MIss Hales needs to learn how to prioritize

I guess the title explains it all. I am the worst person ever! I am sorry that the blogging world hasn't seen a post in such a long. I am so tired every night and I am never doing anything for myself. I haven't seen some of my dearest friends in so long- Because I can't figure out when to stop working and when to start having fun. If I have an ounce of free time, I either take a nap or read a book. (Usually a book that I want to read to my kids... and I'm testing it out.)

In my last semester of school they gave us this graph of the high's and low's of teaching. The first two months, are very high and you are excited and then all of the work starts to pile up and you start to fall. I feel like I am entering this stage, even if I don't want to. I love my students so much- I seriously have the best class even if they are being chatty this week. I just feel like I am working constantly and I know I need to find a balance. - Goal, find more Alyse time.

I have a lot of things I want to post about... but time, give me some more time. I will be back later. Lunch Break is over!

Parent Teacher Conferences= Tiring!

I have a couple minutes before school starts. Can I tell you, I have never been so tired in my whole life. And by that I mean since I started teaching-- and by that I mean besides after the first day of school. Last night was the 1st night of Parent Teacher Conferences. I met with 16 students and their parents for 10 minutes each, all in a row. I had to talk so fast to get everything covered and make some goals. Luckily I didn't have too many concerns and was able to stay on track. It is so fun to get to know your students and then meet their parents again. I was so lucky to be able to tell each parent that their child has been great and is doing well in my class. I had some really good grades this term. The book fair is also going on and I have a "wish list". Two of my students bought books for me. I love books!!!! And I love my kids. Well the bell rang, I better let them in.

You know your a teacher.... when your crying.....

How great was conference today? I look forward to conference so much and could not have asked for a better day. I could not help but get teary-eyed every time the Primary choir stood up to sing. It was amazing how strong the spirit was with the young youth of the church singing for their Savior, Jesus Christ. How sweet were their spirits? What a unique opportunity these kids had to be able to be a part of that choir. What a testimony builder these kids were to me. I am so grateful that I have the chance to be around kids each day. They truly are a blessing and I’m sure they teach me as much as I teach them. (I would laugh between the tears when the camera would zoom up on a child and they would have a small panic attack or try not to look in the camera.)

jump ropes.... losing a student.... writing stories

Today was an exciting day for Miss Hales. Not just exciting but an emotional roller coaster. My first story is about my students C. It all started last Friday when she got checked out and hasn't come back since. Apparently the parents were going back and forth with the children and the Dad took the kids this week. For a while no one knew where the kids were, well neither the Mom or Dad would claim they had them and the cops were involved. It was pretty intense and I was didn't know how to feel about the situation. 1. It would be great to have my class size go down. But this girl is on a Kindergarten level and has been moving in and out of schools all her life. She doesn't have that great of a home life and that is why she is so behind. I was in the process of referring her to resource because she was so low. I wanted to keep her in my class so I could help her get up to grade level. I just hope that she gets to stay at her next school for a while and learn. Miss Hales class size went from 32..... to 31.

I have this wild child in my class, she is one of my resource students and she sometimes gives me some trouble. Then I have this little boy who is one of the smartest kids and they all the sudden became friends. I was really excited about it. They went to recess together, after recess my class has Reader's Theater and I have prep. During my prep the principal came in my room and asked where my class was. After I told him, he just left. I was curious so when my kids came back I asked if anything exciting had happened in Reader's Theater. The kids all raised their hands to tell me that the principal had come to talk to those 2 kids. I asked wild child what he said and she said she couldn't remember. ---- ya I'm sure. haha. At lunch I went to the Principal's office and asked him what happened. He said that a parents in the other 3rd grade class came in that morning and said my two kids had been using a junp rope to tie up her son and hit him. Yes, my kids roped a kid, and were hitting him. That is abuse, they are bullies. I am pretty sure that my quiet smart boy was not the genius of this activity. So I guess, I'm going to have to tell their parents when I see them next week at SEP's. Oh great!

We are writing personal narratives during writitng this month. We are going to show our published work to the parents next week at conferences. We have been rushing to get them done in time. I was meeting with the students to check off their work. One girl had written about her baptism. It was so cute, she said that she felt perfect when she came out of the water. She then said that when she came home she ate her favorite food "Grilled Poops" I read it aloud and looked at her with a puzzled face. She told me that's what they are called. But really they are just no bake cookies. I laughed so hard, it was so cute.

Well, tomorrow is Friday and I love my life. I can't wait for this weekend to come. Tomorrow is fun Friday and I may attempt to do some watercolors with the class. May be a problem with the lack of water in my classroom. Haha. I figure that out tonight. Oh and my class is 6 points away from a class pet. What should I get? fish? Gecko? ehhh... I am thinking Fish! haha

I am so excited for conference this weekend, 4 sessions of inspiration! I love conference with all my heart. My parents are in Greece for the next three weeks so I am watching the children on the weekends. I am excited to take on the role of Mom and make some amazing dinner.

My First Pink Slip

Today I gave my first Pink Slip. What is a pink slip you may ask? It is the worst thing that can happen at Snow Springs besides going to the principals office. Fighting, goofing off, messing in the bathrooms, swearing, stealing, and other things like that qualify you for a pink slip. Oh and playing by the trailers during recess also can get you a handy dandy pink slip. There are 3 copies, one is white, you give it to the principal, the pink one goes home and you have to have your parent sign it and then the yellow one the teacher keeps. Anyway now that you have all the background info, here is the story.

Today I pulled out some spelling board games that I made this weekend. I was really excited to use them. The kids are in 5 groups for spelling so I was going around taking pictures for my class blog and when I got to one group, the kids were like, Michael bit Isaac. And they both agreed that it happened and then Michael turned it back to Isaac and said he bit him back. So the group continued their game as I pulled Michael and Isaac to my desk for a little chat. Michael told me that it was a "play bite" and did an example on his arm, where he didn't bite, just put his lips on his arm. I told him I didn't care if it was play or not, "WE don't put our lips on other people's bodies!!!!" Then I turned to Isaac and his little eyes were filling with tears. He told me that when someone does something to him, he automatically does it back.--- "I've been working on it though!" So I told them they weren't going to be able to go back to the game, and they would have to write their spelling words 3 times each at their desk. Michael turns to me and in the brattiest voice tells me that he doesn't care that he has to do it and that basically it wasn't a punishment. I snapped right there and told him he had a pink slip for talking back to the teacher and biting Isaac. Don't worry that I didn't even have a pink slip in my classroom and had to send my aide to get one later.

Biting in 3rd grade? Can you even handle that? What are kids thinking? Oh and by the way, the kid that told me he thought I was pretty and he liked me I guess that was Michael too. One day he is sucking up and then next he is biting kids.

"I am so Embarrassed!!!"

Last night I went to a class to learn more about writer's workshop. There were a lot of good ideas presented and I decided to try a few today. I had my kids tell stories verbally to a friend before they wrote them down. But... before they could tell, they had to write down 3 choices. I was wondering around the classroom and saw one kid who was having a hard time. I sat down and started to have a conversation with him. We started talking about his summer to generate ideas. He moved from Shelley elementary which is also in Lehi. He was like, oh it was so sad, I loved that school so much. I told him that would be a great thing to write about. I then asked him if he liked Snow Springs and me as a teacher. Hoping he would say he kinda liked me. He sometimes acts like he hates class and me. He then turns to me and says, "Of course I like you Miss Hales, your so nice and so pretty! Oh my gosh I am so Embarrassed that I just said that." ----- Can I say that it was the cutest thing in the entire world and I loved it. These moments make you love being a teacher!

Look what I got...

I finished week 5 today and it was so much fun. I may have said this last week, but the week's have been going by so fast. I couldn't believe that today was Friday, I feel like it was just last weekend. Crazy I know. This week was a lot of fun. We are working on addition in math, mostly double digit regrouping and today we did a little bit of estimating. We are reading Ella Enchanted for our read aloud and the kids are loving it. It has been fun to read. We are putting read aloud on hold for a week because we have to do this IOWA state testing. I am not excited for the testing, it stresses out the children. Today we had this guy from a Karate place come and teach this respect lesson. It was so much fun and the kids were freaking out. One of the girls in my class got picked to break a board and it was so fun to watch. She didn't really think that she was able to do it, but she did. I would be so nervous if I had to do it. The instructor asked who wanted to do it and I raised my hand, sometimes I forget that I am the teacher and not the student.

Today I inherited this cute little monkey. Ooops sorry kid that you were just playing with it during class and I had to take it away.
I also made 3 kids cry this week. I had a girl who wouldn't stay on task. She seriously sat at her desk for 20 minutes and didn't do a thing on her worksheet. I told her she would have lunch with me and do her worksheet during lunch. She quickly got to work. Then the next day she was dawdling again and I held her back in read aloud. Then she and I had to have a little talking. She cried but hopefully she learned that she shouldn't waste time.

Incident number 2 came with another girl who wrote a story during writer's workshop. I had her come back to do a teacher edit and she told me the story. She said she went to California and her best friend came with her. One night her friend was shot and killed. She knew this because her Dad slept with one eye open. I had a feeling that girl was telling a lie. I told her it was inappropriate to lie. She looked at me with the most serious face and told me it really happened. My instinct told me she was lying, but she just seemed so convincing. So then I asked her again and she denied lying. I emailed her Mom to ask her about the story and she replied saying it was a lie. The next day I talked to her and told her I was really sad she lied. She tried to explain that it was her imaginary friend and that it really happened. (How is this 3rd grade girl just thinking about her imaginary friend being shot. Oh man, I feel so bad for this girl.) She held her own while we talked but after she fell apart.

3rd friend was boy in my class who never brings his homework folder back. So I didn't let him go to fun friday today. (Which is just a 20-30 minute activity for kids who do their homework and don't get in trouble during the week.) I gave him a paper with addition facts on it and had him do that while the rest of the class was having free time. He started bawling because "it's not my fault, my Dad wouldn't let me bring my homework folder to school today." SURE..... Haha. He told me that I was punishing him. Well hopefully he hated the math facts this week so next week he will bring his homework folder back.

I have an aide and she is awesome. Michelle has been doing so much for me including grading and helping my students who need some extra one and one time. Thank you so much Alpine School District for letting me have an aide since I have 32 kids in my class.

I got my new computer. It is so much nicer than the old ones we were sportin. I have the new MacBook and it is just so speedy and clean and fun. Everyone should have one. I have almost been converted to a Mac. I'm just lovin it.

Well, Thats a wrap. I am sure there is tons more, but at this moment, I can't remember.