This is the view out my classroom window. I'm not quite sure what it is, but the digital camera doesn't quite do justice to the extreme "yellowness" of it. It's quite beautiful!! 

Paul's Grandpa Smith came to my classroom when he visited a few weeks ago. The pink scarf is my reading scarf that Paul made him wear.  

This is where we stayed over Spring Break in Seaside. 

Polly - our polyphemus moth 

I caught my first fish!! Paul and I bought liscenses last week and I caught a rainbow trout the next day!!! It sure was tasty. 

I love this week. Why - you say? Because it's National Teacher Appreciation week. All week there have been yummy things in the teachers lounge and today I got a plant and two difference Starbucks gift cards. One of my students gave me a gift today and said, "because it's Teacher Day." All day the kids kept saying things like "happy birthday and happy aniversary" because they knew it was a holiday but they couldn't remember which one.

Oh boy where have I been? Let me recap the last few weeks for ya:

1. I've been to a Kindergarten Conference. Yes, kindergarten teachers from all over Washington met in Seattle for a conference. I was a little skeptical, as I like to think I don't fit the puppet-toting, embroidered-seasonal-vest-wearing stereotypical image of a Kindergarten teacher, but it turned out that there were a wide range of people there from the stereotypical to the grumpy (please pray that your child does not get one of these very GRUMPY kindergarten teachers) including many that were my age. I stayed with Sarah, Paul and princess Kelina on Alki and they took me to Spuds, my favorite restaraunt anywhere, and we stayed up watching a girl movie. It was pretty great.

2. My chicks hatched. The whole class was "yellin' with fun-ness" as one of my children so aptly described. I don't really remember if I blogged about my chicks. Three weeks ago we started some eggs in a portable incubator in my classroom. This is probably against many fire codes. Well, to make a long story short three weeks later they kind of finally hatched. I say kind of because none of the chicks that I put in my incubator actually hatched, so we pulled a switcheroo on the kids and replaced them with some that one of my cohorts put in her incubator at home at the same time. It was a great success, they never noticed. We had five Aracona chickens. We may have ducks next week. I love the miracle of life. I think that my kids respect life much more now than they did before. It turned into an entire school project because of course every class had to come see them. I will try to post pictures.

3. I had to say goodbye to the one student in my class who was the absolute hardest to say goodbye to. We went through some rough times in her life together this year and today she had to move away.

My co-worker, who teaches first and second grades was using the restroom in the teacher's lounge when she heard:

"Teeeeaaacheeeerr.........Teeeeaaachhherr.......(she tries to ignore).......Teeaaachheer......."
It became aparent that the student would not give up so she said, "You are just going to have to wait."
"Teacher I finished my spelling words. Can I go to recess now?"

Teaching is in many ways like being a mother. At least we can use the bathroom in private in our own homes, which is more than some mothers can say.

Our friends Jeff and Alysun have a blog now (well really just Alysun):

www.petersparadise.blogspot.com

Check it out. For my family, Jeff was a groomsman in our wedding.

While coloring today I praised one of my students for his skills at staying in the lines. He looked up at me and said, "Teacher, it takes a true artist to make a masterpiece."

polyphemus moth 

"Teacher, there is a butterfly on our ceiling!" Yes, indeed there was a HUGE moth on our ceiling. I immediately ran to check our cocoon (the one I almost threw out a few months ago) and sure enough, there was an escape hole in the top. We have a slanted ceiling and the culprit had conveniently chosen one of the highest points in our ceiling to hang from.
The janitor in our school is one of the best janitors in the world. She was able to find a butterfly net AND a bird cage to put the moth in (bird cage? you say, yes it's that BIG!). It has been such a great experience for us. In two days, our polyphemus moth, or "Polly" has laid eggs on the sides of the bird cage. I'm unsure about what to do with the eggs, but I'm thinking I want to keep them and try to hatch them. Really, the fact that this moth even has reproductive capabilities is a miracle (I mean a real miracle) because this cocoon was shaken to death every day by kindergarteners who "just wanted to see if it would scratch". Pictures to come!

"Teacher, (holding up a lego creation) this is an old fashioned tool that was made in the 80's."

-Kindergartener

When I lived in Portland there were 43 Starbucks within 5 miles of my apartment. Sheesh! I looked it up. I don't usually look these things up but I am sitting here in the library of PCC Rock Creek waiting for Paul to get done with his classes. I think I'll go to B&N.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/roger/QueryTips.php3?tip_AttractionName=egg&tip_State=WA&Submit=Go

Click above to see yet ANOTHER of my favorite quirky attractions in Lewis County. Winlock has an EGG DAY every year. They have an egg parade and serve egg salad sandwiches. By the way, we will be hatching a chicken egg in my classroom after spring break.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php3?tip_AttractionNo==1385

Click above to see one of my favorite Lewis County attractions. This YARD BIRD used to be in front of a department store. The store used to have "phone book" sales. They would post pages of the phone book in certain departments and if your name was on the page in that department they would give you a percent off anything in that department. It was great fun. Yes, our phone book is that small.
My parents told me that at one time there was a yard bird that you DROVE UNDERNEATH to get into the parking lot of the store, but a suspicious fire burned it and a new one was built. Tall tale? who knows.

Paul convinced me to repel down our stairs, I'm in "training". 

The silly dog that we live with likes to play dead, even when no one is watching. 

"Teacher, there's a bad bug in my belly."

What a BLESSING!
Paul and I spent a few days at the beach, where my parents have rented a time share condo. Such a great break from school. Pictures later. At home we have the WORST free internet in the world, my excuse for the lack of blog lately.