ONE THOUSAND POSTS!

October 27, 2008 I posted my first blog.  I felt a need to write and knew I wasn't good enough or disciplined enough to write a book.  I was going to write for me, and hope to entertain a few people.  I have not picked up lots of readers, but that is OK.  The ones who read me seem to like what I am doing.  And I enjoy writing.

I have posted pictures of events we have gone to, testing recipes, parties, building a storage shed, hospital pictures, and updates on weight loss.  I have written rants on bicyclists with a death wish, some political views, and mostly about weddings and first graders.  I write what's happening to me or mine.

This is to show you a picture before A-Fib and diabetes changed my life.  I was just a little fluffy.  This is from an anniversary celebration for Marty and me year or so ago.

This picture was taken last weekend in Monterey Dunes.  Marty and I are on the left,  Hank (Little Brother) and Ann are on the right.  I'm not quite as fluffy as the picture above this one.

One Thousand posts, that is writing about a lot of stuff.  My readers probably know me better than some family members.  That's right, some family members don't read my fabulous blog (the non-readers are not immediate blood kin).  Their loss.  I will continue to write as long as I am able.  If you remember I have posted during the great drama of multiple diagnoses, selling a house, and moving. I keep on writing whatever is going on. There will be drama, humor, sadness, happiness, I will tell you about my life as a youthful senior citizen.

I hope you will continue with me, maybe you'll even share my posts on Facebook.  Yes, I am vain and want more readers, more likes, more comments.  If you have questions about what I do , like, support, tell me and I will try to respond.  If you want to, share the date of your favorite post.  I think that would be interesting to know.

Thank you for hanging in there with me.


 

Another Happy Place

Friday I went back to Kaiser School to see my first graders.  I hadn't been to school since the first part of March.  And I had really missed working with the children.  Just pulling into the school made me happy.

Ms. H and I both got teary eyed and hugged a lot.  The children were so excited to see me, which made me feel great.  It was pretty emotional for all of us.

Ms. H asked me to explain to the class what was going on with me that prevented my volunteering.  I told them their hearts beat steady and go ba bum, ba bum, ba bum, ba bum around 70 times a minutes.  But mine at times goes babum, babum,             ba  bum,   ba . . . . . . . . .bumbum,  ba bum, babum babum, around 190 times a minute.  I compared it to them playing tag/ running races and being worn out after 30 minutes.  My heart ran those races for days.  I carefully told them it was treatable, I just was so worn out I wasn't strong enough to come work with them.

They seemed to understand on a simple level that I was sick, tired, but going to be OK.  Then they told me things they had done the last 2 1/2 months.  Paper Mache globes were made, the ducks hatched,  they had field trips, one little boy got a "baby" dog, one little girl had spent time in Turkey visiting family.  Lots of adventures were shared. 

The class had all made me big hearts with sweet notes on them.  Before they left for lunch they all gave me hugs and again made me cry.  This class has been so sweet, trouble at times, but sweet.

Even if I cried, this was a visit that made me really happy.  Keep your fingers crossed that in September I will be able to commit to working with the next class of first graders.

I need this happy place.

First Graders make me laugh

Tuesday was a busy day at school.  Things were just a little different.  Miss R, the student teacher, was doing nearly all the teaching this week.  Ms. H and I were to be her aids.  That was fine, I always am the aid in the classroom.  The big thing was the Math Assessment Test.  These are developed by the Oakland School District.  Hold that thought.  The curriculum is set by the same school district.  Hold that thought.

The test is over material Ms. H doesn’t teach or is just now beginning to teach.  Same people set material to teach and when to teach it, same people wrote the test.  Ms.H knows the students will be upset because some won’t be able to do the problems, or will feel unsure because what they know is so new.  She explained the booklets had new things, old things,  and unknown things.  They were to do their best, not to worry about it. 

And we began.  Testing First Graders is a riot.  The so you can’t cheat shields (3 sided cardboard in front of each child) fall off the desks, children are on the wrong page/problem, they want help, their pencils break, they finish the page before the questions are asked, they fall out of their chairs, and on and on.

I am walking up and down checking what is being done while Ms. H is reading the problems.  One of the problems had a number chart laid out in sections of ten.  They were to find 63 and then find a number two less using the chart.  Then they were to find a number three more using the chart.  One little boy yelled out, “There’s a mistake!”  Can you find it?

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 77 68 69 70

Yes, 77 does not belong there.  Then this child said he didn’t think we should have to do tests that have mistakes.  We should send it back to them and have them fix it.   All the adults nearly died laughing.

Ms. H continued reading problems, “Kim wants to know what number fact is left out the fact family in the box.   Kim wants to know how many tens in 72. Tell Kim how you know.  Kim wants to know how many ones in 27.   Tell Kim how you know.”  Kim wanted to know a lot. The hard part of this section is writing how you know.  That is a really hard concept for little ones.  Plus what they know, they can’t spell.

We finally finished.  Ms. R reads a story to the class to let them relax.  Ms. H and I are checking the tests.  I hear her laughing.  She hands me one of the test booklets.  A wonderful brilliant sassy little girl has written, “If Kim wants to know, have her call me.”  Ms. H gave her full credit.

School without Ms. H

A story about what happened in the office before I went to the classroom.  I sign in on a computer when I volunteer and it prints out a badge for me to wear.  Children who are tardy sign in on the same computer.  They click on their name, teacher, reason for being late, and it prints out a note to the teacher.

One of the children from our classroom came in with her mother.  Mom was trying to sign her in, thinking I am sure that an adult would do it faster.  Nothing was happening because she was using the screen as a touch screen, and it wasn’t.  The little girl in a very weary voice says, “ You have to use the mouse on the side.”

Over the weekend Ms. H sent me an email that said she would be at a conference Monday and Tuesday.  She hoped I would still be at school Tuesday to help the substitute, Ms. V.  I said I would be there.

Ms. V has subbed at Kaiser for years.  She works to follow the lesson plans the teacher has left for her.

Ms. H  had left lots of work/activities for them.  Better too much than not enough.  We went through all kinds of work: math, phonics, reading, creating sentences from rhyming words. 

I worked one on one with around 10 students.  They each read a little booklet to me.  I hadn’t  done this in 2 or 3 weeks.  I was pleasantly surprised by the progress of some of the children.  They were really finally reading, not just sounding out words.  Some even laughed at the story.  They got it. 

That is real excitement folks, seeing a child reading and enjoying it.

Back with the First Graders

Tuesday I finally was back at school.  I missed one Tuesday to marry couples on Valentine’s Day.  The next Tuesday we were on our flight home from Louisville.  I was glad to be back at school, and I think the children were glad I was back.

Lots of different areas of work going on: creative writing, phonics’ word sorting, writing word math problems, and working on their weather journals.  I went from table to table and helped when needed.

Then Ms. H asked me to test children on two Dolch word lists.  By 11:30 I had tested every child.  Most of them have really improved. 

Then it was story time.  Ms. H had given me a book to read to them,  Grace for President  by  Kelly S. DiPucchio.   This was an interesting book.  There were two teaching points, the Electoral College and a woman running for President. 

I don’t really understand the Electoral College.  I know each state has votes based on population.  I know 270 is the magic number.  But the whys and wherefores of not a popular vote but this College?  Still not sure.

The book does a good job showing how each state has X number of votes.  It goes into some detail at the end about the constitution setting this up.  The children seemed to understand on the level they were on.

Grace is a little girl who realizes no women have ever been president.  She decides to run for President.  The book shows her campaign and her opponent’s. 

We talked about women never being president and that same sentence came up, “That’s not fair.”  Children really want life to be fair.

Busy, busy holidays

The holidays are hectic.  Fun, but hectic.  My brother and his wife arrived today from Kentucky.  They weren’t here two hours before we left for San Francisco to all go to a party.  We still have museums to visit, gardens to visit, and restaurant reservations in the city.  Plus good food and wine in my kitchen.

Wednesday  we will take them to Davis to visit their son and his family.  We will spend Christmas with them in Davis.  The Bourbon Ball tasting contest will happen there.  I will post an update when we win.  Today we started bribing Little Brother and his wife.  They like our Bourbon Balls.

I will post as I have time.  I still have weddings to share with you.  I have first graders to tell about.  Bear with me.  I may not post as often as I usually do.  But I bet some of you will not have time to read me the next week or so.  I will try to post.  And I hope you will try to read me.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Wearing a different hat

Today I am not wearing my marriage commissioner hat, not my wife hat, not even my best MOM ever  hat. Today I am wearing my first grade volunteer hat.  Yes, school started last week.  Ms. H likes a little time alone with the children before she has volunteers come in.

Today she introduced me to the class, and they all told me their names.  I will never remember all the names.  Well maybe around March I will.  We have more children this year, 26 students.  I told Ms. H to think about when I taught in the 60's and 70's, if we had under 30 kids we felt lucky.  My first year teaching I had 38 first graders.  That was probably a living hell.  But as a new teacher, I was too green to know.  Anyway, Ms. H has had classes of 30, so she just has to adjust her methods to handle more children.

There are problems with that many children.  When they sit on the rug, they don't all fit.  We have more desks, so there is less room to walk around and help children.  I kept sliding chairs under desks so I could get through the "aisles".  Checking that the children are doing the work correctly as we walk around takes longer. This is a chatty bunch, so the noise level is louder.  Even lining up for lunch takes longer.  It will smooth out shortly, but right now Ms. H has her hands full.


What did I do all morning?  I put together the checked work packets to go home, that means all work is alphabetized and stapled together.  I glued homework information on lunch bags, I worked one on one with many of the students, I handed out snacks, and I read them a story.  The worse part of helping first graders is their low desks.  My back is killing me.  I bend over so much of the time.  When there is a real problem I pull a LOW chair over and sit with the child.  Sitting helps with the back pain, but the low chair transfers pain to the knees.  Oh well, it is only one day a week.  I always recover by the next Tuesday.

School is winding down

Usually when I work with the children, they come to me.  I sit in an adult chair and we work one on one.  Last week I worked with the children at their desks.  Each section of desks had a different task.  Some were doing creative writing, others were doing independent reading and writing about what they read. 

Then the killer group:  0 to 9 number tiles with a worksheet to fill in the blank numbers.  One problem was a number line with a blank spot, fill in the number.  Then another was  1__   comes right before 18.  Answer is 7.  1__ is between ___  and 19. Only use a tile once.  This group takes a lot of hand holding. I even had to ask Ms H about one question. 
 
The biggest part of the morning was at an assembly.  This was the dress rehearsal for last night's concert and Open House. There were songs, a play, drummers, and a MC who was telling terrible jokes that made even the children groan. Every class K through 5 performed.  That is 12 classes  They were darling, they were good, they were bad,  it went on forever.  The program lasted an hour and a half.  That was about 45 minutes too long for most of the children to sit still.  Last night the children waited in their classrooms until time to go on.

Yesterday we had our groups again and I worked with the children at their desks.  Let me just tell you I am getting too old to bend over a first grade desk for very long.  I can bend over, I can sit in the little chairs, I just have trouble getting back up.  One more week, and then no school until Fall. 


I do love volunteering with the first graders.  The change in looks and skills between September and June is amazing.  Yesterday I was handing out name tags that were made in August.  Some of the children I wasn't sure who they were.  They had matured, changed hair styles, they no longer looked like babies.  As for skills, they are using words like appreciate in their writing. Most can tell time on an analog clock.  Most know how to use money correctly.   Most importantly all can read.  Some very slowly and will be back with us next Fall.  Some can read several grade levels up. 

Every year I hope to help children love books as much as I do.  I also want them to be able to have the key to understanding all those symbols on the page. 

Reading, the key to everything.