Bummed

Well the first nine weeks ended really well and most of my kids made honor roll. I am bummed out though that my shopping cart jumping buddy is transferring schools because his family is moving. He really does not want to go. Not happy that he is leaving at all.

Kids.....

Kids are just funny sometimes. I had one come in today on crutches, with 12 stitches in his ankles. Apparently, over the weekend he had made a bike ramp and got bored with just jumping it. He found a shopping cart and decided that he would try to clear it. As he was telling me this, I was thinking two things:

1. That is pretty badass.
2. The fact that he never mentioned him hitting the shopping cart, just the fact that he made it the first time.

At least the kid has got a positive outlook on things.

Observations

I just found out that the Assistant Principal will being her first observation of me this Wednesday. This will be the first time that I am observed by anyone that could actually decide to fire me. More than likely it will be during a division lesson using money as a model. I have all the fake money we need and I am really hoping that the kids get it.

Friday

Man, today was a good day. Had fun with an introduction math lesson in the morning, had a great time reading the read aloud. Fun Friday at the end of the day with a game of silent speed ball. Got the first district reading test done and my class average was a 74.3%, right above the county average of 74.1%. So all in all, a pretty damn good day.

Thank God

Thank God it is almost Friday. I don't know why but these week is just dragging. So much crap that has just had to be done this week and I haven't been feeling very well. Can't wait for the weekend to recharge. At least tomorrow will go quick. We have D.A.R.E. that will take up an hour and will close the day with some form of fun time.

Calmed down.

Things have calmed down a lot for the 5th grade team. People are not ready to punch each other in the face anymore at least. Other than that I did have to pull a kid outside the class and have a not so nice discussion about respect. She didn't cry, but it was close.

Very Irratated

     Today was a great day until the Faculty Meeting. My poor co-teacher was the representative for our grade level in an important vote to determine how to spend bonus money. She was against how the team voted, but voted that way regardless. Someone on the voting committee then went out and told the other people on my team that she did not vote the way she was supposed to. This was not true at all, but the entire team acted completely ridiculous making a seen in front of the entire school faculty. The Assistant Principal had to tell us that this was a 5th grade issue and we would not waste everyone's time on it. This was incredibly embarrassing and the unprofessional behavior of my teammates was ludicrous. For myself, I stayed out of the argument and refused to comment until I confirmed or denied the actions of my co-teacher, who was not even present to defend herself.
       In the end, it was made clear to everyone on my team that my co-teacher did in fact vote as she was supposed to. I hope to hell that some people apologize for how they treated her today. The poor woman was crying in our classroom while I tried to make her feel better.

Testing

Ugh, my whole day was basically taken away by testing this morning. No math instruction what so ever and three of my kids were absent so they will have to make it all up. Also, bullying presentation an hour today and more tomorrow. Barely have any time to teach the kids anything at this rate.

Pay Day

Got my real first pay check this week. Well, I don't know if I should say real because payroll is a couple weeks behind on pay so it was like half a paycheck. Still I got a check for the first time and used it to take about 7 of my friends out to dinner at Kobe's Steakhouse. Had a great time.

Better Day

Day went much better today. I spoke with the student who is getting the referral and it actually seems like it might be a really good thing to have him talk to the guidance counselor. The kids were really good today and my plan for math is renewed and salvageable. I was doing interim reports today and realized how great a majority of my kids are.

Rough Day

Not the best day today. I am very dissapointed with how some students performed on the first math test of the year. It was clear that they put zero effort into it. Some of them did not even take the time to show any work. Instead they just took their best guess as to the correct answer. To make things worse, I found out after school that one of my students has been directly threatening a safety patrol. First thing tomorrow, I have to write him a referral.

Too much stuff

There is just too much stuff that the school is having us do. I can not get any math taught because the school keeps scheduling mandatory assemblies, presentations, media time, and testing during my math period. I can not teach a lesson in math if more than half of the kids are not in the room at the time. Very irritating.

Pizza Party

Well the day in general went fantastic. Had a lot of fun playing a math game involving remainders. When the pizza party came the 6 who didn't make it were dissapointed but they will work harder in the future. One actually threw a full out temper tantrum on the teacher who was watching the students who didn't earn the party. I will make sure he misses part of recess next week for that.

No Pizza for You

The deadline for completing 100 multiplication facts in 5 minutes is done. We have 6 kids in our class who did not meet the deadline today. This means that they will not be joining us for the pizza party tomorrow. Instead they will be doing multiplication facts with the vice principal while all their friends munch on pizza. Maybe next time they will study.

Ugh...

The class is behind the district mandated curriculum dates, but we are still ahead of half of the rest of the 5th grade team. Its tough to say on whether we try to catch up to district expectations, or just stay with the rest of our group. Fun stuff.

Back to School

First day back to school after the long weekend. Other than some teachers be confused about special area the day went perfectly smoothly with no interruptions. Today was the best day of the year to date and the first day I felt that the class really did everything it should.

Labor Day

The first national holiday of the year. Being a first year teacher is the first time I have not had to work on Labor Day and am actually getting paid. Only working 196 days out of the year is definitely worth it.

Volunteering

I am volunteering today at a church. We have spent the last weeks collecting school supplies and we are now packing up 500 backpacks to send to students in Haiti. I am hoping that we have some extra supplies to take for students in my class who are in need of supplies.

Got an Email

Just logged into my email remotely and found out there is a possibility that I will be moved from 5th to a combo 4/5 class. I am seriously pissed off. I have been with my 5th grade students since the  first day of school and do not want to change classes. Especially if that means I have to try to teach two entirely different classes at the same time. This is bullshit.

Damn Testing

Lost a whole damn week of math instruction because my students had to take stupid district assessments every day last week during math time. With the movement from the portable to the classroom and all the other shit, we are now behind in the math book. Going to have to rush through some stuff to catch up.

Finally

They finally moved my class out of 36 out of the damn portables and gave me a real classroom. Given the fact the school wouldn't even shell out money for blinds in the portable made it very difficult to conduct class in there. They had to force somebody else out of the their room and gave it to me, so ha.