I Love You!

At school on Thursday I was helping a few of my kindergarten students finish their Valentine cards. I was at the table supervising the cutting and writing of their Valentine wishes and giving directions when needed.

Then it happened. The small girl sitting next to me stopped her work and touched me on the arm. When I asked what she needed she replied, "Teacher, I love you!"

I looked at her and told her that I loved her.

She looked at me again and said, "My mother loves you!"

I said, "Oh!! That's nice!?!?"

"Teacher!" the girl said a few moments later. By now I am wondering what to expect. "Teacher! My dad doesn't love you!"

OH!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

© 2009 Barry T Horst


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Mr. Bungle and My Classroom

Today was the last day of school before the Christmas holidays.

Finally, a chance to have 2 weeks of peace and quiet. No kids, except the occasional grandchild.

So, what do I do?

I go straight home and watch films about school. And not just any film, but a film about manners. Manners in the lunch room no less!

Give it a go. It's really kinda good, in a.... strange sort of way.

Oh, by the way. I disabled the autoplay on the video. This way it won't play until you are ready for it to. So be sure to press the play button.

Contrary to popular belief the students in my classroom were not used in the filming of this mini-epic. It was filmed approximately 50 years ago. I know this because of the generic school house type of asphalt tile used for the flooring. It looks like the tile that was used then. I know this because I was 3 years old at the time and was very well acquainted with the floor. I spent a lot of time there. The copyright notice gave a little clue also.The copyright notice gave a little clue also.

Anyway, it seems that Miss Brown's class could certainly be confused for my class. I mean, did you see how well behaved those children were? Just like my class of kindergartners, in my dreams.

Then when Phil went to the Boy's Room I knew that it had to be my class because of the massive amount of soap that he used while performing this important task of pre-lunch hygiene. However, I realized it could not have been my class when Phil used only one paper towel.

You see, my class thinks that paper towels grow on trees.

Oh, wait! They do, sort of.

Anyway, my class thinks that it is a good idea to recycle used paper, so they try to use massive amounts in order to show others that they are recycling.

Then, on his way out of the Boy's Room, Phil had to stop and comb his hair. It looked like he was combing the fuzz on a peach.

Later in the cafeteria good ol' Phil must have been one thirsty camper. Did you notice how his milk carton kept changing from Meadow Gold to Pet Milk? At least three times.

And while we're in the cafeteria, did you catch that hunk of cake? I've never seen a piece of cake that big at any school I've been in. Obviously I've been in the wrong schools for cake.

Obviously!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Potpourri or A Little of This and a Little of That

I hate allergies.

I don't know what blew in, but I wish it would blow out.

Yesterday was not a particularly good day. I must have gone through a box of Kleenex and several allergy pills. When this happens to me I get cranky. I was cranky at school yesterday. I am sure the kids thought I was cranky.Today has got to be better. This weekend has got to be better. Baylor has a bye week so I don't have to worry about going out to a football game. The Heart of Texas Fair does not start till next week. I still have time to get better and get rid of this. If I don't get rid of it maybe I'll get used to it.

Tutoring starts in a few weeks. The kindergarten teachers need to get together to determine which students should attend tutoring. We also got our schedules on Wednesday. I have been assigned to tutor 5th grade.

Wow! What a switch. Spend all day with my kindergartners and then head upstairs and spend an hour with 5th grade. That's a 5-6 year jump in a matter of minutes.

The neighbor across the street called the other day. He wanted to know where we picked up our campaign sign. After the remnants of Ike blew through his signs were gone. He had them placed along his frontage with the road. He had placed several about every one-quarter mile. It looked good. I'm not sure if the wind blew them down or if they were "taken" down. I noticed yesterday that he had a new sign up. This time it was placed next to his driveway.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Loose Training???

Autumn, Day 2.

More training.

This time it is Science training. The district is implementing a new science program called Loose In the Labs. I am attending a training of trainers session. After the training today i will need to train the other Kindergarten teachers on our campus how to properly use the kits and the lab materials.

This training thing could actually be pretty good. I went to training one day last week and taught for four days. This week I have training today and Early Release tomorrow. Three and a half days teaching and one and a half going to training. Not bad.

I don't know what I'll do next week. No training and five days teaching.

It'll work. It's a job and I love it.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Am I Crazy or What? Probably!

Long day yesterday. Short night last night.

Got to the school at 6:45 yesterday morning. I didn't get home until just before 7:00 PM. Our school had it's first PTA meeting and Open House last night so I stayed at school and made sure my room was ready and current student work was posted;..............for one parent! That's right! One parent. I stayed until 6:30 PM for one parent. The same parent that I see most mornings because she walks her child to the classroom. Oh well, at least the room is clean. Not that it was messy to begin with, but at least it is more clean.

I brought some things home to work on last night. I brought some plastic letters home to sort and bag for easier retrieval. I also brought some crayons home to sort out. I can't stand to have the crayons all mixed up. My daughter pointed out that I do teach Kindergarten and that the children are 5 years old. I told her that I knew that but it still drives me crazy to have things messy.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Here We Go Again

Well, you can tell that school is getting ready to start. At least I can tell! Even though my contract start date is August 18th, I have been to school several times in order to get my classroom ready. Because of this I have recently had less time to blog.

At the end of school teachers generally have to "disassemble" their classrooms and put things away. One never can tell what might happen to things, especially if your room ends up being used for summer school or workshops.

This week I had to rearrange the tables in my room because they were used for training in another room. The tables that were returned to my room were not mine. They were the wrong size and had to be adjusted for my little ones. It actually worked out for the best though. I now have tables that are a uniform size and allows me more flexibility in arrangement. I also got an extra table and ended up making a listening center.

In addition to the extra time at school I have been having to get my materials ready. And yes, for a kindergarten teacher that means a lot of coloring, cutting, and laminating; and then more cutting. After all of this then I have to go back to school and put away, arrange some more, decorate the room, and generally try to get as much done as possible.....Because, Meet the Teacher Night is on August 19th. That's right, the second day back. So that means that I will need to get my roster as quick as I can (normally the Thursday or Friday before we report for work) so that I can prepare for the parent's.

And so begins another race that lasts for 36 weeks; some long some short, but all of them fulfilling.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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The End of An Era-Sort Of

Yesterday was the culmination of something that began 282 calendar days ago; August 28th to be exact. Yesterday was the last day of school for the students in Waco ISD. They attended 177 days of school this year. During this time my class went on 5 field trips. We went to the Mayborn Museum at Baylor University twice, the Hippodrome Theatre once, Cameron Park Zoo once, and to Skate World. For each of these field trips we were able to go to Cameron Park to play and have a picnic lunch. We had a grand year and it was hard to see it end.

Several of the students at school yesterday must have thought that school was already out. We had several running in the lower hall this morning. I had to remind several Kindergartner's and 1st graders that we still had rules to follow in school. After that they all settled down and were pretty good. Considering that it was the last day of school my class was very good today.

I did notice though that over the past several days many of my students that I have had for the past 2 years were being especially "clingy." I overheard one of the girls reminiscing about the things we did in Pre-K last year. It's really interesting to hear a 6 year old reminiscing about "old times."

Tuesday afternoon at dismissal I had 2 of my girls left. I had both in Pre-K last school year. I asked them both what they were going to do next year since they would have a different teacher instead of me. Almost immediately they both said, "Be bad." Hmmmm!!! I hope they misunderstood and thought I asked, "How will next year be without me?"

© 2008 Barry T Horst
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It's Always A Learning Experience

I have been in the field of education for 22 years. In that time it has never ceased to amaze me the things I hear from the kids. Often times they will be brutally honest. Other times, they are showing their shear innocence. Many times, they end up teaching me that in many ways their lives are vastly different from mine and the way I grew up. You see, I teach at the school in town that encompasses the largest subsidized housing in the city within it's attendance zone. Our attendance zone also has the lowest Socio-Econimic Standard (SES) in the district.

For instance, I will never forget last year when one of my students saw my wife one day and asked if she was my girlfriend. I said, "No! She is my wife." Then the student wanted to know what a "wife" was. I tried to explain, but in their world "Daddy didn't have a wife, Daddy had a girlfriend."

Also last year, I had the student that announced she wanted to be in gang when she was older because her older brother was in gang. Wow! And she was 5 years old at the time. I also had her in my class this year. I haven't heard a mention of a gang at all this year. But I do know that her step dad is not in the picture now and the family has moved from the nearby subsidized housing to another area. Hopefully, she and the family will be able to live in a better environment.

This year has been eye opening also. I remember an assignment I gave my class a few months ago. I asked them to take a piece of drawing paper and draw their house. After all students were finished I asked them to bring their pictures to the carpet and we would look at and discuss them. I got to this one little fella that raised his picture and showed the class a large black box that had been divided into many smaller squares. I asked what the squares were and he proceeded to explain that "....this is the jail where my Daddy is. I went to see him this weekend!" A few days later this student's older sister in middle school came to me to ask if I would write a letter to help get their Dad out of jail. She came to me because The Dad had met me before on a visit to school to discuss his son's behavior. This same boy was absent on the day after Memorial Day. When I asked if he was sick he said he had been to Mexico. I never heard, but have since wondered if Dad got out of jail and has gone back to Mexico.

Yes, that has hit our school very hard also. The teacher next door to me has lost two students this year because one of the parents has either been deported or has otherwise had problems with documentation and couldn't get back in the country.

Please visit Rogers Online for Mandy's post from Friday, May 30. It will give a little more insight to what I am speaking of.

Last Friday after school I left my truck running in the school drive as I went in to get something I left. I left it running so that it would get cool. (No it was not going to get stolen. I left it running but I didn't leave the keys in. I have remote start with a safety interlock.) Anyway, one of the older students noticed the condensation dripping from the AC and thought it was oil. She comment that my truck was leaking oil. Then she said, "All our new cars always leak oil like that."

On a good note; it appears that our campus will be Academically Acceptable on our latest TAKS scores this year. That is good because everyone at our campus, students included, have worked very hard this year to remove the stigma of "Academically Unacceptable."

Congratulations Brook Avenue Elementary!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Crunch Time

The countdown has started and it's crunch time.

Today is Friday and the last day for school is next Wednesday. Today is our "No Referral" Incentive party. Let me tell you, there were some unhappy campers yesterday when they found out they couldn't go to the park and skating because of discipline referrals. This will be a first for me. I have never taken a class full of Kindergartners skating. I suppose it will be easier than taking Pre-Kindergartners skating; after all, Kindergartners are bigger.

Next Monday we begin practicing for our Awards/Graduation. The ceremony will be on Tuesday morning. Afterwards, we will have a reception in our classrooms.

Then the day we have been working towards all year long arrives. Wednesday, June 3, last day of school and it's an Early Release day at that. The students dismiss at 12:00 and get to take their report cards and other stuff home and then start summer vacation.

Alas, that is not the end for me though. The staff still has end of year stuff to finish and than a workday on Thursday. Since our campus will be used for summer school and then summer training we all have to make sure our rooms are in order and all supplies are secured.

Fortunately I do not change classrooms this year. I changed last year and it was a major pain. I taught Pre-K last year. Since the district took Pre-K off several campuses this year I transferred to Kindergarten. So my STUFF was moved into another Pre-K classroom whose former occupant took a job in a nearby district. This teacher left behind a lot of STUFF. I also took the place of another Kindergarten teacher who got married and moved away. Her STUFF was also moved to my new room. I spent 2 weeks last summer before school started sorting through all of this STUFF and making sense of it. So again I say, "Fortunately I do not change classrooms this year."

P.S. I sat and made Graduation Tassels for my class last night. Oh the joys of Kindergarten.© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Field Day: Sometimes It Bites

Yesterday was the annual field day at Brook Avenue. We planned it (Actually, Coach W planned it), we went, and it was a rousing success. At times we didn't listen. But we all tossed, we ran, we tugged, and we threw. Up to the end we all had fun. But that's okay. It was field day.

I sometimes wonder if my kindergarten students get together each morning and decide on what they are going to ask me about or what type of malady they will have on that particular day. For example, I may have one student come and tell me that they have a cut or whatever. Instead of sending them to the nurse or office, often times I will tend to the matter myself. Then I have a steady parade of students with the same ailment or malady. By the time run out of band-aids, and patience, the epidemic is over.

In the past I have had many ailments presented to me. I have seen cuts, scrapes, and burns. I have been asked to tend to toothaches, headaches, and tummy aches. There have been real injuries and imagined injuries. Some students have the same complaint at the same time each day. Many times after sending a student to the office or nurse I get a note telling me their temperature or explaining that they cannot treat that particular ailment. I often end up telling the next student, "I'm sorry, the office can't help with that!"

Yesterday, I had a first for me. I had three students come to me on three separate occasions during the field day activities. They came to me and told me a variation of , "Mr. Horst, I have a mosquito bite on my behind and it hurts." I looked at them, paused and thought, then said "I'm sorry. I can't do anything about it and neither can the school." They weren't happy but time seems to heal all wounds and they soon forgot about it and started having fun once again.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Intense, Insane, Interminable

Twice a year at our school we have an I³ Day or I -Cubed Day. At this point I really can't remember what the three I's stand for. It could stand for Initiating Intelligent Interaction or maybe Introducing Integrated Information. However, yesterday it felt like the three I's stood for Intense, Insane, Interminable.

Let me explain what I³ Day is. The entire campus teaches various skills and objectives, all centered upon one theme or literature selection. Each teacher is provided with a lesson and all supplies needed for the lesson. Homeroom teachers then teach this same lesson throughout the day as other classes rotate into their classroom. Yesterdays selection was "June 29, 1999". This is a story about a young girl who is doing an experiment for school using vegetable plants. Her experiment is to send plants aloft and see if there is any change in them. Weeks later gigantic vegetables start falling from the sky. Where have they come from? (Go to Blue Sunflower Associates and buy "June 29, 1999" find out.)

I teamed up with a fellow Kindergarten teacher and we both did a lesson on shopping for vegetables at the grocery store. The students were supposed to shop, pay for, and get the appropriate change for their selections. The only problem was we only had 30 minutes for each lesson and 17 - 25 students per rotation into the room. We occasionally modified the lesson and challenged the students to shop for vegetables and try to hit a target amount and not go over. The amount we chose was $3 - $5 depending upon the grade level. Some students did quite well, others broke the bank.

Don't get me wrong. The day is great. Teachers get to see a different set of kids every 30 minutes. (This way we all get to see what the other teachers have to deal with on a daily basis and they see what you deal with.) As a Kindergarten teacher I love it because I get to see my previous students and get to interact with them once again. I also get to see what wonderful students many of them have become.

Now the Intense, Insane, Interminable part. It doesn't really have anything to to do with the lessons, the story, the students, or anything like that. It has to do with the music that our Instructional Specialist chose to signify that it was time to rotate; which is what my head began to do after hearing the same music and chorus over and over and over and over. You get the idea. It was something about vegetables and every time I heard it began to feel like someone was taking a hot poker and sticking it in my head. It really was Intense, Insane, Interminable. Maybe Kathy will write in and tell me the name of the song so I can share it with all of you. After all, you need an I³ day also.

PS: A Google search for June 29, 1999 yielded many scholarly articles. However none are related to what we taught. Goodness knows that we could have done some great lessons on "Neurotoxic Lesions of Basolateral, But Not Central, Amygdala Interfere with Pavlovian Second-Order Conditioning and Reinforcer Devaluation Effects". © 2008 Barry T Horst


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It's Over, Sort of

The latest round of TAKS tests are over. YES!!!

It has been quite a week for us at school. In order to maintain a quiet, orderly environment for the older students to take their test, at our campus we did not have "specials" or recess on testing days. "Specials" are better known as Music and PE. Testing days this week were Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Rather than go to "specials" the counselor and aides kept the students in the classrooms to give the teachers a break. (At least they did it for Kindergarten.) Do you know what it is like to keep 18 5 and 6 year old's in the classroom all day with no break to run off energy or play? It's not easy but we did it. The kids made it through OK but you could tell that it was beginning to wear on them, just as it was on the teachers.

The magic time came and it was announced that all testing had been completed. HALLELUJAH!! We immediately went outside to celebrate and run, and celebrate, and play, and celebrate, and shout. We were tired of being quiet. Goodness, that is hard to do when you are 5 and 6 years old and full of energy.

With all the excitement of TAKS testing being over we do have to come back to earth. It seems that our campus has a special visit today. It is from the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES at the University of Houston). This is the group that comes to each Texas Reading First campus and collects data related to implementation of the Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI). Just the thing we need the day after 3 days of TAKS testing. We will make it through though. We always do.Now we start the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI). It's all never ending.

© 2008 Barry T Horst

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When Spell Check Doesn't Work

It's amazing the things you find when you're not looking for it. I was scanning some of my picture files and lo and behold I came across the image of an e-mail that I saved some months ago. Actually the United States Mint sent this out as a mass e-mailing in August 2007. As I was reading the e-mail I had a word jump out at me. See if it does the same for you.The same type of thing popped off the page for me when I was preparing for our Kindergarten field trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. As some of you may know, we went to the Cameron Park Zoo. It is in Cameron Park which is just a few blocks away from our school. I was doing some research at the zoo web-site on their "General Information" page. If you go down to the section of the page titled "The Weather Factor" and then go to the sub-heading "Finally-....". In the heading the word "lightning" is misspelled. It is incorrectly spelled "lightening". The same misspelling is repeated in the text of the paragraph. Apparently the zoo puts the animals away when there is a storm threatening to cause them "to lose weight or become lighter in color".

Hmmmm!

Again, I guess this affliction that I have is all due to having been in education for 20+ years.

Did you find the problem in the US Mint e-mail? It is the word "configuration".

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Honesty, You Gotta Love It

As you know I teach kindergarten. When you have a classroom full of 5 and 6 year olds you never can tell what will happen or will be said. The other day I had a student come to my teaching table while I was teaching reading. He insisted that he needed to tell me something. I tried to have him go back to his station and continue working but he would have none of that. After all, he needed to tell me something. I finally relented and asked what he need to say to me.

He began to apologize and say, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I did that. I didn't mean to."

Now I'm curious. Real curious! I told him, "That's okay, but what did you do?"

His reply was, "I peed on the wall!"

Now this got my attention. I asked him what he said, and he apologized again. I then told him to show me what he was talking about. We went to the restroom and sure enough, there it was on the wall, on the seat, and on the floor.

I then had to ask how. So I said, "How did you do this?"

"I don't know it just happened."

Honesty! You just gotta love it!

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New Season of "The Tutors" Begin

We started tutoring with the Kindergarten students last Thursday. We tutor on Tuesdays and Thursdays with different groups on alternate days. One of my students absolutely, positively did not want to stay for tutoring last Thursday. Yesterday the same student was begging to stay. It seems that he has decided that it is fun to stay. I like the way the kids think it is great to stay for tutoring because to them they get to stay longer and play more games. They also get to spend extra time with the teacher when there are fewer students to demand attention. The students still don't realize that they have to stay because they are having difficulty acquiring reading skills. It also helps that the students get snacks each day that they stay.

The students were selected for inclusion in the tutoring program based on Middle of the Year (MOY) results on the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) and the Universal Literacy Voyager program. Based on the results for my class I selected 9 students to divide across the two days of tutoring. With 4 or 5 students each afternoon it is much easier to focus on needs of the individual than it is when there are 19 at once. These tutoring sessions will help to prepare the students for a successful 1st grade experience.

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No Time To Rest

Spring Break for teachers can be a time of rest and relaxation. It is also a time to catch up on important tasks. Like filing income taxes. I completed and E-Filed income taxes this morning for Chris and I. I also completed and filed for Julie. My next task is completing business tax appraisal for the county.

Yesterday I spent half the day at the doctor. He said I am fine and has released me to fend for myself for the next six months. The other half of the day was spent tweaking the blog. I have tried to arrange it more logically and I have changed weather and news feeds. It's amazing how long that takes when you are trying to watch movies at the same time.

I am also getting ideas together for a new web-site. I want it to be educationally themed, targeting Kindergarten. I am needing to plan the page design and content but I can't find the html editor I like. If you have any ideas, shoot them my way.

It is raining today. Hopefully it will stop today and dry out enough to put the garden in on Thursday. I am shooting for Thursday because that is the only day that Scott can help.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Yuck! Allergies Again

Well, I suppose that it's that time of year again. Allergies! Last night was terrible and this morning is not much better. My sinuses have been stuffy and I've certainly been driving up the value of Kimberly-Clark stock. You remember them, they're the Kleenex people. Do they have stock? Yeah they do. Just checked and it's at $63.93 a share.

My allergies took a hit on Wednesday night. Chris came in and told me that there was a Black Lab that just came into the front yard. I went out to see it and found Julie sitting there watching it. So I sat and watched too. Big mistake. Something was in the air ahead of the front that was blowing in and it found it's way to my sinuses. After about 15 minutes I came in and I haven't been the same since. I've also been keeping the Vick's DayQuil people and the Coricidin HBP people in business also. I guess I better not forget the Brach's Candy folks. They make a sugar-free cinnamon candy that is great. I like those better than any cough drop. It's best to use sugar free because if you use them at night in bed they won't rot all your teeth out. They also won't drive up your blood sugar.

Boy it got cold and wet yesterday. It started raining around lunch time. PS--I teach kinder so my lunch time is early' 10:50 AM. Last year it was at 10:30 AM and the year before it was 10: 25 AM. I suppose one of the perks of teaching the older kids is you get to eat a relatively decent time. Anyway, it rained till about 7:00 PM last night and snowed a little his morning. Not enough though to have to stay home.

Work-here I come.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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"ay What?

Many of you may know by now that I teach kindergarten. One of the things you get used to is the particular way that each student speaks. There is one particular student that has difficulty pronouncing the letter S. The student will either drop the "S" sound or substitute it with another sound.

As teachers we often hear what a student "means" instead of what they say. This particular student says 'pot instead of spot. There are several other examples, including one that happened yesterday. Each day before we go to lunch I give the student a squirt of hand sanitizer. I'm trying to keep them from getting sick. Anyway, I never noticed it before but today this student asked for "hanitizer". At that moment I wondered if she listened to Sean Hannity while he tries to "Hannitize America."

Probably not, but it was cute anyway.
© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Leap Day 2008

So today is Leap Day. We get an extra day this year to do all the fun stuff we like to do. Like listen to political ads?? Why is it that Leap Year is always during an election. That means we have to put up with all this nonsense an extra day. And it certainly didn't help this year, what with all the campaigns and such getting an unreal start on the process. Seriously, Leap Year has it's good side and it's bad side. Just think. If you are born on Leap Day do you only get to celebrate every four years. Boy that stinks. Imagine, you be like 60 years old by the time you were 15 and could learn to drive. Even going to school' you would be like 25 years old before you were 5 and able to go to kindergarten. (I suppose I shouldn't say much. I'm 52 and am still in kindergarten. And, I just got promoted this year. I had been in Pre-Kindergten.) If you get married on Leap Day does that mean you celebrate your anniversary every four years? I'm not sure if that would make it easier to remember or easier to forget, what with being every four years and all. At any rate, Have A Great Leap Day! Ribbet, Ribbet!!!!© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Teacher's Life of Leisure

My desk here at the house is a mess.

It always gets that way at the end of the nine weeks period at school. That is when I get involved in student assessments and various other forms of paper work. Let's see; there is assessment data to enter in the spreadsheet, grades to complete, and report card entries to make. After report card entries are complete, the report cards have to be verified. After verification they are printed. After printing they have to have more information manually entered on them. Why in this day and age that information can't be entered on the computer I will never know. After all is said and done the report cards are sent home. And then I wait for parents to return them. And I wait. And I wait. Some never come back. Sometimes I wonder if they ever made it home.

Now that report cards are finished it is time to plan the next nine weeks. The kindergarten teachers gather and spread the Scope and Sequence for the 3rd Nine Weeks. Let's see there is Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. We begin by looking at the various objectives/learning standards in each subject and see which ones overlap. That way we can plan to teach those objectives at the same time and hopefully double the impact. We plot the learning standards on a calender and try to map out the entire nine weeks.

You see, in Texas we are blessed with the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). This is the wonderful test by which life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is measured. At least in Texas public schools. Teachers must be sure that the students are prepared for this assessment and life in general. The TAKS has various objectives that have to be covered. To assist in this endeavor we are blessed with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The TEKS are divided by grade level and subject matter. The TEKS have broken down the TAKS into more precise and logical learning standards.

Wow! During the 3rd nine weeks at kindergarten we have 127 individual TEKS learning standards that we have to address. Of the 127 standards, 67 are in Language Arts alone.

After mapping out the learning standards we then double check to make sure that we have each one on the calendar. It wouldn't do to get to the end of the nine weeks and then discover that we did not cover everything.

Once the double checking is finished we get to plan our lessons and write our plans for the following week. Next week in Science we are going to do some experiments that involve 3 to 4 steps and changes that take place with the application of heat. We are tying in Math by working on sequencing up to 4 steps. Fun! We are going to be using cornstarch one day and gelatin on another. FUN FUN!

Having said all of this; that explains why my desk here at the house is a mess. There is a stack of mail about four inches deep and I can't even begin to count the number of magazines that have not even been looked at yet.

I'm going now and will begin to attack the mountain. No doubt that I will have a full trash can and paper shredder tomorrow.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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