Saturday, After a Long Week

I am tired, physically and mentally. I love children, really I do. I like this age group the best. The learning that happens from mid-August until the last day is amazing to watch. I love the look on a child's face when something 'clicks', that 'Aha' moment, that second they 'get it'. It is priceless to me. I have many duties at school, from checking the students into breakfast, recess, bathroom breaks (that is a 20 minute period for each class, twice a day where I read fun stories and review phonics and math) to putting them on the bus at the end of the day. For 1 hour during the day - three 20 minute sessions or groups - I work with 5 students at a time on their math skills. Students who are struggling in the classroom, who cannot count to 10, or recognize numerals to 10. I try to make it fun and interesting for them. This week I have been accessing students to see where they place with their math skills. I will start groups on Monday. I look forward to helping these students grow and learn.

That being said, I am tired, and frustrated, by the lack of growth I am seeing in learning the routines of school. At breakfast they get 4-5 items - a carton of milk and/or a carton of orange juice, a bowl of cereal OR breakfast bar OR muffin and a 'cracker' (could be a small bag of animal crackers or a package of goldfish crackers). Everything is in a sealed package/bag and must be opened. In packages similar to these, but not exactly these products.

Usually by now most students have learned how to open at least some of the packages. This group, no. Every day I tell them to raise their hand if they need help. I am happy to help, but I can't if they don't let me know they need help. And, they just sit there and don't even try to open anything, at all. They don't know the bathroom routine. I have to remind most of them every time, every time, what to do. They don't know how to line up. They kind of mill around in the hallway. They need constant reminders for everything. I know they are young, 5 turning 6, but this is unusual. Many have been to pre-school where they are exposed to this skills and routines. I am tired.

Add in the heat, with no A/C, and I have no energy left at the end of the day. I feel lucky to be able to fix supper! So today I am playing catch-up. I made myself mow part of the yard yesterday when I got home since I was waiting for husband to finish in the field. I knew that would leave me more time today for other things - finish mowing, cut volunteer trees, remove garden debris, Exchange block, dog bed cover, media cart alteration - along with the regular laundry, cleaning, etc.

I finished the mowing and worked on the other outside chores for a while. I am not close to being finished, but I was sweaty, my knee hurts and I have heartburn from all the bending over. I am in the house for the rest of the day.

Before

After

While it is hard to tell and my flower bed will never be award worthy, I did make some progress.

It is hot today, but there is a good breeze. But I got tired of fighting the wind.

The wind was pushing my debris collection container across the driveway, even with it was pretty full! You can see the banner at the end of the ramp is blown straight out. So I came in to do more laundry and hopefully get some other projects done.

I made a cover for a media cart at school, but the magnets were not strong enough to keep the flaps in the back closed. The magnets hold for a little while, but slowly slide down and off the so that the back, and all the wires, are exposed. We don't want little hands getting in there.

The music teacher found some magnets that are suppose to be stronger so I want to get that taken care of this weekend.

I got started on, but need to finish up my block for the Exchange since we meet next Saturday. This will be the first meeting for this new exchange. It will be fun to see all the medallions, blocks and fabric choices everyone made.

The block I am making is called Arrow Crown. Also in that picture you can see some Halloween fabric. That is for a cover for the dog bed I made for my son's dog. I would like to get that done soon since my son wants to meet some time before October 1st to get his hunting clothes. You can also see bags of pieces for the In A Pickle quilt that I haven't touched since I blogged about it earlier. I also have not touched the Flag Afghan all week. Maybe this evening. So... lots to do, not enough time, or energy. I think I will go take a shower now. Or a nap, I really want a nap!