It's Official

No, Baby Sneaker is not here yet, but I am officially on spring break and that makes me a very happy soon to be mama! I had a great last day with both classes and the PM class blew me away with a very sweet baby shower that took place during the last 45 minutes of my day with them yesterday. The moms got together and planned a hand print painting activity for the kids, a snack, and lots of presents for me. The kids were so cute when I was opening presents and kept on saying "awwww" when they saw each item. I told them Baby Sneaker is going to be very spoiled and they weren't sure what spoiled meant. I told them and then they kept agreeing as I opened each gift that yes, she was going to be very spoiled.

One of the moms that came for the shower made me this beautiful cupcake arrangement.

The kids had to eat a store bought snack, so they got frosted cookies (2 each...lucky little things) and then one asked if they were getting cupcakes too. One of the moms said, no those are for Mrs. Sneaker and her husband and one little guy exclaimed, "you have a husband!?" I chuckled to myself thinking how else would I explain this big baby bump??

I met some friends at the movie theater by my school to see The Hunger Games after school and it was really good. We read it in our book club last year (along with the other two in the series) so we decided to go see it as a group. It was a bright and sunny afternoon and the perfect way to start spring break.

I still have some paper writing to do, so I am not completely in relaxation mode, but it is nice to have some time (an unknown amount considering Baby Sneaker can come at any time now). I will make sure to work on sleeping, relaxing, and enjoying life with every moment I have until she comes. Then a whole new kind of enjoyment will begin.

Almost There

Well...2 days left turned into 1.5 because we have a 2 hour delay today. This is the first time since I started teaching Kindergarten that we've had a delay and it basically means the AM session is canceled, so not only do I get to come in two hours late, but I also get about 2 additional hours of planning time prior to the arrival of my PM kiddos.

Woot! Woot!

This delayed start could not have come at a better time for this tired and very pregnant soon to be mama!

It was glorious to sleep in this morning and enjoy a long hot shower rather than rushing to get out of the house. The weather looks fine now so I am not too concerned about the commute to school, so I can get a few more things done before I head down out to work.

As I browsed on facebook this morning (another luxury of the 2 hour delay), I came across two really great and very interesting videos. Take the time to watch them!

The first one is about changes Finland made to their education system in order to become #1 in the world. The second is a clip of Diane Ravitch talking about the status quo in education in the US. Both are pretty short and worth watching!

two

Two days left.

I tried my hardest to get assessing done today because I kind of thought that I was going into labor and decided that saving it for Friday might not be the best plan in the event that I am not actually at school on Friday.

I feel like I am making huge efforts to have everything really organized for when Jill takes over after spring break because she will need to do report cards about 2 weeks after she starts. Obviously that doesn't really give her much time to get to know the kids and grade them herself, so I am trying to have all the info ready so she only needs to do the data input on the computer. At this point I think I have pretty much everything done besides behavior--always the hardest for me.

I just finished going through the kids' journals and grading their writing so that was the last big chunk of evaluating I needed to do. I always prefer the truly objective items when it comes to report cards like whether or not the kiddo can count to 30. It's simple and easy to say they need more time, they've made good progress, or they can do it. The other items that are subjective are always so hard. Most things are developmental so I really have a hard time giving out pluses at this point in the year, yet the plus doesn't mean that they have completely mastered something it just means they consistently demonstrate it. I always like parents to know that there is still room for growth though. If a child consistently spells words phonetically now that doesn't mean that they have achieved all they will achieve in terms of writing and spelling for the year. So the same grade now and in June doesn't reflect the huge growth their actual writing might show.

I have been trying to really just enjoy this last week with the kiddos and appreciate how much they have accomplished so far this year. It's really cool to think that I am already impressed with the gains they have made and they still have a few more months to go. I have never had this many kids reading before and I am just such a proud teacher to see how well they are doing.

We'll have to wait and see if I actually get in two more full days with them because this little baby could come any time. I had a check up yesterday and the doctor said pretty much everything is in place. There has been some progression in terms of effacement and dilation and the baby is in position and very low. She said all I need now is contractions. I've been feeling tight all day and feel lots of pressure, so at this point I wouldn't be surprised if I end up in labor in the next 48 hours, but I also wouldn't be surprised if I'm still pregnant 10 days from now either....

what a day...

Let me start off by saying that I knew mentioning how lucky I felt this year to not have gotten any new students since the very beginning of school was going to jinx me and I'd end up getting one before going on leave.

Yup, that happened.

I found out Friday that a new student would be joining my PM class as of today.

My PM class only had 17 kids and was smaller than both my AM class and the other AM class, so numbers wise it makes sense to place the new kiddo with me.

But considering I have less than two weeks left and the new student has already had to go through the ordeal of moving (and in her case it was under not so great circumstances), it seems like it would be better to not place her in the class where the teacher will be leaving soon after she begins.

Right?

Mrs. Bee just got a new student last week or the week before and I've told her, it's not like I wish it upon her to get another one so soon, but I truly (for the sake of the child) feel like placing a new student with me during my last two weeks before maternity leave is not the best decision.

Today, I felt justified in saying that.

My new student was escorted to my room by the secretary and had her mom and little brother with her. She seemed shy, but happy and was okay with me showing her where to put her backpack and coat. I showed her to her table and her seat and she was hesitant to sit down, but was fine while I was talking to her mom and trying to make sure I gave her all the info she might need in case I don't ever see her again...

As time went on, I wanted to just get class started so that our new little friend could see how we do things. The mom was trying to get out the door and I wanted her to go because I always think kids need to be left and not have their parents hanging around.

That's when it started.

The child did not want any part of her mom leaving and proceeded to start yelling when her mom walked out the door. She tried to go after her, but I did my best to coax her over to the carpet and tried to get her to sit down. I had put on the morning song so the other kids were sitting around the oval carpet ready for good morning greeting watching as I unsuccessfully tried to get our new friend to join.

At that point she basically started screaming....resisting me...pulling away from me etc. Did I mention screaming...at the top of her lungs?

It seemed like forever but I honestly think it only lasted about a minute or so before the other Kinder teacher came in and asked if I needed help. She sent in an IA that was in her room and the IA basically just removed the girl from my class because she would not stop screaming. She took her to an empty room down the hall and I guess the principal took over and was with her in there for quite some time while she continued to scream bloody murder.

The rest of my kiddos were sitting wide eyed and some were covering their ears so we talked a bit about how it's scary to be new and that hopefully she would calm down and join us.

Then we pretty much just went on with our day because we only have a three day week and I had lots of stuff to get done. We started our writing assessment and since the kiddos know they have to work without talking we were able to hear screams coming from down the hall even though the door to the other classroom was closed.

Eventually...after probably over an hour had gone by, the new student was brought back into my room...or I should say coaxed back into the room by our Literacy Specialist who had taken over trying to calm her down/get her back in the room. She was happy as a clam and proceeded to sit by the Literacy Specialist at the back table writing words and numbers on a big white board. After a bit the principal took over and she was still content sitting there, but never joined in with the rest of the group.

Now, as if I wasn't stressed enough by the physical struggle with her (my worst nightmare at 8.5 months pregnant!), having the principal in my room for like 45 minutes didn't really make me feel any calmer. There was just a lot of energy in the room and I was having flashbacks from last year when she was on me about classroom management and therefore worrying if she would think the kids were too noisy or off task.

At one point I looked at the clock and almost had a heart attack because it looked as though there was still over an hour and a half left in the school day, but really the clock just had not been adjusted since we sprung ahead. I was sitting there thinking what am I going to do for the rest of the day? I thought I had everything all planned out but there is SO MUCH time left. Then I realized that it really was 1:35 instead of 12:35 and that the next two activities would get us to bus time.

Once she came back in after her screaming fit this child was fine, but it still made for a very stressful day. My plans to remain entirely calm while Mr. Sneaker is away were abruptly foiled with the onset of the screaming fit. I have been willing myself not to go into labor while he is away and being stressed was not on my agenda. At least I have the Bachelor to look forward to tonight.

I won't be in the classroom tomorrow because our Kinder team has a training so I really hope things go smoothly with the sub and my new friend has a better day. I cannot handle it if my last six days with my PM are corrupted by screaming. I wanted to go out enjoying my kiddos and orienting a new student was not really something I planned on having to do in my last two weeks.

Oh well...next time I will bite my tongue before saying that I haven't gotten any new students in awhile!

Knuffle Bunny Strikes Again

Last year I discovered the Knuffle Bunny books and just fell in love with them. My kiddos adored them too and we had a lot of fun reading all of Mo Willem's stuff for several weeks. This year I decided that the week when we focus on the letter K would be a great week to bring in the Knuffle Bunny stories, so I read the first one today.

I always love to see kids' reactions when you read them a book that they just love. I told them that there are two more and gave them a little preview of what is to come. They are so excited to hear Knuffle Bunny Too and Knuffle Bunny Free. Let's see if I can get through the third one without crying. Is that even possible for a hormonal pregnant teacher?

We had our EBIS meeting after school and our Kindergarten data is so awesome. I am so proud of all of our kiddos because so many of them have made huge improvements this year. At this point all but about 20 kids are meeting the END OF THE YEAR benchmarks in DIBELS. I know it's not all about data, but it is all about making sure that kids are learning and improving and that is definitely happening all over the place.

I have one little guy who finally writes his name "the school way" (starting with an uppercase letter and writing the rest lowercase). For the longest time his name was random letters. Then he learned how to write his name in all capitals. Now he can write it the school way and he is SO proud everytime he does it. On the one hand you can easily say well many other kids could do that on the FIRST day of school, what's so great about him figuring that out in March, but to me, it's always the most rewarding when the late bloomers really start to figure things out. For some it takes a much longer time to master the simple stuff, especially if their support at home or their relationships with their parents don't involve practicing letters and numbers and reading book. So to be part of their success at school just feels so awesome!

I've got 10 more days with these kiddos.

TEN

I've said it before...I know I will be totally preoccupied with my own new little baby, but I am going to miss these kiddos. I've been really blessed with two amazing classes this year...much easier and brighter than last year, and I am so thankful that occurred the year I was teaching while pregnant. I can't imagine having last year's groups and being pregnant.

Ok, time to do some dissertation proposal writing...gotta knock this work out before baby comes!

It's only fitting that Baby Sneaker has herself a lovely collection of very cute little adidas kicks, right?

I got a lot of work done today and I am so happy about that. 

I didn't write anything, so technically I didn't make progress on my paper per se, yet I did a lot of thinking and planning and feel really good about possibly switching up my research questions.

I was focusing almost entirely on home visits, but I am trying to find a way to make my study more about the interplay between culturally responsive instruction, students' funds of knowledge, and implementing scripted curricula. 

I worked on a new version of my power point presentation for class on Friday and that has helped me organized my thinking in a way that will hopefully make the writing part easier. I am meeting with my adviser on Wednesday and then after that I am meeting with another faculty member who will potentially be on my dissertation committee. Hopefully chatting with both of them will help me solidify my proposal ideas so I am ready for my presentation on Friday. Then with feedback from the others in my cohort as well as both of my advisers following the presentation I should be set to power through the rest of the methodology chapter so I can turn in another draft (before baby comes!!)

I can't believe it's already almost 5 o'clock. Days off go by too fast!