It's all about the shopping... with Wigd and Shocker

[Poolrat]

Brrr!!! Actually, I didn't know that because Jim Cantore was broadcasting from Chicago. Now, I could tell you ALL about Chicago's weather right now! It's pretty bad when I am in the kitchen cooking dinner and packing lunches and Charles yells from the living room, "Your man is on!"

They finally decided how we are making up our snow days. They took away Feb. 18 and 21 as our winter break, made the March teacher workday a student day, and added thirty minutes to our school day from Feb. 14 until March 18. We are going to be exhausted zombies by the time spring break rolls around, but at least, they didn't add any days to the end of the year.

I think one year they added something like 5 or 10 minutes to the end of our school day for snow make up. That was pretty useless but but it accomplished the goal of making up the time. It just wasn't useful.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I have an observation next Thursday. I told him I want to go ahead and do it back in October when he first gave us the paperwork, but he wanted to get all the newer teachers done first, because they have to have three observations each. I'm going to do my Plants We Eat lesson in Science. The kids always enjoy exploring the fruits and vegetables, so they'll be 'engaged'. It's no big deal, but I am glad I will have it over with so that I don't have it hanging over me when we go on our trip.

Mine dropped in during writing!
Luckily I had a graphic organizer to get them started, and they were using their Kansas projects for their topic. It went pretty well.
The lesson I invited her to come in on was math. It was using the interactive smartboard, manipulatives, and their slates. So that was a fun lesson and the kids love it, but that's math everyday.

I think one year they added something like 5 or 10 minutes to the end of our school day for snow make up. That was pretty useless but but it accomplished the goal of making up the time. It just wasn't useful.

I"m still counting on making none of ours up.
We go 11 days over what the state requires, so we should be good!

 

[jenjolt]

Glad the observation went well Anita!! Getting those finished up is always a relief!!!!!

I still have to setup my official observation for first time teachers in Texas! I have looked over the paperwork and I think I'll do just fine! I'm going to invite my observer to come during a lab (maybe even a dissection LOL) during the 5th 6 weeks! (Has to observe for 45 minutes, figured the beginning of class and transition into the lab LOL)

I have also been asked to take on an intern (a lite student teacher), I guess I will take that as an honor considering I'm a new teacher to Texas or they couldn't find anyone else to do it LOL!! Either way, it fulfills a category of my PDAS so I'll be happy about that!!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

We're waiting to see how they are going to do the thirty minutes -- one idea is to do thirty minutes of CRCT review which I really hope they don't do -- the other is adding on five minutes to each class which would make more sense to me. Then, I could just continue teaching the way I normally do -- I don't want to have to do an additional prep. We'll see...

Debby, yes, I am in a public school -- like MeMom, they are trying to make up the days before the CRCT.

Anita, glad your observation went well! Mine was last Friday -- my AP stayed longer than she would have normally, she said, because she was enjoying my lesson so much!

 

[MeMom]

Mine dropped in during writing!
Luckily I had a graphic organizer to get them started, and they were using their Kansas projects for their topic. It went pretty well.
The lesson I invited her to come in on was math. It was using the interactive smartboard, manipulatives, and their slates. So that was a fun lesson and the kids love it, but that's math everyday.

Glad it's over for you.

My kids are going to be investigating the different parts of plants that we eat. We do it every year, and they like it a lot. At the end of the lesson, they will each have on their plate a root, a stem, a leaf, and a flower to eat.

I'm hoping for no snow this week so that I can get everything I need on the days I need to. We were supposed to get some last night, but we were about 4 degrees too warm. I hope the same thing will happen with the snow that is predicted for Monday/Tuesday.

We're waiting to see how they are going to do the thirty minutes -- one idea is to do thirty minutes of CRCT review which I really hope they don't do -- the other is adding on five minutes to each class which would make more sense to me. Then, I could just continue teaching the way I normally do -- I don't want to have to do an additional prep. We'll see...

Debby, yes, I am in a public school -- like MeMom, they are trying to make up the days before the CRCT.

Anita, glad your observation went well! Mine was last Friday -- my AP stayed longer than she would have normally, she said, because she was enjoying my lesson so much!

Adding five minutes to each class would be perfect. We had to have a concentrated block of thirty minutes devoted to a specific skill and another set of lesson plans to go along with it.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

All about the "TEST"- got it!

Anita - what an awful time to have an observation! Memom- glad it is a good activity for your observation. Jackie - isn't it wonderful when you get good feedback right away?

If we had more than three days (Good Friday included) for spring break, we'd be making up our days before the PSSA. Due to the testing (I'm an 11th grade teacher - year they test in high school), a prinicipal could visit me every day. My daily conflict is whether or not to put on the dog and pony show to do the things they want to see (someone's plan who hasn't a clue) or to do what I know is good teaching- which will raise our test scores...

 

[Native NYer]

Yay on observations being over!!

Jackie, that's such a creative way to make up the snow days. So much better than adding them on to the end of the year.

I hope everyone is having a relaxing Saturday morning.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Glad the observation went well Anita!! Getting those finished up is always a relief!!!!!

I still have to setup my official observation for first time teachers in Texas! I have looked over the paperwork and I think I'll do just fine! I'm going to invite my observer to come during a lab (maybe even a dissection LOL) during the 5th 6 weeks! (Has to observe for 45 minutes, figured the beginning of class and transition into the lab LOL)

I have also been asked to take on an intern (a lite student teacher), I guess I will take that as an honor considering I'm a new teacher to Texas or they couldn't find anyone else to do it LOL!! Either way, it fulfills a category of my PDAS so I'll be happy about that!!!!

I think you should take that as quite a compliment! They must think you are doimg a wonderful job if they want you to take an intern!

We're waiting to see how they are going to do the thirty minutes -- one idea is to do thirty minutes of CRCT review which I really hope they don't do -- the other is adding on five minutes to each class which would make more sense to me. Then, I could just continue teaching the way I normally do -- I don't want to have to do an additional prep. We'll see...

Debby, yes, I am in a public school -- like MeMom, they are trying to make up the days before the CRCT.

Anita, glad your observation went well! Mine was last Friday -- my AP stayed longer than she would have normally, she said, because she was enjoying my lesson so much!

I think that five minutes a day would be perfect if that would do it. Most days I wish I had just five minutes more to get things done!
Glad your observation went well. I had feedback the very next morning at 7:30 waiting in my box when I walked in. So it must have been there before I left, just didn't check in the office....
All is well!
She even mentioned me being a good sport about it since we had just come back from two snow days, (like I had a choice).

Glad it's over for you.

My kids are going to be investigating the different parts of plants that we eat. We do it every year, and they like it a lot. At the end of the lesson, they will each have on their plate a root, a stem, a leaf, and a flower to eat.

I'm hoping for no snow this week so that I can get everything I need on the days I need to. We were supposed to get some last night, but we were about 4 degrees too warm. I hope the same thing will happen with the snow that is predicted for Monday/Tuesday.

We have more snow coming as well, the grocery store was a mob scene this morning. We just went to mail a couple of packages...
Will go back for food this evening when it clears out a bit.
MeMom, I think your science lesson sounds so engaging! Did you develop it yourself? We don't do plants. Sigh..
We only teach Foss and are doing Pebbles, Sand and Silt right now....UGH!!!
The kids really like science, but I think your lesson sounds delightful!

Mmmmm, learning and eating, what a lesson to remember!

All about the "TEST"- got it!

Anita - what an awful time to have an observation! Memom- glad it is a good activity for your observation. Jackie - isn't it wonderful when you get good feedback right away?

If we had more than three days (Good Friday included) for spring break, we'd be making up our days before the PSSA. Due to the testing (I'm an 11th grade teacher - year they test in high school), a prinicipal could visit me every day. My daily conflict is whether or not to put on the dog and pony show to do the things they want to see (someone's plan who hasn't a clue) or to do what I know is good teaching- which will raise our test scores...

That's one of the things that Mary, my principal mentioned about the drop in observation, is that she likes to see what goes on in the classroom day to day...
Not the dog and pony show that sometimes happens when she is invited in.
She did also mention the poor timing as we had just been out for those snow days so our plans had all gone out the window!
I teach in an open classroom so there are three of us teaching over sixty second graders. We had to do some quick thinking before the kids came in that morning as to what we were going to do to salvage the week...

Yay on observations being over!!

Jackie, that's such a creative way to make up the snow days. So much better than adding them on to the end of the year.

I hope everyone is having a relaxing Saturday morning.

Always a good thing to have a year with a formal observation over. Informal years are much easier to deal with!

 

[Happydog]

So I read all these comments about evals and such. Of course being the person on the OTHER side, meaning, the one who invades your space and sits there with the tablet and such, I just have to say I know how stressful it can be to have that "admin" in your room! I try to put teachers as ease, b/c I know how much time good planning and prep takes. I also know that the classroom daily is the classroom, daily! Teachers can plan for everything to go right, and then you add this variable called 25 or more live bodies, and depending on their ages, the unknown can certain come into play! It is how yo roll with it that also demonstrates excellent teaching. Anyhow, I am sure your admins are all very impressed with your ability. I wish teachers received more feedback/recognition regularly not just during eval season (many do, I know, but not everyone) -- it is a validation for all the hard work that goes into the profession.

Now, WigD, I have updated this weekend, Jackie is going to update this weekend.... SO....

 

[cmskok]

Anita!!!

I had no idea that there was a new TR! I am so behind!!! Although I can keep up on FB!

Love the rings! Great job Marc!

Good luck at school this week!

 

[MeMom]

So I read all these comments about evals and such. Of course being the person on the OTHER side, meaning, the one who invades your space and sits there with the tablet and such, I just have to say I know how stressful it can be to have that "admin" in your room! I try to put teachers as ease, b/c I know how much time good planning and prep takes. I also know that the classroom daily is the classroom, daily! Teachers can plan for everything to go right, and then you add this variable called 25 or more live bodies, and depending on their ages, the unknown can certain come into play! It is how yo roll with it that also demonstrates excellent teaching. Anyhow, I am sure your admins are all very impressed with your ability. I wish teachers received more feedback/recognition regularly not just during eval season (many do, I know, but not everyone) -- it is a validation for all the hard work that goes into the profession.

We still like you, our awesome DIS friend and cookie sender, even though you are a clipboard person!
I'm scheduled to do my lesson Thursday, but my weatherman tells me that it is going to snow, possibly 2-4 inches, on Wednesday night. It wouldn't be a big thing, except that I have to have all of my fruits and vegetables ready. If we get snowed out, I hope he's available to just go ahead and do it Friday, otherwise I'll have to buy a whole new batch o' food next week or whenever he can get around to me.

As I said before, I just like to get things like this behind me, which is why I wanted to do mine back in October.


Wigd, what's Marc got on the stove today? I'm leaving for church, but I'll be back later to see what's for lunch at your house. Have a good Sunday!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

So I read all these comments about evals and such. Of course being the person on the OTHER side, meaning, the one who invades your space and sits there with the tablet and such, I just have to say I know how stressful it can be to have that "admin" in your room! I try to put teachers as ease, b/c I know how much time good planning and prep takes. I also know that the classroom daily is the classroom, daily! Teachers can plan for everything to go right, and then you add this variable called 25 or more live bodies, and depending on their ages, the unknown can certain come into play! It is how yo roll with it that also demonstrates excellent teaching. Anyhow, I am sure your admins are all very impressed with your ability. I wish teachers received more feedback/recognition regularly not just during eval season (many do, I know, but not everyone) -- it is a validation for all the hard work that goes into the profession.

Now, WigD, I have updated this weekend, Jackie is going to update this weekend.... SO....

I might be able to squeak out something during the Super Bowl this evening between commercials

My principal comes in with her laptop, and at times she is typing like mad, I'm thinking, ohhhhhh I hope that's a good thing!
The thing is here's the way it all went down...
We are an open classroom and it was my turn to have the whole group of 60 for opening calendar. So the other two team teachers had prep time for the lesson.
Like thirty minutes of prep time for the lesson.
I had none.
After calendar I got the kids up and sent them to the restroom,(there she was with her computer) we did the cupid shuffle to get them moving and ready to sit and listen....
I had no time to prep at all
My team mate that you can see from where the principal was sitting had pulled the graphic organizer on her smart board from a web site she had searched while I had the group!
I had nothing....
Needless to say the lesson she was presenting at the same time made mine look like chopped liver.

Oh well, it was just bad timing for me.
I had good feedback, the kids did well, I just wish I would have had a couple of minutes to get ready for the lesson.

Jennifer, if you were in there, I'd have a hard time keeping a straight face, those kids are so stinkin' funny! Actually Mary and I have a good laugh about them too! Our principal has the best sense of humor. She runs a tight ship but knows how to laugh and have fun!

Anita!!!

I had no idea that there was a new TR! I am so behind!!! Although I can keep up on FB!

Love the rings! Great job Marc!

Good luck at school this week!

Hey Carlita! I'm glad you are here! I'm slow but need to get moving! I have six weeks to get this finished!
Thanks on the rings he did good!

We still like you, our awesome DIS friend and cookie sender, even though you are a clipboard person!
I'm scheduled to do my lesson Thursday, but my weatherman tells me that it is going to snow, possibly 2-4 inches, on Wednesday night. It wouldn't be a big thing, except that I have to have all of my fruits and vegetables ready. If we get snowed out, I hope he's available to just go ahead and do it Friday, otherwise I'll have to buy a whole new batch o' food next week or whenever he can get around to me.

As I said before, I just like to get things like this behind me, which is why I wanted to do mine back in October.


Wigd, what's Marc got on the stove today? I'm leaving for church, but I'll be back later to see what's for lunch at your house. Have a good Sunday!

MeMom, do you think you could video your lesson? I really want to see it...

I hope you don't have a snow day, that could get expensive, we spend too much of our own money as it is!

Nothing cooking today, I'm getting ready to wash my hair, we are going out to eat and to an afternoon matinee.
Kings Speech is showing at 4 something so we will be seeing it then. I hope we get to go to Red Lobster. Those biscuits are calling my name....

 

[manntra]

Ooohh have some biscuits for me too!!! YUM!!! Just love em!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wigd, that's how I managed to get my update done -- in between the commercials. Although I must say it was hard at times. LOL!

Those Red Lobster pics you posted on FB have me craving those biscuits now!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Ooohh have some biscuits for me too!!! YUM!!! Just love em!!

I did, one for me and one for you!

Wigd, that's how I managed to get my update done -- in between the commercials. Although I must say it was hard at times. LOL!

Those Red Lobster pics you posted on FB have me craving those biscuits now!

It was all good, the biscuits are what made me want to go there though....

Update coming!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Ros was needing to go back to the Boardwalk and get a jacket because she was going to get in line for the first Candle Light Processional. She had a friend that was singing in it. We decided to walk with her back to her resort so we could see the decorations, get a bottle of champagne, and eat some of her birthday chocolate....

We walked back to the Beach Club and decided what to do for the evening...
We had the car and I wanted to do some shopping. So off we drove in the direction of DTD!
Come shopping with us!

Then we made our way over to Raglan Rd where we were meeting Trent and Tanya for dinner. It's like having family in Orlando!

We walked in and one of the Irish dancing girls was performing. Oh how I wish I could dance like that.

Trent and Marc, a couple of really good guys!

More dancing...

This place is so much fun. I would recommend it if you haven't been. Even if you just go in for a late night snack and dessert. Go for the entertainment! I bought the CD this time, and actually forgot I had it. I'm going to get it and have it put on my iphone right now!!!

After a nice dinner and visit (I always get the bangers and roast stew here) Trent and Tanya needed to go home. After all, they were not on vacation yet. Trent had an early morning client, but we were so happy to spend any amount of time with them! We hugged good bye they went towards the parking lot and we went to.......

Basin!
We had a birthday gift to buy for Ros.

As we made our way back to our villa it was nice to look up at our very own decorations welcoming us home....

Coming up next DHS day, Birthday/Holiday celebration for Ros!

 

[micandminforever]

I love the future NERD shirt of Mickey. Hopefully my new little grandnephew will be here soon(due Feb. 22) and I must get him disneyed as quick as possible. I know the shirt was a little big for a newborn, but he can grow into it.

I love your Christmas lights.

 

[MeMom]

MeMom, do you think you could video your lesson?

My guess is....
nooooo!

I'll tell you what I do, though.

I bring out a big plate of sticks and leaves and flowers and ask them who that would be a good meal for. They say deer and rabbits and a variety of animals, and then I suggest that a big plate of roots, stems, leaves and flowers would also be a good meal for them. They 'yuck' a little bit, and then we go into talking about different plants that we eat. They get a paper plate to divide into fourths. They then go to stations around the rooms and have to decide if the foods are roots, stems, leaves, or flowers, and they put one sample in the right fourth. When everyone is back at their seats, we discuss. At the end of the lesson, I break out a bottle of ranch dressing, and they eat their Science lesson.

They like it, and they participate and stay on task the whole time, so I figured it would be good for an observation.

Trent and Marc, a couple of really good guys!

Yep, they are!

I can't wait to hug that boy again in a few weeks. I miss him so much. I'm already dreading saying goodbye from this trip that has not even started! Silly me.

He loves it when you guys come to visit. He says the same thing - it feels like having family. I hope you guys get to hook up again on your March trip.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Ah, so fun that you were able to meet up with Trent and Tanya for dinner. I hear such great things about Raglan Road.

I always enjoy virtual shopping around Disney -- especially when there are such pretty Christmas displays to look at!

 

[jenjolt]

Awwww virtual shopping is always the best on my wallet LOL!! Loved the Future Nerd onesie...that would probably be my kiddo someday!!!!

I love how the even decorate the stores at DTD for Christmas!!!! Disney and the details, got to love it!!!!

YAY for Dinner with good friends!!!! Especially at Raglan Road!! I really loved eating there!!