Summer! Or, "My Rebuttal to Those-Who-Believe-That-Teachers-Have-Summers-Off"

Well, look at this! It hasn't even been a full week, and here I go posting again. Woohoo!

I am so excited to only be teaching two grades this coming year: Kindergarten and Grade One. Yay for revamping the elementary end of the school! Suddenly, school life seems manageable again! Granted, I have absolutely no idea how many students I might end up with (due to tuition incentives and a public school in town closing)...but at least I know what I'll teach!

I'm also excited to have my Math, Language Arts, Science, and PE course overviews ready to go, my thematic units planned out by month, and all of the subjects planned for the year (I just don't have all of the learning outcomes/official stuff attached to each). I have to get my "theme boxes" filled with all of the resources and supplies for the different units, but that will be fun. Hours of work, but fun. I'm also hoping to get to my actual lesson plans for the first few weeks of school.

I have to buy the school supplies for all of my students, as they really aren't available up on the North Island. Unfortunately, without knowing how many students to buy for, this will be a challenge! I'm hoping to hold out until Teacher Appreciation Days in August at Staples!

Along with those, I've been down to Montana while Mom defended her Masters' Thesis, spent a small fortune at book stores, spent another small fortune at fabric stores, and made a baby quilt (well, it still needs to have the edges bound). I've made a running trip back to P.H., spent time cleaning out my classroom, re-did my apartment (thanks, in most part, to Mom's hard work!), and divided resources to send all of the Grade Two materials to the Grades Two and Three teacher.

I have my new classroom blog up and running, our new travelling buddy off on his first adventure, and lots of little projects lined up for the summer (doll quilts, new curtains for the classroom, etc).

Did I mention Camp Meeting? Yep, Mom and I are leading out for the 3&4 year old division again (yay!). We'll head down next week to clean out spiders and mice in preparation for all of our little people.

I have to take two courses this summer. Neither one holds a whole lot of interest for me, but they are required. *sigh* At least I am able to challenge the exams! I just have to do a lot of studying.

It's been busy so far, and the summer is only going to get busier.

Teachers' Meetings, August 24-26. during this time I will be labeling pencil boxes, markers, crayons, pencil crayons, erasers, notebooks, duotangs, waterbottles, and everything else which will go on the student desks. Each. And. Every. Crayon. Seems ridiculous, but saves a lot of hassle later on.

Race up to P.H. for an intense five days of reorganizing and setting up my classroom, prepping for all of the students who will (hopefully!) have registered, packing up the school supply kits, photocopying madly, laminating like a maniac, slapping name tags everywhere, labeling everything in the room so that students see real language at work, tripping over the horrible carpet in my classroom (unless, by some miracle, it's been really repaired or replaced. That, however, would mean hauling everything out of my room and then bringing it back in), and then racing back to Kelowna before Friday, September 3.

Labour Day weekend is my cousin Danielle's wedding (for which I am official coordinator). Then, race back to P.H. and get back just in time for school to start on Tuesday, September 7. There will only be a month of consistency before I'm racing back to Kelowna for my brother Shaun's wedding to Sarah (for which I'm helping to make the cakes, taste tests and such to be done in August)!

I'm tired just looking at the list! My saving grace is that so much of the studying, course outlining, label-making, supply sorting, and quilting can be done outside. In the sun. Or, in the shade. In the mountains. At the beach. Without getting up at 5:00am.

*bliss*

A Rant...

Dear _________________,

When you come in for an unplanned and unscheduled "observation" on the first day back after a four day weekend (which was immediately preceded by 100th Day and then Valentine's Day celebrations, please remember that what you see is neither normal nor typically considered to be "acceptable" in my eyes.

Please do not comment on the disorder (or disaster) in my classroom. Don't "suggest" that I have my students help to clean up periodically throughout the day. Trust me. I pick my battles. This was NOT the day for that battle. Most days we have clean-ups before recess, lunch, PE, and after centers. Most days we have a routine.

Please do not pick up workbooks from the (admittedly messy) piles. Honestly, they are none of your business. Telling me that it appears that I am behind in leaving "teacher tracks", and that prompt corrections/responses are vital in primary grades is a given. What you do not know, because you didn't ask, is that I check the work carefully as they do it, making corrections as we go. The fact that I am behind in leaving stickers on pages is regrettable, but more regrettable is the fact that you didn't check to see if the answers were correct. Also, when there are incorrect answers on the page, it's probably because I was dealing with one of my "strong-willed" students. Again, it's called picking my battles. One page with wrong answers will not kill anyone.

Please do not tell me that you can see that I have "strong-willed" students in my classroom. I know that what you are really saying is that the kids are out of control. I know! Did you not see my face!?! It is also bothersome that you commented on the fact that you know that students play up when you are in the room (unannounced). I know it, you know it, they know it...don't rub it in.

Finally, please understand that 80% of my class is male. Not only that, they range in age from a young 5 to barely 8 years old. This means that every day is full of strong-willed children doing things that make normal human beings shudder with either disgust, fear, or dismay. Dealing with hitting is a normal part of my day. Rude jokes/words/pictures are part of my day. Tantrums are part of my day. Sometimes pretending not to see things is the best plan. If I occasionally ignore the much-deserved retaliatory punch, it's ok...everyone deserves pay-back sometimes.

Please know that I do appreciate that you noticed that I consistently follow through with consequences/discipline/expectations.

My bottom line is this: Unless you have taught my group of kids, in my classroom, on the first day back from holidays, then take a lesson from me...pick your battles.

Sincerely,

Shannon

Just call me Mary Poppins...

I don't mean to imply that I am "practically perfect in every way", or that I can magically make children want to clean up their toys. For that matter, I don't have the ability to jump into a chalk picture. However, I have the bag. (Most days I actually have two bags, which get carried pretty much everywhere. Sometimes the items are condensed into only a purse.)

It seems that I have gotten a bit of a reputation in my small community. I am the one who has everything. Occupy 10 or so small children during a funeral? Go to Miss Gerber. Need a band aid while at a hockey game? Go to Miss Gerber. Need a pen/pencil/sharpie/eraser/notebook? Go to...well, you get the point.

For the sake of my own amusement, I am now going to present you with a current inventory of my purse/school bag. This list is in no particular order, except that it's the order of items as they were pulled out of the bag!

*Bigger Bag (contents on school days would also include lunch, and would likely not include my Bible)

-water bottle
-3 granola bars
-half package of M&Ms
-small notebook with lined paper
-copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"
-box of Crayola Twistable Mini crayons
-Bible (The bag went to church today!)
-10 colouring pages (current theme: Noah's Ark)
-3 packages of stickers (trucks, misc. animals, and stars)
-small stuffed dog
-2 Hot Wheels cars (this number widely varies, with up to 5 or 6 cars, depending on the event)
-6 colourful plastic bugs
-1 stretchy lizard
-1 container of Silly Putty (started out as 3, but two were given away)
-Hockey Jersey shaped sticky notes
-2 small pads of sticky notes
-hand sanitizer
-hand lotion
-6 small barrettes
-1 package of Benylin
-1 pair of black socks
-1 pair of black gloves
-pencil sharpener
-cell phone charger
-flashlight
-roll of masking tape
-gum
-black Sharpie

*Purse contents

-wallet
-cell phone
-Bluetooth device
-car keys
-school keys with flash drive
-additional school keys (dumpster, filing cabinet, etc)
-additional USB flash drive
-MP3 player with headphones
-First Aid Kit (Band aids in assorted sizes, polysporin, gauze pads)
-Kleenex Spash 'n Go wipes
-regular Kleenex tissues
-cough drops
-big bottle of Advil Liqui-Gels
-Vicks inhaler thing
-comb
-mascara
-eye shadow
-pressed powder makeup
-2 chapsticks
-nail clippers
-gum
-mini Coffee Crisp
-half of a Kit Kat bar
-small felt raccoon (should have left that at church today!)
-long plaid ribbon
-wrist support brace
-2 granola bars
-1 Lindt chocolate
-2 candy canes ( 1 big, 1 little)
-small sticky notes
-empty ziploc bag (handy for when students, or brothers, have garbage to get rid of!)
-glue stick
-bag of change (for children's offerings at church and/or impromptu math lessons)
-spoon
-4 mini Sharpies (assorted colours)
-1 silver Sharpie
-1 red Sharpie pen
-1 Stainless Steel Refillable Sharpie (love it!)
-mechanical pencil
-blue pen
-7 hair bands
-7 hair pins
-4 hair clips
-list of Bible texts
-1 eraser
-3 safety pins
-1 paper clip
-school phone list



Suffice to say that it is rare that I need something which I don't have or can't replace with something else!


Upon reflection, I'm almost scared of those content lists! At the same time, I realize that I have a slight scissor deficiency, and might need to remedy that situation.

So, what's in YOUR bag?

Oops!

Well, I haven't posted in a little over two weeks...but I have a good reason!
Part One Of The Excuse: My computer was dead, so my time was more limited (though Mom and Caitlin were very willing to let me borrow their computers whenever I needed to do so).
Part Two of The Excuse: I was busy! Camping (in a tent), taking online courses, and leading a group of 3&4 year olds for 8 days causes exhaustion (and the setting up for 4 days prior to that doesn't help).

Now, however, I have my computer back and am in the process of trying to replace all that was lost. I am finished my courses, and only have 18 course outlines to create. I'll post more often!

The Frustrations Abound...

So here I am, already breaking a resolution. I don't know if I'll be able to find enough positives to discuss in order to sandwich each negative today! So, this will be a Dagwood sandwich.

Positive: I got to spend some time at the beach today! Warm weather, a bit of a breeze...it was lovely.

Negatives:
Oh man! This is just not my evening!
First, I'm taking two online courses this summer. Woo-freaking-hoo. Neither course is one that I particularly want to take, but I am because I have to do so! Now, the one course requires a book of which I cannot get a copy (and was informed of the need for said book two days before the course start date). The other course was to have ended today (with assignment submission permitted for another week), and the last three assignments haven't even been posted!

Second: Curriculum overviews for next year. OK, I see the need. Yes, I even see value. However, the BC curriculum guidelines are NOT designed for classrooms with three grades. It's tough enough to get through every required learning outcome for one grade in a single grade classroom. To get through the curriculum for three grades at once? Very difficult. There are no considerations for multi-grade classrooms, no suggestions for which things to skip/combine/over-lap/etc, and a whole lot of nothing for ideas to combine the curricula. Therefore, I have to start pretty much entirely working from scratch. That's fine, but it also means that I have to be able to justify the reason for not using more than about 20% of the recommended resources for the grades...and this year is a government audit year.

Perfect.

I'll get over the aggravation. I'll make it work. It will be a fabulous year. But right now? In July? I could just throw it all out the window.

Third: I am missing the funeral for a friend's father, because it would have required nearly 14 hours of travel each way. That sucks.

Fourth: That computer of mine is on it's way to Vancouver for repairs. Just perfect.


Positive: I have plenty of computers to borrow and use in order to express my frustrations.

Continuation of "You know..."

You know you're a primary school teacher if...

...you actually use the line "I'll pull this van over!" while on a field trip.

...you manage not to laugh/scream/cry/pull your hair out when a troublesome little girl says "those boys are giving me a headache!".

You Know You're A Primary School Teacher If...

Good grief! Has it really been this long since I posted to this blog? What have I been doing with my time? Oh, that's right...I've been doing such things as will be found in the following sections of this post! I've been having such fun creating new status updates for my Facebook page, using the sentence starter "You know you're a primary school teacher if...", that I decided to actually compile a list! Enjoy. :)

You Know You're a Primary School Teacher If...

1)...you are convinced that there are never enough scissors, glue sticks, or sharp pencils.

2)...the words "I'll count to three..." form a significant portion of your daily vocabulary.

3)...you have become an expert at walking down hallways backwards in order to referee your students.

4)...you spend your evenings sorting safety pins and beads into tiny ziploc baggies.

5)...you will be spending many hours of the weekend preparing activities for the 100th day of school.

6)...you buy skeins of yarn with the idea that they "might be useful for something".

7)...you are drawn to yarn which is called "crayon".

8)...you spend more of your own money on school supplies than on clothes/shoes...

9)...you fret over the fact that the traveling penguin stuffy belonging to your class does not have a scarf, and knit one out of the previously mentioned crayon yarn.

10)...the word "stuffy" is actually a part of your vocabulary.

11)...you have purchased, or plan to purchase, two-way baby monitors for the occasional times when you actually have to leave your classroom.



.....more to come as situations arise!