This has been a week of ups and downs with weather temperatures. One day we are wearing jackets and the next day short sleeves! Friday of last week, there were snow showers that came and went in streaks. Of course, we were warned of severe thunderstorms as well as some were warned of tornadoes.
We were in out of town on Friday night and experienced more than one snow shower where it was hard to see anything. As quickly as it came, it didn’t take long to go away but the came back. Saturday morning there was snow on the ground but it did disappear before the MMCRU Prom night.
Thursday we were at the Marcus school to take a picture of the generous donation that Wes-Tel was giving to Little Royals—a check for $10,000. Now to get to the place to take this picture was an adventure in itself! We went through the Commons, down a long walk and ended up with a long “mountain” of muddy dirt to go over to get to the bottom of where we were to continue walking. (If you have ever parked at the school at a football game, gotten out of the vehicle, and started going “down” to the field—this is what it was like with this “mountain”. Superintendent and Matt Dreckman helped me down and we were on our way that seemed like walking the distance to Cleghorn! Finally, we reached the place to take the picture.
Thinking this was the end, it wasn’t! We were on a tour further (like the distance to Remsen!) to see the rest of the new school. The floors are cement but they had mud, straw, and water wherever. (Like at the Fair when you had to watch where you walked when animals had been there!) Soon I saw that Robin and Bob were leaving the tour. Steve and I followed them but soon lost them. We waited for the others to come and followed them back to—the mountain of dirt. Matt said there was a ramp at the end of this and we did find it—better than going up it this time! Some stayed for a tour at the south end of the high school, but we had a library program at 6 p.m. and just made it. Thanks for the help I received at the “mountain”!
At the Library, Roger Stoner gave a presentation on “Life with His Wife”. He read several of the chapters (if you call them that?), but when I wrote on this presentation, I only gave a summary, not the whole reading or else if you knew all that was in the book from him that night, you wouldn’t read it. The Library has this book—check it out and get more than one laugh!
He has written four other books. I did buy “Horse Woman’s Child” and found it to be quite interesting. It ends up with the Indian massacre at Spirit Lake—that was terrible. When I got home, I had some Jello and went to bed. At 1:30 a.m., I decided to go downstairs and have a late supper!
Saturday night we went before 5:30 to the school to get a good seat for the Prom. After we paid, we found a place to stand to wait for the doors to open to get seated. I must admit I agree with Les Pedersen’s resignation letter to the School Board, when he talked about the loss of respect and values. I found this out Saturday night. There was a bench with one person sitting on it and all her belongings sitting in the other spot on the bench. Of course, she was playing games on the phone as she sat there. I wasn’t the only older person that would have liked to sit there for a short spell, but that was not to be. When this person left (probably for a smoke break?) there was more of her things put in the spot where she had been sitting. Eventually she came back and took up the spot again. Someone did come with a chair for me—thanks!
When we got to the gym, there was a handicapped place in the front row of the stage bleachers. That was a good idea and some did sit there that deserved to sit there. Then a person came with a lot of baggage and sat there. The person sitting behind her tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the “Reserved for handicapped” sign. She smiled and sat there the whole time. She had a camera that had a costly price on it. While I had to sit toward the west end and not be able to get good pictures, she had a choice spot. When the King and Queen were chosen, she took a good picture and left. If there is anyone that did get a picture of this Court that was at the east end of the gym, let Lori know as we would like to have one for the newspaper.
School is winding down. On Tuesday night the MMCRU High School is having their final band and chorus concert and fine arts program. There seems to be something every week of May until school is out.
Talking about respect, I found an article that Charese Yanney, who is owner and managing partner of Guarantee Roofing, etc. wrote awhile back about how “respect” is more important and relevant than before. She had found part of a letter her mother had written dealing with respect. No matter one’s age, economics, whether one is a good citizen or not, everyone wants to be respected. Unfortunately, that is not happening anywhere. Did you ever think about why someone has joined a gang? They want to be loved, they want to be heard, and they want to be respected. When a person doesn’t have respect for themselves, they will not have respect for someone else. (I am going to write more on this at another time.)
Did you see where some schools are racing to catch up on kids’ reading? The article told of where a boy had missed out on some of the first grade because of the pandemic. He had missed out on part of the second grade also. Now in third grade, he didn’t even know what some of the vowels were.
According to officials, third grade is the last chance to master reading before they face more rigorous expectations. If the students don’t read fluently by the time this school year ends, research shows they’re less likely to complete high school.
Atlanta has been one of the only cities in the country to add class time: 30 minutes a day for three years. The teacher has reviewed suffixes, how to spell words ending in ch, tch, and how to make words plural. Some students had spellings memorized but for those who don’t, the teacher explained the phonics based program that the district now mandates for all third graders, in line with science backed curricula gaining momentum across the country.
The teacher has turned this lesson into a quiz game. Kids like games and this was one answer to get the students to learn more and still have fun doing it. The teacher has seven of the 19 students that are still below grade level in reading. She is working with those 7 to bring them up where they belong. She is a concerned teacher for her students.
The reason that students have to learn to read is why our school is (it seems) having testing done for students so often. If you cannot read, what can you do as you go on to other grades in school? Now we are pushing more science and math as well. For those schools that don’t test, I hope the students are doing well. It is up to the parents to check on this and often.
Remember to keep in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost friends/loved ones to death, have had their lives changed, are struggling to make ends meet even though they have a job, help the government to realize that Senior Citizens need their full check without taking anything from it, help those who desire “wants” rather than “needs” that prestige isn’t everything and be with those who are still trying to shorten the distance between family/friends to build a bridge instead of a wall. Count your blessings. I will close with this quote: “Yesterday is history; Tomorrow is a mystery, and Today is a gift.” Use this gift wisely.