My apologies

My apologies readers, for my blog slacking. I wish I could say this is due to a crazy hectic schedule, or that Mike and I have been up to something super cool and interesting, but it's not... I am suffering from a classic case of the February blues and all I have to say is, "ufdah" (ha!), that's for all my UP readers out there. Anyways, instead of boring you all with the un-excitement of my life, I'll just move on... time to pick myself up by the bootstraps and move foreward!

Usually I reserve Tuesdays to talk shop but we had a special day in first grade today that I'd like to share. This morning, after attendance was taken, all the first graders in my school left the building for a... dun, dun, dun... fieldtrip!

I have to be honest, I absolutely love fieldtrips. The ones that go well are so fun and just remind me of why I love my job so much. And the ones that do not go well, quite frankly are freakin hilarious! Today was a good one, pause for a sigh of relief. We traveled north to Ames this morning to see the production of Junie B. Jones put on by the Iowa State Center's Youth Matinee Series.

The show started at 10am, we arrived at about 10:07am... and you know they did not hold the show for us. Actually, this worked out perfectly because it totally minimized any behavior problems that may have arrised during the dreaded wait time between arrival and curtain call. We simply told the kids that we had to hurry and they totally cooperated. Due to our late arrival, we were asked to sit in the balcony section so we wouldn't disturb the performance (and as someone who absolutely loves live theater, I totally understood this). The balcony, however, was four flights of stairs up from the entrance... a long treck for such little legs!   Nevertheless, we made it and found our seats.

The cast during the Junie B. Jones, Boss of Lunch skit (I laughed out loud, although my favorite was One Man Band because they actually had the cow watering can that Junie B. kicks... hilarious!)

The play was very engaging and the kids did a great job. When the play ended we had to take the inevitable bathroom break. Of course there were about 57 local school groups there, so this task was a bit daunting.  Afterwards we headed back down our 4 flights of stairs,I am bringing up the rear, and I notice that we aren't moving very fast. So I lean over the railing to see the smallest boy in my class holding up half our line! He is literally hugging the railing and taking each step one at a time! We're talking, toddler steps here, step down and bring the other foot to meet it on the same stair then embrace to repeat! I couldn't believe it! So, while laughing, I asked if he was okay and he looked up at me with this terrified look on his face and said, "I'm scared Mrs. Pentek!!" Poor kid... we coached him all the way down and he finally made it. The terrified look on his face finally disappeared about 12 miles into the return trip (and that is not an exaggeration, I promise!)

All in all, it was a great trip. You feel so close to your students after traveling with them to a new place. When we returned to school we ate lunch picnic style in our classroom and I was so happy... I just love first graders!

PS- If you're not familiar with Junie B. and you have young kids, I highly recommend the series. The author, Barbara Parks is very funny and writes a 5/6 year old very well. I will warn you to pre-read it before reading it to/with your kids. She can tend to use language that some families find inappropriate.