Crock-pot Sunday!

I think my mom always had a crock pot. I was just thinking of how in the past women couldn't go far from the stove or they might burn their dish or their house down. I love the crock-pot. We've come a loooonnng way from a life by the stove. I have a crock-pot with cowboy beans going and a crock-pot with Kalua pork going. I am going to eat a little dinner and see if I can get a pot of soup on the stove. My stash was soooo low things were looking grim. I know that it is going to be busy between now and spring break. We have about 8 weeks until spring break.

I have a electric tea-pot that a former aide gave me. It is the best thing ever! I love it!  It was getting some build-up on the inside from minerals in the water. I put water and vinegar in it and heated it up a couple of times. It came out sparkling clean. I was desperate for my tea. I ran out a couple of weeks ago and it came just in time for my second round of Parent/Teacher conferences. Some people have their morning coffee and I have my morning tea. I only have one 8 oz cup a day during the school week. So I don't think I am doing too badly.

I also went down to school today for several hours. I realized I was at school every day this weekend. I did get quite a few things done on my "to-do" list. I also created a pile of things for my parent volunteer to do. So I feel good about that! A colleague and I made a deal that every weekend we would spend 1 1/2 hours  a piece in each others classroom. You really can get a lot more done with a buddy than by yourself. It keeps you going if nothing else. I hope it works out well.  It will keep me motivated and moving a long.

There is also a rumor I may have visitors from the land up north so I may have to get that pile of clean laundry off my couch and put away so my guests can sit down.  Well I'm off to get more done so I can give my all to the kids this week.

The Conferences

Day 1 ..... super long day. A day when I could have used a caffeine i.v.  I made it. One more day till the weekend! I can do this!  Uh Oh I just remembered I forgot to take the trash out this a.m. Oh well it will come the same time next week.  One more day of conferences ! Hurrah. A parent volunteer is coming in next week to help me get several things done that I just haven't been able to get to. I am so glad to have her help. She is a great volunteer. Proficient parent volunteers are awesome. This one is upbeat, helpful, and understands what is needed of her. I love that she can help in my classroom.

Parent-Teacher conferences are tiring. It is the talking and the late nights. Even when it all goes well and it is positive it is so tiring. I am off to find my pillow!

Happy Birthday Granny!

I hope your birthday was wonderful and you were able to do something you enjoy! I miss you!

Child Wrangling

Whew! I don't know if it was the long weekend or what. The kids were wired and tired today. I felt like I was wrangling 3 year old children instead of 7 or 8 year old children. I am exhausted. I wasn't alone in my feelings. All of the teachers expressed that the kids were wound up today. I also had an observation by the Vice-Principal. She stated that every class she had been in that day the kids were bouncing.  We have a couple of short days this week so we can do parent-teacher conferences.  It will be hectic but with some moments to breath thrown in there.

I finally did a taste test on my soup I made over the weekend. It wasn't bad. It wasn't my favorite but it was pretty good. It was a nice hot lunch on a school day.  

Weekend

Just knowing you have one extra day in the weekend is bliss!  It will be a hectic week with only one full school day, and two half days. The rest of my free time will be spent in Parent-Teacher Conferences. I never know what to expect with these.

Tonight I am attempting to make gluten free spaghetti. I attempted it before and the rice spaghetti noodles just weren't all that good.  I have corn spaghetti noodles this time. I am going to let the sauce really soak into the noodles before I eat it. I am hoping that will overcome the flavor I don't enjoy. I will freeze some as well. Hopefully this experiment will work out well.  I never know... I do know that the sauce smells wonderful so I am hopeful.

I have a lot to get done at school tomorrow before I face another busy week.  Last week I found out that pink eye is traveling around the school. So I got out the Lysol and sprayed things down. None of my students have had it yet so "knock-on-wood" hopefully we can keep that contagion away.

I can't believe some of the things that young people have to deal with in their lives. It is one of the most difficult things to deal with as a teacher.  It has been good to have a long weekend to regroup and face another week.

Soup Night! Revisited...

I attempted  THIS soup tonight! We'll see how it turns out. I didn't have fresh carrots, celery, or onions. I also didn't want to go to the store tonight! So I used my dehydrated veggies to put it together. I also added a wee bit of Italian seasoning and a cup of rice. I hope it turns out well. I never quite measure the dehydrated vegetables correctly. I have to err on the side of less is better! I purchase my dehydrated vegetables at  Honeyville Farms. The quality is good and the flavor seems to be there. It is a great option to have on hand. Especially if you live in the boonies. I don't know this year some of you "townies" have had trouble getting to the store with the Artic Vortex.   I had a moment of panic when I thought I was out of basil but in my shuffling it  got shuffled to the back of the spice shelf.   I will freeze this and it will provide me around 2 -2 1/2 weeks of lunches.

Technology woes...

So I thought I had cell phone issues. I couldn't receive or make any calls. I kept getting messages from friends that they left me a voice mail. I haven't been able to access those. I can send and receive texts and get on the internet with my phone but really isn't the whole point of a phone to talk to people?? Anyhow, I spent some time on my neighbors phone with tech support. They couldn't fix it or reset it which led them to believe it is a "network" issue and their engineers would get right on it.  UH HUH! In 1-3 days they will....! So hopefully they get it fixed sooner rather than later and I will be able to hear your lovely voices. I feel very disconnected.  About a year ago my cell phone completely died and I had internet issues, and no neighbors to go borrow a phone from. So there is a silver lining. I haven't had a chance to get much done at school today as I was dealing with these issues. The best laid plans...and all of that! :)

My neighbor's kids are making me a "Tattle-box" for my classroom. I am hoping they will use that instead of telling me all of the infractions.  The big ones I want to hear. I also think it might help the kids who rarely complain. It might give them a space to have a voice. If they finish the box today I will take a picture. Now if they were only a little bit older I could really add to that chore list :)!

Weekend!

This weekend I found out that my class had made the most gains of all the classes in the district at my grade level. I felt really proud but at the same time new how much was due to a LOT of hard work. Most of my students have worked hard and so have I. What bums me out is that this will not be acknowledged to me personally by administration. I am glad I have a connection that let me know this information. It made a lot of the struggles I have gone through a little more worthwhile. It is the paycheck I work for. I want my students to have success in school because I understand the importance of it.

I also successfully completed many chores on my chore list this weekend. I had a mountain of laundry, a pile of dishes, and a pile of old bills and mail to shred. Then of course house cleaning as well. I made progress in all areas which makes me feel good. I also made my "salad-in-a-jar" for my work week.  I had almost burnt myself out on all my favorite soups.

I've been enjoying the Olympics while working on all of my home chores. It reminded me of my favorite neighbor that I grew up with. I was lucky enough to be able to go to her house to watch the Olympics. I remember the winter Olympics the most. I don't know how old I was when I saw my first one but I was definitely a teenager. It is one of my favorite memories of spending time with her. We loved watching the ice-skating. It made me miss her again! I would've loved to call her and say "What did you think of....?"

We are working on finishing our class "invention" for the science fair. It has been really fun to see how engaged my students have been in this process. What I love the most is that they all have been  able to contribute their thoughts and ideas. The analysis it prompted has been awesome to see.  I  am excited for them to present their "invention". I think it will be a really positive experience for my class. I hope that all of the parents will visit the science fair to see their students contribution.

Tomorrow I will be at school most of the day to get ready for the week.  I have a new parent volunteer coming in that I am excited about. I think she is skilled enough to really help me reach some of those struggling kids. It isn't easy to be everything for everyone in the classroom. Good parent volunteers can help make a huge difference.

Common Core, Crazy, Heat Waves, Brats, and Smarty-pants!

THIS is the best argument I have read against the Common Core State Standards. The incredibly high cost to states and districts. As with most bureaucracies I don't think they really consider the cost ramifications when making decisions. The change of curriculum which involves everything from text books to software. The changes in assessment. I mean it really just continues on. The technology needed to implement it. I hope that districts make the investment in the right places but I'm not optimistic about that.

Today was a crazy day I think our high was in the low twenties today and just a minute ago I checked our temperature and it was three degrees Fahrenheit.  So nice and toasty basically. I don't know if it was the weather, a full moon, post Super Bowl sugar crashes, but the kids were wound tightly today!

You want to know the biggest lie teachers hear from parents?  "We never have problems with him/her at home."   If you think your student's teacher believes that one you are delusional. We don't buy it. We know you probably ignore a lot of behavior at home that we just can't overlook in a large classroom where a lot of other children are trying to tolerate your little darling.  Parents just please PARENT your kids. If you don't know how there are classes, resources, self help books, and friends.   Oh yes and if you hear the same criticism of your child from the teacher, principal, lunch lady, secretary, other teachers, your parents,  etc. Your child IS having a behavior problem. Not everyone around can be wrong about your kid.

I have some smart kids in my class. I was doing an assessment today and realized I need to kick it up a notch for some of them. I have some thinking to do this weekend. In "government" schools as my cousin so fondly calls them. The higher kids are the survivors and the low ones need sooo much more from us and demand so much more that well we don't offer enrichment like we should. Do you think my principal has asked me one time this year what I am going to do to enrich the education of the high kids? Nope. Has she asked me how I am going to help the low kids? Yes so many times I've lost count. This isn't okay. It is just reality.

The Right Thing

Sometimes doing the right thing takes a little more effort than you'd like it too. Like when you get a package via UPS and it isn't your name on the box. You try to call UPS and you can never get a warm body that understands that you're not trying to ship something, receive something, or track something. So you give up on that and decide the only option is to open the box. You do and discover 2 brand new phones. I spent an hour on the phone with Sprint explaining the situation and trying to help them identify the customer based on the limited information on the packaging slip. We finally found the right number that they could look up the customer. Then I had to wait while they decided to send me a re-send box.  I don't know when that will come. I am sure there is a very cranky Sprint Customer out there that ordered next day air on their phones that is REALLY Mad they didn't get their phones. It went against everything in me to open the box. So I went to the neighbors (witnesses).   Sprint  did thank me for my honesty. That is reward enough.

Sometime now I have to grade some papers.... etc... G'nite