T.T.T.Thrriiileeerr...

FINALLY! After three years of knocking our heads together to find a perfect book to portray, we won the Rotary’s Parade of Books! Fake Fat Frugal Felix came up with the idea of dancing thriller. For some reason she started listening to MJ again, maybe because she bought the CD for 50 cents in Bali (if you know Di, anything below a dollar is worth buying or when it's free it's worth keeping).

So we brainstormed a couple of scary books and decided on “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. Between Flipflop, Frugal and I, the Fish-lover, we have never read the book. So as responsible teachers, we “googled” up the summary and figured we could create our masterpiece from there. To our surprise, Frankenstein was not the monster! He was actually a scientist who wanted to solve the “riddle of life.” He wanted to create a man that would be a symbol of the power of science, a science that would determine life and death. But when his creation came to life it was extremely hideous he ran away from it, leaving his monster forlorn and unwanted. The story continues on with revenge and death… pretty scary actually… so we just told our students the “kid’s version” and the lesson to be learned (which is: don’t run away from a monster). We did encourage them to someday read the book when nightmares are not an issue.
Anyway, after weeks and weeks of rehearsals, the 2nd and 4th graders were able to pull off the dance without bumping into each other or obtaining forehead cuts.
A big shout out goes to our chunky monkeys, “princess lea, smart alek” and “tiny curly!” Your head bops and zombie portrayal gives us a reason to smile everyday. We are proud to be your teachers!
To Mr. Ar-tis who drew gravestones and ships on cardboard as realistically as possible, our hearts go out to you.

To Mr. R who recorded, narrated and made us laugh till our stomachs ached, you know you are our hero!

To my co-best directors, it wouldn’t have been as amazing if we didn’t gather our creative minds *tear*. Side note: we need to start planning our director and friends’ party since the cast is too young to drink magic juice.
In the end, it was all worth it! It was an incredible feeling to see the outcome after weeks of shimmies and dealing with irate parents. Whether we won or not, we made the crowd roar!

The Good, The Bad and The Uuugly!

The Good: Kids looove sitting under a tree or laying on the grass
The Bad: School wide AC shutdown for 2 hours daily, not including power outages
The Ugly: The stinky “fa-fa” smells once we head back to class

The Good: 75 crunches every morning to warm up my body
The Bad: Early morning cold showers
The Ugly: The water heater and air-conditioning are off limits this month, and it’s only the 8th day!

The Good: New faces for the Women’s Football Rec League
The Bad: A good friend is leaving next month (What will you do without Diana, Kathy?)
The Uuugly: JUDGE GOVENDO (I know it's mean to talk about other people, unless you have something good to say... but I had too, at least I didn't draw on his face.)

Happy Teacher's Day

I like Ms. Kathy because she is teaching us so we can be good people and smart people when we grow up. All the things that Ms. Kathy is teaching us are so-so-so wonderful. Ms. Kathy loves us because she wants us to learn a lot. We like to do art and we learned about Pablo Picasso and about Paul Klee. Every Thursday we play Jeporty so we can study and have fun. On Fridays, we do do centers like Computer, Game, Art, Science and Math. We also learn different songs and Ms. Kathy plays the ukulele. My favorite ones are Sea Bird, Here's a little song, and Baa Baa Bamba. That's why Second Grade is a great place to be in. I wish I can stay here.

- The Greatest Place to be

by Isa Rabago 2nd Grade(unedited)

My student teaching mentor, Ms. Elaina Weimer, said that if she becomes worn-out, she would simply quit this profession. "A person risks a lot when one stays in this line of work if she or he can’t sacrifice the time, the energy and put in the heart a classroom has to have." Thank You Ms. Weimer for making me realize how much my daily mood makes the weather.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Find time to thank or remember "the teacher" who made a difference in your life.

Cunctation, Somnolent and other 50 Cent Words

A recent conversation led me to look up an old blog. We didn’t even call it “blog” back then, more like journal or diary. I had to look through the archives since I’ve long abandoned this site.

As I read through the opening entries I wasn’t too sure if this was the right journal. It had words like “cunctation and somnolent” I would’ve never thought to use those 50 cent words unless Microsoft thesaurus recognized them, and it doesn’t.

Then, when this came up I knew it was me ...

“I Drove off with John, Paul, George
and Ringo this
morning. I was trying to beat 7:10, its
Tuesday, supervision again. At the
same time I was hoping that NX
wouldn't have the audacity to screw up this time… been' cranky lately”

I loved listening to the Beatles on my way to work (still do) and I referred to my first car (Nissan NX) as a being. He even had a name…

As I read on, I laughed about my grievances and objections that came with adolescence. Although I seldom swore, I was quite a potty writer and said weird things like “obey the cow god and goodnight moon.”

I’ve forgotten that I also had “in the depths of despair” phase and found some entries quite alarming…

I need to stultify and dampen certain senses.

I'll probably fall into a stupor, have
convulsions, and even slip into a coma.

But it’ll leave me less aware and
alert... and that's just perfect.
......
If I had a Gun, Id shoot
whoever said writing down

the Pros and Cons of a situation would
work.
.......
I lost sight. No ones there.
The idea of Anguish.
From anguish to outrage.
Rue. I hate you… but despise myself more.
.....
From a distance
her smile signifies content
From a
different angle
she hides behind that fair facade

Then of course entries about love lost and love found made me smile

I just drove. I kept reminding myself
about the promise I made.

But there was this deep-hollow feeling
that just tore me apart.

I tried to keep an optimistic
expression…

but I could just feel my tears
gradually flow..

So, I tried to keep my eyes and mind on
the road…

yet I could solely feel your gaze.

I wanted to hold you so bad and tell
you not to...
.....

The boy- just like some,
he'll have to go.

And just like the others, the reasons were
clearly set.

But unlike the others, a light of hope has
been lit...

I don't know if I should blow it or let it
flicker until it flickers no more.

Yet the memory remains of "Velma and Darthvelma"

and the little sand prince whom she loved
…

But I knew I wasn’t such an unhappy and desperate kid because of entries like this…

If there was an altoids dance,

I’d dance it.
If there was an altoids song, I'd sing it.
Absinthe!!! We have altoids and a
constant supply of King Car.

We have Soy Sauce too and some
Breakfast Pockets

that would last the whole day
through.

.....

I considered the stick as a

priceless possession

even if it implied, "runner 107 was here

30 minutes ago.”

And for the rest of the day, I ate enough
turkey and pie to last me 'till Christmas.­

.....

The thought of me cooking just puts a
silly grin on everyone’s face.

I, on the other hand, am very proud of this
achievement

despite the unbearable taste of my
provisions.

Reading through my entries was like a blast from the past but it also made me realize how much of my life changed and remained the same.

Some things like my addiction to altoids, daily breakfast pockets and calling kids aliens, has changed. But certain things like the Beatles, my passion for teaching, and using my favorite tool, the thesaurus, to make my adventures sound exciting and my confessions moving, remain the same.