November 20, 2013

And I didn't finish that damn storybook. The finish line remains elusive. I came very close to finishing the page I was working on but it is filled with checkered white spots with occasional typed words through them, so there is a lot of work to be done. And the page after this one, which is the last one so that is good, also has the checkered pattern, which is bad. I became spoiled on the pages that were fully colored and didn't require any erasing on my part.

I was productive in other areas. Or one area. That being the box of stuff the second grade teacher gave me to copy/laminate/cut/staple and what have you. After I ran the first two packets through the copier I vaguely remembered a stapling feature on the copier. Would have been nice to remember earlier but it did save me from having to staple the next two packets. I also figured out how to change the density of the background (or something) so I could copy a tan piece of paper and have it come out white, not dark gray. One of the other things in the box was to cut out twenty-one big, brown, construction paper circles. Rather than trace the example one on twenty-one pieces of construction paper, I measured the example, made a circle in Word, cut the construction paper down to size so it would fit through the printer, and printed out a bunch of circles. It made for a much cleaner and uniform end product and I was pretty happy with it.

This morning I helped out with kindergarten literacy centers and a sick kindergartener played with my beard. Because of this I won't be surprised at the cold I wake up with in the morning. During second grade reading groups I managed to avoid physical contact with any sick kids. And not sick kids for that matter. The first group I worked with both did vocabulary stuff; picking a word from a list, writing the definition, a synonym and antonym, using it in a sentence, and drawing a picture of it. The hardest part is the synonym and antonym because I not only have to explain what those words mean, I also have to explain that they should just be single words, not a sentence (which inevitably ends up saying it is not the word they picked). This is made even more hard because most of the words don't have easy synonyms or antonyms. Or at least ones that pop immediately to mind. Words like 'recreation' and 'nominate'. I kept trying to persuade kids to look through the list and pick words that they could already think of synonyms and antonyms for, but that didn't really work. I need to start looking up the words ahead of time so I can better steer them in the right direction.

My second reading group was working on possessive nouns. Those are tricky. Especially because the kids just learned about plural nouns. Well, kind of learned about plural nouns. It was hard trying to convey the difference between the two when they sound the same. The could sail through the parts of the packet where they just had to copy a word and add an apostrophe and an 's' to the end, but they struggled when they actually had to make up their own sentences. I'm glad I already kind of know all this stuff. Learning looks frustrating.

Today we had our Thanksgiving lunch where typical Thanksgiving food is served and parents are invited to eat with their kids (if they pay). It turns into a whole big thing but I was flying under the radar, making copies, when one of the fifth grade teachers (formerly my para friend) walked by and commented about me not getting wrangled into helping. I had honestly forgotten about the whole thing, and I kind of felt bad for not at least offering to help. So I ignored my own hunger and walked down to the gym to see what I could do. And it turned out to not really be anything. I went and made a copies of the adjusted lunch schedule for the principal, I cleaned up a little trash, and then I stood outside and “supervised” lunch recess. Really I just stood there watching kids play. There were several other adults out there, including paras and regular lunch recess supervisors, and a bunch of parents. It was all a bit pointless for me but at least I made the effort.

Chipotle was alright tonight but nothing spectacular. Other than getting a reduced price on my burrito. I think the reduced price is actually the correct price and I usually get overcharged. At the moment I only get rice, beans, and cheese. Which I assume costs less than the regular veggie burrito that would include salsa and guacamole and possibly other things. But there is no shorthand for this on the burrito wrapper so the cashier sees a 'V' and rings up a veggie burrito. Or maybe the reduced price isn't normal and certain cashiers are just nicer about a burritos that happen to lack several ingredients.

Tonight I finished my third owl hat. It is a bit of a Goldilocks hat because it does seem more adult-sized. Not too small or too big. And now I think I'm over the owl hat. After three hats, I get it. Now I need to move on. I found another thing I want to try and knit so that might be my next project. I would also like to try some other knitted hats now that I have kinda-sorta gotten the hang of circular needles. I'm thinking of variations of the owl hat, minus the owl.