I may be the only one at my school..

who taught a lesson today. Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure highly effective teachers don't show The Polar Express all day long. Oh wait.. they called me crazy when they found out that I ACTUALLY taught today. I had to submit writing supplements to t-eff-a so 1. I had too and 2. my kids get bored when we watch movies.

We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Dreidel Song in book form. The kids LOVED the Hanukkah book!! We sang the Dreidel song at least 5 times.. I think I've officially converted some of the Muslims and Christians.

Then I had the kids write a paragraph. I'm not sure how they did it.. their thoughts were totally disorganized despite the bubble map, but they actually wrote sentence after sentence. This was a major breakthrough.

Dr. C saw me during our class bathroom break and asked me how the "thing" was on Friday night. I told him I should have listened to him. He asked me if I was sick Friday or Saturday. After explaining that I got sick Saturday morning, he told me I was a champ. Now, looking back, that was HIGHLY unprofessional. He has in no way guaranteed me a job for next year, nor has he conducted my second official observation debrief and I go and tell my boss that I got so ridiculous that I got sick the next day? Mom was right.. I seriously lack any common sense.

Later that afternoon he saw me during bus rider duty.. He told me I have got to start listening to him. I think I'm in the clear (for now).

Liz, Spencer and I spent our half day grading papers and finishing report cards. Talk about productivity!

Oh yeah! I baked 8 dozen cookies, 3 sheets of brownies, AND bought them tons of random crap for their holiday gift goodie bag and only like 3 of them said thank you. Otto had the nerve to ask if he could have a fifth cookie. I was angry.. but I realize they are children. But still.. MANNERS!

Tomorrow is the last instructional day until break. That means 3.5 hours with kids, 3.5 hours of PD Thursday, and PD meetings all day Friday. Sooo close to NJ. Sooo close. I may actually miss those little buggers while in NJ. Emphasis on may :)