Garçons heureux et chien

It was another pretty crazy week but overall good. Thursday worked at home then I went up to town a little early to pick up the boys and brought Jake so we could walk around, his favorite things to do. Friday I substituted in a 7th grade room. It went pretty well:

1st hour Boys Reading Club-they were working on Tom Saywer and had a quiz on Chapters 1-12, I went over a few things to get their minds going before I put up the questions on Elmo (the overhead projection system), they were told to use complete sentences in their answer and try to restate the questions, maybe a third actually did this.

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2nd-4th hours English-each class did the same thing, journaled for 5 minutes about a question on the board, then worked on creating a crossword puzzle with their vocabulary words. This got interesting but was fun to oversee, the productivity level certainly fell as the hours went on. The first class almost everyone got their puzzles finished by the third I don't think anyone did. After 4th hour is lunch, I stayed in the class and pulled some video entry info using the hi-speed and my handy-dandy flashdrive.

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5th hour SeminAR-this in my opinion is rather stupid, it's a half hour of reading. Right after lunch, they were charged up and I had a group of giggly girls that I actually threatened with detention if they didn't shut up and read.

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6th hour Social Studies-he left a packet to work on from Chapter 1 in their books. By now I laid down the law because I wasn't going to have a bunch of chattering and chaos: 'everyone better get to work and anyone who isn't finished by the end of class I will write down their names for Mr. Mitchell and you can serve detention.' That got 'em working, it was actually a more involved assignment than I thought and only four finished, each one that did I'd yell 'we have a winnaah!' The bell rang at the end of class and they all started to object about the detention, I put my hand up and yelled 'due Monday, take your books with you and get it done!' With relief they happily loaded up their stuff and took off for last class.

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7th hour Planning time, I stayed and worked some more on the computer since I had to wait for the kids to get done with school and pick them up anyway. Good Day.

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In one class I asked who was going to the football game tonight, it was the Lights Out Half Time Show, and a couple boys told me they like to beat people up under the bleachers when the lights go out, I was sort of taken off guard and just nodded dumbly and said, 'oh, sounds like a great plan' and moved on. As I thought about it later other responses came to me like 'thanks for the tip I'll be sure to alert the authorities.' What would you have said?

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Saturday soccer was rainy at first, then later overcast and misty, but thankfully not freezing cold. First time I ever saw a referee go barefoot during a game but I guess there's a first time for everything. He's lucky he didn't get a toe taken out by a cleat! The Blue Dragons played pretty well but Green was a tough team to beat. They had one guy I started referring to as 'the mosquito' he'd get on a somebody and just wouldn't back off. Ben has been a little cranky lately, maybe overstressed with school and soccer. During the last break he yelled over from the field, 'let's just go home' to which I lovingly responded 'get in there and finish the game' as the spectators all laughed.

But seriously he can be a real live-wire at times. Lately he's been super sensitive to loudness, which is ironic because he's my noisiest kid, even asking that I please pick him up from school so he doesn't have to ride the bus because it is soooo loud. No biggie for me since I go up to get Fox from practice at 4:30 anyway or I get them because of an afterschool activity. He has also complained that the classroom gets way to loud and then the teacher makes this constant shushing sound that drives him batty. Not sure what this is all about, I told him to keep me posted on the classroom situation in case we need to make a change, there's no reason for him to be stressed out and if it is consistently out of control then maybe the principal needs to come and back the teacher up dealing with the kids that are causing the most problems. Ben has taken serious issue with the classroom discipline policy, in his eyes "it just doesn't work and nobody ever learns their lesson." I'll find the policy and post it later.

Another fabulous and easy crockpot recipe. Cut up cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, I also threw in some red peppers I had just for color but not neccesary, pour in a mixture of chicken and beef broth until everything is covered (or stick to one if you prefer), I seasoned with minced garlic and onion (you can use fresh as well), some dry mustard, marjoram and a few dashes of pepper to taste. Simmered on low, all - night - long.

So looking forward to Sunday.......