Thursday, March 31, 2011

I am always trying to find ways to help out my students. Unfortunately, money is very hard to come by. So, I apply for grants anytime I can. I currently have two grants that I've applied for where money is divided up through a voting process. Since we are a small school (38 students) and don't have a lot of people to help us vote, I'm reaching out to get everyone to help that I can. I would love it if you would vote and help out my students! You can vote one time per email address. Here are the links:
Reader's Theater Grant
Classroom Store Grant

Sunday, March 20, 2011

"We didn't start the fire"

A little over a week ago we attended a fire safety dinner. We went because it was a free meal at Ponderosa and it promised to be short. It ended up being mostly a sales pitch for expensive alarm systems using scare tactics. While we want to take precautions, we were not sucked into the presentation and left feeling as if it was mostly a waste of time.
Then today happened. While I still think the presentation was relatively worthless, today I was glad for the precautions we had already taken around the house. Today was a beautiful spring day. We had to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and, while we were there, we decided to pick up some steaks to grill for dinner. Now, grilling is one of Peter's favortie things to do. He was very excited about this. I was inside making some potatoes for a side dish when I heard a knock on the window. I didn't rush over. I figured his hands were full and he just wanted some help opening the door. When I got to the door, however, I did not see Peter. What I did see was our lawn on fire. After being stunned for a moment, Peter shouted, "Get the extinguisher!" I got it, and let him spray it while I got bucket fulls of water. We did put the fire out, but not before a decent portion of the lawn had been scorched. The reason for the fire? Not thinking very clearly, Peter put the grill on the grass. He also forgot to put the catch pan for the ashes back on the grill. He released ashes, and released them right into the grass. The ground is wet, but the grass is still dead and dry AND it was a breezy day. Let's just say that this was not the way we planned to start the grilling season.