Yumm...apple pie

What a nice week. 

Tuesday I had a visit from the Curiosity Corner facilitator (my curriculum) and she observed me all day.  During our debriefing at the end of the day she said ‘that was one of the…no wait…that WAS the best implementation of the curriculum that I have ever seen’  Wow, what a compliment!  She even asked if she could video tape me next visit so she can show other teachers (she works for several districts).  This type of compliment was just what I needed . I always feel like I am never doing a good enough job, that everyone is doing a million times better…but this made me finally feel like I DO know what im doing : ) yay!  Also, had my evaluation the next day from my principal…pretty much nailed everything!

Unfortunately not all things in my classroom are rainbows and flowers…sadly enough attendance has been a major issue.  Gambell is known to have horrible attendance problems, but I have never expected this.  I have 11 children enrolled in my classroom; on any given day I have about 5 students attending.  Last week I had an average of 2 or 3 children.  Something needs to be done…therefore I plan on starting a new step next week.   Each night the gym is open for kids to play in at the big school.  For older students if they are absent they are put on ‘gym list’, which means they cannot go there and play.  Well, the other teacher in my classroom noticed a new of our children who never attend…going to open gym….sooooo…starting Monday Pre-k children will be put on gym list if they do not attend school that day. Also, starting Monday I will be calling each child’s family at 930am if they are not present…and asking them where the child is at.  My method? Annoying them each and every day until their child is coming on a regular basis.  Wish me luck!

Last night Gambell teachers held a carnival at the school.  Each teacher had to have a booth where they were to raise money for their class (each teacher is a class advisor for a particular grade).  For carnival I decided to do a Dino Dig booth where children would sift through sand to find bouncy balls, different colors meant different prizes.  I anticipated this booth to be a total flop…but apparently…children really like sand!  I ended up make $193 just on my booth!  I had so much fun calling to kids to come over to my Dino Dig, and it was fun to act super excited to just get kids to come over (I mean hey…we all know im like that normally…so it wasn’t hard)  I really thought this night was going to be boring and uneventful…but it really was a lot of fun, Im already planning for next year!

Today was fantastic…this week was a long week…and I was exhausted (especially because last night was the carnival)…and it was wonderful getting to sleep in.  I woke up a few times last night…but always so happy because I knew I was able to go back to sleep :D  I had so many crazy awesome different dreams last night.  (a total of about 6 different dreams that I can partially remember).

Now I am sitting on my recliner in my sort of living room…catching up on emails…and waiting for my delicious apple pie made from scratch to come out of the oven…as well as my cinnamon raisin bread to finish baking, i think i'll make some homemade whipped cream too…today was a lovely day :)