joy

Today in my second grade classes we listened to the 3rd movement of Beethoven's 6th symphony. This section is called "A Happy Gathering of Country Folk" and is a musical description of a community gathering.  I told my students just that and nothing else. I wrote on the board what they needed to do and stopped talking. They were to then draw what kind of a gathering they thought it was. The resulting images nearly brought me to tears.
Drawings of all sorts of celebrations now fill my room. From birthdays, to religious holidays, to friends sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. One in particular jumped at me. It says "They are singing with joy" and is filled with people singing together.
*pictures to come when I take them*

Today in second grade there was a wedding. Q and U got married. The parents were invited and the kids all came to school dressed up for the event. It may have been one of the cutest moments ever for me to see at work. super love to the small people.

Also, today I had a first grade student ask about the guy holding a violin poster on my wall. They asked if it hurt his finger to play it. I tried to explain and realized "Hey! I have my cello here today because it was second grade string family day in my room. So, I let the kids come up to me holding the cello and let them chose to pluck or try the bow. What a great moment it was with all of them taking a turn, being careful, applauding their peers when they played, and then watching and listening with the biggest eyes ever. Sometimes you just have to throw out the curriculum and do what feels good for right now.

My Soapbox

To the possibly four people reading this, I appreciate your tax dollars supporting the education of OUR children.

I realize that having different viewpoints gives our world a better balance and keeps things in check. I realize that if everyone thought and acted and believed like I do, it actually might not be a good thing.
I realize that there are some who I can not change the minds of no matter how much I disagree with them. I know that yelling about my way is best will not work.
That being said, I cannot and refuse to understand why people, people who I love, think that it is wrong to be required to pay taxes to the school system when their children are not in the system. How if you own property in a place that is not near where your own children go to school how you shouldn't have to pay education taxes on it. How the teachers should VOLUNTEER to do their jobs.

I am a teacher. A music teacher. so this affects me personally both emotionally and in the pocket.
I am a teacher because I am one to my very core. I have a passion for early elementary students and the fine arts. I went into this world knowing that I will never be wealthy or even considered well paid by normal business standards. I get it. But, how is it that I should not be afforded a paycheck for my work? Do I not have lots and lots of expensive education that I paid for that makes me qualified? If I was in any other profession with the same amount of education and experience, no one would question that I was deserving of a paycheck, much less one that is enough to live on.

Then there is the issue of funding public education. Taxes suck. Yes, they do. Taxes cost a lot. Yes, they do. Sure there are other ways of funding schools other than property taxes, those places exist and they pay a whole lot more in income tax than we do. They are also much smaller countries full of fairly homogeneous people. It makes it easier. Why, we are a big country with lots of people with different backgrounds and ideas etc.
 We want to live in a world where people are educated. You might not think it, but you do. I am not talking about making every one a doctor or a lawyer or Ph.D in their area but, you want your world to be filled with high school graduates. You want the person behind the register at the fast food place to give you the right change, the right order, know how to work the computer screen they have in front of them. You want your fellow drivers to understand how the road works.
How do you get this, you pay your taxes and shut up.

Even though you may not have children currently attending the school system, even if you pay for private school for your kids, even if you home school, you want your neighbors to have an education. Plan and simple. Education for all is the best option. It is what our country needs. Education is not a reward for being wealthy in our country. It is a right given to all no matter where you come from. 

Where the watermelons grow...

In first grade music class we have been singing the song "Down by the Bay" and the project then turns into the kids making their own verses, writing them down, and then drawing the accompanying pictures. While going over one class' work I found that when given the direction to find 2 nouns that rhyme and put a verb in between them, my student gave us the verse of "have you ever seen a tart make a big stinky fart?"

In other news, I caught the same 2 girls at the back of the bus doing the same thing as yesterday. They will never learn that I caught them once and will keep checking. Still funny.

trying not to laugh

So many times today I had to not laugh at my students for something they were doing. There was the first grader who was mad that someone narked on him that he licked the garbage can (twice), the one who was in the time out chair and fell out of the chair, and so many more.
The best was by far the girls at the back of a bus at pm bus calls. I am stationed outside this week right by where the buses load and unload. While the bus was loading, two little girls at the back of the bus were out of their seats and kept slamming themselves in the back bus window/door and sliding down like the splatted into the window.
I then had to look and then, point and say sit down and ruin their fun, mostly because this is not safe bus riding behavior. But, part of me was glad I told them before their bus driver caught them out of their seats and wrote them up. I had to turn around and laugh for a long time. So many more times that I dont remember either other than the laughing while turned away.

I do have a poster in my room on top of a white board. There are things that kids say that make me laugh written under it. It is my secret laugh stash. Maybe tomorrow I will share these.

What a difference...

I have a problem. Wide feet. These feet make finding certain types of shoes difficult to find. Well, I have found 2 new pairs! One is one of those funky minimus shoes from New balance for when I run on the dreadmill. The other are some Brooks stability shoes. I spent way more than I ever have but man oh man does that change how running feels.

In other aspects of life, we are moving in just over a week. SO much packing to be done.

covet

I am not  knitter. I have tried. I crochet, sew, and cook. But, lately I have been seriously coveting hand knit socks. So many adorable patterns. So, any knitters out there want to send me some? I promise a crocheted/sewn item/baked good in return. I make some killer chocolate chip cookies.