| |
|
PHEBESS's Recent Blog Entries
|
Sunday, September 26, 2010
We're watching a Sunday morning news show - one of the features was on school lunches in France, and how different it is from US school lunch programs. Not only do the schools expose students to traditionally French foods (yes, escargot and bouillabaisse), the schools serve multiple courses, send home a menu, and even include suggestions for dinner menus (so that a child doesn't have fish for lunch and then fish for dinner, how boring, n'est-ce pas???).
So yes, I would like to be a child in a French school. Or maybe a teacher, so I could buy the school lunch. The chefs (not cooks, chefs) were discussing how they get vegetables into 3 year olds, how they focus on fresh produce, and how they are working to combat childhood obesity.
So much more reasonable that the spam over spaghetti that sometimes passes as school lunch in this country!!!!!!!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
We have a new program at our school, ballroom dancing. The students have two classes each week - there are about 4 classes doing this. And teachers who have prep periods during the time of the classes have been attending the dance classes. But some of us, mostly elective teachers, are teaching at those times - so we asked for an after-school class.
Friday (yesterday) was our first class. We learned the merengue, and spent a good 45 minutes dancing around the stage in the auditorium. It was so much fun - just great! I ended up with one of the math teachers as my partner - he's about an inch shorter than I am, but he counts out loud while he dances so both of us stayed on step. (I'm used to dancing with DH who is about 8 inches taller - so with someone shorter, it makes it harder to twirl, but I managed.)
I realized today that I'm really looking forward to our next class - and wishing we could have the faculty class more often than once per week! And I can't wait for our next dance!
Friday, September 24, 2010
I parked at school - I was early so I could set up the projector and computer so my classes could look at photos.
There were a few boys peering into a box. This is suspicious behavior among early adolescent boys. So I asked what they had - yup, they had caught the rabbit (see blog from Tuesday, 9/21).
Now I have 3 younger brothers. Plus I've taught middle school for 23 years. So I know what we can expect from early teen boys. And treating animals well isn't part of that...............So I started a serious discussion on rabbit care. Do you have a cage? What will you feed it? Do you know how to clean a rabbit cage? Make sure your parents are okay with a pet rabbit before you bring it home. Of course, with think time between my queries.
Lead boy finally looked at me and asked if I wanted the rabbit. I said I had a cat, so we couldn't keep the rabbit, but that I'd call the animal shelter and they could find rabbit a new home. So they agreed. The three boys carried the box to my room and set it on a desk. We left, I had to sign in at the office. Talked to Mr. Principal, who agreed the rabbit should go to the shelter. (Note - this was a brown and white rabbit who was letting people pet it - this was not a wild rabbit, even though it had been living in the bush.)
My advanced art kids helped me poke holes in a new box, and two of them lifted out Rabbit and put him/her in the new box. I added a few baby carrots from my lunch, and we put the top on (after every other student just had to pet the rabbit). I called the shelter all through the morning - it wasn't until halfway through my 3rd class that someone finally answered. And they couldn't come get the rabbit, there was a police tow truck moving abandoned vehicles from around the shelter property, and the road was blocked.
So after class (again, all students had to see the rabbit - you haven't lived til you've seen a 6' 4" 14 yr old petting a little bunny!!!!) I loaded the box into the car and drove Rabbit over to the shelter. OH, and the rabbit catcher kids came by to say hello and I told them they should say goodbye to the rabbit.
I left my name, so if no one adopts it I can pick it up - someone knows people who raise rabbits, and hopefully Rabbit can go live there (unless they eat them, then I won't.........).
And, of course, the tow truck was blocking me when I left - but they were nice and moved the truck, especially when the cop found out I was a teacher and had delivered a rabbit caught at school - he thought that was pretty funny.
So - does anyone want to adopt a nice bunny? We guess he's either an escaped pet, or he was abandoned by his owners. I hope he (she) gets a good home. (The kids thought it had an injured foot - I told the shelter people, they said they have a vet who always checks the animals first.) And my couple of students who wanted to adopt it - I explained that it needs to be checked by the vet, the shelter will see if it's a lost pet, and if the kid wants to adopt it they need their parents' permission and then the family could go adopt it. (I'm big on teaching responsibility.)
It was quite a morning!!!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
There's a group working on marine environment education - they have a series of TV commercials; they worked with some schools to produce an activity book; now they're working on murals with middle/junior high schools.
They came to our school today, and the principal called me in for the presentation.
Basically, they want us to paint four 4 x 8 plywood panels for the mural, which will be put up at the school gate or fence. Of course, I told them I'd have my students design something, vote, the principals will have final say, and then the students and I will enlarge and then paint our original design. The science classes will do some research and report back to us so that we're accurately depicting the marine animals.
Best part - the organization will pay for all supplies - YAY!!!!!!!
I'm so excited!!!!! It changes my plan for the fall, but it's a great opportunity for my students - and I'm fine with making changes if the kids benefit. YAY!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
I love the conversations I have with students. Today, someone asked me something about the mural - I said, "Oh, that'll be done soon, long before I retire in 4 years."
Student - "What, you're going to retire in 4 years?"
Me - "Yes, I'll be 60 then."
Student - "No, you can't retire then."
Me - "What, I should keep working? Until you're grown up, married, and have a child going to this school? So I can be his teacher?"
Student - "Yeah, that's it."
Me - "But you don't want a cranky 80 year old person teaching your child."
Student - "No, you won't be cranky."
Me - "Well, yeah, I guess I'm kind of too cheery to get cranky when I get old."
Student - "Yeah, exactly. You're already all happy."
This guy is 14, about 6' 3", and over 200 lbs. He's on our basketball team - and is taking ballroom dancing class to work on his agility for basketball. He cracks me up. (And yes, he towers over me. I'm about 5' 5".)
First Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
Last Page
|
|
Get An Email Alert Each Time PHEBESS Posts
|
|
Member Comments About This Blog Post:
It's a great compliment from your student!
