April 27, 2016

 My head hurts. Let's do this thing.

This morning I finished setting up the third grade iPad cart for MAP testing. Tomorrow I will try and get through the whole sixth grade cart. And maybe the new cart on the third floor on Friday.

There was no formal testing today but I did have several kids finish MAP tests and one fifth grader came down to finish his state assessment. I think there will be more kids finishing MAP tests tomorrow during their regular lab times.

I added the preschool pages to the yearbook and went back and adjusted some of the other pages so that both classes in each grade had the same layout because the pages face each other and it looked odd when one class had a 25 portrait layout and the other class had a 30 portrait layout. The only thing left for me to do is take and edit the portraits of the new kids so I can get them added. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow or Friday.

During my lunch break I perfected my French-ruled paper template. I switched over to Publisher because I could make the lines much thinner and it felt like I had more control over the spacing. It took a bit of tweaking to get the line thickness and color so that the lines would show up when printed but I got there eventually. And I think it looks pretty freaking good. I still plan on getting a French-ruled notebook or two but I like that I now have a usable template and if I want to, could buy some better printer paper and print off my own practice sheets.

Near the end of the day we had a character award assembly and the music teacher called the kids up and read their awards because the principal lost her voice over the weekend and it still isn't back. The music teacher spoke way too slow, though, and it made the assembly go on for far too long. We got there in the end.

After work I picked up Chipotle and headed home. YouTube was cooperating better this week so I was able to show videos after dinner. I also got some pictures of a bird. A painted bunting to be more specific. It was probably about a year ago that one showed up on our back porch for a day or two. And then this morning he returned. It's gotta be the same one because what are the odds of more than one showing up when I don't think we are typically in their range. After the storm last night I thought maybe it was blown off course but if it is the same one from last year then it seems more purposeful. Anyway.

Tonight I read the last three articles for the week. They were boring but also short. Despite the length I struggled with them because for most of the day I had a sharp headache behind my left eye. I think that is a combination of being next door to the music room and loud drum playing all day, and staring at a computer screen all day. Some of it might also be my left eye, which still has a little bump on the eyelid and it is still a little puffy and I think that causes my vision to go blurry in that eye. I should go to the doctor. Soon. Maybe. I would still like the issue to resolve itself.

This afternoon I sent an email to my group because they had gone silent. I posted the technology price table on Monday and one person commented yesterday saying it looked good. That was a nice statement but it was still incomplete and needed work. I didn't hear anything from the other two members so I sent the email today to touch base and see where they were at in the project. I also reminded them that we are supposed to present sometime next week and it would be nice if I could get the presentation information sometime this weekend so I could put the slides together with enough time for everyone to look over it. Then I pointed out that the presentation and the paper for this assignment was more than a quarter of our grade and it would be nice to get things done early enough to make revisions if necessary.

I heard back from one of the group members a few hours later and he said he had in his mind that we still had two weeks before the presentation. Good grief. He seemed to have a plan to get things done, though, so hopefully that works out. I heard back from the other group member tonight saying he would take care of the rest of the technology table. I'll email them back tomorrow when I'm less tired and have less of a headache. I can still help out with the table because there are some things I want to add and I've been doing a little research on the prices of things.

There are still a lot of things on my To-Do list, which I should probably write down so I don't forget anything. But not now. Now it is time for bed. I can't wait. I'll end with an email I sent out to the school today because we ran out of Kleenex in the computer lab. It was entitled “Computer Lab Kleenex (Or Non-Branded Tissue of Choice)”:

The computer lab has become a BYOK party. My supply has been sullied by avoidance, testing tears, and occasionally mucus. If your kids have allergies, an illness, or just need an excuse to not log into Compass Learning, you might want to make sure they have a pocket full of Kleenex before coming to the lab. You could also donate a box to the cause, knowing full well that a significant portion will be used for applications other than their intended purpose, like the wiping of a nose that is not currently in need but may be at some point in the future and it is better to be safe than risk logging in and actually accomplishing something on the computer.