The Lovebirds

Patrick on his date last night. Sorry it's blurry but neither of them
quite get the whole "it's a cell phone camera so you have to HOLD
STILL" concept.

Names

Pardon the unoriginal post title.  I gave up Subway a long time ago -- between Quiznos, Togo's, and (mmm!) Jersey Mike's, I just can't eat there anymore.  But Patrick has fallen in love with their meatball sandwiches, and I thought I'd be nice and have that for lunch since he's been helping me get my classroom ready.  Suffice it to say, I just now tried eating a soft-boiled egg on bread.

Anyhow, my class is always unusual in some way.  Every year, it's defied statistics saying that there are more boys receiving special education services, and had more girls than boys.  This year is no exception.

But even more amazing is what happens with the names.

One year, out of a class of 11, I had 3 Rs (all boys), 2 As (3 when former fourth-grade A came to visit twice daily), and 3 Js (all girls).

This year, out of a class of 8 1/2 (we don't know yet if A. will make it back to school -- he's the boy I was home teaching), I will have 2 Js, 4As (yes, 4!), an M, an R, and an E.  I'm going to have to give them nicknames, or even Cat won't know who I'm talking about.

Also?  My best aide, T, is going to be out for 4 to 6 weeks because she had surgery.  4 to 6 weeks of the last semester she would be working with us anyway because she is going to student teach.  Oh well.

On the bright side, I get D and S as classroom aides, and J is still with E.

Meanwhile, I think I'll read some schmoop and try to think about something other than how my stomach is doing flip flops after something as innocuous as a soft boiled egg.

Sorry for the whining.

Oy

What does it say about me that I spent more time with my laminator tonight than I did with real people?

You're Climbing...What, Now?

Folks...a little rant.

1. Peek = to look at something, usually surreptitiously (e.g. "he peeked around the corner to watch his mom hide the birthday presents").

2. Peak = the top of a mountain (e.g. "the peak of Everest is the highest place on the world")

3. Pique = spoiled anger (e.g. "a fit of pique") or to rise (e.g. "pique your interest").

In the last half hour, I've seen "peaked my interest" twice and "peeked my interest" once. Grrrrr.

Seriously, why am I the only one who remembers these things? (I know why I'm the only one who cares -- I'm a nerd.) Eesh.

Small Addendum

Schmoop is good. I love schmoop. Schmoop is why I liked the show in the first place. Don't know why I haven't checked that site in something like 9 months.

I'm a mushy grinning mess here.

But I just have to say...in love or not...Jack's not a cryer.

But that's okay; I'll suspend my disbelief and go back to melting into a puddle and grinning like an idiot.

Now THAT's Better

Nothing like a little schmoop. If only it weren't on a message board. Oh well...I needed distraction today.

I realize that a responsible citizen would shop somewhere other than WalMart, but I simply can't afford to, especially at Back to School time. But I spent almost an hour in a 5 cart line in order to buy zip ties, magnet tape, and 8 3-ring binders. Eesh.

Then I go to Wendy's for lunch and get stuck behind a large -- and I mean large -- white truck that honked and honked and honked because the drive-thru people weren't responding. I pulled up and they did right away. Got my food, and then almost got run over when the white truck decided it couldn't get around the bend to get out of the drive-thru without backing up once.

Wow

Huh. I'd forgotten how...well...crazy Willy Wonka is portrayed as in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I'm up to summarizing chapter 20 of 30 -- I haven't made comprehension questions for the whole thing, because I can't quite predict what the class will be able to do, but it's nice to have the text almost done). Wow.

I always wondered where Gene Wilder pulled the...well...crazy bit from when he sings:

There's no earthly way of knowing
In which direction they are rowing
There's no knowing where they're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing

In the movie, he has this crazed, maniacal glint in his eye that was the only part of the movie to ever scare me. Now I get where he pulled it from. Yikes.

However, once this is done, I'll have our classroom novel done until Christmas! (I'm moving it from every day to 4 days a week, and adding a day of poetry.)

Meh

I have been spending lots of quality time with my laminator the last couple of days; it's funny the random things that take up lots of time when preparing a classroom.

Meanwhile, my rampaging writer's block is...still rampaging.  I wrote a lot last summer; I finished my first long story during the Summer O' Drama; this summer?  Bleh.