Friday

Well Merle ate the stew said it was "good" which for him is  an endorsement. He did say I should've left the carrots large so he could just move them out of the way and not eat them. Since I chopped them quite small he had no choice. He ate some veggies. Poor guy.  I didn't get potato kale soup made for mom today. I did brown the sausage so that will be one less step tomorrow.

I am doing some laundry tonight. Competition for washing machine time is steep around here. There are 3 businesses and 4 people to do laundry for. I was low on the priority list. We ran a few errands today and I managed to run into Joann's and get a few things on clearance. Things for me... OF COURSE NOT! Things for next years Christmas projects in my class ... Yep! Planning ahead. I learned from a former colleage to put alllllll your school Christmas "stuff" into a bin. Take it to storage or your garage. Then bring it out next year. Keeping it in the classroom gets to be too much. I now have a bright red bin.  I am going to work on doing this for all the holiday related activities and materials.

My brother is tricky. He decided that we should get my parents some electronic items for Christmas. Yeah... then he dissapeared  when it was time to set them up. THe also told me I was technological support. Yeah...  brothers....

I am still fighting this darn head cold. It is there just enough to be super annoying. Probably for everyone around me as well. I don't get away with not taking a vitamin here. Perhaps it would've been worse if I wasn't drowning in vitamins.  The flu is running around my school community fast and furious. When I head back I am going to do some deep cleaning in the classroom. We had stayed pretty healthy before Christmas Break in my class, but who knows what it will be like after. Hopefully, the worse of it is done before we are back in school.

Tonights Cooking Challenge

Experiment:
Instant Pot Beef Stew...
A conglomerlation of recipies. (untested and not approved)

2 pounds Stew meat cut into smaller chunks! (Your spoon should be able to hold the meat)
Salt & Pepper (about a tsp of each)
2 tbsp Flour
1tsp onion powder
2 Tbsp butter
Beef Broth 2-32 oz containers
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp Italian Seasonings
1 Cup chopped onion
1 Cup Chopped celery
1 chopped parsnip
1 Cup Chopped carrot
1/2 pound cubed potatoes
Bay leaf

Mix flour with onion powder, italian seasonings, salt, and pepper. Dump in the meat coat w/ flour. Brown the meat in butter or olive oil.  (you can saute the meat in the instant pot or in a pan if you saute in the pot watch closely and you will have to remove the meat to saute the onions and carrots.)

In instant pot line bottom w/ olive oil or butter to prevent burning. Pour in beef broth. When meat is browned dump in broth. Saute onions, carrots, and garlic. Dump in broth. Add parsnip, potatoes, and celery. Mix in Tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce.

Turn your instant pot to the Meat/Stew setting and press start.

Then go clean up all the carrots and onions that flew around the room as you were chopping vigorously. If you hear "OH MY GOODNESS" after you left the kitchen you may have left too much of a mess or every cupboard door open. One can never tell for sure. Put the dishes in the dishwasher. If you don't have one and you used every bowl in the kitchen... well Bless your heart.

Now as far as you know NO ONIONS WERE USED in the creation of this stew!
Had to type this up before I forgot how I made it. I might want to make it again... or never again.
I will let you know.

Tomorrow is Cowboy Beans and possibly Potato Kale soup for mom. I don't think mom will be making Beef Stew. This recipe may have contained too many steps. If she does make it she will simplify it in ways I could never dream up... and it will probably taste good.

✴✴✴ Update: I forgot to add a bay leaf or 2 to the stew. Mom approved Beef Stew. I ate it I enjoyed it. I can't say for certain if it was "good" ! My head cold has interfered with my tastebuds. Mom ate it, asked for more, and declared it "Delicious"! ✴✴✴ 

Slurping Good!

SOooooo My Lemon Herb Chicken Noodle soup was DEEEEELIIIIICCCCIOOOOOUUUUUSSS!!!   I mean I really loved it. A lot! I shall make it again! YUMMY so good! I shared a bowl with a colleague today and she consumed every drop! YES! The recipe is on my Approved Soup List. So good!  A 5 star slurp for sure!

Okay MONDAY...it wasn't too crazy. I am close to completing a couple Christmas art projects with the class. I had one student leave early and one absent today which made it a little challenging. I will attempt to catch them up tomorrow. Hopefully, with a little drying time. 

I must stop by the grocery store tomorrow....evening... someone remind me

Make the Soup...You'll be glad you did

G'nite

Crazy Week

It was quite a weak. I had a parent wigging out over something totally minor. I finally had to decide there was some "mom guilt" going on there because the response  was so over the top. However, I wasn't alone several teachers had parents mad about school lunch, playground behavior, and other things. The school lunch one was her daughter is a picky eater and when she got to lunch they were out of the choice she wanted so she wasn't eating. Ummm well make her cold lunch then. We have a company that makes our lunches. How much they make  of each option they decide we have no control over it. The playground incident the parent was certain their child was being bullied, turned out their child was lying. Then my parent I said in the progress report I'd like to see the student participating more.  We are lucky with our administration because they stepped in and took care of all these instances. There were others, but I won't go into detail. Anyhow, I want to say to the parents enjoy your last few days before break. Wrap those Christmas presents, bake some cookies, get ready for travel or visiting family, get the laundry done, clean the house. Do all the things I don't have time for because I'm at work.

To get myself back to a happy teacher I invited a student teacher to volunteer in my classroom this week. She is young energetic and the kids love her. I also asked 4 parents to come read a Christmas Story to our class every morning this week. That will start off the day on a fun note. The  week before Christmas break is mostly get through it however one can. The kids are squirrely and excited and unfocused. It is a challenge.

In my last Butcher Box I received some huge Chicken Breasts. I did kind of a combo recipe. I'm thinking about turning them into Chicken Noodle Soup, because January and February are on their way. I did a Lemon Herb Baked Chicken. I made a marinade ... Why don't I just share the recipe below. Keep in mind this is not taste tested or approved yet.

Lemon Herb Chicken

Marinade:
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
2 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/3 Cup Lemon Juice

It said to marinade 4 hours. I did mine over night so hopefully it isn't overwhelmingly lemon. Then the recipe I read suggested grilling it. I decided to bake it instead. I put some more olive oil in the bottom of a  9 x 13 baking dish dumped in the Chicken and the marinade. I looked up a similar recipe for baking it said 30-40 minutes cooking time. Chicken is cooked through when its internal temp is 165 degrees.

 I hope it turns out. I think a Lemon Herb Chicken would taste great when added to Homemade Chicken noodle soup. I think I'll have enough Chicken to shred some for soup and then eat some for dinner.

In other news I had a parent do a huge favor for me. She is a photographer. In return for the favor she insisted on taking a photo of me. Then the other day she posted this extraordinarily kind thank you from her. She lost her four year old son in a tragedy over the summer a couple years ago. Her son had just been in my second grade class. Her family kind of imploded after that and I stayed in contact privately and visited with her when I could.  The after effects of this loss has been ugly. I think she might be working her way to the other side. Her husband has not and for now seems to be lost to drugs and alcohol. I have worried a great deal for the kids. Their life has had a lot of chaos.


So my Chicken came out of the oven and it smelled amazing! I then realized I was missing celery, onion, and lunch for this school week. So I stopped and ran to the store. I bought freeze dried onion because rarely do I use the recommended amount of onion. Then the onion goes bad before I use the rest and that makes a stinky fridge. ANYHOW....I ran and got the ingredients. I made the noodles before I left for the store. They had a little time to dry. Mom said she never gives them a chance to dry and her soup is always good. LOL SHOCKING mom wouldn't give her noodles a chance to dry. the Chicken Noodle Recipe I use always calls for corn starch which I never add. It is only added as a thickener and doesn't add flavor.

12 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Cup Onion
1 Cup Carrots
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt
Egg Noodles
2 Cups Chicken

Egg noodles
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
add flour till you have a thick dough... then roll out as thin as you can get onto floured surface. Slice into strips with a pizza cutter.

It is all cooking in the Instant Pot on the soup setting. I have cooked it on the stove and the slow cooker and either way it always comes out good. Sometimes I add some garlic as well. Since their was garlic in the chicken I didn't add it this time.

The grocery store looked a little like it had been looted this weekend. They were out of a lot of things. I think maybe they'd had a sale and I missed it. I was able to get enough so I have lunch and dinner for the week. Hopefully, I won't have to stop and run too many errands this last week before break.

It's Derpy

I don't like staff parties. I don't really care for "small-talk." I was under considerable peer pressure to go, and so I was a team player and attended. It was different than past staff parties it was NOT a drunken  disaster. There was self-control displayed. Perhaps because it was 20 minutes from our school people realized they couldn't walk home intoxicated. I'm not sure what the difference was, but I'm glad I didn't feel like I had to escape before the stupidity started.

We had a white elephant gift exchange in which there was highly desired items like booze, a dad belly fanny pack, a Magic 8 Ball,  a 6 pack beer belt, and SHARPIES! There were also undesirable items like really ugly 1980's style painted angels, a Chia-Emoji, and the potty putter, and a nicely framed cow pie with some toilet paper. This game seemed to go on forever and ever. However, it did come to an end and I drove the 5 minutes home. Maybe I can get out of the end of year party since I went to this one.  

The white elephant gifts I came home with was a a dusty box with possibly a previously used s'mores making kit, a Merry Christmas (ugly) sign, and a seriously cheesy painted cow that said "Love one an-udder." I used to see a lot of these cheesy painted cows. I tried to find a similar  one but couldn't. So I went to my pals house gave the youngest the S'mores kit, the middle one the Merry Christmas sign, and the oldest the Cow Sign. The oldest is at that awkward tween age and the emotions that go with it. She'd just had a meltdown and I left it in front of her door. When she came out she started giggling so that was a good outcome. She told me it was "Derpy." She smiled as she said it so I had to assume that "Derpy" was good.  Apparently as the urban dictionary tells me "Derpy" means silly or foolish. I think both could apply.  I was happy to leave my White Elephant Gifts behind and others were happy to receive them. Their mom may have been less enthusiastic, and told me that they might end up in the yard sale next summer.

I haven't accomplished much today, but I have prepped a little bit for the last two weeks of school before break.

Playgrounds Lessons

Lessons learned on the playground!

1. Sunglasses aren't just for sun! The snow and rain never comes down straight here, only sideways.
    A new colleague said "Now I know why you wore your sunglasses out with cloudy skies."

2. If there is ice kids will slide on it. On a hill with potential for concussion,  on the flat, at the bottom of a slide.

3. If there is water the kids will go it. It doesn't matter if it's ice cold snow melt or muddy. They will still go in if they are wearing cloth sneakers and will have wet shoes all day.

4. If a student has to use the bathroom, they will wait till recess is over, till they've walked past the bathroom, till they've entered the classroom, till they've sat down, till you just start the lesson....before they ask to go.

5. Boys will mark their spot.

6.  Cattle-prods should be mandatory recess gear.

7. If  a student can run fast enough they can't hear you.

8. Purchase the LOUDEST regulation referee whistle you can get.

9. Never be caught without a band-aide.

10. 2nd Graders believe it takes 4-6 friends to walk an injured friend to the nurses office. Usually it takes 0. Once in awhile it takes 1.

11. If boys can re-enact an injury seen on  NFL games they will do so. With great flair. I think that is why they need a team to walk them off the field.

12. Jump-ropes are not aptly named. Why would one EVER use them for jumping?

13. Coaches should have to show up to playground duty and watch their students "play" the game they coach them . Then they should have to review the rules! Then they should have to stay and supervise.

14. Every parent should have to volunteer for at least 1 recess duty a year.

15. Winter recess gear must include knee socks, boots with traction, Long coats with hoods and gloves.

16. When you put your gloves on 10 seconds later a child will ask you to zip their coat. I need a zipper puller upper tool. Actually childrens' coats should come with extra long zipper pulls! Also no fabric to get their zipper stuck on!

17. Don't tie wet shoelaces. Just don't

18. It is easy to tell which children are making poor choices. When you start walking their way... they find another area of the playground to play on. They disperse. Quickly.

19. It is a great offense to "ruin" giant snowballs that have been on the playground for a couple of weeks. It is a major offense and the offenders should have to explain themselves to the principal.

20. If a tattler can tattle they will tell a tattling tale at recess.

21. Expect the unexpected.

23. If you give students an instruction make them repeat it back to you. It will stick in their brains a little longer that way.

24. If you want your colleagues to like you. 1. Show up to duty on time, don't go relieve yourself every day during recess duty(the office will help you out during the day), don't stick in one spot and not move (kids figure it out), take turns doing the undesirable recess task (whatever that may be at your school).

25. Did I mention expect the unexpected???

A NEW ONE!

Well Just when you're pretty certain you have said everything NOT to do on the playground someone tries something new. While on duty a student from another class came and said that two boys from my class had peed on the tire. I walked over to that side of the playground and called the two boys over to me. I walked them up to the teacher on that side of the playground. I said tell Mrs. So-and-so what you just did on the tire. One fessed up immediately and said "We peed on the tire."  I said okay you need to go to the office ask from the principal and tell him what choice you made on the playground. The one little boy kept saying  "I didn't do it, It wasn't me." I've heard that statement from him many many times this year. Usually, right after I watched him misbehave.  So, I wasn't buying his "Not-Me" story.  I went to tell the third teacher on duty and had just finished telling her and over the walkie-talkie we hear... "Mrs. So and So (the vice-principal) can you come to the office a couple of boys are in here that need to tell you about their playground choices."  The teacher asked if she should tell them and I said yes.   We went in from the playground and after quite awhile one of the boys returns, but not the other. Then the Vice-Principal came and I met her in the hallway. I had  a para-professional in the room. The one boy who had not returned his parents when called said that he had to go outside and help clean it up. She said the one kept insisting that "It wasn't him and he didn't do it. The Vice-Principal said "So when I go outside and check, and I WILL go outside and check will I see one pee spot or two?"  "...sigh...You'll see two."  She suggested he might want to change his story then and he finally confessed.  The tire is surrounded by pea-gravel and I assumed they had peed there. NOPE. They peed on the rim of the tire so they could watch it run around the edge. That boy had to go out with the Head Custodian and clean it up then sanitize it.  They also have 4 recess detentions.  It is so refreshing to a parent insisting upon consequences and then having an admin that enforces them.

What happened to the day?

Busy Day! I don't know what I accomplished today, but I was busy at it all day. I think I got a little teaching done! I am not sure what is sinking in with this group.  I need some patience. We had a staff meeting after school. It was a training regarding reading and the research is basically saying that students need to  struggle a little with reading. They shouldn't be reading text that is easy for them to read all the time. That doesn't help them to grow. Everything we read about the research today was the opposite of what our stupid reading curriculum is. Then we are told this consulting company wants to come observe us, however they want us to be using the curriculum and complex texts. Sorry peeps, but those two things are not possible. PICK ONE!!  With ALLLLLL OF MEEEEE I dislike this reading curriculum. It rarely has a "good" book, it NEVER has a "great" book, and it always disappoints.  Yeah... It is ridiculous... and we spent MILLIONS of dollars on this product in our district. MILLIONS.  Government schools

via GIPHY


I had my students write these "Thankful" essays with a twist. They had to explain why they were thankful for little things. For example staplers, calendars, scissors, tissues, shoes, and more. They were pretty funny.

Well I'm off to the showers!
G'nite

Editing?

Made it through conferences and overall I think they went well. They are completely exhausting. You just hope you explained everything clearly and that parents understand the message. I have a couple of students who are very apathetic. If parents do not care, they don't care. It is very hard to motivate those kids.

It was nice to have a long weekend after conferences. I ALMOST got caught up on laundry. I had dinner with my little buddy who showed off his reading skills. He has been practicing in Kindergarten. Fun to see a kid begin to love reading!

I've been reading my class Superfudge, By Judy Blume. Now I hadn't read this book since well lets say grade school. It was read to me in second grade. As I began to read it to my class I had to edit a bit. Have times changed? Did my teacher edit it as she read it too us?  Did some of the book go right over our heads? Hmmm It is still a funny and delightful book. However, I did have to edit a few times as I read.

Well... I'd better head off to prepare for tomorrow...

Ready?

Okay I think I am almost ready. For tomorrow. Tomorrow my marathon day of parent-teacher conferences! I have a few things to complete in the morning. To help myself out this afternoon I locked myself in my classroom. It worked!  A couple colleagues stopped by briefly, but I had warned them I was locking  myself in.  I was able to accomplish a lot on my "To-Do" list. I guess I should do this a little more often.

I hope it goes fairly smooth tomorrow. We shall see! Our students are released early tomorrow. I have them for a bit in the a.m. Then they go to  P.E.. They come back to the classroom for 1 and 1/2 hours then we have an assembly. After the assembly they are released to go home. It should go quickly tomorrow with the students at least. The conferences part... It is going to be a long afternoon.

Send me all your good vibes...

Hot Mess!

I keep mistakenly thinking that I am kind of caught up on things. Then I remember something else that I forgot that needed to be done A.S.A.P.  I just keep adding to my list. My goal for after school today was to conquer my desk. It  was pretty much overtaken by papers. I made a huge dent in it this afternoon and will need to put some things away in the morning.  I need to stuff report card envelopes before conferences on Thursday. I have some things to print as well. I shall get it done... one way or another!

I received a phone call last night asking me if I'd be willing to take a practicum student for a little bit. I said of course. She only has 6 hours she needs to complete so I think she will have them done within a week. It will be a little extra help for a week and so I will take it!

I spilled some coffee on my sweater this morning. I was attempting to rinse it out as best I could and I told my class.  "I spilt coffee on myself this morning."   One of my students replied "...aaannnddd now you're gonna be a hot mess!" I couldn't contain my chuckle! 

Well... I'm off... it is another busy day tomorrow!

AMP Sunday!

Well... I did not accomplish much other than resting yesterday. I had to make up for it today. I went to school and completed my A.M.P.'s (Academic Monitoring Plans) for my students testing below grade level in reading. I hope they are up to "par" because it took a lot of thought and a lot of time to complete them. 

I then worked on printing out the students work for intervention, work for this week, and a couple of things for weeks ahead. I am doing a week related to Thanksgiving. Including both fiction and non-fiction reading materials. It is kind of a short week as we have two early release days for parent/teacher conferences and our usual early release on Wednesdays. I hope it will be engaging enough to get us both through this crazy busy week.

I have some grades to finish inputting tonight. Then I can focus on what is next.
I rarely read anything the crazy rag New York Times releases. It is usually a lot on the nutty side. This one though is accurate. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of teachers not using Research and Evidence based practices to teach reading. NYT  This is more than a little frustrating. I know that colleagues are still using these "Whole Language" approaches. I know our ridiculously expensive and poor quality Basal Reading program does NOT teach systematic phonics.  I just do not know how to change it. I honestly do not think most teachers know what systematic phonics instruction is.

I had to turn up the heat a couple of degrees tonight. I realized that not only was it a bit chilly outside it was a bit chilly inside. I think we have ended our Indian Summer, spent about two weeks in Fall, and have moved on to Winter.

I'm off to finish my grading...

Saturday Boot Start

Having trouble boot-starting today. My sinuses are doing their annual fall running. It is very wearing.
I wish I knew how to make it stop. All the tricks in my repertoire  do not seem to work. I have a lot to accomplish before next week. Dragging myself along with my to-do list being so long, isn't ideal. I am doing what I can from my pajamas at home. I will have to get into school. Hopefully, with a couple good nights sleep I can get moving.

This week is parent-teacher conferences. It is always interesting. My longest day will be Thursday. I have so many that day that I am certain I won't be able to talk by the next day. I have to be on time. I hope parents are respectful and are on time as well. I don't have any extra time built in. We shall see how it goes. There is always one or two that you don't anticipate going sideways. It is also insight into the home life of my students. 

It does help that my pals invited me over for Turkey Dinner tonight. One must always capitalize Turkey Dinner, because it is just that good! It deserves  the honor. Well I am off to accomplish something...

Field Trip Day!

Field Trip days remove the challenge of lesson planning for the day. However, they are totally exhausting. A kid will forget their coat, their lunch, their permission slip, and if you're really unlucky all of the above. They will forget that the ground is covered in geese feces and attempt to wear them. You may have to correct a student in a colleagues class because after their teacher asked them five times to sit down, you can't take it any more, and suggest they'd better start listening to their teacher right now. This kiddo had full mastery of the lower lip pout and death glare after, immediately  complying to my order. The bus driver thanked us for having well behaved classes. I can't account for the other four classes, but the two on our bus tried to  behave.  You seem to be endlessly counting all your students to make sure you don't drive away leaving a kid  behind.  If all goes well, maybe...just... maybe....they learned something.  Arriving back to school you are completely out of juice, out of gas, out of energy. 

What does one do then?  Well, if you're lucky yesterday you began a thank you note to the fire fighters that entertained and taught us at the neighboring firehouse. You also had completed a drawing activity. Writing is a HUGE challenge for most second graders. Just getting them to write is painful and then getting them to write something legible is excruciating! Well not all just enough to make you tired. Some will need an hour to write a few complete sentences. We won't even discuss spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  I've decided to focus less on those last parts and just get them writing. The more they write, the more they will write. I have been trying to do a writing at least once a week. I don't make them edit and do another draft much at this point. That is just cruel when you find difficulty putting complete thoughts together. When you are a struggling reader, you are a struggling writer. Getting your thoughts onto paper can be hard. Reading their writing however, when I can read it, is absolutely the best. You NEVER EVER know what they will say. When you have them write about how their family works together they might say "My family doesn't work together, my mom and dad watch T.V. all day."   They might thank a firefighter for being "good guys!" They are pretty prolific writers when they tattle tale on each other. I have a "Tattle Tale" box. Reading the "Tattles" about what their annoying classmates do is the best. Hmmmmm Maybe teachers need a "Tattle Box!"  I don't think I'd find them as amusing. Oh well....

I eliminated spelling homework this week. There is just too much happening... I've surrendered to the crazy. Next week is Parent/Teacher Conferences. Oh my... I need a nap just thinking about it all...

George!

I was thinking about books I have read aloud to my classes over the years. Some I could read in the past and some I no longer can. This book  below was one of my favorites.


In part the history of that time was fascinating. The fact so many children survived this plague while their parents passed was horrific. I can no longer read books so obviously promoting Christian values. I wanted to share it though...what this man did with his life so unselfishly and at times at great personal cost was phenomenal. Read it to your kids, or for yourself.  It is a good one... a very good one.

Pots, Cardboard, Steam!

I am really glad I bought that steam mop. It takes a little while to heat up but once it does it is picking up whatever stickiness and spills left behind. It doesn't replace a broom, you will still need to sweep the floor and remove the big things. The steam mop is more for the drips, drops, and spills that leave the floor sticky or dirty. I  may have to steam mop again to be sure I removed all that sticky lemonade, but I can tell I was able to get up the worst of it. Some steam mops allow you to add cleaner to them and some do not. Just the steam picks up the worst of the dirt and the heat sanitizes. If that isn't enough then get the steam mom that allows you to add cleaner.

My other favorite tool is THIS:

This tool is FANTASTIC for not only opening those Cardboard boxes, but breaking them down for recycling. Get one. You need one, everyone should have one, or two, or three. They do sell them in a three pack.

My other recommendation of the day is get yourself an Instant-Pot It is my most favorite kitchen purchase in a very long time. I use it at least once a week.  I can have a pot of soup cooked in 35 minutes. It isn't overcooked it has came out perfect with all the varieties of soups I've made. I've made pulled pork and pot roasts. There are a lot more options on it, but that is all I've experimented with. I love it so much that this past week I found the larger size on sale I went ahead and bought it. I'm giving mom my smaller one. I can double my soup recipes and put some in the freezer. If you want to slow cook things it still has a slow-cooker setting. I love that the pot part is removable and dishwasher safe. Even the lid can be washed safely. Some instant-pots even have an app that you can turn them on from a distance. Of course you'd have to have MUCH more reliable internet than I do.

Speaking of the internet I was talking with a friend today that lives in the boonies. She mentioned how frustrating it can be that people living outside the boonies do not understand intermittent service. Your cell service and internet service can be awful on any given day. Sometimes impacted by storms, and other unknowns. Even when you make calls to customer service for different products they do not understand why getting on the internet isn't always possible. You can get caught in the circle of doom... where it is loading or syncing or updating. Usually when this occurs the internet goes out before it ever loads and then you use up all your data. Yeah good times. However, the upside of living in the boonies is that if you have a lot of breathing room and the Milky Way is visible almost every night.

Adding work...

I hate it when I add more work to my day. I ran a couple of errands stopping finally at the grocery store. Brought my groceries home was unloading them brought most of them into the house and....dropped a jug of lemonade. Dropped it onto the kitchen floor where it completely emptied very quickly. It splashed onto the neighboring rug of course. So I am  now shampooing my carpet and steam cleaning the kitchen floor. Sigh....

I highly recommend you avoid this activity... it isn't much fun

Halloween

Halloween is coming. Holiday's have gotten a bit out of control. Parents expectations of what we should do are ridiculous.  I keep it simple. One treat and  a couple healthy snacks. Many parents want to come in and hang out with their kids all day. It is so disruptive.  I do the treats at the very end of the day. We do a guided drawing and while they are coloring it we watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"  It is simple and relatively quiet. They enjoy it, but it isn't rambunctious. In years past the specials teachers would have  the "Monster Mash" which is dancing to Halloween songs such as THIS.  This year they decided they didn't want to have grade levels in the gym dancing. They didn't do all grades at once and they had 4 teachers and parent helpers. Apparently, this wasn't enough. So, they are watching movies and sitting the whole time. They expect less behavior issues. Since they are choosing to do that, I am throwing in an extra recess for my students. There is NO WAY we can make it through the day without moving about. YIKES! I can do my own version of the "Monster Mash" throughout the day and get them moving when they are out of control.

We have a field trip Monday. I've had a couple of nightmares about it. I hope it goes smoother than my terrible dreams. The field trip is organized by our state outdoor school program. They often have Americorp  volunteers that want to be teachers do the teaching. They usually do a great job because the lady that runs the program is a great trainer. They teach the kids about our local watershed and the water cycle. Speaking of the watershed. I had a colleague come ask me "Where the water-shed was?" I had to explain it wasn't a place but a process of getting snow or rainfall and how the mountains "shed" the water and it runs down into streams, rivers, lakes etc. I was a little horrified. This colleague has ONLY lived in the biggest city in our state which is in the desert. I think that the perception was the whole state was like this city. We are providing shocking revelations all the time like we stay outside when it snows, we buy our own snow-boots for recess duty, and winter jackets are a must. Every time the weather is slightly inclement this teacher is asking if we are cancelling whatever is going on.  The rude awakenings might send this one back down south to warmer climes.

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.