0 Spirit Week 2014

This post could be alternately titled: I Am Pi Girl.  This isn't the most math-y post, but if you stick with reading it, you will get to see a picture of me in my mathematical superhero costume. :)

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!

Detail: Spirit Week 2014

0 Basketball Homecoming 2014

Last week was Homecoming Week, and I'm so thankful it's over!  Most of the work of Homecoming is carried out by our cheerleading coach and her cheerleaders.  But, there are a few responsibilities that fall on me as student council sponsor.  Homecoming T-Shirts and Spirit Week.

I already blogged about Spirit Week.  We ended up not celebrating Nerd Day due to a Snow Day.  The days with the most participation were probably Pajama Day and Spirit Day.  Very few students celebrated Crazy Hair Day.  

Homecoming T-Shirts are always one of the most stressful times of the year for me.  It always seems like there is never enough time to get the shirts designed, make sure all the names are spelled correctly in the rosters on the back of the shirts, take orders, deliver the design to the screen printing company one town over, wait for the shirts to be printed, pick up the shirts, distribute the shirts, and make sure everybody pays me for the shirts.  Homecoming shirts are the main fundraiser for Student Council.  It's a lot of work, but we usually make at least two hundred dollars.

Here is this year's design for the front.  (The back features the roster of the boys' team, girls' team, and the cheerleaders.)

Homecoming T-Shirt Design

The shirts were printed on Wednesday, and I was able to pick them up at lunch.  I planned on distributing them on Thursday for Friday's game.  Well, Thursday was a snow day which meant I had to distribute them on the day of the game.  Not fun!

Shirts, waiting to be distributed

Friday, we had a Pep Assembly in the gym to get the students excited for Homecoming.

Homecoming Pep Assembly

We also had a tug of war competition between the different grade levels.  Freshmen competed against Juniors.  Sophomores against Seniors.  The winner of each ended up competing against each other.  It ended up Freshmen (our largest class of almost 60) versus Seniors (our smallest class of under 30).  Once the seniors figured out they could not win, they decided to all let go of the rope at once so the freshmen went tumbling backwards.
  

Tug Of War

I decided I really should go to at least one basketball game this year.  Last year, I went to a few football games and worked the concession stand at two basketball games.  This year, I went to a few more football games and again worked the concession stand for two basketball games.  Several of my students were part of the Homecoming Court, so I stayed for the Coronation and the first game of the night.

This was my FIRST EVER basketball game!  (Working concession at a game doesn't count because you can't see the game from the concession stand...)  Our boys ended up losing 24-54, but I had a lot of fun.  Basketball is a lot easier for me to follow than football!  I definitely want to make sure I check out more games next year!

My First Basketball Game

Detail: Basketball Homecoming 2014

0 Spirit Week

Spirit Week is upon us.  One of my big tasks as Student Council Adviser is coordinating Spirit Week.

I was the type of student in high school who NEVER dressed up for Spirit Week.  I guess I just wasn't that spirited.  LOL

My Student Council kiddos get to pick the dress-up days for Spirit Week.  And, every time, it seems like half the student body HATES the days that were chosen.  This semester, I decided to take a slightly different approach.

Spirit Week Ballots

I had my StuCo kids make a list of days to choose from.  Then, we had the student body decide which four days they wanted to celebrate.  I reasoned that if students had a say in how they dressed up, they would complain less and participate more.

The Resulting Spirit Week

Of course, this did not work out perfectly.  Half of my student council members are currently mad at me because our Spirit Week turned out to be "too juvenile."  I'm trying to not let it bother me.  As my mom told me on the phone the other day, five years from now, these students will not remember any of the dress up days.

Detail: Spirit Week