Amelia Bedelia and the Eventful School Day

Yesterday was a pretty normal school day.  My students were mildly chaotic.  We got through as many lessons as we could.  We made our own definition for listening and agreed to work on our listening with our eyes and ears.  One of my students accidentally colored his teeth blue. Normal second and third happenings.

Today though, today was more exciting then I had planned.  We got to school and had put my handout for math on my flashdrive.  When I plugged it in though, it would not open my document because I hadn't saved it on the compatibility mode on my Macbook Pro.  Silly me.  Luckily, Amanda doesn't have service til 9 so she emailed it to me.  I tried to open it at school and it still wasn't working.  I decided to let it go for a little bit and get on with the morning.  We had a small break at French so I decided to slip into the computer lab and see if the newer computers would work.  Thank goodness Ms. Wheatly, our assistant principal and technology teacher, was in there because she has had the same situation and was able to open it for me and I got it all printed off! She also complimented me on my idea and offered to get me manipulatives if I need any! That made me feel good! I got back to the classroom and we did our grammar lessons over questions for third grade and exclamations for second.  The third graders are going to act like reporters tomorrow and interview one another.  I'm mildly excited for this! Hopefully they can handle it.

After lunch, we finished grammar up and Mrs. Lopez decided we needed to have a dance party so we listened and danced to the Cha-Cha Slide.  I must say, I have not laughed that hard at school yet and there have been some pretty funny moments.  We all just had a lot of fun with it and it got a little bit of their energy out! After all that fun, it was time to settle down for math.  The second graders were supposed to be doing their math review stations and it started out fine but we have been having to work on their voice level and sadly, their voices got too loud so we had to stop.  They were in stations and grouped in different spots around "2nd grade world" as we call which they really enjoyed.  We might try again tomorrow.  Third grade was working on money in math today.  It started out fine.  They actually pulled all their chairs around me and I just put a white board on my lap so they all could see what I was writing but then it got a little out of control.  I realize as an elementary teacher, you have no personal boundaries and I'm normally content with that.  They like to hold my hand, grab my Nalgene for me, but mostly, they really enjoy touching my hair.  This is not just the girls.  They all touch it, play with it, pull the curls, pet it, whatever they think of.  Well during math, I had way too many hands in my hair and it became very distracting so I asked them to stop.  Then they started having this conversation about my hair and how they all liked it and it's so pretty but my favorite comment was from one of my boys.  He looks me straight in the face and says, "But Ms. Halstead, it's like golden waves. It's just so pretty!" I could not help but laugh because his compliment was so sincere and I'm sure there was more detail to it but I can't remember anymore.  I just had to laugh and let go of my frustration at that moment.

We finished math up and I went back to second grade to start social studies when I hear a thud in the back of the "U".  I look back and see one of my boys crying.  Something to the effect of him getting told to jump off a chair and then one of the girls next to him pulling the chair out from under him so he hit his head on the bookshelf behind him happened.  My first real accident in the classroom so I was a bit nervous.  I was supposed to be teaching so thank goodness Mrs. Lopez took them both downstairs so that I could continue teaching.  Naturally my students were distracted for the rest of the time but I eventually reeled them back in.

I thought I could get through the last hour of school without anymore problems but I was wrong sadly.  One of my other students had said a cuss word, and my least favorite one at that, to another student in the room.  It was right before they were supposed to go home so Mrs. Lopez and I will have to take care of that in the morning.  We finally made it to the end of the day though! Nothing terrible today but there were definitely some new situations that I knew would happen eventually.  After school, Julissa and I reflected on our day and week.  She said she really liked my math stations but also respected me when I told them they were too loud and paused the activity for another day.

Patricia and I got back to the apartment and I had to get my oil changed so we ventured to Walmart.  We arrived to the correct Walmart and I was told they could not change it because they do not have the right oil.  I was a little worried when they said that because Walmart has changed my oil since I started at Emporia! So sorry Dad, that will have to get done next week.  I won't be driving at all this weekend though.  Patricia wanted to get a few things while we were there so we wandered around.  It brought me back to Emporia and the many times my friends and I would just roam the aisles because we were bored.  To spice up this trip though, we saw the Coca Cola polar bear! No, I did not take a picture with him although I did have a small desire too.  I just laughed to myself about it.  We got back to the apartment and the evening was pretty calm until I had an "Amelia Bedelia" moment as my roommates are starting to call them and me.  We are having company on Sunday night, Sr. Florence, our site director from CVIF, and a few alumni, for dinner so Amanda and I were prepping food ahead of time since we will be gone this weekend.  I chopped up the peppers, garlic, and jalapenos.  I washed my hands and thought I was fine.  I called home because I needed their advice when I made the worst decision of my whole day! I touched my hands to my eyes.  Next thing I know, my eyes have this deep burning sensation.  Random words of pain (all appropriate I promise!) are coming out of my mouth and my mom and Madelyn become confused on the other end.  I am explaining to them and my roommates what I did.  Patricia fills a bowl with water and tells me to put my eyes in it and start blinking.  Keep in mind I am still on the phone.  My mom says to call back when I have things under control.  I continuously dip my face in the water and keep blinking.  Amanda and Patricia are laughing at me so I start laughing.  The water starts overflowing and my hair starts getting wet.  After several minutes of this ordeal, the burning finally starts to subside.  I wipe my face off and breathe a little.  The girls will probably never let me chop jalapenos again.  Lesson learned.  I call my family back and we finish our conversation.

This day was much more exciting than what I had anticipated when I dragged (dragged or drug?) myself out of bed this morning.  Also, I ate a whole cantaloupe today.  I used to not even like cantaloupe but Florida has now changed my mind about it! Tomorrow will probably go fast like any Friday at school with Mass, music, computers, pizza for lunch, and a few quizzes.  After school I am headed to go see Aunt Michelle in Orlando! I cannot wait to see her and then I will stay with Laura (Uncle John Kriegisch's sister) and her family on Saturday.  Sunday will be here before I know it.  While I am thinking about life going by fast, I believe my plane flight is booked for Christmas! I'm singing the song already! "I'll be home for Christmas.  You can count on me.  I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams." But the fabulous part is, I really will be back in Kansas!

Well, I guess I was mildly talkative tonight.  I will update as much as I can this weekend! Good night and peaceful dreams.  I love you.