Day 78

Last Friday was Day 78. I left school at 2:30 p.m. for the airport so I could fly south to get my granddaughter. Friday was the last day before the winter break. We had a school sing-a-long and my class participated with the other at grade classes to sing two songs. It went well.

The day was pretty much a bust, not much going on, just keeping my students involved the best I could. I gave them their gift and most enjoyed it. I am practical in my approach and they should be able to use it for the next few months.

I received a few gifts from my students and their families. They were nice. One student even gave me a pocket watch. It bothered me because this family does not have much money. I talked to my principal about it and he said not to worry. The family just appreciates me.

During the break I will go in a few days. The school will be open from 9-5, but the heat will not be on. I hope it is warm enough so I can get some work done. I have several projects I need to complete over the break.

This is my last posting for this year. I will start up with day 79 on January 5, 2009. Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy Holiday.

Day 77

The next to the last day before the break and all through the halls the students are on break. Most do not do anything and those that do, are not doing much. We had an assembly today and it was pretty good. We had a visit from a local HS choir & jazz band.

I gave my chapter math test today, after a few weeks of work. It is amazing just how little they remember. I am sure it must be a reflection of my poor teaching; however it is not a lack of trying. Too many of them just give up even if we just talked through it a few minutes before the test. I am very frustrated about their lack of even trying.

Tomorrow, the last day, is pretty much shot. We have a sing-a-long from 9 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., I will try to get something done from then until lunch at 12:10. After they get done with lunch, they leave for home 30 minutes latter.

My "new" student got into trouble today with the playground aids. I counseled him and emailed his mom. I do not know how much help it will be.

I am flying to Phoenix on Friday night and will not be home to make my Day 78 blog. I will try to get to it on Saturday after I return.

I left tonight at 4:30 to go get some more holiday shopping done.

Day 76

We had our Christmas party today and it was a zoo. I like more control than what we had, however I had to let them have fun. Our parents planned it and worked at the booths. Our principal and assistant principal visited and interacted with my students. We even completed our family presents today--so all in all, things were not that bad.

I forgot to mention that the assistant principal visited yesterday. I was busy with my students, helping them with math when she came in. I only saw her as she was leaving. She said my students were doing what they should have been. I only hope that was right.

I have been showing the staff the pictures and presentations my students made. The staff really enjoys them.

We made cards for all of the staff who do not have classroom students. All of the students signed them and then delivered them today. This was a big hit for all.

I attended the choir concert our students presented downtown today. It was very cold and our students did a very good job. I had four students in the choir.

I left work at 5:30 tonight to go to the concert.

Day 75

The craziness of the season is really getting to me. It so difficult to get my students to focus on anything, let alone work and learning.

Our teaching team fed the faculty today waffles and fixings. We were scheduled to provide the faculty meeting treats, but the meeting was cancelled. it went well and the faculty enjoyed it. It was our present to the staff. I gave the left overs to my students. They had a hay-day. I suspect part of the problem today was they polished off a gallon of drink before class started.

I held my second weekly make-up-work after class today and only had four students take advantage of it. I was surprised that more parents did not have their students attend. The four that stayed got some work done.

Our assistant principal came by today. I was working with several students at my desk and did not see her come in. My class was not too out of control; most students were on task (I think).

I left tonight at 5:30. It took longer to wrap things up because of the time I spent with students. I am ready for another day.

Day 74

It was hard to believe that today was a Monday. I can't think of the last time that I had a more boring day. I showed my students the photo presentation I created with the pictures they took last week. We watched it twice. They really enjoyed watching themselves.

No real drama today, no out bursts, just holiday craziness. Only three and a half more days until the break. I told my students about the "Keep Em On Task" program and started watching them today. I am not sure it will make much of a difference. My same three students were off task almost every time the program sounded.

One of the moms came in today to check on her son. I gave a more glowing report than he deserved, but I wanted to try to motivate him a little. I knew if the real report got out, grandpa would be mad. I just need to work with him longer to get him used to me. He is getting his homework done on time. That is a real plus.

I met with our committee today and they are finally getting my student evaluated for special ed. It has been a long time coming. He brought in a calculator today and tore it apart. I threw it away and talked to his mother. She was not too happy.

I left tonight at 4:30, ready for another day plus.

Day 73

I have been told that it is just the season to be jolly is the reason the students are so I do not know what to call them. They are getting to be a real pain in the caboose.

Another day, another melt down. I had one of my students call a female student in m class a name. She got mad and started chasing her. They were caught by another teacher and brought to me. I sent the girl packing and talked to the boy. I instructed him to return to me on Monday and identify an appropriate consequence for his actions. If he does not, I will call his mom. My fellow teacher thought I was too easy on him when I decided to talk and not take an action. Time will tell to see which solution would have been better.

I gave my students Santa Hats and had their pictures taken. The pictures are for a present we are creating for their parents. I hope it works out. Today we also had Art for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was a little noisy.

Next week is our last week before the holidays. I hope we are able to get a little of anything done this week. I need to complete a math chapter, give a grammar quiz, and complete my Revolutionary War section in Social Studies. Additionally we have three assemblies scheduled, a party, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I left work today at 4:30 with a firm plan on what to do next week.

Day 72

I thought the drama in my last school was bad--I had no idea what 5th grade would be like. I had two students who do not like each other and came to me about the same time to complain that the other student had said something rude to them. I tried to talk to them and hoped they got the message. I hope it is just the season and things will get better soon. They are driving me crazy.

Other than that things went pretty well today. By accident yesterday I brought five water pistols to school with some leftover Bday items. When I discovered the issue, I took them home. I told the Assistant Principal about it because I did not want the administration blind sided in case a parent complained. She seamed to think that it was an innocent mistake and not to worry.

One of my other student through a little fit because he did not get to set a the computer he wanted to set at when he came to take my roller chair. This is a case of too bad--so sad.

I left tonight at 3:30 p.m. to complete a training at my old job. This should be the last time for a while that I need to leave early, I guess until January when I will be taking a college course and will have to leave each Wednesday at 3:30. I have my schedule done for the next two weeks.

Day 71

We had an assembly today given by a local JHS. It went well and it was worth the time to see it. During Math today my newest student had an attitude. I called him on it and he said the girls were telling him he is invisible. We talked about it and I told him when ever he felt he was having a tough time, he just needed to come set my me. I do not know if he understood. I talked to the girls involved and hopefully they will be a little more sensitive in the future.

I left tonight at 3:30 to attend a training. Today was pretty much a normal day.

Day 70

Today we had our first practice for our Christmas assembly. The fifth grades are singing together. It should be okay. I think the song is a little complex, but what do I know about music and kids.

I have had my camera in class the past two days letting my students take pictures for my Digital Camera in the Classroom class. They have had fun and I have a few good pictures. Many that are not so good.

My first night of letting students stay late to work on homework was pretty much a bust. I had two students stay and one took two tests. It was good for him, but not for the other student. She just played with the camera. None of the other students took advantage of my offer. I will try again next week and after the winter break.

I gave my students left over cake from my grandson's Bday. They liked it.

I left tonight at 5 p.m. An okay day for a Tuesday.

Day 69

I cannot think of anything out of the ordinary that happened today. I brought black wrapper Hersey Kisses representing coal and gave one to all of my students. I also gave one to each of the staff. They had a good time with the candy. I gave a handful to the principal and assistant principal, telling them that they must have been very bad this past year.

I applied for grant to go on a Revolutionary War tour next summer and asked my principal if I could use him as a professional reference. He said he would help any way that he could. I gave my students their history pre-quiz. I will send if off tomorrow.

We had our first in-door recess today; things went well. I found out after that things were good enough out side that they could have gone out side. I sent them out for the afternoon recess. I need a few more games to keep the engaged and a puzzle.

We had our monthly M&J assembly today. It was about service. It started earlier than I planned and my students missed part of their computer time. I am a little inflexible and do not like things to happen outside of the scheduled time. I like to plan and work my plan. (It is the Army in me.)

I left tonight around 5:30 p.m. I have most of my week planned and copies made. I also have the masters turned in for hand outs I will need in January. How is that for looking ahead.

Day 68

My student that went to see the Asst. principal was suspended today for his conduct towards a teacher. His brother told me that he was happy to be able to stay home; so much for feeling sorry.

I read my students the riot act today for their conduct when one of my student's mother was in class yesterday. I am not sure they were very contrite either. I told them if it happened again I would cancel their Christmas party where parents might come in.

Students left today at 1:25 and I spent the afternoon planning. We had our monthly team meeting and had good representation from our reading specialist, the assistant principal, and the reading tutors.

I left today a t 4:00 p.m. so I could run an errand. I am ready for Monday, but have a long way to get ready for next week.

Day 67

The saga continues with my student who was disrespectful towards one of our teachers. I asked his mother to come in and take him to the teacher to apologize. He did and I thought it was over. He was called down to see the assistant principal today. I have no idea why, I will ask tomorrow.

My new student's mother was coming in to see me after school and showed up two hours before school ended. I invited her to stay and she did. My students were terrible. We will have a real serious discussion tomorrow. I was embarrassed. I hope she understood that my class is normally better.

I went out during recess and played tether ball again today. My students enjoyed it and I was tired. It was good PR.

I left tonight at 4:30 to attend a Scout meeting. I have everything ready for Friday and most for Monday.

Day 66

If I get many other Wednesdays like today it will be time to quit. It really was not as bad as that, however I had a student call another teacher fat. This caused me to send the student out to apologize only to find out he did not go. Tomorrow I will ask his mom to take him. I have emailed our school team that looks into these type of problems to do something this time.

No other real issues. I guess this day was not too bad after all.

I left today at 6:15 p.m., the latest I have left in weeks. I did get a few things done that I will need in the coming weeks.

Day 65

Today I was bad. I made one of my students cry when I told her I was going to move her if she did not stop talking; and I meant it. She and my unnamed new student of three weeks were gabbing and I had had enough. I apologized for making her cry; however I told her she needed to ignore the new student even if he was being obnoxious.

I also made another one of my student mad at me because I made him take an alternative recess when he was not paying attention during reading. I also had him redo his cursive writing because he slopped through it. I believe by the end of the day he was over being mad. His sister brought me a pencil today. I talked with my student and told him I would keep the pencil in case she needed it. I give several students treats after school most nights and she is one of those who stop by to see me.

Several of our playground equipment is missing so I told my students they could not use any more equipment until they found our missing balls. One showed up. I will have to see about more.

I left tonight at 3:40 so I could go to the School Board reception for our cluster teachers. I was invited by my principal to attend. It was okay and they had lots of refreshments for those who attended. After the meeting I attended my Lesson Plan Jam meeting. I got there in time to pick up the hand outs and leave; however I had emailed them to let them know I would be late.

Day 64

For a Monday after a long week end things went pretty good, that is until Math. You would have been thinking I was teaching Greek for the past two weeks. Almost everyone had no idea what I was reviewing. I gave them the pre-test again and I am afraid not many did much better. They all but refused to even try the questions. It is very discouraging. My students will not learn their multiplication tables so in turn they do not know how to divide. I even let them use their multiplication tables. They still will not try.

The assistant principal came to my class today. It is not unusual, she tries to get to all of the classes on a weekly basis. She only stays a few minutes; it is always nice to have the students see the administration in the classroom. However, she was there to give my students a survey--on how they like their teacher. Of course she chased me out while it was going on. When I was able to come back into my class, one of my students gave me a note saying I was a great teacher. It mad my day, especially when latter on I went through math.

I had to take several of my students out of the classroom to my office to get to the bottom of some drama. One student kicked a first grader after the first grader kicked him ten times. What kind of fifth grader would let another student kick him ten times with out leaving and then kick the first grader. I gave him the appropriate behavior lecture and got him to promise not to do it again. It talked to the first grader because she is the sister of one of my students and the first grader comes by to see me every day. I asked her to leave my fifth grader alone. I talked to the sister and asked her to let dad know I had talked to everyone. I probably should have talked to the first grader's teacher, tomorrow. Finally, I heard that the kicker had called a sixth grader a whore. I talked to the other students who heard him say it. I will save this discussion for tomorrow. This young man is my new student and he is really driving me crazy.

I left work today at 4 p.m. so I could attend a class for new teachers. It was very good and well worth my time

Day 63

Can you believe I came home last night and forgot to make my posting for Tuesday. It was nice to get Tuesday over. Students had Tday fever and were hard to keep on focus. I am glad that I had today off. It has been a nice break.

I changed study buddies yesterday. I started out by appointing them to new seats and study buddies knowing it would get their dander up. It worked. I finally let them choose their new seats and study buddy. After a few changes, those who were at school yesterday got a seat they can live with. (They will have to for the next three weeks.).

I left last night near 6 p.m. and have most of next week all planned. I have things to do both Monday & Tuesday nights so I needed to get the first three days ready now.

My one drama was not real bad. I had a student who wanted to see the counselor because of some traumatic event. I told her she would have to wait until after lunch. I warned the counselor and asked her to come get my student if she had the time. I told the student that the counselor was busy (true) and would come get her as soon as she could. The counselor made a comment that I sure had a lot of students who were needy. I agreed. I do have a lot of high maintenance students.

Day 62

I hate Mondays before a holiday. It is getting real tough to get my students to stay on task and to focus. Math was a disaster today. Trying to get students to look at problem solving strategy is so tough for 5th graders. it is even tough for 5th grade teachers. I know that I did not get through to them. It was tough enough to get them to divide. Problem solving is worse. From day one I have had my students do story problems. From day one I have not been able to get the majority of them to think through the words and to set up the problem so it is a normal math problem.

Social Studies did not go much better. I showed them a web page about Jamestown and the settlement of Virginia. I could not get them to listen. I am almost ready to show it to them again tomorrow. I should have given them some sort of Graphic Organizer to fill out. I think why I did not was to see the web page on the PPP I needed to turn the lights off.

I left work today at 4:45 so I could go shopping.

Day 61

Yesterday was a Friday and was day 61. We are officially one-third of the way done with this school year. Where has it gone? One of my students said she could not believe that the school year has gone by so fast. I think she likes it.

I finally lost my first student yesterday. It was a teary departure for my student and a little heart tug for me. I will miss this student. She has been a lot of work, but has worked hard to learn. She was my top math student in ILS. She would have been better if her reading skills were a little stronger.

I offered to trade my new student with the sixth grade teacher for her problem student. Only kidding, the principal would never let us trade. I think we both would be happier with the trade. This student has only been in class for two weeks and he is really getting on my nerves and on the nerve of many of my students. I am not sure if this is just the "new student" syndrome or if this student is deliberately trying to mess with our heads. I have moved him from his initially assigned study buddy for a couple of days until I decide where to put him for the next month. Yesterday I showed him a place on the floor and told him to set there until I told him he could move. He stayed there for about 15 minutes and then it was time to go home.

I let my students participate in an alternative educational activity. They started arguing and so I told them that in stead of heads up-seven they could play heads-down-on-their-desk and shut up. It was a poor choice of words. I should have said mouth shut. They called me on it and said they were going to tell the principal. I offered to walk them down. No one took me up on it because they know it would end future alternative educational activities.

I left last night around 5:30. I had a good afternoon for planning and completed my Language Art lessons until winter break; and more importantly I moved the other 5th grade class to one week behind me so what I used this week, they could use next week. This will make my planning for them go smother.

Day 60

My students really had a good time giving the school counselor a surprise birthday party today. She equally had a good time and was surprised. I also held a special training for the student council and taught them how to fold the American flag. It went well.

Student drama has been down recently or I have become more tolerant and do not consider what was once drama now. It has become common place.

My student who claimed he saw a cat size rat in his room yesterday and fought it off, told everyone today that he fought the tow truck driver that came and hauled his mom's car away. Mom told me that he was upset and the car was towed, however all my student did was to trash his room, punch the wall, and kicked the door. He hurt his foot. This young man is strange.

I left work tonight at 5:30 p.m. so I could attend a Scout meeting.

Day 58 & 59

Sorry today is a tofer. Our electricity went out last night and did not come back on until after 10 p.m. I was already in bed and was too lazy to get up and make my post for yesterday.

Tuesday went well. After one day I have no real recollection about any issues. It is sad that I have such a short memory. I left last night at 6:30 p.m. I stayed longer because I needed to get some grades into the computer.

Today was about the same; not much happened.

I was asked to teach our student council how to fold the American flag and I will do it tomorrow. I have prepared a handout for the 12 members of the student council. My truck hit a deer last night so I am bumming rides again until it get fixed.

My class is planning a surprise party for our school counselor. She teaches a class on Thursday. They have prepared her a card, a banner, and are bringing treats. I am providing the cups & drinks.

I left tonight at 6 p.m. because that was when my ride picked me up.

Day 57

I am getting to like Mondays more and more each week. We worked hard, played some, and even got in some learning. I am not sure I can ask for more. I changed my student's desks around today for our SS lesson. I think some want to keep it. I will see after I complete my current SS instructions.

No real drama to report other than my student that was leaving last week is back for another week. I guess I really caused some problems when I told that dad I was going to miss his daughters when he did not know his EX was going to move. I apologized to all.

I had a SS meeting tonight after school so I left by 3:34 p.m. I was pretty much ready for tomorrow and will have to get to work a little early to finish my preparation. I thought I was going to be attending a course on Wednesday but I was told tonight that it had been cancelled. I have to let my sub know.

My students are into Lego's so I bought one to put on my shelf. It is not a real Lego even though it is a Lego brand. It is some type of transformer. My student had fun putting it together for me. It now resides on one of my selves.

Day 56

Another week has come and gone. Parent Teacher conferences was a real experience. I look forward to getting back to next week and back to a real schedule. I like consistency and normal. This week has been hard to get much going.

We had an assembly today to recognize our student readers. We celebrated their achievement in obtaining AR goals. I did not have may recognized. I will have to figure how to do better this next term. During SEPs I recommended to every student and parent that the student meet his or her AR goals this term. Time will tell.

I have one of my students have a breakdown today and I gave in. I let her choose her own poem style because I have seen how she writes and she does not need the structure that my other students do.

My student who is leaving after this week has been clingy all day. I am not a clingy type person and it kind of got on my nerves. When her dad came to pick her up I told him how much I will miss his daughter. He did not know. His EX did not tell him that she was moving. I spilled the beans and did not know it. Hopefully I have not cause problems.

We were told we could leave today after our student left as a reward for working late every day. I finally left at 4 p.m. I guess that was early for me.

Day 55

Parent Teacher conferences are finally over and I remained unscathed, sort of. One mom wanted to know why I gave her daughter a 1 in social skills and I told her her daughter's social behavior was unacceptable. I have offered to raise it to a 2, which is still unacceptable. I met with all of my parents. Not bad for a first year teacher. Parents seam to be happy and the students appear to like their class and teacher.

Today was another "normal" day with out any real drama. I met with one of my students who had written a note to another girl telling her she hated her. When I asked why she said the other girl and said that she was dating a female. I have to talk to the second girl and will try to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully, the first one understands why it is not smart to pass notes.

I left today at 5:45 p.m. Today was another half day.

Day 54

Day two of Parent Teacher Conferences and I am nearly done. All have gone well and I have had the chance to meet most of my student's parents.

Nothing of note happened in school today. We were out again early and I used the time to get ready for next week. Sorry the day was just boring.

I left tonight a 6 p.m. after completing my SEPs.

Day 53

I knew the no drama would not last. "MrJ do you hate me?" What kind of question is that? Of course I do not hate you. Why do you think I hate you? You got mad at me. I did not get mad at you, I just asked you to stop doing something annoying; and so forth and so forth.

Parent Teacher conferences went well (SEP). I met with eight parents and their student. i feel it went very well. I have eight more tomorrow and that leaves me with six for Thursday.

My new student seams to be pretty good. He reads well and is average on his multiplication tables.

I left school tonight at 7 p.m. I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Day 52

Believe it or not today was a drama free day. I did not know what to do with myself. Today our new class president & V-President took over. Not bad for a first day.

We were only in school today for a half day. The other half day was for teachers to get ready for SEP (Parent, Student, & teacher's conferences) starting tomorrow. I have contacted all of my parents except two. One does not have a phone number listed and the other did not return my call. I will try again tomorrow.

I was notified today that I will be getting a new student tomorrow. His family requested a male teacher and I am the one and only 5th grade male teacher. I had the class get things ready for our new student. Other than his name, I know nothing about him.

I left today at 6 p.m. and I am ready for my SEPs.

Day 51

Happy Bday to me; Happy Bday to me; Happy Bday to me, Happy Bday to me. I planned a surprised Bday party for me for my class. They were surprised and I had fun acting surprised. I had my daughter get a cake and come to my school. I went to the office and asked them to page two of my students and they would think it was all real. They took the bait, they came into my class surprising me and every one had fun. I even put today's date on the board as 11/07/52. They told me I had the wrong date and changed it to 2008. I told them that I was born in 1952 and they still did not catch on. It was not until after the cake showed up that someone caught.

One of our teachers have been out for over a month and will be out until after the first of the year. I am now helping her do her LA. Not a problem; her class is behind me and I am using my materials with a little modification.

I left today around 5 p.m., when my ride showed up. I could have worked for a couple of more hours if I wanted to.

Day 50

Just a quick note today because I have to get off the computer. Today was another good day. There were only a couple of small fires to put out. One of my students was called a name and she fell apart. I talked to her and let her know that she knew the name was not true and that a friend could not call her such a name. I think I was able to get her to understand this time. She is a drama queen and gets her feeling hurt easily.

The other fire was less dramatic. I confiscated a toy for the rest of the day and my students hid her head under her coat and pouted. By the time school was over she was okay. The final student had a younger student mess with her. She is smaller than most third graders and she felt threatened. I talked with the third grader and to her brother who is in my class. Hopefully all will be well.

I left tonight at 4 p.m. because I had a Scout meeting to attend.

Day 49

No real news today--just a plain old average day (if there is such of a thing as average); well there was a little drama. One of my student blew up at me sort of and we had a long talk in the hallway (my office). I finally left him to think about it. He came back after school like nothing had happen. Another of my students became frustrated, but by the time school was over she seamed okay.

We settled our president elections by flipping a coin. It was their decision and my new class presidency will take over next week.

We had a faculty meeting today and it as same-o-same-o.

I left tonight at 6 p.m. because that was when my ride showed up.

Day 48

Today is election day, not national, but class president. We had four parties and each party nominated a presidential candidate. Next the candidates gave election speeches and then today the students voted. I voted early today and asked for enough "I Voted" stickers for my class.

I had each student signed in to obtain a ballot and when they had voted, I stamped their hand. The election turned out to be a tie and we had a re-election with the top two candidates. It also turned out as a tie. I am not sure how we will solve this issue tomorrow.

As drama goes, today was not too bad. Only one candidate became ill after not being selected president; however tonight after school I helped her with her math and she seem to be doing better.

Another of my students have been off her meds for a few days and she is hyper as can be. I talked to my student's sister and hope something is done.

I did not leave tonight until 6 p.m., only because I did not have a ride sooner. I was able to get a few things done that I have been putting off.

Day 47

Another Monday has come and gone. I have not been feeling well today and did not have the energy I normally have. I hope my students did not notice. I tried to put on a good front.

The school physiologist came in today and gave a presentation on expected and unexpected behavior. He did a pretty good job. He set on the floor, jumped on a desk, crawled under a desk, picked his nose and a few other gross behaviors. He than talked to my students about the consequences of unexpected behavior.

I left tonight at 5 p.m. fully ready for tomorrow and almost ready for Wednesday.

Day 46

Weird hair day was just that--weird; but he kids enjoyed it so I guess it was worth the distraction. I was decked out in my pink wig, a real hit with all.

Yesterday was the last day of the term and today we are finalizing grades. This should be a real eye opener. I gave my post test (pre-final) test in math yesterday and it was a disaster. I am not sure most students learned much of all about multiplication--can you believe it multiplication. You would think I was talking about a foreign language. I will reteach and retest next week.

My daughter/teacher's aide came in today and helped me correct papers. She is a great help and my students thinks she is the best.

I left last night by 5:30 p.m. to attend a Scout meeting. Now that I know what I am doing in Math, I have next week all planned. I love it when I can plan a week in advance. I might have to schedule a day in advance, but I have things ready for a full week of work. I never thought I would ever get to this point.

Day 45

Pajama Day! Bahumbug! Those of us who did not ware our pajama's today were treated as second class citizens because we did not support the days Red Ribbon activity. It is a sad indictment when pajamas are more important than teaching. Enough said!

Classes went as planned today and I was able to get another of my students through with the benchmark tests. Only one more student with one more test. Tomorrow is the deadline and I will make it. My class is doing about average. I am doing about as good as the other classes are.

I had one of my students get into a fight today on the playground. He came to the defense of a friend and was caught. He will be participating in alternative recess for the next week. His intentions were honorable, but his action was inappropriate. All three boys will be doing the same thing.

I was able to leave today at 5:30. I almost have everything ready for next week. It all depends on how my students do on their post test in Math. if they do well we start a new chapter, if they do not we reteach and retest. I am looking forward for tomorrows weird hair day!

Day 44

Today was maturation day. I was surprised that it was a good and informative presentation. I now have 5th grade boys who are using deodorant. It was real smelly in our class this afternoon. I hate to say that beside it being crazy tie day, this was the most exciting thing that happened today. Things went pretty much as planned, except the maturation presentation was longer than I had planned. We did not get to our Language Arts work today.

We also complete our benchmark test in Math. Things went pretty much as expected; high of 70 & low of 30. About the same as with our LA test.

I worked until 5 p.m. tonight and went over to see if any of my students were roller skating. I only had one. I did not go to Chunky Cheese after.

Day 43

Another week has come and gone and as Mondays go, today was okay. We had an interesting assembly today (zooish) that the students enjoyed. If they enjoyed it, I enjoyed it.

I met with our LCM committee this morning again about my two students. This time I was given some ideas and we will see if these interventions work. Everything that I and others have tried have not worked. The committee finally agreed to have one of my students tested for SE. This is a good step towards progress.

In SS today we started the student election process again. It was a little noisy; again the students had fun. We received our school T-shirts. White is not my favorite color. At least it is a polo shirt.

Camos/Sports clothes was the special today for the first day of Red Ribbon week. My students enjoyed wearing my BDUs.

I attended a class at the district today after school. I really have to hurry to get there in 25 minutes. It should be fun.

Day 41 & 42

This is getting to be a bad habit. I missed making my comments yesterday. Not sure why; nothing remarkable happened that I can remember. I left class early on Thursday to be a part of a color guard for a new church that had an open house in my home town. I left at 3:45 p.m. I was told that one of my students was found in the restroom crying because another student had made a comment about her being adopted. I will have to look into this on Monday. As far as I can remember, all went well on Thursday.

As Fridays go, today was pretty good. We made it through the day without any issues or problems. Friday's are short days and things went as planned. Spelling tests, Art, and reading; pretty normal for a Friday. The art project was music art. I played Halloween music and the students drew what they visualized. Some of the pictures were quite creative; others less.

After school we met as a team for our meeting with the assistant principal. We were ready and it went well. Our tutors and reading specialists joined us and they were happy with what we were doing. We discussed a few other things and than set up my students to take their benchmark test. I will administer the test on Monday.

After school tonight we had a PTA carnival. I volunteered my room and supervised a booth for three hours. It was good to get it over with. The assistant principal made a comment to my wife that the school got a great deal when they hired me. Complements are nice to hear; as long as I do not let them get to my head. Needless to say I left tonight around 8:30 p.m. Good thing I have Monday and most of Tuesday's materials ready.

Day 39-40

Not sure where I lost a day, but today was day 40, not 39 and it was the best. I met with my principal and he told me he brags about me when ever he gets a chance. He liked my presentation and he normally has two or three things he recommends the teacher to improve and his only comment was that I need to make sure that I allow my students enough time to answer a question and not jump right in if they falter. I thought his observations were right on. He also provided dinner.

One of my students had a melt down today and shed a few tears. It happens about every three or four weeks. I finally got her calmed down and after a talk, I thing she is back under control. We will see tomorrow.

Today's activities went well until language arts and we I tried to get my students to use a pre-writing activity to help them with their next paper. I have some work to do to get them to see the value in this approach.

One of our teachers are still out. Several teachers have chipped in to help the sub keep her class going. We are not sure when she will get back.

I left tonight around 5 pm. I am ready for tomorrow and for Friday. I have to leave right after school tomorrow to help with a color guard. It was nice to leave early tonight.

Day 38

Today was the day I have been waiting for. I finally taught a class that was observed by my principal. All new teachers have to be observed by their principal each quarter. I was the first of our new teachers. I believe things went well. At least I received a note from my principal say it was a fantastic presentation and I will have lunch with him tomorrow for a debrief.

My students were very good during the presentation; they had fun and I touched all of the right buttons I was suppose to touch. I gave him a copy of his observation form, retaught with a smiley face on it where I wanted him to set, a copy of a special lesson plan I prepared and a copy of my daily schedule along with assignments I gave out to my students. He stated that I gave him more than he expected. I had a chair set up for him, a clip board for him to use (he brought his own), and I prepped my student to let him know he was coming in to observe them, not me. He liked my jeopardy activity and the students even invited him to participate.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I had a mom visit me and wanted me to prepare some paperwork on her student. I was told that she would not allow her student to attend speech, but she was all for it. This was a good sign. I was also told by the assistant principal that the student I asked for more SE help was going to be monitored and a decision would be made to determine if she could qualify for additional help.

Even one of my team members told me she really appreciated what I was doing and that I was a good teacher. I hope it turns out as well as it seams today.

We had pictures taken today. As I told my students in my old job, you can only do so much with ugly.

I was out of there today by 6 pm. I hope to be out of there by 4 pm on Thursday and help with a color guard for the American Legions.

On a scale of 1-5, 5 being tops, today was a solid 4.

Day 37

Today was another good Monday. Things went pretty much as planned. Not much in the way of excitement today. I met with the committee that helps with at risk students and they made a couple of recommendations on how to deal with my students. I will try their recommendations.

After class today I pretty much had things ready for tomorrow. My principal is scheduled to come in an observe me teaching. It took me a few hours to make the final preparations for his visit. I am about as ready as I am going to get. I will spent several hours over the weekend developing a PPP for his visit.

I had one my parents students come in for a visit again today. He has been in once before and I provided his son with the missing assignments so he could catch. I enjoy visiting with my parents.

I also had a volunteer come in today. She will be in each Monday for a couple of hours to help where ever I need. I have asked her to help me with filing. Filing is my weak area--still.

I left tonight at 7:00 p.m. and came home to complete an assignment for tomorrow. I just need to get it printed tomorrow and I will be ready. We have pictures tomorrow and I will wear a shirt and tie.

Day 37

The Wednesday before a four-day weekend went pretty well. We had our normal Friday spelling test on Wednesday. The pretest for next week also went well. I had at least one more student make 90% than the past two weeks. I have not corrected the spelling test to see if after only three days how my students did.

I met with the vice principal to find out about getting one of my students more SE services and the principal told me I was doing a great job in working with my at risk students. I was doing better than most of the other teachers. It is always nice to hear a complement. However, twice in two days concerns me.

For art we made paper airplanes, colored them, and then flew them. it was the highlight of the week for my students.

I was able to finish up by 7:15 and went home for the weekend. I would have left sooner but I spend time getting ready for Tuesday so Monday night I can spend more time getting ready for my Language Arts lesson that my principal has to observe. I have 30 minutes to insure he knows I am a good teacher. I am ready for his visit.

Day 36

I was only at school for part of the day today due to a medical appointment. My students like my sub and asked to have him back if I am going to miss again. I do not know if this is a good sign or not.

I met with the mother of one of my students today. She was very concerned and supportive of what we plan on doing for her daughter. This is a good sign. It was decided that I would not let my student go to the library if she has not written in her planner. This will go for all students who want to go to the library in the morning.

I had another student stay after school today to have me help her with her math. I may have made some progress. She seam to think that multiplication of multiple numbers was easy. Additionally, I am trying to get another student into resource reading. I visited resource with one of my other students since I had come back early. The resource reading teacher will look into what the protocol is.

Finally, one of my students lost her house key on the way to school today and was really feeling bad. Her mother was mad at her, her sister was mad because the mom yelled at her for letting my student take the key. My student was left school today in tears. I gave both her and her sister an otter pop; hoping to make them feel a little better. It is amazing how a little cold, colored sugar water will make a person feel better.

I was able to leave tonight by 6:15. I have everything ready for tomorrow and almost everything ready for Monday. I should not have to stay too late tomorrow. We will see.

Day 35

Today was a great Monday as Mondays go. I started my day meeting with the LCM Cmty discussing one of my students. I had concerns about keeping her on task and with her social skills. I talked to her mom yesterday and received a little more information about this student. Plans were made and now I need to carry them out. Hopefully there will be some positive improvement.

Classes went as planned and I have no real concerns about what was done. I will be gone tomorrow for a half day to get my final shot. I have made a plan for my sub and hopefully she will be able to carry them out. I should be able to meet with her before I leave and will be back before school is out.

Met with my active student again today to talk about him hitting or acting like he was going to hit other students. I am not sure how to get him to stop; however we made a plan that involves him not doing it for two weeks and if he is successful, I will give him a treat.

One of my students have been bullied coming to school last week. He along with a friend was able to identify the young man and the assistant principal assigned him duties to make sure my student got to school okay. I hope this will work.

I left early tonight. It was only 6:45. I will take it anytime I can get out by this time. I did take a little time to work on items for Wednesday and Monday. I also corrected a pretest I gavfe my students in math. They do not know this stuff.

Day 33 & 34

So much for making comments everyday. I was in class only a half day on Thursday and we only had students until 1:25 on Friday. I had a play on Friday night and Scout meetings on Saturday so I stayed late on Thursday to make up for not staying late on Friday and coming in over the weekend--did you keep up with that.

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday. I had a new sub and she did a good job. Many of my students know her because she is a mom of some of the students in the school. She got along with the students and only had a few issues. I finally completed my work at 7:30 on Thursday. I had all of Friday ready and a good start on Monday. On Friday I finished getting Monday ready and a got good start on the rest of the week.

Both Thursday and Friday were very unremarkable days. We did have a fire drill on Friday. It was published in advanced and everyone was ready for it. Not a big deal. I finally got one of my students refereed to the LCM committee and we will discuss her behavior issues on Monday. I also was able to send an email on another student who has a speech issue. I am not sure what else I have to do. One final issue I tried to solve but did not was to get one of my lower level readers put in our reading club. It is a special reading program for slower readers. I have to check with her resource teacher first before I can do anything else.

All but four of my students passed the practice math test. The other four I gave them a new test and they did a little better. Only two students passed the Spelling Pre-test. At least those two do not have to take spelling next week.

I will try to do a better job on Monday. Some nights when I get home I do not get the chance to use the computer. I have a wife and a daughter in college and they use it first on school nights. Not much more for now.

Day 32

After leaving early last night I have been in a catch up mode all day. Although I knew what I needed to do, it just seam that things did not go as smooth as normal. I think it all started when we were called to the gym for an unannounced assembly just as school was scheduled to start. Again it was for a worthy intent, "Walk to School Day". It only last for about 15 minutes, but when your day is planned out, 15 minutes throws off your day.

I had several students stay in today in recess and it caused some confusion. I am not sure I want to continue doing it.

I have to be gone again tomorrow for a half day for a doctor's appointment. I am using a sub that has been used by one of our other 5th grade teachers. I will have about 15 minutes overlap before I have to leave.

I had one of my students stay after school tonight to catch up on her work. It was good for her, but it was an hour I could not do my work. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I finally left tonight at 7:45. I am very ready for tomorrow and for my sub; however I will have to stay late on Thursday because I cannot stay late on Friday. We have tickets to a play.

Day 31

For a Tuesday, today went pretty well. I was able to get through most of the material I prepared. I would have made it through all if it had not been for an assembly we had. It was not bad, in fact anytime we can discuss social skills, the better off we are. Each month we have a social skills assembly hosted by our counselor. They make it entertaining and informative.

I spent a lot of time reviewing & working with my small group math team getting them ready for our chapter test on Friday. Tomorrow we will practice some more and than Thursday we will have our final practice. Hopefully by Friday they will do okay. In science we made it through landforms, but did not get a chance to tell them about their final project. Hopefully, creating their own land form will be enjoyable.

Today I met with one mom about her son, emailed another about her son, and answered a note from two others. I like it when the parents of my students are concerned enough to contact me. These were all in reference to my weekly Monday morning about missing assignments.

I left school today at 3:45 to attend the monthly SS lesson plan exchange. It was okay. I will probably go back again next month. I was home by 6 pm. I will pay for this lapse tomorrow. that is all for today.

Day 30

I love Mondays. It is the first day of seven more days of work. I worked yesterday and completed my mandatory training. I am off the principals bad list. I canned chili sauce over the weekend and took small sample bottles to school for some of those I work with. The chili sauce turned out very good.

Today was a ho hum day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. I confiscated one of my student's toys (Lego people) and gave it to the secretary in stead of the principal. Hopefully, this young man will keep it put away during class.

I worked until seven p.m. tonight and tried to get a head start on tomorrow night. I have a SS meeting and cannot stay after school. I finished my PPP on erosion, weathering, and land forms. I presented part of it today and will present the rest tomorrow. This is an introduction to the subject. I also created a GO to help students take notes. I will provide the other two teachers copies tomorrow.

This was a short posting today. No telling what tomorrow will bring.

Day 29

Yesterday was the end of the sixth week and the tenth day of this blog. My students leave at 1:25 on Fridays. Fridays are our test days and I evaluated my students three ways. We had our Friday spelling test and pretest for the next weeks words. We did DIBLES testing in our small reading groups, and we had our first Science quiz on volcanoes & earthquakes. I have not corrected the tests so I do not know how well my students did.

Before the Science test reviewed the Science Vocabulary words in preparation for their quiz. I discovered some issues with our DIBLES materials and hope to have them fixed by next week. I did not have large print reading examples for all three of my reading tutors and will get them copied by next Friday. Additionally, some of my testing booklets are not in order. I now need to record my DIBLES scores. I also finally completed my last student on the IOWA test. When I sent my materials to the Assistant Principals office, both the Principal and Assistant Principal were in the office. The principal told my student that since I had finally completed my testing (the last teacher in the school) that I could stay for another week. My students had a good laugh over it.

I spent about a half hour going over Brain Teasers with my students. They had fun and it gave me an excuse to give them a reward for answering a question right. I put up 20 questions every day and invite my students to submit answers for the questions. The student who answers the most questions right gets a reward. The questions stay up all day. They can use the computers in my room during recess if they want to. So far only two students have participated. One young lady had won both days.

Yesterday I had my weekly weigh-in, and event look forward to every week. If I gain week I owe the class treat. If I loose weight I do not owe them a treat. I have a line graph on my wall showing my progress, rather my lack of progress. After six weeks I am exactly where I was on week number two. The students enjoy it so I continue with it.

After our students left on Friday, the fifth grade team got together for their bi-weekly planning meeting. We reviewed our progress with our Science unit and then set things up for our Math unit. In Science we are on our Earth unit (I will start weathering next week) and working on chapter 2 in Math. The principal set in with us yesterday and also one of our reading specialists. We completed our team meeting and went back to week.

I left early yesterday (4:30 p.m.) because I will come in on Sunday. Either I stay until 8 p.m. on Friday night or I work for several hours on the weekend. That is life on the 5th grade front.

Day 28

Yesterday was only a half day for me (at school). I had a medical appointment in the afternoon and had to have a sub for half a day. My sub was one of those on the preferred list and she is super. Most of my students know her and she fit in very well. I returned to school about 45 minutes before class was done and took one of my students out for his IOWA testing. One more test and he will be done. When I arrived the sub wanted to know if I was back to take over the class. I said no. She was still in charge until class was over. That way I could watch my students and see how they did with someone else. It was not a true test because I was in the back and they would come up to me. She also let a few things go that I would not let go so I would get involved in a quiet way, not usurping her authority.

I really can not think of anything unusual that happened yesterday. Things went as planned. I did get an email letting me know I was on the district's bad list because I had not completed my mandatory risk management orientation. I tried to call them to get a password and log in and received a recording. I emailed them back and hopefully I will get my password today. I also received my first paycheck and was surprised that I did not get what I thought I should received. I have been working for six weeks and thought I would get six weeks of pay. I was misinformed. Pay periods are from the 20th of one month to the 20th of the next month, paid on the 1st. So much for false expectations.

One thing from yesterday, I did not get my nomination in for student of the month so none of my students will be recognized during for September. This is one are where I think a little flexibility would have been nice, especially for a new teacher. A reminder over the intercom would have been nice.

I went to my Scout meeting last night and did my duty to Scouting. It actually went very well.

Day 27

Wednesday! Only two more days to go until next week. My weeks always start on Saturday. Since I started teaching elementary school, I have only taken one day off that I did not do something for my job. That would be Labor Day Monday.

Things went well in school today. I took to school the items my wife brought back from Hawaii and showed them to the 5th & 6th grade. I gave my students a piece of lava and a raw macadamia nut. I will take them a chocolate kiss with a macadamia nut in it. I gave a bag to each of the other 5th grade classes. The reason these items were timely is we have been studying about volcanoes and Hawaii is one of the best examples of volcanoes.

Classes went as I planned except I did Science first and math last. I knew the new math concept would not take as long as it would take to complete our Earthquake section of science. I showed my students a PPP I put together and then showed them how a candy bar could be used to show a fault and how the fault can cause an earthquake. When I was finished, I gave each of my students a candy bar and let them try it. They enjoyed the project.

I found out one of my students had stolen one of the macadamia nuts when I was not looking. I talked to her and now I plan on having her taken to the LCM committee. She has some real serious social issues and I do not think I am making much of an impact on her anti-socialism.

I finally left tonight at 7:45. I cannot stay late on Thursday night because I have a Scout meeting. I now have both Thursday and Friday ready, and a good start on Monday next week. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so I will have a substitute teacher for a half day. I believe I have a good plan ready for her.

Day 26

Things were going very well today until they threw in an assembly that I did not know about (and should have if I had checked the updated calendar.) This assembly was the kick-off for the PTA fundraiser to sell cookie dough. Kids enjoyed it, however it screwed up my Writing & Science lesson. After two days I really like my new schedule. I need to leave ILS a little sooner and not stay as long. we are in there only for 50 minutes an not the 60 I have taken the past two days. Staying this late causes me not to get to cursive writing drills. This is not bad since I have been reading up on how to be a more effective cursive writing teaching and I was going to do it wrong.

I had a visit after school today with one of my student's parents. It was a very civil visit and the parents came away feeling good about what I was doing in the classroom. My contact was totally different than one my other two teachers experienced. They were yelled at by a mom who accused them of not being good enough to teach children.The mom refused to go talk to the principal but stated that she was keeping her eye on the two teachers.

I stayed at school until 8 p.m. again tonight and got a lot of work done. I am trying to get the rest of my week done by Wednesday night because I have a Scout meeting on Thursday night as well as a doctor appointment that day. I should have everything done and will only have a few things to get ready on Friday for next week. I have completed my earthquake PPP. It looks real nice.

My wife brought back a lot of stuff from Hawaii to share with my students, to include: coral, lava, macadamia nuts, necklaces, a lai, a coconut, and a pineapple. My students should enjoy seeing these things.

Day 25

For a Monday, things went well today. I like my new schedule and think it will be a great improvement. I had to make a small tweak on my ILS reading class. I did not set it up long enough. It should have been 20 minutes, not 15 minutes. This change should keep my student busy for a little longer.

I received the proverbial summons to the Principals office today. Over the intercom I heard, "Mr. J, Mr. B would like to see you in his office as soon as you are available." Available, when the principal summons, I go. I worried all of the way down to the office wondering what I had done wrong. I have been pretty good since starting at Sunset ES. He told me that there was a government mandated letter that goes out in all title one schools for teachers who have not taught for at least three years in public education. What a relief. I read the letter and it sounds pretty good. It says I am doing a good job and is an important member of the teaching team. Boiler plate, but still nice to read. It also made a comment about "her" working on his license renewal in 2010. "Her!"

In science we completed the long awaited volcano project. It went well once I finally got the PowerPoint projector on. Additionally, some of my students became a little unruly and I was not happy with them. We had a little discussion on appropriate behavior. I will see if it helped.

Tonight I finally got out of school around 8 pm. So much for 6:30. It took me some time to get my book review assignment together. I believe I have it right. Staying late was worth the effort.

Not much more for now. I only had one student melt-down today and I think I solved it by giving the student an alternative writing assignment. She is into fantasy and I told her she could write an earth quake story in a fantasy setting. Time will tell if this approach works.

Day 24

I love my students; however I look forward to Fridays. Students leave at 1:25 and we spend the next couple of hours in meetings and training. When those are over then I can focus on the next weeks lessons. By 6 pm on Friday I was ready for Monday and almost ready for Tuesday. This was over an hour earlier than any previous Friday I have stayed late. On a normal day my students leave at 3:25. I spend the first few minutes wrapping up the days activities. I try to get this done by 4 pm. At 4 pm I spend an hour or so catching up on projects that I have delayed, that needs to get done. Finally, around 5 pm I put the touches on the next days activities. This usually takes an hour and a half. My goal is to leave each night by 6:30 p.m.

On Fridays we do spelling tests, followed by the pre-test on the next weeks spelling words. If a student can get 19 out of 20 or higher on the pre-test, that student does not have to complete the next weeks spelling. The first week I had one student that passed the spelling test and this week there were three. This is progress. Next we normally take a math/language art/science or social studies test. However, because we did not complete a unit in any subject this week, my students worked on their LA. We completed our Reading Tutor unit and gave Fluency tests to the students in our two lower reading groups. Finally, we completed the morning by building a salt dough volcano and letting the students complete their volcano art project. The lesson learned from this was I need to insure that the art projects I choose are a little less complicated. many students had a difficult time making their volcano's, even though I had made one in advance as a model.

After classes I met with a representative from DSD and was trained on the use of our Grade Book program. I had picked up a lot of the information from the other fifth grade teachers. It was a good review. I next met with the leader of our Reading Tutors. We review the past two weeks and mapped out plans for the next few. It was good to get a validation that what we were doing was good. My reading tutors like my classroom and students.

One interest of note this week, my classes' new president and vice president started helping out. It has been good to see her in action. She asked to meet with me to see how we could make the class more fun. She wanted to decorate the class with some things she and other students had made and she wanted to be able to let the class play games once in a while when we had a little extra time. Her ideas were great and we spent about 15 minutes playing Heads-UP-Seven-Up. Students had fun and it was a fitting way to end a week.

There are some frustrations I have that still bother me. My students do not write very well and they have very poor penmanship. I will start cursive writing practice next week and hope to improve their penmanship. The real problem they have is in grammar and spelling. They slop through projects and do not put enough effort in their work. Most do not have any real pride in their work. I have started using rubrics to see if I can provide them with more clear expectations.

The other frustration I have is as a team we still are not very close. Sharing of "good" ideas is not one of our strong suits. One teacher talked the principal out of MP3 players so she could use them with her class. There was no discussion about making them available for the other fifth grade teachers to use in their class. It was like it was my idea and I am going to use it to show that I am better than the rest of you. I say this even though she has been very good at helping me when I need help. She is the experienced teacher in our grade level and I expected that she would be more willing to assist with good ideas. When I have an idea I at least provide a copy of my idea to the others. Because of my lack of experience, my good ideas are few and far between. At times I am just glad to get through the day.

Another area of frustration I have is figuring out how to relate to my students and teach them at the level that meets their learning styles. I try to use a good mixture of directed instruction, guide instruction, and independent activities. I do a pretty good job with my middle level students, I am working hard to reach my lower level learners. The area I am weakest in is meeting the needs of my gifted or higher level learners.

All-in-all this has not been a bad week.

Day 23

Yesterday was another fine day. There was not a single drama event all day. I finally finished IOWA testing (still have three students who need parts of the test) for the majority of the class. I guess the only real excitement for the day was our unannounced assembly that ended up being a ride in the UHP bumping car - seat belt useage. This week is Green Ribbon (safety awareness) week.

I had the opportunity to meet with one of my students, the speech therapist, and her mom to graduate the student from special education. It was a good moment.

I handed out today's volcano art project so students could get a heads up on it. In the 60 minutes we have available, most students would not get it done. I was smart enough to give them a rubric to help them choose the type of grade they want to get on the project.

I also handed back a previous writing assignment on earth quakes and had them redo it. I provided them with a rubric this time (I should have done it before.) Hopefully, I will see some improvement.

On a side note, I was able to leave last night at 5 pm. I try to leave most Thursdays at this time to do things, go to Scout meetings, etc. Since Fridays are a short teaching day, I normally have my Fridays planned by Thursday and can leave early (at least early for me.) I am getting better on getting days in the future planned also. I almost have my Monday lesson plans done also.

Day 22

I have made it through another day and did it in good fashion. However, the student drama was a little over the top. One of my students started crying because a diorama she built and lent another student use was destroyed when it was accidentally stepped on. She claims she only lent it to the student and he says she gave it to him. I talked to all and apologies were made and all is well for now.

My next dramatic moment came in the middle of the IOWA test I was administered and I did not get to the bottom of the problem. I sent the cryer (offended party) to see the counselor and I did not get around to talking to the offender and the offended. This will be a challenge for tomorrow.

I met with the vice-principal to discuss a proposal for my class schedule. I had too many broken up chunks of time and was not able to spend the time I needed on math. She liked my proposal and I will start it next week. I received authorization to only hold around two hours of science/social studies per week. I was able to schedule an ILS reading period and cursive writing time. It was a trade off and I hope the right decision.

Faculty meeting went well today. A little too much discussion and not enough interaction between the teachers & management. We received some good news and cannot reveal it until Friday.

I brought hard boiled eggs into reading today as an object lesson to show how a hard boiled egg is similar to the earth. I used it to show the parts of a volcano. It went well and my students enjoyed eating the egg.

I copied all of the past two weeks missed assignments and attached them to the parents letter so students could get them done for credit. I hope it works.

I left work after a 12 hour day. I hope somewhere along the line the days get shorter.

Day 21

Things wen well today especially after over 12 hours at school. I know this is a self-inflected wound. I arrived at school today at 7 am because I had a meeting at the district last night and went home instead of going back to work. It took me almost an hour to get every thing ready for school. Luckily I was pretty much ready when I left school last night.

Besides the normal daily routine, I met with two parents after school. These were both good meetings and I had the chance to help my students take some responsibility for not completing their studies. Both parents were very supportive of what I am doing in the class.

In math today we spent the day relearning Chapter 7 and then retesting. All students did much better. I sent a pretest home and hopefully they learned something from what we have been learning. I did not get much of a chance to work with Language Arts other than spelling. I did not get to Science at all. We are still working on the IOWA test and it takes almost an hour to complete a test.

I paid up on my weight gain for last week and gave all of my students animal crackers. They are lower on calories than other cookie snacks.

I am trying to get my Science lesson beefed up on Volcanoes. I complete my PowerPoint presentation tonight and will use it to introduce the subject. I also bought a fresh loaf of bread and some apples, along with hard boil eggs to show similarities with the earth. If I can work it in tomorrow we will create a volcano using salt dough. I also put together the Volcano Art project for Friday. Finally, I made copies of the USOE Core Academy for 2007 - Math and 2006 -Science. Both are topics I need additional help in.

I still have not taken the time to go back and catch up on the previous days. I hope to have the time to do it in the near future.

Day 20

Today is the first day of the rest of my blogging life. I have decided to start a blog to capture my experiences as a first year teacher. I have survived four weeks of teaching and I am in a reflective mood. it is 3:00 in the morning and I am tired, but awake. What is keeping me awake are thoughts of all of the things I am doing wrong, or are not doing right in my class. I have so much to do and feel I have accomplished so little in my first month. The school year is already one ninth done.

There are a few things specifically keeping me awake. I have a meeting at 8 am with our school's Case Management Comittee to discuss one of my struggling students. He has some very specific needs that have not been met in the past. I am meeting with the CMC to discuss the interventions I have made and to receive guidance on what other interventions I can make. I will blog more latter today about my first CMC.

I am also awake because my students are not doing well in math, reading, writing. Their handwriting is atrocious, and their grammer is worse. I have been more miss than hit in my approach to teaching them these skills. I have an idea and will work on it over the next couple of days to see if I can help them make some progress.

As far as math goes, I though I was doing a pretty good job teahing them the concepts, however after having the majority of the class fail our first two tests, I have to figure out how to get them to rembember what I have taught.

Today my students start their IOWA test. I am not sure what the results will be used for; however it is required.

I will discuss later about my school, my teaching position, and about other related ideas. I want to go back and try to create a blog for each of the previous 19 school days. Time will tell if I can remember what happend way back then.

I will update you more after school today as I reflect what happened on Day 20.