I don't feel depressed. I wasn't staying in bed to avoid anything. I play FreeCell to do that. I loved being curled up under the blankets, warm and cozy. When I did get up, Elsa and I finally did our walk. Although, I made a point of feeding the poor girl before we left; s` he had been waiting long enough. I had let her out to the backyard to take care of business, so there was no immediate rush.
I continued working on washing, ironing, and sorting all the linens I had found that I would never use. I wrote my cousin Mike, who archives information and items from my family's paternal side, to ask him if he would like to include things I found that look like they might be from my grandmother's generation. The linens have embroidered initials. I saw some with WB, for my grandmother, Walencia Bursch, and GB for one of her sisters, Gertrude Bursch. These are over a hundred years old since these items are from these women's trousseaus.
When I got to school, I started with the students in Mrs. B.'s class because I missed them yesterday. D. came out first. He continued to read better, and he continued to make the same procedural mistakes he always made. Often the words he says don't even make sense in the story, and there is little to no relationship to the letters. When I asked him why he doesn't stop and do a careful analysis of a missed word. He said, "It's so hard."
When I saw K., I had her write out the numbers in order up to 100. She worked away while I worked with D. from Mrs. L's room. I gave him addition problems with regrouping. He knocked it out of the park immediately. Then I gave him a subtraction problem with regrouping. He did it wrong, but I didn't have to correct him. He saw his mistake himself. Apparently, his current teacher had covered subtraction of regrouping, and he remembered what she taught. This means he was paying attention. I have been telling him how bright he is. He learns so quickly when he pays attention. He will be a very good student someday. I let him go after a few minutes. I have to review the common core standards to see what he needs to learn to be on grade level.
K. did fine on counting up to 50. It was clear that she knew how to do that. The problem is that she has not internalized her sense of the number sequence. I reviewed the before and after sequence on the numbers 1-10. She needed help and guidance. I sent her home with worksheets number 2- 81. I wrote the number in sequence to give her support and an opportunity to see the repeated pattern, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,_0, and repeat.
Before | After | |
1 | ||
2 | ||
3 | ||
4 | ||
5 |
After the dog groomer told me how bad Elsa's ears were, I started doing a daily cleansing with the ear rinse. When I spoke to Judy, she reminded me that I had prescription meds for that purpose. I found the bottle among the lineup of soaps and in the shower. I started using that.
I called the church to ask if they could use the large white linen tablecloths. They said no, but Memory Lane might take them.
I feel like I don't smile as much as I used to, or not as broadly. I think when Mike was alive, there was always laughter in my eyes. Working with the kids helps me smile.
Mrs. B. said how she would love to work with only one kid at a time. She said she's always working with kids in groups of two to six. I remember those days when I held a job and had to work with small groups. Now I can set my own terms. It allows me to focus on each child's problem. I hope she doesn't think my success is all down to my working with kids individually. I like to think I bring more to the table than that.
I was feeling a little down because the statistics show no one is reading my blog. I know several people are continuing to read the emails I send out with the current entries. Still, it does make me feel useless. I want to think that some people find what I have to say of value. Oh, well. I find this all a little depressing.
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