Changes, Cameras, and Conjunctions

Fall is in the air, and as the seasons change so must I.

I have inherited many wonderful things from my mother, including all of my teaching abilities. That said, let me just complain for one brief moment about the single annoying genetic defect she passed down to me: Like my mother and grandfather before me, I started getting white hairs at a very early age. White. Not grey, but bright, shiny, white hairs. The first three appeared just before Thanksgiving break my first year at Ricks and since then they have multiplied faster than Ricks College newly weds. I was going to just ignore them and boldly accept what nature had given me, and I did for the rest of college and a mission...then a 7th grader pointed them out during my first year teaching and the battle with nature began.

This summer, after four years of using the exact same color to hide my Arctic-white highlights, I tried a new darker brown. It was very dark, but it didn't last for very long. After two weeks I was back to my old coloring. So this time I bought a new brand of white-out for my hair and recruited Elizabeth to help me.
I am very happy with the results (as are 7 out of 10 7th graders surveyed...my new ash brown has a solid 90% approval rating with 8th graders, however. ). This color job had better last longer than two weeks. I don't know if the 7th graders can handle any more fashion changes on my part any time soon...it really messes with their cute little heads.
My change in personal style reminded me that it was about time for a change in classroom style, so I found a few extra minutes to change the classroom decor. Since we started the year with a school-spirited motif, I decided to go the autumn route for the next month or so.
The bulletin board isn't done yet, but I decided it would be better to post a photo of it now, while it was relevant, instead of waiting for a month or so until I get time to actually finish it. The white papers (you know, the ones that are the same color as the genetically flawed hair that my maternal unit passed on to me...not that I'm bitter, or anything) have song lyrics from School House Rock's Grammar Rock on them. That is going to be important later. The time I didn't use redecorating my head and/or classroom was spent educating children...

Not really.

Instead I took pictures.

A lot of pictures.

When I woke up from my hair-dye-induced-high Sunday night, I realized that the fall sports would be ending this week and we hardly had any photos for our yearbook spreads.

***Note to 7th and 8th grade readers: I did not really get high off of hair dye. That was an example of humorous hyperbole (look it up in your literature terms notes...page three, I think). You cannot use hair dye to get high, so stop thinking about it. Now. All sniffing hair dye will do is make you want to do your pre-algebra homework. In some rare cases, side effects have also included asking for extra algebra homework. It may also impair your Guitar Hero skills, and you don't want to risk that, right? Good. Now stop reading this blog, get off the Internet, and go do your Algebra homework.***

I think I set a new record yesterday by being the yearbook photographer at a boys soccer game, a girls soccer game, the 8th grade volleyball game, the 7th grade volleyball game, and the 8th grade football practice. Even when you take into account that all of those things happened within two blocks of each other (a blessing of small town living) that is a lot to do.

Then today I went to the last home football game to snap more photos. This was my first time taking publication quality photos at a football game and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be...mostly because the players always had their hands down their pants adjusting their pads (I hope) and I didn't think that was an image any of them wanted to be remembered by.

I did manage to get a little bit of teaching done over the past two days, despite my other responsibilities and pursuits. Today my 7th graders continued their parts of speech review by focusing on conjunctions. I like to use the School House Rock videos in these reviews. The kids moan and groan about the cheesiness of the songs, but still beg me to replay them over and over.

Today, the principal was eating lunch just out side my door (my classroom is right by the stage which is in the auditorium/little theater/cafeteria/little gym...it's a small school...) as my 3A class came in. Several of them were singing "Unpack Your Adjectives" as they walked past, which intrigued him. When he heard grammar-related shouting and cheering a short time later, he decided to step in and check on things. In his most stern voice, with his most serious face he said, "There seems to be a little too much learning going on in here!" I told him that it was hard to keep the enthusiasm level down when you were studying something as exciting as conjunctions. He said, "Only in your classroom, right kids?" which of course made me beam with pride. The kidlets then insisted upon singing both the conjunction and adjective songs for him, which led to more prideful beaming on my part.
After the singing, we reviewed conjunctions using the F.A.N. B.O.Y.S. method. The letters stand for the most-used conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. The kidlets all got a sign with one letter bigger than the others. When we read a sentence that contained their highlighted conjunction, all of the kids with that sign stood up. The standing was followed by a lot of cheering for "Team AND" or "Team YET" but I'm sure you can guess which team the 7th graders like cheering for best. Even after explaining that, in English class, the "buts" we talk about are the kind with one "t", not the kind with two "t's" that they talk about in health and P.E., they still LOVED shouting things like, "Way to go Team But!" at the top of their very healthy lungs.
After we finished our grammar review, the kidlets finished giving their speeches. The topic was "A Summer School Class That Should Be Offered at Our School." One kidlett gave hers on "a skateboarding class". When she asked if I wanted to take a ride on her visual aid, I told her, "No thanks. I'd probably just fall off and land on my conjunction." About a third of the kidlets got that right away, but I had to smile when the light came on for one kid about five minutes later. "I get it! Her conjunction! Team But!" he cried.
I really love my job.