Acid Rain, Anyone?

Today started like every other day, except that I wore a sweater as a shirt and was still cold (beat that, AZ!). And then, as me and my coteacher sat at our computers, diligently working, it darkened outside...It had started to rain. I was delighted! I hadn't seen rain, during the day no less, in a very long time. Then my coteacher started to get a little worried; she said she didn't have an umbrella, and I laughed because neither do I (though I specifically bought one when I got here, I left it in my apartment). She said her sons didn't have one when they left this morning (I was like, ok, they'll get a little wet, haha). Then she tried to explain to me that the rain was "dirty," and I told her, yeah, in AZ the rain is dirty too, all that dust in the atmosphere. Apparently we weren't talking about the same kind of dirt. This is pollution dirt, toxic stuff released into the atmosphere, happily raining back down on us in acid form. Excellent. Add that to the list of things they have here in K-Land. Home of the grass-less sidewalks, "land of the morning calm"...(only because people have finally passed out from drinking till the sun came up, literally, and on weeknights too).

I didn't do a lot at work today; the 6th graders had some districtwide test they had to take, so I had the morning to myself (lesson planning things I had no idea about). It was pretty uneventfull...so I'll leave you with some thoughtful phrases I found in the classroom and in my teaching books...

...on the classroom rules poster, this gem is #9, "Make a noisy." I have no idea what this is (its followed by "no fighting").

...in my 6th grade Teacher Guide, this was in one of the lessons, "Participate in Shouting game pleasantly." Again, they're 6th graders.

There. Talk amongst yourselves...