A struggle with students

Whew.....I'm having a hard time leaving work at work. There are a few students in my class right now that simply drain me. Advice from other staff has been "let 'em go, Amy....you can't save them all." But I'm having a hard time just "letting 'em go."

How do you work with a defiant student? How do you reach someone who completely comes across as "I don't care"?

I've run out of magic wands. As bad as I don't want to just 'park em in the corner,' I don't know what else to do to save my sanity. My classroom is set up in cooperative groups, and I feel terrible when these students leave me no option other than to pull them from the group setting because they simply won't work and want to constantly talk off-task and distract the others.

So, my fellow teachers......what advice do you have when you have defiant students who refuse to do any work?

Oh, and my administrator....psht. Being sent to the Principal's office isn't what it used to be. Not an option I care to use.

Raven Stars Quilt along - participant updates?

Ellen at Little Jewel Quilts participated in the Raven Stars quilt along, using green instead of purple. Her rendition has been named Lucky Stars (lovely appropriate name for those greens) :0)













Ann Marie at 16 Muddy Feet is working away on hers too. Thanks ANN!








Any other participants willing to share your results or updates on your progress? Leave a comment :0)

A proud day for a parent!

Cassie's Destination Imagination (DI) Regional tournament was yesterday; pictured here is her team (she's 2nd from right). They have been preparing for their challenge this year (Mythology Mission) by researching all places "mythological", and creatures of mythological time, etc... They were the only team from our school this year that chose this challenge (in my opinion one of the harder ones, since they needed to perform 'impromptu' in front of judges.) A few moments before they perform, they ended up drawing the creature Anagan (yeah, no idea who/what that is either), and drew Modern Arctic North America and they elected to use a mop, a walking stick, and a pot as their allowed props from those available. The skit ended up being a bit humorous once they came across their "unexpected challenge" (that they have no idea about until they pick up the piece of paper from the floor that states the problem).

Overall, they must have wowed the judges over the other 8 elementary teams, because they took 1st and will be moving on to the State competition in two weeks.

Watching the faces of the team during awards was a snapshot worthy moment. TOO BAD I didn't have my camera at that time. The MC only read the top three teams, starting with third. When they weren't announced at third, I kept my eyes glued on the group.........when 2nd was announced, there was such diappointment on all of their faces. NO ONE was really expecting 1st, so they figured 'it was over.' Then, as the team "passport #" was being announced (a crazy long number that no one remembers), a little bit of recognition hit one of the 5th grade boys, and then.....when the Team name was announced, I don't know who was more elated and surprised: the team or the section of team parents! It was a moment! ;0)

We also celebrated Caitlyn's birthday last night even though her birthday isn't until April 5. My parents and sister (BIL) came to visit and watch Cassie, so we made a weekend of it all.

Doesn't that cake look YUMMMMMMY? OMGoodness! The icing-----YUM! And the chocolate cake underneath-----sooooo moist! Yes, it IS delicious!

Oh! And that little guy she's holding: it was the last present she opened and it was from Candace. Instant love-at-first-sight.

Another present that was a HUGE HIT: her Packer Jersey from the grandparents.

Stocked up on some shoes too. (The toothless grin is get more holes!)

So, the day is beginning around here slowly. Off to make some breakfast.

RRCB Step #7 progress

Since I didn't bring home any school work, I really didn't have much of anything to do other than sew and clean today for the snow day. Cleaning needed to be done because the parents are coming up tomorrow for the weekend.

I didn't have anything much in mind when I headed downstairs; I SURELY didn't have RRCB on the mind. BUT... finishing up the color blocks from step #7 just kinda happened today, and the top is finally coming together, nearing completion.

The batteries in the camera died, so I snapped these pics with my phone camera; most definitely not the best quality. Speaking of pics---I didn't think of taking a picture of the Winter Wonderland that we have outside again. 10.5" of new snow when just yesterday just about all the brown grass was clear of it.

Back to quilting. I grabbed these 6.5" blocks and pieced them together as leaders-enders today. I'll be donating this to my Mom's church for their baptismal quilts.

Yikes---terrible picture; the pinks are very light and those purpley squares are actually a very light blue with polkadots.

Alright; I'm off to read before heading off to bed. Still working through Harry Potter, but have slowed a bit. Book #4 is taking me a bit longer to "get into it" ({{But, I suppose it doesn't help that I watched the movie already after having my arm twisted by my family, so the suspense is already gone}})

Happy Wednesday

Linda's dream came true!

Linda's "This is Spring?" post worked. With the record snowfall we've had this winter season, we FINALLLLLLLLY have our first snow day.

NOT that I want more snow.....ugh! SOOOOOOOOooooooo ready for the snow to be GONE; the sun to SHINE its beautiful shine; the temperatures to WARM! Oh yeah....very much ready for warmer, sunnier weather.

BUT, I'll take the snow day ;0)

I'm 35! This is a joke, right?!?!?

YUP!

Combing away this morning and putting it up into some clips.....

There



it



was!



The FIRST gray hair....


So, what'd I do?? RIPPPPPPPPPPED it out, of course! I didn't want it to affect the others!




My life will never be the same again.

Two and a half finishes with a Stash Report

Ugh. BOY, I've been in a slump lately and have allowed myself to play the victim instead of making the best of it and moving forward with a few different things at work. This slump has migrated its way to my quilting life; not having much of any motivation to do anything.

WELL! What a poooooooh way to live, huh?

So, this AM while catching up on blogs, I read Bonnie's "A Heart for Japan" post where she was requested to get the word out for assistance on sending quilts to Japan. Putting everything into perspective, my life is no where NEAR as bad as what it could be, so ..... I shook out of my whiny-victim mood and said....."stop sulking and get busy Amy!"

Having been two weeks since I really spent any real time quilting, I started with the quilt that was on my floor---Maltese Star (QOV Mystery #24). The final borders needed to be pieced onto it. 20 minutes later, measuring at 64"x80"----top done :0). It has been set aside because it IS meant for donation to QOV, but I wanted to get busy on some Japan donation quilts.

While I was finishing up Maltese Star, I started doing some brainstorming on how to finish up my Red Blossoms quilt that STILL was displayed on my design wall. I thought it would be a perfect quilt to finish up and donate!

A small 1" light inner border was added, in addition to the pinwheel extensions to the top/bottom, and one final 5" red border, finishing this quilt at 66"x76".

Find fabric for a backing wasn't super easy, but I think I pieced it together well enough to accomplish its job. This is yet another project showing the symmetric nature to just about everything I create. 180 degree rotational symmetry, slightly off-balance, shown here. The larger red pieces are a hand-dyed fabric that was in one of my many storage boxes.

I didn't change out my pantograph at all---still using my 4.5" Chinese Crescents, a perfect "loose" pantograph.



While I was quilting Red Blossoms, I needed a small break, so I pulled my Blue Ridge Beauty off my 'waiting table' to trim off the excess batting/backing from quilting it a few weeks back. Then took a few moments to prepare some binding and zooooooomed away, finishing off this quilt at 68"x80".

As much as I really was looking forward to having this join me upstairs as my new snuggle-quilt, it is needed much more over seas. So, off to Japan it will go!

I'm pretty tuckered out, but rather pleased with my day's progress. Another hour of binding is needed and I'll be able to check Red Blossoms off my list, too.


I mentioned a few weeks back that the girls and myself have been doing some puzzling; DH caught us in the act last weekend (it was a PJ day for sure!)


Stash Report: March 7-20
Used/week: 6.07 yds
Purch/week: 5.0 yds (backing for Raven Stars)

Used/year: 42.75 yds
Purch/year: 11.0 yds

Net Used: 31.75 yds

Quiet on the quilting front...

First, let me thank ALL of you who left a supportive comment regarding my volleyball resignation last Friday. I have been quite decided already for a couple of months, but going through the official submission was more difficult that what I had expected. So, forward I move....

Second.....I canNOT believe I didn't drop you all a note YESTERDAY!!! For those of you in the mathematical world-----yesterday (March 14....ahem....3/14.....) was an international mathematical holiday! It was PI Day!!!! As usual, I celebrated in style with my classes; doing an activity where the students discover how close they can actual calculate PI by dividing the circumference by the diameter of various circular objects.




My quilting time is on pause; a small (needed?) break. Allow me to give you an update on my Harry Potter reading. With reading levels equivalent to 5.3, 5.9 and 5.9 for the first three books, the reading has been quite quick and relaxing. This past weekend, be it the gloom-n-doom from my momentous decision on Friday, I didn't have much ambition to do anything that involved any amount of energy. Friday night, I finished book #2. And, this is the first weekend in MONTHS where I spend LESS than 30 minutes quilting. 20 minutes on Sunday were devoted....but then.....I had had enough. No interest. SO.....out came book #3; I had started it Saturday and finished it Sunday afternoon. I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with them, but it DO enjoy just sitting back, being lazy, because they DO keep me quite entertained and wondering "how is Harry going to be in danger this time?"

Also, I have been treating myself (more-so, my family) to the movies as I finish up the books. Candace is actually watching #3 again as I'm typing right now. I will admit, though......#3 is quite dark and quite scary for someone Candace's age. Today in school, a few of the students said that they get "darker" as Harry ages......hmmm.

Anyway---book 4. My first thought----"okay, it's quite a bit thicker!" ;0)