I've been really enjoying listening to the Conference talks today as they've been broadcast live on the Internet while getting a huge amount of chores done that have been neglected all week: loads of laundry, dishes, and general organization (it's crazy how much paper we accumulate in one week from junk mail and the kids school work/doodlings). I am so thankful to live in such a technologically advanced time Carl B. Cook of the Seventy's talk was my favorite today; it's one of those talks that really spoke to my heart.
These two cuties have both had birthdays that I will try to blog about soon.
I've been insanely busy lately but I'm loving my life right now (on most days). I am teaching fifth grade at a school in Glendale where my brother-in-law, Austin, is the principal. I must admit that I was a little bit nervous about mixing business with family but so far it has been totally awesome. I really get along well with Austin and we have a mutual fondness and respect for each other that has made for an awesome work environment. I'm also really getting along well with my fifth grade team of teachers, as well as all of the other teachers I deal with on a regular basis. And I adore my class! The kids are so great (don't get me wrong, there are definitely plenty of special needs among the group that make things challenging)- it is a super rewarding challenge and as we finish up the first quarter I'm starting to feel like I've finally hit my stride. I've got all the procedures/routines/rules in place, feel like I have a solid grasp of how to incorporate the reading/writing and math curriculum, and I've figured out how to get all my copying and grading done. I am still working out kinks with Science and Social Studies (I want to do more with centers because we don't have a lot of time allotted for those subjects and likewise I need to figure out how to implement this new Acuity program that will help prepare students for AIMS- these will be things I work on during fall break).
We had our first field trip last week- not the first one I've ever taken a class on before but the first one that I had planned completely- and it went amazingly well. I was so nervous about...well...everything, but it couldn't have gone more perfect. I had a great chaperon turnout (8 parents!) no one forgot their lunch (so the extra granola bars, fruit leathers, and waters in my purse were unnecessary), the bus was on time picking us up, dropping us off and then picking us up and dropping us off again, there were no accidents (only one kid needed her inhaler so most of the first aid and medications went unused), and we didn't leave anyone behind. Phew!! Plus the kids loved it and learned a lot about the Hohokam culture.
Yesterday I finally saw the fruits of a lot of hounding and planning pay off with our new Reading Buddies program that I initiated to get the fifth grade classes teamed up with kindergarten classes once a week. It's surprising how such a seemingly simple thing can take so much time to get going. But now it's started and it was fantastic so it'll be great the rest of the year :)
Yesterday we also did our first Book Celebration. My students were given the assignment to read a realistic fiction book for September and then write a summary and make a shoe box diorama of a scene from the book. I had never done this with a class before so I wasn't sure how it would turn out but they did a beautiful job with it and so far have done a great job presenting. Yay! I love it when things come together.
Now, for what you all really care about- my family.
This picture is just to wet your whistle for a future post about the boys' trip to the Pima Air and Space Museum last month ;)
The kids are doing awesome!
The boys have really stepped it up and become more responsible- they're the last ones to leave in the morning and the first ones to get home in the afternoon so they've been responsible for locking up and bringing in the trash/recycle bins and now Shazer is even picking up Sally from aftercare (her school is right next to the boys').
Shule's eighth grade pic.
Shule is having a difficult time with mustering any desire to do his schoolwork so we're struggling with that but we're working with his teachers and trying out different strategies so we're hopeful. His pacing has become a little bit more intense lately- I'm not sure if it's because we (his parents and teachers) allow it or if it's because he's needing to soothe himself more. But he is still doing well with his social issues so that is comforting. Even though he's not doing most of his work he is still able to pass his quizzes and tests so the information is getting into that big brain of his. He's such a special case- it makes it really hard to know how to parent him but for now, we're trying to encourage him without pressuring him too much because he does also have mood issues. He is becoming a great and witty cartoonist- maybe that will be his future work.
Shazer's sixth grade pic.
Shazer is doing awesome! Aside from his preteen attitude that shows it's ugly head every so often. He's playing the oboe in the band, and keeping up with a ton of work from all of his advanced classes- he's extraordinarily self motivated- I think he takes after his dad in that way. He's still a super great big brother and so helpful with the girls. And he's still loving planes and drawing. He is currently (as in, at this very moment) working on a stop animation film involving some pretty awesome planes he made out of cardboard and a green sheet acting as a "green screen."
Sally is LOVING kindergarten and the aftercare program- she is as happy as a clam and learning all kinds of cool stuff. I'm so glad we didn't have to deal with any of that normal kindergarten tears/fears/nervousness about school stuff. She was super happy the first day and has been great ever since.
This girl is such a crack up! She is always making us laugh :)
Jon is super busy trying to juggle his full time engineering job with Honeywell, his three graduate courses at ASU, his family, and his calling in scouts. He just had his first test of the semester last week and was not feeling too good about it but we still don't know the results yet and he typically doesn't feel good about tests- even after he's received an A on a test he'll still fret over the couple problems that kept him from getting a 100%. He'll say I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not. It is a lot that we've undertaken this year and we're still not totally sure that we'll be able to manage this for the next 8 months but we've already got about 2 months down so I'm hopeful :)
Things we're looking forward to: a trip to San Diego with my parents over fall break to go to Sea World (the girls have never been before) and the Zoo (none of us have ever been- I can't wait to see the PANDAS!!), a trip with just me and Jon for a romantic weekend in Seattle to do some touristy stuff and see PORTISHEAD!!- (can you tell I'm excited?!), and then next summer we will all be flying to Alaska for Jon's sister, Julie's wedding. That last one is a little too far away to be super excited yet but we get excited about thinking how excited we'll be as it gets closer ;) Oh, and of course, it's October!! So Jon will let me decorate for Halloween now and we will have the pumpkin patching, costuming, and trick-or-treating.
This year is free choice for my kids as far as costumes go- we're not doing a family theme and I'm really trying to avoid making any costumes, although the Shazer is sounding like he may have lofty ideas of creating his own- which will probably require some assistance. As it stands today, Sally will be Ariel, the Little Mermaid (she'd said she wanted to be Rapunzel but we hadn't bought the costume yet and she just hung out with her cousin, Maddy, who said she will be the Little Mermaid and we already have the costume for that so Sally decided she wanted to be the same as her cousin which I encouraged and sealed the deal by telling her we could spray her hair bright red like Ariel's). Sophie is saying she wants to be Princess Peach- which might be tricky finding the exact costume for but I'm sure we could work it out. She does have great hair for it. Shazer is saying he wants to be some kind of warrior robot or something that sounds really tricky and Shule isn't convinced that he'll even dress up. I'm encouraging him to think of something though, even if he just wants to stay home and pass out candy.
No comments:
Post a Comment