School’s Out For Summer!

School’s Out For Summer~Alice Cooper

Singing in the Rain

A parent taped our Kindergarten Program we performed on Monday night. She taped from one side of the stage-so it isn’t the best view of everything-they really did a good job though!

You Might Be a School Employee If…

Hump Day Humor is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!

Hump Day Humor Thirteenth Edition

Theme: School Employees

• YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.
• YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.

Seven Wonders

Sunday Seven is hosted by Joan at Sunday Seven

Please join us there and post your Sunday Seven.

I am lonely-lol~we are working on reviving Sunday Seven!

What are you thankful for this weekend?

What has gone well for you?

What have you struggled with?

What events have you enjoyed?

Who are the people whose lives have intersected positively with yours?

What particular concerns are on your mind?

I wonder if I can get all of this done in TWO weeks!

I am such The Procrastinator!

1. Get photos developed and make 12 (thank goodness only twelve-I have fourteen students but two are new) photo albums.
2. Finish DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment): One on one reading assessment while the others are “occupied”~yeah that will be easy-lol. And so much paper work involved-aahhhhhh!
   
3. Update and finish Attendance
4. Update and finish Grades
5. Update and finish Plan Book
6. Create and paint the backdrop to our Kindergarten Program: Singing in the Rain
7. Program Practice: start and finish

For your listening and viewing pleasure: Blog Karaoke-lol!

Seven Wonders

Fleetwood Mac

So long ago
Certain time
Certain place
You touched my hand
All the way
All the way down to emmiline
But if our paths never cross
Well you know I’m sorry but
If I live to see the seven wonders
Ill make a path to the rainbows end
Ill never live to match the beauty again
The rainbows end

So its hard to find
Someone with that kind of intensity
You touched my hand I played it cool
And you reached out your hand for me
But if our paths never cross
Well you know I’m sorry but
If I live to see the seven wonders
Ill make a path to the rainbows end
Ill never live to match the beauty again
The rainbows end

So long ago
Its a certain time
Its a certain place
You touched my hand and you smiled
All the way back you held out your hand
If I hope and I pray
Ooh it might work out someday
If I live to see the seven wonders
Ill make a path to the rainbows end
Ill never live to match the beauty again
The rainbows end

If I live to see the seven wonders
Ill make a path to the rainbows end
Ill never live to match the beauty again

If I live to see the seven wonders
Ill make a path to the rainbows end
Ill never live to match the beauty again

S is for Survivor

Hump Day Humor Ninth Edition

Theme: Teachers

Hump Day Humor is hosted by ME at Mercedes Rocks. Please go here to participate and view more participants posts!

The Next “Survivor”?

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?

Teacher Applicant

                                  

Email forward sent to me and oh so true 

After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said:

Let me see if I’ve got this right: You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the state exams. You want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

I am to be a paragon of virtue larger than life, such that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of authority. I am to pledge allegiance to supporting family values, a return to the basics, and to my current administration. I am to incorporate technology into the learning, and monitor all Web sites while providing a personal relationship with each student. I am to decide who might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit crimes in school or who is possibly being abused, and I can be sent to jail for not mentioning these suspicions.

I’m required by my contract to be working on my own time summer and evenings at my own expense toward advance certification and a master’s degree; and after school, I am to attend committee and faculty meetings and participate in staff development training to maintain my employment status. 

You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps. You want me to do all this and then you tell me…

 I CAN’T PRAY?”

Teachers Get Paid Too Much

“I’m fed up with teachers and their hefty salary schedules. What we need here is a little perspective.

If I had my way, I’d pay these teachers myself-I’d pay them baby-sitting wages. That’s right-I’d rather give them $3 an hour out of my own pocket than pay my outrageous taxes.  I’m only going to pay them for five hours, not lunch or coffee breaks. That would be $15.00 a day. Each parent should pay $15 a day for these teachers to babysit their child. Even if they have more than one child, it’s still a lot cheaper than private daycare.

Now, how many children do they teach every day-maybe 20?  That’s $15×20=$300 a day.  But remember they only work 180 days a year! I’m not going to pay them for vacations! $300×180=$54,000. (Just a minute, I think my calculator needs new batteries.)

I know you teachers will say-What about those who have  10 years experience and a Master’s Degree? Well, maybe (to be fair) they could get the minimum wage, and instead of just babysitting, they could read the kids a story. We could round that off to about $5 an hour, times five hours, times 20 children. That’s $500 a day times 180 days. That’s $90,000….HUH?

Wait a minute, let’s get a little perspective here. Babysitting wages are too good for these teachers. Has anyone seen a salary schedule around here?”

        ~Anonymous~

WOW!  I like the way this person thinks!  May I get Babysitting Wages please?  I have 15 students in my class and Babysitting Wages would pay me $40,500 a year?  Is this first year salary?  I won’t see this much for many years, unless of course I do finish up my Master’s Degree anytime soon.  And the difference I do receive for my Master’s won’t pay off that tuition for many many more years to come.  I vote YES to teachers receiving Babysitting Wages!  Please vote now!

Alphabet for Life

Accept differences~Be kind~Count your blessings~Dream~Express thanks~Forgive~Give freely~Harm no one~Imagine more~Jettison anger – need to work on~Keep confidences~Love truely~Master something~Nurture hope~Open Your mind~Pack lightly – need to work on~Quell rumors – really working on~Reciprocrate~Seek wisdom~Touch hearts~Understand~Value truth~Win Graciously~Xeriscape – need to work on-oops-taking long showers~Yearn for peace~Zealously support a worthy cause

by Renee Stewart

This Alphabet is your guide to a  meaningful & mindful life!

Kindergarten Knowledge is the Best

 

All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten

(about how to live, what to do, and how to be)

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don’t hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
• Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life–learn some, think some, draw, paint, sing, dance, play, and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder.
• Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish, hamsters, white mice, and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup: they all die.
• So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned; the biggest word of all– LOOK.
• Everything you need to know is there somewhere: The Golden Rule, love, basic sanitation, ecology, politics,and the sane living.
• Think of what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.
• Or we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes.
• And it is still true; no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Robert Fulghum

Moon Climber

Oh-I feel so bad. Yesterday, at recess, one of my students fell off of the Moon Climber-monkey bars. I rush over to help Injured Student. I ask him if he can crawl out to me because it will be much easier for me to help him if he can come to me than for me to try to crawl in the Moon Climber, get him, and get both of us out of there-together…that would not be a pretty picture. Luckily he was able to come to me AND luckily he was the smallest student in the class, so I was able to carry him over to the table to check him out.

I held Injured Student and comforted him until he calmed down a bit and we could talk about the accident. His body was trembling and I was a little worried. He said he had fallen on his right arm and showed me where it hurt. His mother is an employee at the school, but she had already left for the day. His older brother happened to be on the playground at the same time we were. I asked Older Brother to take Injured Student inside to Mrs. Secretary to see what she thought. She gave Injured Student some ice and let him stay in the office with her.

The rest of the class and I came in shortly after to eat snack and get on mats for rest time. I assumed Mrs. Secretary would be calling Injured Student’s mother. A few minutes later, Mrs. Secretary brings Injured Student back to the class and said, “He is fine. I can’t have him whining in the office. He has been moving around fine.”

Injured Student said he had to go to the restroom and that he didn’t want snack. he usually plays around for about ten minutes before he goes to sleep. He got on his mat and was asleep in one minute. While he was asleep, I wrote his mother a note telling her about the incident. When it was time to get up, I went to wake him up. He woke up crying. Right then I knew he was really in pain. I had a suspicious feeling that his arm was broke. I immediately added to the note that he woke up crying and that she might need to get his arm checked out. I also gave her my number and asked her to call me if she needed to.

Ok-So this morning, I walk into school and go to the gym to pick up my class and what is the very first thing I see? Injured Student with a cast on his arm. Tears came to my eyes. Mom was there too, so I talked to her about it. I apologized about the whole situation. She said she was very upset at first-Injured Student is her baby and she should have been there to hold him and comfort him. I continued to apologize to her every time I saw her throughout the day. She later told me that she was more upset with Mrs. Secretary. I did what I should have done and I had assumed that Mrs. Secretary was calling Mom. But Mrs. Secretary didn’t call mom.

I believe that everything is ok now, but I still feel horrible about the whole situation. I feel that I should have just called Mom myself. But sometimes you just aren’t sure if childrens’ cries are real or for attention. Sometimes you don’t want to step on Mrs. Secretary’s toes (You never want to tick off Mrs. Secretary or the custodians-they can easily make your life miserable). Sometimes a teacher’s judgement call can be the wrong one.

What an exciting two days-My first broken bone at school-on the playground…and I only had to wait seven years…thank goodness.