Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Playing Hooky!

I'm playing hooky today! hehe! I have a ton of homework still for my class, so I'm staying home to finish it. When I'm done, I'll be done with this class. Wahoo!

As much as I love learning, I never imagined how much work getting my Master's would be. And I never thought I'd be getting it without the help of Joe, my husband. He'll get back in the country in time for me to be done with my regular classes. I tell you, when I graduate, I'm going to throw a big party! :)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

What to do?

Progress reports are due, this week I think. I'd better check on that. So what do I do with the kids after that? For my reading and writing group, I'm just going to keep on going with their lessons. They are learning so much and I'd hate to lose that momentum. My other student who is DD, I guess we will just hang out and have fun. He isn't really on the cusp of learning anything or developing anything.

It sure seems a waste to have this much time left after progress reports. My reading group could make some more progress by the end of the year, which is four weeks from now. We'll only have five weeks on this progress report. Paper work, paper work. OI!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Too early to pack up, but...

But I really want to! hehe! I'm getting excited about moving back home for a month and then on to our new destination, Hillsboro, Oregon! Hillsboro hasn't posted jobs for next year yet. They've only just started posting for the summer. So I'll be waiting to hear about jobs for next fall. I really, really want to work close to where we live. I get cranky when I have to deal with traffic.

My students are doing so well. I'm so proud of them! They have all grown in their reading and writing abilities. We have writing prompts that they work on three times a year, and it is that time of year again. They have written easily twice as much as they did last time, if not more. Wow! I'm so proud. sniff, sniff. It is times like these that I love being a teacher. :)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

4 weeks of school left!

This is going to be a long, eventful summer. We are moving to Portland, OR. The school district that we are moving into doesn't start until after Labor day. That is going to be so weird! I've always been in school a few weeks if not a month before Labor day.

We are headed back to Boise in a month, then we will start getting our things ready for Hillsboro, the suburb that we're moving to. I am going to take all of my teacher things with me this time. I wasn't able to bring it all down here with me, because we didn't have that much room. I had to fit all of my teacher materials into my Beetle Bug, and that isn't that big of car. :)

Background: I live in Meridian, Idaho. My husband is in Holland for a year learning a new machine that his company is making. That way when it is over here, he can service it. So since I'm getting my Master's and have two young girls, we moved down here to Phoenix to live with my parents while my husband is away. My 2nd grader requires a lot of help with her reading too, so I really needed the extra help. As soon as school is over, we're headed home to Boise, Idaho. Then we'll pack up a bit, not everything, and get ready for our move to Portland, or Hillsboro to be more specific. We can't sell our house because it is worth so much less than when we bought it. So we'll be living in an apartment for a while. That is my life in a nutshell right now. Oh, I'm getting my Master's in Reading. :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Toys in the classroom



I teach 2nd graders for a reading and writing group. There is one boy that keeps bringing toys to class. If he kept them in his pocket, that would be one thing. But he keeps playing with them. I've taken them away and given them back at lunch when he goes back to his gen ed class. Well, today he brought more toys! So being the mean teacher I am, I took them away again. Then when class was over I walked with him back to class and gave the toys to his teacher. I hope he has learned his lesson and won't bring toys to school anymore.

What would you do?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

32 days and counting

32 days until this school year comes to an end. It was hard for us to have such a short summer last year. We got out in June and then started at the beginning of August. This coming summer we will have the longest summer yet! We get out 5/21 and won't start summer again until after Labor Day. What a relief that will be. Especially since this summer we are moving. We'll need as much time to get ready for moving as we can get. Plus this will be the last summer of my Master's program, so it will be nice to have some extra time to work on that.

It is bitter sweet to have this year come to and end. On the one hand, leaving a team that doesn't work together will be so very nice! On the other hand, I will miss my roommate, and our students. I told my students the other day that I wasn't coming back and they all got sad. That is nice to know I'll be missed. It is so hard on students in special ed sometimes because there is such high turnover in that department. I hope that they will have some consistency in the future. I will also miss my paras. I've had some awesome paras this year. I wish I could take them with me.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Next week we're back to normal!

Testing is done for my 2nd graders. Wahoo! The 4th graders have one more test to take, science. My daughter is one of them.

I misses my little reading group of five kids. I had the "over" to play Pictureka today. They weren't scheduled to come to my room, but I thought they deserved a reward from their tests. :)

All my paperwork is done, not the meetings. But that is okay. We'll "get 'er done." :)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Almost done!

My 2nd graders are actually done with testing. The 4th graders are the only ones who have testing left because they have to do the science portion of the test. I'm going to bring a movie in for my special ed students to watch on Friday. This has been a tough week.

Today while I had no students, I planned for the rest of the school year! Yahoo! Don't tell my principal, she might send me home for the rest of the year and get a sub. hehe! NOT! There isn't money for a sub. :)

I'm glad that testing is almost done. Whew!