Happy New Year!

Well the New year is here and with it the cold.  We did have some warm weather (-2) for a bit last week, but it's back down to -20 again.  School has been good this week, the kids are slowly getting back into the routines as are the teachers.
I was able to catch up with friends this weekend, which was nice.  I haven't seen any body really since the 18th. As my word for this year is 'change', I am working on changing a few things in my life.  Besides the usual exercise more, and eat less chips, blah blah blah, I am also working on being more social.  I found leading up to Christmas, I saw and talked to my friends less and less.  Over Christmas I thought I had all kinds of time, but it went by in a flash and here we are back at school again.  Last week there were a few frustrating things going on that led me to a feeling of over all negativity, but after talking to friends over the phone or in person, this feeling went away.  The best feeling of all was when I called my friend in Atlanta and laughed at how they'd shut down all the schools and freeways at 5pm yesterday.  Her boys were ecstatic, taking snow from the neighbours yards to build snowmen.  (They only had a couple of inches). Her reaction to our temperatures made me howl, especially when I did the conversions for her.

My brother called last night and he requested some more pictures.  I always say that I'll try, but I'm pretty lazy. Here's some pics from the holidays.  This is Mom in my classroom eating those plastic corn puff things.  I think it was the only thing on the table she ate (gross). 

 This is the little cream cheese snowman I made.  He was yummy.  One of the best things about the holidays is the food.

 This is what it looks like here when it gets really cold.  The white in the trees is frost.  Mom snapped this picture and then "ran" back to the warm car where we waited. 

 This was some fondue fun on New Year's Eve. 

 Dad trying Korean food for the first time. 

 More fondue fun, this time with chocolate.  We used all kinds of things in there.  Cover it with chocolate and it's all good.  I did feel a little ill after.

This is me packing up Christmas.  It's never as fun putting it all away as it is getting it all out.  London was a big help.

Merry Christmas Part 2

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it can.  Our oven is not cooperating at all.  The heat is fixed (thank you repairman for showing us something that we'd never thought of), but now the oven (that we thought Dad had fixed) is cooking/not cooking as it wishes and I can't even find out how old the stove is.  Of course it is Christmas Eve, and no repair man is even taking calls at this point.  Christmas dinner is going to be interesting.  I can only hope that a friend will let me cook the turkey on Boxing Day at their house, as it will go bad soon after. 

Merry Christmas

As I write this post I am struck with deja vu.  About 8 years ago I was opening presents while on the phone with my parents when the oil ran out in my tank.  I was in an old apartment in Korea and it was the responsibility of the tenant to make sure they had enough oil.  There was no gauge on the tank for you to be able to tell, so when you had no hot water you knew it was time to order some more.  Of course, I couldn't call myself because the people on the other end of the phone couldn't understand me.  I had to get a Korean friend to make the call.  I had no heat for 2 days.  Thankfully it didn't get to FSJ temps so I was okay. 
So fast forward to today, when I was informed by my husband to stay in bed as the furnace was not working.  It's pretty chilly in here now and the furnace guy won't be available until 1pm.  We are sitting at 13 degrees right now.  I am wearing my ski layers while Dad and Chris wander around with touques on their heads.  I did offer a Tim Horton's run, but noone took me up on it. 
So far our holiday has been pretty good.  We've had visitors, the kitchen is seeing alot of action with Mom baking almost non-stop.  There have been some technical issues.  We have gone through a hand mixer and the oven is acting a little funny.  The last batch of cookies were burnt on the bottom, but raw in the middle.  Tasted okay though.

Here are Mom and Dad trying to stay warm in the house.  My fingers are getting too cold to type.

I should be

Wrapping presents, cleaning something, prepping for school or conversing with my family but instead I am typing this post.  The last few days have been tiring and there is one day left.  The weather is cold right now (about -23+ wind chill) and the kids haven't been outside all week.  Add to that the Christmas concert preparation and all the sweets they seem to bring with them everyday.  I received candles last week from one of my boys and today a cute scarf (handmade) and a box of chocolates.  The first tadpole had it all figured out: I could wear my scarf and eat chocolates by candle light with Mr Nowell.  I had a good chuckle over that one.  There is glitter and glue all over desks and half finished Santas awaiting me in the morning.  I have learned a few things this week.  Stick with what I know, don't get too technical and make the kids do the work.  Oh, and the Crazy Santa craft is one that is not being repeated. EVER.  Let's just say that the level of prep vs the amount of time it really takes the kids is not paying off.  They are pretty excited about the Crafty Extravaganza that I planned with two other classes for tomorrow.  We will start after recess and go until lunch.  Then they will eat and have treats and watch a movie or two with Mr Nowell's class.  All going well.  At this point I have two parents helping me (one of them is my own mom) and have only heard about 2 treats coming in.  For a micro manager like me, it's hard.  I know it will all go well and when I am sitting in my living room tomorrow night with an adult beverage, I will look back and smile.  I just have to get through it first.

It's beginning to look....

The countdown has definitely started for me.  Only 4 more days of work left before Christmas holidays.  I figured out this weekend that I am worn out, and looking forward to the break.  Mom and Dad come in Wednesday afternoon.  That will be a busy day as  we have to blast into town after work, pick them up and then head back out to school, grabbing dinner on the way.  It also happens to be Christmas concert night.  The night that parents delight in and teachers try to get through in one piece.  While parents are enjoying the show that has taken months to pull together, teachers are in their classrooms with the students putting in another few hours of child minding.  Hmmm and we don't earn our pay?  Our whole school is involved with a musical production which is interesting.  We'll see how it all turns out as tomorrow is the full dress rehearsal.  The Christmas crazies have started and I swear the kids have been calling each other to make plans of how they can "get me" at school.  There were a few times today when I wanted to put my head down hard on my desk (but I didn't), but smiled instead and repeated myself for the fourth time. 
Another thing that has been happening lately is farting.  I have a few farty kids and they make my eyes water at times.  I know who one of them was last week, although he swore up and down it wasn't, but there was one visiting from another class as well, making it even worse!  In the spirit of farts, I read an awesome book called " Fartsy Claus".  The book was not only hilarious, the art work was grand, and the problem solving the kids showed in the book was awesome.  I also found out that there are people that get offended by the word "fart" (which of course made me want to use it even more).  I had a talk with my kids after a particularly awful smell came from my little tadpoles on the carpet.  It's natural, it happens  blah blah, just please try to excuse yourself and if you have to use the bathroom, please do!  I don't know what their parents are feeding them, but I wish they'd stop.
I had a funny moment with one of my super stars today and it warmed my heart a little too.  Laurie looked at me and said " You know Mrs Nowell, I really like you"  I smiled and said that was good because I really liked him too.  Then he said "That's why I give you hugs all the time, I really like you!"  Then he cocked his head to one side and said "Even if we get mad sometimes"  and with that he threw his arms around my waist and squeezed.  That's a perk of being a teacher and sometimes it truly gets me through a day, especially around Christmas.

ahhhhh

The house is quiet and I am enjoying the silence.  I have finished (I hope) my first round of report cards of the year and am basking in the glow.  I have made those parent phone calls, the ones where you have bad news about the report card but you give positive ideas and plans.  Thankfully the parents are seeing the same behaviours and have no illusions as to what their child is doing.  That makes things a little easier. 
Winter is definitely here.  It snowed and blew for a few days in a row and hit -20 something plus wind-chill at one point.  Our luck ran out and Winter is here.  I was talking to my friend in Atlanta this morning, laughing at her reaction to the temperatures.  I think she would die up here.  While we were talking I was remembering my life down there.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  The good was finding her friendship, the lifestyle, the city.  The bad was being poorly paid, the troubled students that I worked with.  The ugly was the school system.  It was awful.  Data driven instruction, teaching for testing, the constant stress and anxiety I felt every day.  We as teachers were expected to have great test scores no matter what.  I saw teachers fired, put on personal development plans, forced professional development, always the threats hanging over our heads to have our children perform.  Not learn, perform.  I remember when I got there and Math was the big deal.  Reading too, but all other subjects were overlooked as being unnecessary.  I had to have 180 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction in my  schedule.  No wonder the students (and some of the teachers) had no concept of the world or Scientific Method.  It was crazy.  Teachers helped their students cheat on the tests.... now how does that help anyone?  I've been reading about the schools in the States and the turmoil that they are in right now because of the President's promises to the public.  Teachers are committing suicide for heaven's sake!  I do agree that teachers need to be accountable in some way for the jobs that we do.  Too many teachers hide behind unions and do a terrible job in the classroom, but there are those that are teaching for the right reasons.  We need to be recognized as professionals and not be under constant scrutiny and criticism because of test scores.  Teachers need to be able to teach in a creative way, to be able to touch all kinds of learners.  When I left Georgia scripted lessons were becoming popular in my district.  My question always was 'What if the students don't respond in the way that's in the script, but their answers are still right?'  No one ever wanted to answer that one.  They needed to say what was on the sheet and it was my job to make sure they did.  Period.  Coming back to BC to continue my career was a relief, but I have to say that I'm getting a little nervous about all the data my district likes to collect.  They always preface it with 'we're looking at the students not the teachers' but it's not a big jump.  Do I think we should be testing students?  Yes.  Do I think that should be the only information that we base accountability on?  No way.  Do I have the answers?  Nope, but I'm willing to look at all the alternatives.  I lived in a 'testing system'  I lived with No Child Left Behind.  It was the teachers that got left behind.

bandaids, boogers and tears

For this week and last, this is the theme of my classroom.  I have remembered that a band-aid (especially Scooby Doo ones) can cure all kinds of things.  Now that my class knows that I have them in my desk, I have at least one little tadpole a day coming to me with new and old cuts looking for a Scooby cure.  It's funny because for the fresh accidents I can make the tears dry up almost instantaneously when I mention a Scooby band-aid. 
Boogers are a problem in my class, not only do I find them where they shouldn't be I catch the tadpoles mining for them constantly.  We've had the talks about what boogers are and why they shouldn't eat them etc., but for a few of my kids, they have a very bad habit.  What's funny is when I catch them with a stringer on the end of their finger and they say "no I wasn't".  I have a couple that are personally responsible for the empty hand sanitizer bottles that I recycle. I do try to be indiscreet about it most of the time, but when it's the 20th time in the half hour, my patience wanes a little.
Another side effect of Halloween besides the sugar that they are constantly consuming, is the late nights and the changes in schedules that some of them keep having at home.  This is usually brought to my attention when they start to cry and pout.  Both things I can't stand.  When I investigate, it usually uncovers a late night, a change of custody or something else that shatters the routine of the little one.  I have a couple of kids that have been squirrely since the 29th and I'm hoping that it all calms down soon.  That or I will go bonkers pretty shortly.