The 25th Hour ~karenjcardoza.com~

Nothing but smiles from me!

AHHHHH!!! 

So, I got up early this morning with my girl and jumped over to FreeRice.com to play a bit… If you’re a word lover like me, check it out, spend some time, and donate some rice along the way.

If you’re not sure about it, give it a try and keep these things in mind:

• There’s no penalty for wrong answers; you just don’t earn any rice for that question.
• Consider the root of the word… that should tip you off!
• They’re not trying to trick you, so I’ve found that things that appear too obvious are NOT.
• Go with your gut!
• Have fun and exercise your brain

Btw… if you are a lover of words, be sure to check out a few of my favorite podcasts too.

The Word Nerds, Podictionary, and Grammar Girl.

Technorati freerice vocabulary words thewordnerds grammargirl podictionary podcast etymology

I’m sitting here at work bright and early with a turkey in the oven for our Thanksgiving feast at school today. When the kids come in they will be preparing all of the food, making decorations, setting the table and serving the meal. It’s just part of what we do here and teaches functional cooking skills but it’s also an opportunity to practice appropriate social skills AND insures that each of my students will be enjoying a Thanksgiving meal this year.

I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new XO Laptop, which I’ll use to bring back and forth to school, for travel, and at training camp. It’s reasonably priced, is Linux based, is ultra durable, and uses cutting edge technology. I’m anxious to play around with it and see what it can do. I purchased it as part of the One Laptop Per Child campaign and I’m glad to be sending one to a child to infuse technology into their lives and education. There’s 7 days left to Give One, Get One and includes a year’s free T-Mobile hotspot wifi and qualifies for a $200 tax deduction. I can’t think of a better way to get connected and allow children access to all of the wonders of the world.

Technorati: onelaptopperchild giveonegetone xolaptop thanksgiving education laptop computer

Finally managed to get a Patriots podcast done tonight which is the first since before vacation. My life has totally been focused on school stuff since I got back and that’s been taking most of my time these days. (Between going in early, staying late, making materials, planning, and reading, there’s little time for anything else.)

A website update is on it’s way but I’m currently on the laptop making this quick post before opening a book then calling it a night. Since I don’t have the capability to update from anything other than my desktop PC, it’ll have to wait. Don’t worry though, it’ll be up to snuff before the opener against the Jets this Sunday.

I finished Rafe Esquith’s other book, There Are No Shortcuts and thoroughly enjoyed that one as well. (I had read Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire over vacation and raved about it here.) Right now, I’m reading various educational books that are listed on my site; fiction is out of the question for awhile that’s for sure! Right now, school is priority number one.

So, fall is almost here, school is back in session and the NFL kicked off tonight…. Soon, we’ll be at our first tailgate and everything will be in full swing. Guess I better hold on to my hat and prepare for the ride!
Technorati Tags: Patriots patriotworld mrsb Rafe+Esquith teaching

Just in case you thought I dropped out of cyber-space, no need to fear, tis just the beginning of the school year. I’ve been in all week with meetings, professional days and orientation and today was the first day with the students.

Everything Patriots (still pre-season so I get a Mulligan) and New Media have been placed on the back burner because right now it’s all about school, preparing lessons, and being the best teacher that I can be. As an inspiring teacher Rafe Esquith says… There are No Shortcuts!

Bella Update:

For those of you following the Puppy Tales, we’ve been working our way towards a work day schedule and so far so good. I take her for a long walk in the morning and evening and she’s been quite mellow after supper as a result. She’s doing great and (Knock on Wood!) is even doing well with the potty training.

We made it home safe and sound and despite the weather, had a terrific vacation. Of course, HHH rolled in on Saturday as we were leaving but oh well…. I’m sure that a) my positive attitude, b) the boat, and c) wifi right on site,(all changes from prior years) contributed to the success of the week but I’m not going to analyze it, just enjoy it. (Yes, being with family is always great but spending money to stay right on the water and having it be too cold to use it tends to be a bummer.)

Right now, my clothes are ironed, my lunch is packed and I’m printing books for the kids’ first week. Tomorrow, I was planning on heading in to school to unpack and set up my classroom, but a series of phone calls during vacation changed all that.

The first was to inform me that one of my students (the one that I took that PECS training this summer for) has moved to a new city so he won’t be in my class this year, reducing my class size below acceptable limits. Next were calls about possibly combining my room with the academic focused group again, then more calls saying that they were bringing in lots of kids from out of district so they absolutely would NOT be doing that and that I will have plenty of students. (Unfortunately, I’m losing an awesome paraprofessional who has been with me for years because of that student moving.)

So, tomorrow, I’ll be in meetings all day for the students that they have in mind for my room who will be returning to public school. I’m not sure what to expect and if my class is appropriate for them, but I’ll find out then. If so, I’ll have 5 out of 7 students who will be new to me, with only one assistant. Every year is an adventure… guess this one will be as well!

Interesting tidbit… I just heard a commercial on TV: “Every 20 minutes, a child is diagnosed with Autism.” Wow…guess I’ll never be unemployed…