April 16, 2014

I went to bed around 9:00PM last night, and I woke up a few times and it required some time to get back to sleep, but overall I slept pretty well. And I didn't feel that bad when I woke up. I won't get to bed quite so early tonight but I've got a headache so I will probably call it a night after this.

The second grade teacher got my email and during the second test this morning one of the second graders came in to give me several apology notes that the class had written in groups, except for the one girl who almost went to the office, she had the honor of writing her own note. The teacher came in and talked to me later. She apologized and said how frustrating it was that they would act like that this late in the year. She said the class ended up losing their morning recess, which was an accident but they spent so much time writing the apology notes that they ran out of time and she played it off like it was on purpose. They were also supposed to have lunch in the room today but she told them they might be able to earn that back for tomorrow. She told me that's what happens when they're mean to her friend. At this point we were joking about it but I liked when she said that. It kind of reminded me of a small but badass anime character that can wield immense power when you mess with her or her friends. At least that is the image that popped into my head.

The tests went well this morning. And we're almost done with them so it looks like maybe all the problems have been fixed. And again, I am only saying that in the hopes that I can jinx it. The first test finished early so I went up to tell my favorite sub that she could come down for her class's test whenever she was ready. The class was finishing up with Art so I stood there and talked with her and one of the paras, and made myself useful by showing her how to get around the firewall on the computer. During that test one of the kids got done early and didn't have a book to read so the sub told him to draw a picture of me. And he did. He spelled my name wrong but it he was actually going for my name, not one of the many other versions I get from kids. The picture was also a pretty accurate likeness. Probably better than I would have been able to manage.

This afternoon we had an assembly. It was the same theater company that came last year and did a version of Frog And Toad. There were different people this year and they did Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I think last year was better because this year the songs weren't as good, but I laughed several times and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves for the most part.

Right after the assembly I went back to the lab and set out the test tickets for the sixth graders who moved their test time back because originally it would have happened during the middle of the assembly. That test also went without incident. One of the kids gets really into these tests and wants to do his best job. I won't know what he got on the state assessments but I know on the MAP tests he gets really high scores, so the effort is worth it. He had questions on two of the problems, and they were good problems, but I couldn't actually tell him how to solve them during the test but I told him I could tell him after. From what I could see he ended up picking the right answer for both, although from his consternation on both I think they were educated guesses. And he wasn't interested in how to solve them after the test so I think he was satisfied with his effort.

After work I did the same old thing. Throughout the night I worked on the scarf I started yesterday and probably only added an inch to it. I need to work faster than that if I want to get it done by the end of the school year. I am afraid I have bitten off more than I can chew and should switch to the crochet waffle stitch.

Now I think I am going to embrace my headache and go to bed. Tomorrow we only have two tests. And then no testing on Friday because we don't have school. I am going to sleep in and it is going to be awesome. Next week we start mixing tests up with state assessments and MAP. MAP is a lot more involved because I have to set the tests up individually for each kid, and then write down all their scores. But it gives me something to do. Anyway, bedtime.