I am ....

EXAUSTED!  There were many times today that I thought about my boss and wondered how she does it everyday.  Granted, she is not trying to teach a class of 2nd graders at the same time, but still.

I was Teacher In Charge (TIC) today.  I told my husband at some point during the day that I didn't ever want to get my Master's.  Everything was quiet first thing and when I got to almost 9:15 without incident, I thought I was good.  Nope.  Right when I was explaining to my class the job I would have to do today (I've done it before and they know what to do if I need to leave quickly), I could hear one of our Spec Ed students screaming in the hallway.  I went to check it out and ended up being in that situation for around 45 mins.  My kids went about their business and my neighbouring teachers looked in on them.  After that, I managed to get back into my room for 30 mins to do some reading assessments before recess.


ON the way to the staffroom, I hear wailing from another Spec Ed student in the grade 1 room.  I got in there to see the Reading Recovery teacher standing beside here with a firm look on her face.  The little person was fussing because she was mad she didn't get to go outside with her friends.  (She'd decided to waste her lesson time, so she had to make it up.)  I put a quick end to that nonsense and saw her off with the RR teacher.

 I got into the staffroom for a snack, but on the way through the secretary told me that something was in the toilet in the boys' bathroom.  Goody.  I grabbed a piece of fruit before I dealt with that, and just as I sat down, she came back in to tell me that I had 2 clients to deal with.  Fighting on the playground.  One of the students involved was a student I had last year, so I knew how to deal with him.  He spent a few minutes with me in my room after recess until he was ready to go back to class.

I almost got through the next hour of Math (and more assessing) and a lesson on apostrophes when about 2 minutes until lunch, I get a visit from the grade5/6 teacher.  He has sent a client to the office for me.  Apparently, the young gentleman got mad when a classmate returned property he'd stolen to the rightful owner.  He rewarded the intruder with a hard shoulder while walking past.  Now, I wasn't even sure I knew this student, and I was pretty sure he was going to be at least as big as me.  He'd taken advantage of the lunch bell and had buggered outside.  I had him paged back into the office.  We had a chat and he joined the collection of kids I had in the office.  2 kids playing lego and my fighter.  He stayed with me the whole lunch hour and because he had no lunch, I shared some of mine.  We got along fine, and in the end he went back to class.  I told him that if he needed to, I had some space in my classroom for him.  He go the message and I didn't hear of him again.

The fighter got to go back to class to eat lunch and his spot was taken by a 2nd grader who decided that throwing rocks at other kids was a fun game.  I still had the big kid in there, so we all had a talk about throwing rocks and bodies in anger.  Then we talked about video games.  I can only be mad for so long.

I did manage to eat my sandwich before I headed back to class.  We made it through about 20 mins of silent reading, before my fighter showed up with a sour face and an angry TOC.  He'd decided that he "hated all TOC's" proclaiming his innocence all the way down the hallway.  My kids were getting agendas done, getting an art project finished and getting ready for gym.  He took his work to the office to finish while we were in gym and then I used him to start a writing lesson in class.  When he uses he powers for good instead of evil, he's great.  He finished out his day with me.

At the bell I needed to make sure my kids were out the door and noone was left behind.  At sometime while I was running back and forth between the busses and the halls, an older student allegedly choked another boy.  Yay.  I didn't hear about that until 3:30 or so.  I had to make 2 parent phone calls, which were not so bad.  Then I touched base with the Fighter's teacher.

I waved with honesty at those buses today as they left the school yard.  I left at 4pm, exhausted.  I don't know how she does it every single day. 

Where did the last month go?

When I logged on today, I was a little surprised that it's been so long since I blogged.  The past month has just slipped away.
2 new babies born, outside projects to do, inside Spring Cleaning, work, migraines...  so much going on, but none of it very interesting.  Except the new babies.  Both girls.   I'd really been hoping that Michelle would have a boy because I'd had a boy present all ready for her, but Olivia is pretty cute so that's okay. 

Baby Olivia and me

We are winding down at school.  Or winding up, whichever way you want to look at it.  Now the testing begins.  Our marks have to be in to the office by June 4, and that does not leave me  much time to get other stuff done.  I am glad that we don't have all the standardized testing that the US have to do (yet) and this data is only used to chart progress (or the lack of it).  The problem with the assessments is that they take time.  Time that I could be doing other stuff with my students.  Oh well.  I have been planning an event at our school called Identity Day.  The idea is that everyone, staff and students share one thing about themselves with the rest of our school community.  I got the idea from here a couple of years ago and was really excited about it.  Chris and I pitched to the staff last year, but with all the turmoil and other events happening at the school, it got pushed into the beginning of June.  So far the only feedback that I have received from parents has been negative, so we'll see what the turnout is like.  I would like to do it early next year.
It is now May long weekend and we are relaxing after spending yesterday cleaning and working around the house.  We had a beautiful day yesterday ( I actually had shorts on), but today is cloudy.  At least it has not snowed.  It snowed last week.  We had inside days at school because the kids are not wearing warm clothes anymore.  Flip flops are not snow appropriate. 

Right Now..

Right now I am recovering from a migraine.  I hate those.  It is the middle of the week and almost lunch time and I am in my pajamas.  I am laying on the couch, watching the snow fall (yes it is snowing on April 25), enjoying a cup of tea and trying to ignore the pains in my body.

Right now, I am listening to the quiet and hoping it snows for the rest of the day.  I like the snow, it always puts a big smile on my face.  I can't help it.  Right now, I am thinking of all the household chores that need to be done, my report cards that are waiting to be started and how I am going to ditch all that adult stuff to go play in my scraproom.  I am also thinking of a nap and a grilled cheese sandwich.  Which will come first?

Fat Burger, it really does hit the spot!

About a week ago, I was in my classroom during lunch time.  I normally don't do this, but I had a lot to do so I stayed to work and eat my lunch.  Have you ever listened to the conversations of 7 and 8 year olds?  Sometimes, they can be really funny.  I tuned into a conversation across the room when it turned to travel.  Now most of my students have been to Grande Prairie for shopping and auctions and this is what they were talking about.  They spoke about which hotel was the best (the one with the pool and waterslide), the Mall and the different shops they were dragged to by their parents.  Then the talk turned to food.  A couple of them talked about the usual, McDonalds, A&W and other chains that we have here in FSJ.  Then one of them talked about Fat Burger.  "Have you ever been to Fat Burger?  It's awesome!"  "Oh yes!" says another "It really hits the spot!"  I had to duck my head and cover my smile as I listened to the rest of the conversation.  The others agreed that it sounded good and that they would have to get their parents there the next time they went to GP. 

Well fast forward to this weekend when we went to GP to get our tires changed and do some shopping.  We were getting ready to leave town and decided to grab dinner before we left.  We looked across the parking lot and saw Fat Burger and laughed.  We had to try it after the great endorsement it received from my kids.  It was really good!  It's not gourmet or anything, but it was a good burger and the service was fast.  I'd have to say that it really did "hit the spot".

Spring Cleaning

What is it about long sunny days that makes you want to clean every corner of the house?  Maybe because after the long dark Winter, you can finally see all the dust and clutter?
I don't know, but I too have been hit with the bug.  I want to throw things out.  Under counters, in closets in cupboards I've been searching out things to throw away.  Having a house is just a place to put more stuff I think, and as I look around my little house I realize that it is slowly filling up with stuff.  Not necessarily useful stuff either.  One of the major places the over crowding is occurring is in my Scraproom.  Not a shocker I know, but still.  I spent a good portion of an evening going through just the paper in there.  I have a stack that is ready to be donated.  I know that I have so much more, but one of the issues I have is I want it to go to a good home.  I know that sounds silly, but I have spent money on these supplies and while I may not want to use them, I don't want them just thrown out in the trash either.  I have a place for some of the simpler stuff, but for the other stuff....  I just keep hanging onto it.  My room has become too small for me, mostly because of the extra and unused supplies I keep hanging onto.  When I go to pitch something, there's a little voice in the back of my head saying "but it's still good!  You could turn that into something!"  and things like that.  I have set up 3 garbage bags and a cardboard box, to help purge items out of my room.  The box is for donations and the bags are for recycling.  I am also thinking I need to re-organize my furniture and storage units, but we'll see.
I keep hoping that my husband will wake up one day and decide that my idea of turning our living room into my scraproom is a good idea.  A girl can dream!

WOYWW

Here's where my desk is at this week.  Not much creating happening here, although it looks like a mess.  Behind the picture is a huge mess on the floor as I am trying to purge and organize my stash.  It's not going very well.  I just can't seem to let the stuff go.  Does anyone else ever have that problem?

Spring Break part 2

First thing Monday morning I had an appointment with the Mayor of Courtenay.  The Honourable Larry Jangula is an old family friend and I was unable to make it to his swearing-in, so I thought I'd make an official appointment to see him.  I brought coffee and donuts. 
When we left Cumberland on Monday afternoon, it was pouring rain and so windy that I wasn't sure I was going to get off the Island.  Nanaimo was not as bad the the plane took off on time.  Actually, this trip I didn't have any plane trouble and my luggage arrived the same time as I did!
Chris met me at the airport and took me for dinner and then home to unpack.  The last few days of that week were spent relaxing, Spring Cleaning and getting ready for work.  I got some fresh snow.  I of course was thrilled while others around me growled.  We went in on the Saturday to get planned up.  I had honestly left my classroom behind and had to look back in my plan book to remember what I'd been doing before the break.  I also had a Crafty group night where we did some Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  Claire brought Baby C along and all the women got some baby snuggle time in.  Even me!

 We had an awesome Easter dinner with Michelle, Bryce and Sherol.  Lots of laughs, games and wine!  I spent Easter Monday recovering from that while crafting and organizing nooks and crannies of the house.  I was very ready to get back to work and had a wonderful week.