I heart PBS

Remember my post about The Interrupters way back in September? Well, now you can watch it for free online!

Thank you, PBS.

standarized testing: t-1

After all the students we gone we stood in the office talking. Mama Z, nurse-office-manager-recruiter-saves-us-daily, interrupted us.

"Please Lord, help all of our babies with this test. And let them all pass."

We, laughing-but-dead-serious, chorused, "Amen."

we are growing!

I just met with my TFA coach to talk about guided reading and strategize about how I can help my kids move up. I was excited to share with her that only five kids are still reading at an A-level and that everyone else is above. I was confused when she seemed more excited than I was. Then, she calculated their growth (don't judge, sometimes data is good). According to her spreadsheet, my kids have grown .98 years in reading so far. That means that depending on our momentum for the rest of the year, we could be on track to grow 1.5 years and meet our goal!

Don't get me wrong, only two of them are on grade level and we still have a long way to go, but today I'm just excited that, at the very least, we have grown one year's worth.

happy birthday bug!

Today my baby brother turned 15. Since he's always giving me so much grief about my age, I'm pretty excited to say that he is already 3/4 to age 20. He's at about the height that I was when I was 12, which is another victory for me as he closes in on my adult height.

Happy birthday, old man!

what are pickles made of?

As I was eating my sandwich during recess I asked, what are pickles made of? Some guesses:

juice
trees
cheese
seeds
meat

books on tap for next week

spanish

The new Spanish teacher is currently teaching my kids her second lesson. I am in the room because I need to get some lesson plans done.

So far, J has not raised his hand one time. And JD has raised her hand twice to share about her cousin's birthday. JZ is laid back in her chair with her head all the way back.

I'm both amused and disappointed.