School picture!

Yes, I still get school pictures. In fact, I get LOTS of school pictures. Being a teacher we are forced to get out picture taken, but I don't mind it as much now as I did when I was actually in school. Growing up I had a really hard time posing a natural looking smile. My family always told me I looked constipated. Haha. Well, I think I finally grew out of it and can make myself look somewhat decent in a picture. So here is my 2008-2009 school picture. And check out the package they give to teachers (I don't pick it or pay for it):

1 - 8x10
4 - 5x7 (one with some white boarder thing and "Allison" written on the bottom and another one that is black and white)
4 - 4x6
16 - wallets

What am I ever going to do with all those pictures? If you want one, let me know and you are more than welcome to have one. I thought it'd be a good idea to write my number on the back of them and pass them out to good looking boys. Haha. Ok I am done now. By the way, it is a picture of a picture, so it's not that great of quality. Oh, and you can see my short new haircut if you haven't seen it.

I have great kids!

Oh, you didn't know I had kids? Well I do. 23 of them in fact! Haha. Ok, so I like to call my students my kids. Funny thing about that...I teach the other two 6th grade classes science and I was telling one of the classes about how I told my "kids" something and apparently a few of them thought I really had children. Oops! I just had parent/teacher conferences. Except in our district they are called SEPs (Student Education Plan) and the students are suppose to be there. I think I like it that way. I don't think the kids enjoy it so much. Except for one of my girls that was saying how much she loves SEPs. Yes, I worry about her. Anyway, I had SEPs and I had a hard time finding many bad things to talk to the parents about. I have just a great bunch of kids! I pretty much just had a day where I got to tell the parents how great their kids are. Of course I have my few that had a few issues that needed to be brought up, but over all I don't have many problems. I have so many wonderful students! First of all, they are very bright kids! A good majority of them are reading above grade level and they LOVE to read! I could probably just have them read all day and they would do it! Not only do it, but they would love it! I really wish I had that love for reading when I was their age. It will be so beneficial for them throughout their whole life. I have so many smart, smart math students, which make me excited! On top of being really smart, my kids are so responsible! I rarely have to nag them about doing their work and turning in their homework. They are so on top of their school work and the things they need to do. It makes my job as their teacher so much easier! But the best part about my kids is that they are so fun! They really do bring so much joy into my life. I don't think one day goes by where they don't make me laugh. Some of the things these kids do just crack me up! I love seeing them at this age and just watching them grow and learn and have so much fun in life! They are just a wonderful bunch of kids that are going to go far in life, I know that! Last week was Red Ribbon week (drug prevention/awareness). Along with having fun dress up days, we also had an assembly. There is a guy that goes around to schools named Corbin White. He talks to the kids about a "natural high" and how that is where you are just having so much fun you don't want to stop and that is the kind of high you want. He just has a karaoke party with the kids and they have so much fun! I even had my shyest girl get up in front of all the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Of course she wasn't up there alone, but still! It was fun to just see the kids be goofy and have a good time. After we went back to class there was about 5-10 minutes left before we needed to clean up to go home (the assembly didn't last as long as they said it would). So instead of getting into any class work or what not, I just decided to have a little dance party with my kids. Heck! Sometimes you just have to let loose and have fun with your students. I just put on some music and we all danced around the classroom (yes, even I did) and just had a lot of fun. I think it helps the kids to bond as a class and it helps me to bond with them. I even had some of my boys prancing about the classroom like ballerinas. It was quite the site! I had so much fun and I am sure the kids did too. I think that is something they will always remember. And hopefully all the school stuff I teach them too! Anyway, I just wanted to brag about my "kids"!

My Quirks!

Everyone has weird things about them and I think I have quite a few. I read my sister's blog all about her quirks and felt like writing about my quirks!

• My pajamas have to match. I will not wear navy blue pants with a black shirt, or even a white shirt with black writing. I will not wear my red pants with an all red shirt or my navy pants with an all navy shirt. I don't know why, no one really sees me in my PJs, but that's just the way it has to be.

• My alarm clock with never be set to a normal increment of time. If I want to wake up at 7:00am it will be set for something such as 6:57 or 7:01. I won't ever set it to an even time or a multiple of 5. Again, I have no idea why.

• Like my sister, I like the dishwasher loaded a certain way. I just think there is a very logical way to organize it so that you can fit as many dishes as possible and they will all still get clean. I have been known to completely unload a dishwasher to rearrange it. I hate it because I like it when my roommate clean up after themselves but it drives me nuts to put a dish into a poorly organized dishwasher.

• I hate cupboards and drawers being opened. If I am sitting in the livingroom and a cupboard is opened I have been known to get up just to go close it. I just think it looks messy when they are opened.

• I HATE it when people drink the milk out of their cereal bowl. I will not watch you do it and have been known to actually turn away or cover my eyes when someone is doing it. I don't like to drink milk in the first place and for some reason the cold cereal filled milk makes me want to vomit.

• My movies have to be in alphabetical order. I have quite the collection of movies all on a nice little shelf and they are all alphabetized starting with numbers and going to Z. I know when a movie is out of place. My roommates have been known to watch my movies, and not realizing they are in a certain order will randomly put them away. Yes I will go move them to the correct place.

• Now there are a number of things that bother me when it comes to my classroom and my students: (the ones I can think of right now, I'm sure there are more)
  
• Messy desks and unorganized papers
• Messy book shelves
• Folding over page corners in books (I threaten my children if they do that!)
• Not showing your work in math
• Writing all the math problem numbers down and then expecting to fit all the work on that one little line
• A messy turn in basket (papers not lined up nicely)
• Crooked desks
• Chairs not pushed in
• Messy floor
• My students calling me "teacher" instead of "Miss Weathers" (I just call them "student" back)
• Papers with not names!
• Misusing supplies
• Not using common sense (I guess they are 6th graders)
• Not reading the notes on the board
• Not listening to directions or following directions
• Disrespect of any kind (I will not tolerate it!)

• I really am kind of weird where I like a lot of things done my way. I have a hard time letting other people do things for me because if they don't do it the way I like to I'll kind of be irritated or I'll do it all over again. I know it is lame and I wish I didn't feel that way because it would make life much easier, but I just can't help it!

Anyway...those are what I can think of right now. I hope you don't think less of me because of them! I think I am still a good person! Haha!

Kids say the darnedest things

I decided last year to start keeping track of some of the funny things my students (kids) say and I picked it up again this year. I think 6th grade is such a fun year because the kids are starting to become teenagers and they just have so much personality. I find myself laughing at the things they say/do on a daily basis. Here are a few things for your enjoyment (I'd have more but they are saved on my computer at school):

From last year:

"Miss Weathers, you need to find yourself a lover!"
~Shania

"I'm in love with Lexi"
~Tyler
"No you're not, you don't even know what love is."
~Me
"Oh I do...I've felt it."
~Tyler

"It doesn't matter what you put, you are going to get it wrong...unless it's the right answer"
~Tyler

From this year:

"I'm a bird" (randomly as she flaps her jacket and heads to her seat)
~Allie

As we are talking about when I get married...
"All the girls can be bridesmaids"
~a girl in the class
"You can be flower girls"
~Me
"And the boys will be those guys that clean the pipe organs" WHAT???
~Jesh

"I'm hot!" (referring to temperature)
~Sierra
"Yeah you are!"
~Jesh

"Last night I had a dream I married a bubble!"
~Krista

"I tired to make a bear, but it didn't work...so I made a beaver"
~Bradley

Well, those are the ones I can remember right now. Some might not be as funny because they are probably "you had to be there" incidents. But maybe you get a laugh out of some of them. I just love 6th graders!

The World Today

I watched this video in a technology teacher workshop I am taking. It was really interesting to me. I want to see what you think of it.



Interesting huh? Sometimes it is sad to think about how things have changed in the world today. That technology has been so useful yet so destructive. It can be used so affectively in the educational world, yet take away from student's learning. I don't know...I am really terrible at expressing my thoughts into words, but I just found it a very interesting video with a powerful message. So were we better off before all this technology or are we better off with all the advancements now?