TGI-Fresh Start

Luckily this week went by fairly quickly. Lots going on kept us all busy. At school we put together some very focused small groups to double and triple dip our kids before Dibels. I decided on a Hawaiian/Tiki theme for test day motivation and celebration, I'll post pics soon.

It's official that my school will be merging with Meyer and interviews are Monday! I'm polishing up for the big day. There will be 7 sections in the K-1 band and I'm really hoping to be hired for one of the spots. Also interviewing are my dear friends and teammates Ruth and Lauren, Hudson's Kinder team and the K-1 teachers from Meyer. It's quite stressful but the cards have been dealt and I have to continue to be the best teacher I can be. It has been an emotional 6 months of waiting, new and changing information and we are all ready to have something to hang our hat on.

I have wanted to put up some pics from our awesome Flat Stanley unit, hopefully later this weekend. Lesson plans for summer school were due today so that has kept me busy.

The final word on my school laptop came in and they "cannot retrieve the hard drive". Can't or aren't going to...you decide. Seemingly devastating that everything I've worked on, photos of my class, amazing units from fellow bloggers and things I don't even know I'm missing are gone but in the grand scheme of things, life will go on. Time to focus on the interview and a "fresh start".

No Sarti Parties this weekend, Dan is flying and I'm catching up on housework, sewing, groceries and errands. We're STILL waiting on our tax return, and Dan and his brothers bought a fishing boat, whatareyougonnado?

Our good friends Natalie and Joe are coming this week and are staying at our house. I love having company! I can't believe it has been almost a year since they tied the knot and we were at their wedding in upstate NY.

There is plenty to look forward to in May so here we go...cross your fingers for me Monday afternoon, here's to a fresh start!

Easter Outtakes

Although our Easter was not "picture perfect" we had a great time celebrating Easter and the twin's birthday with the Sartis. Abby at Babbling Abby posted the cutest Easter outtakes and I had to join the fun. No kiddos to provide the best outtake material yet (finger crossed for next year) but some fun nonetheless...

Nephew Nicholas and I, self taken = never centered

Twins blowing out candles, you think they'd be pro's with the timing ;)

Dog Bunny, take 1

Take 2

And 3

Hope your Easter was picture perfect!

Earth Day Birthday

After my last blog rant, I must redeem myself...

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, Dan! He and twin sister (aka best friend to moi) turned 29 on Earth Day. This week we geared up to celebrate Earth Day by reading and retelling "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss.

I geared up to celebrate Dan's birthday by baking a cake Thursday night (after my week from h***) and made plans with our friends Lauren and Alex to go golfing. Friday (birthday) morning I made breakfast for the twins and packed a picnic lunch for our golf outing.

The weather was great, not too hot for late April! We enjoyed the outdoors and each other for 18 holes and a picnic!

We even saw geese and their babies and a mama duck and her babies...just like "Make Way For Ducklings"! One of my favorite books :)

After golf we headed to Blue Wasabi for some good sushi with good friends. It may be one of my last sushi outings for a while...here's hopin! We had everyone back to our place for drinks, birthday cake and egg decorating! It wouldn't be a Sarti Party without a structured activity :) We also celebrated Ty and Johnst's upcoming birthdays, Sheila couldn't make it :(

 Saturday was nice and lazy, I baked a carrot cake for Sarti family Easter and for the twin's birthday celebration with the family. Dinner was ham at bro and sis in law Bob and Trish's house. I was quite proud of my creation and everyone else loved it as well. You can't go wrong with cream cheese frosting.

Easter morning I filled baskets and hid eggs. The highlight? Playing hot and cold with my 29 year old husband to find the hard boiled eggs! Of course doggie girl helped...she sniffed them out!

Can you find the eggs?

What a Week!

Where do I begin? It all started with the idea that a 4 day week, including Field Day would be a breeze. Little did I know...

First thing Monday morning my school laptop won't turn on. This would be the school laptop with 3 years of teaching resources, templates and creations on it. Oh and did I mention the one with the 19 progress reports that I spent an entire afternoon typing? Just. Won't. Turn. On. Turns out damage from a previous fall (ps, how do they expect us to keep a fragile laptop in perfect condition around a bunch of 6 year olds?) prevents it from being turned on. After an "emergency" call to my principal (gasp) and several follow up emails, the loaner computer arrives a day and a half later. Promises to back up my documents if the hard drive can be salvaged is the only thing keeping me sane at this point.

Thank goodness for Field Day Tuesday, 1 hour and 30 minutes of uninterrupted time in my classroom to prep, plan, copy...oh wait, NO computer! No nearly as productive as it could have been but whatareyougonnado?

Wednesday rolls around with the promise of a 12 plus hour day due to a PTA meeting scheduled for 6:30pm. Living 30 minutes (without traffic) from school does not really lend itself to driving home and coming back for the meeting. After school my principal called myself and Lauren (the PTA Liasons) into his office to go over a couple things for the meeting that he wouldn't be able to make. While I'm in with him, the secretary pops her head in to inform me that a parent (that I've been trying to meet with since February, yes FEBRUARY) is waiting for me. After wrapping up with Mr. F, I meet with the parent, student and student's brother for almost an HOUR! By now it's after 4:30 so I hunker down for 2 hours of planning bliss...oh wait, NO computer! Just the loaner without my documents or programs. Summer school lesson plans it is, and I was pretty productive and quite crafty stretching my $12 budget to buy crayons, pencils, glue etc. my math games class.

The drama that is PTA is something I can't even begin to describe, you would be reading for days and I fear my fingers would fall off from typing. Needless to say the hour and a half spent at the meeting just about pushed me over the edge and left less than 11 hours between home and school the next day minus the 1 hour commute round trip.

Thursday had to get better, it was our Friday thanks to Good Friday (Good in sooo many ways). Finished our review week where my kids were spot on and read so many books it would make your head spin. My high groups did a great Frog and Toad activity. Things were going great until a student who has been struggling lately lost it completely, disrupting the classroom in so many ways. I'll just say it left me with a broken toe, bruise on my shoulder, mess of a classroom to clean up and the poor student asleep in the nurse's office post meltdown.

There are a lot of big personalities in my class. I love them all, seriously. It's just that sometimes, their lives are too stressful for their little minds and bodies to handle and it all comes out in their safe space; school. I truly hope that for the sake of the little one in question, the rest of my students and myself, things get better and soon.

Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who in search of a bouquet of flowers came across a planter that would "last longer". He was out of town during my week from h*** and wanted to do something to make me feel better when he got home late Thursday night. Bless. His. Heart.

Ready for Monday

Now I'm ready for Monday thanks to Jaime from What's The Buzz in 1st?

 

 

TEACHER : Maria, go to the map and find   North America   .

MARIA :  Here it  is.

TEACHER : Correct.  Now class, who discovered   America ?

CLASS :  Maria.

____________________________________  

 

TEACHER :  Kenny, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?

Kenny :  You told me to do it without using tables.  ( I like this kid)

__________________________________________

 

TEACHER :  Kenny, how do you spell 'crocodile?'

Kenny :  K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'

TEACHER :  No, that's wrong

KENNY :  Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it. 

(I  Love this child) 

____________________________________________

TEACHER : Kenny, what is the chemical formula for water?

Kenneth :  H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER : What are you talking about?

Kenny : Yesterday, you said it's H to O. 

__________________________________

TEACHER : Patsy, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.

PATSY :  Me!

__________________________________________ 

TEACHER :  Kenny, why do you always get so dirty?

Kenny :  Well, I'm a  lot closer to the ground than you are. 

_______________________________________

TEACHER :   Millie, give me a sentence starting with '  I.  '

MILLIE :   I  is......

TEACHER :  No, Millie..... Always say, 'I  am.'

MILLIE : All right...  'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'  ???    

________________________________

TEACHER :   George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. 

Now, Kenny, do you know why his father didn't punish him?

Kenny :  Because George still had  the axe in his hand....    

______________________________________ 

TEACHER :  Now, Kenny , tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?

Kenny :  No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.  The best!

______________________________

TEACHER :  Kenny , your  composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your  brother's.. Did you copy his?

Kenny  :  No, sir. It's the same dog.    

 

(I want to adopt this kid!!!)

___________________________________

TEACHER :   Kenneth, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer  interested?

Kenneth :   A teacher

 

 

Pat's Run

Today we and 30,000 of our closest friends ran Pat's Run to support the Pat Tillman Foundation. Pat was a former Sun Devil, Arizona Cardinal and soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2004. The Foundation provides Military and Leadership Through Action scholarships to Pat's Alma Mater Arizona State (woot woot!).

Pat's number at ASU was 42 so the run is 4.2 miles and ends on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium. This is the first time we have participated and it was so much fun! I am soooo not a runner and I tried to train but wasn't that successful :/ We got together a group of our friends and created team "Pat This".

The festivities began at our house Friday night with a team dinner. We ate, chatted and devised our race day plan. The next morning (before 7am!) we met up in our corral ready ready ready, ready to run!

I really tried my best (despite still not being fully recovered from my sinus infection and general lack of preparation) and Dan stuck by my side and motivated me the whole way, bless his heart. 4.2 miles and 59:12 later we crossed the finish line! Neither of us have run a race before so it was a goal accomplished for both!

It was cool being on the field for the first time, we are HUGE ASU Football fans and have had season tickets for four, five years now? The football team was there cheering us on at the finish line, very exciting :) Go Devils!

Afterward we met up with some friends down at Rula Bula on Mill then headed down to Zipp's for some half and half onion rings and ff to reward ourselves. The Sartis dominated the Swygert/Schleusners in shuffle board! We napped and lounged the rest of the afternoon. Great day to be part of such a great cause and accomplish our first race!

AIMS Week

It is AIMS week! You may be asking yourself, why is this significant? First grade doesn't take AIMS... Well, let me tell you why. First off, all specials are canceled. No music, PE, computer lab, library or NWEA (the test 1st ACTUALLY takes) practice time. Basically confined to our classrooms with 20 six year olds from dawn till dusk with the exception of our "30 minute duty free lunch" (don't even get me started on the "30" minutes...)

Ok, no specials. There goes my daily planning time bathroom break. So I come to school early and stay late to get my planning/copying done. And come in extra early and stay extra late to plan for those additional blocks of time where the kids would have been at specials.

There is so much energy bottled up in the kids you can feel it. Needless to say this makes them very "lively" ALL. DAY. LONG.

Thank you for listening to my rant, just think of me and say a little prayer when you enjoy your coffee at your desk or take a potty break at your will :)

On the plus side, we have time to do fun activities we wouldn't have time for in our normal schedule. This means...science! Particularly, weather. This week we have had a great time making wind vanes and measuring wind,

brainstorming and illustrating weather words

learning about the water cycle

and graphing our favorite types of clouds.

 We also read Eric Carle's "Little Cloud" and made our own paper tear clouds, so cute!

Tomorrow we will do seasons and thank goodness that testing will be over! (At least until it's our turn the first week of May!)

48 Hours in Pajamas

After feeling under the weather Thursday and becoming miserably sick Friday I have yet to leave the vertical position or change out of my pajamas. I have, however accomplished a few things :)

• Finished reading "My Sister's Keeper"
• Spent $100 at the Walgreen's Take Care Clinic (I do NOT recommend this!)
• Sent Facebook messages to all Facebook friends who graduated with me reminding them to register for our 10 year reunion!

• Took 2 hot showers to help with the congestion and changed pjs :)
• Baked a homemade carrot cake (Thursday) but didn't have time to finish frosting and decorating before nephew Nathan's 1st birthday party Saturday. I missed the party but Dan took the cake and there wasn't a left over piece to bring home so I assume it went over well!

  

• Plucked my eyebrows
• Emptied my DVR
• Painted my teeny tiny toe nails my fav color...Fiji by Essie
• Washed the sheets and towels
• Watched an old favorite

• Consumed 2 yellow and 1 orange Gatorade 
• Made a Costco list for the hubs
• Spent some serious time on Facebook and some of my favorite blogs, willing updates just to entertain me
• Contemplated having my wedding rings redipped, the white gold yellows after time from the acid in your body. I don't know that I can part with them for the week it takes to have them plated.
• Thought about all the chores I should have gotten done; watering plants, cleaning bathroom, dusting bedroom, grocery shopping, dishes, sewing, putting away laundry etc. but in the words of the fabulous Miss O'Hara "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."

Primary Teachers Should Get Extra Sick Days

It seems like once a month I come down with the classic sore throat, runny nose and cough. Bless their hearts but my kids are GERM FACTORIES! Their sweet smiles and offers to go get the school nurse for me keep me going throughout the day. On the other hand, calling the nonviolent crisis intervention teacher into my classroom for a certain student's meltdown made me wish I had used up a precious sub day and kept the covers over my head.

Turns out it's all a wash so I stopped by Target on the way home to pick up some "survival" items. Hopefully this gets me through the night and tomorrow...thank goodness for early release Fridays!

You Know You Teach First Grade When...

My first try at a "linky party"(?) Thank you Abby from The Inspired Apple

• You remind your husband to "follow the directions"
• When asked a question, you respond with "what do you think?"
• You refer to yourself in the third person "Mrs. Sarti said..."
• You count backward from 3 in your sleep
• Your feel special because your personal life is fascinating to the tiny humans
• Pointing isn't considered rude, it's necessary
• You can find a way to explain anything in a way they can understand, even the nudity at the Art Museum or how the Dr. can tell if the baby in their mom's tummy is a boy or a girl ;)
• Half your lesson plan ideas come from the genius bloggers you stalk follow religiously

You know you teach in Tempe when...

• Your phonics skills can't help you read your class roster
• You take your kids on a field trip and they think the bus ride IS the field trip
• The field trip is free thanks to Title One :)
• You thank goodness for Title One so the little ones have at least 2 square meals a day
• Your kids know more words to Eminem songs than you do
• The "S" word isn't shut up
• You pretty much live at school the week of conferences praying parents will show up, who cares if it's the wrong day or time?
• You know at the end of it all they couldn't do it without you, sigh.