And only 175 more to go! But who's counting? ;)
The first week of school has been good. Much better than I had anticipated anyway! I have a fairly good group of kids. I am excited to work with them this year. I think they will be awesome. I did get a fabulous bombshell dropped on me a day this week though....our ESL teacher is only part time. Yea...you know where this one is going, don't you! Well, apparently since she's only part time, she can't possibly get to the 6th grade ESl kids that are legally required to receive services. Convinently (is that how you spell that?) enough it just so happens that if you are in the PROCESS of getting your ESL endorsement you are ELIGIBLE to TEACH ESL. Yea...so, now in addition to teaching my regular group of 28 kids (yes, I said 28) I also get to teach ESL to all the 6th graders who are eligible to receive servies during the day! Yay!! How, might you ask, am I going to do this? Well, it only required that we completely rearrange the schedule we spent an entire day building so that when we rotate for core subjects (writing/language arts, history & science) I teach Language Arts instead of History AND we don't just rotate according to homeroom - no that would be MUCH too simple - instead, we ability group the kids & place all the ESL an special education kids in one group! Ta Da! Problem solved! The answer to your question is, YES, I AM INSANE. I have absolutely NO idea how this is going to turn out, but we're going to take it and run....starting Monday :) Like I told Travis, "It's a good resume builder, right?"
Samantha has been enjoying school. I'm not too impressed with what has been sent home by her teacher yet - her only homework has been 1 side of a phonics sheet 2 times this week. Now I know that as a teacher myself I shouldn't be so critical, right? Well, I can't help myself! I think Sam's teacher is a first year teacher & despite my knowing (and telling myself I know) better, I don't like it! I have to keep reminding myself that the letters this girl is sending home for parents were written for people who ARE NOT teachers. I also have to remember that this girl teaches FIRST GRADE and not 6th. Some of the letters she's sent home though just flat out make me crazy! I think it's the way she words them and not so much what it is that she's saying. I don't know for sure but I guess we'll tough it out this year & I'll learn a valuable lesson in patience (I really wish God woud quit sending me those lessons!). Samantha also started dance lessons back up this week. We had to buy new tap & ballet shoes, pay a costume deposit & pay for her first month's lesson all in one swoop...that was depressing! I seriously wish that girl's feet would QUIT growing! I have to buy new tap shoes 2 times a year!
Nash had his meet & greet with his preschool teacher, Teacher Barbara and absolutely CAN NOT wait for school to start. In fact, he's been itchin' all summer to go back! He just loves Teacher Barbara & can't hardly contain himself when he talks about school. It's so cute to watch him, I really need to get it on video. He's turning into quite the big boy & I can't believe that this time next year he'll be going to Kindergarten. I hope some of the schools get full day Kindergarten back by then! Not because I think he NEEDS it, but because I think he's going to WANT it!
Caleb is walking/running around here like a wild man! He was only taking about 5-8 steps right before Trav came home. As soon as Trav came home last week he was off & running! He loves to have Nash or Sam chase him. His squeal can be heard throughout the house as he takes off running from his big scary sibblings & tries to hide! He LOVES to play the "I don't want this so I'm going to throw it on the floor & feed it to the dog" game these days. He also really thinks it's funny to hit ME in the face. Great fun, let me tell ya! He loves it when his brother and sister pretend to get hurt or fall down. He thinks it's quite hilarious and I have to admit that watching from afar, it IS!
Trav went back to WY on Tue. this week. He's had to be at the shop at 2:30 AM every day this week and has been working about 18 hr days. That's good right, more money...uh sort of...he got a bunch of hours on his last pay check & we about died when we saw how much they held out & couldn't figure out why. Come to find out, his taxes almost DOUBLED! Yikes! Being the positive person that he is though, he says, "Well, if you're payin' taxes that means you're makin' money." So, I guess I will adopt that mindset & keep telling myself that it's true!
The Friday before school started (the 21st) Trav brought Caleb down to help load up what I didn't need & get it out of my classroom. His parents had offered to keep the other 2 kids so after we loaded up we went down to the New Gate mall to use a gift certificate one of my former students had given me at Christmas. We bought tickets to go see The Proposal (HILARIOUS) and then ventured over to the food court because we had an hour before the movie started. Much to our surprise, we watched a kid STAB a lady right there in the food court! I started to wish I had carried my gun with me that day! Ironically, Travis & I had a conversation on our way into the mall about how much Trav was wishing he had MY gun with him because it was going to be dark when we came out. I told him he was being ridiculous & we'd be fine so to quit whining about it. I hate it when he's RIGHT!
As you can see, we've had an eventful week or so. To top it off, my aunt & uncle are in CHINA right now, picking up their newly adopted daughter. FuJiao is the same age as Samantha (about a week older) & we have been following along on their adoption blog daily. Samantha is as excited as though FuJiao was her sister that was coming home & absolutely cannot wait to meet her new cousin!
I hope your week has been an eventful one & that unlike me, you LEARN TO SAY NO when someone asks you to do more than you bargained for! :)
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