TGIF, Y'all

FRIDAY FILL-IN

1. We need a new groove.

2. The kids had a great time singing and it made me smile.

3. If you want my honest opinion I'll give it to you.

4. Sing it because you love it.

5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think I really don't care.

6. Spiked EggNog makes for a happy holiday.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Kids Fellowship (dinner & a movie), tomorrow my plans include seeing Alex in "Murder in the House of Horrors" at NBHS and Sunday, I want to kick back and hear a good word from Alfonso Vargas!

Updates......

Substituting: Did 2 half days this week, one for the Art teacher, had three Kindergarten classes that worked on a project to go along with Eric Carle's "Pancake, Pancake" book, they cut out a pan, pancakes and butter and glued the food on the pan. Fun times. Today I was in for one of the elementary music teachers, did 5th grade woodwinds at the Ruth Fox then back to the lower elementary for Ethan's 3rd grade class (we had a blast singing patriotic songs) and two 4th grade classes that were doing a lesson on quarter and eighth notes. Kinda dull, I wanted to do some movement games with them but they were taking to long to settle down so we didn't get to it.

NaNoWriMo: I'm only up to 6,000 words and the month is slipping away quickly. I've had the most luck when I go somewhere and sit with my notebook and write long hand as opposed to sitting and writing at my computer. The rate I'm going I may not win this year but you never know I may have a wave of inspiration before month end.

Conferences: Today I snuck in conferences with Ethan's and Ben's teachers. They both had good reports overall. Ethan is right on track with his reading scoring a 3.4 which is right where he should be, spelling is improving, and she said for the most part he is good and attentive in class. I also found out a little bit more about how the AR testing works. Ben is in a very challenging class and the teachers are really trying to make to best of their situation. Because they had several kids move, leaving them with a smaller class size, when new kids came in at the beginning of the year they got stuck with them and many came with 'issues.' So they are overloaded with "high-maintainence" students. Ben is slightly behind in reading, placing at a 3.8 which is end of third grade level although he is in 4th grade. They said this is nothing to be too concerned with but he should be encouraged to read some more advanced books. Also, he can be a little spacey, not going to the bathroom when a break is offered and then 20 minutes later going up and asking if he can go. This can be most irritating as an instructor and we will have a discussion about it. But generally he is pretty quiet in class and likes to keep to himself and not work in pairs or groups. This is very different from how he acts at home, loud, talkative, bossy, and explosive at times. Hmmmm. Guess he saves it all up for the ones who know him best.