The fort

The fort we built today off the front porch. I think we got less than a foot of snow, but thank goodness for the snowblower!! It's not good pack-snow, but the wind created this 4 inch layer of crusty snow that we broke off and piled up. Jacob is almost standing straight up - since it's a step down from the porch.

Blizzard

Can we make the distinction between climate change and weather? All this snow - it's climate change. The gulf stream shifts, the moisture balance shifts, storms get more intense. To all the doubters who like to rake Al Gore over the coals every time it snows.... I'm just sayin. This is like, blizzard number 5.

I hope they cancel UW Fox tomorrow. The kids are already off school - not for President's Day - or one of the other umpteen holidays we don't celebrate in WI. Honestly, I don't know why there is no school tomorrow. Teachers - go protest away if you like (new favorite protest sign "It's all Favre's fault"). No, I hope they cancel Fox because my friend Kim is proctoring an exam for me and anytime I have someone cover a class, I feel like I'm making a huge imposition on them. So, I'd just prefer to have the day off.

We also have no dean, which makes things more complicated. Our former dean quit a few weeks ago over what I surmise had something to do with budget fights, a new Chancellor, and the forcing Fox into a different economic model. I don't hold it against him. So, the acting dean will get to make this decision. Lucky him. Half the people are going to be pissed off either way. Hopefully, I'm not one of them.

And Jacob has a fever. It's always a clue that an older child is sick when he takes a nap.

My favorite protest slogans so far....

"100% of teachers have more education than Scott Walker."

"Care for WI educators like they care for your children."

"One Child Left way Behind - S Walker."

"Wisconsin is open for ignorance."

"We aren't Wisco-ssippi"

"I teach respect and I deserve it too"

"This affects all of us, You'll see"

Lawmakers, where R U?

I suppose political upheaval in Wisconsin is not much interest to those outside of Wisconsin. However, here it's causing quite a stir. Many school districts (Madison included) have shut down for the past two days as teachers join the 25,000 employees protesting the new governor's Budget Repair Bill.

I think it's important to add that our governor is not a college graduate. I think he doesn't value education. Wisconsin is "Open for Business" but we don't have the resources to educate it's citizens. The average UW Fox faculty salary is just over $47,000 per year. Some of my colleagues who are the sole breadwinner for a family of four will have their children qualify for free and reduced lunches and the state's children's health care program.

That's just sad. A few other things in the proposal - no collective bargaining for anything other than salary (that means K-12 teachers have no say in benefits or the academic calendar), no salary increase greater than the consumer price index (aka - the spending power you have now will never increase and at best will keep up with the cost of things like food), and a 7-10% cut in take home pay due to increased contributions to benefits. Our governor believes this is "moderate."

It's sad that we devalue the contribution of teachers in this society. It's sad that we value the dollars ($32 per citizen is the "benefit") in our pockets right now more than our children's future. Wisconsin is "Open for Business" - but feel free to also import your workforce because we don't have the tools to educate them. It's sad that we consider $48,000 per year (average Appleton Area School District teacher salary) a salary that's "too high."

This plan has been pushed through a Republican controlled senate with little to no public debate. As the UW-Oshkosh faculty says, any legislation should be able to "withstand the light of day." True - and perhaps good people won't leave, but how will you attract good people in the future? How can you tell a new teacher that they'll live in poverty - with no hope of gaining earning power? And for the University - the state keeps reducing it's support so that students pay nearly 75% of the cost of their education. THAT'S WHY tuition rises, when I was in school the state of IL picked up 3 times that much. The university isn't padding it's coffers with Big Ass Tuition Increases.

I don't know where all the money from the state went. I wish I did. I wish there was an infinite amount to give people. I know there's not. But I also look at Allison's class of 27 students, some with special needs. How can reach her full potential? I look at my colleagues who are worried about paying their mortgages on houses that can hardly be considered extravagant.

Perhaps we shouldn't ask why government employees get what they do - but why private section employees don't? Why don't people have pension plans anymore? Why don't employers cover healthcare costs? In the last 30 years, those have gone by the wayside and we've gotten what?? A gigantic financial and housing mess. Yes - GREAT PLAN - everyone will be responsible for their own retirement savings, managing their healthcare..... oh yeah.... but we're not going to TEACH them how to. They'll just figure it out. Let's see how that pans out.

And isn't there a fundamental difference between a government and a business?

Finally, in my all-over-the-board blog post..... the WI democratic Senators went MIA. They can't vote if there isn't at least one democrat there. I hope it brings people to the table.

Sleepover

Allison had her first sleepover last night at her friend Melanie's house. They had a lot of fun - baking cookies, making valentine's crafts, and watching a movie. Allison was a little nervous on the way over, but I guess she woke up in the morning and pronounced that sleepovers weren't scary after all.

She wanted to know when she would sleepover at Melanie's again..... much more exciting time than home.

Mom and Dad spent the evening at our friends' house playing games. Jacob entertained himself on their Wii and was super excited that he got to stay up late like the adults (10pm). This also mitigated some of the sleepover envy. So, it ended up being a fun night for all.

Twinkle Twinkle

Allison has finally mastered Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and associated rhythms to move on. Yay! (finally ready to hear a new tune). She's starting 'Lightly Row' and tomorrow will be adding the left hand to Twinkle, Twinkle. I'm just happy that she likes piano. It's the longest she's ever stuck with anything except swimming lessons.

Jacob is prepared

What Jacob did in school this week.

Report Cards

The kids came home with their report cards yesterday. There are many things that have changed since we were kids - many things that haven't. First, kindergarten is more of a "progress report" than report card. There are these scoring metrics along an axis and the idea is that throughout the year the child moves from left to right across the scale. Jacob appears to be doing well. He's one space from the right in all categories except consistently following directions. :) Shock! Overall, though, he seems to be doing great.

One thing I don't really like about the report cards is the lack of individual comments. Jacob's teacher had written that he takes pride in his work, and the music teacher had added that he needs to pay more attention in music class. Otherwise we just have the metrics from the scales and a series of pluses and dots on specific skills. I guess we're going with the idea that he's doing fine and it there were any problems then they would be noted.

Allison's "report card" was more like a packet - 6 pages front & back. Granted, only one of those pages was really her report card, and it looks more like what I remember - a scale of "commendable, satisfactory, improving, and needs improvement" - I could probably whip out the report card from Hazel Dell days and find S+, S, S-, and U.

Allison's teacher provided more comments than Jacob's - but generally Allison is doing well in reading and social studies, has improved greatly over the year in writing and science, and is "inconsistent" with math - probably because she doesn't like it and therefore her performance will vary greatly with her mood (my opinion). The biggest changes from last year may be in the special subjects - art (which was awful last year but seems to be going really well with the new teacher), PE (teacher commented "world of difference") and music - which she's always loved and got kudos on her singing skills.

With Allison's report card were also standardized test scores - and she seems to be showing good improvement there too. Her raw reading score had not only improved, but her % score went up a lot from testing in the fall. There was only fall math scores, no winter, but she was well above average score in fall. So, I think she knows what she's doing with math, it's a matter of doing it when asked....

Then finally with Allison's packet were her progress on her IEP goals - all of which were sufficient (there are only two categories sufficient progress and insufficient progress). Part of me thinks that it honestly takes her 4 months to get "into" the school year. If we look back over the whole elementary school experience, it's good in winter/spring, poor in fall.

So, packets of written information, when I would probably rather just have a 30 minute conversation with each of their teachers instead. But both kids are doing well and making progress, so that's good.