Monday, February 27, 2006

I need a 12 Step Program, or something




I've not been blogging a lot lately. There's work -- 17 kindergarteners are enough to keep anyone hopping, right?!? Sure, I've had Girl Scouts. And, there's all those dratted cookies to contend with. But, the *real* drain on my time lately has been this. And, I'm starting to worry that I'm seriously hooked. I dreamt about pillaging last night. I'm starting to dream in pirate....
Should I be worried?

8 comments:

ccw said...

LOL! Your students might like it if you were a pirate.

I read only the link title, but did not click on the link. I am afraid that I will find something fun and amusing on the other end.

When I was addicted to the Sims, I dreamed about my people and their "lives". I could understand Simmish in my dreams, it was very sad.

Unknown said...

Well, *I* find it worrisome. So let me get right over there and check it out...

lostinthemiddle said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
lostinthemiddle said...

I went over there . . . decided it was best for me NOT to download and check out the game.

On another note: 17 kindergarteners? Is that big or small? We start kindergarten next year (we go to something called "kindergarten round-up next month. Sounds like we ought to dress as cowboys or something). Anyway, now you have me all wonderin' about class size (what's a good size? What can I realistically expect?)

PS. That was me above. I decided to delete and correct all the typos and then post!

KLee said...

You must all come to the dark side and join Puzzle Pirates with me! Mwhahaha! Oooh, sorry. Did that evil laugh actually come out of me? You're all much more likely to hear a "Hyarr, me hearties!" lately.

The puzzles are all a lot of fun. C'mon, CCW -- you know you want to! I mean, it's not you have anything *else* taking up your time with two kids, one on the way, a house, and a husband to manage! Surely you have endless spare time!

Lost, 17 kindergarteners is actually "small" for us. Our state, like many others, is trying to reduce class sizes, and the push is to try and keep the classes "manageable" at 16-18 children. Our maximum is supposed to be 21. That's a lot of little bodies crammed in a classroom for 7 hours a day. And, since space is at a premium, we're stuck in a modular classroom, so that's even LESS room. We started off this school year with 21 students, and we had so many kindergarteners that we earned another K teacher.

I'd say that you can depend on anywhere from 16 to 22 students in a potential classroom. It varies from state to state, and even district to district. No Child Left Behind mandates smaller class sizes, but that's also relative. If you have 40 kids in a class, 35 is going to be "smaller." Not so obvious in theory, but it's all about numbers and stats to the pencil-pushers. With more than 20 students in kindergarten, I find it hard to give one-on-one attention and it's more difficult to reteach to students who are lagging behind.

ccw said...

KLee, I am a horrible pirate, but it gives me something to do while Baby H naps and I eat GS cookies. LOL!

On classroom size, Kid L's classes have always been 20 or less until this year. There have been as few as 23 and as many as 25. Amazing what those extra bodies can do.

Anonymous said...

Bah!! Come to the real dark side and play the addicting (since 1984)Sid Mier's Pirates!

Where I continue to dominate in both PC and now on Xbox (thank you dear...)

Arrrh!! There is even a forum site titled www.addictedtopirates.com

The one educational aspect of this all is I have the entire map of the Caribbean memorized and no longer need the hurricane tracking maps.

It's sad, I know...

lostinthemiddle said...

Klee and CCW, Thanks for the info re: kindergarten.