Catching Up

We're heading to Chicago this morning. Stein is sleeping, so I figured this would be a good time to catch up on the blog.

I decided it would be best that I stay home last night and do more work on my project. I was getting the stressed-out feeling that really gets to me, and realized I just needed to plow through the project to get rid of the feeling.

After 3 hours of work, I did get a good chunk of it done and now I feel a lot better. I feel a lot clearer about the project, and know that I have Sunday evening to do more preparations for the week. I was also able to get organized around the house, as the project had taken over the dining room. The dining room table was completely consumed by posters, files, markers, and books. Just cleaning that up helped to clear my mind and made me feel organized.

I start my solo weeks this week. I am looking forward to it with excitement and nervousness. As much as being solo with a sub was nerve wracking, I have to say that it has really helped with my confidence. I know that I can teach for a whole day without Linda in the room. The only difference is that I won't have the sub in the room to be the "heavy" for discipline when I'm trying to teach.

This week we have Tuesday off (the kids are off but we have an in-service meeting) and I also have a workshop on Friday afternoon. This works out just fine for me. I can teach a day, and have a day to regroup and prepare. Then I teach two more days and have the weekend to regroup and prepare. Next week will be a different story. And the following week after that which is the two days before Thanksgiving break? I'm expecting complete chaos. The only consolation? I'll be done with my solo teaching as of Tuesday at 3:42 p.m. that week.

As far as this week, I think it went well. I was solo with Linda in the room. She admits that she has a hard time with this, since she wants to jump in and help/teach/discipline. She did have a hard time, but it was okay. There were learning moments for me, moments that I'm hoping will help me in the coming weeks. Next week she will stay out of the classroom completely.

We went on our field trip to the gravel pit this week. It was a great trip, but completely exhausting! Although we only traveled about a 1/2 hour from the school, the kids definitely reacted to being in the "country". "Horses!" they shouted as we passed a farm with one horse in the field. "We're really far away", said the girl who sat next to me on the bus. These kids are definitely city kids. But the sad thing is, they're city kids who don't get out much. They can't.

Being at the gravel pit was fun. The kids had gallon milk containers to put rocks in, and most of them got on the bus dragging a full container of rocks. "Look at this one, Mrs. Steinhauer!" they would say with excitement. I would give them my most enthusiastic reaction as I looked at the plain brown rock they held in their hand. They weren't rock hunting, they were treasure hunting, and they sure found treasures.

We were outside all day, aside from a trip to the geological museum where the kids created all kinds of chaos. After the museum, we went to the nearby cemetery to see the tombstones and how some stones were more worn than others. They had a seek-and-find kind activity where they learned about some of the symbols and deceased in the cemetery.

The next day we went to the woods that are behind our school. There is a really nice loop trail that weaves through the trees and near a pond. We went with our first-grade buddies. The first grade had the assignment of looking for living and non-living things in the woods. They were able to see ducks, geese, squirrels, a spider egg sac, lots of leaves and a real live salamander! It was a beautiful fall day to be in the woods. Brown, yellow, red, and orange leaves swirled in the air before joining their friends on the ground. I got a mini-science lesson from one of the first graders when he told me that trees hibernate in the winter. We all seem to hibernate in the winter, I thought.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print at this point. I'll try to write more tomorrow when we get back from Chicago. Have a great weekend!