Are you kidding me?!?!

We had our Wednesday morning staff meeting this morning, and surprise, surprise! We got yet ANOTHER prep schedule!!! And, unlike the last change, which was great for me (I got 5 preps!) this one sucked monkey ass! We've all been reduced to 3 preps again! ARGHHHH!!! I'm so pissed, I don't even want to write anymore about it.

The other change - lunch schedules. Talk about a cluster fuck!! Our lunch was moved to 10 minutes later, which wouldn't be such a big deal if she didn't schedule FOUR OTHER CLASSES at the same friggin' time! Um, hello!! There is ONE lunch counter. Only ONE lunch tray can be made and served at a time. So, yeah, let's have 125+ kids come to lunch AT THE SAME DAMN TIME!!! Yeah, that makes total sense! Because 5 classes now go to lunch at the same time, that means a major backlog at the bathrooms. We all try to take our kids to the bathroom on the way to lunch so they can wash their hands before they eat. Yeah, well, needless to say, my class was the last one to the lunchroom, since 5 year-olds tend to move like snails. By the time my whole class was served and seated, they had about 8 minutes to actually eat. WTF?!

I immediately sent New Principal an email with my two cents regarding the whole change. Who knows what good it'll do, if any. But, at least it let me get my complaint off my chest. I'm still REALLY pissed about it, though. I'll be curious to see if she responds to the email.

The baby shower was really nice. I made pasta with broccoli and garlic, chicken sausage with spinach and asiago cheese, mini focaccia breads, tossed salad with feta, olives, cukes and red onion, fresh fruit salad, and of course, those cute little pink cupcakes. Oh, and my friends noshed on a chili-cheese dip while I cooked. Yum! Mrs. F. was really excited about the car seat/stroller thingy we got for her. What a great way to spend an afternoon. Great food, great friends, what more could you want? It exactly what I needed after a crappy day at the Hell-Hole!

Finally Friday

I know I broke my own rule yesterday, and didn't post, but I had a busy afternoon, then met my graduate school friends for our monthly dinner. (little side story here- they decided to go to Olive Garden, which is the LAST place I would have picked since I haven't eaten bread or pasta since June. Usually, we meet here at my house, but they wanted to give me a break, and I truly appreciate that. Anyway, Stud's best bud came with us, and when I told him where we were going, he says, "Well, just be careful, cuz the last time we went there, the waiter tried to keep my mom's credit card." We all laughed, then went to dinner. Well, guess what!! This afternoon, I went to place a Scholastic book order online for my babies, and I couldn't find my credit card!! Mother Scratcher!!!!! [yes, I'm TRYING to curb my potty mouth, ok!] The jackass who waited on us never gave me my card back. AND, he totally sucked as a waiter!!! Assbag!!)

Anyway, when we came home, I let the boys build a fire in the firepit, and they helped me clean out my file cabinet. I had paperwork from 2000 in there! Jeez! I need Oprah to send someone to clean up this pig sty! By the time Best Bud went home, and we came inside, I was too pooped to post. And, yes, I realize none of you really give a rat's ass whether I posted yesterday or not, I just need to justify it to myself for breaking my own rule.

New Principal must have been at a meeting all day, because she never came to school. She called me in to her office, again, yesterday. She asked where my lesson plans were, which was one of the things she asked me the other day. I told her then that they were on my desk, and that I would bring them to the office, which I did. I put them in her mailbox. Guess where they still were? The only stuff in her box were my lesson plans, and a bunch of brochures for workshops that I'd like to attend. I had asked her a few weeks ago about them, and she gave them back to me with a note saying, "Remind me again in 2 weeks." So, I figured, what the heck, I'll bring them to her again.

She flipped through the pile, and asked which one I'd really like to go to. I told her I would really like to attend the Conference for Illinois Kindergarten Teachers. I've wanted to go to this for years, but it's always been somewhere up north, and as some of you know, I only sign up for conferences at the Hilton near my house. (Makes it much easier to ditch!) But, this one, I do NOT plan to ditch. I'm seriously excited about this. I wasn't sure if New Principal would go for it because it's two days long, which also means it's more money than a one day conference. When she asked, I told her I'd really like to go to this one, but I realize it's two days. She said, "That's fine." I said, "Well, it's also more expensive because it's two days." She said, "Oh, that's fine." Hmmm...whatta ya know.

The only 'bad' thing is, the conference isn't until December. Then again, thanks to our new year-round schedule, we only have 9 days of school in December, only 8 of those with the kids. The conference would mean one less day with the kids for me, but the second day of the conference falls on a professional development day. That's great because we won't need to pay a sub! I'll have to be sure to let her know on Monday about this. Man, December is going to fly by!!

Only 4 more days with the babies until our fall intersession!!! Gee, do you think I'm a little excited? tee hee! I actually grabbed my school calendar while typing this, and I had really better stop complaining about school. I just realized that between now and Christmas break, we only have 2 full weeks of school. Every single other week, we have at least one day off, or one day without the kids. Wow!! That's awesome!

Oh, one last little thing...Stud Muffin is FINALLY driving!!! I don't even know if I had mentioned this here before, but he's had this weird aversion to driving, despite having his permit since July. But, Monday he drove home from my parents'. Yesterday, he drove to his Best Bud's house, then he drove HOME from the Olive Garden!!! On busy streets and everything!!! I was quietly dying in my seat, but he did great. I hope this trend continues. Illinois recently changed the requirements for teens to get their licences, and now they need to have 50 hours of driving practice with their parents (or other drivers that are over 21) outside of the driving they do in drivers' ed class. Before Monday, he had a collective total of 20 minutes since July!! He's finally reached the one hour mark, so hey, only 49 to go!! As long as he's able to drive me to the old folks home....

OK, the honeymoon's over...

Today, it was back to business as usual. All but 2 of the babies came to school today, so it was a crowded house. The babies were ok for most of the morning, but apparently lunch was a disaster. When I met Ms. H. in the hall after lunch, she was quite frazzled, and told me how awful they were during lunch. As a matter of fact, later in the day, I realized I didn't have my snacks for snack time. I thought maybe Ms. H. had forgotten them in the lunch room, or set them down somewhere and forgot them. Well, I came to find out that she purposely left them in the lunchroom because they were so bad, she didn't feel they deserved the treats. Good for you, Ms. H. (Unfortunately, our snack every day since school started has been cookies. Not very nutritious, huh? I think we're going to have to start saving their fruit instead, so I can at least feel they're getting a healthy snack in the afternoon. The cookies can go home with them.) I hope now the babies will realize that Ms. H. is to be respected in the same way that I, and every other adult, should be.

I'm a bit confused about what will be happening tomorrow. You may remember that I was recently out for two days for some professional development for our new reading series. Well, there is a third day of PD, which is to be conducted at our school. The day that was scheduled for that is tomorrow. I had forgotten all about it until the clerk asked me this morning if I needed a sub for tomorrow. Now, our reading coach never mentioned anything to me about this PD happening tomorrow, so I don't know if it's going to happen. As far as I know, there will be two subs coming tomorrow, but I don't know if we'll actually need them. Plus, on top of that, I didn't prepare anything for the sub, if I do have one. Normally, I'd be able to get things ready in the morning, but Wednesday is our staff meeting morning, so I won't even be able to do that. I think I may go in early tomorrow, since I don't have to drive Stud to school, and get things ready. Even if I don't need it for tomorrow, I'll have a sub folder ready for an emergency.

One more little tidbit about the new schedule, which is still a work in progress. Today, Ms. H. was asked by New Principal to take a sheet around to certain teachers (they were marked on the sheet) to have them sign up for a slot in the computer lab. Up until the new schedule came out yesterday, computer lab was one of our preps. We didn't technically have a teacher in there, but there was an assistant who "ran" the lab. Now, that assistant has been pulled to work with SpEd students, so computers in no longer a prep. If we choose to take our class to the lab, we will need to stay with them.

Ms. H. and I gave a lot of thought to which slot we were going to take, and we decided we would take the last period on Friday. We will be going straight to computers from gym class. That's the perfect way to end the week. From 1:20-2:40, I will essentially be doing nothing with the babies. Hopefully that means I will be able to work on lesson plans, thus freeing up my weekend (you know, to work at the bar!!). Actually, we probably will go back to our room at 2:30 so we can get ready to go home, but still, it'll be nice. Last year's babies used to love going on PBS Kids and another awesome website called Starfall. So, that's what we'll be doing on Fridays!

One down, 39 to go....

That was the looonnngggeeesssttt first week in history! Once again, I was at school until well after 5. I could barely drag myself to my car. Besides the long day, and the physical demands of herding cats, I mean dealing with 30 5 year-olds, the freakin' heat just zaps any little bit of energy I have left. It has just been so unbearable this week. By the time I leave, I feel like I've been run over by a Mack truck.

I did, however, force myself to do my Wii when I got home. I just kept reminding myself that as soon as I did it, I could relax for the rest of the night. I barely made it home before Stud's friends started coming over. I told him he could invite a bunch of guys over to hang out on Friday night. It was mostly a ruse to get him to stay home. He finally came home Thursday after almost 2 weeks at his father's. He came home to cut the grass, but his father wanted to pick him up when he was done. Um...I don't think so! So, I convinced him to invite the guys over, guaranteeing that I'd get to see him another night.

His one friend arrived about 5 minutes before I finished the Wii. His other best friend was supposed to be coming with another boy, but when he showed up, he was alone. (He couldn't find the other boy.) When I realized it was going to just be "my 3 sons," I was thrilled because I realized after my shower, I could just put on my pajamas, and relax. The other boy did end up coming at about 9:30, and by then, I was already settled into bed! The boys moved down to the basement just as I was passing out, and I never heard a peep. Stud and his late-arriving buddy were both up by 7 this morning, which is unbelievable! The other little darling is still asleep.

Oh, wait, I was supposed to be writing about school, wasn't I? I can NOT wait for preps to start this week. I'm hoping it makes a difference in my exhaustion level. I have about 7 days worth of work to do this weekend, and unfortunately, I have to work tonight. I'm starting to get a little panicky. I'm probably already on New Principal's shit list because I never did turn in any lesson plans this week. I HAVE to turn them in on Monday. I'm really a little freaked out about doing them. I know that sounds crazy coming from someone who's been teaching for a couple of decades now, but let me tell you, I've gotten really lazy and out of practice after so many years of working for the Big Cheese. I always did my lesson plans (which was not the norm around that place!) but for the past 4 years, I've only had to do half the work. I decided years ago that it made more sense for me and my partner to do our plans together, with my partner doing the math and science plans and me doing the reading/language arts plans. (And, truthfully,after saving them on my computer, all I've had to do the past year was change the date!) Now, since I have NO partner, I've got to do them all by myself again. And, I can't even use the plans I have saved because we're switching to a new reading series. God, just thinking about how much work this is going to be makes me want to cry. I don't want to go back to those days when my entire Sunday was spent working on lesson plans!! And, now that I work Saturdays at our bar, I don't know how the hell I'm going to be able to do that, since most Sundays I don't get home until 5 or 6 am! OK, I'm starting to feel my chest tighten again....

This group of babies, for the most part, are just that - babies!! This is one of the most immature groups I've ever had. It says a LOT about what the hell must be going on in our preschool program. Um...that would be...NOTHING! These kids can't even write their names, nor write their letters. They think the whole day is for playing. I keep trying to tell myself it'll get better. It's only their first week, it's got to get better.

ALL of them except 1 showed up yesterday. Yikes! I had to put 5 of them at my group table, since it's the only other table I have. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do next week when I actually start doing small group instruction. I'm going to have to have a lot of movement to keep shifting them from table to table.

The pep rally was WAY too long yesterday. My babies were amazing, though. Hey, wow, did I just say that?! I going to try and focus on that fact next week. I was really impressed with how quietly they were able to sit for well over an hour. That's a long time for 5 year-olds to sit. At least without a cartoon on for them to watch! :) We ended up having to leave before it ended because we needed to start getting ready for dismissal. We should have started about 30 minutes earlier.

New Principal introduced the entire staff, and had us come up on stage, while the kids cheered us on. I have to say, I was really touched by the reaction I got when my name was called. The whole auditorium erupted! It was really cool, and reminded me that I really do make a difference in the lives of some of these kids. (My first class at the Hell-Hole is now in 7th grade, so pretty much the entire school knows me.)

After the staff introductions, New Principal and our AP, Mr. H., went over the rules and expectations for this year. We talked about the uniform policy, and each teacher was asked to send 2 students up on the stage to show the proper uniform. My 2 did a great job, but they didn't take their eyes off me for even a second. It's a little scary to stand up on stage in front of the entire school!

When all the talk about rules, etc., was finished, each class then came up on stage and did their little presentation. We were first, of course, and the kids actually did a great job. We kept if very short and sweet. I "borrowed" a line for the pledge our kids are expected to say every morning. They loudly, and proudly, said, "I am in Room XXX. I am talented, smart and capable of success!" Thankfully, I had Ms. H. to help me again yesterday. She helped get them back in their seats as I got them off the stage. Then, they were forced to sit there while the rest of the school gave their performances. We only made it to the 4th grade performances, then we had to go. Unfortunately, because the upper grades still had to perform, that meant most of the students were dismissed late, which then meant that I was stuck outside on the playground, in the blinding sun (!) waiting for big brothers and sisters to pick up my babies.

OK, I've procrastinated long enough. I'd better start working on these lesson plans. I hope you all have a great weekend. Think of me slaving away while you're doing something fun and relaxing!
;-)

They're heeerrrreeee.........

The babies have arrived! Thankfully, only 20 of the 30+ kids on my list showed up. Trust me, it was plenty. I had one baby show up around 10:45, while we were taking a bathroom break on the way to lunch, who was crying. That turned in to screaming when his mother tried to get him to use the bathroom with us. I just kept doing my thing, as I had 20 other babies to worry about. When we arrived at the lunch room, I realized I didn't hear any screaming. He was gone! I assumed his mother took him home. I guess I'll find out tomorrow, huh?

For the most part, the day was pretty good. The biggest downside was that we are not getting preps this week, AND we were asked to stay with our kids during lunch for the first day. That means we had NO BREAK for the entire day. I don't understand the "no preps" thing this week. What the hell are the prep teachers doing all freakin' week?! They certainly aren't helping us out in any way. It must be nice to have an entire week to do nothing! Ok, take a deep breath, let it go....

There definitely was a whole new vibe going on at the Hell-Hole today. It was actually quiet practically the entire day. That's not something we're used to around there. Most of the kids were in uniform, and wow, what a visual impact that had! When I went out on the playground to get my kids in the morning, I was blown away by all the kids dressed in their blue and white. And, on top of that, the whole staff was "in uniform." It was kinda cool, I gotta admit.

Being out on the playground in the morning was actually kind of nice, since I got to see all my "old" babies. They look like they've actually grown in the short 6 weeks we were off! Plus, I got to see ALL of my former babies, since the whole school was out on the playground.

I ended up staying until about 5:15, since I had some things I wanted to do during the day, but you know, the whole no break thing... I also got a chance to talk to New Principal for about a half hour about some things I've been wondering/worrying about. I got 3 of the "big" things squared away - graduation, rest time, and snack time. I was afraid she was going to make me start doing graduation again, but after talking it out, she decided we were NOT going to do it. As far as rest time and snack time, she said I could keep them both. Oh, happy day!! She was actually excited to hear that I usually take the babies outside, on the front steps, to eat their snack (because I try to avoid the mess in my classroom). I asked if I could take them out to read to them, which made her even more excited. She then commented on her informal observations from the day. She said, "I really like the way you talk to the babies. I've been listening to you today. I like how you let them know that you are like their mommy while their here, and that you are in charge. You are the queen." I laughed out loud because I said that very thing to my babies today. I tell my babies every year that my classroom is my "castle" and that I am "The Queen." They, in turn, are all my princes and princesses. I wonder if she actually overheard me say that to them, or if we just enjoy using the same analogies.

So, it would seem that I'm starting off on the right foot with New Principal. (I hope that by the end of the week, I can come up with an appropriate nickname for her!) However, I technically am already behind on some things, such as lesson plans. I didn't turn any in on Monday, like she asked us to. There are a few other things that she wants by this Friday (time distribution sheets, class lists, and such) so I'm going to try hard to get them done in time. I'd like to stay on her good side, for sure!

Seeing how I didn't walk in my door til after 7:30, I'm completely exhausted. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that my room is about 110 degrees. You would think I'd be able to lose a pound of two with as much as I was sweating today! I know, ewwww! It's time to hit the sack. Let's hope tomorrow goes as well as today did!

Spirit Week, The Recap

I had intended to write this post over the weekend, when I could include photos, but I think I'll just have to come back and add them later at home. Today, only 13 babies showed up for school. Apparently, I never received the memo that stated a pizza party signifies the end of the school year. Hmmm...oh, well. I'll just have to deal with having 1/2 my class gone... ;-)

Ok, so I already shared Monday's festivities. Fun, fun, fun! Tuesday was Crazy Hat/Hair Day, and the babies did not disappoint! The girls had the crazy hair, and the boys wore the hats. I actually only had 3 boys that did not have hats, but as luck would have it, I had three "crazy" hats in my trunk (from last year's Spirit Week!) so it all worked out perfectly! I didn't need the paper hats after all. I'm going to pack them away for next year. I've already thought of a hundred different things we can do with them (including making 100th Day hats! yay! I've warned you all several times now that I'm a helplessly geeky teacher, right?) I tried to take pictures of my hair for you, but of course my camera died! I had the front of my hair up in a ponytail (picture samurai hair?) then I braided that. I put the two sides up in pigtails, and the back was up in a bun. The babies thought it was hilarious, and the adults all told me I looked like a little girl (because of the pigtails). I took pictures of the babies, though, and I will post them later.

Wednesday was Mix 'N Match Day, and it was too cute! Let me first tell you how I dressed. I prayed all the way to school, that I wouldn't get pulled over or in an accident, because I would have a hard time explaining myself! I took half of my hair and put it in a french braid, then put the other half in a pigtail. Because I did this immediately after I got out of the shower, my hair was soaking wet. As I drove, I must have been twisting the pigtail, because by the time I got to school, it was one big banana curl (picture Cindy Brady!) I had one brown eye and one green eye. I had on a crazy patterned top (flowers and hearts) with a pair of penguin pajama pants (navy blue pants with white penguin silhouettes) I wore one orange sock and one red sock, one slide-on sandle (the ones that I adore, that make my foot feel better! smart, right?) and one clog. I looked utterly ridiculous, which was the point, after all! Most of the babies wore two different shoes and/or two different socks. A couple actually wore some mixed patterns.

Unfortunately, the Trail Mix was a big bust! Most of the kids didn't like it, and I watched my $$ get thrown right in the trash. :( I don't understand it. It was all stuff they liked individually. As I told them what each ingredient was going to be, I kept hearing "mmmmmm!" but then once it was mixed together, they didn't want it. Go figure!

Thursday was a cute day. Not all the babies brought Teddy bears, though. Some of the kids, however, brought bears that were literally bigger than they were! It was hilarious! I had downloaded a bunch of teddy bears pages from a website, so we colored teddy bears, wrote our Daily News on teddy bear paper, and made a jointed teddy bear. That afternoon, the Teddy Grahams and Gummy bears were a HUGE hit!

Friday was Pajama Day, always my favorite day! I wore a different pair of penguin pajamas (I know, you're shocked that I have more than one, right!?) and put my hair in pigtails (this time they both were in Cindy Brady curls!) and most of the babies wore jammies, too. All but one of the girls wore cute two-piece pajamas, as did about half of the boys. One little guy, DB, wore his Superman pjs under his clothes, but didn't want to take the clothes off. He had denim shorts on over his long Superman pants. It was hilarious! His mom also brought us cupcakes, which was an unexpected treat. Another mom brought three big bags of candy for the kids (I ended up making candy bags to take HOME!) so we had lots of treats. During my prep, I convinced my friend to go to the grocery store with me, so he could run in for me, (I didn't want to walk around the store in my pajamas!) and get the Popsicles. Turns out we didn't even eat them since we had too many other treats. I'm hoping we have a warm day tomorrow or Wednesday so we can go outside and eat them. It's raining today :(

I guess because we had a week of celebration, my parents assumed that school was over. Um, hello!! Who the hell said that?! I guess I shouldn't be complaining, but I'm not ready for the babies to leave yet. I haven't given them their end-of-the-year gifts, they didn't empty their cubbies, they didn't take their papers home, WE'RE NOT READY!! They didn't even get their report cards yet. And, many of them owe me library books. I'm really pissed about this, to tell the truth.

I have never let my students take my library books home before. Never. I knew I would never see them again. Now don't get wrong, I have hundreds of other books that I let the babies "borrow" because I don't really care if I get them back. Some were here when I came to the Hell-Hole, and the rest I've accumulated over the years, either through donations from colleagues, book drives, or other programs (we have this awesome program every year called Bookworm Angels.) Anyway, I made a list this morning of every child who owes me a book, with the name of the book and the replacement cost, to hang on my door. I'm also giving the office a copy because none of those children will receive a report card until the book is brought back or paid for. Sad thing is, most just won't get their report cards because their parents could care less. But, since today's post is not going to be a bitching session, I'm moving on....

We only have two full days left of school. Thursday is a teachers institute day so the kids are off, then Friday the kids are supposed to come for one hour. What a waste! I actually convinced the Big Cheese to print the report cards out early so we can pass them out on Wednesday, thus eliminating the need for the children to return on Friday. Our attendance is anticipated for the last week of school, anyway, so the kids are already marked present. The teachers only work a half-day on the last day, so we are finished at 11:30. That is, IF you worked both Report Card Pick-Up nights. I don't know why they always stipulate that. Who would NOT work Report Card Pick-up? But, I guess some people don't, since it's in the evening. Who knows!

Traditionally, I meet for lunch with a group of my teacher friends on the last day of school, since we get out so early. Even though we don't all work together anymore, we still try to keep up with this, since we so rarely see each other anymore. I'm really looking forward to our lunch.

Oh, one crappy little thing I realized today...we start back to work on AUGUST 5TH!!! I want to cry. I keep trying to find the silver lining in this year-round BS, but things like this make it really, really hard....ok, I said no bitching, right? I'll come back and do it tomorrow....

Sunny Saturday

Good morning, Sunshine!! I woke up (far too early, by the way! Naturally I went straight to the bar from the theater, so I was able to maintain my usual 4am bedtime...) to the most beautiful, warm, sunny day we've seen in a while. Yesterday was one weird stormy moment after another, so this is an unexpected surprise. Why, oh why couldn't it have been like this yesterday for the picnic?! Oh, well, it is what it is.

I was all set to give you the details of the 8th grade trip from the other day, but then I realize, nobody really gives a rat's ass about it other than me! So, instead, I did want to share a few things I've been thinking about in regards to my baby and his friends. Let me tell you, however, what our schedule was like on the day of the trip, just so you can appreciate why I'm always so tired...

7:30 Arrive at school. The kids start school at 7:50. I dropped off my darling, then went to the corner for Dunkin Donuts coffee, naturally.

8:15 Kids start coming down to get on the bus, name tags are passed out, etc.

8:30 Bus pulls away from the school, headed to Medieval Times in Shaumburg.

10:30 Arrive in Shaumburg. Oh, no, that's NOT a typo. Two freakin' hours!!!!! The biggest problem is the route the bus driver chose to take. I won't bother to get into, especially because only my Chicago friends would understand it anyway. Let's just say, two hours is far too long to make an old lady sit on a bus once she's had a large Dunkin Donuts coffee. I had to finally give in to the demands of my bladder, and use the bathroom on the bus. I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Very clean, for sure. Just tiny and bumpy.

11:00 The show started. The kids had about 25 minutes to walk around the gift shops and take pictures and stuff before the show. The show was a lot of fun. Lunch was a bit difficult for some of the kids. If you aren't familiar with Medieval Times, you're served a meal that you then must eat without utensils. There's a cup of soup, that you have to drink, then they bring you a half a chicken with a potato wedge, which you then have to eat with your hands. Finally, they bring out big chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Many of the kids had trouble dealing with the chicken, since they're used to their chicken being cut into separate pieces (leg, wing, thigh, breast) plus, let's face it, it's messy! Then, on top of that, the meal is served during the show, so it's pretty dark. But, I guess the kids weren't that bothered by it, because they were more involved with watching the show.

1:30 Load back on the bus, head downtown.

2:30 Arrive at the McCormick Freedom Museum, meet up with our guide from the agency that put the trip together. The kids explored the museum a bit, but truly weren't that interested in doing anything the least bit educational that day. I should be embarrassed to admit, I was hitting a slump at this point (I think my Dunkin Donuts wore off!), and basically sat in a chair for nearly the entire time we were there. I'm going to have to go back on my own with my son to really see what the museum has to offer.

3:30 Back on the bus to head to Navy Pier. Oh, but wait! One of the little darlings says she has to go back in because she left her IPod in the museum. She and the guide go running back in, while Mrs. M. lectures the rest of the kids about how now we're going to be late because one of their classmates was irresponsible, and really, she shouldn't have brought the IPod anyway, so on and so on. The teacher in me was saying the exact same thing to myself. After a few minutes, one of the boys says, "Mrs. M., why did T go back into the museum? She gave me her IPod to hold, and I have it." Well, I thought Mrs. M., was going to slap him. Now, we're trying to call the guide to tell her we found it, but we couldn't get through on her phone. Luckily, they were back in just a matter of minutes anyway. I have a feeling T remembered she gave her IPod to someone to hold. We finally get under way about 3:45.

4:15 We begin boarding the boat for our architectural tour on the river. It was wonderful! The only problem was that it was FREEZING! By this point, the sun had become hidden by clouds, and we did feel a few drops as we pulled away from the dock. Luckily, the rain held off, but it was very cold and windy during our ride.

5:15 Disembark, head over to Navy Pier so the kids could walk around and explore for a little while. Somehow, we got behind our original schedule, because the kids only had about 45 minutes, instead of the hour and a half we were first told. But, it was fine, they didn't care. I had to just keep telling them to please try and not eat much, especially junk food, because we were going to be going to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at 6:30. Yeah, well, no such luck. Nearly every group of kids I passed as I walked around had something to munch, like ice cream, candy, Starbucks, popcorn, whatever. I couldn't blame them, though. 7:00 was an awfully late dinner time for kids who ate lunch at 11:30.

I wasn't any better. As soon as we got off that boat, I headed straight to Starbucks for a venti sugar-free, fat-free caramel macchiato. YUM!! That was more because I was frozen, but it hit the spot! I did manage to get my son to meet me a few minutes before we had to leave to take a picture with me in one of the photo booths. We try to hit this particular booth every time we go to Navy Pier. It prints a photo that looks like someone drew it with a pencil. Very cool! I have a bunch framed and hanging in my living room. They're in chronological order, so it's really neat to see how my son has changed over the years. And how old I've become!! :(

6:30 Back on the bus, head over to Rainforest Cafe. Luckily, they were totally ready for us when we arrived at 7:00, so we didn't have to wait. We sat down immediately, and they started bringing on the food. Surprisingly, there was a salad on every table (my son was happy about that!) then they brought each table a pepperoni pizza, a plate of cheeseburgers, and a platter of french fries covered with chicken fingers. They later brought a plate of chocolate chip cookies. The kids finished up their feast of bad foods, and headed over to the gift shop. They were able to shop for about 45 minutes before we had to get back on the bus and head home.

8:30 Arrive back at school. Luckily, at that time of night, the expressway was empty, and we made it back to school in 15 minutes. Our bus driver was a really sweet guy named Bob, who the kids immediately took a liking to. Can I just tell you what sweet kids these are? The majority of them got back on the bus after Rainforest with gifts for Bob. Yes, really! He had a bag full of things by the time they all were seated. He was really moved by their generosity, and was very appreciative of their gifts. It was a very proud moment, as their "mom."

By the time all the kids were picked up, and we arrived home, it was after 9:30. What a looonnnggg day. But, I loved every minute of it. I hope my son enjoyed it as much as I did.

Jeezaloo, didn't I say I WASN'T going to give all the details?! If you're still reading, my apologies! What I said I wanted to tell you about was the kids. I'll save it for another day, when your eyeballs aren't bleeding! I'm off to start baking for the graduation party tomorrow. (Did I mention my sister and I are having a party for our kids tomorrow? My niece graduated this past Wednesday, my son graduates next Monday, so we're having a combined party to make it a little easier on our family) It figures it would be warm and sunny today, doesn't it? Not exactly ideal baking weather, but what are gonna do? I need to get over to the bar soon, too, since I missed several days this week, and I have to catch up on my duties. God, I can't wait for school to be over!!! Maybe then I can catch up on some freakin' sleep!!! Preferably in my hammock! :) Have a great weekend!

Slow day for a Tuesday

DIBELS quotes for today:
"Felt is touched."
"North Avenue." (I assume as in beach?)

Wow, not much else to say today. The kids were no better or worse than usual today. Although, they did get in trouble with Ms. C. at the end of the day while I was in the office taking a phone call. The call was actually from my son's teacher. I just found out that the 8th grade trip, that I've been waiting to chaperone for two months now, is going to cost me $150!!! I had no idea that chaperones had to pay to join the trip. I'm really bummed. I already paid $260 in graduation fees for my son to go. When his teacher asked me to chaperone a couple of months ago, she never mentioned that it was going to cost anything. I mean, holy crap, $150!!?

Truthfully, the day is chock full of activities, so it's not that I think $150 is too much for what we're doing. It's just that's a lot of money to come up with in one day (at least for me). Here's the agenda for tomorrow. We are starting out at Medieval Times, which I'm very excited about since neither my son nor I have been there before. After that, we'll be heading downtown to the Freedom Museum. Then, we'll be heading over to Navy Pier to take an architectural tour of the city via the Chicago River. After the tour, we'll have about an hour and a half to just walk around and explore Navy Pier before heading over to Rainforest Cafe for an all-you-can-eat buffet of junk (french fries, chicken fingers, hamburgers, cookies and so on) that I'm sure will delight the children to no end! So, like I said, it's definitely worth the money.

Actually, I was surprised with a check this morning at school for $100, which I suppose I'll be putting toward the trip. The great thing about the check is that it was a reimbursement check. For school supplies I purchased. Back in DECEMBER!!!! I've been bugging the business manager for months for this money, so imagine my surprise when she told me it was finally here today. I suppose the fact that it came the very day I found out I had to pay is a sign that I should just go on the trip, huh? My son actually wants me to come, so I guess the decision has been made. I'm actually very touched that he wants me to be there. It helps that his friends think I'm "the coolest mom ever."

I just hope we have decent weather for the day, especially since we'll be out on a boat for 60 minutes. Just to give you an idea of what Chicago's schizophrenic weather has been doing, it was in the 80s yesterday for Memorial Day, and right now it's in the 40s. My heat just kicked on in the house!

OK, I'm off to bed. Despite having a rather quiet day at work, my afternoon was non-stop running. Straight from school to let the dog out, then to the store to shop for a graduation suit (Success! We bought one! Down-side: the ex meet us at the store and shopped with us. Up-side: he paid for everything!), then back home to get Buster because he had to go to the vet. After running to the vet, while making phone calls to see how late the tailor shop would be open, I walked in to hear, "Didn't you get my message?" WTF?! Apparently, they had him scheduled for a dental cleaning, which required me to drop him off the night before. But, he doesn't need a dental cleaning until November, and this was just supposed to be his bi-annual comprehensive exam. Luckily, the doctor said he could do it right then and there, as soon as he finished up with the patient he was with. Great! However, I had to get to the tailor before he closed at 7:00, and it was already 5:30. And, the vet's office closes at 6:30! Yikes!

So, I left Buster, rushed over to the tailor (a 20 minute drive despite speeding) then spent another 20 minutes getting measured, then 20 minutes back to the vet. I just made it at about 6:35! Good thing they love us over there!

While at the vet's picking up Buster, my brother called to see if I was coming to the bar. Hold on now, he actually was calling because he wanted to have dinner with me, not because he needed me to work. I love that guy. A friend of his brought him Chinese, which I adore, and he thought I'd like to come share it with him. Isn't he sweet? I'm just glad he didn't need me to come in, because I'm exhausted. And, on that note, I'm seriously going to bed now. Good night!!

Even if you're tired, it's a joy being with children. You have to give all the time, but you can't complain. It has its rewards. ---Tom Berenger

Obviously, Tom hasn't spent that much time in Englewood. OK, I'm being bitchy, I need to go to bed!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Hey, gang! The weather here in Chicago is absolutely GORGEOUS today! Lots of bright sunshine, along with a cool, fall breeze. I couldn't ask for anything more!
As far as school goes, another less than exciting day. Trust me, I'm not complaining. The Big Cheese brought us a new lunch schedule yesterday, because he's desperately trying to please the folks from the state (too long a story to go into right now!) and today we tried it out for the first time. In theory, it was actually not a bad plan, except for the fact that our lunch ending time was moved back to 11:10, which is the time our prep period starts! He tried to adjust the time to give us an extra five minutes, but Dori and I have decided we better pick out kids up 5 minutes early so we can get to our prep on time. No biggy. I'm just glad we still have 5 preps.

I think I mentioned a while back that we were given two new teaching positions, so our prep and lunch schedules were going to have to be adjusted to make room for those classes to fit into the rotation. Luckily, someone smart handled it, as opposed to the Big Cheese. He told us more than once that we were each going to have to give up a prep, but in the windup, nothing changed for us. Good news, for sure!

One of my friends sent me a cute email with some Halloween fun. You should check it out, especially if you have kids. (when the new window opens, hit "reset" to start.)

Well, I'm off to watch Transformers with my son. (I promised last night, since he had to hang out at school with me until 5pm, thanks to a meeting I had.) Let's hope I can stay awake! Have a great night!

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the
lighting of a fire. ---William Butler Yeats

Go, Cubbies!!

It was really hard not to take a sick day today, so I could attend the Cub's Rally in Grant Park. Because this isn't the least bit school related, I'm going to just say, "Go, Cubbies!!" This is our year!!

Today was a typical Monday. I promised myself I would go into the week with a positive attitude, but that only lasted until about 8:45! In all fairness, I arrived at school at 7:45 today, so at least I had a good hour.

The new start time of 9:00 for students went into effect today. However, because our school is about as organized as a bunch of schizophrenics on crack, the parents didn't really have any notice of this. The decision to go back to 9:00 was made on Wednesday of last week. We were told during this meeting that we would start the new time on Monday, and a memo would be sent home to the parents by the end of the week. Well, we never got any memos, and at 2:40 Friday afternoon, an announcement was made over the intercom telling the students to let their parents know that school starts at 9:00 from now on, starting Monday. WTF?! Yeah, my 5 year-olds are going to be able to handle that responsibility! So, we spent the next five minutes repeating "School starts at 9:00. School starts at 9:00" until the bell rang at 2:45. Ugh!! I also wrote it as big as I could at the bottom of the sign-out sheet, but I'm sure none of my parents bothered to even read it.

This morning, I had kids out in the hall at about 8:30, which isn't new. I had posted a sign, big as day, on my door explaining that school starts at 9:00, and DO NOT leave your child here unsupervised until said time (or something of that nature). I actually didn't have any problems, but poor Dori had kids banging on her door at 8:50, which was the old start time. I happened to be in her room, filling her in on what she missed Friday, and we just ignored the noise. Not the best way to start the day :(

As we were walking to the lunchroom at 10:30, a mom walked up to me and handed me her son, telling me he was my new student. Oh joy! Now I'm back up to 27 little darlings. And my new friend, D.D., is already proving to be a challenge!

Once again, our copy machines aren't working, so no homework or newsletter went home today. Boo! My parents think I'm dropping the ball on these things, and I have to keep explaining that we don't have a copy machine that works. It's not helping the kids, either, to not have a set routine yet as far as homework goes. And on top of all that, we STILL don't have a note to send home to parents about the new start time! OK, I've hit my bitching quota for today, so I must stop right here.

Today's positive item - it was a great rest time. Most of the babies actually fell asleep, which isn't unusual for a Monday. I managed to get a lot of work done in that 20 minutes!

Today's quote:

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn
nothing. ---John Powell

Our school is just one mistake after another, with nothing ever being learned. Nothing ever changes or improves. And who suffers the most? The babies! I know I reached my quota already, so I'm not going to complain anymore tonight. Have a great night!

Miserable Monday

Ok, I really thought today was going to be a great day. I had an absolutely fabulous day yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous fall weather. I cooked red beans and rice for dinner (one of my favorites), I made a huge batch of pasta salad for today's lunch (I planned to share with Dori and Mrs. M across the hall), and I baked Sour Cream Banana Bars with homemade Browned Butter Frosting (YUM!) I actually remembered to bring the pasta salad and banana bars to work, which is a huge accomplishment with my Alzheimer's! The day was going along swimmingly until lunch....

It happened AGAIN. Major backup at the lunchroom! Actually, the backup started at the bathroom, so then we ended up being the last class through the lunch line. Now, our lunch period starts at 10:30, and my last student was served lunch at 10:47!! It's absolutely ludicrous that it takes 17 minutes for them to serve the kids their lunch!! If we were still on our old schedule of 20 minute lunches, my kids would have had to go directly from the lunch counter to the trash can, because they would have had to line right up! Not to mention the fact that I was left with 8 minutes for my own lunch. Ugh! Completely aggravating! Things just kind of went downhill from there.

Without boring you with too many of the details, I was completely annoyed by one of the assistants who kept on coming to my room to talk to me about a function we are having on Wednesday for our assistant principal. I'm trying to teach, and she keeps walking right in and talking to me, as if I were sitting in an empty room! She expected me to just drop everything, and do whatever it was she wanted done. She wasted literally 30 minutes of my morning asking me to print out a banner.

Then she came in again during our rest time. Of course, this is a horrible time to come in and talk ever, since the room is supposed to be quiet so the babies can nap. It was even more inconvenient today because I was trying to test a couple of kids on DIBLES while the rest napped. So, she not only disturbed the class, she kept me from finishing my testing, which has to be done! I was starting to lose it.

She came in again at about 2:15, again completely oblivious to the fact that I'M TEACHING, and just starts talking to me, and wanting to give me money for Social Club dues. So, not only do I have to stop teaching, I have to go unlock the cabinet that I keep the money locked up in and put it away. All the while, I'm passive-aggressively trying to make clear that I don't appreciate the interruption and that I don't have time to chit-chat.

The last straw came about 10 minutes later, when she came back with more money, and wants to start telling me about "someone" being upset about "something," and "let's go in the hall and talk about it," all while telling me the three people whose money she just brought me all want receipts, so can I write them now? Then I lost it! I had to tell her, "No! I can't do it right now, I'M BUSY! It's the end of the day, I'm trying to finish this lesson, I have homework to pass out and go over, we have to get our coats and backpacks..." I think I scared her. Or pissed her off, I'm not sure. Quite frankly, I don't care either way! Get a grip!! Not all of us can walk around all day, making small talk. Some of us are trying to shape the future of our country! OK, a little dramatic, I admit, but come on! She's always done this kind of thing, and it's ALWAYS bugged me, but at least in the past, I had an assistant to pick up some of the slack, so if I had to take 10 minutes out of a lesson to print a damn banner, my assistant could at least keep the kids on task. Now, it's just me. You can't take your attention away from 5 year-olds for more than a minute before they start going nuts.

I'm going to have to just be upfront with her, and tell her tomorrow that she can not, under no uncertain terms, come in my room during the school day. If she needs something, she'll have to come to me in the morning, before the kids get there. She just can't waltz into my room anytime she feels like it, and interrupting our lessons. Yeah, it all sounds great now, but I'm sure I'll be my usual passive-aggressive self tomorrow :(

Another gripe for today...ANOTHER STUDENT arrived today. That brings my list to 27. 16 girls and 11 boys. That's annoying, in and of itself, because (sshhh....) I don't particularly care for little girls. I really don't hide the fact that I much prefer little boys. Little girls annoy me. They whine and cry and scream and talk incessantly. And did I mention scream?

On the upside, if I get one more student, I'm supposed to get an assistant, per our contract. Not that the Big Cheese will go out of his way to see that I get one, but I'm entitled to one, and I'll be damned if I won't fight for one!

Good God, I've got to stop whining! (See what I mean about girls?!) Today's positive is that it was really nice to actually sit with Dori in the teachers' lounge during our prep, eating yummy pasta salad and YUMMY banana bars.

I'm going to leave you today with a quote I actually lifted from Dori's blog the other day. It doesn't have anything to do with education, but it's particularly fitting for the kind of day I've had. Plus, I just really like it! See you tomorrow!

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,
but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ---Herm Albright

TGIF

I promised myself that I would post something (anything!) everyday, so here I am. Sadly, I'm so completely exhausted, this is going to be very short and sweet. OK, short. The good news is it's Friday, on a holiday weekend. The bad news is I'm still not finished with what I wanted to do in my classroom, so I'll be at school tomorrow. But, it's my own darn fault for not getting everything done during the past 3 days. I spent far too much time socializing and catching up with colleagues about what they did over the summer. Now I'll have to pay for it by going into school on Saturday. (On a side note, due to my socialization skills (?), I'm the Social Committee Chairperson at our school. The entire staff refers to me as a social butterfly, and they decided, unanimously, years ago that I should be the committee chair. The funny thing is, I've been the chair, or at least a member, of the Social Committee at every school I've ever worked at, so maybe they're on to something.)

I've also promised myself, after 2 days of posting complaints :( , that I would put at least one positive thing here everyday. Today we received our prep/lunch schedule for the new school year. I nearly cried tears of joy! A couple of teachers took over the scheduling for this year, and they could not possibly have done a better job. This will be the first year at this school that we will be getting a prep period everyday. The kindergarten schedule, in my opinion, is the best of all of them. My partner teacher agrees. Our prep period immediately follows our lunch, so we have an 80 minute break right in the middle of the day!! We couldn't have planned it better ourselves. Our lunch periods, schoolwide, have been changed this year from 20 minutes to 30 minutes (I have no idea how they got away with that, since all CPS schools have 20 minute lunches, but I don't care either!) so that was just icing on the cake! Now that I've taken this time to write about it, I'm happy all over again, and it doesn't seem so bad that I'll be there tomorrow :)

I'm aware of the fact that the non-teachers out there will wonder why they just wasted time reading today's post, but I know my teacher friends will relate, and can appreciate my feelings. We don't ask for much as teachers (certainly not when it comes to salary!) so it's the little things, like our preps, that can make all the difference for us. Yeah, I guess that's pretty lame, but sadly, it's true.

Hmmm, I guess this wasn't short after all. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday weekend with friends and family. Thanks for stopping by!

Today's quote:

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in
it.
--Margaret Fuller