Sentence Strips and Jingle Dancers

So today was one of the most chaotic school days of the year. First of all it's the last day before Thanksgiving holiday. . . can we say wound tighter than a yo-yo?? That would be my children right now. . . Also, we had a field trip today -- there was money to get situated, children who weren't going on the trip, but needed a place to stay and stuff to deal with before we could leave. . . .the field trip was to the university to see a Christmas musical revue pretty much. . .it was great, but didn't do anything to calm the children :~) When we got back, we rushed right into lunch, back to the room for just a few, then we had to be at the gym for our annual king/queen day (read here a fundraiser where everyone and their brother, sister, grandma. .. .buys tons of tickets for a $ each then we have a bajillion drawings for things staff have donated so they can win things. . .then the boy and the girl who sold the most tickets in each class become the prince/princess (PK-2) and the king/queen (3-6). ) I was feeling pretty proud that I had gotten all the necessary pieces into the puzzle today, when I had a student get sick at lunch, called her mom, then took her to the office on the way to the gym to let them know someone was coming for her. My balloon of pride was quickly deflated (read here pricked with a pin and zooming all around the room) as I saw another teacher with "crowns" in her hand. . . ."Oh, SNAP!" It quite suddenly dawned on me (read here crashed down upon my head with great force!) that I should have prepared 3 crowns (since my twins were tied for my princess. . . .) Usually I pick some up at Burger King and I paint them or cover up the BK logo and decorate them . . . But not today -- since my children are already in the gym and the program has begun. . .so I dash back to the room, asking everyone along the way, "Do you have any extra crowns?" No, no, no. . . so I get to the classroom, thinking frantically how I'm going to make 3 crowns in less than 3 minutes. I grabbed 3 sentence strips from my cabinet. . . .folded them, cut scallops from the top of each. . .Then I covered each one with aluminum foil (which I only had because last week's chaos was the Native American decorate-the-door contest, for which we made a jingle dancer, for which we made jingles out of aluminum foil, and btw, there was only just barely enough aluminum foil left to cover the 3 crowns I had to make. I stuck a roll of tape in my pocket to attach their crowns, took off back to the gym, sat through the hour and a half long program with 25 restless children, brought them back to the room, helped them pack up, choose books for the long break, write down AR scores, and clean up their trash. Finally, the bell rang (thankfully) but oh, did I mention I had the last meeting of my writers' group for the young author contest until 4:15, which turned into 5:15 until I could get them basically done. . . This is one day I'm happy to have behind me for another year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Dark Knight

Halloween night, Shane and I went to see The Dark Knight, and I must say it was aptly named. We did not see the 3D version, which Shane was glad about (since his surgery, the 3D stuff bothers him a bit). We did, however, see it at an IMAX theatre, so it was HUGE. . . and with surround sound, it certainly made you feel like you were right there. I thought Heath Ledger's performance was certainly dark, and I guess appropriate, but I found it very sad, overall. For one thing, there's the whole "this-was-his-last-movie" thing. That is sad enough, but the movie was sad throughout -- a little pessimistic for me. Well-done, but very pessimistic. The main quote that seemed to encapsulate the theme is proof-positive: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And, indeed, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Me, I prefer my caped crusaders with a more positive bent. Pretty good choice for a Halloween flick for those of us who don't like slasher films. . . .

Halloween Fun

Last night was Halloween. It was an occassion to reminisce over past Halloweens -- and to experience some new things. We found ourselves at Myrtle Beach for the day, and the evening. It was a new experience. Previous Halloweens have found us at parties for church or celebrating quietly at home. We're not big horror movie fans, so it was touch'n'go for a while to find something interesting to do for the big night. As we wandered around, we checked out the movie theatres to see if there was a good movie that wasn't too scary. . .we found ourselves at Broadway at the Beach. Suddenly, we were spectators for an unparallelled Halloween parade. As it turns out, Broadway invited trick-or-treaters to tour the shopping center for safe trick-or-treating. So, we encountered vampires, Hannah Montana, hobos, Bat Man, Spider Man, witches and ghosts of every shape and size, Dorothy, scarecrows, Harry Potter, and all manner of ghastly creatures. . .We even saw the Mario Brothers, complete with mustaches, overalls and over-sized yellow buttons -- how cute! The theatre was giving away free popcorn to the little monsters and some were riding the rides at Pavilion Nostalgia park. One poor little guy was trudging along, dragging his jack o'lantern...bless his heart. It was great fun just to watch them all traipsing along. -- some were very excited, others were just being drug along by parents -- some were living a dream, and others were living their parents' dream for them. Actually from the looks of some of the older trick-or-treaters -- they were living a nightmare! It was fun to watch them all -- Shane and I were talking about the tradition of trick-or-treating and how it has changed over the years. Interesting how it has evolved. . . fear and hidden dangers have prompted these new forms of trick-or-treating, and I think it is really great that we find ways to save the tradition. I know some Christians have a problem with it, but to me, if anything, for Christians it says, "We do not have to live in fear of you, Satan, or your servants. We're going to turn what you mean for our fear into fun and fellowship -- so there! And so I am really happy that church groups and school groups have started activities like trunk or treat or fall festivals or this safe shopping center trick-or-treating -- where kids still get to dress up and get treats -- it's not so much about the candy; OK, maybe for the kids it really is about the candy right now, but in retrospect it's not -- it's the mystery, the fun, the dressing up, not knowing what someone is going to place in the bucket. . .the chill in the air, the smell of all the candies mingling sweet and tangy and fruity and chocolate and peanut butter, the excitement!. And does it teach them anything bad?? -- I think not, except maybe a little childish greed. I think the bigger lesson that children could learn from Halloween is not to fear, and obviously God thought that was an important lesson, because James tells us "perfect love casts out fear". We have nothing to fear. . .so keep the Halloween fun coming!