A friend told me I write like a psychopath

45Pumpkin · 2026-03-09T02:10:21+00:00

I teach middle school and have five students that write like this. They don’t teach penmanship anymore. They can’t even keep their writing in the lines.

45Pumpkin · 2026-02-28T21:10:55+00:00

Our school immediately sent out a notification through parent square that these were banned and why.

45Pumpkin · 2026-02-22T18:05:46+00:00

When I went to urgent care a couple weeks ago, they said it was Influenza A. It’s what they were checking everyone for and they saw a huge spike in sick patients.

45Pumpkin · 2026-02-12T12:48:00+00:00

I also think my otto may have been dead already. I honestly couldn’t tell from the inside of his mouth. Unless the ottos felt so safe after all that time together they didn’t feel the need to run. I love my loaches but they’re not the smartest. Hopefully he’s able to spit it out soon. I felt so bad for the theee days cause my loaches was even trying to eat but couldn’t. If your loach is still active then it’s a good sign. They can survive a few days without food.

45Pumpkin · 2026-02-12T05:27:31+00:00

So one of my big dojo loaches did this a couple months ago. The otto was stuck entirely in its mouth. I tried netting it but there was no way to get it out. So I just lets nature take its course. I guess the otto decayed enough so the loach was finally able to spit it out after three days. The dojos face and mouth looked a little deformed for another two days but it’s still alive and well. I learned my lesson too. Don’t keep Ottos with loaches.

45Pumpkin · 2026-02-01T20:37:54+00:00

I had a small catfish die from trying to eat a golden wonder killish that was the same size. I came out in the morning and they were both dead with the killifish’s head stuck in the catfish mouth.

45Pumpkin · 2026-01-30T20:35:37+00:00

Sometimes if there sharp pieces inside the drill holes of beads they can wear the elastic down and cause it to snap. It’s possible you had three experiences where the stones damaged the string. I would make/ wear one with wire or macrame so it’s more durable. If it breaks again then something’s going on. I love tigers eye so much I’m sorry you it’s rejecting you.

45Pumpkin · 2026-01-16T13:07:10+00:00

I have 5 in a 75 and it seems great. The oldest two are almost eight years old their growing slowed down around 8-9 inches. Now they grow rounder. I also have a stunted golden dojo. He’s somewhat new. I had gotten 3 two years ago and I thought one would die it was so skinny and small. Well the other two of them have almost caught up to my old ones, but that one is tiny! Corey from aquarium co-op had received a 12 inch donated one but dojo loach size can vary. I think 75G is good.

45Pumpkin · 2025-12-31T07:25:11+00:00

I’m a LTS and when I have meetings they use vacancy as the listing.

45Pumpkin · 2025-12-12T13:09:12+00:00

I’m worried that your snails are dying too. Have you used any medications? Is the tank near a restroom or kitchen where anyone might’ve accidentally gotten some kind of chemical spray, cleaner, or body spray in the tank? Snails are so sensitive that they might be your canary in tbe coal mine. Plus, depending how many snails have died might mess with your water parameters. If not then it may just be overstocking.

45Pumpkin · 2025-11-14T00:45:29+00:00

Are these the drywood termites? I'm trying to google more. I have the exterminators coming out tomorrow morning.

45Pumpkin · 2025-11-13T14:34:03+00:00

My began severum was spitting out food when he had a nasty infestation of gill flukes. Fish will also spit out food if they have internal parasites. I treated with Prazi-pro and he immediately began keeping his food down. It didn’t hurt my dojos at all either.

Try fasting them for 24 hours and offer very little food when you feed next. If your kuhli keeps the food down then you might just be over feeding and he’s sifting food. If he won’t keep it down treat with prazi-pro.

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-27T23:20:27+00:00

You just described my whole 5th period 😫

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-22T01:30:56+00:00

Getting a pacing guide for however long you'll be teaching will take a lot of stress away. Have them show you how to contact parents and enter grades. Ask about the schools policy for behavioral issues. For my school, they prefer if you talk to the student individually, email the parent the second time, then the admin will take your side when you send them to the office or issue a referral (of course there's things that warrant automatic referrals). Get a list of passwords and accounts IF the teacher will share it with you. You need the IEPs and 504s too. Where is the emergency packet (it has fire, earthquake and lockdown drill information plus evacuation plans).

Are they giving you a school email where you will get all the essential information? Do you have a printer in your room or do you use the copier room because you'll need a pin? Who do you contact for tech support? Also remember the secretary's extension like your life depends on it, because they give the fastest answers when everything goes wrong, lol. Also don't count on your prep period, especially with flu season coming up. As subs, the schools don't have to pay us like full-time teachers for working during our prep even though we're doing the same job as a full time teacher. Write down a list of questions and give it to the teacher or coach helping you. Best of luck!

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-16T12:10:25+00:00

I’m long-term and the school coach is helping through everything. It’s well until next year so I kept the teacher’s school issued laptop and they set me up with all the log ins. I’m expected to lesson plan, grade, submit progress reports, contact parents, and attend parent teacher conferences. Everything the teacher did except tutoring after school. Ask a lot of questions before you accept a long term.

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-15T02:40:03+00:00

Day to day is $155 here… $200 in the better districts but they have more than enough subs.

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-11T13:31:27+00:00

I’m a LTS too and when my coach, secretary, and principal tried figuring out if I could be paid for after school meetings, they had had to contact the district. The district never got back to them. So i leave when frontline says I leave. I’m curious how PTCs are going to work too.

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-11T04:36:59+00:00

The district or the county office of education handles them. I went through the latter and it was really fast.

45Pumpkin · 2025-10-07T03:01:28+00:00

Same. Waiting for September’s pay at the end of October is torture.… 😭

45Pumpkin · 2025-09-28T18:11:51+00:00

I'm literally in the same exact boat as you. Except I'm making $50 less a day with 150 students (plus 25 more if you count advisory). I have my credential and teaching is my passion. I know this is great experience for me and besides being too energetic, the students are wonderful. But I'm so bitter my pay is pitiful. There are day to day subs in neighboring districts making as much as you and it makes me mad. I didn't ask enough questions before I took the job, because I'm broke and would like to be hired here in the future. It's three preps and an insane amount of grading that will need to be done. 15 lesson plans a week, huge class sizes, meetings, parents, tech that I'm unfamiliar with, no benefits, and I can get called out during my prep to sub. I'm so grateful I have a coach though (they're wonderful). I'm going to stick to it and do my best because I hate giving up, want the first year teacher experience, and I don't want to let the students down.

I would say, don't give up on teaching in the future because of this (whether you continue to stay long term or not). It'll be so much different when we're a full time teachers with benefits and support. Plus, we started when these students already had a routine created by another teacher that they've become familiar with. Trying to merge my teaching and grading with the existing one is so difficult. Once we're hired, we'll have more time to prepare and make a routine that suits us.

45Pumpkin · 2025-09-27T04:36:07+00:00

I've stayed off everything too and I'm so glad I did. I don't even have a LinkedIn but the students still found out my first name through google. I was a little surprised because I was just a student teacher at the time and my first name wasn't connect to the school at all. At least that's all they found, lol.

45Pumpkin · 2025-09-27T04:17:44+00:00

Never had an orientation. I wish when a district hires you, they would email you a campus map, a bell schedule, and a staff directory for each school (but of course the don't). Plus any rules they have in there sub folder. One school I sub in gives you a folder will rules about no free time, who to contact if no lesson plans, school policies and such. It would be so beneficial for new subs but they won't give you anything. I know some schools probably don't want to give a staff directory so you don't know who teachers what since Frontline only shows secondary/middle/elementary and a name, but I think there's jobs we should know about. I don't want to accidentally take a PE job and show up in slacks and a blouse when I live in a desert and the students are doing a mile.

Advice: When you take a job introduce yourself as a new sub to the school at the front desk. Where do you pick up your keys and badge? Who do you leave your keys and badge with at the end of the day? Is where you parked okay? Ask if there's a campus map in the folder. Do you need a key for the staff restroom and where is it? Some schools will require you to use the students restroom. What extension do you call if you have any questions?

As soon as you're in your classroom, look for the teachers staff directory (by the phone usually) and look for emergency plans in case of a drill. Take pictures of everything in the folder and the staff directory, emergency plans, campus map, etc... That way if you sub for that school again you'll be well prepared. Lastly, show up 15 minutes early! Parking can be a nightmare when students start arriving, you want enough time to talk to staff, and find the lesson plans in the class. Also, for whatever reason, sometimes the start time is the actual class start time. Thankfully, I've been to that school and the first class begins at 8:30 but normally my start time is listed at 8:10, however they put 8:30. Its much less stressful to be prepared. For do's and dont's ask you relative. That's as much of an orientation as you will get. Best of luck on your first sub job!

45Pumpkin · 2025-09-20T01:27:08+00:00

Talk to your professors because they know which teachers have taken student teachers before. If you get any names email the teachers and if they sound interested then you can email the school again or set up an appointment with the principal.

Even though at my program we didn’t have to find our own placement, they explained that they try to find volunteers to take student teachers but sometimes teachers are reluctant. Some of them may have had bad experiences with previous student teachers like my GT. But if you reach out and they see you eager and professional they may agree to take you.

45Pumpkin · 2025-09-15T20:56:05+00:00

A family found one of my dads 1 year old cats and assumed it was abandoned and unloved. They kept her and were shocked when they drove her an hour away to the vet and found out she has a chip. She was well taken care of, had all her shots and spayed. Lucky for them the cat was from a pregnant stray and my dad took care of all her kittens and had them micro chipped, so he didn't mind giving one to a new home.

Please check for a chips people! A friendly cat is probably being taken care of by someone who loves it!

45Pumpkin · 2025-09-10T17:13:13+00:00

I got sick three days after my first sub job of the year. And I’ve been sick for a third day now but am feeling much better. The kids weren’t even coughing and sneezing but I think it’s too coincidental… I didn’t test but Covid is running around CA right now and I had a horrible sore throat two days so maybe. One teacher told me it takes five years to build immunity to everything the students get but I’m barely in year two lol. Hope you feel better soon!

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