Every Day's an Adventure

To quote one of my favorite movies, "Adventure is out there!" Some may have to look for adventure. For others, adventures simply come. I would say that in second grade, adventures simply just come.

My most eventful day this week was Thursday. Whoever planned the schedule for this day did a very poor job- it was make-up picture day, pajama day, and reflections assembly day. So, we had kids that came in normal clothes to get their pictures taken, and then they brought pajamas to change into afterwards. Not that this would ever cause chaos or confusion in a second grade class... 

So, pretty much, my kiddos were having a pretty fun day. Well, to add to the excitement, I decided to do and activity with M&Ms in math regarding odd and even numbers and making equations. I made it quite clear that they were not allowed to eat their M&Ms until they were told, so that wasn't much of an issue. The lesson went fairly smoothly and the kids seemed to have fun and understand it. (I later had a girl ask me if we were going to do math today, and I told her that the M&M activity was math. She said that it was so fun that she didn't even notice she was doing math. :)).

I finally let my kids eat their M&Ms while they finished their math and science work. I put on some Disney music to help them focus while they worked and to make things fun. I seriously turned my back for 2 seconds, and one of the boys in my class is standing backwards on his chair "dancing" (a.k.a. shaking it) and pulling his pajama pants down. Needless to say I had to stop him before his pants were all the way off. 

About 2 minutes later, I look at a different student, and he has a green M&M up his nose. I told him to get it out of his nose immediately (which he proceeded to do by pushing in his other nostril and forcefully blowing). I then told him to go throw it away and wash his hands. While he was washing his hands, a girl in my class came up to me and told me that he licked his hand before washing it. Yep. I am definitely teaching second graders going on preschoolers. 

I did have a good laugh about both of these afterwards though! I guess things like these spice up life, and you just have to learn to love the spices.

In closing, I would just like to leave a little joke that I came up with. I think it's quite funny, but I may be a little biased.

What does a minion dance at the ball?

A minionuet. 

Life

"My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can." ~ Cary Grant

Let's just say that somehow, I manage to get up every morning, and I definitely go to bed at night. Occupying myself the best that I can in between consists of: work, teaching prep, teaching, more prep, more teaching, more working, eating something, more prep, something for my calling, and trying to have a social life. I also try to sneak in things such as personal hygiene. Ok, I lied. That is a top priority, because who like to be stinky? I try to find time to do things that I would like to do such as: working out, cooking, watching a movie, doing my nails, laughing with Laura, and just being silly! Luckily, I can multitask, so being silly can often be worked in with other things in my in between. 

This teaching game is hard! Right now, I'm not sure if I'm winning, but it's an unpredictable game. It's only about 1/4th of the way through, so there is still plenty of time to be the victor. But seriously, who thought up the job of being a teacher..."You know what would be really funny? Sticking one adult in a room with 20+ children ages 7 and 8 who are all at different emotional, social, and academic levels and watching what happens. Let's take bets on how long they last!" That's what it feels like sometimes.

But, if there is one thing I have learned in life, it's that feeling overwhelmed or frustrated with your situation gets you absolutely nowhere. So, I am sticking my oars back in the water and am rowing against the current in the attempt to turn the situation around. Once I get turned around, I'm sure that rowing will become much easier. Granted, I will still have to row, but my muscles can have a little break here and there. 

There are also things that happen while I'm teaching that make my job so fun! For example, when I picked up my kiddos from art the other day, one little girl came and gave me a note that said, "I like you being my teacher. I wish you were my mom." Day made. Also, yesterday during science, we watched a little 2 minute video on the life cycle of a frog. After the video, I had a page with picture and arrows for my kids to color, cut out, and glue in their science notebook that outlined the life cycle of a frog. My kids were little angels. They all followed instructions and got right to work. They were so quiet that I put some Disney music on while they were working. They even did their best work. My kids who usually rush through things took their time and had quality coloring, cutting, and gluing. Success. 

Well all, ta-ta for now. Enjoy this beautiful October weather!