Brutally Honest

On the day before the last day of school:
"Ms. Hemric, have you been getting enough sleep lately because you are starting to get bags under your eyes."
Thanks??

On the last day of school:
"I wish you good luck on your honeymoon!"

Board Love

I usually don't let my students write on the board for fun, but on the last day of school it was free reign on the whiteboard. Here's what they had to say...

My favorite was written in my year book. It said,
"Dear Ms. Hemric,
Even though you called my mom like 1000 times this summer, you're still my favorite teacher."

Lessons Learned

I entered this year a little nervous about classroom management, but not too nervous because I had years of experience from being a camp counselor. What I didn’t realize was how tough the switch from camp counselor to teacher would be. You see in the summer, all I had to do was hang out with kids and make sure they didn’t die or kill each other. I could joke around with them and be their friend. Yes, I had to keep my students alive this year and make sure they didn’t kill each other, but I was not at school to hang out with them. I was there to teach them, which totally changed the dynamic of my relationship with them. This was a tough switch for me that led to some bumps in the road with classroom management. I knew I wasn’t there to be their friend. And, I knew I wasn’t supposed to care if they liked me or not. But…(shh don’t tell anyone)…I really wanted them to like me. So, I didn’t crack down on students at the beginning of the year like I should have. I took care of “major” issues, but smaller things like talking and joking around I didn’t. Eventually, we got a handle on these things, but it took some work.

Here’s what I learned:

They’re going to like you.

Some of them won’t like you no matter what you do.

You won’t like some of them.

Making an example of someone (aka following through with threats) shows you mean business.

They want rules to follow.

Some of them are still going to be bad no matter what you do.

Middle schoolers get over things in 5 minutes. So, even if you make them mad, they’ll love you again in 5 minutes.

So, next year I’ll be entering my classroom as a teacher. Not as a teacher trying to be a camp counselor.

I’m still learning this last lesson. I’m a people pleaser and a rule follower. I am a hard worker and have always been a good student. Teachers and bosses have always liked me and praised my hard work. I’m used to receiving praise for my work. I didn’t realize how much I had come to rely on this praise for my sense of approval until this year. I was not the shining star of Carrington and I had to learn that my approval and self-worth does not come from other people; it comes from God. My purpose is to bring glory to Him in all that I do whether or not people are singing my praises. I’m not here to please other people or even to be praised by them. 

It has been so humbling to learn this because I have missed and craved that praise from my administration this school year on many occasions. Yes, I have a lot of room for improvement, but overall I feel like I did a good job this school year. So, I had to learn to find my satisfaction from the Lord and learn to only be concerned about pleasing Him and not other people. I also had to learn that not getting praised by my administration didn’t mean I wasn’t doing a good job. That was probably the hardest part of all because I had gotten so used to being told on a regular basis how good I was. I know that sounds arrogant, but I say it to say that in all of the craziness of this year, the most valuable lesson I learned was humility. And, like I said, I’m still learning. I still have days when I really wish one of my principals would say to me individually that I’m doing a good job with my students. I think I will probably always have those days, but I’m learning to not depend on those praises for approval.

“For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

“Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. Render service with a good attitude as to the Lord and not to men…” Ephesians 6:6

A Year in Review

Friday I completed my first year of teaching. Well…technically I still have three teacher workdays, but in my mind it is complete. I have heard many a horror story about teachers’ first years. The planning takes forever. The kids are crazier than you can ever imagine. All of your brilliant ideas that you think up never work out how you think they will in a classroom. You’ll want to quit. You will stay sick…etc. etc. etc. Needless to say, I was a little nervous entering this school year in August, but I dove right in and never looked back. 

Yes, there were long days. Yes, the planning took a lot of time. Yes, the kids were crazy…they’re middle schoolers what else could I expect. BUT, I did not want to quit. I did not go home and cry everyday. I did not apply for other jobs. I didn’t even search for other jobs. I didn’t get sick beyond a few bad colds. You could probably say I was blessed with the best first year a first year teacher could ask for. And, I can only give the Lord all the glory for that. He worked out everything perfectly…again. He’s pretty good at that. 

While I was having a great first year, I did learn a lot! And, as I was walking endless circles around my classroom staring at the wall during EOGs, I began to reflect on this year because I do not want to forget all I learned and the areas I feel like I did well.

Let’s start with the good…planning. As a first year teacher, you might have some random resources from student teaching and other college classes, but overall you have nothing. So, my Saturdays this year were spent planning lessons and making flipcharts for the upcoming week. And, I can say that I went into every week completely planned. Part of that is because I was required to turn in lesson plans for the week on Monday mornings. I am so excited that I will not have to make flipcharts from scratch again next year. I will have some changes/improvements to make, but the majority of my planning is done. Woo hoo!

At the beginning of this school year, I told my students I would enter each class with a fresh, positive attitude no matter what had happened earlier in the day or what was going to happen later in the day. I asked them to do the same. I’m not saying that I kept that positive attitude throughout a whole class, but I did go in each class this year with a clean slate even if the previous class had really frustrated me. Some days it took counting to 10 and taking several deep breaths. Other days it took me biting my tongue and just giving a look so I didn’t say something I regretted. But, I often said to my students when they were upset that I was sorry they were upset, but that I did not deserve the attitude or frustration they were showing as I had nothing to do with whatever they were mad about from last class. Since I said this a lot, it reminded me that I needed to give them the same courtesy. And, I’m proud to say I feel like I did that this year.

Along with these successes and many more, I learned some very valuable lessons this year about myself, about teaching, and about students. Lessons learned coming soon…

180 Days

This is what happens after 180 school days in the sun...

Before...all bright and cheery

After 180 days...

They say elementary teachers love decorating and making bulletin boards. While I did enjoy making them at the beginning of the year, I am not one for a lot of change. My classsroom is much like my bedroom, once it's set up, it doesn't change until it has to. New bulletin boards to come in August that will probably stay until next June!

4.5

Four and a half days. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I have been having to remind myself this week more than the students that school is not over yet. I still have work to do despite the fact my mind is filled with a to do list that has nothing to do with school, including deciding which days I'm going to get to spend at the pool.

I thought when I got to this point in the year that I would be wondering how it ended so quickly. In December I was wondering how Christmas break got here so quickly. However, I am not wondering how the year has ended already. It hasn't felt too long...okay, some days it has. But, it is definitely time! I have never been in school at this point in the year and I am so excited about summer break!

4.5...here we go...

Just because 7th grade is coming to an end for these students doesn't mean they aren't still saying funny things...

"My dad doesn't like immigrants...(insert confused look by me)...you know the type of person who says one thing and then does another...(you mean a hypocrit)...YEA! I just got the two a little mixed up."

Her: "How do you spell gorgeous?"
Me; "G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S"
Her: "That is NOT how you spell it. Do you have a dictionary."
She looks it up.
"Oh my gosh! That IS how you spell gorgeous! I've been spelling it wrong for a really long time!"

Triple Sagging

I turned around in class today to have my eyes greeted with a young man's boxers. About six inches below his boxers his first pair of gym shorts began. About six inches below that, his second pair of gym shirts began. When I asked what he was doing (he did not enter class dressed like that), he responded, "Ms. Hemric, I'm triple sagging!"

When talking about American Idol, one student said, "Lauren is pretty. So is JLo...but then I found out she's old enough to be my mom!"

Last week during EOGs, one of my students exclaimed, "Look, Ms. Hemric! I have arm pit hair!" When I turned around, he had his shirt pulled up and arms raised in the air proudly displaying his new arm pit hair...

...you never know what you're going to get in a seventh grade classroom.

EOGs

Last weekend was filled with wedding shower festivities at my Grandma's. (more to come on that) This week has been filled with remediation and painting our apartment. (more to come on that as well) So, blogging has temporarily been placed on the back burner despite the fact I have several exciting posts planned. Today is Thursday and I am wiped out from frantically reviewing for the third time with my students who did not pass the EOG and from leaving school and painting for several hours every day. So, while I sit here in my planning with plenty of planning to do, I've decided to relax with some blogging. 

Last week was a whirlwind of a week with EOG testing for three days. I didn't realize how exhausting it is to sit and walk and watch students test for 3 hours everyday. Tuesday, after the first test, I went home, crawled in my bed, and slept for an hour. And, still went to bed at 9. Wednesday I was in bed at 8:30. It was a long week for me, I can't imagine how my students felt...

Despite the exhaustion, they did great! Because of all the pressure put on the EOGs, it is three days that every student really puts forth his/her best effort. It amazed me to walk around and watch my class who has been so lazy the past few months spend so much time on their work. It proved to me that they are capable of working hard and of being quiet. :) I was really proud when I saw them showing their work and making themselves a cheat sheet as soon as I said, "You may begin." And, I was so happy to see that they have been listening to what I've been saying all year!

Seventh graders begin going to lunch on a normal day at 11:05. The last set of seventh graders go to lunch at 11:35. With testing starting at 8:00 and being three hours long and sixth graders getting to eat first, lunch was much later than normal. My poor students were SO hungry! The first day, instead of stopping testing, they waited until the whole school was done to allow students to move and begin getting people in the cafeteria to eat. With the testing schedule, seventh graders had the last rotation for lunch. And, I am the last teacher to go to lunch on a normal day with seventh grade. So, that meant I was the last class in the school on that Tuesday to take my students to lunch. We ate lunch at 1:40. I didn't even take my normal lunch group that day so I had students who were used to eating at 11:05. There was a lot of whining going on that day...I may have been doing some of the whining. The next two days the schedule ran much smoother and we got in earlier than 1:40.

The procedure for administering EOGs is intense. There are all kinds of things that can cause mis-administrations. If you have a mis-administration, your whole class has to re-take that EOG. Students have to be silent. The teacher can not communicate in anyway about the test with students. Cell phones must be silenced. Security of testing materials must be maintained at all times. You may not say anything other than what's written in the script. And, the list goes on and on. My biggest concern with this was talking. The one good thing that comes from putting so much pressure on these tests is that students realize the importance of being silent. My students did not utter a word for three and half hours. You know how crazy that is if you've ever been around one seventh grader. Multiply that by 20. It was great!

The last day was our calculator inactive EOG, which only had 28 questions and only took about an hour. However, eighth graders were taking their science EOG, which was still three hours. So, I had to keep my students silent for the other 2 hours after their test. I may have bribed them with candy to keep them quiet...it may have worked...

If you remember this post, you remember we were in the running to win a party hosted by Brian Dawson of K97.5. I am proud to announce that we won!! Not that I ever doubted we would. You can see some pictures of his EOG tour here. Carrington's pictures begin at picture 9. If you look closely, you may even be able to spot me.

Now, I'm getting geared up for re-tests next week. We should be done painting the apartment today and hopefully I'll get to begin moving in some this weekend. But, the pool opens this weekend and I'll be on the lake Saturday, which is definitely higher on the priority list than moving in right now. Bring on the tan!!

11 days and counting...

Sidewalk Chalk

Friday morning as I got ready, I heard the thunder and rain outside. I began preparing myself to be stuck inside my classroom all day adapting our awesome idea of sidewalk into something somewhat exciting for my students. When I got to school, we decided we would still try it because the three of us did not think we could stand another day inside doing review. We went outside to assess the rain damage and decided it wasn't going to work. As a last resort and last glimmer of hope, we checked to see if the media center was available for the day. We were so excited to find out it was! So, we spent the next hour planning and preparing for bringing our activity inside. We went to the workroom and tore off 80 sheets of black paper (our new sidewalk), numbered the tables in the library, drew up an example on the board, and greeted our students with a smile as the bell rang for 2nd period to start.

Chalk writes on black paper so we thought it would be no big deal. Well, they had poster size paper, which meant they had to stand up to write on the paper. Standing up makes them think they can roam about wherever they would like and talk to whomever they would like. It was hard to tell who was supposed to be where and who was working and who wasn't. By this point, it had stopped raining outside so we decided they could get over the wet ground and humidity and took the next groups outside.

Third period went to the black top where each group had a whole bus parking spot to make their study guides. It was not hot. It was humid. My co-teach said at one point, "I think I am going to melt." Surprisingly, they did not complain too much about the humidity or heat. But, black top is not the best surface to do sidewalk chalk. It was very uneven and hard to write on. It also took a lot of chalk to write a little bit. I used over half a piece just writing the numbers 13-20 when I numbered the spots.

(integer hopscotch)

So, fourth period we adapted a little more and went to the sidewalk along the side of the school. This worked much better! You could read what they wrote much better. They were in a more consolidated area so it was easy to tell who was off task and wandering around. And, the sidewalk did not eat up the chalk like the black top did.

We stuck with this plan of action for fifth period. The sun had come out by the end of the day so there was a lot of complaining about the heat, but I wanted to whine about it too so it wasn't too annoying. Next year, we'll have to add another aspect to the assignment because every class did finish earlier than we had hoped. But, overall it was very successful. Since we wrote in the area everyone has to walk through to get to the buses, we got lots of compliments from other teachers when the day was over. Too bad it has rained all weekend and it will all be washed away Monday morning...

Get Hyped

This week Brian Dawson from K97.5 came to Carrington on his EOG Tour. He has been traveling around to local schools giving a motivational speech trying to get students hyped up about doing their best on the EOGs. A popular DJ from a station like K97.5 is just the thing to get our student population more than hyped up. Along with this tour, he is offering the school with the most school spirit a party hosted by him.

Well, you see...Carrington is used to dominating in any competition. We were undefeated in every spring sport this past season. So, we were not going to let this competition pass us by without a fight.

The pep rally was on Wednesday and it was the loudest event I have ever been a part of. I have been to Cameron Indoor Stadium for Duke basketball games. I have been to an N'SYNC concert (when they were popular). I have been to Appalachian State Football games in the student section. I have been to some loud events and none compared to the noise level inside Carrington Middle School's gym Wednesday.

We had more than just the screaming of 1200 young adolescents. Our students made banners that decorated the inside and outside of the school. We recognized our spring sports. The band played. The chorus sang. A teacher rapped. A group of teachers did the cupid shuffle. And, to top it all off, our principal did the dougie. The students went absolutely nuts when they realized what was happening. At the end of our cupid shuffle, we all huddled up like they do at dances around the one person who is doing the best dance. Our principal had snuck in wearing a coat, hat, and sunglasses to disguise herself. Once she got all of that off, we opened up the circle as she did the dougie. It was awesome!

After all of the celebration, Brian Dawson came out and spoke to the students about doing their best. He explained that without an education, they will not be able to achieve their dreams. He explained how he was predicted to fail and was an average student at best BUT he has a two year degree, a four year degree, and a master's degree. He told them that if he could do it, they could, but they had to put their minds to it. It was a simple speech with a powerful message that we try to teach our students everyday. But, it is so much more meaningful coming from someone like him, a local celebrity who is successful in a career that interests them.

It took a lot of work and calling in favors from several teachers at school, but I'm so glad it worked out. It's nice to have a time of excitement about these crazy tests to relieve some of the pressure and help students feel like they can succeed.

I'll keep you posted about our party because I'm just sure he will pick us. Clearly, there's no one better. :)

Funny Sayings

I can't believe I forgot to write about the quotes of the week...they are good this time!

From one of my boys in my literacy class who could probably be classified as a genius...before he asked this question...He reads computer program manuals for fun. He asked me Thursday morning how to spell register. So, I spelled it for him and then he asked, "Now, which one is the 'g' again?" Meaning how do I write a g? Oh genius 7th grade boy who doesn't know how to write letters...

From one of my African American boys: "What are those spots on your arm?"
Me: "The white ones or the brown ones?" (I have some sun spots on my arm and it looks like little white specs on my arms sometimes)
Him: "The brown ones."
Me: "Those are freckles."
Him: "Oh. I don't have those."

I had my hair pulled back one day this week, which I don't often do. So, many of my students were commenting on it. One asked if I was going to wear it like that again tomorrow. I explained probably not because I would have to take it down and wash it. We then got into a conversation about how I have to wash my hair often or it gets really oily. Then, I hear from the back of the room from one of my boys: "That's a lot of shampoo!"
I had never thought about it before, but he's got a good point!

Appreciate

This week was teacher appreciation week and it was a fun one! Monday morning these lovelies were waiting for me outside my door.

Wednesday was early release and the faculty and staff were treated to a delicious lunch by the PTO complete with goody bags for everyone! Yay for tissue and hand sanitizer! AND a Chick-Fil-A coupon! The PTO also had a drawing for door prizes everyday. Each teacher won something and I got the cutest set of notepads and pens. You can never have enough note pads as a teacher.

Then, on  Thursday, the best. gift. ever. came (okay...maybe not best ever, but still a great gift). I was sitting at lunch and saw the secretaries bringing in some arrangements with these cute balloons flying over them.

I assumed it was something being brought in for all the teachers. Each day we had received some little surprise in our box. When I got back to my classroom, an edible arrangement was delivered to me with chocolate covered pineapples in it! YUM!!

I was shocked that everyone was getting one of these. They aren't cheap and we don't even have enough money to buy paper to make copies. Then, I learned that it was from one of my students. She and her mom were so sweet to think of us and get us one of these. It was delicious!

I finished out the week of appreciation receiving several other gifts from other students. It was such a nice week for teachers. At this point in the year, we're doing EOG review, which can get really boring for teachers and students. When students are bored, they get into trouble. When teachers are bored, they get frustrated really easily. So, it was nice to be reminded this week that we are appreciated and that we have awesome students!

As we prepare for EOGs, our principal encouraged us to think outside of the box as we did some corrective instruction on concepts students didn't show an understanding of on their assessment. She mentioned switching students around or combining classes...she just wanted some extreme change in how we approached this time of corrective instruction. So, as a math team we decided we would review in our classes and then on the two Fridays before EOGs, we would all come together for a common assessment. Yesterday we did that.

I'll be honest, we were worried (real worried) about having 90+ kids in one spot (the media center), but they did awesome! We could not have asked for a better day from them. We grouped them heterogeneously based on their achievement in class. We placed 1-2 strong students in groups with 1-2 students who needed a little more help with the concepts we had reviewed. Then, they took a group quiz of EOG practice questions. They were allowed to use the people in their group, their notes, and any of the math teachers for help. It was incredible to watch. Some of the students who can be major behavior issues in the regular classroom (the ones we were real worried about) stepped up and lead their group. They were the one explaining the problems and keeping everyone on task. There were other groups with students who tend to do nothing on a regular basis who worked harder yesterday than they have on any assignment all year. We were so excited to watch them do so well. And, all of the math teachers got to hang out together all day, which was fun for us too!

Next week we're taking them all outside to do an assignment with side walk chalk...stay tuned for the details of that! Going outside adds another level of craziness so we're hoping for another amazing day from them!

bad attitude

Seventh graders are crazy. There is no question about that. They don't know if they are coming or going. They don't know if they're happy or sad, mad or content, bored or entertained. Their hormones are going crazy as their bodies are changing the most in the shortest amount of time since they were born. They haven't matured yet, but think they have. These hormones and emotions and the general craziness of 100 students going through puberty at the same time provide for some interesting days in a middle school classroom. Although my days this week have been interesting, they have not been so fun. Some of my students this week got confused and thought that they were grown and could to speak to me however they wanted.

Some quotes from this week:
"I only did that because she did it first so why don't you just shut up!"

"I'll stop talking when you say please to me."

"I'll start being good when you stop calling my parents."

"I'm going to sit here today."

"I'm going to get some water."

As frustrating and sometimes infuriating these comments can be, (I mean, honestly, who do these kids think they are??) I have learned that I don't have to argue with them. I don't have to justify my actions to them. I don't have to prove myself to them. Although these statements seem obvious, in the moment when my pride is wanting to defend itself in front of everyone else and not be shown up by a little 7th grader, they are easy to forget and I just want to put these students in their place and argue with them. You can not reason with a 7th grader. Their world is all about them and they can not see the bigger picture.  I want them so badly to just think logically about their actions, but in these instances, they don't want to think logically. And me arguing with them, trying to get them to think logically does not work. Thankfully, I do have some who have gotten over this hurdle/mountain of puberty and are able to see the bigger picture and understand they are in 7th grade and I am their teacher and some of their peers' actions are ridiculous. When they speak up and tell another student that they are being rude or ridiculous or out of control, it speaks much louder than it does coming from me.

I thought at this point in the year, I would see great strides towards maturity developing in my students. In some of my students I am seeing this; however, in others, I am seeing a regression with lots of bad attitude to go along with it.

I love my seventh graders, I really do. They're kind of like the weather in Boone, if you don't like it, wait around for five minutes and it will change. So, maybe next week they will come in and be the most pleasant group of students ever! At least that's what I'm hoping for.

Overall this week flew by and wasn't that bad. Most of these comments happened in one out of my four classes, which is just a fraction of my day. But, I have to be careful to not let their bad attitude lead me to having a bad attitude.

We're told that the Lord is slow to anger (Numbers 14:18) and abounding in love. Weeks like this make me think about just how slow He is to anger and how loving He is. I spend just 180 days with this group of 92 students and it drives me NUTS when they can't figure out how to do what I ask or when they think they can disrespect me or talk to me like I'm their peer. It makes me think how frustrated and angry the Lord should get with me when I do the same thing over and over and over again no matter how many times He teaches me His way is always best. It makes me wonder how many times a day He thinks, "Who do you think you are?" about my actions or words. I'm reminded daily as a teacher of these students just how sinful I am and how much I'm in need of a Savior to forgive my sins. I've never understood why the Lord loves unconditionally; I know I am so undeserving. Teaching has taught me so much about His love and grace and forgiveness. It has taught me a little more about how to love others and has shown me how far I have to go in learning how to love like He loves.

Favorites

Some of my favorite quotes from the past few weeks:

"Ms. Hemric, I had a doctor's appointment this morning and just got to school and I brought you a Chick-Fil-A sandwich for lunch."

While studying 3D figures, I drew a cube on the board and one boy said, "Ms. Hemric, your cube looks a little deformed." (My response? "Your face looks a little deformed." Just kidding...but I really wanted to say that.)

Female 1: "Hey T, if I die early, do you want my phone?"
Female 2: "What?"
Female 1: "Because it's the most important thing in my life and I want you to have it."
Female 2: "No. Why would I want your phone?"

Me: "C, are you paying attention?"
Male 1: "No."
Me: "You're not going to know what you're doing when you get your assignment."
Male 1: "I'll just call R and get his help tonight."
Me: "R might not have his phone tonight based on his behavior right now."
Male 2: "Alright! Alright, Ms. Hemric! Quit playing. I'm gonna be good now."
I love the power I have over some of my students. I just wish all of them had great parents at home so that all it took was a threat of a phone call home to get their attention and behavior to change in class.

Not Me Monday

I did not get told by the cafeteria lady today that she could not give me one packet of ketchup because she was almost out and needed to save it for the kids.

I did not then send a student back in to get ketchup for me only to have him return empty handed.

I did not send another student in to get me ketchup and I did not instruct her to not tell the lunch lady it was for me.

This did not lead the lunch lady to write "NO KETCHUP. DO NOT ASK." on the message board outside the serving line.

And I of course did not ask another boy, after all of this, to get me ketchup because he heard the outside line had some.

I would never be so spiteful and engage in such childish games, especially over a pack of ketchup.

Count it Down

in 8 weeks,
(only 7 more Monday mornings)
after 6 (times 2) days of review for the EOG
and 5 days of spring break,
once the 4th grading period has ended,
when I have completed 3 more weeks of morning duty,
and after 2 days of math EOG testing,
my 1st year of teaching will be complete!

Thank You, Benchmarks!

January 24th: The last day we had off
March 28th: Teacher work day
April 18th: Spring break begins
June 9th: Summer break begins...almost there...

I wrote this post at the beginning of January when I thought I was done with "normal" work weeks. We had just gotten back from Christmas break and only had 5 months left of school. Five months, that's nothing. Well, it has been a loooong two months that I think feels like 5 months. Monday we have a teacher work day. I am SO excited! And I am going to be even more excited when April 18th gets here. I know you (Kelly) don't want to hear teachers complain about not having days off. We do get the summers off after all. But, this is not me complaining; this is me just being really excited for a break! It's nice to mix things up every once in a while. Yes, I could take a day off, but it ends up being more work to do that. So, I'll endure three more days and then enjoy my Monday, which I will be taking off. And then, I'll begin my countdown to spring break.

I will say the students have been really good these two months. The summer seems a long way off and there are tough and frustrating days, but overall I really haven't had anything to complain about. I am so thankful everyday that I work with people who enjoy teaching and don't sit around and complain all the time. Schools with teachers who hate their jobs are not fun places to be.

Today and tomorrow are benchmark testing days aka some of the best school days ever for teachers. I won't get on a rant about standardized testing and how ineffective and inaccurate they are. I will take my hour and a half of planning in the morning and then the silence of 20 students testing for two hours after that and will get a ton of work done. And then, I will enjoy my weekend and not spend it planning lessons! Today, I will be grateful for these crazy tests as I am tired and ready for my day off. Next week, when I am called in to the principal's office to discuss why my students aren't proficient on these tests, I will not be so grateful. Until then...blissful silence...

and then there were these...

I really hate pi

I am really scared of pi

I ate you. Ha ha!

NB

Pi, you equal three

One four and you make my core

Sore and want some more

AL

Pie you are so good

I like you in the morning

You bring out my hood

TW

Pi-ku or Pie-ku??

Pie or pi, which one??

Pie is creamy and yummy

Numbers are in pi

DK

Pi, you're a letter

You are also a number

But, I like pie too!

JT

I like pies sooo much

Apple and key lime are good

Yummy yummy yum

TO

You confuse me, pi

I like the pie you can eat

I don't like you, pi

IC

Pi is a number

The biggest number ever

It really tastes good

JO

One pie tastes real good

The other is an number

Why can't they combine?

BH

A Pi-em

3 - Pi is large
1 - Number
4 - That's what it is
1 - Circle
5 - Is what it goes with
9 - It is the circumference divided by the diameter
2 - It's pi
6 - A very, very large mathematical number
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3 - No taste! Weird
1 - Numbers?
4 - Why aren't you yummy?
1 - 3.14?
5 - Pie comes in many flavors
9 - Blueberry, Pumpkin, Apple, Cherry, so very, very, very good!
2 - Not you!
6 - All I see are infinite numbers.
5 - Your crust isn't browned and...
3 - You are weird.
5 - Instead of filled with flavor,
8 - You are filled with MANY numbers to come
9 - Pi, you are very different; one of a kind.
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