August 19, 2009
by Mrs. Dux
August 19, 2009
The students must have had a pretty good day yesterday because
they all returned again today! They were even smiling!
When the bell rang, I collected the homework from yesterday. I am
anxious to read the letters that the students wrote to me. After
that, I collected all of the parent homework which consisted of
forms, forms, and more forms. I want to thank the parents for
getting them back to me so quickly. Every one of the students
brought back their forms. You know what that means??
They all got a treat. I don't know if sugar was the
best way to start the day, but they didn't mind.
The Pledge of Allegiance followed with all of the students signing
the Pledge. One of my goals again this year is to teach sign
language to the students, so this is a start. We will continue to
have sign language class whenever we can.
We continued our "Getting to Know You" activity with the hula
hoop. Students had to talk about the similarities they had
with each other while trying to keep the hula hoop from falling to
the ground. It was quite difficult for many students. I
didn't want to make any of them feel bad, so I didn't even
try. ha ha
Before we knew it, the clock let us know that it was time for our
first block. The students are all mixed up for reading,
science, social studies, and math, so everyone went their own way.
I had my first group of social studies where we did an
activity called "Can You Zooley". It is designed to exercise
our brains to get them back into "school" shape. It took a
lot of hard work, and we barely got started when it was time to
move on to lunch.
After a great lunch I started reading a book called "Peppermints
in the Parlor". We found out that Emily, the main character,
has entered Sugar Hill Hall to live with her aunt and uncle since
her parents died in a boating accident. She came face to face
with two ladies who seem to have taken over her aunt and uncle's
house. One was described as "plump as a pudding with a tiny
lace doily set on a crown of greying hair." The description
reminded us of a loving grandmother. But the other lady's
description was terrifying. "Emily's eyes rose up, up, up,
past the waist of a deadly black skirt, past a gold medallion with
a glittering ruby eye in its center, past a high black collar
coiled around a white, serpent-thin neck, past a chin sharp as an
ice pick, past thin bloodless lips under a pale nose so pinched it
seemed air could never pass through it, and arriving finally at the
meanest, wickedest, evillest pair of eyes Emily had ever seen in
her whole life!" What an author! She really described
with detail. I hope they will enjoy the book since it is one
of my favorites.
The bell rang at 3:20. I couldn't believe the day was over already. Another great day of learning had passed, and we were ready for a little time with family.
