Happy!! :)

Few things in this world can make me as happy as early spring!

The new, light green leaves, the flowers (lilacs anyone?!?!), fresh cut grass, the warm-ish sun, outdoor recess (thank goodness!!!)... even the smell of small brush fires in my parents backyard.  Instant smile.

Today was a rough day at school.  It was rainy all day, so recess was inside and the kids are always a little crazy when they're in all day (and who can blame them?).  Additionally, it was a Thursday-- Thursdays are always rough for me.  For some reason that is the day I have very little patience for them.  (I do intensely love the kiddos!)  Overall, it was a long, stressful day (I don't think a single one listened to directions!) but I walked out of the building at the end of the day and was greeted by warm spring air, the smell of fresh grass, and a fully bloomed lilac bush.  Perfect.  My mood increased exponentially in the matter of seconds.

My stomach has really been bothering me lately.  I read in my What to Expect book that at this point it's common for tugging and achiness as ligaments and muscles and who-knows-what-else stretch to accommodate the little darlings, so I'm not worried.  But it hurts to even walk!  Luckily it is usually fine at school... I'm a little run down at school, but at home is when things get rough.  It hurts to get off the couch, to roll over in bed... ouch!  But totally worth it!!!

Sub Plans

I'm trying to get my lesson plans done for the transfer, but it is very frustrating.  

1st, I don't know if I need plans for Tues and Wed OR Thurs and Fri.  

2nd, my class has a very definite routine that's hard to convey on paper.

3rd, I have a very specific way of teaching certain lessons and I don't really trust anyone else to take them from me.  So, I'm left with a dilemma... do I list the activities and hope the sub does them okay, or do I make up new activities so that I can do the lessons when I get back?

4th, there really aren't that many worksheets I use in the class-- instead I use centers and discussions and stories, but I always worry these things won't take up the right amount of time and the sub will be left sitting there thinking "Now what?"

Overall, I really hate writing sub plans.  They're so stressful!!

It's official

I am officially losing 5 students. I was upset at first, but now I'm just thinking of all the things I'll be able to do with 10 kids-- 10 easy kids. So, really, I think it will end up being a good thing. I'm looking forward to it. My only complaint is that they won't be leaving for at least another week-ish. So my plans for moving around the room and mixing things up are on hold for a week.

Other wise, things are going fine. I'm feeling my usual lead-up to Day 1 symptoms. I am just hoping that they don't mean what they usually mean. But I guess we'll find out on Tuesday/Wednesday. If things don't work out (I am still being optimistic, I swear) then we'll start our next cycle. And the whole process begins again...

Ahh... I just want to get off this ride!!! :-P

+ 1

So, turns out 4 wasn't enough. Now I have 5 children who have written letters (or rather, their parents have) to transfer. The 5th was my toughest child, so I guess I'm not too upset about that one. :)

My principal just came in (my kids are at art, so this is legal, I swear) and wanted to remind me that the students leaving isn't a reflection of my teaching. She also said she called the assistant superintendant to see if it's okay for her to call the parents of the students who wrote letters and to tell them that the switch might not be all the crack it up to be. I realize that her call might not make the difference, but it was nice to hear that vote of confidence. So, it would be nice if the 3 who I like stay and the 2 I don't like still tranfer. :) I'm the eternal optimist...

4 Down

I've been a little flip about the AYP thing. It's only my second year-- none of my kids have reached the point of testing, so I guess I naively thought it wouldn't filter down to me. But it has. As part of the requirement for not meeting AYP, NCLB says, since we're a Title 1 school, we must offer school choice to our students. So, parents are allowed to ask to have their child moved to a better performing school in the district. And in our school of 150 students, 7 have decided to take advantage of this. In my class? 4!!!

I am losing 4 of my 15 kids. I'm so upset-- at first I didn't mind when I thought I was only losing 1. She bothered me anyways. :) But 4?? The other three are so good-- I never have to talk to them, they always complete their work, and they're the sweeeeetest kids. So I'm bummed about this. I feel like a failure-- although I realize it doesn't really reflect on my teaching-- but it's still a little insulting for me.

I go above and beyond what is required for K-- we do writer's workshop, guided reading, literacy centers... the list goes on. I work really hard with these kids-- all but 2 students were reading fluently and writing 3-4 sentence stories last year. The 2 who weren't were special needs, so they were a little behind, but even they got the routine and the idea of it. So I guess, I feel like I work hard, but parents don't see that. Instead they're running scared... :( Bummer. I guess I'm kind of hoping that they get to their new school and find out that, really, the classroom they were in was pretty good. But then again, I guess it's more about the big picture-- no matter how well my class was doing, there is still the chance that 1-5 were underperforming. It's just a tough call.

On the positive... only 8 days til the official test. 7 til I test on my own!!!

Uneventful

So, the life and times of me have been rather uneventful the past few days. And I kind of like it like that. :) School's been keeping me busy. I was supposed to start a new math curriculum this week, but the materials are mysteriously missing (for the whole district, mind you) so that's on hold. I started my anti-violence curriculum "Second Step" today. I got to play with puppets so that was fun. I start the new phonics curriculum on Monday. Should be interesting. My school failed to meet it's Annual Yearly Progress the past few years so we're kind of on probation which has led to the implementation of these new curriculums. My teaching partner has decided to take a personal stand against the phonics program... because it was brought in by the principal... whom my teaching partner hates. Sooo it should be interesting! We're mandated to do this, but she just decided not to. Guess we'll see where that one goes! :) That's all!

I'm making sure that I'm being VERY good this cycle with the progesterone and my vitamins. I missed a few here and there the past few rounds. This round I want no excuses. :)

School

Words cannot express just how much I am looking forward to school starting. I've thought about it and planned and thought some more. I'm just ready to get through the first few days. The first 2 days are always just a pain. There's no way around it. Kindergartners cry, their parents cry, they decide they don't like their snack, they lose their lunch money, they cry some more... I keep saying that I cannot wait until the whole first month is over. I want all the kids to know all of the routines. I want us to have our schedule. I want to have fun. :)

So I find myself anxiously awaiting the first few days. I want all of the first-day mystery to be gone. :)

That being said, I know I've been spoiled this summer. I just spent the last 2.5 months doing nothing productive. I babysat and tutored a handful of times, but not really enough to constitute saying I was busy this summer. It was a very nice luxury. One I know won't continue next summer (well, unless we miraculously get pregnant this round and then I'll spend the summer with baby. :) I didn't have to wake up, I didn't have to go to bed... i didn't have to do anything. But I'm ready for the real-world again. Living the carefree life was fun while it lasted!

My room!!

I had mentioned awhile ago putting up pictures from my room, so here we are... :)

Here's the bookshelf side of the thing my dad made for me to store all my teacher-y books.


Here's the front view of the magnetic side for lunch choices.


House area.


Pocket chart literacy center. And the sand table... I hardly ever open. :)


Meeting area and Star of the Week board.


Calendar Wall


Writing and Names/Words Centers. You can see the handy-dandy, nifty cubby thing my dad made me last year.


Reading area view 1.


View 2.


And the Star Birthday board I am so proud of. I didn't have a bulletin board, so I invented one. :)


There's a lot more and more centers, but I'm done putting up pictures! I guess I can see why I don't do it. It's kind of a pain. :)

Class Site

Visit www.freewebs.com/kindergartenstars for this year's class site! :)

Back in the swing of things

Woohoo! Tomorrow I get to go into school! I am so excited. I have been waiting for so long. My brother is coming up in the AM to help me. I have a ton of stuff to bring in, move around, and put away. I want to try to get most stuff done before vacation in two weeks. Then I can focus on curriculum and last minute things come the last 2 weeks of August. :)

I can't wait to get back in. I'll be sure to put up fabulous pictures of my awesome classroom.

Also, on a side note, I have decided that I really want to start running. I've never really been a good runner, but I've wanted to get into it for years. So, I'm going to start trying. Right outside of school there is a beautiful pond with a path around it. All around it's about 2 miles. It's a start. :) I'm excited. I'll keep updated. And right now I'm very motivated, so hopefully it'll keep up!

6 Things

1. Went to a wedding last night of one of Johnny's friend from HS. Had a great time! So much fun. We want to get married again.

2. Going to wedding #2 tonight. A friend of mine from BU. Excited.

3. Day 1- today. Commence hoping things go well!

4. Got into grad school! UML-Reading and Language. Spring 09. No idea when I'll graduate! :)

5. Got my hair cut really short yesterday. I like it... I think.

6. Ran into one of my kindergartners-soon-to-be-first-graders. She's so cute. I miss school like woah!

That's all!

Obsessive

School starts up again in 2 months from tomorrow. (Sept. 4th) I can't stop obsessing about it, though! The day that school was over I worked on making things for next year. Now, ever since, I've been worrying about making new things (centers and things with names for the kiddies). I have this massive To Do List and this massive list of things that I need to buy.

Last night I worked on school stuff from about 9-midnight. Then at midnight I went to bed with the hubby. I sat there for awhile with my mind racing... then I had to get out of bed to make the class map I was thinking about and to write down all the things I was thinking about. Basically all I can say is AHHH. If this keeps up until September I will go CRAZY! :)

LIfe

Lately I've been posting a little less about getting pregnant (partially because I've been playing the waiting game for the past 2 weeks) and more about other things. I guess I've started to realize that there is a bit more to my life right now. That I have other things to hang on to. That's kind of a good feeling.

Keeping with that good feeling... today was Get Ready Day at school-- all of next year's K students came in for a half day. And boy are they CUTE. There is one crazy girl who reminded me of a mixture of my 3 worst kids this year. So I bargained with my teaching partner not to have her. 3 parents actually REQUESTED that they have me next year. I have to admit, that made me feel pretty good. :) Just 4 more days with my darlings. I will miss them terribly, but I am ready for the next beginning so that I can correct all of those mistakes I made this year. I'm convinced that if I start off the year more with routines and expectations then I won't be pulling my hair out next June. We'll see though. (Hey, with a little luck I won't be there in June, right? :))

My birthday is coming up (yay!! I was told today that I'm still young enough to be excited about birthdays). Johnny booked 2 nights at a the same hotel we spent out wedding night. :) I'm VERY excited to say the least. School will be out and we will be able to just relax. I really can't wait. And I'm still crossing my fingers and optimistic that we will be there celebrating some fabulous news. :) (Maybe... ?) If not, being with him and relaxing will be enough to keep me content. Like I mentioned, I'm doing really well. :)

Why I love what I do...

Some days the children at school make me want to pull out my hair. They can be crazy and no matter how many times I tell them the directions, some times they don't seem to sink in. We've been following the same routine since September, but some days they can't be bothered to think of the routine. But you know what? I love them to death and love what I do...

I guess the parents realize this because one of the parents wrote an amazing letter to the principal about me. The principal just shared it with me and it really makes me want to cry. A warm fuzzy feeling, really. :) Ahhh I'm content. :) (And I really haven't felt that way in awhile!)

Waiting.... I'm so good at it :)

This AM I had my appt at 6:30 for u/s and blood. I got my fave u/s tech so that was good. She entertains me... which I know sounds weird, but it's true. My right follicle was at 22mm. Woohoo. My lining was at 7.8mm, so just shy of 8, but good enough.

Blood was okay... 2 pokes today. Oh well. I'm getting used to it I s'pose.

I have to go back tomorrow AM for just blood. Guess my levels aren't up to par. Estradiol was 480ish and my LH was 8.something. I think. I can't remember! What are the levels supposed to be at? I sure as heck don't know!

On another note, I taught a lesson today about writing poetry in Writer's Workshop. My kids were AMAZING!! I was so excited. Some of them had a little more difficulty than others, but I got a good poem out of each one of them! And they were so creative! YAY!

Friday we're going to the zoo on a field trip and Wednesday we are going to Boston to walk the path of the Ducklings in Make Way for Ducklings. I'm very excited! :) Only 16 days left of school. Time flies!

That's all for now... stay tuned!

Yeah, I could have told you that...

Today I went in to begin monitoring.  I finished clomid yesterday yet they told me to come in today.  I even double checked the phone message yesterday to make sure I got it right.  I sure did.  So, I went in this AM for u/s (fine... though she only counted 11 less than 10 on each size, and none greater than 10mm).  Then blood was okay too.  The girl was nervous and pricked me once.  She then did that "move the needle around inside until it really hurts" thing.  She eventually gave up on my left and pulled out the needle.  Then she did the right and it worked.  It took SO long for the blood to come out today though.  I seriously felt like I was sitting there forever.

Today at school went well.  We had a lowkey morning, then my hubby and Darcy's hubby came in.  We had fun with the kids.  We gave them ice cream sundaes and Darcy brought in the guinea pigs.  Then we had our show.  The kindergarten was definitely the best.  :)

Then, going back to the title, I checked my voicemail at the end of the day.  It was "Um, there's not a lot going on.  It's still a little early for anything to be measurable.  I don't know why we had you coming in today."  At which point I thought "Yeah, I could have told you that..."  So I'm going back on Tuesday AM.  

Nothing really to post

Nothing new to post really.  Things have been moving along.  Tomorrow AM I go in at 6:30 for my u/s and blood.  Then off to school.  

Tomorrow is my kindergartner's Memorial Day show.  I am so excited for it.  They're singing/dancing to "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond and they're hilarious and SO good!  I can't wait to see them on stage in their matching clothes!  Ahh, so cute!  The hubby is coming to school tomorrow for the afternoon and the show, too.  My aide's hubby is coming in with her kid's guinea pigs too.  It's going to be a good, if unproductive, day.  :)  Then Monday is the holiday, Tuesday I have SPED meetings, and Friday we're going to the Zoo.  This whole year is going by so quickly.  I'm anxious to start next year... since about the 3rd day of school I've been thinking about everything I want to "fix" for next year.  :)  

Okay, so I think this was sufficiently about nothing at all.  :)  We'll see how tomorrow goes.  I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!  

Few more days...

Another couple days have come and gone.  

Today was one of those bad days at work... some days I have it and some days I just don't.  This morning, early... like calendar time... I realized that I just didn't have it.  No patience at all.  Which is NOT a good thing when you teach 5 year olds and when you have no specials and when you have 3 of the most difficult children ever.    So... I made it through the day, but it was one of the days where I felt like I didn't do anything but yell.  I hate those days.  I just feel so stressed and tired and hating myself... I promised myself I would read my discipline books tonight to try to come up with some tricks tomorrow.  

I find myself constantly saying "We've done this for 150 days now.  You should know what we're doing!"... but really, I know that they don't have a concept of what that really means.  Ah well... tomorrow is another day and I'm sure it will go better.  I hope.  :)

Last week my aide was out all week.  The children were FANTASTIC.  AMAZING.  I didn't have a single problem.  They were quiet, on task, etc. all week long.  It was at the point where I didn't know why I had actually invited parents in to help--- I didn't feel like I needed them.  I wonder why they're so different this week.  

Today we got $50 to The Learning Tree!  I'm so excited!

Oh... and while doing calendar this AM I realized how freakin' close I am to my test.  Woohoo!!  I'm dying to start feeling different-- it was about 3 or 4 days before my test last time that I noticed that I felt "weird"... so this weekend I'll be crossing my fingers!!  :)