More about smells.

You know that tradition of teachers getting apples on the first day of school? Well, the first day of school doesn't make me think of apples anymore. Last year and this year, as I take the street that brings me to ADLR with my windows open (because it's already in the 80's in the morning here) I smell someone roasting green chile! It smells so good.

Orientation Day Two

Second Day. Still not given any time to work in our classrooms as a staff. I stole moments here and there and stayed until after seven but it's so frustrating to sit in meetings all antsy because of the mountain of unpacking and organizing you have to do. I think all together, we're only given four hours and that includes planning time! Ridiculous. I feel even worse for the new teachers, because this all must seem very confusing.

This year we have a student-administrator, I'm going to call him Sr. Santiago. I think he is FANTASTIC. He gave a great presentation this morning about academic language and how to integrate it into our lesson plans. This is something I definitely intend to focus on this year and after I've had a chance to digest it and really think about it, I'll write about it and tell you all more. It was a great presentation.

Our parent-involvement presentation today was all fluff...a lot of; you should do this and you could do that, but no plan was put into place and didn't explain how one was to do the shoulds and coulds; definitely one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to presentations. He also talked a lot about God and spirituality, which is my second biggest pet peeve when it comes to presentations. I can't stand how people here assume you are one thing religiously simply because the majority are one thing.

Despite all of this, my classroom is coming together and I have 14 students enrolled in the fourth grade class. So exciting!

All the things I velcroed to the wall are still up! Score 1 for me!

Velco: I love you.

Orientation went well this morning at ADLR. It was the regular run of the mill stuff. Going over the handbooks, standards, other policies and such. The new people seem eager and excited, which is always nice. Johanna was one of the speakers, she went over the Needs Assessment she did for us at the end of last school year and I'm pleased to say that are kids really are improving. This is heartening. Our hard work is starting to show in their test scores.

During one of the insurance presentations (that is most certainly a scam and that I've seen three times already) I started to put my classroom back together. I put up my new calendar system and I got the cursive letters up above the white boards. I love newly laminated things. There's a sense of satisfaction with newly laminated things. It was really just those two things I got done, which doesn't sound like a lot for two hours, but I'm using velcro this year!

The walls of school are cement painted over, which means that tacks don't work, but as the cement isn't smooth tape (of any kind) doesn't work either. Last year, I was coming to school early to re stick things up that had fallen during the night. I figured there had to be a better way and I found it! While I was at Target getting some other things I came across velcro! So after everything was laminated I started putting velcro on everything. All the numbers stick to the calender with velcro, all the candles stick to the birthday cakes with velcro and so on and so forth. At first I was just going to use velcro for those sorts of things, but today while I was sorting things out in the classroom, I realized that I could use it actually put the calendar system up! Light Bulb! It was a fantastic moment.

So here's what I did; I peeling the backing off of the fuzzy side of the velcro and adhered it to the thing that was going on the wall. Then I peeled the backing off of the rough side of the velcro and stuck that onto the fuzzy side. Then I could walk up to the wall and slap it on. Perfection. A little time consuming, but will probably save time in the end because I won't have to constantly re-tape stuff to the walls. Genius. Genius I say.

Here's hoping that all the stuff I put up today will still be hanging tomorrow.

I'm sick of children's books being turned into movies!

Alright. So as I mentioned yesterday, I went to see Ice Age 3 by myself in the movie theater today. It was lovely. Not as good as the first two, but nice. Didn't even drive my car. Took the bus, using my free bus pass because I'm going to the U.

I can't believe all the childrens' books that are being turned into movies these days. Really. In 1996, they turned "Matilda" into a movie and ruined it. Ruined it. I read that book over and over. It was fantastic. Roald Dahl is a fantastic writer. As a kid, it was always his books that made me use my imagination the most. The movie was terrible. They destroyed the script. Done. Finished.

They made a movie out of "Horton Hears a Who." When I found out, I couldn't believe it. )Now, they had already made one movie out of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and the one with Jim Carrey was a redo so that didn't upset me as much, though the first was much truer to the book.)
Horton, ruined. They messed with the story line, added characters and plot points. Really. How could they do that. My students haven't been interested in the book since the movie. Sad. Very sad.

"Where the Wild Things Are" is going to be a movie. I've seen some of the previews. I can't believe it. That's a classic. Should be untouchable by anyone but "Reading Rainbow." The previews that I've seen have totally added to the script. It's not the book. The Boy thinks that this movie is made more for adults than for children, but let's face it. Kids are going to see it and probably before they have read the book. The Boy says that the book teachs kids that sure you can escape everyonce in awhile but you always have to return to reality. That's not how I saw the story as a kid, I saw a kid who didn't want to listen to his parents and so was sent to his room. That was the beautiful thing about the book, you got to think whatever you wanted about the story. The movie (at least from what I can glean from the previews) doesn't give you that choice.

And for the last straw; "Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is going to be a movie. Really people. I just saw a preview for it today. They have added gobbs to the story line. Turned it into a 3D extravaganza. It's one of the best childrens' books ever. Ever.

All I can say, I guess is that my children aren't going to be seeing any of these movies until they have read and loved the books. Period.

Over One Hundred Feet of Laminated Material

In preparation for the beginning of the school year, I went out and bought a new calendar and letters for above the chalkboard, stuff for a birthday and a helper bulletin board. I had all this stuff last year but during the move I lost a bunch of it. On Thursday, I took it all to the district's low cost laminating center and laminated over one hundred feet of materials. For my last birthday my mother sent me the flashcards that my brother and I used. The Christmas before last my parents bought me a great set of jumbo playing cards and I laminated those as well. I ended up with over one hundred feet of laminated material.

I also bought some new plastic tubs for all my books and other materials. I went though all of the stuff that has been stored in the garage for the summer. I went though, trashed stuff and reorganized what I decided to keep. Since The Boy was out of town and some of the tubs were too heavy for me to lift one of our very best friends helped me get them into my car and then Sr. Callejo helped me get them into my classroom. I was very excited to learn that I was going to get my old classroom from fourth grade last year! Yay! It's the best classroom! It's big, comfy, square, two magnetic dry erase boards that are kid height (because I made them rehang them last year) and it has an interior/exterior door! Now let's just hope I get to keep it all year long.

The Boy is out of town until August 9th and so I'm alone. And bored. Out of my mind. West Wing only takes you so far. (I have one and a half episodes left.) So tomorrow I have decided to take the bus downtown and catch Ice Age 3 before it leaves the theaters. Also a pedicure. I report to school on Monday and I'm ready.