south pole

yesterday i had my adventures in math.  today it was at the lunch table.  i get the fabulous perk of eating with 2nd graders everyday.  there are no cafeteria monitors so we get to sit (very quietly) at the end of the table.  assistant teacher on one end, me on the other.  you can imagine the things i get to talk about.  i use it as my "get to know you so you will like my class and not cause any problems" time.  it has worked quite well with one of my problem students.  this boy comes from a "rough" family and twice last year go mad in class and took off out of the school with his teacher running after him all the way home (we are in fact responsible for them from 7:30-2:30). he is a little bit bored in my class (he's "gifted") but doesn't have attitude problems... just problems sitting down so i let him stand at his desk and do his work.

anyway, i am getting off track.  my lunch time conversation.  i think it started with us talking about movies.  some student said his dad has made a movie and it is really scary ( i am not even gonna ask... just  don't want to know.... don't go there, right!)  somehow that took us into talking about the south pole and how cold it is there.  one of my little girls said she had been there but had to wear a sweater (ok, i thought.  hmmm interesting.... are we talking about the same thing)  then the little boy across from me said "well what about antarctica?"  i explained that the south pole was actually in antarctica because antarctica is at the very "bottom of the earth".  he said he would never go there and i asked him if he would never go there because it was too cold.  and he said  "no, i ain't goin' there because i don't wanna fall off the earth.  You know you are upside down when your all the way down there."

All I have to say is it is very difficult to try and teach a science lesson on gravity in 5 minutes in a cafeteria with a bunch of 2nd graders.  whew. TGIF

math placements

what a day!  we had math placements today.  math placements are untimed tests.  our test had 40 questions on it.  well, untimed tests are not necessarily fun when you have children on all different levels.  my smarties were smart enough to work ahead.  my others weren't smart enough and waited for me to read every single question.  most of the time we were waiting on one little boy to finish.  he is new to our school.  i have no idea what they taught him at his last school but i am not convinced he knows anything about math... at all.

here is an example of my wild day.  one of the first questions asked "what is 9+7".  well we all know the answer is 16.  this one child got this question right by making 9 marks on his paper and then making 7 marks on his paper.  he then counted them all and got the correct answer.  yay!  the next question said "what is "48-12".  this same little boy made his 48 marks and then continued to make his 12 marks.  after he got that far he was not quite sure what to do and i think probably just picked an answer.  after a few more questions, a tough question came up. the question was "what is 100+50+4".  so this little boy goes on to make 100 marks.  then he makes 50 marks.  and finally makes his last 4 marks.  after raising his hand, i go over there and say "oh, are you done already?"  he says (and these are his exact words.... i am in no way exaggerating this conversation)  "i made my 154 marks.  now all i have to do is count them".   wait....... what........ what...... oh dear...... houston we have a problem!  that is exactly how it went. 

and this part is true too.  a couple of questions after that the question says "which sentence below equals 212?"  the answers you could pick from were the following.  A. 21+2 B. 100+20 C 200+10+2 (which is obviously the correct answer) and D. 2,000 +100 +20.  After what had happened on the previous question.... and I saw the possible answer on D, I almost about fainted thinking about how the whole class was going to have to sit there while the little boy counted 2,000 marks and then not even come up with an answer.

white coat

dr. got his white coat today!   he has a life flight badge on one arm and his name embroidered on the front

party hardy

most of you know already but it seems as though everyone has a "lite" schedule this next week.  we are celebrating the numerous july, august, and september birthdays this weekend!  there are some big birthdays.  someone just turned 60 and we have some others turning 1, 3, and 5!  we are cooking hamburgers and hot dogs and hanging on the deck or inside depending on the weather!  we are so excited that everyone is going to see the house and see how hard we have all worked to make it feel like home.

dr. started his new rotation today.  he is the first one to ever do a ekg rotation.  turns out he gets to make the rotation up himself.  needless to say he is going to be the "homemaker" for the next 2 weeks.  he will get to learn where the dishwasher is and also the washing machine!  as his life calms down mine becomes busier than it ever has.

my assistant was at work today.  she is an older lady and slows me down to about 1/5 of my normal speed.  what i got done in a day i could have easily done in about 30 minutes.  i thought experience would be a plus but i am learning otherwise quite quickly!

first day

it is the first day for both me and dr.  my first day of school is today and dr. begins his rotation in the cardiology department.  he has two weeks of ekg reading followed by two weeks of chest x-ray.  it should be a relatively calm month for him which is absolutely wonderful because my hardest month starts today.  students do not arrive until thursday so i have about 5 more days to work up my nerves and become more nervous!

mom and dad A are coming today for the weekend.  this is the first time they will be here to enjoy themselves and not work on the house.  they get to see the ever growing veggie garden and enjoy the 106 weather that is killing the veggie garden.  

i am posting on my classroom blog and will post later today also.

my blog

i have become more of a computer nerd.  i have made a website for my "class".  it is really just a way for me to stay organized and document things i do in class so i can look back and remember what worked and what didn't.  you can go to my blog by clicking on the link on the side that says ms. weber's class.  i know i left out the "r" in ms.  i forgot i was married.  this is still new to me. i also cut out my name for my door but i accidently cut out ms. allen instead of mrs. weber. 

last call

dr. is on call tonight.  it will be his last call in the neurosurgery icu.  on friday he will begin his rotation in ekg and chest x-ray.  august will be a slow month compared to what his july was like.  he will be the first emergency resident to ever go through this rotation.  they just added it to the schedule.

i went to the wives alliance meeting yesterday.  i got to meet about 7 other wives from all different departments.  we set dates for girls night out, the welcome party, and christmas party.  we are also going to have a bunco group and we do a lot of community service.

i spent the whole day in my classroom.   most of the teachers were there today.  i got to meet the other teacher on my team (the third teacher will be on pregnancy leave until second semester).  i explained to the other team member different things i do in my class and she was very interested and said she would like me to walk her through my centers because she might adopt the way i do it.  that is comforting that i can actually add ideas rather than take everyone else's.

when i got to school this morning, some of my borders around my bulletin boards had fallen but a little glue got them right back up.  i have unpacked most of my boxes and have arranged my desks and gotten all my centers together.  tomorrow i will work more on the centers and add some more things to the wall.   here are a few pictures of my bulletin boards.