The Boys Of Summer Have Gone.....
The Boys Of Summer Have Gone....
Yeah I was actually listening to this song a little while ago. Its sad. I was really hoping for at least three more weeks. But I was running low on cash and its good to be back to work. I really missed the kids and my job. Scary to say it but I really do like my job and those that I work with. The one thing that I do miss is being able to sleep past 6am.
It all came crashing down when I received a letter telling me of the up coming meetings and the times and places. That officially marks the end for me. Then right after that comes the letter that tells me where my daughter will be and who her teacher is. Normally I would have known this information back in June but they had to hire a new teacher and that one just so happened to be hers. Technically, I found out when I got the first letter. It introduced the two new teachers hired and what grade they would be teaching.
The first day of all this was on Wednesday the 3rd. This is the day of the big welcome back meeting and the safety meeting. We have this every year but this year was a little different. Instead of having the entire district staff all together, it was just the lower grades in the morning and the higher grades in the afternoon. Its nearly impossible to have everyone in one place. No place to park either.
So Wednesday rolls along and Im really dragging my ass up out of bed. Usually they have us meet at about 7:30am at the highschool. This year it was scheduled for 9:00am. Worked a little better but I was still tired and didnt sleep much the night before. So I pulled down the street of the school and there were cars everywhere. I was thinking that there is no way I will find a place to park. I eventually found a spot in the back parking lot and walked for a while. Along the way, I ran into others that I havent seen all summer and that was nice.
I met up with my friends that I work with and we all pretty much sat together. The meeting was ok but I was still looking for my bright eyes and bushy tail. Just couldnt get that all together yet. After the meeting, we all went back to our home school and got ready for lunch. A few of us gathered outside and chatted and gossiped as usual. Then we all sat and ate lunch before the next big meeting. At about 3:30pm we were able to just go about our way and see if any of the teachers needed help with anything til 4pm. I took this time to go meet Cami's teacher.
Hes a really great guy and seems that he will be able to handle his upcoming class. I checked out some of the names on the desks so I filled him in a little on some of the kids. He moved Cami's desk to a better spot away from the one that caused her so much trouble last year. So far, so good. But he really is a nice guy.
After all that, I went home. Tired and sore. I need to get back into the swing of this. The next day was the first day with all the kids so I knew I needed to get some sleep. Of course we know that wouldnt happen.
First Day...
Today is the first day of school. We have to be there a little earlier now that they have changed the school day by a half hour. They extended it for a few more minutes of learning time. Being that it is 15 more minutes in the morning for the paras, we get an extra 15 minutes for lunch. That extra 15 minutes of pay would have been nicer.
All the kids gathered out front and we were ready to roll. We opened the back gym doors and let them all go to the playground. We wander around to check out who is who and how their summers were. It was great to see all the smiling faces. After the morning assembly, the paras had a meeting to see where we would be placed. I was set with a first grade and a fourth grade. Not too bad. I like the changing of classes because it breaks up my day. It can be killer on the feet though because you are constantly moving.
The day went through without any major problems and we got set for Friday. I like the short first week because it allows everyone to get used to things again. These two days are pretty much set for getting all the bugs out of routines and to go over all the rules with the kids. But in reality, we are all looking forward to the weekend.
First Full Week...
The weekend was pretty scary for me. It was a miserable weekend with lots of rain from Hanna. Its not every day that we get a tropical storm in New York. My friend LW was telling me that it was dropping Trini rain on me. He he he.... I have discovered that the mew meds are not working well during the day. They are ok for her to do work, but shes having issues with not staying in her seat and also shes been aggressive. So we need to have the dose upped to 50mg. ets see how that works. If its too much, it can always be brought back down.
There have also been some problems with sleeping at night again. I think its being caused by her being over tired. This makes her really cranky but yet wired up at the same time. This in turn makes her really dramatic and hissy fits. Getting her to take a shower before bed is just asking for it. But at the same time, giving her one in the morning is even worse. She did have a very serious episode one night.
At about 730, she was having a fit about going to bed. She was over tired but at the same time, she couldnt sleep. I had finally gotten her into the bed when the power went out. A couple of candles were lit so that she wouldnt have issues about not having a night light. Plus she was a little over dramatic about not having power. Things like this are a trigger for her to act out in devastation. Its actually quite amusing.
About 15 minutes later the power came back on. So one of the candles was being blown out while she took it upon herself to put the other one in the diningroom out. The next thing I knew, there was a blood curdling scream and a flash of light flying by me into the kitchen.
The next thing I know, shes running into the bathroom because she burned her thumb and then the trash can goes up in flames. Mind you that this is right next to my gas stove. So I have a screaming kid in one room, a flaming trash bin in another, a dog barking and a cat running crazy. What the hell do I do first? I was frantic but I knew that the trash bin had to come first because if it didnt, the house was going to explode.
After taking care of the bin, I ran to the bathroom ro take care of her. She had her hand under the cold water. Smart kid. Dumb thing that got her here. After settling her down with some ice and burn cream, I sat down to talk to her about what happened. By the way, the burn was only a tiny red patch but it could have been much worse.
We talked about what happened and this is what she told me. She said that the power came back on and she put the candle out because "she was bored". I asked her why she put it out the way she did. She said that she was told that to put out a fire, she needed to cover it with something. I told her that blowing out the candle would have been a better choice. You see, she decided that a paper towel would have done the trick. So she put a paper towel in the candle dish. It caught on fire and she ran with it to the kitchen and stuffed it in the trash bin thinking that by doing it that way, pushing it down into the trash would have put the paper towel out.
She did have the right concept in mind, but the wrong material and the wrong actions to do the job. I think she learned a hard lesson this time. Scared the shit out of me though. I think it did for her as well.
Also my schedule has changed at school. I am no longer in the two classes. I have a few kids in one class to work with. Makes the day go quicker and also Im not on my feet as much. I like the kids that I am working with and the teacher is great. Im really hoping that this year will be a much better year. So far so good. Knock on wood.
Also the new meds start soon so we shall see what happens with that. I promised her that if she can get herself together with a great week, she can go back to Build A Bear for the new Hannah Montana Bear. Maybe I will grab a new bear while Im at it. Yes I absolutely love Build A Bear. Its a great reward for her as well.
This past week has truely been a Calgon Take Me Away week. Im hoping next week is much better.
Yeah I was actually listening to this song a little while ago. Its sad. I was really hoping for at least three more weeks. But I was running low on cash and its good to be back to work. I really missed the kids and my job. Scary to say it but I really do like my job and those that I work with. The one thing that I do miss is being able to sleep past 6am.
It all came crashing down when I received a letter telling me of the up coming meetings and the times and places. That officially marks the end for me. Then right after that comes the letter that tells me where my daughter will be and who her teacher is. Normally I would have known this information back in June but they had to hire a new teacher and that one just so happened to be hers. Technically, I found out when I got the first letter. It introduced the two new teachers hired and what grade they would be teaching.
The first day of all this was on Wednesday the 3rd. This is the day of the big welcome back meeting and the safety meeting. We have this every year but this year was a little different. Instead of having the entire district staff all together, it was just the lower grades in the morning and the higher grades in the afternoon. Its nearly impossible to have everyone in one place. No place to park either.
So Wednesday rolls along and Im really dragging my ass up out of bed. Usually they have us meet at about 7:30am at the highschool. This year it was scheduled for 9:00am. Worked a little better but I was still tired and didnt sleep much the night before. So I pulled down the street of the school and there were cars everywhere. I was thinking that there is no way I will find a place to park. I eventually found a spot in the back parking lot and walked for a while. Along the way, I ran into others that I havent seen all summer and that was nice.
I met up with my friends that I work with and we all pretty much sat together. The meeting was ok but I was still looking for my bright eyes and bushy tail. Just couldnt get that all together yet. After the meeting, we all went back to our home school and got ready for lunch. A few of us gathered outside and chatted and gossiped as usual. Then we all sat and ate lunch before the next big meeting. At about 3:30pm we were able to just go about our way and see if any of the teachers needed help with anything til 4pm. I took this time to go meet Cami's teacher.
Hes a really great guy and seems that he will be able to handle his upcoming class. I checked out some of the names on the desks so I filled him in a little on some of the kids. He moved Cami's desk to a better spot away from the one that caused her so much trouble last year. So far, so good. But he really is a nice guy.
After all that, I went home. Tired and sore. I need to get back into the swing of this. The next day was the first day with all the kids so I knew I needed to get some sleep. Of course we know that wouldnt happen.
First Day...
Today is the first day of school. We have to be there a little earlier now that they have changed the school day by a half hour. They extended it for a few more minutes of learning time. Being that it is 15 more minutes in the morning for the paras, we get an extra 15 minutes for lunch. That extra 15 minutes of pay would have been nicer.
All the kids gathered out front and we were ready to roll. We opened the back gym doors and let them all go to the playground. We wander around to check out who is who and how their summers were. It was great to see all the smiling faces. After the morning assembly, the paras had a meeting to see where we would be placed. I was set with a first grade and a fourth grade. Not too bad. I like the changing of classes because it breaks up my day. It can be killer on the feet though because you are constantly moving.
The day went through without any major problems and we got set for Friday. I like the short first week because it allows everyone to get used to things again. These two days are pretty much set for getting all the bugs out of routines and to go over all the rules with the kids. But in reality, we are all looking forward to the weekend.
First Full Week...
The weekend was pretty scary for me. It was a miserable weekend with lots of rain from Hanna. Its not every day that we get a tropical storm in New York. My friend LW was telling me that it was dropping Trini rain on me. He he he.... I have discovered that the mew meds are not working well during the day. They are ok for her to do work, but shes having issues with not staying in her seat and also shes been aggressive. So we need to have the dose upped to 50mg. ets see how that works. If its too much, it can always be brought back down.
There have also been some problems with sleeping at night again. I think its being caused by her being over tired. This makes her really cranky but yet wired up at the same time. This in turn makes her really dramatic and hissy fits. Getting her to take a shower before bed is just asking for it. But at the same time, giving her one in the morning is even worse. She did have a very serious episode one night.
At about 730, she was having a fit about going to bed. She was over tired but at the same time, she couldnt sleep. I had finally gotten her into the bed when the power went out. A couple of candles were lit so that she wouldnt have issues about not having a night light. Plus she was a little over dramatic about not having power. Things like this are a trigger for her to act out in devastation. Its actually quite amusing.
About 15 minutes later the power came back on. So one of the candles was being blown out while she took it upon herself to put the other one in the diningroom out. The next thing I knew, there was a blood curdling scream and a flash of light flying by me into the kitchen.
The next thing I know, shes running into the bathroom because she burned her thumb and then the trash can goes up in flames. Mind you that this is right next to my gas stove. So I have a screaming kid in one room, a flaming trash bin in another, a dog barking and a cat running crazy. What the hell do I do first? I was frantic but I knew that the trash bin had to come first because if it didnt, the house was going to explode.
After taking care of the bin, I ran to the bathroom ro take care of her. She had her hand under the cold water. Smart kid. Dumb thing that got her here. After settling her down with some ice and burn cream, I sat down to talk to her about what happened. By the way, the burn was only a tiny red patch but it could have been much worse.
We talked about what happened and this is what she told me. She said that the power came back on and she put the candle out because "she was bored". I asked her why she put it out the way she did. She said that she was told that to put out a fire, she needed to cover it with something. I told her that blowing out the candle would have been a better choice. You see, she decided that a paper towel would have done the trick. So she put a paper towel in the candle dish. It caught on fire and she ran with it to the kitchen and stuffed it in the trash bin thinking that by doing it that way, pushing it down into the trash would have put the paper towel out.
She did have the right concept in mind, but the wrong material and the wrong actions to do the job. I think she learned a hard lesson this time. Scared the shit out of me though. I think it did for her as well.
Also my schedule has changed at school. I am no longer in the two classes. I have a few kids in one class to work with. Makes the day go quicker and also Im not on my feet as much. I like the kids that I am working with and the teacher is great. Im really hoping that this year will be a much better year. So far so good. Knock on wood.
Also the new meds start soon so we shall see what happens with that. I promised her that if she can get herself together with a great week, she can go back to Build A Bear for the new Hannah Montana Bear. Maybe I will grab a new bear while Im at it. Yes I absolutely love Build A Bear. Its a great reward for her as well.
This past week has truely been a Calgon Take Me Away week. Im hoping next week is much better.
posted by BC at
8:24 PM
3 Comments:
Looks like things are finally looking up for you -- at work that is, though, err, you're still not so far away from the next disaster movie. LOL
Nice too to learn that you won't be on your feet so much either. :)
Btw, what's a para?
my job is actually titled Special Education Paraprofessional. There are also Instructional Paraprofessionals as well. What we do is we are set to specific kids that need the extra help. Mostly with the Special Ed Paras, we are a one on one. I work one on one and with a group as shared. My particular job is with kids that have learning disabilities. But these kids are capable of being in a mainstream classroom with everyone else. They are sometimes a little slower in catching on to topics or they have trouble with writing or spelling. Being that I am also in an inner-city school, there are alot of parents that either cant afford or refuse medications for thier child so I work with them as well. ADHD or Autism. ODD, compulsive disorders. All of these can conflict with a childs ability to learn at a basic pace. I sit with these kids during lessons or I take them to another location in the school and give them the lessons at their own pace. I work along side the teachers. But there are times that I work with the entire class as well. There are also times when I have the class to myself and teach when the teacher isnt available. It is a very rewarding job. I like doing it.
Your new work situation sounds much better. I hope next week is calmer on the other fronts.
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