Taco Soup

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


Taco Seasoning:

2 tsp  dried minced onion

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

Ranch Dressing Mix:

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


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

Vacation

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

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

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


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

Summer

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

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

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

Wrapping it up!

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great weekend!

Ah the sweet sweet smell of...

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

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

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

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

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

Paint

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

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

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

Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

End of the Year....

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

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

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

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

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

I know laundry talk AGAIN!

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

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

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

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

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

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

The "TANG" Experiment!

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

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

Anecdotes for others

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

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

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

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

Spring Break!

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

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

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

Water, Water, NEWS

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

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

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

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

Ssshhhhh!

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

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

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

Changes

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

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

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

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

Change

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

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

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

R and R

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

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

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

Learning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cooking Saturday

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

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

Dress Up/Down

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

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

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

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

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