An Early Currently and I'm still late!

Once again I'm joining up with Farley and her wonderful currently linky and I'm still one of the later entries! Oh, well, maybe I am always fashionably late!!

 

It is so nice to have the windows opened and the air off again, so I'm listening to the birds (and the neighbors dogs bark, but it's okay). My cats are happy that the windows are open, too!

 

I love Sunday afternoons when I don't have anything to do on Mondays! I'm trying to figure out how I can keep this going even during the school year.

 

I keep writing down ideas, creating materials, and trying to decide on a classroom theme. This week end I went to a behavior conference and learned some great ideas to try in my classroom. One of my co-workers also went and we talked about trying to change our level system and point sheets for the school, so my head has all this buzzing around in it!

 

I would love to take a vacation somewhere this summer, but it isn't looking promising. First, our bathroom ceiling leaked and has to be replaced, so then there will be repainting, and I have to figure out what to do with the border- I'm thinking it will go. Then I have a STEM class for 2 weeks that I signed up for to learn about the standards better since I'm switching grades (again). So, I think that leaves about 2 weeks of freedom for me before school actually starts! My husband is doing the ceiling himself, so there goes all of his free time!

 

I really need to go to the grocery store today! We need food! I have the list made out with the menu for the week, but I just need to actually get up and go! Well, first I should shower and get out of my pj's!

 

My tip is to join linky parties and make meaningful comments. I still consider myself a newbie to blogging (I think my 1st year anniversary will be here soon). I've gained followers from the linky parties and commenting when I have something to say on other blogs. I've learned a lot from other bloggers and always want to share my appreciation for them!

 

So go to Farley's blog and join in the fun!

 



June Shout Out to Vacation Time!!

It's June and everyone here knows what that means... Farley's June currently , school is out (or ending, hopefully) and summer flip flop time!! My school ended on Friday, so tomorrow is my first official day of vacation! I know I will be awake early, as it takes me awhile to turn off my internal alarm clock and retrain the kitties to wake up later!

 

I love HGTV and House Hunters, I love being able to see inside of different peoples' homes! As I wrote earlier, my school ended on Friday- kind of bittersweet as my classroom paraprofessional retired, our wonderful speech pathologist is moving to another state, AND two other teachers are going to other schools - I'm going to miss all of them!

I've decided that I need to plan out what I'm going to do this summer, so that I don't keep putting off what I want to get done, and then not do anything! I just need to make the plan and stick with it as I have several major projects in mind! I really need a space where I can create my classroom plans, centers, games, bulletin board cuteness, and anything else that I may need or want! Right now, I do my creating, printing, cutting, laminating in the living room or at the dining room table, which means I'm constantly getting things out, working, and then putting things away. This leads into my need of cleaning out the basement. It would be the perfect place to work in the summer. I just dread going to clean it out- over the past year  2 years maybe 4 years (yikes!) I've just carried down boxes from each school year to store when I've changed grades or themes. I need to organize it all and purge items! 

When I go on vacation I need the usual books and camera, but it is a family joke that any type of slope or uneven ground that I walk on, I tend to fall- especially if it is muddy. I keep trash bags in the car for me to sit on when I fall in mud, the times I've fallen I was covered in mud!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of school, or their first few days of summer!

Happy New Year!

The decorations are down and put away for another year. I didn't even set out my snowmen this year as I've been so busy with my mom. I've posted before how her cancer is spreading, well now it has gone into her spine. Right now she is in rehab, recovering from surgery. I've been going back and forth from my house, to her house, to rehab, and taking care of both houses is wearing me out! My own house hadn't really been cleaned for the past few weeks, so it was good to take down the tree and decorations and actually vacuum. The dusting will wait until another day! Tomorrow is my last day of vacation. On Thursday I have a work day and students come back on Friday! I don't know who set up this schedule! I also have a new student starting on Friday. He's autistic and will only attend half days at first. The administrators have told me that if he actually comes into the room, they will praise me! Not sure what I'll do if he doesn't come in.... I'm hoping they have given me the worst case scenario!   I'm trying to develop a snow day of learning for Friday. It will get us back into the routine slowly! Then next week is back to normal! While I'll miss my family and the ability to have 2 cups of tea and stay in pajamas in the morning, I'm looking forward to getting back to school.

I'm linking up with Farley for her January Currently....

My son and I are watching HGTV... we are footballed out! These people are actually buying an island in the Florida Keys! I love having my sons home. My oldest went back to his apartment in Cincy, but my youngest is home until Saturday. We've played games, watched movies, cooked meals together, and just plain hung out. I'll miss this when he leaves again for college.  I just realized that I never got a new calendar for 2013! I will have to go out tomorrow and look for one!  I also need to stop grazing cookies, candy, popcorn, crackers, chips..... throughout the day. Thursday when I go back my tummy will be in for a rude awakening!  My OLW is breathe. I need to remind myself to take a deep breath when I get frazzled or overwhelmed and either gather my thoughts and choose a plan of action or simply enjoy the moment! Happy 2013!

Where did the time go and it's another currently!

Wow! I can't believe it's November already! Seems like just yesterday I was starting school in my new room! I want to apologize for not blogging more, things have been hectic around here. My mom has had a set back with her health, she's had lung cancer for the past 8 years, and now has 2 brain tumors. She has recently gone through 10 radiation treatments, and now we wait until Friday to hear what is next. She is in really good spirits and is continuing to enjoy life, even though her body is not cooperating! She has her friends pick her up everyday to go to a local tea shop where they play dominoes and talk.

On a lighter note, my birthday was last week and look at what my wonderful paras gave me!

They also made cupcakes for the class and my family! They are so special to me, I wouldn't be able to do my job everyday without them! I had a great day with my class and then with my family.

I'm also linking up with Farley for her November currently. I look forward to reading everyone's but I'm always shocked when I see a new one posted!

 

My town had it's trick or treat time postponed until tonight, due to Sandy. I don't understand this, we're in Northwest Ohio, and it wasn't like it was stormy! Anyways, we had 3 huge bags of treats to hand out and they were gone in 45 minutes! I think we had about 240 people in that time, more than other years! I know some of the people were from the surrounding areas that had trick or treating on Wednesday, but oh my! I felt bad as a group of 15 kids came up and I only had 2 pieces of candy left that I was handing out to the 2 little ones at the door! Luckily, all of my lesson plans are done for the week and I have all of my meals planned out too!! Maybe I can start my Christmas shopping- or at least make a list of what to get everyone! I can't wait for the election to be over! Did I mention I'm from Ohio? We are getting bombarded with mailings, phone calls, commercials, people at the door- I just want it to stop!!  My favorite music to play is an instrumental CD that has classical music with various sounds of the forest- like birds, waterfalls, rain, etc. My students like to listen to it also!

 

Hopefully, I will be able to post more in the coming weeks! Where does that time go? I know I just got an extra hour last night, but it's gone already!!

 

 

September Currently and Back in Action!

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog. I'm trying to figure out how to get everything done in a day! I've revamped my lesson plans, schedule, and moved my youngest son back to college. He goes to a college in Virginia, which is about 9 hours away! While I love the scenery around the area with all the mountains, I don't really care for sitting in the car for that long! I took some pictures to compare the landscapes...


 

Flat land in Northwestern Ohio

 

Mountains in Virginia

We moved him back this past week end, so our house is back being quiet and somewhat organized! At least I don't have all of his boxes for college around in his room and the basement!
I also had to rethink things in my classroom. They are in 4th and 5th grades, but are so immature and below grade level in reading and math. I'm hoping that this will be the last week on place value, but will continue to provide practice! We gone over the rules, procedures, made a respect sounds/looks like chart, written up a respect agreement and pledge, came up with positive and negative consequences, but they still continue to talk out and walk around! The biggest complaint today was that I expect them to read and write during the day! Oh well, we don't have any more long week ends until Thanksgiving, so maybe that will help!

I can't believe that it's already the 4th of September! So I've linked up with Farley for September's Currently.

 

I love watching people look through houses and then buy a house! And ever since I've come back from Virginia, my cat Pepper, won't leave me alone! She has to keep close enough to me and have at least a paw on me! I wish that I could have a long week end with nothing to do and no place to go! Doesn't that sound wonderful? I do need to start getting into shape, my lunches at school usually consist of cheese and crackers and a granola bar. I like taking food that I can eat quickly and on the go! Why does it seem like when I take food that requires heating up or utensils, that is when I have a student in crisis and 10 other pressing things to do? Finally, I love, love shoes! I don't buy expensive ones, I buy at Target and Kohl's- the more colorful, the better! Also, after being in a car all week end, I loved the Queen and The Who CDs that we listened to and sang along with!

So I hope to be able to blog more this week and the coming weeks and months! Thanks for sticking with me and have a great day!

 

August currently and one kind of unhappy camper

I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade with her August currently, but I'm not happy about it!I thought about not acknowledging it, or even looking at it, because then August wouldn't really be here, right? Sadly, I couldn't resist the temptation to see what everyone else is doing.  It seems many bloggers are surprised and sad that August is here. We all are wondering where the time went. I did get many projects completed, but I have so much more to do!! I still have a list of things to get done and only a week to do them!Guess I can scratch getting a tan off my list!  I can't believe that in two weeks I will have to go to bed early and get up before the sun! My kitties are not going to be happy! They have been use to me being home, at their beck and meow (or so they think).

 My back to school must haves are my newly reinvented teacher binder to help keep me organized. I also couldn't have made it through the summer without my printer, hence the ink, and my laminator! I'm so glad that I replaced my old laminator last winter. I burned it out! I have the Scotch brand that everyone raves about. If it lasts as long as my old one did (about 13 years) I'll be happy! I should buy stock in ink and laminating sheets, or stop looking at everyones' blogs and downloading items from the blogs and their stores! And yes, it's my 16th wedding anniversary. We aren't celebrating tonight, Mr. had to work a 12 hour day today and goes back in at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow! Got to get those school supplies out on the shelves! And restock the Dollar Spot, too! I also found out that I start back Aug. 15 with a meeting for all staff, Aug. 16 with inservice for my building, nothing on that Friday (email said we might be able to get into the rooms to work on them!), Monday work day, Tuesday is our building's restraint/de-esculation training and open house (why do they schedule this after an afternoon of physical activity?) And then Wednesday, August 22 the students start! I hope I can get everything done! Guess I better write up a to do list to keep me on track and to let anyone who's around know what they can help me with! I'm hoping that I can relax with everything done (as much as I can at home) by Friday, August 10! Wonder if Mr. and the kitties really need me to serve them to eat? Cereal and popcorn casseroles for all!!! On a sad note, we decided to sell our camper. It was getting to the point that we just didn't have the time to use it.

 I will miss it, it was always so relaxing (once we got set up). But, I am looking forward to just going to various festivals and events around the area at the spur of the moment. Oh and the roasted marshmallows will also be missed, but Mr. said we could get a backyard fire ring so I can roast marshmallows!

July Currently and Other Thoughts

I've finally figured out how to link up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her July Currently! I've been busy setting up my new blog and learning how to create blog buttons, upload documents and the blog button! It is to get up to 102, with a real feel of about 110! I'm thankful that our power didn't go off with the storms last week or yesterday- so many people have been without power for days (and some for a week)! I'm getting busy also with a project for Monday Made It over at 4th Grade Frolics .
I love creating items to use in my classroom! Most of my items are for students with emotional and behavior disorders, but they would work with any student. I'll be posting later today with one idea and hopefully downloadable freebie! Keep your fingers crossed! My favorite read aloud book in the classroom is Because of Winn-Dixie- it was hard to choose- I love reading aloud to my class. I read chapter books as well as picture books. So many of my students have never had anyone read to them, so even when I read a picture book and they complain that they are babies, when I start reading they are into the book! In Winn-Dixie we laugh and hide our tears from each other throughout the book! My professional go to book was also hard to pick, there are so many good books out there, but I heard the author of 401 Practical Adaptations for Every Classroom, Beverly Holden Johns talk at a recent conference and she had so many great ideas that I bought this book right away! It has a lot of great, easy, and inexpensive ideas that anyone can use in the classroom- especially for those students that have trouble completing work or sitting still! I'll be sharing some of my ideas and ways that I've helped my students stay on task and not disrupt others in the future. I guess I'd better get busy, I need to eat lunch, shower, and start on my downloads! Thanks for reading! Stay cool!