Busy-ness ahead

I'm sick with a cold and fortunately had the week off for Thanksgiving Break. Finished reading a Miss Julia book. Satisfying as usual.
Joey and Jessie's cafe curtains are finished. There was fabric left over, so we may make pillows or curtain for small window when they are here. The fabric was very easy to work with and ironed well. Can't wait to see how they look in their kitchen/keeping room.
Now I'm going to work on some quilts. I'm going to finish the little farmer quilt and start a new little woodland creatures quilt. I found out the recepient baby's room is mostly green and brown, so changed quilts for that baby. Two cousins are becoming grandparents for the first time, so I want to send little quilts in celebration.
At work we have two expecting babies in the new year. One already has three children, so there won't be a party. The other is a first baby, so I will make a little blanket and give a little book. I have the flannel for a blanket and may be able to finish it this weekend.
Next week is MRA conference. I'm pretty much ready but dreading the craziness at the registration desk on the first day. It will be okay, if I have some good help. I would like to stay free to take care of problems.
Really would be good if the desktop computer here was working. Michael looked at it yesterday and said it was a power problem. Hope Joey can fix it when he is here.
Right after the conference I have agreed to do a professional development for a school district near here. Hope I can do a good job. It is a big job. Something for classroom teachers who have had nothing before. Wide open but needs to be practical and helpful. Very challenging. I'll work on it during slow times at the conference.

Aunts and Uncles

Random thoughts on memories of my aunts and uncles brought on by attending Aunt Becky's funeral yesterday. I saw the aunts and uncles more than my cousins who lived in Georgia-duh, of course. Because of that I felt very possessive of them and jealous when the Georgia cousins visited and said aunts and uncles spent time with them.
Early memories of Uncle Kenton include gifts of candy cigarettes. We loved getting them and pretending to smoke them. Mom cut that out at some point. Uncle Kenton was so silly that one time before I could read he was reading Cinderella to me and read 'bibbity bobbity boo' and I accused him of making that part up. When I was very small he was married to Aunt Evelyn. I really liked her but they divorced. I wasn't told-too young to understand was the official reason given later. Then when I was about 8 or 9 he married Aunt Lenora. She was very pretty and perpetually pleasant-never criticizing or making any negative comment.
I felt very close to Aunt Billie. She was a teacher and graduated from Millsaps. She didn't have any children until I was ten, so I got to spend time with her by myself. I remember for my birthday she took me out to eat. It was very special and made me feel very grown-up. She liked to play games and really liked to win. I think she cheated sometimes. When we lived on Robinson she came most mornings to the 'little house' behind our house to make breakfast. Don't know why she didn't eat at home but Gene would go out each morning and have coffee with her. Michael and I had to get ready for school but Gene didn't, so he would go out and visit with her. We teased him that drinking coffee would stunt his growth.
Aunt Becky lived in Georgia and had children, so I didn't spend much one-on-one time with her. Every summer we drove to Atlanta to spend a week with her and our cousins. The earliest memory I have of this annual trip I must have been under six years old. Aunt Billie went with us and it was a good thing she did. Mom was driving and didn't have a driver's license. I think there was a license check going on and Aunt Billie had to take over driving. I think mom got her driver's license when we got back home. Another time we were on the way to Georgia and had car trouble in Lake, Mississippi. We stopped at the Texaco station on Highway 80 in Lake. Dad's station was also on Highway 80 in Jackson. I remember the service station man was very nice. Can't remember what the car problem was. Most summers when we went to Georgia we attended VBS with our cousins. We had already gone to VBS at our church but didn't mind going again. They even used the same VBS materials but the kids and teachers were different and we were special because we were visitors. Guess that is enough remembering for today.

Anansi Boys

Just finished reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Very different from what I usually read for fun. I decided to read it because I had just read Coraline, another book he wrote, with my fifth graders. I didn't know he wrote for such a wide range of audiences. I looked him up on the interweb and found that he wrote graphic novels and all sorts of books. Anansi Boys was a different kind of realistic fantasy comedy kind of book. It would make a good movie but not a cartoon or claymation-something more like that movie with the blue people.
I'm reading some Goosebumps books that I got for free with my Scholastic bonus points. The kids all want to read these books but they are too difficult for them to read. I wanted to see what the big deal was. The books I'm reading are a little series called Horrorland. There are two stories in each book and they are sort of interwoven. The main story is first. Then there is a short, continuing story that includes the main character with characters from the previous books. The combination pulls the reader in. Don't like horror stories but these have hooked me.

Halloween Tradition

This tradition is book related. Every year on the school day closest to Halloween I read scary stories to my students. About mid-October the older ones remember the tradition and start to ask when we will do the scary stories. I read from the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The stories aren't truly frightening-they just end with a scream. The set up is the most important part. The lights have to be off. The reader has to speak softer and softer until the startling scream at the end. This year I read to fourth, second, and third graders in that order. The fourth graders covered their heads and faces as I read. I don't know if they were scared or didn't want anyone to know they were scared. One of the second grade boys kept interrupting right as the story was getting scary so I stopped after two stories. The rhythm of the story was ruined by the interruptions. But the best group was the third graders. They sat in a circle on the floor. The lights were off. The story went perfectly. They all jumped at the scream and then fell over laughing and laughing at the fun of being scared. I love it!

Water

Today is blog action day and the concern is clean water for everyone. We take water for granted. We have plenty, why don't others have what they need? I heard about a young boy who became concerned about clean water and used his own money and asked others to match his money until he had collected enough for two wells!
Now the problem isn't as much access to water as access to clean water. I don't know that much about it but you can read more on a blog I follow called 'Don't Eat Alone.'
That's all for now.

Grumpy ole me

Why am I so grumpy with some folks? I think I have gotten over all the allure of teaching ELLs. I love to teach them, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't want to teach anything else. But I am so tired of folks who want to fix everything for them. Let's have a special program, let's be sure to have a translator, let's do this and that to impress the parents. Uhgggg! How about treating them like everyone else, not some sideshow. How about asking what they want before assuming what they need? How about asking what is being done before trying to take over or duplicating what is in place?

I must have had too much sugar or too little sleep or listened to someone complaining too long. Give me a break. If you are going to do something, whether I say 'yes' or 'no', then don't ask for my opinion. Just sayin'.

Another thing-people are coming to observe and decide if their money that paid for a workshop was well-spent.

OMG & HMJ

On the plus side-I am thinking about how to teach writing with K-2nd. More later on that.

Good Book-A Beginner's Guide to Acting English

Can't believe I didn't write anything in September. Guess I was too busy with birthday celebrations and school.

Anyway, I just finished a really good book written by Shappi Khorsandi. She was born in Iran and came to England as a preschooler with her family. The book is a wonderful window on the homelife of an immigrant. It is full of funny stories from Shappi's childhood. I loved her recollection of starting a fire behind the sofa in her living room. Her brother was the instigator and it was really funny to read about their childish idea of wanting to play firefighter with real fire. I had a student who started a fire in his house but he didn't or wouldn't tell anyone why he did it.

There are some parts of the book that could be very helpful to teachers of ELLs everywhere. I am going to share one or two short parts with teachers in workshops. We forget that just because a child doesn't speak our language doesn't mean the child is not thinking and taking in how we treat them and the other students.
If you can find a copy of this book, it is worth reading.