Did any of you see my pictures? If not, stop being lazy and look at them! :)

Good News: Susan is probably going to come visit me in October! I have our whole weekend planned out already.

Bad Day: My classroom's a/c stopped working today. It was 95 degrees in my room, so we all had to move to another portable to have class there. It was just fabulous. All my kids had headaches and of course, i had one too. All my kids were coughing all day and now guess what I have? A cold. Go figure!

Blogger's New Name: Complainlog? Hmm...sorry :) Gotta vent somewhere!

Bad Day Part 2: Fire ants are still biting my toes at school. Arrrghh.

Good Part: I love my kids!!! They are angels. And they are much smarter than the other first grade classes for sure :)

Good Part 2: I forgot my lunch AGAIN today, but this one little girl DID remember her lunch, and she forgot that she remembered it and went through the lunchline anyway and therefore had an extra lunch so guess what? I got lunch! It was YUMMY! Thanks Cristen!

Let's Make This Easy

If you want to see any of my pictures, just go onto Ofoto.com, type in email address amandah@muskingum.edu and password toulouse. Just don't delete anything! :)

Does This Sound Like a Teachers' Lounge?

Hahaha. Your guys' comments were funny last time. Well, lastnight I stayed at school until 8:30 and I got in trouble with Mr. Bossy Man John. :-p I mean, I would have called but the minutes are out on my phone and when is there time to get online or go to Best Buy to buy more? Never! And how was I supposed to know that the other teachers were going to hand me a lesson plan format that I had to have done by Monday for all my plans for the next week? Yeah! They do things like that. I had to grade spelling tests, math papers, tear out all these math pages, homework pages, and find stuff to give to my gifted kids who sit there in class all bored, AND find stuff for my low kids who sit there in class clueless.

NOT to mention that my room gets up to 81 degrees in the afternoon, there are FIRE ANTS crawling all over now (I got bitten a bunch of times and it hurts like crrrrazy!!!), and yada yada yada. Sigh.

But teaching is fun. I like that part. I LOVE being at school until 3:00....and after that I'm like, okay, I want to go home...home meaning MY home in Orrville to see my mommy. But I can't do that really so I don't mind so much staying a little late. John usually isn't home until late anyway and it's not like I have any friends. But I'm not trying to get pity here, trust me. I am SO GLAD I don't have any friends here because shwew, they would be totally getting ignored right now. Sorry non existent Floridian friends!!!

We do weather and calendar every morning you know, and really the weather is VERY pointless. We are in the sunshine state afterall. The little arrow hasn't been moved off of "Sunny" in all ten days of school. I didn't bother with a seasons chart that had winter with all that snow and crap. They need to make a Florida version!

As an Ohioan I had never thought of this, but the winter/fall lines here in Florida at the mall and other stores are still...winter/fall. Like sweaters and stuff. I need sleeveless shirts for work and all I can find is long sleeve sweaters and pants. Yikes! They need to do something about that.

Mom, Miss Bishop is evil. I tie my students' shoes but when I do it, I tell them they need to practice at home. I don't write notes home that say "YOU need to teach your kid how to tie their shoes!" That's kind of rude. I did write a note home concerning a little girl's shoes because she couldn't walk in them, though, and they were cutting into her skin and making her bleed. I don't think that's crossing the line. I can tell you right now though that I think that little girl will get held back into first grade again because she has a 3 minute attention span, and her birthday is in July so she's younger anyway--just turned siz, when practically all my other kids are almost 8 because they've all been held back once already.

Some of these kids are so S L O W. They hold us up every where we go. I swear it takes this one kid 5 minutes to walk to the carpet, and he will sit way back in the back and EVERY DAY at least 4 times I tell him to move up. You'd think he would get a clue. And then half the kids feel the urge to lay down right there in the middle of class. Hello. "We are not preschoolers," I say. Hahaha. It's kind of fun to make fun of my kids...but you know I love them :) I do want to say sometimes though, "STOP ACTING STUPID!" Because honestly, they do act stupid and I KNOW they are not. One kid really acts like he doesn't get anything and I know he does, he just wants attention, and I have another kid that just stares into space ALL DAY LONG and doesn't do a daggone thing. Arrggh. It's so frustrating, because as a student teacher I could have taken the time to figure out the problem and talk to the kid one on one for half the day, but now I just can't, you know? I just have to move on with the other fifteen kids who are ready to move on. It's aggravating because school just isn't fair to anyone.

Although I am tired and working a lot...I'm not stressed. It's weird, but I'm just not. And I'm never worried really about anything (except my checking account). And I really like what I do :)

I'm Tired

If you're wondering why I haven't posted, it's because I wake up every day at 5 am and work until about 7 or 8, which means I get home at 8 or 9, and then I eat, pack my lunch for the next day, and go to sleep. So yes, I'm tired.

Teaching is a lot of work. I don't think I could be a mom at the same time. I am not kidding, it is like having 17 kids of my own. I do everything for them. I tie their shoes, fill their waters, get their folders ready, etc. etc. I love them all...they're such cuties. But good heavens, it's so much work!!!!!

My First Two Days

My first two days have been great! The kids are adorable, of course, and I am getting along just fine! I will write more later when I'm not so busy!!!

Church Search Fun

Well, each Sunday that I have been here (except the first one I think), I have visited a new church with John. But last Sunday I went by myself. I couldn't find the church I was looking for though, so I just stopped by this other one that had an 11:00 service, called New Hope Ministries, which sounds non-denominational to me. Usually when you go to a non-denominational church you sort of know what to expect. Well, it turns out that this one was Pentacostal. So I got really freaked out. I sat there for a while trying to convince myself to stay. I mean, afterall, they DO believe in God and probably love God just as much as anyone in such and such church. Well I just got so unbelievably uncomfortable that after five minutes of the sermon I got up and left. Isn't that rude? Well, I was angry! Why didn't they say they were pentacostal? Why didn't they have a sign that said, "Hello! We speak in tongues!" Dude.

I haven't been to one church that has been just right. I've liked a couple that weren't really to John's liking, though, and he could probably say the same. I liked the church we went to today (they support the missionaries I know in Haiti) but the sermon was a little different. I mean it was like, very, very, very Biblish. Which is a good thing, don't get me wrong, but we read this whole chapter and a half and talked about Jews and Gentiles and Simon called Peter and Simon and Cornelius and...well, you know, stuff that you might talk about in a small group Bible Study, not a sermon. Needless to say, my attention span was less than the normal 15 minutes. But the worship was good and the people were nice. The other church I liked a lot the worship was bad and the sermon was good. Sigh. And the Baptist church was a little too close to Waco for my liking...and Baptists are a little bit crazy to begin with. SO WHAT TO DO. I just want to find a church.

First Day of School is tomorrow! I am excited. The only thing I am nervous about is the copies I need DONE by 7:20. We start school at 7:40 every morning. Isn't that just great. Teachers must be there by 7:30, and I live about 40 minutes away. So I am getting up at 5 am tomorrow morning. But the good thing is that we let out at 2:10 and have teacher meetings till 3:10. So there's lots of communication happening and if I do need to be home by 4:00, I can be. But you can bet I will be there till at least 5 every day. :)

TEACHING is COMPLICATED. I won't go into detail, but seriously, take my word for it. I am so confused--my teacher's editions are weird, some are missing, there's too much stuff here!!!! Where to start? What to do?

Don't Hold Your Breath!

Hurricane Earl is on its way and it has so far taken the same path as Charley!

Amanda, reporting live from Southwest Florida...

I'm okay!!! The hurricane pretty much missed Collier County. I can't say as much for the people north of us. The town of Puntagorda is totally wrecked. They could use a lot of prayer, that's for sure. Even the airport is gone. John has to go help clean up in Fort Myers probably tomorrow, so hopefully that'll go okay. Fort Myers got it worse than us, too.

See ya later :)

Hi Charley!

Charley is my first ever experience with a hurricane. I hear it's going to be major. Some people, like my tutor (Maria, who is REALLY nice and I get to have her in my room for a whole half day!), who seems to think every house in the tri-county area is going to be wiped out, are freaking out. Most of the people are just like "Oh, it'll be nothin'."

People are boarding up their windows and lowering their storm shutters. We put everything that was by the pool IN the pool or in the sun porch. The sun porch was just installed and it is just about all acrylic, so I'm thinking that might get ruined. It's really funny to see the lawn furniture in the pool.

I don't think I'll be sleeping in the normal spot tonight considering it's in the corner with windows surrounding it.

School has been cancelled for Friday (tomorrow, which was supposed to be our team's planning day). So I um...don't have anything planned and I don't really know what to plan. But you know, I guess I do...first day stuff...how hard can it be, right?

My kids are so cute! Okay, so I haven't seen them yet. But I hear Adrian Martinez-Veda is a real sweetheart, along with Amy Montez. Guess how many of my students have the home language of English? Two. One has the first language of Creole, and the others are ALL ESL with a first language of Spanish. These are the Spanish words I know:

muoy (very)
grande (big)
picane (small)
adios (goodbye)
gracias (thank you)
hola (hello)
como te llamas? (what is your name)
comprende? (understand?)
no comprende (don't understand)
le lavamanos (sink)
le televisor (television)
le bane (bathroom)

I don't know if I spelled those right or if they are exactly right, but I can say them! It's okay though. The kids will be fine, it's just the parents I have to worry about, because pretty much it's pointless to send anything home, really...unless the kids are sweeties and translate for their parents (which some might). It's not even because the parents don't understand any English, it's because they're illiterate (many of them) because they are from somewhere in Mexico and didn't go to school, because they've been migrant farmers their whole lives.

I have three kids with the last name Martinez. I also have kids named Genaro, Antonio, Adrian, Hansy, Marycarmen, Jensel, and so on...

I hope I like them :)

Paycheck Please?

Well, it's been a few days since I've written...and that's because I have been bombarded with classroom duties :) Yesterday I was at work from 7 am until after 8 pm. This week is reserved for fixing up our classrooms, staff meetings, in-services, and today we have accelerated reader training. Fun stuff. Well, the fixing up my classroom is fun anyway. It's so small though! And I JUST found out that I have to have TWO big tables for the paraprofessional and a reading group and the reading ESOL tutor and a reading group. Pshhhh! MY group will be on the FLOOR. That's the way I did it in NZ and it worked better than tables. So you know, whatever. I don't know where I am going to find room for some big tables like that. I don't even have a teacher desk. No room for that, either.

I also have to move these bookshelves for the upteenth time, in order to make room for my tutor's tables. But THIS time there's a TON of textbooks and SSR books on them, so I have to take ALL those books off and then move the shelves. Eeek.

Well, it's about 6:30...so I have to leave in order to get to work by 7:15. Bye!!!

Extra! Extra!

The Cats

Being left in charge of 7 cats sure isn't easy. To make a long story short, the cats literally ruined most of my day and most of John's today. But the cats are happy, I guess. Biscuit and Precious are gettin' it on downstairs... I guess if you're going to breed cats, you'll have that. The sad part is that Precious's eldest son, Figs, saw part of it. He may need counseling.

Well, I still love cats, but let's face it, having more than one is way too many.

The Rain

Every time I drive home from Immokalee, it starts pouring down rain after five minutes of driving. This is not cool. Immokalee Road is probably the most terrible road in the world--it has no "sides" on it, so no drainage, no place to pull over, etc. They also don't use that rough blacktop/asphalt/cementy stuff we use in Ohio, or cinders. I guess they don't need it because they don't have snow, but it sure makes for slippery rain. I hydroplane like crazy. For this reason, I will probably be willing to pay a little extra for car insurance because I'm 90 percent sure I'll be in an accident within the next six months.

The New Teacher Orientation

Wow! Not to diss any one in Ohio, but hello, Ohio schools suck. I'm really learning this each and every day. It is SO different. The way we are treated, the way we are accepted here...it is absolutely phenomenal. The school board bends over backwards for us teachers. I met people who moved here to Collier County from surrounding counties because of its excellent reputation, as well as people from all over the country (and one from Canada!). I met another first grade teacher from Cleveland. She's a total sweetheart, too, and living all by herself down here! So I think we're going to hang out sometime. Collier County is growing like mad crazy...they've doubled their numbers in schools since 1985. So--keep Collier County in mind, fellow teachers!!!! The pay scale is among the best in the state as well.

The Classroom

My classroom is coming along nicely. Yes, it sucks that I have a portable. My dreams of my perfect classroom have been shattered. I don't have a reading corner or anything like that, but I do have a writing center, a guided reading corner, a large group area on the floor, and groups of five...I DONT have a teacher desk yet, file cabinets, and a few other minor things. I do have five computers, one of which is hooked up to a television, which also has cable, etc. And my own overhead. All very nice things to have. I also have my own class bathroom--which is a definite plus for classroom management. However, there is NOWHERE to put backpacks. I have very little wall space, no bulletin boards, and just barely any space. But...I'll survive.

My Fellow Staff Members are aweeeesome. They are soooo nice and FUN! I will have a tutor in my classroom for a full half day, along with two reading/ESOL tutors and four other reading specialist sort of people, a full time guidance counselor... The one reading specialist/resource guy has written guided reading books and studied in New Zealand. He is really, really awesome.

There are THREE male kindergarten teachers in my school. Isn't that incredible? Kindergarten male teachers are hard to come by.

My principal told all of us that whenever anyone has an emergency (like a family/health issue) and has to, for example, travel long distances, that the staff always pulls together money and sends that person wherever they need to go, plus of course you get paid leave for those sorts of things. So mom, don't worry, if there's an emergency, I will be home. This does NOT mean you can fake a heart attack!!!

48 percent of the students in Collier County are Hispanic. About 30 some percent are white. The rest are Haitien, black, mixed, other, and Asian (in that order).

My first day is MONDAY. The students don't come until next Monday, the 16th. I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loooove Connection!

I am watching the Game Show Network right now. I know that is really dorky, but I love Love Connection! I always have. It's even funnier because it's 2004 now and the shows are from 1988 or something. It's great.

Angels and Demons: Veronica, I've already started it!!! Thanks :)

Rain, Rain Go Away: You should see the weather forecasts down here. I don't know why they bother with 7-day forecasts because EVERY day is 90 degrees, thunderstorms, 100% humidity.

Car Insurance: Does anyone have any suggestions?

SCHOOL!!!!!

I am going to my school tomorrow to see my classroom and get started! Hallelujah!


Thanks Cheryl :) That was sweet! I miss you all, too!!!!