I usually get sick at Thanksgiving. This year is proving to be much different... It was the first day of school, I came home with a sore throat. I figured yeah, it's the first day and I've been using my "teacher voice" - fellow educators know just what I'm talking about here. Well, little did I know that my scratchy throat would turn into a downright sore throat, followed by lethargy, aches, and sinus congestion. Fast forward to this past week - the third week of school...
After spending all last weekend on the couch, sleeping (well, almost all of it - in between the obligations I had for the weekend), I returned to work on Monday still not feeling that great....but obviously feeling well enough to go to work. By 9:30 a.m. my throat was swelling and it was difficult to breathe! Panic set in. By 9:45 a.m. I was requesting a sub - ASAP. I was panicking more (which wasn't helping any matter at all). Time to take the kids outside to play...at least I know there were going to be two other adults to help manage the children...
Thank goodness the chill from playing outside helped my throat swelling go down and helped me breathe. I ended up making in through the morning class...somehow. But still in full panic mode. As long as I was inside, I couldn't breathe! My kids all left and I spoke to my boss again about the sub I had requested - no response yet... I finally let the panic get the best of me. I was leaving. I didn't care if there was no sub - I needed something to fix this swollen throat ordeal.
I sped off to the Med Center - thankfully only about a mile or so from the center. I had to wait a little over an hour - but what's another hour of struggled breathing after two? I just waited outside and that made it not so much of a struggle.
Three plus hours,fifty dollars, no diagnosis, and a prescription for a Z-Pack later... I found myself wandering around Giant Eagle as I waited for my beloved Z-Pack. As much as I wanted some real diagnosis - and something to fix my swelling throat...I had an anti-biotic and was sure that would fix it...
Yeah. It fixed it. And added stomach cramps and pains, headaches, dizziness, and a whole bunch of other delightful side effects. Note to self : NEVER ACCEPT A PRESCRIPTION FOR A Z-PACK AGAIN. The good news - my throat quit swelling after the second dose of sudafed. And my boss has forgiven me for leaving her stranded on Monday... She even told me to stay home on Tuesday and rest up.
Although I'm not 100% just yet, the side effects has subsided and whatever it was I had (or had coming) has backed off. Now I'm just hoping this was my sickness for the fall and I will actually be able to enjoy the holidays this year.....
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Teacher! Teacher! Hey! Teacher!
"My name is Ms. Kristal. Not Teacher." :-)
I think I must have said that at least one hundered times this week, although it felt like a million. And I guess "Teacher" is better than other things I could have been called, or the name that was given to my assistant - "Your Helper." The second thing I said at least (if not more than) one hundred times was "Her name is Ms. Chris." A tie for second place was "Use walking feet in the classroom." These kids are one eager, excited group! I finished the week hoarse, and exhausted. But not stressed - and I think this a first - to finish week one and not be overwhelmed or stressed. (It could be a first in education history, not just mine!) Maybe it's the experience tool in my Teacher Toolbelt. Or, maybe it's the fantastic people I work with, or the fact that the children seemed to just fall into place when and where they should be...but it was a stress free first week - I actually enjoyed every minute of it!
We finally have some artwork up on the walls... Self-Portraits - that aren't too shabby for preschool interpretations. Circle Collages - they drew circles to "The Wheels on the Bus." I gave them ideas of ways they could draw circles - multiple crayons in one hand, using both hands, drawing a bunch of little circles all over the page, just going around the same circle over and over, and over...etc. I have some creative kiddos - many of them came up with their own way to decorate their page with circles. Finally, Letter Collages - this was a letter identification and fine motor activity. But, it actually turned out really cute, so I hung them up in our Library Center.
I have also been blessed with children who love to sing and dance... Now, not that I'm the best at either one of those, but I love to use music to teach! And it is so much more fun when the children are into it as much as I am. They love "Alphardy" by Dr. Jean - I even found a YouTube video to go with it: http://youtu.be/Lcusd-gbXQ0 . And we have been learning the American Sign Language Alphabet to do along with the slide show.
I truly can't wait to see what I can teach these eager little minds this year!
I think I must have said that at least one hundered times this week, although it felt like a million. And I guess "Teacher" is better than other things I could have been called, or the name that was given to my assistant - "Your Helper." The second thing I said at least (if not more than) one hundred times was "Her name is Ms. Chris." A tie for second place was "Use walking feet in the classroom." These kids are one eager, excited group! I finished the week hoarse, and exhausted. But not stressed - and I think this a first - to finish week one and not be overwhelmed or stressed. (It could be a first in education history, not just mine!) Maybe it's the experience tool in my Teacher Toolbelt. Or, maybe it's the fantastic people I work with, or the fact that the children seemed to just fall into place when and where they should be...but it was a stress free first week - I actually enjoyed every minute of it!
We finally have some artwork up on the walls... Self-Portraits - that aren't too shabby for preschool interpretations. Circle Collages - they drew circles to "The Wheels on the Bus." I gave them ideas of ways they could draw circles - multiple crayons in one hand, using both hands, drawing a bunch of little circles all over the page, just going around the same circle over and over, and over...etc. I have some creative kiddos - many of them came up with their own way to decorate their page with circles. Finally, Letter Collages - this was a letter identification and fine motor activity. But, it actually turned out really cute, so I hung them up in our Library Center.
I have also been blessed with children who love to sing and dance... Now, not that I'm the best at either one of those, but I love to use music to teach! And it is so much more fun when the children are into it as much as I am. They love "Alphardy" by Dr. Jean - I even found a YouTube video to go with it: http://youtu.be/Lcusd-gbXQ0 . And we have been learning the American Sign Language Alphabet to do along with the slide show.
I truly can't wait to see what I can teach these eager little minds this year!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The First Day of School...All Over Again!
Yesterday was the first day I had with this year's new kiddos! And I must say...I have two very good classes! Sure, they are full of energy, and they will definitely keep me on my toes - but I think I might just learn something from them, too! I have one class with about half (or more) kids from last year, my afternoon class only has two or three returning children. We don't even have too many kids who are having trouble separating...I guess they feel pretty comfortable in my classroom! :-)
I received my first apple today. What a perfect little gift from a student for the first week of school! I couldn't help but feel warmth inside when I stepped on the bus to get the children to start our day and from the back I hear a litte voice "Ms. Kristal, I brought you an apple!" After a chuckle and a thank you, she presented me with a shiny red apple. I promptly displayed it on my desk to enjoy for the day.
We're still getting aquainted. And the children are still learning rules and routines, and becoming more comfortable. But I have a good feeling about this year... :-)
I received my first apple today. What a perfect little gift from a student for the first week of school! I couldn't help but feel warmth inside when I stepped on the bus to get the children to start our day and from the back I hear a litte voice "Ms. Kristal, I brought you an apple!" After a chuckle and a thank you, she presented me with a shiny red apple. I promptly displayed it on my desk to enjoy for the day.
We're still getting aquainted. And the children are still learning rules and routines, and becoming more comfortable. But I have a good feeling about this year... :-)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
And We're Off!
Labor Day Weekend is over. "They" say it's the unofficial end of summer...I say it's just the unofficial beginning of another school year. It was an enjoyable, relaxing weekend for me... I spent Saturday evening at Mi Rancho (best Mexican place around!) and Sunday afternoon with my family (we celebrated my birthday). Monday was spent doing chores and my first week's lesson plans. I also said good-bye this weekend to a 200+ year old oak tree that I grew up playing around and watching critters play in....
Sunday morning, 7:20 a.m. My phone rings, it's my Mom. Wow - what a wake-up call - she was really excited! Come to find out, she had an even more exciting wake-up call - Mother Nature! As she was preparing my birthday dinner, she noticed strange things going on...weird noises, things falling off the walls, leaves swirling, rumblings.... All of a sudden THUD! As she and my Dad started investigating, they saw the damage had been the falling down of the beautiful oak tree that stood watch and kept our yard shaded for the last 30+ years. This was the most beautiful, perfect tree - with a straight trunk and think, perfect branches. Just picture a child's drawing of a tree and you've got it! I am sad to see it go! Although, to look on the bright side....my Mom won't have nearly as many leaves to rake in the fall anymore... And their yard will have much more sunshine.... But I think we'd all rather have the tree! Thankfully no one was hurt, and there wasn't much damage to the house. The tree happened to land right between the house and garage/workshop. There is damage to both, but relatively speaking, very minimal.
With Labor Day over, I think it's safe to say my school year has officially, officially begun! Yesterday was our "Staff Field Day." This was the Second Annual All Staff Day - Field Day for my agency (for policy reasons, I shall leave it nameless). A couple of years ago I happened to mention on an end of the year survey that it would be nice to have a bonding day for all staff... We spend so many hours working together, and in our separate centers, to achieve the same goals - yet we rarely have time to get to know each other. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe to be successful, you need to really be a team - and that requires some bonding time. Well...last year my suggestion (along with others' to have staff picnics) made the cut! If you live in NE Ohio, particularly Portage County, then you know yesterday was WET. And rainy. And muggy. And flat out miserable. The kind of day that you spend inside, with the AC going... Well, not us. Nope. We packed up our rain coats, our ponchos, our umbrellas, and whatever else we could think of to keep semi-dry....or at least attempt to keep partially dry.
The day began with the usual sign-in, pick up our packets, find our teams, etc. I happened to be lucky enough to be on a super team of women! We were all given bandannas to designate our teams, I was given turquoise. After deliberating and pulling out all of our creativity, we became the
TURQUOISE TORNADOES! We decided off the bat that we were going to "blow the others away." After a quick trivia session we set off on the scavenger hunt!
Scavenger hunt - yay! Except this is when the day went from humid to miserable, the rain started. A mist. Then a sprinkle. Then a pouring down mess. That didn't stop any of the teams, though - we are real troopers! Needless to say - I happened to be a lucky one who managed to only have sopping wet feet (gross!) and damp capri pants (but only around the bottom edges). I can't wait to see our pictures from this year's event when we meet again next year! At least we will all have something to laugh about together - hey, that's what helps bond teams anyways, right?!
The day continued with more games and team-building activities. We ended with building a balloon tower and destroying it before our closing awards and reminders. I'm not sure of the ranking in this event....but we built our balloon tower up to 97 inches, and were the first to have all of our balloons popped and cleaned up! Our hard work for the day paid off, we were the first place team! Woot! Woot! :-)
Today was a training on CLASS. It's the evaluating tool that is used during our Federal Reviews and to monitor the classrooms in the program. It focuses on having positive learning environments. Even though much of the information was "old news" to most of us teachers and teacher assistants, it was very informational and will be very useful for us to score high on our evaluations this year, and to prepare for our Federal Review next year. We get reviewed every three years. It will be nice to know exactly what to expect and how to be prepared!
Sunday morning, 7:20 a.m. My phone rings, it's my Mom. Wow - what a wake-up call - she was really excited! Come to find out, she had an even more exciting wake-up call - Mother Nature! As she was preparing my birthday dinner, she noticed strange things going on...weird noises, things falling off the walls, leaves swirling, rumblings.... All of a sudden THUD! As she and my Dad started investigating, they saw the damage had been the falling down of the beautiful oak tree that stood watch and kept our yard shaded for the last 30+ years. This was the most beautiful, perfect tree - with a straight trunk and think, perfect branches. Just picture a child's drawing of a tree and you've got it! I am sad to see it go! Although, to look on the bright side....my Mom won't have nearly as many leaves to rake in the fall anymore... And their yard will have much more sunshine.... But I think we'd all rather have the tree! Thankfully no one was hurt, and there wasn't much damage to the house. The tree happened to land right between the house and garage/workshop. There is damage to both, but relatively speaking, very minimal.
With Labor Day over, I think it's safe to say my school year has officially, officially begun! Yesterday was our "Staff Field Day." This was the Second Annual All Staff Day - Field Day for my agency (for policy reasons, I shall leave it nameless). A couple of years ago I happened to mention on an end of the year survey that it would be nice to have a bonding day for all staff... We spend so many hours working together, and in our separate centers, to achieve the same goals - yet we rarely have time to get to know each other. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe to be successful, you need to really be a team - and that requires some bonding time. Well...last year my suggestion (along with others' to have staff picnics) made the cut! If you live in NE Ohio, particularly Portage County, then you know yesterday was WET. And rainy. And muggy. And flat out miserable. The kind of day that you spend inside, with the AC going... Well, not us. Nope. We packed up our rain coats, our ponchos, our umbrellas, and whatever else we could think of to keep semi-dry....or at least attempt to keep partially dry.
The day began with the usual sign-in, pick up our packets, find our teams, etc. I happened to be lucky enough to be on a super team of women! We were all given bandannas to designate our teams, I was given turquoise. After deliberating and pulling out all of our creativity, we became the
TURQUOISE TORNADOES! We decided off the bat that we were going to "blow the others away." After a quick trivia session we set off on the scavenger hunt!
Scavenger hunt - yay! Except this is when the day went from humid to miserable, the rain started. A mist. Then a sprinkle. Then a pouring down mess. That didn't stop any of the teams, though - we are real troopers! Needless to say - I happened to be a lucky one who managed to only have sopping wet feet (gross!) and damp capri pants (but only around the bottom edges). I can't wait to see our pictures from this year's event when we meet again next year! At least we will all have something to laugh about together - hey, that's what helps bond teams anyways, right?!
The day continued with more games and team-building activities. We ended with building a balloon tower and destroying it before our closing awards and reminders. I'm not sure of the ranking in this event....but we built our balloon tower up to 97 inches, and were the first to have all of our balloons popped and cleaned up! Our hard work for the day paid off, we were the first place team! Woot! Woot! :-)
Today was a training on CLASS. It's the evaluating tool that is used during our Federal Reviews and to monitor the classrooms in the program. It focuses on having positive learning environments. Even though much of the information was "old news" to most of us teachers and teacher assistants, it was very informational and will be very useful for us to score high on our evaluations this year, and to prepare for our Federal Review next year. We get reviewed every three years. It will be nice to know exactly what to expect and how to be prepared!
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