I went on a field trip.
Category Archives: small town school
where i work, only, i have to be careful what i post if i am going to be more open about this blog
First faculty meeting
My first faculty meeting of the year. I am knitting and using my computer so I don’t talk too much. I tend to get myself in trouble when I speak up at meetings.
Sunday Night Blues
Well, here it is, Sunday night. I should be heading for bed, but instead I am up blogging and playing PackRat on Facebook. I just gotta finish that set!
Friday night we went out to dinner at Top of the Hill Grill. They will be closing in the next few weeks for the winter, and it isn’t as much fun when it is cold out anyway. Then we came home and watched TV. Saturday we did some shopping and Best Lady came and did my hair. Saturday night we were supposed to go to a staged reading, but I didn’t feel up to it. Today we slept late, had a very late breakfast at The Chelsea and went to pick out a tree to replace the one we lost. We will plant it this week. Tonight I went to see Mama Mia with my mom and sister. It was pretty good.
I am so not in the mood to go back to school. My house is in even worse shape than it was at the start of the summer and I didn’t get anything on my list done. What the heck do I do all day? I know I should go to bed. Tomorrow I will do another installment of “my days at Star Island”. I am sure you are all waiting on baited bated pins and needles.
Back to school
I just got my least favorite paycheck of the year. The one containing the letter from my superintendent, welcoming us back to the new school year. Just a reminder of how quickly the summer is going.
26 days and counting.
Trip to the Orchestra
Dear BMC,
Thank you so much for providing an experience of culture for the children of Windham County. Being able to accompany my First and Second Graders to Ferdinand the Bull was wonderful. Each of my students were enthralled with the concert. The narrator and conductor made it so easy to understand and enjoy. I know they will talk about it for months. Thank you again for enriching our lives.
Happy Small Town Teacher
Dear Freakin’ Bus Company,
Thank you for nearly ruining a wonderful day for 40 first and second graders and their teachers. We were ready at 5 of 9:00, with our coats on and in our groups, to get on the bus and head into town for the show. The kids were so excited to go see Ferdinand the Bull in concert. We lined up in the hallway and our music teacher went out to get the bus – which had been sitting in the parking lot since the kids were dropped off – to pull around to the front door. Instead she watched as it pulled out of the parking lot and down the road.
Dear Bus Company, why when we called to find out why the bus left us did you say “she is on her way”? Obviously she wasn’t, since she was headed away from the school. Why did you let 40 kids and their teachers stand in the hallway for 20 minutes waiting for the bus afraid they would miss the show? Why if on Monday the dispatcher knew we had booked a bus, on Thursday did no one realize?
And why do you keep doing this to us? If this wasn’t bad enough, it was the 3rd time in less than a year. Last spring you kept the third graders waiting and this fall the second graders. Not to mention all the times this year you have only sent 2 of our 3 buses at the end of the day. Do you know how hard it is to scramble and figure out how to send little kids home on different buses.
Thank you for owning up to your “mistake” today and refunding our bus money. We enjoyed the show, no thanks to you. Maybe you should learn how to run a business. Jerks.
Disgruntled Small Town Teacher
Snow day #3
I didn’t blog on day #2, I don’t even really remember it. But here I am on day 3. Our last built in snowday.
Oh yeah, and I just got a phone call telling me that school is canceled tomorrow. We almost never get 2 days off in a row. Unfortunately, that means we have to go an extra day at the end of the year. A Monday. Who wants to end on a Monday?
Cooties
My students love this video. We watched it 3 times in their classroom the other day and twice in tech today.
Properly nouned
Last week we learned about Proper Nouns in Literacy. We play fun games when we learn Proper Nouns. Games that clearly do not teach them anything.
For example:
Me: I am going to name a common noun, a person, place or thing that is just regular. You need to give me an example of a special kind of that common noun that has a capital letter. Like, if I said, girl you would say Sarah. Okay? Name a kind of truck (4 rough and tumble boys and two girly-girls, I thought I was starting easy).
T-man: pick-up
Me: good start, but that’s not a name, that is a type. Anyone else?
Smart boy: garbage
Me: Still not quite. Does anyone have a truck at home? What is the name of the truck?
*crickets*
Girly-girl: I know one. Hess. A Hess truck.
Me: Okay. Let’s move on. How about the kind of car your mom drives?
Smart boy: Mini-van.
Me: Not quite. How ’bout the name of the mini-van?
Smart boy: I got nothing.
We moved onto stores and resturaunts. They are better at that.
Friday night fun
I am so glad it is finally Friday. This was a very long week. My class has been kind of off the wall. We’ve had fluctuating attendance and disruptions. We are working our way slowly through the book, focusing on the story, retelling, spelling, and grammar. I am skipping several skills about comprehension, certain organizational skills, and a few other skills. It still takes us foooreeever to get through certain things. I do like this group a great deal, but it is very trying.
Tonight we went to dinner with my parents, my sister, and her “little guy”. –Several years ago she was let go from her nursery school and then brought back as a one-on-one. When he moved on to kindergarten this year, in a special needs class, she was let go again. She does spend a lot of time with him to give his parents respite.– Little guy was very good while we sat at the restaurant. T talked with my parents while I talked to Mooch and Little guy. He is very sweet and did a good job answering my questions. I pulled out some yarn scraps and she used the to spell words. She is very good with him.
It angers me that to be a “highly qualified” para-educator you have to have a certain level of education. I understand that teachers should have the training and education, but for someone to be a para-educator, teacher’s aide, or one-on-one, shouldn’t experience and ability count for something? So my sister didn’t finish 60 hours of college, she is amazing with kids, takes direction well, and works well with other adults. Hang in there Mooch, someone will hire you.
Random fact: When I was in third grade (my favorite school year, ever) there were only 3 kids in my reading group. We learned to sign Sam’s Cookie. It was one of the funnest projects I ever did. I still love that book.
Back to Tuesday
Had a meeting first thing this morning. I can’t go into, because I fear confidentiality issues, but lets just say, you can be organized, you can be working hard to get what you think your child needs, but you are still delusional.
What dad says, “So when in the process will he be normal?”
Honestly!
And that was how I started my day.
Random fact: While I am not a hypochondriac, I do often think I have whatever syndrome or illness fits my “symptoms” at the moment. So today, I had ADHD.