I just returned home about an hour ago. I better keep is short, the sandman is already singing his song.

Today was actually a relatively nice day, about 4 of my students were absent. Three of them were my regular headaches, the fourth was the Drama Queen. Also, my phone call to Cackler's mother seemed to have done the trick...for now. Today, the principal officially cancelled the new literacy program until after the State ELA Exams on January 9th. Today the principal had a grad-level meeting in her office for each grade during the teacher's preparation period to discuss the results of the last "predicative" test. I'm going to avoid the details here...for the sake of time. :)

After the meeting which had begun with the statement, "I won't keep you very long". lasted until 8 minutes before we were due to pick up our classes. At that point, the new school "data analysis" decided to show the teachers "strategies" that we can use to help our kids upstairs in her office. I'm thinking it would be something related to the assessment program that was the basis for our meeting. It turned out to be links to Channel 13 PBS website. It didn't take us 8 minutes.

After the meeting, my kids were invited to a repeat of the musical performance that I'd skipped yesterday trying out a differentiated lesson plan. By the time the show was over, there was only about 20 minutes until lunch. :)

Since AP1 forgot to order the pizza for my class --The reward for my students (and myself) for not whining about having Ms. Across the Hall's whole class combined with mine the day ATH was absent. AP1 said that she would order the pizza tomorrow. I now have my "holiday party". :)

The day ended without me yelling...I think. Parents and pick-ups were all on time.:) Did I mention having a smile on my face at the end of the day?

Unfortunately, bad habits die hard. I didn't get out of the building until about 6:33PM. In the Bronx, I finally went shopping at the 99 cent store for gifts for my students (the "relatively" good kids). Strange, I seem to remember a time when it was students buying gifts for the teacher, but maybe it is just my imagination. Anyway, a couple of teachers mentioned giving gifts to their students, so like the lemming that I am, I am doing the same. The other 3rd grade teacher mentioned using points from the book club for "gifts". ATH mentioned the dollar store. I went with the dollar store idea. The hard part was buying a crappy gift and making it seem like it is not a crappy gift. After a while of mental block in the aisle of the store. I finally got my "gift" idea. The boys would get a Spider man themed gift (coloring book, and a pencil set[2 pencils, sharpener, eraser, and small notepad]). I got stuck with the girls' gift. It had to appear to be of the same "quality and components". I did find the Hello Kitty coloring book but I couldn't find anything nice looking to match. Both coloring books are only about 8 pages including 2 sticker pages. With all of the other names I've been called, I didn't want cheapskate added to the list. After staring at the wall of merchandise, a Disney diary with lock seemed to appear. Unfortunately, there were only two. However, after a trip to Target's dollar shelves, I found my girls' gift. The girls are getting a Tweety! coloring/activity book, and a Hello Kitty pocket notebook...both a dollar each. So, I ended up taking both ideas from the other 3rd grade teachers. With my "dollar" gifts, each (relatively "good")child receives a free Magic School bus mini chapter book that I've been saving for just this occasion. I received the set with my first order at the book club the other 3rd grade teacher recommended. The "Button Pushers" only get the Magic School Bus as a gift.

Since I finished at Target at 8:19PM (one minute before the MN train would arrive), I had to settle for killing 40 minutes. I ended up going to Starbucks for a gift card for AP2. She doesn't smile very much, but for some strange reason, she always gives me books and materials for my classroom that other teachers don't get, it is probably because I am a bit of a pack rat, and she knows I won't say no. Anyway, the materials are nice and very useful, so I thought she deserved a thank you. And after a trip to the Rite Aid card section, I was planning to go to C-Town food store to buy some "extras" for the "class party", but the store was closed. by the time I reached the MN street, I had about 10 minutes to kill. Since I had Chinese take out yesterday (beef with broccoli), I wasn't really in the mood for Chinese Food. I ended up choosing the "new" teriyaki chicken ($2.75). It turns out they deep fried it. I gotta stop eating at those Chinese restaurants. I'm beginning to think those are just ghetto imitations. Almost everything seems to be deep-fried. The Chinese restaurant near my home even deep fries their "grilled" chicken.

Well, I better go. Two more days to go! :)


Post Date - Thursday, December 20, 2007 1:58AM*
* The post date is not accurate this time because I fell asleep here in my chair.