Homework

How many of you like to do homework? I don't, but I do enjoy learning some thing new that does not require to do homework. As I got older, I feel that doing homework is an awesome idea especially when you are away from school. Too many kids without homework tend to watch T.V. or doing computer without having an on-going practice.

Both of my sons do have homework over all of their breaks even over a five day of Thanksgiving Break. This time, Dylan is required to read over 80 minutes. It is too easy for him, but I made a deal for him to do a favor for me. He reads "Magic Tree House" Book 3 on each chapter per night to Ryan. We both ask him some of the comprehension questions. It keeps his comprehension up.

As for the fine motor skills, Ryan has been improving ever since he was in Kindergarten. He started out from nothing to writing simple sentences. He is learning to write the letters on the lines, especially e, g, and n. I can see that he does make a progress for the letters of e and n. The next two things will be, "g" and writing three sentences before he takes Direct Writing Test in the Spring. Boy, do I sound like I have a high expectation for my kids?

While he does his homework over the Break, I normally have him finish one full page per night instead of all five pages. It is not an easy task for him. Also, the best part is that I don't see any temper tantrum when it comes doing homework. He is more than willing to do his homework independently when I am around; otherwise, he would space himself out.

Literally speaking of doing homework, I'd better catch up writing Christmas Newsletters, belated Thanksgiving posts, leaving comments on my family and friend's blog, printing the pictures, and doing little bit left over Christmas shopping. I'd better get things done; otherwise, I would not get good grades.

Massage Services

Have you ever crave for long wanting to have a massage? Me too ! I had an unexpected, short yet sweet massage this evening. This time it was given by older son, Dylan. Wasn't that thoughtful of him? Frankly, it felt so good because it released that I have had a heartburn from having a bad heartache.

But after he gave me a massage, he decided to charge me for the service. I gave him a dollar yet owe him a four dollar on the day after Thanksgiving. He thought it was a good idea to start his own small business, so we can become RICH. Clearly, he does have a soft heart for us.

P.S. Don't forget to ask him to give you a massage when you see him. He would be happy to give you the service, especially earning extra money.

In Memory of Fluffy

Sad News! Our Beloved Fluffy, the guinea pig had died sometime late this morning. It was not easy to say a good bye to our pet, who was always good to us for the last three years. This past week, he was declining his health rapidly.

Instead of thinking negatively, we all remember that he enjoyed being pet by each of us. Whenever we pet him, Fluffy would either purred or tweeted. It was nice to know that my boys and my hearing relatives could hear and interpreted what he was saying. He often would bring us smiling whenever he wanted to be close to us.

Whenever we wake up in the morning or coming home from work, Fluffy would stick his head out and greeted us. Of course, he LOVED food! Organic Salad, carrots and hay were one of his favorite food of all times. Once in every while, he would rather to stick his neck around our neck by showing his affection.

At least, he came from a loving family. He was very fortunately that he was adopted and raised by us. Fluffy will be remembered by us for a life time. We sorely will miss him very much.

Earn a Reward

When I learned that Ryan was having a hard time completing his classwork, I had to come up an alternative way. He already has Communication Picture System on his desk. It tells him what to do including turning the paper work to the teacher when he is done, instead of leaving in his desk.

It took me a day to deliberate with a new idea. Bingo! I emailed to Ryan's teachers: General Education and Resource Specialist about putting each star for competing the assignment in class. After he gets five stars, he can come to my classroom for five minutes to play a computer. The more often he gets five stars, the teachers can increase him to ten stars. It will make him work harder to complete the tasks! The teachers were willing to try out my new idea.

On Monday, Ryan began to use Communication Picture System and a star chart on his desk. The Communication Pictures System really work! So does putting five stars within for days! That includes writing a complete sentence in class. (He always had to do at home, but not this time. ) Before he completed the fifth stars, he told his Resource Specialist Teacher, " I have four stars. I need one more star then I can go to my mom's room." She was shocked to see the improvement. He made a HUGE improvement. Ryan was so excited to come to my room for five minutes to do whatever he wants before he went back to class.

The first thing, he wanted to play in Tepee that I have set it up for my Thanksgiving Theme in my room. One of my youngest students joined with him for a couple of minutes. They were happy campers. As soon as he finished visiting my room for five minutes, he went straight back to work. He got another second round: a first star. He is looking forward to getting another round.

The word has spread out during lunch time. Teachers are asking me to get a copy of the chart. They too have some challenging students in their own class. Trying out new things wouldn't hurt. Thus, I have to say I literally am so proud of Ryan for earning a reward: five stars within four days.

Happy Birthday , Mom!

Today is my biological mom's birthday! She has given me so many gifts since she brought me into this world. When she found out that I was legally deaf at six months, she went to the library to find out on how to make me successful in life. She did!

While she was raising me, she had a hard time making a decision whether to put me in an oral or sign language program. (There was no Total Communication: both in signing and speaking during 1960's. It is not occur until 1970's.) Thus, she decided to put me in oral program. As I was looking back, I could not make any obligation because in her heart, she knew it was essential for me to communicate in hearing world. Working on my speech and lip reading is not an easy skill to learn. I am one of the extremely lucky that I can lip read and speak well enough to communicate with most of hearing people. So watch out ! Still, my mother deserves a reward because she worked on my speech EVERY SINGLE DAY for the first thirteen years of my life! Boy, I did give her a hard time when I was frustrated to say the word correctly. (Now, I am doing the same with my younger son.) That's something I have to be grateful for her patience.

Another thing, she dedicated her time to help me with my homework throughout my college years. That is another thing she deserves to get an attention because I now am a special education teacher for the deaf because of her help.

There are many more things I could list to thank her for putting it up a lot with me. I deeply wanted to say "Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Mother. " I Love you, Mom!

Make-Up Pictures

A month ago, I received both boys' Fall School Pictures. It turned out to be the worst pictures David and I ever saw. We think the photographers were in a hurry when they took so many elementary students within one day.

In fact, Dylan did not even smile and had his eyes rolled. I couldn't believe that they went ahead and sort of hoped that we would accept the picture. Heck NO WAY ! Ryan's first picture also did not have a good picture. His teeth stick it out of his mouth as if he had an overbite. It did not satisfied us. So, we requested for a make-up pictures for Dylan and Ryan. It turned out GREAT!

Dylan, 2nd grade

Ryan, 1st grade

Ryan's Academics

Both on Thursday and Saturday, I attended two different Parent Conference meetings for Ryan. The first one was to meet his General Education Teacher. The second was to meet the Resource Special Program teacher.

On Thursday, we mostly talked about how to improve on having him completing the task. He was having a difficult time completing the entire classwork. Strangely, he was able to complete the work when he is with me easily. The Autism Specialist teacher came to give us Picture Communication System. On the communication system, it gives him step by step such as taking out of your pencil (change from do it to finish), pencil (change from do it to finish) and place it in the complete work in a bin (change from do it to finish) along with other task throughout the day. This will begin on Monday.

On Monday, his General Education Teacher will tell him that he needs to earn five stars if he complete five working tasks then he can go to my room. Ryan also likes to come to my classroom for five to ten minutes only, and then he will do it all over again. He will need to do the same for the Resource Specialist (RSP.) However, the RSP teacher confirmed to me that she had worked with one of the autistic kids, who is now in 5th grade. She explained to me that it is very typical for any non-disability and disability to start out having a hard time doing completing work at 1st grade. Also, she stated that the autistic boy, who is now in 5th grade, is working beautifully, completing the work. She has a faith in Ryan will do the same. That was relieved for me to hear this comment.

One of the goals is have him displaying grade level ability in the core subject areas of reading, written expression and mathematics with an average of 80 % accuracy.

Since Ryan is only first grade, he reads at second grade level. Thus this core academic is not a problem for him. It is same as for Math. He also excels in math, just like his brother and their dad, David.

As far as for written expression, he is below grade level at this time. Both General Education and RSP teachers who were at the meeting felt that he is able to do better at the end of the school years. I think with the star disciplines will make difference. He knows how to express beautifully, but he often does not want to write. With me at home, I forced him to tell me two sentences (the first graders should be writing two sentences, he only writes one sentence.) For illustration, he wrote it at home on his own, " I like to play computer. It is fun."

The nicest part was the three of us (General Education teacher, RSP and I) do work and communicate each other well. They loved my ideas about giving him the star for each complete work. They both felt that he is in appropriate placement: in mainstream class because of his academic levels.

Dylan's academics

Just this past week, I attended several parents conference, including me giving out to other parents. This kept me going all in this week which explained why I didn't literally have the time to keep my blog up.

First, I started out going to Dylan's 2nd-3rd class (He is only in second grade.) The teacher covered Reading, Writing, Math and Social Studies. She started out in Reading. It showed that Dylan's decoding in reading is at 6th while his reading comprehension is at 4th. That explains he was able to comprehend the story from Beverly Clearly. Frankly, the scary part about the comment from the teacher was that "he is probably is the smartest student in this school."

This also includes in his writing. He excels in his writing with great voice and description. For instance, he wrote an essay about the Fall: Oh La La, I Love Fall ! The first thing I love about fall is Halloween. I love many things about Halloween, but I'll just tell you some of them. One thing I like about it is the candy. They're sweet and sticky. My favorite candy is chocolate! I like chocolate because it is crunchy and a little creamy. Mmmm! Chocolate is so good, it feels smooth but, a little rough and it taste so good that I want to be on Planet Chocolate"(Actually, he wrote two full pages, but I only copied the first paragraph of his essay.) Ms. Carrera admitted that his writing is above the 2nd grade because many of them could not give details in writing. I strongly believe reading tons of books certainly help him greatly.

As for Dylan's math, he is learning both second and third grade math. On his second grade first trimester test, he would have gotten 100% accuracy if he didn't erase the original two answers. We think he overlooked the other student, who sat next to him, decided to erase the answers.

He did okay on his Elective classes for Social Science and Science. During the first trimester, he was learning about the Election (perfect timing for him to learn basic about the election.) He had the opportunity to pretend that he voted for a President. Of course, he expressed that he wanted to be the President of the United States due to making lots of money. Frankly, I was like that when I was in fourth grade. This would be interesting to have a President of the United States who is Children of Deaf Adults (CODA.) However, he did not do well on the test. The teacher asked me what was happening. I explained to her that Dylan told me, "I don't have to study because it is for the third graders only." She now saw the problem that needed to be clarify in the class. But at least, he passed with 75% on his Election Test.

Since his academic is WAY above for his age, he still needs to work on his whining behavior. David and I finally started out putting star charts. He earns a star for a day without whining! Every five stars, he can go to my classroom for fifteen minutes after school. He loves my classroom because I have TONS of toys. For twenty stars, he will need to earn to go to Boomers. He was not happy that it probably will take him a month to complete the 20 stars. But at least, we have to do something for better. Soon, we will be seeing him decreasing his complaining little things.

Something To Think About .....

After I received an unexpected tragic news over a phone call, it struck me deeply to think about the life beyond my imagination. It was Ryan's first teacher, Mrs. Bennett, from a private pre-school who had suddenly died. Just turned to thirty, she was healthy as a horse, always ate vegetables and fruits including a bottle of water until a month before she died. She never knew she was having kidney failure. Anything can happen beyond your expectation. So, don't forget to have your physical check up annually.

The reason why I am composing is that she was the one of the few people who promoted Ryan to speak and interact with other kids. She knew Ryan was able to do a lot better than placing in a severe handicapped class. The best part was that she came to support me at Ryan's Individual Education Program (I.E.P) meeting. Mrs. Bennett spoke it from her heart that she strongly believed that Ryan was beyond than the team's expectation. That is one of the things I was grateful she was a part of our life.

Before I literally speak about "something to think about, I learned that her widower told one of the pre-school teachers that Ryan was one of Mrs. Bennett's favorite students. Thus, he put a picture two of them together at the Memorial Service. It really moved me.

Since I have asked each of you to think about something, it is literally important to realize that there are many things in life to be thankful. Have you ever tried thinking about everything you are thankful for? You know I could make my list could go on forever.

My five top lists I am thankful are:

1) getting the love from my friends and family

2) receiving the "thick and thin" supporters.

3) spending the quality of times with friends and family are important than the job itself. The memories last longer than stressing yourself out from a job.

4) appreciating choosing me to be a part of your circle of family and friends.

5) most important part is that I wanted to say to you, " I love you. Thank you for being here for me."

Stress and Frustration

Usually, I have so much things to say on my posts... but this week has not been good for most of us. This time, it is my way for venting my frustration out on this post.

One is that I have been feeling under the weather on and off all in this week. It is so hard to handle both of my little students and my children on my own without giving me a FULL DAY BREAK.

It was a matter of a wrong time for being sick because all of the progress reports and Individual Education Program reports were due today. Also, I wanted to give the good impression to the principal on my first year at an elementary school (instead of being at junior high school.) The reports are completely different from Junior High School. I had to learn everything new at elementary school. Despite of having low energy, I am grateful that my mind is able to recite of what I had to do and complete the most important part of the trimester-doing the reports.

At least, I did something I had to do today. I just decided to kick my boys out to school and leave me home alone. I even forced my husband to pick the boys up after school because my body needs to recover for a special event- Deaf Expo which it will be held tomorrow. Am I a tough wife and mother?

Second, both of my sons did NOT have a good attitude. First, Ryan was losing his temper at one of the Reading Specialists. He was acting like he wanted to hit her (he never does- but had fists at her.) Then he grew his angry at her. His mainstream teacher told me while I was giving my students a snack before they went out for a recess. At that moment, I was about to lose my temper and wanted to wham him. What kind of an impression I would leave if I do that at school site? Instead of whamming at him, I forced him to do the work in my classroom and refrained from the recess. Not only forcing him to do the class work, I had him to write an apology letter to the Reading Specialist.

Later, Dylan went out to Cub Scout with his dad while Ryan was at home with me (His team did not have a meeting last night.) Dylan was fine for the first few minutes of a cub scout meeting. When it came to physically such as rolling it over, he just whined and complained that it would hurt his head while the other cub scouts did their part. They even encouraged him to do the physical activity. He just pouted and disobeyed several of physical activities including running. My husband, David, who was there, tried to explain if he does the physical activities he then will earn the badge. He just chose to continue his negative demeanor. Next year, I'm thinking about dressing him up as "Dennis the Menace" for Halloween. Wouldn't that be a perfect Halloween costume for him?

While I am dealing my frustration with my boys' attitudes and not feeling good at the same time, do you think it has anything to do with their behavior when they are sensing I'm sick? Or they re coming down from catching a flu from me, though they had their flu shot?

But still at the end of our straw, David and I decided to ground both of my boys not to have a computer or T.V for this weekend. We instead will make them do the chores for us ! I even had enough of their attitude even listening to the comments of telling me, "I'm cursed!" Groan! I wanted to put a pillow over me! Let's hope next week and on will better after teaching them a valuable lesson.

Halloween Activities: Part II

Halloween finally arrived! School is an interesting place. It’s full of friends, positive activities to do, free activities, nice people and most importantly, free memories. This was the first time in years my work/school site finally was able to dress up for Halloween. It was due to that the new principal wanted teachers to vote whether we proceed dressing up for Halloween. Clearly, more teachers voted for dressing up for Halloween than one of the few teachers who opposed to the ideas.

For those who opposed to the ideas, some of teachers decided to take a day off from work. I was not one of them. Throughout the day, I took one of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing classes to combine with my students. It was awful a lot of work dealing with variety of activities yet I had four helpers to help me out.

The principal who dressed up as a GREEN witch started out the parade from Kindergarten class. Then from class to class followed the parade at the end of the line. It was actually fun to look at the kids' cute costumes. When the Kindergarten classes finished the parade, they sit down and watched the rest of us marching down from class to other classes.

Once the parade ended, each class began their own activities. I started out with three activities in the morning: apple bobbing, making Halloween/name necklaces and making slimes out of Borax. Most of the students enjoyed doing the apple bobbing and making slimes. Of course, I had to ask most of my students to take their hearing aids and glasses off before doing the bobbing.



As the morning swifted by, a few minutes before the recess began, the students changed their clothes. We created a last minute activity for letting them drawing a picture out of chalk on the black butcher paper before going out for a recess. Shortly after they all went out to recess, it gave me some morning time out. For teachers, we had our Halloween snacks: fruits and bagels. This was a good way to release a twenty minutes from stresses taking care from three to ten years old students.

Twenty minutes later, I was back with dealing the high energy kids. This time, we all went outside to have students eating the donuts without using their hands. I started off counting 1, 2 and 3. They dashed off to eat the white donuts. It was fun watching them having "white mustaches." As soon as they finished their donuts, I was a mean teacher by ordering them to clean the classroom up before they went out for a lunch.

After they all came back from lunch, it was relatively easy afternoon. Most of the two remaining hours, they were watching Halloween "G" movies. It gave me more space to finish my afternoon reports.

Don't forget that I only had to deal with the wild students, I also had to deal with my two active sons. Dylan and Ryan wanted participating the Trick or Treats, even meeting the scary creatures: Big Foot. At my age, I honestly held my tiring until we got home from the treats. Without a doubt, we all slept well.

Halloween Part I

Have you noticed how costumes and masks are getting generally more bloody, gory, and depraved each year? Unfortunately, the gruesome and grotesque and the occult are increasingly glorified in American society, not only on Halloween, but throughout the year in horror movies and in television programs. But not at the church that we were being invited. They banned to have anything dress up: bloody or weapons.

As soon as we arrived, we were awed many of young children to adults dressed up VERY CREATIVE! It started out with the hand made outfit: Rubik's Cube to Sarah Palin with a fake baby on her chest.) The only thing I was really surprised to see one pregnant woman dressing up as a nun. I was not sure if she was actually pregnant because I didn't have the gut to ask this sticky, lame, personal question. But both Ryan as Superman and Dylan as Skeleton without mask did dress up while we didn't. For this reason for not dressing up, I wanted to wait and steal some of the idea for my work.

While we were there, we played cake music game. Dylan won a mini cupcake and two cookies. He thought of us, except I didn't want any dessert. Wasn't that sweet of him ? They gulped over the desert after we all had a delicious simple dinner: hot dog, chips and few simple vegetables.

Shortly after we had a dinner, there was an announcement telling us there will be Costume Contests. I could not believe seeing Ryan interpreting for me, "Mom, there will be a Halloween contest in ten minutes. " Five minutes later, he heard a same announcement telling us "the contest starts in five minutes." I was amazed to see my young child interpret the announcement without asking him to do it for us!

Dylan pleaded us to go into Haunted House. I admitted that I was astounded to see that he REALLY wanted to go inside because he normally does not like anything that is scary. We went right in while Ryan and his dad were still busy eating( later they went in together.) This time he only dare to go into a scary Haunted House, except it was less scary than at Knott's Berry Farm nor at Del Mar Fair. While we were in the dark place, Dylan jumped out and screamed several times. I could feel him gripping my arms tightly. Shortly after we got out of the haunted house, he made a determination that he would "NEVER" go inside of the haunted house for the rest of his life! Wonder if it will change his mind when he becomes a teenager?

Shortly before the Halloween activities, all of the kids were outside to get their treats. Have you heard or thought of any vans creating their mini Halloween at the parking lots? I didn't. Actually, it was a splendid idea to have kids go out and get their treats in front of the church member's vans. It was also safe for the kids not to worry about walking across the street.

Now, I perfectly understand it was a rad idea to take the kids out to the church for the Halloween activities instead of watching my kids closely around the neighbors. Seriously, I am thinking about taking my kids go out for their Halloween treats annually at the church.