Crafting Fun

I am teaching in a new school this year. The school is a middle school, with grades 6-8, while my previous school was 7-9. I student taught with 8th graders, and haven't taught the younger grades until this year. Teaching 6th and 7th grade has been challenging for me this year, so I'm always looking for new things to try with those classes especially.

A few weeks ago another teacher mentioned how well her 6th grade classes did making 3-D posters. I had planned for my students to make posters today about ancient Greece. As I was leaving the house this morning, I remembered the 3-D idea, so I quickly grabbed my old "Craft Fun Box." The box contained the most random craft supplies, most of which I haven't touched in years- old beads, a variety of ribbons, glitter, foam shapes, fuzzy balls, etc.

After I introduced the poster assignment to my class today, I told them they would have a few extra supplies to use, and showed them the different things from my craft fun box. They were so excited. Every single child in the room. And, although it was a little overwhelming to monitor a bunch of 6th graders with glitter and glue, I had a blast! And the posters are starting to come along nicely too.

As an added bonus, letting the kids use up my craft supplies means I have an excuse to replenish my stock :)

2 months

Another reason to love E's new secretary? His outlook calandar for today includes this note, "2 months to anniversary. Start thinking!"

Help with the Amazing Race?

E has been put in charge of coming up with an Amazing Race style activity for a family friendly work event a couple weeks from now, which really means that I have been put in charge of creating the activity. We will be at a hotel out of town, based in a ballroom. Neither one of us has ever seen the show, so I really need some help!

E has suggested maybe putting together a sudoku game (or possibly crossword puzzle) where groups have to go to different locations in the hotel (and possibly complete some kind of activity) to find the clue or answer.

Has anyone ever done this kind of activity before or have any ideas about what to do?

A good looking man?

I am a teacher. A middle school teacher. The most common responses when I tell people what I do are, "I'm sorry," or "You must be a saint." But really, I like my job.*

Part of keeping my sanity as I teach these energetic middle is being able to laugh at them sometimes instead of letting them make me upset when they get a little bit off task.**

This weekend E and I were watching the John Adams series by HBO and it reminded me of one of my favorite funny school stories from a couple years ago.

At the time, I was teaching an 8th grade government class, and we were talking about the presidency.

One of my students commented on how ugly she thought President Bush was. My response to her was something like, "Look in the back of your textbook at the pictures of all the presidents. There haven't been a lot of good looking presidents."

Another of my students raised her hand, so I called on her. "There have been some good looking presidents," she said, "I mean that one guy, George Washington, he was HOT!"

Comments like this*** are the perks of my job :)

*If you talked to E about this, he might tend to disagree, because he is the one who listens to all my complaining about my job. But I do like it, I promise!

**My mom says I'm a teacher because I'm a little bit of a control freak. She may or may not be correct.

***And not working in the summer, on any major holidays, or many of the minor holidays.

A Letter to My Favorite Store

Dear Target,

I love your stores. I shop at Target weekly, sometimes daily, for many of my personal and work needs. But something has been bothering me.

I made a trip to Target last week to buy some new mittens. My previous Target mittens got in a fight with my Target rake in the fall, and due to my tendency to procrastinate, I made a special trip to Target for new mittens last week. Unfortunately, all of the winter accessories, including the mittens, were on clearance and very few were left (I was also there today and there were no mittens to be found).

Now, if it were March, I could understand putting winter accessories on clearance. However, it is January. I was in Minnesota. January in Minnesota is cold (20 degrees BELOW zero last week, 40 degrees below when considering the wind chill). February in Minnesota is also cold. March and April are also frequently cold. So my simple request of you, please stock your stores with winter gear until spring is in sight.

Sincerely,

A Very Loyal Customer

New Year's Resolutions

1. be a wonderful wife
2. be a better friend
3. keep up with gym visits
4. make something using my new sewing machine
5. get in more craft time
6. get things on the walls at home
7. be more punctual
8. stress less about work
9. try some new things