School's out for summer...

And the first accident out front of my house of the summer:

Watermelon

End of the year tests are over, text books are all turned in and lockers have been cleaned out.  We are in the final days.

When one of the science teachers begged out of the watermelon squish and I was asked if I wanted to take her place, I figured why not.

So my classes spent Friday out on the lawn wrapping rubber bands around watermelons until the exploded.  Messy fun.  And science, logic and planning involved.

Only one of my 6 classes won the race and exploded their watermelon before any of the science classes.  But even the losers had fun spiking their rubber band wrapped watermelons on the ground and watching them explode.  Plus, they got to eat whatever parts were still edible.

The end of the school year may be stressful at times, but they also have their fun times.

The end is near!

Lagoon with the 9th Graders tomorrow.

Yearbook signing on Wednesday.

Thursday: last day of school.

Woo-hoo!

‘Tis the season…

that time to post here is rare for me.

18 days of school left, and everything was pushed back several weeks because of the fire and being unable to use the auditorium, so I have even less time than usual. And I’m more exhausted than usual.

See ya on the other side.

Not that I’m counting or anything, but…

Summertime? Not quite yet.

For most of the teachers in Granite School District, summer started Friday right after school. Not so much for me. I had to get up early yesterday (Saturday) to return the stage and tablecloths we rented for graduation. I've done it every year for the last 3 years, so no big deal. But it still goes on. monday and Tuesday I'll be in meetings all morning with the Math teachers from the high school, junior highs and elementary schools that feed into that high school. It's called Vertical Teaming, I think I mentioned it in a previous post. The whole idea is for us to get togther and work on providing a cohesive learning experience for our students from elementary through high school. We did it when I was at my school out in Magna, and I found it to be very useful.

Anyway, even though I am all for it, it does mean that my week of doing nothing but watching CSI DVDs won't start until Wednesday.

For whom the bell tolls.....

At about 7:45 this evening Granite High's vice principal rang the bell signaling the end of the graduation ceremony. Thus endeth Granite High School.

The last 2 years we have held the ceremonies outside on the football field, and since we wanted to this one last time we spent the day watching the weather to see if it was going to rain, it was cloudy and threatening wetness from the very beginnning. Around 3:00 the principal, two other teachers and I went to the National Weather Service web site and checked out the most current conditions. Huge cell of rain to the west, another huge cell to the north and a bit to the east. Nothing over us and nothing to the south. And it looked like the weather was working northward. Good, but things can quickly change from south to north, so we kind of asked God to keep our ceremony dry. Well, God's got a sense of humor because it was dry as a bone. But as the principal mentioned in her speech (ad libbed) we forgot to mention wind. And there was a lot of wind. Blew down the flowers. Knocked over the flags. All fixed before the ceremony, but what we couldn't fix was the caps being blown off, the book of speeched being blown page to page, every speaker lost their place at at least one point in their speech. But nonetheless, it went off great. And I'm exausted.

This is it....

The final day of 103 years of Granite High School, the second high school in the Salt Lake Valley. Channel 2 news has us closed down already, I just saw on their newscast that we closed our doors yesterday. Hmmm, maybe I should believe them and not go in today. Yeah. My principal would kill me.

Anyhoo, as of 11:30 today I will no longer be a high school teacher, I will rejoin the ranks of the junior high teacher. Which is ok with me, since at any other high school in my district teachers have a crapload of after school activities that they are all responsible for. Coach this, that club, dances, concerts and plays, oh my! Bleah! So, chapter 4 of my teaching career comes to a close, and chapter 5 starts Monday morning at 9am when all the math teachers from the elementary schools, junior highs meet with the math teachers from the high school we all feed into. It's called Vertical Teaming, and helps coordinate the skills students learn from one level to the next. I did this in chapter 2 of my career with the junior high and high school math teachers out in Magna.

I expect it will be an interesting day today. I'll let you know.