Oh, to teach in a public school

I think same teachers there have it made. During all my subbing, I have come to figure this out. The buildings are usually crawling with paraprofessionals(which is now the fancy term for teachers aides). In what I have seen, each classroom gets one, for at least part of the day. In some cases, they are there to help with independent work during a lesson. And in some cases they are there to do copying work for the teacher. I have been a part of both of these. Then of course, there was the middle school library which doesn't really fit into this all that well.
But again, I ramble only to find something to write about so people who may check back every day find something new to read every once in a while. Those of you who kow me well, know that I tend to ramble and am actually quite good at it. I am especially good at it when it is later at night I the Sandman is startign to creep into my world. Which of course, would be the time I usually do my entries since I sub all day and am at Sylvan all night.
I hope that I have brought some interesting reading to the table this evening. If you were not really impressed by what I had to say, check back again soon and maybe there will be some good stories from something. After all, with dog sitting there are bound to be some interesting stories-hey, that could be a whole nother post. Check back tomorrow when I may have that finished-if I am not called to sub.

Back to the grind

Now that Thanksgiving is over, things take on some sense of normalsy(?) again. I ended up cooking a lot more of Thanksgiving dinner than expected since my mom broke her foot a week ago and could not do much of the cooking. WE did go shopping on Friday, but not as early as we have in the past. We got to our first store by 9am. We got what little we needed and were back home by noon. Later that day we decided to go to the Milwaukee area and check out the newly remodeled Bayshore Mall. Holy Cow, has that place changed. For all those of you in the area, you know what I am talking aobut. It is hard to remember what the old mall looked like. Brian kept saying that is was like Milwaukee has gotten its very own Rodeo Drive.
And now we are back at home with the work week under way. And we have one more in our house then we did last week. WE have taken over care of the dog this week while my dad is out of town and my mom can barely take care of herself. So, things are going well. Just wish it wasn't going to be getting so cold this week. A.J really loves his walks and there are no sidewalks where my parents live, so this is like a treat for him.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Ok, so I am a day early but who is going to have time to type tomorrow. Luckily I didn't have to sub today so I can get things done around the house before going to Sylvan and then leaving for Watertown right after. Watertown is where the parents live and where Thanksgiving will be tomorrow. I figured it would be nice to go there tonight so that I can be on hand to help mom out tomorrow morning-even if it means not arriving until 10pm. The things we do for our parents:)
I hope that you all have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend quality time with loved ones. And for anyone that is planning to early bird-be careful. (I may also be one of those people, depending on the deals)
Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!!

I have picked the wrong career

I should have been a librarian. I subbed last week for the library paraprofessional at the middle school library and was checking in and out books all day long. When I wasn't doing that, I was reshelving the books or straightening the shelves. In the little time that was left during the day, I was laminating and cutting for the librarian.
Today, I subbed for that librarian. It was a very boring day. I did a little checking in and out and reshelving, but most of my day was spent sitting around. The library was having a slow day today, slower than last week, but the parapro was also doing most of the work.
So the moral of my career change is that I could be a librarian as long as I worked in a library that had a parapro. I would have very little work to do each day. Could life get much easier then that?!?!

Busy, Busy, Busy

That sums up my life from the past week. I subbed somewhere every day. So, my day started by being startled awake by the phone at about 6:00am every morning. Then I had to go right to Sylvan for my night job. I left the house at 7:30 each morning and didn't return until 7:30-7:45 each night. Then I had to cook dinner before i could relax. And if that wasn't bad enough, I also had to get up on Saturday morning to go to work at Sylvan. Today was my day to sleep in, and I was up by 8. Luckily I didn't HAVE to be anywhere, so I get a few things done around the house. As much as I love subbing, I wish I knew about the jobs ahead of time so I could slowly get up in the morning.
At least this week is only a 3 day work week. I am not holding my breath that I will get called this week. I mean what teacher wants to subject a sub to their class during the days before Thanksgiving. I know as a classroom teacher I wouldn't want to unless I was deathly ill. Guess we will have to see. Besides, i guess it would give me something to write about.

First Snowfall

Luckily I didn't have to be on the roads during it, I hear it was not fun. What is it about the first snowfall of the year that makes people forget how to drive? I mean, you live in WI and probably have for a number of years, so there is snow every year around the same time. I guess some people will just never learn.
I did go out Friday night after the snow had stopped-around 8:30. We went to a movie. The roads were fine-the salt truck finally made it to our road around 5.
We saw Santa Clause 3-a great movie to see after the first snowy day. If you have seen 1 and 2 I definatly recommend 3. It was a great movie to end the week with. And the great thing about going on a snowy Friday is that there are not very many people in the theater. I think there may have been 15, if we were lucky. Including a family with 2 young children who didn't seem to understand the concept of a movie theater-have to be quiet. Why would you bring young children to the 9:00 showing of a movie anyway. I mean, come on, these kids were already in their PJ's and by the time the previews were over, they were ready to go home. If your child cannot sit through an hour and1/2 movie, they are jsut too young to be there.
That is my advice for the day!:)

No leaf left behind

Or at least that was my plan as I set out this beatuiful morning to rake the leaves for one last time this season (final leaf pick up is on Monday and snow is expected for tomorrow). However, the leaves and Mother Nature seemed to have a different plan. I like to call their plan every leaf for themselves. Most of the leaves did make it to the curb, despite the wind. i only have to hope that they stay there until Monday. I wonder if they will still get picked up even if they are covered in snow. Guess i will have my answer on Monday.
I love the shade that mature trees provide, but the raking stinks. Even the pine tree likes to play his role in fall. He drops pine needles and tiny pine cones. So, no amount of raking will ever get every little pine needle up-and I have tried and have the blisters to show for it. I did notice today that our grass is really dead in spots. I may have raked up as much grass as I did leaves, especially in our front yard.
We need a smaller yard or a bigger rake next year:)

I voted

I did it. I performed my civic duty and voted. I went to the polling place at 7:45pm, my voter card in hand, prepared to stand in line until the close of the polls. As it turned out, we live in the district that allowed us to bypass all the suckers standing in line and go directly to the voting booths. Guess we picked a good place to live. So I took my ballot, stood in the booth and filled in my arrows. I inserted the ballot into the machine and proudly walked out with my "I voted" sticker. Walking out past all the people who were still standing in line, some that came after us. Sucks to be them. Now I am done with my civic duty for a few more years. Yeah!!!

Election day is finally here!!!

Thank goodness. Now all the ads and phone calls will stop. We will no longer get fliers stuck in our door or in the mail. We can also take down the sign we have in the yard to show our support for our canidate. What will we watch on TV now that the debates are no longer on and the "real" commercials are back?!?! Guess we will have to wait until the next election season so all this can start over again. Now all i have to do is go and vote!!

My hat goes off to Special Ed teachers

Wow! It definately takes a special kind of person to work with those children, and I am not sure that I am one of them. I subbed as a paraprofessional in a Special Ed classroom today. There were 5 students and 6 adults. One would think that would be enough to keep everyone in line. Wrong-I happened to be assigned to one of the mobile, more active students. He kept me on my toes, and to top things off-he was a runner. If I didn't keep my eye on him at all times, he would be off somewhere else, and into something else. I am thankful that there are prople in the world willing to work with children who have severe special needs. I am also thankful that I decided not to persue a degree in special education. I definately earned my pay today:)