A Week in Numbers

Here's my week in numbers - and there are a lot of them!

5:00 (5:15) - Wake up, shower, dress, makeup, make lunch, make breakfast (if I have time), pack bags for school

6:00 - Leave for school (drive 45 miles)

7:00 - Arrive at school

7:00-7:30 - Work in classroom preparing for the day (set up small groups, remove paintings from the drying rack, hang artwork, take chairs off the tables, etc)

7:30-7:55 - Car rider duty

7:55-8:05 - Check student folders, enter attendance, help late students unpack

8:05-8:25 - Morning meeting, music & movement, story time (all conducted by Kelsey while I monitor behavior)

8:25-8:50 - Small Groups (I work with my group and monitor other independent groups)

9:00-9:25 - Math (Monday, Friday) or Library (Tuesday) or Music (Wednesday) or Yoga (Thursday)

9:30-10:00 - Snack on back playground

10:10-10:20 - PAC time (phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, concepts of print) (conducted by Kelsey while I monitor behavior)

10:25-11:10 - Centers (work with students, check email)

11:10 - Give the 5 minute warning and have the Block Center begin cleaning

11:15 - Centers are over, guide students with cleaning up, have lunchbox helper pass out lunch boxes

11:30-12:00 - Outside time on the front playground

12:00-12:10 - Students wash hands/use bathroom before lunch

12:10-12:20 - Check off students who bought lunch from cafeteria; open orange containers, yogurt, cheese sticks, milk cartons, applesauce, ....

12:20-12:25 - My bathroom break (don't forget to check the mailbox on my way back

12:25-12:35 - Lunch (while correcting students' eating manners)

12:35 - Give students 5 minute warning - "finish eating"

12:38 - Give students 2 minute warning - "finish eating; if you're done, throw away your trash"

12:40 - "Lunch is over; throw away your trash and pack up"

12:45-1:05 - Walk back to classroom; read a story before Rest Time

1:05-1:10 - Students get blankets and go to mats

1:10-1:50 - Rest Time (I spend most of this time telling students "Still and Quiet.") (I arrange our small group chart for the next day, record jobs for the day, write notes home, stuff folders, ....)

1:50-2:00 - Wake students up from nap while Kelsey puts mats away

2:00-2:05 - Pass out folders and have students pack up (When they're done packing, they stand on their spot and wait for a high-five)

2:05-2:15 - Let's Find Out About It (Monday, Friday) or Math (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)

2:15 - Bus riders leave

2:20 - Car riders and walkers leave; after-school students come to my room

2:27 - Walk after-school students to the cafeteria

2:30-3:30 - (Monday - Thursday) Prepare classroom for next day: put chairs on tables, return forms to the proper administrators, work on field trip information, hang up art work

2:30 - (Friday) Go Home early!

3:30 - (Monday) Go Home 

3:30 - (Tuesday - Thursday) Go to Glennwood Elementary for tutoring 

4:00-5:00 - (Tuesday - Thursday) Tutor 5 first graders 

5:00-5:45 - (Thursdays) Plan for tutoring next week

5:00 (Monday)/ 6:00 (Tuesday, Wednesday)/ 7:00 (Thursday)/ 4:00 (Friday) - Arrive home (45 miles), watch TV, make dinner, do dishes

9:00 - Get ready for bed

9:30 - In bed

16.5 hours

90+ miles/day

480 miles/week

2+ hours of driving/day

11+ hours of driving/week

7 hours with students/day

8 hours of (paid) work/day

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. 14 more days.

Chugging along

It looks as though I've been gone for so long that Blogger has updated.  The first thing I saw was the stats section that tells me how often my page has been viewed, and it goes as follows:
Yesterday: 2
Last month: 81
Total all time in history: 1738

Who knew that many people had visited this thing? I'm guessing that about 1500 of them stumbled here on accident...

Anyhow, I am sitting here on the couch updating this blog (that, apparently, other people read) while my husband plays Minecraft.  I think he's in Hell right now trying to get a blazing rod or something silly like that.  We've had a delightfully lazy day.  I went to Kohl's to spent the $10 promotional gift card they send every couple months and did a bit of grocery shopping, but that's pretty much it.

What I should be doing is applying for jobs, but so far that's been disappointing at best.  I found out during my tutoring job at one of the elementary schools in my school district that the other tutors (paraprofessionals from that school) had both been offered interviews.  I've heard nothing, and am starting to believe that I may have missed the opportunity.  The jobs have been removed from the website for two weeks now, and I've received no calls. I've also applied for Gwinnett and Fulton county, and I need to update my DeKalb county application from last year, but that will probably wait until tomorrow.  I don't look forward to re-ordering and sending transcripts or answering the same questions over and over. But, in the end, I just have to suck it up, get over it, and move on. Right?

Davis and I have also resumed our search for an apartment.  We're looking at a duplex neighborhood of sorts not far from Plants on Walls, where Davis works. (P.S. Check out Plants on Walls - they're vertical hanging gardens!) Anyhow, we checked crime for the area, and there was nothing for the past 6 months; considering how close we are to Atlanta, that says a lot about the area we're considering moving to!

In some ways, I feel like life right now is a mirror image of last spring at this time: find a place to live (and move) and find somewhere to teach.  But, in a lot of ways, life is so much different; the biggest being that I'm married and living in Georgia, so far from family.  But I love coming home and having just enough time to unwind before my husband walks in the door and makes all the stress of the day fade away. I really am very blessed.

Spring Fever

Here I am again, feeling as though I should write another blog post (I feel a bit obligated since I know some family members keep up with what I'm doing on here...).  However, it is 6:15pm, and it's been the kind of day that only Cheetos (well, the Publix brand cheesy poofs knock-offs) can fix.

The children have been crazy. Not normal crazy. It's the kind of crazy that makes you assume there must be a full moon (but there isn't - I checked!)

They've been the kind of crazy that no matter how many different times you tell them that No, no play guns, knives, swords, other weapons, or play fighting are allowed at school, you still find yourself having the same conversation over and over and over (like a broken record).

The kind of crazy that sends children dancing, skipping, and running down the hallway, despite the fact that you're right there, watching them, telling them that they need their bubble and safe hands. It means that I constantly have to "help friends walk" down the hallway.

The kind of crazy that sends two little girls into hysterical laughter because they think it's funny that the entire class is watching them clean up so everyone can go outside - well past the time when they should have been done picking up.

The kind of crazy where I finally break down and ask a neighboring teacher if Child G can nap in her room today, and could she possibly scare the daylights out of her so that she'll never want to come back?

The kind of crazy that makes you want to go around screaming every statement so that the children realize how annoying it is to hear them yelling all day. (Example: I'M GOING TO DRAMATIC PLAY NOW TO PLAY WITH THE BABIES!) (No, they're not upset, they just can't regulate their inside voices...)

Is this Spring Fever?  If so, come on SUMMER! (which is only 2 months away!)

All I have to say is...Thank GOD next week is spring break!

GRE = brain mush

Over the past couple weeks, I have been studying for the GRE.  I've really hit the books/computer in the last week trying to learn new, big words (of course, right now, I can't think of any of those fancy new words to use to describe the type of words I'm learning...did that make any sense?).  I've also done math.  A lot of math.  The kind of math that I haven't done since high school since most of my college level math was elementary-focused.  The kind of math that, ironically, I was wanting to do just a few weeks ago. (What can I say...sometimes I want to do calculations that aren't "How many cubes do I have?" "What is one more than 8?" "Which one is longer?")

Thankfully, several words and math formulas that I learned in my high school PSAT prep class are coming back, slowly but surely. (Thank Ms. Shivers, Ms. Reed, and Ms. Daniels!)  However, there's still a lot to do, and I take the test in less than a week.

Besides studying for the GRE and doing taxes (blech!), I've been focusing on trying to be more positive about work. I have struggled all year with being a paraprofessional and dealing with the fact that it's not "my" classroom, at least not in the sense that I had planned on for the past 4 years.

Oh, yeah, I picked up a sporadic after-school job.  Tuesday-Thursday, the 5 elementary schools in Decatur have a 1-hour tutoring session for each grade.  The tutors are hired through the City of Decatur. I am a sub for the tutors.  My first time subbing was last Wednesday, and the tutor coordinator at that particular school asked if I would come every Wednesday and tutor the kindergarteners because their regular tutor couldn't do Wednesdays.  Of course I said YES! (Heck, that would pay for my gas to/from work for almost 2 days!)

I am sticking my feet through every possible door I can, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  In the meantime, I continue hoping and praying for a lead teaching position next year.

Valentines Day

Yes, I realize it's 8:07 on Valentines Day morning, and I am already up and about while Davis slumbers away peacefully.  I decided that after a restless night's sleep, I might as well get up and be productive instead of tossing and turning in bed and waking Davis up too.  After all the activity of yesterday, I thought I was going to sleep like a log, but no such luck.  Let me back up a little and explain what went on yesterday...

The Back, Back Stories
A little over two weeks ago Davis quit his job selling cars (insert Hallelujah Chorus here).  To make a long story short, they were trying to steal his deals and his money, and he was working so much that his search for another job wasn't going anywhere fast.  So, he's been on the job search since then.

I'm on vacation this week (gotta love winter break!) I set up my "wellness" exam with a doctor here in Oakwood.  This wellness exam is required by my insurance so that I pay a lower premium.  I figured that it would save me a couple dollars a year, and it can't hurt to know if you're "well" or not.

In the fall, we bought a fish tank and two oscar cichlids.  Well, Oscar has grown too big for our little 20 gallon tank, and Einstein has stayed small to survive, so we figured it was time for a bigger tank - sooner rather than later.

Yesterday
While looking at the form that I had to bring to my doctor's visit, I realized that they were going to have to take some blood.  Great.  I asked Davis to come with me even though I had previously declined his help.  The nurse, Crystal, and my doctor, Doctor Gibbs, were both incredibly nice and sweet.  They made me feel very comfortable (yes, me - comfortable in a doctor's office!).  The lady who drew my blood told me about her 2, almost 3, year old son the whole time - what a great way to keep my mind off the fact that she was sticking me and taking tubes of blood!  I successfully did not pass out, but was light-headed enough that I had to eat some peanut butter crackers from the nurse and have Davis walk out with me.  (Yes, I'm a wimp!)

Davis told me that he had been searching Craigslist for a larger tank while he was waiting for me.  He found a guy with a 55 gallon tank, stand, filter system, heater, and a light for $100.  The tank also came with 9 fishy friends.  After convincing the guy to hold the tank for an extra $15, we grabbed our 5 gallon bucket from the house (for transporting the new fish) and headed to Snellville, GA.  When we got there, we plopped the fish in the bucket, helped the seller drain the water, and loaded everything into Davis's truck.  Once we got home, we moved the bucket'o'fish into the living room and took the tank, stand, and decorations (oh yeah, we got 2 castles, a dragon, and some pillars) to the local Spray'n'Wash car wash.  I don't think the guy we got the tank from had cleaned it in about a year, so we needed the big guns.  It took about 30 minutes to clean the tank and wipe down the stand at the car wash.

We brought everything home again, lugged it up 3 flights of stairs (why, oh why, did I want to live on the third floor again?!?).  We cleaned the rest of the aquarium equipment in the sink, added some new rocks, and set the tank up by the window.  Oh, and we had to rearrange the furniture in our apartment to make the tank fit. Because we needed the 5 gallon bucket and the tub to fill the tank, we needed a container big enough for all 9 fish (including a foot long sucker fish).  Why not use the sink? (See picture.)  Davis filled the tank while I scrubbed more algae and gunk off the light and monitored the fish in the sink.

Finally, the tank was full, running, and ready for fish.  Davis carried them a few at a time from the sink in a net.  Once in the tank, they freaked out for a moment, but then began to enjoy the clear water, clean filter, and open spaces to swim.  We decided not to put in Oscar and Einstein until this new tank runs for a few days; also, we're about to head to the beach with Davis's parents for several days, so we don't want them in there unsupervised.

For size comparison, our new tank is almost 

3 times larger than our previous tank.

Close-up of the new tank.

It sits where our love seat used to be.

Thanks to Davis's friend, Alex, we were able to identify some of the fish in the tank:
1 (very large) sucker fish
1 female convict (a cichlid, like Oscar and Einstein) (it's as large, if not larger, than Oscar now)
1 peacock eel (very tiny, likes to burrow in the rocks)
1 loach
2 knife fish
1 Jack Dempsey - we think (another cichlid, and one of my favorite due to his bright blue spots)
2 UFFs (Unidentified fish friends)

The sucker fish, named Herbert (Bert)

Bert greeted me this morning by hanging on the front glass of the tank.

The female convict

One of our UFFs

We may be trying to get rid of some of the smaller fish (eel, loach, knife fish, UFFs).  We're not sure if Oscar and Einstein will try to eat them or not.  So, if you know anyone who may want them, let me know.

In the meantime, I will be putting order back into our chaotic apartment...

Oh, and Happy Valentines Day!

My Wonderful Husband...

... and, no, Davis did not hack my blog.  I really do have an incredible husband.

I came home after work on Friday to find that Davis had started laundry, run the dishwasher, planned dinner, and gone grocery shopping.  For any of you who don't know, Davis absolutely despises grocery shopping.  I was a bit skeptical at first because Davis doesn't like taking the time to find the less expensive items.  However, upon questioning him, I found that he bought mostly store-brand items.  He got Crystal Light instead of store-brand drink mix because he knows that I like it.

After dinner, I convinced him that he owed me a dance on Just Dance since I've played other games that he likes.  He dance to several dances with me - and even beat me once (which I still can't figure out...).

The whole evening was quite delightful, and I enjoyed watching Davis (try) to dance!

Back to School

Tomorrow is our first day back to school with students.  I feel as though I should mark this occasion somehow, but I find myself lacking in words. So, I shall simply say this...

We're getting to school at 6:30 to get ready for the day/week.
It will be about 22 degrees when I am doing car rider duty.
It will stay below 40 degrees all day, which means no outside time to run out energy.


I will definitely need a drink when I get home.