Uneventful Weekend...

After judging the past two Saturdays Mike was definitely glad for an uneventful weekend. We were excited to see that the iconic red Starbucks cups are available. Definitely another sign of the holidays! I'm currently enjoying their pumpkin spice latte. Many people look forward to the time of year when they are available so I decided to give it a try and love it.

After getting much needed haircuts we set out to find a place for lunch. Lately, we have enjoyed exploring the Vintage Park area. We decided to try Pizza Fusion and really enjoyed it! The atmosphere is really trendy and the food is great. It is a little expensive compared to most pizza places because the food is organic and the company is earth friendly.

After that we decided to get some frozen yogurt. While we were enjoying our treat, there was a bee under our table that was obsessed with a chocolate chip that had fallen on the ground.

We spent the rest of Saturday running our usual errands. While we were out Mike spotted our opportunity to own Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree. It was slightly tempting but wasn't worth the ten dollars so we took a picture instead. I'm not sure what Sadie would have thought of it.

When we were out shopping today we found another option for our front yard. I think this light up palm tree would look great with a light up pink flamingo next to it!

Substitute...

I'm always a little anxious when my classes have a substitute. Sometimes I'm not sure if I should feel bad for the substitute having to deal with the students or if I should feel bad for the students having to deal with the substitute. The good thing is that my students usually miss me and appreciate having me as a teacher...at least for a few days. I missed my classes this morning because I had a meeting and it sounds like they did well. There was a small issue with my newest student though. He is coming from a neighboring district and has had that 'I didn't want to move and I miss my friends so I'm going to sit here and pout' attitude. It is somewhat understandable because it takes time to get to know people and feel comfortable in your new surroundings but refusing to do your assignment is not an option.

New Student: I don't know what to write.

Student 1: You better write something! This teacher won't just let you do nothing. She'll check when she gets back and she'll be mad if you haven't done anything.

Student 2: I don't know what to write either. I'll just write random words to fill the page.

Student 1: I wouldn't do that. She'll be mad and make you do it again. Dude, just do your work!

(When I got to school I went to find the new student.)

Me: I heard you had a bad day in my class. What happened?

New Student: She wanted us to write something and I couldn't think of anything.

Me: Here's the deal...I left that assignment for you to do and you didn't even try it. You can take it home and do it for homework or you can work on it tomorrow and miss your library day. It doesn't matter to me what you choose but you will do the assignment.

New Student: I'll do it for homework.

Me: Good. Do you need help thinking of ideas?

New Student: No...I know what I want to write.

Sorry to Katie for threatening library time...at least he chose wisely!

Flag Football

During the last play of Mike's flag football game last week he got knocked over and someone stepped on his hand. It bruised and swelled immediately and you could see the pattern from the cleat that stepped on it. It definitely hurt but lucky there wasn't anything seriously wrong.

Sadie kept Mike company while we iced his hand with an ancient bag of frozen strawberries.

Eventually, Sadie realized there was food under the towel and attempted to have a snack.

Last week was quite busy and I am glad we didn't have to squeeze in a visit to the doctor. The swelling went down after a few days and the bruises are starting to disappear.

Random Collection Of Things...

Starting off our random of collection of things to blog about are some discipline moments from the end of last week.

Student 1: You didn't tell me I had to do that!

Mike: Class...show me how many times I have told all of you to do that using your fingers.

Student 2: You've told us to do that too many times to count on our fingers!

Student 1: Oh...

Me: Did you really just put your hood back on after I took it off you head?

Student: Go away!

Me: Are you out of your mind!!!

Student: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know you were a teacher!

Sadie isn't a fan of colder weather. It is barely starting to cool down and she is already shivering. Often times you can find her soaking in some sunshine when her thoughtful owners open the blinds. She is quite toasty afterwards. You have to love how some of the simplest things in life bring so much joy!

I agree that it is a little too early to start decorating for Christmas but I don't see anything wrong with starting to plan. We are excited about our first Christmas in our new house! We already have some decorations for the inside but this is the first time we will be decorating the outside of our living space. We started looking at our options for lights yesterday and decided we like the look of the large colored bulbs.

We would like something to decorate our yard but we don't want to go overboard either. I'm not sure if I want to admit it...but the front runner right now might be this flamingo with a Santa hat. We'll wait and see what our options are. Any advice out there?

Moisturize!

I'm getting the feeling I need to be more diligent in my moisturizing routine...

Student 1: You look really tired today! Are you tired?

Student 2: Do you have a daughter in the 8th grade?

Even though I haven't been working super late this week I feel more exhausted. One of my least favorite things about teaching ESL is how often my students tend to move. It makes me sad when they move and it is even harder when I know they going to be in a difficult living situation. Lately it feels like many of my students are experiencing problems outside of school. It is so frustrating and I wish I could do more to help them!

Writing Test...

Last week my students participated in our school's all day writing test. Obviously, an English writing test is quite a difficult test for some of my students. Most of my students did well and I had a fairly successful testing session with a class of eighth graders whose teacher was out sick. Testing all day and then a long teacher training totally wore me out. My students definitely made me feel better when I saw them the next day.

Student 1: I think I did well on my test! I remembered what you taught us about words that end in f changing to ves when you make them plural. I knew it was suppose to be leaves.

Student 2: I remembered that when something owns something it needs that little mark and the letter s.

Me: You mean 's?

Student 2: Yes! I'm glad you taught us that!

Student 3: O...I guess I got all those questions wrong.

Me: That's why you should listen to what I say.

Student 3: I know. You are really smart! Do you know everything?

Me: Not quite...but almost.

School Moments...

Student 1: Somebody stole my music!

Student 2: No! Your stand is turned around backwards!

Student 1: Oh...

Me: Does it feel good to be a bully?

Student: No...

Me: Then stop!

Student: Ok.