Happy New Year!

Michael and I are headed to San Francisco for the big 2-0-0-9. It has always been one of my dreams to go see the New Years fireworks in San Francisco. So, yay!

Before I go though, I wanted to post one more time in 2008. I usually do all of the talking so I'll keep this short, but please leave a comment with your resolutions, if any. I am usually pretty cynical and sarcastic and just say, "my resolution is to have no resolutions". This year I am seeing things differently for some reason and think I will work on telling my family I love them as much as possible and being the best teacher I can. The first one is simple but I don't do it as much as I actually feel it. The second one is a little tougher. I want to work on giving more guidance, building more confidence, and making sure the kids have the basics before heading off to third grade in a few months.

I did ask my kids if they had any resolutions and have to share a hilarious one. One of my girls said very confidently, "Well, I don't think there is anything I need to change about myself. I do want a new baby brother in the new year though because baby brothers are fun!"

Happy New Year!!!

Vacation!

Yay, two weeks off!! I was so excited to sleep in today, but of course little Miss. Cleo's stomach alarm went off at 7 am. She was meowing her little head off! I don't know if she was trying to help us because she thought we were sleeping through a school day or if she was just mad because breakfast was already a half an hour off schedule. Either way, it was nice to be able to get back into bed for another couple of hours. I was so freaking exhausted after yesterday that I was startlingly tired on the way home from school. I actually had to roll my windows down so the cold air could wake me up a bit. I think I was running on necessity the last few days of the week and my brain was just DONE. Our holiday party yesterday was really fun though. Another teacher told me, for her holiday party, she asks parents to volunteer in her classroom to teach arts and crafts projects . I loved the idea of breaking the kids up into groups and handing them off to other adults. With all their energy lately, it was a perfect way to disperse the chaos into manageable little clusters rather than one full blown, pre-holiday riot. The other teacher, however, said she was having a hard time getting parents this year and I started to get worried. She ended up only having a couple of parents volunteer and had to go out and buy a bunch of activities herself. My parents really came through though, I actually had more parents volunteer to do crafts than I had tables for and only had to spend about 15 bucks myself! The food situation was way more manageble and reasonable than Halloween was too. I, like the other teacher, chose to do the party in the morning so that all of the glue, paint, glitter, etc, could dry in time for transport. Therefore, we had a nice little breakfast themed selection of food and not just junk. One parent even brought in little breakfast burritos with eggs, sausage, and cheese- one of my tiniest little girls ate three however then complained of a stomache ache! Hmm, wonder why?! We had some really cute craft stations too. I did a Santa ornament and parents did everything from paper snowflakes, to snowman doorstops, and cookie decorating. It stayed organized and most kids made it to each craft table. They were too stuffed to even eat lunch though, oops! When they came back in from lunch, I threw on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and cleaned up the room. I handed out their presents, books of course (a little pricey, but worth it), and opened some of my presents. Man, I hauled in some loot too: 4 Starbucks gift cards, candles, candy, decorations, two popcorn tins, a movie theatre gift card, and a Barnes and Noble gift card! I was shocked and so grateful. I had a moment yesterday when I just wanted to give them all a big hug and tell them I love them! A few of them said they were going to miss me over break, which really melted my heart. I said I would miss them too and meant it. Happy Holidays to anyone still reading my babbling....

Hello, I know it's been a while since I posted anything but I'm still alive over here! Life is whizzing by! I can't believe how quickly winter break approaching! So, some updates:

• I had to get a sub on Monday so that Miss. Cleo could go see a dental specialist at UC Davis. The poor thing had 6 kitty teeth removed and is now on 3mgs of opiates for the pain. Meow-ch!



• The kids were really nervous when I told them there would be a sub because they thought I wasn't coming back. Awww! I assured them I would be back Tuesday.



• I had to get a sub on Tuesday because, after waking up from a nap on Monday, my throat was on fire.



• The kids were excited to see me again even though I drug my still-sick-self to school! I was so in love with them that I taught my little voice out and was hoarse for the rest of the week. Everyone that heard me said I should have stayed home some more. It is Saturday and I am still resting the voice.



• I have learned that it is very hard to plan everything, label everything, explain everything, and anticipate everything a sub will need. I would rather just go in half-dead and do it myself. Oh, and I guess I am a control freak...



• On Monday morning I have my first real evaluation from the principal. He is going to come in and watch a math lesson. I hate observations but have gotten better over the last few years. During my first one ever, I got so nervous that I literally forgot what I was teaching. It was a nightmare, my blood was whooshing so loudly in my ears I couldn't even hear. I was sure everyone could hear my heart thumping and I'm pretty sure I blacked out at some point. That was a few years ago though and now I worry more about just teaching and whoever watches is secondary.



• Lastly, I wanted to share a sort of "Kids say the darndest things" portion of my daily life.
  
  While the kids were all walking in line to lunch one of my rather quirky little boy proclaims to nobody in particular "I like tuna salad." Now mind you, our line is supposed to be "straight and silent" at all times so it's not like he was even having a conversation with anyone about sandwiches!
  
  Our school is having a "Toes and Tushes" drive. Students are encouraged to donate brand new, in the package socks and undies for families in need. Upon explaining this to the kids, one of my little girls comes up to me all embarassed after class and says "I don't think my mommy will let me bring my underwear to school." Hehe!
  
  Every morning I check the students' homework logs. They write down their homework for the night and there is a portion where parents are to sign when the child reads for 20 minutes. If they bring back all of their homework completed and have a parent signature, they get a sticker. The sticker goes in their sticker book and when they fill up a page in the sticker book they get to pick something from the "big blue boowl" which is filled with all kinds of cool trinkets and do-dads. Well, I think kids think that if they tell me why their parents didn't sign, that it makes it all okay and I will give them a sticker anyway. I usually hear the run of the mill, "I forgot", My mom forgot", "It got late, I had to go to bed", but one girl last week told me.....drum roll, please...."My dad didn't sign it because he got too drunk." Oh, really? Note to self: keep an eye on that one!
  
  And in honor of the season... about a week and a half ago, one of my little boys that has some anger and resentment issues announced to the class, "Santa doesn't really exist, it's just your mom." I swear a couple of my kids were about to vomit from the shock. Luckily, we were finishing an art project (to be translated as: it was a little loud in the room) and many kids didn't hear him, but the ones that did just went pale. I pulled him outside and had the little talk about, "Just because you don't believe, doesn't mean others don't."

So that's it from me. Thanks for reading, it feels good to vent all this and save my voice at the same time. Hope everyone is happy and doing well. Peace!

Don't read this before dinner!

So, it was a minimum day because it parent/teacher conferences start today, that in and of itself was interesting. We also had an assembly and library. I probably only taught for about an hour today! Anyho, I didn't schedule any conferences today so I am at home about halfway through the necessary report cards for tomorrow's conferences. Report cards are a pain by the way. I will say it is hard not to slap a couple cliches on these suckers just to be done...i.e. Timmy is not working to his full potential, Susie is a joy to have in class, etc. The highlight of the day was when one of my most "interesting"little boys brought me an exceptionally sized booger. Ack! I don't know how something like that is humanly possible!! It took everything I had not to hurl! He asked, "where are the tissues?" Umm, there is a box in just about every corner of the room! At least he didn't find a place to hide it, right?! Eww! Eww! Eww!
Lastly, a parent of a student who was absent today came in to get the child's homework. The parent said, "Yeah, she just walked up to me last night and puked everywhere...and lots of it." Please, please, please let that be some random bug the kid picked up somewhere else. I really don't want something like that wiping out our class.
I think I got into the wrong profession, because this stuff just grosses me out. Puke, farts, and boogers are what it's all about in second grade and I just don't have the stomach for it. Just thought I'd share my eww-iness.

just a few random items...

• Thursday was my one month anniversary at Bancroft! I was bestowed the gift of two absent kids and at one point, when two of my students were at Special Resources, I only had 16 kids in the room. It was soooo quiet and productive! The kids were all just working and following directions and for a whole hour, I actually felt like, "hey, I can really do this!" It totally made me smile like an idiot watching them all work and listen and learn. It's hard to explain, but it felt magical.
• Michael and I heard on the news that teaching is a "recession proof job". Woo-hoo, for the toughest job I have ever had!!!
• Parent-Teacher conferences are next week and you could easily describe my mental state as nauseous. Yeah, that's right, if my brain could throw up it probably would...that is how much I am dreading this. I haven't even begun writing up report cards. Eeek!
• Not that it is anything new and interesting, but I am so incredibly tired! Over the past month, I have been trying to get the routines down with this class. I add more and more routines and procedures everyday, so not only are many of then new, but there are more everyday. The scary part is that, I am not even in auto-pilot yet. I am more in zombie mode. Sometimes I go through the day and can't remember one thing specifically that we did. I am that person now that yawns through meetings and nods off during dinner. I have bags under my eyes the size of pillowcases and I do mixed up stuff like put the cereal box in the freezer. I do stuff like try to ask the kids a question and inadvertently tell them the answer instead...ding dong....your brain dead teacher is here!

Okay, that is it for my wild Saturday night blogging. I'm off to zzzzzzzzzzz..........

Still alive...

just really tired and really busy. I will call peeps this weekend and let you know how everything is going, until then Ms. Carbajal is trying to rest her voice at night. The short version of how everything goes a little something like this:
My school is pretty awesome at this point. My kids are decently behaved and the ones who need help are on the path to receiving it. I have so many prep periods I don't know what to do with myself...well, I actually I do, I have been cleaning and organizing and cleaning and cleaning. I have never seen so many cobwebs and spiders in one class room. Blech and double eww! Anyhoo, as for the prep periods, on Tuesday I send my kids to science, then to P.E., and then to recess!!! That is almost two full hours WITHOUT my kids. How crazy is that?! It is also pretty flipping cool. The staff is very helpful and the parents are clamoring to help in the classroom. I am still trying to get rid of all the random furniture people have dumped in my room and I keep finding curriculum from other grades every time I open a new drawer or box but overall it is coming along nicely. At one point today I actually looked around and felt like it is starting to feel like mine. There is still a lot to do but I am already logging about 9 hours a day at school and a couple more at home planning for the next day, so if a bulletin board or two doesn't get put up...oh well. Going to go replenish the soul with some chocolate now and plan for tomorrow. Happy Friday!!! I'll leave you with lyrics to "The Friday Song":

♫ Friday, Friday, Friday is my favorite day ♪
♪ Friday, Friday, Friday is my favorite day ♫
♫ Monday is a bummer…♪
♪ Tuesday’s only fair…♫
♫ Wednesday’s gettin’ better…♪
♪ Thursday’s almost there, but…♫
♫ Friday, Friday, Friday is my favorite, ♪
♫Friday is my favorite, ♫
♫ Friday is my favorite day ♪

When is someone going to pinch me?

Today was, like, too easy. It went by fast, the kids were good, and it was joy to be able to stay after school as long as I wanted and then just jump into MY car and go straight home. I love Mother Earth but carpooling was kind of a hassle some times. I got a lot done after school and the room is quickly looking and feeling more organized and homey. I had the lunch detention kids today and even THEY were good. I asked them what they did to get lunch detention and they said they were yelling in the lunch line. Seriously?! That is it?! You mean they didn't stab another kid with a pencil or beat down a kid over some tetherball skirmish? Sac. City kids take their tetherball seriously, ya' hear!


This school has an incredibly well stocked consumables room. It is like my dream come true, there are glue sticks, markers, and construction paper galore!! We aren't allotted a case of paper for the year...we just make whatever copies we need and get the paper (in any color, not just white) from another well stocked cabinet. This place is dangerous for an office product-ophile like myself.

On a humorous note: This morning while I was making some copies, I heard one teacher tell another teacher, "Oh, good! You wore a jumper for jumper Monday!"



Hmmm? Why do I think I might skip this little piece of school spirit?