The Talens' Tales

Seriously. Another snow day today. The storm that pooped out over the weekend was just waiting until Monday to come like crazy. We are under a blizzard warning for today. Crazy high winds+a bit snow=not being able to see a few feet in front of you. Which also means another day off for us. We really could get used to this four day week thing. I am a bit thankful though. I am going to be gone the end of this week and I had three days of sub plans to pull together. So, we did venture to school and I could not leave tomorrow if I wanted too. And we carried on the snow day traditional lunch at Tally Ho, the local coffee shop. I love Tally Ho. Will you move with me to PEI, please?

A student wrote in her essay exam, " Beowulf is probably one of the best stories I have ever written." Silly me. I thought I was teaching one of the oldest piece of English literature known to exists. How could I have not realized that one of my own students wrote Beowulf ? That'll teach me to underestimate any of my student's potential.

We are moving. To Canada. In the fall. This means lots of paperwork and immigration stuff for me and lots of happy thoughts for my husband. We are moving to my husband homeland and taking over his family's farm. I do get very excited about the thought of being a farmer's wife. But, for whatever reason, people don't see me as a farm girl. They are always surprised when I tell them that I grew up on a farm. But I did and I like it and I am looking forward to raising our family (someday) on a farm too. So, lots of what is to come in the future on this blog is stuff about our move.

Today we got to school at our normal time, 7:30 a.m. We knew some sort of weather was approaching. School south and west of us were canceled and late. By the time we completed our whole four minute commute, our windshield was covered in ice. At 8:05 we get the word, school is out at 8:45 am. So, the day was over before it started and the kids came and then left. But, since the kids showed up, it counts as a school day. So, really we had a day of school with absolutely no student contact at all. The rest of the week isn't looking all the promising either.

The last day of regular classes for this semester was held today. One of my students brought Scotch-O-Roo's for the class. ("They have chocolate on them Mrs. T, you will like them"). Which is true. I actually adore Scotch-O-Roo's. One of the student received two, since there were extras. He decided to eat one right away(which he attempted to shove in his mouth whole) and save the other one for later. Everyone was supposed to be working on a exam review sheet, but this student was very distracted today and was not really doing what he should have been. This of course distracts others as well, so I finally said, "If you don't work on your review, I am going to take you Scotch-O-Roo away." That propmted him to get right to work away. For about three minutes. Then he started right back up again. He was turned around talking to someone behind him, so I stealthfully went up to his desk to get his bar. He turned around just as I got there and said , " No, ...

How do you get students ready for exams in three days when they have just come off of Christmas break, had two and a half days of school and then two and a half days off? These next few days are going to be a challenge. My normal way of doing things is thrown out of the window and I am just going to have to make sure everything is wrapped up. Review in class will be minimal, which I sort of like and I don't. Normally I review quite a bit, so it will be interesting to see how the student actually do on their exams. Here we go.

This four day weekend has been fantastic. Since we are so near the end of the semester at school, there was not too much school work for me to do. So, I have been cleaning, baking, reading, planning praise and worship stuff for school and church and stumbling. Yes...stumbling. If you have not tried stumbleupon.com , you really should. Or maybe not. Since trying it leads to hours of interesting finds on the internet. You just want to stumble once more to see what you will get. But I have found some pretty cool stuff, especially photographs. It amazes me how some people can take such beautiful pictures.

Yesterday was an early dismissal from school and today was a snow day. We are now under a windchill warning. Another lovely day to accomplish somethings around home. I did venture out the whole two blocks to the grocery store earlier, but we are planning on hanging out inside for the rest of the day. We will see what tomorrow brings.

We had a great Christmas time in Michigan this year. It rained on Christmas, so not exactly the white Christmas we are used to, but it was wonderful to be with family. Here is a little picture highlight tour. Card making with Dawn and Mom. It was fun to teach them how to do it and experiment a bit with some designs. Eating out with some of my friends from high school. It has been a long time since I have see some of these girls, so it was wonderful to catch up once again. Bowling with the whole family. This has become quite the tradition for us, so we always have a good time. Dawn and Nick Joy and Chad