16/180

It was a sad morning. 

Woke up to the smell of smoke outside.

The fires have been burning all around us for the past several days.

No end in sight.

Wildlife losing their homes.

Hoping and praying for the courageous 

women and men fighting to save our lands.

Be safe.

Think people.

Lives depend on it.

Have I told you lately

how lucky I am?

Four year olds need to paint.

It's an essential part of early childhood education.

We have paint at school.

We need a way to transport it home.

Thank you Donorschoose Friends!

I donated blood on Saturday.

They tested my blood for covid.

Negative.

Antibodies for covid.

Negative.

Today, it was district testing for covid.

DIY nose swab.

First time this way.

Fifth test.

15/180 R-E-D Red...

Today I taught from home for the first time this year.

It was something I needed to do

as a parent of a teen.

But when you have two very competent 

and gifted teaching assistants,

you don't need to worry.

Room 27 and I are super lucky!

I love, love art.

I love, love teaching art skills.

I love, love watching children create art.

Today, we introduced watercolors.

It's something I usually do later in the year

but when you don't have tempera paint you can send home

you send home the next best thing.

When you integrate math (circles), with science (colors), 

and art (lines, colors, & shape)...

you get amazing!

And then you just let them go 

and see where it leads.

Beautiful!

And for the people that believe that

teaching is an 8-3 job.

It's not.

Sometimes you are open late.

Our next project.

Stay tune...

 

14/180 Mama Said There Be Days Like This...

 It's Tuesday.

Ms. T, the occupational therapist comes on Tuesdays.

I have really enjoyed learning new strategies from her.

Simple things to get those young hands ready to write and use their fine motor skills.

We had a four day weekend.

It was nice

and stressful too.

Happens when you are raising two men on your own.

Each with so many needs and wants.

Steady as she goes.

I can only do so much.

But I am surrounded by kindness all around.

Thursday, Dulce (who use to be 6),

gifted my students with playdough and more!

Friday, my college buddy funded a new document camera for our small groups!

How blessed is my class?!

Afterschool were greeted by a face we had only seen online.

J appeared in the flesh to pick up his playground ball 

and fine motor skills baggie!

We were overjoyed to finally meet him in person.

I hope he felt special

because they all are to us.

My favorite sentences of the afternoon were:

"Hola, yo soy maestra de _______. Yo estoy aquí ."

I don't mind dropping off supplies to families.

It gives me a chance to connect with them.

And I think Pablo likes me now.

He even said "Bye teacher!"

I usually include a treat for the students when passing out material bags.

But today I wanted to give the parents a treat.

The kids have been doing so well online

and that's because of the support of the families.

I wouldn't be able to do what I do without them

Especially now.

But I worry about them too.

It's not how they planned school for their child to look like.

And for the parents of my special needs students

it's even harder.

School was their respite time,

hours in the day where they could get some self care.

Now that was gone.

No respite.

No self care.

It's tough.

I know.

I am one of them too.

But we keep moving forward anyway.

I just wanted to say thank you.

I see them.

I had a tough night at home.

But like my favorite plant,

Tomorrow will be a new day

and maybe new growth too.

13/180 Lucky 13

Another cutie just joined our class.

Welcome J!

13 is one of my favorite numbers.

Day 13 was another good day.

I welcomed a new face and family to our growing classroom.

We had another day of fun learning and growing.

I got to dance, exercise, sing, teach, discover, and learn with my kiddos.

I love my team.

We reflected, planned, and packed materials for next week's lessons.

We ate coffee cake from Starbucks,

Drank coffee from 7-11,

Had tamales from the corner guy, (I know, I know)

And tried a new cheese board from a local East LA business.

We don't do this everyday, 

But it's a long weekend,

and we really like working together,

learning together,

teaching together,

and eating treats together,

so we did.

Then when you think the day couldn't get any better...

Amazon drops off boxes of stuff from my teacher wishlist

that a former student of mine,

from 3 decades (90's) ago,

surprised me with!

I know they look like pom poms and tongs,

but to 4 year olds,

they are tools for helping develop fine motor skills!

We have bottles of paint at school.

How to get that paint home?

How about plastic paint cups...

filled with red, yellow, and blue.

One set for each child.

Possibilities!

You get the science teacher in me right?

The OT asked for play dough.

I bought some at Costco yesterday.

My generous student, from 3 decades ago, #thanksDulce

showed up on my door step after school with this!

Yes, that some student!

Did I tell you I'm spoil and blessed?

Sometimes you just have to take some time

away from work

and teen,

grab your dog

and drive,

to the beach

and take

a sunset stroll with your favorite people.

No better way to end a busy day.

No better way to start a long weekend.

Selfcare. 

12/180 Curse of the Breakout Rooms

 Another day, another new student.

Welcome C! We are happy you are here!

Up to 20 now.

The thing about breakout rooms is that sometimes you breakout the rooms

but they don't come.

So you have to always check,

Because sometimes you may leave 4 kids in a room all to themselves.

It's all good. 

They are happy and I am happy they are there!

Zoom life is more clear when you have an extra large monitor

connected to your new MacBook Pro.

Sometimes you find the most unusual things in your Costco shopping cart...

11/180 Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Each day I learn something new.

Today I was able to connect my new monitor (thanks Raul)

to my MacBook Pro (thanks Mr. D).

And teach using both.

It was life changing!

Next goal is to learn how to enhance our instruction with students.

It's their first experience in school.

Most probably don't know the difference,

but we do.

And we want to make it the best experience we can.

I have an amazing team!

So after our online class time, we went back to work.

We learned several students needed student size chairs.

We gave a parent two tables and two chairs. (Thank you Costco)

Dropped off another chair.

We learned how to use the tablet.

We learned how to use the ring light.

We learned how to share screen in breakout groups.

We connected another document reader.

We tested and practiced.

We need one more document reader for 1:1.

Hello Donorschoose Project.

Wonder what we will learn tomorrow.

10/180

 We can't bring our students to the classroom right now, 

but we can try to bring our classroom to the students.

We have such a lovely class this year. 

I get excited when I get to interact with them

even if it's through a mask

passing out materials

and a little snack.

Home deliveries and back home with 3 minutes to spare for our faculty meeting!

It was a good day.