WW: The Baby Bandit {Linky}

A few weeks ago I discovered that there were little plastic babies on everyone's desk in my student's classroom. Working at an art college odd things happen from time to time.

I thought that would be the last I heard, or saw the babies. The students all though I was the Baby Bandit.

I had those plastic babies when Isaak was preschool aged. He's now in 4th grade. I got them from a baby shower. Isaak loved those things. I got rid of them a few years ago.

The Baby Bandit now reveals clues every single day on the board. There's a baby to be found when clue is answered. This happens daily. I have to admit I'm caught up in trying to figure out who the Baby Bandit is. I've even stayed after class to see if I could catch them in the act. Nope! When I go out in the morning the clue is already on the board. 

The students created this profile on the board:

Here I am:

I don't know what I enjoy the most: 

• The fact that I love pranks, but don't have to go through the work.
• The fact that this got the quietest girl in the class talking. In fact she made the profile board.
• The fact that I can't figure out who's doing it. Literally the full time staff here is so lame. Maybe the one I least expect is the Baby Bandit. 

Do you enjoy pranks and mysteries?

The Cutest Magnetic Whiteboard Dry Eraser Set - Adorable Cat Review

I'm happy to share with you The Cutest Magnetic Whiteboard Dry Eraser Set - Adorable Cat I got to review. They are really cute!

The set comes with 12 erasers. That's a lot of erasers! My aunt has a big Easter Egg Hunt for the kids on Easter, so I plan on donating many of these erasers to the hunt. There's 13 kids all together, but I got a set of 12 dogs and a set of 12 cats to review. There's plenty to go around.

They came all packaged up with each other. The packaging seemed good, and it shipped really fast!

Price: 

$9.99 for all 12 erasers! Buy one and get 30% off Lovellio's Charming dry erase calendar. I didn't read close enough to know that I could buy a calendar for 30% off. I may have gotten one, or two.

Choose From 2 Prints:

1. Loyal Dog
2. Adorable Cat

I hope they expand to have other animals too. Possibly add a fish, or I'd love a hedgehog set. Cats and dogs are the two animals that most people would have as pets.  

A Great Gift Set: 

This is a great set to get. Especially if you get the calendar that is 30% off. You could give this set to kids for Valentines, Easter time, a Birthday, to a Teacher for Teacher Appreciation Day and more.

Not Your Ordinary Stationery Set:

Lovellio makes their sets fun by adding cats and dogs to their sets.

Other Perks:

• The erasers are also great for small little hands. I like that they are square instead of the big erasers that are used most of the time.

• The erasers are magnetic. How cool is that? I tested them out on our refrigerator, and they worked. 

The only downfall I saw was that some of the dog prints are great prints, while others look a bit faded.

Are you a dog or a cat person? 

I don't know if I ever like one over the other. I'm allergic to both. I think cats are fluffy cute, it's nice that they can be on their own during short trips. Dogs are more of a companion, man's best friend - right? Dogs make their owners more active because they have to walk them often.  

Disclaimer: I received Magnetic Whiteboard Dry Eraser Set - Loyal Dog to review. I wrote this post, and was not influenced at all with an opinion. I only review things that I find interesting, or that would benefit my readers or family.

School Conferences

This is the last year for us to go to one single teacher at conferences for Mica. Our little man will be going to middle school next year. Get this...he thinks he's an adult because he can order an adult meal.

This is Mica's superhero:

He has an, "8" on his superhero not because he's 8 years old, but because it's his favorite number. 

Mica loves to read for sure. Even at meal time he's found reading the junk mail, and lately the school policy book. If you ever wonder who really reads that stuff, Mica does. 

He's doing great in school. 

He needs to ask more questions when he doesn't get things. We heard this last year as well. I keep reminding him that we all struggle with certain things. He's good in math, but struggles with it the most over any other area in school.

In band he has a B. It's his only B. I told him, "You're a newbie. Just don't say, 'I don't need to practice because I've got this.' You do need to practice just like everyone else in band." 

When I was a kid my parents got a babysitter to watch over us, while they went to conferences. It's not like that anymore. Mica sat out in the hallway, but Isaak opted to come in with us when it was time for his conferences. Isaak's teacher had him fill out what he thinks he needs to work on, and what he thinks that he does really well.

Isaak's doing great too. I went right into Isaak's plethora of empathy. He's not an all time crying kid. He certainly doesn't like it when kids bully. Even when other kids besides him are getting treated badly, it bothers him. Isaak only wants to be friends with good kids. I have always told the boys that other kids go through things that are horrible in their little lives. We don't need to be friends with everyone, but need to respect everyone. 

Travis was a little annoyed that I talked to the teacher about that stuff way longer than his grades. His grades were good. He does well over all academically. 

Isaak does love to write. He writes pages and pages for his stories. It's neat to see that at his young age he has a different style of writing than Mica. Mica likes to mix fact with fiction. Mica's a detailed person that doesn't think about flowing one part of a story to another part. Isaak likes fiction. Isaak's writing flows, is super descriptive, and he spells phonetically like I do at times. 

Isaak's teacher does a lot of group work, but makes it so that everyone in their group has to participate in the activity. She has A person does this, B person does that, and C person completes this. They can help each other in the process.

I always heard the male teachers I work with complain about conferences. Travis and I happen to enjoy going to them.  

Mad Libs Valentines

Are you wanting to give fun Valentines that are not sugar coated? My kid's school has been moving away from school treats. I think they still can give Valentines that have treats, but they have to be sent home to eat.

I've been trying to figure out a way to make Valentines fun without spending a ton of money. I saw the "You Rule" Valentine - It's a wooden ruler with a Valentine wrapped around it. I love it, but man wooden rulers times 50 or so kids is a lot of money!

I bought a thick Mad Libs book at Target. It was more cost effective then their smaller books. You can get it on Amazon. They also have Valentine themed books on Amazon that I didn't see in the store. I'm going to put one or two sheet(s) of Mad Libs rolled up with each Valentine, along with a pencil.

If you like these Valentines, feel free to download them (see below) to print off. 

Mica changes his mind on his favorite color, so I went with red, in his Valentine's background.

Mad Libs Valentine

Isaak loves sparkly shimmery gold, so that's the color of his background.

Mad Libs Valentine

Sneaky

There's someone that works at my work that is a clean, organized freak. We're talking - if a desk is out of line she has a student worker line them up. I could tell the student worker thought her demands in lining up desks was ridiculous based on his facial expression. I'm really good at reading people.

Last week I got a call from Mrs. Clean Freak: Alissa can you come into the 1st year classroom for a minute? 

I was thinking: Is this really necessary? Seriously I had many more things I could be doing than telling her why the desks weren't lined up just so.

I went into the classroom and Mrs. Clean Freak said: Alissa you teach in here more than other teachers do. Can you tell me why so and so moved their desk?

I was thinking: Because he wanted to. He's an American and an adult. Last I checked he's free to do what he wants.

I said: He's color blind. He really couldn't work productively in my Color and Design Theory class without help. He also was by a few girls. The guy likes to hang out with other guys. The color blind thing was a much better reason to move.

Mrs. Clean Freak said: Do you know why the students moved that table back there? Pointing to a table.

I said: Nope! If it bothers you move it back, otherwise just leave it.

Mrs. Clean Freak paused as if she didn't know how to handle this one, and said to the student worker: Move that table back, and align the desks. All while the student worker stood there looking completing baffled.

I left the room.

Later I get another call from Mrs. Clean Freak: Alissa can you come into the 3rd year classroom?

I was thinking: OMG really?!?!

I said: Ok.

Mrs. Clean Freak said: Those are your folders. We don't like them there. Meaning she doesn't like them there. Can you move them?

I grabbed the folders that I use for that class only to take them back to my office. Each folder belongs to a different student. I put their work in the folders. When I knew she was gone I went right back into that classroom to hide them in a different spot. I felt like a kid that was told to clean their room, but shoved everything under their bed. Seriously though...it's a classroom. If I need things in there, they are going to stay in there. I only have so much room in my office.

Here's where the folders were:

Totally out of sight from tours!

Here's where I hid them:

You don't see them. Do you? Mrs. Clean Freak apparently hasn't seen them either. At least she hasn't said so. They are by the printers that no one uses. We have 2 more printers in a different spot that everyone uses. How about we remove the unused printers, and keep the folders that are used?!

Why is it that something as little as this - can get on my nerves more than some thing big? I just think some people need to choose their battles more. This isn't a battle I would have chose to fight. The students folders stay!

Random Tid Bits

1. I used the nice, very expensive camera at work. I attached it to a tripod, and continued to show each student that turned in their work how to use the camera. I sat down after showing a student how to use it, and BAM the camera did a face plant into the floor. I tested it. It turned on. The black plastic on the lens towards the top was shattered. :(
   
   I'm on the last season of Dexter. The thought occurred to me to play dumb, and pretend to not know what happened to the camera. It could have fallen when I was out of the room. Reality slapped me in the face. What was I thinking? Tis' the season of giving, and here I am thinking of covering up something that wasn't my fault, but happened in my care. All weekend I stewed over the situation.
   
   On Monday I went right into the boss man's office to confess what had happened. He was ok about it. Then I felt awful about the thought that I was even thinking about covering up the camera's face plant. I told him that I was afraid of how he'd react, and that I should have told him right away. 


2. A student that isn't even my student right now has been really disrespectful to me twice this week. (I'll call her non-student because she's not my student right now).
   
   She keeps coming in to talk to my students. That's not usually a big deal, but it's finals week.
   
   The non-student came in to talk to one girl that owed me 4 major projects, my current student always has people around her talking to her, and she is the type that can't say, "I have too work to do. Leave me alone right now." She's too nice. I would have liked to of said to the non-student, "The girl you are talking to owes me 4 projects. She can't focus when others talk to her. She's too nice to tell you that. Be a good friend, and leave her alone, so she can work." BUT that's none of my non-student's damn business! I asked my non-student politely to leave the room, so my students could study and get their artwork done. She flat out refused. When I was more stern in my request she said I was so rude to her. I don't get upset very easily. How she was talking to me made me shake inside. I said, "The first time you were in here I said nothing. This is the second time. I have students that need to get their work done. I would have never talked to my teachers like that. It's time for you to leave. Get out!" She mumbled, "I'm not disrespectful!" She stayed for another few minutes then left, came back 10 minutes later, saw me see her, and left again.
   
   That's the part of teaching I don't like. They are college students, so many think they know everything. They are "adults". Those same students think they are free to do anything.
   
   There's a reason why this one student was in my classroom, she's rubbed her own classmates the wrong way. I also found out from her teachers that she owed them a major project, but wanted to do the minimum on it.  


3. I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan, but I like it. When I was younger I'd beg for my mom to give me Princess Leia buns. I'm not the fan that collects all things Star Wars. Travis knows the boys want to see The Force Awakens. He secretly got tickets. The boys know nothing. It will be fun to surprise them tonight. 


Are you going to see it?



Source

4. It most certainly feels like winter this week. Christmas most certainly crept up on us. When Mica shouts out how many days there are until Christmas every morning. I panic every time. I have most of my cookies done, but had to make more because my sisters, mom and I are decorating them this weekend. It's ok if I have too many. We're having a kid New Years party. In the deep freezer the cookies will be. I have wrapping to do as well.


5. The boy's holiday program is today! I'm writing this on Thursday. It will be a hectic day for sure. Their program times are 10 and 1:30. I have to give my final at 1. 10:30 is the time I go. With it being the last day of the semester it's a crazy time to have to leave work to go to a concert. I do want to see it though!  

Cheater

Many of you know I'm a teacher. Today we had a test. The student's knew what time we had the test. I said ahead of time, "Make sure your desks are cleared off for the test."

Some of the students are still messy.

I walk around, and look for notes, and review sheets to show up as signs that they are cheating.

Next semester is much easier, they will not take a paper test. We give the test over the network. The program we use randomizes the questions, blocks them from seeing their desktop, or any other program, so it would be very hard to cheat. They don't get computers until next semester.

I was walking around, and noticed someone taking the test was talking to someone that was finished. I was 1/2 joking and said, "Hey _______ what are you doing? Cheating?" 

He nervously grabbed his review sheet out from under his test, and said, "Ummm...I don't know how this got here." 

He then said, "Well you knew I had all these papers on my desk."

He put it away. I let him finish the test.

When he was done I said knowing that he does really bad on exams, "You have 2 choices: I grade that test, and take off a ton of points, or you go take the test in a different room?"

He opted to take the test in a different room.

Then I wrote him up, had him sign that what he did was wrong.

At this school if you get 2 write ups for something like that, you get kicked out for a period of time. First defense down.

What annoys me more than the cheating it's self is that he tried to play it off as it was my fault for knowing he had papers on his desk. Bullshi*! Take ownership of your mess up!

Another thing that really annoys me is that this is the student's area of study. Why would someone cheat on something that is their interest? 

It happens once, or more a year, so I'm not really surprised. I just have to shake my head every time it does happen.

Woodstock Foods Plant the Seed Review

Awhile ago I entered a giveaway for Woodstock Foods. They were giving away seeds for a classroom. I entered hoping that they'd get here before the Garden Club ended. It did end, but Isaak has the Garden Club teacher. The school got the package today. There was a bit of confusion on the package. I had Travis bring it home, so I could look through everything, take pictures, and set everything up. Tomorrow he'll explain what the package was all about. :)

Daddy will drop off the boys, and the planting kits.

I know Isaak loves to garden, so he'll be just as excited to get these as his teacher I'm sure.

The 25 Kits Included:

• Eco-friendly pots that are made out of rice hulls and natural binding agents which are starch-based, water-soluble, and biodegradable. The pots are made out of all recycled materials, so nothing is wasted in the making.
• GMO FAQ packets. They answer any questions people may have about GMO. Woodstock Foods is Non GMO.
• An instruction sheet.
• Wooden spoons for planting.
• Organic Corn Seeds.

This is a great thing for kids to get. Such a fun, healthy way to end the school year. I love the message!

Like Woodstock Foods on Facebook!

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.

Drama in the Classroom

You wouldn't believe the drama I've dealt with last week! It's really silly that college students just can't be respectful of each other! I'd say the majority of the time I love my students! I really have little problems with them. Then there's one time a year that I just want to pull my hair out. That's this time. HA!

A group of girls got along with each other. Then there was conflict. One girl doesn't drink or party, and she got thrown out of the group. Good for her! I think. Well things got worse. Much more drama took place. Once I brought it up to a higher up, they were called in to be talked to. Then they were friends once again.

We had a drug issue with another situation. Nothing could be done because it was an issue outside the school.

There was also a harassment issue. The one(s) that harass rarely think they are in the wrong. Then the one that was harassed feels guilty, like they did something to bring it on.

There were a few more situations. Craziness!

April Fool's! ;)

• Young college students are easy to play tricks on! 
• My April Fools joke: I made up a handout that had instructions for the students to write a 4 to 5 page paper on children's book illustration.
• One thing I know is that art students HATE to do anything different then art! Writing a paper is agony.

•  I already had them write one paper {for real} and heard moans and groans! I kept cheering them on saying things like, "Hey you are in college folks." "This is such a great experience!" And "It a great way to learn how to critique and talk about your art." They really didn't want to hear any of it. Most all of the 2 to 3 page papers I made them write earlier, were exactly 2 pages. I think I only had 2 students that wrote onto the 3rd page. 

• Back to today...April Fool's Day! I handed out their FAKE assignment. 
• I had one student begin to protest. He said, "I don't really know that much about this topic. There is no way I can write 4 to 5 pages on it."
• My assistant said, "Go to Boarders or Barnes and Noble to research!" 
• I said, "Ya guys I had to write 15 page papers in grad school."
• They all shut up. 
• I proceeded to give the rest of lecture. 
• At the end I said, "Oh, by the way...the paper assignment, well it's an APRIL FOOLS JOKE!" They all looked relieved, and some laughed. I made them promise to not tell the late comers about the APRIL FOOLS assignment. 
• We had a few late comers and the whole class played along. ;)