3 am with coffee and dogs

Zenji is a bit better this morning though she is still stiff in her hips.  I gave her carprofen for pain yesterday and that seemed to help.  We sat outside and enjoyed a cool evening watching it not rain again at our house.  CeeCee seems to understand that Zenji isn't feeling well and is content to lay nearby and doesn't try to initiate play activity.

Online reading classes went well yesterday and the kids were great.  They are settling in for the fall semester and working hard.  The first graders are the most challenging so far and one has just learned to change the background on his tablet.  It can be distracting watching his background change constantly during the lesson but as long as he participates I'm okay with it.  Besides, there is very little I can do about it anyway so I try to turn it into a learning opportunity.  The beach background is his favorite so to get him involved in the lesson I include words and sentences that relate to beach activities.  It's a compromise but at least he's interested and he's learning.

Happy Friday,

Teresa, Zenji and CeeCee

P.S.

If anyone has suggestions or remedies to help an older dog with hip issues, please let me know. 

Thanks

Zenji 

Zenji is struggling today.  She's weak in her hips again but she isn't pacing and restless and her appetite is good.  I'm hoping she just overexerted herself yesterday when she was playing.  Sometimes she doesn't understand that she needs to slow down.  I'm glad I work from home so I can help her if she needs it.

3:15 am with coffee and dogs

The girls slept in this morning to 3:15.  Yay for me!  Fed them an early breakfast and let them loose in the front yard to howl at the coyotes.  Then back in the house for their after breakfast nap.  I wish I could fall asleep as quickly as my dogs do.

This is progress monitoring week for the students.  I think it is more stressful for me than it is for the kids and that is okay.  They perform better if they're relaxed and it shows in their scores.  I've already finished progress monitoring the first graders and while they were a bit of a challenge, they did really well.  I was proud of them. 

Evaluating these young students can sometimes feel like herding cats but there really is no feeling like it when these kids do well on their testing.  And the best part of this is when they do well, they have a sense of accomplishment and it gives them the motivation to keep working hard at their lessons.

Take care,

Teresa, Zenji and CeeCee

 2 am with coffee and dogs

Zenji's internal chronometer went off at 2 am this morning...again.  She's getting back to normal but I need to find a way to reset her clock.  I am a morning person but 2 am is a bit early.

Today kicks off another week of online classes. The kids I work with are not meeting the reading requirement for their grade level which is why they've been assigned to me.  I believe several of the students are dyslexic though they've not been officially identified as a developmentally challenged student.  Limited school resources and insufficient teacher training can play a role in the student's condition not being recognized.  Many educators just don't know what to look for and often attribute reading difficulty to low intelligence or lack of a solid reading foundation.  I do need to point out that I am not a certified dyslexia specialist, I only know the areas that are most challenging to my students and I try to help them work through these challenges.

Saturn

No luck viewing Saturn last night.  Arizona's monsoon was active and it rained most of the evening.  Perhaps the conditions will be better tonight.

Take care, 

Teresa, Zenji and CeeCee