Never Dull Moment Part 2

So yesterday I had to give my students the 5th grade Science TAKS. We had only been testing about 30 minutes when I hear this blood-curdling scream. One of my students was gripping his mouth, while tears were running down his face. It appears that while "munching" on a lollipop, not sucking on it like you should, he pulled out a tooth. There in his hand was his tooth embedded in a wad of lollipop. I did my best to console this child, although I had to smile and chuckle a bit at the whole scene. It was rather funny. The whole class took a break from testing. Not much was going to be accomplished at this moment. I sent the student down to the nurse so he could retrieve his "tooth fairy treasure chest." I'm not sure if the tooth and the lollipop could fit in the box. I'd let the nurse handle that one.

So now it's Friday. No more TAKS tests!! And only 5 more weeks of school!

Never a Dull Moment Around Kids

I just never know what I'll find some days at school. That's just how it is working around kids.

Today I was going to give a Reading Alternative-TAKS test. It's called an SDAA II, State Developed Alternative Assessment. It's an alternative test for those students in special education. Yesterday, it was the Math SDAA II. Tomorrow it's Science TAKS. Yes, three days in a row. Crazy. I'm not sure who in the Texas Education Agency thought it was a good idea to give special education students three consecutive days of testing. Anyway, this is the last year for the SDAA. Starting next year, all students will take some form of the TAKS test...on grade level. Oh, but that's another topic for a blog someday. My ADHD is kicking in. Sorry. Back to my original story line.

So, I walked into my portable this morning, a little later than I wanted, and needing to get set up to start another day of testing. I wasn't in my room very long, when about five very excited fifth graders come knocking at my door. They asked if I had a box. Why? I asked. For the bunny! One of my students had "found" a wild bunny on the way to school. After I found a box for the poor creature, my student asked if we could keep it in my room today. I told him no, of course not, since we were testing in my room. I think you could hear the groans all over school. He tried to convince me that it wouldn't be a distraction while he was taking his test. Yeah, right. This coming from one of my most ADHD students. I told the kids that I'd call the Animal Control office and get the name of the "Bunny Lady." There's a woman who takes in all kinds of rabbits and rehabilitates them before letting them free in the wild. I knew this, because many years ago I had accidently mowed over a rabbit nest. (Ask my kids about that one. That's when we found out we were allergic to cedar chips.) I saved two out of the three bunnies, and had the opportunity to actually bring the bunnies to this woman's home. She used to live in Lewisville, but now lives in Carrollton. Her house was a sight like none other I have ever seen. Rabbits everywhere. What a scene. I am thankful there are people like that in our world. So I called Animal Control and they said they'd come by the school and pick up the bunny to take to the "Bunny Lady." I thought the kids would be sad, but they were actually very grateful to me for taking care of their precious bunny. They seemed happy knowing this woman would care for the rabbit.

So all this happened before classes started for the morning. Just a little excitement on a testing day. But that's what makes it fun to show up at school everyday.

Fruity Surprise

I have the best kids ever!

I came home from school today around 6:00 pm. On the way home, I was thinking that I really should stop at the grocery store because we were sort of low on "snack foods" (comfort foods, really) in the house. I was ravenous, but I was also too tired to stop. Even though I had off Monday, it seems like it's been a long week. The students don't want to be in school. The teachers' patience is growing slim. And my students still have three days of state testing next week for which I need to prepare them. Yeah, right.

So when I got home, I headed right to the refrigerator to see what I could find. And lo and behold, there's this beautiful "edible arrangement" sitting on the top shelf in the fridge. About two minutes later, Steve calls and asks if I could get him a drink from the refrigerator. Funny Steve.

Apparently my wonderful children got together to get me this birthday gift. Steve, Mish, Becca, Pam, and John...thank you! I love you all and just wish you were here to help your dad and I eat this! You're all the best and I thank God for your loving and caring hearts.

Change is not always good

Since I had the day off on Monday, I decided to update my iPod with new music. Becca had given me a gift card to iTunes, but I hadn't taken the time to buy some new songs. Anyway...I thought I'd go through the charts, the top 100 songs from the years past, starting with the 60's. It was fun to see what the top songs were from my "early years" (when I first listened to music on my transister radio), my high school years, college years and then "young married years." I mean, I'm spanning decades here. There was alot of music.

But I made one observation that was somewhat sad. As I got closer to the more recent years, the number of songs with explicit lyrics increased tremendously. Before the 1980's and most of the 1990's, I don't think there were any on the top 100 with explicit next to the title. But the 2000's were filled with them. Why do we need this? Does it make a song more marketable? To whom? It just saddens me because at this rate, the majority of songs on the top 100 charts in the future will contain lyrics that not only do not edify, but tear down and demean. So sad.

Well, I did get to update my songs with a mix of some "golden oldies" and some newer music. My playlist is very eclectic. Rather bizarre actually. But it sure makes exercising on the eliptical machine go much faster.

Is this really Texas???

It's Easter weekend in Dallas, and it snowed. Yes, real flakes, though of course it didn't stick. But it was fun to watch for the moment. It made me laugh, for the moment. Then I thought of all the planting I wanted to get done this weekend. I still bought plants, but they're all in my garage, waiting for the normal spring weather. Bob and I have lived in Texas for 29 years, and we can't remember it ever "snowing" on Easter. It was cold, but we still hit Home Depot and Lowe's garden areas, along with Calloways and Strong's Nurseries. The real die hard gardeners were there braving the cold, believing that 70 degree weather was just around the corner. I actually got some real bargains at Lowe's in Flower Mound. They put ALL their plants, flowers and trees 50% off this weekend because of the weather. Most everything was still viable and would do just fine, so it was a good deal. Now I have even more to plant. What was I thinking?

Well, there were times today that Bob and I were rethinking our plans on attending sunrise service tomorrow. Apparently it's still on, though I imagine there will be fewer people there. Today I thought of all those moms who went out and bought cute Easter outfits for their children, only to have to cover them up with coats they'll have to dig out again. I was brought up in New Jersey and Easter outfits usually included a coat and Easter hat. It was still cool there that time of year. In fact, I can remember having a blizzard on my birthday in April. But this is Texas and we're not used to cold weather in April. Today at Home Depot in Lewisville, the sales guy, Roy, was from Chicago. He said he was out in a t-shirt today. He said this weather was "nothing like up north." Didn't know why anyone was complaining. He thought it was great. Yeah, well...it's April, and this really is Texas. So bring back that 70 degree weather. I've got a garden to plant.

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen! He is risen indeed!