Deserve

I've been thinking about this word: Deserve

The way in which the word is used is to imply someone deserves something or does not deserve something.  On dictionary.com It is defined as "to be worthy of, qualified for, or have a claim to reward, punishment,recompense, etc."
Where the problem lies is when we start to feel as though we deserve this or that. What it leads to is a sense of entitlement. What we need to ask ourselves is "are we worthy of ____."  Do we have a claim to ____." We have to understand that we may be worthy of a reward or a punishment.  If you start feeling like you are deserving of a reward, recompense, or have some claim, take a moment to think that through. To ask if you are worthy is to ask if you have earned it. Have you earned what you desire? Sometimes your existence is not enough to say that we are worthy of  a, b, or c. We can even think we deserve to be treated terribly. When we walk around thinking we "deserve" something we have not earned it is dangerous thinking. Are we worthy of it? Have we earned it? Can we truly lay claim to it?  I feel that people by their mere existence are worthy of being treated with dignity, to pursue happiness, to work for their goals, and to feel safe. Please be careful with the word "deserve." 

Fewer

It's been a night of cooking! It's our Friday lunch tomorrow. Second grade making lunch for the school. I am making a breakfast casserole. It is all ready to put together I just don't want to put it in to early or it might get overcooked. It was strongly suggested/ordered that I make Special K bars. I was so tired this evening that I was debating it. I had a second wind and got up to make them. Hopefully, that will make everyone happy.

I have a student that argues about every single thing. I have to be very careful not to get engaged in a power struggle. Today this student was exceptionally naughty. I had to message the parent. They had all kinds of justifications and wanted to argue with me. I had to be careful in how I worded my response so that I didn't end up in an argument with the parent. Sooo that explains where this child is learning this behavior. My concern is that the child will have fewer and fewer friends. It is frustrating that the parent can't see the bigger picture.

It is the end of the quarter and the end of the grading period. I have some grading left to finish. Tomorrow is Friday!

No more cupcakes!

The good news is that it warmed up a bit to snow. The bad news is there is still no sunshine. I'm not used to that in this state! Sounds like we will be getting snow through next week. We had sleet this evening then snow. I expect the buses will be a little late in the morning.

It is the end of the 2nd quarter. So I am trying to finish grades and get them put in my grade book. The end of the quarter always comes a bit quicker than I am prepared for. We are preparing for Western Folklife Week at school. Next week we will be working on western poetry in our class. The following week we have an event every day related to this event. It sounds a little hectic! Mom and Dad will be down visiting for the National Event that week.

I have about three boys in my class and one girl that are poster children for ADHD. They should avoid all processed foods, sugar, and food dye. I've discovered the detrimental effects with lovely store bought heavily frosted cupcakes for birthdays. The effect is so dramatic that it is difficult to explain. These kids lose all impulse control!  We had another birthday. The parent that brought the cupcakes looked at me like "OH MY WORD."  Ummm yes this is why we have cupcakes at the very end of the day and then I send them home.

Our turn at our Friday lunch is this Friday. Tomorrow after school I will be preparing for that in between finishing inputting grades. Our new grade book software program is still having serious glitches. It is very frustrating. It doesn't function like it should!

When I left for work this morning it was about seven degrees. It had warmed up to about 14 degrees by recess time. One of my students came to school without a coat or any sort of winter gear for our snow covered playground. I asked where it was " I didn't bring it!" So, as a result the student had to sit inside for recess. At these temperatures it could be dangerous. This is the second day without a coat. The parents are quite young and immature. They need a little parenting guidance. This student has also missed so much school this year I don't see how it can be caught up.

Well, I am off to sleep!

Pogonip

On our local weather page they posted this photo:



















It had the caption:  Hey, Remember these things?

It has been overcast for what seems like weeks. There has also been a lot of fog. A LOT of fog! We've mostly had freezing fog, because it is cold! Pogonip is the story of the month. When you walk outside on a quiet evening, and there is freezing fog, listen and you can hear a crackle in the air. It's amazing. So after all of this living without sunshine I was ready for our usual blue skies and cold temperatures.They arrived today! I was soooo happy to see that beautiful blue! Yes it is cold. It was especially chilly at recess today. I didn't mind though because the sun was out. I needed my vitamin D!

"The mountains of Nevada appear to be the favorite home of pogonip. What is Pogonip? A fog that freezes onto trees and bushes. It is an Ice Fog (also called ice-crystal fog, frozen fog, frost fog, frost flakes, air hoar, rime fog) composed of suspended particles of ice.

It occurs at low temperatures, and usually in clear, calm weather in high latitudes. The sun is usually visible and may cause halo phenomena.

Pogonip is an Indian Paiute Shoshone word."  U.S. National Weather Service

Friday Lunch

It's been a busy week. I can't remember if I made any progress or accomplished anything significant. Which is scary. It was a week of delayed starts, late buses, snow, snow, indoor recess, and overly excited kids.

We started our first week of intervention rotations. I should tell you all the reasons why this is a good thing. It isn't. It's being sold  as though it is a really good concept. It isn't. Am I required to do so? Yes, I am. I have the lowest group of students. The intervention we decided to focus on was phonics. I am teaching them a kinesthetic way to learn letters and letter sounds. I did have one break through there a student looked at the word wine and said with a mixture of delight and confusion " I thought that said WIN!?" So we discussed that tricky silent final e and its first job! I could see the light-bulb moment for her. Hopefully, she can retain this.

 It was a little nutty. I had a parent join us. When it was time for the students to return to their own classes She looked at me and asked  "Are they always like this?" Referring to her very active son and another boy. I replied "Yes, but your son has pauses where he is moving but not talking, the other one talks and moves all day long." There are no moments of silence with the second. Even during our daily moment of silence. She looked at me in horror and said "I don't know how you do it!"  Truthfully I don't know either. She has made huge changes in lifestyle with her child. Making sure he doesn't eat processed food or food with dye. This can make a big difference in a child with attention issues. The other child those changes have not occurred. When  I release them at the bells ring, I enjoy the quiet. When I get home it is a sigh of relief. I allow for a lot of talk time to discuss learning.  There are some folks who do not know how to enjoy the quiet.

A friend messaged me tonight and she and her kids are going to be in town tomorrow. She is going to come for a visit. I ran to the store to get the "fixings" for breakfast burritos. Tonight I was at my friends for dinner so I ran to the store and bought a few other items on my list. After school today I visited the chiropractor and received a much needed adjustment. It feels much much better. He told me after my appointment to keep moving. My relief was so great I really just wanted to go take a nap. Instead I went to visit friends because I knew that if I went home my pajamas would call my name.

It is a lovely three day weekend this weekend. I should be able to get some laundry done, grade some papers, plan for next week, clean house, and get a little rest. This weekend is coming at the right time!

We were grilling our Principal about a possible curriculum adoption for next year. We did not receive any definitive answers. The push from many is for a free poor quality math curriculum. The quality is so poor I have found countless mistakes. I am horrified by the methodology and the sequence. It is not a state approved curriculum because of its poor quality and weird methodology. If we adopt it expect my head to explode. Simply put it's crap.

Next week is our "Friday Lunch." Every Friday a different grade level provides lunch. We had to sign up for four times a school year. This will be our second. Our last lunch we provided all the items needed for tacos. This time we are going to provide "Brunch for Lunch!" We are providing a spiral ham, several breakfast casseroles, muffins, fruits, and desserts. I am doing a crockpot breakfast casserole. It was requested quite strongly of me that I "Bring those yummy bars of deliciousness again." It was also suggested that I make a pan just for our grade level. So I will be making those as well.

I just put in a load of dishes. My pj's are calling and so is my pillow! G'nite

It's been awhile...

Christmas, New Year's, Back to Work!

I apparently have been too busy to keep up with writing  on my blog lately. During my break I took a break from pretty much everything! I didn't grade a single paper(even though I'd planned too.) I did get some school related work done. I avoided bad roads and did a little after Christmas shopping. My first week back walking on the ice into school I did the ever-so-graceful banana peel style slip onto my behind. I was carrying two bags and only a couple of items fell from my hands. I've been sore but not bruised like you'd think. I did get my back out of whack  a bit. I need to visit a chiropractor. It's been either snowing, raining, snowing, sleeting, hailing, snowing, or snowing since I came back from Christmas break. I think actually my last day of nice weather was the day I drove back. So that worked out well.

I was able to hang out with my buddies before going back to work. We haven't had a snow day yet but several delayed starts since school started again. It takes a lot of snow combined with wind to close school here. We have had testing going on in one form or another this month. The end of the month is Western Folklife Week. Next week we honor Martin Luther King Jr. The week after is Chinese New Year. Then a short break until Valentine's Day.  That will keep things hopping.

My little buddy is hanging out with me tonight. When I picked him up he greeted me with a big huge smile! I asked him what the plan was. He told we we were going to get slurpies then he would play on my I-pad. He's accomplished his goals ;-)

Well I need to get some things done for tomorrow! ttyl

The important questions....

The Reno Gazette Journal is obviously trying to answer the important questions...
https://www.facebook.com/RGJmedia/videos/10157875195725632/

Good intentions

I had all of these good intentions of getting up early, leaving for work early, and getting a great deal accomplished before school. I got up early. Had an epic battle with my printer and lost. Left later than I'd wanted, but still arrived on time. We had snow so I had to take it nice and easy over the hill to work. I was going to attempt to print at school what I could not at home. The copier we print to was broken down.  Mission failure. Sometimes you have to embrace the white flag and surrender.   What I was trying to print part of it I needed today. Luckily I was able to make do.

Tonight when I came home I waged war with my printer again. I won this time. I don't know what confounded the printer but it was good and confounded. I do think that the idiotic new Windows had something to do with it. Every time it does a stinking update something stops working properly. I dislike Windows with great intensity.

We began our "Christmas around the world" rotation today. It is kind of fun having students from other classes. They were as chatty as mine are and apparently they learned something despite that because they had a lot to share with their teacher. You never know what they are taking in when they appear to not be listening at all.  Our travels around the world continue until next week. I do this thing where we pretend we are taking off in an airplane to visit the country. The kids get such a kick out of this.  They have a "passport" they get stamps in with every country they visit. It is pretty tragic when they lose a stamp.

Anyhow, I had plans to go to bed early. It is too late to be early, but too early to be late... so I am off to bed....

Sunday

I opted out of going to the Christmas Baazar today. Instead I ran to Wal-Mart to get a few things I need for the week  and other items I was low on. Wal-Mart before a holiday is just a zoo. I survived. I am also working on laundry! It's good to have clean clothes. I did my weekly workout of changing my duvet cover. I have a little prep I need to do before next week. I have to be honest I am procrastinating a bit.

I keep adding notes to my to-do list because this week. I couldn't remember ANYTHING! I don't know if it was just tiredness or what. Double up on those vitamins.  

Christmas Decor

Well I went to the  Parade of Homes. It is kind of interesting seeing other peoples houses. They did have them all decked out for Christmas. A couple of them were combining it with their desire to sell a product they were pushing. Most of the appetizers served were meatballs. One house had beef and horseradish something or other, cheeseburger soup, tri-tip ,  ginger beef something or other. I hate it when they mess up perfectly good beef with nasty spices. Will I do it next year.... maybe not.

Tomorrow I might go to a Christmas Bazaar for a little bit. We shall see.
G'nite

Later....

Made it through another week. Didn't lose anyone and no major injuries. I had a bonus today of a absent difficult student. It was like a Friday gift. I'm not saying I was at school late tonight but I am saying the janitor asked me to make sure the lights were turned off and a few  doors were locked before I left. If I am not ready for the next couple of weeks it isn't from a lack of trying to be ready. Next week we start our grade level "Christmas around the world" rotations. Each teacher is teaching the class how Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world. I am teaching about France. In the past I did this but I did several countries alone in my classroom. This is fun for the kids to rotate and experience other classrooms and other teachers. 

Tomorrow the local cattlewomens' association is doing a fundraiser. It is a "Parade of Homes."  It is a short parade with only four homes participating. Apparently each home is decorated for Christmas. Supposedly decorated to the extent it looks as though Christmas decor threw up all over their house. Since this event is put on by the local Cattlewomens' Association they server beef appetizers at every home. Dad asked me if that meant "all beef hot-dogs." I am guessing probably not. 

I was trying to get all my preparations complete for the next couple of weeks tonight because tomorrow the school is having a "Christmas Jamboree" it is a arts and crafts fair of sorts. I didn't want to be attempting to get prepared with that going on. Hopefully I didn't forget something major that I will need to return for later.

Well I am tired. My pajama's are calling.

G'nite

"Puddy-Tat"

It's that time of year. Santa has sent his scout elf to our classroom to see who is being naughty and nice. We name him every year. This is usually very entertaining. The students are usually very original. We've had Minty, Chippy, and more. This year we had suggestions like Stewart, Charlie, Leo, Sam, and Bob. The only original name was "Puddy-Tat". They've apparently been watching Tweety Bird and Sylvester the cat. They think  "I tot I taw a puddy-tat" is hysterically funny. So through much voting and discussion  BOB won. Bob! Since "Puddy-tat" came in second I told them they could call their Elf  Bob Puddy-tat! Arguments came soon after from the "Bob" only crowd, the "Puddy-Tat" only crowd, and the combo "Bob Puddy-Tat" crowd. I had to tell them  "No more arguing your Elf will answer to any of those! After all these years of doing Elf on the Shelf I've not had such an issue. It was not an auspicious beginning for our elf visitor.  I am going to have to formulate a response from the elf tonight for them. Goodness me! 

 

This morning the snow started coming down with big wet flakes. It wasn't a lot of snow but enough to make it a little slippery on the way to work. Then the wind started to blow it sideways for awhile. By recess at 10:30 ish it  was blue skies and clouds. I left work before it was too late. I could tell that wet melted snow would turn to ice. It did and I was off the roads before then. The morning commute could be icy as well. Winter has finally arrived. 

Today

What I can say for certain I have learned as of this date:

I'd rather have mosquito bites than hives.

Hazy Sunday

The wind blew almost all day yesterday. There was  a yellow cast to the sky it hung in front of the moon giving it boost of color. Today was overcast and looked like rain all day. Looking across the valley you could see the haze of dust still. This does amazing things to my allergies. It really can't snow or rain soon enough to suit me. I am very glad to have an air filter on my furnace and an air purifier. Indoors it is livable. I am hoping we will get the predicted rain tonight or in the morning.

Today my little buddies big sisters came to visit. We painted rocks. In this burg there is a tradition of painting rocks and leaving them in public spaces for others to find. We painted most the afternoon. We did stop to grab lunch and more paint colors. It was a fun day. We all have some work to do as far as our painting skill set is concerned, but it was fun. After we painted them we left them round and about. We know two were found. As they were leaving one rock they found another one. There is something magical about this for kids. I love this simple idea.  I then dropped them off with their parents at the movie theater. They were watching a kids movie today. I was invited. I declined. I reached my quota of kids movies as a nanny. I still haven't gotten to the point I can sit down and enjoy one. Nope! I do watch Home Alone every Christmas. Other than that movie it is a big NO!

Since leaving my last job I've realized its taken a lot of time, but I feel more and more like my old self. My stress levels are significantly lower. I am taking more time to do things I enjoy. When I get home I have energy to do other activities. I feel appreciated in my work. It isn't perfect in any way. However, it is so much better I often am in shock. I am very, very, very, glad I made the move.

My parents are coming to visit soon. I have most of my chores complete. I am not short on butter or ketchup. Ready for school this week....welll..... I will be :)!

Shrinking List...

I was feeling like I'd been pretty lazy this morning. I had done a load of dishes, a load of laundry, and cleaned the hair from the drain. I've cleaned both bathrooms, changed all the bedding, vacuumed, took out the trash, and I've folded most of the laundry. That is a work in progress. My bed is covered in folded laundry. I wash and dry a load, dump it on my bed fold and repeat. I've actually accomplished quite a bit of chores that had been put on pause. The guest bedroom no longer looks like an aisle at Staples Office Supply Store. It's my office when I don't have guests! My parents have fresh clean sheets and bedding.

I've been dragging my I-pad around with me from room to room as I clean. Trying to keep myself entertained as I take care of the drudgery. I watched  a few episodes of a dumb detective show that was slow enough I could walk away from it now and again and not miss anything major. It kept me working.

The wind has been blowing here all day and has kicked up quite a lot of dust. I have been trying to stay inside as that triggers my allergies. It makes everything soooo dry when we have a wind like this. I've had a pot of water on the stove all day. Once in a while I add an essential oil to it. It makes it smell good throughout the apartment. I am so close to having the house done but I've lost my Get-up-and-go.I will get the laundry put away so that I have a bed to sleep in tonight but that might be it for today.

Tomorrow I have a couple of visitors coming over to help me with something. I will share that tomorrow. I don't know if I am ready for tomorrow let a lone 2 and 1/2 days of teaching next week. I know I am going to have some very excited students next week. Wish me luck!  I know its very exciting reading about my chores! :) It helps me to remember that I may have started off a bit slow...but I accomplished a lot today.

I'm Sorry Dad

I had to call my dad today. I said "Dad I owe you an apology."   Dad replied "I'm sure you're right, but what for?"   I apologetically said "I just cleaned the hair out of my bathtub drain."   Laughter commenced. I don't know how many times over the years my dad worked on this disgusting but very important job. I probably owe a few former landlords an apology as well. YUCK!  I did find this handy dandy little tool that really helped the process. The eLander Hair Drain Clog Remover! It did everything it was reported to do. I don't know how many uses I can get out of one tool, but three came in the package so I'm good for awhile. If you are a girl with long hair and a Dad who never called a plumber. Call an apologize RIGHT NOW!  I'm sorry Dad.

Then I went to Home Depot to look for a Hair Catch for the drain. That turned out to be a little more difficult than I had expected. Apparently, I'm going to owe Dad a hot-dog for helping me with that project over Thanksgiving. I told the guy at Home Depot that I guess that my Dad had a Thanksgiving project. He tried to convince me I could do it. I told him I'd already "YouTubed" it and was unable to accomplish the task. I could see he was feeling bad for my dad.  Wait! This is what I have a Landlord for.....! I didn't want to ask them to remove that from the drain...but maybe they can do this for me! I have a phone call to make on Monday.

Snow Yeah!

They predicted snow, I wanted snow, I hoped for snow. It started to snow about 10:30 this morning. YAY! It was a very wet snow. By lunch time it was sticking enough that the students gathered snow from every corner to make a snowball. My drive home with the dusting of snow on all the sage, grass, and trees was beautiful. Love it. Even better is that it relieves my allergies. Woot!  It is hard to believe it is the middle of November and today was our first snow of the year. I am loving it though. I might have a slippery commute in the morning.

This is what my commute looked like this morning. Couldn't see the mountains when I left work.
G'nite

A New Favorite...

A time for every purpose under heaven....

IWe had our Pizza Party today provided by our local Real Estate Office! The kids loved it and the real estate agents were super kind. My students were very happy! It is a simple thing but it makes the day fun. I am grateful. There were a few things I kept putting off purchasing. YAY!

We also had our first "Flashlight Friday" on Thursday. The kids were very excited and mostly quite well behaved. It is definitely a reward that will work. One of my table groups earned "Lunch with the Teacher" next week. On Monday they will join me in the classroom for lunch. They bring their own lunch just don't have to eat in the lunchroom. I am not quite sure why this is a reward but they seem to like it! :) 

I am trying to think of what else is new. It was a busy week. After school I was able to complete some grading and even input it into the computer. Then the internet went kaput! That was my clue it was time to go home. I will honor Veteran's Tomorrow by going to do some work at school! I don't know what song they learned in music this week to honor veterans, but it had a few kids in tears after music class. I am glad it made an impression.

My Great Aunt passed away this week. I was trying to think of one specific memory of her. What I mostly remember are her graciousness, kindness, with a strong personal core and conviction. I remember her smile and a sparkle in her eye. 

Well, I am going to round up some PJ's and relax. It's been a busy crazy week.                                   Here is some "Byrds" for you as we begin a new season.       

                          

                                                                        

Interesting times...

The election process this year has been very interesting. I think it definitely shows the fear of the establishment. Everything any of us thought we knew about the process has changed.  So here we go on a interesting ride......

I had a substitute for half of the day today while I went to the eye Dr. I hope it went well for the sub. I won't know that till the morning for sure. I had my eye checked I thought I may have scratched it or something. It has been really bothering me since Halloween. Well I bruised it and apparently keep irritating it. A bruise can occur with a hard sneeze, a strong vomit, or rubbing the eyes too vigorously. I can rule out vomit. I think I'd remember that. Anyhow, the bottom line is it is all allergy related. The allergy eye-drops I was using were not doing the job.  Allergies. For me it always comes back to allergies. I have some prescription antihistamine drops and some other drops to just soothe the eye. Now I just have to leave my eye alone and be patient. It's like any bruise if you keep bumping it, that is like injuring it again. If I have a cone on my head in a future picture...you'll know I wasn't successful  HA HA!

Someone who has been on my heart and mind lately is my former neighbor Sylvia. Thinking of the loss of someone whose had a huge impact in such a positive way in your life is tough. I've seen my dear friends lose their moms this year. It is such a blow to lose those who have unconditional love for you. I hope I  will be able to see those souls again someday. I know the sparkle in their eye better than the back of my own hand.

I was talking with a friend lately about aging. I said when I look at someone I care about as they age. I would miss their wrinkles, their gray hairs, and their age spots. When I see all those markers of life I know they have lived. They lived. I also said that is not the first thing I see when I look at someone I care about. I am looking in their eyes for the twinkle, life, and a glimpse of their soul. I am not counting wrinkles even though I am glad they are there. Celebrate those markers of age. Try not to mourn your youth, but celebrate your growth.

I love me some Alan Jackson... especially when he sings a hymn.

Blue Monday

It's seems there are quite a few songs about Mondays! Monday's after a time change are especially blue. I don't know how we can get an "extra" hour and I have students that still didn't get breakfast fed to them in the morning. I get frustrated because it isn't a one time occurrence but a regular occurrence for a student. Feed your kid!

Today was a busy day but we kept on trucking till we accomplished most of the lesson plan! We started a writing activity today that explains "How To Cook a Turkey" based on the ingredients students were throwing out there I think I am glad they aren't making my Thanksgiving Dinner. The kids finished writing "Thankful" leaves for our tree on our bulletin board. One student wrote "I am thankful for dinner." I wasn't sure if that meant Thanksgiving Dinner or just Dinner in general.

 We also did a little study of what Veteran's Day is and how it came to be! We watched a little bit of the "Changing of the Guard" at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The class was silent and watching carefully. I hope they remember just enough to show respect to Veteran's this week.

I have a appointment tomorrow with the eye Dr. I'm not sure what I did to my poor eyeball but it just isn't improving quickly. So hopefully he can discover what the problem is. I will miss the afternoon at school. I have no idea who my substitute will be. I can only hope my students are well behaved.

Here's a song for the "Time Change"   lol....

Forgotten classes....

Halloween at school was more than ridiculous. They took an hour in the gym, to dance, show off their costumes, watch a Jib Jab video with all the teachers in it. Then they danced some more. I stayed for the first 15 minutes then went back to my class to attempt to get some lesson planning done. That was interrupted perpetually by parents messaging me with last minute Halloween Party concerns and questions. I picked up my students and took them outside for a little bit. We then went in to the classroom where a parent with my help had set up the party. Then it was party party party till it was time to go home. I had a student who missed the entire day of school and did not arrive until gym time. The student missed the learning time because she was taken to the hair salon to get her hair styled for Halloween. I'd just had a conversation with the parent about her high number of absences. Then she was absent the next day as well. That was something new for me.

Yesterday was a recovery from Halloween. I made sure I had my giant cup-o-tea. We got through the day. Then I went home thinking ahhh I can rest. WRONG! I luckily programmed my phone to notify me I had class that night. I'd already panicked  because it was also the last section of my online class.  So I made it to my live class just in time. Came back home and finished my online class and collapsed into bed. Today was busy. We had a meeting after school. The fire alarm went off in the middle of the meeting and we had to evacuate. We were notified it was a false alarm after about 10 minutes. I came home and worked on grading papers. I was able to input a lot of grades. Then I worked on my laminating pile, sorting book club orders, and printing information to send home.  I am all tuckered out.

Tomorrow night I am babysitting my little buddy while his parents go to a concert. We have a routine. I pick him up from school. We go purchase a cherry slushie. Then he plays with everything he can find, raids my fridge, and steals my technology.  I may have to make muffins with him tomorrow night! We'll see how motivated I am after school tomorrow.

At a meeting I had after school yesterday I received several compliments about the rapid advancement a special needs student had made in my class. That made me feel great!

Two more days of students high on sugar. May their older brothers and sisters, dad's and uncles, eat their candy and throw the rest away!

Sleeeeeeeeeeeep

I was trying to think of where to start. I don't know. I will say that I am tired. It has felt like I accomplished a weeks worth of activity in two days. Halloween was a hectic, fun, crazy, busy, wonderful day. I survived. My poor bloodshot eyes have not. They are weary. I forgot not only did I have class tonight (made it just in time), but tonight was my last section for my online class. I completed my online class. I enjoyed my other class. I am tired.

My students wrote the funniest kind letters to the Fire Department for the Fire Safety lesson and tour we had last week. I hope they firemen enjoy them!  You never know what students will remember the most from these activities. We had state testing today and my students were pulled in and out of testing. I almost cried when I saw my "to-do" list. One step at a time, one day at a time. I hope tomorrow we will be able to make some cards to send to some soldiers. We have two students who have a parent deployed. I hope we can create some smiles across the seas.

I have eye strain/fatigue. So I will sign off and follow up another day with details. G'nite

Trick or.....

uh oh... Windows did another update on my computer I wonder what won't work properly now!


We had some serious rain for us on Friday. We had flash flood warnings. There was rain running down the roads and along side the highways. Just not what you usually see here. It was a drippy drizzly day. I was able to accomplish a lot on Friday. I did some grocery shopping, bought a couple of houseplants, voted, and ran a lot of errands. I also went to our local parade in celebration of our statehood. I went in the rain and helped my little buddy pick up candy. You know the parade is over here when the street sweepers come through.

Saturday the sun came out and it was beautiful. I went and got my cooler out of storage and headed north. Drove about 2 1/2 hours to a nice big-little town surrounded by farmland. It was a beautiful day for a drive. I met an old teaching friend and we talked about our profession and how different it is from where we were before. It is such a change for both of us. It makes you really appreciate where you are now. Then I went to Costco and picked up everything on my list and then some. Costco always has some rather tempting items. That was fun then I headed back south before dark. I was getting home as the sun was setting. The sky was red and pink above the darkness of the hills. I was able to get my groceries put away. I took some Costco purchases to my friends house they'd asked me to pick up. I helped decorate a little for Halloween. They are going to have the spookiest house on the block. I'm not sure little kids are going to want to walk up there! My friend is a creative guy. He's great at finding cheap yard sale items, or thrown away items, and scrap wood and turning them into something else. So it will be fun to see the final product tomorrow night. I am handing out candy at their house while they take the kids trick-or-treating.

Today the wind picked up and blew pretty hard for awhile. It was then followed by another rain storm. We are supposed to have some thunder starting soon. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty clear. It isn't going to be a very warm day. Which is a bonus. Maybe it will get my classroom trick-or-treaters in to bed a little earlier. (I can hope!) Today I am working on my laundry for the week. I should be making a plan for my school Halloween costume. I'm not into it. Not at all. Don't wanna. My team is all dressing as a similar character. It's one day... I can probably survive. I need to make sure to make my cup of hot tea in the a.m. I'm going to need it to get through all the Halloween excitement tomorrow.  Think kind thoughts for all teachers tomorrow....

....like a box of chocolates

Parent-teacher conferences explain a lot. A lot...! I have enough experiences with this event to know there is going to be one surprise (at least) of a parent who is going to freak out on you. I had one today. They were shocked by their students performance. I was truthful. I wasn't just me telling you your child is struggling but the data. You can blame me if you like, but your child is struggling. If you can jump on board, we can help each other, help your student have success. Sigh. It wasn't pretty. I felt bad because the kiddo was with them. I finally put the focus on him because I could see his discouraged face. I talked to him about what he could do to make growth and that I totally believed he could do it. On the other end of the spectrum I had a huge hug from a mom who was so appreciative of what I was doing for her kid. Most parents were very realistic of where their students were struggling. Parent-Teacher Conferences are like a box of chocolates..."You Never Know What You're Gonna Get."

The FBLA from the local high school came and dropped of my dinner during my last conference of the day. That was great!  I was going to upload a picture but the internet isn't cooperating. Your taste buds won't be drooling in envy tonight.

I am home! I took a long hot shower. I have on my pj's!  Oh! I forgot to share my class won a coloring contest supported by a local Real Estate Office. They won a Pizza Party. We won $125 for our classroom! YAY! So tomorrow I will submit my students vote for Pizza! Tonight I am off to sleep and rest my brain for another busy day! G'Night

Communication

It was a busy but good day. I received my evaluation scores. I had the best evaluation I've ever received. She noted how I was using the whole brain to teach (not just worksheets)! Yay! Anyhow, it made me feel good and feel like I am on the right track. It is such  a positive working environment I hardly know how to respond half the time.

I brought home a stack of things to do tonight. I am organizing folders for Parent-Teacher conferences. I also worked on one of my online classes. I almost forgot to complete the assignment for that class. Sigh. It's a sign of a busy week. I really need to focus on that this weekend and get it done. We are near the end of the class! YAY!  It will be good to have it completed!  I also worked on a parent hand out  for Parent-teacher conferences. Little did I know how much number sense and reading skills I was gaining from those board games we played growing up. Get out those board games and play with your kiddos! Don't change the rules to make them go faster (Mom :)!). Just using dice is building number sense. It's good family time too!  I have that handout prepared I just have to print it.

I use an app called Bloomz to keep parents posted on classroom activities, what is happening at school, and can even message parents privately. I use it constantly. What is nice is that if a parent asks a question, I know that more parents probably have the same question. I can then post to the whole group of parents and save myself over twenty phone calls.  I keep a Calendar at the top and update it. It's the first thing the parents see so they know for the next two days we are out early. They can refer back to it instead of calling the secretaries and asking. Although, I am sure some of them do! I can post scheduling for parent-teacher conferences, and even schedule volunteers. It's very helpful!
I post videos, student work, student pictures and more. I communicate with parents I never see because of this app. That is very good.

So parent-teacher conferences begin tomorrow. This is always stressful. You worry about some you didn't need to, and don't worry about others you should've. I won't have a voice by tomorrow night. Send some positive vibes my way!

Quarter's End

The end of fall quarter, the end of the 1st quarter, the end of the grading period. However you would like to phrase it, it is the end. This first part of the school year has flown by. I have been working like crazy to get all my grades into the new software. I don't know if it is working correctly and I don't even care at this point. I have them DONE! Done, DOne, DONE!

It's only Monday and it felt like four days in one. We had a mini-field trip to the fire station right next door. Amidst a chaotic tour I yelled "freeze" to my class, and the froze in place. The fire chief looked at me and said "You think that'd work on my staff?" I smiled. We continued on then there was another point where the students needed to stop and listen. I said "3,2,1, 0" and on zero they were all silent. The fire chief looked at me again and said "Seriously, you think THAT'd work on my staff." That time I just chuckled. They received stickers and a water bottle filled with wonderful things like crayons. We went back to class and although I repeatedly said "All water bottles in your backpacks!" There were a couple of free spirited folk who pretended like they didn't hear that directive. They were straightened out and I think their treasure made it home. Who knows what happened on the bus.

The book fair is on this week. We had to interrupt our class time to go on a tour of the book fair. There were some decent books, some stupendously crappy books, and a couple of gold nuggets of quality books. I hate to look at the books sold at these book fairs. If I could direct parents into what NOT to get I think it would surprise them. The decline of America can be found at your local schools book fair.  They had teachers come around before the book fair and make a "wish list" for our classroom. Sometimes parents will buy a book for the class.  We finished up that tour without any major mishaps and went back to class.

This afternoon we did our first rotation with other 2nd grade classes in celebration of our statehood. Having other teachers students makes you realize a few things. You are not alone in the struggle to get that one kid to follow simple directions. Every second grade class has nose-pickers. The other teachers have a little insight into your daily struggle with one or two noodles!  We all have a few students with so much energy it oozes out of their fingertips.Then you send them back to their teacher with a sigh of relief.

I forgot to work on my online class this weekend. So as I prepare for Parent-Teacher conferences I have to squeeze that in. I can do it!  G'nite

What do you know?

I have a little guy in my classroom that has a lot of needs. One of his troubles is staying on task and focusing. However, he is quite intelligent picks up on things quickly and often surprises me. We were working on spelling and we were going through the spelling rules. I was trying to trigger some memories of what they rules were. There was a lot of guess work going on. This little guy had interrupted multiple times with unrelated thoughts. I was getting a little frustrated. I finally had the class focused and analyzing the possible rule. There was still a lot of guessing when all of the sudden he says  "It's Job 3, English words don't end in v or u!"   I had no idea that he'd been paying attention to the rules we've learned. Woot! He got a high five and a lot of positive reinforcement from the class. You never know when something will stick!

This next week is going to be busy. We have a fire prevention talk at the fire station. It's right next door to our school. So mini field trip! We are celebrating our statehood with a lot of different activities. Side note we have Friday off of school to celebrate our statehood. It is also parent-teacher conference week. We have half days with students then two afternoons spent in conferences with our parents. I have NO idea how this is going to go. We have a brand new report card format. I expect explaining that will be a pain in the arse. The PTA is making us lunch on Wednesday so that will be nice. The FBLA at the high school does a fundraiser every year at parent-teacher conference time. They have bright futures if this is a sign of their business acumen. They do a tri-tip dinner! There is a family dinner for purchase or an individual dinner. They deliver to teachers! Amazing! Parents can also eat the dinner at the high school or pick it up to go. It's a busy week for all so that is a brilliant idea.  I will be very ready for the three day weekend following that.

Then it is Halloween. Halloween on a Monday! It's going to be hectic with sugar highs and lows. Yeah...

Evening

Something was wrong with my satellite receiver so I missed the latest presidential debate. Bummer. What I did instead was work on some things for school. I completed a couple of laminating projects that I hadn't had time to get to, and printed some things off.  Speaking of printing Windows 10 which I hate, has done many glorious things that makes computing a pain. Apparently our privacy has gone completely out the window and they pretty much record every keystroke. So at least once a day I type in "I hate Windows 10." They did some stupid automatic update that made nothing work correctly. It took a lot of browsing over "Geekster" Blogs to find an answer. I found a lot of complaints and disgust over Windows 10. I also found the answer to the issues. I finally was able to do what I needed to do. Windows 10 is a horrible terrible product. Apple products are not the answer either. I'm waiting for an alternative. Anyhow, after all that technological difficulty I completed a lot of school work.

It has been interesting being an observer at work. I don't know how they are getting it all done. There are so many changes this year I admire the graciousness with which the administration is handling it. There is a huge change in staff and more staff members than they've had before as well as a larger student population than they've every had before. Piled on top of a lot of new staff to train we have new mandates from the state. These mandates are coming  to us based on new state laws regarding reading in the education system. The state is figuring it out, passing it on to administration and specially trained staff. They try to articulate to us what is going on and what it means for us. They've had to adjust and readjust the schedule and adapt quickly to changes. It has to be extremely stressful. It has been amazing to see how much administration  takes on for us. We have testing that is completely new, and some that is new to the school. They have to put a lot of plans in place to meet the guidelines of the law.

Halloween. It's serious business here. I can't believe how much of our school day is devoted to Halloween. It's nuts! I handed off the party to a parent volunteer. She planned the activities, is buying the supplies, and organized parents to bring food, drinks, etc. I am thankful that is out of my hair!

My little buddy is hanging out with me tonight. He's watching one of his favorite shows. He raided my fridge, my bag of lollipops, and snacks. I think he's full for now. He's played with toys while I did a load of laundry! He showed me how to cough in my elbow. I can tell his preschool teachers have been busy! Tonight he walks by me and says "Sha... I love you Sha." I'm not sure if that was the root-beer talking or what! He also said "Sha me fart a little fart!" So you know there is a lot to brag about!

Well he wants to shred some papers... so I am off! G'nite

Good and Busy

Good but busy day. I had one of my many formal observations today. I really like my new administration. They are just so supportive and encouraging. Anyhow, it went pretty well my students were fairly well behaved and did what was asked of them. They also were discussing their thoughts and deepening their understanding. I can't ask for much more than that.

My highlight of the day was after we finished spelling one of my students said "I am starting to like spelling now that I can read my own handwriting." Oh my. I have been working hard to help this student in handwriting. This is a perfect example of why we teach handwriting and why we should continue to teach handwriting. It did make me chuckle though. We've had a few conversations about handwriting and what will happen if I can read it or others can't read it.

Tonight I had to drop off more coloring contest papers to pick up free pumpkins for my students. They could go with their parents to do this but most don't. So I offered to drop them off on my way home from work.

It was a beautiful drive to and from work today. The clouds high in the sky and sheets of rain seen off in the distance. When I got home I had to have a little discipline and sit down and work on my online class. I need to work on it when I am not soooo tired. We accomplished a lot today. Including writing thank you notes to the geologist who explained fossils to my class, what to look for to find them, and then joined us on the field trip and hammered a lot of rocks apart. I hope he gets a big kick out of the notes because I chuckled at a few of them.

Well off to shower and put on my pj's. I took out the trash tonight...maybe I can get lunch made for tomorrow. If I stay awake.........

Warm Fuzzies

It rained most of the day yesterday and all through the night. My lungs sighed in relief. Their is a carport covered with a tin roof. The rain on the roof is very soothing. I loved hearing it through the night. This morning when I drove to work and on the way home the mountains glistened with freshly fallen snow. It was beautiful. All that rain was snow a couple thousand feet higher. All the trees have turned red and yellow. Winter is on the way.

Sometimes when I set up a writing lesson I model for the students a writing piece. So I was writing it as they read along. Then we edit it together. I deliberately make a lot of the same error so that hopefully with practice students can identify those errors in their own writing. We spent some time editing it then we had a discussion about what we did and how it made the writing better. One of my students raised his hand when we were done and said "You make me feel like I am a writer!" I said, "I am glad because you are a writer, you are all writers." Writing for kids is hard for many reasons, but one is that it is personal. It's your thoughts and ideas on paper. My students need to understand I value their thoughts and ideas before we ever sit down and edit one of their own pieces of writing. So having my student state that gave me the warm fuzzies! Doing this really improved a lot of their work in writing.

As we edited my piece it reminded me of why I love a good story. A good story evokes emotion from us. My story which was a very simple story pulled out of the recesses of my subconscious brought back memories of an old friend. There is so much I wish I could share with her if she was here. It also brought back memories of "talking books" with my childhood friend. We still share a love of reading and it doesn't get better than being able to share and discuss a really good tale with a friend. I'll have to give her a call and check if she's read anything great lately.

Speaking of a good story. On my way to and from school I usually listen to a audio book. I like something light but lively. If I'm on a long trip I prefer something action packed. It passes the time and feels more constructive than just sitting in the car. Recently my brother introduced me to an app that makes it easy to download podcasts. Sometimes I will listen to those and expand my intellectual horizons with them, or with some simply be entertained. What is great about podcasts is there is  sometimes a brief commercial at the very beginning or very end but that is it. It reminds me of "old" radio. Radio before there was a twenty  minute commercial break between every  1-2 songs.  Lately though it seems like every podcast is related to politics. I am sticking with fiction for now.

It was a quiet rainy weekend, I hope it is a quiet week. G'nite

Character Education

We have a program in our district that we are required to teach. It is a "Character Education" type of program. I have a lot of problems with it, but here we are teaching it. It's reality. I try to take the most important of these and discuss respect, teamwork, and personal responsibility. I don't like it though. This isn't my place to be teaching these lessons. On a local social media site a parent went off on a tirade about the homework that was assigned from this program. The parent was basically saying it isn't the schools place to be telling me to teach my kid this stuff. I overheard a group of teachers discussing it and they said "Well if the parents would do their job, we wouldn't have to be teaching them these lessons."   They have a point. However, It is the parents job. We do have kids coming to school without any moral compass. It might be the only place they hear you can't behave like this in society. My question is When did parents hand over the keys to their child's character education? It's happened many parents gave it up, handed it over, and didn't question it. It's a scary thing...but it has happened.

On Friday to prepare for a parent night this coming week we made a little display. We had the kids write what they would like to be when they grow up. I've done many similar activities over the years asking kids this question. It helps you to get to know them. It ignites their imagination. I've never had the reaction I had from a student this year.  I looked over at him staring at the paper and he is crying. He appears frustrated, angry, and sad all at the same time. I know it isn't because of the difficulty of the assignment. He's a bright and a quick thinker. I called him to come over and talk to me. I asked every question I could think of to ask to figure out why he was upset. At first I thought it was because a friend hurt his feelings. Then I realized he only was upset when I asked him to do this assignment. I asked him to bring the paper over and brainstorm. The more ideas I suggested the more the tears fell. Finally I said lets do this we picked a very generic response to what he would be. I said you're seven years old writing this down doesn't mean you can't change your mind. He was having none of it but finally went with the generic response. I am still trying to figure out why this would make a child so upset. After thinking of all the questions I asked him I realized it might be simple. It might be how his parents are talking to him about his future. I'm going to be thinking this one over for a long time.

Landscape

I have been reflecting on the landscape and how it changes. The landscape changes over time  with wind, water, hot, and cold. It changes through natural disasters and earth processes. The landscape is in a perpetual state of change. We can fight the effects of the change but change to the landscape is inevitable. Sometimes the change is a painful process. Sometimes the landscape changes so suddenly we can barely comprehend the change. The landscape can change in an instant.  If our life is a landscape we can see the change as we grow, learn, and change. The wrinkles form, the gray hairs come, the eyesight deteriorates. The landscape changes.  Something that was there like a lone pine  high on a hill falls or is blown down. The view changes your compass appears not to point true north any longer.  Change can come due to a great loss. It can be painful. If we knew what stood on that hill before our eyes will travel there still looking for it, even though we know it no longer stands. We want to make a phone call, listen to a voice, hear a song that can no longer be sung. However, there is something greater than this and something beyond this. We can bear the changing landscape if we know there is more. That the "more" is more than we can imagine.

Monday Tools

Monday Monday. My students did very well for being tired on a Monday. Sometimes a little tired is better than oozing energy :).  I picked up my buddy after school today. His mom is in a training tonight. We went and purchased our compulsory slurpie. I went through the drive-thru and ordered a Icee. From the back seat I heard a whispered "slurpie." I think he was nervous that it wouldn't be all that he hoped it would be. We came back and he discovered my tool chest. I had left it open after searching for a screwdriver.  "Can I play with your tools Sha?" I said "yes." So far he's attempted to take apart a Happy Meal Toy he left a couple weeks ago when his mom brought him dinner. Then he's been organizing them in the "right" place.

I accomplished most of my to do list this weekend. However I have a larger to do list that I am slowly cutting away at. I have class tomorrow after work. I am looking forward to it. Today I discovered one of my neighbors is a former co-worker who came up here to be a Professional Development
coordinator. So that is cool! She is a really nice lady!

Well I am going to attempt to form coherent thoughts and work on my online class! G'nite to y'all

Too Much Screen Time

I just diagnosed myself with too much screen time. I went into school for about 4 hours this morning and did some preparation for next week and the weeks to come. I inputted some grades into the grade book program. I brought more papers home to grade. I printed documents I need for the next month and more. I also did a lot of copying. I have not been staying ahead on the copying I need for the math program we use. Then I'd go in to make a copy and the copier would be down, there'd be a long line of teachers waiting, or the territorial moms would be there. So I have the entire next unit copied and ready to go!  Then I spent a little time lesson planning.

I came home had some lunch, visited a friend, then started working on my online class. There was many documents to read online. You couldn't print them off. I realized I wasn't digesting what I was reading anymore. I watched a couple of the videos required, and typed up a written response. I kept trying to start the next section but I just could not focus. TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME! I printed everything I could and will try again in the morning.

I just did a load of dishes and started a load of laundry. I know that is very exciting! During the week once in a while I get a load of laundry in but that isn't too common. My goal for tomorrow is to finish the next sections in my two online classes, mop the floors, finish lesson plans, prep some math centers, go to the grocery store, and maybe get some grading done! Woot I know how to party on the weekend!

My friend said to me "Why are you taking two online classes?" "Nevermind, I just remembered who I was talking to." "You're going to be like 90 years old and taking classes."  
It's very possible....

In other news I received my Voter's Registration Card this year. My uncle advised me to vote wisely... Is that even possible this year?

S.W.A.G.

'Tis Friday.....ahhhhhh! My toes feel free of my work shoes, my body feels free of talking, my head feels momentarily free of school worries. It's Friday.......

I spent part of my summer recruiting family members into helping me make "Brag Tags" or as we call them in 2nd Grade "SWAG Tags." (Students with Awesome Goals) So periodically students earn them they hang them on their own personal chain. I wasn't sure how these would go in the classroom. Let's just say they are a HIT. They are better than stickers, little erasers, and any cheap little plastic thing-a-ma-bob you might give a kid as a reward. It is in part because they are specific. For example  I followed the rules in P.E.,  Super Speller, I know my math facts, and more such as that. There are also a few that are "Happy Birthday", "First Day of Fall" or "I lost a tooth", they are earned just by showing up (or losing a tooth). We need to have a couple of those for the kids that have a lot of difficulty showing determination, or cooperation, or appreciation. Maybe they just have trouble in every way. They get some SWAG. It means more when they earn it, but a little bit of the other doesn't hurt.

Anyhow I was thinking about all these amazing encouraging S.W.A.G. tags. I show Teamwork, I read 25 Books, and the like. Here are some way more realistic possibilities for S.W.A.G. Tags...

I didn't put my pencil eraser in my mouth today.
I didn't pick my nose and wipe my boogers on the wall.
I didn't pick my nose today.
I didn't wipe my boogers on my sleeve!
I used a KLEENEX!
I stopped talking with the teacher asked for quiet.
I can wipe my own butt!
I remembered to wear my glasses!
I didn't touch my neighbor in line today.
I listened to the directions the 1st time!
I put on my own band-aide.
I didn't visit the nurse for an imaginary injury today.
I didn't break my pencil in the lid of my desk!
I wore a coat on a cold day!
I packed a healthy lunch!
I didn't pack a 16oz cola in my lunch!
I walked in the hallway.
I went to the bathroom during recess.
I kept my scissors away from my hair!
I didn't eat the Glue!
I rolled the glue-stick down so it didn't stick to the lid!
My chair didn't buck me off today!
My friends didn't make me talk loud!
My homework folder was turned in on time!
I didn't kick anyone during recess!
I didn't have Detention this week!
I didn't have Detention today!
I didn't say any curse words today!
I didn't flip anyone the bird today!
I didn't throw up today.
My family treated the whole house and me for head lice.
I didn't punch holes in my eraser with my pencil!
I raised my hand!
I raised my hand and waited to be called upon!
I didn't write on my neighbors paper!
I didn't cheat on the test!
I kept my hands out of my neighbors desk!
I didn't have any empty (wrappers, milk containers, water bottles, etc) in my desk!
I wasn't absent  the last hour of school!
I didn't stick my fingers in the food at lunch!
I wasn't tardy today, this week, this month!
I washed my hands!
I'm never absent for Field Trips!

Anyhow you get the general idea.... Here is some for teachers...

I graded papers today!
I graded papers and logged their grades!
I didn't vomit when my student vomited!
I didn't gag over the fart smell.
I didn't change my clothes when Booger Hands hugged me!
I gave high fives to every student including "Booger Hands"
I didn't throw myself on the floor when the principal said we were changing the plan again!
I didn't cry when they scheduled us another meeting.
I did my homework for my online class!
I made my lunch today!
I was nice to the hovercraft parent!
I didn't cry today!
I remembered to put on lotion after washing my hands 2,000 times today!
I bought stock in Sanitizer!
I took my Vitamins!
I am not an Alcoholic!
I got through my whole lesson plan today!
I wrote lesson plans!
I didn't eat a donut from the staff room!
I cut out my lamination!
I came to work today!
I didn't call in sick this week!
I survived the day after Halloween!
I survived the day before Christmas Break!
I survived!

Mountain View

These are the mountains we see at our school every day. The orange and yellow on the side are the trees changing colors. They are beautiful. Last week when we had rain they had snow that creeped down the sides. We'll see what they look like in winter. I love looking at them.

I was a bit nervous today. I had a parent that was coming in and based on the message I thought she'd be pretty cranky. It was a completely different experience when she came in! Yay! We addressed the behavior that had been going on and how we'd handle it. I dislike messages sometimes because they don't convey as well what you are trying to say. Sometimes it needs to be face to face.

I graded a lot of papers last night. However, we haven't been able to use our grading software as of yet. The district had to decide how grades would be put in and what report card we would choose. It was a bit ridiculous to take this long, but it did. I think (knock on wood) I have it set up correctly now and can start inputting grades. Wish me luck.

Enjoy your evening...

NOT

What I am NOT doing tonight is watching the presidential debate. I can't handle that kind of stress on a Monday night. What I am also NOT doing on a Monday night is watching football. I don't even know if there is a game, but if there is I am NOT watching it. Everyone should quit watching the NFL in my opinion until those spoiled punks start acting like grown-ups.

What I AM doing is  over-cooking chicken and suffocating in the smoke. I actually think it has just the right amount of charcoal.I may have to open a window. I AM also doing a load of laundry and dishes. I brought a couple of things home to do and I'm not sure my tired self wants to do them.

My mother, who usually has only my best interests in mind, ordered strongly suggested that I drink a Chia Seed Drink. I have been listening to this order suggestion for several days. The stars aligned and I found it at the grocery store. It looked unappetizing  but I bought it anyway because my mom told me suggested I do so.  I  threw it in my lunch bag this morning not looking too closely at it. After I ate my lunch I pulled the bottle out. It looks like a bottle of something you'd give a Zombie. It is red and very close to the red of your blood. It is full of Chia Seeds. The Chia Seeds had soaked up the liquid and became small white floating objects. So in the red blood white little maggot like Chia Seeds floated. Are you hungry?  I could tell you more about the hideous flavor but I won't. I called mom to share my review today. She suggested that I call Dad if I wanted to get any empathy. He empathized and said there was only one way to deal with this disgusting product "Close your eyes and chug it down."  It better cure whatever my dear mom thinks ails me. Something that nasty should be a cure of many things.

A student brought in a bunny as an unscheduled show-and-tell. I had several students intimidated by the bunny and I had to take their hand in mine to get them to pet it. I think it was those devilish red bunny eyes. The poor bunny had been to four classes. That's a lot of love from kids. The bunny survived and everyone had fun. Then I got out the Febreeze because  it smelled like bunny pee.

Prednisone, Field Trips, and Territory Disputes

Made it through another week. The Dr. put me on prednisone last weekend a six day course to reboot my system. I just couldn't seem to get my allergies under control no matter what I tried. It worked! The upside or downside of prednisone is what it does to you. It is steroids. No I didn't have "roid" rage but I was able to accomplish a lot, in little time, with little sleep.  It had me so wired! In one night I ran several errands after work, did a few loads of laundry, laminated a whole array of things for my class, did lesson planning, printed off documents, folded clothes, and took out the trash.  I didn't sleep well after all of that either. What was amusing is I had labeled all these file folders for some documents we use in class all the time. Then all I needed was a parent volunteer to come in and make copies. Then wouldn't you know it..the parent comes in...the copier has crashed. There ya go! It was lucky I had completed a lot of laminating because the parent just cut it out for me instead. So the rest of the week wasn't quite as productive as that first night. However, I did manage to get a lot done every day none-the-less.  I am glad I am off the prednisone. I hope I can maintain my allergies.

My mom was highly amused by this little tale. I don't find it nearly that amusing. She really thought I should share. So here ya go....

This week we met as a grade level team to plan and discuss an upcoming field trip. I have not experienced a field trip here and they were explaining to me how things would go. First you can't give parents the option of riding the bus with the class.  That confused me as we've always had a couple of parents on the bus for field trips. Well these  mom's are quite territorial and somewhat aggressive. Pretty soon you will have absolute chaos and anger as the moms fight over the available bus spots.  They try to beat each other to the teacher to be the first to request to ride the bus. Then we have seven second grade classes. So with that many classes, teachers, and teachers aides, there isn't enough room for parents to ride. Then they told me that they have so many parents that want to go they have a train of about 20 plus cars driving behind all the buses. The parents even carpool to the field trip site. They are encouraged to carpool to the field trip site because they have ran out of parking. We apparently even send lunch boxes in a "mom car" because we run out of room on the bus for student lunch boxes.  

Then there is the actual field trip. Apparently this "fossil" field trip is a local tradition. A tradition that maybe should've gone by the wayside in the last twenty years. There is a local place where you used to be able to dig and immediately find fossils.  A colleague of mine said she went on her second grade field trip (she's in her mid-twenties) and you could find fossils then.  Now after this many years of public access and yearly second grade field trips from across the county it is more a trek in the dirt. Local geologists do a little presentation before we go look for fossils. So now a field trip continues that probably should be obsolete. Apparently we also have to remind students that bullet casings are not fossils and should be left on the ground.  My colleagues also said that the best part of the field trip was going to the public park to eat lunch afterward. That made me laugh. We have  a member of our team that has been teaching at this school for 27 years. She is part of the tradition. We may let this tradition fall by the wayside next year when she retires.  I will try to post some photo evidence of this field trip in October.

Speaking of territorial and aggressive moms. I had a mom come in to volunteer and make some copies for me. She and I got the giggles after leaving the copy room. There were a handful of mom's in there volunteering for other teachers. They had staked their claim and marked their territory. The copy room was their space and we were clearly interlopers. If we wanted to make copies we would have to bow to their superiority. It was hysterically funny. I had NO idea the copy room would be so overwhelmingly scented with ownership! If you volunteer at a school proceed into the copy room with caution. You don't want to make the "land-owners" mad by trespassing onto their perceived land. I don't know if land disputes such as these erupt into violence, but I wouldn't take the chance!

I am dog sitting and chinchilla sitting this weekend. I came home to do some laundry and will probably head into school for a bit this afternoon.  Happy Weekend to all....

Preparations

 I dropped into urgent care yesterday. I couldn't seem to get my allergies under control. The Dr. gave me prednisone to get me whacked back into shape. I totally crashed last night and this morning. I went to my buddies birthday party yesterday and his mom looked at me as I almost fell asleep in their living room chair and said "Why don't you go to urgent care." It was right down the street. He agreed that it was allergies. He gave me a back up of anti-biotics just in case it moved into an infection.

I went into school this afternoon and ended up spending 3 and 1/2 hours there prepping for next week. I still don't feel completely ready. I worked the whole time as well. Sigh. I brought some work home to plan. I got home and remembered I have everything to make Potato Kale Soup. So I gathered up all the ingredients to make that.  That will be my lunch this week. So that should be good.

I work with really wonderful people. They've just made me feel so welcome. It is such a huge change. The principal was in this weekend painting. She painted a lot of our walls and was just doing some touch up. It kind of cracked me up. I am thinking she likes to paint.

Well I'm off to finish making my soup and prep for another busy week.

Friday Birthday!

Happy Friday...and birthday to me!  It was a busy fun day. Our amazing office staff decided to buy the staff lunch today. That was nice because I had brought myself a can of soup and a can opener for lunch.

This afternoon one of our secretaries walks in and asks a couple of my students to come out in the hallway for a moment. I don't ask questions and they come back in a couple minutes later with an amazing birthday gift.

It's made from wire coat hangers.

What made it even more special is that it was an unexpected surprise.







A parent was waiting for me by my classroom Monday morning. I had went to pick up some things from my school mail box and make some copies. I could see the stress in her face. I asked her if she was okay and she claimed she was fine. I said clearly you are not okay and asked what was going on. So she very embarrassingly told me her daughter has head lice. Oh boy. Well I'd been through this before. I was very sympathetic and walked her down to the nurse because I wasn't sure of our schools policy. Our very abrupt and normally impatient school nurse was very kind and offered suggestions. Anyhow the parent kept her child out of school that day to treat her and all that fun stuff. Needless to say I've been scratching my head every day since then. Sigh...

So another parent came in to volunteer today. It was super helpful. This kind person and her husband are raising a family members children. I don't know what the children have been through but I can tell she is really wanting to be the best parent she can be.  It is amazing how many families are in this position of raising others children. It is tough to take that on. The awesome news is she is a competent, kind, helpful volunteer. YAY! Another mom stopped in to ask how she could help too! She has a little one so just asked to help with copies. PERFECT. Copies are the bane of my existence. Despite all the life lessons copying has taught me. Another mom really really would love to be in my classroom, every single minute, of my day, hovering over her child, and putting bubble wrap around any potential fall. I talked with another teacher after school and she suggested I put her in charge of something big, but not happening soon, that she could plan for. So I asked her to put together a plan and games for our Halloween Party.  That was great advice. She doesn't have to help at school but she can still be involved in something fun. I hope this works! Whew

So I'm really glad no one was about to witness my clumsiness this evening. I made myself a hot cup of tea. I've been drinking a lot to help with my allergies. I put it in a large mug because I wanted to drink a lot of it. As I leaned in for my first sip I spilled on my chest, yelped, jumped and spilled in my lap. Yelped louder and longer set it on my floor ran to my bathroom pulling off garments to start soaking myself in water. I was walking a bit like a bronc rider after a serious 8 seconds. I managed to scrape my knee on the edge of my cedar chest as I wobbled around. So yeah.... that was entertaining. All that for a cup of tea.

I was talking with a friend this evening. I was discussing options for my birthday dinner. She as a stay at home mom thought I should go out or at least order steak delivered. Well as it is not only my birthday but Mexico's Independence Day I'd been craving Mexican food since my cousin-in-law suggested it. I thought about the Mexican place right down the road but it has had a terrible smell when I've driven by. Another option is in the "barrio" and by myself after dark it isn't an option. That's what my Spanish friends call that area. The other place is on the other side of town. What the bottom line was though... I wanted something a little spicy that would make my nose run. I thought about Taco Bell but that causes another kind of running. My friend says to me "I think it's cute that you think Taco Bell is spicy." I had to laugh. Yeah you have a point. So I ended up insulting all of Mexico ( I apologize) and went and bought a can of chili. Way better than Taco Bell. Way worse than really good Mexican food. Is it enough that I thought of you Mexico? Maybe not the best birthday dinner ever, but the bottom line is, it was just what I wanted.

Thanks to all my family and friends for the random, wonderful, funny, birthday wishes and gifts!

Lessons learned...at the copier

You make think the copy machine is there for convenience. That is a good generalization however, there is more to the copier than you know. You learn patience at the copier. You will have successfully copied 21 copies for your class of 23 and it will run out of paper. Sometimes it will jam  then you must seek out which of the 32 possible jam sites it could be in. Then it could be a false jam. No jam there it just felt like being opened up and investigated.  Some copiers are set up to be your printer. So you go to pick up what you'd printed and it has disappeared. Did the copy elf take it? Did it not print? Is it in the printing queue and you just have to wait?

The copier is a lesson in determination. Do you have not only the skill set to run the copier but to not give up when your two sided copy prints one sided AGAIN? Can you withstand the heat of the copy room to make your copies for the week? Can you wait patiently behind a person who is making copies for a weekend party they are having? (Also known as unauthorized use, and wasted resources). I want to talk to them when we run out of paper in a month.  There is pressure put on you when someone comes in behind you ready to use it. Can you ignores the sighs, the hinting shuffling of papers, the small talk that is really asking you how much longer?

The copier is a lesson in skill building. Do you know how to do a double sided, folded, collated, stapled, book of learning? Well, neither do I? if you've mastered that I need a lesson. I usually figure it out by trial and error but then never remember what the error side was.  Why don't they have instructions in copy rooms. Also, sometimes I can magically choose to hole punch those pages and sometimes not.  So yes it takes skill. Mastery of this skill takes time. More time than I want to allow for making copies.  As teachers we must be life-long learners. I guarantee once I get the hang of this copy machine it will die a terrible over-heated death and we'll get  a new one.

You also learn discretion at the copier. You must think before you print. You never know who is in the copy room that is going to review your copy!

For Granny...

I know a lot of wonderful things about my granny. However, last week I remembered another thing. I had went to the grocery store. Impulsively I bought a bottle of Concord Grape Juice. I had a little when I got home but there was a missing ingredient.  I had some Lemon/Lime Soda in the fridge and added a little to it. Yep, that's the way it is supposed to be. We called it Kick-a-poo while growing up. Not sure why... but there ya go! You can also make your own Kick-a-poo! Thanks Granny :)

Ants, Laundry, School, etc...

Whew! Made it through the second week of school!  There is a bit of a learning curve. In a new building you aren't certain of the routines, procedures, what's going to pop up that needs to be done. It seems like there is something daily. My team is really trying to make sure all of us newbies are well informed. They are probably overwhelmed having such a new team.

Last night I was tuckered out, but felt wired. So I started doing laundry until I could get my mind to rest. I was able to get quite a bit of laundry done. I have an extensive "To-Do" list for school next week. However, my first goal is getting my house clean.  I didn't accomplish a lot during the week other than a couple loads of  dishes. So I have some picking up, vacuuming, and general cleaning to do. If I don't get distracted that shouldn't take too long.

My landlord hired a company from the big city to come and look at the ant situation. I haven't seen any since the beginning of the week. However, as I was doing laundry last night I noticed that I had ant carcasses all over the floor next to the dryer. I never noticed they were in there. I missed that lovely entrance. I don't know if the dryer heat killed them or what? I don't even know how they got in there...! I am glad I haven't seen any live bodies! A couple of times I last weekend I did see ants carrying the carcasses of their pals across the floor. That was creepy.

I had a "Growth Mindset" class on Tuesday night after work. It was an enjoyable class. Then the next day after school was our planning day. Only we were missing three of our colleagues. We had agreed we would stay on Wednesday until we got it done! That did NOT happen.  So I made sure I stayed and helped however I could.  I was VERY tired when I got home that night. So the last couple days of school this week  I know I wasn't well rested. I will just have to make sure I have a good plan for the end of the week.

I am attempting a new Math Curriculum. The only reason I am attempting it, is because the District is most likely going to adopt it next year. I hate it. It is wrong for all kinds of reasons. One I believe students need a lot of concrete practice. This means they do math hands on with manipulatives before attempting equations. Some kids will get it without the hands on, but in my school experience the more they can see it, and touch it, the better their understanding is. There is VERY LITTLE hands on with this program. The second thing WRONG with it is the pictorial aspect. If kids can see it in a picture in a real world way it makes more sense. There is NONE of that with this program. It is mostly abstract. Which means it is just the numbers and symbols. This program expects students to understand at a very deep level mental math strategies but gives them very little visual or hands on activities to help them build that skill. Third it spirals in a very strange way. The curriculum is based on an researched high quality curriculum but they warped it. In really ugly ways they warped it and turned it into something it should not be. So WHAT am I going to do? I know the philosophy of the curriculum on which it was based. I was advised to teach it with that philosophy. Unfortunately for me that is going to take some time for me to read each lesson, figure out the "meat" of that lesson, and then adapt it to what I know is right.  Why our district is choosing this. Well it's "free". Free is better than spending money. So "free" it is. Sigh. I have some work to do.  I know it's the right thing to do.

The Camponotus Consobrinus Battle

If you've been reading my blog recently you know that I've been engaged in a battle. I am still engaged and feel like I am losing. I came home from school to discover a few ants here and there in my guest bathroom. AAARRRGGGH. I didn't want to call my landlord and have the nasty spray sprayed again. So I went online to search out some "home-made" ant killers. I discovered the Borax, Sugar, Water solution. I didn't have cotton balls so I used a napkin. I couldn't tell where the ants were coming from so I just left it where I saw the most walking about.  I left it and checked in the middle of the night. The napkin was covered with ants. They were coming from under the door trim. Then by this evening I didn't see any more live ants in my bathroom.  Then I decided I needed to run to the grocery store. I put on my shoes and walked out to the living room. In front of my door I noticed something black. Yep, MORE ANTS. So this is a new location. The borax solution I had left in a jar in case I needed more. I heated it up for a few seconds in the microwave and shook it up to make sure it was well mixed again. I soaked another napkin and set it down. It appears to be working. I can only hope!

When I went to the grocery store I bought cotton balls to place some more "bait" out.  I don't know why the ants are invading this year but they are out in force. I get one area covered and they pop up somewhere else.

I completed my first week back to school.  It has been a very different back to school experience.  I have the most thoughtful and kind colleagues. I received several welcome gifts including a very nice one from my principal. I have just been made to feel so welcomed. It is a very different working environment from my experience. Then there are the kids. I had a parent at Back-To-School Night that notified me their son went only by the first letter of his name.   I am simply not from the inner city.  I never spoke like that. I can't call you by your first initial.  I find myself wanting to say "Yo" in front of that initial and speak gangster. That's just inappropriate coming from a teacher so I call him by his name. No complaints have been filed as of yet. 

I also have a little beaver in my class. There as been crayons chewed through and eaten. The yellow from the pencil completely removed.  Hair chewed on and the ends of hoodie drawstrings. If all else fails the fingers go into the mouth or the nose. It's a toss up which one of those two orifices they will go in but they will be found there.  So I need to get this kiddo some appropriate chewy things. I don't know that crayons and yellow paint do much for ones digestive system. 

At the grocery store this evening I was unloading my cart and next to me a couple was unloading groceries into their car. They had a baby sitting in the seat and a little girl standing in their cart. She looked at me and said "You are ca-ca" I gave her my best disapproving teacher face and she said "You not ca-ca."  Her parents had been talking to each other the entire time and I don't think they heard her words at all. Her dad was smoking a cigarette that was blowing smoke into his babies faces. I heard him complaining about the cost of groceries, then complaining they couldn't get benefits because he made too much money.  If you're struggling and you have babies to feed you can't give up cigarettes? Anyhow, I think tonight won't be the first time that little girl sees disapproving teacher face. However, at least she understands that we may have to change our words. 

I have quite a bruise on my arm from my bloodletting last week.  I hope they run the tests I asked them to run. I have little confidence. 

Well, I am off to do some laundry. Tomorrow I am going to school for awhile then probably hanging with my little buddy for awhile! He wanted to come over but had a list of demands. He wanted my I-pad, two trains, and some tracks. His mom said we'd have to pull some out of his box and sneak them over. What he really wants is "Sha" to buy some trains for her house.  I have a caboose and every time he sees it he tells me to buy the rest of the train.  Have a good night....