Earth Quake Drill

As most you of know, we recently had an earthquake come through Illinois. In 8th grade Language Arts class, we are doing a research project on different disasters throughout history. One of my students is studying the Earth Quake of 1905 in San Fransisco. As he was researching, one of his books suggested practicing Earth Quake drills in school. He made it a point to me and the principal that we should have an earthquake drill just in case. We all laughed at him, and told him if he really wanted to have one, then he could get under his desk and cover his head.
Three days later in the middle of the night, me bed is shaking. At first I thought it was Bruce having a bad dream rolling back and forth like a steamroller. I woke up Bruce and asked him what that was. We both unconsciously thought it might be an earthquake, but it didn't seem to stir us into any action. I rolled back over said, "That was strange" and went back to sleep. After getting out of bed a couple of hours later to the radio news, I heard we had an earthquake with 5.2 magnitude. "Hmm! It must have been an earthquake. Maybe Logan was right, we should have an earthquake drill because you never know" were my thoughts at around 6:00 am. Sure enough when language Arts class started, I had to admit to Logan that he was right, and I couldn't help but think of his comment when my bed was shaking. Of course now Logan thinks that he knows everything - it will take something big to knock down his arrogance.

Shall we Dance?

Hello.....Hello.....
"Jeffrey, I'm in the Susquehennah jail.
S-U-S-Q
Q
Q as in what you use for billiards
Billiards
B-I-L
L
L
as in Larynx
Larynx L-A-R-N
N
N as in Neighbor
Neighbor
N-E-I-G-H-B
B
B as in the buzzing stinging thing - it's an Insect (Funny, we watched the Bee movie today)
Insect
I-N-S
S
S
S as in Sym-bol
Symbol
S-Y
Y
Y
You tell me why
Do you know where the jail is on Oak Street? Good, I'll have them transfer me there in the morning."

So.....
Bruce and I watched the musical "Shall We Dance" a couple of weeks ago, and he has quoted this part of the movie ever since. I must admit, I have never heard him laugh so hard about anything, really? 2 Days after we watched this movie, Bruce was standing on the street corner waiting for the bus. A lady was walking right towards him, so he stepped forward to get out of her way. At the exact same time, she stepped to the side so she wouldn't hit him. She laughed and said, "Shall we Dance?" Bruce just laughed! So we thought we would post in honor of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Besides collecting blood and liver samples, teaching spoiled 7-8 grade students, reading the Chronicles of Narnia, playing softball, basketball, and frisbee, Bruce and I enjoy watching a musical every now and then.

This past Thursday we had an Ag safety day at our school. We learned about identifying chemicals, the dangers of Meth, Farm and lawn equipment safety, disability awareness, food safety, and ATV safety. It was quite fun to see 7th graders try to butter bread with their dominant arm tied behind their back, and pour a glass of water with only one eye. At the farm equipment safety station, I learned that I have a very slow reaction time. If I were to be pulled into a PTO or a grain bin auger, I would probably not make it out alive. With how accident prone I am, I guess I better stick to sloshing through the muck with the cows, and not go near a corn and soy beans combine or else I might not live to tell about it.

My school participated in solo and ensemble last Saturday. After accompanying 12 different students, some of them with multiple songs, my fingers feel somewhat relieved. The elementary students at the spring concert the Tuesday following were so cute. I was surprised when the choir director gave me some wonderful smelling Easter lilies to thank me for accompanying the choir. We've had a lot of music filling our house lately.

Well! I've got to go to my softball game, so until next time.

Tom Sawyer! Hannibal anyone?

We just barely started reading the novel Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain in my 7th grade reading class. As I am thinking about what to do with it, I could only imagine about 1/3 of my class really getting into it. So what do I do? I plan a field trip to Hannibal Missouri to tour Mark Twain's boyhood home and the caves. Suddenly, I have 37 students (19 of which are reluctant readers) jumping up and down to read Tom Sawyer. What an inspiration. The trip is scheduled for May 2, after we finished reading the book, but so far they are stoked. After only reading the first page, I already had some kids laughing at Tom and his noble actions.

We will most likely read the book in class, sometimes following along with a book on tape, sometimes I will read it to them. I gave out a 3 page packet of assignment options and assigned point values equaling up to about 400 points. Each student is required to choose enough assignments to formulate 175 points. It's only been day 1, but so far I have instant success. (I found this to be quite the accomplishment.) If any one else has some creative ideas to get kids interested in Mark Twain, let me know!

Some of my other great accomplishments of this week: I didn't fall for any April Fools jokes, and I finally convinced the News Gazette to send me 40 newspapers a day for 2 weeks for my 7th grade Language Arts newspaper unit. That's a relief, since I have 3 weeks of lesson plans that revolve around each student having access to a newspaper. I had positive comments/news to give about a student at their annual IEP reevaluation meeting today. And I managed to save a colleague from a near hazardous disaster with the copy machine this morning.

It's only Wednesday, and I already feel well accomplished!

Until next time!

Book Tag

So... apparently, I was double tagged for the book tag. I assume (since I am new to the cyber world) that I am supposed to complete a somewhat ridiculous task, and encourage others to do the same. I feel like I am some sort of knight with a mission to accomplish. Luckily, my mission doesn't involved swords, shields, or horses (because I'm terrified to ride horses)

Here goes for the book tag.
Rules:
1. Open nearest book
2. Open to pg. 123
3. Record Sentence 5

Here goes nothing....
"He was a high liver, thirty years old, and in poor shape."

Any guesses on what book this comes from?......


You're right! Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I am in the midst of reading the complete and unabridged version of Les Mis. I am on page 481. Only about 1000 pages to go.

Well, I completed my task, so I guess I will tag Rachel because she is my cool sister in law.
Tannie because she is my long lost friend (and I have a great picture of the two of us that I just posted), and Becca because I haven't talked to her in a while.

I guess it's your turn to complete the tag.
You're it!

Miriam Madam Librarian anyone?

So in honor of the musical The Music Man, which I recently watched for the 40th time with Bruce, I will post an experience I had at the Champaign Public Library the other day. I heard rumors that a teacher can take a list of topics to the library, and a reference librarian will find books on that topic and pull them off the shelf for you. At any rate, isn't that what librarians are supposed to do, take books off shelves?

I am trying to complete a research project with my 8th graders on natural disasters. Our school doesn't have any books on these topics, so I thought I would find a bunch from the library to bring them. I arrived with my list all ready. The first librarian I talked to said they didn't have enough people working at the library to look up books for me - I would have to do that myself. She told me to sit at the computer on the online catalog, type in my topics, and write down call numbers of where I could find the books. After I found the general area they were located, I could then browse and find the ones I wanted. She offered to help. She typed in one topic and found that the Salem Witch Trials had books in 3 different sections. She looks at me and says, "that's what I was afraid of. They are all over the place. Not just in one area. Well, good luck." She returned to her desk and never gave another thought to poor old me who had at least 32 topics to find. In the meantime, I tried to solicit the help of 2 other librarians, but they kind of snubbed me as well.

After about an 1 and 1/2 hours, I had some call numbers. I went to the juvenile nonfiction section and asked if I could get a cart to put all these books on. One lady looked at me and said, "No, but I wouldn't mind storing baskets for you at the front desk after you find what you want." Once again, she never offered to help me pull books off shelves.

Finally, my savior came. One librarian decided to fulfill her job as librarian and help me find all the books, pull them off the shelf and help me check them out. About 45 minutes later, I had well over 60 books, and 60 more on hold for me to come from other libraries. This librarian offered to help me carry books out to my car.

Needless to say, it was a memorable 3 hour long library trip. After this, I was thinking how easy a job of being a librarian is. Most of them, don't leave the confines of their desk, don't help look up books, and definitely don't pull books off shelves. Everyone once in a while, you can find that truly devoted librarian who in order to contribute to the greater good of society will perform magnificent librarian duties. Hats off to Miriam - the devoted librarian!

Until next time! I'm off like a monkey on a coconut tree!

About Us

Bruce was recently elected as the Vice President of the Winfield Village Board of Directors. This is the housing community in which we live. Since he has been on the board, his email Inbox has grown exponentially. I thought he had a problem before of too many emails. Now it's overwhelming.

Bruce currently spends a lot of time in front of his computer staring at his statistics until they "talk to him." Analyzing his data can be time consuming, and at times, it still doesn't make sense. At least, that's what Bruce says.

Volleyball season just ended, and I find myself with a little extra time to myself. Bruce is sure enjoying my extra time, as I actually cook him dinner now!

As you can tell, I'm not really that good at this whole blog thing. It is still new.

Signing off!!