boom.
We have a serious problem. (I think this sentence actually still worked with my typo "We have a series problem")
What kind of weirdo schedules a bridal shower for the same day as the release of the final Harry Potter book?
I might have to get the book on tape to keep me entertained on the drive back up North.
Gah!
Also, my neighborhood is fireworks crazy. There are still a random few going off. There was a group shooting them off just a few houses away, which gave us an awesome view from our front yard. The view got even better from the roof where you could see them all around. While Nick and I were sitting on the roof enjoying the sights and sounds, one of the firecrackers landed on the roof, just a few feet from where we were sitting. It was actually very close to landing inside one of our vent pipes. Whoops.
We watched for about 30 minutes and then went back inside to enjoy our patriotic movie "Independence Day."
There were still pretty frequent explosions until around midnight. Then we saw our entire front window glowing bright orange with flickering red. I ran outside certain that someone in the neighborhood had lit something on fire. Turns out it was just a cop car asking the neighbors to please stop the fireworks, since it is no longer the 4th of July.
As we were going to bed around 1, there were still fireworks popping. Pretty cool, even more cool because no one burned down our house.
I go by the school every few days, mostly because there are animals to feed and take care of, but also because I'm waiting for the principal to make a decision about next year.
If she decides to approve the schedule that the upper-grade team worked so hard to put together, I'll be teaching all of the 6th grade language arts. To me that's a daunting task including Prentice Hall, Core Literature, Spelling, and at least some Writing, including Writing Prompts. Not to mention that instead of reading 28 essays, I'll be reading about 70. It's not terribly unreasonable, considering what I did last year with the two different grade levels, but I hated reading 8 of these essays, I cannot imagine reading 70. Blech.
If she approves the schedule, in its first draft, which is similar, but gives larger class sizes for Math, I would be teaching all of 6th grade Math. I actually like this idea, but at the same time, It would give me fairly large classes for Math, and I really enjoyed teaching Math to 12, it would take some practice to effectively teach Math to 36.
If she approved neither, we would probably come up with another plan that has me doing one of above options, just because it is easier for Mr. N. (who is in a 6/7 split this coming year) to give up one grade level for a little bit.
If our numbers grow too much, which they were doing at the beginning of summer, we will probably stay purely self-contained. I teach everything to my class. I really like this idea, because that's what I think 6th grade should be and it takes some of the scheduling pressure off of me. I really like to go with the flow and let lessons and themes bleed into one another. Of course, I can still do that with set periods, it just requires a level of planning and teaching that I have yet to achieve.
I also like the self-contained idea better because then I'm not responsible for the grades, benchmarks, and writing prompts of any students other than my own. It drove me crazy this past year (and I just barely had to deal with it) having to wait for other teachers to finish their grades and then get them to me with no time for me to review them before they go out to parents. Also, it made it very difficult for me to grade assignments that technically belongs to another teacher's subject area.
I guess no matter what I need to start planning for next year's Language Arts and Math.
We MIGHT be getting a PE teacher next year, which is super-exciting, because aside from swimming, which is very well done the 1st and 4th quarters, PE seems to range from go play this game, go run a lot, or go play whatever you want. I tried to teach some sports, but it ended up a lot like "go play this game." I did work on specific skills a few times, but it never really developed anything, just went straight into "go play this game."
Zelda kitty just stepped on the keyboard and rearranged my sentences for the 3rd time and as usual, that means I'm babbling.
What kind of weirdo schedules a bridal shower for the same day as the release of the final Harry Potter book?
I might have to get the book on tape to keep me entertained on the drive back up North.
Gah!
Also, my neighborhood is fireworks crazy. There are still a random few going off. There was a group shooting them off just a few houses away, which gave us an awesome view from our front yard. The view got even better from the roof where you could see them all around. While Nick and I were sitting on the roof enjoying the sights and sounds, one of the firecrackers landed on the roof, just a few feet from where we were sitting. It was actually very close to landing inside one of our vent pipes. Whoops.
We watched for about 30 minutes and then went back inside to enjoy our patriotic movie "Independence Day."
There were still pretty frequent explosions until around midnight. Then we saw our entire front window glowing bright orange with flickering red. I ran outside certain that someone in the neighborhood had lit something on fire. Turns out it was just a cop car asking the neighbors to please stop the fireworks, since it is no longer the 4th of July.
As we were going to bed around 1, there were still fireworks popping. Pretty cool, even more cool because no one burned down our house.
I go by the school every few days, mostly because there are animals to feed and take care of, but also because I'm waiting for the principal to make a decision about next year.
If she decides to approve the schedule that the upper-grade team worked so hard to put together, I'll be teaching all of the 6th grade language arts. To me that's a daunting task including Prentice Hall, Core Literature, Spelling, and at least some Writing, including Writing Prompts. Not to mention that instead of reading 28 essays, I'll be reading about 70. It's not terribly unreasonable, considering what I did last year with the two different grade levels, but I hated reading 8 of these essays, I cannot imagine reading 70. Blech.
If she approves the schedule, in its first draft, which is similar, but gives larger class sizes for Math, I would be teaching all of 6th grade Math. I actually like this idea, but at the same time, It would give me fairly large classes for Math, and I really enjoyed teaching Math to 12, it would take some practice to effectively teach Math to 36.
If she approved neither, we would probably come up with another plan that has me doing one of above options, just because it is easier for Mr. N. (who is in a 6/7 split this coming year) to give up one grade level for a little bit.
If our numbers grow too much, which they were doing at the beginning of summer, we will probably stay purely self-contained. I teach everything to my class. I really like this idea, because that's what I think 6th grade should be and it takes some of the scheduling pressure off of me. I really like to go with the flow and let lessons and themes bleed into one another. Of course, I can still do that with set periods, it just requires a level of planning and teaching that I have yet to achieve.
I also like the self-contained idea better because then I'm not responsible for the grades, benchmarks, and writing prompts of any students other than my own. It drove me crazy this past year (and I just barely had to deal with it) having to wait for other teachers to finish their grades and then get them to me with no time for me to review them before they go out to parents. Also, it made it very difficult for me to grade assignments that technically belongs to another teacher's subject area.
I guess no matter what I need to start planning for next year's Language Arts and Math.
We MIGHT be getting a PE teacher next year, which is super-exciting, because aside from swimming, which is very well done the 1st and 4th quarters, PE seems to range from go play this game, go run a lot, or go play whatever you want. I tried to teach some sports, but it ended up a lot like "go play this game." I did work on specific skills a few times, but it never really developed anything, just went straight into "go play this game."
Zelda kitty just stepped on the keyboard and rearranged my sentences for the 3rd time and as usual, that means I'm babbling.