Our Week

Here it's been over a week again, and I only have a handful of photos to show for it.  But things are still happening, whether I take pictures or not.  

I found it hilarious that Grumman needed to investigate the magnifying glasses I pulled out for a police lesson.  Oh, the irony, my little clue finder.  

So, the preschoolers got a police car coloring page (shown) after our story, but I decided to fingerprint the kindergarteners.  In the spirit of lifelong learning, I discovered that when a stamp pad says, "Child safe" that's not the same thing as "washable."  Oops.  

Josiah and Miss M escaped to Monterey to visit friends over the long weekend.  

I got to sub in the 3rd/4th grade class one day.  That was fun, but exhausting.  I like the kids--in fact, one of them reminds me of Sam so much.  They're at a fun age, and the teacher set low expectations for that day ("Keep them alive and make sure the 3rd graders take the math test.") so it was pretty low pressure, just high activity.  Definitely upped my step count that day.  We ended up finishing all but one thing, and that was due to a lack of technology.  We've been reading Paddington in the library, so I brought orange marmalade and crackers in, and they loved that.  I'm grateful I don't have to work full time.  I did almost nothing the next day.  

The trees are all bursting into bloom, and I love it.  It's been chilly (50s & 60s) again, but we should hit 70* a couple days next week.  

This was one shipment from our Love My Library fundraiser.  I've been processing lots of books lately!  We're getting close to 4,500.  

I know four thousand books is not a lot of books compared to a "real" library, but since I've personally handled (multiple times) every single one of those books since May, it's feeling like a lot.  

And this is what happens when you let the students assemble the bulletin board.  sigh  Suess' birthday is 3/2.  So, I put the Dr. Seuss border up and I laid out all the letters and book cutouts on a table.  Then the high schoolers came in, and Jack was doing something goofy, so I said, "Hey, why don't you put the rest of the bulletin board up?"  Next time I change it, I'll make sure there's some string involved to keep the lines level.  

I fired up the laminator like a real educator and made some dino reading cards and discovered my new band name in the process:  Laminating Cat Hair.  Oh Grumman.  

Miss Hannah tweaked her ankle in PE and wasn't that a learning experience for me?  Yikes.  So, when you only have one ankle, and can bear no weight on it at all, that's a problem.  When you cannot use crutches because of a missing forearm, that's also a problem.  I mostly carried her around on my back, particularly up and down the stairs.  After a few days, I realized I had to come up with a plan to get her bathed.  My goals were getting her clean, and preserving as much of her modesty as I possibly could.  I ended up putting her in my computer chair, rolling her to my large bathroom, and transferring her, fully clothed, into an empty tub.  Then I left the room, and she undressed, dumped her clothes over the side of the tub, and started the water.  Once she was done, she drained the water and wrapped up in a towel.  I returned and transferred her back into the rolling chair (with a towel on it).  We rolled back to her room, lowered the chair as far as it would go, and then transferred her to the floor, with the help of the towel underneath her.  I'm really grateful she is built small.  

Books from the public library.  I did curbside pickup, since Hannah was not up for a library visit.  She got hurt on a Thursday, missed school Friday, and after the long weekend, was back in school on Tuesday.  She's still hobbling a bit.

I am reading so many kids books lately!  The Strange Planet one is adorable.  I'd seen the cartoons online, and picked this up from our fundraiser.  One of the high schoolers read it aloud to the rest of the class, and they enjoyed it.  I'll be keeping an eye out for more Nathan Pyle books for them.  And we're calling beds "rest slabs" now.  

The Ducks Overboard is kind of depressing, but it's the inspiration to a bulletin board idea I have percolating for Earth Day next month.  

I forgot to snap my dino display before it had been plundered and refilled.  I bought a dinosaur skirt, so we had dino day.  Because it's all about the clothes, right?  

And here's a parting shot of Jack telling me not to take a picture of him.  The kids had free dress at school one day, and he chose shorts.  As mentioned, it's been a bit chilly, so before we ventured out into the 36* morning, I asked if he wanted a jacket.  He came back with a cape instead.  You know how when you see a kindergartener that obviously dressed themself that day, it's kind of cute?  Personally, I still think it's kind of cute when my senior does it.