Feeling violated

My classroom was broken into last night. I feel violated. I wasn't planning on going to school today, after all, it's Saturday and who wants to be at school? I had this feeling that I needed to go to school, and boy, am I glad that I did! The police were at school earlier in the morning because a bunch of cars had been broken into. :( They didn't check the rest of school, so when I arrived mid-morning I was the first person to realize that the middle school had been broken into. I don't like being the first person to discover something like this. I was shaking like a leaf and I'm sure that if I had looked in a mirror my face was pale (like it can get any paler than what it is now!)

They didn't take too much, thankfully! From my room I am missing my computer projector and the 15 foot cable that I had running from my computer to the projector. They didn't take the computer, weird, right? They took the crappy computer speakers that I had on the projector cart. They tried to take the VHS/DVD player, but since I had mounting squares underneath it, it was too much work. They tried to get into my filing cabinet; thankfully I had it locked! From my desk they took a half eaten bag of M&Ms, a box of granola bars, two rolls of duck tape, my left handed and right handed scissors, and all of my pens and pencils. Random, right? Honestly, who take pens and pencils from a desk drawer. I had a couple of bucks in my desk, but they didn't take that. They also didn't take my nice computer speakers. I'm not upset that they went through my stuff, but what gets me is that they went through my student's lockers! Honestly, leave my students out of this! The protective "mama" in me came out. So, I'm planning on having my kids go through their things Monday morning. Hopefully nothing is missing! If it is, I'll add it to my list for the insurance company.

I feel (maybe it's just me) that my room received a lot of damage...at least it's how it looked. There was stuff EVERY WHERE! I had glass all the way up to the front of my classroom! Crazy, right?!? My classroom wasn't the only one broken into, and I wasn't the only one who had stuff taken out of it.

Funny story about the break in. So, our middle school is a bunch of portable buildings, and our hallway is an outside deck. On the deck we have a pop machine with a sensor light that turns the pop machine on when someone walks by. Apparently, the people who were breaking into the classrooms thought that it was a camera and took a cinder block to it. They also attempted to break open the pop machine in order to get the money. Crazy! I thought that it was funny!

I'm trying to look at the bright side of things, and not take it personally. Hopefully my students won't take it personally either. At least this way I get them to clean out their lockers! :) Yay for getting a clean classroom! :) Do you think it will last for six weeks when school is out for the year? I'm thinking not, but one can hope right?!? I'm also thinking that things can't get any worse than what they already are.

Connect the dots

Remember when we were kids and Mom gave us an activity book with connect the dots in them? Sometimes it took us until we were finished with the numbers before we figured out what we were making, other times (especially as we became older) we knew what the picture was even before we started.

Lately I've been feeling like my life is just a mass of dots that I somehow need to figure out how to connect and figure out what the picture is. Right now I'm struggling to connect the dots together on my health. I'm still no where near figuring out what the picture is suppose to look like. GRR!

I had another set of blood work done last week. I was really hoping that something would show up and explain why I've been having constant headaches for the past six months. The only thing the blood work revealed was that my vitamin D levels are finally back up to normal. :) Its really frustrating! I wish that I could just feel better!

Okay, enough whining. There are only six weeks of school left! Yikes! The school year is just flying by! My middle schoolers started their HUGE Geography project a couple of weeks ago and are coming along nicely. It's always interesting to see what country they pick to research. Some kids pick the typical countries while others pick some of the most random countries, which is great! I LOVE it! :)

Eight...

Only 8 more weeks...its hard to believe! So much to do, and so little time. Since there is 8 weeks of school left, that means I only have 9 weeks left to study for the GRE. :S I'm looking forward to being done with it, and starting my grad school application.

I came across an awesome quote the other day by Martin Luther...

"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."

I think I can, I think I can...

Some days I feel like the little engine that could. I find myself constantly saying..."I think I can, I think I can." There is only 2 weeks left of school until spring break...maybe that's why I'm feeling this way. I'm not doing anything special, I'm going to mom and dad's, which will be nice. I'm looking forward to seeing them again. I'm also looking forward to doing nothing for a week. I'm contemplating not taking my GRE study book with me and refuse to study while I'm on "vacation."

I decided that I didn't like not having internet at home, so I saved up at bought a MacBook. I LOVE it! I was a little nervous about having to learn a new operating system, but I'm finding it very easy to use...maybe because it seems "left-handed" to me. I dunno.

There isn't a whole lot going on here by me. The weather is wonderful! Hopefully the weather stays nice for tulip time next month and that the tulips don't bloom too early.

Contract were due this week. I signed on for another year...sorry guys, you're suck! haha. I don't know how many more years I'll continue to teach middle school. I am hoping that someday soon I'll be able to teach high school full time, or teach a combination of middle school and high school. I had that my first year, and I really liked it. There are going to be a lot of changes taking place at school for the next school year. It will be interesting to see how everyone reacts to it...I myself am slightly apprehensive, but I think it's only because I'm not a huge fan of change, even if it is a good type of change. We've already hired our new high school principal. Funny story, we both applied for the same high school teaching position three years ago, and he was offered the contract, and now we get to work together, just at a different school. We're in the process of hiring a new 6th grade teacher. It will be different not having Sherrie at school next fall. Like I said, a lot of changes are taking place at MVC. Hopefully we'll be able to handle all of the changes with grace and love. There is going to be an adjustment period, so we're going to have to learn to be patient.

Well, that's all of the news here. Drop me a line and let me know whats happening with you!

So, it's been a while...

So, I'm bad at this.
It's exam week! Yikes! I had my 7th graders freak out this morning, just to help them relax. I think that I might do it before our Lit exam tomorrow morning too. All of my exams are written! I just need to print them all. Friday I'll be grading like mad in order to get them done.
Right now the 8th graders are ACTUALLY STUDYING for their geography exam on Thursday. This is a true miracle!
I still recovering from walking pneumonia. I'm starting to feel better...I'm still sleeping a ton. I go back to the dr next week Friday for my 4 month headache check-up. Since I've started taking the different vitamins the headaches the last month have gone WAY down! :) This makes me very happy, and my students too! ;)
Well...that's about the extent of the news in my boring life.