October

For lack of a better title, it is October in eastern Montana. However, I am not sure the weather person knows that. The highs have still been in the 70's and the lows are only in the mid 40's.  I still am wearing flip flips and capris almost every day! There are absolutely no complaints coming from me though because I love wearing flip flops!!  Yay! My students think I am so impractical for wearing them.  I just tell them I get to wear them because I'm English.
This week has been an interesting week. Monday and Tuesday were awesome! We finished Math, English, and Reading all before lunch!!! Now, this is, in theory, what is supposed to happen every day but usually doesn't because I am usually have to spend my extra time telling certain students to not linger and mingle at the supply bins or not to take a detour from one desk to the other on their way to group work.  Today I had 8th graders crawling on the floor, sixth graders throwing shoes in the garbage and students throwing crayons because they supposidly have nothing to do. Well, I know for a fact that this is not true because their grades reflect their lack of ambition.  If they would spend more time reading the directions and double check their work to ensure they had followed all the directions then their grades would not be so poor.  The other thing that makes a huge difference in grades is.....*drumroll please!*  TURNING IN WORK!!! Suprise!! I know, to us it seems like such a simple concept but seriously, my kids don't turn in their work. Or, if they turn in their work book the pages are incomplete. Mmmmm.....
Today, in the afternoon, the other teacher and I switched classrooms for a bit because I needed a timeout from my kids. Yes, even teachers need a timeout from their students.  It was great! My kids got to suffer not getting PE while I went and played dodgeball and soccer in the basement with the little kids. Then I taught science and read them a story until my kids went to recess and the little kids went home. It definately put a better mood on my day and the hour and a half I spent grading papers went by rather quickly. It also helped that I had to chase down one of my students who decided to draw on his desk with a whiteboard marker and he was asked to stay after and wash the desks. He decided to "forget" I had asked him to do this. Let's just say that I have nice and clean desks. :)  Oh, and one last thing from this random post..I have a new electric pencil sharpener!!!  It is pretty blue and works wonderful...now no more dull pencils!!!