Working for the weekend

Man, is it nice to sleep in on Saturday (unlike my poor wife who had to get up and go to a math training today).

A few quick hits today.

First, speaking of my wife, we had an ultrasound done last Friday, and it was pretty spectacular to see our little 8-week-old wingnut, looking like a little spaceship from the old arcade game Defender. He's got a pretty huge head, and a really rapid heart beat. I'm guessing he'll be a ten-pounder at least, like his old man.

Next up, a friendly reminder and request to everyone who got a free copy of Learn Me Gooder a few weeks ago. Please don't forget to write a review online when you are finished. So far, only about 3 people have made good on that exchange. Thanks to those 3!!

I encourage everyone to check out the current Carnival of Education over at Bell Ringers. Carol is great about including posts from Learn Me Good, even when I forget to submit one! Thanks, Carol!

The Teachers Certification Degrees site has included Learn Me Good on its list of Top 50 Elementary Teacher Blogs. It's really just an honor to be nominated.

And finally, a few quick hits from the week at school:

-- The "Fruits and Vegetables" program has been upped to TWO days a week this year. So yesterday at around 2, we were asked by PA (it was either the 2nd or 3rd of about 5 announcements in the afternoon, but we're very "flexible" that way) to send a couple of kids to the cafeteria to get the veggies and then to let the kids eat them in class. This is because the kids have proven a tendency to use the veggies as projectiles when allowed to take them on the bus. My two gophers returned with buckets to broccoli and cauliflower. YUMMY!!
Oh, and the stuff was STILL all over the floor in the 5th grade hallway at the end of the day.

-- We practiced measuring, with a tape measure, this week. The kids enjoyed it. We measured body parts (get your mind out of the gutter) and then turned that data into bar graphs. In fact, I was in the process of demonstrating how to measure the circumference of one's thigh when the fruit and vegetable announcement came on. I now have proof that my thigh is bigger around than most kids' heads.

-- In my latest attempt to get my homeroom to actually participate in class, I made an appeal to the "excellent students" in the class. Without naming any names, and without visibly averting my eyes from kids I know NOT to be excellent students, I asked the "excellent students" in the class to please help me out by actively monitoring their partners while we did boardwork. I think this may have helped a bit. We'll see.

-- The kids SEEMED to grasp how to make change after we practiced, practiced, practiced nearly all day Monday and Tuesday, but on the quiz I gave yesterday, it became clear that most of them had forgotten again. In a scenario where two apples are being bought for 65 cents each, and a $5 bill is being produced to pay for them, a couple of kids STILL tried to add 65 + 2, many kids added the two apples but left that as their answer (not the change received), and a few still think you should subtract items you are buying. In this case, that means 65 - 65, resulting in the opinion that ONE apple costs you money, but buying TWO apples gets you both of them for free.
Is it any wonder our economy is in the toilet?

October quick hits

Catching up time here. I've either been too busy, despondent, or hungry to post much lately, and a little housekeeping is in order.

First of all, I have put the Kindle edition of Learn Me Gooder and the Nook edition of Learn Me Gooder on sale for only 99 cents through this coming Sunday, October 9. If you haven't snatched it up yet, please do so now, and tell all your friends that have an e-reader!

Secondly, a big thank you to those of you who have made good on your end of the free-book-for-a-review swap that I offered last week. I really appreciate it! And for anyone who is able, please copy your review onto Amazon.uk.co! Thanks!

Nextly, Carol of Bellringers was kind enough to include one of my posts in the latest Carnival of Education, so here's a little linky love for the Carnival.

Lastly, a big shout out to Paula at Dailycheapreads.com who featured Learn Me Gooder on her site today! If you have a Kindle, you HAVE to have dailycheapreads bookmarked!

First day wrap-up

Well.

THAT happened.

Yes, the first day is over, and as usual, nothing was usual. Here are a few quick hits from the first day.

1) Our morning announcements are now at 9:00, at which time a couple of 5th graders who apparently had just drunk 15 cups of coffee tore through the pledges, and then we were given permission to begin our instructional day. I love how 8:15-9:00 is considered separate from the "instructional day."

2) We have the last lunch this year (12:45) and the cafeteria actually RAN. OUT. OF. FOOD. While some would see it as a blessing not to be given a "burrito," it was really sad to see the last 10 or so kids in line standing there forever while the cafeteria staff scrambled to find a few peanut butter sandwiches and carrot and humus platters.

2.5) When another teacher and I began asking kids who had not touched their burritos if they would give them up, the surrounding kids (who had already eaten one death bomb burrito) started waving and shouting that they wanted another.

3) One kid in my class can barely write his name. He couldn't do much else.

4) It's cold in my room. I know this. I accept this. The kids, however, seem to think that if they say, "It's very cold in here" enough times, the temperature will magically adjust to their desire. One girl must have muttered that phrase 15 times.

5) At 1:53, we were asked by PA to "write all of your students' names on a piece of paper" to send to the office. Somehow, the technology used to print off class rosters for teachers this morning vanished or was made unavailable for office use later in the day. Oh, and we were asked to send it to the office by 2:00.

6) After passing out glue sticks to the kids, I noticed one kid putting the glue under his nose and inhaling deeply. After redirecting him, I quietly added, "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."

7) If it's possible, the bus situation is even more screwed up than last year. There are two "blue" buses, and they were in the wrong order this afternoon. In addition, they both thought they were going to the same apartments and kept sending kids back and forth to each other.

8) In the beginning, not a single kid in either class could tell me what odd and even meant. After a few examples, and discussions with their partner, almost all of them could tell me if a number was odd or even. *

*8.5) This was the one hopeful sign of the day, as most of the rest of it makes me feel that most of these kids are VERY low. We're talking sixth-round-limbo-stick low.

9) After PE, my second class came into the room and ALL needed to use the bathroom. But we can't take whole-class bathroom breaks anymore this year, so I had to send them a few at a time and work around the gaps.

10) One boy looked at my picture ID badge and said, "Is that a picture of you when you were young?"

Can't wait for day 2!

Time for an update

Wow, I just noticed today that I haven't written a post in over a week. Silly me, getting caught up in other things. :)

Here are a few things that have been happening...

- I got strep throat last weekend and was out last Monday.

- We "grew" butterflies in the classroom. Started with caterpillars, saw chrysali one day, and then out popped butterflies. They're at a point now where they need to be released into the wild.

- TAKS test is a week from tomorrow. This week is all review, then it's time to let go of their hands and see if they walk out in front of the bus.

- We apparently don't have to wear ties at work anymore.

- Someone thought it would be funny to put a bottle of glue under one of the bus tires. When it got crushed, it sprayed glue all over me and 2 other teachers, but mostly me.

- Our new air conditioning comes on whenever I am NOT in the room and turns off when class IS in session.

- I haven't worn a tie to school all year.

- The class next door to me got a new kid today -- 10 years old -- who has already started calling his female classmates "The L Word."

And now you're up to date! Go forth and multiply!

Quick hits time

Ah, so very nice to have a day off from school. Not exactly a restful day, as I spent it moving boxes and furniture out of my house and into storage and my fiance's condo. But still, nice to have the time to do that.

I played volleyball on Wednesday for the first time in months, and it was a doubleheader at that. Naturally, my whole body now feels like it's on fire. Every time I sit down, it's a struggle to stand back up. Makes moving boxes even MORE fun!

TAKS scores came in today, and they were exactly what I had been expecting. I had 8 kids that didn't pass. They weren't exactly the 8 kids that I had expected, though. 2 kids that I didn't think would pass did (nice surprise), and 2 kids that I thought WOULD pass, did not (not so nice surprise). Those 2 kids who I thought would pass, one missed passing by one question, the other missed it by two. I did have 3 kids who got a perfect score, so that's nice.

One of my favorite shows of all time ends this weekend. Lost has just had a fantastic run, full of mystery, adventure, and jaw-dropping awesomeness. I will totally be glued to the tv this Sunday. One of my favorite NEW shows, Flashforward, has already been cancelled. I honestly don't get how people don't love this show. It has a great premise, great writing, nice twists, and plenty of jaw-dropping awesomeness. Oh well, if only I could be a Nielson family.

The Learn Me Good Facebook fan page is only 5 members away from 200! Come and "Like" it if you haven't already!

Quick hits

Just a list of disjointed quick hits today:

TAKS reading today -- long and boring for teachers and students alike. Some of my kids found it to be too much and started acting like idiots, getting out of their seats, talking, passing things to each other when they thought the teacher wasn't looking...



That song by Kris Allen called Live Like We're Dying annoys my mathematical sensibilities. The key line in the song is "We only got eighteen, four hundred seconds in the day..." Forgetting the poor grammar, the fact that he leaves the word THOUSAND out ticks me off to no end. That's only the most important word in the number!!


My school was highlighted on the news last night. Not really a good thing.



Read most of a funny book my friend Stacy got me for my birthday. Posted about it over on the wedding blog.



I can never tell the difference between allergies and a cold. I have one or the other right now, and either way, it doesn't make me happy.


I truly enjoy my friends at school and their wittyness.

12 First week Quick Hits

The local sports radio station 1310 the Ticket calls them Quick Hits. Just really brief observations or comments. Here are a few of mine from the first week of school so far.

• If I'm going to get the Swine Flu this year (along with half of the US population), I know EXACTLY the kid that's going to give it to me. This kid has been coughing since day one, and despite my best efforts, I just can't get him to cover his mouth. I've already named my fantasy football team The Swine Floozies.

• The bus that I am charged with monitoring after school already has 3 kids in every seat (sometimes 4), yet there are always 30 more kids waiting to get on. Planning, anyone?

• Yesterday, the teacher who decided that the best time to fill her cup of ice from the student drinking fountain was right as my kids were waiting in line for it. Mind you, this was no normal cup. No Big Gulp, no Super Gulp, not even a Double Gulp. No, this was the EXTREME Gulp -- 256 ounces of icy goodness. May as well nickname it "The Potty Emergency." I wonder if she heard me mutter, "Are you kidding me??"

• Over-tired already of the game of "Bathroom Chicken." The game is basically played like this:

Student X: I gotta use it!!"
Me: We just took a class bathroom break 20 minutes ago.
Student X: It's an emergency!"
Me: Oh, come on, you just went, you can't possibly need to go again.
Student X: Oh yeah? Watch this!
(Student's face starts turning red, grunting sounds begin emanating, etc.

• The fact that my classroom is the size of a hotel walk-in freezer, but my class rosters are 21 and 22 kids. I'm running out of room! I know I can't complain, though, because one of our 1st grade teachers has 41 kids in her class...

• I got a new student while my homeroom was taking the pre-inventory math test (a test that I continue to despise, year after year). After getting this boy started on the test, I noticed that he had circled the words, "How many more" on one question. Somewhat excitedly, I leaned over and told him, "I see you know that those words are important, that's great! What do they mean?" He replied, "That they're magic." Not exactly what I was expecting, I persisted -- "And what do they tell you to do?" His response -- "To get the right answer." I maintain my optimism.

• What should be the easiest question on the math test, basically, what do a square and a rectangle have in common (though worded MUCH more complicatedly than necessary) -- WAY too many kids picking the answer that says they both have exactly 3 corners.

• A new little girl who cried for the first 15 minutes of class yesterday non-stop. Not silently, either. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that her little sister had gone to live with her aunt far away. She later told another teacher that she was crying because a girl in my class was calling her names. After a dose of sodium pentathol, she revealed the true reason, which was that she wanted to be placed in the classroom that her friend was currently in.
  

• This morning's quick write prompt was "What kind of books do you like to read?" While most of the kids were writing away diligently, I was walking around reading over their shoulders. After about 5 or 7 minutes, I got around to a little boy who had "My" written. That was it, except for a few more words that had been erased. I leaned over and asked him for some ideas verbally and then told him to write what he had just told me. A few minutes later when I checked on him, his writing had somehow actually gotten SHORTER, as he had erased "My" and replaced it with "I."

• Amidst all the chaos, we are responsible for checking all of our students' enrollment packets. One of my sweet little girls, as it turns out, lives in another school's zone. We had to send a note home with her today telling her parents that she needs to go to this other school.
  

• After 4 days, I am slowly making headway in stopping the chain reaction of cries of "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!" after every correct answer. More and more kids are remembering to silently give a thumbs up instead.

• In addition to morning duty, now the position of Accelerated Math Instruction Coordinator is no longer a paid spot either.
  

First day jitters

One day of the '08/'09 school year is now under my belt, and another exciting nine months begins!

I actually woke up at 4:30 this morning and took a walk around my neighborhood before getting ready to go to school. I also had a dream last night where I had gotten out of bed, looked out my window, washed my hands, and headed back to the bed -- only it turns out I had never gotten out of bed in the first place! Analyze THAT, Sigmund Freud!

All weekend long, I had been dreading my early morning crosswalk duty. The city of Dallas has been doing some construction on the street that my school is on, and part of one lane is cordoned off, which requires people in that lane to pull into the opposing traffic lane to get past it. But picture of this situation could appear in any dictionary under the word, "bottleneck."

Amazingly, there didn't seem to be any bottlenecking this morning. There was a police man in the area keeping an eye on things, but he wasn't directing traffic around the obstacle. People just seem to take their turns and work around it. Impressive, to say the least!

During morning duty, I saw lots of my kids from last year, and now that I'm not their teacher anymore, I can pal around with them quite a bit more. I also saw several kids that were familiar from parent drop-off last year who walked past me and informed me that they would be in my class THIS year.

As is always the case on the first day of school, there was mass chaos at first, with all of the parents and kids trying to figure out where to go. Nobody was actually in the classroom before 8:30.

A few quick hits about my class this year:

A lot more kids should be showing up soon, because I only had 11 kids in my homeroom and eight kids in my second class.

Those eight kids in the afternoon were very well behaved, but it was like pulling teeth getting them to answer ANY of my questions.

Some of my kids are either VERY shy on the first day of school, or they are very low mathematically, because when I asked them what eleven minus five was, they stared blankly at me like I had just asked them to spell the rising agricultural capital of central Micronesia.

The mother of one of my homeroom kids talked with me briefly this morning about how her son is "severely ADHD," and how she had just taken him off of his medication. I can't really blame her too much, because she said that the medication had basically turned her son into a zombie. But I hope that she's working closely with a doctor somewhere to find a comfortable middle ground.

One girl seemed obsessed with my hair. When she came into my class, the very first thing she said was, "I really like your hair." Later, while staring at it, she asked if it felt hard or soft, and asked how I got it to stay like that. Just your run-of-the-mill hair gel. I'm not sporting a fauxhawk or anything...

While discussing safety in science, one boy told me that you should wear safety goggles while "mixing potions" so they don't splash into your eyes. I was so tempted to say, "50 points for Slytherin!!"

While discussing a word problem that required subtraction to find a solution, potions boy also told me that he thought we should add on that problem because, "adding is good, and sometimes subtracting is not good."

Oh, and I have FOUR girls in my classes with the same name.

All in all, a pretty good first day! I would absolutely LOVE to keep my class size as small as it was today, but I know it will increase in the next couple of days.

So, how did everyone else's first day go??