Jingle Bells

Holiday Concert

CJ waving at us before the concert began.

CJ is in the back - fourth from the left.

Family pics 2010

It was cold - very cold!!! I wasn't thrilled with the family shots. This is the best one.

Lots of great shots of CJ though.

I love this!!!!

Teacher Gifts

I have been asked to make a list of my favorite teacher gifts to receive around the holidays. Interestingly enough, this topic was brought up in the teacher's room recently. And let me tell you we are all different. One liked homemade gifts, another hated homemade gifts; one liked gift cards, another said they would rather get a gift certificate for a manicure.

So my best advice to those of your buying teacher gifts - know your teacher! I know it's hard - still fairly early in the school year to really know them. Take a look next time you are in your child's classroom - is she/he a coffee drinker, collect anything? Ask your child if Teacher has mentioned anything they like. One year I had a little girl bring me a very cute decorated bucket with a big red bow, and inside the bucket were mini peanut butter cups (they are my favorite!). That was a great gift because it showed me a)how much that student knew about me and b) she liked me so much that she really thought about me when mom asked her what to get for me.

Of course, I now have the task of buying teacher gifts too. When I asked CJ what his teacher talked about - anything she loves he said, "She loves me!" Too cute:) When I told him that I was trying to figure out what to buy her for Christmas he said, "I'll ask her." :) That should be an interesting conversation!

What I have decided to do is make clipboards. I got one a few years ago and I love it. Once I finish them I will post pictures. I will also attach a gift card of some sort - that's the part we need to figure out. I thought about trying to come up some sort of questionnaire for CJ to ask his teacher - favorite place to shop, drink coffee, read, etc. But I can't decide how I would feel about it as a teacher. So we'll see.

Then there's the question of who do you buy for - CJ has his first grade teacher, special ed teacher, speech teacher, OT, school psychologist, social worker, gym teacher, art teacher, music teacher, librarian, nurse (whom he sees often and loves), Principal, assistant principle, secretaries, Spanish teacher, cafeteria helpers, crossing guard....I think that's the list. Then there's all those outside therapist that works with him! What a list! The way I look at it, the specials teachers (gym, music, etc.) often get overlooked at the holidays so they will each get a little something. The special ed team work very hard with CJ often in a small group or one to one - so they will get each get something. Most on this list will get some homemade treats.

Here are my favorite teacher gifts from over the years:

- the above mentioned gift - bucket of peanut butter cups
- gift cards - coffee, target ,Barnes and Noble
- stationary
- homemade angel - yes she goes on top of my tree every year - I will always remember the child and family that gave her to me
- the year we moved into our home I received a lot of Home Depot gift cards -
- the clipboard (decorated by the mom), it has my name on it and it's just so cute!

I hope I have been somewhat helpful to all of you buying teacher gifts this year:) I'm off to start decorating clipboards!

Thanksgiving 2010

Happ Thanksgiving everyone! As you know we do our Thanksgiving tomorrow. But we do have our own Mama Teacher Household traditions.

The parade of course is one:) This might be the first year that CJ is so excited about the parade. He has watched in the past, but he seems more excited about it this year. As I type he is excitedly telling me about all the balloons he sees:) My favorite part is the singing and dancing at the beginning from Broadway shows.

Breakfast has now become a tradition - we have our big dinner tomorrow - but today is big breakfast. Homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. Yum:) Sorry Mommy hungry I don't really have a recipe - it's all by eye and taste - ground sausage, flour, milk and pepper. It was delicious!

CJ has declared it a stay in all PJs all day. I think that's a great tradition:) It is also Mommy and CJ Thanksgiving he says. We will cook pies and cookies for tomorrow. Play games. Maybe a craft project. We'll see what the day brings.

Rock On

My Boys rockin' out!!!

Groton

We went to the sub museum last weekend. CJ had a great time asking his questions and learning how the sub works. The tour of the sub was very cool.

Grateful

What would I do without my friends! Mommy Hungry you are always giving me props in your blog - so it's time I did the same. This has been a trying week for the Teacher Household and the continual fight we fight. Thank you so much for your thoughts, shoulder, and support. It means the world to me!

What Is That Noise?

Friday morning one of my friends stops in my classroom to chat and she hears a noise. "What is that noise?" I don't hear it. Later in the morning I am talking to someone and I hear a noise - but don't discover what it is. I didn't give it another thought. The kids come in and get ready for their day. We have our morning meeting and I sit in my rocking chair to read them a story. Next to my rocking chair is the recycling bin. About half way through the story - I hear a noise and look down into the bin - and I find the noise. A mouse!!!!! I quickly stand him, but stay calm and say , "OK boys and girls everyone stand up and walk to your desk." They must hear a little panic in my voice because no one questions me! I run over to the phone and tell the secretary in a whisper panic that ," I need the custodian NOW!" I go back to the kids and continue to read the story. The custodian comes to my door and I tell him to please take the recycling bin out of the class - he picks it up and sees why then heads out the door. My kids had no idea that there was a mouse in the class! I was so proud of myself!!! Now if that had been one of the other first grade teachers in my wing - the whole school would have known!!!

Touch a Truck

We lasted about 45 minutes last week at Touch a Truck. I felt bad for CJ, he really wanted to be there, wanted to get into each truck, wanted to be successful. But the horn honking began small then it was two horns, then sirens, then horns and sirens!
The event started by the ladies checking us in saying CJ HAD to have a stamp on his hand. They wouldn't let me get two stamps, he HAD to have his own. CJ doesn't like to have stamps on his hand, nor does he like a stranger touching him to give him the stamp. I finally got him to agree to it if I put it on for him. Even that was questioned by the ladies, but I gave them my teacher face and they let me do it. Luckily, we were the first in and he was able to be the first on the garbage truck. He asked all the questions he wanted because there wasn't a line yet, and even got a t-shirt from the owner. Then we went to the cement truck and we waited in line. CJ did so good waiting his turn and once inside didn't take too long so others could have their turn. Then we went inside the....I don't remember the name but CJ knew!!! A moving van, a street sweeper - thankfully these were the vehicles that were not at the last touch a truck and he was happy to get to see these up close. We had to walk in front of the police car to get to the tractor trailer and the siren went off at that same exact moment. Needless to say we didn't make it to another truck. Even though he was scared, he didn't hit or throw a tantrum he just wanted to get out of there. But we had to walk all the way around the back so we wouldn't be close to the siren again. As we approach the last crowd to walk through I hear, "Mrs. Teacher" oh no!! So I drag CJ over for a very quick hi and a see you on Monday.
As we walked the long way back to the car I told CJ how proud I was of him - I felt that this event was a success. He handle the lines (and the heat!) not hitting, no tantrum! But he wasn't proud of himself:( He saw these event as a failure because we had to leave.
Our next thing to work on - successes and what they mean - big and small.

Stars

We have a great new reward system for CJ right now. Stars. First we had a family meeting and created our list of House Rules (expected and unexpected behavior). Then we made a list of morning and afternoon responsibilities - if CJ does them without being asked more than three times he earns a star. He also has the ability to earn bonus stars when he has flexible thinking and/or makes a good choice when he needs to be in control. Every week he earns a special outing if he earns 30 stars. He gets $5 when he gets 5 bonus stars, and if he can go a whole month without hitting himself or others he earns a "big" reward. In August, he earned a fish - which he loves:) This month he is working towards a new game for the Wii. It is going very well for everyone:) There was one week where he didn't earn his reward - the second week of school where he had 2 days off (that was a very hard week!). CJ earned his fifth star this week and went to Target yesterday. And today we are off to Touch a Truck:) I will be posting pictures later :)

Knock Knock

Here is CJ with his knock, knock jokes:)

Flip Video Trial

I just got a flip video! I love it! Now I just have to figure how to work it. This is my first shot at it. Let's see how I did.

Have youo ever seen....a what???

CJ is into non-fiction videos. His current favorite is all about farm equipment. There is a song (which runs in my head in a continuous cycle) about the different vehicles. It goes a little something like this:
"Have you ever seen a cotton picker? Have you ever seen a cotton picker, pick?" (make sure to add a little southern twang!)
Apparently there is a piece of farm equipment called a stripper - so CJ started singing, "Have you ever seen a stripper? Have you ever seen a stripper, strip?" (complete with twang). CS and I looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh (trying not to laugh too hard). Can you imagine that phone call from the teacher, "Mrs. Mama Teacher - I'm sorry to call and tell you that your son is singing a song about strippers. Now all the boys and girls are singing about strippers." We tried to explain the best that we could - to keep the song the way it is in the video. "But why?" How do you explain that? ;)

J-E-T-S

First Day of School

First smile in a long time about school - and he was at school:) It was a good first day. CJ got right back into the routine of the morning like it was nothing. His teacher said he had a good day. Keep our fingers crossed that the smiles continue:)

More Maine Pictures

Loving the rides at the Clam Fest.

My little cutie pie!

CJ took this picture.

Grumpster the lobster!

Some of my fave pics from Maine

The Grumpster and Grumpster Jr.

Being Silly

I love this picture! At Bailey's Island.

Bailey's Island

I love my Maine ocean!

Not This Year

With all the chaos and stress of this month I have decided not to celebrate my birthday this year. I think I can decide that - I'm of age! Maybe I will decide to have a birthday another year - but not this year. So that means I stay the same age right:)

The Ups and Downs of Kindergarten

As CJ's first year of school is coming to a close I have thinking of all that he has accomplished. The year started off much easier than I thought it would. It certainly was not without much anxiety from everyone - but he only tried to run home once (not every day like I thought!). He did cry - but not everyday like I thought. The tears were on random days. I thought there would be lots of meltdowns at school over someone making him do something he didn't want to do - he learned to hold it together. CJ did learn to raise his hand not blurt out and follow the teacher around. CJ did learn to be more independent and try to do things on his own before asking for help. He is reading, he has picked up both sight words and phonics. He is writing (still a bit labored) small moment stories and spelling tricky words correctly. He is solving math problems and counting by ones, twos, fives and tens. CJ loved his teacher this year and thanks to her didn't mind not being at home with dad all day.

The downs are a very important piece of school and for CJ more important than the academics. Friends - I don't think CJ has a grasp of that word and what it means- that social language is so hard for him. At such a young age, there are kids who laugh at him and he thinks they are laughing with him. He loves them - thinks they are funny. It breaks my heart.

The downs are where the school really let us and him down. For two years I have sat at every meeting and asked for the academic goals to be reduced and the social goals to be increased - no. And now this is where we are - CJ not understanding simple social language. We are going to have to start a fund to help us pay for the bills that are now piling up on us. Outside social skills groups, an autism specialist, an advocate, speech and language, OT....

But onward and upward we go - this week we will be fighting for CJ's rights at our most important meeting of the year. We are challenging many of the things the district has done and their assessments. If this meeting doesn't go our way then the next step is...well we will cross that bridge if we need to. For now, think of us on Wednesday afternoon as we fight for not just CJ, but for other children and parents in the same situation as us.

New Pictures

Classroom Treats

If you are one of the fortunate parents who are able to provide a treat for Holiday/Birthday parties at your child's school here is some advice: Bring the same treat for everyone! This year has been the worse!!! I had a boy bring in cupcakes with boy/girl themes - 12 boy 12 girls - I have 13 boys! And the girl ones were princesses. Today I got 24 doughnuts - 12 glazed 12 pretty chocolate glazed with sprinkles!!! Who does that??? Do you know how disappointed some kids were that they didn't get sprinkles?? We always say, "You get what you get and you don't get upset." But really I was upset for them! It's really hard to explain to a 6 year old why your neighbor got that doughnut you wanted. So they did,"Get what they got and didn't get upset."

P.S. - bring napkins - teacher's don't have those readily supplied.

Is It That Time Already?

I was reading some posts from previous years around this time and most of them are me talking about a countdown until summer and how stressed I am. I'm not feeling it this year (not yet anyway!). I love my class this year, and I will be so sad to send them on their way upstairs to 2nd grade! I am having a great year with them. Of course, they have their moments!!! And there is still the anxious feeling around here with the thought of moving grades (still not determined) and a new principle. But it certainly isn't as bad as it could be. This year, I am sitting back and enjoying these last few days with the kids I love, and continue to plan my summer with my favorite boys!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms I know:) I myself had quite the relaxing day. First, CS got up with CJ (which never happened!) meaning I got to sleep in. Although, this is tricky for me. I get up early every day, so sleeping past 7:00 is hard. But I did stay in bed, rested, and then read some magazines that have been piling up. Around 9:00 I could hear the makings of breakfast beginning in the kitchen. Then up CJ (with presents in hand) and CS (with breakfast in hand) came. I was delighted!! CJ scrambled the eggs and helped daddy cook them. * I have pics that I will have to post later.* CJ helped me open my present - a new summer robe and a pair of flip flops - you can't get better than that in my book! Then the boys headed to DD to get me coffee and breakfast dessert. More reading in bed for me. We went for a walk later in the afternoon then had our annual Mother's Day picnic on our living room floor! I was so happy to spend time with my boys, have some relaxing time for myself and not feel the usual Sunday run around rush!! It was the best day ever!!!!

Still waiting

Nope - I don't know yet. Turns out to be more complicated than everyone thought. And...in reality administration should just tell people what they are doing next year. Not give them the option! So I still don't know my fate for next year. And now I get to spend the weekend dwelling over all the cons of all options (I should think pros - but cons are sticking out more)! Fun times people! Fun times!

Change Is Good

My new mantra - Change is good! With a new principal and the prospect of a new assistant the atmosphere at my job is stressful. As the year gets closer to ended, we are getting more anxious and taking it out on each other. Not many are embracing the mantra!!! And to make everyone more worried there is talk of grade switching.

Now, you are the first to hear I will be teaching Kindergarten or third grade next year. Yep - (not to self remember change is good!) after 8 years in one grade I will be moving up or down :) I should know for sure today. This was a quick talk, quick decision by administration this week. I thought I would have some time to think about it...but no - Wed it was discussed, Thurs it was thrown out to other teachers, and today everyone has to have their decision in. So I will keep you posted. Now my work life is really going to be turned upside down!!!! But in a good way!? Change is good! Right?

Bad To The Bone

We went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants yesterday. Going to a restaurant makes CJ a little nervous so we don't go very often...but after our little mini vacations recently, he did well so we thought we would go. One of the strategies we try with CJ is to ask the waiter/waitress their name so that he knows them and he doesn't yell at them. So he asked the waiter,"What is your name?" The waiter replied, "My name is Sean. What is your name?" "My name is CJ. But some people call me Bad To The Bone!" was CJ's very funny reply. The waiter thought CJ was one funny kid!

Loose Tooth

I can't believe it! My baby has a loose tooth!! I had noticed that one of the bottom teeth was starting to look a little crooked. On Monday afternoon CJ said, "Mama you need to look at my tooth - it feels funny,." Sure enough - it was loose. So I got him all excited about the prospect of loosing a tooth. I told him he had to wiggle it around. Then on Tuesday night as I was reading him a story about a little boy with a loose tooth, I could tell it was going to come out. He was not so happy about his baby tooth coming out. "No! I don't want my baby teeth to come out. Let's leave it in." Then the crying began! Now I need to tell you that nothing makes my stomach turn more than a wiggly tooth. I don't know why - but after all these years of first graders losing teeth I still can't stand it. Anyway, I am the one who ended up having to pull out the tooth. CJ just couldn't bear to do it. Once it was out he was fine, until....the Tooth Fairy!!!! He decided to that he wanted to show Daddy his tooth. He also wanted to think about a good spot to leave the tooth for the fairy. This afternoon he told me we would leave it in the kitchen.

Now two questions have arisen for the Tooth Fairy. What is the going rate for teeth these days? According to the privileged children in my class it is $5 - $20!!! And...what does she do with the tooth? No really I have no idea...keep it? No gross right? Throw it away? Let's hope CJ is happy with what the Fairy decided.

Here is a pic of my handsome big boy now:)

Pictures - Making Friends

Pictures - Pirate Day at the Seaport

Pictures - Roger Williams Zoo

April Break

We had such a great time on our little vacation. The zoo in Providence is so great! We will go back again. It happened to be Pirate Day at the Seaport - we were handed a map upon arrival and then had to solve clues. Once we solved the clue, we headed to that area and met a pirate. The pirate would then ask you to perform a task then give you another clue. So much fun!!! The "treasure" at the end was very lame for the $$ we spent to go on this treasure hunt...but CJ had such a great time. The Aquarium had to be everyone's favorite....we spent a lot of time watching Juno a 7 year old beluga whale.....it was amazing!!! The hotel was very nice, and every meal we ate was excellent!! CJ did a terrific job, and was such a good boy. He is already looking forward to another trip.

Pics to come soon!

Prayers and Thoughts

Help me send good thoughts and prayers to my friend M and CJ's friend T. T is not doing well, and it seems it is getting worse instead of better. We are hoping that a bed opens up for him today in a hospital where he needs treatment. And for M we are sending her strength and positive thinking to get through this time.

Gardening

Gardening is not my thing...I have a black thumb and really don't know what I am doing. But I try. CJ is loving gardening - mostly digging in the dirt. Last weekend we were cleaning up the yard and CJ sat and dug in the "garden" for an hour. Quiet, thinking, and working hard...it is a good activity for him. So the next nice day we have (sounds like it won't be until next weekend), we are giving CJ some seeds to plant and tend to. Maybe his thumb is green.

Monster Trucks

It's the Mighty, Might Monster Trucks! CS took CJ to a Monster Jam show on Sunday. We were worried about the noise and the crowds, but he had the time of his life! Thanks to Uncle R we bought some earmuffs (headphones...whatever you call them) from the hunting section of a store. They brought much reasssurance to CJ. He had such a good time that he didn't want to eat "junk". Now that is amazing. He now has a new favorite truck - Blue Thunder. So we have been searching high and low for this truck over the past few days - luckily we finally found it today.

Here is some of the fun:

Imagine

The town that I work in has now been without power for four days. All of the food in the cafeterias of the schools has gone bad and needed to be thrown out. Streets are still blocked, and you have to drive out of the way to get anywhere. The police have issued statements for residents to stay inside, and not travel on the roads as there are still many power lines down. It is unbelievable. We have not been in school this week, and will not be in tomorrow - day 3. Luckily, power is the only thing they are missing - there has not been one injury or death reported in that town. It still must be hard for them - I hope things return to "normal" soon.

Bouncing Around

We tried something new last night...Bounce U. One night a week is reserved for children with autism so we thought we would give it a try. It is a pretty cool place, lots of things to jump on or slide down. A good way to exhaust some energy. CJ loved it, reluctant at first but then really started to enjoy himself. I was a little disappointed that the people "in charge" were 6 teenagers who often would not be paying attention to the children, but each other. The class is termed "sensory" - other than running around and getting tired I don't see what it had to do with sensory. But...we will go back maybe every other week because it is good for us to get out of the house., and CJ was happy. However, I will stay and keep my watchful eye on CJ (and the other children whose parents just drop them off).

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! We have spent the day in my classroom reading many Dr. Seuss books and doing activities centered around him. Spend some extra time reading today in honor of Dr. Seuss.

Sick & Snow

Well...sickness has strict our household. CS was first on Tuesday - then CJ Thursday. I'm waiting for my turn! Hopefully it will bypass me. CJ hasn't eaten anything since Wednesday night, and now has a temp. Finally is drinking and keeping it down. Hopefully he will start to feel better soon.

Today is a snow day - so I only worked three days this week! I called in sick yesterday for fear of being sick in my classroom! As I type the snow is coming down fast! I can't believe it - we had so much rain yesterday I really didn't think it was going to snow. It looks pretty now- but it won't later when we have to shovel out! For now I am organizing cookbooks and scrapbooking materials - a nice way to spend the day:)

More pics

CJ doing an experiment.

Trying to find some animals at the zoo.

Train!

This is how Wrinkles traveled - in CJ's hood. CJ wasn't entirely thrilled with it:)

Fianlly some pics

We're going on a trip!
In front of a Navy plane.

That's Wrinkles - my class pet- with the boys in front of an asrounat suit.

Taking a little break.

Flying an airplane.