Fall Festival, Halloween and Hidden Treasures

If you have somehow missed what time of year it is all you have to do is walk into the Lower School to be reminded. We are bursting with Halloween spirit! The 8th grade parents have spent hours decorating for tomorrow’s Fall Festival and it looks AMAZING! There will be new games, Thai food generously provided by On Rice and a pumpkin decorating contest to name just a few of the fun things you can expect. Rumor has it there will also be a “Pie in the Face” raffle where students can buy tickets to win a chance to toss a pie at the face of some of their favorite people. I may or may not have been nominated to participate although I can’t imagine a student who would want to throw a pie at me. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow night. I hope to see you there.

Part of the Fall Festival includes students being able to dress up in their Halloween costumes. Usually I just throw on a Halloween themed t-shirt and call it good. This year I am going to have to up my game and actually come up with a costume. Dressing up for Halloween is a much bigger deal here than at the preschool. How can I tell? Well because I get asked daily by students what I am planning on wearing. After a trip to Joann Fabrics I’m sure I’ll come up with something to pass muster. I am looking forward to seeing all of the kids in their costumes since I have been hearing about them for weeks.

The 4th grade classes were supposed to go to a corn maze on Thursday, but because of the wind and rain last weekend all the corn fell over and the field trip was cancelled. What a bummer! Our students were so disappointed to miss this annual tradition. As “The Funistrator” I needed to come up with a fun activity for them to do instead. So I wrote a scavenger hunt for each class. I asked the 4th grade teachers what they were working on in class and wrote clues based on these topics (skeletal system, place values, Washington State, Non-Fiction, etc). I thought it would maybe take them an hour to finish if I was lucky. However, I am happy to say that after an hour and ½ they’re still going strong. You’ll have to ask one of them if they had as much fun as going to the corn maze.

Another great week in the books!

Anna Johnson

Feelings, Rats and Leaves Oh My!

My resume continues to grow with each week and this week was no exception. Every day I have a chance to try something new to expand my professional skills. Not all of these experiences happen in the classroom, in fact this week some valuable lessons were learned in the gym, parking lot and lunch tables.

On Monday I spent much of the afternoon talking to students working through misunderstandings, hurt feelings and reinforcing the importance of listening to teachers and friends. Some of these conversations were easy reminders about using and listening to “I messages” and how a simple apology makes everyone feel better. Simple right? The harder talks surround feelings. Let's be honest, even adults struggle to deal with their own feelings let alone someone else’s. Try sitting at a table with 4 students where one of them feels like the others don’t like them. Letting them talk about it and reach an understanding was all they needed. All I had to do was facilitate the discussion to make sure everyone was heard. I started the week on a roll.

Tuesday must have been a full moon or maybe I was the target of a practical joke. As soon as I entered the building Sue Ann informed me that a parent complained about a dead rat in the parking lot and she couldn’t get a hold of Mr. Estill. So out to the parking lot I went donning a pair of rubber gloves and a garbage bag. The deceased was resting under a car, so I had to fish it out with a stick. Gross! I know, but someone had to do it. I left the body bag knotted by the main door. On a lighter note, Suzanne England almost opened it thinking it was decoration for the Fall Festival. Sue Ann stopped her in time, but the look on her face would have been priceless.

Not being one to shy away from hard work, on Wednesday I spent almost all of my time raking the leaves in the parking lot. All of those trees sure are spectacular in the Spring, but in the Fall not so much. In the Fall they become a sludgy slippery mess. So there I was dressed like I was out on work release and it took me over 2 hours to pile most of them up. When I left for the day I felt really good about all I had accomplished...until I came back on Thursday to see another blanket of leaves. **sigh**

Thursday was also the “Great American Shake Out” where every school practices their earthquake drills. After the drill we used the gym as our safe spot. To learn more about this event go to www.shakeout.org. The kids had some really good questions. You should ask them about it. Your students did a fabulous job.

I am almost afraid to see what Friday will bring. Wish me luck.

-Anna Johnson

Funistrator

The best part of my job at the Lower School is that it is temporary. Before you start writing a scathing email let me explain. Everyone has THAT friend or family member. You know the one who buys your 3-year old a drum set, thinks that candy makes a reasonable choice for dinner, chocolate milk is just as healthy as regular milk and bedtimes are overrated and children will fall asleep on their own when they are tired (or keel over after the sugar high wears off). My family has two. We call them the “Fun Uncles”. The reason they can be fun all the time is because they get to leave when a responsible adult has to step in, when for example the homemade nunchucks you made for your 4-year old nephew left a gash in his sister’s head requiring five stitches to close. I am the “Funistrator”. I administer the fun.

As I have mentioned before, Mrs. Bucsko and her staff have the school running so smoothly I don’t have to worry about the part of administrative work associated with running a school (ok maybe a little bit). On Tuesday we had a fire drill and students and staff evacuated the building in a blistering 1 minute 28 seconds. This was by far the fastest time they have logged. I should also mention that the drill was executed in complete silence with no chaos. I was amazed and proud. The students were curious about their time as compared to the last fire drill. One thing I should probably admit about myself is that I am a bit competitive (maybe more than a bit). After learning about our epic time I had to share the good news with students. In true “Funistrator” fashion I went from room to room interrupting learning to congratulate each class. Was the fire drill time more important than the landmarks on the Washington State map Mrs. Stokes’ class were reviewing or stopping free-play time in the Kindergarten classes? No, but seeing their excitement about the dramatic improvement was awesome...and fun.

I enjoy visiting classes and trying to connect with as many students as I can while I am here. For me it’s fun. Your children are funny, smart, kind, caring, inquisitive, polite and fabulous. However, much like a weekend spent with the “Fun Uncles” your kids will be glad when Mrs. Bucsko returns. My kids beg for fruits and veggies when they get home from one of these weekend benders. By the end of November the students will be craving broccoli. I may have just compared Mrs. Bucsko to broccoli, but I mean it in the nicest way.

Sincerely,
Anna Johnson

The Joys of Being at the Lower School

I spend very little time sitting in Mrs. Bucsko’s office and my Fitbit shows just how much I am running around. I try to hang out out at recess every day making sure everyone is being a good friend and making safe choices. When accidents happen I am pleased to see our students make amends by apologizing and helping a friend up when necessary. The teachers do a wonderful job supervising without hovering to allow the children to work on resilience, empathy and forgiveness. It is important to practice these key life skills with their peers. Of course staff steps in to help negotiate an accord when peace can’t be worked out by the students, but for the most part the children handle these interactions on their own.

Classroom visitations are by far the best part of my days. This week Mrs. Galvin and Mrs. Hammock’s classes shared samples of their writing. They are working on descriptive writing and their essays were aimed at getting the reader to guess what was being described. I was literally sitting in the hot seat at the front of the room as the students read their work and I was to make guesses. It was a lot of fun and I was impressed with their word choices and ability to create a mental picture for the reader. I wrote my own essay last night and will put them on the hot seat today!

Last Friday both Kindergarten classes made applesauce and I was the taste tester for each…rough duty for sure. Each class used different apples and techniques for mashing them. There was no way to choose the best one. They were both excellent. I shared last week that Mrs. Owens’ class read bits of their writing journals to me. Well this week I was the subject of their journal write. They each wrote me letters asking questions, making suggestions and sharing about themselves. Most of them wanted to see pictures of my family and pets. Some would like to have a crazy hat or hair day and almost all of them would like me to bring them candy. I took a short video introducing them to my family and pets, wrote a letter answering their other questions, but told them they’d have to earn the candy.

As you can probably see I am really enjoying my time with your amazing children. I get to leave my job everyday with a smile on my face…not everyone can say that.

Sincerely,
Anna Johnson