phone tree. YAHOOOOO!!!! We got our snow day :)

Today was the perfect day for a snow day. I am trying to move and have to be out on Friday. I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned! Everything is vaccuumed, scrubbed, and washed, and I only have to load a few more things into my rig. I might be making a trip to my new abode tonight (30 mins each way, which means I'll be missing American Idol), so I will have room to load the rest of my junk. Here is what I am facing at this moment, everything that needs to fit into my car by Friday morning.

So I wore the most ridiculous feet get-up today in order to load and make trips to the garbage. The snow is so deep that every time I moved my pant legs got wetter and wetter. I think the wetness was 1/2 way up to my knees by the time I invented this... pant leg rolled up vs. boot.

I am monitoring the roads over the mountains and through the woods to see if I will be able to make it home this weekend. I even too Monday off so I could get things done while I was there! I don't thing the weather is going to cooperate, but I am wishin' and hopin'...

What happens when a sub doesn't show up?

Idaho has some very interesting practices. One of said practices is who they let be a substitute teacher. In Oregon you have to have a bachelors degree or a teaching certificate to be a sub. In Idaho.... you have to be 18. This brings me to our incident today.

At 7am it started snowing, and snowing hard! It was very difficult to get to school and even more difficult when I left school at 8:10am to go to the corner store to get a pop. I knew it would be one of those days, so I needed to prepare! I was right.

10 teachers were gone today for a training, including the principal, school counselor, and reading coach. Subs started showing up, but one was missing. OF COURSE, the one that was supposed to be taking the place of the 4th grade teacher. What does this mean you ask? The district was out of subs, so we had to divide her class up and the other 3 fourth grade teachers, me included, had to take 8 extra students! That brought me up to 31 students. I had kids at extra desks, around 2 tables, and still had to get stuff done! It was wacko!

By math time in the afternoon I was up to 35 students because one of the other teachers is on a different pacing guide than us, so he couldn't keep those kids in his room. Party time...

During lunch I emailed the principal, because I knew he had his palm pilot on him, to ask if us three teachers would be getting the sub pay to split... somehow I don't think so...

Only in Idaho. I think I might write a book of all of the wierd things that this state does! AACK!

Now it's our turn...

Well after being jealous of Stanfield's 2 SNOW DAYS, which cracks me up because now they'll have to make some up, I am pretty sure we will recieve one tomorrow! It started snowing at about 7am, quit for about 1 hour before school let out, and has started again. They let students at neighboring schools out early, but not us! I think we have about 7 inches, and counting! It took me 1 hour to get home after school and it usually takes 15 minutes! Some pictures...

This was yesterday before the major snow...

I didn't have a ruler so I used a hanger. The snow is almost 1/2 a hanger deep and still falling!

The view from my front walk... they shoveled the walks but it's snowing again!

They haven't canceled school yet, but I am crossing my fingers! I need to clean my apartment so I can move out of here! I am sleeping in a sleeping bag because all of my stuff is already moved!

SNOW!

As sick as I am of the snow we keep on getting here, I am extra jealous of the incredible amount of snow that Hermiston/Stanfield is getting and their 2nd snowday of the season! Haha... may you make those days up in HOT June. That is my charge to you.

We have 100% chance of snow tomorrow, so there is a REALLY GOOD chance we are getting that storm from you... maybe it will pay off in the form of a snow day for us on Tuesday... We had a snow day the week we got back from Christmas break, and it was the first one that Caldwell had called in like 8 years! The liklihood of us getting another one is slim. When the snow hits tomorrow I will try to get some pics... Either of that or of the Transformer wallpaper that is sure to be up the my neighboring classroom. Adios.

Moving...

Oh man! I am so tired! This morning I loaded up my rig and my cousin's car and took boxes over to the new place. The roads were packed snow in places, and very slushy in others! Got there, unloaded, and headed to school where I had more stuff to unload. At school I noticed that there was a lot of organizing to be done, and I actually had time, so I did it. Got to my apartment later and the family was there ready to unload the big stuff from my apartment to take over. I had 2 truck loads and 2 SUV's full of stuff. Haha, I have a ton of stuff! Got that moved, it was freezing cold, then sat for a few minutes and talked to my cousin.

Like 30 minutes later my other cousin and I went over to my great-aunts house to feed animals. Their horse is over there and like 5-6 ewes. It was like 20 degrees and we were hauling buckets of water on a trailer with a 4-wheeler... needless to say I got wet and FREEZING!

All of this information about my day leads to this... I am now home. I took a hot shower because I was so cold! I was in bed at 8pm because I was tired... the hosers next door are playing their music so loud I can understand the words! Their bass is so loud it is giving me a headache. It is 10:15 pm and I am now wide awake, thinking of everything that I need to do tomorrow, like laundry or I won't have any clothes to wear on Monday! I think I am listening to some hard rock crap, Spanish-esque bass, music! I have beat on the wall twice but apperantly they can't hear me because their music is so loud! I am going to throw a flaming bag of dog poop through their front window... I'll let you know how it goes!

Something funny: Why do they have a seafood restaurant at Sea World. Here I am eating my fish sandwich, when it suddenly hits me.... I could be eating a slow learner!
I actually hate fish, but read this on the internet and thought it was classic! Enjoy!

Transformers

Yesterday our kid printed out like 75 pictures from the internet of transformers. The stack was seriously like an inch thick! Well today he took like 20 of them and used magnets and stuck them to the white board. When the kids showed up he led them in learning all about each transformer. He turned out the lights, turned the overhead projector on, and used a yardstick to teach the kids. He would point to a picture and say, "It's a well-known fact, the 20th century optimus prime..." and he would continue on. He would end his speech with, "Does anyone have any questions?" and would point his yard stick to the crowd! It was hilarious! He did this little lesson in his classroom and then travelled over to mine to do the same thing. We gave him about 5 minutes out of our spelling test time. I'm sure my kids didn't mind, and neither did I. It was funny and Fridays are all about various tests that we have to take, so the kids get restless.

They called an emergency meeting of our grade level for after school, which was lovely, especially on a Friday! We were stuck in there for 1.5 hours! It was all about what we need to do in our workshop time to move the close kids to benchmark. It ended up with me losing my EA during that hour, which is what I suggested, so I got out good! I can do more group work and direct teaching, and less planning since I am only one person and I was planning for 3 groups... fantastic!

I guess that's all for now. I may be getting sick :( so I have been taking airborne! I am also doing a ton of my moving this weekend, so hopefully I get things done in a timely manner. We got about 3 inches of snow after school yesterday/last night, so that makes things a little complicated because it is now frozen over. Ahhh.... the life!

Stinky Situation

Today I was teaching spelling, about 15 minutes before we were allowed to take a break to use the bathrom. I was up at the board writing when all of a sudden the most disgusting stench reached my nose. I have 2 boys that sit up near the board because they can't function near other students at this present time. I thought one of them had knocked a silent one out of the ballpark. It was that disgusting. I decided that I could no long her be part of spelling and told the kids to finish the worksheet on their own. I walked toward the back of the room, praying that the stench wouldn't follow me (both so I could have fresh air and so the kids wouldn't think it was me!).

Lo and behold, it did! I kept on walking and headed straight for the hall to gasp for air. When I came back in the kids were freaking out, putting their shirts over their noses. One kid even taped his shirt to his face so he could have hands-free breathing! I went across the hall as the kids were blaming each other for busting wind and ruining our spelling time. Their room stunk too, but not nearly as bad. At least now we knew that it wasn't one of us in the room, but what was it?

Someone went and got the custodian who could help us with our situation. What was the deal? They were emptying the sewer next to the school and stinking the place up! Why did it waft into the school when we don't have windows that open? Well since it was 2 degrees today they had the heat on. Apperantly when they have the heat on they are drawing air in from the outside. So in short, they were pumping the school full of poopoocachoo! Good night nurse, it smelled like something died! It was like 50x worse than Lehman Hot Springs has ever smelled! I could have lit a match and blown up the school!

It reeked for like 1.5 hours! I handed out candy for my students and told them to breath out so that the fruity smell would overtake the reekage that wound't go away! Another teacher passed out strong smelling lotion to all of the kids to make it smell better. Alas, after forever, the stench went away and now we have "non-sweet" smelling memories to remember our disgusting morning!

Calvary Chapel

So I went to church today with my friend. She said that we needed to get there early in order to get a seat, because it fills up fast! That should have been my first indication. I walked out of my apartment this morning to leave and what do I find???? SNOW! AGAIN! Looked out to the road, what did I find? PACKED SNOW! They don't plow in Nampa because they scrape up the man hole covers with the plows...

We get to the church, early I might add, and saw a sign that we should have parked down at Bishop Kelly HS and rode the shuttle. That should have been my second indication. We got inside and THERE WAS STADIUM TYPE SEATING IN A HUGE SEMI-CIRCLE TOWARD THE STAGE. I have never been in such a big church! How many people were there, you ask? 900!!!

It was a good service! Very casual, but since I dress up all week it is nice to wear jeans on Sunday. The pastor even wore jeans, and that was kind of odd, but he was very good. The music was great, but I didn't know the first 5 songs, so I wasn't enjoying it like I could have been. The music is kind of what draws you into the rest of the service, so I wasn't quite ready.

In all it was very good. The cross-dresser behind me and the 14 year old girl with her back covered in tatoos kind of freaked me out, but Jesus wants everyone... not just normal people. In all it was nice, I was nervous that it would be a holy roller church, but it wasn't! YEAH!

The Shack by William Young

This book was recommended to me by a friend, so I have bought it: The Shack.

The front of it says, "This book has the potential to do for our generatioin what John Bynyan's Pilgrims Progress did for that generation. It's that good!"

I have very high hopes for this book... I'll let you know how it turns out.

Check out The Shack online and read the first chapter- it's pretty good!

Reading Tests

Every Friday we take reading comprehension tests. One day one of the questions was something like, "What does this story and this story have in common?" One student wrote, "They have nothing in common you jack_ss! Oh, alright, they both have happy endings!" The kid tends to have an attitude and when he doesn't know the answer right away, he gets mad!

On another note we didn't have school today, but inservice for grades, and no school Monday! How fantastic! Now on to find something fun to do... I borrowed Arrested Development and The Office from a friend, so I have those.... and packing to keep me company! AACK! Moving in 12 days!

No, I'm Not your Boyfriend!

Today our silly student came out into the hall and I said, "Hi there! How are you today?" He looked at me and said, with a funny look on his face, "NO! I'm not your boyfriend!" We couldn't figure out what show this came off of, and he seems to quote movies a ton, so if you know...

Also yesterday he recited the entire cast of the old 1990's Ghostbuster movie to us. Dan Akroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Bill something-or-other... I couldn't believe it! His mom said that he has only seen it once, and it was a few weeks ago during Christmas break! That must be his talent.... movie lines and things that go along with them!

Here is to NO SCHOOL TOMORROW OR MONDAY! (but tmw is a workday)

Oh yeah, I got observed yesterday for an official observation by the principal, and the write-up was great! I got kudos on asking higher-level thinking questions and on the spot assessment! What a great day!

CUESTE Cohort 8

I made this video to finish out our crazy, insane, and fun year as cohort 8. I just thought I would post it on here so my old classmates could see it. This was shown at our bbq, the last hurrah, that we had! What an amazing year! Enjoy!

Picture Update

I had a great time at home during Christmas break! What a wonderful time with friends and family! I can't wait to get back to real life over there! Here are a few pictures of my time there...

At the "Night in Bethlehem" thingy at church I was surprised to have all of us girls back together! This is our youth group, yes all of it, when I was in high school!

A beautiful afternoon at the Hermiston Butte. I had never been there before, and it is beautiful! The boys here are scaling the side of the butte, but I decided to walk on the real trail.

The cross at the top of the Butte. There was graffiti all over it! But a cool sight for the town to see, nonetheless.

My mom's side of the family. (l to r) mom, uncle, aunt, aunt, aunt, uncle, uncle.. I don't remember the last time they were all together! It was for a lunch in Cascade Locks. Yes, we drove 2.5 hours for lunch!

Internet...

So I am trying to give the kids an all around experience this year in all areas. I have a ton of experience integrating technology into all aspects of a day. I took my workshop class to the computer lab to have them research a disease that they are going to write a paper on and make a poster presentation.

First off, they didn't know how to log out of the current system. Basically these kids couldn't get on the Internet. It was amazing... only in Idaho.

I got them logged on to wikipedia (teachers beware!) and TURNED THEM LOOSE to research their chosen disease. A couple of problems:

1. one student ended up researching STD's, with very explicit explanations. I had to shut the boy down...

2. A girl was researching pregnancy and a VERY unclothed example of a pregnant woman came up. I had to shut her down too...

3. A boy was researching asthma and on the search results came "southpark character has asthma attack", he clicked on it and was enjoying Southpark in the corner...

I shut them all down and after 5 mins of research I was too stressed out to continue. We are now using old fashioned encyclopedias to do our research! Everything is a learning experience, for sure!

Family Guy...

There is a show that most of our grade level watches regularly. I have never seen it... ever. I had no idea it even existed. I was introduced to it today, in a humorous, albeit sad, way.

Family Guy... has anyone ever seen it? From what I know now, it is horribly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18, but truly, no one should watch it. Throughout this week a few of my students and other random 4th graders have been quoting lines from a kid named Stewie, off of Family Guy. They have been drawing pictures of him, cutting them out, and taping them to the front of their t-shirts. Odd kids... today one student drew a picture and wrote this comment under it: "If you act like it, I'll call you it, ya f_g." (insert a vowel in there)

Now my question... what parent would let their 4th GRADER watch a show that calls people names? I admit, I tend to make off color jokes, but GUESS WHAT??? I'm 25 years old... these kids are 9! I about fainted when I saw this work of art, and had to ream the whole class and threaten detention for those who chose to keep on drawing and quoting this awful show! I also told them they were not allowed to watch it anymore... I know, I know, that won't do a thing, but I had to say it!

On another note, I am going skiing! There is a perk to living in this retarded state! The 4-5th graders from my school go night skiing in February. The kids have to pay $25, but teachers go for free! We have to chaperone, but get to ski and the whole bit! How cool is that? Finally, something to brag about to all of my Oregon teacher friends... there hasn't been much yet!

Hey, don't be afraid to comment! I love hearing from you guys! Cherilyn (click the comment button at the bottom of this post:)

Trying to get back into the swing of things...

So this week our student is on a new program to try to make him do actual school work. Unfortunately they waited 18 weeks into the school year to make this transition for him, so he is NOT interested! The second day of his "work" he got to school early and threw away all of his work from the day before, hid the clock that they have for him, and threw away his folder of tasks. Totally funny...

Today when they tried to make him work he walked up to the white board at the front of the room and wrote in big block letters "SCHOOL WORK" and put a big red circle with a line through the middle... funny kid!

Things are going better! I hung out with a friend from Western Baptist, who I haven't seen in like 5 years, and it was fun catching up! We are planning on having a Mathi-Poo movie night, to watch the movies that we made at WB starring us dressed like teachers! I bet you didn't know that I impersonated our school president, the Hofferoo, and starred in 2 movies! We also had a choir director impersonator, a history teacher, one of the Bible staffers, and "the love doctor". If you went to WB, you probably know who these people are. It sure is fun to reminisce! (How do you spell that word???)

I really enjoyed my snow day! I didn't get anything accomplished that I needed to, but it was a nice break indeed! The weather truly was bad, so it was good that we didn't go in. 40 schools in the area cancelled! There were still slide-offs happening as I was driving home from school tonight. I passed 2 of them... probably from California!

snow...

Well we are back to school. The last two days have been pretty good! Much better than the days before break, for sure! When I pulled into Idaho I was so bummed! I miss everyone from Stanfield, we had some fun times this break! I had a good time catching up with old friends and seeing everyone that I have been missing.

Yesterday morning it snowed for like an hour and gave us 2-3 inches! It took me 45 minutes to get to work (a 15 mile trip) because I went on the regular roads due to the lack of plowing in this state! I was late, but so was everyone else!

This morning I turned on the news when I woke up to hear that "the snow will be starting in 15 minutes". Sure enough, at 7ish am, the snow began, and now at 6:20pm, it hasn't stopped! I have never seen it snow for so long! It is kind of windy, so the drifts are insane! I think we have about 6 inches or so. Indoor recess is never a good situation for a teacher :(

At the end of the school day the principal announced that everyone needed to take their phone tree home just in case they cancelled school. Apperantly that is the plan, so if it keeps on snowing, we will have tomorrow off! I will be packing up my apartment and using that time to clean and do homework! I hate staying home and being bored!

Here are some pictures of our winter wonderland...