A Visit From Miss Read

Hi everyone! I am now into my second week of being all graduated up with no where to go! I've been spending most of my time searching for jobs and filling out applications, both for the summer and for this fall. I think I've filled out about 35 applications! And its only the middle of May! Every single day I log onto k12jobspot.com to see whats available in my area. There is usually at least one opening that fits my qualifications. I hope that's a good sign!


When I left Tree Elementary, I promised the students that I would come back and visit them at least a couple times before school ended. Last week, I had emailed Mrs. Eagle to ask when would be a good time to come visit, and she suggested Thursday at 2:00. So, today I showed up at the school at 2:00... and the kids went wild! As soon as I walked through the classroom door, a bunch of them came up and hugged me, and everyone was yelling, "Miss Read! Miss Read! Miss Read!" Starling and Rosella demanded to know where my dogs and cat were. When I told them my pets were at home, Starling asked, "They're sick today?" (Of course, because why else wouldn't my dogs and cat be at school with me! LOL!) Jay was tapping me frantically on the arm to ask me what kind of makeup the members of the band Kiss wear, and why they wear makeup when they're all men. Martin was shimmying across the room, showing me his new dance moves. Triller was just standing there grinning at me. Towhee was informing me that I was five minutes late. Kite was hugging me from behind in an attack bear hug, and Oriole was asking if I had started teaching my own class yet! And then, they all started handing me thank-you cards they had made for the books I had given them on the last day of school! It was so noisy, and everyone was talking, and  I was trying to answer everyone at once! 


Finally Mrs. Eagle settled them down a little by telling them we could make ice cream sundaes. After that, they had free time. So I got to watch Starling play with the iPad, and I got to answer 50,000,000,000,000,000 more questions from Jay about vampires and Kiss and baseball. 


I also got to play kind of a cool game with Kite and Towhee! The kids learned this game during the school's Multicultural Week, which was the week after I left. This game is an adaptation of a game called Sapo, which is popular in Peru. If you follow the link, you can see what the real game is supposed to look like. But in our class, the kids were playing a home made version. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture, and I can't find a picture of anything similar online. But I can probably describe it to you! 


All you need is a muffin tin, some small pieces of paper or labels, and some pennies. However many compartments your muffin tin has, you should number that many pieces of paper. For instance, we had a 12-cup muffin tin, we had 12 pieces of paper, numbered 1 through 12. Put one number in each compartment. Set the muffin tin on a desk or table that is about waist high. 


Now, the players take turns tossing pennies at the muffin tin! You will have to decide for yourself how many pennies you'll use for each turn, and how far away to stand. When we played, the kids got ten pennies each turn, and they stood about six feet back from the muffin tin. 


When it is your turn, you take all of the pennies, and you stand wherever your group has decided will be the standing spot. And all you do is, toss the pennies at the muffin tin! You can toss all of the pennies at once, a few at a time, or just one at a time. When you've tossed all of your pennies, you look into the muffin tin to see where they landed. Add up the numbers of the tins the pennies landed in. There's your first score! This is actually harder than it looks. The pennies don't necessarily go anywhere near the numbered compartments. The kids have been playing it every day, and are getting very good at it. But, my first time playing, I scored two. TWO! Only one of my pennies landed in a compartment! 


You can keep playing as long as you want, letting each person's score get higher and higher until you have to stop playing. If you play like that, the person with the highest score is the winner. Or you can decide ahead of time on a goal score, like 100, and the first person who reaches it is the winner. 


I like this game a lot because it combines hand-eye coordination, math, and fun. I'm definitely going to remember it! 


I was kind of sad to leave again at the end of the day. The kids kept asking me if I'd be back tomorrow. Some of them thought I was just back, for good! I had to tell them no, but I promised I'd visit them again. It was so weird going back, as a visitor! I'm glad I did though... I never had such a warm welcome in all my life!