Hi, all.
Sorry, I've been missing. The school is still a disorganized mess, and I'm hating it just as much as ever (well, maybe a little less, because I DO have the kids now!). Let's see...
I have 6 kids, but none of them are with me all day. I have 1 planning period every other day, but I also don't have anybody scheduled for 2nd period, so I have like the whole morning free on A days. I suppose any NORMAL mouse would like it, but you must remember: I ENJOYED where I was working the last 3 years except for the administrative torture. I loved the kids, and was always doing things with/for them. It feels really weird to not be hopping all day long since the voc ed teachers only had 1 planning period... I have been doing some serious organizing, though... My TA isn't experienced with the kids, and so she's doing all the copying and making of stuff, decorated the room. Like, I printed all my grocery store units and associated worksheets put into a binder, all the vocab cards that go with it are laminated. The reading inventory I use has been copied completely through Level 6, and she put the student pages in page protectors in a binder for me.
Except for 2 periods (7 and 8), we only have 1 kid per period. Which also drives me nuts because how do you teach just ONE child? And of those periods, I only have the kid for like 45 minutes because he has adaptive PE the other half... AND then he collects attendance forms or some other "in-school" work job.
They really didn't need a full-time MR teacher. I'm dreading some of this because the other teachers are making comments (doing any work yet?), and because they aren't used to having my kids in mainstream classes... they want to put them all back in the room all day with me. For a few of them, it might not be a bad idea, but one of them isn't MR at all, he's just ED... lower IQ, but he doesn't fit the MR label. He plays games too well!!! I suppose he could be like one of my kids from my last school where he's primary ED and secondary MR, but I'm guessing he's just missed so much classtime for behavior that he can't keep up. And the other kid I think is more high-functioning autistic... he's very regimented, quiet, needs structure, etc.
Oh... and then we have the best part. I have a student who is from Central America; they moved the US in 2004. So he's been here a little over a year. He has picked almost NO English, and last year had a spanish translator. They took it off the IEP, and now the district heads are arguing over who is going to pay for the service to get it back. Meanwhile, he's with me for Academics, Community Instruction, Independent Living and Basic Skills (another academic period). The poor kid was in tears the first day, and totally shut down yesterday. I found some stuff I used with one of my students in my inner city school...they did the same thing to me my last year there, only the child was from Puerto Rico... and so we used some of that as a springboard, then made a language experience book. I found out he LOVES pizza, and likes to eat at pizza hut, so we made a book about pizza. And then we practiced reading it. I told him we could order pizza if he could read the book next week. I put English & Spanish on it for him, and picture cues.
I think I'll keep doing that... I doubt I'm going to be able to teach him phonics.. not yet.
I so VERY VERY VERY much wanted to have a year where I wasn't going to fight with administration and make myself unpopular with them in the first month of school.

That is definitely not going to happen this year.
So far as dieting? Eating is fine... I pack my lunch most days for school anyway, so... I'm not drinking enough though.
Imp IS back home, he came last Saturday... but I need to figure out what to do with his litterbox. He kicks litter EVERYWHERE... and it drives me nuts!
I'll try not to go missing again...