And what exactly was the rubber chicken for...?

Staff Retreat.

For many reasons, which I will not disclose, staff retreat at my school is infamous. I was lucky enough to get to help plan it this year. Hands down my co-workers are the coolest people alive. Where else will your bosses meet you at the door in hula skirts and coconut bras ( over shirts of course) while preparing your surprise luau dinner?

We rented out a lovely beach front house in Galveston for the weekend. Yes we went in the water, no we were not covered in oil. However, tiny crabby things liked to bite us. Songs were sung, teams were built, scavenger hunts won ( by my team of course 2nd year in a row), and tastes in music shared. I even got in a 2 mile run on the beach and almost all of Mockingjay read. Don't ask how a flashlight, lightsabers, Lord of the Flies references, and sleeping on kiwis are all related, just know we had a heck of a time. Still not sure what the intended use of the rubber chicken was...we'll never know. Good times.

Mockingjay

What do you mean you haven't read The Hunger Games? What do you mean you haven't read Catching Fire? Why don't you know who Katiness is? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I mean I know I teach kids, but you read Harry Potter right?

Our 8th graders are lucky to have a star ELA team who gives them amazing texts to read. This is how I discovered The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You might remember her Gregor The Overlander books ( also top notch young adult reading). I picked it up last year to have something ( non-math) to discuss with them. I couldn't put it down. Part of that is the fact that just about every chapter ends on a cliffhanger moment. Collins uses every trick in the book to fire up your curiosity to just turn the page and start another chapter. 

Yes I know the post-apocalyptic tournament to the death this is a bit over done but I just really enjoyed turning pages. I highly suggest you take the short amount of time ( you can finish them in like 2 days) to burn through the series. It's worth skipping these crappy summer reality shows.

4-day teaching week and then Austin-bound. Here's to Monday kids.
-HK

On Missing My Mom...

Moms are wonderful people. They are exactly what you need whenever you feel like you're starting to lose...well anything...your brain, your keys, your lunch, you get the picture. My mom came up or the weekend and it was wonderful.

Last time my mom stayed with me in Houston, I was a mess. My apartment was still in partial boxes. I had a mental breakdown in front of my kids, my car had broken down, and I hadn't had more than 3 hours of sleep.  I felt like a child who's mommy had to come rescue her from the big bad real world. She was exactly the pick-me-up ( well kick in the pants!) I needed to get my life together. She saved me.

This time ( almost a year later) it was the opposite. I felt MORE like an adult with my mom here. We kicked off our weekend at Pico's Mex-Mex ( a favorite of the infamous Katherine O'Hearne) where I tricked mom in to ordering a medium margarita which was as big as her head. We caught up and ate up everything in sight.

 I even took her with me to open house at school, this kids thought she was super cool and it was a GREAT conversation starter with parents! We went to the Menil Collection, a free art museum in Houston. We were unfortunately stalked by a train wreck of a first date following us from room to room. Museums are a quiet place to reflect and enjoy yourselves, not a place to loudly explain how you couldn't finish your time at UT on a chess scholarship because you were too busy playing chess with your friends. I could see his chances of getting any evaporate with every word.

After braving the Houston heat for a day, we dressed up and headed out for a lovely quiet dinner at *17 . Dinner didn't blow us away, it was good food with simple clean flavors and execution. However the French 75 cocktail and black pepper panna cotta with figs hit my top 10 list of desserts and cocktails.

We ended our weekend with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which was FANTASTIC. I rarely find myself caught up in a movie like I was caught up in that one. Mom really enjoyed it and got to geek out a bit, which is fun to watch her do. The last time mom was with me we saw Paranormal Activity on Halloween night, which had me crawling underneath my seat and cowering in fear like a baby. Mom was laughing through the entire thing...most likely at me.

All in all I still need my mom for so many things. She helped me learn how to hang heavy mirrors and pick out indoor plants. How to get my cat to be nice all the time and laugh at myself when I get too serious. How to realize that I love the city of Houston. I never really thought I liked it here as much as I did, until I was showing it off to mom. Finding that there were too many places I wanted to take her and show her. Houston really is fantastic, and I'm so glad it was my mom who helped me realize that. Thanks mom.

-HK

Things My Kids Write that Make me want to die

Ok. Sorry for 2 school updates in a row. My bad.

During pre-term the homework was to find out 5 interesting facts about every teacher you have. Our AMAZING ELA teacher CV gave us each the pile of papers that were our 5 facts.  Most were your typical facts, school attended, subject taught, what I did over the summer...however...the following is one of those papers:

Ms. Kinkade

1.) Ms. Kinkade is not married.
2.) Ms. Kinkade has no boyfriend.
3.) Ms. Kinkade has no children.
4.) Ms. Kinkade wants no children. (Not sure how he got that one)
5.) Ms. Kinkade has 2 cats.

As if my life doesn't seem depressing enough verbally, in print it's worse. The good news is, that kid and I laugh about it. I have been known to say "I can't help you right now, I'm so depressed because I have cats and no one to love."  I LOVE the kids I work with they are great.

In other news I got to wine and dine with Tipti, Taylor, and Brittany a few weeks ago at Vic and Anthony's, a very nice (even if it's owned by Landry's) steakhouse for Houston resteraunt week ( which is more like a month). HOPEFULLY I can convince mom and Jen to go out with me to 17 this weekend when they come up, I've been wanting to go there ever since I bought my Fearless Critics Houston Resteraunt Guide in 2009.

-HK

Observations From the 1st Day of School

1.) As children we live in a constant cycle of growth. A year passes, we go to a new grade, we meet new teachers, we become increasingly more awesome. As teachers we live in a constant cycle of decay. A year passes, we stay in the same grade, we meet new kids, we feel yet another year older.

2,) No one notices you've lost 10 lbs.

3.) Never tell them you can understand some Spanish, it makes November sooooo much fun.

4.) Hair gel is always "in" in the 8th grade. It was when I was in school and it will be forever. The motto: "More is more, wetter is better." I will eventually conduct my experiment where I stick them to the ceiling and see if they stay. I've got $10 on this.

5.) My Homeroom will ALWAYS be the best.

6.) Kids never understand when they mess around and you laugh instead of yell. They just embarrassed that their plan backfired.

7.) Kids who eat chips and kool-aid for lunch will tell you your salad is depressing. You will remember what you ate for lunch as a kid, look at your thighs are keep munching on the lettuce.

8.) That kid who made "manatee noises" last year...will continue to make them in an effort to test your patience.

9.) There will always be good people fighting the fight for the kids. When one of those kids is yours, you hate when you can no longer control what happens to them. However, it's so good to know they have great people looking out for them...and those people are down the hall and on speed dial.

10.) Being "that crazy teacher" is WAY more fun that being "that cool teacher."

11.) My heart is broken one of my kids isn't coming back this year. I hope she's ok.

12.) High Heels were not meant for teaching. They look good. They make you look legit. They are also torture. Never. Again.

13.) The second day is when they start acting like themselves. Leave the first day out of your memory.