WHERE IS THE SNOW?

Disclaimer: I should not complain about this. I hate snow. Snow seems like a harmless target. Can't hurt snow's feelings, right?

Okay, I'll complain about ONE more thing: The fact that my online grade book program thingy isn't working on my home computer. So I need to go in early tomorrow to input comments for interims. I was trying to be finished early & ahead of the game, so of course something had to go wrong. OF COURSE.

Ugh. I'm glad I'm not the only teacher feeling the strain/stress/exhaustion at this point in the year. Thanks blog land for reminding me that it is okay for me to feel like this, and I'm not alone. A lot of people put on a happy face and look at you like you're crazy when you're being a downer. But not you, blog friends. You listen, leave thoughtful comments, and reassure me that although it is tough right now, it will get better. And I thank you for that!

Anyway, I had a random two hour fog delay on Friday. Fog. In February! My kids were insane. Don't really want to get into it. Tomorrow is a new day/week.

So much Seuss stuff going on right now. Yikes. And copyright drama! I was thinking about making something, but I'm not getting involved. How sad is that? I've found tons of fun stuff though, and I can't wait to share it with my students! I also signed up for a school activity on the 3rd which celebrates Seuss. I don't remember signing up for it. And even if I did, I certainly wouldn't have signed up for it if I would have known it started at 8:30am on a Saturday! But I'm going, and it'll be fun. I gave my grade level chair a craft I found on Pinterest that we are going to do!

No fancy pictures or anything new to report! I'm starting Persuasive Writing this week, and we've just begun fractions. Meaty stuff! Any resources you guys can throw my way would be fantastic!

Must go to bed. I have something called work tomorrow. So quickly you forget when you're knee deep in a three day weekend!

A Plea

I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to June.

Alright, my bad. I shouldn't have opened up with that. But seriously, I'm exhausted. My class is giving me a run for my money. My grade level has PLC in the afternoons on Mondays of weeks that are a full 5 days.  It's not as confusing as it sounds. While I'm in PLC with my teammates, my students go to two extra specials. Well, by the time I rolled in to pick them up today, two of them landed themselves in the office.

I will take ANY and ALL advice for how to manage this group. I've asked tons of people at school for help, but all I get is sympathy. Which is great. I really appreciate that people feel for what I'm dealing with. But I'm asking for ADVICE!

Here's the sitch: I literally have about 5 kids who are always well behaved. About 10 that are wishywashy on the behavior scale. And 5 that are down right naughty. And by naughty, I mean talking back and being rude to adults, bullying, tons of outbursts, etc. I am required to use the behavior scale of blue-green-yellow-red. Students start on green and move to blue if they go beyond expectations. I use class dojo during independent work, and those points translate to points towards prizes at the school store. I pull my misbehaving friends aside when they misbehave, and I truly do not try to draw extra attention to any situation going on. The students in question do not have parents who are supportive. One parent does not even have a correct phone number on file.

So again, any advice would be lifesaving wonderful!

-------------

I got tagged in the fun blogging survey thing that's going around right now by my Holly Bloggy Christmas Partner Bonnie at Living A Wonderful Life!. Are your kids allowed to play tag at school? Mine aren't. No touching at recess. NONE. Because touching obviously leads to tattling. Let's start the party---

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

1. I have a random collection of baseball cards. They aren't like legit baseball cards though, they are kind of like cardstock? Not sure where I got them, but as a kid, I stored them in a Beethoven lunch box. They are still sitting in my childhood room.
2. I really want to join my city's choir. I've been toying with the idea since I've moved here. But I'm too darn tired. Insert Snookie Waaaaaah.
3. Valentine's Day will be my boyfriend and I's one year anniversary. Awwwhhhh.
4. I have really bad motion sickness. I get super dizzy, which leads to super nauseous.
5. I had Chik-Fil-A for dinner.
6. I'm going to my dad's house on Sunday for his annual Super Bowl Party. I could care less about either team. I could go so far to say I dislike both teams. So, I'll probably sneak into my room and turn on the Puppy Bowl. Anyone else watch it? TOO MUCH CUTE!
7. Today is my little cousin's birthday! She's 10!
8. Pretty sure I've bragged blogged about this, but I'm going to Jamaica for 4 days over my spring break! Yay!!!!
9. And then my kids take the state test 3 days after we return from break. UGHHHH.
10. My favorite subjects to teach are math and science. I would be totally content teaching those all day long!
11. Twelve is such a large number.
12. Did you use to take part in the email surveys when they were popular? Fill out the bazillion questions and email it to all of your friends? How about slam books? Anyone?

And on to Bonnie's questions!

1. What state do you live in?

   Currently in Delaware, but my heart is in PA!

2. Do you collect anything?

   Not purposely, but I hoard stuff.

3. What is your favorite color?

   Hard to choose! Love pinks, oranges, and yellows!

4. Do you do anything work related on the weekend?

   Sadly, yes. Don't we all, even if we don't intend to?

5. What is your favorite food?

   Everything that's bad for you. I could eat blue cheese dressing on everything. Good thing I have just a tad bit of self control!

6. How long is your commute to work?

   About 35 minutes, depending on how many lights I hit.

7. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?

   Depends how much! Let's pretend it's a billion dollars. First things first, pay my dad back for everything he's provided for me and then some. He deserves the moon. Pay off all debt. Buy a house. Donate to causes that mean a lot to me, such as local animal rescues and education programs in underprivileged countries. 

8. How do you spend your time when you're relaxing?

   Farmville is my mindless activity.

9. How many weddings have you been in?

   I was in my mom's second wedding when I was in 7th grade, but I don't really count that. I was MOH in my BFF's wedding in August. That's been the only one!

10. What is your favorite place you've visited?

    Ireland! I went in '07 with my concert choir in college. Sang in cathedrals and kissed the blarney stone.

11. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?

    Probably a nurse or working somehow in a children's hospital.

12. Kids...do you have any?  How many do you have/want?

    No kids! I would love to have 3. I'm one of two kids, and I yearn for a bigger family sometimes!

I'll come back to this & tag people & such! I need to search around for some friends who haven't been tagged yet! =)

I love impending sinus infections..

My current facebook status: "i love impending sinus infections, comcast, and grading. In no particular order"

Very aware that this [and 95% of my blog posts] are not grammatically correct. I'm okay with it, and I hope that you are, too.

I really hope I'm okay to go in tomorrow. Ugh. I have chronic sinus infections, but when I go to the doctor, they give me antibiotics and send me on my way. I feel like there is an underlying problem. But no one listens to me. Shocker. The doctors must be on the same wave length as my students have been lately.

As for Comcast, let's just say I've been on the phone with them three times tonight, and I still can't watch my DVRed Bachelor. And my cable will probably go out within the hour. I need to go to Comcast and exchange my box. UGH. I know, not a big deal. It's just that my current mood is magnifying this situation. The customer service girl I talked to the second time was so nice. She kept apologizing. I kept saying it's fine. I know it's not her fault that I can't watch Ben. I guess she gets yelled at a lot.

*Side note: Does anyone else read Reality Steve's spoilers of the Bachelor?

And my last gripe is my grading. I don't have a lot to grade. But I hate grading multiplication facts! Over the course of the mult/div unit, I progress monitored the students [not timed] with 100 problems, just to see where they are. Such a pain to grade, but my standards say they need to be fluent! So I want to give them as much practice as possible, both timed and not time.

Anyway, sorry for the downer-ish post! I changed my layout to another free one. Does it look alright on all of your computers? Please let me know if it looks funky so I can fix!

Two Posts in a Day.. Sorry, but....

I am furious!

My hometown and surrounding area news announced yesterday that they are closing 49 Catholic school after the end of this school year. 44 elementary schools + 5 high schools = FORTY NINE SCHOOLS.

I understand that money is involved, and I won't pretend that I am fully educated on this subject. However, I just don't get it. My heart breaks for the thousands of students who are being uprooted. For the parents who will have to drive an hour to the next closest Catholic school to bring their children. In some cases, schools with highly successful academics, sports, programs, etc. are being closed, while schools without these programs, or even gyms, remain open. What? Again, I really don't know. If you have the answers, speak up!

What about the students? Class sizes at the other schools will be through the roof. The schools that I've visited don't have extra space for new classrooms to accomodate new classrooms/homerooms.
What about the teachers? So many lost jobs, when it is already close to impossible to find one.
What about the families? Will they be forced to public school their kids if their personal circumstances don't allow a switch for next year?

[[[I'll add that I have been public schooled since first grade, so this doesn't affect me directly. My dad's elementary school and high school were both on the closed list.]]]

END OF RANT! Sorry, I needed to vent to a crowd who will at least possibly kind of maybe feel my frustration!

Link up with Farley for her January currently! There's a giveaway tied into this one!

& don't forget to enter my giveaway for 25 bucks to TpT!

UGH.

The title says it all.

At least tomorrow is already Thursday.

I hit 50 followers! Giveaway [& an actual post] coming soon.

But let's be honest, my kids have sucked the life out of me the past two days.

So, will you take a raincheck?

See you this weekend!

Are U There State Test? It's Me, Stressed Third Grade Teacher.

Say a couple prayers to the state testing gods tonight.

My crazies are taking their midyear math DCAS test tomorrow.

Yes, I called them crazies. My room is a three ring circus to begin with. Now times that by Christmas break [not 'til next Thursday though, WHAAA?!]. I'm about to lose my mind. I wouldn't be so stressed out about it if we weren't knee deep in mid year testing. SO getting through tomorrow means still doing curriculum [obvi], but not being SO darn uptight about everything.

So anyway, life is a whirlwind.

And no, I didn't quit teaching yet.

One of those days.

Have you ever been scared that you were going to become a statistic?

Not the 1 in however many young girls become teen moms.

Not part of the half of marriages that end in divorce.

No, the statistic that says about 50% of teachers leave the profession before they've reached five years.

I've lost my spirit. Mid year state tests. Competition between colleagues on said tests. Crazy kids. Lack of teamwork for planning. Work BFF on maternity leave. Barely any sunlight in the month of December. If progress reports weren't due tomorrow, I'd take a mental health day. Sorry to my 15 or so followers, I just needed to get that out.

[please note that these statistics are approximate. i'm too immersed in my pity party to perform research.]

No fun for two weeks. BAH HUMBUG!

UGH. That's all I have to say about the next two weeks. Instead of using all of the fun activities I've been seeing in Blogland, I'm cramming knowledge into the heads of my class preparing my class for our midyear state test. We take Reading this Tuesday and Math the following Wednesday. It is computer based, so we get the results right away.

Blessing and a curse.

Because our administrators watch the scores roll in. Seriously. Enough to give me a panic attack. So I will be Ms. Grinch until next Tuesday. I know it is only the middle of the year, but my kids came in VERY low this year. They have a ways to go before they get their 3s and 4s. Some have over 200 points to go, which is equivalent to over 3 years growth. I'm fighting an uphill battle.

Anyway, after all of this, I can't wait to have some fun with my kids. They deserve it!

Dear October 31st., Please Come & Go. Quickly.

I am currently... having a panic attack.

Of course, I put off figuring out what I'm being for Halloween. Again.
Last year, I was a veterinarian. I found really cute animal scrubs and carried a stuffed dog around.
BUT, this year, the top is a little too snug. And they discontinued this print at Walmizzy. UGH. Story of my life.
So now, i'm scouring the internet and my brain trying to figure something out that is half decent.
Ms. Teacher might be the ultimate cop out: A baseball player.
On a side note, we are only allowed to be book characters or jobs.

Brilliant idea #1: Can I be retired for Halloween and not come to school?
Brilliant idea #2: Can I "be" one of my bloggy friends for Halloween? Preferably one of you who doesn't have to dress up? We can switch places.

I truly feel like the fun has been sucked out of me this month! I hope it comes back ASAP. & Hopefully a more worthwhile post will be coming this week!

From Slacks to Sweats in Record Time.

Oh my lord. Today was rough. Like I said, I was out yesterday with the 'blahs'. Thank goodness I took yesterday off, because I needed my rest for today.

Up until about 9:15 was normal. Andddd then the power went out. Ugh. My building is K-3, & they obviously can't deal with power going out. So the kids were out of their minds. Then, we were randomly told that we had to stop reading, go get our lunch, and eat in our classrooms. This was an hour before our actual lunch time. So, in the middle of reading, we ate lunch. The rest of the day was pretty much just shot from there. Got nothing of any importance finished.

I stayed at school for an extra hour and a half to copy my homework packets for next week. I figured I'd better get some use out of today before leaving for the weekend.

I made a beeline from my front door to my bedroom and changed into my comfy sweatpants. I made myself a sandwich & I'm watching this week's episode of "Parenthood", which is my absolute favorite show by the way!

Life is exhausting good.

Much Needed Day Off

I have been feeling down right awful this week. Just all around exhausted, cranky, and like I got hit by a bus. Last night, I was at school until after 8 & I didn't get home until almost 9. We had our faculty meeting after school, then I had to stay for a PTAG meeting. I live about 40 minutes from school, so I couldn't go home in between. So what did I do in between? I wrote sub plans, and I took today off. And let me tell you, I should have just taken a day off earlier in the week, because now I feel 100x better and ready to get back to business!

I hate not being at school with my kids. You never know what kind of substitute you're going to get, you don't know how your kids will react [this was my first day off, aside from a 1/2 day PD day earlier in the year], and you don't want to get behind in material. But again, I think it was to everyone's benefit that I took a day off. And, it turns out, one of my most problematic challenging students walked out of the classroom today. Yup. A third grader walked out. I found this out from my work bff who texted me, so she didn't know anymore details. But I'm very interested to hear about this tomorrow.

My Long Lost Blog..

So much for teaching and blogging in the same day/week/year. I'm so exhausted! I have no idea how you all do it: posting freebies, making resources, and updating more than once a month. I bow down to you all!

Well, we've just began our 4th week of school. The kids are settling in. Well not really, because since we've began I've had two students move, gained a challenging student, our RTI hasn't officially started until this week, etc. So, I'll probably be in the complete swing of things come..... December? Only time will tell.

Due to our Race To The Top grant, we have PLC time weekly. Although it is great to have that time to "collaborate with my team" AKA sit in meetings for 70% of the time, then get about 15 minutes to plan, I always leave more stressed out than I walked in. First of all, I'm having the same problem I had last year. My kids are AWFUL when they are out of my sight. There was mass chaos today in the lunch room when I didn't have lunch duty! When they were at their extra afternoon special this afternoon [because of our PLC], they were ridiculous. I mean, they aren't perfect angels for me when I'm teaching, but my goodness. I wish there was some transfer when it comes to their behavior. Another source of the stress is all of the new things that are thrown at us every meeting. Every teacher can relate, so I won't delve too much into that rant!

In other news, I'm getting observed this week. I'm a third year teacher, and under our new DPAS framework, "novice" teachers must be observed three times. Juuuust great, considering I have a huge anxiety issue and my neck and ears turn bright red at a hint of nervousness. The fact that I love my principal [who is observing me] makes it a little easier, but still, I get nervous when anyone is in my room. I  know I'm doing everything I can to help my students, so I just need to accept everything as constructive criticism and move on. Obviously, that is easier said than done. I was so happy that my principal asked what I would like her to see for my first observation. I asked her to come during centers, which I am implementing for the first time this year. I told her that this is our first week doing them full time, and I made sure she knew that it was NOT going to be perfect! There are six centers, and the students visit two per day, Monday-Wednesday. There are a few kinks in this, however. I think they will work themselves out in time. I already told my students that my principal wanted to see how well we do centers at the end of the week.

This week=Johnny Appleseed. Woo? No matter how hard I try, I can't get into it. Now, Dr. Seuss? There's a birthday I can get into. Last year we made applesauce, but I don't think that's happening this year. I'm thinking apple prints of some kind. I need to think about it! Anyone have any fun ideas, I've browsed Pinterest, but nothing is really jumping out at me!

Yes! I posted! Hi to my four followers! :)