Call Me the Dollar Store

November is about being thankful.  

And this November, I feel like I had more reasons than ever.

A few:

My family

My job

The holiday season

With that being said, here are a few highlights from each of them.

My job

This week, I got a beautiful card from a student.  I opened it and read this message:

Miss Waite, 

I'm so glad I got you!  :)  Thanks for helping me.

You are the bomb!!! :)  
P.S. Thanks.  What's your phone number? (sell)  

P.S.  Please write back

Hahahaha.  How can THAT not make your day?  I mean, what exactly is a fourth grader going to do with my "sell" phone number?

My Family

Thanksgiving break this year may have been one of my favorites.  Ever.  Still not totally sure why.  It didn't dampen my spirits that we had to leave a day late (the Utah "blizzard" actually WAS real in Idaho, closing the roads when my parents were going to leave), that we had to get up at an obscene hour and travel from NV to AZ on Thanksgiving morning in order to make it in time for the food, or that we had to listen to the BYU football and basketball game in the van on AM radio where it was intermingled with some sort of mariachi music...

Nope.  None of those made a dent in my Thanksgiving bliss.

Pre-Thanksgiving Snack

Perhaps it was my nephew, who now sleeps through the night, doesn't have to eat every two hours, and is quite possibly the cutest little boy I've ever been around.  We got a lot of good "Bubs and Tia Lou" time.  I helped him out with his Spanish lessons, was there to celebrate his first birthday (okay, technically they'd already celebrated, but you can never have too many parties), and was able to give him the book My First 100 Farm Words (My personal favorite was the two-page spread on tractors) along farm animal bath toys that squirt water.

Because we were at someone else's house for once, we didn't have to cook or clean up.  We just had to eat.  In the 65 degree weather (be jealous).  Plus, we went shopping Friday and I got to buy cowboy Christmas stuff for my classroom (yes, we have a cowboy themed Christmas tree!).  Nikki made amazing food (as always) which gave me new recipe ideas.  

Quite possibly the most fun of the break was Game Night.

I LOVE Balderdash.  I just do.  I mean, where else are you going to get the movie "Hips Hips Hooray" and fake people into thinking it's about two people in a rest home who enter a dance competition as a way to help them recover from their recent hip replacements?   I think you can see why I won... ;)

After Balderdash, when it was far enough past ALL our bedtimes that we were starting to crack, we pulled out Imagine If...

I'm still deciding whether or not to be offended.  See what you think:

Nikki: Okay, we're talking about Melissa.  If Melissa were a store, would she be:
a) Macys
b) The Dollar Store...

Everyone pauses and starts to laugh.

Nikki: Really, do I have to even read the others?  I think we all know what Melissa is.

Thanks.  Thanks a lot, guys.  I mean, yes, maybe I was the child who hid all her money in the bottom drawer instead of buying candy, and I have been know to frequent a dollar store or two and I may buy everything on sale and I am cheap...but hey....I'm working on it!

We decided if Kelli's life were a movie title, it would be High Anxiety...which rivals The Dollar Store in terms of flattery.  Nevertheless...hers wasn't unanimous.

Kind of like a raccoon, right?

My other favorite part:

Kelli: The word is meerkat.

Melissa: What is a meerkat?

Kelli: An animal.  You know, it has black around it's eyes...(starts acting out what it look like)

Melissa: Oh!  Like that thing on Pocahontas!

Awkward silence for a second

Kelli: That was a racoon....

Melissa: Right......

The Holiday Season

To top it all off, Thanksgiving Break had a great ending.

My parents got to stay an extra day (not so good for them, but I enjoyed it) and we set up Christmas in our apartment.  Because it was after Thanksgiving, I didn't even feel guilty.  

The stockings were hung...

World Hunger, Border Crossers, and Food Drives

To kick off our Thanksgiving service project (a food drive), I decided to do a world hunger activity with my kids at school.  It was a toned down version of the popular hunger banquets.
Based on the world population and percent of world total income, we figured out how our world would look if the population were just my class and wealth were measured in cookies.

Each child got to draw a card and find out where they were born.  The anticipation was high as each drew nervously.  Then, we went out to where we had marked each continent with tape on the floor and they got to go to the country where they'd live.

I announced we'd be having a party, but because some countries had more money than others, they got more.  Here was the breakdown:

CONTINENT/AREA         # of KIDS          TOTAL # of COOKIES
Africa & the Middle East          3                                    1/2 
Asia                                        19                                  9 1/2
Latin America/Caribbean         3                                   1 1/4
North America (US/Canada)      2                                   11
Europe/Other Industrialized      5                                   9 3/4
Nations

After they had their bags of cookies, I told them to eat them and stood back to watch what would happen.  These were my interesting observations:

1. The United States thought they were pretty great and sat down to eat as many cookies as humanly possible, rarely noticing anyone else, except to tell them no if they asked for a cookie or make fun of them.
2. One of the children in Latin America told his classmates he was going to sneak across the border and get some of North America's cookies.  He attempted to cross and got sent back by the kids in North America.
3. The kids in Africa solemnly divided their half a cookie up between all of them, watching and eating every crumb.  They didn't complain, but looked awfully pitiful.
4. The kids in Europe felt a little bit bad as they were near some of the kids in Africa.
5.  Asia was so crowded that the cookies weren't evenly distributed.  Those closest to those with food got the cookies while some got none at all.

As we finished the activity, we came back and learned the actual statistics about our world, world hunger, and even hunger in the US.  They then got to brainstorm what we can do to help.  I had to laugh when one kid said he'd ask his uncle if we could borrow one of his jets to take food down.  I have a feeling I am NOT in Kansas anymore....

It's interesting what you can learn about yourself and the world from watching a group of children.

P.S.  Statistics were based off information gathered in the year 2000.

Fourth Grade Flirting

BEFORE LUNCH
Tall 4th Grader: "Miss Waite, you're too skinny.  You should eat more meat.  And vegetables.  And drink more milk.  And you should grow."

Me: "I'm having vegetables for lunch."

AFTER LUNCH
Tall 4th Grader: "Miss Waite, you seem taller since lunch."

Me: "Yeah?"

Tall 4th Grader: "Yeah, like you maybe grew an inch!"

***********

Wow.....
Those were some GOOD vegetables.

I'm Pretty Good At Setting People Up

I was reading a story during read-aloud today.  The boy and his father had gone to a new state and started a homestead.  The father had returned to get the rest of the family while the boy took care of the new home and crops.  The book then talked about how, when his family arrived, there would be a new member he didn't even know (His mom had had a baby since he'd been gone).

Me: I have a connection.  When I was in Chile, I came home and there was a new member of my family.  My brother had gotten married.

Girl: Did you know her?

Me: Yes, she was actually my roommate.

Other girl: Did your brother know that?!

Me: Oh, he knew!.......I kind of set them up.

Class: Wow!

Me: I'm pretty good at setting people up.

Boy: NO YOU'RE NOT!  You can't even set yourself up!

Other boy: Yeah, and that's the most important one of all.  You should work on that.

All I could do was put my face in the book and laugh.   Thank you.  Thank you for pointing that out so clearly....

Thank you, Pat

I was sitting in church today reflecting on life, when I heard this incredible quotation by Pat Holland, wife of apostle Jeffrey R. Holland.  It is not only good for its content, but somehow means more to me knowing this is from a woman who is married to a man that people are always commenting about.  
"Oh, he's so funny."  
"He always says things so powerfully."  
"He has so much energy."  
"I LOVE him!"  
In life, it can be hard not to play an endless game of comparing and always coming up short somewhere.  


"Our Father in Heaven needs us as we are, as we are growing to become. He has intentionally made us different form one another so that even with our imperfections we can fulfill his purposes. My greatest misery comes when I feel I have to fit what others are doing, or what I think others expect of me. I am most happy when I am comfortable being me and trying to do what my Father in heaven and I expect me to be.

“For many years I tried to measure the oft times quiet, reflective, thoughtful Pat Holland against the robust, bubbly, talkative, and energetic Jeff Holland and others with like qualities. I have learned through several fatiguing failures that you can’t have joy in being bubbly if you are not a bubbly person. It is a contradiction of terms. I have given up seeing myself as a flawed person because my energy level is lower than Jeff’s, and I don’t talk as much as he does, nor as fast. Giving this up has freed me to embrace and rejoice in my own manner and personality in the measure of my creation. Ironically, that has allowed me to admire and enjoy Jeff’s ebullience even more.

“Somewhere, somehow the Lord ‘blipped the message unto my screen’ that my personality was created to fit precisely the mission and talents he gave me. For example, the quieter, calmer talent of playing the piano reveals much about the real Pat Holland. I would never have learned to play the piano if I hadn’t enjoyed the long hours of solitude required for its development. This same principle applies to my love of writing, reading, meditation, and especially teaching and talking with children. Miraculously, I have found that I have untold abundant sources of energy to be myself. But the moment I indulge in imitation of my neighbor, I feel fractured and fatigued and find myself forever swimming upstream. When we frustrate God’s plan for us, we deprive this world and God’s kingdom of our unique contributions, and a serious schism settles in our soul. God never gave us any task beyond our ability to accomplish it. We just have to be willing to do it our own way. We will always have enough resources for being who we are and what we can become.”
(Pat Holland, LDS Women’s Treasury: Insights and Inspiration for Today’s Woman, p. 104)

As I studied a little more, I found another story by her where she admits to spending 25 years feeling guilty for hating to sew, for not being good at it, and for watching other moms make all their children matching dresses to wear to church.  She finally realized, she didn't have to sew to be a good person.  She and her husband also gave a joint address with some interesting thoughts on discipleship and perfectionism.


And so, here's to enjoying all the quirky talents--like funny voices during read-aloud and crazy stories, and knowing how to make quiet people talk and telling lame jokes and being a scheduling/organizational person, and doing hair and making crafts and being adventuresome.  Who cares that I may never actually be able to do anything requiring hand/eye coordination or run a marathon or sew?  Last time I checked, they weren't on the checklist for heaven....

I love my job

School picture 2010

I love my job.
It may be almost unhealthy.
The differences between this year and last are startling.
I'm still in shock.

For example:
Fourth graders think you're cool.
They still all copy Alex when you say something like, "I like the way Alex is sitting quietly."
They write you cute letters.
They pretty much follow the rules.
If they get in trouble they cry instead of talk back.
They don't have too many crushes yet.
If they think you're cute, they write a story during writer's workshop about your fiance getting killed on your wedding day and your dates not showing up to take you out.
They compliment you.
They want to know what's going on in your life.
They think getting called back to Guided Reading is like winning the lottery.
They like you even more when you dress up and act things out.
They will do Reader's Theater and won't even make fun of the two kids who have to get married at the end.
They know they're different but don't make fun of each other too much.
They all want the "cool jobs" like Sheriff and Banker.
They will still clean up every speck in the room trying to find the "Magic Piece of Trash" and pick a prize from the treasure chest.
They don't steal each other's class money, hide each other's stuff, or write about each other on Facebook.
They love all the voices in read-aloud.
They are still happy to make cookies and play BINGO and listen to Disney stories at the class party.
They think multiplication.com and spellingcity.com are rewards.
They are sure that having a room with horseshoes and a lasso makes coming to school fun.

It is odd to think that most of the time, I am happy to go to work.
What's that about?
(Although I will never be happy to get out of bed....)

Landing the Plane

This summer my parents and I went to D.C.  It was an unbelievably fantastic trip which could have been shortened by the murder of a small child on the way there.  Luckily, that tragedy did not occur and I (the potential murderer) am happily teaching 32 small children.  Reassuring?  I know.  That's public education for you.  But let me explain:

Whenever I fly, it is guaranteed that I will get seated by someone who cannot fly normally.  Typically.  Routinely.  The way most people fly.  It is a law, just like I will always, invariably, pick the longest checkout line at the grocery store.  On flights, I end up by the person with a dog who is whining, or the old single teacher who tells her life story as she shares her bag of trail mix or--in this case--the child who makes rational people who truly actually like children begin to want to hurt them.

Our flight to D.C. had gone fairly well.  I was reading a book.  We had eaten our microscopic bags of peanuts and had our cup of juice and were preparing to land.  As the plane began to descend, the child behind me began to scream.  Thinking the child was in pain, the flight attendants rushed over to help.  They gave ice, they showed how to pop ears, they did everything they could think of.  However, this child was not in pain--at least not physical pain.  This child was suffering from the pain of not getting what he (despite the girly scream, exiting the plane revealed our high-pitched friend really was a boy) wanted.  It was likely that never before had this child not had someone buckle to his screams and give him exactly what he wanted.

Through the screams I understood that he wanted to get off the plane and wanted the whole thing to just be over.  His mother was very "patient."  She just let him scream and scream and scream right into what was once my eardrum while calmly saying things like, "See?  You're getting worked up."  She even turned to the baby in her arms and said, "I sure don't like it when your brother screams like that" (as if the baby was going to make him shut up or somehow Screamer would just absorb the message and decide to stop).  Did this mother think she was going to be winning some sort of Parent of the Year Award for staying calm under difficult circumstances?!

My nerves were already frayed when the pilot announced that due to unforeseen circumstances, we would be unable to land for some time yet.  There was one thought in my mind: Either Screamer or I would not make it off the plane alive.  I wasn't sure yet who it was going to be.

I am happy to report that we all made it off the plane--the angry passengers, the extremely annoyed flight attendants, the "patient" mother, the mellow sibling, and Screamer himself.  While I also made it off very much alive, my ears continued to ring through the evening and into the night.

As I reflected on my near career ending flight ("4th Grade Teacher Jailed After Harming Crying Boy on Plane") I realized a few things.  Many of us are little Screamer at times in our lives.  We are all on this flight called Life and as long as it's not too bumpy and it doesn't hurt, we seem to do pretty well.  Every now and then, though, we get some turbulence or even have a long or rough landing and it's hard to make it home.  There are people all around ready to help, willing, trained.  But rather than listen, we just scream.  We don't want to make the situation more comfortable or bearable--we'd rather just whine that we want it to be over, often not realizing that frankly, that is NOT an option.

It is true that some people do better with flying than others.  They seem to get less stressed out, they may handle any pain or discomfort better, or it just may not be as painful for them.  However, everyone on the flight has two options.  Either let the plane fly and go along with it, or scream while it happens anyway.  Either way, that plane is going to take off, that plane is going to do what it has to do, and in the process, that plane is going to get its passengers Home.

I won't tell anyone what to do with their lives but I will say if you are going to scream--you may want to avoid people with a tendency to kill.
;)

P.S.  To anyone who is actually concerned: I never actually considered harming "Screamer."  Just giving him the good old hand-over-the-mouth treatment we've all gotten at least once.