Pooped , Tummies, & Planning

Hello Blogger Friends,
I can't believe I have 3 days of school under my belt already but I haven't blogged even once. OOPS  I have been just POOPED!  Wow it has been a whirlwind.  My fifth graders use to be my fourth graders last year so I knew everyone and wow have they matured.  I was a little worried at the end of last year that they were still on the immature side.  Summer has once again waved the maturity magic wand.  YES!  They are ( I am singing) awesome!!!!  We had FUN for the first two days with no switching I just had them all day but NO SPECIALS which means no breaks.  Ugh!  I think that is why I am so tired.  Then Friday we switched so I met my new fourth graders.  Oh boy and I mean Oh boy....  out of a class of 16 I have 3 girls and 13 boys.  I know many of you are saying a class size of 16 you are sooooo lucky but all those boys and I mean squirrely boys.  There was constant movement and wiggling!  I have my work cut out for the next two years to model them into middle schoolers. 

Then to add stress on the second day of school I got the dreaded morning call while getting ready for my school day with students in my room...... my middle child tummy's was hurting!  So with eavesdropping ears I try to pinpoint the reason for the tummy issue.  Fever - no, where does your tummy hurt?... all over, Do you feel like you are going to throw up or need to go to the bathroom?.... with tears,... I don't know, Did something happen at school yesterday?....wailing, NOOOOOO!  Ok I tell myself I think there is something about starting middle school even though it is day two! hmmmmmmm  So I tell her to try to eat something if you throw up you need to stay home but I think you need to go if you don't.  I am placing bets it is nerves just like her momma.  I am the 'Queen of Nervous Tummies.'  She mentioned something yesterday about a "mean" computer teacher after her first day of school.  Hmmmmm?  Well Grandma was there watching my youngest and you know super-sympathetic Grandmas.  The middle tummy hurting child stayed home on only the second day of school.  Ugh!!!  Grandmas can be a Godsend and a hindrance at the same time.  I love my mother-in-law because without her I would not be able to do my most favorite thing..... TEACH but...... Did I mention she also does our laundry on the two days a week she watching my little one?  Talk about a Godsend do I need to say more? 

So on day three the tummy hurter (I know not a word but it fits.)  got up and was fine then I saw the tears....my tummy hurts again.  Seemed strange that I mentioned that "mean" teacher and the tears appeared.  Ah Ha!  My eighth grader tries to reassure her that he is one of those teachers that needs to yell, scream and talk down to his students to try to establish control of his class but as the year goes on he has NO classroom control and not to worry.  To quote him exactly, "If I haven't gotten into trouble the last two years with him, you will be fine."   Ok I say to myself, what does that mean you are a troublemaker???  LOL So I leave for school and my hubby pushes her onto the bus with her big brother by her side for support.   I cannot stand those types of teachers and we all have had those.  My middle child is just like me super sensitive and takes everything personally even though it may have nothing to do with her.  Fast forward to after school on day three... smiles...  SMILES!  My tummy hurter met her advance language arts teacher and she thinks she is AMAZING!  I am tempted to email that teacher and thank her for making my daughter's day at school wonderful and less scary!!  THANK YOU!!!  Tears comes to my eyes thinking that teacher will be forever in my child's heart and has re-instilled her love for school.   On a side note my daughter mentioned that day she was LATE to the "mean" teacher's class.  Well?????  I say, did you get in trouble?  Nope everyone was late.  Smiles!!!

Ok now my therapy is done I wanted to share a website that I use for my lesson planning.  I started it last year and then this year all I had to do is merge the two years and presto... lesson plans done for the most part but for my new classes.  Love it.  It had some bugs that year that I fought with but they seem to be resolved this year.  Planbook.com  I don't have to print out tons of pages to turn into my principal for review or share with another teacher I just give them a code word and the web address and when I need to look at them I just pull them up on my computer or ipad.  The website also has different state standards and common core that you just need to copy and paste.  You can use your own template, save links, and  view the plans daily, weekly or monthly.  You can also download your plans onto your computer so they are not held hostage by the website.  Plus the best it is cheap!  I paid $10.00 for the year even though I think it has gone up a few bucks this year.  The only downfall is I can't figure out how to spellcheck which drives me crazy since I am a messy typer ( I know not another word.) 

Well I think this post may be a little one-sided this time, me needing to relieve some stress compared to me sharing awesome school stuff.  Sorry:(  And I thought this was going to be a quickie post?  Come back soon for some more drama and hopefully useful school ideas.  On to the crazy house cleaning, running to one child's sports to another's and lesson planning weekend.