This Month's Port Flush

Last Wednesday, October 13, I had my port flushed. It had been 5 weeks since the last flush, and so I was concerned, wondering if I would have any problems. I had no problems whatsoever. Maybe that is behind me. Afterwards, I got to see one of my buddies.

Starting My Action Research Project

Last Friday, in the mail, I received my letter saying I was allowed to do my action research project, with stipulations. One, was to contact the different principals and to show the letter, I was sent, to them. This evening, I sent 32 emails to the different elementary principals. I will personally talk to my principal. I explained briefly who I was, and what I am doing. I asked each Principal's permission to contact their teachers next week, asking them to participate in my project. Will see who responds to my email and what kind of response I get. Hopefully, I get a good response, then I can send out my emails to the teachers Tuesday night, while at class.

Anniversary and a Scare

Yesterday, was September 25, which marks my NEDiversary of 3 years of being cancer free!!!!!! I had a scare about 10 days ago. On the 16th, I had my yearly appointment for a mammogram. A mass showed up on the pictures, and 5 days later, I was at the Breast center at the hospital for more pics and an ultrasound. The mass was in my left breast, which I had a biopsy in the spring of 2008. According to the ultrasound, the mass was a 4mm (millimeter) cyst filled with fluid. They said to followup with my doctor and they would see me next year. That is two scares in one year. I am very thankful that I am still cancer free.

It is Kinda Funny Now

Last Sunday and again this afternoon, I volunteered at helping backstage with their current show, "They Are Playing Our House". Next weekend is the last weekend of the show. I opened and closed the curtains, moved props, and the door. That door is hard to move and in the dark hard to see where the door is supposed to placed at. Last Sunday, I kinda shadowed somebody. Today, I did my stuff by myself. The one time, I was supposed to move the door back, I did not get it in its right spot, and when the actor went through the door, the curtain was there, in the way. I couldn't tell if it was in the right place or not. Ooooops, a mistake. Oh, well. It wasn't funny at the time, but it kinda is now. I haven't done backstage since high school. (That is over 20 years.)

Still Don't Have...

...Teacher editions for social studies and part of the science, with only one TE for language. We do have math and the cd for it. We do have a Reading TE and one language TE. We do have science that we are to use for the majority of the time. Did get a social studies cd for teachers to use. We do have our scope and sequences to use. They are helpful, but we really do need all of our teacher resources. They make it easier to teach. The kids do have all of their textbooks, they go them last week.

First Day of School

Today, was the first day of school. I had 21 students show up. I am about even with the number of boys and girls in my class. A few that were on my list, I knew wouldn't show up, and a few more were added to my list. We went over rules, procedures, passed out papers that had to be signed by parents, did an icebreaker, went to gym, worked on leveling colors for 100 book challenge (still have 7 more to do), and after lunch, took a math pre-test of skills. Tomorrow, have to talk about fire drill, because we will have one tomorrow and again on Friday, and I forgot to talk about that today. Also, hoping to start in on the academic schedule that I made, and will do work in both reading, math, science, and social studies.

Still don't have all of our text books and teacher editions. Our AP, is only at the school 2-3 days a week, and she will be there tomorrow. I think the rest of our books were supposed to have been delivered yesterday and we should hopefully get them in our classrooms by the end of Friday.

Did this week's lesson plans today after school. Will do next week's tomorrow after school, since I get to spend the weekend with my best friend and her family.

Let's see how tomorrow goes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

First Visit

This afternoon, I went over to my school to meet the principal and to see my classroom. I had a nice visit with the principal and received a tour of the school. I have subbed there before. My classroom is up on the third floor. Only fifth and sixth grade is on the third floor. The art room and the LRC is up there, as well. My room is smaller than last year's room. The back wall has computers, of which they do need to be check to see if they work. One will become mine, since I will be doing attendance and such on the computer every day, and need access to it at all times. I have lots of bulletin boards. I had very little wall space last year, so this year I have more to play with. There are 32 student desks in my room, but no teacher desk. Don't know yet, how many students I will have. There are no shelves and very little storage space. Will have to figure that out later.

Once I meet my team members will know if I will be self-contained or departmentalized. One of my co-workers, who teaches third grade, was my fourth grade teacher. That is so cool!!!! I plan to work in my room before I go on vacation and after I get back. I would like to have my room ready to go before August 30. That is the day teachers report back. I have asked my mom to help me work in my room, and she said that she will.

Good News

I got the mail this afternoon, and there was an envelope from the school district I am employed at. There were two sheets of paper in the envelope. I read them out of order. I am not getting laid off!!!!!!!!!! I have been placed at one of the elementary schools to teach 6th grade. I do not know if I will be self-contained or departmentalized. I will not know until I can talk and meet with the principal. One of my new co-workers was my 4th grade teacher. That is so cool. I have subbed before for her. I am excited for the new school year.

Celebrating my Birthday

Tomorrow is my 39th birthday. Tomorrow my sis and my niece are coming over to help me celebrate my birthday. I will see my brother Monday morning and get birthday hugs from him. Its been a few weeks since I've seen him. I got books from the library to read to him.

Last night, I was hoping to go to the Indians game, glad we didn't. Way too hot! and rain delays, but they ended up winning! Instead, sis, niece, and friends from church met me at Pizza Hut for supper, and then just down the road went bowling afterwards. We had some fun. I bowled a 98 in the first game, and a 66 in the second game. I had way too many gutter balls in the second game. In my lane, were 3 guys, and none of them bowled a turkey (3 strikes in a row). My sis had good frames, when my niece wasn't paying attention to her mom bowling. 16 people bowled in 4 lanes. We all bowled 2 games.

Here are a few pics.

Master's Project Proposal

I finished my proposal this afternoon! So good to have it done. I also created my power point for tomorrow's presentation. There is a couple parts of the methodology that is no complete and won't be until I find out which school(s) I will be doing my case study at. The teachers involved are basically on a volunteer basis.

A week ago yesterday, I was so overwhelmed with this whole thing. Looking for references frustrated me.

I still have to fill out the application to the school district, I teach in, to get permission to do this research study.

My action research study is on thematic units. Teacher views and perceptions on thematic units. How are thematic units designed and implemented in the classroom. I want to interview and observe two teachers who will be using thematic units this fall. I am hoping my two teachers will be a primary and an intermediate teacher.

Today's Interview

I will not know till next month, whether I will be laid off, or if I have a job. I got a letter last week, about an opening at one of the schools in my district, so I called saying I was qualified and was interested in interviewing for it. I got the call Tuesday afternoon for when and where the interview would be. The interview was at 8:45 am this morning. I had class at 10 am. I got to the Board of Ed building, went to where I was told to go and I waited and waited. They moved the place of the interview and nobody told me, until somebody came downstairs and told me so.

I interviewed for a 7th grade math/science position. I had to teach a lesson and also answered some some questions. I chose to teach my lesson on the water cycle. I found out that the shoes to be filled are very big. Basically, the new teacher would be writing the science curriculum and working very closely with the science department person and the 8th science teacher. God's will to be done. It went okay.

I have taught this grade, but still it would be out of my comfort zone. My mom complained at times of my hours this past school year. If I got the job, my hours would be worse. Will see what happens.

Silly Bandz and Science

I narrowed down my my research question for my Master's Project this evening. I will be looking for a couple of teachers who actually uses thematic units that integrate science in them. I am hoping to find both a primary and an intermediate teacher to do case studies on. I think using thematic units would be something to try at some point in my classroom.

My niece is really into Silly Bandz. I wouldn't be surprised if she had close to 200 of them. I actually have four that she has given me. Mine are all Shrek related. I haven't worn mine for a few days, but I have worn them. Rob Croak lives in Toledo, OH.

Master's Project

I have settled on the topic of my Master's Project. The topic is Science Integrating. The how and the why of integrating science into the other subjects. I have started my searching for articles for my literature review. All of my articles, books, newsletters, etc. have to have been written within the last 10 years, and I have to have at least 10 of them. My proposal and power point presentation is due by Wednesday, July 21. I will study one elementary school, actually their teachers. My data tools will be surveys, interviews, observations and my reflection journal. I will be doing this action research study this fall.