The fall one that started it all
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Door Hangers
Here is a little montage of the door hangers that we have. Now we just need more visitors to see them-haha.
. . . . . idk
Making up a title is the hardest thing about blogging.
It snowed this week! Nothing compared to what happened in Dallas, but for about an hour it snowed. Nothing stuck, but it was still fun.
This week was a nice quiet week. I don’t’ know if I have told ya’ll or not but Frank is officially out of my class, for real this time. I know I told you he was out for a day, and then got back in. But two weeks ago two parents called and complained that he was making inappropriate comments to girls in my class, and so they moved him to Coach Shipmans! I emailed Shipman and said here are his grades, here is the name and number of his father, the name and number of his behavior specialist, good luck. Haha. Shipman said he put him in his place the first day and has been doing pretty well in there. Seventh period has been great now especially because this whole last week another student who means well but is just loud in general was out showing at the rodeo.
This morning had had to take the PPR test, the last test to make me completely certified. PPR stands for Pedagogy and Professional Responsibility, basically they give you scenarios and you have to pick what to do in an idea world (not necessarily real world). Cody signed up to take it with me, so I picked her up at 7 am (ughhhh) and we made it to the testing site at 7:30 so we could take it at 8. It only took about an hour and a half and then I came back and took a two hour nap. Afterwards we washed my car, it was getting SO dirty. Rusty got a bath as well, so he is all nice and clean, smells good, and soft. I vacuumed the whole house (it had definitely been while because I filled up the entire canister-gross). Then I dusted our bedroom, and the living room. I’m calling Rusty, dusty Rusty from now on. Tomorrow I will tackle the kitchen and bathrooms.
Before I can clean the kitchen I am going to make my 5th period cupcakes. Somehow they have talked me into it (or perhaps asking everyday and complaining all the time that they are hungry, and I just want them to be quiet-lol). But they are good kids who turn stuff in so I guess they are worth it. This week should be a pretty easy one, we have a test on Tuesday over the Russian and Chinese revolutions (ya’ll all remember that right?!?! It’s where they turn communist). So we are reviewing on Monday, which we started doing that on Friday with a fun game, that went over well so that was fun. And then Wednesday is the ELA TAKS test, so I will be administrating that (not as fun) and then they will stay in their TAKS rooms all day. So then it’s really just a short two day week!
It snowed this week! Nothing compared to what happened in Dallas, but for about an hour it snowed. Nothing stuck, but it was still fun.
This week was a nice quiet week. I don’t’ know if I have told ya’ll or not but Frank is officially out of my class, for real this time. I know I told you he was out for a day, and then got back in. But two weeks ago two parents called and complained that he was making inappropriate comments to girls in my class, and so they moved him to Coach Shipmans! I emailed Shipman and said here are his grades, here is the name and number of his father, the name and number of his behavior specialist, good luck. Haha. Shipman said he put him in his place the first day and has been doing pretty well in there. Seventh period has been great now especially because this whole last week another student who means well but is just loud in general was out showing at the rodeo.
This morning had had to take the PPR test, the last test to make me completely certified. PPR stands for Pedagogy and Professional Responsibility, basically they give you scenarios and you have to pick what to do in an idea world (not necessarily real world). Cody signed up to take it with me, so I picked her up at 7 am (ughhhh) and we made it to the testing site at 7:30 so we could take it at 8. It only took about an hour and a half and then I came back and took a two hour nap. Afterwards we washed my car, it was getting SO dirty. Rusty got a bath as well, so he is all nice and clean, smells good, and soft. I vacuumed the whole house (it had definitely been while because I filled up the entire canister-gross). Then I dusted our bedroom, and the living room. I’m calling Rusty, dusty Rusty from now on. Tomorrow I will tackle the kitchen and bathrooms.
Before I can clean the kitchen I am going to make my 5th period cupcakes. Somehow they have talked me into it (or perhaps asking everyday and complaining all the time that they are hungry, and I just want them to be quiet-lol). But they are good kids who turn stuff in so I guess they are worth it. This week should be a pretty easy one, we have a test on Tuesday over the Russian and Chinese revolutions (ya’ll all remember that right?!?! It’s where they turn communist). So we are reviewing on Monday, which we started doing that on Friday with a fun game, that went over well so that was fun. And then Wednesday is the ELA TAKS test, so I will be administrating that (not as fun) and then they will stay in their TAKS rooms all day. So then it’s really just a short two day week!
Our snow!
Rusty drying off after his bath. He's so cute-lol
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Birthday Weekend!
I started this post early in the week, but then the internet messed up halfway through and then I was so frustrated I didn't feel like rewriting. So now it's a long overdue post. Sorry. I’m writing it in word first, in case the internet messes up again, so it will probably have less spelling errors and be more grammatically correct- lol.
Last weekend was my birthday, and we went to Dallas. On Thursday it rained all day in Houston, but up in Dallas it was cold enough for it to snow all day. My parents had over 7 inches of snow. We left about 3:20 from Houston. It was the earliest I could get home after school, and throw all our toiletries in the bag. We started seeing snow around Thornton (on 14, the one you only slow down to 50 and no stops-lol). But it was mostly on the roofs and in snowmen. But it was in between Grosbeck and Mexia that we started seeing snow on the ground all over. And Corsicana there was a LOT of snow on the ground and in the far left lane. For some reason it decided to stay in that lane, and so that made it be more traffic that would have been. You could see tire marks where people had tried to drive in the snow, but then failed (as in going into the guardrail). We made it my parent’s house around 7:30- so pretty good time.
However, not great time because we missed the surprise (though we knew that was going to happen). Leslie decided to throw Jeremy a surprise party because he had turned 30 the week before. He thought they were just coming over to see us, but instead he was greeted by about 30 other friends. It was a fun party; it was good to see a lot of people. It’s hard to see a lot of people on the weekend, but that’s how it is when you live far away.
Our Saturday started by going on a wild goose chase to get Jeremy’s present. We knew we wanted to get him a golf gift card, but because it had snowed the pro shop was closed (and we found that out when we got there). So we went to Target to get him a card, and decided we would get him 30 ones. But that requires going to the bank, and so we went. But the bank at that Tom Thumb is now just an atm. I hate it when things change and I don’t know where they are now. But we made it back and had lunch with the family and Nannie and Da. We watched some Olympics and then went to dinner at Ghingis Grill (they don’t have those down here).
Sunday we went to church, and then out to eat with what ended up being a rather large group. As I called it the “McRotayfosikeman’s”. Haha that include us (McCarthy’s), my parents (Roddy’s ), Leslie and Jeremy (Taylor’s), Amanda (Foster), Kristi (Sikes), and Kellan and Molly (the Hickman’s). We ate at On The Border (of course) and it was very yummy!! We left on Sunday around 2 and made it back to Houston in less than 4 hours (Russell was driving not me). When we got back Russell gave me his present, and he got me a nice bathrobe, and gift cards for pedicure, and a message. I was very thankful for that.
On Monday Russell got to sleep in, because he got the day off. I had to go to work, but it was just development, so no kids. But it made for a short week, and those are always good!
Last weekend was my birthday, and we went to Dallas. On Thursday it rained all day in Houston, but up in Dallas it was cold enough for it to snow all day. My parents had over 7 inches of snow. We left about 3:20 from Houston. It was the earliest I could get home after school, and throw all our toiletries in the bag. We started seeing snow around Thornton (on 14, the one you only slow down to 50 and no stops-lol). But it was mostly on the roofs and in snowmen. But it was in between Grosbeck and Mexia that we started seeing snow on the ground all over. And Corsicana there was a LOT of snow on the ground and in the far left lane. For some reason it decided to stay in that lane, and so that made it be more traffic that would have been. You could see tire marks where people had tried to drive in the snow, but then failed (as in going into the guardrail). We made it my parent’s house around 7:30- so pretty good time.
However, not great time because we missed the surprise (though we knew that was going to happen). Leslie decided to throw Jeremy a surprise party because he had turned 30 the week before. He thought they were just coming over to see us, but instead he was greeted by about 30 other friends. It was a fun party; it was good to see a lot of people. It’s hard to see a lot of people on the weekend, but that’s how it is when you live far away.
Our Saturday started by going on a wild goose chase to get Jeremy’s present. We knew we wanted to get him a golf gift card, but because it had snowed the pro shop was closed (and we found that out when we got there). So we went to Target to get him a card, and decided we would get him 30 ones. But that requires going to the bank, and so we went. But the bank at that Tom Thumb is now just an atm. I hate it when things change and I don’t know where they are now. But we made it back and had lunch with the family and Nannie and Da. We watched some Olympics and then went to dinner at Ghingis Grill (they don’t have those down here).
Sunday we went to church, and then out to eat with what ended up being a rather large group. As I called it the “McRotayfosikeman’s”. Haha that include us (McCarthy’s), my parents (Roddy’s ), Leslie and Jeremy (Taylor’s), Amanda (Foster), Kristi (Sikes), and Kellan and Molly (the Hickman’s). We ate at On The Border (of course) and it was very yummy!! We left on Sunday around 2 and made it back to Houston in less than 4 hours (Russell was driving not me). When we got back Russell gave me his present, and he got me a nice bathrobe, and gift cards for pedicure, and a message. I was very thankful for that.
On Monday Russell got to sleep in, because he got the day off. I had to go to work, but it was just development, so no kids. But it made for a short week, and those are always good!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
It's Been Awhile.....sorry
So I realized today that I haven't posted in awhile. So sorry. Nothing too exciting has happened.
On Friday I thought it was the best day ever, when my problem child, Frank, got his schedule changed out of my class. I was so excited. He is always talking, out of his seat, and just annoys the crap out of everyone. His behavior specialist seaid it best, he doesn't do enough to write him up, but he pecks away at you all class, and you come out just beaten down. When he came and told me on Friday, I told my class we had 5 seconds to celebrate (which we did) and then got back to work. When I got home Russell took me out to eat- OTB of course! And then on Monday afternoon, he got his schedule changed back. noooooo :( So much for celebrating. I was so disappointed. So I told him that from now on he gets three strikes and then I write him up, and that strikes are anythign from being out of his seat, talking out loud, and going to the bathroom (he goes, or at least wants to go, ALL the time). So far it has seemed to work. He did good this week, except for today. But still it wasn't too bad.
It has been raining ALL day today, and up in Dallas that means snow all day long. I am so jealous. :( Hopefully it stays so I can see it, because we are going up there for my birthday! YAY! More to come after this weekend, but thought I would keep you updated!
On Friday I thought it was the best day ever, when my problem child, Frank, got his schedule changed out of my class. I was so excited. He is always talking, out of his seat, and just annoys the crap out of everyone. His behavior specialist seaid it best, he doesn't do enough to write him up, but he pecks away at you all class, and you come out just beaten down. When he came and told me on Friday, I told my class we had 5 seconds to celebrate (which we did) and then got back to work. When I got home Russell took me out to eat- OTB of course! And then on Monday afternoon, he got his schedule changed back. noooooo :( So much for celebrating. I was so disappointed. So I told him that from now on he gets three strikes and then I write him up, and that strikes are anythign from being out of his seat, talking out loud, and going to the bathroom (he goes, or at least wants to go, ALL the time). So far it has seemed to work. He did good this week, except for today. But still it wasn't too bad.
It has been raining ALL day today, and up in Dallas that means snow all day long. I am so jealous. :( Hopefully it stays so I can see it, because we are going up there for my birthday! YAY! More to come after this weekend, but thought I would keep you updated!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Great Weekend!!
After a rough week at school, we had a great weekend!! Rachel, Lauren, Katherine, and Mark came down to stay with us. They got here around 9:30 on Friday night, and we got to hang out. On Saturday we went to College Station to watch the A&M vs. Tech basketball game. We got there early and ate lunch at La Bodega. It's a great College Station only california mexican food place. They have great nachos!!! Katie and Michelle joined us for lunch. It was great to see Michelle, I have not seen her since this summer. She spent last semester abroad in Ecuador. It fun to hear her stories. After lunch we hit up some of the bookstores for more Aggie gear (as if we don't have enough). But we did buy a cute aggie door hanger to put on our hook outside. It says "aggie fans live here". It's the hook where we put the pumpkin welcome sign, the snowman christmas sign, and now we have a heart valentines day sign. So it will be for football season, and perhaps always-lol.
We forgot to grab Katie's parking pass so we could park on campus (you forget about those things when you haven't been there in awhile). So as we are pulung up Russell goes we dont' have any cash to park. I had 4 dollars, and Rachel had 2 so we pulled into the parking lot by the REC that said $5. However, the guy monitoring the parking lot mistook my cycreek parking pass for an A&M one, so we got to park for free! The game started out kinda bad. We were down by about 10 points halfway through the first half. We kept trying to make 3 pointers, and not making them and wasting possesions. However, then we stepped it into gear and was leading by halftime, and blew it away in the second half. It was a good game, and a fun win. After the game we went to Laynes (yes we are trying to pack all the college station only food places in when we are there-lol). And it was just as good as ever. We got home around midnight.
We did not go to church on Sunday, we just all slept in and then watched tennis and hung out Sunday morning. Well, when I say we watched tennis I mean me and Russell did, and the rest were confused. haha. But it was the finals for the Austrialian Open. It was great to see another Federer win!!! While we were watching we were talking, but Rachel said we needed to liven things up. And I quote, "we need to make it a party, you know turn on the lights or something." Haha I LOVE her!!! We went to lunch and then they headed back up to Dallas. It was great to see them all, since we didn't go up to Dallas for Christmas, we haven't seen them since Thanskgiving.
We forgot to grab Katie's parking pass so we could park on campus (you forget about those things when you haven't been there in awhile). So as we are pulung up Russell goes we dont' have any cash to park. I had 4 dollars, and Rachel had 2 so we pulled into the parking lot by the REC that said $5. However, the guy monitoring the parking lot mistook my cycreek parking pass for an A&M one, so we got to park for free! The game started out kinda bad. We were down by about 10 points halfway through the first half. We kept trying to make 3 pointers, and not making them and wasting possesions. However, then we stepped it into gear and was leading by halftime, and blew it away in the second half. It was a good game, and a fun win. After the game we went to Laynes (yes we are trying to pack all the college station only food places in when we are there-lol). And it was just as good as ever. We got home around midnight.
We did not go to church on Sunday, we just all slept in and then watched tennis and hung out Sunday morning. Well, when I say we watched tennis I mean me and Russell did, and the rest were confused. haha. But it was the finals for the Austrialian Open. It was great to see another Federer win!!! While we were watching we were talking, but Rachel said we needed to liven things up. And I quote, "we need to make it a party, you know turn on the lights or something." Haha I LOVE her!!! We went to lunch and then they headed back up to Dallas. It was great to see them all, since we didn't go up to Dallas for Christmas, we haven't seen them since Thanskgiving.
The Aggie girls!!
Believe it or not, Russell's first Aggie basketball game
WHOOP!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Worst Day Yet :(
Today was a very frustrating/infuriating day. My kids have had 4 class days to work on their projects over the American Revolution (as they have already learned this extensively in 8th grade, but they don't remember so we review it for the TAKS test). It's supposed to be a fluff project-easy to bring up their grades. First it was due on Tuesday but then most people weren't making signifiant progress I made Tuesday a work day and due first think on Wednesday. But of course today I get all sorts of excuses of why its not finished. I had a few people finish yesterday, so I know they had plenty of time (way more time than needed for this project). So I was getting frustrated with all of those stupid excuses. And trying to get them back to paying attention/listen to me talk mode since they have been doing whatever for the last four days.
Then I had planned a fun short activity of putting the events of the American Revolution in chronological order (thats time order for those 10th graders reading this that don't know what chronological means - a few groups gave me alphabetical order I mean really- OMG). Again, we have studied this, they have drawn a cartoon of the events (in chronological order- or supposed to be- we shall see when I grade them), so it should have taken them three minutes to do. So how I did it was put the events onto notecards, and divide the class into teams. The team that got it right the fastest got 5 extra points on the quiz. I first set my timer for 3 minutes, nobody was even close, so I gave them extra time. Only two groups (out of 5 classes-with 6 groups each in them) got it right in a decent amount of time. So that was frustrating. I really thought this was going to be an easy short review, and it ended up being almost the whole lesson.
Also, I gave my students a vocabulary assignment two and a half weeks ago. It was goign to be due on Tuesdya, buts since they were supposed to be working hard on their projects (ha) I pushed it back to Friday. I am still getting complaints on. I kept saying I gave it to you 2 weeks ago, you have had plenty of time to come beofre or after school to get the definitions if you don't have a book. And I'm also getting complaints that no other teachers are doing it. I keep saying well I'm not those teachers, you have me. UGH. Two weeks is plenty of time to get it done, especailly since that I have been reminding them everyday.
I currently have 3 kids in DMC, and after 3 weeks of working there I still don't know what DMC stands for but it's like an inschool suspension. So I needed to bring one of my kids some materials he needs for the project- which I would have done yesterday when he was in DMC, but he skipped (stupid kid). So I went down there during lunch (and it's all the way across the school and my lunch break is only 30 minutes long). So I wasted 12 minutes of freedom (i mean lunch-lol), walking down there and back. UGH!
Finally when the day was over I went downstairs(which again is like a 10 minute walk) to make copies and the machine jammed. Even bigger UGH!!
The last thing to make my day bad was I went to sonic to get a nice big cherry Dr. Pepper, and I missed happy hour by 10 minutes. Had to pay full price. But the day did get better, the Sonic guy gave me two cherries in my Dr. Pepper!!! And I was home early, got to enjoy the night with my wonderful husband. And we had 5 guys burgers for dinner (yummy!!). And I get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow. I have to get my badge done during my conference period, and since I have first off and I pass by the security office on my way to work, they said I could just come in after I get it made. Since the security office is so gay by only being open from 7 to 3, when all their customers are teachers who would be in school during those hours (so stupid).
I am also looking forward to this weekend. Rachel, Lauren, Mark and Katherine are coming down and staying with us and we are going to the A&M vs. Tech basketball game on Saturday where I get to see Michelle and Katie.
Thanks for listening to me rant!!!
Then I had planned a fun short activity of putting the events of the American Revolution in chronological order (thats time order for those 10th graders reading this that don't know what chronological means - a few groups gave me alphabetical order I mean really- OMG). Again, we have studied this, they have drawn a cartoon of the events (in chronological order- or supposed to be- we shall see when I grade them), so it should have taken them three minutes to do. So how I did it was put the events onto notecards, and divide the class into teams. The team that got it right the fastest got 5 extra points on the quiz. I first set my timer for 3 minutes, nobody was even close, so I gave them extra time. Only two groups (out of 5 classes-with 6 groups each in them) got it right in a decent amount of time. So that was frustrating. I really thought this was going to be an easy short review, and it ended up being almost the whole lesson.
Also, I gave my students a vocabulary assignment two and a half weeks ago. It was goign to be due on Tuesdya, buts since they were supposed to be working hard on their projects (ha) I pushed it back to Friday. I am still getting complaints on. I kept saying I gave it to you 2 weeks ago, you have had plenty of time to come beofre or after school to get the definitions if you don't have a book. And I'm also getting complaints that no other teachers are doing it. I keep saying well I'm not those teachers, you have me. UGH. Two weeks is plenty of time to get it done, especailly since that I have been reminding them everyday.
I currently have 3 kids in DMC, and after 3 weeks of working there I still don't know what DMC stands for but it's like an inschool suspension. So I needed to bring one of my kids some materials he needs for the project- which I would have done yesterday when he was in DMC, but he skipped (stupid kid). So I went down there during lunch (and it's all the way across the school and my lunch break is only 30 minutes long). So I wasted 12 minutes of freedom (i mean lunch-lol), walking down there and back. UGH!
Finally when the day was over I went downstairs(which again is like a 10 minute walk) to make copies and the machine jammed. Even bigger UGH!!
The last thing to make my day bad was I went to sonic to get a nice big cherry Dr. Pepper, and I missed happy hour by 10 minutes. Had to pay full price. But the day did get better, the Sonic guy gave me two cherries in my Dr. Pepper!!! And I was home early, got to enjoy the night with my wonderful husband. And we had 5 guys burgers for dinner (yummy!!). And I get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow. I have to get my badge done during my conference period, and since I have first off and I pass by the security office on my way to work, they said I could just come in after I get it made. Since the security office is so gay by only being open from 7 to 3, when all their customers are teachers who would be in school during those hours (so stupid).
I am also looking forward to this weekend. Rachel, Lauren, Mark and Katherine are coming down and staying with us and we are going to the A&M vs. Tech basketball game on Saturday where I get to see Michelle and Katie.
Thanks for listening to me rant!!!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Problem Child
So in the last class of the day there is this kid --lets call him Frank (not his real name since this is for anyone to read)-- who drives me, and the rest of the class CRAZY. I told Russell yesterday that either I was going to kill him, or he was going to kill me by the end of the six weeks. He is majorly ADHD. He is always singing, up out of his seat, talking to anyone and eveyone. And he doesn't listen. He does ok writting down the notes, but as soon as he is done copying for one slide he is up and singing and talking again while everyone else is still writting stuff down. Yesterday he was like "miss, why you always tellin me to be quiet, treating me like a dog" and I was so frustrated I said, well my dog at least listens to me. Mean I know, but it's been like this for over two weeks now.
The other kids don't like him either. Obviously, he is distracting and just kinda weird. One other boy in particular, hates him. But it gets really hot in my room, and I have a little fan, and they both get hot, so they sit next to each other in front of the fan. So that adds a whole other dynamic.
For the next three days we are working on a major individual project. They get three days in class to work on it (because lets face it they wont do it if you don't give them classtime- even if it is 30% of their 6weeks grade). I was really worried that Frank would be all over the place and distracting everyone. He has an aide that sometimes comes in to monitor his behavior (yes she even amitted that she was being paid for being a mom). However, I had forgotten her name, so I emailed his counselor to see if she knew. All the sudden she is emailing his case worker. I just wanted to know her name so I could ask her to come in today. I ended up finding her in the copy room, and she agreed to make sure that she stopped by. So by the time 7th period came, Frank had two adults in their making sure he behaved. I didn't mean to call in the calvery but it worked!! They left about 20 minutes in. And he behaved (for the most part) the rest of the period. I made sure I thanked him for behaving nicely like 3 times. HAHA! I also made sure I had a stack of referrals ready- just in case. I'm sure more Franks stories will be coming. lol.
Yay for not really having to work had for tomorrow and Monday. However, I will be at a development all day on Saturday starting at 8am. :( But it will help me be a better ESL teacher (hopefully-lol). But I get a $100 stipend for going.
On a happy note, we heard that Russell's grandparents started reading the blog. So HI to grandma and grandpa in New York. Can't wait to see ya'll in March!!
The other kids don't like him either. Obviously, he is distracting and just kinda weird. One other boy in particular, hates him. But it gets really hot in my room, and I have a little fan, and they both get hot, so they sit next to each other in front of the fan. So that adds a whole other dynamic.
For the next three days we are working on a major individual project. They get three days in class to work on it (because lets face it they wont do it if you don't give them classtime- even if it is 30% of their 6weeks grade). I was really worried that Frank would be all over the place and distracting everyone. He has an aide that sometimes comes in to monitor his behavior (yes she even amitted that she was being paid for being a mom). However, I had forgotten her name, so I emailed his counselor to see if she knew. All the sudden she is emailing his case worker. I just wanted to know her name so I could ask her to come in today. I ended up finding her in the copy room, and she agreed to make sure that she stopped by. So by the time 7th period came, Frank had two adults in their making sure he behaved. I didn't mean to call in the calvery but it worked!! They left about 20 minutes in. And he behaved (for the most part) the rest of the period. I made sure I thanked him for behaving nicely like 3 times. HAHA! I also made sure I had a stack of referrals ready- just in case. I'm sure more Franks stories will be coming. lol.
Yay for not really having to work had for tomorrow and Monday. However, I will be at a development all day on Saturday starting at 8am. :( But it will help me be a better ESL teacher (hopefully-lol). But I get a $100 stipend for going.
On a happy note, we heard that Russell's grandparents started reading the blog. So HI to grandma and grandpa in New York. Can't wait to see ya'll in March!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
