Happy belated birthday to me...and my students?

Yesterday was my 24th birthday!  The day passed nicely; each class sang to me (both in English and in Spanish) at the beginning of every class period, which generally made me blush.  I told most classes that the perfect birthday present would be for them to be quiet and attentive all hour.  I'm not sure how much effect this really had.  Oh well.

In the evening, Kelsey and I took leftover cake and ice cream over to Rachel's to watch a movie and grade papers (oh, the lives of teachers).  (Sunday was Kelsey's birthday, and therefore the day of our big celebration for both of us--we made a castle-shaped cake decorated with candy, ordered pizza, and watched the Raiders play the Patriots on TV; hence the leftover cake and ice cream).  It was a peaceful (and moderately productive!) way to pass the evening.

Too many parentheses in that last paragraph.  Apologies.

Last summer, before I left for Puerto Rico, several people asked about care packages/sending school supplies.  As many of you know, my school has very limited resources.  I am not allowed to make copies of anything except tests for my students.  Everything else I post online and students are expected to print at home, or before or after school in the lab (for 5 cents per page).

You can imagine the responsibility level of average middle school students.  Even when I post a worksheet two weeks in advance and remind students each class period leading up to the due date to print it and have it for the desired day, there are some who don't bring it in.

I have a personal printer in my classroom, and I would love to be able to print more things for my students--discussion guides, group worksheets, maybe even (gasp) quizzes.  If printer ink weren't so expensive, I would do this more often.

Which brings me to my request.  If any of you are still interested in helping out some Puerto Rican students, or sending me a birthday present, this is my shameless plea.  I could really use some black ink for my printer (HP 27).  I'll even include my PO Box because yes, I really am serious about this.  Printing worksheets for students shouldn't seem like a luxury, perhaps...but it does.

Sue Rosendale
PO Box 3170
Guayama, PR 00785

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