Summer Lovin'

That is I am lovin' summer right now. I'm getting anxious to leave. I've packed way ahead of time, even getting Suka's things ready. Yes, he has his own travel bag. I already gave him heart worm medicine and tick and flea drops. He's pretty much ready, except for the sedatives I'll be giving him right before we leave for the airport. I've got a few extras incase our car ride together is rough on the way home. Lets hope he does fine.

I'm almost finished packing. Just finishing up some laundry and doing a little cleaning around the house. One of my pet peeves is coming home to a dirt place. When I come back home, the only thing I want to do is unpack, not spend time cleaning up a mess I've left.

I'll only be gone for 29 days and will return late in July. I wanted to be home early to help out with the fall inservice and to get my classroom ready for kindergarten. There are some new pieces of furniture I need to move around, and some new ideas I want to implement. I am going to do kindergarten a bit different this coming year. I have some new things to focus on, and my main goal will be to get parents involved in the classroom. Save that for another blog.

So, my summer plans include visiting family, bonfires, cooking outside, trip to Mackinaw Island, movies, dollar store shopping, and cleaning my old room. 29 days seems like a long time, but I already know my time will be short. I guess there will be time to rest when I come back to AK! The only thing I am not looking forward to is the yucky... muggy... sticky... 90F weather.

Summer Free!

Work has officially ended for me. My job at the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge has ended this week. It was very successful. I completed 5 tundra wildlife kits, and 1 tundra plant kit. I gave a little presentation this morning and went through the lesson plans with the education specialist. They were pleased and even offered for me to come back next summer to work on some new kits. I have travel plans for next summer for Ireland and Scotland again, so we'll see what happens.

I've got a few more days left 'till I head off for Michigan. I just got insurance for the car rental and printed off driving directions from O'Hare airport to home. I am looking forward to driving on the highway and listening to the radio! Suka will be traveling with me. The little psycho whines so much in a simple 5 minute cab ride, that I am worried about a 3 1/2 hour trip! Hopefully he'll be able to relax if I lay a blanket down, or perhaps I'll have to slip him some sedatives from the vet.

So, in the meantime, I will be cleaning house, relaxing, finishing my Reading Fundamentals online class, and working out.

Enlightening Walk Home

As I was walking home from a friends house, two little girls from across the street see me walking with my dog. They come running down their porch with popsicles in their hands (mind you it's about 10pm) yelling "I wanna pet your dog!" Suka was running around, doing his dog thing as these girls run up to me (not even knowing who I was) and tell me they want to pet my dog. Suka comes running up and starts smelling the girls over. They giggle and what not then one of the girls asks me to open her popsicle treat. I tell the girl to go ask her mom to open the treat but she says "my mom is drinking." "Oh, okay then, I'll open it." Then, I ask the girls "who is supposed to be watching you?" "My grandma." The girls start telling me that one of them doesn't live her, she's just visiting and they're just playing outside. After one of the girl finishes her popsicle treat, she throws the plastic on the ground and laughs as Suka goes up and investigates the sticky stuff. I told her to not be a litter bug and pick up her trash. She laughs and does what I tell her. Next, I tell the girls that it's my bed time and that I have to go home. I make sure to remind the girls not to play in the road and to go back inside. They giggle and walk back to the house.

I just kept thinking, "jeesh." I know it's summer, but 5 year olds outside at 10pm... by themselves???? I had an impulse to call social services (wouldn't be the first time I had to make a report). That is one of my responsibilities as a teacher- to report abuse. We hear and see everything at school: we missed you yesterday, where were you?- mom was drunk, and wouldn't let me go; he has a doctor's appointment at 12:00pm so we'll just keep him home all day; sorry, we slept in too late (call at 1:00pm), can you excuse her?; he stayed up too late so I let him sleep in...etc.

There are so many issues for these kids to deal with. And sometimes I have a hard time listening to what problems/concerns/issues parents share with me. I have had parents concerned about instructional time their child is/is not getting, and I'm concerned about my students coming to school without breakfast or without a coat, or giving my students a special good morning greeting to start their day off right. One grandparent told me of her concern with her granddaughter's hat. Someone was putting it on her backwards. And, I'm concerned about a student who has been wearing the same shirt with blood on it for 4 days in a row. Parents want their child pushed in certain subjects, and I'm concerned they don't know how to tie their shoes or zip up their coat.

When I am faced with an issue like safety/shelter/food/clothing/love that a child is not receiving, I kind of feel that all of those other issues seem so small in comparison. First of all, if a child is lacking in the previous mentioned, how much are they really going to learn when they come to school? They might learn that school will feed them breakfast and lunch, give them clothes, clean their head of lice, teachers will give praise and hugs, etc. Some stuff just matters more to me sometimes.

Grill Out

That's me trying to control Suka. I think he was a little nervous about the flames. I went into Anchorage a couple of weeks ago and brought a little grill back. I tried to bring charcoal on the plane, but that was not allowed. I left my bag of Kingsford by the garbage can. Hopefully someone grabbed it as they were walking out. The grill is the perfect size for my little house. I invited a friend over to christian the grill with steak, asparagus, and peaches. It was a very delicious dinner. So, I think I've got steak down, and next time I'll try some chicken... maybe kabobs, and more fruit.

The bugs are so nasty here though. They cling to my door and walls outside of the house. Today after work, I took some mosquito repellent and sprayed around the door. I don't know if it will work though. It was a little gratifying to spray them and see the little suckers flutter to the ground. I bought some coils and mosquito repellent sticks at the store. They don't seem to be working, what with the wind blowing around by the lake. I'd like to get a couple of large citronella candles and set those outside of the door. That might do the trick. Well, how much more can you talk about mosquitos?

Insects

I've been learning some very interesting things about insects at work this summer. I have been gathering materials for the second grade tundra kit. In second grade, they have an insect theme. Some teachers have asked me to gather more materials for this theme. So, I've been working on this. Today, a biologist let me know that there are some rare dragonflies at Hanger Lake that have been spotted! Cool! He said because of the unusually warm spring, these dragonflies have decided to come out. Dragonflies are more likely to come out at night because of the delicious mosquitoes they feast on. We're supposed to catch them at night because they fly lower to the ground to catch their prey. I found a fantastic net at work and brought it home, hoping to catch some after work. However, as I was riding my bike home, I noticed the dark clouds in the distance and the wind fiercely blowing in my face. Wind + bugs = hard to catch bugs. So, the little storm ruined my plans tonight. I do plan to go bug catching tomorrow during work though. I've got to bring my fingernail polish remover with acetone to drop the dragonflies into. You let them drift in acetone for a couple of days and it helps preserve their colors. Hopefully, I will be able to catch a few and add them to the second grade kit. I will also keep my eye open for water beetle and bees.

New Summer Experience

So, teaching is done for now. We had an awesome last week together. We went to a park together and had a picnic. The weather was a bit breezy but the kids still ran around having fun. We had some parents walk with us to the park, help with lunch, watch them on the playground, and walk back with us. We had other parents come who didn't really interact with others, children and adults. We had a bloody nose and a couple of spats, but overall an enjoyable time. We also had our grade level potluck. Quite a few parents showed up which was great! It was nice to see some of them interacting with other parents and teachers. The children did a wonderful job reciting poems and singing a song for their grandparents. But, thank goodness this year is over! I've had some interesting experiences this year that makes me believe, even more, that looping from K to 1st grade is not always positive for the student and the teacher. Ah, that would be another blog title later.

I still see some of the kiddos around town, riding their bikes, playing with dogs, drinking soda, enjoying the nice warm weather. It will be interesting to see them after the summer. Given few months, they can mature so much, and hopefully gain skills they were not developmentally ready for. It's interesting to see students read at such a high reading level, but they still can't tie their shoes! They just need some time and kids all develop differently.

I've picked up a summer job this year. I'm working for the US Fish and Wildlife. They've hired me this summer to create themed kits for school use. I've been working on a tundra animals kit this past week for grades k-4. It's coming along very well. The kits include lesson plans for the teacher, demonstration lesson plans for a US Fish and Wildlife worker, hands on materials, and books. These kits are also linked to our science curriculum, so there's no reason why teachers can't use them! After the tundra animal kit is finished, I will start working on a tundra plants kit. The refuge building has a nice herbarium that I get to look through. I'm also hoping they have an insect collection hiding somewhere too! I am really enjoying working here this summer. They are so helpful with directing me where to go, giving advice, gathering information for me, and collaborating lesson plans. I would be happy to work here again some other summer. It is such a nice change from the school setting.

Violent Teachers

HOUSTON (CBS/KHOU) When their teacher backed one of their classmates into a corner, students at a Houston-area charter school thought it was a joke - but it allegedly turned into a shocking and brutal beating that was caught on tape.

Sherri Davis, a science teacher at Jamie's House Charter School, allegedly backed 13-year-old Isaiah Johnson into a corner and began beating him while his classmates watched.

At the beginning of the video you can hear the laughter and applause from the students as Isaiah is backed into a corner by Davis after Isaiah reportedly teased a female classmate. But Janiqua Johnson, a student who shot the video on her cell phone, says Davis "snapped" and started beating the 13-year-old, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.

cut and paste the link here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20004788-504083.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CBSNewsPCAnswer+(PC+Answer%3A+CBSNews.com)

I don't care what is going on in your classroom, there should be no reason to beat your students. That is not our job... well, in some states yes, but that job should still be reserved for the parents! There are specific classes for teachers to take that help us to deal with violent students in a safe way for the student and for the teacher. I saw the teacher on Good Morning America this morning trying to defend her actions. She put a bit of the blame on the school not providing students and teachers with a safe atmosphere/building. What also shocked me was that no teachers or students tried to put a stop to the beating. I just cannot see how a teacher can be so enraged at their students to actually physically beat the child (well, I guess we all might have those days when you are just tired of dealing with certain students, but you've got to be able to deal with anger/frustration/stress in a safe way). We have the third most stressful job. I think it is an important priority to figure out your way of dealing with the daily frustration/anger/stress that comes with your job. (ie, yoga, ride a bike, judo, karate, aerobics, hobbies, a glass of wine, etc).