RTI and Volunteers

I am really loving this program we have implemented. The students are so far very successful. I have 4 of my old kiddos with 6 of my current kiddos. They are all reading at a 2.0 level.

We do Read Naturally and a lesson from our Houghton Mifflin Reading Toolkit (phonics and decoding, phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, reading fluency and reading comprehension). It is great because it is small leveled groups. I use my clipit chart with my 3rd graders too - they know the system and consequences so it is easy to integrate them in it. 

I am LOVING my kids parents this year. Boy, they are amazing. I have this one mom who does EVERYTHING for me - I need to make sure she gets a great gift for Christmas and at the end of the year. 

Tip: Make a tub labeled "Volunteer tub". Throw any copies you need done in there with a little sticky note saying how many, staple, hole punch, etc..and  tell any parent who ever mentions that they want to help, where it is.  It cuts down on explanation time for you in the middle of a lesson and you get all those copies you need done! I'm sure this isn't a tip for a lot of people - but it is the best thing ever for me!

Loves.

Year 2, Week 3 & 4

Wow.
At the end of week 3 - I didn't bring home my laptop - therefore..no post. Let's just skip to week 4.
Monday afternoon - the first grade teacher is out at recess with my kids, I'm in the office getting brag tags then the Kindergarten teacher runs into the office and says, "MY DAUGHTERS HOUSE IS ON FIRE!"
That was the start to the Boles Fire in Weed, CA.
We hear second hand that this fire is near the elementary school in Weed..I immediately think of my Abuelita (grandma in spanish) and her husband Rosendo. I call and call and no answer. I call Nick and ask if he knows of anything and he says no. I hang up - then hear that Shastina is being evacuated. I call Nick back and tell him so he and Billy can get home ASAP. I take my kids to the afterschool program earlier and race home. I'm crying and hysterical - trying to get ahold of Abuelita. I call my parents, (who are stuck on I5 with the trailer because they were just coming back from Bandon) to try to get them to reach Abuelita. I get home and get Teddy's stuff first, I grab basically all of our paperwork (work, insurance, medical, loans, etc..), medications, grab some clothes, throw it into the car and race to Billy's house.
From there we decide to drive north and end up at a gas station parking lot. Then Billy and Nick have to get all of their players where we are. After 3ish hours - all the guys are accounted for and a total of 7.5 hours later we get to go home. It was awful and there is terrible devastation to Weed.
I apologize for getting off track but I have been so out of it the past two weeks!

Year 2, Week 2

I am still amazed with these kids. I can't even count the number of times they have asked to keep reading. What? Amazing.
Nothing too exciting or traumatic happened this week. We start our reading 'RTI-ish' program on Monday - I'm really looking forward to it. I think it will benefit the kids tremendously.

Nick had their first fall ball games and they tied! WOOHOO! I am so looking forward to fall ball games, rain, cold weather, scarves, rain, oh...did I say rain? It has been raining ash because of all of these crazy fires in the area. Unbelievable. I'm ready for fall.

Teddy has been on this rambunctious, biting hard, ripping holes in my favorite shirts phase..and we HATE it. Its an age thing and I will be so grateful when it is over. I want my sweet puppy back. Part of me thinks it is a separation anxiety thing. I don't know - clearly I'm too involved in my dogs life.

Anyway, I guess no news is good news! I love my job. This year is going great!

Loves.

Dragon was WHAT?!

I just wanted to document this.

We were reading a story about a character named Dragon - we did a picture walk and on the last picture..Dragon had stars around his head. It looked like this..

 
I asked why would Dragon have those stars around his head?
Sweet little girl raises her hand, "HE WAS DRUNK!"
I love 2nd grade.

Loves.

Year 2, Week 1

WOW!
What an amazing group of kiddos I have this year. I am so blown away by their eagerness to learn. Normally, during the first week of school - all you do is teach procedures - and do very little school work. With this group? No way! They have the procedures down pat and are ASKING to work in their math journals, read, and write stories. There is very little management with this group - they seem to self regulate their behaviors.
I know, you are probably thinking - "it's only the first week!" - I understand that, but these kids are different. I know what I see now, is what I get.
How am I feeling?
Everyone keeps telling me this is my magical year..and I believe them. I cannot wait to see what the year holds for this kiddos and I. On Friday afternoon, I was a little tired..but nothing like the tired I anticipated. No tears from me or any of my kids the whole week.
The  inevitable first week of school stomach flu started. Which inherently put me on edge and when one of my students actually threw up IN MY ROOM..it put me over the top. It was handled but I'm still trying to forget that it happened.
I said to my parents this weekend, "is this what it feels like to truly love your job?" t doesn't feel like work! I think it is because I spent basically my whole summer perfecting my reading block and prepping for the year.
Anyway, I am feeling great. I can't wait to go in tomorrow and actually TEACH! The first week is so boring! I'm ready to get started!
I say that I'm not tired, but I am eternally grateful for this Monday labor day holiday. Off to straighten the house for the week and lounge with my boys! :)

Loves.