School

Is it really almost Monday again? Ugh. This past week was crazy. We got a new student in the middle of the week. I had two kids that had poop accidents, my evaluation from our facilitator was terrible. She came on a day when we had recess inside, no one was cleaning their centers, and we ran out of time during the lesson. It doesn't go in our file and I know this is my first year in head start but I still feel like a huge failure. I'm such a perfectionist and I want to make sure my kids are getting what they need. There is a lot of freedom to teach whatever in head start and I'm just not used to it yet. The principal I had last year could be downright hateful so I'm still kind of afraid of getting fussed at. The facilitator was so nice and offered help if I needed it. I tried posting some photos of the kids but apparently it's not working . Please Lord let this week get better. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hurt

"My brother died last week" does not say enough about how I feel. Thursday, December 8, 2011 a piece of my heart went to heaven. I had a typical day at school, my kids were just starting to get the pre Christmas crazies. We got our school iPads that day and I sat in a training for an hour or so. After that, I went and met my parra and we bought critter hats. I walked in my house about 4:15 thinking I could take a quick nap. I had just settled myself down on the couch when my mom called and told me they were taking him to the hospital. While we were talking she had to let me go because his friend he was working with was calling. My heart knew then that he was gone, I can't really explain it other than its like a part of you is sucked out. She called back about 10 minutes later. Now I remember that she didn't actually get the words out, but I lost it and my grandma came to get me. We had to wait until Sunday to get his body back because he was working in Pennsylvania. All we know is that he had an enlarged heart and died peacefully in his sleep. He was only 24. I'm officially done with Christmas this year. My grandma is still going to do her thing and cook. She says that it would break his heart to feel like he ruined Christmas and she's right but i can't get rid of the feeling of wanting to rip my tree down.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was an interesting one to say the least. My mom is still recovering from having a colon resectioning and my grandpa just got out of ICU today after having surgery on his carotid artery. I have a lot to be thankful for that they are doing better now. I spent Thanksgiving in Houston and will be trying to avoid Black Friday as much as possible.

What's on my mind now:
Nearly went postal in giant 2 story Forever 21 due to over abundance of teenagers
I hate Houston traffic
Dogs are driving me crazy (7 total staying here)
This week went way too fast
Still need to do lesson plans, get kids a tree and ornaments
Home is waiting with 100 loads of laundry
Tried sock bun curls. Cussed. A lot. Will see when I wake up.
Tired. Goodnight.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Life

I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here. Pretty soon we'll be working on the Christmas program and ringing in the new year. School has kept me so busy lately. We are working on home visits this week and next. My parents have been pretty cooperative which is great. This is a short week at school for me since I'm off tomorrow for my mom's surgery (she's having a cancerous part of her colon removed) and Friday is Veteran's Day.

I'm loving the iPad and the kids have gotten the hang of it. At first they seemed kind of afraid to touch it and werent pressing hard enough. We've been working on Starfall and ABC Trace for the past few weeks. I need to find a number trace app because we just started working on writing numbers.

I officially adopted Faith on October 22nd which is also pit bull awareness day. She finished up her classes for CGC and all we have to do is work some more in public places so she can get used to distractions and we will be all set to take the test.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

iPad apps

As promised, I will share a few of the iPad apps my district has recommended. They are mainly early childhood and sped.

Little Speller- this app is very customizable. You can include your own pictures and input your own spelling list as a scramble or for younger students, include the letters in their proper place to teach students to drag letters. Sound can be turned off or on.

Sock Puppets- can record voices, choose different characters and settings then play your puppet show. Great for story retelling.

Sas flash cards-very easy to customize

Answers yes or no- great app for sped. You can customize questions ad answers with pictures.

Autism apps- collection of apps to assist children with autism. Unlike the previous apps I posted, some of these are not free. I highly recommend some of the ABA flash card apps that have great pictures.

It's getting late and on top of that, I'm starting to get sick. (the day before we foto the pumpkin patch no less) so I will continue this list later.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Technology

I had a rough week at school. It seemed like every day we had a few friends that were tardy. We go straight to bathroom and breakfast when the kids come in, so it's an extra hassle if anyone is tardy. Thursday was our Grandparent's Day breakfast so Wednesday afternoon was spent doing decorations and preparing everything.

I needed a break this weekend so bad but Saturday I had to attend an all day technology conference. It was actually very informative. We discussed literacy with Promethean boards. I don't have a Promethean in my classroom this year but some other teachers and I are working on writing some grants to get some. Even though we may not see the boards this year, I felt like it was very important for me to catch up on the new stuff since I've been without mine.

I attended three sessions on iPad. We actually got to borrow the iPads for the sessions. It was great because we got to see some apps that we can actually implement with our younger students. It's so hard for Pre-k and Head Start teachers to get a lot out of these conferences because they are always tailored to upper elementary. I attended the SPED seminar also and got some great ideas on how to better engage some of my kids.

I also spent some $$$ I probably shouldn't have and bought an iPad. The iPad 2 is apparently on sale to make way for the 3 and I couldn't pass up the price so I brought it home. It's hooked up to iTunes now and getting the IOS 5 update. For my next post, I will share our district's list of iPad apps and do some reviews on a few.

Milestones

I feel like I've hit a major milestone in the year. I no longer feel like I'm constantly freaking out all the time about everything I have to get done. I managed to turn my first set of assessments in without a hitch and my lesson plan review went well. Things are falling into place and my little friends in class are doing so much better. They are getting procedures down and learning to keep their hands and feet to themselves.

Last Wednesday, I turned 28. Not so happy about creeping up on 30 but I had a great birthday. I bought myself this little present for all my hard work. I've been wanting an MK watch forever and the fact that I found a nice little stipend on my check this month sealed the deal.