Catching up!

I've been falling down on my blogging duties! I see it's been nearly a week since my last update!

Here's what's been happening around campus...

Last Saturday B.O.T.H. hosted our Halloween carnival. There was a ton of work put into converting the cafeteria into the carnival and the hallway into a haunted house. Kudos to all the parents and students who put in many hours of work. It was well attended and I think we can officially stamp it a resounding success!

We have had many new students in the last week (7, if my math is correct) and they have been adjusting well. We have had a few move out of the area, so our numbers are remaining relatively constant, just new faces.

On Tuesday night we had Dr. Stolp, the county health officer, come to our school to host the first of several community forums on the H1N1 flu virus. It was very informative and covered a variety of topics related to the flu virus, historical lessons, vaccinations, and the county's response to the H1N1 virus. This virus seems to have a more pronounced effect on young people. Therefore the county is targeting youngsters with their school-based vaccination clinics. The first of these clinics was at Pinecrest school last week. Twain Harte and Black Oak are slated for November 9th.

Coming up this week is the highly anticipated Halloween parade through downtown Twain Harte. I'm told it's tradition for the principal and superintendent to lead the parade (I'm also told the grand tour through downtown lasts about 7 minutes). I've been asking students what they think would be a good costume for me to wear. I've had several suggestions ranging from Michael Jackson to Cinderella. The Cinderella suggestion comes from one of the kindergarten students who continually addresses me as "Mrs. Mayers." Is my manliness being questioned here?

A well-deserved honor

Last Friday I was notified that Mrs. Anderson has been selected as the Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce's Teacher of the Year! She was nominated by Mrs. Olsen, and there will be an official recognition in a few weeks. This is a well deserved award for one of Twain Harte's finest! Way to go Nancy!

Paint!

This morning as I came into the office, I was surprised to see that the peeling paint on Black Oak School had been power-washed away. I knew that the building was slated to get a paint job, but just on Friday I received an email from Dr. Keiter saying the painters would begin prep work on the 26th. Obviously, the painters had come over the weekend and were ahead of schedule. Today a couple of the crew were sanding and continuing the prep work. The painters want to get a jump on things before the weather turns. I had to shoo the crew away from Mrs. Stapp's class as the sanders were quite distracting to the lessons being taught. We had a couple of good showers today that shortened the work day for the painting crew, but I'm sure they will be back soon. It will be a bit of an inconvenience, but it will be nice to get the old school a new coat before winter settles upon us!

Exciting games

I just got back from our first-round game of the 8th grade girls' basketball tournament. It was an exciting game against a tough Jamestown team. We were leading at the start of the game, but Jamestown was tenacious and by halftime they were up by 6 points. The Twain Harte girls remained tough on defense and we slowly whittled the lead down. With about a minute left in the game, we took the lead by one point, and had the fend off the the desperate Jamestown team. We managed to get the ball back and held on for the well-deserved win. Nice job girls! Tomorrow night we take on Soulsbyville in the semi-final game.

Also tonight our sixth grade team took on the team from Columbia, and played well, winning by 10 points. They also continue on in their tournament with a game tomorrow night as well. Good luck to both our teams!

Wet, Windy and Wild!

As with the rest of the state, we are in the midst of a strong storm. The wind is whipping the leaves off the trees, and hurling them across the blacktop, and the rain is falling sideways. Fortunately for us, we are on a half-day schedule due to parent conferences, so this storm won't put too much of a damper on the day. I only hope our power holds out!

On a different note, our 7th grade girls basketball team lost in the first round of the county tournament. I got to the game right as the girls were shaking hands with the other team. The girls were very upbeat and told of their comeback from the 0-20 start. Today our 6th & 8th grade teams play their first games of their tourneys. Good luck girls!

Good Kids

In the last two days I have witnessed a couple of events that really demonstrated how good our children can be.

Yesterday, during the noon league softball game, one of our autistic children, Jason, came out on the field. He was standing in the field and I called him over to me on the sidelines, so as to keep him safe. He then proceeded to head over to the bats, and pick one up and get in the batter's box, jumping ahead of the team that was already up to bat. Since he seemed so eager, I told the pitcher to go ahead and give him a couple of pitches, and assured the team up to bat that this would be a minor detour in the game. The pitcher lobbed one over the plate and Wham! Jason smacked it up the middle and took off to first base. He safely made it, and was hopping up and down with excitement. This is where I became even more proud of the other students. Their encouragement of Jason, and helping him as he ran from base to base as the other batters hit was impressive. The opposing team members would tell him to stay on the base, and when to run, and when he made it home, there was much cheering and high fiving from both teams. When it was Jason's team's time to head out in the field, one of our fifth grade girls took off her mitt, and handed it to Jason. The next time his team was up to bat, they made sure he had a chance to bat again. All of this was of their own doing with no adults telling them they needed to include him.

The second incident I want to share happened today at recess. During the upper grade recess two fifth grade boys, Ricky and Brandon had come down to the basketball courts to shoot some hoops. At the same time, Ms. Sperry's kindergartners were out playing. As the two older boys started shooting the ball, it attracted some of the kindergartners. Ricky handed the ball to one of the kindergartners and encouraged him to shoot it. Before long there was a swarm of little guys on the court, and Ricky and Brandon organized them into a line and had the kindergartners come up and take a shot, then head to the back of the line. This lasted the entire recess, and by the time the bell had rung, neither Ricky or Brandon had taken more than two shots, but nearly every kindergartner had taken many. Again, this was a completely spontaneous act that I observed from a distance.

I couldn't be prouder of my students than I was after these two examples of everyday kindness. Parents, I commend you for raising such nice children.

Fire!

Drill! Today was our first fire drill, and for the most part, everything went smoothly. There were a few procedural things to work out, but the kids all behaved well, and quietly and quickly got to their assigned areas. I'm glad we had Captain Slater (parent of a Pinecrest student!) from the neighboring station on hand, as apparently we needed to alert the alarm company when we are conducting a test! Whoops! Fortunately Captain Slater was able to call off the engines that were scrambling. Note to self, let the alarm company know next time!

Goings on...

I thought I'd spend a minute or two going over the general happenings at school. Over the last two days we have had 6 new students enroll, one K, one 1st, one 3rd, one 5th and two 7th graders. I've spent the day checking in on them, and the seem to be adjusting well.

Today Mrs. Olsen was out ill, and Mr. Anderson (Mrs. Anderson's brother-in-law) substituted. He has lived a fascinating life, having spent 8 years in a school in Botswana (400 miles down a dirt road, in a grass hut), and a few years in Japan and is an amazing artist. I was observing in the room today as he was telling some of his stories and showing some of his artwork to the eighth graders. They were impressed!

In noon-league softball, the Angels are now the only undefeated team, holding off a hard charging Dodger team yesterday.

This afternoon, Ms L. (that's how she introduced herself) was working with the students in Mr. Calbert's class doing improv acting lessons. The students were very involved, and I had a good laugh with them.

It has been absolutely beautiful on campus. Several of the trees are starting to get a touch of color on the tips of their branches. We are getting a healthy collection of sweatshirts in lost and found, as it is quite chilly in the morning, but come lunch time students are peeling off their outer layers.

Frost!

This morning, when I went to get in my truck to drive to school, there was frost on the roof, and as I drove up the hill to Twain Harte, I noticed all of the buildings' roofs were white with frost. Seems like summer is officially over! Now if I can only find my gloves!

LAIR Part II

Yesterday afternoon I went out to visit our 8th graders at LAIR. I got there as they were eating dinner, and ate with them. The students were all very animated as they recounted the stories of the previous two days (something about a rubber snake in the girls' dorm I think I need to follow up on). After dinner, the students went back to the dorms for a bit. I spoke with our fathers on the trip, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Relva, and they echoed what Mrs. Bickley had told me over dinner. Namely that our students had done very well, and they had had no issues.

There was a bit of down time after dinner, so we got together a volleyball game while many of our students were playing basketball, or "just chillin'." Ironically, after the volleyball and basketball lost their allure, a game of Duck, Duck, Goose was organized (my second in a week!). It was much fun playing with the 8th graders.

After the game time, our guides took us on a night hike. With a nearly full moon, it wasn't too difficult to tramp about the forest. We then headed to the campfire, where Mrs. Bickley took over, and led the students on a discussion of how much she's seen them grow individually and come together as a group in the previous 2 days. It was a remarkable night, and I am very impressed with this fine group of young women and men.