they will come?
So these last two days have seen me busy figuring out what I need to get more my classroom as cheaply as possible and putting up many things on the walls and typing cheerful classroom rules and putting together various documents. Wow. It doesn't all seem real yet. Thankfully, there are four other teachers who teach the exact same subjects I do so they've already done a lot of the work and we can share the load for putting together activities and warm-ups and lessons and such. At current count, I think I have somewhere around 70 students total.
--moments you might find interesting:
I went to Wal-Mart looking for items I couldn't find at the dollar store and could not find a meter stick. not even a yard stick. (hmm, i just realized i should have checked hardware.....) anyways. off we go to Office Depot. they have yardsticks. not a meter stick. I need something with centimeters! Well, third's time's the charm and I found a nice stainless steel one at a craft store today for $7. *sigh* American versis metric system.....*shakes head sadly* What's really sad is that our incoming students...actually, across the state, each 8th grade group keeps doing badly on the measurement and geometry TAKS questions....after grading some of those tests last year with really basic measuring items.....*shakes head again*
this afternoon was "Team-building" time with the other ninth grade teachers. It was kinda fun. Many moments to laugh at. not exactly the types of activities many of my friends would enjoy though....we many times had to get in a line or a circle or a semicircle or right angle in some sort of order without talking or making hand motions..... for height, all the guys in the group were in the tall half. I was the only female in the tall half and I was 4th tallest out of 30 people. *sigh*
I have been reading in every spare moment I can get. I think it probably took me a total of 6 hours or so to read the sixth book in Harry's series. cruel cruel Rowling. Has provided for a bit of interesting conversation with the hubby as to the why's and guesses at what's going to happen next. I also have read The Godfather, A Man Called Peter, *racks memory for other titles* I started a Mark Twain collected writings book including "Letters from the Earth" (they're like Screwtape Letters, only a little more twisted)
--umm. I made a rather tasty meal with shrimp and noodles and tomatoes and stuff and beer
---watched Coach Carter the other night. That was a really good movie and it wasn't your conventional happy feel good sports movie. It was good with some good lessons and motivational and all that, but it didn't have the cliche' moments in many sports movies.
---The Drs. Watson brought us back tea cups from China and remarked how they found their house rather spotless. (They couldn't tell we had a party the evening hours before they got back.... :-p)
---hmm. that's all I can think of right now. I'd blog some of the laughable moments from school. but well, not all of them are bloggable. Let's just say I've picked up some interesting information because some of my fellow teachers have no shame :-) If you are dying to know, ask me about potatoes some time. Let's just say it's somewhat related to that long ago item about planting potatoes while facing west. ..... most of you really probably don't want to know.