Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Odd day

Today has been different. For one thing today was the funeral for a third grader who was killed in a car accident last Thursday. There's just no explaining that to most people, let alone third grade classmates. So sad, but her young life was full of activities and joy. Because of the funeral, classes were missing people, students and teachers alike. I began to work with a new group for reading, allowing my next door teacher a little planning time. She and I will alternate working with this combination of both our students on an eight day cycle. Now, after school I will have only one student in my tutoring group - one has dropped (I can't convince the parent that it might take more than 5 weeks to change his habits!) and one of my students joins the morning group on Tuesdays so he can sing in the elementary choir on Tuesday afternoons. I didn't have a car today because the pickup was getting its new windshield (after deer damage). Hopefully routine will reappear tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

This 'n That

Isn't this weather glorious? OK, it caused lots of mud, but it sure is nice to see the last of the 3 inch thick ice gone from the driveway. Tomorow they are predicting snow again.
Greg and Chelsey are in the Dominican Republic, I talked with Greg last night and besides being sunburned, they are experiencing new food and drinks, napping a lot so they can stay up late and in general really enjoying themselves. They are taking lots of pictures, which I hope they will share when they get home. Meanwhile, here at home, JoAnn and Randy have the dogs and we visit the cats every other day (Greg's dad had alternate days).
The school year is half gone! Seems like we just started the other day. This is the week for mid-terms so it is half way through the middle trimester. I'd better teach faster!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Back at it

School has started again and I had a pretty good day. Kids in general were subdued, even the after school bus duty crowd was more quiet than usual.
Happy New Year to all of you. I am not a resolution person in general but I am setting some personal goals. One is to keep a record of things I create in sewing or knitting or my other crafts. The purpose is to show me how productive I am and look towards retirement to see if I could make any money and/or keep myself busy enough. Another is one I stole - I am going to throw away or give away 5 things from my basement a week. Could be as simple as something out of the freezer, but this has got to happen. I started by going through a stack of counted cross stitch books/magazines/pamphlets. I have advertised these at school, hopefully they will find new homes. I loved collecting the patterns more than using them, it seems. And, now that Dan has a new figure, I hope to do something about mine.
Tonight is caucus night - I will be glad that it is over, but I am proud of Iowa and the role our state plays in the democratic process.