Bowling

So I took my class bowling today. It was a community mobility trip. And we went with another class. But still, I took my class bowling, a huge undertaking in itself. It went very well. And the day as a whole went very well too. Tomorrow is Friday!! Always a good thing!

Testing for alternative assessment is almost, kind of done. And they extended the deadline so that is always nice.

I have just a few IEPs to write, only a couple overdue. Oops. Well I guess a couple overdue a year is not terrible.

Beginning to really enjoy the kids. Starting to miss them and they are not even gone yet. Not even close. Its weird I guess.

Ice and good day

What a day. Due to a variety of reasons, I only had 2/3 of my class today. The buses were 45 minutes to an hour late this morning and took an extra 15 - 30 minutes to come this afternoon. I had two students for a while, and that was only because their mothers had brought both of them in due to the bus situation. I was able to get alot done today and feel good about today! To bad everyday can't be like that...

...the start of a good idea

So after a nice conversation with a mom on Friday after school, I have decided that a wheelchair ramp needs to be built for one awesome girl! A girl whom always has a smile on her face and does not let her multiple disabilities/health concerns get in her way. I happen to know her through both of my jobs and she put a smile on my face more than once! This plan of mine is only in the stage that includes me thinking about it a lot and beginning to plan how I am going to make it happen...with basically no construction skills...and personally very little funding.

I think this is were I decide I need help!
Needed:
People with knowledge of how to build a secure ramp.
People with the muscle power to build it. I was thinking frat boys, Boy Scouts, or just overall nice people, but really anyone will do :-).
Materials
Funding
And one nice day with decent weather to make this all happen.

This coming week

I am slowly making progress on my testing/really large pile of papers. I am excited for this coming week as we are going to Mside three times! It should be fun, productive, and a little interesting with my students.

testing, testing, testing

If it is not alternative assessment I am doing this week (and next week and the week after that...) its probes for IEPs. Oh and I have two IEPs due within the week. Atleast the speech therapist finally typed the four numbers she needed to enter, so I finally was able to submit one I had done a month or two ago...

The other theme of my life seems to be meetings, meetings, meetings! Overall though I would say my week has been good, though we are only two days into it...

A different perspective

We range from being able to play UNO to needing everything in a box, go fish is fun though we cheat, card holders are helpful to us, able to read to no letters, 2nd grade gen ed math to counting to 3. As you know, some of us do not know our name. We are all "verbal" though we really do range. One of us is in the process of getting a talker (device). We are 2nd and 3rd graders, mod md. No real physical needs besides limited steps and two runners, one whom Galvin worries about. Project Lifesaver is our friend and life skills are important, so are manners. One of us is a perfectionist, Galvin and him seem to understand each other!
Some of us have some behavior concerns but we tend to be angels if we are going to get 1:1 attention. Ms. Galvin is currently going with Love and Logic, physically removing either the problem or the rest of the class and not paying any attention to us - which really makes us mad. We have 5 pennies velcroed to our desk and as long as we are good we do not lose them. We have reward twice a day. We feed off of each other but are also there for each other when one of us gets to being mean or loud. Raising our hands is a tough concept, very tough. Two of us are very very hard to understand, especially if you are not around us all the time. This makes one of us mad and the other one of us is really ok with a smile and a nod of your head.
6 of us are independent in bathrooming, one needs to be prompted because the auto flush toilets are a bit scary; 2 of us are in pull-ups though Ms Galvin is pretty sure big girl pants is in one of our futures real soon and the other is not real far behind. Visual MJ line drawing schedules run our lives, and we can't really function without a few 5 pt. timers. Some of us like the time timer but it can only be thrown across the room so many times before it does not work :-). Velcro is our friend as two of us need a pull off schedule, one more than the other. We love to be read to! Between speech and integration and two aids, Ms. Galvin has a tendency to go a bit crazy at times.
Some of us need adult support in Gen. Ed. One of us is going to try a mild placement starting in the fall while three of us could be in s/p. We all love food though one of us is a real choking concern, while another one of us could be if we are not careful. We will be very very excited when Ms Galvin decides to tell us about our trip to see you, though she won't tell us for a while :-).

Another month

Another month down, and it seems like I have even more to do.

I had a parent call in the other day and say if her child was feeling better, she would bring him in; but if not, she was going to keep him home. What a thought!! If only every parent thought that way! As the winter months have arrived, I have added nurse to my list of jobs besides teacher. And through it all, I have some how managed to stay semi healthy. If anyone would like to donate a thermometer to my classroom it would make my life easier!

The 100th day was on Friday, Groundhog's Day is Monday, and Valentine's Day will be here before I know it.