liza thinks

School has ended

Of course not the work and not the stress but that's another story. I'm hanging in there -- I had a good and bad last day of school yesterday. But, nothing major. Just lots of stress. Got my period yesterday (what timing!). Having terrible sinus problems -- allergies. Need to take 2 Claritin-Ds a day to make it. Forgot last night and woke up with a TERRIBLE headache. Blech!

Off to school to pack up my classroom and get DONE. Lots and lots to do there. Bleh.

Mom is here and that helps a LOT. She's a god-send! She showed up in my classroom yesterday at EXACTLY the right time.

More later when my brain is engaged and not throbbing with pain.

Still no word on a job for next year and I know that's NOT helping. :( Still, keep it positive! Nothing good comes easy!

On the good side. . . wow! The kids got AWESOME report cards. Super cool! So proud.

Bleh.

I feel like -- well -- crap. Sore throat. Achey-painy. Ugh. Teaching tomorrow will be a real treat! Oh joy.

Bird count today . . .

Stellars Jay (1)
Mallards (6)
Tree Swallows (5)
Annas Hummingbirds (2)

Okay. Laundry to fold. Papers to grade.

Testing

Today we start STAR testing in my classroom. I am pretty nervous about it. I wonder how well I've prepared my kids. I wonder if next year when they are analyzing the test scores in a staff meeting they'll all think, "oooooo, look what happened to those 4th grade scores! That must be because of Liza!" Sigh. I know it's foolish but it's also real.

I am also worried that we are too far behind as the end of the year approaches. I'm one chapter behind in Math. And, I'm still doing Island of the Blue Dolphins with my kids and the others have finished.

Oh well. I'm probably the only one worried about it but there you go. Here I am. Worried.

And, not the least of which because I still have two more semesters of CalStateTEACH and they are the hardest ones yet and I already feel behind before I've started. That's a nice feeling.

I guess today is a day of doubts. I think I'll make a shopping list. That will feel make me feel better.

Done and done.

Okay.

I'm done. And, done! Here is the current status in our house.

1. I turned in everything I could at 12:00 midnight last night. Damn. I did not finish one of my assignments. I am feeling REALLY down on myself right now. Are there reasons why I didn't finish LAST NIGHT????? Yup. Do any of them change the fact that I shouldn't have been finished 4 assignments last night? Nope. It just sucks. I screwed up. Not sure what the ramifications are yet. We'll see.

2. The Princess is WAY better but not before scaring the pants off me. In the midst of my cram session yesterday, I checked her temp at she was at 101.2. So, I gave her a dose of ibuprofen. 1/2 hour later, I checked her again -- still hot (really hot). Took her temp 103.9. Yup. That's a nice thing to see on the thermometer. So, I called the doctor who hadn't returned Mr Wonderful's call of that morning. The receptionist was not real helpful but she did finally figure out what to do and handed me off to a nurse. The nurse was awesome. Told me to give her Tylenol while she went and talked to the doctor. So, dosed her with liquid Tylenol (not an easy task -- she hates medicine) and waited. They called in a prescription for me to Walgreen's. And told me to give her a cool bath. Fortunately, this was when Mr W got off the phone (poor guy -- he's been swampped too) and took over. Gave her the bath (taking her temp right along) and let me know when she was down to 100.2 again. Whew! Then he went and got her meds (and got himself a glucose tester -- more on that later). With two doses of antibiotics in her, she hasn't needed any fever meds. Her temp got up to 100.2 again this morning but was at 97.7 (normal for her) this morning. YAY! First time she's had a temp below 99 since Monday night.

Do you want whine with your morning coffee?

Spring is here!

Look at those gorgeous flowers. They are stolen with all due credit and amazement from Julie Zickefoose [click]. She makes me wish it was fall so I could go buy more daffys and plant them so I could be enjoying them right now. They are Salome -- utterly gorgeous. Why don't I have any planted in my yard? I'm so enamoured of the traditional yellow daffys that I forget the glorious nature of other colors! I need some Mt Hoods growing (in honor my father) and some Salomes and other pink daffys to brighten my spirit. I need some itty bitty daffies and some great huge ones. I need doubled and ruffled daffys. Basically, I need a LOT more daffies in my life! There are so many beautiful choices out there [click].

Or is it?

As I sat listening to the rain POUNDING the roof last night, I mentioned to Mr Wonderful that it is one of my favorite sounds in all the world in November but in April it makes me feel sad and dreary and hopeless. I honestly wished that the phone would ring at 6am this morning saying that a tree was down and school was cancelled. Of course what that really means is that our late Spring Break is really too late. By this time next week, I'll be sitting here gloating that I don't have to work. But, today. I do have to work. And, Mr Wonderful will be out of town all week -- oh joy.

I need a theme this week. I think I'll be humming "I Will Survive!" under my breath. Sing it, sister.

The day ahead

Ahhhhhh, what a difference a warm house and running water make in one's outlook! The little things in life truly do make the most difference. A hot shower. Ahhhh. Pulling clean, dry dishes from the dishwasher. Ahhh!

What else. Today, I'm supposed to meet with my principal and my disgruntled parent. Not feeling good about this one. I know that it will all be fine but it never feels good to be complained about and have to defend yourself. Sigh. I met with my mentor on Monday and we outlined a plan for the future of my writing program. I hope it all goes smoothly. I'm feeling really stressed about it.

I finally worked up the nerve to contact Gander's breeder and let her know that its not working. He just isn't happy here with the lifestyle we are currently able to provide. I HATE it but I can't ignore it any longer. Makes me so sad. So, we're communicating on that but it's not easy.

All the uncertainty about my firebug isn't helping either. I hope we learn the outcome soon. Then I could help to prepare my students and myself for whatever the answer is. I'm not sure when we'll know, however.

Boy, I'm a mix of upbeat and negative today. Hmmmmm.

Great Backyard Bird Count: 2006 Results: Boulder Creek, California

[click]

Coolness. Final results for birds seen in Boulder Creek during the Great Backyard Bird Count. It was really fun for me to see because my students and I did this together. Very cool.

Today

Today went well. My principal came in and talked to the class today and that really helped. She's a child psychologist by training and her coming in and sharing what she could and couldn't say really helped quite a bit. She told them what she could tell them, answered their questions really clearly and factually. It was so nice for them. Then our regular work really progressed way more smoothly! Thank goodness! Still lots of turmoil about all this but feeling way better.

New Report on Fire

[click]

Pretty reasonable story -- not at all sensationalized.

Bad Day!

Today was a horrible day. Absolutely horrible. Here's the deal.

One of my students set a fire at school today. On purpose. In the bathroom. The bathroom right next to two kindergarten classrooms. One of those classrooms is the one that The Boy Wonder was in. He set a roll of paper towels on fire and left them. A kindergartener -- MY kindergartener -- could have walked in there.

I have spent hours on this kid. I have worried and sweated and made deals and made phone calls and struggled and stressed over this kid. I've made connections and had him through them back in my face. I've laid awake at night wondering how I can help him. Every adult in the school has tried to help him.

I am so sad on every level for this kid. I just don't know what to do about it. He's smart but has missed so much school that he's uneducated. He's funny and sweet and trouble with a capitol T. He breaks my heart.

And, today he put children -- MY children -- in danger.

[edited out]

Oh, and in the middle of all this, I've got a parent complaining to my principal that I'm not doing enough writing in my classroom for her child. Damn. So, swell. More worries. My principal is being great about it. We talked and I said that writing was my biggest concern area, that I am talking to my mentor about it weekly and we're implementing programs and policies in that area. I am already instituting more differentiated instruction for advanced kids. I've got a book report program in place and am working on expanding it. So, I'm doing stuff but I have to have a meeting with Lynn and the mother to address it and let her know what sorts of enrichment I'll be doing for this child. Tough. I send an email to my mentor asking for her help on Monday with this.

It never rains it pours. Oh, and it's raining right now.