11.14.2002 | 10:03 pm

We had such a pleasant day in our little nut tree. All the boys got good stamps on their behavior contracts. Rylan got on the computer and took his first reading test and passed with flying colors. The afternoon recess was so nice we wanted to stay out till the busses came to fetch us, and my cold is better. Sometimes peace abounds and there is no stopping the happy feelings we generate in first grade.

Rylan, who took the reading test today, couldn�t read but 4 words at the beginning of the year. His mom had written on his information sheet that he was determined! Indeed he was and still is so. He just works and works and tries and tries, and he learns it and does it! I always say to him every afternoon as he leaves, �Thanks for being such a great kid, hard worker, happy boy etc� He has the funniest way of pronouncing �r.� He just fixes his speech every time he says it wrong, smiles and never lets anything get him down. I wish I had that much determination.

We started learning about the weather and clouds today. We were observing the clouds in our beautiful afternoon sky. Guess what?...no clouds...�What is it called?� I ask, �When they are no clouds?�.. Sunny.. No clouds.. Windy...finally someone chimes in. �CLEAR!� I read to them a book about weather words. Words like fog and humidity have very little relevance to these dry desert squirrels. I am going to have to bring in some containers with cold water and see if we can get some condensation going to get a better vision of these terms. I�m sure we�ll have a few little squirrels trying to drink up all that neat condensation before we are finished. Ah.. the joys of tactile learning!

Great joy! I have almost finished my online class, Authors on the Web. I have learned so much, but it is really time for it to GO AWAY! Because I have spent all these hours searching, discovering, planning and sending off reports to an unseen instructor, I will be the happy recipient of a teeny-tiny pay bonus. I hope everyone out there knows that teachers EARN every penny of their pay! Which is not to say that others don�t earn their pay as well, but...you know..I just had to say so.

22 days till James comes home~ 35 days till baby McKay arrives~

catsnapples~ in first grade and at life

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