school...

- quoting Mel during vacation, "Wow, i can't believe your iguana is still alive!" - then i get to school this past monday after my 3 lovely weeks of vacation, and the poor thing has gone and died. I must say, it was NOT due to food - i had an arrangement with my janitor-buddies that they would put food in the crate every now and then. But i do have to admit that i'm a pretty terrible pet owner. One of my dwarf hamsters died as well over the break. I think both of them died of cold b/c apparently, my room was like a fridge. pretty sad way to come back to work, huh? luckily though, my friends cleared the bodies before i came back so at least i didn't have to deal with that...

- as much as i complain about my credentialing classes, i have really come to enjoy the people in my cohort. Some of them are so incredibly insightful and intelligent, and it's been fun struggling through our toddler years as teachers together. And of course, it's fun swapping stories about our kids too. Today, one 7th grade English teacher referred to a non-fiction passage that her kids read about pandas. The particular part she told us about was, "Pandas, unlike humans, do not seek warmth." The exercise she had her kids do was to help them learn how to self-monitor while reading - so she had her kids ask questions about the text while they read. She got about 50 papers that asked, "How come pandas don't like humans?" Aaaaaaahhhhh! Reading comprehension!!! Where'd it go?