A basketball

This week I was teaching my fifth graders the difference between observations, inferences, and opinions. For practice, I had them write about an object they all know well-- a Baden Junior Official 110 basketball that the kids get to play with at recess. Here is a selection of their work:

I feel like I Love basket ball I Love to play basketball and that is my favorite sport. It fun to play basketball.

--C-P (girl)

I don't like people who invent basketballs. Basketball is a good sport. It looks like a face.

--M (boy)

its fun

wouldnt need one

better than soccer

looks kinda new

it needs different

colors

annoying sometimes

--C (girl)

Basket balls is tight! Basket balls is a good exercise. basketballs is popular.

--X (boy)

Basketballs can be play more likely outside., People play basketballs because it's entertaining

--A (girl)

basketballs is great

in philippines our sport

is basketball there

very fun to play with.

--A (boy)

soccer it better

--H (boy)

It's brighter than the

black stripes on it

It's fun

I wish I had one

It's darker than my pink nails

people love to play

with basketball

looks like an orange

It hurts when you get hit by it

--F (girl)

Basket balls are fun to play with. I like the feeling of the bumps. It's fun when you bounce it and it comes back to you. I like the prints on the basketball.

--A (girl)

Fun to Play with

Fun to throw

Fun to

bowl with

--J (boy)

I like basketball but maybe other people don't. Sometimes I think that basketball could get boring because you play it a lot. I think that is dirty. I think Football is way cooler than basketball. ugly, boring, fun. I mostly like playing Football than basketball.

--J (girl)

it's orange

and it smells

like mystery and

feels like tiny

thorns.

--J (boy)

boring ball

ugly ball

weird ball

Dirty ball

annoing

--H (girl)

basketball is somehow

better than other ball

basketball are fun lots

of people like or want

to play it.

--U (girl)

Most interesting email subject line of the week

Classroom help for busy teachers - a new Drew Carey DVD

The video preview is below:

Click here.

HAPPY DAYS!

Several months ago, they came and took away the soda machine from the staff lounge at work. This week, they came back with a new one, and then later they actually filled it with soda. In response to these events, the school office sent out the following email--

HAPPY DAYS!

POP MACHINE IN NOW FILLED WITH THE FOLLOWING DRINKS:

Reg. Coke ALL POP IS .75 CENTS
Diet Coke
Coke Zero
Fanta Orange
Sprite
Root Beer
20 oz. bottled water is $1.00

Unfortunately, this email is incorrect. It should read--

HAPPY DAYS!

POP MACHINE IN NOW FILLED WITH THE FOLLOWING DRINKS:

Reg. Coke ALL POP IS .75 CENTS
Reg. Coke
Coke Zero
Diet Coke
Diet Coke
Sprite
20 oz. bottled water is $1.00

Many people do not know that Fanta Orange is the favorite drink of the current Pope, Benedict XVI (pictured below). If His Holiness ever makes a surprise visit to our school, we will be unable to provide him with the beverage of his choice.

None of this actually matters very much to me, however, because in the eight-plus years I have worked at my school, I have probably only had two sodas from the vending machine.

The students in my class are evil

This is what appeared on the whiteboard in my room the morning after Milan's 2-0 loss to Inter.

They wrote this despite the fact that I told them that I would give them a night off from homework if Milan won. In addition, several of them taunted me to my face. Needless to say, there will be an extra long, extra difficult homework assignment coming very soon.

Cartoon History of My Job: Extra Recess

Cartoon History of My Job: The Joy of Reading

Click on the picture for a closer view.

Cartoon History of My Job: So Many Questions

Cartoon History of My Job: My Class

Actually, my class isn't really this big.

If you want to see the students close up, click on the picture.

Fun at work: bears and crawdads

From this week's parent bulletin--  BEAR UPDATE:...Please talk with your children and let them know, if they ever do see a bear, to walk quietly away.  Don't run, and don't make noise.  If they think the bear has seen them, they should walk slowly backward, keeping their eye on the bear as they move away.  Running will encourage the bear to chase, so remind them never to run...

On another animal-related note--  One of my students spent this week bringing his pet crawdads (aka crawfish, aka crayfish, aka "clawfish") to school...over and over again despite my instructions to stop.  Finally I gave up and had the students do some crawdad-related activities.  A different student has now threatened to start bringing in chickens.  Stay tuned.

Swine flu #1

A notice posted at Madrona K-8 School in Seattle, WA

What I have been reading lately #22

Earlier today I finished Where The Money Is: True Tales From the Bank Robbery Capital of the World. This book is written by former FBI agent William J. Rehder (along with Gordon Dillow). For those of you who don't know, the bank robbery capital of the world is apparently Los Angeles, California.

This book was highly informative and entertaining- the author worked for over 30 years in Los Angeles catching bank robbers. The book focuses on just a few of the most interesting cases, including the "Yankee Bandit" (about whom a movie is being produced), LA gangs who took up bank robbing, "The Hole in the Ground Gang" who tunneled under and into bank vaults and were never caught, David Mack (an LA police officer who went bad), and, of course, the two men involved in the North Hollywood Shootout, whose robberies resembled something out of a bad action movie.

The book reminded me of when I worked for Gold Shield Security Services in Connecticut as an unarmed bank guard. I believe I made $6.50 an hour (early 1990s money) and spent most of my time worrying about getting shot at. Hartford, CT is far away from Los Angeles, however, so I did not have to undergo any robbery attempts.

Below: A photo from a random bank robbery - I believe it is from Colorado.

Lost and Found

This is the Lost and Found at the school where I work.  When students lose clothing and other items, the items are placed here.  Below is another view, this time from the side.  

An important work email

Does anyone want some crickets? Come see me if you do.

No time for school - there's football on Saturday

We're only a few hours from kickoff for this year's Georgia - Florida NCAA football game, but yesterday students in the Clarke County, Georgia schools got an unexpected day off when the school district cancelled school because so many teachers had called in sick so they could go down to Florida for the big game.

On the other hand, maybe the school cancellation wasn't that unexpected, because it is on the Clarke County School's schedule, and they have also cancelled school Monday and Tuesday, as well, for something called Fall Holiday.

Rodent Alert!!

Another email I received at work:



A Pest Control gentleman is coming to place traps on the north side of the building PLEASE INSTRUCT YOUR STUDENTS NOT TO KICK OR TOUCH THESE BECAUSE OF THE POISON INSIDE TO KILL THE RODENTS!!! THANK YOU.

Note from Andy-- The best part about this is that my school is simultaneously having an underground hornet's nest removed, yet there was no email sent about that. The underground hornet's nest was discovered by four or five kindergarten boys who were poking an interesting hole in the ground with sticks and later had to be treated for stings in the nurse's office.

We have a loss dog.

This email went out to the entire staff today:

Information is in the office if you find a tan & white boxer pit mix dog name is "Shady" the dog is friendly, we owners information in the office. Please report if seen and hold if possible. Hes a good boy and strong but sweet so speak gangly with him may jump up on you but just wants to kiss.

Update - later in the day:

The dog returned home on his own. So no more loss dog.

A training after work

Today at the John Stanford Center for Education Excellence, headquarters of the Seattle Public Schools, we learned about the following topics: high-leverage practices, summative and formative assessments, and the importance of pressing for justification. We also got to meet a man who was introduced as the mastermind behind assessment.

Work keys and house keys

For the last three years I have had my own set of work keys (for my classroom, for a random door in the school I work at, and for some cabinets in my classroom). During that time, I have kept my work keys on the same keychain as my house keys and car keys. This makes for a rather large keychain, and is generally just a pain in the neck. This school year I decided to start a new system and to keep two separate keychains. Not only do I not have one gigantic keychain anymore, but this also serves to symbolize my newfound goal of keeping greater distance between my home and work lives. My co-worker Don even gave me a nice, shiny, new Toyota Trucks keychain (even though my pickup is a Nissan...) Unfortunately, however, today is my second day back at work, and I have already lost my work keys. I wonder where they are?

Back to work

Today summer vacation ended and I had to go back to work. All the teachers and staff at my job have a week of meetings before the students start to arrive on September 3. During today's meeting, we learned about the following exciting new concepts - loose coupling, the need to deromanticize leadership and teaching, and the PELP Coherence Framework. Later in the week, our agenda says that we will have some Polarity Management.

What I have been reading lately #4

Dishwasher: One Man's Quest To Wash Dishes In All Fifty States by Pete Jordan is an outstanding book, and I highly recommend it. It reminds me of the three places in which I have washed dishes professionally - the Perkins Pancake House on St. Charles Rock Road, Mocon dining hall at Wesleyan University, and The Eatery in Windsor/East Windsor (whatever) Connecticut. If you added up all the days I spent washing dishes in those three places, it would probably total less than one whole month. Here's a link to Dishwasher Pete's website. http://www.dishwasherpete.com/

I'll have to tell you all about my days washing dishes some other time. Right now I have softball practice, and my team needs me.