Alarm Clock

It is 7:00 on Saturday Morning. I turned off my alram clock last night so I could sleep in. However, I didn't know that I would wake up to POUNDING on the house. Yes , that's right, Kyle decided to work on the house at SEVEN IN THE MORNING!!! I guess I should be glad that he waited that long. BUT COME ON!!!!!!

Our family went to Fuddruckers last night to celebrate Clayton's birthday. I love their burgers, they are the best. I came home with Dad after dinner and everyone else went to a movie. I was just soooo tired.

Today I am going to a bridal shower out in Chandler. While I am out there I need to go to JoAnn's. Our kindergarten class is putting on a Thanksgiving play on Tuesday and we don't have enough costumes so I need to make a few more. I have abusy day, I better go get started.

I am just so happy that I don't have to think about homework. My last class was this past Thursday. I turned in my final paper and got all the points for it. The instructor said she was very impressed and didn't find an grammar errors in the paper and that has never happened before. I am glad I gave it to my Dad to edit cuz' he sure found ALOT!

Frustration

I was so frustrated and overwhelmed today after work. It was early release which means that the kids go home at 11:00 and I have to sit through meetings until 3:30. Matthew Fishencord presented to us. He is a kindergarten teacher in the district. The reading specialist and instructional specialist worship the ground he walks on. They had him come teach us how to teach kids to write. Matthew has some great ideas but the specialists think that we have to do everything the way he does it. He has his students writing twice a day and one time at home everyday. There is a lot of writing going on in his room.
I just became very frustrated because some people at my work think that his way is the only way. Which makes me question how I teach. Am I just wasting time because I don't so what he does? Are my kids learning anything? I just became soooooooo overwhelmed with everything.
I finally just had to tell myself that what I am doing is working. I know my kids are learning and I am trying to help everyone in my class. Which is a completely different story.




I have a little boy in my class that isn't learning. He is still too young to be in school and isn't retaining any information we are learning. I wasn't sure how to help him so I talked to the other kinder teachers. Their thoughts -- work with the kids you know will learn it! Their advice to me was to not worry about him. He won't learn it so work with the one who will. These are the ones that will improve our test scores. The kinder teachers are not the only people to say this. Our very own reading specialist has told us the very same thing. I was shocked!!! So much for "No Child Left Behind!" More like "Leave the Low Ones Behind" It will be interesting to see in a few years the large gap between our high kids and our low kids. Shame on the teachers that ignore our struggling students.

The Day After

Why does the day after a holiday have to be sooooooo hard? I had the toughest time getting up this morning. I have a rough start to my day. Luckily my day got better. I went out with the girls for lunch. We went to Lenny's Burgers. It was pretty darn good. The other two girls that ate there got stomachaches after. I didn't, so that was GOOD!

When I got home I went straight to work on my final paper. I GOT IT DONE!!!! I am about to hand it to my dad to edit. I always hate doing that. One, I don't like other people to read my work. Two, I don't want him to see all my errors, AND THREE, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO WORK ON IT AGAIN!!!!!! But it has to be one. My instructor is a real stickler for the details. Which is good, that's the only reason this feels like a masters course! On to more classes and more bills!

Three Day Weekend

I love the perks of my job! I was home today for Veteran's Day and next week I only have to work three days because of Thanksgiving.
Having this three day weekend was nice. I was able to get ALMOST all my homework done. I wrote 6 1/2 of my 8 page paper. I wrote 3 1/2 pages on Saturday and 3 pages today. I will finish writing it tomorrow. I will be nice when this class is over.
I went to a movie today with mom and dad. We saw "Dan in Real Life." It was a very nice and sweet movie. It makes you want a big family where every one gets together to have fun. I don't know where the movie was set, but it was GORGEOUS!!!!!
When I got home from the movie I put some baked potatoes in the oven. Tonights FHE is a pre Thanksgiving dinner. The Relief Society needed three girls to bake potatoes for tonight. Since I didn't have to work I volunteered my serrvices. It was kind of weird to haul around a five pound bag of potatoes through the rest of the block!

Clayton got creative! He found an old couch, added wheels and a motor and off he drove. It takes two people to drive it. One to steer and one to work the motor. He and a friend took it out on Halloween night. People loved it! He ended up giving people rides on it. I sent it to America's Funniest Home Videos.

It "depends"

One of the women at my work turned 65 on friday. While I was at lunch on Wednesday, the first grade team was trying to figure out what kind of gag gifts they could give her. They mentioned buying her some depends. I chimed in and suggested they make a depends cake. ( you know, like the baby diaper cakes we always see at baby showers) They had never heard of these but they liked the idea. On thursday they told me they had all the stuff and needed me to come in and make it. It was hysterical! Unfortunately I did not get to see Donna's face when see saw it. They gave ti to her at her surprise party that night. I will find out on Tuesday what she thought of it.

I got a picture of the cake before they took it. The writing on it is the brand name of the depends.