May 6, 2016

 I'm so tired, my thoughts are escaping me.

This morning one of the third grade classes came in for their normal lab time. They came in quietly, just like usual, and then they all started singing me Happy Birthday. That was pretty cool. Then the teacher gave me a succulent and a stack of letters that the kids had written for me. I read through them after the left and some of them were really funny.

A few other people throughout the day wished me a happy birthday but that was it. I actually had more teachers and staff wish me a happy birthday on Facebook, only one of which also did it in person. I found that interesting. But I was totally happy with just the third grade thing. Just the right amount of attention. Ever since the year when the cutout of me was made and everyone dressed like me, I have been a little worried about something happening. That was a really cool birthday but I like the more low-key thing.

I had random groups of kids testing throughout the day as well as a few regular classes in the lab. I spent the rest of my time working on the card for the fifth grade class. Every year the teacher and her class make a card to give out to the teachers and staff. She has me scan and print it for her but I always edit the card as well to make it look a little better, like clean up the coloring outside the lines and things like that. I wanted to do something enjoyable/productive with my birthday and that fit the bill. I was even able to finish it by the end of the day. Or maybe slightly after the end of the day. I sent it to the teacher and she approved so on Monday I should be able to start printing them off. I think I'll do it using the printer in the library because the new color printer in the lab has a tendency to bend the corner of pages as they print.

Other work things. The school choir, which was out on tour all day, had a performance back at the school at the end of the day. It was pretty good but you could tell they were all really tired after the long day of the tour. There were a lot of yawns and a bunch of them were sitting down in between songs.

Last night someone used a magic marker to color on the picnic table and wrote several inappropriate words on the building. Turns out the building graffiti was done by two second graders, one of whom is brand new to the school. He definitely picked the wrong crowd to hang out with. The picnic table was done by a kindergartener. She had found the marker and gave it to the boys after she colored on the table. When she went home she told on the boys but neglected to mention her graffiti. Her mom gave a belt to the mom of one of the boys, who then spanked him with it. Not too long ago this same kindergartener accused a second grader of hitting her and her mom threw a huge fit about it, only to find out later she was lying. A week ago she accused the new third grader (whose brother was involved with the graffiti) of hitting her. The third grader had been put in charge of walking the kindergartener home until the alleged incident. That didn't sound anything like the third grader and after a lot of talking it came out that the third grader had hit the kindergartener but only after the kindergartner had repeatedly pinched the third grader and refused to stop. This is the kindergartener who is repeating kindergarten because on top of having a horrible home life situation last year, did poorly in school. She is such a nice little girl but it seems we have reached the point where her home life is catching up with her and she is turning into the inevitable person that has been created by her early experiencing. It is sad to witness.

For dinner tonight we went to the Chinese buffet and it was delicious. I had two big plates of food and amazingly didn't feel that bad afterward. It was a birthday miracle. After dinner we went home and had cake with orange cream sherbet. I then opened my cards and the illustrated Harry Potter book I bought myself and had my mom wrap. I followed up the cake and sherbet with some of the homemade pitas and hummus my sister made me. That was definitely too much food but the pitas and hummus are so good. I couldn't resist.

I didn't do anything else with the rest of my night. Tomorrow I need to go through the group paper and hopefully add in some of my presentation script. I also need to write my reflection paper for my other class. That is due Sunday. It is supposed to be a maximum of three pages, so manageable, I just need to do it, which is always the problem.

Cut to a short time later. I actually did something tonight. I had a thought and checked my class page and saw that the peer evaluations for the group project were due tonight. So I did that. I gave everyone full points. It was stressful at times but I think a lot of that was self-imposed and by the end of it we had all contributed and I think did a decent job. Hopefully our grade reflects that and hopefully no one decided to throw anyone else under the bus. Or at least me under the bus.