Tidbits from the past few days

This Sunday morning I was searching the web to find out more about healthy poo.
From what I can gather, texturally the poo should resemble that of a ripe banana. color: think cardboard, form: S or C will doo
float or not: there is controversy, but it seems there is more talk on sinking poo's, how often: at least once a day.

Other creative inspirations....
I have written and "composed" 3 new children's songs in Spanish. I was inspired after observing some student's with special needs in another classroom go through some simple songs (in English) that connect vocabulary or simple actions corresponding with pictures of the specific vocabulary/actions. Because I have several non verbal students, I was excited at the notion of combining music and real object pictures to reinforce vocabulary and increase communication. We did a trial run this week with two of my students that have autism (thankfully, they both respond very well to music). Our trial run was such a success! This has given me bursts of inspiration and I wrote 4 more simple songs in English. I want to introduce the 3 songs that are in Spanish to my students very soon. One is about vehicles, one about animals, and one about food. Erich was my producer and put my songs on a cd.... vamos a ver!

Other exciting news: for the first time in an ARD (the formal meeting that is held for families of children with special needs) I was addressed as both the instructional teacher and the special educator. For this I was able to sign in two boxes on the official documents. Although the officiality and structure of the ARD meetings are enough to make one gag, my two signatures signified the district, my school, and the diagnostician officially recognizing me as the qualified sped and gen ed teacher.

With the most student's with special needs of any classroom in my entire school, I am a bit overwhelmed with paperwork, meeting IEP goals, and all the other things that come with working in the public schools.... Thankfully, my principal recognizes the need for another intsructional teacher. Since there are no (other than my student teacher who is moving to Del Rio) students graduating from texas a&m with both a degree in bilingual and special education, we will have to hire a bilingual teacher who I will team teach with in the spring. I look forward to this and pray for a young, loving, active teacher.

One more thing...
Erich and I are on a hunt for delicious coffee. Lisa supplied directly from Costa Rica the last 20 bags we have already consumed. Now, we only drink a cup a day.... but we want that one to be a delicious one. So... if anyone has any recommendations?