I'm Back!

This week I went to Camp Tecumseh with the 7th graders at school. For over 20 years my school district has been taking 7th graders to camp for an outdoor learning experience. High School kids come as counselors, and parents even get to attend, too! The kids spend hours a day trapsing through the woods doing experiments, observations, problem solving, and they even go canoeing and rock climbing! I went as a 7th grader, and Dad came with me, I also went as a counselor in high school, and last year was my 1st year back as a teacher!

This year did not disappoint! The weather was a bit chilly with spots of rain and hail, but the kids were great! They had such a good time, and enjoyed our evenings of square dancing, stories, and skits! Besides watching the kids run around in glee, one of my favorite parts is spending time with the other teachers! I teach with some fabulous people, and I think we enjoy camp as much as the kids do!!! I am so thankful for the experience to go!

Coming back to school sent a bit of a rain cloud over my experience. As the 2nd group of kids headed into camp today, I was told stories of my worst behaved class behaving badly. Apparently once they were given the permanent sub who is "too nice" (as told by the student), all heck broke loose. My fears were confirmed when I returned to my classroom with notes from the sub, and stories from other teachers that "the kids were off the wall in the art world." !!!!!!!! Apparently, despite my lecture on being on task, remaining seated and quiet, and being a help to the sub, my little students decided that throwing beads across the room was the better choice!

The frustrating thing is that I will not see any of those students until Monday since they are now at camp, and I fear that my rage will subside by then.

The good news is that I do still have good kids. Most of them were at camp with me, so it was a fun experience!!! But isn't it amazing what teachers have to deal with! Ho hum, what's a girl to do?!