Aaahh, the sweet smells of summer!

I'm so glad its over. So very glad. The last day went relatively smoothly. In the morning I sent some of the kids to the first grade classroom to help that teacher pack her things (first graders aren't very good at that!) I had sent kids to Kindergarten the day before as well. Then, they watched a bit of Monster's INC and then we joined up with fourth grade to go to the park.

I brought my towel for a blanket and camped out on the grass with Sophie for the three hours we were there, every twenty minutes or so I would get up and make sure my nine students were still inside the park. It was sunny with clouds and not too hot, there were trees, grass and shade so it was very nice. Some of the other teachers had brought kites, balls, bats and frisbees for the kids to share. The organized chaos was quite bearable. The Boy brought me lunch on the motorcycle. Twas lovely.

We got back to school with about two hours to go and watched "The Amazing Panda Adventure with the fourth grade. Cosmo had been giving me trouble day, disrespectful comments, whining, refusal to follow directions, the works. But it came to a head during the movie. He had been sitting quietly watching the movie for about an hour next to Allen on one side of the room. Cassie and Fiona were on the other side of the room reading books and picking their heads up only at the action parts. One second I look over and Cosmo is next to Allen, the next he's shoved himself up next to Cassie and Fiona and has started talking to them. I asked him nicely (even used the word 'please') to move back to where he was sitting for two reasons; 1, he has been smothering Fiona lately and 2. Everything was quiet before he moved. He refused and I asked him again, he refused, then said he would and then didn't move. I tried one more time. Nothing. Sophia popped up and said, "That's it. You stand up right now and come with me." And out of class he went for a stern talking to.

I know that Fiona said that she talked her mother into letting her go to ADLR next year for seventh grade but I'm afraid that she'll change her mind over the summer and I won't ever see her again. So after every one was dismissed I gave her my email address and told her to keep in touch and that I was really proud of what she had done this year. She gave me a big hug and promised to get in touch. I hope hope she does. I would hate to lose track of her.

It really was great to come home that day. Wheww. I'm really looking forward to classes starting this summer. I can't wait to be on the other side of the desk for a change. I hope the summer camp with Sophia goes off without a hitch. We have one trip planned for the end of the summer and perhaps even a drive to Roswell (no alien stuff without you Grant, I promise!) to see my first roommate from college, Ben's parents are coming down to visit and revel in their beautiful house. It should be a really nice two months.

Next week I'm working with an education consulting firm that I love. I was introduced to the woman who runs it, Marta (not real name) during my E.A. year when she hired me to write some of the Social Studies curriculum that we use now. These workshops are going to be a Standards Based Checklist that she created for teachers to easily track what their students know according to the state standards during the course of a year. I love them. I really wish ADLR used them. On Monday, I'll be speaking at a pueblo school and on Tuesday for two other charter school in the city. I've done five or six workshops for her now. I'm almost not even nervous!