Finally back at school

Snow day parts one, two and three are finally over. Today we had a 2 hour late start (which totally does not affect my schedule since I start after 12 noon. About 1/3 of my students were absent...Either they hadn't heard that school was back in session, or they couldn't make it.
The trimester ends tomorrow, so I was printing up individual progress reports so my students could see what they were missing and could turn in things at the last minute. Most of them did fine, except the five who never turn in anything and the one who goofs off ALWAYS! I have done what I could to get them doing the work, but to no avail. This afternoon after school let out I took the first part of the tech competency with the school district. I'm not sure why it is necessary but there are 6 levels in total.....I'm going to check out when I can get in for the next one.
Next week I have my first observation from the principal. I already let the student know that he will be coming in.

Snow Day

I got a call at 5:28 this morning say "two hours late start." Yep, yesterday's snow day was going to be just a late start for today. I got up and made the call to the next person on the phone tree, and then went back to bed. Phone rang at 6:24, "they've come to their senses, no school today, either." I called the next person again to pass on the new message. It's a lot faster than waiting for the school's name to come around on the news. Yesterday was pretty murky looking, but I went out to the lake. Today is sunnier but a lot colder. I might just have to walk around the lake, at least to go to the store to get some milk and tea. It's too cold to drink anything other than something like tea or cocoa. So time to get out and explore.

blessing can be as small as a cup of hot tea....

checking in

Snow drops keep falling on my head....really! There's a Japanese children's' song that is loosely translated, " the the snow is falling thud, thud..." and today was it. The driving rain/snow fell most of the day and I have been snug in my apartment going over my lesson plan for the upcoming week. There is a possibility of a snow day tomorrow, but I have to admit, I don't want one.
I hope you all had an enjoyable thanksgiving...mine was very low-key and selfishly relaxed.

I am thankful for all the blessings of each day.

Not so glad

whimper,
not so glad today
just want to be done training
low blood sugar makes me nasty

GLAD

All week long I'm doing something called GLAD training. Not just me but several teachers in my building and district are doing this training. It is a designed style of teaching that incorporates strategies of metacognition and participation. Guided language acquisition design it is rather a mouthful but so far there are some interesting teaching styles that i will be able to incorporate in my unit/lesson planning. Saturday and Monday were all day affairs of the trainers training us in their various styles. Today through Friday we observe a class from 8:30-12:00 learning a unit from the trainers and then in the afternoon we work on unit planning of our own. I'm working with one of the others ELL teachers using our text, but trying to meet academic standards of our grade levels. She teaches 6th grade and her writing is more narrative based, while my 7th graders are more expository writing in preparation for the state standardized testing. i started flagging and getting snappish around three o'clock. Partly just tired, partly in need of food and fresh air. All this rain is driving me indoors and I haven't been for a walk in a few days. Tomorrow will be another long day, and there are a few things i want to check on the web before tomorrow so....

I am looking for the blessings of sleep and energy for tomorrow

high watermarks

This morning, when I went online to check for sub opening, there was a notice that one of my district was closed due to flooding. Only two of the schools are actually in the possible flood plain, but the roads through my old hometown, and out to the highways are threatened and some are closed. Closed roads, closed schools. It doesn't happen that often but at least the kids and buses are not getting stuck in the middle. Smart decision. By the way the plural of school bus is buses, not busses. Busses is to kiss in old English.
I have been participating in the schools "diversity club". Each week there is a project about a different county or culture. The last two weeks have had huge student turnout. Two weeks ago we celebrated "day of the dead" for Mexican Culture. The students painted sugar skulls for the school display case. Last week we made beaded bracelets for Native American cultures. Unfortunately the student who was also going to demonstrate some Native American dances was unable to attend. Still over thirty students showed up for the club.
My 7th graders are still working on a cultural project of their own called "This land is My Land". We have spent the last two class periods in the computer lab getting information from www.culturegrams.com , the CIA factbook, and www.worldatlas.com. I had one student cut and paste and thought he was ready to turn in the work.....NOT! Today they have the day in the library and then the real work begins....Mostly for my substitute.

blessings on those who serve their communities in highwater

a little bit of this a little bit of that

Wow, it has been busy! This past week I have been subbing in the morning with 5th graders and then dashing over to my school for the afternoon. The fifth graders were "challenging." They have a science kit (FOSS science kits for anyone who might have heard of them) that takes a bit of prep and more teaching time than the kits advise. Last week they were learning about mountains and contour maps, elevation, and topography. All fun things, but I think the curriculum was a little difficult to follow so in a few places I re-arranged and re-ordered to give the students a better understanding of the work.
My classes have been working on adjectives and starting a project called "This Land is My Land." Adjectives...well they are pretty self-explanatory of describing words of emotions, size,shape, or speed, and colors. Of course, they are other things, too; but I didn't want to overload my level twos. The "This Land" project started with singing woody guthrie in class and identifying the adjectives and nouns that are used in the song. The project will be creating a poster project of each student's home country. My level threes are mostly Ukraine and Mexico, but we also have Egyptian, Peruvian, Philippines, and South Korea. They will be researching and writing a paragraph about the environment, education, and climate and then two other paragraphs of their own choice. The project reemphasizes what they are learning in their social studies and a little of what they are learning in their science class.
And then i will be doing a training from next Saturday (the 11th) through the following week. So I need clear expectations for the students and manageable lessons for the sub.

blessings on all who labour......