I am alive

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. Since the end of July I have had to get ready for the start of school and that always drags me down. Now that we are two weeks in, I feel I have a grip on things.

Since I moved up a grade this year to third, I have half of the same students that I had last year. In a way it is a good/bad thing. I do know what to expect and what the abilities are of the students without having to feel my way around. The bad thing is that it is hard to implement new strategies because half of them remember how I did things last year. So it has been a ride these last two weeks.

Also our playground is not finished. So at the moment we are playing in between the church and the parking lot. Lets just say organized chaos ensues and I want to pull my hair out most days after recess. However I just keep saying that it will only be a month until it is finished (fingers crossed).

Hubby started a job at Memorial doing laundry and his schedule is wacky. He has to be at work at 6 during the week and 4:30 if he works weekends. So he is getting up an hour and a half before his start time and it only means that I have to get up with him because the alarm is on my side of the bed and I refuse to wake up to annoying beeping sound. :)

However we aren't sure how long this job will last because 1. we believe he is becoming a scapegoat for everything and 2. he was told that Memorial is looking to outsource laundry. So we are back to the drawing board on looking for jobs. He is also toying around with the idea of a vet tech program at Brown Mackie. So we don't know really where we are headed. It is always fun to be surprised :)

Mom and Dad are headed to Texas today for two weeks. Dad is going to be part of a trial study and needs to be down there for two weeks straight and then he will go back every week Tuesday until Friday for the following four weeks after his two weeks are finished. Hopefully everything goes smooth for the next six weeks. I just ask that you keep him in your prayers. :)

I'm baking up a storm today for a get-together at my brother's. He is supplying the house and the grill and I am bringing the food for him to cook. I think it is a good deal since my house is a tad on the smaller side. So I hope everyone has a happy Labor Day!

Thank You

As I was out on recess duty yesterday, I had one of my students come up and tell me that Logan just threw the basketball at his head. So I called the over Logan and asked why he threw the basketball at the other child's head. He replied that we were playing a game about aliens and so-and-so was the alien. So I asked Logan what he owed the other student, and Logan replied, "Thank you?" As much as I wanted to laugh, I reminded him that he needed to say that he was sorry.

So I guess the new thing to say to another child that one hits is "Thank You!"

Kids gotta love 'em!

The Countdown is On

Well this is the final week of school and the last day is the day after Memorial Day. I am happy, but I am also feeling the pressure of the end-of-the year crap that needs to be done before the students get their report cards.

I need to finish grading the huge bag that is sitting in my car at the moment. I am also giving a Unit 7 test in Math tomorrow that I would like to stick in the grade book. On the other hand I am so totally sick of grading.

We have been informed by our principal that we still need to teach and go through workbooks and introduce new material. Hello....I am having a hard enough time to keep my students focused. It is not until I threaten them with sending them to the principal's office that they settle down. I loathe this time of the year.

I also need to write down report card comments and print up awards. So as the week drags on so will my body because I am also battling a sinus thing. It seems that when it rains it pours!

Is This Really a Good Idea?

We were told yesterday that our Home and School Association (HASA) is looking into getting new paper towel and soap dispensers for next year. That is a good idea because the ones that we have are really gross and in fact the entire bathrooms could be updated.

However they want to put in automatic soap and paper towel dispensers. Hello! We are in an elementary school where kids will play with anything! So I guess another duty to add to my job is going to be to patrol the dispensers and do I dare let the students go in by themselves? Why doesn't anyone ask the teachers what they think? Blah!

I have things to do

A student of mine handed me a note today that said, "I will be picking her up at 11:00 today." Nowhere on the note did it say why. When the student handed me this note she told me that "She had things to do today!" What the heck you are in second grade. I just had to chuckle.

Apparently because her daughter did not make her reading goal for the school year, mom was taking her children who did not make it and treat them to an afternoon of fun. Due to the fact that the students who did meet their goal for the year got to go bowling.

Sometimes parents just don't make sense. Although I was sure to send home the work that we were completing this afternoon. :)

I feel a bit old

I was aged just a bit this week when it was announced that one of my former students is being sent off to Iraq this week. Talk about feeling old. This student was in the sixth grade being of the first class that I ever taught back in 2002.

While that particular class is finishing up their senior years this month and getting ready to graduate, he is being sent off to the desert. His mother home schooled him for high school and it doesn't help that mom isn't all there. Although I am sure that he signed up for the army as soon as he turned 18 and left his house.

In the three years that I taught social studies to him, he was always engrossed in what wars there were and the kind fighting techniques that were used. Needless to say, he is probably loving the fact that he did get shipped out. Although I am sending prayers his way to keep him safe. :)

I Think We May Have a Problem

This is what one of my students brought back to school today. It is his social studies book. He has been without it for the past two days. I told him that he needed to bring it back on Wednesday or he was talking to the principal about why he couldn't bring his book back to school. Well now I see why he couldn't.

It literally has been ripped out of the binding. In my seven years of teaching I have never seen anything like this. I asked him what happened and he told me that he left it at his babysitters and when he woke up the next morning this is what it looked like. I asked if Dad had seen it yet and he replied no. I believe that we have some anger issues going on here. What do you think?

So needless to say I was going to talk to Dad after 1st Communion practice tonight, and they failed to show up. However we did have one student there with a professional photographer and videographer. Hello....it is practice!

Why is teaching getting weirder as the years go on?

Monday Musings

Okay I step into my classroom this morning at 7:20 and looked at the phone in the classroom. Yup the dang red light was lit up. That meant that somebody left me a message. Nothing like having a message first thing on a Monday morning. I was going to try to ignore it, but my senses came to me and I listened.

It was the same parent whose child was nutty last week (aka the one who called me such a lovely name). She asked me to move her daughter away from two other students. Okay so I complied with that. Then when I saw mom, she asked if I had gotten her email. I replied that I haven't yet checked my email. So I went and checked my email and read what she had to say. Oh the joys of teaching.

Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, a student came up to me after morning recess to tell me that another student just flicked her off. Oh what the heck!?! I called the student over to me and asked if he just flicked her off and he said yes. (Heck the kid was honest, I have to give him props for that!) I just said in a very calm voice that he was going to talk to the principal later and told him to sit back down.

Needless to say the student that did the flicking missed lunch recess and afternoon recess. Also my principal came in with the student after lunch and personally moved his desk back to a corner of the room and told him that was his new spot until he learned to respect other students.

Gee whiz...I really didn't have this much trouble teaching junior high students. Heck I am already counting down the days until the start of summer vacation....19 days! It really couldn't come soon enough.

She Said What?

I have a second grader who is beginning to test her parents. Needless to say that she has begun using swear words around them and I was told yesterday that she really wanted to get in trouble at school. This is my student who couldn't be anything but nice.

Mom also told me that when her daughter walked out of school yesterday, she walked straight up to mom and told her nothing about her day and just whispered to mom that "My teacher is a *itch." Needless to say mom went home and had the girl put soap in her mouth for a minute, just like she warned her she would do.

Why the mom felt the need to tell me is beyond me, but I think the student is wanting some attention. However, I'm sure that is not the first time some student had called me that. Heck I taught junior high for five years! However it is the first time a second grader has called me that.

Shouldn't a second grader be happy go-lucky? Gee whiz!

Fire Codes

The school had a visit from the state Fire Marshall last week and we were updated about fire codes.

We were told at our meeting yesterday that we must keep our classroom doors closed at all times because they are fire doors and apparently fire cannot make their way through them. So I am guessing that the hallway doors must be closed too? Does that mean that we are going to whack a few unsuspecting students?

We have also been told that our bulletin boards must NOT have any paper backing and that only 20% of the board can be filled.

Excuse me but what in the heck am I supposed to do with my calendar and message center? "Sorry kids, we cannot learn the calendar because it takes up more than 20% of the bulletin board." Also my bulletin boards are over 50 years old and they are not the prettiest things in the world, so paper backing is a must.

As for displaying student work out in the hall, I guess I can forget that too because having 16 students would definitely cover up more than 20% of the board.

If there is a fire, do you think that 20% of a bulletin board is going matter in the long run? I swear that some people have nothing better to do.

The Lesson

Here's a giggle:

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathering them around him, he taught them the saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek
Blessed are they that mourn
Blessed are the merciful
Blessed are they who thirst for justice
Blessed are you when persecuted
Blessed are you when you suffer
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven....

Then Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this down?"
and Andrew said, "Are we supposed to know this?"
and James said, "Will we have a test on it?"
and Phillip said, "What if we don't know it?"
and Bartholomew said, "Do we have to turn this in?"
and John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this"
and Mathew said, "When do we get out of here?"
and Judas said, "What does this have to with real life?"

Then one of the Pharisees present asked to see Jesus's lesson plans and inquired of Jesus his terminal objectives in the cognitive domain.

And Jesus wept.

Randomness of a Busy Week

Dad came home from the hospital on Wednesday. I even think that he was back to work on Thursday. The man just doesn't know when to take it easy!

I had after school duty all this week. That means that I usually don't tackle the grading until all of the students are gone. So I was a half-hour behind everyday. So it meant that I didn't leave school until almost 5 o'clock everyday. It makes for a long day when you get there by 7:15 every morning! I am still behind on grading and lesson planning and having to finish up the rest of it today.

On Saturday, our school had their Mardi Gras fun fair. We were required to be there for an hour. We were also required to purchase a spaghetti dinner ticket. I handed mine back. There was no way I was going to pay $6 for a ticket. I showed up for my hour despite the weather being totally horrible outside. I have a feeling the person who ordered us to be there did not even show up. It is usually the case.

I have two cats who have been required to go to the vet for the past three weeks. Isabelle has a pirate eye. After going to the vet for the first time two weeks ago, the vet thought that she had an eye irritation and gave us drops. A week later it still was not clearing up. So we take her back to the vet and it is determined that she has a scratch on her eye and he missed it the first time because her eye was so swollen. So now we have a cream we have to smooth on the inside of her eyelid two times a day for ten days. The other cat Jenni has a skin infection. The back end of her is bald. She was taking pills and an antibiotic. I treated her for fleas and now she is still not looking better. So needless to say she needs to go back to the vet this week. It figures that all of this happens while hubby has no job.

My winter coat's zipper broke on Tuesday. I thought that it was a heck of a time to break! So I have been wearing my hubby's large winter coat. It keeps me warm and that is about the only thing that counts at the moment. Plus every store is wiping out their winter coat collection to make room for bathing suits. Blah!

We got our DVR on Thursday. I am totally in love with this piece of equipment and did not eeven know what I was missing. Hubby even went through old VHS tapes that we used to record shows on and disposed of them. He says it is going to save on wear-n-tear of the VCR.

Now this coming week is a four-day week with a meeting on Friday here in town. Hopefully it will be a normal week despite the snow that we are having outside. Happy last week of February!

Frustration

Bathroom breaks. Yup I am frustrated about bathroom breaks. It seems no matter what I try to do I get yelled at about it. I can't take the entire class because we get too loud in the hall waiting. I can't send one student at a time because they end up goofing around and they have to go with the entire class.

I have three boys that cannot be in the bathroom at the same time together. So taking the entire class becomes a 10 minute event. I have two boys that cannot go by themselves because they were goofing around in the hall or in the bathroom. So unless I want to have an accident in the room the entire class has to go.

I had my entire class ready except for one student. I took the class back because they were already yelled at for being too noisy. So I figured one student wouldn't be a big deal. Gee was I wrong. I get called out into the classroom to be asked "Did you know so and so was in the bathroom?" I replied I did and then was proceeded to be told that he is no longer allowed in the bathroom by himself because he was making noise and talking to another student (not from my class). I explained to her that I only took the entire class because so and so cannot use the bathroom by himself. She told me that tell him to come to her office and she will take him.

HELLO you are never in your office!!!!!!!! She then proceeded to tell me that I need to limit my bathroom breaks to two a day. Yuppers that's right two bathroom breaks a day for seven and eight year olds.

I am screwed either way.

You know it is cold when...

you find your cat curled up under the covers. Seriously this is what I found last night as I was crawling into bed. Lucy has done this on occasion, last week I found her completely under the covers.

Although today is rather a nice day, I feel horrible. I hate, hate, hate shifts in the weather. My poor head cannot stand it. Also I had three students out sick on Friday. So between a change in the weather and the germs floating around in my classroom I feel crappy. So as a result I have been in bed or laying on the couch sleeping for the majority of the weekend.

I have had a headache since Friday night that will not go away. I feel so bad that I am thinking about getting a sub for tomorrow. Which is something that I hate to do because it is more work for me. I have not taken a sick day in over two years. It is easier to drag myself through the school day than it is to plan for a sub. Although I really don't think that I will be able to drag myself through.

So happy February! What a way to start off the new month.

The Art of Handwriting

This is a topic of conversation that came up today during our In-Service. Our principal is really old-school and believes in the art of handwriting. We have a contest that we are supposed to have the students complete by the end of February.

She would like us to constantly correct the students on their pencil technique and how they pull their pencil down on the paper. She would like us to spend more than 15 minutes teaching handwriting. We are NOT to tell the students to open up to page so and so and complete it. We are to have the students practice on the board, on blank pieces of paper, and newspapers.

I, on the other hand, totally disagree with the teaching of handwriting. I am constantly short on minutes trying to teach Reading, Grammar, Math, and if I am lucky I can squeeze in Writing and Science on a good day.

I believe that students have their handwriting technique down from Kindergarten and it is somewhat tweaked in the first grade. By the time I have them in second grade, I believe, that they are already set in their ways and it is impossible to correct them.

I also remember this speech back when I taught junior high. Explain to me how to correct a 12, 13, and 14 year old on correcting their handwriting. It just isn't going to happen.

I believe that if I can read the paper, I am in good shape. Even on standardized tests it tells the student to write in what is most legible (cursive or print). However, isn't everything being done on computers?

Now I will go through the correct techniques for teaching cursive in the next few weeks when we begin, but I will not have the time to spend more than 15 minutes of my precious time on these correct techniques.

What do you think? Is the art of handwriting really that important in school anymore?

Lysol Please

I have had a student out since Monday. I received a note from the office on Monday stating that he was in the ER the previous night and was sick. That was it nothing else. Tuesday rolls around and the student is still sick.

Today (Wednesday) the student shows up and still looks horrible. He doesn't say anything to me. So I send everyone off to art and then they come back after 45 minutes and we do our spelling test. He barely makes it through the spelling test because he is all congested and coughing a nasty cough. At this point I am keeping my distance. When we begin our grammar lesson that is when he sneezes and apparently pukes on his desk.

The student next to him made a ewwww sound. I sent the sick student off to the bathroom while I took a paper towel and threw it over the desk and went on with my lesson. If I had made a huge commotion out of it, an entire class of 7 and 8 year-olds would be chaotic. So once recess rolled around (15 minutes later). I called down to the office and had the janitor sent down to my room.

She had already cleaned up and disinfected the bathroom. She then Lysoled everything in the vicinity in my classroom. I had her throw his papers and pencils away that were on top his desk. She sprayed that stuff everywhere and used Clorox wipes to wipe even more things down. I have a very clean room at the moment. At least I am hoping.

After that whole episode this morning I just felt icky the rest of the day. I was planning on going over to my parents tonight to eat. However I decided against it because I don't need to be carrying some flu bug to my dad. It really is the last thing he needs.

So a nice relaxing evening of not touching anything school related is in order. :)

You know you're a teacher when....

I am sitting around the house this morning because of a two hour delay. I normally would go back to bed but I fell asleep at 8:30 last night. So I am well rested. I came across these funnies called You know you're a teacher when....

• You can make up games on the spot.
• You realize there are never enough pencils/glue sticks/scissors in the world.
• You see a child misbehaving in the supermarket you automatically give them "the look".
• You have perfected "the look" which turns any child to stone.
• A social life was a thing you used to have.
• You know the life story of every single child in your class, and can recognize them all from the back of their head.
• You dread notes from parents.
• The word OBSERVATION sends blind panic through your system.
• Weekends are spent planning for next week.
• You can't remember the last time you blow dried or straightened your hair.
• You can maintain a straight face in ANY situation.
• Stupid names of children in your class become the norm to you. Also, you realize some names you will never name your own children, due to experiences with children who have that name!
• The staffroom is your sanctuary.
• Packed lunches are a part of daily life.
• You want to choke a person when they say "Oh, you must have such FUN everyday. This must be like playtime for you."
• You know what all the "must haves" for children are right now.
• You can sense misbehaviour without actually seeing it.
• You don't know whether to laugh or cry when someone says "Teaching? That's an 8-3 job! You're so lucky!"
• You say things once, then repeat them, then ask if everyone understands what you are saying, before repeating again.
• You know at least 5 different methods of doing multiplication (not including a calculator)
• You secretly love it when a child in your class has a birthday - treats!
• You get fed up with different news reports everyday from politicians telling you how to do your job - why don't they spend a day in a school for a change?
• You find yourself using cliche teacher phrases that you swore to yourself you would never use - e.g. "pens down, arms folded, eyes front." "I'm sorry Reece, you clearly have something more important to say/be doing than concentrating on my lesson" "tuck your shirt in"
• You don't bother telling people anything about your job as they never seem to fully understand the stress...(sigh)
• You count down the days till half-terms, holidays, weekends knowing that without them you would be headed for a nervous breakdown.
• You have more control over/respect from children than their parents.
• When you meet someone else who is a teacher, you have an immediate bond.
• You loathe children who finish their work quickly!
• There are headache tablets in your desk drawer.
• Stickers are still a form of excitement for you (especially scratch n sniff ones!)

He did what?!?!

As I was conducting reading groups today, one of my students came up to the group in a panic yelling, "Bobby* just ATE a crayon!" What the heck was the first thing going through my mind.

Then Penelope* proceeds to tell me, "I told him to eat a crayon and he did. I didn't think he really would!" I look up and sure enough Bobby is wiping crayon out of his mouth with a tissue, shouting "I didn't know she was kidding!"

I asked Penelope why she would do this and she just replied, "I don't know." She felt totally horrible though.

Then another student comes up to me five minutes later and says, "Tiffany just put an eraser in my mouth."

Oh gee whiz, could life in the second grade get any more exciting?

*I have changed the name to protect the innocent. :0)

I hate rainy days!

There is nothing worse than a rainy Friday. I actually dread Friday's because I have no preps. I have the students from 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon straight. My saving grace is usually 15 minutes for morning recess, 20 minutes for lunch followed by 15 minutes for recess, and then a 15 minutes of recess in the afternoon. However when it rains it means the only time that I am away to hear myself think is the 20 minutes that I get to scarf down my lunch. Otherwise I am cooped up in the classroom watching recess float by. Gee an indoor playground sounds great on these days! It would save my sanity. :)

Wild and Wacky Weather

This has been an extremely wacky day of cold, miserable weather. I thought that we might have indoor recess all day because of the heavy rain that I drove in this morning. Then all of a sudden we have sunlight for the first recess. Yahoo!!!

Then during lunch recess it looked like it would start raining. It was spurting little rain drops here and there, but nothing major. So the students went out. About three minutes before recess is supposed to end they are lined up because it just started to downpour! Okay I can deal with the three minutes that we have left of recess. I just get to transition early into Math.

Then afternoon recess rolls around and the sun is shining and all seems well. That was the case for 11 minutes of recess and then the other 4 minutes we were being pelted with hail. Yup hail! Try lining up second and third graders in a hail storm. I have some students covering their heads, some opening their mouths, some screaming, and some picking up the hail off of the ground. Just as soon as I got the students inside, it stopped hailing and the dang sun came back out.

I just cannot win today!