Christmas Break Is Here!!

Hooray! Christmas Break is here!! Not a minute too soon either. It's actually amazing how fast the school year goes. Today was day 76. Only 104 to go. Being that we test pretty much the middle of March through April there aren't that many more good instruction days left. I'm making a New Year's resolution to not stick to my manuals and to not be the ordinary teacher. I let go of my manuals the last two weeks and got so much more accomplished. I had hard time giving my kids the benefit of the doubt that they could learn in other ways. I guess I felt that because their behavior was so bad...that they needed more work. Not the truth. I got so much more out of them by having them write one paper. (Yes, 4th grade CAN do this.) I also had a lot less stress trying to cover every page. And, I'm actually covering more material. Anyway...I'm glad to have this break to look back to see what I've accomplished and also to relax.

I am in the Christmas spirit because it was snowing and cold (the other day) and today we also sang Christmas carols. We teachers did the motions to the Twelve Days of Christmas. So funny. Even the men (or boys) got into it. I think it's nice when the kids see teachers being crazier than they are. In any sense, we had a good time. I even brought Neville to school today. By the looks of him now, he had a good time. I know though he's glad to be home, too. They broke into his daytime nap.

Well, now off to my union party and to celebrate and let loose. I'm sure there will be much more consitent blogging now that I'm out of WallyWorld.