I can't teach a kid a standing back flip, but the rest I can manage...

Thursday, and it's supposed to be 80 degrees with possible t-storms later on. If it doesn't storm, then maybe, just maybe, I can get Holly in the pool one more time before we drain it. It's a sad occasion, the draining of the pool. I didn't get in it as much as I'd have liked-- the water was always a bit too cold for me, since we had cool night temperatures and we had to keep refilling it due to the slow (and now, not so slow) leak. 

We can't keep summer in our hands, can we? 

That said, day one of the new school year went relatively well, with few hiccups (not mine, for once), and the kids were pretty decent. As always, the new ones (to me) have all heard I give a lot of work and I grade hard, that the class is hard... I don't know who tells this tale, but gee whiz. We started the day with a general chat, then moved to a fun activity-- tell me about yourself, but you have to use three paint color names in the description (I had paint chips that G brought home for them to use). It's a little silly, but it asks them to stretch just a bit, to use words that are not the stale ones they always default to. After that, and we shared a few (laughs abound), they wrote out their goals. Mostly they just want to get better at writing, most like to read well enough, and one brave soul wants to learn how to do a standing back flip. Well, friend-- I am not the teacher you need for that one. We had a laugh over that, too. Maybe today, they'll see I'm not so scary. I hope so. 

The other class, my AP Lang kids-- sigh. I had them all last year. I know they can work. Most didn't even start their summer reading yet-- thank goodness it's not due until Sept. 11. Yes, they are also a bit lazy. We'll see how that goes. At least they are nice kids, right?

Today, we'll keep moving forward. It feels a bit like a slog, but that's likely because I'm not yet in the groove. I hope so. I'm tired from the super busy summer, and I'm tired because of getting my classroom set up. I went to bed early, but I've yet to have my breakfast. Maybe I'll have more zip then. 

Enjoy your day, friends. I sure hope it doesn't rain until tonight. I'm glad I picked tomatoes yesterday, though, just in case. And froze two quarts of them. Summer is waning...

C