It's Been So Long ...

I know it has been so long ... I am not even sure why I stopped blogging, so, I will not give an excuse ...

School is going very well and I am very proud of my students. We just had Parent-Teacher conferences and they are so uplifting. I love meeting with the parents and students and bragging about them to their parents or helping their parents figure out a way to get them back on track. I have spent a good part of this weekend putting together a brand new organizational system for one of my students from last year, K. He is going to be so thrilled with the binder and systems we are going to put in place. This is a kid who has so much potential and drive, but, lacks in the organizational area and motivation. He loves supplies and pencils and stuff like that, and I am hoping that this will get him back on track. He needs someone to check in on him and remind him of how incredible he is daily - and I am going to try my best to check in with him each day.

I went home for part of Mid-Winter break and had a fabulous time with my parents and friends. The trip went by quickly as I was busy with friends and my mom and dad. I started to watch the Olympics at home with them and fell in love with the sports!! My mom prepared such great food for me and made sure I was taken care of! :) I spent some great quality time with LB and hope that it lasts until we are reunited once again! I was able to rekindle a friendship with a friend from Middle School/High School while at home and we continue to talk - I hope we do forever!

SLM went on his first business trip this past week and loved it - except for the part where he was snowed out of NYC until Saturday am (he was supposed to be back home on Thursday pm).

I have applied for the School Operations Manager position at the NYC TFA Institute for the summer and had my phone interview this past week and hope that I got it! I find out March 23 and am keeping my fingers crossed!! I would love this position and I know that I would excel at it as well!

Steve bought a snowboard, bindings, boots, and a helmet. We were supposed to go this weekend, but, that fell through when he was stuck out of NYC in FL.

The kittens are doing great - their stomach hair is growing back where they were shaved from when they got spayed. They are still ridiculously insane, but, let us sleep at night more. Isabelle has gotten into this habit of walking on me while I sleep and doing a broken, death-sounding meow to wake me so that I will pet her. I call her an name, pet her a few minutes and then roll over only to be woken again after about 20 minutes. She is spoiled and irritating, but, I love her!

This week is Spirit Week at school and I will take pics to post of me and the teachers (I am not supposed to post pics of my students on the Internet).
Monday: College Day
Tuesday: Twin Day
Wednesday: Wacky Tacky Day
Thursday: Backwards Day
Friday: Sports Day

SLM's birthday is next week!!!

I will update again soon ... :)

SnOw DaY!!!

Today was declared a snow day and it was fantastic! Pepsi HQ were actually shut down as well so SLM got to stay home from work too. I slept in until 6:30 am - about an hour past my usual time. We lounged for quite awhile with the girls and then ventured out into the wintery madness to Dunkin Donuts. I did some work today as well and finished up my 2nd quarter grades. SLM played golf video games most of the day. We had venison tacos for dinner which were super delicious. Our power went out to the TV and refrigerator - we are going to loose all our food which is really awful. I am having a High Honor Award celebration for 11 students - all of whom were the only ones to turn in every singed assignment and homework and they all have A's for 2nd quarter. I created really nice certificates, will make them cookies, get them nice mechanical pencils (hot ticket item) and then let them pick a prize. The prizes come from this warehouse that our school got to "raid". I picked up many books, DVDs, comics, iPod covers, toy figurines, etc. The kids will freak!!

Last weekend we had a nice wine and cheese evening with Dave and Giselle. We had wine and I made baked clams, mint brownies, summer sausage and a cheese tray. We watched The Orphan and had a ton of fun!!! I had grad school last Saturday. I am taking Ethics and Art and think this will be my most enjoyable semester yet!! I mixed my own colors and created my own color wheel of all the primary, secondary and tertiary colors!!! I will take a pic and post it!!

The girls are back to normal terrorizing each other and getting into everything. I am expecting low attendance tomorrow and have a meeting at McKinsey until late and then have to come home and bake cookies for Friday's celebration.

I leave for STL on Saturday and return on Thursday and then SLM leaves for FL on Sunday and returns the following Thursday :(

A friend from TFA and grad school showed me her planner and I ordered one the next day - it is by MoleSkine and on the left is a weekly planner and on the right it is a notebook for notes and the back cover has a pocket to hold things!!! I am excited to get it in the mail!!! I highly recommend it!!! :)

Foul Mouth

Today was interesting. I was teaching after school and two of my female students started bickering and cursing at each other in Spanish and in English and then one of the girls told the other girl to "Suck my D%^&". It was horrendous. I started screaming at both of them to "SHUT YOUR MOUTHS" and "STOP IT". I have never yelled like I did today. I haven't yelled at students at all this year. My Principal was walking by and storms in to my rescue. He screams, "WHO IS DISRESPECTING MY MS. BELZ?!" and then he goes on and questions everyone about why I am yelling and that "Ms. Belz NEVER yells". Long story short, both students were removed. I felt very supported and rescued.

I came home ready to relax and blocking the door was the cat's house. Isabelle decided it was time to move again. She gets bored of scenery and surroundings easily.

We made chili last night and because I am a genius I thought I could you ceyenne pepper in place of chili powder and added 2 Tablespoons of ceyenne pepper on top of the black pepper and red pepper flakes. It was so HOTTT. We had trouble eating it all without our mouths exploding. Note to self: never replace anything with ceyenne pepper.

Despite all the stresses this week had to offer and the fact that I feel like I am going to fall over from exhaustion whenever I stand up - I am pretty happy with the way this week has turned out.

My students can find the area of a sector of a circle - the hardest 6th grade standard! YAY :)

What A Monday!

Today was quite busy at work. I literally did not stop from 7:30 am until 6 pm. I had a ton of stuff to get ready for the Acuity Predictive Assessment. I was actually able to get it done more quickly than I thought. The student who cheated will be suspended and I way very pleased with the amount of support I had from the AP.

I taught the hardest standard in math today and the students actually got really into it and loved it - I think they were very excited about how much work they had to do to arrive at answer and then when they got it they were soooo excited! I even had students ask for extra problems to do tonight on their own!

I was nominated and made Co-Chairperson of our Student Leadership Team and I was put forward to the next round of interviews for the SOM position with TFA this summer at the NYC Institute.

I am supposed to be sharpening 150 pencils right now but the sharpener won't work. That part sucks.

The girls are back to normal for the most part. I am hoping Isabelle's cuddling will last forever. She is such a sweetie when she is cuddly. Although, she was not a sweetie when SLM came home from work and found her on top of the bookshelf where she is not supposed to be.

I hope this week is productive and goes by quickly!!!