Today (Tuesday) was a trip day. It was my class' turn to go to the Community Program teaching safety for kids in and around cars. I had 5 kids stay in school and two kids absent. Since the weather was not great, the kids were not allowed to ride bikes which was a part of the program. Although the program was only a few blocks away, AP1 ordered a bus. The program is located in a public school. A part of the street is gated off and modeled to be like any other city street. After a lesson on safety in and around cars, we were taken outside to practice what was taught. While the presenter did his lecture in the classroom, I just graded papers. Outside, I took pictures. I was happy that my kids were on their best behavior. I've attached a couple of photos. The first is one of the signs in the gated off area. The other photo is of a couple of my kids practicing crossing the street safely (when there are parked cars).

As for the rest of the day, we ate lunch when we returned to class. The rest of the day was uneventful. Oh, the data coordinator at the end of the school day stopped me to tell me that my class did well on the predicative test for the coming NYS Math Test. My students scored 74% on the muliple-choice, and 64% on the extended response portion. Extended response requires the students to be able to write out an answer and explain (in writing) how they arrived at their answer. The coordinator also showed me the other third grade teacher's scores. She also mentioned that overall, the school did not do well on the extended response. The principal's goals for the school is to score 50% (or higher) on the NYS Test. I felt good about the test scores.

My plan was to leave school about 4:30pm. I even took out the ground turkey meat to make spaghetti when I came home, but my day ended similar to many of the previous days. I was planning to leave at 4:30pm, but I got stopped by Ms. Across the Hall. I then settled for 5pm, but I finally got out of my class at about 5:10 only to be stopped by the Social Studies teacher with a brief conversation about how I was leaving early. Then I got stopped by the 4th grade teacher who told me about Cackler's behavior. I had left Cackler with the 4th grade teacher, she did not deserve to go on the trip. Then the security guard gave me details about Cackler's home life. Cackler is living with the new baby's daddy who isn't her(Cackler's) father. I was finally out of the building about 5:40pm. The subway train choose today to act up. After about 5 minutes, the first train skipped my stop. The next train arrived soon after, but it moved slower than usual. As a result, I arrived in the Bronx with about 1 minute before the MN train was due to leave. I was not about to even try running for the train, so I had to wait for the next train.

At home, I had a Weight Watcher's meal, then I fell asleep. I woke up a few hours ago and watched a bit of the election coverage. Since I am an independant, I can't vote in the Primaries.

Well, that's it for now.


Post Date - Tuesday, February 5, 2008 1:43AM