Day 294 - Fire Alarm Number?

At this point during the year and given the events of the past several weeks, I'd lost count.  The fire alarm went off again this morning and we headed out to the field. Most of us were convinced somebody had pulled it again but we were relieved to find out that Mr. Daugherty set it off while he was cleaning his shop.  Love the kids who are making the best of a bad situation by signing yearbooks.  One positive - it was sunny and warm!

several of my homeroom students who were happy to pose for my "picture of the day"

Day 293 - Fun Day

Today was IJH's annual Fun Day, the day we lovingly refer to as "The Day That's Only Fun For The Students, Not The Teachers".  We added a few stations to the mix which really seemed to help spread the masses out more effectively.  Kristin created a "Minute to Win It" area which was very popular.  Snyder opened up the library this year for Kinect, computer games and some large versions of things like Jenga.  Odle and I were there for supervising and we had a steady stream of kids. Had my first Kinect experience and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to get one of these things.  Dancing was awesome!

Robot Unicorn Attack?

Giant Jenga

Kinect

Wish I had gotten a video of the "video segment" produced at the end of my Dance Central number.  Pretty funny.

Day 291 - Reading for Pleasure?

background information, procedure and conclusion sections remain

Alright, this is NOT a picture that represents reading for pleasure.  I just need to finish grading three sections in this stack of lab reports and my grading will be done.THEN, I can move onto a different stack.

I went through my bookshelves and picked up a couple of things from the library to keep me busy over the summer.  Many of you will probably look at the stack and think it's not very big but I read very slowly, digesting every word and I'm pretty picky about what I read.  If I'm not interested in the first 50 pages, I probably won't bother.  Here are my choices.

1) Best Women's Travel Writing:  Picked this up because there is a story written by a former student of mine and because I'm naturally drawn to any travel tales. Now I'm on the hunt for the editions published in previous years.  Watch for a new segment coming up on my blog entitled "Travel Tuesday".

2) Ape House and Riding Lessons:  I loved Water for Elephants so I picked up Riding Lessons at Half Price Books and splurged by purchasing Ape House on Amazon.  Ape House is about a scientist working at the Great Ape Language Lab, a research lab that is rocked by an explosion.  Riding Lessons tells the story of a world-class equestrian whose life is turned upside down as she returns to her dying father's horse farm in New Hampshire.

3) Assassination Vacation:  Pretty sure a friend passed this on to me and it should be funny.  "It is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture".

4) The Birth House:  I found this book after searching online for stories set in Nova Scotia.  It takes place during World War I and is about a young midwife. It portrays the "struggles that women faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine".

5) Last Child in the Woods:  Bought this at the Seattle Audubon Society Nature Shop.  The author believes there is a direct connection between the absence of nature in the lives of our children and many of today's alarming childhood trends like obesity, depression and attention disorders.

6) The Other Side of Mercy:  When the 4 Lakewood police officers were shot in November of 2009, the event shook me to my very core (and still does).  This authors of this book worked for the Seattle Times and they won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.

7) Moonlight Mile:  Years ago, I discovered mysteries by Dennis Lehane and I was immediately hooked because they are all set in the Boston area.  I've read almost all of his books and find him to be a good writer.  He's not so prolific that he churns out junk every year like a number of folks out there. Right now, I have a novel of his on my nightstand that is very different from his typical genre.  It's called The Given Day (still set in Boston) but it is set at the end of World War I and tells the story of two families (one black, one white) caught up in the political and social unrest.

What's on your summer reading list?

Day 290 - Bizarre Day at Work

While there is probably no such thing as a typical day at work for teachers, today was a bit unusual.  In the beginning of second period, an administrator announced we were in a modified lock down situation (if I remember correctly).  That got my heart beating because this was a total surprise and it meant one of two things:  1) an unannounced "drill" or 2) something was really going on.  A few minutes later as we were quietly huddled in my classroom, another announcement stating that there was a drug dog on campus and we were to remain in our rooms unless told otherwise.

After approximately 5 minutes, several administrators and Officer Chapin came in my room and asked us to head to the commons (lunch room) leaving all belongings behind.  We proceeded down there and waited until we received the all clear.  Upon returning to my room, I found a few cabinet doors open and my collection of bird feathers strewn across my desk but that was about it.  We finished out the class period and life seemed to get back to normal.

Well, not so fast.  About an hour later the intercom rang again advising us to remain indoors. Apparently there was a black bear sited on campus.  Although I was tempted to go look, I resisted but I did find this link on KING5's website that, in all likelihood, is the exact same bear.

http://www.king5.com/your-news/124090049.html

On a final note, Ms. Garcia came by at the end of the day to share a funny story. She said the drug dog DID get a hit in my room.  The young, somewhat inexperienced dog was doing his job and when he got to a certain drawer in my room he sat down, a clear indication of something.  When they opened the drawer, they found a crate of tennis balls (used on the bottom of chair and table legs) that I was getting ready to bring home and wash.

many of the dogs are "trained" with tennis balls

I'm a firm believer that things always happen in "threes" and while I kept waiting for the third thing to happen, I was thankful it didn't.

Day 289 - Last Homeroom "Celebration"

Today was our last extended homeroom period which meant our final "celebration". Celebration is really a code for "party with way too much junk food".  We had more than our share of chips, cookies, cupcakes, brownies and pop but we did have one unique item.  Levi brought us something from his native UK called Hobnobs. Bet nobody else had these! 

I was wishing I had a cuppa hot tea to go with. . .

In case you want more information, check out what Wikipedia has to say about these treats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HobNob

Day 288 - I Love Hockey

If you grow up in certain parts of the US or Canada, chances are you follow hockey. Children there often learn to skate as soon as they learn to walk.  For me, hockey was woven into the fabric of my life in many ways.  We used to flood the next door neighbor's back yard in the winter for our own rink.  When I was in high school, our hockey team won their conference championship two years in a row; they were undefeated one of those years.  Recently, the Bulldogs made it to the state playoffs the last 4 years in a row, winning the Division 2 state championship last year.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/canton/sports/high_school/x1651491326/Canton-boys-ice-hockey-team-aims-for-repeat#axzz1PgUy1iHh

My alma mater, Boston University has made it to the NCAA Div. 1 Championship 10 times, winning 5 times.  Many of the players on that infamous "Miracle on Ice" Olympic team came out of Boston University.  The ultimate college hockey experience has to be the Beanpot, an annual hockey tournament involving Boston University, Boston College, Harvard and Northeastern.  B.U. has won the tournament an amazing 29 times.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beanpot_(ice_hockey)

photo found on Google images

I was so excited when the Bruins made it to the Stanley Cup championships this year.  Watching the games brought back lots of memories.  My dad was a season ticket holder so I attended lots of games, including many during their last championship season 39 years ago.  His seats were right behind the goal so we always saw lots of action.  There was nothing like watching Bobby Orr wind his way around players only to score a goal right in front of me.  I even found this fuzzy picture from years ago stashed out in the garage.

70's goalie Gerry Cheevers' mask was painted each time he took
a hit (no current goalie would dare wear a skimpy one like this)

I was wishing I had scored some tickets to that championship game in Vancouver but celebrating in my living room was okay too.  Sorry for the lame cell phone pictures of the television but that's the best I could do.

pretty sure they're all thinking this is "wicked awesome"

Day 287 - Grading Humor

Those of us in the teaching profession couldn't make up stuff like this if we tried.  Each year, we stumble across items that make us laugh out loud.  Trust me, you need these laughs when you're surrounded by stacks of papers.  Perhaps the word choices in the first two have something to do with the fact that these are, after all, junior high boys.  Culled from two reflection essays about the documentary "In the Shadow of the Moon", here are some gems for your reading pleasure.

I'm sure he meant "erratic"

this is where spell check is just not enough

After grading almost 300 multiple choice tests over two days, I came across this cute note from one of the sweetest students ever.  It made my day.