Spelling Bee

Korra is really excited about the grade level spelling bee that's coming up next week. She asks us to quiz her constantly. 

4:30 phone call

After the rough day I've had, a parent called me at 4:30. I didn't answer. She texts for me to please call her immediately. I reply that I'm at a family event (she doesn't need to know the family event is me watching TV with Korra while eating Halloween candy) and ask if it's an emergency or if I can call him Monday. She says, "it's about my son." I want to reply "is he hurt?  Missing?" but I wait. Finally she replies, "Monday is fine." Damn right it is. 

Poop Fart Kind of Day

Today has been rough and it's not even noon.  A student was disruptive and just plain mean to me first thing this morning.  Picture Day threw off the schedule.  Then there was the lock-down during locker and bag searches (which has never happened before and really irritated these 6th grader's new sense of privacy).  Then the electives teachers both called out sick and the subs didn't show up so there goes my planning.  And one copier is out of toner and the other is jammed beyond my repair skills so I can't print the progress reports I already told the parents are coming home today.  And I have lunch duty.  Oh, and of course all the kids are failing their quiz (that I'm not allowed to reschedule).  

So while I heated up my lunch, I used the little magnetic letters on the little magnetic board in the teacher work room to write the words "poop" and "fart."  It made me feel a little better.

Catalogs

The Christmas toy catalogs have found their way to our house.  First Target, then Amazon, and yesterday was American Girl.  Korra has spent many afternoons laying on her bedroom floor pouring over those catalogs and dreaming of Christmas.

Thanksgiving lunch

My mom came from North Carolina to visit and go to Thanksgiving lunch at school. Since Nate and I aren't ever able to go). She's a pretty wonderful grandma. 

Observations

Today I had 1 administrator and 2 visiting teachers observe my classes. I also had 3 kids cry and 1 total shut-off down during that time. It wasn't the best day as far as actual content teaching goes but thanks to my student teacher, I was able to do a lot of comforting and relationship building today. Hopefully that counts for something. 

Day 100

Today is day 100 of the 100 Day Challenge, but I'm not even at school. Plus most of the kids didn't do it after day 50 (in part because I stopped checking up on them). So... I'm still going to have them write the essay about what they learned through the process. And I'm going to let kids who actually practiced present it for extra credit. But as for my own performance, I think I'll only invite kids who made an A on the essay. Thoughts?

All alone

For the first time in my life, I'm spending the night alone in a hotel. Even though the reason for this little trip isn't great (a funeral), I'm making the most of it with some self care. A good audiobook and special snacks for the ride and planning to take myself out to breakfast tomorrow. 

Ungraded

I brought home 2 stacks of papers to grade this weekend. I didn't even take then out of my school bag. 

Not one but two

Today's weather was so lovely I went on two walks. 

Date Night!

Nate and I went out on a much needed date this evening. We shared a babysitter with the friends we went out with (being with her friends made Korra's separation anxiety much better) and spent a couple of hours at The Painted Pin. Dinner, drinks, and games (bocce ball, ping pong, ski ball, and skittles). It was a super fun evening. 

Running Buddy

Ran/walked with one of my 6th graders. Slower than I would have done it in my own but a good time (both the race time and the experience). 39 minutes. 

It's very cold and very early

A few months ago I signed up for a 5k with some coworkers. Today's the day and it's currently 34 degrees and it's not going to get much warmer today. Immediately following the race is Korra's last soccer game. I'm already looking forward to an afternoon nap under all the blankets we own. 

Special lunch

Even though I'm at a school in the middle of the city and I'm allowed to leave campus during lunch/planning (unlike every other school I've ever worked at), I rarely take advantage of it. Like I can count on one hand how many times I've eaten lunch out in the past 2+years.  It gets expensive, it isn't good for my health, and it takes away time that I could be planning/grading. But today I drove myself to Chick-fil-A (had to be a day I drove instead of biking or walking), daringly didn't pay for street parking, got myself a #1 combo with lemonade, and ate it in another teacher's classroom so I socialized instead of working. Do I have to do some grading this weekend now? Yup. But I think it was worth it. Especially since I really didn't want another peanut butter sandwich this week (Korra called dibs on the last of the leftovers). 

Another exhausting day

The only thing that made today more tolerable than yesterday was that I only had to teach half the day. The kids were just so distractible, needy, argumentative... I'm so thankful tomorrow has Friday. And I'm thankful they're taking a test tomorrow so in theory it will be a quiet day. 

Sushi and ice cream for dinner are helping me recover. 

Today Sucked

My partner teacher called in sick. Her sub didn't show. There was a tornado drill. This happened during a moment of horseplay:

I am so glad today is over. 

The problem with eating dinner at 4:30

is that you're hungry again before dinner. 

Prodigy

Another thing Korra's been wanting (read: begging) me to do is to sign her up on the math game site Prodigy. We also got around to that this weekend. She's probably spent 4 hours doing math on that website. There are worse ways to spend your weekend, right?

Geocaching

Korra read a book about geocaching and has been begging is to try. Earlier in the week I downloaded an app. Twice this weekend we gave it a try but it was a bust. Either the caches were too hard to find or they're not there anymore. Bummer. 

It only took 7 years

Whenever I have picked up or carried Korra, I've always thought, "this isn't even as much as I carried around when I was 9 months pregnant." I gained 40 pounds in during my pregnancy with Korra. 7 years later, Korra finally weighs 40 pounds. I think that means I'm done picking her up. 

Extra Hour

With my extra hour, I did some meal prep for the week (cut up veggies for soup, made a breakfast casserole) and made pancakes which I ate while watching (what else?) Veronica Mars. Daylight savings day might be my favorite morning of the year- but my least favorite night. 

It is done... sort of

Facebook deleted.  It takes 30 days for it to take effect though.  If I log back in, it cancels the delete.  So now I have 30 days to see if I can happily live without Facebook.

One cold soccer mom

This morning Korra's soccer game was at 8:30am when it was 37 degrees. Brrrr. 

Mellow Mushroom

It's a pizza and TV kind of night. Mellow Mushroom and Survivor and The Good Place and maybe some Halloween candy for dessert. 

Pennies for Patients

We sat through a 30 minute Pennies for Patients assembly today. As much as I want the kids to feel involved in doing good in the world, it feels pretty messed up to have kids from the inner city begging for change to support cancer research when we live in a city and county with billionaires.