5th, 2/21

I made the ultimate "one never wants to make this mistake" mistake this morning.

I referred to a student as she. Multiple times. And didn't catch my mistake.

That boy was the trial of my life today - for good reason I suppose!

-Ms. J

Madame Libarian, 2/13-15

No, my name is not Marian. However, I was Madame Librarian for three days this week (at the school I student taught at). It was interesting and, in some cases, highly amusing.

If anyone has read the book "Chicken Big," imagine that I read that book to every class K-5 in the school over a course of three days. This book requires a lot of goofy voices and sounds. I was very happy to see my last class on Friday.

Anyway, for the younger kids, the activity after reading the book was to color their own Chicken Big. I was the recipient of one first grader's coloring. I said thank you, of course, then I said "you didn't put your name on it!" She responded "Who cares???" (The voice inflection was hilarious.)

When fifth grade came in, I was checking books out and a boy said "Ms. J, didn't you sing for the school two years ago?" I was very impressed with his memory, and said yes, I sang at the end of the school year assembly. He told me "you're a really good singer." Awwww! How sweet!!!

-Madame Librarian

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm filling in for a librarian this week. It's fun to be with the kids, but it's a little on the boring side (when I don't have classes). However, it's nice to be at that specific school - one of my faves!

Today, my last class was 5th grade at the end of the day. They already were candied up, and wired for sound. As they were leaving me, one of them gave me a Kitkat and said "Happy Valentine's Day. I don't like kitkats."

Hahaha how sweet of you to think of me!

-Ms. J

Rubber Feet

I was reminded of this story today in church. Last month, while I was still teaching 5th grade, they had a "Health and Safety" day. Essentially, people from the community (firefighters, police officers, nurses, etc) came and taught the kids about health and safety.

Our last presentation of the day was the man from PGE (Portland General Electric). He was teaching the kids to be safe with electricity. Someone asked why birds do not get shocked when sitting on a power line. He said it was because they have to touch two lines at the same time to get shocked. One of my students raised their hand and said,

"Really??? I thought it was because they have rubber feet!"

-Ms. J

3rd, 2/8

Boy, do subs just LOVE showing up and finding out about drills (fire, earthquake, and otherwise)!!! It totally makes our day!

Ok, maybe that was slightly sarcastic. But I have managed to catch all kinds of "out of the ordinary" things like that. Take, for instance, today. My first-ever lockdown drill.

For reals, first-ever. I've never been in one - not as a teacher or as a student. Well, today I got a crash course in lockdown!

Thankfully the kids were good, and took it seriously enough to be quiet for the 15 minutes (yes 15!!) we were in lockdown.

Of course, afterward, the kids were pointing out all the security breaches they noticed during the drill (they're pretty smart). Stuff like "Ms. J, if someone got a stepladder they could look in the top windows!" And my all-time favorite: "Ms. J, if someone climbed up to the second floor outside on the wall, they could look through that little space at the bottom of the blinds."

I love what-ifs!

Not.

At least I know what to do in a lockdown drill now! As they say, you learn something new every day!

-Ms. J