Annoying Habits

We have a big walk through / observation coming up this week.  We get this every year.  As I said earlier,  they are pretty stressful.  And it’s good to get them over with.  We’ve been instructed that no one is to be testing, going to the computer or Jiji labs, going to the library, or doing anything but explicit, direct instruction.  They want to see us teach!

A and His Hat

Okay, I have another one.  A came to school with one of those stuffed animal beanies.  His was a tiger, complete with long hanging down thingies that you can put your hands in to keep ..

They look sooo girly.

Getting Ready

Here we go.  It’s that time of year again.

People from our district are coming out to our school to observe us.  And by us, I mean the teachers.  They want to make sure we are using best practices while teaching.  And by best practices, I mean TAPPPLE.  I can’t remember everything TAPPPLE stands for, (and maybe I should, seeing as that’s what they want to see), but I know that they really want to see a lot of checking for understanding (that means pulling sticks randomly to call on students to answer questions, and having the class use white boards to respond to questions) and corrective feedback (helping them get the right answer if they don’t know it, and clarifying answers that are only partly correct).

Blah, blah, blah!

Just a bunch of hoops to jump through.  Get your classroom spotless, your boards up to date.  God forbid your focus wall isn’t current!

They come in, watch for about5 – 8 minutes, then leave.  Ten minutes later they come back and watch again.  Then leave for a while, then come back for a while.  It’s all over in an hour.

Then there’s nothing to worry about until I’m observed by my principal next year.

E and His Hat

E is in my class this year.  He’s a nice enough guy.  A bit quiet, and not the smartest guy in the room.  He and D like to giggle at each other.  Well, E’s got this new hat.  It’s actually like a beenie.  It’s a wolf’s head.  It looks like a stuffed animal on his head.  It’s cute.  Cute.  Like what a fourth grade girl would have on her bed at home.  Do you see the problem?  And then its got these long flaps that hang down for you to put your hands in.  So it’s like a wolf beanie, with built in gloves.  The whole thing looks a little girlish.

He wears it to school, and at recess, and then when we leave.  I wonder if he gets teased at all about it.  I wouldn’t be surprised.  He’s asking for it.

Back from Christmas

It’s been a long Winter (Christmas) break, but a good one.  I’m having trouble remembering my classes’ names.  Plus I have my Oral Language and intervention groups, so name recollection is a bit difficult today.  And my throat is drying out quickly.  That happens every time I come back from a break.

We spent about an hour going over school rules today after lunch.  The fourth grade broke up into 6 groups for 6 different stations outside , (bathroom, lines, blacktop, lunch lines, and lunch tables) and the teachers reviewed proper behavior at each location.  A worthy thing to do, but it could have been done faster in the classroom by the teacher.

But I think I’m glad to be back.  It’s been a good break, and I think I’m ready to be here again.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’d love to have another 3 weeks off!

It’s All About the Pencil

It’s a daily struggle.  You can’t forget about them.  You have to stay on top of them.  Pencils.  If you don’t pay attention to them, you’ll end up with 12 broken ones.  You’ve got to make sure they are sharpened before the school day starts.  Every time I’m in the work room, I need to bring at least a few back to the room with me.

Students are supposed to trade a dull one in for a sharp one.  But some times they don’t.  So my stash of 20 or so sharpened pencils dwindles as the day goes by.  On a good day, I end up with about 20 broken or dull pencils, and about 3 sharpened one.  But I rarely get good days.  On an average day I’ll end up with about 10 broken or dull ones.  None sharpened.   Some days I’ll sharpen a few when I have some extra time.  My goal is to go the entire day and have enough sharpened pencils to make it through the day without me having to sharpen any.  That seldom happens.

I do have 2 sharpeners in my room.  The electric one was one a student gave me last year.  It WAS pretty good.  But now it is really loud, and doesn’t sharpen so well.  I have a hand-crank one, too.  It WAS super good.  But now it doesn’t sharpen most of the pencils very well.  So to sharpen my pencils I go down the hallway to a good sharpener they have down there.  When I’m lucky a coupld students will come by before school and sharpen them for me.  But I never know if and when they’ll come, so I wait.  If their not sharpened by 8:30, I go down and do it myself (we start at 8:45).

My Life with J (the start of the 2011 – 2012 school year)

Who’s the thorn in my flesh this year?  What name am I going to be calling over and over and over again?  Who am I going to need to stop talking and pay attention?  J_ is the name.  He frequently does’t bring his homework.  He often doesn’t return things he needs to.  I’ve got mom’s text number, and I’ve already texted her a number of times to help her remind J that he needs to show her things so that she can sign it and that he can return it.  I think mom’s overwhelmed.

Field Day

It was Field Day today.  Shot put (heavy balls), soccer kick (accuracy), 50 yard dash, free throws, broad jump, and lemon/spoon race.  I was put in charge of 4th grade supervision, which ended up being a fairly easy job.

It was a fun day, but the sun came out pretty early, and made it pretty hot out there.  I forgot to dress appropriately, so I was out there in long blue pants and a polo shirt.  I was dying.  After the first event, I wised up and called Julie and asked if she could bring me some shorts.

Irene, who has always been a bit unusual, just seemed to be on the spectrum.  She was so excited about the day before we went out there.  She got all worked up, so weird.  After all was done she was crying because she didn’t place in any event.  She even ripped her hat accidentally because she was so mad/sad.

After lunch there were the relays, by grade level.  We squeaked out a 3rd place (out of 5 4th grade teams).  A pretty fun day, but not much done achedemically.  Oh well, 3 1/2 days left!

And I got a burn.

Gold Rush, 2011

We had a lot to do the morning of, but got the town all set up, thanks to the help of a few parents and students.

The kids did a great job singing, and especially square dancing.  It was a very fun atmosphere.  After we got all the classes seated at the stage, many of the parents came down to take pictures, so we just hung out for a short while.  After the play/singing, the kids quietly went to their dance spots, and did great!  You could tell they were having fun.  And you could tell the parents were enjoying watching their children perform.

After the square dancing, everyone hung out a bit more while parents came over to take more pictures.  Lots of pictures student with teacher.

We said goodbye to the parents and went back up to our classes to let the judges do their thing for the costume contest.  I had Wilbur and Suzy as my winners.  Wilbur had an authentic bandana to go with the rest of his cowboy gear, as well as an authentic lasso.  Suzy had an pink, frilly old fashion dress.

Then we went down to the Boom Town.  The kids loved it.  Jason worked at the saloon playing cards and pouring root bear.  Kids were getting “married,” playing horse shoes, getting a “shave,” dressing up, and going to jail.  Not to mention getting free pie.

The parents really helped in the boom town.  All we teachers had to do was stand around and chat.  It was really nice.

A half hour before lunch the classes went up, while Amy, some parents and I stayed back to help the custodians clean up.  After lunch I went back to finish cleaning up.

After school Amy and I made floats for the 4th grade teachers and custodians.  A great ending to an exhausting, but fun, day.

Open House, 2011

We only had a week after testing to get ready for Open House.  It felt a bit rushed.  But we got it together.  I’m sure the room didn’t win any awards for most awesomest room in the world, but it looked alright.  And although my room looked like a bomb went off in the morning of the big day, I didn’t have to rush to get everything together.  I actually had some extra time before the night began.

I only had 11 families not show up.  Not too bad.  I really enjoyed talking with some of the parents.  I had a sister of one of my students about 7 years ago.  Her dad is a little Mexican man who speaks very broken English.  But he’s really nice, and the older sister came, too.  It was fun to see all of them.

It’s so nice to get the evening over with.

Now, on to Gold Rush, and the end of school.