Catching Up

Holy Cow!  It's been a week since my last post!  Here's why. . .

Let me just say,

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED!

That sinus infection just wouldn't go away and decided it wanted some bronchitis to keep it company.  I have been down and out the past week.  I ended up taking two sick days.  I probably should have stayed out the week, but one day was a professional development day in my district so I was able to just sit in a chair and veg.  Not a comment on the workshop, just that I didn't have to be the ring leader that day! 

On the other two days, I did drag myself to school. It's crunch time! We have two weeks before winter recess and in that time my friends need to finish a novel study, a unit in math, and a research report.  If I had taken the entire week off we wouldn't even be close to finishing.  Thankfully, my friends could see I wasn't anywhere near 100% and were extra cooperative.  Lots of brownie points were given!

On a personal note, not one Christmas gift has been purchased yet. 

I was too sick and tired to even shop online.  I'm pretty near a panic state at this point!

As for you my blog friends, I apologize for the absence but it was all I could do to get through the day these past two weeks.  However, I do have a fun post planned for Tuesday.  So, if you are feeling it, stop by!  And, thanks for sticking with me despite my post-less week. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States!

May you all have a wonderful day

and have much to be thankful for.

My Desk is a Hot Mess!

Hi. I'm Nancy, and my desk is a hot mess!

Let's take a closer look.

• See that coffee cup?  Has been on my desk since 7:30 this morning.  I took this picture at 5:00 PM.  And, yeah it's still half full.
• The CDs?  Science videos I've been trying to show for three days, but my computer won't cooperate. 
• Under the CDs?  Well, two picture books I'm working into my plans and a stack of quarterly reading assessments I have yet to grade.
• The stack of yellow papers under my glasses by the computer?  Conference request appointment slips I need to coordinate and then send out new slips with conference appointments.
• The brown bag?  The other half of my sandwich that I didn't get to eat because I spent half my lunch period tutoring two of my friends on how to divide decimals.  Who could imagine that one darn dot could cause so much confusion!
• The blue flowered binder on the corner?  That's my plan book. Only it's not a book, but a binder which I have already outgrown.  Need to head to Staples this weekend for a bigger binder.    I feel like I totally understand that scene in Jaws when they say, "We're going to need a bigger boat."  To teach my friends this year, I am definitely going to need a bigger binder.
• The metal mesh cup with big popsicle sticks?  Each holds the name of one of my friends.  Keeps things fair and square in so many ways when I can just pick sticks.  Of course, there are two sticks missing, but my friends don't know that.  I suspect they are buried under one of those other piles.
• The bag on the chair?  All the many papers I brought home tonight to grade.  Well, I hope to grade.  Too many days I just take my school bag on a little field trip to my home and then back to school again.  Some days it doesn't even make it out of the car.
• Everything else?  All the stuff of a daily teaching life.

Now, if you know me, you know that this drives me nuts. And if I were being totally honest, this is not even too terrible on the messy scale.  It's been worse. I like my desk to be organized, but it just so got away from me this week.  I haven't had a minute of down time this week to catch up with anything.  Then when I get home, I feel like this:

I was going to stay later tonight and clean off my desk, but then I remembered that my friends earned a reward for the marking period.  Remember the brownie points they earned?  Well, tomorrow is movie day, so I will have some downtime during my normal reading period.  No, I'm not slacking!  They are actually watching a movie that relates to our curriculum.  But, it will give me a chance to clean up that desk.

It's not all bad though.  There is one thing on my messy desk that makes me happy.  Can you find it?

It's my apple cozy! 

I know, totally silly and unnecessary but I love it!  It's actually pretty useful.  I love apples (See! Destined to be a teacher!) and with the cozy, I can throw them in my pocketbook and they never get poked or smooshed.  Here's mine up close.

If you are interested, I got it on Etsy.com at this store, Ollie's Boutique.  If you don't know Etsy, it's a site where people create online stores to sell handmade goods.  It's a great place to browse for all kinds of ridiculous fun stuff like an apple cozy!

So, that's my messy desk.  How's your desk looking?

Planning the Impossible

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but it's been a crazy week.  In NJ, we have off today and Friday for the New Jersey Teacher's Convention, and of course Veteran's Day.  I'm not going to the convention, mostly because I brought enough school work home with me to fill those two days plus some.  There just isn't enough time in the day. 

This is how I was feeling as I worked on lesson plans this morning:

I know the nature of our job is that we bring work home to grade each night and do more grading, planning, and preparing over the weekends as well.  From day one as a teacher, I knew this was the deal I signed up for.  I was telling a friend about the crazy amount of work I bring home, and she said that that's why we have prep periods and we could work during our lunch if we really wanted to get our work done during the day.   And before you ask, yes we are still friends. :-)

I tried to explain to her how my prep period can be totally eaten up with just one parent phone call.  Or busy gathering work for my absent students.  Or playing peacemaker for an issue my friends may be having.  Or in a meeting with the principal.  Or in a meeting with the child study team.  Or working on an additional project that our PTO thought would be fun for the kids.  Rarely am I able to spend my prep time planning, grading, or preparing.  That happens, almost always during my lunch, and after school or at home.  As I said, I understand that's the nature of the job.   And while it seems I have had to bring more and more home than ever before, my real issue today is the amount of instruction we are asked to do within a time frame that doesn't expand.  It seems that we are asked to squeeze more instruction in our day with less time than ever to accomplish it.

Specifically, I'm talking about my literacy block.  I would love your feedback on this.  I have literacy instruction from 10:45-12:40 each day. 1 hour and 55 minutes.  Here is how my administration requires us to break it down:

10:45-11:15  Centers-This is where my friends work independently on center activities while I pull small groups. (30 minutes)
11:15-11:30  Word Works with the full class (15 minutes)
11:30-12:05  Writing Workshop (35 minutes)
12:05-12:40  Reading Workshop  (35 minutes)

To me, this is an impossible schedule.  You can't possibly do Reading and Writing workshops effectively in 35 minutes each. And  yes, we are expected to fit in all the components of each workshop in that 35 minutes. Notice too that there is no transition time built in to this schedule at all. I can't even squeeze any time out from either end because my friends are at special until 10:40 and then have lunch at 12:45.  To say my colleagues and I are beyond frustrated with this schedule is an understatement.

I bring all this up because this morning I have been working on plans for next week.  To date, I've been fudging my plans a bit.  I've been skipping centers some days to make more time for workshop or doing one or the other workshop on some days.  Not ideal.  So, today I thought I would plan following the rules.  It just doesn't work. 

This is where I would really appreciate your feedback.  Do you think 35 minutes for workshop is reasonable?  Am I out of line? What is your literacy block like?  Any suggestions on how to make this work?

I've Got The Substitute Blues

Well, I was planning to post more this week, but I did manage to at least get two in.  That's me looking on the bright side!  Fair warning.  I'll be leaving that side in a minute. . .

We had a workshop day on Thursday in the library of our school.  I was very happy because these in-district workshop days are usually held at our central office meaning I don't normally ever see my substitute.   Since I was in the building, I was able to meet with my sub in the morning and go over my plans with her.   I was able to explain each lesson in great detail.  WONDERFUL!   Color me happy when she told me she was a teacher but left a few years ago when she had her son.  A former teacher for my sub?  DELIGHTFUL! Could this be any better?

(Watch out.  Here is where I leave the bright side.)

SO PLEASE TELL ME HOW IT IS THAT ON FRIDAY I FIND OUT MY FRIENDS DID ALMOST NONE OF THE WORK I LEFT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW IS IT THAT MY FRIENDS DID A MATH LESSON THAT IS TWO LESSONS AHEAD OF WHERE WE ARE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ummm, yeah, I did write down the page numbers I wanted them to do and actually reviewed that lesson in the teacher's guide with her.

HOW IS IT THAT IN A MERE 15 MINUTES MY FRIENDS READ EIGHT, YES EIGHT!, LONG PAGES OF SCIENCE TEXT REGARDING NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION?!!  Well, I'm sure they had complete comprehension of that. NOT!

HOW IS IT THAT MY FRIENDS DID A READING LESSON THAT HAD ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE AND IS NOTHING AT ALL THAT I LEFT FOR HER TO DO?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't even know what to say about this.

HOW IS IT THAT THE PLANS I WROTE OUT AND EXPLAINED IN DETAIL TO THE SUB WERE VIRTUALLY IGNORED?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, can you figure out what I spent Friday doing?  Yes, all the work that was supposed to be done on Thursday.  My friends were totally confused.  The first thing one of them said to me Friday morning was that he didn't "get any of that science stuff we did yesterday."  It is so frustrating to lose an entire day of instruction this way. 

I'm not bashing substitutes. I think substitutes, lunch aides, and bus drivers are amazing! Those are jobs I know I just wouldn't have the patience for.  As for substitutes,  it has to be incredibly difficult to walk in to an unknown classroom, with a different grade level every day, and be expected to teach cold without knowing the curriculum or the students.  I've had amazing subs, and I've had subs in the past that may have taught a lesson incorrectly or given my friends some incorrect information, but I realize that happens.  No big deal.  This post is not about all those amazing subs that walk into classrooms every day and do their best.   This is about one substitute who completely ignored my plans!

Honestly, can anyone explain how this happens?  I don't leave complicated lessons for substitutes.   I don't ever leave a lesson that I know my friends will need my guidance to fully understand.  I leave work that can be done with a substitute.  How do you explain disregarding the teacher's plans?  Especially considering the fact that I actually explained those plans to her! 

So, what are your substitute experiences?  Am I wrong in my frustration with this particular substitute?  Ughh!  I'm leaving now to try and find that bright side again.  This might require large amounts of baked goods.

Disclaimer:  I am fully aware that many exclamation points were harmed in the writing of this blog post.  While technically one does the job, the frustration level of the author required excessive exclamation use!!!!!!!!!  ;-D

Nothing New Here. Orange you glad you looked?

Yeah, title says it all.  Nothing new here.  Just wanted to stop in and say hello.  This weekend involves lots of paper grading, doing some lesson plans, finding my darn fall wreath that I put away somewhere, some baking, some soup making, and more pumpkin picking. It is another great fall weekend here, and I plan to enjoy it!  I hope your weekend is fantastic.  Don't get too sucked in to your school bag!

Next week, I'm planning a few posts on some professional reading I've been doing, a new anchor chart, Halloween, a new picture book lesson, and a question or two.  That's the plan.  We'll see what happens!

In the meantime, I leave you with this:

Come on!  How can you not smile at the oldest joke in the world!

My Funny Friends

While working in my classroom yesterday morning, I came across a paper that brought this event to mind.  I just had to post it for your enjoyment.
 
Adventures in Research Reports on the 13 Colonies. . .

Last year, my class completed research reports on the 13 colonies.  In the midst of researching, one of my friends came to me from the laptop he had been working on with a puzzled look on his face.

Friend:  "Every time I search for my colony, I keep getting stuff about colonial cancer.  Is that one of the diseases the English gave the Native Americans?"

Me:  "Ahhh, wait. . . what?  You keep getting what?"

Friend, in an exasperated tone:  "Colonial cancer!  Is that one of the diseases the English gave the Native Americans?

Me:  "Ummm. . . let me take a look at your screen."

We walk over to his laptop, and I take a look at his search bar.

Me:  "No, that is not one of the disease the English gave the Native Americans.  In fact, why don't we start this search over and spell colonial correctly."

In case you were wondering, searching colon instead of colonial will give you many an article on colon cancer but not so much on colonial life!

Am I Crazy? Maybe!

Do you know where I am headed this morning?  I'm going to school.  To work.  By myself.  Uninterrupted.

On Saturdays, there is a children's program run in our building.  Local families can sign-up their kids for a variety of craft, hobby, and sports lessons.  This means, my building is open every Saturday.  I'm one of the lucky teachers who doesn't happen to have a class being held in my room.  I can sneak into my classroom, lock the door behind me, and get a ton of work done. Plus, I only live five minutes from my school making  it a quick trip in.  So, that's my plan for this morning.  Am I crazy? Maybe!

I've done it a few times before. I'm not alone as there are a handful of other teachers like me that have sneaked (snuck?) in.   But, I know most teachers I work with think I'm nuts to give up my Saturday morning to go into work.  I look at it this way, giving up my Saturday morning allows me to get everything done I need to.  I don't spend the whole day there.  Today, I have a lot to do, so I will probably be there from 9:30 to 12:30ish.  This allows me to have the rest of my weekend free and clear.  I'm not making plans or grading papers Sunday night.  Oh well, nuts or not, that's what I will be doing this morning. 

On another note, I just want to thank all of you that have been stopping by to check out my blog.  I owe a big note of thanks to you all and especially to

Nancy at The Apple Basket Teacher 

who was nice enough to direct her readers my way.  In a short time she helped send my followers from 4 to 112!  It's been great for me because most of you have blogs too, and I've been getting some great ideas from you.   I have to reorganize my method of following all you amazing teacher bloggers.  Right now, I technically only follow one blog, but I have well over 150 saved in my "favorites" bar that I read all the time.  I need to clean that out and just start officially following you all.

To celebrate the increase in readers, and to say a big thanks, I am planning to do a little give-away. I'm in the process of putting together a little package of things that I think would be fun to win.  So, stay tuned!  I'll be posting about it in the next couple of days. 

Have a great weekend!  Crazy me is off to school now!

September 11th

September 11th.  One of those days in our history when we can all answer the question, "Where were you?"  I can tell you exactly.  I was teaching.  I had first period prep which began at 9:05.  The horrors of the day were twenty minutes old.  I had walked into our front office and a secretary told us what had happened.  I remember not being able to understand what she was saying.  It just didn't make sense.  What she was saying seemed impossible.

Our principal set up a television on the back of our auditorium stage.  A place the students couldn't access.  We spent our prep period in front of the television.  The newscast replayed the first plane going into the tower.  It was awful.  I remember the very audible gasp of the six of us who were watching.  A gasp involuntarily given in unison.  As if our bodies reacted when our minds just couldn't.  It was all too horrible.
Yet we watched as long as we could.  You couldn't not watch.  And then our prep was over.  We had to go back to class.  We were told not to say anything to the children.  It was now 9:50 when I picked up my friends from special.

What made that day all the more horrible was that our school, my home, is just an hour outside of New York.  Our community is made up of many, many people who commute to New York on a daily basis for work.  Most of our students have been in New York several times and are familiar with the city. Being so close to New York is a wonderful thing.  It takes a minute to hop on the train and spend the day shopping, going to museums, seeing a Broadway show, visit friends and family that live in the city.  On this day, living so close to New York was not a wonderful thing. 

Slowly it began.  The calls from the front office.  Please send this friend down for early dismissal.  A minute later, another call for another student.  Then another and another.  Parents had come to the school in droves, wanting to have their children with them on this horrible day.  My friends started to get curious.  Why were so many of our classmates going home?  I remember joking that there must be a lot of doctors appointments that day.  What else could I say?  I was not allowed to say anything about what was actually happening and to be honest, they didn't need to know at that point. We ended up sending the remaining students home at the end of the day having said nothing.  I don't know if that was or wasn't the right thing to do.

On this day, I remember teachers frantically calling spouses and family members who lived or worked in the city.  You just wanted to know that your loved ones were okay.  It was one of the only days in my teaching career where teaching was not the priority.  We tried to keep things as normal as possible for the children, but how can that really be when there were fighter jets buzzing by our school making the windows rattle?  Our town is on a flight path for Newark airport, so there are always planes overhead.  On this day, there were no planes in the sky, only the military jets buzzing by.  We must have held it together pretty well though, because at day's end the children were not yet aware that it was a life changing day.

I went home, and like people around the world, watched the news late into the night.  The next morning, we found out that one of our school employees had a missing husband.  Two of our students were missing a father.  In the days to come, we would find that these men had passed away in this horrible tragedy.  Our community and the surrounding communities lost many, many people to this horrific event.  It seemed as if there were funeral after funeral for days. The obituary column in our local paper was no longer a column.  It became a section unto itself. It was a soul deep sadness that we lived in.

Ten years later.  I am with my friends this past Friday.  My friends who were either not yet born or at the most were only months old on September 11, 2001.  We had been instructed to complete a lesson about this day.  My friends had many questions.  I did my best to answer them honestly.  I did my best to help them understand how we have learned so much from that horrible day and to reassure them that the lessons we learned have helped keep us safe these last ten years.  I did my best to help them understand that they will see so much on television this weekend, and it's okay to feel a bit anxious, curious, nervous, confused. . . And I told them to talk about it.  Talk to their parents.  They will help them understand.  And most of all, I did my best to help them understand that they are safe.  In my heart I believe that, 100%n true or not, is what they needed to hear.  At ten and elven, they should not live in fear.  They should feel safe, that the adults around them are there to help them and keep them safe.  So, that is the message I tried to help them know.

Today, I think of all those that we lost. I thank all those that responded, that helped.  And, I pray that as a country, as a world, as a people, we find peace and understanding for each other and our differences.

Hurricane Irene and The Book Whisperer

Well, Hurricane Irene continues to thwart me at every turn.  Personally, I fared well.  No hot water, but I have electricity and that's HUGE!  Power is out almost everywhere around me.  Trees are down and the dam in town that holds back a rather large lake overflowed, took out the bridge road, and is in danger of breaking. 

This is the bridge. Yeah, over that bridge?  That would be the route I normally take to school. 

See the pole to the left.  There's usually about 4 feet of grass, then a small fence, then a drop down to the lake. Not so much anymore.  This picture is after the worst of the flooding.  The road is gone and the pipes that ran under the road are completely exposed.  Going to have to find a new route to school.

Speaking of school, I couldn't go today because the power is out there as well.  We've been told it could be up to 5 days before the power is restored.  Teachers are supposed to start on Thursday.  We'll see if that happens.  I feel sorry for the teachers that waited until this week to go in and prep their rooms.  It doesn't look like they will be able to get in.  Thankfully, I just have some minor finishing touches to do.  That and some OCD stuff that only I will notice but really want to do, like line the inside of my desk drawers with this cute Contact paper I found! :-)  So, as soon as I can get in I will take and share the pictures.

The Book Whisperer has been keeping me busy during the weather mayhem.  I have a little bit more to go, but I can tell you I LOVE THIS BOOK!  Honestly, it speaks to me.  It's everything I have believed about reading, instruction, and children put into words eloquently and smartly. I'm going to do a full review as soon as I finish, but I can tell you now RUN, RUN, RUN, AND BUY THIS BOOK!

Hurricane Irene Squashed My Plans. :-(

I had promised to post pictures of my finished classroom this weekend, but it's not going to happen.  While working in my room today, an announcement was made that we had to leave as they needed to secure the building for HURRICANE IRENE.  Yeah, take a look at that lovely little map of New Jersey below.

I happen to live along the shore in that top red county.  Yup, I'm living in a hurricane warning area.  We are going to get hit with hurricane Irene sometime tomorrow.  So, as per the announcement, I ended up rushing out of my classroom without getting to take any pictures.  I should be able to get back in Tuesday, I hope.  

They are taking this storm very seriously around here.  Our governor was doing a live television broadcast a few minutes ago and, on the airwaves, told people in one beach area to, "GET THE HELL OFF THE BEACH!"  In case you don't know of our Governor Christie, he's sort of known for his blunt manners.  However, he's right!  They do need to get off the beach.  New York is essentially shutting down starting tomorrow.

I'm happy to say I am prepared for the hurricane. We have food, water, ice, and have battened down the hatches.  I was going to work on my lesson plans, but in my rush to get out of school today I forgot the books I need.  Instead, I will be working on some professional reading.  Still working my way through the Day to Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop book I had told you about earlier.  It's a very good book, but for some reason I keep putting it down.  I also have The Book Whisperer to read.  Looking forward to that one!  And, since I am still technically on summer vacation, I picked up a trashy beach novel at Barnes and Noble today.  Let's see which book gets read first!

Monday will still be a hurricane day, but If I can get in my classroom on Tuesday, I should be done by the end of the day.  I promise pictures.  I'm really happy with how it looks.

If you are in the hurricane area, stay safe!

Let's Get Physical!

No, this isn't a post about Olivia Newton-John.  It's a post about my tired body.  You think I would be used to it, but I really forget every summer how physical teaching is.  I don’t think the non-teaching crew has any idea.  Here are just some of the ways I get my teaching workout:

Putting my room in order.  I have lifted so many boxes, unpacked tons of books, and climbed on more chairs and ladders to hang bulletin boards and posters than I can count. My body aches!  I feel like I’ve had a serious gym workout.  I have lifted so many heavy objects that I should be in that commercial: “I pick things up and put them down.”  I hope you know that commercial, or that just sounds crazy. J And, that picture below will make no sense to you!

Stairs:  I live in a one floor home.  In school, my classroom is on the second floor.  I pick up my friends downstairs each morning and walk them up.  During the course of the day, we hit those stairs several times.  The second floor is all classrooms, so we need to go downstairs for everything; lunch, specials, library, the computer lab, the nurse, the office, the photocopier, and the teacher’s lounge.  I also walk them down again at the end of the day.  It’s like having my own personal Stair Master!  I just do it with 24 little friends every day.

My feet hurt!  The first week of school is always killer on my feet.  All summer I’ve been in flip-flops, sneakers, or mostly barefoot.  My tootsies always pay the price for putting those school shoes back on.  I don’t even want to think about heels!  There are a couple of teachers I work with who rock the full-on 3 inch heels every day.  I just can’t do it, and I have no idea how they do it.  I’m a comfy flats girl.  However, even my comfy flats are uncomfortable by the end of day in early September.

Oh, the sounds of silence!  Unlike in school, I am not required to talk ALL DAY LONG in the summer.  Welcoming my friends to a new school year requires a lot of conversation.  There’s welcoming them, telling them about you, going over procedure, etc.  On top of that, we have to be so repetitive. Those first couple of weeks you are constantly reinforcing and reminding procedures.  In September, I can’t just say, “Okay friends, let’s line up for lunch.”  Instead, I have to say, “Okay friends, let’s line up for lunch.  Remember, we push in our chairs and form a single file line.  And, let’s make sure we are nice and quite as we travel through the halls.  Did everyone remember to get their lunch from their locker? Who is last in line?  Remember, it’s your job to turn off the lights and close the door.  Okay, this line looks great!  We are ready to go!”  And, this kind of thing goes on throughout the entire day in September.  All I can say is that by the time I get in my car to head home, I don’t even turn on the radio.  I am so done with talking.  I don’t want to hear myself or anyone else for a bit!  I just relish the silence.

These are all the things I just forget about until the start of the school year.   The good thing is that it doesn’t take too long to get back in the teaching groove and forget all these things again.  The room is in order, the feet adjust, the talking lessens, and the stairs. . .  well, there’s still the stairs!  But, it’s all good! 

And on that note, I’m going to go lie down now.

Oh!  Just a quick update.  The classroom is coming along!  I’m going in tomorrow to finish up the décor and organization stuff.   I will be bringing home my lesson prep materials to work on over the weekend.  Hurricane Irene is going to hit us Saturday and Sunday, so I’m planning to hunker down and get a lot done.  Or, sleep.