I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This has been a hard week! Especially because over the weekend I'll be at Lakeside Bible Camp as a gopher for High School Weekend. But let me start from Day 1.
MONDAY
I arrived to school early - at 7:15am to meet with my VP and life skills teacher to discuss expectations for the day and answer any questions I may have. I didn't have a lot, since I had visited the classroom already and met most of the kiddos. Since a couple kids were absent, the day was pretty chill. Of course every child had their moments. I chased a little boy around the playground for over 10 minutes, weaving in and out of 4th graders, because he had taken off running in a part of the playground he's not supposed to be. But these kids are truly amazing.
If you don't know what Life Skills is, it's typically a separate classroom where a teacher and several paras are working intensively with students who have severe disabilities. It's not just a classroom, but a variety of services that are offered. Because of the needs of these students, they are typically separated from the mainstream classroom in all areas. Some of these specific students are pulled out of the classroom for lunch or speech/language with professionals; however, professionals also come into the classroom to work with the students as a whole. Many of them are nonverbal, and a couple communicate with sign language. Each child is so unique and each one has a different set of unique needs. In this specific classroom, the students are in 1st - 3rd grade.
The day went by pretty quickly. We pick up the kids from the buses at 8:20-8:30 and then head to the classroom. Throughout the day, they have three recesses, breakfast, lunch, and two snacks. They have times of unstructured play, and more intensive teaching as well as sensory stations. Each student has different goals they are working on. Because of my SPED (special ed) classes I took last quarter, I'm familiar with these kinds of goals, IEPs, and BIPs. I met lots of new people, became acquainted with the layout of the building, got mail, used the copy machine, etc. I have a 40 minute lunch break in the afternoon and then we get the students to the buses at 2:50, and the day ends quickly after that. Everyone is very welcoming and kind. I'm excited to become part of the Lowell team!
I am so thankful for this new job. It will be so much easier now to make a schedule and budget when I have a set salary and hours. At Dutch Bros, everything was up in the air. I made minimum wage; tips were never dependable; and hours were always different every week. Now I get weekends off, and when I don't have class, my late afternoons/evenings are free for "me time" or homework. This quarter, I only have classes on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and Monday evenings once a month. This will change with the new quarter, but until the end of March it's steady.
TUESDAY
The day starts at 8am. We don't pick up the kids until around 8:20, and once they're down from the buses, it's all hands on deck. We only had 5 kids out of 7 today, but one girl is in and out, so most of the time we have 4 students. Today was so fun! I felt like the first day I was so new and unsure of my surroundings I didn't have a lot of fun. The kids were quiet yesterday and not used to me. Today, they were chatty and fun! Of course we had a couple issues. Kids ran away, recess was FREEZING, there were a few tantrums, and some scratching, throwing food, spitting and yelling (life skills is not for the faint of heart). But I love getting to know the individual students and their personalities and quirks. One of the students loves Psy's Gangnum Style so we danced to that song for several minutes. We played dress up. At the end of the day, we talked about the crafts we'd do for Valentine's Day and what to expect. I'm really excited for Wednesday! I will only be working until 11:30 because I need to be in Bothell at Cedar Wood Elementary at noon for my practicum. Thankfully we're doing all the fun crafts in the morning!
WEDNESDAY
Very busy day overall. We spent the morning doing lots of crafts. My favorite was when we took off all their socks and shoes and painted their feet in red, and then made footprints in the shape of a heart. We all had a lot of fun with this one, even though it was so messy! At 11:30 I went to my Bothell school, and then at 3:30 I went to my college. I go from school to school to school on Wednesdays, but I love it!
THURSDAY
So far this was the hardest day I've had. The students were crazy and we had a lot of pretty severe behavioral issues all day long. But the kids are still cute. They are still fun and quirky. And after today, I still love this job and I'm so thankful for the change.
FRIDAY
I now know why people love Fridays more than any other weekday! Friyay for sure! It was a shorter day, and thankfully most of the kids were happy for most of the day. It's been a loooong week and now time for a long weekend! I have Lakeside Bible Camp tonight through Sunday and then I get Monday and Tuesday to relax (lol), but mostly get chores and rabbit stuff done. I do have to say though, I'm excited to see my kids again!
I do have to say that the funniest thing that happened today was that one of my students, during independent art work, made an Afganistan flag with his paper. I could spend all day talking about the quirks of this student, but I do have to say that made me laugh.
I hope you guys have a fabulous long weekend!
HLW
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