It's been raining in Omaha, Nebraska for days! There's possible snow in the forecast. No thanks! I want summer back again.
We met with Mr. Principal in regards to Isaak. Isaak's no longer going to take kids to the bathroom. He was one of 3 boys selected to do so. Most of the kids in class were picking Isaak, when they had to go. He was missing out on lessons at school. Then he was ultra emotional at home. He didn't get how to do his homework. His teacher didn't want to take the whole class on breaks because of the time lost in their school work. My thoughts were - her time lost. The other way - his time lost.
I went through his teacher first. She just said, "I can't take him off that. He's one of the few boys in the class I trust." I didn't just walk in to the Principal's office, and blame the teacher. I said, "Isaak's plate is too full. He signed up for Safety Patrol (which is every day), Student Council (which meets once a month), Chorus (misses class for), Show Choir (before school once a week), Strings (misses class for), Soccer, and Basketball (which are both after school). Little man was overwhelmed.
Other topics we went over: Kid's forming "Cool Clubs" that Mr. Principal was unaware of, and the class talking a lot and missing recess - I mentioned they could run the track instead to at least get some activity. Isaak's teacher also said to Isaak, "Why did you say all that to your Mom?!" in regards to my email. Isaak felt like crying, and bawled at home. I said, "Kids should talk to their parents! I'm happy my 10 year old son talks to me!" Mr. Principal agreed.
I felt good about how things went. Then yesterday Isaak said, "Mom did you know teachers have favorites? I'm one of my teacher's favorites. She told me so." (insert inner eye roll, and why in the heck is she telling the kids this?) I covered quickly by saying, "Isaak favorites change. Somedays I like you better than Mica and visa versa. I love you both. It's just that one child may be easier to get along with on a particular day." He said, "Do you have favorites with your students?" I said, "I have students that are challenging sometimes. I've had students ask if they were my favorite? Then I said to them, 'You are, along with the other 30 students in the class.' That seems to satisfy them." I want Isaak to like his teacher. I have to say that she rubs me the wrong way. She's fake happy it seems. She smiles with a frown face. I've never seen anyone do that before. Her mouth is frowned down, but her cheeks and eyes are uplifted.
Travis' boss lady keeps giving him things. A foam pumpkin to decorate, so I decorated it up like an owl for him. I didn't take a picture. Next came a wooden leaf. I did take photos of that for a future post. She's given him candles, cozy socks that are very girl like and Isaak wanted, and Keurig pods. For one Travis hates flavored coffee, for another we don't have a Keurig machine. I open them up, and dump them in our legit coffee pot to use them. Do you like plain coffee or flavored coffee? Do you have a Keurig machine?
Mica's in a thing called Quiz Bowl. It's like Jeopardy, except you don't answer with a question. He has a group against other groups from other schools. We had no idea that it would be so time consuming when he signed up. It's every Tuesday after school, and 2 Saturdays a month from 8:30 to 1:30 or longer. I was feeling less than thrilled about this once I found all that out. Then I thought about it...I'll have one less child on those days. That's not all that bad. Possibly I'll go to get him one day before he calls me to take a few pictures.
Isaak: "Mom I've had my period before." Me: "What?" Isaak: "You told me I must have my period because I was in a bad mood." I should watch what I say!
Me: "So Mica do you feel any older?" Mica: "I feel like I'm entering that stage where I can't wait for you guys to leave. Then I'll have friends over, and trash the house. I would never do that. It's just a stage they talk about in literature." Say what?!?! Party at the Apel's house.
The first week of class has come and gone. The students have Orientation 1 hour a day for a week. My handouts and my presentations were ready, but I wanted to go over everything one last time. I knew I'd have that hour to read over the class material.
Oh but wait...the Director came into my office at 8:20 saying, "The Education Director is still not here. She's the one doing Orientation this morning. Go ahead, set-up and talk. She'll have to do Orientation at 9." That really through me off for some reason. I can roll with things, but I don't like last minute surprises.
The Education Director rolled in at 9:10 to talk saying, "Sorry I'm contracted to be here at 9." As if this this my problem. Later on I called the Director saying, "Ok this is the second year the Education Director was late for Orientation. Let's just have Orientation at 9 when she's contracted to be here. Then it doesn't throw anyone off." I hate when I have to solve problems that are not really my problems to solve.
The boy's first day of school was yesterday. Isaak woke up with a sore throat. I've been giving him Zytec and probiotics. I have no idea if it's fall allergies or some sickness. Until he has a fever, I'm not going to worry about it. As you can see it's impossible for him to keep his talking mouth shut:
I was an ass without meaning to be one. I said to a student: "I just love your short hair. Were you like me, and had longer hair, and kept cutting it shorter and shorter?" She said, "I did have long hair, and lost it all because I have Leukemia. I just said, "I'm sorry to hear that. I still love your hair though." What's something awkward that you've said in the past?
The set comes with 12 erasers. That's a lot of erasers! My aunt has a big Easter Egg Hunt for the kids on Easter, so I plan on donating many of these erasers to the hunt. There's 13 kids all together, but I got a set of 12 dogs and a set of 12 cats to review. There's plenty to go around.
They came all packaged up with each other. The packaging seemed good, and it shipped really fast!
Price:
$9.99 for all 12 erasers! Buy one and get 30% off Lovellio's Charming dry erase calendar. I didn't read close enough to know that I could buy a calendar for 30% off. I may have gotten one, or two.
Choose From 2 Prints:
Loyal Dog
Adorable Cat
I hope they expand to have other animals too. Possibly add a fish, or I'd love a hedgehog set. Cats and dogs are the two animals that most people would have as pets.
A Great Gift Set:
This is a great set to get. Especially if you get the calendar that is 30% off. You could give this set to kids for Valentines, Easter time, a Birthday, to a Teacher for Teacher Appreciation Day and more.
Not Your Ordinary Stationery Set:
Lovellio makes their sets fun by adding cats and dogs to their sets.
Other Perks:
The erasers are also great for small little hands. I like that they are square instead of the big erasers that are used most of the time.
The erasers are magnetic. How cool is that? I tested them out on our refrigerator, and they worked.
The only downfall I saw was that some of the dog prints are great prints, while others look a bit faded.
Are you a dog or a cat person?
I don't know if I ever like one over the other. I'm allergic to both. I think cats are fluffy cute, it's nice that they can be on their own during short trips. Dogs are more of a companion, man's best friend - right? Dogs make their owners more active because they have to walk them often.
Disclaimer: I received Magnetic Whiteboard Dry Eraser Set - Loyal Dog to review. I wrote this post, and was not influenced at all with an opinion. I only review things that I find interesting, or that would benefit my readers or family.
It's my kid's last week of school. Both my flesh and blood kids, and my students. Isaak's finishing up 2nd grade.
He still seems so little to me. He has a high pitched voice, small facial features (except for his eyes), and still loves to play hard. He wears holes in his jeans, and his hands are always messy. "Go wash your hands!" is a regular thing we say in our house to Isaak. It's hard to believe he turns 8 later this week, and will soon be called a 3rd grader! He is tall! He's fitting right into Mica's hand me down jeans - size 10. He has picked up on reading in 2nd grade. He does like to write stories. I keep telling him that he needs to read more and more to get better with writing.
Mica's finishing up 4th grade.
He's goofy around home, but mature at school. He started safety patrol training a few weeks ago. This week he's full time with safety patrol. He had a field trip last week where he got to go an hour away to the state capitol. We've taken the boys there before. :) With us he didn't get to go on a charter bus. He was super excited to have a bathroom on a bus. That seemed to be the highlight. He's so ready for 5th grade. I sometimes thought 4th grade bored him. His teacher did her best to challenge him though.
The boys have Field Day, Isaak's class is going to walk up to a park in the neighborhood to eat lunch, and play, and Mica's class is going to our local Joslyn Art Museum. Isaak's birthday is on Thursday. They no longer have food treats, so we got dollar books to hand out to his class.
Thankfully most stuff was due last week. I have a computer test that randomizes the questions, and grades for me. I have a lot of students behind. I'm hoping they get caught up this week!
The last few weeks of class is always just as hard as the first few weeks. It's stressful with the students that are near the bottom of the class. Trying to catch up students that have struggled the whole time, or who saved most things to the last minute is a drag. I just like things to run fairly smooth. Last week, and the week before all major projects were due.
I have one student in my first year class that is bright and gifted. He hardly shows up to class, and shifts most assignments to be what he wants them to be. Guidelines go out the window. His ego is too strong. That happens a lot with artists. Some artists know they are good, and refuse to conform to what's needed to really get the job done. I hate that an A quality student is getting D's from me. It is what it is.
I have another student in first year that begged me for extra credit last week. I had some that I had already given out. I reminded him of that extra credit. Then I said, "Really what would help the most for your grade is getting your main projects in." 40 points extra for going to an art movie is nothing compared to the 100 points for getting this illustration in, and another 100 points for getting that illustration in. I have a third year student that spins his wheels. I really think that he's working, but he hardly gets things turned in. Then when things get time sensitive he wants to turn in things that are half done to receive some credit. Well that works in some cases I suppose. With a website I kind of need it working to grade it. Especially at that level. He was pissed at me. I could see the fire behind his eyes when I said that I wouldn't grade his website that is 2 weeks late, and is 1/2 done. He was mad that our web guy wasn't here to help him. I reminded him that it was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago. He's still not passing.
At college level I'm not for the No Child Left Behind policy. If they don't do the work that everyone else is getting done, then that's on them. I try. Trust me I try to get them caught up. I printed out every critique sheet, every handout, and every grade slip they were missing to give to them at the beginning of the week. I think they want a passing grade just handed to them. That's not how I roll. You kind of need to work for a degree. I've been unpopular the last few weeks with a select group of students. I'm ok with that. I'm not going to lie, it's stressful being unpopular. I had one instructor say to me, "Would you rather teach them during the summer?" Quite franky the answer is, "Not really for my sake, but if they deserve it then yes for their sake." No one wants to keep negativity around them. My job as a college instructor is to make sure they can get a job when they are done with college. If they can't get my assignments done, then they shouldn't be passing my class. How do you feel about about the No Child Left Behind policy? Obviously I teach college level, but that mentality from those younger grades move on up to upper levels of education.
The boys had a little drama performance. We went on our trip right away afterwards, so I didn't get a chance to post about their drama camp show.
Isaak's drama camp was just an introductory class. There wasn't a lot that they did. When they acted it was the whole group that acted out a story. None of the kids had much of a part. I'm not down playing it. It looked fun! He looked like he enjoyed himself. I just started video taping him, then it got kind of drawn out. I really didn't end up with a whole lot of Isaak in the end of taping. I should of just taken pictures.
Mica's class was a little more advanced. He acted out a song from Lion King, another one from Wizard of Oz and another song called Coffee in a Cardboard Cup. I'm not sure where Coffee in a Cardboard Cup came from, but Mica had the biggest part in this one.
He was so fun to watch. Mica really got into all his parts. He had his grey viking shirt on. When he acted out the tin man, he turned his shirt around to be just grey. When the song was over, he switched his shirt back around. He kept handing his teacher props, and ran around to help.
Here Mica is in Coffee in a Cardboard Cup. He's the one with the black rimmed glasses. The end is the best part.
I helped Isaak and Cousin Elijah with Valentines this weekend. Cousin Evan did his already. I didn't get pictures with Isaak or Elijah because I was practically doing it for them. They both still need to by guided when writing.
This is the first year I didn't have to help Mica.
He knew exactly what to do and wanted it done his way. I went over and started stacking the Valentines he had done, BIG MISTAKE! He got annoyed with me. He had them in the same order with his directory. He wanted to leave them that way on the table. Funny thing is, is that they all got thrown in a bag in the end anyhow.
= Tired children that don't want to get out of bed.
= College students that don't come to class, or come to class hung over. {I'm a teacher}
= More candy laying around then anyone should consume!
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