Thursday, June 25, 2009
Our son is growing up!
This the first week that Austin has summer activities scheduled for him. This was also the first week that Austin walked to school and walked back home all by himself. As he left for school today, I watched him walk down the street turning around every few seconds to see if I was still watching and waving "Goodbye" to him. We constantly waved back and forth to each other. He stopped at the corner to cross the street. Looking both ways he proceeded to cross, still waving, soon he was out of my sight. Then it finally sunk in, our son is growing up!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Drip Irrigation Kit Part 2
We (Austin and I) finally finished installing the drip irrigation system on the first half of the front yard. It was quite the challenge, mainly because I wanted Austin to take the time out to help me plan this project from start to finish. Austin did an "AWESOME" job helping me dig the trench, lay the drip pipes, connect the elbows and do the one thing he probably hates the most, and that is "Testing and Troubleshooting". I was quite amazed on how well focused he was while helping me out. Even when his friends were out playing right across the street, he knew he had to finish the job before he was able to go and play with them. So after two extra trips to the store, eating hot dogs at Costco for lunch and completing the first half of the job, we rewarded ourselves by going to the Cold Stone Creamery. Austin had the Lemon sorbet and I had the Pineapple Coconut Orange smoothie. We walked down Hawthorne and enjoyed our tasty treats. Thank You Austin for helping me out!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Drip Irrigation Kit
I'm too lazy to water all twenty Azaleas and the three Rhododendron plants in the front of the house. I've decided to install a drip irrigation system to do all the work for me. In order for the drip irrigation system to work. I'll first need to accomplish a few tasks. HaH! that's easier said than done. First, I'll need to dig the trench around and next to the plants. So I guess I'm stuck at step one, for the next few days the weather will be just right to dig the trench. Hmmm, Maybe I can get Austin to help me. I will update the status on the trench digging in a few days. Time to sign off, for now.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Last Day of School
The last day of school is always a happy and sad day for me. This is probably true for most teachers. I'm so excited to start my summer vacation doing things with Austin, work around the house, and relaxing. Another part of me wants to continue working with the students. Today, I gave a few students either a great big hug (monster hug), a long goodbye wave as I watched a few students get on the bus, or a last saying of "Look at me" . A few will be graduating from Preschool next week and going off to Kindergarten in the fall and some will be coming back to Preschool one more year but at a different location.
Each year, I usually have an extra special student whom always challenges my teaching skills and patience. This year I had the honors of having a few, but the one who stands out the most this year is a child who I will address him by is "Mr. T". Due to the privacy policy of this child I can't use his real name. I met Mr. T in late February, he is a kiddo who has a hard time transitioning from one activity to another, he also doesn't like to share, hits other students, doesn't socialize with the other students, and hates circle time.
I was asked to work one on one with Mr. T to help him with his challenges. Usually right before circle time he would start to wander off and avoid circle time, it would be up to me to help him transition to circle and have him sit through a 30 minute circle time. Getting Mr. T to circle was my first challenge, I used a lot of verbal and visual prompts but nothing worked. I tried the famous "First and then" technique, this worked for a few circles but then stopped working afterwards. It wasn't until I noticed the other children were singing "Leo the Lion" extremely loud and off key that I noticed Mr. T covering his ears. It had turned out that Mr. T might have anxiety attacks every time he's at circle, which would explain why he hates and avoids circle time. I spoke to his mother and she stated that he is going to be evaluated for anxiety and a few other things as well. Up to this day Mr. T still avoids circle but we are continuing to try different techniques to help get through circle.
As time went on I have watched Mr. T learn to socialize with the othe kids more and more. I have witness Mr. T trade his tricycle for some bubbles with another student, play monster with the other students, and throw the ball as well. During our recess period, I will play "Monster" with my students. We will discuss what types of powers we are going to have such as, shooting marshmallows, whipped cream, ice cream, or my favorite the right hand will shoot honey and my left hand will shoot bumble bees. I never try to use powers that include weapons. After we discuss what types of powers we have, then we start playing monster. Of course, I'm usually the monster. I'll start by chasing the children around the playground and they start screaming. Mr. T always wanted to play monster, even when I didn't want to play.
Today was the last day I would play monster with these students so I had special powers today. My powers were "Monster Bubbles". I would blow bubbles at the students and they would have to avoid the bubbles, or they would become my monster assistants. We all had fun. But as good things come to an end, I had to start class again. In we went...
We used the penny board for Mr. T today and again it worked but only for a few minutes. That's a start. Mr. T played marbles, had snack, played with playdough and played with the water toys at the sensory table. It was now 10:45 time for our last circle before they go home. The penny board didn't work this time and Mr.T was kicking and screaming. There was nothing I could do to calm him down except remove him from circle. This was my last cicle with Mr. T and I didn't want to rememeber him this way. After circle the kids got up to put their backpacks on and line up. Mr. T is always the first to line up, it seems like he's just dying to get out of this miserable class. The children grabbed the rope and we all walked out to greet their parents at the front of the school. As Mr. T saw his mom, he gave me a "Hi Five" for the last time. His mother said "Mr. T give Teacher Rudy a big hug, it's his last day". Mr. T gave me the biggest hug he had ever given me and then another one. He said "Teacher Rudy my monster" and I said"Yes, Teacher Rudy is Mr. T's monster". I then proceeded to give his mother a hug and wished her the best and for Mr T too. As Mr.T and his mother walked off, tears started rolling down my face.
As a substitute teacher I am given the best of both worlds, I don't stay too long to get burned out with the same schedule or students. But I stay there just long enough to make a difference that will affect them the rest of their lives. And to think, I get paid for this. What a wonderful job!
Teacher Rudy
(AKA Mr. T's Monster)
Each year, I usually have an extra special student whom always challenges my teaching skills and patience. This year I had the honors of having a few, but the one who stands out the most this year is a child who I will address him by is "Mr. T". Due to the privacy policy of this child I can't use his real name. I met Mr. T in late February, he is a kiddo who has a hard time transitioning from one activity to another, he also doesn't like to share, hits other students, doesn't socialize with the other students, and hates circle time.
I was asked to work one on one with Mr. T to help him with his challenges. Usually right before circle time he would start to wander off and avoid circle time, it would be up to me to help him transition to circle and have him sit through a 30 minute circle time. Getting Mr. T to circle was my first challenge, I used a lot of verbal and visual prompts but nothing worked. I tried the famous "First and then" technique, this worked for a few circles but then stopped working afterwards. It wasn't until I noticed the other children were singing "Leo the Lion" extremely loud and off key that I noticed Mr. T covering his ears. It had turned out that Mr. T might have anxiety attacks every time he's at circle, which would explain why he hates and avoids circle time. I spoke to his mother and she stated that he is going to be evaluated for anxiety and a few other things as well. Up to this day Mr. T still avoids circle but we are continuing to try different techniques to help get through circle.
As time went on I have watched Mr. T learn to socialize with the othe kids more and more. I have witness Mr. T trade his tricycle for some bubbles with another student, play monster with the other students, and throw the ball as well. During our recess period, I will play "Monster" with my students. We will discuss what types of powers we are going to have such as, shooting marshmallows, whipped cream, ice cream, or my favorite the right hand will shoot honey and my left hand will shoot bumble bees. I never try to use powers that include weapons. After we discuss what types of powers we have, then we start playing monster. Of course, I'm usually the monster. I'll start by chasing the children around the playground and they start screaming. Mr. T always wanted to play monster, even when I didn't want to play.
Today was the last day I would play monster with these students so I had special powers today. My powers were "Monster Bubbles". I would blow bubbles at the students and they would have to avoid the bubbles, or they would become my monster assistants. We all had fun. But as good things come to an end, I had to start class again. In we went...
We used the penny board for Mr. T today and again it worked but only for a few minutes. That's a start. Mr. T played marbles, had snack, played with playdough and played with the water toys at the sensory table. It was now 10:45 time for our last circle before they go home. The penny board didn't work this time and Mr.T was kicking and screaming. There was nothing I could do to calm him down except remove him from circle. This was my last cicle with Mr. T and I didn't want to rememeber him this way. After circle the kids got up to put their backpacks on and line up. Mr. T is always the first to line up, it seems like he's just dying to get out of this miserable class. The children grabbed the rope and we all walked out to greet their parents at the front of the school. As Mr. T saw his mom, he gave me a "Hi Five" for the last time. His mother said "Mr. T give Teacher Rudy a big hug, it's his last day". Mr. T gave me the biggest hug he had ever given me and then another one. He said "Teacher Rudy my monster" and I said"Yes, Teacher Rudy is Mr. T's monster". I then proceeded to give his mother a hug and wished her the best and for Mr T too. As Mr.T and his mother walked off, tears started rolling down my face.
As a substitute teacher I am given the best of both worlds, I don't stay too long to get burned out with the same schedule or students. But I stay there just long enough to make a difference that will affect them the rest of their lives. And to think, I get paid for this. What a wonderful job!
Teacher Rudy
(AKA Mr. T's Monster)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
1st Official Blog
Everyone I know including our son Austin is blogging. Where does everyone find the time to blog? Austin only writes a few sentences and manages to blog everyday as part of his homework assignment. Well, I've already wrote a few sentences and it's only been a minute or so. That was easy, guess I'll try to blog more often. Goodnight!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)