Sunday, February 28, 2010

Too Much...


Every night for the past couple of weeks we have been watching BBC Television's Robin Hood on Netflix. We are now in Season 2, and our favorite character is Much, Robin's servant from Locksley, and companion during the crusades. Much now fights as one of Robin's "Merry Men" and is the comic relief of the show. The show itself is silly at times, and sort of cheesy, but I highly recommend it. It has something for everyone...romance, intrigue, action, comedy, etc.

Much to Robin: "How can I prove my loyalty to you? I'll cut off both my arms just to prove my loyalty...well, I'll cut off one because once that one is off, I won't be able to cut off the other one."

Check it out.

Friday, February 26, 2010

My teacher is the best because...

The PTA at our school wanted the students to fill out a questionnaire about the school, their teacher, what has been their favorite thing so far this year, etc. Before I handed them in, I took a peek, I just wanted to see what they said about me. I don't know if I was supposed to or not, but since I was the one collecting them, it didn't bother my conscience. The question I was most interested in finding out what my students thought was, "My teacher is the best because?" Here are their responses, all 20 of them. (All of the responses are typed how they were written)

1. She help ueas
2. She tell's funny story's
3. She les us play games
4. She is beautiful
5. Clas parteys
6. She is funny
7-13. She is nice
14. She techise
15. She loves me and I love her
16. She is a girl
17. Funy
18. She helps me
19. We get to have class partys
20. She teaches gould

This is what I actually learned from their responses:
1. The PTA is going to think that all we do is play games and have class parties
2. I haven't taught my students a thing about spelling (ex. gould, techise, funy,ueas, parteys, etc.)
3. I am glad that it is obvious that I am girl
4. I feel better knowing that 8 year olds think I am funny

Thursday, February 25, 2010




Mischa Boy...Our Little Daydreamer



Once Michael and I bought a place, I wanted a dog right away. Gone were the days of "No Pets Allowed." I was met with resistance, of course. Michael didn't want some dog tearing up our new house and having accidents all over the carpet. I didn't blame him...but I still wanted a dog. I would look on KSL Classifieds everyday. I saw so many cute puppies, dogs that needed a new home, and rescued dogs who were just looking for someone to love them. I would have Michael sit next to me and humor me by looking through all of the ads...and then we came across Mischa's ad. It wasn't his breed that caught our eyes, it was his picture. Here was this little fox staring at us with big,sad,brown eyes.It was then that Michael and I were finally on the same page. I called the next day and said that I wanted him. The lady selling him told us that she raised sled dogs, and that his breed was actually a mix between a Shiba Inu, and a Miniature American Eskimo. Because of both mine and Michael's schedule, we weren't able to get him until the weekend, so we had a couple of days to wait and plan. We went to the store and bought him toys, food, a collar and a leash. We still had to name him though. Me, being the silly person that I am, got out the baby name book. Because he looked like a little wolf or fox, I asked Michael what those names were in Spanish. Lobo, and Zorro. My grandparent's had a little dog named Lobo, so that was out, and I honestly don't know why we didn't name him Zorro. I kind of like it now that I hear it, but we ended up calling him Mischa. Translation: Nickname for Michael in Russian...go figure. After we chose his name, we went and got his dog tag. That Friday, we drove up to Evanston to pick up the newest addition to our family. All this time, I was thinking that we were going to get a normal, happy puppy that would be rambunctious, and playful. I was so wrong. When we got him, he was already car sick on the ride down to where we were to meet to pick him up. He was so scared that he wouldn't go potty, he wouldn't look at us, and he threw up in the car. We got him home and he wouldn't move. He just laid there. All night. I cried. What was wrong with my puppy? I remember praying so much that weekend for him. I wanted him to love us, to be comfortable with us. But he wasn't. I was heartbroken. I felt helpless. Even though he is an animal, he is my little baby. I learned a portion of what it must feel like to actually have a child and to be a parent. He has since come out of being scared, but it is slow going...
These days, Mischa likes to play around with other dogs, but his favorite thing to do is look out the window. I will often find him behind the curtains, just looking. He is our little daydreamer...I wonder what he thinks about.

I'm a teacher...

While stalking around on Facebook, I came across a group called, " Teachers call it 'the bathroom, we call it, 'I'm bored, I'm leaving'"...so true. I can't tell you how many times any one of my students come up to me during math, or literacy centers and ask if they can go to the bathroom! I know that they are just trying to get out of work. I know this because I used to do the same thing! I used to have bathroom passes, but they became ragged after many uses, so I threw them all away. Under the guise of, "my students are old enough to remember to go during recess", I was just too lazy to make new ones.
Here are a few antics that students are famous for...

1. Student says, "Oh, I get it now!", just so I will go away.
2. When the student pretends to think when I look at them.
3. Student says, "Teacher, you look really nice today." What student really means: I did something bad and I don't want her to get me in trouble.
4.When I leave the room and tell them to be quiet, I know they are having a rave. (Sometimes I stand outside my door and listen, or I peek in the window...)
5. I ask, "Why were you in the bathroom so long?", student answers, "I had diarrhea!" or my personal favorite, "I had a lot of poop!".
6. When I call on a student who has their hand raised, student pauses and then proceeds to say, "I forgot." You didn't forget...you just wanted to be called on. (This at first annoyed me, but now it sort of hurts my heart because I know they aren't getting enough attention...)
7. Whenever I say, "You may work with a partner...", students reach across their desk and touch their friend, or they look at their friend as if to say, "let's be partners". I hate this! They never listen to the rest of my instructions and inevitably I get students coming up to me asking me questions I already answered in my instructions!
8. One student whistles, or makes some noise, I say, "stop", student does it again to see what will happen...
9. Students will do anything for candy.
10. Any tiny little scrape requires a bandage...

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I have been inspired.

So after seeing so many blogs, and realizing that almost everyone in the modern world blogs, I was inspired to start my own, and hopped aboard the blog train with everyone else. Here I go...

The past couple of weeks it has been really hard for me to get out of bed. I think it is because we recently got Netflix. We have been staying up late watching the most random array of movies and television shows. Most recently it has been the BBC's production of Robin Hood, but it started with LA Ink, SNL sketches, and interesting documentaries. By the time 7:00 a.m. comes around, I reset my alarm for 7:45, and then again for 8:00. I am supposed to be at the school by 8:30...yeah, it hasn't been happening. I get up, quickly shower, pull my hair back into my best librarian bun (which doesn't look good by the way), and head out the door. I am lucky that I have a husband that gets up, takes Mischa out, and makes my lunch for me. If it wasn't for him, I would be having school lunch, or no lunch at all. He takes good care of our little family.
I know that I shouldn't stay up as late as I do, but old habits die hard I guess. What's in our queue tonight? Episode 8 of Robin Hood...I am stoked. Wish me luck for tomorrow morning...7:00 a.m. comes so early!