Did you? We got up early and didn't have to wait at all. I'm saving my sticker to show my kids tomorrow.
In other news, rumor is we're to note diff.erenti.ation EVERY DAY in our lesson plans. Seriously? Seriously! What happened to, "This is going to take time?" or "We're not expecting you to start doing this all at once."
I love it when people talk out of both sides of their mouth. Just one more reason to vote and make your voice heard.
Woohoo! I'm still in this.
Today was uneventful. We took the quarterly writing test in the morning and went to see LMK and LMP in their play in the afternoon. I also sent all my plans for the next week or two to the admin. and I met with the gifted coordinator just to play CYA. I'm learning CYA is a way of life around here.
The play? Very fun. There were minor mistakes here and there, but it was great and my students LOVED it. They've all got a crush on one of the cards now. Oy vey.
Have I mentioned the hamster? LMP got a hamster back in September. She's a cute little thing. Socks is in love with her. Actually, I think he just wants to eat her. Either way, he spends a heck of a lot of time mesmerized by Pheebs.
On the second day!
Sheesh. Spent most of the day at play practice watching LMK and LMP (Lawn Mower Princess as the younger daughter has now been dubbed). They are in the school play.
It was fun to see and I wanted to check things out since my kids are going on their first field trip tomorrow. To see the play.
It ought to be interesting.
Why do I think the administration will be in to observe me tomorrow? Just to mess with me.
I know, I know it's been more than a month. I apologize. DRAMA.
What the hell. Let's give it another whirl.
Allow me to sum up my week.
I suck.
Wait, my mother doesn't read this. I'll use my away message for IM (that has since been banned by my mother). "LMQ sucks at her job. Tell your friends. "
No really, my meeting with the administration (both of them) after Wednesday's informal observation boiled down to you're sucking - we know you can do better. Do better!
Um. Thanks? I knew that last year.
It doesn't help that my friend got observed the day after doing the same thing with one minor tweak and received a glowing evaluation.
What the hell? Seriously. What. the. hell.
Anyone with great suggestions on "challenging the gifties" would be my bestest friend.
Now, it's back to googling.
Di.ffere.ntiation can bite my shiny metal ass.
It's going to be a long month.
Tonight, in what I thought was a regular conversation with my parents they dropped a bombshell. About a month ago, Lucy was in a freak but potentially fatal accident. She's on the mend and getting back to being her old self, but it doesn't make it any easier.
So, if you have time today, say a little prayer for my Lucy - who is almost back to 100%, my parents - who are still upset over the situation, and then go hug your pets. In the blink of an eye, they could be gone.
I never thought there would be days that I hate my job this much or that they'd happen so often.
Maybe I wasn't cut out to teach. I already spend my days feeling like I'm letting my kids down. Now, I have parents complaining their gifted child is bored. SO AM I!? We're reviewing, it's boring. I didn't know I was supposed to get up in the front of the room and dance.
Since a parent went to the principal and complained (without coming to me mind you) that their little angel is bored, I now have an official negative evaluation. Great. It's not formal, but its still written down.
I'm seriously at a loss. I'm told 90% of my students are expected to pass the state tests. If that didn't sound unreasonable enough...let me break it down by numbers. That means I can have EXACTLY 1 student fail. I've got 7 working below grade level, 3 of those are at least two grade levels behind, and 3 potentially gifted students.
I keep my homeroom for reading in which they must be taught on grade level. As I understand that, it means everyone is presented the same information. However, I am supposed to be differentiating.
I have one student at an 11th grade math level. What the hell do I do with him?
Science we were asked to increase use of the interactive notebooks. I've been using them all year. I'm pretty darn proud I've stuck with them this long - they're B-O-R-I-N-G! But oh no, the gifties are bored.
Oh, don't use paper. We're trying to reduce copying costs and we make far too many copies.
I just don't know what to do. I feel like no matter what I do, it's wrong. I look around and I hear/see all these great teachers and I honestly wonder how they do it.
For a job that everyone tells me I am a natural at - I suck. I am the most educated on my team, but I feel like the kid who is below grade level. I feel like I've forgotten everything in the four years I spent subbing. My mentor is no help. He uses the textbook more than me. The other 4th grade teacher is in the same boat, but she's smarter than me. She has great ideas. Me. Not so much.
Maybe subbing is the way to go. No thinking, just following someone else's plans. THAT I can do and do well.
Suggestions? Anyone? Anything? I'm really kind of desperate at this point. It usually takes more than a month of school to break me. Hey, last year I made it to October.
As far as I can tell, I have two choices. Get a technology job - which I think I would be good at (but hey, I thought I could be a good teacher), or get out of this district. Out of Virginia.
Are there any other jobs out there for teacher with 2 years teaching experience who just can't hack it? Target is looking better and better all the time.
It's been a while since I've done CC, but I'm trying to be a better blogger. This week is a barn cat. Well, a former barn cat. Don't tell the others, but she was my favorite. She had quite an attitude, but she was just beautiful. Sometimes, I wonder what happened to her when we moved. I choose to believe she moved down the road to the next farm where she could get fed reliably. That's what I choose to believe.
I still feel guilty for leaving all my barn cats. Animals are defenseless, if I could I'd save them all. But I can't. And that breaks my heart.Did I mention we got a hamster last weekend? Hokie, Ollie, and Socks are thrilled - an interactive toy!
My first week of school with kids went well. I have a nice group of children even though they are a chatty bunch. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Sheesh! There are worse things to deal with. Slowly I am trying to figure out how to meet all the changes that were thrust upon us a week before school started. I'm hoping I will have everything running smoothly by the end of the first quarter. Time will tell.
The cats got fleas. *scratch, scratch, scratch* $400 later *scratch, scratch, scratch* everyone seems to be doing ok. *scratch, scratch, scratch* Ollie became anemic from it. *scratch, scratch, scratch* When we took him to the vet he only weighed 9 pounds. *scratch, scratch, scratch* He looks so skinny. *scratch, scratch, scratch* He scares me. *scratch, scratch, scratch* Poor baby.
Younger Daughter...can I call her Lawn Mower Princess?... I'll need to think of an official name for her and her "sister" is all moved into school. She doesn't have much. LMK and I went out and bought her some necessities. You know, like towels. Her mom is shipping her stuff and it should arrive tomorrow, but I'm not sure exactly what belongings will be coming.
There is much to come in the future. Living with us. Lots of questions that need answered.
For example:
- Do we leave her in the "guest bedroom" down the hall from us that has the closet with all my clothes in it?
- If we move her, where are we going to find a bed?
- Where do I move my clothes? The only other closet upstairs is LMK's.
- Where do we put his clothes?
- Do we move her from the guest room with no lock on the door to the soon to be old computer room that has deadbolt locks and a chain lock on the doors? I really don't like the thought of her being able to barricade herself into her room. :o)
- Can I do this? Raising a child you've known since birth is one thing. What about a child you met a year and a half ago and haven't seen for a year. She's a good kid, but how is this going to work?
So, my birthday was uneventful. LMK took me here. It was a new and different experience that I really enjoyed. So much so that I really would like to go back.
Let's see, I guess it's official...kinda. I'm a mom. Of a teenager. Heaven help me.
Younger Daughter finally got the ok to attend LMK's school again. She flew in Tuesday and we picked her up at the airport. She's staying with us for the week and a half until school starts. I love having her around.
There is talk of her parents giving us legal guardianship for the spring semester so she can live with us and go to LMK's school cheaper. The monetary aspect of that concerns me, but we'll make it work somehow. I really want her to stay.
Older Daughter is coming to visit tomorrow along with a boy who likes Younger Daughter. LMK has soccer camp. Something is going on with her. Both girls think I don't know, but I know. Or I think I know. They'll come to me when and if they're ready. Until then, I'm biding my time. I wonder now how much my mother knew when I was a teenager. Yikes!
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Did I mention school starts Monday and I am completely unprepared?
That's right, lil `ol me. I'm famous! True, I won't be rubbing elbows with Brange.lina or Benn.ifer any time soon, but my name is mentioned in a national magazine - and it's not because I'm going to jail or drunk or high!
I sent in something to that person I tried to hate, but cannot's magazine and they published it!
I only bought two extra copies.
If you want to know what I submitted or have your own copy of aforementioned magazine and want to check it out, send me an email (lawnqueen[at]gmail[dot]com) and I will give you the details. Provided of course I know you or have deemed your potential stalker level is low.
We're home...back. I don't say home because Northern Virginia has never really felt like home. Yes, we live and work here, but it's just not home. I don't fit in around here. I have different thought processes and different things are important to me. That being said, we've met some great people living here and I've made friends that I hope will be for life, but it's just not home.
A part of me will always consider Ohio home. My family is there. My friends are there. My history is there. However, LMK and I realized something over the past two days. Black.sburg is home too. Almost as much as Ohio is home for me. I like being there. I like the people. I like the scenery.
Mark my words people. Someday, we're moving home. Whether that home is in Virginia or in Ohio - one way or another, I'm going home.
Tomorrow we discuss what journalists I will no longer watch and who I will faithfully watch after talking with friends about their handling of the April 1.6th events.
You know, again...
While my 215 pictures download... Did I mention we went to Colonial Williamsburg? Well, we did. LMK went to a conference or as he puts it, "Math Camp" and I went sight seeing.
Have I mentioned my extreme fear of going to public places alone? Well, I'm afeared of it. I don't care who goes with me generally, I just don't want to be alone. Well, readers...well, Misty and anyone else who still comes here after my year of silence, I did it! I went to Jamestown AND Yorktown AND Yankee Candle AND several gift shops in between ALL ON MY OWN! Are you impressed? I am.
Now, I need help. Do I send a complaint letter to the hotel we stayed at? Would you if the following happened to you?
- Upon check in, hotel had no record of school's credit card information that LMK personally faxed them and that we confirmed earlier in the week. Gave them our personal credit card until the situation could be resolved.
- Finally got to room and realized that our a/c didn't work (it's in the high 90s each day). Asked if it could be fixed. Sent "engineering" who had no idea what was wrong and recommended we change rooms.
- New room smells...odd.
- View from new room is a roof. Sounds normal right, check out the picture below.
- New room has smoke detector hanging from wiring. Not sure if it works, decide not to push luck with room changing.
- Finally got credit card information straightened around three days into our stay.
- The maids STOLE MY FEBREEZE! STOLE IT!
- Did not receive LMK's wake up call twice.
- Everyone on the staff was really nice...yet incompetent at times.
Still fascinated by these little buggers.
The new office is finally finished. Well, the painting is finished. Honestly? It looks great. I'm so pleased with it. So pleased that I mentioned something to LMK about painting our bedroom since we have all the painting stuff we need. I thought he might strike me. Heh.
The second and third pictures look a lot alike. HOWEVER! If you look at the door and the base boards in each picture, I think you'll notice a difference. I notice a HUGE difference in the room and I'm so glad I insisted on painting the trim white.
Teeny, tiny turtles - red sliders I believe they're called. I would have loved one of these for my classroom, but I was afraid of how big they would get and also, could I get them home alive.
This is the crab that appeared beside me on the beach one day. I named him Jacques.
Aldergator at Huntington Beach State Park.
Ok, ok we're not painting anything red. But that's just because when we move we'd have to paint over it and red would be a pain in the ass.
Remember how I said we're moving the office? Well, we're painting it too. I'm so excited! We've lived here a year and a half and we're finally painting! The walls are done and we've got it all taped off so we can paint the windows, doors, and base boards white tomorrow. Yay! Soon it will be done and we'll be able to move in furniture and hang stuff on the walls.
Here is the before:
And this is what it looked like before we put the painter's tape up:
After shots coming soon!
I'm trying to convince LMK to let me paint the bedroom since we've got everything to paint and all we would need is another gallon of paint in the new color. However, he's just been informed that we have to go to Historical Virginia for a conference the last week of July. I'm tagging along to since I wanted to go there this summer and I have tickets to get into Historicaltown free since the "traveling show" came to our classroom.
Unfortunately, that really cuts into our painting time. My parents come the week after (and we're going to Tech that week for a few days - HOORAY!) and then he has two weeks until soccer season begins and I have a week until I have to go back. We cleaned the bedroom (wall and floor washing clean) this afternoon so I'm confident we can get the rest of the house done if we put our minds to it.
Plus, I'm dying to try out my new nail polish from here. It's mesmerizing. Why had I not heard of this store!?
So, you'll understand if I'm not here. Summer is just flying by!
I'm supposed to be cleaning the spare bedroom that we're thinking about relocating the office to, but I'm procrastinating so I can share the "Big Boom" story or as I like to call it, "How I Broke My Baby".
Let me preface this story with the fact that my mother-in-law swears that "it's not vacation until you have car trouble." Um...okay, wish you would have mentioned that BEFORE I broke my baby, but it's good to know regardless.
So, we arrived at the beach and were having a great time. Surf, sun, sea, sunburn - we had all the S's covered. Thursday night, I decided I wanted to run back to a store to get a pair of shoes that I liked, but hadn't gotten a few days earlier. It was pouring rain and there wasn't much else to do besides watch tv or go shopping. Plus, you have to understand how RARE it is for me to find shoes I like anywhere but Payless. Those shoes were ON SALE and destined to be MINE. Plus, there was a cute little beach shop that I wanted to stop at to get a beach shirt for myself.
There is one road onto the inlet where we stayed. Well, there are more, but the one we use is the closest and fastest. LMK and I headed off the inlet with me driving. The Prius is our car, but let's face it. She's mine. I usually drive her; LMK is lucky to ride along. He accepts that.
As we approach the stop light, I hit what I thought was a puddle. However, instead of a neat little splash, we are jarred practically out of our teeth by a pot hole. Shit, shit, shit! I've hit a couple pot holes since we got the car and I'm always sure I damaged the car. Luckily, nothing happened. Until this pot hole.
We pulled into the gas station and LMK got out to check the tires. No problem. He gets back in and we continue to the beach shop. A ways down the road, I look down and notice the tire inflation warning light is illuminated on the dash. Commence instant panic. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MY CAR! SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MY BABY! LMK is trying to calm me down, but I do NOT handle car problems well. I chalk it up to my control freakiness. I'm not in control, hence panic. This is also the man that told me, "Just because the check engine light comes on, doesn't mean something's wrong!" Uh, yeah, it does. Finally, he agrees to call the Toyota dealer in the morning to see about getting it checked before we leave. I can live with that. I'm a little neurotic about my car, I admit it.
We get to the beach shop and I get out to inspect the tires myself. HOLY SHIT, THE FRONT TIRE IS LOW! Re-commence panic. LMK gives up trying to reason with me and agrees to just go back to the condo where he and his dad can put on the spare until we get it looked at. I turn out of the shop and proceed to take back streets to avoid cutting across 4 lanes of traffic with a low tire. Unfortunately, we end up in a development at a cul-de-sac. More panicking. LMK opens the door to check the tire and we hear this whooshing noise. I'm out of the car and over to his side. Not only is the front tire FLAT the back tire has a hole so large it's WOOSHING air out. Luckily, we're parked on the hole so it's not completely flat.
This would be the point where I lost it. I have no idea where we are, it's getting dark and even if we get a tow truck, HOW WILL THEY FIND US!?
Thankfully, LMK ordered me into the passenger seat and he slowly maneuvered the car back to the beach shop right off the main highway. After we parked I got out and saw that we had not one, but TWO completely flat tires. Thank goodness, my parents insist that I have AAA. We called LMK's Dad to rescue us and then we called AAA to get us towed to the dealership.
From that moment on, everyone was great. The owner of the beach shop told us we could sit there as long as we needed. The tow truck driver got their in under an hour and my in-laws came and rescued us.
My secret worry was that I'd ticked off my car. When we bought her the salesman made a comment about how the car would get to know my driving style and adjust to be more efficient based on that. I was afraid my baby was sitting at the garage plotting how to get even with me for hurting it.
The Toyota dealership was phenomenal. They got our car in (without an appointment) and fixed in under 2 hours. Not to mention it was reasonably cheap considering we needed not one but TWO brand new tires. This experience is enough to make me buy another Toyota in the future. The next day, we picked up the car (which I hugged and apologized to profusely).
On the way home, I took at look at that pot hole. Holy crap! Not only is it about 2ft long and 1 ft wide, it's got a large piece of metal sticking out of it. No wonder my poor car was injured. In the scheme of things, we're lucky it wasn't damaged worse. We were very lucky.
We're back! I'm thrilled to report that I do like the beach! (I wasn't sure, it'd been so long since I'd been there) We're already planning on going back next year. I'm getting ready to head to bed, tomorrow we'll unpack, and I'll have more time to talk about the trip, but for now, I leave you a summary of the trip - in pictures. More pictures coming to Flickr.
Yes, that would be our car on the roll back. Story coming soon.
We heard from the West Coast kid again. Things are bad, but we're doing our best to cheer her up. We'll keep hoping that something good happens to the kid.
We are off to the beach for our first vacation since our honeymoon. Enjoy the week and think of me, hating to sweat, sitting on the beach. Heh. No lawn mowing this week!
It's not my fault I haven't been here. Really!
The day I finished up at school we headed to Ohio. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! 
I needed out of this town. We got back Sunday after a super quick stop in West Virginia and Friday we leave for the beach.
Needless to say summer is flying by and I've only been back to school once, for about 10 minutes to drop off books. I think I'm sticking to my guns fairly well, don't you?
We're also worrying about our girls. One is having a hard time being back at home on the West Coast.
The other is still undecided about college (due to circumstances beyond her control). It's sad and frustrating. This is kid is smart, determined, and will go places in life - if she digs in her heels and fights.
I'll just continue to hope and pray for their safety and hope that they know they can call us when and if they need us.
I promise to post more when we get back from the beach.
Anyone know where I can buy good phone cards that are relatively cheap?
**Pictures courtesy of our trip.**