Field Trip Fundamentals

Today was my first field trip as a teacher.  Oh. Boy.  I learned a lot and the next field trip should be even more exciting.  Today's trip was to Apple Berry Farms.  This is what I learned:

#1.  Bring water, even if no body drinks it.  Chances are, if I hadn't brought it, everyone would have been thirsty.
#2.  Ask what services they provide.  It could be nothing other than the facility.
#3.  Even with a lot of prep, students can still work themselves up with anxiety over this sudden change in schedule and then throw up as soon as we get there.
#4.  Don't let students too close to the decor or items for sale...they might want to throw rocks...just because.
#5.  Remember to bring a stroller for that wheelchair-bound child whose chair is not made for off roading.
#6.  Be ready for anything.  Seriously, children falling over apples on the ground, picking up apples to eat off the ground, chucking apples, you name it and I probably saw it today!
#7.  Bring a camera to capture sweet moments...and the sour faced ones too!
#8.  Have fun and be overly excited even if it's nothing to brag about!

I wish I could share a super sweet shot of my kiddos and ladies in the orchard, but I can't.  Just picture us all there.  2 wheelchairs, 5 kiddos, and 6 ladies.  Just a Kodak moment in the making!  :)

A Case of Monday Crazies

I knew Cindy would be gone.  Little did I know that once I got to school I would have 2 of my paras gone as well.  A little bit of fear set in.

But then a male sub walked in and I knew I could put him with my sumo wrestler of a kindergartner.  Then I remembered one student would be late and his para could help with someone/something else until 10.  And then another sub showed up.  A little relief showed up as well.

The day went on and as I was working with one student, another came up.  We'll call him Wallace.  He looked and me, I said, "Hey Wallace!"  He looked right back and said, "Hey Katie!"  He has never said my name with that amount of initiation before!  I was so happy I practically started crying happy tears!  God knows just how to show up, just when I need Him.  Wallace might never say my name like that again, but I'm so thankful he did today!

Cindy came back and our male sub left at lunch.  I'm the bigger of Cindy and I, so I took our kindergartner for the afternoon.  I'm surprised I still have enough energy to type this much for a blog!  I'm pooped!  He was all over the place, throwing tantrums and running down the hall.  I'll admit.  He ran from me today.  Not very far though!

At the end of the day, we had a little mix up in busing and after some phone calls and bus rearranging, we were finally able to send all of our kiddos home.  Once they were gone, I could only sit and sigh for a little bit before chatting with Cindy and getting ready for tomorrow.  Hmmm....wonder if Tuesday will be the Tuesday Tumble or something like that....

Plan For It. Roll With It.

This past week was the craziest so far.  I wish I could remember more to tell you, but with the fast pace and full schedule, it all sort of blurred together in the end.  With early outs (as a teacher, I now despise early dismissals), evacuation drills, sick students, sick paras, and parent notes, it was needless to say that I was pooped by the end of the week!

Monday and Tuesday were early outs.  Well...so was Wednesday, but that's an every week thing.  One thing about Cindy and I, we stick around and plan and prepare.  We don't leave right after the kids leave.  Monday Cindy and I went to Iowa Alternate Assessment training until 5.  One of my wonderful paras also had a birthday on Monday so we all had supper to celebrate.  Wednesday I had mentor training until 6:30.  Thursday there was a meeting after school as well as a PTO meeting I had to go to and introduce myself as a new teacher.  One of my paras was out sick on Wednesday and Thursday.  Cindy, Shannon and I took turns with her student on Wednesday and then it was basically me with him on Thursday. 

This kid is so stinking funny!  He's HUGE compared to his kindergarten classmates.  He looks like a miniature sumo wrestler.  He is exhausting in a good way.  We have so much fun together and he wants to learn soooooo bad, but at the end of the day, I was pooped.  I went home, ate supper, took a shower, talked to Dustin and was in bed way before 10!

Cindy and I's conversations about lesson planning involve a lot of what we have planned, but haven't been able to get to due to early dismissals and such.  I keep telling her that we will plan for it and then roll with it.  It has really become our motto.  One of our student's attendance is heavily tied to the temperature outside.  We keep planning lessons like he'll be there and then roll with it the next day.

We can make all the plans we want, but ultimately, we don't have much control.  The kids have a lot of control as far as attendance, behavior, naps during nap time that keep going, and then there are the practice drills too.  God tells us that we can make all the plans we want, but ultimately His plans prevail.

Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

-Proverbs 19:21

So for now, we're going to keep acting like every day will have a normal dismissal and that we'll have all of our students and then we'll roll with it when we really get to that day.

Bachelorette Babes

First time being a Maid of Honor is a little intimidating, I don't think I'm the first to admit that.  Granted that being a bride for the first and only time isn't a walk down easy street either.

Here I am planning with inconsistent ways of contacting the girls.  That is scary enough in itself.  Then it becomes the Sunday before the party and I'm not 100% sure about who is coming and I can't contact them because my Facebook messages aren't working!  I was getting a little freaked out, but in the end, it all worked!

Whit spent Friday night at my house.  Saturday I was pooped.  My body could finally be tired and it was!  After taking a nap in the afternoon, I got all dolled up with Whit and we headed to meet the girls at her house.  We met up with Mary, Lynnae, Alison, Hanna, and Sarah.  We all piled in that big van and headed out!  It was quite the entertaining ride with hot air, tea parties, and fist pumps for semi drivers!

We were supposed to eat at Zombie Burger.  They don't take reservations and it was a very long wait!  We instead went to Spaghetti Works and had a wonderful meal, conversation, and I was almost charged double!  A few free mints later and we were out the door!

We arrived at Sky Zone in all our fancies and it was almost like a ghost town in there!  There was a few kids here and there, but we basically had the place to ourselves!  We quickly changed and started to jump!  Seriously, there was joy radiating from every one's faces!  Some may say it is sweat, but I'm sticking with joy!  It was so funny to watch the bride-to-be jumping with her sash flopping about!  Every now and then it was tossed around Mary's neck for safe keeping.  We signed on for an hour and I was trying hard to believe we could last that long.  Somehow we did it.  We soon left extremely sweaty and tired.

When us older girls got to my place, we broke out some big girl drinks, bachelorette gifts, and Apples to Apples!  We had a blast!  It was so much fun to do all of this for my best friend!  She keeps waiting for me to get a ring on my finger so she can carry out all of these things in her own fashion and get me back!  It was a wonderful night and I can't wait to see what the showers and the wedding will bring!