What to Write...What to Write??!!

Last week I had about FOURTEEN different things that I wanted to blog, but was ALL CONSUMED by Facebook, so didn't write anything. Here we are...a whole week (or so) later, and the "shininess" of Facebook is FINALLY a little less MEZMERIZING. Now that I can get back to my ORIGINAL online obsession...I can't think of a single thing to write...sigh...

I guess I WILL state that this is my LAST Monday of freedom, as school starts again (for teachers, anyway) next Monday. I know...I know...those of you who work "real" jobs, 365 days a year (less whatever you've accrued in vacation time) are TIRED of hearing us non "real job" people whine every August.

I USED to be there...NINE years at a public library, working ALL YEAR LONG (with only TWO WEEKS of vacation) while my "teacher friends" got to PLAY during the summer (my MOST crazy time...with the summer reading program) annoyed me to no end. I would think the same exact thing when August rolled around, but now...I TOTALLY GET IT!!!!

Luckily, my job changed SO drastically last year (and was so AMAZINGLY FABULOUS, compared to what it was), that I'm actually NOT feeling the usual DREAD that I used to. I think it also helps that I JUST finished four weeks of teaching summer school LAST Thursday...which was a GREAT "kick it into gear" experience. Now it won't be NEARLY the shock to the system that it usually is...I hope.

Speaking of summer school, I'm SO teaching it every summer from now on!!!!! It was a HOOT. I was a little hesitant to do it at all, after my AWFUL school year experiences with after school "targeted services", but, not having the mall job this summer (which I TOTALLY do not miss), I needed a little "cash flow" near the end of the summer...when the "payout" in June has dwindled to the "can't even afford to buy gas" range.

Anyhoo...Kelly, one of the 5th grade teachers, and I, along with an educational assistant (Storme) had FIFTY FIVE 4th through 6th graders, Monday through Thursday, from 8:30-11:00, for FOUR weeks, who needed work on math and reading. We decided to team teach them all (we didn't have enough students for a THIRD teacher, if you can believe that!!!) in a sort of "skills rotation".

We started out with a morning circle with ALL of our students, at which time we made announcements, took attendance, played a team building game, and did a book checkout (we also did the Barnes & Noble summer reading program as part of our "curriculum"). After circle, we divided them into grade levels, and rotated them through three "stations".

In one, they did "Get Ahead Math" (a computer math program) in the computer lab. In another (mine), they played "library games" (utilizing dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesaurus, atlases, almanacs, and other reference resources). In the third group, they read for 20 minutes, and then went outside for games and "playground stuff".

During the last five minutes we got back together for a closing circle, and sent them on their merry little ways.

The kids seemed to enjoy the quick pace (each session was only 35 minutes), and "busy-ness" of it all, and we even heard comments like "I didn't want to come to summer school, but this is way better than I thought it was going to be". As a teacher, I'll take that as a compliment!!

We ended up with TWENTY FOUR completing the B&N reading program (read eight books, write the titles on the reading log, as well as your favorite part of the book), and our vice principal drove them to the store in Woodbury, during the last week, to pick out a free book as a prize.

All in all...it was a GREAT way to get those students who needed a little extra push "up to speed" for the start of school in a few weeks. I MUST say, however, that I'm REALLY going to miss being at school by 8:00, and getting home by NOON!!! That's SO not going to happen again for a LONG, LONG time!!!

Hope YOUR week is going well!