Really?

I walked into Wal-Mart and needed to use the restroom before doing my shopping. As I walked in, I was a little surprised to see a few people waiting in line.

I waited. Which was fine. And I waited. Still okay. When it was finally my turn, a woman walked out, made eye contact with me, and then proceeded to walk. Out. Without washing her hands!

I almost said something to her, but dismissed the thought.

As I walked around picking up a few items here and there, I kept seeing her. The only thought running through my head was her dirty hands touching her phone, her cart, food items.

I'm glad germs are microscopic. After seeing her today and knowing that many others also do not wash their hands and then venture into public places, I might begin to wear plastic gloves when handling anything.

How Famous is Famous?

As I was trying to transition the students from working on their math to writing workshop, I asked them to clean the room because our famous author was about to come.

This began a frenzy. You could feel the electricity begin to build in the room. Students were walking, talking, thinking. Names were thrown out...Could it be Kate DiCamillo? Ron Roy? The anticipation kept growing.

Suddenly, Mrs. Ayres name up. This began a debate. One of my students commented back, "She's not famous."

Another piped back quickly, "She's an author."

"Yeah, but she's only written one book."

Meanwhile I am chuckling. My students are definitely not aware of the teaching community, let alone the blogging community.

Later, I asked my student how many books does a famous author have to write to be famous. His answer? "Two...or one...or three."

I love students' thoughts.

For those who are wondering, I had printed off advice from Lynn Plourde. We are studying her craft in writing workshop.

Student Slicing

Apology Accepted

During our Accelerated Math time, students were independently working. As I looked at the students that weren't, I inquired as to what was going on with their work load. One of my girls had a practice and wasn't working on it. I asked why and she told me she couldn't find it.

That it unacceptable! I had given it to her for homework and she is one of my overachievers. She took home her informational book and wrote tons! So, you can understand why this irresponsibility was uncalled for and out of the ordinary.

After I had exhausted the possibilities of where it could be, I printed her a new one and then began working with other students.

My hater now lover of reading came up and had her practice stapled to his. Whose fault is this? Mine! I had stapled them earlier and just didn't see it.

Walking towards her with my tail between my legs, I apologized profusely (we had just a lesson on more authentic and sincere apologies). I asked if she would forgive me and she said, "I couldn't stay mad at my favorite teacher."

My heart melted...

Student Slices

While it may not technically count as her slice, one of my students stopped in her reading to share one of our favorite words from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and she found it in another book. Love it!

He didn't want to write a slice, but mom encouraged him. He woke up early to do so! He wasn't sure he could slice every day because nothing exciting ever happens. I'm excited to see how his perspective changes as we intentionally look for slices.

Backfired

It sounded good in my mind. It normally works. As I was talking with a group of students, sharing my amazing wisdom, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, my mover just kept going. He rocks. He rolls. He fidgets. He squirms. He cannot sit still. He cannot sit on his bottom. I cannot take it anymore!

I gave him eye contact and gave the speech of "If you don't want to be here, then go back to your desk and do something else." Anyone else ever do that?

Well, it worked on him. He stayed there and dialed in for the remainder of the lesson.

However, my Star Wars genius got up, walked back to his desk, and proceeded to hang out there. Whoops...I intended my speech for someone else entirely and another child took me up on my offer.

I had to follow through...He was welcome to stay at his desk. He made his choice, thanks to mine and I had to live with it.

Hmmm?

I read many food blogs. I dabble in creating my own versions with what I have in my house or according to my eating habits. There's a baked oatmeal that I'm hoping to adapt to my plethora of quick-cooking steel cut oats (Thanks Aldi's). I tried my own version Sunday and after discovering that the coating to my non-stick pans from Pampered Chef are now releasing their coating onto my food...

So, begins a new version tonight. I've learned my lessons. Glass bakeware and DO NOT use reduced-fat peanut butter (it doesn't seem to melt).

I threw in some oats, water, and some baking soda. I mashed up two bananas into the concoction and beat in two eggs. I sprinkled cinnamon on top and then stirred it together again. I'm hoping that by letting the oats soak up the water overnight, I will just have to throw it into the oven in the morning to bake while I get ready for the day.

As I patted myself on the back mentally, I grabbed the foil and with a flourish ripped off a sheet only to remember that the first step in the baked oatmeal recipe from the blog was to pour the oats into a greased pan. Oops...guess we'll see tomorrow morning if that step is a necessity or merely a suggestion.