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. 

The day is done!

I don't even know how to process this day. There are some things that teacher school can never prepare you for. You have to do the best you can and hope you had the right words at the right time. I think man the things I learn 10 minutes before school starts. Then I have to put on a smile and say good morning, even though my brain is whirling and I am trying to figure out if I said the right thing, did the right thing, and what I need to do next. People are dealing with a lot and even the grown-ups are coming to school looking for support. 

I have the crock-pot cooking a roast. Mom and dad are on their way and I still need to make their bed!  Tomorrow is another day.

Almost there

The students had a busy day. They didn't cancel recess despite a couple of sprinkles here and there. Rain here sends our recess lunch duty ladies indoors. They really like to cancel recess. I don't really mind recess duty most of the time because I am outside. Now if it is blowing dust I really don't like it. The school day was interrupted this morning for the students to watch the 4th graders practice their program. Tomorrow many of the students will participate in the "Turkey Trot" a run they attend at the middle school.

I bought ketchup and extra butter. I think I am prepared for the parents visit. I have a little more cleaning to do for their visit and they might want sheets on the bed. I have a roast to put in the crock-pot for their arrival. Hopefully they have nice weather on their drive. 

I was coughing tonight quite a lot. I got up to make a cup of herbal tea and then I hope for smooth sleeping the rest of the evening. I have a meeting after school tomorrow that I am hoping won't take too much time. 

G'nite

Update: almost to bed...when I remembered...you forgot to print  your pilgrims for the STEM challenge tomorrow. Printing pilgrims, laminating pilgrims, and then off to sleep. I HOPE!

Winter☃⛇

Started to act like winter around here. Got a little snow from above, a lot of rain, and dropped temperatures. I was happy for it. I may have been alone in that feeling. It has been a busy couple of weeks. I haven't been feeling all that fabulous so that added an element of fun. My challenging student has been excelling at being challenging. I received a little extra help this week and I hope I will continue to receive it. This one needs more help than what we can provide. It is exhausting.

I babysat my little buddy this morning. He updated me on his age. I told him he was growing to fast and he needed to stop. I was informed very seriously that he "Sha I have to grow up." Okay then.  I have been tackling my mountain of laundry the dirty and the clean, and cleaning house a bit. I ran to the  Wal-Mart tonight. I thought about going earlier today, but I saw the parking lot and really didn't need to go then. It wasn't packed tonight and they were stocking shelves. It is nice to go then because you can usually find what you are looking for.  For most of my purchases I avoid the Wal-mart but there is some things I can get there cheaper. I just hate going there. I didn't run into any thieves tonight. I didn't have to wait in a long line, and I was able to get everything on my list. A couple of times I have tried their in store pick-up. It works well and you can avoid the lines. Some purchases I feel need to be made in person.

I will have to run to the grocery store tomorrow and pick up a few things for Thanksgiving as well as my lunch for this week. I am so glad we are close to Thanksgiving break. I am ready.

Let it snow...please!

If you're going to grow up to be an engineer. Don't grow up to be a package designer. No one says nice things about you as they are trying to break in to their FLONASE package. Then if they can't find scissors at that moment it is more unkind words. If you have a choice find another route. There are many beautiful things engineers design. Creating a better toilet paper roll holder would be better than package designer.

I don't know if I am fighting a cold or allergies again. I just know they are back with a vengeance. I doubled up on my allergy pills. I am doing all of my sinus related tricks that have been known to help me. I might be alone on this, well I am most likely alone on this, but I cannot wait for snow. I breathe easier and my sinus activity is reduced. LET IT SNOW.

We are supposed to get some rain soon which will help. I spent about 5 hours at school yesterday prepping for this week, catching up, and getsting a wee bit done for weeks ahead. I could've spent 5 more hours and wouldn't be done yet. I just keep on keeping on.

My upstairs neighbor I call Fred Flintstone. He walks with heavy feet, he is heavy handed in everything he does. He slams all doors. I really don't know how he manages so much heavy-handedness but he excels at it. I am thinking he would not be a good hunter. The whole forest would be alerted to his presence before he even entered it. I am glad we have similar working hours or he'd wake me up all the time.  My snoring neighbor moved and he is not missed.

I am attempting to catch up on my laundry and do a little house cleaning. I have also been working on my Christmas present for my class. I bought clipboards for my entire class and have been personalizing them with their names.  We also have student presents we make every year for parents. I am not making the one we did last year. We are talking about some kind of candy cane ornament and probably something else. Not quite sure yet.

I was watching an Scottish Parliament Committee on phonics. It is interesting to me because  it seems to be like we are doing a disservice in teacher education schools across the world. We should all be teaching synthetic phonics.  It is research based. It makes sense. It works.  Drives me crazy we do not give teachers the tools to teach phonics. I found it interesting, you may not. If nothing else you get to hear some fun accents!

Jellyfish

I'm meeting with my colleagues this afternoon to create our Halloween Costumes. I am slightly more excited about this years costume than I was about last years. I really, really, hated last years. We are dressing up like Jellyfish. Something like this...



The team decided we needed to add giant googly eyes and colored lights. I am the green jelly fish. The good part is I am not wearing a head-ache inducing wig all day long. Another silver lining is that it is impossible to walk around with a giant plastic umbrella all day so it will be set to the side. I just try to tell myself that they had worse suggestions before the jellyfish....yes indeed.

I am very frustrated with the meeting I must attend Tuesday morning. I can see the principal has her own plan, thoughts, and ideas. She just is not communicating them very well. Not at all. It is dumb. Not sure where we have been not sure where we are going. I'm not even sure what the end goal is at this point. I just want to be done. However, it seems like we just end every meeting, by planning another meeting. If I thought we'd made some progress, I might quit the whining. NO PROGRESS.  It is also extremely awkward because the principal and our vice-principal have had some kind of falling out. The vice-principal is very respectful and kind. The principal shuts her down and shuts her up in a way that has the rest of us wincing. I don't know what has happened there. It just leaves everyone feeling a little tense.

I need to go throw another load of clothes in the laundry....

I survived

I made it through conferences. Had one not show up, I've tried to reschedule and we shall see. Conferences are very interesting it helps put pieces together.  It is very tiring.  What is awful though is that it is hard to rest afterwards, even though you are very tired. Did I say everything I needed to say? Etc. I have one rescheduled next week for sure. It will be a challenge.

I am glad to have tomorrow off to get a little rest. I will be in to school this weekend to finish preparing for next week and do some organizing. I colleague had a parent make copies for me but I haven't had a chance to put them all away. I must work on this. 

I feel bad because one of my friends has called me several times in the last couple of weeks. Every time I have been yawning after a long day. Today I was yawning with a voice that was rapidly disappearing. My throat really didn't enjoy all the talking the last couple of days. Now I have three days to recover so I will speak softly and speak little.

P/T Conferences

I am parent-teacher conference exhausted. This is a different kind of exhausted. It is the I had to talk more than my voice allows kind of tired. It is also mentally draining. You want every parent to understand exactly what their student's educational needs are. I appreciate the parents who not only listen to you, but you can tell they are going to take your advice. Maybe even take a little ownership and responsibility in their child's education.

 Every single year I have a parent(s) who tell me  all the reasons why I am wrong about where their child is academically.  I have a lot of data to back up my claim.  I have a lot of evidence to back up my claim. I am very wrong though. What is unfortunate is that their child may miss out on getting some much needed help and support. What is worse is when you know the previous two teachers gave the parents the same feedback. Now you know they've had three years with three different people giving them similar insights. Maybe...just maybe... I'm not all wrong?  Nawww.... I'm wrong :)

Then there is the glad handing parent. They nod and agree with you. No matter what you say just nod and agree. You ask them to practice a couple of things at home. They nod and agree. Smile, Nod, Agree...while inside their head they are thinking "No plans to do any of this!" 

I had one co-worker that said one year. I wish we could give parents grades. Teachers are assessed. Our students are assessed. Why not parents?  I don't think pain-in-the-ass can be described in enough terms to give a precise grade. Hmmm someone should work on that.

Every time conferences roll around I can't explain how grateful I am to the parents that are engaged in positive ways. The parents that provide a stable home life. The parents that expect their child to have manners, respect, and most of all kindness. Kindness is huge. The parents that are providers to their child's emotional needs. Those parents I am so thankful for. Even if their child isn't right where they should be, they are more importantly raising a good person.

After all that talking today my voice was exhausted. I have more conferences tomorrow, but with  a few more breaks. Friday we have a day off to celebrate our statehood. This means I can rest. Hurrah!
Next week I have an early morning before work hours meeting on Halloween. Halloween!!! Yeah.... that will be a doozy. I have a lot of parents bringing treats in that day. It might be way more chaotic than I would like.

October Challenge.

After another busy week the weekend rolls around and I am trying to find the energy/motivation to get to work. I have almost finished assessments for the end of quarter and have to finish putting grades in.  We survived school-wide picture day, staff pictures, class, student pictures,  earthquake drill, and evacuation drill. A colleague of mine had a student lose complete control of their bowels during the class photo. That wasn't a great start to her day. A colleague also went to a training on our state assessments we are required to do. I had some answers to questions and verification on thoughts I'd had about the assessments. I sense some more changes going on based on her other training. I hope it leads to positive changes and not more work that I can't keep up with. When you try to change everything at once it leads to a lot of stress.

My challenge this year was absent for several days due to a death in the family. I think the students and I all kind of breathed a sigh of relief. I caught a student allowing another student to cheat off their paper. I had to ask the student to have a chat. I asked the student why this was  a problem the response "Because it won't help his/her brain grow if he/she doesn't do it him/herself."  I said "YES!" We chatted a bit more and I hope this doesn't occur again. I've talked to the students about how our brains grow and make new connections when we struggle through something. Even if it is hard it is good for our brain.  I wasn't sure that lesson had sunk in, but apparently it had.

Parent teacher conferences are the challenge of  October. You think you know who will be a problem and who will not be. Usually I am wrong. It is a stressful time. Then you have to reboot every 15 minutes and get ready for the next parent. It isn't easy.  The high school FBLA is doing another fall fundraiser by making us dinner for a fee and delivering it on parent/teacher conference week. It is  worth every penny! Friday is a day off of school for our state. It is in celebration of our Statehood. It is nice to have a day off after the marathon of conferences.  The week after conferences is Halloween Week. This means a lot of sugar highs and sugar lows.

Most of our team met at a colleagues last night for a taco dinner. We all brought ingredients. It was really fun and relaxing to hang out together. It was a great way to finish the week.

Weekend

Our half-day Friday provided all of the teachers with some much needed time to get caught up. Although I don't think  we are caught up I think we are farther ahead than we once were. It gave us a little bit of breathing room. The copier still isn't working correctly. We've heard rumors, talk, and promises of a new copier. I will believe when I see.

I presented the paperwork I was required to present on Friday. I couldn't quite see what the point of it was, other than perhaps making sure we did what was required of us. There were not really questions asked. Just listening. Maybe it is because I understood what was asked of me that it seemed simple. I am not sure. That is step 1 complete for this paperwork. It will be added to throughout the year.

I went to school for about 5 hours yesterday. I'd hope to complete the copies I need for just this week. No such luck. I will attempt to do a couple on the office copier in the morning. I did complete a lot of tasks that I hadn't had time to. My "to-do" list is still as long as ever. Many things were crossed off it and more added to it. So it goes.

After visiting urgent care earlier in the week I wasn't feeling better and even a little worse. I went back in this morning and this time they put my on antibiotics. I hope to get a little energy back. I have kept taking my vitamins and eating my fruits and veggies (MOM). Perhaps it would have been worse had I not done so. I thought I'd be able to get more done at home today. My energy reserves are low. I did get a little laundry completed, my floor mopped, dishes are washed, and the trash is waiting by the door to be taken out. I made a little progress there.

I hope I have enough fight in me for this week. We have a field trip on Tuesday to a local reservoir to learn about the water cycle. On Wednesday we have our annual Fire Safety Week visit to the Firehouse. On Thursday the school nurse is coming in to do vision screenings. Then the counselor comes in for a "How to get along with others" lesson. I hope it sinks in. It will be a busy week.

Sniffs, Sneezes, and Paperwork

I finally gave up the fight. My sinuses were winning and all of my cures were losing. Not sleeping and using up multiple boxes of tissue wasn't working for me. I went in and it was as I thought, fall allergies. They put me on steroids. The Dr. wanted to give me a steroid shot but I decided to go for the pills instead. I was concerned the shot would have me awake alllllll niiiiggghttt long. Some of these 7 year old children are quite taxing on ones energy reserves.  I hope this whacks me back into working order quickly.

Tomorrow we start the mountain of paperwork we are required to do by the state. When we finished our mountains of assessments some might have thought we were done. Nope. Just getting started. On our normal early out tomorrow we will begin this lengthy process. It is so lengthy that they actually are doing a half day on Friday to give us time to complete these documents. Then they have to be approved by a team.

I have a challenge this year. A student who steals, has no remorse, hoards food, and has some very odd behaviors that I struggle to describe. It is a process to keep this one on task making good choices.  I have support which makes all the difference. From day to day I have no idea what "new" thing will pop up. I am scared for this child's future.

I am going to attempt some sleep now... G'night

Restored

A little faith in humanity was restored. Wednesday I received a phone call that my wallet had been in the safe of the restaurant I left it in this entire time. Even though I'd called the place a few million times the General Manager was never there. She locked it in the safe and hadn't been in. She discovered my teacher I.D. and finally called the school. It was over-nighted to  me and my amazing landlord signed for it.   That was a relief. A month later, but I have it all back.

I finally hit my wall. My sinuses made it difficult to breathe. Difficulty breathing made sleep impossible. I called in a sub for the day and stayed home. I crashed hard. I still woke up not being able to breathe, but there was relief in knowing that I didn't have to  be up early. I knew my patience for the demands of the little humans wouldn't be very good.

Speaking of patience. Most of the time my apartment building is very quiet. We have miners, officers, casino employees, and much more. What this means is that Schedules may vary a lot. Many people are on swing shifts or night shifts. I don't have that schedule but I try to respect it. Tonight one of my neighbors kept telling her kids off right outside my window. I could hear the whole thing. The problem was she was standing in the stairwell hollering at them. They were by the car. After the 15th direction I finally poked my head out and asked them to  please be quiet. One of the kids said "okay." It did quiet down after that. I  think people forget to consider others sometimes. When I with my plugged up ears and nose can hear your entire conversation...I imagine most of the building can. 

This year has been a roller coaster not with ups and downs just with endless speed. Just when I think I can get off the train, we are given a new set of challenges. I am trying really really hard to stay positive and I love my colleagues, but it is really tough. I even really like my administration. This level of intensity I can't keep up.   I'm cracking and I am not alone.

I just want a nap

My Cousin shared this with me today...

It is nice to be appreciated. I wish this lady could truth bomb a few of my parents. I want to do more for your kids...Just get me a copier that works and about 20 more hours in a day! The technician was in working on our copier and today dead again. We are wasting a lot of paper when it jams...and jams....and jams...