Seven Things Sunday

**Yay!! I'm actually posting for the second week in a row!  Let's see how long I can keep this up. 

1.  Today is the last day of Spring Break.  I accomplished nothing on my mental to-do list.  Ugh.

2.  I can't believe I'm actually saying this but while it was nice to sleep
late(r) every day, I'm ready for a routine again.

3.  I hate the last day of a break.  Ask any teacher and they will tell you about the Sunday blues.

4.  I know it is irrational but this day last year I got food poisoning.  I am afraid that I am going to get it again.  Needless to say, I am going NO WHERE near the place I ate at last year.

5.  I have all of the ideas for blog posts tumbling around in my brain.  Yay!

6.  I can't believe Easter is two weeks away.

7. Meagan competed in her Bible Drill competition last Sunday at the Church Level Drill and received a Superior Rating. She will compete at the next level in a couple of weeks. We are so proud of her.

And now, random pictures:

 Texas Public Schools Week was last week and one day was dress up as your future career.  I'm here with my future police officer/CSI.

This was taken on the beach in Pensacola, FL right after sunrise.  We were only there briefly and it was really cold but it was BEAUTIFUL.  I want to go back there someday and spend some time there.

Meagan at Garrett's 10th birthday party.  This is a local party place that you rent.  It is full of those huge inflatables that the kids jump on/run through obstacle courses, etc. 

Seven Things Sunday

**Disclaimer - I just made that title up.  I'm sorry if someone already uses it and I didn't link to you. : )

I've been trying to get back into regular posting on this blog and just keep forgetting.  I think I'm going to try this Seven Things Sunday and see if that helps!

So here goes:
1.  We are coaching 3!! kickball teams this year.  Why? Because we are insane.  Once games start we will have a game every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evening for one team or another from March 25 - June 7.  Insane I said.

2.  It is SPRING BREAK!!! Woo hoo!!  We might take a little trip to do some touristy stuff but I am just looking forward to sleeping late and getting my house cleaned up.  (After typing out #1 I realized that this may be the last time the house is cleaned until June.)

3.  I went to a work conference a few weeks ago and I came back SO MOTIVATED!  (This doesn't always happen so it is really exciting when it does!) I have really changed my outlook and schedule and I am so much happier for it. 

4.  My daughter had to get glasses recently.  Actually, she begged me to call and make an appointment for her to get her eyes checked.  Needless to say, she needs glasses and is wearing them nonstop.  This makes me feel like a terrible mother.  I should have had her eyes checked much sooner. 

5.  My mom's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I didn't fall apart.  It helped that we had kickball stuff to do all day.  I was sad but it was nothing like how horrible my birthday was.

6.  Laundry sucks.  (Maybe it would suck less if I would actually try to keep up with it but that never happens in my house.)

7.  After trying to clean this weekend I have a question:  Where in the heck does all of the paper come from????  I swear that there are several trees worth of paper in my house right now.  Ugh!

And now some random pictures of us:

Jimmy and I at the kickball fields early one Saturday morning for registration.

Meagan, who is 14 and growing up more and more every day.

Garrett, with a stick on moustache courtesy of his sister who weirdly has a thing for moustches. (Terrible puntuation I know, and I don't even think moustaches is a word!)

The Dolphins say hello

On Friday I went with kinder to the Texas State Aquarium.

Perk number 723 about my new job - no field trip to take every year.

All good time was had by all but boy do field trips wear you out.

We're Back!!! (said in a sing song voice)

I haven't blogged in forever (my mom has reminded me of this EVERY time she talks to me) so here's a quick recap:

March 9 - 13 The last week of school before spring break is always crazy. I can't even remember what I did to tell you the truth. Oh yes, I remember now . . . the weekend before (March 7th) my DI team competed in their regional tournament. Meagan and I left the house at 5:45 AM and didn't return until 8:00 PM. Yes, you read that right. We were gone from the house for a total of 13 hours! My kids did a GREAT job, even if they didn't win a medal (sniff . . . sniff . . . sniff) I thought we were all done with DI and then come to find out people from Central Office were coming to school on Friday morning to watch my kids perform . . . when I hadn't planned on my kids performing. Anyway, I freaked out and then got over it and the kids did their play again. And everyone loved it. Big sigh of relief. Crisis averted.

This week was also Texas Public School Week. I had helped my counselor and principal put together a calendar of activities for the week so I was busy all week making sure we were ready for the events planned for each day. Monday was simple - kids wrote about what they wanted to be when they grow up, Tuesday seeds were planted, Wednesday college t-shirt/field trip day, Thursday made a graduation hat out of 500 cupcakes, and Friday we planned a picnic. Did I mention that a front blew in on Wednesday night bringing rain and temps in the high 40's??? Needless to say, the picnic was shot. I delivered fruit cups and decorated water bottles to each teacher and collapsed in my room in the afternoon and waited for the day to end.

Why did I want the day to end you ask??? Because we were going to VEGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I needed to pack!

Settling into my new job

For the last two weeks I have been having classes and have gotten into a routine.

In the mornings I see 28 kids, ages kinder to second grade. I have 5 classes with six kids in each class. (Well one class only has four kids but I need to find two more kids to pull in. The class was full but then two kids checked out of our school.)

I see each group for 30 minutes and I have five minutes between each group to walk around and find my next group of students.

All of those classes take place from 8:15 - 11:00.

At 11:00 I pull in fourth grade students for testing. I am doing IRI's on them. An IRI is an Individual Reading Inventory. It is a test that can be used to find a student's strengths and weaknesses as a reader. It also finds the reader's various reading levels. Once I finish testing them I will start working with a group of them on their weaknesses.

I have lunch around 12:00.

At 12:35 I go into a third grade classroom to work with kids who are struggling with various aspects of reading. The third graders are getting ready to take the Reading TAKS test on March 3rd. If a child does not pass this test they will not be promoted to fourth grade.

They are given two more opportunities to pass the test, but once a child has failed the test, self esteem issues and test anxiety usually set in and make it even worse for a child who probably already struggles in reading. This is why the TAKS test is referred to as a High Stakes test.

At 1:30 I pick up a group of students for my dyslexia group. I use a program called Language! with these students that so far, I really like.

At 2:30 I have my conference period. This is when I gather all of my materials for the next day, make copies, return e-mails, have meetings, you name it and it gets crammed into this 45 minutes of the day!

At 3:15 the bell rings. Since I no longer have a class of my own I do not tutor regularly. I do step in and tutor for other teachers when they are absent or have to leave early. If I do not tutor, I continue to prepare for the next day, week, etc.

I also coach DI, which stands for Destination Imagination, at least one day a week after school. Our big competition is coming up in March so we will also be meeting on Saturdays to get prepared for that. The kids are having a good time and have really learned a lot. Regardless of how they do at competition, we have had a great year in DI!

I created my own lesson plan format to keep track of all of my groups and what we are going in each group. I also have to document skills the children are succeeding at and skills that the children are still struggling with. If students are struggling with a skill, I then have to find an alternate activity and reteach that skill. The results of that activity also have to be documented.

All of this is due to R.T.I. which is short for Response to Intervention. R.T.I. is difficult to explain. Basically, every child who struggles needs to be identified. A plan needs to be created for each child and that child's progress is monitored as they work through that plan. (See what I mean about being difficult to explain??)

Wow, this turned into a really long entry. Sorry about that!

This one's for you Mom!

I talked to my mom the other night and she let me know she wasn't happy that I hadn't updated my blog lately. She wants to see pictures from trip to Houston.

I will write a post about my trip to Houston tomorrow - I promise Mom!

I will give everyone a quick job update - how's that?

The new girl started on Monday. She went to training on Monday with the other two girls who teach third grade. I was all by myself and to be honest - I didn't know what to do with myself during my conference period!! The three of us are totally attached at the hip and are always together during our conference period. I went and did my work in the office just to be around other people!

When I talked to V and E about it they said I was missed at training too. It was vvvveeerrryyy quiet at lunch without me. At least they are thinking about me!

On Tuesday all of the third and fourth grade teachers went to training in Corpus. I counted wrong when I requested our table at lunch because I was still counting myself as a third grade teacher! (The training was good by the way. It was given by Barry Lane. He's written lots of books about teaching writing. He's funny and the day went by really quickly. If you are a teacher you know that is the sign of a good workshop - the day going by quickly.)

Starting on Wednesday Ms. S watched me and took notes. As we had time we discussed the plans she will be responsible for, the students, routines, etc. The kids were very receptive to her.

Today she was in charge for most of the afternoon and at the end of the day sat down with the kids and explained that on Tuesday she would be taking over. We have a workday on Monday. We (all four of us) will work together to get everything settled for all of them to start the new six weeks on Tuesday.

I know that Ms. S. is going to do a great job. The way that she works with the kids is excellent. We planned on meeting each afternoon just to make sure she is set for the next day.

My leaving third grade has brought lots of other changes to the other two girls as well. V is giving up planning her beloved math. E is giving up her safety net of planning science and social studies. I wouldn't be able to leave my class if I didn't have them there to step in and help Ms. S.

It's really starting to hit me that I am no longer a third grade teacher. A little part of me will always be a third grade teacher. I feel so strongly about this because of all I have been through in room 6. It's been a long road to get where I am today.

It's starting to dawn on other people too. L. an aide that has worked through thick and thin with me said, "Oh yeah, you won't be in here any more." She then gave me the best compliment she ever could. She told me she learned a lot from me. That means so much to me.

On Monday I'll start working in my new room.

I've come full circle. I will be in room 10 which is the first classroom that I ever taught in. I started teaching in January 2000. I took over for a teacher who needed to leave in December.

I don't have lesson plans due on Monday. What am I going to do Sunday night?? (Or should I say Monday morning at 5:00 a.m.?)

My new title shall be . . .

Reading Specialist!

I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the news yesterday. My principal called me into the office at 2:00 or so and gave me the news.

When we go back from break (January 5th) we will start interviewing people to fill my teaching position.

Once the district hires someone, I will team teach with that person for a week or two and then get started on being the Reading Specialist.

We have two weeks off for Christmas so I plan on going in and organizing my room and packing up some of my stuff to get it out of the way. I won't pull everything that is mine out of my room right now. For one, I have no where to put extra stuff and two, it wouldn't be fair to my kids to take everything that they are familiar with away from them.

Hopefully by the end of January I can have classes of my own started. I am really excited to work with kids from all of the different grade levels. I have spent the last 10 years working with 8 -10 year olds and think I will really enjoy the change.

I will be working with dyslexic students using the Language! program that our district has adopted.

I don't know what room I will be in now. Our old specialist used part of the computer lab but that isn't the plan for me. I think we are going to move some things around in another room to give me a new classroom of my own.

I am really excited about it but I don't think it is going to totally sink in until I actually start setting up my new space and setting up groups and lessons.

I know that leaving the classroom full time is going to be hard. I cried on Wednesday when one of my students moved to Houston so I can only imagine how it is going to be to leave 19 of them at once!

I am also going to REALLY miss my teammates. I have posted before about how well we work together.

The good thing is that I will still be on the same campus. The more I learn about where I work the more I am convinced that there is truly no place like home.

100th Post?? More job ramblings . . .

Who knows?


Anyway, I am still waiting for news about the job.

Let me fill in a little information about the job that I interviewed for.

About three weeks into the school year our Reading Specialist was moved to central office to fill an open position in the testing department. As soon as I heard Mrs. S. would be leaving, I called my principal and let her know that I was interested in the job and that I have a Master's Degree in Reading and hold a Reading Specialist Certificate in our state. (She's new to our campus this year and I wasn't sure if she knew I had a Master's Degree.) I then contacted our personnel director and let him know of my interest in the job and sent him an official letter of interest with an attachment explaining my degree/certification.

Over Thanksgiving break I saw in our local newspaper that they were advertising for several open positions in my district. The Reading Specialist job was one of those positions.

When we got back to school after the break I called the personnel director just to check in and see what was going on with the position. He said that my principal should be holding interviews soon and hopefully a decision would be made before the Christmas holidays.

The very next day the secretary told me that my interview was scheduled for Thursday morning (the next morning!!) at 9:00!

I went home after school and couldn't focus on anything!! I brushed up on my dyslexia information and read some interview questions on the internet (you can find anything on there I swear!) and redid my resume. I finally went to bed around midnight. Walking to bed I remembered about some experiences I had working at the college that I did not include on my resume, so I set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. I woke up with my alarm and redid my resume.

I feel that the interview went well. At first my heart was pounding but as I started answering questions I relaxed. There was one question that I felt I really didn't have a good answer for but as I answered the next question it helped answer the other one. (I have NO idea if that sentence makes any sense.)

That was on December 4th. I know there were several other interviews.

Tomorrow starts the last week of school before the holidays. I would LOVE to find out before the holidays so that I can either move my stuff around (if I get the job!) and get my room ready for a new teacher to come in and take over my class (sniff, sniff, I can't imagine leaving my kids) OR so I can cry all of Christmas Break and adjust to the fact that someone else will be the Reading Specialist! :(

If I do get the job I will be working with small groups of kids who are at-risk in reading. I will be working with kids from all grade levels K-4 and with teachers to help them help their students. I will still write lesson plans but instead of lesson plans for whole group lessons they will be for small groups. I will also work closely with the teacher who takes my place to get her settled in and make the transition a smooth one for my students.

Pins and Needles

First of all, I am totally confused about my number of blog posts I have done. My archive says I've only posted 98 posts but when I log in my number reads 100. So, anyway, my last post might have been my 100th post or my next post will be. Whatever.

I decided to post tonight because I noticed I had 10 hits today! So, I guess a few people are actually reading my blog. If you could, I would LOVE for you to leave me a comment. Just click on comment under the post and follow the directions. You can click on anonymous if you do not have a blog or blog profile of your own. Thanks to Cindi for always commenting! You can check her blog out at Another Day in the Life which is listed on my blog roll on the left hand side of the screen. I would also love it if you added yourself as a follower. You can also do that on the left hand side of the screen.

So, now onto real news, Garrett's party at McDonald's was okay. Garrett was cranky because he fell on the slide and hurt his arm so he was shyer (is that a word?) than usual. The seating area that was reserved for us was really sunny and bright so not many of my pictures turned out that well. I don't think I took any pictures of the kids actually playing in the playground area. I have no picture of Garrett blowing out his candle because he didn't blow out a candle. This is because his candle broke as he was handing it to Jimmy to put it into the cake. (It had broken earlier in the day and I managed to fix it but Garrett dropped it again and it didn't survive.)

The great thing about the party was lots of friends and family showed up and had a good time (hopefully)! Garrett also got lots of great presents. He got some new jeans, a couple of shirts, a dart gun, some cash that he can't wait to spend, Hulk gloves, and Batman figures. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things. Thanks again to everyone who attended the party.

Now on to the pins and needles part of my post. Long story short, I interviewed for a new job last Thursday and I am still waiting to hear if I got the job.

I'll post more about the job in my next post.