I made my students write scary stories and they all had to begin with "It was a dark and scary night." So, here's a little treat for you on this hallowed eve.
The Haunted House
by Krithika
It was a dark and scary night. Once there was a haunted house on Halloween night. Krithika, Kade, and Mackie (all real students in my class) were going together Halloween night.
Suddenly, Krithika's mom said, "You have to come inside for dinner!" But Krithika was the smart one out of all of them. Not a good idea.
Then Mackie got an idea. "How about going without Krithika and then we'd get all of the candy!" Bad idea.
"That's a great idea!" said Kade.
"Oh, not gooooood," said Mackie.
"What not goooooood?" said Kade.
"A haunted house!" said Mackie.
"What's a haunted house, you freakin' dude?" said Kade.
I used to think I wasn't very good at giving compliments.
Starting my second year as a second grade teacher has changed me. I give compliments all of the time. From the big to the mundane, my days are like one big compliment free-for-all.
"That is a beautiful drawing!"
"You are a math genius!"
"Look at how straight your "r"s are, wow!"
"I love the way you are standing quietly in line."
"Thank you for sharing, you are so kind."
"The way you raise your hand every time you have a question makes my heart jump for joy."
"Excellent guess!"
I've noticed my compliment habit has transferred over to life outside of school. Without even realizing what I'm saying, I've started complimenting adults on the mundane aspects of their lives.
"That's a beautiful doodle!"
"You are a butter-spreading genius!"
"Look how straight your "r"s are, wow!"
"I love the sound of your chewing, it's perfect."
"Thank you for sharing, you are so kind."
"I've never seen anyone catch flies as well as you, it makes my heart jump for joy."
"Excellent use of the turn signal!"
I don't understand why people think these compliments are weird. I mean, as long as they're sincere - it should make them happy, right?
So to whoever is reading this, I would just like to say: You are an amazing reader. Way to go, superstar!
This year, the stripes were a pretty blue, there were plentiful freezing water cups that no one wanted to drink due to the freezing weather, and plenty of pictures (and videos).
I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as Morgan and I enjoyed the race.
Our classic pre-race feast: the new dorrito ranch taco.
The day dawned white and cold. Really cold. Really, really cold.
This is Morgan, being a snow angel to bless our race.
I'm sure the weather didn't help, but there seems to be fewer and fewer people running the Rex every year.
Which we don't mind since it betters our chances.
Our goal was to beat this group with the wheelchair.
Actually, our goal is always to at least run the big hill and then walk/run whatever we feel like.
We didn't make it.
This year, it was so cold, Morgan's toes almost fell off from frostbite. She was practically running on club feet.
I told her to wiggle them.
My nose started running and the boogers froze before I could gracefully remove them. Hence I used my mouth to try and breathe up the hill. My throat quickly caught on fire as I felt that pain that only comes from burning cold. I couldn't breathe through my nose or my mouth and my throat felt like it had frostbite. Morgan told me to wiggle it.
New goal: be the very last people to hobble over the finish line. We purposely paused as often as we could to let people go ahead of us. We had to stop to take a lot of pretty pictures along the way to make it look like we weren't trying to throw the race :)
Morgan told me her favorite thing was always looking up when it snowed. We tried to capture it.
We also had some mini adventures.
Like watching this cup race us down the road.
Like mid-race reunions with old roommates.
Like showing off the forward front leg kick.
Like finding signs that encouraged us to do the opposite of our goal.
Like good old fashioned tunnel singing.
Like meeting this volunteer at the end of the race who reminded us of the Validation guy with his perky attitude and nice compliments ("Not many people would come out in this weather just to walk the race, you guys are awesome!") Seriously, if you haven't watched Validation on youtube, do it now.
And of course, like the grand slow motion finale.
In the end, we weren't the last to finish so we failed our goal.
But look who just happened to come in before us. If we couldn't have been the last to come in, at least we failed in our goal to beat the wheelchair group and that's enough of a success.
Saw this list on a friend's blog, have been inspired by another friend's goal to blog once a moth, thought I should start with something easy to get back into the swing of things :) Currently I'm...
Reading Reading Streets (my daily lesson manual), Fablehaven, Chime, and The Greater Journey Watching Total Blackout. I can't. help. myself. Trying not to die of exhaustion Cooking a practice wedding cake for the Young Women Eating Valentine's candy every day for lunch. It's disgusting. Drinking Cactus Cooler, I haven't had one of these in like ten years! Calling parents to discuss behavior "opportunities" Texting my wonderful friend in Oregon I get to visit next weekend! Pinning onto my secret board. Tweeting #I'veneverunderstoodtweeting Crafting examples of art projects my students have to do. Like this lovely self-portrait for "If I were President" essays:
Going to the BYU Men's Volleyball game on Saturday. Rise and shout! Loving teaching Hating teaching Discovering that lack of sleep + too much to do = zombie face Enjoying Kelly's new juicer when she makes pure orange juice. Thinking of Oregon and the trees and the rivers and the smells...I'm coming back to you soon, wait for me! Feeling exhausted with an extra foggy brain Hoping that summer vacation comes much faster than I think it will. Listening to the Gardiner Sisters (by recommendation of Morgan) Celebrating the coming of spring. Please come faster. Smelling the gorgeous lilies Davy Gravy got me for Valentines. I can't decide if the smell is like an intoxicating greenhouse...or a dirty diaper. But I love them. And I love Davy.
Thanking God for all my blessings Considering using my precious free time to edit the family reunion video or my students "Western Brass Knuckles: The Tale of the Subtraction Cowboys and Cowgirls defeating the Subtraction Outlaws in Subtraction Town" video (the title, the script, the characters -all their ideas, it's so cute!) Finishing all my blog post drafts on mine and David's story, starting with first impressions all the way to now :) Starting to blog again!
