What a Week

It has been a whirlwind week. We began school last Friday, and it seems we have not stopped. I am really enjoying this school year. Instead of co-teaching with 4 different teachers, I co-teach math with the same girl for 3 periods & 1 period with the science teacher next door. We've also gone to 75 minute periods which goes by more quickly than you would think.

I am amazed at how UNORGANIZED 7th graders can be. You would laugh at my comment if you could see my house right now, but seriously I love & desire to be organized. My classroom reflects this, I just can't keep up with the 3 other bodies in my house! Back to the kids...what an eye opener to work with several in homeroom to organize their notebooks. Papers everywhere, assignments/notes ALREADY missing, no dates or titles on things...but we did it! Now if we can just keep it up. I'm also amazed at how 7th graders ALL seem to struggle with fractions. Is there something developmentally in adolescents that makes them forget something they've been working with since like 2nd or 3rd grade??? Heaven forbid they have to find a common denominator. Despite all this, I am truly loving this year. I have a few challenges, but all with great potential. It's overwhelming to think of the impact you can have on a kid's life, especially as precarious as the middle grade years. I never would have thought that I would have enjoyed middle school as much as I do. (I'm not really looking forward to my OWN kids' journey through adolescence, but maybe I'll have lots of good experiences to pull from...yeah, right!)

On the home front....

Joe has taken Rebekah out tonight for a Daddy/Daughter date. I believe they were going to go eat & maybe to the movies. Rebekah was so excited. She loves 3rd grade. I can't believe she's 8 years old. The song from Mama Mia!, "Slipping," really hit home with me.

Micah is home with me. It seems that his "card" at school had to be moved from green to yellow to blue...one turn away from red earlier this week. The crime? Standing in his chair at lunch & playing some version of Power Rangers. I believe the teacher also commented that he was "rowdy" throughout the day. The next day, we went for his 5 year check-up. It had rained all day, & the poor guy had not been able to go outside AT ALL! By the time the doc made it in to us, he was running laps around the table, climbing, etc. Needless to say, I left with paperwork for myself & his teacher to fill out regarding the ever-popular ADHD. To be fair, our doc is very conservative with meds, & she did see him at a bad time, so I tried to leave with an open mind. The truth? Micah is ALL boy, full of energy, mischief, witty/funny, and very affectionate. With that, he is hyper & bull-headed to say the least. The paradox? He does very well in school. Apparently he can multi-task, but some of the other kids can not. He will also exhaust you just from watching. Joe is totally against any meds right now, so I am trying to limit stimulants like red food dye, excess sugar, etc. You would not believe how hard it is to limit some of this stuff...labels can be shocking. Anyway, we stayed on "green" the rest of the week, & if he keeps it up all next week, he gets to go somewhere special with Joe. The teachers on my hall have been rewarding him everyday that he stays on green...he seriously can win anyone over. I hate to think of meds, too, because he is so funny and has a great personality. I don't want something to change his personality, but I also don't want his impulsiveness to cause him to get hurt. But, he is only 5...

Someday I will post more pics...