Your prayers have helped! The IT guys dropped off four laptops last night and cleaned the gunk off my board. Some of the tech issues have been fixed, not all, still enough to be annoying, but now I only want to pull half my hair out and not all of it. So, progress!
My kids were more settled today too. Not nearly as many laps to run at recess!
We got word from the family of the girl who had brain surgery today... the doctors were able to get it all! She's doing well. Praise the Lord!
A parent also dropped off four white buckets with lids (a little smaller than five gallon pails, but decent sized still) to make into compost bins. We have a PTL meeting tonight which should give me time to deal with all the plant stuff I have on the lab table. (Although my mini greenhouse is still at the farm... I forgot to get it out of my brother's car before I left last weekend).
My October BLC student teacher emailed me today asking if I wanted to get together before his first day. Of course! He'll be here for two months in the afternoons twice a week to teach social studies. I'm super excited to see how my class reacts to having a young man as a teacher. He wants to be a public school PE/social studies teacher when he graduates, so I have a feeling he'll be a good fit for my rowdy class.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Computers
No, the IT guys didn't come last night... So I had lots more tech issues today. Sigh. Now three out of six computers aren't working in addition to all the other issues I have. We did accomplish one of the FAST tests, though it took a long time and was a bit chaotic. We used the laptops/chromebooks from the 7-8th grade room after the 1-2nd graders took their test. Half the 5th graders forgot their username from last year. Thankfully one smart cookie remembered her classmate's usernames for them and everyone was able to get logged on.
On another positive note I got a ton done from my to-do list today. The church year chain got hung from the ceiling, my lights got hung in the front of the classroom, we found two stopwatches to use for spelling practice, I ordered the Christmas program and placed a Scholastic book order, I emailed a potential guest pastor for NLSW, and I updated some assignments that had typos in them!
Now, I am going to go home and go for a walk since it's a beautiful day outside.
On another positive note I got a ton done from my to-do list today. The church year chain got hung from the ceiling, my lights got hung in the front of the classroom, we found two stopwatches to use for spelling practice, I ordered the Christmas program and placed a Scholastic book order, I emailed a potential guest pastor for NLSW, and I updated some assignments that had typos in them!
Now, I am going to go home and go for a walk since it's a beautiful day outside.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Flower Dissection
Another rough and tumble day in 5-6th grade... As I've said before, Mondays are generally chattier days, and today was no different. My squirrely boy had trouble settling all day.
The morning was full of tech problems, bad enough problems that I called the IT guys (they actually answered for once). The kids couldn't log onto their accounts, plus once they did then powerpoint had issues. While I had them on the phone I mentioned all the other computer problems I've been having to them. Hopefully they'll remember at least some of them. Two of our six computers don't work and it's an error that has happened in the past. It's also one that can't be fixed remotely. The tech guy said he would 'hopefully' be able to stop by tonight. It was a lengthy phone conversation and half the class was productive during it. The other half goofed off and was noisy. It's hard to do classroom management when you're trying to talk to someone on the phone.
The 7-8th graders were squirrely too, though we did accomplish everything I wanted to with them. We did a lab on Moh's scale of hardness (testing how hard rocks are by scraping reference materials against them). I had a box of cool rocks donated by a local church member that we sorted through. There are some native american artifacts, coral/seashell fossils, and just generally neat looking rocks. I wanted to leave them out for my 5-6th to look at, but with their behavior today I figured they couldn't handle it so I packed them away.
For 5-6th science, we examined a giant slab of tree trunk for the different parts and dissected flowers we picked outside. They were able to find most of the parts of the flower! A lot of them said it was their favorite part of the day.
They are so slow to pack up at the end of the day. Every day we are the last class down to the bus. The lunch lady switched us with the 7-8th graders because we just can't get cleaned up/set up in time. Gah!!! I know it's the kids and not me, but it's hard not to feel like a failure when I can't get them to do stuff quickly. Sigh. The year is young. We'll work on that.
The morning was full of tech problems, bad enough problems that I called the IT guys (they actually answered for once). The kids couldn't log onto their accounts, plus once they did then powerpoint had issues. While I had them on the phone I mentioned all the other computer problems I've been having to them. Hopefully they'll remember at least some of them. Two of our six computers don't work and it's an error that has happened in the past. It's also one that can't be fixed remotely. The tech guy said he would 'hopefully' be able to stop by tonight. It was a lengthy phone conversation and half the class was productive during it. The other half goofed off and was noisy. It's hard to do classroom management when you're trying to talk to someone on the phone.
The 7-8th graders were squirrely too, though we did accomplish everything I wanted to with them. We did a lab on Moh's scale of hardness (testing how hard rocks are by scraping reference materials against them). I had a box of cool rocks donated by a local church member that we sorted through. There are some native american artifacts, coral/seashell fossils, and just generally neat looking rocks. I wanted to leave them out for my 5-6th to look at, but with their behavior today I figured they couldn't handle it so I packed them away.
For 5-6th science, we examined a giant slab of tree trunk for the different parts and dissected flowers we picked outside. They were able to find most of the parts of the flower! A lot of them said it was their favorite part of the day.
They are so slow to pack up at the end of the day. Every day we are the last class down to the bus. The lunch lady switched us with the 7-8th graders because we just can't get cleaned up/set up in time. Gah!!! I know it's the kids and not me, but it's hard not to feel like a failure when I can't get them to do stuff quickly. Sigh. The year is young. We'll work on that.
Friday, September 6, 2019
A Day
Man, it's been a day. It's really been a day.
The morning was pretty good to start with; surprisingly, mostly everyone was quiet. Spelling tests were a bit of a mess. I discovered the IT guys wiped my class iPad of all music/sound files, including the spelling tests. Thankfully I have those files saved in another location, so it's not the end of the world, but it's adding more work to my plate and it was really frustrating to be down a device when I needed it and expected it to work. Grr...
We had our four student council hopefuls give their speeches to the class (there can only be two). One girl (who wants to be president when she grows up) had pages of speech written down. Another boy brought a poster he'd made with reasons why people should vote for him. The other two had notebooks of ideas of things they wanted to accomplish while in office. The speeches were interrupted by reading buddies with the 1-2nd graders, which sparked an idea in my mind. Since the 1-2nd graders don't have representatives in student council, why couldn't they vote for the 5-6th grade representatives? Mrs. L thought it was a great idea, so she typed up ballots and her class came back to mine after recess to hear the speeches. It gave the candidates a chance to change their speech if they wanted to. The girl who wants to be president won one seat, one of the kids who wrote things in notebook paper won the other seat. Someone asked him a question right before he sat down that gave him an edge. When asked why he was running now when he didn't like being on it in the past, he answered truthfully, something along the lines of now that a different teacher is running it, he wants to give it a try, plus he likes to decide things and if he doesn't get to choose and he doesn't like what someone else chose, he gets crabby. So why not try to make the decisions? I thought it was a good answer.
We ran into a time crunch before lunch because I had to wrangle papers. Spelling workbooks, tests, and handwriting were due today, all before lunch, so it took a while to check all those papers. The school cook asked if I'd like to switch times with Mr. E's class to give me more time. I really don't want to switch since I will end up eating all my lunch outside if we do (since the 7-8th graders eat super fast and will be pushing for recess), but that may have to happen since it takes my class so long to pack up. Sigh.
Then, during lunch the student sitting next to me stood up to go dump his tray, tipped it because he wasn't paying attention, and ended up dripping lunch liquid all over my sweater, shirt, and pants. Thankfully it dried clear and wasn't very noticeable after it dried. I remembered to unload the dirt from the back of my car, but the bag had a few holes and I got brown dribbles on my pants too. Another sigh.
We made our church year chain for art today. My rowdy boys got waaaay too rowdy and couldn't settle down. It was all I could do to keep them in the classroom. We did finish the chain, though I need to hang it up still.
The worst part of the day happened after school. A pair of parents asked to talk to all of us teachers together. Their student has been having some atypical health issues this year and a recent doctor's visit revealed that this child will need brain surgery next week. They still don't know a lot about the situation, and I can't share much, but this student needs lots of prayers. So please add her and her family to your list!
The morning was pretty good to start with; surprisingly, mostly everyone was quiet. Spelling tests were a bit of a mess. I discovered the IT guys wiped my class iPad of all music/sound files, including the spelling tests. Thankfully I have those files saved in another location, so it's not the end of the world, but it's adding more work to my plate and it was really frustrating to be down a device when I needed it and expected it to work. Grr...
We had our four student council hopefuls give their speeches to the class (there can only be two). One girl (who wants to be president when she grows up) had pages of speech written down. Another boy brought a poster he'd made with reasons why people should vote for him. The other two had notebooks of ideas of things they wanted to accomplish while in office. The speeches were interrupted by reading buddies with the 1-2nd graders, which sparked an idea in my mind. Since the 1-2nd graders don't have representatives in student council, why couldn't they vote for the 5-6th grade representatives? Mrs. L thought it was a great idea, so she typed up ballots and her class came back to mine after recess to hear the speeches. It gave the candidates a chance to change their speech if they wanted to. The girl who wants to be president won one seat, one of the kids who wrote things in notebook paper won the other seat. Someone asked him a question right before he sat down that gave him an edge. When asked why he was running now when he didn't like being on it in the past, he answered truthfully, something along the lines of now that a different teacher is running it, he wants to give it a try, plus he likes to decide things and if he doesn't get to choose and he doesn't like what someone else chose, he gets crabby. So why not try to make the decisions? I thought it was a good answer.
We ran into a time crunch before lunch because I had to wrangle papers. Spelling workbooks, tests, and handwriting were due today, all before lunch, so it took a while to check all those papers. The school cook asked if I'd like to switch times with Mr. E's class to give me more time. I really don't want to switch since I will end up eating all my lunch outside if we do (since the 7-8th graders eat super fast and will be pushing for recess), but that may have to happen since it takes my class so long to pack up. Sigh.
Then, during lunch the student sitting next to me stood up to go dump his tray, tipped it because he wasn't paying attention, and ended up dripping lunch liquid all over my sweater, shirt, and pants. Thankfully it dried clear and wasn't very noticeable after it dried. I remembered to unload the dirt from the back of my car, but the bag had a few holes and I got brown dribbles on my pants too. Another sigh.
We made our church year chain for art today. My rowdy boys got waaaay too rowdy and couldn't settle down. It was all I could do to keep them in the classroom. We did finish the chain, though I need to hang it up still.
The worst part of the day happened after school. A pair of parents asked to talk to all of us teachers together. Their student has been having some atypical health issues this year and a recent doctor's visit revealed that this child will need brain surgery next week. They still don't know a lot about the situation, and I can't share much, but this student needs lots of prayers. So please add her and her family to your list!
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Plants, Plants, and more Plants
I ended up running the most pressing errands last night. I now have a ginger root being prepped for planting! I found topsoil from Walmart for only $1, so I bought two bags. I read that if you mix it with sand, it can work for certain types of plants in containers, otherwise you are supposed to use potting soil for container plants (better drainage). One of my bible study ladies found out I needed lots of potting soil and volunteered all her extras. She dropped them off sometime after study or before school this morning, so I now have a giant bag and a half of potting soil, plus some really nice planters. Yay! If only I had enough time to get the pots ready...
I have to dash off again after school today. My travel buddy and I are doing archery painting at a nature center close to her house. Still, the time crunch has made my short time at school extra productive! I got a bunch of little things done off my to-do list (and some big ones too). The preschool teacher offered to give me a break and watch my kids at recess, so I had just enough time to type up a permission slip for our field trip to the Arboretum and also a note about a bake sale fundraiser for my class. Printed them off and sent them home in the last five minutes of the day. Whew!
I have to dash off again after school today. My travel buddy and I are doing archery painting at a nature center close to her house. Still, the time crunch has made my short time at school extra productive! I got a bunch of little things done off my to-do list (and some big ones too). The preschool teacher offered to give me a break and watch my kids at recess, so I had just enough time to type up a permission slip for our field trip to the Arboretum and also a note about a bake sale fundraiser for my class. Printed them off and sent them home in the last five minutes of the day. Whew!
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Time Crunch
Today went better than yesterday, blurt-wise (and otherwise too). I cut up a mango and brought the seed to school. Surprisingly, it was already germinating inside the husk! I followed the instructions I found online, which say to wrap it in a damp paper towel and put it in a dark place, checking it every so often to make sure it's not moldy or dry. Our dates will be ready to move to the next phase of germination tomorrow (they've been soaking for 24 hours so far). One student brought in pea seeds to try planting. Another has plans to bring in an avocado or two next week. Yes!
We had a staff meeting after school and I have bible study tonight, which means I don't have a ton of time to work. I wanted to run my errands before bible study, but I'm running out of time! I'm torn between trying to squeeze it all in, doing half today and half another day, or waiting until Friday when I have more time...
We had a staff meeting after school and I have bible study tonight, which means I don't have a ton of time to work. I wanted to run my errands before bible study, but I'm running out of time! I'm torn between trying to squeeze it all in, doing half today and half another day, or waiting until Friday when I have more time...
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Ten
Sigh. I wanted to pull my hair out after school today. Actually, it started sooner than that. A bunch of my students could. not. stop. blurting. One kid had ten by noon recess. He got another four in the afternoon. It was all snide comments, plus laughing at the snide comments, plus tipping chairs over and touching classmates. "But it's just a joke!" I really hope every day isn't like this... I don't know if I can put up with a whole year of it.
Mondays are typically a chattier day than the rest of the week. Even though it's not Monday today, it feels like it since we had yesterday off. Everyone hasn't seen each other over the long weekend, so they like to talk. Hopefully that is the majority of the problem.
I passed out spelling books today. My class is divided into four groups this year. The 7-8th graders are divided into three. Of course everyone wanted to know which was the smartest group. Yeah, I wouldn't tell them. The 7-8th graders tried so hard to guess!
In science class we made a list of things we want to try to grow: pineapple, avocado, starfruit, potatoes, cactus fruit, jalapeno. I have a few other things not on the list that we'll try to grow too. Lots of them had more ideas, so I thought I might see if I can get a container for each kid and let them pick what goes inside/take care of it. When it gets too big, they can take it home. Looks like I'm going to need a bunch more potting soil...
Mondays are typically a chattier day than the rest of the week. Even though it's not Monday today, it feels like it since we had yesterday off. Everyone hasn't seen each other over the long weekend, so they like to talk. Hopefully that is the majority of the problem.
I passed out spelling books today. My class is divided into four groups this year. The 7-8th graders are divided into three. Of course everyone wanted to know which was the smartest group. Yeah, I wouldn't tell them. The 7-8th graders tried so hard to guess!
In science class we made a list of things we want to try to grow: pineapple, avocado, starfruit, potatoes, cactus fruit, jalapeno. I have a few other things not on the list that we'll try to grow too. Lots of them had more ideas, so I thought I might see if I can get a container for each kid and let them pick what goes inside/take care of it. When it gets too big, they can take it home. Looks like I'm going to need a bunch more potting soil...
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