30 days hath September...
Can't believe the month is done already (well, for all intents and purposes, it's done). Things have been very busy and work has gone pretty well. I have a lot of cool things coming up that I'm very excited about, hopefully everything will work out so I can share with everyone just what is so super awesome-est in my life.
I have a good class this year. Well, at least it's an easier class, and there aren't so many academically needy kids. I did my DIBELS on Wednesday and I only have two kids that are intensive, six that are benchmarked, and the rest are strategic. It makes my life much easier to be starting a little "higher" academically, although I have a handful of kids who are very immature and need a lot of training as to how to act in school. I have one little guy who is definitely going to give me a run for my money, but his mother is very nice and we communicate almost by email at least three times a week, so hopefully between our cooperation and some support from Geri, we'll get him turned around. He's a very bright boy too, so I think if we can get his behaviors under control, or rather teach him how to make good choices and control his behavior, I'll see a lot of excellent growth from him. Overall the kids in my class this year are a little more "with it." While they may not necessarily know stuff yet, they are at least aware of what's going on and that's a start as they are taking things in.
I ended up not having to go to jury duty. I called last night and the message said that the jurors for the October 1st time period are no longer needed, so I don't have to spend all afternoon today writing sub plans for the week. I stayed until almost 5pm last night getting things set up for Monday, I don't think I've ever been this prepared. I guess I should strive to be that organized every week, it would probably make my life a lot easier. I'm just relieved to not have to be out of the room at all, being out for testing, even though I was in the building, really threw them off. It's like starting all over again with expectations and rules and correct school behavior.
I've also had my first cold of the year. It was a doozy. It came on very slowly over last weekend, and then on Tuesday it just hit me hard. Very congested, had that swimmy feeling. It was almost a relief in the sense of concentration and focus that I had to be doing testing, because, hate to say it, it's very difficult for me to feel like I'm teaching well when I have a bad cold. On Tuesday I even asked Amy if she could try to find me a sub to come in for the last quarter of the day, I felt that awful - very dizzy and my stomach was sour. She couldn't find anyone so I toughed it out, but by Thursday I was dead from lack of good sleep. I'm just about healthy again, except that I'm still feeling a little congested and I'm worried about getting a sinus infection. I'm trying to keep fluids in me so my sinuses will drain, but I worry as most of my colds in the past four years have led to sinus infections.
Aaron has been on a Miyazaki kick with Netflix, so we've been watching a lot of anime. We've watched My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki's Delivery Service. All of which were very cute and harmless and simple. I believe he's got Spirited Away on his queue, so hopefully that will come soon so I can see that.
I had a coupon from Barnes and Noble for something like 45% off A Fine Frenzy: One Cell in the Sea. It's the debut album, and the girl who's the singer has a very earthy voice, somewhere between Sarah McLaughlin and Anna Nalick. The CD starts off very bright and strong, and then as the tracks progress they get softer and more introspective - it's very good music, nothing that's going to make you want to get up and dance around but enjoyable in it's easiness.
I also ordered The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance from B&N as well. I've been stuck for new books, and I'm still waiting on the John Jakes and Gaelen Foley books I preordered. I keep hearing that the Boleyn books are good, so I thought I'd give them a try. If I like Philippa Gregory's writing, I may get my hands on her other books. Usually if an author produces two books I can enjoy, the rest are at least tolerable. I've been needed a new favorite author - John Jakes is getting up there in age and I can't imagine that he'll have many more stories to tell. The one I preordered, The Gods of Newport is supposedly very much fluff in comparison with his earlier works, like North and South and The Kent Family Chronicles. But I always enjoy what he writes, so I don't think this one will be any different.
Aaron and I went to see "Phantom of the Opera" last weekend at the Civic Center. It was most excellent. Not as good as going to see it at the Pantages in Toronto, but they did an excellent job. I imagine that tours are difficult because you have to recreate the magic of the set design in a theater that is completely different in size and layout from what you're used to in the home theater. We went to Red Lobster afterwards and that was super yummy.
Not sure what's up for this weekend, other than Kellye's baby shower tomorrow afternoon. Just relaxing and winging it, I guess. :)
I have a good class this year. Well, at least it's an easier class, and there aren't so many academically needy kids. I did my DIBELS on Wednesday and I only have two kids that are intensive, six that are benchmarked, and the rest are strategic. It makes my life much easier to be starting a little "higher" academically, although I have a handful of kids who are very immature and need a lot of training as to how to act in school. I have one little guy who is definitely going to give me a run for my money, but his mother is very nice and we communicate almost by email at least three times a week, so hopefully between our cooperation and some support from Geri, we'll get him turned around. He's a very bright boy too, so I think if we can get his behaviors under control, or rather teach him how to make good choices and control his behavior, I'll see a lot of excellent growth from him. Overall the kids in my class this year are a little more "with it." While they may not necessarily know stuff yet, they are at least aware of what's going on and that's a start as they are taking things in.
I ended up not having to go to jury duty. I called last night and the message said that the jurors for the October 1st time period are no longer needed, so I don't have to spend all afternoon today writing sub plans for the week. I stayed until almost 5pm last night getting things set up for Monday, I don't think I've ever been this prepared. I guess I should strive to be that organized every week, it would probably make my life a lot easier. I'm just relieved to not have to be out of the room at all, being out for testing, even though I was in the building, really threw them off. It's like starting all over again with expectations and rules and correct school behavior.
I've also had my first cold of the year. It was a doozy. It came on very slowly over last weekend, and then on Tuesday it just hit me hard. Very congested, had that swimmy feeling. It was almost a relief in the sense of concentration and focus that I had to be doing testing, because, hate to say it, it's very difficult for me to feel like I'm teaching well when I have a bad cold. On Tuesday I even asked Amy if she could try to find me a sub to come in for the last quarter of the day, I felt that awful - very dizzy and my stomach was sour. She couldn't find anyone so I toughed it out, but by Thursday I was dead from lack of good sleep. I'm just about healthy again, except that I'm still feeling a little congested and I'm worried about getting a sinus infection. I'm trying to keep fluids in me so my sinuses will drain, but I worry as most of my colds in the past four years have led to sinus infections.
Aaron has been on a Miyazaki kick with Netflix, so we've been watching a lot of anime. We've watched My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki's Delivery Service. All of which were very cute and harmless and simple. I believe he's got Spirited Away on his queue, so hopefully that will come soon so I can see that.
I had a coupon from Barnes and Noble for something like 45% off A Fine Frenzy: One Cell in the Sea. It's the debut album, and the girl who's the singer has a very earthy voice, somewhere between Sarah McLaughlin and Anna Nalick. The CD starts off very bright and strong, and then as the tracks progress they get softer and more introspective - it's very good music, nothing that's going to make you want to get up and dance around but enjoyable in it's easiness.
I also ordered The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance from B&N as well. I've been stuck for new books, and I'm still waiting on the John Jakes and Gaelen Foley books I preordered. I keep hearing that the Boleyn books are good, so I thought I'd give them a try. If I like Philippa Gregory's writing, I may get my hands on her other books. Usually if an author produces two books I can enjoy, the rest are at least tolerable. I've been needed a new favorite author - John Jakes is getting up there in age and I can't imagine that he'll have many more stories to tell. The one I preordered, The Gods of Newport is supposedly very much fluff in comparison with his earlier works, like North and South and The Kent Family Chronicles. But I always enjoy what he writes, so I don't think this one will be any different.
Aaron and I went to see "Phantom of the Opera" last weekend at the Civic Center. It was most excellent. Not as good as going to see it at the Pantages in Toronto, but they did an excellent job. I imagine that tours are difficult because you have to recreate the magic of the set design in a theater that is completely different in size and layout from what you're used to in the home theater. We went to Red Lobster afterwards and that was super yummy.
Not sure what's up for this weekend, other than Kellye's baby shower tomorrow afternoon. Just relaxing and winging it, I guess. :)