May 9, 2013

Good news. I found a somewhat recent backup of my Minecraft save files so I didn't lose my big hedge maze or giant TARDIS. I lost the progress I recently made on the starry sky above the swimming pool but I can live with that. I also lost the most recent house I built, which I was really proud of, but again, the TARDIS and the maze are safe.

Today was pretty much non-stop. I had a group of kids come to the lab this morning to finish their MAP test from yesterday. They were cutting into the second graders lab time so as soon as they were done testing I went and found the second graders. They were also making Wordles for their mothers for Mother's Day, like the other second grade class, so I was constantly walking around the lab helping them. Getting them into the right browser, making sure they were using the right formatting, checking their spelling, retyping their stuff if something went wrong because they didn't have much time and they type like second graders, and helping with the colors and layout of the final product. I enjoy helping kids in the lab so it was fun.

After lunch there was more testing. The one test scheduled was for fifth grade but I also had to fourth graders and a first grader finishing tests. The first grader I had to go and get. She's usually a handful and a half because she hates testing and she takes forever. But today, for the first time all year, she was actually well behaved. The best part was when she called me over because she was trying to solve the problem “82+13=__” and she didn't have enough fingers. It was hilarious. I told her she had a pencil and paper so she should use that to write out and solve the problem. Rather than writing out the numbers, however, she proceeded to make a whole bunch of hash marks. She went through it several times and each time when she got to 39, her next number was 50. Completely ignoring the 40s. Despite all of that, her final answer ended up being 94. Amazingly so freaking close.

There was an assembly this afternoon for the high school pops choir. The last time I saw them I was in grade school and seemed so old. Now they all just look like kids. It's weird. And the performance was not that great. They had a lot of energy but the dancing could have been better, and they didn't really project their voices well, so if I didn't recognize the basic melody of their songs, I would have had no idea what they were singing. But they are kids. And I couldn't have done half of what they did.

After the assembly I had the kindergarteners in the lab and then I followed them halfway back to their room so I could stop off at the book fair in the library. My mom wanted to get a book so she picked that out and then I found a book. This happened right before the kids were announced who got to pick out a free book, which created a bit of chaos, so I ended up standing quietly by the checkout area for a bit before I was noticed and got to pay for the books.

When I got back to the lab I started to scan all the class photos from this year because the receptionist wanted to make them a bit smaller and then put them on the front of the giant card she made for the retiring lunch lady. I managed to get all the pictures scanned, printed, and cut out by sometime close to 4:30PM. Not too bad I guess.

On my way home I finally deposited the check I got for mileage reimbursement for the volunteer thing, and the two dollar check I got for the difference when I exchanged my winter coat. Only a few months late on both of those.

I ate a snack when I got home, eventually had dinner, and then went to see the new volunteer kid. It was a typical half-hour visit. Trying to get into a conversation with him is like pulling teeth. He's a fan of the one word response. I asked him about his entire school day, what he did in each class, what he did when he got home (took a nap until I called at seven o'clock), how things were going at the foster home, how the job hunt is going, and if he is looking forward to summer. The foster home is going well, the job hunt is not, and he is looking forward to summer.

During our last visit I got a mango peach limeade. Tonight I got an orange cherry limeade. It wasn't great. I immediately wanted to brush my teeth. It was way too sweet.

Tonight I printed off a rebate thing for my sister and also the return label for the AverMedia LGP so I can hopefully mail that back tomorrow. It is late but I am going to sew in the ends on the potholders I made so that I can give them to the first grade teacher tomorrow. I still need to come up with what I want to write in a note for her. But I'll put some thought into that tomorrow when I'm not so tired.