Only 1 Bus!

Sometimes the smallest things can upset the students I work with, on this particular day it happened to be that there was only 1 bus, when we generally have 2. This was very upsetting for my friend S.H. He was throwing the ultimate of fits. We had called his mother after several attempts to calm him down, but alas we had no hope. We feared today would be a loss for him. Mom had said that S.H.'s father would be picking him up. The site leader and myself then discussed who would stay behind with him and we decided to send the bus on it's way. The bus driver started up the bus, just then S.H. screamed, jumped up and ran as fast as he could onto the bus. All was fine for the remainder of the day. If only we'd known all it would take was starting the bus....

"OOL" There is no 'P' in our pool, Let's keep it that way.

I've been volunteering with a community called Wellspring this summer teaching them aquaerobics. Wellspring is an organization that hopes to establish a residential facility for adults with disabilities. This facility would also provide a place of employment for the residents that it hosts. Anyway there are about 16 participants and I get to spend an hour of my afternoon working with them. My team teacher Stef is the teacher for this program for the summer and overheard one student saying to another. "Do you ever pee in the pool?" The other student replied "Yeah, I just did." No matter the age, I guess we have to review the rule that we are not supposed to pee in the pool.

Where's Phillip?

Today we had a class outing to the Target and Petsmart near by. As we were getting onto the bus. I did a head count, and then called Stef to do a head count. 16 kids, perfect. We get back to school and quickly prepare for 4th period. My math class comes in gets their work together and is ready to go. "Where's P.L.?" I ask
"Oh he's in the bathroom." Great, well let's get started. I start the fluency test and get the class prepared started. 5 minutes passes. P.L. is stillin the bathroom? I walk next door, no P.L. I call Cheryl over.
"Have you seen P.L.?" We walk down the hall to towards the bathroom. We stop a passing teacher and ask him if he would check the bathroom. No P.L. Now I start to panic. I head down the hall to Academic Support where Stef is working.
"Have you seen P.L." I ask
"No, was he on your bus?" Stef asks
"No, I don't think so, was he on yours?" I'm beginning to really freak out now.
"No, have you seen him since we got back?"
"No, you don't think he's at Target still do you?"
"I'don't know, should we run up there?" I walk quickly back to my class. Cheryl suggests that we call Target and Petsmart. Stefanie decides to head up to PetsMart. No answer at Target.
I run back to my computer to look up Target's number, when Cory calls. "A.S., broke his leg." Cory says before I can say hello.
"WHAT!?!?! Are you kidding me?" I shriek into the phone. I really can't handle this now.
"Just kidding, no, I have to go.... blah blah blah" I didn't hear the rest because now that I didn't have to worry about A.S., I started to worry about. P.L. again.
"Hey, Cory have you seen P.L.?"
"Oh yeah, didn't you read the note, him mom took him to the Dentist."
"WHAT!" Oh, the breath returns to my body.

Later I log into Powerschool to take attendance. Guess I should've done that first. I would have saw that he'd been excused. OOOPS!

Underarrested!

SH came back from lunch today to announce that CM should be put under arrest. Stef asked him why and he said "She took, my trash and threw it away without asking." Stef asked him if he was going to stay with the teachers or if he was going to go back to lunch. He turned around and walked out of the classroom.

During Weight Training SH was lying on the ground while CM was playing with her teacher. SH was becoming agitated with CM when suddenly he jumps up and says "CM you are under arrest for lying, stealing and fishing without a license!"

Hope you don't get caught for fishing without a license too!

Going to the Chapel Baby

C.M. is going to the chapel and she’s gonna get married. C.M. announced today that she was marrying Mr. Will. We asked her if he knew yet and she said yes. Apparently C.M. ran into our old paraprofessional Will in the hallway. As is tradition for C.M. she became utterly ecstatic and apparently decided she was going to propose to Will. However, Will is married and probably not marrying C.M. Poor Dear. (Oh wait, she says she’s not a Deer.)

Mario and Bowser

I think one of the greatest things about my class is the ability to just remain an observer at different times of the day. Two of my favorite times to observe my students are right before school and at the end of the day. These are two times when all of the students are in Stef and I’s classroom. The chaos that occurs with 19 special education students is quite hilarious. Yes, of course, it is managed chaos with 6 adults helping these students make sure they have everything they need to go home, however the student interaction is priceless.
This morning I had a wonderful opportunity to sit and observe as two of my students talked about Mario and Bowser. I sat on the couch waiting for a student to return and watched as B.S. explained to me in full detail how he Mario saves the princess from the bad guy. Of course, neither he nor I could recall the name of the bad guy in Super Mario Brothers, but there is always someone there to assist you. My friend S.H. perks up and says “Bowser” in his high pitched voice. B.S. replies “OH YEAH!!!” and pulls out his magic sword (2 straws taped together.) S.H. hops up from the couch and begins growling and hissing like he’s Bowser. Mario (B.S.) waves his magic sword at Bowser (S.H.) and jumps up like he’s in the game. The two continue their play fight for about five minutes until Mario swings his sword one final time and exclaims “HA! I’VE GOT YOU NOW! YOU’RE DEAD BOWSER!” and Bowser falls to the floor in the most theatrical death scene I have ever witnessed. I think he would put some actors and actresses to shame. Bowser slumps the floor and right before he breathes his final breath he says “I’ll get you someday Mario.” And with that the scene ends. Something’s are too good to miss.

Spaghetti with Meatballs

The following blog was actually written for 10/3/08

Today was a very special day as I was lucky enough to eat lunch with 5 of my students. This happens every other day but it usually is one of my favorite times of day because I get to socialize with my students and hear what they talk about with each other. The students purchase their lunch and then we all eat together, today I had Spaghetti. The students wanted to know what kind of spaghetti and I said my dad made it. D.C. wanted to know if it had meatballs in it and I said “No, my dad doesn’t like to make meatballs.” This started D.C. on a five minute monologue about how she likes meatballs and thinks that my father should make meatballs when he makes spaghetti. OF course then B.N. jumps in and says she doesn’t like meatballs or spaghetti and D.C. says that doesn’t make sense. The two chatter back and forth about spaghetti for quite some time until D.C. Suddenly turns to me and says “I think you should get your father’s recipe and bring in some spaghetti for all of us.” It’s funny what subjects bring about such heated discussions.