We Are Half Way There

Here are a few random thoughts......

This time of the year marks the half way point of the school year. I'm assuming you are probably in the same boat, give or take a week. I think we always say how time flies during the first half of the school year and now we begin the long stretch until Spring Break around Easter time. Either way, I'm looking forward to the second half of the year. I've got some things I need to continue to work on and learn, but there's time for that.

Our 2 sixth grade classes this year contain a rather large number of pains in the butts wonderful students. There are several good kids, but because the classes overall have too many troublemakers, the good kids get the short end of the stick. It sucks, they know it, I know it. Most of the same kids are in lunch detention, which happens to be in the library so I can enjoy their company (at least I'm not supervising them) several times a week and generally don't give a rip when they get in trouble. There's very little support from the parents - surprise - and not much seems to work to get them in line. It's to the point now, where our principal is setting up a temporary office in the orchestra room near the sixth grade classrooms so she's closer to the chaos and can monitor them closely. We'll see how this works.

We are getting 3 new students from a refugee camp in Thailand on Thursday. Apparently, they've been visiting a doctor lately to try and determine the grades they should be in. They've NEVER been in school and can't speak ANY English. It seems as though they will be in 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade. I already feel bad for their teachers- this is going to be tough. Hopefully they will be great kids and quick learners.

We had a work day Monday and an inservice day today (Tuesday). Things went just fine, but to me, they were better than ever because I missed both of the sixth grade classes this week! : )

Today's weather near Milwaukee - woke up to 43 degrees - it's now 9. Yes, that's a drop of 34 degrees in one day. Oh, did I mention the quarter inch sized hail my daughter and I collected earlier as well as the wind gusts over 30 mph? Gotta love Wisconsin!