Round 2, ready or not...

Welcome to second semester, we're off and running....

Christmas break was good, although it seemed wayyyy too short. How on earth does two weeks go by so freakin' fast? I got bronchitis for Christmas, it rocked. But otherwise it was a lot of family time, a couple of days in Winona, and a couple of days wheezing on the couch. When I left on Saturday, I wasn't ready to come back. I hadn't gotten hardly any work done, I barely had my gradebook under control and I had done next to nothing to get ready for the semester, ugh. But, in the airport and on both flights, I worked like mad grading and recording grades, brainstorming ideas for the semester, creating a new seating chart, etc. Probably somewhere over Ohio (my layover was in Detroit) I was sooo excited to get back to school and see the yiddas again. I have plenty of new ideas for improvement and hopefully my classroom management will get under control....I won't hold my breath though. Gretchen picked me up from the Jackson airport on Saturday night...me and all 70 lbs of luggage I had accumulated. WTF...it's not my fault the economy is in shambles and there were WICKED sales right after Christmas! Sunday was a busy day of work and prep for school followed by district meetings on Monday.

Tuesday was the first day of school and probably my best day of the school year. My kids were QUIET and GOOD! What? It was amazing...I think they were exhausted because they all zonked out during rest...so much so that I let most of them sleep during science while 8 of us went to the rug and played with solid figures. It helped that the most disruptive student was gone.

Today the zombie-feeling had subsided and they were back to their usual-selves. The feeling of Christmas is long behind us now...and the threat of Santa's visit is 11 months away, basically light-years. Today when we were having a talk about behavior, one student mentioned that Santa was still watching, but they disregard that. I tried to say the Easter Bunny was watching, only to find out that half of them have no idea who the Easter Bunny is...I'd better do my research and figure out why this factious figure is left out of their lives.

Anyway, it feels like we've been back for weeks. Although I realize the next 18 weeks are going to fly by again. I made it through one hurdle today...the mother of my lowest student came in to pick him up (as she always does 20 minutes before school is out) and asked about his school work. I told her he will probably be retained, meaning I will see him in Kindergarten next year. Generally this doesn't go over very well, as you could imagine. But she didn't say anything about it, I hope that I phrased it in such a way to make it a positive thing. I mean really, the kid was 4 when school started this year. He still doesn't know all of this letters or sounds and still cannot write his name despite practicing it over and over each day. He gets frustrated REALLY easily trying to do work, simply because he doesn't know what is going on, and she agreed. So, if he stays in Kindergarten another year, he'll hopefully gain confidence and be near the middle or top (hopefully) of his class rather than the very bottom.

Lastly, a quote from today. I was doing a worksheet with a student...I was having her do it verbally because it worked out easier. I would say a word, she would tell me the ending sound. At one point she goes, "why you keep starin' at me like dat?" My response, "Because I'm waiting for your ANSWER." BAHHHHH. Some days...I swear...