Happy Halloween!

I needed to post something before November got her so I thought what's happening now but Halloween?
Growing up in the country, I don't remember doing too much of the neighborhood trick or treating. We had community parties, hayrides, and bonfires instead. Trick or treating was more of a town kids event. We'd dress up for school parties and sometimes farm kids would go into town to trick or treat.
I found these photos from 1957 when my brothers and sister were in their pjs all cleaned up. Was it after trick or treating? What did the rest of their costumes look like?
Mom saved a couple of my earliest boughten costumes, A Tweetie Bird and Huckelberry Hound. I know there are some photos out there but in a slide somewhere or another album for another time.
One of my earliest Halloween memories revolves around a party we had in our basement on the farm. Neighbors young and old were invited and I was pretty young. I can vividly remember a neighbor who scared me so bad on the stairs to the basement that I ended up hiding under the love seat in the living room for most of the night. I was dressed as a nurse and when my Dad and a different neighbor came into the living room to sit and talk away from the party. I surprised them as I crawled out from the love seat and made myself known. Dad took me back to the party and showed me who the scarey man on the steps was. It was traumatic if I remember so much of the night almost 50 years later.

Missing you...

are you missing me? I've been too busy to write! (Ok, add procrastination and my obsession with facebook in there as excuses too) School is keeping me hopping lately, as well as things at home.
Let's see, since I last wrote, my folks came down for a visit. We went to an auction in a nearby town and managed to find a few things that made their way into my folks van. My Dad got a nice Ansonia mantle clock that is now mine as an early Christmas present. That makes four clocks he has "brought" into my home. HA, I think one reason is the folks don't have room at their home for any more clocks. Mom got a beautiful oak library table. It was great having them here.
Grading at school continues to keep me involved... as an art teacher grading is not my most favorite activity so I manage to avoid it at all costs. It's so subjective in my curricular area, I try to justify my grades with comments written back and that takes me a while. First I had midterms for my HS semester run classes and then midterms for my MS trimester classes and now it's time for 9 weeks grading for the HS classes again... you see the pattern here? I also got a new kiln this year, all digital. It is a beauty but I had to learn to operate it... not to mention the extra time it takes to load and fire things outside of the regular teaching schedule.
Today I went to a convention on technology with my superintendent in Iowa City, IA. Next I'll be reporting on what I learned at a faculty in-service in a couple weeks so a presentation will have to be prepared... it goes goes on and on and on... Get one task done and another comes in it's place.
I'll try to get back to my regular posting soon. Just wanted to tell you I haven't fallen off the end of the world, yet!

Solutions

Thinking of the right strategy to fix a problem. How do I...? What if...? Kids come up with solutions to problems in the oddest ways. While I may not agree with their technique for fixing a problem, I guess I am thankful they are brainstorming to find a solution instead of sitting back and doing nothing. In one of my classes this past week, a girl wanted to get an angle cut off the end of a stick so she could poke it into a sculpture she was making. "Scared" of using the saw, she was trying to cut the end off a stick and didn't trust herself not to cut me if I held the end of the stick for more support.
Two boys in the class quickly volunteered to attack the problem. Without a clamp in the art room, and an old miter saw, one boy stood on the stick while the other sawed the end at an angle. I couldn't let it happen without catching their work with a couple photos. While unconventional, they got the angle cut and the sculpture continued... everyone was happy and no injuries!