First week of school- SURVIVED!

Yeay me! So, there are many, many differences I'm experiencing settling into my new position at Lincoln and South Lawn. So far, I'm still trying to get a schedule, which I can't set until I get mass amounts of data and analyze it to make sure I'm helping the "right" kids... weird, right? That's the most frustrating part of my job. Hopefully, this will get done EARLY this coming week... If I hear one more acronym (DIBLES, KRAWL, ED, SWD...) my head just might explode.
Reading what I just wrote, this move could be much worse. After all, I'm learning all sorts of new stuff :-) The staff at both schools have been insanely nice, and of course, the kids are awesome. I was talking to a first grader (who was being ornery). Well, here's how it went:
Me: I bet trouble is your middle name!
Student: Yeah, I get that a lot...
Hmmm, I had more quotes that I was going to post, but I think my brain is at capacity after this week.
Another similarity- I had a 'runner' my first week at Central make me look like an incompetent slacker too...

Having said all this and how grateful I am to still have a job, leaving South Lawn the other day, a bus drove by with a load of my former students, all smiling, waving and screaming "MRS. BENTZ!!!!!" I seriously wanted to cry. I do miss students and my Central friends, but overall, I'm pleased with how the school year is going.

On another note (I know, longest blog post ever) the Jack Rabbit Run is the day after tomorrow. For those of you that don't know, both my nephew and niece have been diagnosed with SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). I've never had the privilege to run for something I'm so passionate about. My team raised about $1,700 (my brother-in-laws team raised something like $7,000...). Diana came down last weekend and we tie-dyed about 60 shirts (through some serious trial and error...) and her and Sharon are screening "Team A to Z" on them- I'm sure I'll have pics to post of the race (although my camera is on the fritz- boooooo). Wish me luck- my back has been killing me (I know, excuses...) so we'll see.

Loving the cold nights! Tomorrow, I'll set up the fire pit, clean my mess of a house, and pick up the hubby that I haven't seen for two weeks! He's been in Florida for business (or so he says:-) and while I've been sleeping in the middle of the bed (with 2 dogs), eating all the weird foods that he hates for dinner, and having marathon sessions of watching shows like "Say Yes to the Dress" and "Cake Boss", I've missed him like crazy!

You might be A SCHOOL EMPLOYEE

Jeff Foxworthy .............on School Employees

• YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.


• YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.


• YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring high blood pressure or negative feelings as it is uttered.


• YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or if it's going to rain, snow, hail....anything!!! Without ever looking outside.


• YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene pool' should have its own box on a report card.


• YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'


• YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct their behavior.


• YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between August and June.


• YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have a government permit before being allowed to reproduce.


• YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some parents MANAGED to reproduce.


• YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when people refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'


• YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate the U-HAUL boxes should they decided to move out of district.


• YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.


• YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public.


• YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'


• YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram over a parent conference.


• YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter!


• YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have college debt for this?' has ever come out of your mouth.


• YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year!
  

My kindergarten class came in and I saw that there was a new boy in the classroom. We got settled and I said ;
"Is this your first day here?"
The boy :"No."
Me: "Have you been in this class before?"
The boy: "Yes"
Me (stumped): "What's your name?"
The boy: "Brianna"
At this point, I realize that it's actually a little girl (that's been here since the begining of the year) that has had her head BUZZED down to pretty much nothing...
Me thinking quickly: "Oh my goodness! You got a haircut and I didn't even recognize you! It looks beautiful!"
Classic case of open mouth, insert foot!

ARE YOU SICK OF THOSE HIGH PAID TEACHERS?

"I, for one, am sick and tired of those high paid teachers. Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes and they only work nine or ten months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do... baby-sit!

We can get babysitters for less than minimum wage. That's right... I would give them $3.00 dollars an hour and only for the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time.

That would be 15 dollars a day. Each parent should pay 15 dollars a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now, how many do they teach in a day......maybe 25. Then that's 15 x 25= $375 a day.

But remember they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for any vacations. Let's see...that's 375 x 180 = $67,500.00 (Hold on, my calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers or those with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair. Let's round it offto $6.00 an hour. That would be.......$6 times 5 hours times 25 children times 180 days = $135,000.00 per year.

Wait a minute, there is something wrong here!!!