Behavior

A busy week ahead. I have 2 IEP's after work this week. It is "Respect" week. I don't know what this entails. What I do know is this thing called "Respect Week" is something coming from the Governor's Office having to do with creating a "Bully Free Zone." Here is what I know for sure about bullies. There has ALWAYS been bullies. ALWAYS. It isn't a new idea or concept. If you want to manage a bully life has to be unpleasant enough for them in the consequences they suffer that it is no longer worth it. Our school IS NOT great on consequences.  It frustrates me completely. We don't have a quality behavior management plan in this class. My vp's solution for a student that was "bothering" his classmates....send him back to class with a squishy toy to grip when he gets frustrated after a long talk. Yep,  can tell you from countless years of working with kids when you start talking they start tuning you out.  They may nod in the appropriate places just to get you to stop talking. That's it. They need a consequence.  Until I am blue in the face I will continue to request a school wide behavior management plan.

What we do well is "Character Education". We have a lot of it and it is pretty lame and it really doesn't work. If you want a child to build character they have to have consequences for their actions. For both positive and negative. It really is the basics of human behavior.  CAN WE DO THAT PLEASE????

Okay moving on. I am almost on the road to health. I still have a bit of a cough but not as bad as before. In the spirit of the original "tea-party" I always was a little anti tea. However, I think enough years have passed that perhaps I can contribute to this "tea-economy" and you know it just works well with a cold. I have a large stash of soup so I believe I can make it through this next crazy week. In addition to the IEP's  and Respect week, our Spalding Coach is coming for a visit observing a lesson and coaching us for our continued improvement. I hope to gain more knowledge through this experience. Oh yes, don't let me forget Picture Day..the annual insanity that has parents sending kids in ridiculous outfits that do not last past noon. Luckily our picture time is a little before 9 a.m. the kids may maintain their glamour that long. Well most of them :).

Fall has definitely arrived. We had a doozy of a thunderstorm Friday night with sheet lightening and downpours. It went off and on throughout the night. This storm brought that fall cold-snap that smacks you in the face that winter is on it's way. The mountains had snow so you can feel that in the air. I love those first few days of frost. It is crispy and cool and I like it. I am looking forward to our first snow.

I did a lot of laundry this weekend. I even put most of it away. I can see the color of my couch. Progress indeed. Off to prepare for another busy week...

The ups and downs

I had an awesome birthday. The outpouring from colleagues and friends just made my month! It really was a much needed boost. From colleagues I received a card, flowers, chocolate, and lots of jokes! It was nice to feel that from your co-workers!   I received a couple of presents from students and gluten free chocolate chip cookies from a parent. My neighbors made me a delicious homemade soup that I am going to attempt to re-create this weekend. I really felt the love on my birthday. I've been fighting whatever plague is attacking my immune system and I was dragging heiney. I only took one day off of work. Realistically it probably would've been better for me to take another day but with half our staff out for Jury Duty I figured the chances of having a substitute were very slim. I powered through and did the best I could.  Having a little extra support made it doable.

I have had a battle going on to help a student get the services needed. I have sent a few e-mails and have had multiple conversations. The results have been minimal to non-existent. I went to school today to get some work done and this situation kept popping in my mind as I looked at my classroom. It is beyond frustrating to me because not only is this student not being served well, the student's classmates are not being served well. This is because the needs of this student are soo significantly high that I am unable to meet them. It isn't even my job to meet them it is the Special Education Teachers job.  I was in tears from frustration on Thursday over this situation. I sat down today and e-mailed the principal and vice-principal my concerns. If it doesn't get taken care of in a timely manner I'm going to the next level.  I can't be effective in my job with what is going on.  I've never had a fall where I've questioned time and again "WHY AM I DOING THIS JOB?"  The frustration isn't because I lack the skills, but because I lack the support to be effective. We have amazing curricula, amazing students, but an administration that is absolutely in la-la land.  So I remain hopeful that some changes will be put in place.

Next week are parent teacher conferences. I have grading to finish this weekend and progress report cards to print. I also need to rest so I am up for the marathon ahead.  I usually don't but this weekend I brought my grading home to work  on so that I could do it in my pj's with minimal interruptions.  When I went in to school today to print some things and collect papers I discovered they had put a sink with a drinking fountain in my classroom. That was VERY exciting. I don't have to deal with students leaving the classroom for drinks. It is huge because usually all the 2nd grade classes are coming in about the same time and all wanting a drink. So that will save some hassle in my day.  

I also had a very good conversation with the Superintendent this week. He came in my classroom the day after the school board meeting and said that the night before I had received many compliments from colleagues about the preparedness of the incoming 3rd grade students. That was a huge compliment and made me feel really good. We don't often get to hear the flip side. Then at the end of the week he showed up for the PTO meeting so as he left I asked if I could chat with him for a couple of minutes. I addressed a couple of my concerns about what was going on this year. He really made me feel like he was listening and not in that politician way. I think he has some concerns as well, and is trying to be an observer at this point. We'll see what happens over time.  Anyhow with that super full week who wouldn't be worn out?? This soup is the one I plan to make this weekend. I am drinking lots of tea and taking my vitamins. Hopefully, I can get over this soon.

Colds, admin, crazy...

The crazy continues. So our administrator continues to refuse to give us a schedule. The parents were quite upset their students would not be going to p.e., library, etc. So they posted a note on the P.T.O. site. All of the parents except for one were up in arms. The one parent proves time and again to be so nutty  that there is no reasoning. This parent whined that they were "picking" on the principal. So they decided to remove the post. It merely stated the facts.  Anyhow, perhaps in response to this the principal said "I didn't say you couldn't do those things, just not the first nine weeks of school, and not at a scheduled time, and not unless it pertains to the curriculum you are teaching." I could waste a lot of time getting creative on how the students need to move to understand place value. I shouldn't have to do that though. I don't think anyone would argue that kids need to get up and move during the school day. The schedule is an issue as well, since she refuses to create one I foresee issues. We try not to step on our colleagues toes and irritate one another. This will happen when we are supposed to use this weird online calendar to pick and choose our times to go. I could put something in at the last minute and they didn't check. It is just  stupid.  I don't know any job that doesn't have a schedule. With children we need to be consistent. Without a set schedule how is that possible. They want to know the boundaries, the times, and the schedule. sigh...  Also, all of our p.e., library, etc is run by parent volunteers. Some of them use their lunch hour to come in and volunteer to help once a week. It is disrespectful to their time to not have a schedule.

So I got a nasty cold. When your daytime highs are in the 80's it makes it a little more uncomfortable. Everything you want to eat or drink is hot. Then you get too hot. So it goes lol! I didn't do much but stay in and do laundry and cook a bit. I made a form of hamburger soup, a casserole, and tonight I am making lentil soup. Since I've been fighting this head cold I was pretty generous with the garlic. It smells amazing. I doubled the recipe unintentionally. I soaked the lentils overnight and then realized that I didn't need the whole bag of lentils. Oops. I will have lots of lentil soup to eat. I took today off from school because I am still coughing so much. I thought one more day might get me there. I have some major "germophobes" in my classroom. Parent created of course. One little misfit walks around with hand sanitizer clipped to his belt loop.  It is the new form of a pocket protector.  Poor kid.

Tomorrow night is a board mtg. If I felt better I would probably go. Although, that is a pretty poor birthday gift to myself.  Thursday is the P.T.O. meeting. It will be interesting to see if things have changed. I did some research online about my principals former positions in other districts. I wasn't impressed by what I found.  It could prove to be a very challenging year.

Agenda

The agenda of others I often ponder. However, none as much as administration. They always say their agenda is to have better test scores, to make it all about the students. There is  a key factor that is often missing in the agenda.  The teacher factor. How are you going to empower us to be successful. It takes a pretty strong leader to take their own ego, set it aside, and  really find out what is needed from the students and teachers.  I don't think I have experienced that with an administrator as of yet. Isn't that appalling?   I sat through a staff meeting today that made we want to poke myself in the eye. The agenda isn't clear. There were a lot of grand and fancy words there that  sounded fabulous. In action though are absolutely the wrong thing.   Sigh. It is staff meetings that always make me doubt my chosen profession.  That is pretty awful that they create that in me. Yes they truly are that horrible.

 Then I have great success with my students that brings me back for another round.   I really tried these first few weeks to ride out the change. To see where the changes went. I think there was some room for changes and I was hopeful that the change would be overall positive. There have been a few changes that were a relief. What has happened is a lot of uncertainty. When there is a lot of uncertainty it is hard to be consistent and sure of your path.   Like I said earlier, there were a lot things that sounded  very nice. In reality a disservice is being done because your teachers are very concerned. Sigh.

We shall see how things continue on maybe there is a path we are being led down that leads to enlightenment. I am doubtful, but hey here we go.   Another year, another administrator, and more strangeness from that corner. One more day till the weekend. I will survive.

Blue Paint

Whew first week back! It was a little more chaotic than I would've liked. We didn't know our schedule on many things until Sunday Night and then more things were sent to us Monday morning. It made it really hard to plan the days. You didn't know what was going to spring up.  I have a pretty good group of kids. I couple of  challenges but that is always the case.  

I am soooo glad it is a four day weekend.  I have a lot to do planning for next week. Today I worked at home. Catching up on laundry, dishes, cleaning etc. It compiles during the week. I may get a load done here or there but not consistently. I also worked on a couple of painting projects for my classroom. Mom had been saving coffee cans for me. I had enough to use  one at every work station in my classroom. I wanted to paint them instead of having a coffee advertisement in my classroom.  They will probably be used for crayon storage. At least it looks nice.

Tomorrow the game plan is to spend a lot of time in the classroom. I have a lot to do that I didn't get accomplished before the first day. I also have grading to do and planning for next week. I really need to spend some quality time with the curriculum. I really have to work with the kids on building stamina to get work done. It is amazing how much they can do by the end of the year.  I have been making a considered effort into avoided the pockets of negativity at school. You can just go around a corner and say hi and suddenly  you are pulled in. We have a lot of frustrations and I completely understand needing to vent. I am more concerned about avoiding the folks who don't focus on solutions. We have a lot of rocks thrown on us as teachers from parents, administration, janitors, our peers, and the public. It can get pretty discouraging. Standing about whining about it doesn't change anything. Complaining about difficult students doesn't change anything. We just have to keep plugging away and doing our best and helping the students do theirs.

Closer and Closer..

I recruited my 9 year old neighbor to come help me get my classroom together today. She was a huge help! I may just get everything together for Back-To-School night.  I came home to have dinner and do a little more work at home. I may go back to school for awhile. I think they realized they over-extended the teachers and themselves. So they cut back our schedule tomorrow. We are in meetings the first have of the day and the second have they are giving us time to work in our classrooms. It is a huge relief. They decided on Monday to move the Kindergarten classrooms to a different building. This has been VERY stressful for the teachers, the janitors, etc. The day they moved it was pouring rain, hailing, thundering, etc. I felt so bad for them. We've had some unusually wet weather here for this time of year. It makes me wonder what our winter is going to be like.

Anyhow, I also have to gather my thoughts I was voluntTOLD to share what I learned at the conference this summer that applies to all grade levels. I haven't had a chance to look through my notes and figure out what I want to share. So there is some pressure on me for that as well. So begins the year. When I was working in the classroom today I moved a lot of heavy stuff. I was walking like an old lady when I got home. My neighbor (former massage therapist) saw me walking and  had me come over to get a little help on my back. So I am in better shape. I will still need some ibuprofen but I can walk upright now. It's a bonus!  I am so glad I did a little cooking the last couple of weekends because I definitely wasn't up for cooking at all.

Well I have some things to print off then I may run up to school for a little bit! G'nite

One more---

Spent my morning lesson planning with colleagues... then worked in the classroom for hours. I have tomorrow to get the classroom presentable for back to school night on Thursday. We are in meetings all day Thursday and Friday so that bites. What are we going to do but just deal. I love my paint in my classroom. Although now that I mention the paint... I showed the water leak area to the maintenance guy. He said... oh well just paint over it. Seriously??  That is why your school buildings fall apart. He didn't seem to think it was a big deal the brick was crumbling and that mold was growing. What're you going to do? Also speaking of the maintenance guy. He was replacing a window in a door today. His method for removing the old glass was to hammer it into the carpet into the hallway. Um okay. Was I surprised later when one of my colleagues walked through and got a piece of glass in her foot. NOPE. This kind of brilliance is just awe inspiring.  On the upside he did tell me he is going to try to build some cabinets in my classroom this year. I am ever so hopeful. I shan't believe it till I see it. I have seen his work on cabinets and it is pretty good.

I have my complete class list now. It changed about fifteen times in the past few weeks.  They let the parent's make requests for far too long. So School starts Monday and we have our class lists. We are realizing more and more that our administrators are overwhelmed. It is both of their first time beginning the school year at our school. I don't think either of them comprehended what that meant for Elementary School.  So hopefully we will have some idea of our schedules when school starts. Here goes another grand experiment designed by administration while we just try to keep our students on track.  WOOT.

Weekend

OH MY... I had an epic fail today. I was painting the black outline on the mural at school. A colleague was helping me. We had the paint sitting on a table. The table didn't look super secure but It was the only one nearby. Well... the table legs failed. Black and grey paint alll over. UGGH. I had a drop cloth and a lot went on there but a lot went on the floor as well. We had to clean it up with the rags I had brought and a gazillion paper towels.  We got it cleaned up but what a pain. UGGH... I don't want to do that ever again. I am just glad it was the school lunchroom floor. Much easier to clean up. I had to come home wash the drop cloths, myself, my shoes, etc.

Tomorrow I will have to go back in and finish up some more. Then work on my classroom. Time is running short.

Dive Bombed...

I'd been hearing from my neighbors about attacking hummingbirds.  They had been poked by them as they were out and about in the yard. Well this evening I was enjoying the cool weather on my deck. The little booger dive bombed me. I guess my orange shirt looked like a flower.. then the flower moved and it decided upon caution. I don't think there is enough food around here for them. I love this time of  year because we see a lot of hummingbirds.

I told mom about this but I keep forgetting to share. Where I am from at the cemetery silk flowers are left by the headstones. On the other side of that state it is more common to see fresh flowers. At the bottom of my neighborhood in my current state is the town cemetery. On Memorial Day I thought it was neat how many people visited the cemetery, cleaned it up, and left silk flowers by the headstones. However, here they leave something else by the headstones that you don't see until evening. Perhaps because of the strong winds that occur here and silk flowers fly away and fade in the  weather they leave this other item. I don't know how it got started but it is different.  They leave solar powered lights. The whole cemetery is full of blue, pink, white, and green, solar lights.  It is just a pleasant peaceful glow.  It isn't overdone like Christmas lights...just a soft glow. Anyhow, that was a new idea for me.

At my curriculum training today the President of the curriculum's company stopped in. I was very impressed. He came in very low key. Introduced himself, told us he was invested in our success and they would be continuing to support us while we implemented the curriculum. I think what impressed me was that he was so low key. He didn't make the introduction about him it was about us. Little ole us in this dinky town. We have been giving contact information for our trainer to ask any questions that we need to as we progress in our learning. I think if we implement this in the way that it was intended we are going to see our students make a lot of growth in reading. I am very excited.

Tonight out of the blue... I got this text message. "Did you know you're an amazing and wonderful friend?"
me: " uh.. no?  What did I do?"  "Nothing specific I was just thinking positive thoughts"... some days you need that little pick-me-up.

Busy Week...Busy Weekend

Well training has been going well although a bit dry. I asked all week for the janitors to bring me a tall enough ladder that I could finish painting. They brought a ladder but nowhere near tall enough. There will be some high corners of the room without paint. I did the first coat of chalkboard paint on two small areas that I wanted to do. I was planning on finishing painting  this weekend. I don't think it is going to happen. I think it will have to be next week. The best laid plans and all that...

I started a crock-pot of beef stew to fix and freeze. I've been trying to make a couple of dishes to freeze every weekend. I haven't had a chance to build up a stash this summer. When school starts it is very difficult to find the time to make a healthy lunch during the week. I really have to get it done on the weekend.  Mowed the lawn today  and now I am watering it. It didn't get watered well my last trip up north.  I am also attempting to get my house cleaned and all my laundry done. It is a challenge. I also have to study for a quiz for my training next week.    I am going to have to go back to work to get some rest :).

Got my basket of produce today. There was some fennel in it. I have no idea what to do with fennel. I didn't find any recipes online that made me say hmmm I'd try that. So I think fennel is going out the door. I also got some cabbage. I find all forms of cabbage pretty much yucky. If I was starving I'd eat it but the gas would take out everyone around me. So the cabbage went to the neighbors rabbits. I wish I had a neighbor with a pig, that would be really helpful. Anyhow I'm going to get back to work on all my chores. G'nite

New forms of crazy...

I've been through some craziness with administration but my new administrator has some new forms of crazy. We received our schedule for our work-days before school starts. You might assume that work days means you are working in your classroom preparing it and getting curriculum ready. Nope. Teacher workdays we are paid for so they have us trapped into a schedule of their choice. Sometimes it is worthwhile. Sometimes you have a great training. Sometimes we make decisions  for the school year. Usually though we are trapped at the whim of our administrators agenda. Well I received the agenda this morning at another training I am doing this summer. I started laughing at the schedule. It was structured to the minute. I had to call my mom and share the times listed for the different things we are doing throughout the day. There were times listed like 9:01 a.m. and 7:13 a.m., 12:44 p.m.  If someone is getting this particular about the minute... it could be an interesting year.

Summer...

Some friends have gone through a terrible tragedy lately and they are on my mind. You never know what heartache life will have for you. Please keep them in your prayers.

I have been working on my summer training. The first part was so dull that I couldn't stand it. It was read this paragraph, highlight this, etc. It really was building our background knowledge so that we had a good understanding of why the program has been built in the manner that it is. It is important to have this but the delivery made me sleepy.  It has is improving and we are getting to practice some of the techniques. The more we dig into this the more I am invested in the program. The delivery is still dry but my colleagues were teasing me about how I was making it more fun. If I delivered it as dryly as our instructor I'd have students bouncing off the walls. If I can make handwriting fun while reading the script and adding my own sound effects I SHALL!  :)  If the teacher is bored the students will be jumping out of the window. Anyhow it is good stuff just delivered by a severe lack of animation.

I am also working on painting my classroom. I've been trying to find the janitors to borrow a ladder to get up and do the corners and up by the ceiling. I have a slanted ceiling that is very high. I did the best I could from the ground but I need a little height to get it done. While painting we discovered a water leak. The cement brick is mush in this corner. I reported it and all I can be is hopeful that it gets taken care of. These things are unfortunately usually ignored. I think people don't realize how much teachers spend on their classrooms and supplies. A parent said to me "Why don't more teacher's paint their classrooms?" Well, because I bought the primer, the paint, the brushes, the rollers, the drop cloths, etc. It was an investment. If they change my room I will be pretty sad. The Vice-principal told me she loved the color I chose and colleagues have been dropping in to see it. It really came out nice. It is kind of a tropical palette.  I will try to post a picture soon.

We have 8 more days of training. After that it is our work week, then the following week school starts. Summer just flew by.

Summers end

Ahh the crazy busy summer is coming to an end. I will head back south soon to begin my two week training. I had hoped to have more time in July for things I wanted to accomplish. This summer however,  my job isn't allowing for that. I will miss some good times with family and friends but so it goes for us working folks right? I am very thankful we are getting training instead of handing us a curriculum and saying good luck, hope you have time to read it before implementing it!  So the training will be good. It just sucks up so much of summer. I know I am whining.

I had a great time visiting cousins, aunts, and uncles on this trip. I got to hang out with some pretty darn cute short people.  I also was able to see granny for a bit.   I am finishing up my online class this weekend. Hurrah! I can't take any more "busy" work and the  banality of this course.  It was a disappointment to me. I doubt I will take another online class through this organization.

I wish I'd had more time to see more pals, so life goes.

Head Spinning

I headed down south to that terribly hot place for my conference. I am very grateful for the invention of air-conditioning.  The conference was amazing. I learned so much that it is a little overwhelming. I am trying to take away those nuggets of gold that I can use immediately. I went to an all day conference with  one of the writers of the math curriculum that we use. It was very beneficial. Our staff had been approaching this curriculum in the wrong manner. I realized this but I didn't know how to make the connection to change it as much as I needed to. It was also encouraging to find out some of the ways I had been teaching it were correct. I attended this all day session with my principal and vice-principal. I was sitting between them all day. That is kind of stressful. I jokingly said to them I was in an Administrator Sandwich today! Since they were at the same training I believe we will be changing our implementation as a staff.

In other news, our fire marshal has gone off the rails about what we can and cannot have in our classroom. I am going to call the state fire marshal tomorrow and see what I can figure out. I am wondering if it is more principal preference than what fire code says. I don't know. You try to make your classroom a comfortable inviting space because students and teachers have to spend a LOT of hours there.

I started painting my classroom over the weekend. I finished the primer coat yesterday so today I am working on the color coat. This takes a lot longer. Especially on our block walls. A friend gave me a hint to go buy the thicker rollers because the others just don't work well on this surface. So hopefully once I have the edging done it will go smoothly. I will be heading back north soon for a short while. I can't stay as long as I'd like because I have another training to attend. The upside of the training is that I am getting paid for it and I will learn about our new curriculum. The downside is that it is really sucking up all my summer free time. I've been north and south and north and my head is spinning a bit. In part with all I've learned and in part with being on the "go".

I told my colleagues and my vice-principal and anyone who had anything to do with class lists to please NOT TELL ME anything!  I wanted to be in denial about that for awhile longer.  My colleague broke the rule today she just couldn't help herself. Sigh!  Let this brain have a break!  I am debating now if I want to know about the rest of the list or just wait. Booger! I didn't want to think about what difficulties I may have to deal with yet.  Soo.... here we go again. I almost feel like I am a first year teacher again because so much is changing this year that it is difficult to keep up with.

I'm back!

Well drove back on the 4th it was a great day for travel because there was little traffic. I made it to the largest town I drive through right when their Fireworks were set off so I got some dinner and watched them from the highway for a bit.  I drove through an area where there is currently a wildfire. The mountainside looked like the world from space with all these glowing embers. There is normally nothing near there and the sagebrush was riddled with the lights of the Firefighters campsites.  I got back quite late unloaded my car and went to sleep. When I woke up the next day I had a nice greeting from my neighbors. They noticed all the bugs on my windshield and car and they washed it for me. That was wonderful!

I went in to school today and taped off the wall and prepped it for the primer coat. I am thinking I didn't get quite enough paint but I am excited for the improvement in my classroom.  It was a bit stressful because I ran into a couple of teachers there and I heard some not great things about our new principal. I was thinking ummm can I live in denial a little bit longer and enjoy my break??  I think I have everything taped off so I can go in tomorrow and begin painting. I also got a little cleaning and laundry done. My fridge is very empty because I've been gone so I am thinking I might squeeze in a fridge cleaning tomorrow. I leave Monday for my conference so I need to do some packing at some point as well.

My lawn was mowed while I was gone and it looks pretty green. I am going to water it well so I can mow it before I head north again. It is good to be back and get some things done I needed to accomplish here!

Yep it's Hot!

It's a good think Mom and I did all the cooking we did last week, the HOT weather has arrived.  We have accomplished a lot including going through stuff and getting a load together for the thrift store. Stuff accumulates so easily and quickly. Going through it is much easier with a helper. Mom and I used to do this together every couple years but it had been many years since we had. We are feeling pretty good about it.
So Mom's freezer is stocked with Mom meals :)!  I did get a new purchase which made chopping so much easier you can find it by clicking HERE! It chopped some things a little finer than necessary. I don't like to bite into a big ole hunk of onion and this solves that problem. Mom doesn't like biting into onions or celery herself, so we chopped them so small she can barely tell they're there.

I did some pruning, some lawn mowing, some sorting, worked on my online class, visiting many friends, went to the woods with dad, and got some shopping done. My conference starts next week so I need to go home check my mail and get ready to go to that.  It is supposed to be a good one. Right when I get back I hope to get a coat of primer in my classroom so things are ready to paint.

The hot weather is here for awhile it seems. I made a fruit smoothie  for all of us tonight. Thank goodness for air conditioning. I can remember life before it and flipping my pillow to the "cool" side. Well, I'm off I hope to have a couple more visits before heading back south to more hot weather. G'nite

Taco Soup

I have been working on a Taco Soup Recipe that would require me to use a pre-made taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix with all those icky fillers. This version is also low sodium.


Taco Seasoning:

2 tsp  dried minced onion

1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp crushed dried red pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika

Ranch Dressing Mix:

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dash dried thyme or 1 dash dill weed


Overnight soak Pinto Beans with water and place in crockpot cover with water and cook until done.
Put that in a stock pot. Add Ranch Dressing Mix, and Taco Seasoning Mix, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 pound cooked and drained ground beef, 1 can tomatoes ( I found a low salt option but you can also roast your own tomatoes), and 1 cup of quinoa.  Cook until heated through and quinoa is done.  When serving can serve over tortilla chips, with sour cream, avocado, and grated cheese.

Vacation

It has been a wonderfully busy and relaxing vacation so far. Highlights were a trip to the coast with my mom and Aunt. I am so grateful to my Aunt for arranging a great relaxing visit for us. I even worked in a knitting lesson and a massage.  I went up to the woods with my dad for a day and didn't get eaten alive by mosquitos. According to Dad that is because my mosquito repellent smelled so strong any living thing was keeping their distance. I had some "all natural" repellent. It worked well until you worked up a sweat then had to reapply.  I didn't get a single bite so I am thinking it was beneficial.  We also had the time to go to one of my favorite restaurants out in the boonies. My parents have taunted me with their visits to this restaurant. It was finally my turn and just as delicious as I recalled.

I also had enough time to remember issues with going to the bathroom in the woods.
If you don't want to read about urinating in the woods...stop here!

1. I never put mosquito repellent on my butt cheeks
2. Is that or is that not poison ivy... what was that rule for telling if it is poison ivy? Something about three leaves... it doesn't have three.
3. I gotta go I'm going to take a chance that it is poison ivy. (I've never gotten a rash from it)
4. There are ants crawling up my leg... do I stop peeing and find another spot?
5. I left the t.p. in the car... WHY DID I LEAVE T.P. in the car?
6. Now my arse is stuck in the mosquito infested air until I drip dry.
7. I remembered the t.p. and now I must carefully balance it while I pee on this hillside and try not to drop it in the... too late.
8. I really hope I didn't just pee on my shoe... I'm sticking my shoe in the freezing cold stream for awhile.
9. Please hold onto the dogs leash while I pee in the woods even though it looks as though I need assistance I'm not sure the dog can help me.
10. Wet dog nose on butt cheek.... there is no choice but to squeal.
11. On the other hand... public restrooms can be much more dangerous... but that's a tale for another time.


I have eating a lot of yummy fruits this trip. That's the best part about this state in June. Yummm! I worked in a visit to Costco, staples, and other stores to stock up before heading back. I haven't gotten much school related work done and I am working on my online class. Mom and I plan to do some cooking and freezing this week. I also have plans to see some of my pals before heading down south for a conference.  Hopefully we accomplish everything on our list before I have to return. A colleague sent me a message that they would be working on class rosters. I said "Please don't tell me" I want to live in denial a little while longer. I do know of a few of the students I will be getting because the parents put in a request. Other than that I don't want to know :)! That stress can be saved for later. I am on VACATION!

Summer

Fired up my new lawn-mower. It worked very nicely. My neighbor had to help me with the first fire... I wasn't doing it correctly apparently. I am sure all of the starts from now on will go very well. After mowing I set up the sprinklers again. Yeah  mow, water, water, repeat. The cycle of the lawn. There always seems to be a couple of patches damaged by the heavy snow. They are starting to perk up.  I also had to go and get a gas-can as I didn't have one. Now I am ready for summer. Well I gave up on the hardware store and ordered some sprinklers. My back lawn is long and narrow. I purchased a tandem sprinkler. That's what they advertised it as. Three sprinklers with short hoses between. Am I mistaken or does "tandem" mean two?  I am certain it does. Anyhow, It should save me a little time moving hoses around to hit all the corners of my odd shaped yard.  I also have an area that is an isosceles triangle.

I recovered from the but the kiddos shared with me. I am fairly certain it was that and full on exhaustion. I gave it my all to the end. Then in the end I gave out. I caught up on rest and feel myself again. It is the time of year for some delicious fruit smoothies. I will be bringing home a lot of projects to work on and texts to read. Tomorrow I am in to school to finish cleaning, clearing out my classroom. Hopefully, by the time I get back I will be able to paint the walls as I have planned.

Laundry is in the washer, dishes in the dishwasher. I have a "Garage Sale" Pile that is growing. I need to get the house and the class cleaned and then I can begin my "vacation". Tomorrow my online class begins. I am looking forward to that.  My neighbor kids "helped" me plant some seeds in my garden. I have no idea how they will grow. They were not exactly consistent with their seed placement nor their watering. If they water the garden when I am up north the seeds have a little hope. :)   They had fun planting so we'll see how it goes.

Wrapping it up!

It took me several hours after students and our luncheon yesterday to print all the "end-of-year" reports. It really shouldn't be this hard but it is. In part because we weren't every shown how to set the program up correctly so every time we go to print reports we have a brand new previously unknown issue. Sigh. In part it is a pain because we have a 21 step process we must complete to print a report. Does this sound a little nuts in the modern age? That's because it is. The person in charge of this software who is supposed to set it up to make it user friendly. Well they haven't done so. In part because it doesn't really impact their job.  It is the biggest headache. If you want to hear some whining and complaining going on it is when we are doing these reports. I always start them with a buddy or two because I always have problems with it.  Some of the kinks were worked out permanently by the Vice-Principal. She came by and helped correct some things that should have been shown to me in August. SIGH!    Anyhow needless to say after spending hours on the reports I still didn't get my classroom cleaned up.

Today I went in and worked on the Cumulative Folders we must complete for every student. That took quite awhile mostly because I had not completed one in this manner before. I completed many of the things on my checklist for the school. I found out today that we were expected to have this all done on Wednesday. How? I don't know. With students we were supposed to complete all of this?  Luckily they have been reasonable enough to understand that wasn't going to happen.  I didn't see a classroom empty of a teacher today. The only teachers that weren't at school today were the support staffers like the special ed teachers who haven't had students for a few weeks now.

When I woke up this morning I was very congested and not feeling great. I went in to work and just felt worse. At lunch time I decided I would go get distilled water for my humidifier and take a nap. I woke up and there wasn't any change. I went to work for several more hours and felt worse. I had to run to the hardware store for a sprinkler I need that hadn't been unloaded from the shipment yet. Then I came home put on my pj's and have been resting. I finally realized this evening that I am running a little bit of a fever. I think the kids shared their bug with me. I am hoping a good nights rest and a few healthy meals I can get back on track to get everything done. Tomorrow is a Health Fair the county health department is putting on. I have learned to attend these for any needed blood tests. I can get a blood test their for 20$ that would cost hundreds at the clinic. So I need to attend that tomorrow.

We found out that our District is changing our health insurance again starting July 1st. On Monday I have to attend a mandatory meeting to learn about the changes. It sounds like our new insurance is going to be pretty pathetic.  Thanks to you "Affordable Health Care Act" we can no longer afford to pay your insurance so we are finding a cheaper policy that really doesn't pay for your health care at all. Yay!!  I am not the first person to be going through this across the country I hear of people that are going through the same things.

I am sorry if my grumpiness is overwhelming in this post.  So I will end it on my laugh of the day. In my classroom sometimes to get my happy chatters attention I yell "RED ROBIN" Like in this commercial  then my students say "yum". Usually the first time works but sometimes I have to do it a few times getting quieter each time to get their attention.  They love it and it works. I have a mom volunteer that comes in with her four year old and he has heard me do this several times. She sent me a message today that her older two kids were arguing in the car and the four year old was sitting in the middle. Apparently he had, had enough and yelled out "RED ROBIN".  I  hope it worked for him I truly do! :)

Have a great weekend!

Ah the sweet sweet smell of...

I think I smell SUMMER VACATION! One more day! ONE More DAY! I can do this. We can do this. Although it would help if I was in bed by now. I had  to stay up to make dessert for our staff luncheon tomorrow. What I didn't have to do was go to dinner with a colleague. Let's be realistic though... there was NOOOO way I was cooking dinner tonight. If I hadn't have gone out to dinner my dinner probably would've been a bowl of ice-cream. So yes, dinner out was the better choice.  

Tomorrow is the big wrap up of everything we are supposed to have done. I am so used to Thursday being an official work day. Nope it isn't. We have students for 1/2 a day tomorrow then the 2nd half we are supposed to get all of our teacher stuff done.  After the staff luncheon. If a teacher has a classroom completely in order on the last day with students. Hats off to you...but I think you have issues.

Today was Field Day. In a burst of enthusiasm and optimism our PTO put on the most elaborate Field Day ever seen by our students. They had a ball. I needed about 2 more layers of sunscreen and 2 more cups of tea. However,  my students did receive compliments at several "stations" on their good behavior. There was bubbles, bouncy slides, bouncy obstacle courses, sponge tosses, a dunk tank, kick ball with kiddie pools for bases, gummy worm eating contests, water relays, a color run, and other ridiculous fun. Then we had to walk back to school. Yep one block seemed completely unreasonable to my students.  The whining was non-stop. I grabbed Popsicles from the freezer, turned on a movie, and the last 30 minutes I had students impersonating limp noodles. It was awesome. The bell rang. The sigh of relief coming from their teacher was amazing.   I think the PTO was a little optimistic about how long lower grades can go without water, bathrooms, etc. However, we learn from a party every time we give one.

So I spent my evening firing up sprinklers in my yard and making Special K bars for tomorrow. They are done. I am "unstinkified" from my shower. I am trying to hydrate more before bed. One more day. Unofficially more days than that. I  hope it won't take me too long to clean it all up. The students have taken most of their things home and have "mostly" emptied their desks. We had a desk cleaning activity. Imagine my surprise when I check them after school and a couple of them had just moved things around. Really?  So then they had to finish the job.   I start an online class in 6 days. I will also be going to a 2 week training and a 1 week conference this summer.

Well my alarm always seems to ring earlier than what I think it should... So G'nite

Paint

I am sure after the fact I will be really glad I had my students help with our mural. Today though...all I could think was "WHAT WAS I THINKING?" Overall they did very well and painted within the lines on the wall and not the floor, themselves, etc. I had a parent volunteer that made sure they weren't setting the class on fire while I took a couple of students at a time to paint. They are extremely proud of their work. I had 3 students absent today and one went home with a fever. One I know had a dentist appointment. Hopefully we don't have a spring bug running around.

Tomorrow is our grade level planning day. Since I spent the weekend at school doing things OTHER than sub plans I stayed extra late today getting the ducks in a row. I always have wayyy more work than the sub can do. Nothing is worse as a sub than your students having free time.

My allergies are making me really tired. I plugged in my humidifier last night so last night was a little bit better. I also used my essential oil blend for allergies plus my antihistamine. Hopefully they will start getting better.
I am doing a load of laundry and trying to stay awake till a reasonable hour.  I hope tomorrow is a productive day.

Weekend

After an exhausting week I have actually accomplished a lot this weekend. I spent hours at school on Thursday Night and Friday doing some planning for next year. The next day I went in and began working on a mural in the lunchroom. A friend came and helped so I made progress much more quickly than if I had done it alone. Then today I went back and worked on grading papers and then continued work on the mural. It is coming along rather nicely. It needs more depth that it has right now but it is getting there.  It will 

eventually have rays bouncing out of the top of it onto two nearby bulletin boards. On the bulletin boards will be posted pictures of students that are "bucket fillers" or students that have been recognized by their peers as being kind.  

My plan for tomorrow is more time spent at school getting ready for the week and adding a little bit more color to the bucket. I know my students are very excited to be painting the mural. Hopefully, they all remember to bring their "paint" clothes.  We only have 5 and 1/2 days of school left. So crazy.

I went to our local movie theater tonight. They just recently updated their screen, sound, and projection. The viewing is much more enjoyable. I wasn't surprised but was disappointed to see that parents brought their kindergarten and first grade students to this movie. Yea ratings are merely suggestions apparently these days. I also got in a little lawn mowing this weekend. Despite the rain we've had we didn't get enough to really saturate my lawn. It was getting a little crispy so I have been watering today. My neighbor was kind enough to move my sprinklers around while I was working at school. 

We have a "track" day at high school on Thursday. I don't know what this involves other than we go to the high school track for an hour. When I experience this I will be sure to share. My class also won a pizza party from PTO for a reading contest. They are pretty excited about that. There has been some negativity going on but then I look at all of the accomplishments  of my students and wonder "Why do I let cranky people bring me down". We have a lot to celebrate! We kicked some major keister on test scores as well. Hard work pays off. 

Thank your for your service to our country all service men and women past and present!

End of the Year....

Yep it's that time of year when your teacher probably looks way frazzled. Like maybe he/she needs a week on a beach with a cool drink in hand.  It has been so busy and strange and wonderful. We've been experiencing some very bizarre behavior from a handful of parents. The upside is they have lost any credibility they thought they had. One is delusional enough they still believe they have it. Anyone who works with the public gets rocks (verbal) thrown at them. It makes you wonder why you do this job. Then your students have unbelievable successes and you think "THIS is why".  You know what I have learned about some parents this school year.  They say they want their student to do well but their actions show otherwise. You send home reading, it's never complete. You nudge their student to work a little harder, they complain that you're expectations are to high. You set expectations that aren't high but on TARGET, and they're too high. TOO HIGH! To ask them to rise up to where they need to be????

In the past week I've been told I'm a wonderful teacher by many, a horrible teacher by a few, and why do I let myself be upset by the few? It's being human I suppose.  I am extremely proud of my students. They surprised me and themselves on testing. Together we kicked a lot of heiney on testing. This isn't something parents have access too so they wouldn't know how the students' do overall in each class.  When I get in trouble for setting the bar high, I look at the success of my kids and think "Why Would You Want Me To Lower It?".

There are some parents who want you to lower it though, and not because their student isn't capable.  It amazes and frustrates me.   I have come to really despise these words "We just want what's best for our child."   I despise them because they sound sincere and true. They sound so reasonable and just. They sound as though they are infused with love and concern.  Those words are disproved by sooo many actions I lose count of them. Please don't say those words to your student's teacher. Show the teacher through your willingness to help your student by reading daily, getting homework done, showing up to help out during activities when possible, sending a note in their lunch box to encourage them through the day, and did I mention read to/with them?

In other news we are working on our planning for the next school year and next week we have a planning day. Luckily my Jury Duty was cancelled so I don't have to worry about not being able to attend.  A colleague and I sat down and went through the pacing guide to fit it into next year's school calendar. We had to tweak it a few times but we made it work. That was just one subject area. We are going to try to meet several times over this weekend to work on more of it. It is a time-consuming mind numbing process.

I am also spending my weekend finishing up grading, planning, cleaning, and painting the mural. Busy days ahead but the finish line is within sight!

I know laundry talk AGAIN!

The next few weeks till school is out for the summer will be crazy busy.  I decided I needed to build up my freezer stash to survive the insanity. So I made some Taco Soup and a Taco Casserole... Hmmmm what's up with my Mexican Food craving? I hope to get one more dish cooked this weekend. Probably something that can be neglected in the crock-pot.

I had plans to go into school on Friday and get work done. Yep that didn't happen. Our school was broken into and vandalized and we were asked to not go in until today or later. That worked out for me because I needed the break. I babysat last night. It had been awhile since I had spent so much quality time with a 1 and a half year old. I enjoyed it but there were times of extreme boredom. When I left my nanny days behind I thought I had left behind toddler television. Apparently not.

I have also been getting caught up on laundry. I have almost conquered the laundry pile.  Now I have to conquer the clean laundry pile. It doesn't end.

I am addicted to loose leaf tea. I start my day with a fantastic blend of   chocolate mint black tea. It really is the best way to start the day. I have wonderful tea tumbler. After awhile there is this build up that I've had difficulty cleaning up. It makes the tea have a funky flavor as well. I've scrubbed it and followed the cleaning directions but nope... nothing worked. The tumbler also has an infuser that gets this build up on it. So today I tried that magical combination of baking soda and vinegar.  They were back to their original stainless steel without the tea stain. YAY!  I anticipate a delicious cup of tea come Monday morning.

We are having a trainer come this summer for our new reading program. I have some reading to do before the training. We took a couple of math classes this winter to help us in teaching our math curriculum with fidelity. They were great classes. They just offered the teachers who did not take that class the opportunity to go to the conference the makers of this curriculum put on. I took the class but decided to ask if I could attend the conference despite this. I haven't received an answer yet but I feel it doesn't hurt to ask. It would be really amazing to be able to attend this. It made me wish that I hadn't taken the class this winter so that I would be able to attend the conference for sure. We shall see what happens. Any opportunity for me to learn  more I jump on.

I have all of my cleaning appliances doing their job right now. So that means I better work on tackling the clean laundry pile otherwise my couch may just disappear.  Tomorrow is a day at school for me. Hopefully my room was not invaded by the vandals and thieves.

The "TANG" Experiment!

It worked folks. A container of TANG dumped in the bottom of the empty dishwasher an put on the Heavy Wash cycle did the trick. It got rid of  the residue that it was creating on the dishes and it smells wonderful.  So I would do it again. I even bought the generic brand of TANG because TANG was sold out. Perhaps there was a lot of folks out there needed to clean their dishwashers! HA!  Anyhow, random information from Mom's take  you interesting places.

I've been pretty lucky in my life with great neighbors. Yes not just good but GREAT.  My neighbor saved me once again when I misplaced my keys to my car. Sigh. I had a very blonde day.  I finally decided I needed a cup of tea to engage the brain. It helped a bit. I still can't find my keys... but I did find my spare set (locked in my car). Yep it was one of those days.  

Anecdotes for others

It seems my family and friends find my anecdotes from school FAR more amusing than I do. I will have to come back and review them when I've gained a little distance from the treasures who've helped create these memories. Not all of my students bring me joy but through my stories I get belly laughs from others. I have a tattle tale box at school and I collect and keep these notes from the kids. I had an especially egregious tattle tale this week. My family has been unsuitably entertained. While I am not as amused. I am glad someone else can find humor in it all. Perhaps I can giggle a little more when I've gained a little distance from the subject.

I am attempting the "Tang" experiment tonight. You never know what little facts or tid-bits of information your mom possesses. I was complaining of the funky residue my dishwasher was leaving on my dishes.  I have tried a number of ways to attempt to clean the dishwasher and consulted   Plumber Google, and
Mrs. Pinterest. I attempted a couple but there was still issues. So after consulting MOM tonight I ran to the grocery store and bought Tang. Apparently this product when dumped in your dishwasher will help clean it up of some of that "hard-water" residue that is an issue here.  I will share my results.

In other news we found out who our new principal will be next year. We will be sharing with the middle school. She is very experienced and I am hopefully she will implement some positive changes. She is very new to our district so I am not sure how this will turn out. I've heard both positive and negative from the middle school. I am glad we are going through this process of change. She is a huge proponent of using the new curriculum that we are using and wants to make sure we have training in it. So for now I reserve judgment but am hopeful about the change occurring.

There is so little left to this school year It is hard to believe.  I know this month will fly by.  I am so ready for summer!

Spring Break!

My allergies and I have been on the move since my break started. I am carrying my sneezes from town to town. I am over them and looking forward to them being over with me. Allergies can make you feel like you have a bad cold, or even like you can't breath. When they are severe it seems like your whole body is struggling to operate it is sluggish, and feels weighted.  Right now I have the itchy water eyes and skin. My nose constantly itches/hurts/tingles. I visited the dentist this week and warned them that a sneezing attack could occur. Luckily for both of us I managed to get through the appointment without such an occurrence. This is a fairly mild allergy time...but when it drags on for days it gets old fast. Also, when you are on antihistamines it does wonderful things to your digestion.  Okay moving on from my allergy whines.
I have gotten a lot accomplished this break visited with new and old friends.

 What is on my mind is the choices people make. I feel some people have multiple chances to live in the light. They may have a mental illness but not severe enough that makes them unable to understand right and wrong and their own insufficiencies. They may have enough to make life a struggle but not unwieldy.   If they choose the dark path to walk down it only gets darker. The lack of life there gives them a sickly sheen. They may have moments of acknowledgment of the edge they walk and still walk further into darkness. It sickens me. The impact it has on all the people around them makes me sad. These aren't people who lack choice, or lack the knowledge to stay out of the pit. Yet it fuels them in  a way that keeps them going. The cost for themselves is great and the cost for people around them can be high as well.  The choice was their own but many people suffer the consequences. The only way to keep apart from this darkness is to keep apart so your own spirit can stay clean. It is a sludgy stain.

Moving on to brighter cheerier things :). I have done a million errands, and visited good friends. We made a pot of soup and I grilled some chicken for mom's fridge.So she is stocked up for a little while. Pineapples seem to be in every store. I love a smoothing with strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple. Yummy! So I have a couple of pineapples. I didn't need to purchase two but that is a craving I can accede to. I've heard rumors that some folks way down south of the border soak their pineapple in chili powder. Ummm I don't think I could do that. I do like the pineapple though. I have some more errands to accomplish this week. When I have some down time I also have a stack of papers to grade and a curriculum to read.  I may fit that in somewhere!

Water, Water, NEWS

Apparently some person(s) broke into the county water supply this weekend. Their is some concern that the water supply may have been contaminated.  Certain areas are on "boil water" restrictions. We are on an automatic call list for school and they called and announced this to all district employees and  students. Now I'm not saying my colleagues are impaired, but we had to have a directional conversation. North of such and such street had to boil. South of such and such etc.  They were pointing south for north etc. I mentioned the cities that were to the south and to the north to help them  get a little insight into where they are in the world. I hope they are only impaired in their sense of direction.  Oh my!

We received our reading curriculum today. Kindergarten has been piloting it and they have been saying again and again how they can't believe the results they are seeing. So that is exciting. I will have some reading to do before implementation. I am okay with that. 

My students were discussing how they miss art and music just ended for the year. I said well I could easily do some art lessons but you are going to have to earn it. How can you earn it? So we negotiated  and came up with a great list for them to earn it. I was talking to a friend about it. She said we should get permission to paint a mural in the school. We are a "bucket-filling" school and so I asked if we could paint a mural about that. So I talked with the vice-principal today and she liked it. The principal gave me a tentative agreement. So the last couple of weeks of school we may be working on that. I may live to regret it but I think It will be fun. I hope. :)

I am getting ready for our spring break. It comes late around here. I was a little nervous today because I had a little bit of a sore throat. I was screaming "NOOOOOO" inside my head because so many of my colleagues have been home sick with strep. I have been sneezing with watery eyes so I am going to say it is allergies and my sinuses are draining. I refuse to accept any other alternative. I am trying to catch up on laundry, dishes, etc. So I can leave guilt free.  Well off to not boil water because I am south of the restricted area. HA! 

Ssshhhhh!

I think I hushed my student's oh approximately a gazillion times today. Poor kids. They had to be quiet because all of the upper grades are working on their state test. It is painful to be so quiet for so much of the day. They even go to a different area for recess and they don't feel like they can spread their wings.  We are going to have to have some extra brain breaks tomorrow because they really felt like they suffered :)! Two more days of state testing for the upper grades.

We had a planning meeting today looking at the rest of the year. There are less than 30 school days left. It is sooo crazy to me. This year has flowwwwwwn by.  I am looking forward to our spring break. I think everyone is ... it falls so late here that by the time it arrives you almost can't stand it.   We have been working on data and graphs the last couple of weeks. The students have been plotting their own graphs. It has been quite interesting to see  them survey their friends for data to plot. It doesn't always make sense to me and we have to adjust but it makes sense to them.

We have a "Tattle Tale" monster in my class. I keep the "tattles" because they are gems! I need to remember to bring that home soon to share some of the best with you like this one  " Every day __________ acts like a bird!"     Today  " ______ told ______ **** and ****.  There was four stars written on the page. So apparently one of my students realizes that stars stand for bad words. I can only speculate what those words were. Maybe the student has been reading Beetle Bailey! I don't remember when I realized all those symbols stood for curse words when Sarge yelled at him. Anyhow, those are the tattle tales I can remember right now. Not all of them are entertaining some sound remarkably like my childhood " he's breathing on me" and the like.  Well I am off to find my pillow! G'nite

Changes

yep... leave it to me. Sprain my knee while cleaning a closet. Sigh. It doesn't feel very good but it is better than it was a couple of days ago. The school has an ice machine and I had plastic bags so I could elevate and ice easily. Not sure how well it will go being on my feet at school all day. Oh well.  I worked on my classroom a lot this weekend. Now that I've been here almost a year I have a better idea of what resources left in my room I need and those that can go.  Hence the closet cleaning.

A colleague came and kept me company and helped a little. I've had this document camera and faux smartboard system in my classroom because my colleagues didn't want to set it up. So we set that up today. I don't have it completely figured out but it will be fun to keep messing with it and see what it can do. It doesn't work as well as Promethean or SmartBoards... but it is what I have. For you non-techies it is like a modern day overhead projector that you can write on digitally, show documents,  have students input data and way more.

I have been waiting all weekend for lesson plans from a colleague. She seems to think receiving them in the morning will work just fine.  She's going in early in the morning. Our e-mail system is down so the only way I can receive them is for her to get them to me. She has the only typed copy. It is sooo frustrating.
This colleague is going to kindergarten next year. I am hopeful about what we can accomplish with a change. It has been all about change at work lately. I think this could be extremely good for the school. We are waiting quite impatiently for our reading curriculum to arrive.

I have some plans to make my classroom a nicer place to spend my days! I will be spending some quality time with some paint cans.

Change

Well I've had a great couple of days of training. My  brain is on over-load right now. It is good when you attend a training of great quality. I have to figure out what I can implement soon. Anyhow, it was a good couple of days and felt very worthwhile.

While at the training today we got a message that we had to attend a staff meeting at school today. We were speculating a little (of course) what the meeting would be about. I had heard a rumor a couple of days ago but I took it in stride because there are always rumors. It turns out this particular rumor was factual. Our principal is leaving us to head to the high school. It sounds like our vice-principal will stay in that position and they will advertise for a new principal.  Our principal addressed any rumors related to her leaving and stated why she was making the change. Some of her reasons were personal and some were because she didn't feel like she had the skills to help us make the next steps in our growth.  This is the second time I've felt I didn't have leadership invested in the teachers. I really hope that we will have someone invested. It makes a huge difference.

I don't know why being in training is more tiring than being w/ kids all day. It just seems like it is.  It sounds like my students were on task and well behaved.  So that is good.

R and R

I think we are at 36 days of school left. It is incredible how quickly this year has gone by. I was asked to go to another training next week. I hope it is a good one. I really know very little about this structure we are being taught. Well I think I know very little I may get there and know more than I realize. It is a two day training so I really, really, want it to be a good one. If I leave my students for two days I definitely want it to be worth the time.

I am doing a little cooking this evening. Making the Taco Casserole I made awhile back. It was worth a repeat. Although next time I think I will add rice the recipe mentions as optional. I spent a lot of time at school yesterday planning next week. I don't think I am ready and will go in again tomorrow. Today I pretty much rested. I've been fighting either a head cold or allergies or a combination of the two this week. All I know for sure is that it was kicking my heiney!  I did look in my flower bed and my bulbs are up about 2 inches so that is an encouraging sign of spring. Although here the snow isn't over till it's over and I don't know if it's over.

My students won the district spelling be on Thursday so I was super proud of them. They really wanted to compete at the next level (state) but I don't think that happens till 5th or 6th grade.   So this isn't much but it's all I can think of for now... have a lovely weekend!

Learning

I have learned so much in such a short period of time I feel like my brain is overloaded. I went to a school visit to a 5 star school. I learned a lot from the teachers there and just the experience of being there. Our principal would like to recreate what they have done with their school. I don't know if we have the supports in place to make it possible. I do know that I learned a lot from the experience which will allow me to be better at my job. The teachers there were very generous with their time and resources. What impressed me besides great teaching and great students was the administration. They behaved as colleagues with their staff. They popped in and out of all classrooms throughout the day. They addressed behavior as needed but they really supported their teachers.

The next day we went to a parent engagement conference. I also learned a lot from this experience. More importantly it was uplifting and encouraging. We ended the conference feeling validated and celebrated as teachers. The four of us teachers that went to the conference kind of made a unsaid vow to be more encouraging to one another. It was a really great way to end those days of training.

We came back home late and the next day I had a math number model training. It was good but I was so tired I am not sure how much I retained. My favorite part of that day was that our Vice-principal sat down with us. She joined a group and asked questions, took notes, and went through the training with us. I can't explain how much that meant. It really impressed me and made me feel like she valued what we were doing and learning. She was as invested as we were.  I told her I really appreciated her doing this with us. In contrast our principal sat in the corner and just observed and worked on other things.

So I packed a lot in three days. I know that it will be a fight to implement some of what I learned in our school. I am going to start with changing what I know I can. I won't forget the other things but I will change what I KNOW I can and will keep trying to push change in those other areas. We'll see how things go. I am going to continue to work on that bond with the people who experienced that conference with me. I think together if we really stay positive we can help changes occur. We really need some huge changes to occur.

In other exciting news in our school spelling bee my 2 second grade groups won. They will participate in the District spelling bee at the end of the week.  See teaching phonics makes a difference. Ahem! They only take the top two groups from each grade level. I was really proud of my kiddos. I missed their spelling bee because they had it while I was gone.

I am sure there is more that is new but that is all I can think of right now.  We have a math night at school this week. I also have three scheduled formal observations at school this week. We had to pack them in because I was gone and my administrator was gone and then will be gone again. She is coming in at three different times so it should give her a good snapshot of my day.  I was struggling to stay positive today. My colleagues didn't get our common lesson plans done while I was gone. Then when I looked at the incomplete plans it was ridiculous. Then my colleague that is gone this week just did the bare minimum for her substitute. I had to help the substitute fill in the gaps. They were hard for me to fill because I didn't know what the heck they were thinking. The poor sub!  I asked her "Could you follow my lesson plans, did you have what you needed?" She told me yes she did and that I gave her plenty of extra just in case. She is the type that would let me know if I forgot something or if it was lacking. Anyhow, I am glad I had those other days of training because I strongly feel that can overcome these impediments to success.

Update: I forgot to share what a 1st grader said on today St. Patrick's Day. He walks up to another teacher "Are you wearing a green shirt?" She says yes unzips her coat a little and shows him. Recess, Cold, Cold, Windy, Blustery, Day. Anyhow, he looks at me and GRINS HUGELY as he sees my bright green coat.  "Are you....?"  "Yes I  am wearing a green shirt too"  and I show him.  He says " I am wearing a green jacket, a green shirt, and GREEN UNDERWEAR!"   I said " That is great!" Luckily he didn't feel the need to show them too me. So stinking cute he was so proud! Anyhow, I hope you all wore green today.

Cooking Saturday

A friend came over today and we cooked up a storm. We made this Lentil Soup. I changed it up by adding kale instead of spinach. We also made this Taco Casserole. Then I started my favorite Kalua Pork recipe. I didn't start the Zuppa Toscana on my to-do list. I need to do it before the weekend is over since I bought the ingredients. The weather has been beautiful this weekend. I picked up my bountiful basket which had some things not on my edible list like green chilies and brussel sprouts. It worked out find though because I found someone to take them off my hands. If they didn't my neighbors rabbits were going to eat the sprouts.  I have some laundry to catch up on so I am ready for the crazy busy week.

Tomorrow I need to run up and finish my lesson plans for the week. I have a good sub coming in which makes it easier to leave.

Dress Up/Down

In my previous post I mentioned I made broccoli cheese soup. I haven't really tried it yet other than a quick sample at the end of the cooking process. I will say the cooking of broccoli cheese soup should be done in a well ventilated area. My house still smells like  broccoli cheese soup. That could have a lot to do with why I haven't sampled any yet.

I went in to school this afternoon to watch some videos with a colleague and work on lesson planning for next week. There was a little snafu in that I couldn't make any copies because there were some meetings/training's/classes going on in several locations. I did a little bit and then I decided I would head home and do something constructive. That really didn't work out too well. I threw in a load of laundry and a load of dishes and then I took a nap. It felt wonderful. I did a few more dishes and went grocery shopping. So I can't say that I accomplished a lot but it wasn't a complete waste of a day either.  I am always so wiped out on Fridays I feel like the wind up monkey at the end of the wind. My music went flat and I'm drooping.

We had a busy week with it being Reading Week. It was more than a little annoying how little thought went into the preparation of it. It was more than a little chaotic. What  I discovered this week is the teacher cannot dress "down". No crazy hair, crazy hat, backwards anything. Do you know what happens to 2nd graders when this happens. You lose them. Yep their attention span goes to nothing. It is a distraction. I was trying to remember if my teachers dressed in anything wacky in elementary school. Other than an Ugly Christmas Sweater for the Holiday program. I do not recall any such goings on. They dressed professional. Way more so than I do. I don't know how they cleaned glue off themselves. Anyhow I thought you know I don't need to do this. Is it fun for the kids? Yes of course.  What am I really hoping to accomplish? So I am thinking this over. Maybe I'll wear a crazy hat that I can take off and get down to business.  I am probably viewed as a "spoil-sport". I want my students to have joy in learning which is way more important than their teacher dressing nutty!   We'll see how my thoughts on this evolve.

When I look at the 144 days I have to teach my students and then realize how many of those teaching opportunities are eaten up by fire drills, assemblies, and other interruptions It gets a little discouraging. I can see why people can Home-school their children in a short window. Yep it is a challenge.

Oh yes... added to my food list of things I can never eat again without suffering:
cucumber. The flavor isn't bad. It feels great in a slice over your eyes. Ingesting it is agonizing. Instant suffering. Yep goodbye cucumber... you always tasted better as a pickle anyway.

Here we go round and round

It has been a whirlwind lately that I am not sure I am keeping up! It was great to have visitors this weekend and have a bit of a change. We got some cooking done and even made  Chicken Noodle Soup. I always forget to add the cornstarch... I don't know why. It is just a thickener so I have runny soup. We used Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour to make the egg noodles.  It is a very fine flour but it will do what you ask all purpose flour to do and tastes pretty good.  I also made a Hearty Beef Soup.  Tonight I had some broccoli I needed to use and so I  made this Gluten Free Broccoli Cheese Soup. I don't know that I've ever been a fan of broccoli cheese soup but I thought I would give it a try. I needed something different.

You  never know what changes will come. I have been frustrated this year with our lack of reading curriculum. Finally, we get to pilot a reading curriculum that I really believe in. My neighbor that has really been helping support me fill in gaps in reading asked that I be purchased a curriculum as well. This was despite someone else on my grade level piloting it. I am sooo happy. I have said many times "if you cannot read who cares if you can identify the main idea of a story".  If you can't read how are you going to solve a math story problem.  So it may take awhile but eventually we are heard.

It was also really nice to have our Vice-Principal doing our observations in my grade level. She has been a teacher for a long time and she really looks at it from a different perspective. She gives constructive criticism but also focuses in on things you do well. She is very specific and not general which is also nice.  I have another observation coming up this month. I am not sure when yet.  

Another thing coming up is I am attending a training with some other teachers. We will be going to observe at a school that really focuses in on effective strategies and they are doing well on their test scores. It will be over 2 days. So it will be a change of scenery and I hope to learn some really good things.  I also volunteered to be part of a team that is testing out a site that creates tests, tracks data, and more. I hope it is as beneficial as it seems to be. We  have only a 2 week window to try it out.  If we have good things to say the district will be purchasing it. If it works like we want it too it would really save the teachers a lot of  time. We wouldn't have to focus on creating assessments as much and could focus more on creating great lessons.  We'll see how it all goes.  It will be very busy in the next few weeks.   It is hopeful that I will have some great learning opportunities.

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