melt: theme song for ice cream and crayons and young children made of wax

(quick update! i had to put the fish up for a few days because they're the coolest! please feel free to feed them by left clicking!)
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (that is a sigh of relief-had it been frustration, it would have been capitalized). last call for summer camp! aaaaand DONE!

i did score some great extras to use in my classroom, though! i LOVE posterboard and chart paper!! i am pretty certain that my car is exponentially heavier because of all the paper! of course, when i got home, my hands were full bringing things into my apartment because i had some perishables (heat advisory until 8pm-boo).

i only need one melted crayon art-piece for my simile example-this is why i brought up all crayons and markers (i probably ought to look through and see if there is anything else

not only was today our last day of summer camp, but we had a field trip to top it off! we went to the library downtown and we had an illustrator and a student author speak to our group. the illustrator was interesting! if you've ever read the book esperanza rising or gracias the thanksgiving turkey, joe cepeda is the author, and he was phenomenal! he has illustrated many children's books and he actually wrote and illustrated the book swing, which he read to us-EXCELLENT book to read to your students!!

i picked up some great drawing/writing tips for our students! they don't know it yet, but they should be very excited! i'm gonna' make authors of them yet!!

SWING

as you may have noticed, i did not include the other author's name because i was not impressed (so instead of wasting time and space on her, i'm wasting space explaining why i did not write about her...hmm).

and we got back later than usual. i still had to get all of my stuff together and ready to go-i was SO hoping to get out before 4:45 so that i wouldn't have to play 'parking-lot-chicken' with parents picking up their "car kids." well...i didn't have any parking lot problems because i didn't get everything cleaned up and packed up until 5:05. ugh. (i went the extra mile and clorox wiped all of the desks...better than i found them).

it just crossed my mind that if i have to change out my car for another, i'm going to have to unload all of that junk...i need to look at the cut-off date again and pray that i have until the beginning of school so that i can unload it there and not have to carry it up and down these 3 flights!!!

here's hoping that your summer gets cooler and you don't feel like a melted crayon screaming to get out of the car!
julie

rigorous coloring with willie nelson's wanna be

i agree with john stossel that if people don't know what the debt ceiling is and what the current issues are, nor understand where our country is fiscally, then they should not vote.

well today we culminated and our event reached its peak, now we have two days to do...hmm..rigorous coloring? perhaps create some amazing spinners? oh, don't worry, we'll keep it rigorous whatever we do! (actually we do have some probability and writing left).

as i went around the school and looked around at some of the displays, this one particularly caught my eye. it was about cultures:

russia-wine? i thought it was vodka...and last i knew, that is NOT a wine glass sweetie, it's a martini glass...the teacher might want to clear that up for the first grade student...? and i might add this little fact, when it's a martini glass, there is a huge difference between half full and half empty...

then we went upstairs and the students were performing their 'wax museum' in which they had created backdrops of texas 'heroes'...or perhaps we should have named it 'texas heroes and some other losers who were born here'. one of the little girls said, "i am like willie nelson because i like country music and i have long hair." and i thought to myself, 'honey, you are NOTHING like willie...you don't have a bandana.'

interestingly enough, i was asked if i was bilingual and wanted to interview for a position at the school where i was doing summer school today by a lady who was in my AVID training. bahaha-i like the school i'm at, the leadership and the journey we're on as a school too much to make any kind of switch no matter how pretty their school is!

goodnight, and may you glass be more than half full!
julie

they must've coined the phrase 'melting pot' in dallas during a similar heat streak

speaking of heat streak, it's so hot i almost feel like streaking. ok dallas! really? 105? c'mon, 24 days in a row over 100 and counting? whose idea was it to try to beat a heat record? dummies. sara haze must've lived in dallas when she wrote her song 'melt into you'.
well, today was the last day for my students to work on their backdrop for their culminating event-which will be tomorrow. so this morning we discussed what the word culminating means for about 10 minutes. i'm such a vocabulary person, i think my kids hate it. (but wow, do they ever sound smart!) now remember, i said they are finished-i did NOT say they were amazing.

as for the nfl lockout- my opinion of sports players goes down every time they do something like this. i remember when they had the baseball strike back in 94-95, i was frustrated because as it is they make so much money...i didn't watch again for about 15 yrs (last year when the rangers were in it). it will take a lot to win me over-they are so spoiled and act like sports divas.

don't really care much about amy winehouse, but she was born in 1983, which is a year i remember well-great michael jackson year and the year we moved to costa rica! so i know that was really random, it was on the news just now.

so chaco has this thing he does when he gets excited about something (mainly when it's playing fetch with his squeaky toy). i'm including a video because it's ridiculous. watch his little lower lip while he's trying to maintain composure:

the part you are missing that you cannot see from this view is his little tail wagging 50 hundred mph (i realize that 50 hundred is merely 5000, but since it's an exaggeration, that's still awfully fast).

oh, and if you haven't heard, the chilean miners' ordeal is going to become a film. hmm. spoiler alert: they live. as if we hadn't seen enough of it on t.v. weird things- during that time, i randomly mentioned to a friend that one of my coworkers was from chile. and the response was: oh, does she know any of the miners? (??? really?)

 dear dallas, you're a hot mess...stop this ridiculous insanity with the heat. no one likes it. no one.
sincerely,
julie

monday tuesday wednesday thursday saturday saturday sunday

alrighty then...i love it when friday feels like a saturday and then i realize that it really is friday and i get another saturday tomorrow! truly exhilerating! so, dallas isd, if you are listening, i would be all in for 4 day work weeks if that would help (not that it's even on the table, but if it were, you'd have my vote!)

today has been a lazy day for us. not that we're complaining! i mean, i got first place in a word game (and that's a big deal!)

ok, it was low-scoring, but in all fairness, there were only 215 possible combinations!

i've also been getting some of my summer reading done. if you are a teacher this book is a must read!!

excellent book-easy read, but it changes the way i look at my teaching

so...next week is our last week of summer school and the designers of the program planned a field trip for to go to a library on the last day. and the teachers are required to go chaperons. the last thing i want to do on our last day is take a bunch of students to a library where they are supposed to be quiet and somewhat respectful, but the worst part is that it's at the end of the day, so we cannot work on things we need to do to finish up. bad idea. boo. but summer school is over!! then meetings start back up on the 9th-ugh. too bad the weather is so hot! it really makes it unfun (new word) to even step outside.

we talked about doing another 4th grade lunch, so i might fix something (that way i know i'll enjoy it). perhaps a crockpot dish so that it stays warm and delicious. pulled pork? meat loaf? chicken?

not much of consequence today-have a great weekend!
julie

yes, you CAN be patriotic in the bathroom

i'm sure students like it when their day is interrupted by strange happenings, so today was a blast because the dental people came in to show them how to brush their teeth! for me, interruptions are my nemesis. i despise them because we never finish the projects we started! boo.
then we had a clown who spoke more spanish than english and his wife translated half of the show...played a couple of silly games and he only really looked like a clown bc he painted his hair blue and had some face makeup. he felt the need to yell and play loud music and i think he was trying to act like don francisco from sabados gigantes. and thank GOD my class did not win the snow cones because i was so ready to get out!

he's not the bozo i grew up with with the silly voice

today was also our 'friday,' so we had our 4th grade meal, and one of the gals brought enchiladas. well, i will be honest, i never really thought i was picky about food. maybe i am a little picky. i like food that tastes good. i brought the salsa (which is the marketside-i've mentioned it before, it is so good!) and that made it somewhat palatable. they were red, red (paprika or chili powder, and too much of it-i was going to take a pic, but it might have been too obvious). but the store bought german chaocolate cake? now THAT was money!

probably the highlight of my day was again in the teacher's bathroom-i looked up and saw the toilet paper rolls and it made me proud to be an american and pictures of a couple of very patriotic friends floated through my mind and i knew they would be proud.

look closer-it's washington crossing the delaware..only it didn't look like washington, it looked a little like van halen with a hat on (made in the u.s.a., new york)

  i guess that's a good segue to the simple solution. i mentioned that bruno was peeing in all the wrong places. well, i got tired of having to spray with enzyme cleaner and scrub-so...i thought about doggy diapers, but then i remembered what gigi, my coworker at school had said about one of her boys, and i found the 'simple solution.'

i put it on him yesterday afternoon for the first time and he was kinda' stumbling around-i'm not sure if his peepee helps him keep balance or what, but i felt a little bad for him, and so i took it off.

i mean, i can imagine it would be uncomfortable-on the package it said to 'cover his masculinity.' i suppose that's more academic sounding than 'cover his peepee.' (i've never had to refer to that before, so i'm on a learning curve). i did put it back on before we went to bed because he wouldn't go potty before bed and i didn't want to risk it (i could tell he wasn't super comfortable because he would get up and move around and change positions all night long). it worked because this morning when we got up, he went potty when i put him on his pad. it's going to be a long couple of weeks!

but on the up-side, he has been a bit more spunky and not as melancholy and eeyore-ish (from winnie the pooh), so that makes me feel a little better.

life is a circus-just keep an eye on the loud, spanish-speaking clowns (and all other clowns as well!)
jules

don't forget your baby suit!

ok, not gonna' lie, i think summer school is draining me more this year than last year. it's the kids, the program and i really think it's things here at home as well-which i didn't realize until today. today i was looking at some texas brochures (made by kids) and i thought it would be great to share them with you!

i picked this one because i thought it might be a relevation (yet perhaps not quite accurate) i liked the 2nd largest state EVER?!?! (it was the ever that makes it inaccurate in case you weren't certain).

don't forget your baby suit when you go to the beach! (i'm sure she's been wondering for most of her life why this thing is called a baby suit, i need to enlighten her and do a little 'splainin')

the kids are great with me- i believe in instilling the fear of God (and ms. robinson). well, i've had issues in the afternoon because when i leave another person comes into my classroom and teaches dance babysits. and when i come in every morning the desks are not in place and there are chairs spread all over the room. i think it bothers me a little bit because i learned that you should always leave things better than you found them! (thank you k2!)

apparently my kids aren't in my room in the afternoon this week- a different grade is, and from what my kids said, they are rowdy (which was confirmed by our office manager)...so today i stayed in my room a little bit later than normal because one of my very responsible girls said that she told one of the boys not to go in a certain area yesterday (because i had told them so) and the boy said, "well, your teacher isn't here right now, is she?" oh no he didn't... today i may or may not have introduced them to 'the rude child's worst nightmare.' they had zero respect for the man in charge. yes, i butted in a few times to get them in line. when i walked back in, the guy was trying to teach them the dance and there were 5 or 6 kids sitting around talking, drawing, etc and one of them was sitting in the chair behind my desk-if you are a teacher, you understand that the desk is a sacred, private piece of furniture, and what's on that desk is of a confidential manner. i'm pretty sure my eyes must have held the look because he was up and dancing before i even had to say anything. 

i was a little embarrassed in the bathroom because after i went in, i heard the all too familiar voice, "in 15 minutes or less, you can save..." and i looked over in the corner, and there he was-thinks he's so cute.

but he was an imposter-it wasn't even a real good accent-he sounded more indian/baliwood.

and i'm back to trying to retrain bruno on the potty issue. it's a little different than when my parents potty trained me (not that i remember, but i'm guessing they didn't offer me a twinkie or a chocolate chip cookie every time i went to the kiddie-toilet...although i noticed on a friend's fb that she has been giving special treats to her kiddo)...and i'm pretty sure that when i accidentally had an accident (redundant..not changing it) my mom didn't throw a hanger across the room to get me to stop mid-stream. that may or may not have happened yesterday (bad mama...but it's because i was in the bathroom and when i yelled his name, he just kinda' looked at me as if to say,'whaaaaat?')

and tonight i made a difficult decision. my dad called and i had to let him know that i wasn't going to be able to make it up to branson (i have been looking forward to this since oh..march-ish, if you'll remember i wanted to go to silver dollar city with david, hollie and the kids and mom and dad, and i may have invited shea to come play since she was going to be in the area anyway!) i just think the boys have been stressed and with bruno on meds and just getting his molars out...i cringe at the idea of driving them up and then making them stay in a kennel (visions of them cowering in a corner while the other dogs bang on the jail cell bars and yell mean things about the shower..)

anyhoo, that was my big adventure for the summer. boo.

and i was informed that tomorrow someone from the program is coming in to evaluate me. guess what no pdas, so guess what...big. deal.

if the baby suit fits, wear it...(because bathing suits cost a lot these days)
julie

interrupting the nap-my turn!

today the boys were not happy with me because of the soccer game. they were trying to take a nap and i kept interrupting them with claps, shouts, etc. (at one point chaco was shuddering because we usually don't get that much excitement in our home).paybacks for all the times i try to take a nap and chaco somehow finds his hidden squeaky toy right as i doze off.

i was very proud of the USA WOMENS TEAM! they played an amazing game and they should be proud of their dominance in the game-there were just some small details and opportunities that were missed. it's ok, the olympics are coming!

on another note, today i realized that it is super difficult to give both dogs a bath at the same time-it's not so much during the bath, it's the after-trying to get them dry before they trounce around the house! chaco is scared to  death of the hair dryer, and bruno just wants to run around and roll around.

he looks a bit pathetic sitting there-he had been hiding under his towel

after they are mostly dry, as soon as i turn of the hair dryer, the boys have a routine...it makes me laugh, so i let them run and jump on the bed-they get giddy and start giggling, "look at me! look at what i can do!"

it's hard to catch the action, but there's rolling and tumbling and trying to tunnel under the folds.

well before the game came on, i decided to try something new to see if it would help (the boys have been trained to use their potty pad, i've mentioned this before, but recently they have been  behaving badly, so i decided to try something). check out the video to see how chaco responded (disclaimer, their food and water is out in the living room because i put up the child gates so i could keep an eye on them to make sure they aren't doing things they aren't supposed to):

forgive me, i took the video sideways. but perhaps i can find another use for the spray... a trick or something, because it's pretty obvious that it doesn't work for training him to pee on his pad...or maybe it does, but my dog just likes to roll around in filth.

i'm trying to figure out exactly what to do with the boys this weekend because i'm going to branson to see my parents and my brother, hollie and their family; and the place my parents stay doesn't allow animals. grr. so i've looked at a couple of different options, but i'm not sure exactly what we're going to do.

alright, hope everyone is able to shake off the gloom and despair of losing the world cup-mean girls cheered me right up!
julie

p.s. just saw a commercial on abc family for cyberbu//y-a family original about 'standing up to digital drama'
pss. if you haven't checked lately, hollie has some really cute summer fun creations! click here