Last Day

Well today was the last day of school. I thought I would be so happy and relieved to finally have summer. But actually, I'm having bittersweet feelings. I decided to post this from the computer in my classroom just cause I'm having a hard time leaving for the last time. I worked at such a great school this year with great people and kids. I love my class. I was so sad as they all hugged me goodbye. It's probably the last time I'll ever see them. But it's also a good feeling to know that I spent tons of time and energy trying to help them become better people. I'm excited to move on to my new school and have new and different experiences. But it's hard to say goodbye and see it end. So here's to you M. Elementary and Mrs. [Apple's] class of 2008! I'll miss you!



My cute class on our last day together



My empty classroom

P.S.

My report cards are FINISHED!

Summer anyone?

I'm ready for some summer! Only 4 days and 42 minutes left... And here is a poem in honor of that blessed last day of school. One of my students used this poem for his poetry book report this month. Yeah it's cheesy but actually pretty accurate.

The teachers jumped out of the windows.
The principal ran for the door.
The nurse and librarian bolted.
They're not coming back anymore.

The counselor, hollaring madly,
escaped out the door of the gym.
The coach and custodian shouted
and ran out the door after him.

The lunch ladies threw up their ladles,
then fled from the kitchen in haste,
while all of the students looked puzzled
as staff members scurried and raced.

We'd never seen anything like it.
But, still, it was pretty darned cool
to see all the staff so excited
to leave on the last day of school.

--Kenn Nesbitt

Big News

This morning I woke up thinking about what career might be in my future. Perhaps my former Arby's career? Sanitation Engineer? Plasma Donater? It may seem odd that I was thinking about these occupations considering that fact that I have a degree in education. But, last month we decided we were moving to Salt Lake and I officially quit my job. So I was jobless, we were moving, and I was not having much luck with interviewing. Finally, however, after two interviews at the same school for two different grades, I got a job! The principal called me today to offer me a 5th grade position. The school is very nice and very intense. It's extremely diverse. A little bit different from my 100% white kid, single language class this year. The other teachers on my team are doctors or masters of just about everything and I can tell that there are high expectations. I feel a little bit intimidated but pretty excited. I can tell that it will be a challenging year for me but I know I'm going to learn a ton and have a very rewarding year. Wish me luck!

Rat Disclaimer and Pictures

After some comments from my loyal readers, I realize I sound like a freak. I am not in love with rodents and we don't really consider them our children. I just wanted a dog but I couldn't have one. So I filled my pet need with rats. I like having a pet but I'm not a crazy! Just had to clear that up. Now here are some pictures cause I know you're all dying to see them.

The Rat Manor

I Have the Best Husband

He knew about my door drama. And I came home to this...

I love him!

Poor Me

I'm having a pity party and everyone's invited. So if you want to come, read on! This morning I got to work and as I walked down the hall I realized it was teacher appreciation week. Finally some appreciation for all my hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. It's the tradition here for the room parents to elaborately decorate the teachers' doors. I walked past doors that looked like dog houses, jungles, gardens, even some with the kids on motorcycles. There were 3 dimensional pictures, bubble letters, bright colors, cute "we love our teacher" sayings. It was like walking down a hall of giant pages from Hali's scrapbook. As I approached my door I realized it looked a bit out of place. That was because it looked the same as it has all year with my lame "welcome" sign on it. No cute decorated door for me. No appreciation for me dealing with people's snot-nosed kids all year! So then my kids all come into class and say "Mrs. [Underwood], why didn't we decorate our door? Our door isn't as cool as Mrs. F's door. Are we going to decorate our door today?" During the morning, one of the women who works here noticed and slapped together a poster to tape up on my door so I wouldn't feel left out. (Thanks Mrs. S.) Okay so this really isn't a big deal and not reason for me to quit my job or lose my self-esteem. But I was already feeling a little overwhelmed and under-appreciated so it just would have been nice to have a door that looked like a miniature beach or a giant pizza. I mean is that so much to ask? Poor me...sometimes life is just so unfair.

**This is not my actual classroom door. I don't have my camera. I just wanted you to get the full effect of my unfortunate incident.

Boycott Petco

Thank you for the feedback on the rat decision. Despite some advice, I decided that I needed to get some rats anyways. So I did. We decided to purchase our pets from Petco. Unfortunately my regular Petco wasn't carrying female rats and that's what we wanted. So we drove down to Riverdale to check out the Petco there. Thus began the drama. Upon asking the man with many piercings and tattoos for assistance in obtaining our rats, he asked through his giant lip ring, "are they for feeding a reptile or for pets?" I was a little disturbed. Especially because right on the rat cages it says "Petco does not endorse feeding live animals" or something along those lines. While he was helping us get them, he proceeded to tell us about the giant lizard he has who eats one big rat per week. Sad and gross. Not something you should tell someone who's buying rats for pets. Duh. So another creepy guy with many piercings and a bad attitude rang us up and we were outta there with our new children, cage, accessories, and Jared in minor shock that we had spent that much money on rodents. (I had to buy the rat manor...my rats deserve the best.) So we got them home, got their high rise mansion put together, and let them explore their new place. They seemed pretty happy. Fast forward to the following day. Jared says "That little one looks different than the big one." I say, "Yeah...let's look a little closer." Well turns out the little one had something the other one didn't. We actually didn't have two girls. I was pretty upset because I knew we needed to return them. First of all, we wanted two girls. Second, we didn't want rat babies. Third, we didn't want to just return the boy and get another girl because who knows if she would also be having rat babies since the incompetent employees of Petco can't tell the difference between males and females. I actually cried knowing I had to take them back to the store where they had a very good chance of becoming dinner for Lip Ring's lizard. It was a sad day. Especially when we went in to take them back and the bad attitude cashier from our previous visit made some crude comments about them breeding that I won't repeat, offered to castrate the boy with the scissors he was holding, and also offered to take the rat babies off of our hands to feed to his reptiles if we wanted to keep the female rat. Um...thanks but no thanks. I left my pets in the hands of the pierced idiots and left feeling pretty discouraged. We decided to check out Petsmart to see if they had anything better to offer. And they did! They only sell females, they didn't say anything about feeding them to a reptile, they seemed very educated, and they didn't have any interesting piercings. So we are now the proud parents of two new FEMALE rats. And I have found a new favorite pet store. So anyone with pets out there...let's boycott Petco. Petsmart is the way to go.

P.S. We're still not solid on names for them. Any rat name ideas?