Friday, August 27, 2010

Overwhelmed

Yesterday and today, I went to a 6th grade transition training for the cluster I will be teaching in. Oh my, Oh my! We have to give semester exams and finals, along with 9 week assessments. We were given a pacing guide for all four subjects. They went over the text books, except math. Science is the best, laid out what we will teach every day for the whole year. The text books are thick, except for science. The worse part, is we have no books or TEs. I did get an email this evening, saying a few things were found at school, so I will see what they are on Monday. The rest will be delivered by the warehouse on the day we get deliveries from the warehouse. That makes it hard to do lesson plans for next week. At least we do have the science stuff, so we can make copies and plans for science. Have to give a test in math and reading/language arts to see where they are academically.

6th grade numbers are 20 in each of the three classes. There are two fifth grades, and they have 32 in each class. Depending on numbers after the first three weeks, I could stay at sixth or move. If that happens, then sixth grade will have about 30 in each class. Need some prayer about all of this.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

CT Scans /Onc Visit

Two weeks ago, I had a CT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvic area. I got the results yesterday when I saw my onc. The nodule in my lung has gotten a little smaller. A kidney stone in my kidney was found. (No, I have no pain whatsoever, and I have told my AP and secretary of my school, have to yet tell my principal, and I will when I see her.) I also had blood work done 3 weeks ago. My blood sugar was a a little high. I had to go back today and have blood work done, fasting for blood sugar. At first, when I was accessed, no blood return. The nurse had me sit forward, then sit back and raise my right arm. Raising my arm, got blood return. Loosing weight will lower my blood sugar level. It is hard to do.

My next CT scan is February 21, and I already have the yucky stuff at home. I am scheduled for a port flush clear into February. I had to move my dentist appointment that was scheduled for February 21 into March.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Vacation

Got back yesterday from a week long vacation with my family. We first stopped in St. Louis, MO. We went up into the Arch. We took a tram ride up and looked out the windows and took pics. The tram cars are very small, sit 5 people in them. You can see Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals play and the other way, can see where the Rams play. Nice views.

Came down the other side, and went through the museum on the westward expansion. After, we left the arch, we went on a tour to see how Budweiser beer is made. Got to see the Clydesdale horses. The tour is free, and afterwards, those who drink were able to get to free samples of beer, otherwise there was Pepsi products and pretzels to have. That was an interesting tour.

Drove down to Branson for the week. We saw three shows, Buck 'n Boards, Cat's Pajamas, and the Baldknobbers, and rode the Ducks. They were all good shows. Both my mom and my niece drove the Duck while we were in the lake. The Duck is an old vehicle from WWII that drives on the road and can go into the water. We also got duck whistles. We were in the pool basically every day. There were a couple of days I didn't go in.

On Friday, I went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and Toy Museum by myself. We left Saturday, and stopped in Mansfield, MO, so I could tour the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum. I saw where she wrote her books. Did you know, she didn't start writing her books til she was 65 years old? She was only 4 ft and 11 inches tall, and Almanzo was only 5 ft, 4 inches tall. They slept in separate beds. Not all of the pics are on the computer. It was hot all last week. I mean TX hot! That means I was able to feel the heat, that is how high the humidity was. It reached 100 degrees at times. It was an enjoyable week.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Still Don't Know....

I met my team partners this afternoon. We still do not know how the district wants 6th grade to be at the elementary level. They haven't said if we, the teachers, can decide, or if the district will give mandates about it. The kids start back three weeks from today (September 1). We need to make plans on what we are going to do. We have no textbooks yet. We hope to know soon.

I will be working in my room tomorrow afternoon. I will work on my bulletin boards. I can't do them all, until I know what subjects I will be teaching. I think we will switch in some way, but not too sure how. We will talk some more tomorrow about things.

On a different note, I had a CT Scan this morning. I started at the Cancer center, so they could access my port, just in case I needed the clot buster drug. I didn't need it at all. Good blood return. I haven't needed the clot buster drug since the last CT scan, back in April. They even took me early. I was scheduled for 10:40 and they took me about 10 and I was done by 10:30. That was good.

I turned in my paperwork for my application for graduation, which is in May from grad school. I also turned in my application for doing my Master's project in the district I teach in. I do hope they okay it. I won't know for about 6 weeks.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Going to Meet....

Next week, I get to meet my team partners for this coming school year. I will meet them Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. We have things to talk about. I am looking forward to it. The last time I taught 6th grade was a decade ago. I have subbed at that grade level since then.

This afternoon, I saw my cousin perform in Suessical: The Musical. It was a good show. At times, it was difficult to hear the actors speaking or singing. Our seats were right up front, in the front row to the left.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Blood Draw and Port Flush

This morning, I had an appointment to have blood drawn and my month port flush. (Next week, I am getting a CT Scan.) The nurse did not have orders for the blood draw in my file, and I left the orders I had, were left on the refrigerator at home. But she did it anyway with out the orders. When my port was accessed, the nurse got good blood return. No clot buster drug was needed. I waited for the blood counts to be done, and my white blood count had slightly dropped. It is at 4.0. The last time I saw the counts, I think my white blood count was at 4.3. 4.0 is still good. It is on the high end of the being low.

Science Network






This week, I am doing a week long science staff development that any of the teachers who teach science, in my district, could take. Yesterday, we went on a green print tour of Akron. Today, we were at the Akron Zoo. I went to the zoo Monday afternoon, cause Monday and yesterday were community days for where I live. I took pics both days. Today, I rode the carousel, and I rode the panda, since that is my favorite animal. The zoo has two kids of lemurs, sloth bears, tigers, lion, Humboldt penguins, flamingos, red panda, tortoises, jellyfish, to name some of the animals.