I am tired tonight. It was a busy day and it seemed like all the kids were pushing the limits. Well not all...but a few who know better. If you don't have boundaries at home, makes it hard for your kids teachers. I spent part of my lunch away from it all. I usually eat my lunch with the kids but I realized I needed a little break today. I hate micro-managing people. I just wish they could do their job. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case so I guess I will have to. Sigh.
I did get my paperwork done for the grant. My principal is going to the meeting when they review the grants. If they have any questions she will be available. She thanked me for taking the initiative to get it done. I did get some help from the English teacher on writing it.I was grateful. The principal thinks we have an excellent chance of getting it. I sure hope so! It would be a huge boost for the school. It is a great opportunity for all of us. I am thinking positive thoughts.
I am get a little frustrated with my principal sometimes. I realize more and more that she doesn't really understand primary grades. You can tell she hasn't spent much time in them, doesn't really understand how it is different than upper grades. She is really great with the upper grades but truly doesn't have a grasp on the curriculum etc needed by the primary grades. I feel like I am beating my head against the wall sometimes. I will have to figure out how to work with this. I had best get myself in my p.j.'s... goodnight
February 29, 2012
February 27, 2012
"It's not fair"
We had indoor recess today because the temperatures were borderline chilly. I say borderline because the temperature was somewhere between 28 and 42 depending on the website. I think I need a weather station at the school :)! Usually when we are outside the students are very active. I don't like indoor recess because they don't get sun and they are less active. Today I had them do a few races. They were really out of breath. We came into the classroom afterward to start our read aloud. One of the students told my aide "Miss C wore us out!" and then said "but its not fair because we don't get to wear her out." I thought oooh boy you are sooooo wrong buddy. Today went very smoothly. I had two students absent, perhaps that was why. I also had gotten a lot done this weekend so I think I was a bit more prepared for the week. I just have to fill in the Grant application tomorrow. I know what I'm writing I just have to enter it in. Wish me luck I soooo badly want this to happen! I am off to visit my P.J.'s Goodnight
February 26, 2012
"Squatchy"
Everybody needs a little amusing stress relief. There has been a show on Animal Planet called "Finding Bigfoot." It is hysterically funny to me. The so called "evidence" and "theories" are based on... I guess very active imaginations. I don't think it is a coincidence that the researchers come from Oregon, and Northern California. The marijuana bi-fecta. Ahem. Growing up with hunters I find their techniques quite entertaining. To find an elusive animal in the woods... you usually don't talk, walk, and squawk loudly. A scientist would probably have trouble finding this show amusing. However, I love going out in the woods and saying "shhh this looks like a really squatchy area." :)
I didn't go anywhere this weekend but I feel like I got a teensy bit ahead on the week. I have a lot to do outside of regular schoolwork this week. My aide got some medicine so hopefully she is more effective this week. I have to have my paperwork for our grant done this week. I asked for a little help on getting it together so hopefully this will happen. I want to have the best chance possible. Hopefully, this is a smoothly running week for all of us!
I didn't go anywhere this weekend but I feel like I got a teensy bit ahead on the week. I have a lot to do outside of regular schoolwork this week. My aide got some medicine so hopefully she is more effective this week. I have to have my paperwork for our grant done this week. I asked for a little help on getting it together so hopefully this will happen. I want to have the best chance possible. Hopefully, this is a smoothly running week for all of us!
February 23, 2012
Option A or Option B.
I was getting some help from some older students on a project. One student belonged to church "A". This was mentioning that another student had went to church and tattled. Saying that this person didn't swear at church but did at school with his/her friends. He/She said that they didn't swear at church out of respect. The result was he/she has to give the whole church a speech on repentance. I hardly knew what to say. Then he/she said that they were discussing going to the ummm let's say the "mother church" :)! He/She was told he/she wasn't "Mother church" worthy so they couldn't go. Finally I asked him/her "Why do you belong to this church?" The very quick and laughable response was " Well I don't want to be a B". There seems to be only 2 options Church A or Church B. He/She said she liked the church but not really any of the people, and she didn't agree with everything they believed. I said "well eventually you will leave here and maybe you can find something." What do you say to that. It made me sad how love was lacking from the church experience for him/her. I was telling my Dad about it and he said why don't they just put him/her in "stocks" in the town center? Stocks are also known as a pillory. Used for public humiliation. It just made me realize that I need to be very careful what I say to the kids, but also how much love they need.
Lock In
This has been just the nuttiest week. It was a LONG, short week if you know what I mean. There were only 3 school days this week but I felt spread really thin. My aide stayed home sick one day. She came the next day but wasn't even a warm body, she barely functioned. Then she went home early today. I was relieved. I didn't want to tell her to go home, but she needed to. She wasn't checked in at all because she felt so sick. She needs the money and so she was forcing herself to stay. She is saving up for her wedding this summer. She wasn't really working or contributing in any helpful way. A lesson we have to learn is our own limitations. One day I had a high school student help me. She is really good because she sets healthy boundaries with the kids. She is also perceptive enough to see a need and jump right in. That makes it sooo nice when you feel like you do not have to micro-manage someone.
Then for half of one day I had a parent come in to help. This parent is also great at jumping into the routine in a calm and assertive manner. Today I didn't really have much help but I didn't have the Kinder's so it was manageable. After school a parent had planned a "lock in" at school. She had asked me to help so I said yes. I helped organize a few things. It was mostly controlled chaos. The kids were already tired and then they stayed after school for fun and games. There were some moments of to much relaxation in adult supervision. I think they are sometimes a little too trusting. It is the students that haven't had clear boundaries that test them, and test them. They act like they don't like it when you say no. It is interesting to see them so confused by the word no. NO. A short, simple, powerful word.
We finally got the testing issues taken care of. So that is some progress on the technology issue. They finally got filters installed on the computers. However, they got a little too ridiculous about it. I am amazed the things that are blocked for staff members. I think we are going to have to come together as a staff and say this is silly. I think there was some abuse of privileges by a staff member, so that is probably why they went so far with it. It is frustrating though because we are so isolated our home internet is completely unreliable. Speaking of home internet... mine has been down quite often. I will be posting when I can. Our school is provided internet by a T-1 line. It is the only reliable internet access we have available to us.
If I understand correctly our math teacher has resigned. It was time for him to move on. I am very concerned what/who we will end up with for the rest of the year. It could make things very interesting. I think they have found someone who can start next year. The rest of this year... I don't know. Our high school students really get the short end of the stick. It makes for very unmotivated students. We have had an opening for a Science Teacher for over a year. Those who have applied have not passed the background check. If you know someone in science who wants to make a HUGE difference tell them about this teeny little town in the middle of nowhere. It is worth it. I think of all the time and effort I put in. Sometimes I am sooo tired but I never feel like it wasn't worth it.
Along with our St. Patrick's Day fundraiser, I have been working on applying for a grant. I finally got to talk to the right people today. I even had a chance to talk with our principal about it. She said if we got the grant approved she would pay for half of this opportunity with our school budget. It is the Rosetta Stone Language Program. There are so many amazing and wonderful things about this for our school that I hardly know where to start. So I will give you my list. Every single student in our school can use it from K-12. In my class I will choose a language that we can do together, but we can choose any language they have available. High school students will be able to pick what they want to learn. Giving them a little power over choice in positive ways is a good thing. Also It would be internet based so we wouldn't have to rely on our "Tech" people to make sure the software was installed correctly. It also makes teachers the "administrators" so it can be used as a foreign language class in which grades can be attached to it. Then there is the best part the opportunity for our students is phenomenal in so many ways. The opportunity for me is amazing because I can do it right along with them. The bummer is we have to purchase a certain number of site licenses. However, I am hoping administration will let us "sell" some of those to local parents or community members. This would help cover some of the cost for us and give the community a really cool opportunity. I have a lot of work to get this done and not much time to do it in. Cross your fingers for me because I think this is something that our students really NEED!!
Then for half of one day I had a parent come in to help. This parent is also great at jumping into the routine in a calm and assertive manner. Today I didn't really have much help but I didn't have the Kinder's so it was manageable. After school a parent had planned a "lock in" at school. She had asked me to help so I said yes. I helped organize a few things. It was mostly controlled chaos. The kids were already tired and then they stayed after school for fun and games. There were some moments of to much relaxation in adult supervision. I think they are sometimes a little too trusting. It is the students that haven't had clear boundaries that test them, and test them. They act like they don't like it when you say no. It is interesting to see them so confused by the word no. NO. A short, simple, powerful word.
We finally got the testing issues taken care of. So that is some progress on the technology issue. They finally got filters installed on the computers. However, they got a little too ridiculous about it. I am amazed the things that are blocked for staff members. I think we are going to have to come together as a staff and say this is silly. I think there was some abuse of privileges by a staff member, so that is probably why they went so far with it. It is frustrating though because we are so isolated our home internet is completely unreliable. Speaking of home internet... mine has been down quite often. I will be posting when I can. Our school is provided internet by a T-1 line. It is the only reliable internet access we have available to us.
If I understand correctly our math teacher has resigned. It was time for him to move on. I am very concerned what/who we will end up with for the rest of the year. It could make things very interesting. I think they have found someone who can start next year. The rest of this year... I don't know. Our high school students really get the short end of the stick. It makes for very unmotivated students. We have had an opening for a Science Teacher for over a year. Those who have applied have not passed the background check. If you know someone in science who wants to make a HUGE difference tell them about this teeny little town in the middle of nowhere. It is worth it. I think of all the time and effort I put in. Sometimes I am sooo tired but I never feel like it wasn't worth it.
Along with our St. Patrick's Day fundraiser, I have been working on applying for a grant. I finally got to talk to the right people today. I even had a chance to talk with our principal about it. She said if we got the grant approved she would pay for half of this opportunity with our school budget. It is the Rosetta Stone Language Program. There are so many amazing and wonderful things about this for our school that I hardly know where to start. So I will give you my list. Every single student in our school can use it from K-12. In my class I will choose a language that we can do together, but we can choose any language they have available. High school students will be able to pick what they want to learn. Giving them a little power over choice in positive ways is a good thing. Also It would be internet based so we wouldn't have to rely on our "Tech" people to make sure the software was installed correctly. It also makes teachers the "administrators" so it can be used as a foreign language class in which grades can be attached to it. Then there is the best part the opportunity for our students is phenomenal in so many ways. The opportunity for me is amazing because I can do it right along with them. The bummer is we have to purchase a certain number of site licenses. However, I am hoping administration will let us "sell" some of those to local parents or community members. This would help cover some of the cost for us and give the community a really cool opportunity. I have a lot of work to get this done and not much time to do it in. Cross your fingers for me because I think this is something that our students really NEED!!
February 17, 2012
4 Day Weekend
Whew just in time! I came just in time. I needed to reboot, and refresh. I was fighting a cold all week and it was winning. My whole class was coughing and blowing their nose. So it was one of those weeks. Everybody fighting getting sick, and were a little cranky. Kleenex was plentiful at the beginning of the week and dwindling quickly by the end of the week. It is a little disgusting to walk around all those dripping noses and coughing mouths. I had been going to sleep by 7:30 every night. If you know me you know that is ridiculously early.
After all the snow we have a couple of spots on the ceiling were leaking in the school. But the roof is fine apparently there are “no” leaks in the roof. (AHEM) Another exciting roof issue has to do with sonic booms. Now our frequent booms make all kinds of things exciting. When your snow is melting and sliding off the roof and you get a sonic boom, snow comes crashing off the roof. Good stuff!! Makes testing very entertaining. If you have a student with Attention issues… well good luck bringing them back from a sonic boom with dramatic snow falls.
I have been sitting one of my students next to another one in hopes of teaching her a little patience. When we had our Christmas program and the song got to the point where “naughty and nice” were mentioned she would point to this boy on “naughty” and point back to herself on “nice”! This amused my principal a great deal. She finds him extremely annoying and doesn’t hesitate to show it. She moves her desk as far away as possible and even turns it in a different direction. She is always certain he is cheating off her work even though he is rarely on the same page as her and has usually finished whatever part she is working on. I moved her with the intention of teaching her patience… but that hasn’t worked out so well. I’ve left her there because they both have eyesight issues and need to be close to the front of the room. I think I am going to have to change it up though, because the only person learning patience appears to be their teacher.
One of the high school students drew a picture for our St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser and I made it into a flyer. I also finished a donation letter to ask for donations of items or goods for our bingo game. A parent was taking them into town this weekend. I also got a call from one parent who not only is making a large salad for the dinner but decided to contribute some of her baked goods for the bingo. Her children take her baking skills for granted. They come to school with fresh baked bread for their sandwiches and all sorts of delicious things. I asked them “how often does your mom bake bread?” They said “whenever we run out”. I suggested that she didn’t need to bake anything since she was already making a huge salad. She insisted, I may just have to play bingo for that one :)! I also called our local …. How do I refer to this person. I believe in a former post I referred to him as the “cartoon character of a politician”. Anyhow, I called him and asked him to emcee the bingo game. His wife will be baking something for it. He said he’d be “delighted” to help out.
In other fundraiser news… my former vice-principal who is now a principal at another school in this district, offered to help out. Not only did she offer to help out she offered to approach businesses for donations, get the district P.T.A involved, and do some games for the little kids. Here I am the elementary teacher and I totally forgot the little guys would need entertainment while the “older” people played bingo. She is bringing her teenage daughter and they will keep them entertained. It made me feel really good that she is being so supportive. She isn’t even my principal. She is just rooting for me to succeed. YAY!! Anyhow…. I am soooooo glad it is a four day weekend! I may just get caught up.
After all the snow we have a couple of spots on the ceiling were leaking in the school. But the roof is fine apparently there are “no” leaks in the roof. (AHEM) Another exciting roof issue has to do with sonic booms. Now our frequent booms make all kinds of things exciting. When your snow is melting and sliding off the roof and you get a sonic boom, snow comes crashing off the roof. Good stuff!! Makes testing very entertaining. If you have a student with Attention issues… well good luck bringing them back from a sonic boom with dramatic snow falls.
I have been sitting one of my students next to another one in hopes of teaching her a little patience. When we had our Christmas program and the song got to the point where “naughty and nice” were mentioned she would point to this boy on “naughty” and point back to herself on “nice”! This amused my principal a great deal. She finds him extremely annoying and doesn’t hesitate to show it. She moves her desk as far away as possible and even turns it in a different direction. She is always certain he is cheating off her work even though he is rarely on the same page as her and has usually finished whatever part she is working on. I moved her with the intention of teaching her patience… but that hasn’t worked out so well. I’ve left her there because they both have eyesight issues and need to be close to the front of the room. I think I am going to have to change it up though, because the only person learning patience appears to be their teacher.
One of the high school students drew a picture for our St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser and I made it into a flyer. I also finished a donation letter to ask for donations of items or goods for our bingo game. A parent was taking them into town this weekend. I also got a call from one parent who not only is making a large salad for the dinner but decided to contribute some of her baked goods for the bingo. Her children take her baking skills for granted. They come to school with fresh baked bread for their sandwiches and all sorts of delicious things. I asked them “how often does your mom bake bread?” They said “whenever we run out”. I suggested that she didn’t need to bake anything since she was already making a huge salad. She insisted, I may just have to play bingo for that one :)! I also called our local …. How do I refer to this person. I believe in a former post I referred to him as the “cartoon character of a politician”. Anyhow, I called him and asked him to emcee the bingo game. His wife will be baking something for it. He said he’d be “delighted” to help out.
In other fundraiser news… my former vice-principal who is now a principal at another school in this district, offered to help out. Not only did she offer to help out she offered to approach businesses for donations, get the district P.T.A involved, and do some games for the little kids. Here I am the elementary teacher and I totally forgot the little guys would need entertainment while the “older” people played bingo. She is bringing her teenage daughter and they will keep them entertained. It made me feel really good that she is being so supportive. She isn’t even my principal. She is just rooting for me to succeed. YAY!! Anyhow…. I am soooooo glad it is a four day weekend! I may just get caught up.
February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine’s Day
A day with an activity that involves candy, uggh! The excitement could barely be contained throughout the day. The students between yesterday and today made boxes to receive their valentines in. You could easily tell the gender by the box. The girls got more than a little out of control with their décor. The boys barely got paper on their box. Very funny. Then they passed out valentines to one another. They were so worried that someone would forget them they were very impatient in receiving them. Then the sugar HIGH….and the SUGAR crash! I told them they couldn’t have any more candy until they went home and I had a couple almost in tears. This of course convinced me no more sugar was the BEST idea!
I am full of sinus congestion. Yippee Skippee! I keep telling myself to make it to the weekend it is a four day weekend. I have a lot to do but it can be done quietly on my own schedule. Next week the kids are having a “Lock In” at school at the end of the week. The little guys will stay until 8 p.m. and the older ones will spend the night at school. I will come up w/ some crafts and activities for them to do. I was thinking about what they normally do not get to do at school. PAPER AIRPLANES! So they will make them and fly them. Then the following week I will have to remind them…. NO PAPER AIRPLANES.. ha ha!
I was talking with my cousin this weekend how I appreciated that this state really supports continuing education through affordable graduate level courses. It is amazing to me just how affordable they are. I was so excited today to learn of another opportunity. They were only accepting 30 teachers. We will meet once a month all through next year and connect through blogging. It is related to project based learning in Math and Science. I am very excited about this. I registered immediately because I did not want to miss out. This is a six credit graduate level course… for FREE! Unbelievable…! The teacher putting on the class I have taken other classes from and she is fantastic.
The continuing saga of testing issues… well, NO PROGRESS They did what they could from a remote internet connection. There is something that needs tweaked…and I don’t think they know what it is! They need to get it together or at least come down and help! It is ridiculous!
I am full of sinus congestion. Yippee Skippee! I keep telling myself to make it to the weekend it is a four day weekend. I have a lot to do but it can be done quietly on my own schedule. Next week the kids are having a “Lock In” at school at the end of the week. The little guys will stay until 8 p.m. and the older ones will spend the night at school. I will come up w/ some crafts and activities for them to do. I was thinking about what they normally do not get to do at school. PAPER AIRPLANES! So they will make them and fly them. Then the following week I will have to remind them…. NO PAPER AIRPLANES.. ha ha!
I was talking with my cousin this weekend how I appreciated that this state really supports continuing education through affordable graduate level courses. It is amazing to me just how affordable they are. I was so excited today to learn of another opportunity. They were only accepting 30 teachers. We will meet once a month all through next year and connect through blogging. It is related to project based learning in Math and Science. I am very excited about this. I registered immediately because I did not want to miss out. This is a six credit graduate level course… for FREE! Unbelievable…! The teacher putting on the class I have taken other classes from and she is fantastic.
The continuing saga of testing issues… well, NO PROGRESS They did what they could from a remote internet connection. There is something that needs tweaked…and I don’t think they know what it is! They need to get it together or at least come down and help! It is ridiculous!
February 13, 2012
February 13, 2012
Well today was a little nuts. I was online with tech support trying to get our testing fully functional. It is a complete pain in the patootie. Once one issue gets worked out another one pops up that prevents progress. Apparently this is an annual issue. Why they have trouble getting the kinks worked out I don’t know. Some of the tests I thought were gone forever when our server went down were uploaded. But all of the tests since then are not uploading. Where in serverland can they be?? It is so frustrating to have continuing technology issues. I wish we had a staff member that had some knowledge that could take care of some of this on our end without having to wait on tech support.
We got a significant amount of snow today. When I arrived at school we had about 6 inches. It was slow going this morning. The plow had not kept up with the snow and it was wet heavy snow. Usually the snowfall here is very dry and powdery. It was very wet and heavy this time. The snow was blowing sideways most of the day. Our busdriver was getting pretty nervous about making the climb over the summit. The where the school is, is about 6500 feet and the top of the summit is 7500ft. It is a steep, curvy, dangerous climb. The road department called the school and said the plow and sander would lead them up the summit. They ended up leaving school about an hour early. The students waiting on their rides and I made “valentine” boxes. There weren’t many students left. When I left for home I had to wipe about 7 new inches of snow off of my car. I drove up to town and discovered they’d plowed all the snow to the middle of the road. I had to drive to the top end of town to make it around this berm. I really did not want to high center my car. We shall see what tomorrow brings. We really, really, needed the snow so I was happy to see it.
My students dressed for the weather and wore their snowsuits to school. This makes for interesting recesses because 1/3 of it is spent changing into or out of snowsuits. They made HUGE snowballs on the playground and had a fabulous time! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so we will have a little party at the end of the day.
We got a significant amount of snow today. When I arrived at school we had about 6 inches. It was slow going this morning. The plow had not kept up with the snow and it was wet heavy snow. Usually the snowfall here is very dry and powdery. It was very wet and heavy this time. The snow was blowing sideways most of the day. Our busdriver was getting pretty nervous about making the climb over the summit. The where the school is, is about 6500 feet and the top of the summit is 7500ft. It is a steep, curvy, dangerous climb. The road department called the school and said the plow and sander would lead them up the summit. They ended up leaving school about an hour early. The students waiting on their rides and I made “valentine” boxes. There weren’t many students left. When I left for home I had to wipe about 7 new inches of snow off of my car. I drove up to town and discovered they’d plowed all the snow to the middle of the road. I had to drive to the top end of town to make it around this berm. I really did not want to high center my car. We shall see what tomorrow brings. We really, really, needed the snow so I was happy to see it.
My students dressed for the weather and wore their snowsuits to school. This makes for interesting recesses because 1/3 of it is spent changing into or out of snowsuits. They made HUGE snowballs on the playground and had a fabulous time! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so we will have a little party at the end of the day.
February 12th
February 12th
I had to utilize my word processing program to do this blog post because my internet has been poor at best. After recovering from my bout of the flu I went back to work with a little gust, not quite gusto, but a little gust. It was a busy week and we had a awards assembly potluck style. We actually had a couple of green things at this potluck. One because I brought a salad and the secretary brought green beans, and another teacher brought a veggie tray. It cracked me up that it was us “school” folks that brought some green into the locals “potluck” diet. Anyhow, we talked fast and got through it in record time. We did forget drinks and scrounged around and found some “Lipton” tea mix. Well do you know any kids that like Iced Tea? It wasn’t a popular drink. It is a school though so the drinking fountains water worked fine. The day after this we went on a field trip to the big city. I had so many parent volunteers I didn’t know quite what to do with them, but it worked out. By the time we got to the big city I realized that I was getting a urinary tract infection. All the “horse” moms said if we’d known we’d have packed our “some anti-biotic for the horses”. I wasn’t sure to be grateful or not that they didn’t have any with them. It was great to have all the help because throughout the day it hurt more and more. Our first stop was a “science” exploration museum for kids. They had a class on “magnetism” before they got to explore. In the center of the museum there was a climbing tower and eat huge step to the next level was in a “cloud” shape. They were curvy… nothing was straight. All the sides were covered in netting. The kids went up and down this over and over again. It was great to burn off some of that energy from the long bus ride. A couple of the moms and our local deputy (my aides fiancé) decided to climb to the top of this tower. He said a couple of the corners were a little tight. He looked pretty funny climbing up this 2 story contraption. The kids had a fabulous time.
After exploring all the other areas we loaded up on the bus and went to the capitol city for a tour of our capitol building. I was a little nervous about how entertained our little people would be by this. We had a WONDERFUL tour guide. He found something interesting to show the kids that would have some meaning or interest to them along with history. I was very impressed that he kept all of our students engaged in learning about our capitol building. Being new to the state I learned a lot as well. After that we went to a nearby museum. It wasn’t geared for primary grades as much. The basement was designed to look like an underground mine which they thought was very scary so we had to walk through it a couple of times. They also found the Mammoth Skeleton quite exciting. Other than that they were pretty underwhelmed. I think it would’ve been better with a guide…or when they are a little older. Perhaps we’ll go again someday when the students are not completely pooped. We then went to McDonald’s for the promised “Happy Meals”. We had one instance of barfing with a carsick kid. He managed to not only do it outside the bus but in a trashcan, I was very thankful. Our bus driver drove like the old tortoise he is. It felt as though we’d never get home. I was so proud of how well behaved and respectful my students were on this trip. They were tough little troopers.
By the time I had finished taking care of getting the kids off and unloading the bus. It was about 10 p.m. I texted my aide, who would be traveling with me the next day, that we would be leaving earlier than scheduled. I knew I there was only so much I could do with nasty cranberry juice. So we left early and I dropped in on urgent care and got a prescription. We then headed back to the big city we had just visited the day before. We got checked into our hotel and relaxed for a bit before heading to our conference. I hadn’t been to this type of conference before so I didn’t really have expectations. I had been in the past to a nationwide conference in science. This one was a state conference so I didn’t really think it would be huge. It was also held at a local high school. The high school was “HUGE” I’ve never seen one quite like it and I am glad I didn’t go to one like it. I was so amazed by the fact that a state put on a conference where published authors were invited to share about their writing experiences, publishing experiences, and their writing process. I’ve never had the experience of being able to have access personally to authors of this caliber. It was very inspirational. At certain points we were all together to listen to these key note speakers then we would break off and go into smaller workshops. I didn’t really know what to choose but I did fairly well when registering. Now that I know what to expect I will do better next time. It was really amazing. It was an experience that I just would not get in my home state.
We decided to stay one more night because I was completely exhausted. That way we could sleep in a little before heading back. I hadn’t been grocery shopping since I went home for Christmas break so I had a fairly long list (that I lost). I remembered the important things from my list like milk and bread. I also got a big package of powdered lemonade mix so we can have something people will drink at our next assembly. My sinuses started acting up, either from the Hotel/Casino where we stayed or from the excess of product my aide wears. So I feel like my body should be out of options soon of things that it can try to trip me up with. The UTI had me drinking soooo much water that I had to use the facilities a little more often than seemed reasonable. My aide said it was like traveling with a pregnant woman and started laughing every bathroom visit. I had to drink a lot of water to make sure I could get over this thing quickly. There wasn’t a single bathroom along our route that escaped my visit. So tomorrow is back to school still feeling a little wiped out. Next weekend is a four day weekend so I can make it till then. I think ! I have much to do still for our St. Patrick’s Day Feed…
Oh I forgot to share, I got an unexpected note in the mail today. Those are the best kind aren’t they. From a family friend from back in my home state. She encouraged me to continue blogging and shared that she enjoyed reading my blog. It made me feel really good because sometimes I wonder…. Is anyone still reading this??
I had to utilize my word processing program to do this blog post because my internet has been poor at best. After recovering from my bout of the flu I went back to work with a little gust, not quite gusto, but a little gust. It was a busy week and we had a awards assembly potluck style. We actually had a couple of green things at this potluck. One because I brought a salad and the secretary brought green beans, and another teacher brought a veggie tray. It cracked me up that it was us “school” folks that brought some green into the locals “potluck” diet. Anyhow, we talked fast and got through it in record time. We did forget drinks and scrounged around and found some “Lipton” tea mix. Well do you know any kids that like Iced Tea? It wasn’t a popular drink. It is a school though so the drinking fountains water worked fine. The day after this we went on a field trip to the big city. I had so many parent volunteers I didn’t know quite what to do with them, but it worked out. By the time we got to the big city I realized that I was getting a urinary tract infection. All the “horse” moms said if we’d known we’d have packed our “some anti-biotic for the horses”. I wasn’t sure to be grateful or not that they didn’t have any with them. It was great to have all the help because throughout the day it hurt more and more. Our first stop was a “science” exploration museum for kids. They had a class on “magnetism” before they got to explore. In the center of the museum there was a climbing tower and eat huge step to the next level was in a “cloud” shape. They were curvy… nothing was straight. All the sides were covered in netting. The kids went up and down this over and over again. It was great to burn off some of that energy from the long bus ride. A couple of the moms and our local deputy (my aides fiancé) decided to climb to the top of this tower. He said a couple of the corners were a little tight. He looked pretty funny climbing up this 2 story contraption. The kids had a fabulous time.
After exploring all the other areas we loaded up on the bus and went to the capitol city for a tour of our capitol building. I was a little nervous about how entertained our little people would be by this. We had a WONDERFUL tour guide. He found something interesting to show the kids that would have some meaning or interest to them along with history. I was very impressed that he kept all of our students engaged in learning about our capitol building. Being new to the state I learned a lot as well. After that we went to a nearby museum. It wasn’t geared for primary grades as much. The basement was designed to look like an underground mine which they thought was very scary so we had to walk through it a couple of times. They also found the Mammoth Skeleton quite exciting. Other than that they were pretty underwhelmed. I think it would’ve been better with a guide…or when they are a little older. Perhaps we’ll go again someday when the students are not completely pooped. We then went to McDonald’s for the promised “Happy Meals”. We had one instance of barfing with a carsick kid. He managed to not only do it outside the bus but in a trashcan, I was very thankful. Our bus driver drove like the old tortoise he is. It felt as though we’d never get home. I was so proud of how well behaved and respectful my students were on this trip. They were tough little troopers.
By the time I had finished taking care of getting the kids off and unloading the bus. It was about 10 p.m. I texted my aide, who would be traveling with me the next day, that we would be leaving earlier than scheduled. I knew I there was only so much I could do with nasty cranberry juice. So we left early and I dropped in on urgent care and got a prescription. We then headed back to the big city we had just visited the day before. We got checked into our hotel and relaxed for a bit before heading to our conference. I hadn’t been to this type of conference before so I didn’t really have expectations. I had been in the past to a nationwide conference in science. This one was a state conference so I didn’t really think it would be huge. It was also held at a local high school. The high school was “HUGE” I’ve never seen one quite like it and I am glad I didn’t go to one like it. I was so amazed by the fact that a state put on a conference where published authors were invited to share about their writing experiences, publishing experiences, and their writing process. I’ve never had the experience of being able to have access personally to authors of this caliber. It was very inspirational. At certain points we were all together to listen to these key note speakers then we would break off and go into smaller workshops. I didn’t really know what to choose but I did fairly well when registering. Now that I know what to expect I will do better next time. It was really amazing. It was an experience that I just would not get in my home state.
We decided to stay one more night because I was completely exhausted. That way we could sleep in a little before heading back. I hadn’t been grocery shopping since I went home for Christmas break so I had a fairly long list (that I lost). I remembered the important things from my list like milk and bread. I also got a big package of powdered lemonade mix so we can have something people will drink at our next assembly. My sinuses started acting up, either from the Hotel/Casino where we stayed or from the excess of product my aide wears. So I feel like my body should be out of options soon of things that it can try to trip me up with. The UTI had me drinking soooo much water that I had to use the facilities a little more often than seemed reasonable. My aide said it was like traveling with a pregnant woman and started laughing every bathroom visit. I had to drink a lot of water to make sure I could get over this thing quickly. There wasn’t a single bathroom along our route that escaped my visit. So tomorrow is back to school still feeling a little wiped out. Next weekend is a four day weekend so I can make it till then. I think ! I have much to do still for our St. Patrick’s Day Feed…
Oh I forgot to share, I got an unexpected note in the mail today. Those are the best kind aren’t they. From a family friend from back in my home state. She encouraged me to continue blogging and shared that she enjoyed reading my blog. It made me feel really good because sometimes I wonder…. Is anyone still reading this??
February 3, 2012
Feeling Better
I know I am feeling better because, 1. I am irritable, 2. The mere mention of food doesn't make me feel nauseated, 3. I managed to eat a bit of solid food, and 4. I managed to stay upright for more than an hour at a time, 5. I was able to sleep for several hours in a row without a bathroom visit.
So these are all good signs. What is a bit overwhelming is looking at the week ahead. It will start off slow. Then we have an Awards Assembly/Potluck, a Field trip to the big city, and the weekend finishes with a Reading Conference. Right now I can't see how I am going to do it. Thank goodness I got sick last week and not next week. I would have been seriously bummed out. I just hope I can get enough energy in the next couple of days to clean up from last week and get a jump on next week.
So these are all good signs. What is a bit overwhelming is looking at the week ahead. It will start off slow. Then we have an Awards Assembly/Potluck, a Field trip to the big city, and the weekend finishes with a Reading Conference. Right now I can't see how I am going to do it. Thank goodness I got sick last week and not next week. I would have been seriously bummed out. I just hope I can get enough energy in the next couple of days to clean up from last week and get a jump on next week.
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