I'm Going "Sew" Nuts!!!

Back to my "I hate Sundays routine."
I didn't sleep all last night, and this morning dawned dark and cloudy.
I had absolutely no lesson plan for today, and I had so much to get done.
The writing project the girls are doing has to be done by Thursday because that's the last day I have them before vacation.
That was the only good part to my morning, the thought of vacation.
I have a cold, and my voice was hoarse. My eyes were hurting and they kept rejecting my contact lenses. I coughed my way to school, and started them off davening.
I collected some journals during davening, and I was disappointed to see that half the class hadn't bothered to do their double-entry response journal. They were given a week to do them, and they just weren't done.
I had notes from a couple of mothers and excuses from here to Honolulu about why they weren't done.
Right after davening, I gave the girls a speech.
I could barely talk, my voice was so hoarse, but I think they got the message. I gave the same speech to the other class a few days ago.
"You don't put the effort in; the teachers don't send you out to eighth grade."
I made it very clear to them that an excuse from their mothers didn't cut it in life.
I made an abrupt change to history, and I was then interrupted by the principal knocking on the door.
I told the girls to start reading in their books and I went outside.
Basically, a mother had called the school. She felt it was wrong that her daughter was put in a biography group with a girl who did her biography on a secular woman.
She felt that it wasn't right to compare a Jewish leader to the Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor. She said that although she certainly respected Blackwell, she didn't feel it appropriate to put them together.
I felt the color leave my face.
The girls worked on these projects for a while already. They were due Thursday. The principal wanted me to take all the secular biographies and put them together in one group.
It worked out because there were only 3 secular books, and they were all put into different groups. taking one girl out of each group would give me 4 groups of 3 girls and 1 group of 4. It could be done, but I didn't want to tell the girls about the change.
The principal said she would do it after recess.
Until then, I taught history, a great lesson on the Declaration of independence. I am making the girls memorize the preamble to the document, and C.S.A. already got it!
We said it out loud 3 times together, and I think it shouldn't be too hard for them to memorize.
I actually managed to get another whole aim done today! Three more days like this, and I can give a chapter test on Thursday!
Ok, let's be fair, we'll push it to the Thursday after vacation.
Recess time came and I went to the teacher's room and drank a cup of coffee. I never drink the stuff, but I was so nervous, that I downed a cup in less than 30 seconds.
My husband will be so proud. I'm finally growing up.
The principal spoke to the class after recess. The effect of her speech really hit C.S.A., H.W. and C.K. Those were the girls with the secular biographies.
C.K. was absent.
H.W. looked frustrated.
C.S.A. burst into tears.
The principal went on and on and I felt she put it down well, but I needed to figure out what to do with this new group. They had to redo their prefaces, and come up with new themes, and a title.
C.S.A. had worked hard on her group's theme, and now she had to do it all over again.
I told the principal that I was willing to stay after school with the girls and help them with their project.
I sent H.W. and C.S.A. out to call their mothers to ask for permission.
My life gets better and better.
I switched classes then, and got my history lesson done there as well. We didn't have time for writing, but there weren't any problems with secular books there that needed to be addressed. Whew!
B.E.D. didn't have her summary, or her journal entry done. She hadn't finished her test last week, and I gave her the opportunity to finish. She just shrugged me off and said that she didn't know enough about the essay on the test to be able to write about it.
She asked how many points I would take off if she didn't do the essay. I told her that it wasn't a matter of points, it was about the responsibilities she had as a seventh grader.
I have to call her mother.
I have to call R.S.'s mother too. She didn't have her homework done for a week. I have to find out what's going on.
D.T. came over to me to ask me about B.E.D. She was worried that B.E.D.'s missing papers would affect their group mark. I told them that it had nothing to do with them, and that they should just keep up their great work.
The bell rang and H.W. and C.S.A. came over to me.
I told them to go out and have lunch and meet me back in school in half an hour.
I ran home in the rain to grab some lunch of my own.
I came home to find that my dear husband had put our blankets on the porch to "air out." ...In the rain!!
I got back to school, carrying a scrapbook in one hand and a chocolate bar in the other.
The girls and I got to work.
After a good deal of thinking, C.S.A. came up with a brilliant theme: sewing.
She wanted the title to be, "The Alteration of a Nation - How Our Society Became 'Just Sew'. Stitching Together the Lives of People"
I thought that was adorable, and we spent an hour writing the most adorable essay that had everything to do with sewing. They literally sewed the lives of their biographies together.
We came up with some ideas about how to decorate their book, and by the time I left school, at 2:15, I think the girls were excited with their new group, and I was satisfied as well.
But like I said, "This school makes me 'sew' nuts!!"