Class Writings

Here are some stories we "published" in class...    

waggonersweekendwords.blogspot.com     

Critical Literacy

We are working on critical literacy in class right now. We are comparing various super heroes and practicing with perspective.  

I asked, "How would Superman be different if he grew up in Mexico?" 

The responses: 

- "He would speak Spanish!" 

-"He would wear a poncho!" 

-"He would have the swine flu!!!" 

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning.

I kind of think mornings are reflective of the night.

Last night I told my best friend I couldn't come to his wedding. I knew this would be upsetting to him, but I had no other choice. It hurt my heart to do it. My stomach was in knots all night and I'm sure this contributed to my morning events. I woke with a start at 5:10. I am supposed to be at the gym at 5 to meet Kandy. (Sorry!) I was frustrated that I had overslept. My morning workout helps me start the day off with energy and freshness. I set my alarm for 6 and went back to sleep, angry with myself. I woke up and took a shower, dried my hair and was about to put my face on when my aunt called. She wanted to talk about pictures before 7 am. What?! I quickly got ready, running a little late by now and feeling a bit out of sorts.

Today is Cinco De Mayo... so I chose a bright blue ruffly sun dress as my attire for the day and matched it with some fancy jewelry. I went into the kitchen, made my lunch, and went to blend my protein shake. Lastly, it was time to make my morning latte. Normally it makes the morning happy when I have a coffee cup in my hand. Being spoiled, I use an espresso machine to make my drinks. I put the coffee in and started her up. She was chugging along and I felt like the handle was turned funny, so I started tugging at it to make sure it was secure. (I'm not sure why I did this.) It gave way and before I knew it, scalding, boiling coffee grinds flew with the little pot all over my hand. In my alert I started shaking my hand wildly to free it from the volcanic searing. In doing so, the dark brown mess flung all over my pretty blue dress. Happy Cinco de Mayo to me. I stuck my hand under cold water and surveyed the immense mess of a kitchen I had produced. I cleaned it up, made my coffee and scowling all the way out the door, spilled coffee on the floor before locking the place up tight. I was on my way to the jeep feeling a bit defeated and eyeing my charred hand, when a woman wearing bright green and yellow said, "Morning!" with a smile. Through my teeth I said "good morning" back.

I made it to school just in time for the bell, throbbing thumb, speckled dress and wind blown hair.

To quote one of my favorite books: "It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I think I'll move to Australia."

Confessions of a NOT-So-Tough Farm Girl

I guess you could say it all started over Christmas break. Everyone was reading the Twilight series, so I thought I needed to also.  After reading those four books in about a week, I was thirsty for something else to devour. Lindsay suggested that we read the Left Behind series together and talk about it. Well, there are a good 12 books in that series. We started sometime in January and she had me read ahead of her. That way, when I finished a book, I could just pass it on to her. The problem is when she's done before I am. Because then she's without the next book-- waiting on me. Well here we are a few months later and I just finished book 10.  She was supposed to bring me book 11 but forgot it at home. So, this is why I had to drive all the way out to her house to get the next book. And, because I drove out there, I had to kiss and squeeze and play with the baby. (my favorite)... I left and came home to eat. Admittedly, this caused me to be running short on time and instead of rushing to church, I just stayed home. This leads up to the point where I am relaxing on my bed watching Lost on my computer.  I decided to catch up on some past episodes in order to be ready for tonight's new one.  I was eating some truffle Hershey kisses and dipping them into honey roasted peanut butter, when all of a sudden something caught my eye. 

My heart stopped. 

And then it moved again.  In my haven of a bed, on my perfectly matching pillow, a spider was scurrying about.  I leaped with full force ejecting myself out of the vicinity.  What to do next? Save the computer! Save the chocolate! Save the peanut butter! Leave the trash.... put on some shoes... run around aimlessly.  And then, I remembered a poisonous spray I keep under the sink for wasps.  I grew up in the panhandle and we didn't deal with those much, so I like the poison spray that zaps them dead instead of trusting my aim with a big shoe. I quickly grabbed the can, a rag and ran back to my room. I inched closer and spotted the eight legged creature again.  I held my breath. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it echoing in my head.  I sprayed the projectile wasp poison on my perfectly matching 14.99 TJMAX down throw pillow and backed away to safety. (What was the spider going to do, fly up and get me?) The arachnid was furious with me. It scattered in circles and hopped up and down hiding under the pillow. (I'm sure it was hissing obscenities at me and spitting venom)  Well now what? I took a deep breath, counted to three and turned over the soiled pillow. And we were off to the races again! The spider took off running amok before curling on my bedspread.  I sprayed it again. This time I watched it writhing in pain, but it wasn't enough, it was STILL moving!!!! This was war. This house isn't big enough for the both of us.  I chased it onto the floor where I stomped it to its death. DIE!!!!!!!!!!!   

I won.  Sweaty, near heart failure, but victorious.  I grabbed shout and attempted to clean my poor, poor pillow. As far as casualties go, better it than me, though.  

I suppose my rough and tough upbringing masquerades me as being bullet proof. But, the truth is this: I would rather castrate a cow than deal with a spider.  

The end.  

Modern Day Mary Poppins

If anyone is wondering, I have tried whole wheat crackers with the turkey meatloaf, and it's not near as bad! I actually think I'll make it through the week. 

I was not aware Houston had a monsoon season, yet sure enough, it does! Yesterday I went to a workout class at the gym not far from my house. The clouds were low and it was misty, but I had looked at the radar and felt I had time to workout before the storm came. My tarp was protecting my jeep, and I was good to go! After the class I walked outside and it was sprinkling. I made it!! So I thought. I got in my jeep and pulled out to the road just as it started raining harder... oh no! I turned around and went towards a route with less stops. If I kept driving, I wouldn't get wet.  Well, as it happened, I hit a red light. The rain intensified as if laughing in my face. I had trash bags covering the seat, but was getting drenched. It was hard to see. Under my seat was a purple umbrella... hmm... it might work. I popped it open and put it over me while I sat at the red light. Victory!! I was not getting wet for a bit, but looked rather ridiculous in the rain.. in a yellow jeep... with a purple umbrella poking out.  It worked until I gained speed and the umbrella almost blew away. I yanked it back in, closed it up and just tried to get home as fast as I could.  I made it home dripping wet just in time for the monstrous storm that caused all the schools to be cancelled! You do what you've gotta do to survive, even if you get laughed at.. and I'm SURE I did. 

Turkey Meatloaf

Yeah... it's been a while. What can I say, I'd rather be outside in the sun! Or, in today's case- the storm! :)

After going to Port O'Connor with some cousins, I decided it was necessary for me to STOP eating: a. so much food. b. the fatty foods.. and c. whenever I wanted. So, in an attempt at this new and healthy life style, I decided to research the words of Eating for Life. It's a life long plan for eating healthy and a cookbook. I love it so far... (all of two weeks) and actually use the cookbook for healthy recipes. I've had my share of baked chicken and chicken Parmesan, so I wanted to do something different. I'm not entirely sure that I even LIKE meatloaf. I think what attracted me to this recipe were these key words " Serves 6, good left over"... JACKPOT!!!, I thought. I loved the idea of cooking once and having a meal for the rest of the week. Those of you out there may turn your nose up at eating the same thing every night... but I feel like I'm always on the run. It's easier to just warm something up most of the time. So, I found a recipe for Turkey Meatloaf. You used ground turkey and hot sauce among a few other ingredients. I was gagging just stirring it all together. Ground turkey doesn't seem natural to me. I would never admit to my dad that I substituted it for beef... so keep quiet. Anyway, I made the turkey-loaf and it stunk up my house with an oniony-ketchup smell. I tried to eat some and I am not going to lie... it was difficult. I'm hoping that it's an acquired taste.. like coffee, wine and cottage cheese.. we'll see how it goes!

Losing weight and being healthy isn't my favorite thing. I miss fried squash. :(

New Obsessions

I enjoyed spring break for all of its glory. I was pretty lazy, actually. And, here I am back in the crazy routine of real life. (Until Summer, that is. )

Now that things are back to normal, the stress has also returned. I decided to try something new in my classroom to calm the kids down. I've started playing a variety of music during class and while they are working. I change it periodically to match my ever changing mood. The sound sprinkles down from the projector speaker and sometimes I imagine they are little geniuses working on their masterpieces. I go from classical symphonies to classical piano.. and beyond. This leads me to tell you about my new favorite website: www.pandora.com. It's pretty phenomenal. You create your own radio stations! No buffering.. (I hate that).. and no commercials or DJs! All you have to do is type the artist in and it does the magic. (Maybe I'm behind the times and everyone actually already knows about this, but whatever.) I am currently enjoying a few stations I created. I love George Winston. He plays piano and the site added other artists that are similar to him. A new one I am loving is Doug Burr. That station left me feeling calm and happy inside. :)

Along with my varying music, I have changed the background on my desktop to match. It projects on the wall for the kids to see. I pretend I am Ellen, I guess. Today is a pond with lots of green grass and bright flowers. Yay Spring!

It's funny how little things in life can make your day better! I wish everything could be as instantly gratifying as a website that creates a radio station for your exact liking!