Tuesday, May 25, 2010

According to my mom its high time I updated, so here goes.

Basically, life is crazy. Yesterday (Monday) was my afternoon off, and I didn’t spend any of it ‘off’ at my house—I had to many other things to do.

This weekend was my first weekend off, and I spent Saturday afternoon waiting to and then getting my toe nail pulled off. I’ve had an ongoing infection and ingrown nail problem for the past two years, so I’m really hoping that this will set it all right again. I’m keeping a dressing on the toe during the day as the dust is really bad (and really germy!) right now, but I’m letting the toe breath at night. I’ve been very fortunate to have little to no pain through the whole thing. It’s a good thing really as I have far to much to do to spend lots of time with my foot up!

School is in full swing now, and I’m managing to stay one stroke ahead of the sharks. Classes are going well for the most part—there is a book report due this Friday that apparently makes me the meanest teacher ever—who on earth would be so cruel as to require them to read a book and write a report in two weeks? Shocking! Just wait till the next one... My students are delving into ancient Egypt, the mysteries of dividing with and by decimals are being plumbed, they have learned about Kennings, and auditions have been mostly held for the end of term program. We discussed the flute last week in music—this week its the clarinet (also known as the ‘squeakaphone’ by non-clarinet players). My class is doing a literature unit called “Friendship Road” this term, and most of the time the kids are in small groups reading novels, but once or twice a week we gather as a class to read the book “Simon” by Rosemary Sutcliff. I wasn’t sure how the kids would respond to it, but they are getting really hooked. They beg to read that instead of their books. I think some of it may be they don’t like reading aloud in their group and some of it may be they like hearing me read (that is of course the less probable/more flattering for me conclusion!), but I’m tickled that they are so into it. Its one of my all time favorite books, and I’m hoping to lure them into reading other Rosemary Sutcliff books through it.

In big news on the station, our library is put back together again! As we repaired it, we have been brainstorming about some improvements to make to it while we’re at it. The biggest change so far is we added a bulletin board by the door so we can post book reports, book lists, photocopies of book covers as recommendations, and have a “if you enjoyed this, you’ll probably enjoy this” section. I’ve been trying to come up with as many ideas as possible to hook my class on reading—the 7th and 8th grade girls go around with their noses in books all the time, but my kids would much rather play football (soccer) or do other things than read. Book reports are part of my grand strategy to make book worms of them all. We shall see! That’s also why I read at least a book aloud to my kids each term. There is something magic about listening to someone else read that I will never grow out of. That reminds me, I think we have a book worm cut out in the paper store. I’ll have to go look for that...

Well, I have math books that aren’t marking themselves no matter how hard I squint, so I had better end this off. I’m enjoying the cool evening—next month I want to have a few fires in my little fire place. The only downside that I have found for dry season so far is all the dust. However, its a small price to pay for the lovely weather!

2 comments:

  1. Wayne didn't like to read & his teacher told me
    to have him choose a book he liked..So for the
    whole yr. he read football books.. That was his
    start on reading..Teacher said let him go & it
    sure paid off..(smile) Now he loves to read!!
    Do take care of the toe..I've found wearing socks
    all the time is the best protection against any
    type of foot problems..Have a good wk..Hugs gw

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Birthday Lina !!! One you will be sure to
    remember.. God's Best for the coming year.
    Hugs, gw

    ReplyDelete