Reading is complex

It bums me out when students are struggling readers. There is so much fun, joy, excitement, learning, adventures, and even relaxation to be had in reading. Reading is so simple yet so complex. How our brain turns these symbols into sounds and those sounds are put together to form words. Those words have meanings. If for some reason your brain has difficulty recognizing the symbol, or the sound, or processing the sound and creating the sound, or putting those sounds together onto paper, reading becomes a challenge.

Last year I had a student that was a phenomenal reader. However, once asked to write, couldn't put what he/she knew about words onto paper. He/She could do it orally, but there was block or miscommunication between the brain and the hand. It was extremely frustrating for the student. The student is now using technology to assist with this challenge. This year I have a student who has the information in their brain and you can see they are telling their mouth, tongue, and voice box what to do. None of them cooperate. It is a major challenge to put those symbols into sounds and form words. It makes reading very difficult. We have to go back to those basic kindergarten strategies of learning to read.

The brain is fascinating. All of those parts have to synchronize and work in harmony to be able to read.

We just finished reading Gooseberry Park, one of my favorite Read Aloud books. The students applauded when we finished the book. That was pretty darn cute. I try to do a non-fiction book between every fiction one. I started reading a book about Sharks today. Every page is heavy with facts and information. We are only reading a couple of pages a day. Then I will move non to another fiction story. I am trying to decide what is next. I think one of my favorite parts of the day is reading them a story. Getting kids into good books is fun! Hopefully, they will pick up more books on their own after that.

One of my LEAST favorite challenges in teaching every year is Renaming in Math. This is where you have ten or more in the ones place and have to move a ten to the tens place. Or when you have ten or more tens in the tens place and have to change those to a hundred and move them to the hundreds place. This year these kids seem to be struggling WAYYYYYY more to get this concept. I don't know why! Tomorrow, I have to get them practicing again hands on. We have our Fire Station visit tomorrow.  That will be entertaining!

G'nite

POTUS

When you have an opportunity to see our POTUS I think you should. Regardless of who is in office. This is my 2nd time having the opportunity to see a POTUS. I've also personally met one Vice-President. Did I agree with every one of them and their politics. NOPE NOT AT ALL. However, I do have respect for that office and the process that led them to be in office.

I wanted to see the spectacle. I wanted to here the words he said in person. Unfiltered by any media. It was very interesting to compare my impressions to how the media tweaked them and interpreted them differently.  It was fun, the audience was respectful, and the TRUMP was exactly what I expected.

The security was a extremely impressive. At a level I have never seen nor experienced at any event. No stone was ignored, no hilltop, no valley, no person. It was fascinating to see how the whole event was put together. However, I am sure there was a whole lot more going on that I couldn't see. It was interesting to see Air Force 2 fly in and fly out. 

Overall, I am very glad I attended. I wish that I'd put on some sunscreen. I wish that I had NOT put chewing gum in my mouth before I went... 4 hours later it was disgusting. I am GLAD I did not drink a lot of water beforehand... Port-a-potties for crowds are not my thing. I'm glad I put chap-stick in my pocket. We were not allowed to bring much in with us. I am glad I left my jacket at home and was chilly for the first hour and not carrying my jacket the rest of the day. I'm glad I stopped and bought sunglasses. 

I've been drinking a lot of water to recover from my day in the sun. It was a long week at work  that I needed to recover from. I am pretty much out of gas today. I did get a load of dishes put in and a load of laundry. I should've gone to school today to prepare for my week. I didn't. There is some I can do from home.  I am being observed this week for my evaluations. It will be good to have that done. We also have one day where we visit the Firehouse just up the street next door to our school. That will be exciting. Last week we had Picture Day, School-Wide Picture Day, and the Great American Shake-out Earthquake drill.  I think They learned things last week... Oh MY! We also have this FRIDAY OFF to celebrate our Statehood.! WOOT. I have a three day weekend to prepare my mind and body for HALLOWEEN WEEK!  We have our "Water-shed" field trip to the "Marina" a local reservoir with nothing marina like about it.  We have our Halloween Party. I just don't even want to... HA HA. Kids on Candy! It is dangerous times at school. LOL We are either flying on our sugar high or crashing on our sugar low.  If you have kids just bring the teacher extra caffeine that week.

Busy Days are ahead. I am glad I took the opportunity to see our President in person. I highly recommend it.

Wasps, Meetings, Pictures

I don't even want to think about Halloween! NO NO NO! My students have been nutty this week. Halloween week... I will have to surrender to the CRAZY. We had picture day yesterday and then school-wide picture day today. Imagine getting 900 students out to the playground grassy hill. Then lining them up starting with Kinder. Then imagine asking all 900 kids to be respectful and not act like a noodle for the picture and having that work out.  Yeah... it's a zoo.

We had a staff meeting today and had to do some work as a grade level. I don't know if it is our prior knowledge, my new colleagues lack of knowledge,  or just plain  ol' stupid. IT WAS TORTURE. We couldn't complete the task. In part they didn't get what they were being asked to do. In part they wouldn't listen to instructions. In part they just well.... did not get it. It did not compute. Siggghhhhh
We didn't make much headway. Luckily my noodle was still working fairly well... I can work this out on my own. Good Grief!!!

We've had a terrible wasp problem this year. I'm not sure why it is so much worse this year. Anyhow, one afternoon they sprayed on the playground because so many students were getting stung. Well, the very next day they were back and still stinging. After school today pest control came and sprayed everywhere. Hopefully, it will take care of the issue. Every single recess several students would get stung. Even during our school-wide picture kids were stung.  I guess we need another cold snap. I think I am alone in my wishes, but I really wish for snow. It doesn't have to snow a lot. Just enough!

I remembered my coffee this morning. Which was good... because yesterday I left it on the counter at home. That was sad. Today was our coffee delivery day...so I had two cups. Which was good, because my students out-number me and they were especially Noodly today. Noodly is a verb. Which makes it an ACTION word. They were way more active, off -task, unfocused, bouncy, wiggly, and somewhat slothful. It is an odd combination, but on a Noodly day, we want to sleep through spelling, and bounce through math. 

I feel bad for some of my students and their extra-curricular activities. They run late, they don't drink enough, they don't have a healthy dinner, and they are exhausted the next day. Parents be kind to these growing bodies. They need that rest.

Weekend

Another Saturday in class. It was another good one, but I was completely exhausted. It was a busy week and getting up and going on Saturday was not easy. I am looking forward to having time to implement some of my learning. Not sure when  I will fit it in....

I had a few parents come into the classroom Friday and I showed them technology we use in the classroom and how they can use it at home as well. They seemed to appreciate it and had some good questions. It also gave them the opportunity to ask some other questions they had on their mind. It was all good.

In other teacher news, we have a couple new teachers on our team. The parents are REALLY Unhappy with some of their decisions. It makes it hard on all of us. We may end up with students from their classes because of their interesting choices. Honestly,  I think I would pull my kid out of school. It is really that unprofessional. It is terrible because we all get a bad name. I am going to try to stay as far away from all of it as possible and do my thing. I think eventually it will take care of itself, but in the meantime it is not good.

I found out today our countries President is stopping in for a visit next weekend. I am thinking of attending just to see the circus.  He will be landing at our local airport and the event will occur there. It is interesting to say the least. There are those that are SUPER excited and those that are SUPER angry. Just like the rest of the country.  I think it might be a good time to tick some of the things off the Wal-Mart shopping list....

G'nite

Soups On!

Soups On! it is our Friday to make lunch for the staff. We are doing a variety of soup, chili, chowder and the like. Something hot that can be ladled into a bowl. I bought rolls to go with it. As well as Oreo cookies and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Yeah I went ALL out on dessert. I am sooo tired tonight. I am waiting for the soup to cool so that I can refrigerate it.

I have class again this Saturday. I am excited to keep learning, but part of me would just really like to spend a little longer in my P.J.'s.  Tomorrow after school I have a few parents coming in to learn about how we use software at school and how they can assist their students with it  at home. I am going to try to limit that to an hour. I'm sure I will be even MORE tired tomorrow. 

The school hired a Literacy Aide this year a retired teacher to help the students that are close to being on grade level, but are not quite there. The lady they hired has no experience with primary students and it shows. She doesn't have a lot of patience and doesn't adjust her expectations accordingly. Then they hired  a second Literacy Aide. She is a retired 2nd grade teacher that I worked with when I first moved here. I was very excited to have her. She will be working with our students which is a huge relief. Her first day was today and I am way more confident in what she will do with the students.

Well... my eyes are slipping....
G'nite

Sneezy!

I went to a class I signed up to take the next couple of Saturdays. I was really enjoying it. Then my eyes started watering,  my nose started running,  and I sneezed and sneezed. It was hard to follow along through all of this. I did learn a lot despite my allergic reaction. The problem was the classroom it was in the teacher had a diffuser running. That particular essential oil, apparently isn't my groove. Once I react that strongly it is hard to come back from it. That wasn't much fun.

The class was very informative and a lot of fun. Our school district has  Google For Education and we do almost everything through Google. It has a lot of options some of which I knew of or had attempted and some which was new to me. I did extend my learning on most of it. It is fun to make things more interactive for my students. We have Chromebooks at all of our schools as well. My students get them a couple of times a week. Middle and High-school are assigned Chromebooks they even get to take them home.  I am very interested in what I've learned and how I can apply it. The problem is... WHEN DO I DO THIS???  I over extend myself. Next Saturday we work on more of the interactive part of this. Then there will be a 2nd part to the class in May.

In every class or training I have been in. There is that ONE person. WITH NO background knowledge. For some reason I find this super annoying with adults. I guess I expect educators to attempt to learn some things on their own and not wait for a class. When EVERYONE is WAY above them in their knowledge I think to myself. Oh you've been avoiding learning...even when you've been shown how. It is a strategy that works for awhile. Eventually though... you just have to figure it out.

I came home and debated nap or dinner...dinner or nap. I had a little nap then contemplated dinner. I decided to run down the street an pick up a take-and-bake pizza. That is being cooked now. Then I am going to work on laundry and cleaning house. 

G'nite

Another Fire

Just when we thought we might be saying goodbye to a long wildfire season, another one started this a.m. It grew rather quickly after noon, because the wind picked up speed. People are being evacuated. They are fighting by land and air. The air is smoky once again. When I left school this afternoon after prepping for the coming week I saw other agencies coming in to support our agencies fight the fire. They rally around so quickly.

I feel fairly prepped for this school week. I was able to get quite a bit done. Did I finish my to-do list? Nope! I do need to work on some lesson plans tonight, because most of my time I spent cleaning up from last week, and prepping for this week. Last week was rough having morning duty every single day. Tomorrow we have a staff meeting first thing in the morning. We really do not know what it is about other than our central office is heading the meeting. We shall see !

Tomorrow...October Begins!  Here we go!

2 More

Two more progress reports to complete tonight. I needed a couple of minutes to take a break. I am probably putting WAY too much detail in them for parents, but maybe there will be less surprises at Parent/Teacher Conference time. I will have to go in early tomorrow to get these printed off and put in envelopes.  I can do this.

Tomorrow we have our Walk-a-thon to raise funds for a scholarship for students in the area. I don't know how I will do with my allergies and walking in the dust. I'll just have to see. It is Friday lunch and the Specials teachers are providing pizza tomorrow. One less thing to worry about...making lunch.

I am ready for the WEEKEND! One day at a time....
Okay I'm going to finish these!
G'nite

Boogers

In non-cold/allergy/asthma related news I've been going to work. My class this year is soooo much better behaved than classes I've had in awhile. Which is amazing. I need this. It makes teaching so much more fun. We completed state testing so I have an idea of where students are in their reading abilities. Which some has me pretty scared.  I suspect one has a form of dyslexia.  The student does not connect sounds to words in ways that show any phonemic awareness. I will have to do more assessing. I just think how could this student get this far into our school system and no-one has done more for her. I don't know... sometimes parents resist it as well.

I have a couple little challenges this year. One challenge is a pouter, full on, lower lip out, arms over our chest, crocodile tears pouter. It is unusual at this age. I spoke with the parents once and I was told yes they do this at home and if I have any ideas that would help they'd appreciate it. Keep it simple Mom and Dad CONSEQUENCES. Take away the thing they like. UGGH ! Okay anyway so this one has this mastered. I tell the student the action I expect, what will happen if it doesn't stop or start, and walk away.  Then I get the pout, the crossed arms, the tears, etc. I finally pulled the student aside for a conversation about how 2nd graders behave and this is NOT it!  Welllll it slowed down a little, but hasn't gone away. I guess we all need practice in being corrected. It isn't fun, but life will be much, much, harder if we cannot accept a little correction.  This student also appeared to have a pea-sized bladder. I contacted the parents about this as well making sure there wasn't a medical issue (HA!). They were quite apologetic.  I did a little recognizance  to see if the bathroom was the final destination. The student wandered the hall did a little bounce into lost and found, went into the bathroom, came out 20 seconds later. SO now we are doing bathroom tickets. The student gets two a day. They can also go during lunch or recess without using a ticket.  We'll see how this goes.

My other little challenge I am not sure what to think. I got this very weird vibe from the family at back-to-school night. The whole family was all over my classroom...with 6 people it is uncomfortable. I suspect a couple things might have fallen into pockets. Anyhow, this one in my room hasn't really been taught basic behavior. I am not sure how much is naughty and how much is just poor parenting.  The other day this student's table-mate comes to me and says "____ wiped __ boogers all over my desk and pencil" I look and gagging inside um yep ____ sure did. I call ___ over to me and ask why ___ did that. " Well it was gross and I didn't want it on MY desk."  "It was so GROSS  YOU didn't want it on YOUR desk, but you thought it was okay to put on YOUR FRIENDS desk??" " Uhhhh wellll...."  "First you are going to clean her desk and yours, and WHAT do WE have in our classroom to put our boogers in?"  "Kleenex?"  "YES, KLEENEX and  you WILL USE IT!"
So disgusting... SOOO Disgusting. I let the other person throw their pencil away and get a new one. Because who wants that really. UGGH. Conversations you can't imagine ever having. I also moved the table-mate away from this student. This student has been annoying enough to classmates I have a limited pool of friends willing to tolerate it. We have a lot of conversations about how we treat people. Siggh.... Parent's if you could do this at home... I could spend more time teaching reading.

Then I had to consider carefully how to log parent contact in our software we use to track student information.  I asked my colleagues for advice and finally settled on one. "Poor choices with bodily fluids."


Since testing is completing I have to do AMP plans for all the students that fall below the measure we use required by our state. This is always a chore. I also have to complete progress reports by Friday. It is halfway through the first quarter and I feel like I haven't been teaching, just assessing.  It is hard to keep up with my "To-Do" list. Especially when I haven't been feeling very good.

I had a special guest come to our classroom this week! This week in our reading was all about pets and why they are important. I had a local bring in a trained therapy dog to meet the students. It was a HUGE ten year old mastiff named Solomon. Sweetest  gentle giant you'd ever meet. He was  perfect for the kids. Also as a bonus his owner is a juvenile probation officer. When we asked her where she took him she mentioned she worked at "Kid Jail" and she would take him there to meet the kids who were not making good choices.  That was the first time most of my students had heard of "Kid Jail" and their eyes got huge. I might have good behavior for awhile.

It's all about the COUGH!

I've been trying to get over whatever plagues is bugging me. I think I have a combination of inflammation from being in wildfire smoke all summer, fall allergies, and perhaps a cold. I've been eating A LOT of soup. A LOT. I only want hot soup or ice cold drinks and Italian Ice. Anything that causes the slightest bit of phlegm is out the door.  The part that is driving me the most crazy is NOT SLEEPING! I wake up hacking and coughing nightly. Then I have a terrible time going back to sleep. I've been tracking my oxygen levels and  it has improved. I think my lungs are doing better. I just need to end this coughing and phlegm. Since I haven't been sleeping well it just makes working a lot more difficult. I've just been doing one day at a time and not getting ahead of anything. Which is NOT the way to do it.

I decided to go spend some quality time in the cold and flu aisle to see if there was something I could take that would help the mucus and give me a good nights sleep. That aisle is daunting. There's nighttime, daytime, 24 hour, 8 hour, 4 hour,  no-hours or days mentioned. Then there is for cough, for mucus, for fever, for congestion, for aches, for blah blah blah. This isn't even reaching in to the Allergy part of the aisle. Multi-symptom, cough and cold, cold and flu, sinus, sinus and cold, throat and chest, cough suppressant, and on and on. Then there is different strengths maximum strength, regular strength,  severe etc. Then you have to decide do I want a syrup, a capsule, a tablet, wait their are lozenges. Sigh......Then you think okay maybe I'll try this because it says nighttime and I want to sleep. However, it comes with daytime and you can't get it without daytime. Also there are 24 daytime capsules and 8 nighttime capsules.   WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED!!!!!

Okay so fine I finally surrender pick something and go home to eat dinner.
Before bed I take the nighttime stuff that should help me. I still woke up coughing, but did fall back to sleep. I also woke up to use the bathroom several times and then went back to sleep. I haven't been able to do the fall back to sleep part. It did not remove any phlegm going on. What it did do was allow me to sleep, and sleeeep, and slllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp. I couldn't wake myself up long enough to accomplish anything.  Perhaps the maximum strength was too much for me. This aisle is way to much for people who don't feel well. UGGH

Early

Perhaps I should've slept in. Instead I got up at my regular time, ate some breakfast, nebulized, took my medication, and tried to remember what I forgot on the sub plans. I think I forgot to upload a file. Luckily my teammate is checking for me. I don't know what I did before I had colleagues that would step in and help. It must've been really hard.

I usually get sleepy after I nebulize. It seems to open me up and then I relax. I should have been nebulizing sooner. I don't know why I thought things would improve. Especially after having the wildfire smoke well about three months now. We had a few teaser blue sky days, but it is back.

I was supposed to do my second state test on my students today. I think I might be able to trade times with a colleague. Otherwise, I will just have to figure something else out. I  think having today to rest and get some meds in me was a good idea.

Well... I don't know anything else....
Good Morning

Feeling bleh

I got up early and went to urgent care this morning. The doctor has seen me quite often with all of my allergies and asthma issues. She said my lungs sound really tight and wants me to use my nebulizer with more frequency until I clear up. She also gave me antibiotics for a sinus infection.  The pharmacy wasn't open when I left the office, so I attempted a nap. I woke up from that nap with a pounding headache.  I ran and picked up my prescriptions and now I am contemplating tomorrow.

Do I want to attempt work? Should I stay home and get some antibiotics in me? Based on how I feel right now I don't feel up for chasing 2nd Graders. However, that does mean I have to go lesson plan for a sub. Which is different than lesson planning for oneself.

In the meantime I received a message from my grade level team that we had been put on a different duty schedule. We aren't sure if the person who sent it was soooo confused by the duty schedule that they made a clerical error, or if it is changed again. This duty schedule was made so complex everyone is stressed trying to figure out where they are supposed to be, when they are supposed to be there, and what week it is because it rotates. It is a very inefficient system. I hope they didn't change it because I just put the entire schedule for the year in my lesson plans.

 

Well, I am off to eat some soup...

update

Well... my sinuses have not improved and I am quite irritable. One might even describe my general demeanor and attitude as cranky. The smoke from fires has not helped my sinuses or lungs for that matter. I am considering going to urgent care in the a.m. It is too early in the school year to be taking time off.

Somehow at the end of the school year and over the summer I have misplaced some of my slacks I wear to work. I have one spot in the closet to hang them and if I hang them dry they are in the laundry room. I can only conclude I did something wacky with them. I started cleaning my bedroom and bathroom this evening. I have a bag to deliver to a local thrift shop. I probably would have more, but I ran out of steam... and haven't found the slacks yet. 

Me making dinner wasn't in the cards. I contemplated it. I decided that by the time I did make it my cranky demeanor would be upgraded to downright cantankerous. I opted to order a sandwich from Jimmy Johns. After eating dinner if I get a spurt of energy I am going to make a pot of soup in my instant pot. I did complete a few loads of laundry today and did my dishes. I MUST go to school tomorrow to plan for my week, so I hope I can get a little help to feel up to snuff.

There is something new this year at school. Every school in the nation is required to have NARCAN on the premises. This spray is to treat an overdose. Apparently at a school event somewhere in our nation a parent died of an overdose. The president has ordered this to be so. It is sad that we are at this point.

Well I am going to snuggle with my humidifier....

LET IT SNOW!!! ⛄⛄

Irritating Chrysothamnus

Well... My plan to decide on my course of medication went terribly wrong. Before I could do anything my body decided to expel everything. That night was a terribly short night. I did feel a bit better afterwards, but still had terrible drainage. I think the drainage was causing some acid reflux. Okay yeah... you wanted to know all this. I managed to work the next day. I was hopeful that last night I would get a little more rest. I did get a LITTLE more. It was more pleasant rest because I didn't feel nearly as bad. I hope this weekend I can give myself rest and a boost. Maybe I can move on from this. I am doing everything I can. I think I may have found the irritating culprit causing all of this irritation. Rabbitbrush is in bloom here. Have I mentioned I can't wait for snow?



I made it through Friday and even managed to teach the students a few things in between assessments. I forget how busy the beginning of the year is with assessing. We were told we had to do it ourselves. I don't know how we can do it all and teach. We can't use a retired teacher even to help. I don't think our new admin realizes how long this can take for each individual student. While we do these assessments our classes are given sorts of "busy work" so we can do this. We can't give them something that might cause them to be loud or we won't be able to hear the student we are working with. I don't know... seems there must always be something that adds another challenge to the day.

Speaking of challenges. I have seen my challenge almost daily this year. Since traveling to the city and getting help from a child psychologist and medication there seems to be a huge improvement. This will be a lifelong battle for this one. I hope that feeling more present will be enough to keep the student on the right track. It is terrible to see mental illness in one so young. The outcome is just a huge unknown.

I don't know if I will accomplish half of what I want to this weekend. One step at a time. If you have a cure for fall allergies let me know. If you could send some snow my way that would be even better. In the meantime I either want hot soup or icy cold treats. I have always found that a little lemon can help with the drainage. As long as this isn't eaten right before resting for the night. This is my favorite lemony treat...

It's cool and refreshing. The cup is not full above the brim as shown in the photo. It has a seal on it like a yogurt cup.It does have more sugar than I'd like. The ice and the lemon sure make a difference on some irritated passages. Once this passes, I will forget about it for awhile.

Week 2

Week two. One wildfire contained another starts. Not as smoky as most of the summer, but there is still a haze in the air. It seems as though this fire season will not come to a close.

My sinuses decided they don't really care for this new snap of the fall air. While I am enjoying a bit of crispiness in my morning my sinuses said "NO THANK YOU!" Hmmm probably without the polite thank you....!They have begun their Autumnal draining. This disgusting mucus leads to coughing. Full body from the ground up coughing. Coughing with such force I will either throw up or pee my pants. Coughing hard enough that I am concerned about inhaling again. This is all super enjoyable as you attempt to teach small people things. Post Nasal drip is REAL folks! Uggh...Since this occurs to me in the Fall and Spring and once and awhile in between with the change in the weather, I looked up Home Remedies. What do you know... The cure involved Apple Cider Vinegar. It ALWAYS involves Apple Cider Vinegar.  I can't add insult to injury! I just can't do it. I did temporarily slow the cough down with a spoonful of honey. I took my nasal decongestant. That gave me about two very pleasant hours of sleep.

I have about another 30 minutes where I can either attempt more of that OR....! I can go for the OLD Fashioned Cure shared with me by an Elder. Well, that is sort of the story. You'll have to ask Merle for the "Rest of the Story!" Anyhow good old fashioned whiskey. If it could give me a few more hours of peaceful slumber, I might try it. However, I have other concerns about this cure. The dosage is never on the bottle for one thing. What is too much? What is not enough? I don't know my limitations on this product because I don't imbibe. I don't think it has decongestant properties either. Hmmm What to do...What to do! 

We had our first staff meeting of the year. It was brief. Amazingly BRIEF. It has been quite awhile since I experienced such efficiency. YAY!

We have been  retraining parents that they MUST sign in at the office before wandering the halls and should pick up their kids in front of the school. This has been met by resistance from a few. For every rule there is someone who feels like they should be the exception to the rule. Even if it is for their own child's safety. Which is interesting. I think they'd probably be yelling the loudest if something dangerous occurred. So these "Lawnmower" parents or "Hovercraft" parents meet your requests to sign in at the office with a little hostility. It is very interesting to be the recipient of their hostility for a simple safety measure. Your child can make it to the front of the school without your help. If they cannot because they are a Special Needs child, they will have someone walking them out anyway. Please don't turn your child into a Special Needs child because of your neediness. Our principal has had our back 100% on this.  It is still very interesting to observe and feel the anger for making sure they are a person that should be in the building.

We started some of our assessments last week to give us insight into our students strengths and weaknesses. Today my students had their first state required standardized test. I was pretty discouraged by the scores coming back. I only had one student that hurried through the test like a rabid squirrel. The majority really took their time.  They often drop a lot from 1st to 2nd grade on this test because they go from having Audio Support to Zero Audio support. The students who are poor readers rely on that audio to inference what they need to do. When that is taking away and they are simply required to read directions and answer questions  they cannot do it. Some students will quickly make the adjustments and be up to grade level in no time. Some students it is just too great of a leap to make the jump. It is difficult to decrease that gap.

I was reading the directions on scoring one of our benchmark assessments required by our district. I had the directions that the company that provides this assessment gave us. I thought I had a misconception on how to score it so I went and read the directions again. A colleague came in and asked me to remind her how to score hers. I told her and mentioned I just re-read the directions. She didn't think I was correct so she went to the school "expert" on this assessment and they told her I was wrong. I said well then ask what this means and handed her the page with the directions. Turns out I CAN  READ  AND FOLLOW directions, well as long as they aren't provided by IKEA. 

Well I am going to drink some more water, decide on my medicine of choice, and attempt a view more hours of upright sleeping. G'nite

1st Week!

I made it through the 1st week with kids. The principal made changes to help keep parents from running amok through the building before and after school. Meaning that they had to drop them off in front and pick them up out front. There was loud push back from the worst offenders. However, the majority of the parents were grateful we were trying to secure our building. There are always a couple that feel they are the exception to every rule which is hard.  Hmmmm... I wonder how that first PTA meeting will go after these changes.  When you are trying to move about 900 kids before and after school, with a campus not designed for that population, you can imagine adding parents to the hallways makes travel chaotic.   

I have a student this year I was warned could be a bit of a noodle. I hadn't had too many problems from the student other than a short attention span. However, on the carpet during a story I looked up to see this student's finger inserted way up the nose. The following Dialogue occurred:

Me to student-  "M------  Stop please!"
Student- "No!"  ...and continues to root around in there
Me:  "Please stop picking it  now!"
Student: "NO! I have a rock in there!"
Me:  (Waving arms back and forth)  "Then definitely Stop! Please! "
Student:  continues...
Me:  (Waving arms back and forth) "Stop Now! I will send you to the nurse she will get it out! Just STOP PLEASE!"
Student: "NO! I think I can blow it out!"
Me: "NO PLEASE DON'T BLOW IT OUT!!! The NURSE WILL GET IT!"
Student: blows rock out of nose....shows me the rock in hands... "See I told you I could blow it out."
Me:  "How did you get a Rock in your NOSE?"
Student: shrugs shoulders "I don't know"
Me: while attempting not to gag "Throw the rock in the trash, wash your hands with soap and water, and go to the nurse for her to check your nose."
Student: throws the rock in the trash, after touching every surface between the trash and the sink, washes hands, and goes to the nurse.
Me: tries to block this out or I will have the whole class gagging with me.  "And this is why we don't play with the rocks on the playground kids! "

Just when I thought I'd  said all the words I'd never say like "Don't lick your chair"  A student gives me a new one. There ya go an Auspicious beginning to a new school year.

New Year Begins

We had our first OFFICIAL teacher workday today. This morning we sat on small child-sized lunchroom seats for our first meeting of the year. Luckily our group was at the back of the room so when my "sit-upon" became numb and my back started yelling at  me I just stood up for awhile. Our new administration has made a lot of very positive changes. A couple of the changing have me scratching my head going  huh? Over all though the changes are just what was needed. This principal seems very matter-of-fact and no-nonsense.

We have a couple of new team-mates in second grade this year. One is a brand new teacher. Brand new and I am not sure she had enough time in the classroom as a student teacher before this, or maybe she was just not paying attention in class. We are surprised by her questions on a daily basis. She has been assigned a mentor and I hope that her mentor can help. It was a first for me to be asked "Can I wear my gym clothes tomorrow." That was for our first day today. No you cannot EVER wear your gym clothes to school, I've seen them. Okay I put it much nicer than that, much much more diplomatic. The problem is unless I provided a pictures with multiple examples of appropriate and inappropriate I  don't think she would understand what professional work wear would mean.

I am apparently the most technologically literate person on our team. I spent a good hour inputting schedules into our Google Calendars. Our administration doesn't want to be handed papers. They have tried to do more and more electronically. I created Calendars for three grade levels last year so I created a couple again for our team. I had to input all of the scheduled times for us six second grade teachers into the schedule. It is great now that it is done, but it was a little bit of a headache to do everyone. It is done though... I think.

A colleague is struggling with a mentally ill family member. The family member has had to be hospitalized a couple of times just this summer. We are trying to be a support for the colleague. It is sad to see how our brain and chemistry can significantly impact daily life.

The smoke has been constant from these summer wildfires. Today it rolled in thicker than what it had been. It is not fun with my asthma. I try to stay indoors as much as possible. However, as school starts I do not know how much that will be possible.

My class size is about 20 right now. It is a very nice size. I hope that we don't get many more new students. I was apparently given another challenge this year. Sigh.... Some of the behavior sounded familiar to a major challenge I had last year. I hope I am up for this challenge, because last years challenge still gives me nightmares.

Tomorrow is back to school night and I am almost ready for this. I have a couple of things to finish printing and many things to label before tomorrow night. Tomorrow we have the whole day to work in our classrooms. Back to school night starts at 4 p.m. and ends at 5:15p.m. It is earlier than last year, but we will get home at a reasonable hour.

I have never looked forward to snowfall as much as this year. It really can't be winter soon enough for me! The locals predict an early winter as the mice and spiders are already trying to move inside. I am good with this prediction!  Let it SNOW!  I saved the music teacher from a stink bug. I don't know if she paid attention to my stink bug removal technique or if I will be called upon again to remove stinkbugs. When I taught in the boonies this was a regular occurrence. The students  were trained to NEVER step on them, notify me, and let me capture in a plastic bag. If they stepped on it we had to relocate for a period of time. The music teacher felt someone stalked by the stinkbug. It was a rather large one and not intimidated at all. I was able to remove it and release it without any toxic fumes.  Unknown skill sets not covered in teacher education classes.  I am pretty adept at emptying mouse traps too. UGGH

Well I am going to attempt again to sleep. I'm going to have to prop myself up to get some air in to sleep tonight. I did change my heat pump air filter as it has been filtering a lot of smoky air. This might help filter out some of those particulates. I am excited to begin another school year. There has so many changes in the right direction that will really support teachers and make the classrooms and building a safer environment for all.  The first 3 weeks of school we have a lot of mandatory testing to complete again by state law. It is tough to get that all done while still establishing classroom procedures. I am trying to move most of it to the second two weeks, so that the first week I can really establish my expectations!  Here we go again!!

Drink Coffee

I struggled getting going this morning. I did get moving, but I wasn't enjoying it. I definitely needed that cup of Black Rifle Coffee. I notice coffee tastes better when you're really tired. I made lots of progress in my classroom today. I spent most of my time organizing, rearranging, and putting things away. You'd think after all these years I'd have a system. The problem is that we tweak for different classrooms and improve things every year. I am so close to being done to organizing and putting everything where it belongs.

I did get some of my classroom decorations put up today. I completed one classroom bulletin board. I think that the duct tape could fail tonight. It was slipping. I need to bring the stronger stuff tomorrow. I also have more to print and laminate before I can hang it up. I talked with my principal today about what my classroom plans are. He was on board and told me I could "Do what I want!" It is about to get seriously serious in there! I have a few things being shipped that I won't be able to put up till next week. It is really fun to let my creativity show this year. I am excited to see how exciting this will make it for my students.

I worked in my classroom until I just could not take the heat anymore. Since our high today was 103 it quickly got warm in there after the a.c. went off. I plan to go to school for a bit tomorrow, but I am going to spend a little more time in my p.j.'s in the morning and get some printing done.

I did accomplish one thing at home tonight. I put the dishes in the dishwasher AND turned it on!  I've spent so much time at school that home has been neglected. 

Super!

Just when my bladder decided bathroom breaks could occur upon demand, I am getting ready for another school year. It is disappointed by this development. I started unpacking my classroom on Monday and have been working on putting it back together every day since. I have rearranged a few things to make it  easier to navigate. I have the majority of organization complete. I have to put a few more things away then focus on decor. My little buddies older sister came one day and helped me get up bulletin board paper which is definitely a two person job. 

Tomorrow, I MUST complete the organization so I can start on the fun stuff. The decorating. I am working on a classroom transformation. I want it to pretty much VOMIT Superhero decor. I have a lot to get done. Next week I want to spend on curriculum and lesson planning. I am hoping we get our class lists next week so I can start printing labels for that. It sounds like we might not be getting them till the last minute this year. Which is pretty annoying.

I have a lot of things to print and I am waiting for a couple of packages to come in to add to my decor as well! My bulletin board game was made simple last year. Expensive but simple. In the long run maybe not that expensive because it is all reusable. I discovered Wall Hanging Tapestries. For around 30 dollars I can purchase one that I hang on my bulletin board. They have them for all seasons and holidays. I just change those out now and then! They also make a great backdrop for student pictures. I get them from a few places like Dresslily.com, redbubble.com, and Amazon.com. It is fun finding tapestries that really fit our school and classroom.

Good News! They fixed the air conditioning so I am not melting all day in my classroom. Bad News! They turn it off about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Why it is turned off during the hottest part of the day, I do not know. However, some for part of the day is better than none for none of the day. It makes setting up the classroom a little more bearable.

While my classroom is receiving all of the attention my house is a disaster. I did manage to throw in a load of laundry tonight and I really felt like I accomplished something. I will have clean clothes to wear! I really want to find the time to cook up a few pots of something to freeze before it gets insanely busy.  Well, signing off for now...g'nite

Finding the Groove!

The Smoke! The smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke.  With hot days and smokey air the top speed is about .5.  There are a couple of upsides. One the  mosquitoes and green bugs have surrendered for a moment. Their propagation has slowed. Also, the bicyclists are not riding in the middles of roadways or hugging non-existent shoulders on narrow roads. They aren't out and about impeding traffic. Silver linings... you can always find some.

I worked on a craft project and spent time with a pal today. It is always good to have a little time with those who know you best and still like you! 😉😁 We accomplished our goal even though it was a bit of a challenge! I went home and decided a nap was the best option.

I am sitting down tonight contemplating curriculum. I have stuff all over everywhere as I sit and contemplate the end goal. Last night I read this fantastic quote "Be wary of people selling complete programs that will supposedly solve all educational problems. I believe that there is no single answer for out to fix our schools but that we should take the best ideas from everything that we can find."  (Dave Burgess,2012)  It is so true! I jump on almost every opportunity I can to attend professional development. If I know about it I am generally one of the first to volunteer. WHY? Here is what I have learned. Even the worse professional development I have ever attended, I gained a little gold nugget of something. Now some have lots of gold and it is overwhelming. Some just have a couple of good nuggets. It is also we I have a list of reading I am always working on that might help me in my career. Sometimes, I feel that I've wasted my time, but there is usually at least one little nugget in there.

So I am looking over curriculum a canned, basal, soul sucking pit of doom. It really is that bad. My goal which might take more time than I have is to get through it and find the nuggets. Find the nugget and expand on that. I went taught using this system last year.  It made  me sad. It killed my creativity. It sucked the joy right out of teaching. I simply do not have the power to change the program. I also cannot continue in this pit of despair knowing that I am not doing what is right or meaningful for students. My challenge is to find the nugget. Wish me well. I can find a way to add some substantial meat to this disgusting brew. I can... It may take me a couple of years, and failures a long the way. I am determined to find my "groove" with this.

We also spent some time with cousins this week. It seems Dad has always been a terror! Some claim these reports are highly exaggerated! We also enjoyed a delicious Hot Dog Pizza with the appropriate condiments. 

Keys

It's been busy visits with family, a wedding, some drywall mud, and no car keys. I left my car keys before I left town in case my car needed moving. Which it did. Now I am waiting for the person to let me know where the car keys are. I want to start working on curriculum planning and my curriculum is in my car. Mom and Dad are off to a different wedding reception. I've been singing this song in my head all afternoon OH WHERE IS MY HAIRBRUSH!🔑🔑🔑 I've just changed the chorus to  "Oh WHERE ARE MY CAR KEYS!" Other than that I feel I'm being super patient! 😝

The smoke from all this states and neighboring states has settled in to our town. It is pretty bad. The fire toll on homes and loss of life is devastating. The smoke is making it hard for those of us with asthma, allergies, or heart conditions.  There are people working to beyond exhaustion to attempt to save homes. I hope they can get it contained. After the fires comes new life. There are many species of pyrophytic plants that will only germinate in the chemicals that are created by wildfires. I am trying to stay close to filtered air for now.

I am trying to complete some professional reading before I get back into the school grind. I should get back to that while I wait for my keys.

News

I spent a week in Las Vegas at a teaching conference. I had a very interesting travel buddy. Let's just say I'll choose a different travel buddy when I go again. Despite my travel buddy it was an amazing conference. It is really helping me to focus my school year. Right now I am full of optimism! I am adjusting my focus a bit. 

I have been working on planning out my 1st week back to school. Luckily it is a 4 day school week because I think I am going to need some extra juice to get through this one. I have embraced completely a Super-Hero theme. I can't quite explain HOW completely I've embraced this theme. My incoming second graders aren't going to have a 1st week of school, but an experience during the 1st week of school. I hope this week will set an amazing tone for the rest of the year. I will share more when I am ready to execute the plan.

The fires in this state and all of the adjacent states is making for smoke filled skies. Between the smoke and the heat breathing is a bit more of a challenge. I have been snuggling up to my air purifier a lot. I am looking forward to getting a break from the smoke for a few days soon.

I have lesson plans  I really need to focus in on and get done! I want to have a few weeks (at least) done before I have to be back to work. Then I can completely focus on getting my classroom set up. I say lesson plans, but I don't just mean the plan. I want to get some presentations and activities prepared. This will give me a jump start to my year. We ALWAYS end up suffering through some meeting when we would rather be working in our classrooms. It could change with new Administration, or not. Who knows.  There is a learning curve for everyone with new administration. This begins my 9th year of teaching and my 7th principal. 

Well I am going to go hug my air purifier and drink some more water.
G'nite

Black Holes, WTR, and GOOGLE

Whew finished another school year! I was in a training program for dealing with psychological issues in minors this year. I survived and so did they. I learned a lot.... I hope they learned the RIGHT things. The last week of school was hot and the a.c. doesn't work in my classroom. We spent the whole week with the lights off and curtains closed. It kept it cool and was refreshing after coming in from the outside heat.  I bought my favorite beverage WTR MLN Water to get through the heat and activity of the week. Ummm Beyonce drinks this, but please don't let that stop you. It IS really refreshing.  Did I mention how HOT it was? I had an allergic reaction to some flowers brought to an assembly the last day which triggered an asthma attack. I survived that, but I didn't have much left in me that day. I was able to get my classroom packed up and check out ON TIME! Woot. I waited until most of the teachers had went through the check-out line to check out.  Then I had to go contemplate the leaning tower of laundry at home. Well....after my nap.

I find myself WIDE AWAKE at 3 a.m. HOW does a teacher get so off schedule in the summer. It is pretty easy! However, I got realllly off schedule tonight when I started researching GOOGLE classroom. I think I BARELY have the gist of how it works and how it can work. I am excited by the possibility of implementing this  tool in my classroom this year. I am discovering that I am going to have to get creative as most of what I've read and found is a little out of date and resources haven't really been created too much for this yet.  I am planning on making attempts. Tonight I went down a GOOGLE Classroom researching black hole. I kept learning and researching and on and on I went. That is how I ended up staying up too late!  Don't say I don't work in the summer. It is easier to be creative and introspective when I am not in the midst of the madness of the school year.  I need to spend some time diving into my curriculum, but researching this was more fun.  I spent a year in this curriculum and I really despise it. Diving into it really means thinking of ways to make it better.

Once I traveled down the black hole  I was thirsty, then I had to go to the bathroom, then I had to blow my nose, then I had to write a blog post. ALERT: RUN ON SENTENCE

FYI: Telling Dad the green bean he is eating is asparagus and watching him spit it out.is  my new favorite thing.

CLOSE!

I can ALMOST see the finish line. I completed and sent home the required students reading plan. I think we need to do a better job of educating parents what 2nd grade readers are required to do.  If they can read that is great, but it isn't enough! They have to be able to read for information, context clues, find the answers in the text in exact locations, analyze the text. So yea... I am thrilled they can read, but according to our standards your child must be able to do more than that.  Sigh...

We had a grand explosive experiment planned for this afternoon. Mother Nature also had one planned. We had to cancel ours due to her Thunder, Lightning, and Rain. We will try tomorrow.

Next week is our LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL. HURRAH!!! We have Field Day, Bingo, Hot Dog Day, the 5th Grade Rocket launch, and other fun activities to look forward to!

I have more paperwork to complete, post grades, organize student files, and then I should be able to wrap up this year! While the students were working on a task today. I started going through old files. I emptied about 1/2 of a drawer in my filing cabinet. I was too tired to take on one of the other tasks. This one was easier.  I poked my head out and our very responsible, on time, task oriented janitor, was frustrated by our  cancelled recess. He uses that time to do a trash empty, before the final one of the night. I took the trash out to him. He was waiting with his cart and appeared to be happy to take it away. Our head custodian..didn't have such a great day. I saw him staring into space with the carpet cleaner. I said are you okay? Nope... WHO PUKES IN JUNE??? WHO??? I am sorry I said. I guess he was mentally preparing himself for the task ahead.

We received our check-out list yesterday. Things we need to do before they officially release us for summer break. It is always a bit overwhelming, but somehow I always get it done.

I was working on painting a canvas with glow-in-the-dark paint today. Adding layer upon layer as it dried. I plan to have the students stand in front of it with their profile. Shine a light on them then take a picture of the profile. I hope it will work. I need to add more paint tomorrow. If it works out I will try to share a picture.

I am staying awake a little longer than my body would like. I am making a casserole for my team tomorrow since no-one is signed up for Friday Lunch. Another teacher is bringing salad to go with my casserole. I am a little concerned I was over generous with the garlic. We all might be blasting our students with garlic breath. Oh well...

TTYL

12 days

I probably should have spent my evening inputting grades. However, I decided to spend my evening working on Father's Day Crafts. We drew on our Shrinky Dink plastic last week. I turned on the oven and started shrinking them. They were a Kinder craft I found. I decided to do it anyway because it is fun for parents to see their handwriting. I found it here.   Anyhow, they shrunk beautifully. The only issues were the students who decided to write more than I told them, or crammed too many words together. Basically the ones that didn't follow directions.  Overall, they came out pretty cute. There was one who wrote it all upside down. Sigh....

Then I started working on their Father's Day Picture. I have a Father's Day Backdrop and I purchased Father's Day Photo Props from Amazon.  I decided to laminate them in hopes that they can survive a few more years of abuse. I laminated them tonight. Before we start their Father's Day pictures we are finishing a  Time Capsule. They are writing letters to themselves and discussing what their favorite things in 2nd grade were etc. They are supposed to hand over to their parents when completed and NOT open again till they graduate from High School in 10 years.  I prepped all of that tonight instead of doing grades.

I was at a STEM training today. It is provided by a man that teaches STEM in his home state of Kentucky. He teaches stem weekly to about 100 Homeschooled  children, appears on national broadcasts about three times a year doing STEM activities, goes to local schools, and will travel to teach STEM. I was in his class last year and we worked on some fun STEM projects. Luckily he had some different projects up his sleeve this year and it was just as fun. A colleague and I are going to attempt a couple before school is out. I will have to leave my challenge behind as I will not be able to trust him.   Looking forward to that.

Tomorrow is our LAST STATE TEST! Woot. When that is complete  it means more work for me. We have Reading Plans to create based on this last test. Some students will be exited from their Reading Plan and some will be put on a Reading Plan. This is NOT fun. It makes parents MAD. Their students only have 1 opportunity to do well on the test. Sometimes, 7-8 year olds are NOT on top of their game and DO NOT take it seriously. It is super frustrating. I can't make someone else's child care and be motivated. It must be a TEAM effort.  So many of my students made phenomenal gains. It is exciting to see what they CAN do when they DO want to succeed. I have students with serious learning issues that went up a few points and I call that a success. I only get frustrated when I know they didn't show what they are capable of.  I have a couple of students that SHOULD be in Special Education, but the parents will not go there. They really could use that small group  individualized help. I had a couple of really low students that worked their behinds off  to show that they've grown. I know it exhausted them, but they really really tried. Another thing I can't do is MAKE parents read at home. Read to your kids, with your kids, around your kids, listen to audio-books, hit the mute button on the T.V. and turn on Closed Captioning. JUST READ!!! 

Can that be right? 12 days till school is out. I am going to a National Conference this summer for teachers and I found a class I am very interested in. I am also bringing home curriculum to study it and get some quality lessons going before school starts. I hope to be able to tweak some things that I found to be less than quality.  I have a few projects to help my parents with.  I hope to enroll my Dad in some LAMINATION  this summer! He's now pretty much an expert. It will be a busy summer, but I am ready for a break.

Eyes, Parties, 2028

I don't know where to begin. Maybe my eyeballs. I was just desperate enough to use a defective bottle of allergy eye-drops that I got out the pliers to squeeze and turn that sucker open. My eyes itch. Although, (full disclosure here) I am  not sure how much of this itchiness is psychological. One of my students came in after recess and said "The school nurse said I might have pink eye and I shouldn't touch my eyes or anything else.)  Pink Eye has been running rampant at our school this spring. I am thankful for our janitor that takes his scrubbing of desks so seriously that the finish is coming off.   Anyhow, I used the eye-drops. If nothing else it makes my brain feel better 😆! "Get the wipes we are going to scrub desks!"   I heard this in the classroom: "Why does she want us to scrub desks?" "I bet someone picked their nose." "Shes asking people to wash the chairs too."  "I wonder who has germs?"   You all have germs you little carriers! HA HA! Anyhow, they never seem to mind scrubbing desks.

I also had a long dissertation from a parent as to why they would not be returning nor purchasing Spring Pictures. State law statute was quoted to me with the correlating number. The poor office on Monday when she comes in to tell them off as well. Not our Circus and not our Monkeys. Contact the company lady!

I also had another crazy experience today.  As a result I had to make an awkward phone-call and send an awkward e-mail.  It is a good thing I am not a drinker because I think Happy Hour would be my friend. I can't say more than that, but it was a doozy.

What else. Oh yes. I have a lovely backdrop covered in graduation caps. I took my students pictures in front of it. A little sign near them stated  "Class of 2028." Then they held up a sign in which they completed the sentence  "When I graduate I want to....!" Last year the best one was "Work at McDonalds."  My funniest this year was "Have a big party."  It is good to see a couple of achievable goals. One little girl said  " I want to graduate, go to college, and then get a job." I liked that she was thinking about the job part.  My huge challenge said they wanted to be a "Police Officer." In my head I was thinking "I bet you will meet some." Bad Miss C. Bad  Bad Bad. I didn't say it out loud. Do I get points for self control?😁

What else.... Oh yes. before we did that part they drew Self-Portraits in 2028 in their caps and gowns. Well... one of my students said " You won't be class of 2028... You'll be the Grandma of 2028. I said "no I won't be." then they said oh yea no you won't "You don't have kids."  They then looked a me with sad eyes. " I told them, It is okay. I will be your Grandma in 2028 and you can come visit me and I will make you cookies."    Kids lol

This time of year is ROUGH. Especially when the lamination has all been used up and you might have to go to OfficeMax. UGGH  The kids are tired and over school, the teacher is tired and over school, and everybody needs a break.

Sad news in Texas today. People keep saying enough already. Well... until people change their priorities... it will happen again and again.

Inevitable Change

16 more days of school. I'm tired, they're tired, everybody is tired. However, tired looks different in 7-8 year olds. It more closely resembles hyperactivity. Our stupid... our wonderful state test vendor had technical issues as my students were trying to complete the "EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND THIS BY STATE LAW" reading test. I  e-mailed my principal and she said  "What do you think." Uhhhh that's why I am e-mailing you lady, I don't have the power to make those decisions. Then I found out the same technical issues were occurring with all classes that were testing today. We should have been told to STOP!  I don't know the outcome yet, but I can say it was super frustrating. GRRRRRRR

I find myself doing tedious things to overcome my stress. Why does something monotonous help? I worked on our potential Father's Day project. I usually do NOT do a Father's Day Project as Father's Day falls after school is out. I had some pretty great dads this year so I thought I'd do it this year. I call it a POTENTIAL project because I've never attempted this craft before and I hope it turns out. I will post here the results... or lack of results.

This time of year it is hard to keep track of everything on the "To-Do" list. We have a lot of End-of-Year paperwork and assessing to do. I wish I could clone myself and find a clone who really LOVED the paperwork part of this job.

You know... when I put a note to myself on my lesson plan. I really wish I'd remember that note. Like the pre-planned Fire Drill at the end of the day. Yeah, that would've been great to remember. My students were absolutely NUTS by the time that was over. I had to break up some really Dynamic Teams. These teams thought it would be great to break most of the rules of standing in the line. We tried jumping jacks, push ups, sit-ups, and bur-pees.  It was all to no avail. Our next testing day... I am going to give them a brief, but mighty visit to the outdoors.

I did remember my Practicum Student coming in for the last time to say goodbye to the students. I hope I get to see her again, she was wonderful. I think she will be a great teacher.

Tonight I am having trouble winding my brain down. We spent our early release time sorting students into classes for next year. It is a difficult chore, you have to consider students levels, behaviors, special ed, special needs, Students on Reading plans, Boy to Girl Ratios, students in the referral process, numbers of students in each class, and personalities. It is a huge job. I may owe a teacher a couple bottles of wine next year. Maybe a case. Maybe a truckload. 😳

June 1st is a Kindergarten Teacher's retirement party. She is my neighbor. I feel a little bad after this long career not many people have signed up to attend her Retirement Party. UGGH, I am hoping people are waiting for non-negative reasons.  Anyhow golf courses aren't my scene. I can suck it up for awhile and attend.

There is also a lot of rumors flying about changes possibly occurring in our district. Our superintendent retired. A new one was hired. He has been visiting schools and looked closely at surveys filled out by teachers. He also replaced his former position with a person fairly new to our district. The rumors have to do with Administrators being moved around. It is possible. There have been many  teachers at our school have transferring out this year. It was a rough year.  We shall see. Change is inevitable.

Kale & Coffee

I went to a local event called "Face Your Food" today. It consists of local growers of mostly veggies as well as beef, pork, and poultry producers. A friend from work grows a lot of veggies in big hoop houses in this high desert. She grows only Non-GMO veggies. I bought a bag of kale from her! Brought it home to make Potato Kale soup. I had big plans of running to the store and getting the rest of the ingredients to make it. However, I was stalled by the most wonderful Saturday afternoon nap.

While I was napping a colleague called and let me know of a product I was looking for at Albertson's Grocery. At the end of the month we have a yearly tradition called the "Grad Walk." All the local students are bused  to their former elementary schools. They walk through the school in their caps and gowns greeting former teachers while their young friends cheer them on. Then they bus them back to the local high schools. They ask us to wear the colors or a t-shirt representing the closest high school for the grad walk. Last year I just wore black because that was all I had. I thought I should try to find their t-shirt this year. My colleagues told me of a couple places that usually had them, but they were out. Then my colleague let me know they were at Albertson's. I needed to go grocery shopping anyway so I drove to the flip side of town to get them. Even though it is about 10 minutes away when I have 2 grocery stores less than 5 minutes away 10 minutes feels like a LONG drive lol.  I picked up my t-shirt and the rest of the groceries I needed.

I  came home and was a little distracted by a couple other projects. I finally started making the Potato-Kale soup. I now have an Instant-Pot which makes cooking soup a BREEZE. It is so quick. It is awesome! I was a little generous with the red-pepper flakes so it is a little spicier than what I normally do. That is alright for this season though. Keeps my sinuses clear.  It is yummy. I will freeze some and enjoy some for dinner this week.

The coffee experiment continues. I am a little bit perkier in the morning with a little coffee. I tried a Hawaiian blend that was good, but then I discovered that it  had things added to it to make it yummier. It was a little disappointing because I just want plain coffee. Then I attempted Paul Newman's Coffee and it was good. I attempted a Peet's coffee medium roast when I was up north and it was so bitter that I left it there. I assume my mother shared it with someone who would appreciate it. I am just finishing a Tully's Coffee medium roast. It is drinkable, but a little bitter. Not a lot bitter but a little bitter. Not so bitter than I found someone to take it off my hands. I am finishing it off before I start my next coffee experiment. A little butter makes it better, but only just. Update: Just found out who owns Tully's Coffee. I'm so glad I didn't like it.

Next week we start our Spring Testing. If we can get through that it is just a fight to the finish line. We worked on mother's day project this week and I hope the Mom's appreciate their student's efforts. Even the boys put a little more into it than they normally do with projects.

I am debating going in to work tomorrow. If I do I must make a plan to limit my time. I don't want to spend my entire Sunday at work. It is very easy to do that. You think to yourself...I 'll just spend an hour and before you know it a few hours have passed.  There is a lot of rumors flying around right now. There are changes afoot. I know for sure there are a couple of teachers transferring to a different school. I know one is retiring. I've heard rumors of others. So once again this coming year we will have quite a few newbies at work.

Salads and Coffee

I wasn't too awake this morning as I got ready for work. I  almost put salad in my coffee cup as I was prepping my lunch. Stopped myself just in time. What I failed to do after making my lunch was put the salad back in the fridge. It was pretty wilted when I got home...sigh. I will have to make a new plan for tomorrows lunch.

It was a decent teaching day as my challenge was absent and we were able to get a lot done. After school we had a short meeting and then I was attempting to get ahead on my lesson plans when I realized...I forgot materials I need for tomorrow. I prepped those materials and completed some copying and printing. When you look ahead sometimes you forget what you need right now!  I think I am ready for tomorrow.

I've been working on arranging my files based on my curriculum. Our reading curriculum is new  to me this year and I haven't quite figured out how I want it organized. It is getting better though. I am trying to make all of my materials easy to grab, put away, and use daily. I may have this figured out someday....before I retire.

My buddy came to hang out with me this evening. His mom had a meeting, his dad is coaching his oldest sister's volleyball game, the middle sister decided to watch the game, and he decided he'd rather go to my house. He likes to turn all the lights on in the apartment when he comes  over. While I get so tired of artificial light I often sit in a dim room until the sun is down far enough it requires a light.  He is pretty tired and I am pretty tired. We are great company for each other tonight, because we don't need much to entertain us.

I watched a season of "Love Your Garden" on Netflix. It is fascinating to see what they do in a small English Garden. What we'd call the "yard." It makes me wish for a little plot of my own. However, since I am gone most of the summer it isn't practical. A colleague has a certified organic farm. I often buy lettuce from her and other veggies.

In other news...31 days of students in school left. I think I can...I think I can...

Hazard Ahead

When your administrator tells you "You don't get paid enough" and another colleague calls you a saint. You can bet it has been a doozy of a day.  Today it felt like I'd earned some hazard pay for sure. The thing is on the "nutty" scale for this school year this might have registered as about a 5. It is only different because others are starting to realize and comprehend that the level of difficult I am dealing with is really, really, high.  I had thoughts about what I would accomplish when I got home from work today. None of that happened. I will call it a win that I made myself dinner and started a load of dishes in the dishwasher. 

My colleague that had a benign tumor removed is having a very good recovery. We have another colleague that is 30 weeks pregnant and has been put on complete bed rest. It is a very high risk pregnancy for mom and baby.  We may be doing another meal-drive for this family.

Today I realized once again that I am a little numb to the issues of my challenging student this year. It is sad to become numb. However, you just can't live on the roller coaster with them or neither one of you will make it. So, I think a little numbness is good. It helps me to ride the wave  calmly. 

Off to print off a couple of things needed for tomorrow. G'nite

'night

It was a good Monday back to work. I didn't go in over the weekend. Which led me to feel more refreshed coming back to work. I made my colleague dinner and her friend picked it up and took it to her Sunday Evening. I worked on cleaning the house and I got rid of some clutter, steam mopped, and house cleaning. It was good to work on my own life instead of my work life. Although, because I made that choice I had to go in early this a.m. and prep for the week.  I luckily had most of it done and was able to complete more before I had to share the copy machine. I have a parent coming in to make copies tomorrow and that will help get ready for next week.

As a bonus my challenge student was absent this Monday. I think the whole class was a little relieved. It was a nice peaceful day.  It is amazing how one student can make a day way more exhausting.

I kid-sat my buddy tonight. He had an accident from an upset stomach. Poor kid. We got him all cleaned up and then all he wanted was his Dad. Luckily his dad stopped and talked to him on the phone for a bit and he was able to relax.

Now, I am trying to wind down so I can rest.
'night

Is it?

When I was visiting for spring break I found an ear tag with my name on it labeled the year I was 4. It was my father's handwriting. Not sure if it was for my sheep, or if he thought he might lose me in the herd and need to find me again.

It was an exhausting week back to work. Mom blames the Spring Equinox, but everyone seemed exhausted this week. This week felt like two for the price of one.  My challenge was especially challenging this week. The principal told me as I left Friday I have 48 hours to recover from the challenge! Inspiring words 😆! 

I have not accomplished much this day so I decided to throw in a load of laundry. If nothing else I did get a load of laundry or two done!

A colleague arrives home tomorrow after having a benign brain tumor removed. I am making a dinner for  her family. A close friend of hers is taking a dinner for tomorrow night. I offered to send another they can heat up for Monday night. That way they have a couple days at home without visitors. Tomorrow I will work on that meal. I am just making a casserole they can throw in the oven and heat up along with some french bread.  Mom suggested getting a disposable pan so they don't have to worry about getting it back to me. At first I was thinking  nah... I don't think it will be deep enough. Now,  I am thinking that might be best. (Mom's usually right...sigh)  At work they set up a meal schedule, so there will be lots of pans to get back to people. She is getting home much sooner than we thought so hopefully this will help fill in the gap. 

A colleague reminded me on Friday that there are 8  more weeks of school. That was helpful and scary at the same time. I feel like I have A LOT of standards to cover before state Testing in Mid-May. I may have to create my own pacing guide for next year.  The poor 3rd-5th grade teachers have testing start this month. It is pretty intense. Next year more of our teacher evaluations are based on our students growth. However, we are starting to see a trend with parents telling their kids the test isn't important so don't worry about it. I wish they'd opt out before they did that. Some know that our evaluations are related to that, and if they are unhappy with the teacher for whatever reason it is a way to sink their ship.  It is sad to see so many of us working so hard for other peoples children to have parents be so disrespectful.  I know there are some crappy teachers. I had a few myself.  Most teachers I work with are working hard, doing continuing education, and constantly thinking about the needs of their students. 

Sometimes,  and with more frequency than we'd like, we think... "Is it worth it?"

Volcanoes

Sometimes I feel like I am doing okay as a teacher. Then you do a reading on volcanoes. You read this non-fiction informative passage three times. You ask questions. You dive deep. You watch a video on volcanoes and how they form and what earth processes occur to make them erupt. You write on anchor charts and discuss again. Then you hand them a paper in which they answer questions about volcanoes, but think it will be okay because they can refer back to the passage to answer the questions. Then your students write in their answers that shield and cone shaped volcanoes are similar because they are different shapes. Sigggh...
And volcanoes erupt because of PLANTS! Plants.... beware of your house plants, there could be an eruption. Then to top it off one of the little darlings says that one of the properties of lava is that "it is made out of a hard-boiled egg."   

Did anything sink in?

I don't know, but I do know... it might be time for Spring Break

7 more

It has been a hectic week. Tonight my student I tutor didn't show and I was asked to babysit my little buddy. I was able to leave early enough to do that. I completed a load of laundry, emptied and took out all the trash, and did a load of dishes. All while hanging out with my funny short friend. Luckily he doesn't mind if I work around him as long as I stop once and awhile sit with him and chat. I even managed to get my clothes  for tomorrow set out. It is supposed to snow through the night so I have a back up...just in case I need warmer gear. 

One of the Special Ed. aides has been helping me now and again grade papers, do bulletin boards, make copies, and other odds and ends. Next she is helping me put together the materials needed for student  led conferences. This should be interesting. It leaves me with a lot of work to do this weekend. Finishing grades, Reading plans, prepping materials, and a host of other things I can't think of right now. The good news is. Spring Break is on its way. Which is good... I cannot keep up the pace I've been at lately.

Coffee drinking continues. I really enjoy the impact it has on my lungs for several hours. I wish it lasted a little longer, but that is a major upside. It opens them up. It is a great feeling and doesn't make me feel weird like my inhaler does. Since it snowed a little my allergies kind of stalled for the moment. As far as I'm concerned it can snow till June! Not a popular opinion.

I need to come up with a meal plan for my busy week next week. I will have to find some time to cook this weekend so I don't end up eating crap all week. Hmmm, something to consider. Last weekend I wasn't paying careful attention to the type of salad greens I bought. I did pay careful attention once I started eating them. It had "herbs" added. The herb of choice seems to be cilantro and Epazote. Let me tell you... if you want to punish your child for saying bad words... don't worry about the soap. Get out the Epazote. It is really a bad combination of a cilantro, anise, and some other indefinable  nastiness. I learned about a new herb, and discovered how much more revolting you can make a salad. I also was reminded to look at labels a little more carefully.

7 more days till break....

Angry

Whenever I see another school shooting. I am mad. Mad for the victims of course and sometimes even the shooter. However, I am really mad for another reason. I know without one single doubt in my mind that there was at least one teacher, maybe a school counselor, and others who worked with this student and said. This one needs help, they are in trouble, they are a danger or more. You know what happens? The people you tell don't know what to do, or where to go, or how to help.  Oh but there are school counselors. Yes, even they look at these terribly troubled students and are at a loss. School Psychologists though they must be doing something. Nope they are very busy testing students for Special Education Services. I have yet to see a school psychologist working with a troubled student. Mentally ill students fall through the cracks, dangerous students fall through the cracks, and if you want schools to do better you need parents to demand more.

Another thing about all this that makes me angry. Is our society has told us all that the family isn't that important. If dad isn't around a single parent is enough. Just as long as there is someone who loves you that  is enough. It is a lie. A really profound and damaging lie.  Families matter and need to be held accountable for their lack of involvement. The lack of involvement has a lot to do with drugs anymore. The damage drugs do to children scares me. We have more and more children who lack empathy, compassion, and basic emotions. You can track that right back to their parents being neglectful, drug users. Good job society...

It is completely laughable that people think taking away weapons will end this. It won't. Criminals don't obey laws. We have virtually open borders that anything can be smuggled through, even the aforementioned drugs. Criminals don't worry about laws. We need to strictly enforce the laws we do have. Mental health in children needs to be a priority.  In every instance I have seen, someone dropped the ball and didn't take it seriously. If you want to point fingers... point them carefully.

Quarter 3

I feel like I am treading water again. I finished progress reports and now here we are and Report Cards are coming up. The end of the 3rd quarter is nigh. This quarter we are doing student led conferences. Speaking of that I had to teach the office staff the difference between (lead-the way) (led-the way) and (lead-pencil). Yeah, I hope they ended up with the correct "led" in their documents. YIKES. Spring Break is coming but I am trying not to think about it because I have so much to do between now and then. ONE day at a time.

Learning to like coffee... still learning. I don't mind the warmth of it on a 4 degree morning. Still tastes like ...coffee...disgusting.

My challenging student is showing some very worrisome behaviors. It is a daily on-going challenge to keep ahead of this one. I am kind of numb to how weird things can be at this point. It isn't until I say it aloud to someone else that I start thinking ...Uh Yeah ...That is bizarre.

I went to dinner at a friends tonight. They made tacos and fried the tortillas. I'd rather be sleeping right now, but whatever oil they cooked in has not set well. I read that sometimes this can be the acid or sometimes an allergic reaction. Allergies especially to Canola oil. I don't know what they used. Once in a great while it will happen at a restaurant or someones house. I've never been able to figure out why it did sometimes and not other times. So, now I am wondering if it is an allergy.

I bought a diffuser for my classroom and occasionally I put essential oils in it. Mostly though I put in water. I've noticed a great reduction in bloody noses. In our dry winter air that happens a lot.

I also started my students can write me a note in a little notebook. They can write a note to me or draw me a picture one time a day. They ask me questions, remind me of things, tell about what is happening in their life, and draw me pictures. They can't use it to "Tattle-Tale" or write mean things. It has been fun to read them and it has helped me to connect to students that are not as easy to connect with, or that are just a little shy or quiet.. I use notebooks like the following:

Wacky Wednesday

I just completed Tuesday. Why do I feel like it's been a complete week already?  My challenge this year kicked things up a notch. That makes everything less fun. I don't know what I accomplished today, but I felt like I was busy the entire time.

I was attempting to figure out what to wear for Wacky Wednesday! At the last moment I remembered I have a Green Eggs and Ham T-shirt. I will wear it. I haven't completed the plan beyond that. Don't expect a picture. Some things do not need to be captured for posterity.

I wish I could remember what else I had planned on sharing... so G'nite

Coffeeeeee😝

I am attempting to like coffee. In part because of the benefits of its antioxidants. It isn't good. It is nasty, and bitter, and nothing is delicious about it. Everyone keeps telling me "You just have to get GOOD coffee!" Ummm the problem with that is...it all tastes the same to me. The only upside that I have discovered is that on a cold day it does warm you up. Yeah.. I will keep mints in my desk to decompose that nasty coffee flavor in my mouth.

I had to go in to work this weekend to prepare for another week and to complete progress reports. I was able to complete the progress reports, but I'm not quite ready for the week. I'll get there. My classroom was getting colder and colder. The H-VAC system blows cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer. At least in my room it does. In other classrooms it blows so much hot air they are melting. We are supposed to get a new H-VAC system this summer. I hope it works.

I have a major challenge with a student this year. We were making good progress and suddenly started going backwards. Way backwards. I am so scared of the outcome for this child. Everyone keeps telling me there is a reason why I am his teacher. I think it might just be to have compassion for those people attempting to love and raise this student. They get a lot of judgement and there is NOTHING easy about it.

It finally started acting like winter here the end of February. I don't know what March will have in store for us, but hopefully more wet weather. It has been quite cold. The wind blows over the snowy mountains with such a chilling effect.

I volunteered without thinking things completely through...( Silly me. Sigh...) to tutor a student. I will get paid for it, but it adds more work to my plate. Hopefully, I can help this student to make some growth. This week is Read Across America Week. It always falls around Dr. Seuss' birthday. Our visiting author comes tomorrow. I am excited to see his presentation. The PTA is providing lunch tomorrow and so that takes one thing off my list! Well I need to do a little laundry and get ready for the week. G'nite

Gofer

It has been so hectic I've been attempting a day at a time and sometimes an hour at a time. I don't know how I did everything this week and I don't know how I will do it all next week. I am feeling spread pretty thin. Next week has ended up being booked more than I could imagine.I have my formal observation on Monday. Babysit Monday night. Student teacher starts in my classroom on Tuesday. Wednesday a Watchdog Dad spends the afternoon with me. Friday evening we have our annual school dance called the "Bobcat Boogie" and I have to help prepare and attend to a "Selfie" booth. This all means more preparation this weekend. What will I  teach for the principal, what will I have the student teacher do, and what will I have the dad do? WatchDog Dad's are Dad volunteers, they usually are out on recess duty and do other jobs as needed. Sometimes it doesn't work out because the dads get the students all wound up and I'm like ACCK we have work to get done lol. I didn't always like how it turned out in the past so I want to be sure I give the dad something to do! Lesson plans must be tweaked.

My students read their poetry for parents who were able to attend today. They wanted me to perform a poem. It was pretty funny they thought I had the ability to whip one out from my head in ten minutes! I abstained and told them it was about them today. I told them their parents came to see them NOT me.

I attended a poetry session in town tonight and will attend a musical session tomorrow. I also have dogs to feed and errands to run. I need a gofer! I'm not sure how to get me one of those... I'll work on it.
Have an amazing weekend...

WFW

I was really draggin' on Friday and not really feeling well. After I'd finished my lunch it showed even more and my colleagues started telling me about all the people who'd died of the flu. It feels more like a head cold and I hope it stays that way. I've tried to rest this weekend so that I am hopefully up for rambunctious kids tomorrow. I haven't ran a fever so that is good. I also took a gazillion vitamins. Here is hoping that it is all enough.

I made a roast this weekend in my little crockpot and it turned into shredded beef. It is delicious but cooked a little longer than I'd planned. I also am attempting my first pot of soup in my Instant Pot. I was a little concerned because I needed to saute the veggies before putting in the rest of the ingredients and it had a saute option on it that worked really well. I hope the cooking part works just as well. It does seem to speed up the whole cooking process and with my schedule that is perfect. I will have to practice a little more and see what all I can do with it. Starting with a pot of soup that doesn't take hours to get done I think is a good start.

This week begins Western Folklife week at school. Tomorrow it begins with Basque dancers and performers.  We need to finish up our own poetry in the classroom. The students will choose their favorite pieces and read them for their parents. Last year we had a school wide Buckaroo Breakfast and parents could come eat with their kids. It has become to difficult to execute that in a timely manner due to the large size of our school. We have lunch that starts very early because of the size. So we are having a classroom Buckaroo breakfast. I asked the parents to bring pre-cooked sausage, Eggos, syrup, milk, and juice. Nothing fancy but it will be fun for the kids. Some of the teachers were bringing a griddle and actually cooking! NO thank you lol!

I  paid off another student loan last week. YEE HAW. I am closer to being done with that!  Next week a student teacher is going to be helping in my classroom for the rest of the semester. She is willing and ready to help I think. I am excited to have a little help. I got a little background on her and it seems like she is pretty good. I am hopeful it will be a good experience for both of us.

Answer the Phone!

I have trained my students to answer the phone when it rings. The phone is in a very inconvenient location. The students can usually get to it faster than I. They say "Hello Miss Carpenter's Room how can I help you?"  They do a great job for the most part. They sometimes forget to ask who was on the phone and what they wanted when they hang up. However, the majority of the time they relay the information. I also have my students trained to not interrupt when I am doing one on one assessments with their classmates. They have to wait till I have finished with a student to ask a question. The other day the phone rang when I was assessing a student. They answered politely as usual. Then they said "I'm sorry she can't come to  the phone she is testing a student." She listened for a bit and hung up the phone. I almost giggled out loud, I was so surprised.  I finished my assessment and said "Who called? " The principal."  ACCK um "What did she need?" "She needs a copy of the paper you are sending home."   I have to think for a minute about what paper. I'd already sent it to her so I thought maybe she doesn't need a print copy but a digital copy. Anyhow I got that figured out and sent it.  I couldn't believe she told the principal  that I couldn't come to the phone. Sometimes your training is a little TOO effective. This was my giggle of the day. I never had a conversation with the principal about this so I am not sure what she thought. 

Unprepared

I've said it before and it can bear repeating. There are some things you cannot prepare for and you cannot learn in teacher college. Students losing both of their parents in a domestic dispute is one of them. The students are not in my class but we felt the blow through the whole school. Four children lost their parents.  It is heartbreaking. No words...

Back in Session

We are back to school with a bang and a whimper. Full speed ahead. I am pooped. The kids were pretty good I think they were pooped too. The standardized testing and assessments have began. So have my headaches HA!  I had a meeting after school today and the principal did a fabulous job of  pointing the parent in the right direction. I kept telling myself to not say anything because she was doing such a good job. It  was a relief.  I have a lot of work ahead of me the next few weeks. The end of the 2nd quarter is coming up as well.  So we are back, back at it, and I already  am looking toward the weekend.

Danger Zone

It's been forever since I have written I know. I don't know how much I accomplished between Thanksgiving and now but it seemed as though I didn't stop. I finally put a little focus into Christmas shopping. I quickly enter the DANGER ZONE.

The Danger Zone is the Children's books zone. Once I start shopping I find this book, that book, a forgotten favorite, and much more. I wish someone would pay me to shop for Children's Books. I excel in this area.

I made it safely to the parent's house. It is VERY warm here. I don't know how to get up in the morning when it is above 10 degrees. Tomorrow the snow is supposed to arrive. I am looking forward to this. Although we are making a trek over the mountain to another town for some shopping. I may not be as excited to drive in the winter wonderland. We shall see.

January promises to be jammed packed full of testing and other unexciting activities at work. I am trying to not think too much about it.