I had a rather successful lesson with IB today. I wrote the lyrics for “Come On Come On” and cut the song into strips. I left blanks for a few words, so first they had to put the song in the proper order, then fill in the missing words. The whole thing took up the full class period, and everyone got involved and stayed busy.

The lessons with IA went well, too. The first lesson we worked on the animal crossword puzzle. I gave them the complete list, let them study it and ask questions, then took the lists back up and gave them the puzzles. The second lesson was simple: I had everyone write a letter to Maw-Maw. It was Grandmothers’ Day Tuesday and I thought it would make a nice surprise for Maw-Maw–and keep the kids busy during the last lesson of the semester.

An interesting romance has sprung up between Anna P. in IB (the one I always call on, hoping to boost her confidence) . . . and Zbeszek. I saw them walking hand in hand yesterday. I hope that his apathy doesn’t rub off onto her . . .

The weather has warmed considerably this week. Snow is melting and the ice on the road has turned to black slush. I walk about without a hat or gloves and nothing turns numb. There was a beautiful full moon last night, but the standard clouds have returned and it is as dark as a moonless night now. But the starts don’t provide any surrogate light. It seems unlikely that this warmth will last, and in a way I don’t even want it to. The black snow and the dirty slush serve as a prelude to the inevitably muddy spring that is on the way. Spring will bring many good things, but they will arrive in a muddy package.

I wonder what this is doing for the frozen creek? Obviously some of the ice is melting, but is it becoming unsafe? Kids have been skating and playing on it for weeks now, and until I saw how thick it is, I did feel a little anxious each time I saw them. I guess there’s nothing I can do unless I see something happen. I don’t worry about it.

I wonder if the ice will audibly pop when it thaws. I’ve always read about the gunshot noise rivers make; would a small stream do such a thing? If so I doubt it would be loud enough for me to hear unless I happened to be close to it. Perhaps I will be by some stroke of luck.

Halina (IA) did not come to school the entire three weeks between the two breaks. I wonder if she’ll come back at all. I should go up to the Haven and see what’s going on there. Perhaps she’ll be back after winter break.

She was always a bit confusing. In some ways she seemed very eager to learn. But often she was incredibly apathetic about everything. I think part of it was due to a lack of confidence. But her English seemed rather good. Or at least she’d become very good at faking understanding. I think she might actually ahve been bored in class. I know that she felt a bit out of place because of the age difference between her and the rest of the class.