They're Always After Me Lucky Charms!

Today, I introduced my new class to Nickel Creek. This is my favorite musical group, and the first song on the CD is a beautiful combination of instruments, including a guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, among others.


One of my kiddos says "Hey...this is like leprechaun music!" Yeah...I'm gonna like this bunch. I forget that they don't know me like my princes and princesses did. One of them came in during my planning time and found me singing along to "When You Come Back Down." Judging by the look on her face, she was a little weirded out. So was the rest of the class today, when I tripped over my chair and knocked it and everything on my overhead cart off. They'll get used to their teacher, and I'll get used to them.


I'm out of my disgruntled funk. I've found that often, when I feel out of sorts, one remedy is to create something. I finally found the table and chairs I have been looking for...a beautiful antique piece with hideous toucan print on the chairs. So, yesterday, with the help of my mom, I recovered them. The picture on the left is definitely the before:





Between that and my little ones...I'm feeling much better...much more myself.

By-the-by, Nickel Creek's last concert before they break up (sob sob) is in November at the House of Blues. I am SO there. In fact, I'm so SO there that I had to stop this post and get tickets. The good seats are already sold out, but the cheap seats were available. I'm so excited, November can't get here fast enough. Maybe I'll take my dad. Maybe I'll take someone else. Anyone interested?

Thursday Thirteen #3- Two-fer

What? Yes, I know today's not Thursday. It's Friday. But, my blog, my rules. Yesterday was the last day of school, and I was thinking about sending my princes and princesses on their merry ways, and what I know about them and what they know about me. And then I found this quote, from a book I loved called The Little Prince:

"Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: “What does his voice sound like?” “What games does he like best?” “Does he collect butterflies?”. They ask: “How old is he?” “How many brothers does he have?” “How much does he weigh?” “How much money does his father make?” Only then do they think they know him. "

Thirteen things I know about my students:

1. the sound of each of their voices- I could be blindfolded and know who was speaking to me

2. who they like to stand in line next to

3. what kind of books they like to read, or if they don't like to read

4. what games they will play if they are given free time to play games

5. what part of the playground they like to play on, and with whom

6. what kind of mood they are in when they walk through the door

7. who is whistling, tapping, or rocking back in forth in their chair- without looking

8. not only what their handwriting looks like, but also how they form their numbers- just because the paper doesn't have a name on it doesn't mean I don't know whose it is

9. who their brother and sister has for a teacher, and where their dad has gone out of town for a business meeting

10. the names and types of their pets, friends, and enemies

11. what makes them smile, laugh, and cry

12. what they want to be when they grow up

13. that I am in charge of loving them and teaching them, even if it kills me

Thirteen things they know about me:

1. that I will not wear a skirt if it comes above my knees

2. that I love to sit outside and read

3. that Read Aloud is my favorite part of the day, and will let it go on if I'm in the good part of a book

4. that I have "favorite chapters" of the books I read to them

5. that in their mind, I know the name of almost every kid in the whole school

6. that I love to play practical jokes on the principal, and vice versa

7. that, even though I have a schedule on the board, I'm probably not going to stick to it minute-by-minute

8. that I prefer to sit on the floor or the table instead of a chair

9. that I like pink and orange and blue and the Gators

10. that I won't help them unless they try it on their own first

11. that I am proud of them for trying it on their own

12. that we're all in this together, even though they're not technically "my students" anymore

13. that they will always be my students

I am going to miss them very much.

Ancient

Why I haven't left the classroom to pursue an Administrative job:

Setting: our afternoon bathroom break, in which there was quite a stinky situation in the boys bathroom

Prince12: "Miss O, what's the worst thing you've ever smelled?"
me: "I don't know"

as I'm walking away, I hear...
Princess14: "She can't answer because she's smelled a lot of things...she is thirty."

This Day Is Bananas...B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Today was field day. Wow. It was good, it was bad, and at times, yes, it was ugly. The funniest story of the day, though, did not come during field day, but during the spelling test. I gave the words, and came to the word 'father.' I gave the instruction something like this: "Number four...father." And from the back of the room, comes the still, small voice, that makes me love my princes and princesses, crazy as they are.

"Luke...I am your father..."

I couldn't discipline for laughing! And that's how it should be. Every once in a while, a kid needs to take a risk on a joke he thinks might be good, thinks might be there, thinks might be worth it. And he did. And I couldn't be prouder! The only real question left is whether he was referring to this:



or this:


Two other fun, proud moments of the week. They may not be funny or meaningful for you, but my teacher friends laughed and loved them. It's a teacher thing:

1. More than anything, I try to model the right thing for my kids, but I also want my kids to own their stuff, good or bad. You ace a test, it's you not me. Own it. You goof up, it's you not me. Own it. Wednesday afternoon, 2:45ish, the kiddos are packing up and chaos has ensued, and I smell a recently lit match. I find two of my more mischievous princes in the back of the room giggling. I go and give them the third degree minus the lightbulb about the match. They swear they didn't do it. Find out later, group next door is doing a science experiment, and didn't tell me. So, on the way out, I take the eighth prince aside and apologize that I accused him of something he didn't do. He said no problem, and I could tell it didn't bother him. So, I asked him, "was I that far off base to think you were the one that lit the match?" His response: "No, not really." with a shrug and a skip out the door. That's what I call owning it. Cracked me up!

2. Kids always have the funniest ideas of what their teachers do and where. Everytime I'm absent, my princes and princesses have to write a paragraph just telling me where they think I am. Most of them think I just pick a day to stay home and eat bon bons (they actually use that word) and watch tv on the couch all day. Anyways... one of my princes came by my room afterschool one day to bring me a book. What he found and the look on his face were hilarious! He comes in to the room next door because he hears my voice and finds me sitting on a desk, L sitting on a stool, and Mo hula hooping. We're all laughing hysterically and eating chocolate. The look on his face was priceless. He discovered his teacher has a life!

My princes and princesses drive me crazy, but they make it worth getting up in the morning.

The World Has Rules That Are Unfair!!!

That's what one of L's little men wailed to her today. My commentary on the day was much less eloquent: "Today can suck it."

Ugh. My princes and princesses came through in the end, when we were evacuated from our portable because of the tornado warning. Everything up till there... a little sketchy. It was Book Fair day, and that 45 minutes was joy and fun and literacy and surprise and sweetness. Unfortunately, it came at 1:30. Everything up till there... a little sketchy.

By the by: el jefe. A word for you. When you want the wee ones to vacate the potential swirling trailor of death, do not use the phrase "nobody panic." My princes and princesses have been well trained in the art of the non-panic, but they will all simultaneously look at you like you are a roving lunatic, and then look at me as if to say "Seriously?" We were packed up and out the door in under five minutes (don't ask what the classroom looked like when I got back).

In my head I was writing something way more profound than this. But then today happened, and I lost it. Oh well. As my friend used to day...must've been a lie.

My Princes and Princesses

An actual quote from my class today: "Wow, Miss Owen, I didn't know you were that smart!"
(In his defense, I didn't know I was that smart either.)

Today was one of those days, when I looked around my classroom and smiled because this is what I thought it would be like when I would play school as a kid. My kids had finished their math work, so their choice was card games, puzzles, or the always-an-option read a book. Of my 22 princes and princesses, 8 were reading books, some at their desks, three boys all huddled in a corner leaning on each other, all reading different books. A group of rather giggly girls was working on a puzzle together, and a different group of boys was working on a different puzzle. A couple of other boys were playing addition war, and for about ten peaceful moments, everyone was getting along. I had to stop what I was doing and soak it in.

I was looking around at my princes and princesses and thinking about them. One of the boys that was curled up reading is my absolute prince. If only I could find a 22-year-older version of him, I'd have it made. And there's the princess I've decided he needs to marry, because she's just as precious as he is. They hold my heart the two of them.

And then there's one of my other little princes. He frustrates me and makes me smile all at the same time. He always has his nose in a book and he's really smart, and I realized today that part of the reason he is in my class is because he is just like me, and I must apparently pay for my own upbringing! He helps me understand the teachers I had growing up.

And on the subject of princes and princesses, the castle tonight was awesome!
Man, you Braveheart!
I Braveheart.

(If you get that, you get extra cool points in my book.)

Miss O is the Big 3-0

My whole team decorated the school with signs letting everyone know that I'm going to be 30 on Tuesday.

It was pretty awesome. My team spoiled me, my class spoiled me, and I am blessed.

I'm off to South Texas tomorrow morning, to work in Mexico for the week. I don't know if I'll have, or even want internet access.

I'm waiting to see what God has in store for me this coming week. Every year He shows me something different. Every year, it's beautiful.

Heard, Not Said

Things that my students said today that I will probably never say on my own:

"Yeah, last year we went to Breckenridge, but this year we're going to Steamboat."
"When I went fishing in Alaska, I caught a King Salmon!"

and, of course:
"Hey...if you take the -er out of butterfly, you get buttfly! Cool!"

Never a dull moment!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Signs, signs, everywhere signs...
On my route to work, there are two stop signs that I am always almost stopping for. I keep thinking I'm gonna get busted one day. A couple of days ago, I see the sign that says:
"Complete Stops: Free
Rolling Stops: $156.50
Your choice
(Courtesy of Double Oak Police Dept.)"

Thought it was funny. Even funnier: this morning I noticed that one of them had been stolen!

I got a good giggle at the expense of my princes and princesses yesterday afternoon. They have been on this ridiculus folding paper spree as of late, so for our science fair project, I've decided to give them all paper airplanes and we'd see which of three designs flies faster. Incidentally, I've told my teammates that the next time I say that we'll do our science project with paper airplanes, they are to beat me senseless. Senseless.

Nonetheless, I started off the experiment by giving them their super-flying folded planes, and let them go outside and fly the suckers, in the wind. It was sheer joy. The kids were in heaven, as was I watching them.

Until I heard a loud, shrill, scream. I looked up just in time to find...
a group of three of my princesses running frantically in one direction and...

...squirrel running frantically in the other direction.

Not sure which one was more scared!