Hi, all!
Robyn: Hope the exercise class went well. I was thinking about you, because my physical therapist pulled out the step-blocks for me to practice going up and down. He discovered that I turn my left leg out (pigeon toe) and I tend to drag it when I walk. He thinks that is because my calf muscle isn't strong enough, and that is also why my calf has been cramping. I'm expecting it to do too much. He is going to go over my weight lifting record with me from my old gym (I snagged it when I moved) and try to help me add some leg exercises! I'm actually HAPPY about that; he also recommended seeing if I couldn't afford to work with a personal trainer once a week or so for the lifting part. I'll ask how much it costs at my gym. Its a shame the head lifeguard (now temporary aquatics director) at the old gym is being such a dick... he's a certified personal trainer, and he might have helped me. I might also ask my TA, since he is also a certified personal trainer, and started at training to be a physical therapist.
Kerry: Bursitis is icky. I've never had it... I understand that they frequently recommend physical therapy for it. I'm not sure what type though, I just have seen lots of patients at the PT offices with that issue. I totally understand stress in dealing with your kids. Today, we had the dress rehersal for the soon-to-be famous soap opera, "As the Cafeteria Tables Turn". I was given the part of the "Evil School Teacher", and we also have the red-haired seductress who sets up all this schemes to get others in trouble, the naive and simple ingenue who does whatever the seductress says, the scapegoat, the follower, and the Court Jester. The scapegoat allegedly kicked the ingenue, who was completely innocent. Reality was that the seductress and the ingenue both kicking, and the scapegoat thought he was just teasing.
The follower joined in by saying he was kicked (really, really hard too!) and he SAW the whole thing. 2 hours and lots of lost classtime later, I got the whole story! I can laugh about it now, but while it was going on I was just mystified. I was also a bit worried when I discovered that my naive ingenue was telling everybody that I'd called her names, said she was a criminal, and that I hated her... I do NOT need a kid going home and telling that story!
I seem to have an epidemic of lying going on in my classroom.
Ginny: Don't go missing!!! We need you!!!
Zelda: 2 weeks left, well... here I am cheering that we're going to have exams next week, which means that the kids will leave early. I could use the time to make activities and stuff for them.
Summer: AWESOME NEWS! I remember last year too, and am so glad you & your family do not have to go through that again! Do take care of yourself: we've had it going around also, but fortunately only one student in our program (mine and the severe disabilities teacher) seems to have gotten it. Its been a week since she got sick in school, so I'm hoping I didn't get it. Of course, the question is: Would I know that I had it since I'm nauseous half the time anyway? Hmmm...
Tomorrow is the concert and the pizza party. I will probably have a piece of pizza, then come home to have one of my frozen dinners. Or, maybe I'll take the frozen dinner to school for a late lunch (I have a break tomorrow, so could eat as late at 1:30), and have my usual tuna and cheese for dinner.
I'm still waiting for my blood test results from the endocrinologist. I still have no idea what her "thoughts" were. I'm going to try and call her tomorrow from school since I have to stay there. The librarian will let me use her phone, and won't repeat anything that she hears. She's good people.
As I said, we're rewriting picture books... I really wanted things like "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", because its easy to pick a new main character, and a new thing to see or give, and wham! a new story!
Oh, and...
If anybody has kids who want to be email penpals with my class and maybe the severe disabilities class, LET ME KNOW!!!! I signed my kids up for Gaggle accounts, which is the free, filtered email for schools. The assistive tech person that supports our school LOVES the idea, and is doing research to help us. I've been digging on the 'Net to find materials to teach the kids about safe emailing... We were supposed to do the lesson tomorrow, but I have an IEP meeting now, so it'll probably happen next week. I can also tell you how to get Gaggle accounts for your students (they really are free!) if you're interested. The one thing about the service that is really awesome is that if they send anything that is inappropriate or dangerous, the system forwards the email to the administrator (me!). Its not a human screening, but its better than turning them completely loose. I will also make sure my students know that I have their passwords and I will monitor the accounts; if I think I have a reason, I'll check the email. My students have writing levels anywhere from 1st grade to 4th grade...
