Building Stamina /Finally Friday

'   We made it through the second week of kindergarten! And even though it is exhausting, there have been some bright spots.  One of my favorite times was when I managed to have a couple reading groups and they memorized  read the words in the first little reading book. They are eager to take the books home to read to their moms, so I will send those home next week. I hope it is a thrill for their moms!

      It was 6:10 when I finally left my school this evening.  My car was the only one left in the parking lot.  That does not mean I am more dedicated than anyone else -- I think it just means I am slow.  But there is not a minute to do anything during the day when you have 21 children to teach.

Even at lunch we are opening milk and juice cartons, yogurt containers, etc. and cleaning up spills and moving kids who are wrestling instead of eating -- not exactly a relaxing time! So even though I resolved to leave by 4:00 some days, I have only managed to do it about 2 times.

•   I had to do a "self-assessment" on the computer and check endless boxes to show how I thought I was doing at meeting the standards that I will be evaluated on this year. 
• Then I had to write out my yearly Professional Development Plan to show what standards I planned to work on this year.  
• Registered for a workshop for professional development
• Made arrangements for a sub on some days I am going to miss school.
• I had to make some phone calls to set up our first field trip to the apple orchard and fill out the paperwork to get that approved. 
• I found a note from a parent that I didn't answer, so I had to call her and apologize -- things get buried on my desk during the day, and it was 5:30 before I got to that layer.
• I printed out all 21 names in Dnealian font so I can start working on correct letter formation when they write their names next week.
• Wrote my lesson plans so I don't have to do them at midnight on Sunday!
• Looked for math magnetic buttons that I put away last June -- still didn't find them
• Checked email messages and wrote dates in my calendar for faculty meetings, due dates, field trips, picture day, etc.

So, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home -- so grateful that my son knows how to cook because I hadn't even thought about supper.  I heated up some spaghetti,  sat on the couch and turned on a documentary about Nazi Germany.  When I woke up, it was midnight and Jimmy Fallon was on.
What an exciting Friday night!

If you made it through my long, boring evening, here are some pictures from this week.

 

      I brought a turtle to school and we compared living and non-living things -- the one on the left is plastic. They drew turtles and some wrote " I love turtles" 

      We continue to work on building stamina -- one day they were able to read for 8 minutes!

      I am also working on building stamina -- I'd like to be able to stay awake past  9:00 on Friday night!