Just trying to reach the end of the year

Happy Mother's Day!  It's been a great day for me and my little family.  I like days like this - a little family time, a little R&R time, what more could a mommy want?  I saw my parents, my brother and my grannie today, so it was a great day.  We hung out, ate KFC for lunch (no cooking for anyone!) and played some dominoes.  Always fun to get playing games and see the dark sides come out in family members!  :) 

We have 4 more weeks of school left.  And it's all I can do to not just totally throw in the towel.  I am done.  Well done.  Tired (exhausted is more like it), cranky and a whole lot of unmotivation.  Not sure if that's a real word, but that's how I'm feeling.  We have Open House this week, so I am trying to get "it" all done before the big night.  Top that off with family obligations, weekend trips and I am one tired girl.  It's all self inflicted, but I am trying to have more "fun" in life and this is all part of it.  I'll remember that next week when I get to work on Tuesday and am exhausted!  We are going to Vegas this weekend and then my daughter has a field trip on Monday.  I am taking the day off to be with her for her field trip.  I am always hesitant to take a day off, but I am never hesistant to be there for her.  Hubby wishes I was the same for him!  :) 

The drama is never ending this year.  It looks like we will have to lose a teacher at our school.  We are the only grade level with a different number of teachers.  So someone will have to go.  It'll end up being the teacher who caused so much drama at the beginning of the year with our grade level.  She can bump one teacher out of their position (due to seniority) or go to another school.  It has happened to be before and it's not fun.  I was the bumpee, not the bumper.  I could have bumped someone else, but I didn't want to teach 4th grade and I felt sorry for the teacher.  She was a brnad new teacher at the time and loved her 4th graders.  So I went to a new school (I was only there for 6 weeks before being able to go back) and had to deal with being the "new girl" there.  No situation like that is good, but I think in the long run, it will be better for our grade level if it all goes according to plan.  It means we will have 28 kids next year (up from 22-23 this year!!!) and be trying to implement common core as best we can.  It's gonna be a challenging year, I think, but we can do it! 

With the next 4 weeks (or 17 days), I have ALL my assessing to do on my kids, teaching to still do to keep them occupied, 2 days out of the classroom, forming classes for next year, report cards and probably a million other things to do.  No wonder I am stressed out and overwhelmed.  I will be so glad when June 5 is here and the kids are gone.  I love my kids, but I am ready for them to move on.  They've worked hard, made good growth and are ready to learn something new from someone else!  I will have a bunch of new little brains to fill next year and I need my rest, relaxation and motivation to be ready for August!  :)

Here's to another busy, HOT, great week!  Happy Sunday!

Teaching and testing don't mix!

I had an epiphany today.  After 15 years, it hit me!  We do our students such a disservice when we teach them and then test them.  This came to be after I did a DRA on one of my kiddos who has made such huge progress, but has some communication delays.

We are told over and over and over again to "differentiate, differentiate, differentiate!"  We do 174,000 things to help our kids learn, pull out many tricks to help them "get it", and worry and fret when they struggle.  We try to figure out what they need and do our best to give it to them.  But then we give them a test that fits into a tiny box and are surprised when they don't meet that random standard that someone set up.  We do whatever we can to teach them, but when we test them, it's one size fits a few.  And it's CRAP!  No wonder tests show that not all kids get it.  It's a wonder that kids show they get it at all.

My little guy passed a DRA 12.  Grade level for now would be a 14, with a 16 by next month.  He is a freaky reader in that he can look at a word and know it without sounding it out.  He doesn't always know what the word means, as he is an EL, but he has a pretty good idea.  He understands the gist of the story, but he gets stuck when he has to retell the story on his own.  If I ask him questions about the story, he can answer the questions correctly and elaborate a little, but he can't do it on his own.  He is being tested for special education, but I don't know if he will qualify.  As my friend said, I have worked too hard with him and helped him learn!  A colleague was astonished that I would pass him on the DRA since he couldn't be a robot and retell the story verbatim.  I'm sorry, there is more to life than being a robot child, like being able to think.  He's a smart little boy who is beating all the odds and learning and doing well in school.

Sadly, next year in second grade, when they have to take the state test, he may not do well, which will reflect poorly on his teacher and his learning.  We help students be successful in their learning, but it doesn't always reflect in their assessing.  I'm not against assessments, but I'm against it being the end all, be all for how well a student does or appears to have done in their learning.  Sometimes students are a whole lot smarter than a test shows, especially if they are given a chance to show what they know, rather than pick the right bubble or retell a story exactly as a publisher says.

I am a teacher after all, not a tester!

Middle of the month already?

Ever just sit back and wonder where the time has gone?  I seem to do that a lot lately.  Luckily, I realize how quickly the year is coming to an end.  Sadly, I realize how quickly the year is coming to an end.  I am torn with that.  I am ready for this crazy, drama filled year to be over, but I am not quite ready for some of my kids to be gone.  I'm not quite ready for my daughter to be done with first grade, either.  I'm not loving the fact these last almost 7 years have gone by so quickly! 

After Friday, we are now at less than 8 weeks of school left in the year.  To be more specific, there are 37 days left.  37!  Where did the year go?  It seems to be going by faster as the weeks come to an end.  My kids aren't all where they need to be to be fully ready for 2nd grade and I need the time to work with them!  But, I also realize that they are still fairly strong in what they know and they just need a little time and extra help to "get it".  At the same time, I am ready for this class to move on.  I have some interesting students who make it a little more than challenging to get things done.  I have some kids who lack motivation, some who know more than I do (or so they think), and some who are too busy worrying about everyone else to pay much attention to their own learning.  Then I have the kids who work hard everyday, participate everyday, do their homework everyday and try to learn something new each and every day they are there.  Then I realize that I still have kids who want to learn and I teach and hope the others get a little something everyday that will make them enjoy school, try harder or want to pay attention.  I hope it helps. 

I do have one student that worked me over good on Friday.  Not a commom occurance in a regular education class, but it happened.  This student has decided that they don't want to come to school anymore.  They are very low and will be repeating first grade.  Many days have been missed because the parents give in and think it's easier to let them stay at home rather than fight.  In fact, the cousin comes to school everyday late since they are in carpool together.  So on Friday, the parent brought the child to school after telling the child that they will have a new teacher that day.  I guess that is what the parent says to make the child come to school.  It's not true, but the child thinks they will be in a different class, so they come.  Well on Friday, the child decided not to let go of Mom.  They had a death grip on the mom's purse.  The acting admin and I were trying to calm the child down and were trying to impress upon mom that she needed to leave and the child would be fine.  Mom decided not go and we ended up trying to restrain the child while mom was talking to someone else.  Somehow, I ended up holding the child (did I mention this poor little child weighs over 100 pounds in first grade) and the decided to jump up and back with both feet off the ground.  Talk about a back ache!  After that, the child flopped on the ground (after we very carewfully set them down so they didn't get hurt) and proceeded to scream for an hour!  I was exhausted, in pain and ready to cry myself.  They finally made it into class after 80 minutes and then were fine the rest of the day.  They were disappointed when they didn't get their hand stamp at the end of the day, but I'm sorry.  I won't reward bad behavior.  We are supposed to have a meeting with the parents, but they keep canceling on us.  I did learn several things from this - you can't make children come to school; - I won't get into this again; - some children are able to manipulate their parents too easily and get away with too much; - children understand good behavior and bad behavior; - I need to know when to say when. 

I have tried working with this child all year and all I get from them to their parents is that I spend my day picking on them.  I work with them one on one quite often to help them, but it comes across as picking on.  I won't spend that much time with this child now, as it makes me sad to think that I have given them so much time and effort and the parents believe I just sit there and pick on them. 

Looking back on this year, I have been a real Debbie Downer.  But that is how the year has gone.  It goes from bad to worse and it's just been a constant circle of crap.  I'm ready to go elsewhere, but there is no where to go.  There are no openings anywhere.  I love my job, I really do.  I love being able to teach my kids and watch them when they get it.  I love having fun with my kids and acting silly.  I love being able to tell them that we are going to "break the rules" and have fun in class when we really should be doing strong academic work.  I love seeing them smile.  I love seeing them learn.  But I'm tired of crap.  And it's been getting worse all year.  We have a very weak administration, and right now, the students and parents are running the school.  And it has put everyone in a bad mood.  I come home and night and feel defeated.  I feel like I have worked hard and it doesn't show.  I feel like I am running ragged and it's all for nothing.  No matter how hard we work, we should have worked harder, done more.  I don't know what more to do.  I have tried telling myself to ignore it and focus on my own kids and class and that has helped, until the crap gets deeper and causes more issues in an already fragile situation.  So for now, I am going to keep focused on what I need to do for the rest of the year and then enjoy the summer to recharge.  I have no idea what's ahead for us next year, but I hope it can't be any crazier/crappier/more dysfunctional that it already it this year. 

If you are looking for rainbows and sunshine, this ain't the place.  If you want honest, here it is.  It isn't pretty, but this is how it is.  And now, I will watch my followers drop off like flies as they go look for the happy-nothing-is-ever-wrong-in-my-life blogs!  Happy Sunday!

Not enough time in the day!

Every day I think I should blog.  And then I go to bed and realize it's one of the many things I didn't get done.  Oh well!  I don't get paid for blogging, so it's OK.  Otherwise,  I wouldn't be able to live! 

Since I've last blogged, I have had the week before Spring Break, Spring Break and then have been back to work and took a day off to go out of town.  Crazy how fast the time has gone.  I wish it was going faster though.  I am done with this year.  I really like my class, but the drama we had this year made the year not so fun.  And the drama continues, just on a smaller scale or in other areas of the staff.  I am ready for June 5th to be here so I can give my kids a final hug and be done!  Ready to start thinking about next year.  Really.  I am. 

I had hoped to be productive over Spring Break, but it didn't happen.  I cleaned a bit inside and outside.  I helped hubby at his office, I showed a friend the wonders of Pinterest and I fought mad crowds at Legoland.  Then I ended the week with a date day with the hubby and Easter at my parents.  Then it was back to work with the crazy, sugar-filled kids the day after Easter.  Crazy!  But, it's one week closer to the end. 

During Spring Break, I discovered Mad Men.  I know.  I must have been living under a rock.  But there is a big, long story about how I discovered the show.  One that makes me blush and turn bright red.  And my hubby likes to tell anyone who will listen why I wanted to watch it.  If you haven't seen it, google it!  I started watching it on Netflix and am now in Season 2.  Of course Season 6 started today, but I will just be behind.  No point in getting ahead of myself! 

 

 

Last week, my daughter went with my parents camping for the week.  It's more like glamping, as they have a huge trailer that is for R&R rather than playing and getting dirty.  My trailer can fit into theirs and there would still be room to live!  But I like my little home away from home.  In fact, hubby and I took off Friday and went to the Kern River to meet up with my family, spend the weekend there and bring my baby home!  It was a nice, relaxing time and we will be able to go any weekend we want til October.  We decided to leave our trailer there for the summer.  Ahhhh, is it summer yet? 

 

 

We got home late this afternoon and I whipped up some centers for my kiddos this week.  I have a few that dive right in and want to complete them all since that is what I would like them to do.  I swear I would teach 50 kids if they were all perfect like a couple I have.  One reminded me 10 times on Thursday that I needed to make the centers for Monday, since he did them all. So, I busted some out!  They are an animal theme to go with our science unit.  You can check them out here at my TPT store.  Easy!  You can also click on the adorable girrafe to take you to the page.  Check them out...lots of cute stuff! 

 

 

Well, it's officially back to school time.  Time to go argue with my baby to get her to go to bed.  Back to reality for her.  She has 7 more weeks til the end of the year.  Me?  9.  Not fair!  But, we will all be in Alaska in 10 short weeks!  That's what I have to look forward to!  Happy Sunday!  





I love spring...just not allergies

My favorite season is spring.  I love it.  I love seeing the trees with their new leaves.  I love seeing my irises pop out.  I love hearing the birds chirping like crazy.  I love the warm (or hot) sun beating down on me.  I don't care at all, though, for the allergies/colds that come with spring.  In fact, I hate them.  Which is how I am feeling about tonight.  I started getting a head cold type thing last night and have had a headache all day.  It didn't stop me from working outside and getting my first sunburn of the season, but it hit me like a truck tonight.  I am so ready to go to bed, but at the same time, I feel too icky to go to bed.  Does that make sense?

I am glad that spring break is almost here.  One more week until we are on vacation.  We only have 1 week, but it's better than nothing!  I am looking forward to getting some much needed spring cleaning done at home and even at work.  Nothing beats working in my classroom when the kids are gone!  Plus, I have tons of weeds growing in my yard and some flower bulbs that needed to be planted a few weeks ago. 

I created a new unit for my kids for literacy centers.  My kids are still doing their seatwork before moving on, but I am slow to change.  Maybe next year!  I still need to read Daily 5 before doing anything drastic for me.  But the kids that really love centers really love centers.  They start to compete to see who can get them done the quickest, while still be done correctly!  They did some St. Patrick's Day centers last week and will now have some spring centers to choose from this week.  They are new to my TPT store if you are interested.  Go ahead and check them out.  Click on the cute little girl below to see the new centers as well as check out what else is available. 

 

Well, it's now Sunday night and I started this last night.  Allergies/cold have kicked my butt.  I was not productive today, other than taking my daughter to Build a Bear for Girl Scouts.  Other than that, I have been pretty out of it.  So, I'm off to bed to fall into an allergy pill induced sleep.  Or that's the plan anyway!  Happy Sunday!

 

Sometimes life can't get much better

Living in Southern California has its advantages and disadvantages.  We had a lot of traffic, a lot of people and screwed up politics.  But, we also have the beach, the mountains, the desert and everything in between.  And on days like today, we have wonderful weather!  Bright, sunny blue skies, a slight breeze and warm air.  And by warm, I mean warm.  It was 94* today.  And it felt wonderful.  Yeah, there are people complaining that it's too hot (my hubby is one of them), but I love it.  I just love standing in the sun, feeling it warm me up from my head to my toes.  Perfect.  The only thing to make it better would have been to be at home working in the yard, trying to get a tan.  But, I was at work, keeping the crazy away! 

Today was a much better day than yesterday.  The cops didn't have to come to school.  No one that I know of got bit or punched or kicked on the playground and the kids all seemed relatively mellow.  Not bad considering they all have spring fever now.  Last week it was cold and rainy, this week is like summer.  Gotta love mother nature!  She sure knows how to drive us nuts.

With my RTI group, I gave them this little activity to do.  They had to make as many words as they could using the letters in the word rainbow.  Some kids had a blast while others really struggled.  I have the "highs", which is really a couple of highs with a lot of "average" kids mixed in.  There is one who is really struggling to "get it" and may have to spend the rest of the year in the group a level down.  She is a retainee who is being passed by all the others in the group.  It makes me sad, but her mom is now in denial that she is low.  She was in denial at the end of last year, thought she would catch up over the summer, but in fact came in lower than when school ended.  So, she's with me, has made good progress, but is hitting the wall.  But, I digress.  Anyway, my kids had to make words with the letters in rainbow.  They were impressed when they got 10 words.  I made 33 words and then time ran out!  You can get this fun time filler here.

Well, I'm off to watch Big Bang Theory and grade papers.  I haven't looked at their work this week...I might as well do it tonight finally and get rid of it all tomorrow!  Happy Friday eve!  

Quick freebie post

Holy cow!  It's already been a long week and it's only Tuesday!  The wonderfully warm weather we have been having has made the kids 100 kinds of crazy.  We have bad words flying around, kids hitting and kicking each other and driving everyone crazy!  I love spring, but it sure makes the kids go nuts.  I'm sure we will have another cold spell or 2 before summer comes, but for now, we will enjoy the warm weather and try to contain the crazy. 

In my RTI group, we are talking about rainbows this week.  Why not!  It's almost St. Patrick's Day.  I didn't want to do a lot of leprechauny stuff, so I thought rainbows would be fun.  They are, but I have ZERO books on rainbows.  Nothing!  And neither does the library.  I should have checked it out before Monday morning.  Oops!  But we will survive! 

I made a quick, little fact/opinion page for my kids to use tomorrow.  Hopefully they will enjoy it.  If you'd like it, you can go check it out right here! 

 

 

I also created some fun little literacy centers for my kids this week for St. Patrick's Day.  They are free in my TpT store.  Go check them out today!  

 

Time to head off to sleep.  I am exhausted and just walked in the door from Girl Scouts.  Time for some R&R and try to catch up on my lost sleep!  Happy Tuesday!