My (almost) first grader and fractions

From August 21st:

After supper this evening, I was sitting down to read a highly recommended book about teaching kids rational number concepts.  but, as soon as I sat down, the kids realized that they hadn't bugged Mama in a whole 5 minutes, so they started to fuss. It is workshop week at school and we are getting used to a routine that doesn't have mama around 24/7, and we all kinda miss each other (kinda). The first example problem in my book is done by a first grader, so I invited my "starting first grade on Monday" Relia over and asked her about it.

"Four children want to share 5 candy bars  equally."

She got paper and a marker and began to draw.*

At first she drew the four people (I had to convince her that we didn't need to spend a lot of time on bodies for each person). Then she drew a line from each candy piece, to each person. as she did that, she crossed out each candy bar.

I asked her, "What about this one?", referring to the one piece without a line. She had lots of completely reasonable ideas for what to do with it. Find another friend, go buy 3 more pieces, save it for later. I told her there weren't any friends around, they didn't have any more money, and they were very hungry.


She thought about it for a bit. Then cut that piece in half. I asked her to explain and in her explanation she realized she didn't have enough. More thinking, then she cut it in half again.

Now they had enough! I asked her to explain the story. It ended with each person getting two candy bars. - That took us to a comparison lesson with fractions about the number of pieces compared to the size of the pieces. All this with a not quite six year old! They totally know math! How is it we are so good at screwing them up with it?

*I retraced what she did so I could add different colors for each step, and to photograph the process.

Coming to an end

The boys head back to daycare/preschool today. I was originally scheduled to have training all this week, but that got cancelled. Leo will be starting in the toddler room. No more baby room for us. I remember when Relia started in the toddler room, she seemed too little to go hang with those big kids, but it was awesome. She learned so much in those first few months. Same for Felix. the words will probably come quickly now. Sigh.

And I am feeling back to school anxiety. My partner in math leadership will not be there. It makes me want to cry when I think about it. We were so good together. Now I'm the experienced math lead and that scares me a little. -But I am way more prepared than I was 5 years ago.

This week has not been what I expected

My class has been less impressive than the previous sessions. This is mostly because we covered a lot of the concepts in my math specialist meetings this year. I'm hoping the 4th session I'm taking in August will have a little more to offer.

Being away from Felix has been really strange. I miss him. I know he is in great hands and I'm not worried, but I miss having him physically near all the time. Pumping has been going great too. I think my milk supply has increased this week. Felix doesn't seem to really like bottles, but will take them.

I'm so looking forward to being with my kids again next week. I think going back to work in the fall is going to be a lot harder than it has ever been before.


Thanks for: Being good at math, having babysitters I trust & Kids to miss.

Two down

I had two VERY important things that had to be done by tomorrow:
Finish three assignments for my class that ended October 6th!
and
figure out our health plan configuration for next year.

I completed both and it is only 10:15. Wahoo! (yawn)

Terrible example

Yeah, I'm a bad student. I have had 2 weeks to work on this project for my class tomorrow. When am I doing it? Yup, 9:30 the night before. I keep telling myself, no one cares about your GPA, a "B" is perfectly acceptable. But alas. I feel the need to make some kind of super fantastic power point in 2 hours.

Update

Class went well.
Relia knows how to climb up on the coffee table (!)

Back to school part 2

I have yet to register for the class I need to take. It starts on Thursday. I'm soooooo not wanting to do it for a couple of reasons:
1. I am really liking fifth grade. It is challenging and fun.
2. I am really tired from all the work fifth grade entails, and don't want to add to my load for the next two weeks.
3. I have to find someone to watch my baby on Mondays.

That's right, the class is only two weeks long. 4 class meetings and some online stuff. One of those nights is conference night, so I'll have to miss at least part of that class.

Even though I am liking 5th grade, it will not stay that way forever (the current 4th grade is a handful) so I need to move on to the computer license.

So I guess I have to register for the class.

So tired

Why? Why am I all of a sudden this past week so incredibly, freaking tired? (No, I'm NOT pregnant)
I just feel exhausted. Hopefully a vacation will help. If I make it, I mean make it there with anything packed. I was all gung ho to get started packing last Monday, but as of now, I have coats for Relia, and almost all of my toiletries. That's it.

I am still enjoying my class. This one feels slightly more useful, and they are treating me like I have taught kids a time or two before. So that is good. Today they had us do a little Geocaching, which was kinda fun. They gave each group a hand held GPS with the coordinates for our "treasure" programmed in and we had to find the container with some campus history and milky way bars inside. Cool! If money were no object, how much fun would that be to do with kids?

Back to class

Started my next Tech Ed class today, with low expectations. Turned out I enjoyed it. The instructors seem much more relaxed and organized than the last one.

I can't believe Peder hasn't posted pics from last night yet.
relia went to her first White Sox game. It didn't end well, and she fell asleep in the middle of the 6th inning, but not before charming the sox ;o) off of a few Twins fans.

Whew, I think...

I finally think I have a handle on what I have to do for my class. It took letting go of my worries abut doing it right and just brainstorming my butt off. My teachers were very helpful in tossing out or reframing the dumb ideas.

I've felt this way before, but this time I feel it more.

Wow

I fell asleep doing my homework last night. I'm not so excited about this class. It is merely a hoop for me to jump. I WANT to be excited, but am weighted down by my cynicism.

Yes, yes, this teaching method is the best thing since Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I don't know how any child ever learned anything before this.

Truth is, it is good, but a heck of a lot of work and not geared toward passing multiple choice standardized tests, so therefore something a teacher would be doing on her own time. I am just not sure I'm gonna get a thousand dollars of insight from this class. That, and I'm still in employment limbo. And I'm tired.

Another brick in the wall

That's me.

I registered for summer classes at Hamline. Fortunately, both of the classes I'll be taking, timing wise, do not interfere with either teaching summer school, or our cruise. Financially is a different story. I'd better get those taxes done in a hurry so I can apply for financial aid. My education used to feel like an investment. Now it feels like a gamble.

Contemplating going back to school

I am supposed to have already registered for classes to meet the requirements of my license variance for my job. Since I have known since the day they hired me this job would probably only last the year, I never did (why invest 5K in a job I won't have? I'm still paying off my masters) On top of that, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown trying to go to school on top of everything else right now. Dr. J has made it clear this week that it is unlikely they will be able to keep a computer teacher at all. Now that I am getting close to the end, I am having second thoughts.

I love teaching computer classes. I love solving tech problems in my building. I love this job. So if this is what I want to do, I should just get the stupid license, right? I'm pretty confident I can find something if I do. (Never mind that I have been actually teaching in this area for 2.5 years) So I am filling out applications for graduate programs at private institutions.

I can't believe I am actually considering going back again.

First class

So here I am getting ready for my firs WV class and I am all nervous. I want to know everything right now. Knowing myself and (and my family) I might be taking these classes just to do something rather than really doing, something. I have forty billion questions and am jumping ahead of myself. I want to know exactly what to do. I want it all laid out, and it won’t be.

Hooray! The state is paying for my classes!

The message was on the phone when I came home today. I had already registered with my own money but now it is free! I begin tomorrow. Ugh. Work all day and then go to school. It isn’t like I haven’t done it before, but it makes me tired just thinking about it. then I’m going to have to use what I’m learning.

I was talking with mom this weekend. The more I think about this video business thing, the more I know it is right. I’m scared, but like so many wonderful things before, I know I can do this.

Another worry is my stage of life. We want to have children sometime soon. How can I work a business as a sole proprietor with all of the uncertainty of pregnancy?

Begin Women Venture

Yesterday I went to my first Women Venture class. I am so excited. they were really positive. Of course, it will be a ton of work, but with support I feel more like it is really possible.
They recommended that I take their Planning to Succeed classes. I am hoping that I can use the money from the dislocated workers program to pay for the classes. So today I called John at the Employment Action Center to see what we could do