Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, my brothers and I decided to visit mom in Oklahoma. Flights were WAY too expensive, so we decided to drive. We got to OK in 19 hours. Which were not the most comfortable in my 2 door car. But we survived and bonded in ways you can only bond on a 19 hour car drive.

Thanksgiving day was interesting. I had a headache that turned into a migraine. I was nauseous just as we sat down for lunch. I got rid of my breakfast as my family ate their lunch. I then napped on the couch. After a few hours nap my head ache was gone and I ate while everyone else napped.

I should be grading papers (the story of my life these days)....but I'm avoiding them by watch a 90210 marathon on TV in a hotel room in OK while my brothers are at the casino. Exciting holiday action here in OK. hahaha But a few quiet days of boredom may be just what the doctor ordered after my busy days with 23 ten year olds!

Christmas is just around the corner. WOW! Hard to believe its coming so fast. The older I get the faster time seems to fly. I cant believe that less than 5 months ago I was still in Africa. So much has happened between then and now. Seems like it was a life time ago.

Hugs

So I have often noticed that when I go to hug a person I often end up doing a bit of a head bob because I'm aiming wrong. Recently someone informed me that most people go in a certain direction when they hug. Their naturally instinct is to press a certain cheek to their friend. And apparently I go against the main stream in my preference for which cheek. Go figure. So I'm now curious and want to know more.

Which cheek do you present when hugging? (and I mean right or left, not face or butt!) hahaha
I've searched the Internet, but seen no comments or support for this theory online. I'm interested to know more, and the World Wide Web is letting me down. Thoughts?

Slacker

Ok, so I've always been a last minute kind of person. I like to wait til the last possible moment to really get anything done. If I have a deadline, I'll meet it every time. Until recently. I suppose there are many "new" things in life that I am dealing with (4th grade and all its quirks). I will think I have planned enough "last minute" time to complete something...and I never have. Papers don't get graded and sent home on time. I don't communicate information about special events at school with enough notice. I THINK I will have time to copy papers, gather materials, or boot the lap top so I can use the smartboard.....and I don't! And then I am unprepared and feel like a total slacker. Being a slacker on Saturday when I don't bother to clean the house or do laundry is acceptable. It only affects me. But not getting things done for work just creates more work as I try to play catch up. But I seem to be in a perpetual state of "catch-up" these days. I need a little motivation and a few steps ahead of the game. Lord help me!

Crazy

Ok, so in a weird twist of fate I have 2 students in Snowden AT THE SAME TIME. (Snowden= The Eastern Sate of Fred'burg). They are there for different reasons. One receives services regularly and has had hormonal swings lately, so this is no surprise. The other was angry and decided to attempt suicide.....in 4th grade!!

I'M NOT TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL!!! I'M TEACHING 4TH GRADE FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!

So a little prayer for the kids in my class would be appreciated. I don't know how to handle such things. My instinct is to tell them both to suck it up and get over themselves. LOL They haven't shown any major problems at school....thank God! Hopefully I can deal with things as they come and I wont have anyone else with major issues any time soon. Lord help us all.....this is our future and its looking a little crazy.

Routine?

Life has settled into a scary routine. In South Africa I craved a routine of some sort. Rules, expectations and deadlines to govern my days so I wouldn't be a major slacker. Now I have lots of rules, expectations and deadlines that govern my work day and seem to spill over into my private time as well. I'm still adjusting to the fact that this job seems to be taking most of my down time. I don't like it! So on the random weekends when I don't have any major school work to do (ok, honestly, I ALWAYS have school work to do!) I am a lazy bum. More lazy than usual. I rarely clean, I have 3 bills in my purse I haven't mailed yet because I can't get to the post office before it closes and I have no stamps!! And finding time to read seems to be a naughty luxury since I SHOULD be cleaning or grading papers. (*Damn papers!!*)

I enjoy the kids in my class. And I like that I'm in charge and know what I'm doing (for the most part). I love being back in the classroom. But I'm resenting that the "classroom" is taking up time beyond school hours! I'm the kind of girl who needs a lot of down time, and I'm not getting it. Yet another proof that I should never have children. I would never get down time and I'd lose my mind!!!

So life has this routine and pattern that I craved for a whole year while I was in SA. And I'm kinda hating the conformity of it all. My life itself is no longer the adventure (Living in a foreign country makes it easy to feel adventurous sitting on your balcony reading a book!!) So not I'm feeling the need to find/create a little adventure. Nothing like sky diving.....just weekend trips or new experiences. But then these ideas are always tempered by the thought "I'd have to be back home in time to get the lesson plans done and finish grading papers!!" School has taken over my life. I want my life back!

So I haven't blogged in a while because all there is to blog about is school!!! And I resent that in some ways. So when I stop being a ninny and get over myself and embrace the routine and predictable-ness of school I will probably bore you with the stories of 4th graders. Until then, excuse my complaining that I don't have a life! ;-)

SPOOL!!!!

Pictures of the spool for my college friends:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amberdawny/

For those of you who are not college friends, this spool served as our coffee table for 3 years at an apartment in college. We recorded important dates/events on the inside of the spool. We decorated 3 surfaces of the spool at different times through those 3 years.

In an effort to schlep the spool, Missa had a friend take it apart. No worries, it can be reassembled! It will live in my attic until another college friend claims it or we think of a suitable funeral for it. Until then, it has been recorded here for your digital viewing pleasure.

10:00 PM

So it is 10:00PM and I am JUST NOW finished with my work for the day. 4th grade is less work in the classroom (directing the kids through mechanics of the work), but more work behind the scenes! It should calm down a bit, but there are LOTS of papers to check/grade. I'm caught up on grading all of my beginning of the year test! But the daily paper work seems to engulf me at the end of each day. I hope I can find a way to tackle this in a quicker amount of time, because bringing work home and working until its nearly bedtime is NOT in my contract. If there is no logical way for me to get MOST of this done before 5:00PM then I shouldn't really be doing it...(remember I can technically leave at 3:45!) That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

The Hand Phenomena

So after careful examination, some friends of mine and I have come up with the conclusion that real love is indicated through the touch of a hand. This is what we have observed: in most movies, couples who are truly in love seal the deal with a kiss. But not just ANY kiss. The kiss always includes one or both people kissing including a touch to the other person's face with their hand.

Kiss + Hand = LOVE

Bad guys/People just being horny and not in love do NOT usually use the hand. The hand is usually only used when 2 people are in love.

Of course these are not rules and laws. I will not say that it ALWAYS happens (Mostly because I haven't seen ALL movies). But as a general rule of thumb; when you see the hand, you know its *Wuv, Twoo Wuv*.

New World

I survived the first 2 days of school. This new world of 4th grade is SOO different from Kindergarten. They are independent in so many ways that I often forget that they are still kids who have limited abilities in many ways. They have such specialized knowledge and very little generalization! But they already know where everything is at school. They know how to walk in a line, use their napkins/tissues and how to read/write sentences! I can ask them to write about a topic and they CAN....on their own! Ok, ok, so they don't always spell things right and they often leave out punctuation.....but its better than Kindergarten!

I think my biggest worry is that I will baby them and not push them hard enough. They seem pretty advanced and smart compared to K students! I know the skills they are supposed to learn from me according to my curriculum guide, I can figure out what skills they need to get ready for that curriculum.....but I DON'T know where they are going from here so I don't have a clear idea of where to push them to next.

But so far, I'm enjoying the year. I have a few grumps, a few helpers, and a few socially awkward kids. But all in all they are a sweet class and I think it will be a good year. Ask me again in 2 weeks and I may have a different story to tell.

Meet the Kids

Friday was Open House at school. I met 15 out of 24 families (sometimes Mom came, but the kids weren't there). There are lots of kids with "issues" in my class (medical or academic). At first seeing all these "issues" in writing sounded a bit overwhelming. But as I met the kids and put faces with names it became less scary. I think I've always had lots of kids with lots of "issues," only I never knew what they were in advance. Teaching Kindergarten meant most of your kids were unknown entities and you got the joy of being clueless about it....then slowly dealing with "issues" as they arose.

One of my students is taller than me! I'm not kidding or exaggerating....in 4th grade!!! I wish I could list some of the "issues" for you, but even without names that comes close to breaking confidentiality laws. Now I just have to write lesson plans and pray hard that I'll survive the first day.

What a Mess

Ok, so we all know I'm not the neatest, most organized person in the world. But my house is currently in a state of chaos. I don't have enough room for storage of all my stuff....so it often gets pushed into corners....and then pulled out again when I'm looking for that ONE thing in the pile. And I'm in a rush to find that one thing, so I don't take time to put the other 30 things back in a pile. This causes wreckage and mayhem in my house. I'm tired of being unorganized. I don't think my room/house has been this messy in a VERY long time (I'm thinking high school). But I'm not sure how to start organizing and where to put everything. This is coupled with the fact that I don't have time to devote to it. I've been working late and organizing my classroom so there has been limited energy and ability to think when I finally get home. I can't wait til school starts and I settle into a routine. I cant wait until I have a day (Labor Day) to get things done AT HOME. And I cant wait til its time to go to bed tonight. I'm exhausted, again.

First Day of Work

Today was my first official day of work at my new school. the day was spent filling out paper work and signing away my life and my first born child. I had my finger prints done, a TB test, a bad picture taken for my ID badge, and my Soc Sec. Number written down at least a dozen times. I had to choose a beneficiary for my life insurance, choose a health coverage plan, and waive all sorts of pre-tax extras that I dont want. There were too many decisions to make and too many forms to keep track of. My brain was fried. So then I went to my classroom to get some work done.

4th grade seems scary and exciting...sometimes both of these. Sometimes only one at a time. I actually feel capable if not prepared. It may be easier than Kindergarten.....although I'm sure I'll live to eat those words.

I have over 100 chapter books. I went from NO classroom library to a FULL bookshelf in two weeks. Thanks to a LOT of help from Paige and her teenage boys who have out grown their 4th grade books AND cheap books at Goodwill. I have several old favorites (Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and The Ordinary Princess) but there is no way the kids will get to touch those unless they check them out of the library! Im a little over-protective of my childhood books....its not like Im saving them for my kids.....I just want to protect old friends from bad handling.

My classroom LOOKS put together....its deceiving and makes me feel more confidant about my readiness than I should feel.

4th Grade!?!?!

So the more I think about teaching 4th grade, the less capable I feel. These kids know ALOT more about the world than I did at that age. They know what sex is. They know what gay means, and use it as a derogatory term. They like Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers...and I barely know who they are! They have had more moms and dads than I can imagine because of divorce. And they have often learned to hate school/home work by now. And the scariest fact of all....a small percentage of them are AS TALL AS I AM!

Ok, so I'm freaked out and a little worried....but I'm also excited about getting to read books that have plots with kids who can really read. I'm excited that they can tie shoes, sharpen pencils and (hopefully) use tissues more independently. I'm excited that they can do work without me reading the directions and they can be quiet for longer periods of time. By now they should know how to walk in the halls without a finger over their lips, and they can jump rope! I know this could be fun.....but its still scary.

But I must admit, I saw the preschool class of kids at vacation bible school tonight. They had no clue how to walk in a line or shut up! Maybe 4th grade isn't so bad.........

July Happenings

So now that I'm back home and have no SA info to post, I'm going back to a personal blog. Thank the Lord this one will have a smaller reader base. Now I wont have to watch so carefully what I say! :-)



So I got home on July 8th. July 9th I had to interviews which lead to 2 job offers. I accepted a 4th grade position about 20 miles from home. Yes 4th grade! Im excited/scared. But I think it will be a good challenge. I've even entered the world of NON-fiction books to get prepared for the change. I'm reading "Teaching Reading Beyond the Primary Grades." So far I'm enjoying it. Informative overviews supported by research and rounded out with practical applications. 4th grade, here I come!!!



After getting a job, I went to church camp for a week. I was the "missionary in residence" at a missions camp. The kids went to sites in the morning where they did hands on missions work like VBS, cleaning, building, etc. Then they came back to the camp and had some "educational moments" and I was the feature of one of those rotations. It went well and I was able to process some of the things that happened in SA.



After camp I came home and my new roommate moved in. Arielle is my pastor's daughter. She is a full time youth pastor at a near-by church. She is 23 and so far we've had a lot of fun.



Then I got a car!!! I got a 2009 Scion tC from Toyota. It drives beautifully. Much more get up and go then the crappy Nissan Sentra I had in SA. It is sporty looking, but is a hatch back, so its practical too. Not to mention a good sound system and a sun roof! Im loving it.



Then I got a new cell phone. (804) 994-1634 I got a phone and the text feature didnt work so well. So I took it back and upgraded to the EnV2. Loving it!



I spent a few days getting all the bills back in my name, getting internet hooked up, etc. (I got a nice, knowledgeable lady when I called Verizon!! It may snow in August in VA!!!) Still need to get TV service. Will figure that out


And today I got a laptop. A HP from BestBuy. Although I have money left from the sale of the house (which I'm now renting from my brother) my debit card is probably not happy with the vast number of high dollar purchases I've made in the past month. Wow! I dont want to think about the money I've spent. Talk about stimulating the economy!

Im glad to be back States side....but I miss the SA kids. Im looking forward to getting back too work and being productive. I like having down time, but I crave a little more predictability in my life for a while.