My Week in Pictures

I haven't done one of these in a while, so this week, I hauled my battered-but-still-going Kodak EasyShare around everywhere I went. Here's what it yielded.

A New Classroom

Here's my room at my new school site. I now have two-and-a-half rooms to take care of. (The half is a music room that is not really my domain, but I use it to teach the kinders.)

It's still pretty drab...give me time, and I'll make it pretty.




Oh, and because it's my classroom, there has to be Snoopy.

Another Music Room

The good--no, great--no, AWESOME news is that I get to teach some Kindergarten music this year, at both schools. I love kindergarten! I don't look at it as a job, but rather fun time. I get PAID to sing the Racecar song and Mikey the Monkey, and to teach them about intervals using finger puppets.

I'm such a five-year-old, at heart.

Anyway, I use the small music room that is set up by the full-time music guy for these classes. He has quite an awesome set-up, complete with Orff drums and xylophones. I am JEALOUS in a big way (though he is letting me use them!).





Hello, Puppet Friends!

Ever since I saw another classroom music teacher use finger puppets in her lessons, I have been collecting them wherever I can find them. My kids LOVE the Puppet Friends.



It was so much fun taking them out after they spent the summer in a box in Mom and Dad's garage.

Meg, 0; Chair, 1

While waiting for a kinder group to come in yesterday, I sat at the other music teachers' desk, going through my to-do list and eating lunch. I decided I needed something from my purse, which sat on the floor a few feet away, so I rolled over there and reached down.

Thing is, I have a long-standing habit of sitting on the edge of chairs--it goes back to my band nerd days of clarinetting it. So as I straightened back up, I slipped off the chair...just in time for another teacher to walk into the room to return something he'd borrowed.

"Are you okay?" he called out.

"Yeah...just embarassed..." came my chagrined reply from the floor.



This is why I avoid chairs with wheels.

Bunk Beds?

What is it about cats that makes them love high places? Millie and Harley love getting on top of my kitchen cabinets. Millie has taken to hiding from Harley by sleeping on the fridge. I guess they can survey their domain from up there (hey, I don't own anything, I just pay the rent) and keep watch over me.



Recycling!

Mom and Dad's neighborhood has this cool deal where you can stick recyclable items in special blue gargabe bags, then leave them in your trash can for the weekly pick-up. They are sorted out from the rest of the trash later and taken to be recycled.

So for the plastic and cardboard containers that you can't take in for cash, it's really cool to have another option. I'm all about being eco-friendly, so I've started saving my own recyclables and bringing them to Mom and Dad's house.

It's been a few weeks since I was last here, so I had quite a stash built up. Don't worry, I wash everything out.



*Sob*

All I really want is to be able to watch the 2nd half of this very entertaining documentary! See my last post for details.



Still Delicious

I had some leftover aloo ghobi from the weekend that needed to be eaten or thrown out, so I took it for lunch today. Of course, I wore a white blouse to work today...but fortunately, I had a large cloth napkin. Since I was eating in my classroom, I felt no shame in using it as a big bib.



And yes, I do use kiddie forks and spoons at school. It makes me take smaller bites, which slows me down, so I don't inhale my lunch and feel hungry five minutes later. Handy trick, that. This particular fork sports sea creatures.

And That's All, Folks

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the middle school student who hid from everyone by climbing a tree this afternoon, the cops in my parking lot at 2:30 on Tuesday morning, or my one-woman slumber party on the pull out sofa on Tuesday night.

Maybe next week.