Guinness World Records

WE DID IT!!! It is official! 386 students, staff and parents from the elementary school that I teach at now are part holders of an official record in Guinness World Records. Over 300,000 people shattered the old record of 20,000+ doing jumping jacks for 1 minute over a 24 hour period. Last week I got an official email with certificate included. My students don't know the good news yet but they are going to be excited, so very excited.

I'm pretty excited too. Since I was a little girl I wanted to set a world record. In fact, setting a world record was (note: WAS) on my bucket list. Check!




images taken from Google images

From the Inside Out and You Are God Alone

On Sunday at church the arrangement of worship songs were simply beautiful. I would like to share the lyrics of two of the songs we sang, From the Inside Out and You Are God Alone.

From the Inside Out by Joel Houston, 1996

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Chorus
Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Chorus 2x

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out


You Are God Alone by Billy Foote 2004

You are not a God created by human hands
You are not a God dependent on immortal man
You are not a God in need of anything we can give
By your plan, that's just the way it is


You're the only God whose power none can contend
You're the only God whose name and praise will never end
You're the only God whose worthy of everything we can give
You are God and that's just the way it is


chorus
You are God alone
From before time began
You are on your throne
You are God alone
And right now in the good times and bad
You're on the throne
You are God alone
You are God alone

Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That's what you are
Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That's what you are

You are God alone
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone
And right now in the good times and bad
You are on your throne
You are God alone
You are God alone
You are God alone
You are God alone
Yes You are
Yes You are

I found myself singing the chorus all morning at work. God must have been preparing my heart for the hard news that was given in a meeting with the administration and my PE department at the end of the school day. Due to decreasing enrollment and the enormous shortfall in the state budget, my department is going to lose a PE teacher and class sizes are going to increase to 55 students in one class. Absolutely this is not in the same category as someone battling cancer facing a huge surgery or a family that loses their 13 year old son, but it is still is hard and a challenge. My heart is assured that God alone is God, in the good times and the bad, He is still on His throne. He is still sovereign and has a good and perfect plan (even if I never understand).

Actual Rules for Teachers (circa 1915)

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract
2. You are not to keep company with men
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am unless attending a school function
4. You dresses must be not any shorter than two inches above the ankle
5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the (school) board
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother
7. You may not dress in bright colors
8. You may under no circumstances dye your hair
9. You must wear at least two petticoats
10. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores

The set of teacher rules crossed my desk a few weeks ago and made me chuckle and boy have the rules changed (I don't even know if we have rules for teachers now). In looking at the rules, were teachers only female and were they not allowed to marry? Being a PE teacher, I wonder how I could teach with a dress that could not be more than 2" above my ankle and wearing at least two petticoats. Demonstrating the high jump, running a 50 meter dash, spiking a volleyball, or playing a game of "Rocks" would have been interesting, to say the least.

The Lord Is

Image taken from Google Images

The Lord Is

The depths of Your grace who can measure
You fully supply all I need

You restore my weary soul again and again

And lead me in Your righteousness and peace

You’re with me through every dark valley

There’s nothing that I have to fear

You are there to comfort me again and again

Protecting me, assuring me You’re near

The Lord is

The Lord is my shepherd

The Lord is

The Lord is my shepherd

I shall not want

You gave Your own life for my ransom

So I could rejoice at Your side

You have shown Your faithfulness again and again

There’s nothing good that You will not provide

I will dwell in Your house

All the days of my life

I will dwell in Your house

All the days of my life

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)/Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

Click here for a sampling of the song.

God is so faithful to soothe His children's weary hearts and causes them to continually go back to Him again and again. The Lord Is recently has been a huge encouragement to my heart. Work was very challenging for a few weeks several weeks back and much of my time was spent having a proper God honoring response. God brought this song to my mind countless times during those days. When I had the opportunity to drive around solo, this song was played over and over, often times one hand raised in worship to my Savior. I so love worship music that is a direct reflection of His Word.

"That Might Be a Problem. . ."

Have to share with you a funny from work today. Here is the senerio: one of our female PE teachers was out ill today and a subsitute came in to fill in for her. The other female PE teacher (there are 3 of us on the girls side) was filling the sub in what would be the plan for the day, and that the sub would be on the blacktop for the day.

The subsitute said in response to being outside on the blacktop, "That might be a problem, I have a predisposed condition to skin cancer and being out in the sun."

Over hearing the conversation, I replied, "You might want to re-consider taking PE sub jobs in the future. PE usually involves being out in the sun".

After my comment I told the sub that I had sunscreen on my desk with an spf of 50 that she was welcome to use.

Who knows what she was thinking when she took the job for the day, but thankfully, she did a great job (and I think my sunscreen did the job well too).

The Low Down and a Few Pics

A glimpse into what has been going on in my world over the last several weeks, in no particular order, rhythm or reason.

• The is a deep feeling down in my gut that the Giants will not make the playoffs, or if they do the Dodgers will be hard to overcome. At least it's a winning season.


• School has been in session for 4 weeks now. First progress report grades are due on Tuesday. Time is flying on by but it is a long stretch now until my next day off, Veteran's Day. I think I have another good crop of students this year. My worries are not so much my students but all of the students who have 6th period PE. Between the 5 teachers in my department there are 250 students. Of these students, about 50% of them are "disciplinary repeat offenders". Daily I need to take time to pause and pray to my heavenly Father for His grace and wisdom to deal with these students and that I would always respond in a way that gives glory to God. Last week my school was put in lock down for an hour and half due to a shooting at the high school.



• End of August always means peach picking at Carol's family peach farm/ranch. Last week, I finished eating the last peach. For the first time I canned fresh peaches, using both the raw and hot processing method. Thank you Carol for always inviting us to go peach picking and to hang out with your family.
  
  
• Dawn and I took a little drive up the Silverado Trail from Napa to Calistoga. Just a drive to do something different for just a short amount of time.



• On the counter top cooling is sitting my very first attempt at making a cheese cake for a co-workers birthday tomorrow. Cheese cake is not a dessert I would choose to eat with all the yummy choices out there but I will enjoy trying what I created. The whole cheese cake was made in the Cuisinart that Suzy gave me. Thanks Suzy, I already love that you are now part of my kitchen. Speaking of Suzy, she had a group of people over last night for one of the most delicious (yum!) home made Julia Childs meals. Everything was so incredibly delicious. Great meal Suzy and absolutely wonderful fellowship!



• Since Memorial Day weekend I have been on a challenge to myself to get into better shape and to lose some weight. I praise the Lord that He has allowed some success and I feel so much better. There still is a long ways to go but with faithfulness on my part and encouragement from my family and friends, I will obtain my goal. The biggest part of my goal once I met my goal is to stay there and not go back to where I have been. Please contact me if you would like to know how I have made some of these changes and seen success.



• My dad and I went golfing over the Labor Day weekend and I managed to drive the golf ball well, stay out of the pond and out of the sand traps. My middle game and putting still needs some refining.



• At some point in the near future I would like to learn how to can tomatoes (including tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and whole tomatoes) and grape jelly or jam. Trin Trin has been asking me for sometime if I make grape jelly and I always have to tell her that I do not know how. The grapes are starting to come in at the farmer's market.



• With no air conditioning in my house I am starting to prepare myself for the big heat wave that is projected to come across the land this next week. I think for at least the next 6 days, triple digits is expected. The fog can return anytime soon for my liking.



• My faithful God is always good to me, always full of tender care and mercy.

Thanks To Grandpa

Thanks to my grandfather George, I know how to tie a tie (using the method displayed above). Last week was promotion for the 8th graders at the school that I teach at. The theme was "black and white" dress attire and all of the students looked so nice. As I walked into my office across the black top, I saw several young men with ties draped across their necks but not tied. The thought went through my head that maybe they did not know how to tie a neck tie. I told each of them how nice and handsome they looked and then asked if they were being relaxed with their tie (because the ceremony was an hour away) or if they did not know how to tie a tie. I mentioned casually to them that if they did not know how to tie one that I could assist them. Each young man was eager to have me tie their tie. As I started to tie the first tie, several other young men lined up to have their ties tied. It was cute and I think there should be an in-service next year for the young men on how to tie a tie. After each tie I tied, I told them, "Thanks to my Grandpa, I know how to tie a tie!"

Images taken from Google Images

Who is More Ready?

The end of the school year is quickly approaching and summer vacation will soon be here. As my teaching years (15 now) pass on by, my longing for summer vacation grows stronger with each passing year. This has been a good year for me, I have had a good group of students and not many "problems". Despite the lack of a stressful year, the itching to be "out of there" is huge. Not sure if that's because the end of the year is extremely busy and mind consuming or if I am just tired and need a good break. So, I have been thinking, who is more ready for a summer vacation? The students who check out sometime after spring break and state testing or teachers who attempt to keep the checked out still checked in?

People often ask me, "how many days left?" Honestly, I don't count the days left. That is scary for me because I know of all the things that need to get done before that last day. I know it is less than 3 weeks and closer to 2 weeks.

Anyways, now you know the reason for lack of posts recently. YEAH HEY, for summer vacation.

Swine Flu

On my home phone message was the superintendent of my school district with a voice message saying that a "probable case of Swine Flu" has been identified in one of the elementary schools within the district that I teach. That school will be closed this whole next week and possibly the whole next week.

I know why the CDC and the world is being careful with the Swine Flu. In 1918 two waves of the Swine Flu killed an estimated 30-50 MILLION people but from all indicators this is not the same strain as that one which was a pandemic. I did not even know what a pandemic was until 7 days ago. There has been one confirmed death in the U.S. More people will die of the common cold in one day than this wave of the Swine Flu.

Closing whole schools down is huge and I personally don't want to be involved in a school that has to close down for 1-2 weeks. One of my students last week thought that closing the school down for 2 weeks would be great. Being the teacher, I seized the moment to talk to the class why that really would not be a good idea. Here are my reasons:

1) If we have to miss 2 weeks of school because of the Swine Flu we will have to make that school up somehow and asked where do you think that will made up? They had no clue. So, I broke the news to them that we would have to go 2 weeks later in June when we should be done and on summer vacation. The whole class gave a collected
groan.
2) Next week we are administering the state wide STAR assessment tests. The teaching moment continued, I asked, "If we don't take the tests next week when are we going to take them?" They responded, "let's just not take them this year". I then needed to tell them that the tests have to be given at a certain time frame and the test would have to be given after a the mandatory 2 week break. Do you want to be away from school and not engaged in learning and preparing for very important tests (honestly, it is not so important for them personally but for us as a school as a whole and not being taken over by the state for not improving our scores for the 3rd year in a row- another post at another time, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND) and then to come back and test the week after you are first back? They don't completely get this one.
3) Will you have any set plans for your required break? Will your parents have plans for you? No, most likely not. You will be sitting at home with no plans, not able to
go out with friends, no trips to Disneyland or Circus Circus. I reminded them that most of them told me almost 2 weeks ago that most of them were bored to death over spring break because they had nothing to do. Again, another collected groan.

The same student said, "I think you are right. It would be better for our school not to close down."

Comic taken from Google images.

Remembering a Wonderful Student

Today, I returned to work from having the last week off for Easter Break (or as they call it in the public school system, Spring Break) and got some sad news before the first bell rang. The special education teacher who I work closely with called and told me that one of our students had passed away over break. Over the 15 years of my teaching career, there have been at least 3 of my former students who have passed away at a young age. All of these died after they moved on to the next level. Today's death was different. B (I will call him B here, this is the first letter of his name but I would like to protect the privacy of his family) was in my PE class for the last 3 years. He was in my PE class where I take all of the severally multi-handicapped students and incorporate them into what I call a "reverse mainstreaming" PE class.

Let me share some things about B. B was born with a condition called spina bifida. He was paralysed from the waist down and got around in a wheelchair. Due to his condition he had a shunt placed in his brain to drain the fluid from his brain. Last week, he went in for surgery to replace his shunt and something occurred during surgery. There was too much build up of fluid in his brain when they removed his shunt, his brain went into shock and basically died.

B always had a smile on his face, he was always glad to see you. He would wheel up to me when he saw me on campus, give me the biggest hello with a smile, greet me by name and ask, "what are we doing today Miss ______?" He lit up the place where ever he went. Even the men PE teachers said he was the brightest shining light in the boys locker room. They told me today that a piece of their joy of teaching died with B passing away. They said they would always love to go into the locker room to supervise the specific period that B had PE. Even though B could not change fully into PE clothes, he faithfully put on his PE sweatshirt to be just like all of the other students (and I think he did not want to disappoint me by not changing, he knew the standard for all of the other students).

From the minute B came to my school as a 6th grader, he was eager to try everything and anything that the rest of my students were learning. There was no holding him back. As I mentioned, he got around in a wheelchair. It was a nice chair but it was not the best chair for him. He needed a light weight sport chair. It would have helped him out greatly. I think the sports chair went against his culture. B was so eager to try all things, I think my PE class opened the world up to him. It was my goal to engage him fully in my PE class so that he would have a wonderful well rounded PE experience. This is the same goal I have for all of my students but I treated him as no different with that goal.

Due to his chair, B could not really hold equipment and push his chair (due to the chair not being in a sports chair and his paralysis was just slightly below his rib cage). Students would take turns pushing him so he could play. Students were always eager to help him out. B after being helped would always tell the student thanks for helping him and giving a big high five. Allowing the students to help push was always great when we were in the gym or on the blacktop but when my rotation would be to the track or a field, I knew the students could not push him, besides, it could be dangerous and have been tipped over. Over time B got better at pushing his chair and playing. He knew that I or an aid would help him but he also knew that was not the case every time.

All the students have to run at school. Run for cardiovascular health and to also prepare for the state mandated fitness tests. B and I used the measuring wheel to measure how many laps around the blacktop he would need to do to push his mile. While the students ran on the track he "ran" on the blacktop. Each time we ran, I chose a few students who would run with him on the blacktop to encourage him to keep trying his best as they ran by him. Most of the time when I watched on, it was B who was encouraging on the other students always offering his thanks when he was done and giving a big high five.

This year knowing that B was headed onto the high school I wanted him to try pushing on the track with all of the rest of the students. He was all over the challenge. The first time he tried it, he only could finish half of a mile. He wanted to know what his time was, which I could not give him because he did not finish the whole thing. Each week he was determined to finish the whole run up on the track just like everyone else. He finally made his goal and I tell you, his time was faster than some other students who just don't try.

Just before Easter Break, my group of students were fitness testing. Most of what the state asked us to do, B could not do because of his chair. He had to sit off with those who had finished testing and have not much activity. He would shrug his shoulders and say, "it's OK". There was nothing else that could have been done because the testing has to be done by the teacher on each student. Finally, we had a break and another teacher and I decided to play the game "Rocks", which is a type of Capture the Flag game. B wanted to get right in the action and play. I have taught all the students who play in a game with my disabled students that there are rule modifications that are used to help the disabled students play in the game. I strapped B good into his chair, made sure his flip bars were down and reminded him of how to turn his body in the unlikely event that we might topple over (I prayed every time I pushed him around out on a field that we would not tip over). I asked him if he wanted to play offense or defense, always hoping that he would say defense because it would have been a little easier for me. He always chose offense. Off we ran trying to get into the free zone, steel a rock, free up those on our team that had been captured and run like mad. He so fully trusted me pushing him yet, still clung on for dear life. He always encouraged me along the way and he was good to rest when I thought my legs were going to fall off of me. When we were done, I would loosen his waist belt and he would push himself back to the locker room, the whole time talking about the game.

B was so simple minded with his retardation and he had a heart of gold. I have wrestled in my heart today about B and eternity. B's family is Muslim. I know what God's word says about salvation and the life after death. I have never fully studied about issues concerning a baby or small child dying. I have heard pastors speak on the topic and they share that there is a special grace with God and small children. I too believe this. So, my heart ponders what about a person like B, he was in the low mentally retarded class, he had not much in the area of long time memory and God created him the way he was. I trust firmly in God's sovereign plan and completely agree that God is just to do what His plan is. God may have had a special mercy and grace for B. B might be running for the first time on streets of gold.

My Heelie Tendon Hurts

Friday at work, a 6th grade girl came into the girl's PE office to ask for an ice pack. When someone asks for an ice pack we allows ask why, mainly to determine if we need to notify the office or the student's parents that they got injured. When I asked her why she needed an ice pack, she replied, "my heelie tendon hurts". I repeated her answer with a question, "your heelie tendon hurts?" She said, "yes". I then proceeded to ask her if she meant her Achilles Tendon and she said, "no, my heelie tendon hurts". I completely knew what she was trying to say but was having some fun with it. So, another teacher who overheard the conversation said, "her heel hurts". We gave her an ice pack and gave her the instructions to hold the ice on with her foot elevated for 20 minutes and that should help her "heelie tendon" feel better. Boy, did we laugh it up over that one. Kids just say the cutest things sometimes.

Lent

On Thursday the students ran the mile in PE. Here is the dialog I had with a one of my students a few minutes prior to running.

Student: "Guess what?"
Me: "What?"
S: "Guess what I gave up for Lent?"
M: "Chocolate, sweets, TV, soda pop. . .?"
S: "No, I gave up exercise."
M: "Really?"
S: "Yes, I gave up exercise. So, this means I don't have to run the mile today!"
M: "Do you have a note from home telling me that you can't exercise?"
S: "No, I did not know I needed a note."
M: "Guess you have to run the mile today."

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful

As a PE teacher we have certain policies of when the students don't participate outside. These include any day that the weather is projected to be over 100 degrees, a Spare the Air Day and rain (rain that gets the entire ground wet). We have no rule about being too cold or too foggy. All of the PE teachers in my department make announcements all the time to our students to have them bring the proper cold weather clothing because they will dress for PE even in cold weather. There are always several who are not prepared when it turns cold and are not too pleased with our choice to continue PE outside. Then we always have a few in each class who are the one's we call "will always wear their short and t-shirt uniform everyday no matter the conditions outside".

The school that I teach at really does not have adequate inside facilities to take some 200+ PE students at one time. There is a gym but it is quite small and the students really lose all self control when we are in there. There is only so much sit down volleyball and tug of war that we as teachers can handle. There is a theater for us to use and be very comfortable but there is always the issue if another teacher (especially the Drama teacher) is using it for something for their students. Another issue of going inside is if we show a sports movie but they have to nothing more than PG and at that it is a stretch sometimes if a movie is not appropriate for young viewers. If we decide to do a lesson it is extremely large scale. Throughout the day between all of the PE classes with all 5 of the teachers we are teaching over 1,000 students. If you have a handout then you are making over 1,000 copies, usually front and back. So most of my co-workers have the same view point as myself, "any day outside is better than a day inside".

The last couple of weeks the weather outside has been quite frightful, if I could say that. Two weeks before vacation, we were socked in with Tully fog. I posted on that. There were even some days that there was fog and frost at the same time. This is a really rare occurrence for the Bay Area. The week prior to vacation was even more frightful. Monday it was raining out and the theater was available because the Drama teacher was out ill. We made the sub stay in the drama classroom. The rest of the week we were outside. Tuesday it was freezing cold, literally freezing cold and threatening rain/sleet/snow all day. The Weather Channel reported the city in which I work at 39 with a dew point of 35 and this did not include the wind chill factor. I don't think out West the weather reports include a wind chill factor, or at least I don't hear about it in California. The near by hills and mountains had snow all over them. I personally almost froze out there that day. Wednesday it was clear but still very cold but was better only because the sun was shining. Thursday was cold like Wednesday but the threat of rain had returned.

Thursday during one of my classes one of my students said, not sure if it was said to anyone but I heard him, "Oh the weather outside is frightful" (he was singing that line to Let it Snow, Let it Snow). He is one of my students sitting there unprepared with his legs and arms wrapped up into his t-shirt sitting in a big blog on the ground. I walked by him and chuckled and told him he was very creative.

O My Nose, O My Nose

Anyone out there remember the Brady Bunch episode where Marsha got hit in the nose with a football? She then cries out, "O my nose! O my nose" with her hands cupped over her nose.

During 4th period today I took a shanked (volleyball lingo) right smack in the nose. I felt like my cartilage was pushed up to my brain. I was standing about 7 feet away from where the ball came from. Instantly I bent over in pain and turned away from the students. They all gasped and did not know what to do. My first thought was "is it broken?", then I thought "is it bleeding or going to bleed?" and finally thought "am I going to be OK?" Thankfully, it was not bleeding which indicated that I truly was going to be just fine. I thought it was funny that it was not bleeding because growing up my nose was a bleeding faucet.

Around the time of realizing that there was no blood, I could hear the students around me saying, "she just hit Miss _____ hard in the nose". The students were still stunned or thinking I was going to start yelling at them. Finally, a few started to ask me if I was OK. I said I think that I was OK. After I got myself back together and allowed my eyes to unfill with tears, I walked back to watch the volleyball game. I reassured the girl who had hit the ball that I was OK and not to worry about it. I went and stood next to the student referee where I was standing before. She says to me, "your nose is all red and big". Panic ran through me that maybe I had a broken nose but no bleeding. I sheepishly asked if my nose was straight and she reassured me that it was. All I could say then was, "it should be red and big. The ball hit me fast and hard".

Several periods later my sweet sister emailed me wondering about my nose. She teaches at the same school as I do. Her students told her the whole story and she was concerned. It was at this time that it came to me about Marsha Brady and her nose.

The last period of the day I needed to go to one of the 6th grade classrooms to deliver something to the teacher. When I walked in all the students started telling me hello (middle schoolers can be obnoxious at times) and I could hear a whisper about my nose. Then one bold one said out loud, "How's your nose Miss _____?" I said, "I feel like Marsha Brady. O my nose! O my nose!" Not a one of them understood what I was talking about but the teacher and the aide were completely cracking up. Laughing, I left the room.

My nose is quiet sore now and I have a headache but I shall be just fine. Hopefully, I will not wake up with a shiner tomorrow morning.

Jeff Foxworthy's Take on Teachers

A co-worker sent this out last week right in the middle of a crazy week at school.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE A TEACHER?

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.
3. You walk into a store and hear the words "It's Ms/Mr. _________" and know you have been spotted.
4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.
6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and prep period.
7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.
8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.
9. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off."
10. You believe chocolate is a food group.
11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.
12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."
13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.
15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.
17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!
18. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a "good choice or a bad choice."
19. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils
20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.
And finally,
21. You understand instantly why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.

A few points that I would particularly like to comment on:
3. As a middle school teacher being spotted by a student is really no big deal but the student makes such a big deal out of it. If I'm seen in a grocery store for example the student will say something absolutely silly like, "You eat food!" The only time I really don't like being spotted by a student is when they have been a difficult student who needs constant reprimanding or if they have been nasty to me. I don't want them to see what kind of car I drive or know anywhere where I live.
4. I don't ever get called mom or dad but I get called any other teacher but not Miss ___. I usually help them out and say who I am to the student.
9. It is nice to work school hours and have some of the summer off but what people don't get is that it is so much more than that. There are always papers to grade, IEP's to go to, trainings in the Summer, lesson planning, calling parents. I don't think there is ever a day that I don't spend at least 1 hour outside of contract hours at work.
13. Kids behaving badly in public. I fight with everything within me to not respond to children not behaving correctly. The worst scenario is at the movie theater. Somehow, I always end up with middle school students near me and they are talking during the movie, receiving cell phone calls or being rude. I seriously have to tell myself, "Shelly, you are not a teacher right this minute".
21. All I need to say is that a common phase in our PE department is "the apple does not fall far from the tree".

I do praise God for the job that He has blessed me with and I do hope that in ways that I am able that I bring Him glory. God has refined my character greatly through teaching and there is much more to be done.

Lock Down

Today at school we were put in lock down for about 15 minutes. My heart races when things like this happen. Guess one of our "not so smart" students called 9-11 with their cell phone and told the police that they were in a dangerous situation in a classroom. This student had another "not so smart" student call too to say that they were in a hostage situation in another classroom. The police instantly went into a possible school shooting mode. An announcement came over the loud speaker for the teachers to do a shelter in place and lock down the classroom. We did not hear the announcement in the girls locker room but one teacher on the boys side did. On our side of the locker room we had just dismissed the girl's to go to their next class. Should have seen us, we had to go out and run and yell at the girls to get back in the locker room and to get anyone else inside who was out and about. The girls were completely confused yet we kept them calm. Thankfully the school did not make national news and it was just a prank. Tonight those two students will have some time in juvenile hall to consider how to be a "little smarter".

Spring Break

For a teacher, Spring Break or what I prefer- Easter Break, is one of the most anticipated breaks from school. Usually, the well needed break is just barely enough time away from work to energize a teacher before the long haul before Summer vacation. The only day that I have off between now and the end of the school year is Memorial Day. The kids have started to lose focus, the weather is warming slightly, the blossoms give off beautiful color but bring on the allergies and teen "love" (if I can call it that, more like hormones not in check) is in the air. All of these things make for a challenge at the later end of the school year to finish strong and problem free.

On most breaks I have big project plans for around the house. This year is no different, my plans were to landscape the front yard. This project has waited since I bought the house when I "land cleared" the front yard. Sometime I will have to dig out those old pictures of what the front yard used to look like, the maintained "dead" state that it is in now and then show what the finished product will be. Sadly, but in God's perfect timing and His sovereign will, the front yard project is on hold. All of the plants are bought and waiting in the side yard to be transplanted into their final home. I know exactly the type of sod and retaining wall blocks that I want and how much it will cost. My mom's gardener, Javier and his amigos, are planning on helping me with the project but Javier is in the middle of a remodel at his house. God has a reason for me to wait on my project and it is kinda nice to get a few other smaller projects done around here and God knew that I would not be feeling my best for the first few days of my vacation.

Friday I awoke with a slight fever and not feeling well. Funny, my sister woke with the same type of symptoms but hers progressed much worse over the last 2 days. Praise God, she is better today. There would have been no way that I could have helped with the work outside. Today, I am planning on doing some painting of the trim around my new garage door and straighting out the garage. This will be an all day project. At some point, I plan to completely clean out my master closets and maybe put some organizing shelving in there. Next weekend, my dear Daddy is coming over to help me with a broken double gate. On Wednesday and Thursday I am going to visit my sweet niece, my sister and brother in law.

Lord willing, by Monday I will be ready for the long 2 1/2 months before the end of the school year.

All "B's"

This post is a combination of many posts but for sake of time, space, energy and for your benefit, I have combined them into one big post. All of my topics will start with the letter B (it is stretching it for some of the words). In no particular order here are my "B's": busy, broccoli, birds, bugs, beads, blossoms, bum or bunk mortagues and beloved bargin music.

Busy- my life has been slightly busy in the last few weeks and I have not had much time at my house. Grandma had her surgery 10 days ago and I spent several evenings at the hospital to visit with her. Last week Jen and Trinity came up to visit and to help out and I was at Mom and Dad's several nights to hang out with everyone. I had fun with my sweetie pie niece (and it was good to see Jen and the rest of my family- always good to see them). We danced, played hide and go seek, swung in the swing (I pushed), drew with sidewalk chalk and read many stories.

Broccoli- ate my first crown of broccoli from my garden yesterday. Absolutely yummy. More on this under bugs.





Birds- despite a blustery storm that was rolling through, the robins, western goldfinches and the hummers have been alive and well in my yard. The robins were going for the ripe, red berries in my neighbors yard. There seriously were 50 robins feasting on the berries. I think the berries makes them a little intoxicated or at least they act intoxicated. Instead of DUI it would be FUI (flying under the influence). The Western goldfinches are snacking on the thistle seeds that I have hanging outside of my sliding glass door in a thistle bag. There have been up to 5 goldfinches on the bag at a time. My girl cat, Rosie, is really bothered by the birds and she gets a low guttural growl/meow and her whole body shakes. Last week I put out new hummingbird food. They swoop on down, take a drink of the sweet water and zoom on off again.






Bugs- having an organic garden means that my produce sometimes has to be extra washed because there are bugs. As I said above under broccoli, I fixed my first broccoli to eat for lunch yesterday. It sure was yummy. I only used half of the crown and brought the rest over to eat with a friend in a salad. Upon further inspection of the broccoli (this had been washed earlier in the day and was the other half of what I had already eaten), there were tons of tiny bugs on the underside of the "flowerettes". I had to really wash each and every flower to get the bugs off. I must have eaten bugs when I had fixed the broccoli for lunch. Yuck.



There have been a few times that when I bring fresh lettuce in from the garden that while I am soaking the lettuce leaves, small snails somehow get out of the sink of water and crawl around the top of the sink. Reminds me that I always have to wash everything super duper good. I can only imagine bringing a salad from my garden to a party (this actually happens quite often) and dishing up on each person's plate and having a small snail circling the plate.



Beads- today I wore the earrings that I won at the Peach Fest auction. About 2 1/2 years ago, there was a dinner and auction to raise money for my cousin Julie's fight with ovarian cancer. There were so many things at the auction. I remember clearly wanting to win the auction for and item that I could take home and keep forever, in case my cousin would pass away. As you know, my cousin passed away just over 2 months ago from ovarian cancer. When I put the pretty pale aqua stoned earrings on this morning, tears filled my eyes. I stopped what I was doing and took a few minutes to reflect on my cousin and to pray for her husband Chad, son Kevin and Julie's family. It was in honor of Julie that I wore the earrings today. The earrings are almost the color that represents ovarian cancer-teal.



Blossoms- my yard is starting to explode with different blossoms. Right now my daffodils, African daisy's, prim roses and my apricot tree are in bloom. Very beautiful. Hoping the powerful storm, did not knock off some of my precious apricot blossoms. Lord willing, the dwindling bee population will find the way to my tree to pollinate the blossoms so I will have a great crop of yummy apricots in June. June is crazy again this year, school ends around the 14th and Jen's baby boy is due on June 20th. It is a real quick harvesting period, the fruit comes ripe and then they are gone and fall off the tree.







Bum or Bunk mortgages- oooooouch, this mortgage situation is deep and far reaching. I praise God that I am not in the situation of losing my house because I could easily have been in that situation. I bought my house almost 6 years ago when all of the "great rates" were tempting. God had me go the conservative route. Let me tell you just a little of the effects of the mortgages that have gone bad. Not sure if you heard, don't know how one could not have heard, but the Governor of California (as we call him, Arnold) reported to Californians that we are in a fiscal emergency. The State of California is in crisis because of the mortgage situation. The revenue from home sales and the tax of those sales is grossly down. The State has to make billions, yes billions- with a b-b and in boy, of cut backs across the boards. Public education alone will suffer a 7.8 billion, yes b again, in cut backs for this fiscal year and projected much more for the upcoming year. The school district that I work in is already anticipating making 8 million in cuts (which is on top of the 18 million that we had in the emergency fund). I don't know where it is going to come from, we are already hurting and have large class sizes.



Let me take this further. The city where I work has over a thousand houses on the market and over 2 thousand houses in foreclosure. Many people who are in trouble know they don't have many options, they can't sell, no one is buying, they can't rent for full price because no one can afford full rent rates, so. . . some are renting to low income renters because it is set money which is better than no money. I personally don't have a difficultly about section 8 housing. The problem arises when you have a large number of people living so in a given area. Unless a city (including law enforcement, schools, political policy. . .) is ready, prepared and has a plan to deal with some of the challenges and issues that come with low income housing, every aspect of the city is affected. You now have urban challenges and issues coming to the suburbs. These challenges and issues are different than the challenges and issues of the suburbs. I'll stop here because I don't want to be misunderstood. This housing crisis is deep and far reaching, more than people 'just needing to move to another place'. Whole lives, family and communities are being affected hard.


Beloved Bargin music- I received my package yesterday from Sovereign Grace Music. As I noted in a post a few weeks ago, Sovereign Grace Ministries is having an incredible sale on their music and books. These music CD's are some of the most Christ and gospel centered music that I have ever heard. My church includes several of these songs in our worship services and I have included several of them on this blog page. I have been listening to a few of these CD's non-stop since I got them yesterday. I encourage you to check out the music and books while you can get a discount. Check them out here. What incredible music. On a later post I will share one of my favorite songs.



Anyone know how to get music to play on your blog page?

Those Goofy Students

Middle school, what a age. It never surprises me what these students can come up with. Today during my last class of the day a student asked one of those questions that I just walk away from. The question was this, "Miss ______, if you are blind can you still be a Jehovah Witness?" No answer needed, he was just being silly. Talk about turn and walk away with a chuckle. Goofy student. I am grateful to God for my opportunity to teach and to work with these young people. God refines and molds me often through these pre-teen and teenagers.

Speaking of those goofy teens, one of them passed along a nasty cold to me. It is not often that I miss church or call in sick to work but this cold has done both. I look forward to my unintended day off of work tomorrow to rest and relax. Think I will get some good Pho' soup (Vietnamese soup) for lunch, listen to the sermon I missed on the web, pay my bills and go out and vote.

Hot Dog or Hamburger

Everyday this last week at school was rainy and wet. On days like these my PE department has to be clever as to what we will have our students do for the day. My school does have a gymnasium but it is not big enough for 5 classes (during 5th period that is 250 students) in there at a time. This week we decided to show Field of Dreams and have the students do a Character Counts assignment with the movie. We asked them to fold a sheet of binder paper vertically, the long way. Not quite understanding which way to fold the paper, one of my "bright" 8th grade boys said, "Hot dog or hamburger?" I said, "Hot dog". He then knew how to fold his paper.