Saturday, September 24, 2011

Ro's first field trip

I am so excited that Ro gets to join me and my classes on field trips!  We had our first one together on Friday to the Botanic Gardens.  Because I teach a unit about plants, it is the perfect place to kick start our learning and get the kids thinking about how and where plants grow.  I have a paraprofessional that works in my room for a few hours each day, so she helped me load on the bus and walked Ro on.  Ro had plenty of room to settle down on the floor for our 20 minute ride and she did fabulous! 
Once we got there we separated into our group and began to explore the gardens.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day! The sun was out, but it wasn't super hot so it made it really nice.  I wish I could post more pictures of our day out, but because there are students in the rest of the photos I can't.  :(  We practiced Ro's 'leave' cue by having students drop food near her and she did an excellent job of not eating it.  Ro even did some observations of the plants...
It's a bit blurry because I had to crop the kiddos out, but you can still see how cute she is!  

I also was carrying a water bottle and it kept falling, so she ended up practicing picking things up a lot as well. It was a lot of fun for me being able to spend the day with my students and have Ro along with us.  I knew it was going to be a great bonus having a service dog-but it truly was a dream come true!

Meeting 'Thomas the Tank Engine'

We purchased tickets to 'A Day with Thomas' a few months ago and the girls were super excited to go meet 'Thomas the Tank Engine'!  Unfortunately we had a family situation that Zane had to attend to, so he couldn't join us.  Luckily for us though, Barb was able to join us!  So Barb, Alexis, Anya, Zander, Ro and I went to go meet Thomas.  When we got there we were suddenly sent to a parking lot and had to ride a shuttle over to the museum.  I didn't realize we wouldn't be parking at the museum.  So we had to wait there until they could send the bus that had a lift for me.  THEN it started to rain! When the shuttle got to the museum the driver couldn't figure out how to get the lift to go all the way down.  I was suspended in the air for awhile while Barb had to round up all the kids-it's a good thing she could handle all of them (and Ro!). 
Once we finally made it in we decided that we should run to the bathroom to feed Zander and let Anya go potty.  Seems simple enough, but not so much!!  It was an adventure though, and on the way we saw Sir Topham Hat!  So we got a quick picture with him as well.  After that, Barb took the girls up to see a display train they had and they all rang the bell.  Zander, Ro and I hung out below!

When they were done we could see that Thomas had pulled up and unloaded the train ride before us, so we'd be up soon.  We headed over and on the way I was finding it hard to make sure that Ro didn't eat the kettle corn off the ground.  It was everywhere!!  So we will have to make sure to work on that...
On the train Ro went under the seats and we had one of the conductors take another photo for us! :)  All the kids (and Ro) got a Junior Engineer Certificate saying they rode with Thomas the Tank Engine.
Then the girls and Ro went to get a picture with Thomas, but in the end the wanted to charge us $50 for it, so after all that we don't have any photos to show that they met 'Thomas the Tank Engine' because the blue engine was not in any of our photos!!  Well, he is in the background of this one (the blue in the top left that you can barely see!):
Here are a few more of our ride on Thomas

On the way back to the van we had definately passed nap time and Anya threw a full on tantrum (the kind that embarrass you as their parent).  It was a good thing I had help because I don't think I could have got her on the bus alone.  We hurried back and loaded in the van.  All of the kids were asleep before we even left the parking lot.
Even though I was stressed out about other things going on in my life, it was a nice break and it was great to see Barb again!  Hopefully next time I'll be more enjoyable company! :)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Fun Photos

So today has been filled with cleaning, laundry and goofing around the house with the kids! :)  We also took some photos because Riley and Ro have been getting along pretty well!  Ok...Ro has always been doing good-it's just getting Riley to warm up to her.  He's been allowing her to come right up to him lately!  Their beds are still next to each other, so maybe that is helping!  Anyhow, here are some pictures of us just hanging out for the day.  I also added the one of her jumping over the little rock canal thingy in our backyard because she looks like 'Superdog'!  I wish I could take one from the side, but she's always running to me.  Anyhow, Enjoy!





Friday, September 2, 2011

Newspaper Article

Yesterday our article was published! To view it click here.  Scroll down a bit, it starts on the front page!  The kids at school keep coming up to us as we go through the halls saying "Mrs. U!  Ro is famous just like you now!"  Haha, kids are cute!  Things have been going pretty well this last week.  Ro has been helping me solve a lot of problems at work...For example, I was having a problem with two certain students.  No matter how many reminders I'd give them, every time we had our group lesson they would forget the rule that they couldn't sit in our library area on the ottoman.  Any ideas on what my solution was??!  Yep...Ro!
Now the kids have been sitting in the actual group area...and Ro watches over them!!  I just put her on the ottoman and they know they aren't supposed to touch her, therefore they don't touch the ottoman!  Problem solved!  Hopefully soon she can come sit right next to me, after they are in the habit of not sitting there-at least that's the plan. (and yes...that is cookie monster, her new favorite toy that she keeps at work)
Here is another picture of Ro at work.  The article talks about how she is able to fall asleep at random places, that is very true!  But one of her favorite spots is her kennel.  I think because it is quiet and near my desk...
 
 We are looking forward to a three day weekend, hopefully we will be able to get some things done around the house and go get some much needed shopping done! :)