I don’t even know where to begin.
This post will probably be all over the place so I’m warning you now.
First up:
Where in the world did VSCO girl come from? I mean, one day it meant absolutely nothing. One day, it WAS nothing. And now, out of the blue, at least to me, it’s this whole big thing. And luckily, I was somewhere or on Instagram, or chatting with a friend who has a high school daughter, or really, who knows, but I heard the term and so I looked it up.
If you have no clue what I’m talking about, hello, you’re my people, you’re my age, let’s be friends.
Here’s what a VSCO girl is . . . apparently, there is an app called VSCO which is where it originated, and I guess, or I’ve read, that typically high school girls use the app to take trendy pictures of themselves, and they wear Birkenstocks and scrunchies, and they carry a Hydro Flask.
BEATS ME.
Steve has been carrying a Hydro Flask for years now, and one time, he even bought one for me to use, but I’ll tell you right now, it was so dang heavy, I said no thank you.
So how are teenage girls carrying these things around? And what’s the big deal? AND JUST WHY.
So literally the day after I found out about this so-called movement or trend or whatever, one of my boys came to school with a big ole Hydro Flask and told me he was a VSCO BOY.
And I was like . . . fantastic. Good for you. Don’t you dare spill that water all over your desk, that’s all I care about.
I mean, he is SIX YEARS OLD. How does he even know about this?
And again, WHY?
Is this the water bottle flipping thing for this year? Is that all?
It’s just a trend, right?
Next Up:
We have Accelerated Reader at my school. I have a love/hate relationship with Accelerated Reader because I’m a big ole book nerd, and I absolutely love to read, always have, always will . . . when I was in junior high school, my mom and I would go to the public library together every single week, and I would check out SEVEN novels at a time, and be ready for a new set of seven novels the following week. TRUE STORY. I also wore glasses, and never went outside, but that’s neither here nor there.
So . . . the idea of having students take a QUIZ on a book they’ve read just irks me to no end. I want them to love reading for the LOVE of reading. And I don’t want them to feel stressed about a test, reaching a certain goal, or only wanting to read books that have an AR quiz to go with it.
On the flip side, I like that it does motivate SOME students to read and checks their comprehension . . .
So, like I said . . . I have a love/hate relationship with A.R.
All of that being said, the real reason I’m bringing it up is because our school library has three separate AR exchanges throughout the day. We never exchange in the morning, and I’m pretty sure my kids have no clue there even is an early AR exchange , because we are too busy doing reading groups and language arts, etc.
But the other two times are right before and during last recess, and again during the last 30 minutes of the day so that just works better for us.
Well, I have set TWO alarms on our class iPod which means we have a SIGNAL that it is time to exchange our AR books, if we need to, and I don’t have to remember because my brain is way too full in the first place.
But do you know how many kids ask me if it’s time to exchange AR books?
DO YOU?
Because it’s entirely TOO MANY when they know that the alarm is going to alert them.
Earlier this week, I felt like I was going to LOSE MY MIND. As in, it was like I could feel my mind melting inside my skull, and I was truly worried for myself.
And I turned to one of my super sweet girls who never asks me questions that she already knows the answers to, and almost just plain never talks, only smiles and nods, and so I turned to her and I said . . .
Will you please call 911 if my head explodes and pops off my neck?
And she just smiled again, and giggled a little, and then nodded.
Now.
I think it’s funny that I said that, but later I wondered if it was inappropriate.
But if it IS, in fact, inappropriate, then I am in a big ole heap of trouble because this is just how I talk to my kids. The other day, I said something along the lines of I like my hair, I want to keep my hair, so please, whatever you do, remember to put your writing on my teacher table or I’m going to pull all my hair out, strand by strand. Don’t make me do that, thank you very much.
And then my class laughs and laughs AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
THEY PUT THEIR WRITING ON THE TEACHER TABLE.
Because I made such a big deal out of it.
In other words, I think being funny, and exaggerating my well-being, happens to work.
JUST SAYING.
Last . . .
I shared this on my Instagram the other day, but just in case you didn’t see it . . .
Whenever we are making cards, or folders, or books in class that need to be opened CORRECTLY, and not backwards or upside down, I draw an arrow so my kids know which end is up, which side is the front, which way it is SUPPOSED TO GO IN REAL LIFE, especially for Type A people like me, and then they glue whatever it is we are gluing on top of the arrow.
WORKS LIKE A CHARM and it saves me from having to be all exaggerated and extra telling them I might fall down and faint if one more person glues their work upside down or backwards.
It takes less than a minute to draw those those little arrows on a class set, and keeps me sane!!
The Bat Fact Folder is from Jodi at Fun in First and you can check it out HERE.
And that’s three things for today!!
🙂
Have a GREAT WEEKEND!!