The carless club

Not exactly a club I've always wanted to be a member of, but the one I'm in right now. Pray for wisdom in how to deal with the situation if you think about it.
I haven't posted much this school year at all, so I'll try to write a few ramblings. Probably won't be in chronological order, or any kind of order for that matter.
This year I have been teaching a couple of new classes that I have really enjoyed.
6th grade music-I taught this before, but since I had a class of 30 and only 12 books, I basically branched out and did my own thing with a lot of listening/music appreciation and music history. This year I have a small group 3 times a week for a quarter in my office, and at the next quarter I get a new group. I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. The group I have this quarter will prove to be a lot of fun, I think. On the second day of class we were able to hold 2 part harmony that lasted 2-3 measures. Not much by some standards, but leaps and bounds for the kids I'm working with.

7th grade choir-In the past years, we've had combined middle school choirs, but this year they're split up, and I have 7th grade for 1st and 4th quarters (our schedules are weird due to time change-we don't change, but the States do, and since we use BJ LINC our schedules have to change even though the time doesn't. weird, I know) I had a group of 10 who started with some having a hard time even singing the note I played on the piano, but by the last day of first quarter were able to sing in chapel, and able to identify by hearing most any major/perfect interval from second to octave. I was so proud of them, and I can't wait until 4th quarter to work with them again. Incidentally, the last day of class we had brownies and fudge, because I teach them that to remember treble clef line notes they say the sentence Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, and they really didn't know what fudge was. Brownie they know, but not fudge, so I made both so they could compare them.

7th grade girls PE-this is my challenge class at the moment. Most of the girls I have are absolutely not interested in sports in the least. Finding something to interest them and keep them actively partcipating is a constant challenge for me. Also, behavior is a challenge, but apparently that has been the case with this class since at least 1st grade if not longer.

7th grade Music Appreciation-I'm enjoying this one so far-I get to talk about one of my favorite subjects, and try to interest my kids in wholesome good music. I think I've succeeded with a few so far. We're talking about orchestra families and instruments right now, so that's been fun.

I'm also finally getting to coach a volleyball team. My favorite sport to play, and the one I know the most about (along with track and field) and this is the first time in 3 years I've had the opportunity to work with it. I have a team of 4-6th graders, and as of right now they're undefeated within the school (it's intramural just as the other teams I've coached have been). They almost lost last week, I think partially because they saw the posted records and came to the court saying "We've won all our games, teacher!" and playing like they didn't have to try. They saw really quickly that they did have to try, and were able to pull it off, but as I told them later, it wasn't one of our prettier wins. The most exciting was that one of my littlest and least experienced kids served the last 2 points for the win, making it 16-14 in the third game of a best of 3 set. I think she was a little scared when she saw her teammates running at her-I don't think she realized they were happy. It was I think the first time she'd served it over the net in a game, and she did it twice, under extreme pressure (though I'm not sure she really understood the last game of the set, we're tied at 14, game goes to 15 you have to win by 2 kind of pressure)
It's taken me this long (6 weeks) to get them to realize that they've won at the end of the game.
Oh well, at least we're having fun.