Today I instituted a positive, rewards-based reinforcement system. If they have three days in a row of only two names or less written on the board then we get to go outside for a lesson. If they can extend that to five days of two names or less on the board then they'll get an extra recess.

This morning it seemed to be working but they really just fell apart at lunch time. We ended the day with a LOT of names on the board. Oh well...maybe the good morning they had was a start.

This morning as we were reading "Ramona Quimby, Age 8" together when we came to a part where Ramona and her sister realized that the "pot roast" they were eating was actually tongue, because their family was too poor to buy actual pot roast. We started talking about it in class and they asked me if people really eat tongue. I told them it's not uncommon in Mexican culture and then I tried to make them see how they wouldn't think it was so weird if they'd grown up doing it. I then mentioned that people eat dog in China and Korea. One girl raised her hand and said "I didn't know that dogs had meat in them." Awesome.

Hopefully I won't get trouble for telling her that technically, humans are made of meat as well. It reminded me of the saying "If God didn't want us to eat animals then why did he make them out of meat?"

My kids are so far behind in getting their reading done. They have to read so many books per 9 weeks based on their assessed reading levels. They haven't been keeping up with it very well and it's really going to hurt them on their report cards if they can't catch up. I contacted some parents about it today.

Yesterday I went and bought some new "teacher clothes." No, that doesn't mean denim jumpers with apples embroidered on the upper left chest. Teachers do seem to have some fixation with denim though..I don't know what it is. My grade-level team all decided to buy denim, button-down shirts that we'll all wear on the same day before I got there. So, I'm going to buy one to go along with the group but I'm really not so into denim...except for actual jeans of course.

Teachers are also into forwarding the cheesiest jokes and inspirational chain letters via email..maybe that's not just teachers but I never saw that stuff as much before I started working in schools...anyway, that's a whole other rant. Later.