Complex stroll!

Days 84-85 Saturday-Sunday

Roger came to visit for the weekend again giving Nana Babs a much deserved break from the kiddies.  Saturday morning Roger and Josh went to get new SNEAKS...who knew that tires for a car were called sneaks?  Babs slept in at the hotel, and I cleaned and prepped meals for the coming week.  It was nice to have a lazy Saturday morning ( even though I worked hard) alone with the kids and getting the house in order.  I feel so out of touch and disconnected all week long that the weekend is a time of peace, reorganizing and relaxation, something I think I took for granted being a stay at home mom.  Although trying to raise kids, do papers and maintain a house was rough too!  I am enclosing some nice pics of the lake out back and just some cute pics that Bay took while on a stroll with Nana!  There are pics of our wonderful neighbors as well who I adore!  Teresa and Dawn.  Sunday was a great day too just prepping lessons for the week and getting all my duckies in a row so I don't feel so frazzled!

Bay took this of pippy while on the walk!

Teresa!

Dawn

Bay swinging...Pip took this one.

Moon is reflecting in the water

I love the mirror image...

Handsome man...

Ok and now to write about the week! 

First FULL week of school....smokey

Day 79-83  Monday- Friday
Well...here starts the first full week of school...a nice cool morning, however the smoke in the air meant two things.  Fires are still burning, and the kids can't go out for recess.  CRAP.  I brought my inhaler to school because mold and smoke are my asthma triggers.  This smoke sits heavy in the lungs too and leaves ash on the cars! The days were great kids are working on advocacy, respect, self determination, working together, among other things this week in school.  This curriculum is very strange....run through a computer program called Galileo.  You put the key term for the week like "respect" and then you plan your lessons by adding another search term....shapes, colors, literacy, math...etc.  This way you are teaching children core concepts while introducing kindergarten readiness.  Very cool.  I know lots of people have been missing pics of the kids and what not...here are some goof around pics from the week along with some teaching pics...I have to be careful I can not have any of the kids in the class in them so....kinda hard.  I can't recall my days and what I did on each one, everything is running together because the days are so long...still trying to get in the flow of things!  I can tell you that next week we are concentrating on the world around us.  So families, friends, and community helpers.  God knows I did an entire Kindergarten unit on that so I am READY!  Enjoy the pics!

This was a group mural that we did, it was a project about working together.  We needed a BLOCK box...so the kids MADE one!

She so pretty!

TADA!

A new love...Leaf art !  This is my Parrot

Rat

Baleigh did this turtle...

Class Guinea Pig...OREO really sweet....

Who knew that chalk on black paper was so....exciting?

vrooooom....

how interesting....

what good sisters!

How big...

hmmm....almost twinsies?

goofing with mom

hi!

I wonder if I could eat one...

gooooffffy

we are goofs

tv.....like crack

hello....

sunset out back

All for now....unsure of the weekend ahead we shall see!!!

Farmers Market!

Day 77- Saturday

LAZZZZZZY.  That was our Saturday poolside.  We had a great visit from Linda and her daughter Krysten and we spent a bit by the pool however it was COLD!  Once the clouds covered our view it became too cold to even go in the pool.  It has been in the 60's at night here so the water temp is dropping.  Our pool is open year round...not sure about swimming on Christmas!   It still is high 90's during the day but just doesn't feel that hot anymore...glad it is cooling down.  Josh and I took a stroll down to the lake behind our town-homes and unfortunately didn't see any alligators ;)  but we saw lots of duckies.  We will bring the kids sometime soon but I do NOT want them falling in because there ARE alligators...ok maybe I won't bring them.  Oh yes and Jasper got to try his first bit of rice cereal today....he did very well and made a yummy mess!

 Day 78- Sunday

Today we went to the farmers market with Linda and got some amazing deals!  Spent 20$ total and got a huge variety of veggies, plantains, avocados, limes, jalapenos eggplants, fruits you name it I got some..and 3 lbs of Mayport shrimp for 10$!  crazy!  I have to admit I was nervous...this is in the bad part of Jacksonville, up by the main city but by god it was fun, worth it and not that hot!  I hope to make this a weekly ritual because it was such a great experience! 

At least 40 stalls just like this one....beautiful produce!

This sucker was the size of my hand

We came home and went swimming for a few hours with the kids.  The pool felt so refreshing.  All summer it was like bath water so it was nice to actual get relief from the sun.  I am happy to say that after a few weeks out of the sun I am now revived, tanner and happy :)  Josh made some AMAZING smashed fried plantains with guacamole....OH MY LORD heaven!  Where have these been my whole life!!

Now to relax with a rum and diet and think about lessons for this coming week.  This week we concentrate on advocacy, leaders, teamwork and self control!  So exciting!! :)

Fantastic First Week...Remembering 9/11

Day 73- Tuesday THRU Day 76 Friday

The days blend together during the week.  The hours are terrible as far as family and work goes....I am at school from 815 until 530.  I wish I could just have a half hour lunch so I can go home earlier but oh well!  This week was full of work.  Because this is a public blog I can not post pics of my room or the kids doing any kinds of projects but I can tell you about them and show the projects if there aren't children in the images.  So here goes.  Early in the week we did some great literacy/art work with images of famous painting.  Then children chose an image they loved and wrote about it in kid writing.  I assisted them in writing what they were trying to say and they came out....fabulously!  I can show you Bay's though!  I am her mom after all!!!

Sorry it won't let me flip this picture!

We also finished our school of fish after reading Rainbow Fish and discussing sharing and being kind to others.  These children are still struggling with that concept since they are just barely four some of them.  Very hard to teach when they are still grasping that concept.  We did an Eric Carle style fish bowl which came out really nice and put the fish around it.  The fish are made from torn paper!

Ok and the final big project of the week....well the curriculum had me talking to the children about structures...including towers.  The word tower means a lot to America after 9/11.  While I understand the importance of not telling the children what happened I think that they should NOT be excluded when discussing famous towers.  I was instructed to show the children a skyline, Eiffel tower and leaning tower of pisa.  I showed them the NY skyline BEFORE and AFTER 911 and asked them what was missing...the children all exclaimed that two towers were missing.  I simply asked them if they would like to rebuild them and they all agreed they wanted to put them back!  So without revealing them doing the work since I can't....here are some before during and finished construction pictures.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

finished product.  I love the trees of tissue paper!

Bay super proud!

I was very proud of the kids and felt honored on Friday when I had several parents approach me and thank me.  We really serve a lot of military families in this school so they all made a point to seek me out and thank our class for putting up this display outside my door!  Great job kiddos!

Happy Labor Day!

Day 70-Saturday
Well Saturday FLEW by.  I didn't feel 100% still but got lots of cleaning and roganizing done in the morning before Roger and Barbara came over for the afternoon.  Lots of grocery shopping got done and much needed supplies were restocked in the house.  We enjoyed cooking out and chatting up a storm while the kiddies played all evening. Roger enjoyed his visit with the girls and getting to see his wife again!  he has been kind enough to lend her to us for several weeks while Josh is at the academy!
 I did have an early morning lizard visit ;) wink wink I do love my Nay!

 

Day 71-Sunday
Sunday was another lazy day!  We took the kids swimming in the mid morning and just really enjoyed Barbara and Rogers company is all.  We chatted about plans for Josh's graduation from the academy, plans for my teaching, plans for Christmas, you name it we talked about it!  We grilled out some chicken and had the best sweet tater fried ever made!!!!  It was an early night and the kids were wiped from the days activities so they were in bed asleep by 7!  I did get a few shots of them playing dress up in mommy's fancy dresses!

Day 72-Monday
Well Roger left this morning early and Barbara took the kids to see CARS 2...except it was ALL in 3d and there was no way the kids would do the glasses so they ended up seeing Smurfs again.  Josh and I had a great coffee date with Jasper and then came home to work on lesson plans while he washed the cars.  Lots of work prepping all these activities for little ones...I still really feel like 830-530 is too long a day for them!  All for now...hopefully some great stories to come from the week!

Tuesday Thru Friday...school adventures begin!

Day 66- Tuesday
Today was really spent doing training modules from about 1030-330.  Bay went off to her new classroom which we found out will eventually change.  Otherwise the poor thing is getting 3 different VPK sessions with no nap unlike the rest of the kids who do nap.  Its just too hectic for her she needs structure and routine, which is hard to come by in a Reggio inspired school.  So starting next Tuesday she will be in my room 100% of the time....hopefully.  Then she will be with my co teacher Ms Carmen in the morning VPK have lunch, nap and then have my VPK lessons in the afternoon and play time before going home.   So Tuesday was really nothing much to talk about, other than the fact that by the time I got home I had spiked a fever...apparently Im getting Bay's cold?
Day 67-Wednesday
Pip woke up sick today, my fever was gone but still heavy in the chest and head. Pips fever was pretty high and now begins the game of trying to keep Jasper away from it all...hmmm.  Good luck Nana Babs!  My wonderful mother in law is still watching the kids and will until Josh graduates the academy.  That is one graduation I won't miss for the world, can not wait.  So on Wednesday I went to a tutor time school.  Much different philosophy than Childtime but still very child based learning.  beautiful school with 17 classrooms.  We did about 5 hours of training modules there and that was it for the day.  I went back to Childtime to pick up bay and we were both hacking and ready to lay down at home.
Day 68- Thursday
THROWN TO THE WOLVES!  So my class has 22 kids and because I have a bachelors I can be alone with all of them.  The ratios don't apply the same from childcare to school care.  Basically if I just had a childcare license (CDA) I could only watch 10 children alone or 22 with another teacher in the room.  Very strange and its why they hired me, they need a teacher who can teach 22 kids....that and we have some special cases in that room.  The morning started with me and my co-teacher Ms. Carmen I followed her lead and observed her interactions with the children.  I will refrain from speaking about her in my blogs.  At least I will try my best.  At 12-1 I go to lunch while the children start nap...1-230 when I come back is my planning time while the children continue to nap and is a time where I can finish up projects for the room etc.  Well I was not expecting to be left alone but I was....completely with 22,  4 1/2 year olds!  CRAZY!  But they were for the most part good and are starting to accept me.  Bay really loved getting to come to Mommy's or "MS. Christen's" class at 3 pm and working with me.  When my count is under 10 kids at about 430 I send them next door for after school care with the school agers and I clean my room up and get ready to go.  Bay especially loves dress up...

I love that face...
Ok so the day went off without a hitch...tomorrow we start again...WITH NO VOICE.
Day 69-FRIDAY!
OK so we start today with no voice again...still coughing but no fevers.  Jasper did end up sick as well!  Roger is headed in to town for the long weekend and Barbara will get to go sleep on a gorgeous hotel mattress rather than a bunk bed!  So happy for her.  Anyway the school day went by quickly and somewhat painlessly.  Kids for he most part were well behaved and we were able to get a lot of the lessons I wanted done, complete.  There is one part of my room I don't like, it is L shaped.  Meaning you can't play around the corner in pretend zone or block area or even monitor a child who is going to the bathroom, and still see your front door.  Being liable for every child in your class is so huge and to think that one could just get out is....well keeps you on edge.  The morning is the easier time for these kids, by the afternoon they are spent and really just want to see mommy and daddy and not listen to me anymore...but I discovered their weakness.  They love puzzles...sitting and doing them at tables quietly.  i couldn't believe it.  My voice was gone, I had nothing left to give and I put puzzles out at each table and lo and behold...they sat down, you could have heard a pin drop.  YAY!  bay came over again and of course, picked my arch nemesis child to befriend.  Of course she did....I would have done the same and probably did!  ( Oh and mom....this one doesn't have blue eyes either wink wink).  I am happy the weekend is here and will be able to tell more about the teaching experience once I get my lessons going.  I have a curriculum to follow but am allowed to create lessons on my own that compliment the curriculum.  Its the "empowered child" curriculum if you want to look it up.

 Will take more pics as it comes together :)

http://www.childtime.com/curriculum-programs/overview/

Happy Labor day all!