Technically, I get paid by my school district to do two things. Teach math. And, oversee the student council. Math is definitely my forte. Student council is not. I was not the type of student in high school who would have joined student council. And, I would have never volunteered for this position. But, when they hired me, they needed someone for the job. And, first-year teacher me did not know how to say "no." Let's be honest. Third-year teacher me still doesn't know how to say no, either.
My big responsibility with student council is homecoming. We design and sell homecoming t-shirts as a fundraiser. That's always a big stress on me. So glad that's over with!
Homecoming ended up being reschedule this year. I'm not even going to try to explain how that happened.
But, last week was Spirit Week. Take Two. (Our first spirit week was only two days long due to Fall Break. We celebrated 'Merica Monday and Twinsie Tuesday).
My StuCo kids decided to go with a Disney theme this year.
Monday was Sleeping Beauty Day. Much to the dismay of my students, I did NOT wear my pajamas. Even when I was a student in school, I never participated in pajama day. There's just something about wearing your pjs to school that doesn't set well with me. I told my students that I have standards for myself that involve me not wearing my pjs to school. :)
Tuesday was Monsters University Day. I did participate in this one by representing my alma mater, The University of Tulsa. Over the course of the day, I was shocked by how many kids didn't know where I went to college. I told them on the first day of school. And, I have multiple TU flags hanging in my classroom. I guess I should really get around to hanging up my college diploma... Some of my students didn't even know that the college I went to existed. According to Google maps, it's only 44 miles away from where I teach now. And, we don't have THAT many colleges in Oklahoma. I guess this is a sign that I should talk about college more with my students...
Wednesday was Ohana Day. Apparently, I need to brush up on my Lilo and Stitch knowledge. Because, I didn't know what the word "Ohana" meant. But, as I heard a hundred times this week, "Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind." In the past, Hawaiian Day was one of the few spirit days I've participated in. It's pretty easy to throw on a Hawaiian print blouse and a lei. But, this year, my mom suggested that I borrow her Hawaiian muumuu. Yeah...
I tried the dress on, and it was...well...not exactly what I normally wear to school. It doesn't make sense why I would be so worried about what other people would think of me if I wore this. Adding a belt to the outfit made it more flattering. And, I got up the courage to leave the house in it. What I didn't think about was the weather. The previous day had been pretty warm. But, a cold front had blown in the night before. I have a really bad habit of making wardrobe decisions based on the previous day's weather, and this was no exception.
The walk from my car to the school in 37 degree weather was QUITE chilly. (And, for the record, that's 37 degrees Fahrenheit. For my Celsius-minded readers, that's 2.777 degrees Celsius.) All day long, my students told me I was insane for wearing a dress in this weather. At least no one was doubting my school spirit.
Thursday was Incredibles Day. We were supposed to dress like our favorite superheros. This is the day I was most excited for. As soon as my student council kids planned this day, I started planning my costume. I was going to be a superhero. A mathematical superhero. I mean, what type of superhero could be cooler??? ;)
A few years ago, my church did a castle themed Vacation Bible School. Since I was emceeing our daily meetings, I dressed up with a cloak and sparkly pink crown. For the entire week, the kids called me "Queen Sarah." Some of them would even bow down to me whenever they saw me. That wasn't exactly what I'd intended...
I texted my mom to see if she knew where my cloak was. Because, a cloak is awfully similar to a superhero cape... My original plan was to attach a giant pi symbol to the back of my cape... But, my sister vetoed this idea. Eventually, I settled on making a pi shirt to wear under my cape. The pi symbol was printed out and then cut out of purple felt.
Yes, I came to school dressed as Pi Girl.
My first hour spent quite a bit of time making fun of my cape. They decided they could do just as good by tying their jackets around their necks. I thought this made them look like they should be wandering around a country club myself, but...
I really think they were just super jealous of my costume. I mean, let's be honest. How many people can pull this off? PLEASE do not answer that question. :)
Friday was our only non-Disney themed day: Spirit Day.
My student council kids even created our own hash tag for Instagram. What can I say? Our homecoming was #legit.
I'm so proud of how hard my student council kids worked to pull this week off. The amount of thought and effort they put into their own spirit week costumes was inspiring. I can't wait to see what we come up with for Basketball Homecoming!