I Was Just Waving Hi!

The Triumph:  One of the little guys in my class seems to have decided that I am going to be his buddy.  Whenever he is reading, he asks me to read with him and I absolutely love it!  I love seeing how much growth he has made since the beginning of the year and thinking ahead to all of the progress that I'm sure he will make in the years to come!
Also, after I taught another new reading strategy today, a different boy comes up to me and says "I just read my first word!!!"  And he was SOOO delighted!  Warms my heart!

The Struggle:  Today as recess was ending, I was standing by the door watching the kids all run to the wall to line up.  As I am watching, I notice one of my kinder boys is flipping off someone who is on our wall.  I called him to stand by me so we could chat before he went inside.  I asked him what he was doing with his hand signals, never revealing that I know what it's called or saying the name.  He denied and continued to tell me that he was just waving at his friend.  By this time all of the kids were growing restless on the carpet and I had to let him come in the classroom and get all of the kids settled.  About 15 minutes later though, I called him to talk with me again, and again asked him if he could tell me what he was doing with his hand signals.  He looked at me and said "I wasn't fl---, I mean I was just waving hi!"  So he did know what he was doing, what it was called and probably that it was not ok to do.  I just told him that the hand signal that we were talking about was not nice and that I never wanted to see him do it.  Then he said, "I see people do it all the time where I live"  It's sad to hear and to see such a young kid doing and seeing such adult things.

The Ludicrousness:  Over the last two days we have been writing pages for a book for our teacher, Mrs. P because today was her birthday.  I asked the kids to think of things that we love about her and had them each draw a picture to go with the reasons they wanted to feature on their page.  While I was asking one boy to tell me about his picture I said "And what do you love about Mrs. P?"  He looks at me very concerned and says "I don't LOVE her, I just LIKE her!"  I just responded with " Oh, ok, what do you LIKE about her?!"
Also, two girls were trying to spell Mrs. P's name.  The girls tried their best to come up with the letter sounds that they were hearing and wrote them down.  What they came up with was "Mrs. Puss"  It still cracks me up, and sounds nothing like her name!!

I am the Teacher!

A third of the way through typing, I lost my stamina.  I'm just going to focus on the Triumph for today!  Enjoy!

The Triumph:  The more time that passes where I am in charge of the classroom, the more I think and know, "Yes, I can do this!" It seemed like such a daunting task at the beginning of the year to be in charge of the learning and transitioning of 20 some 5 year olds, but now I feel totally confident that I can do it!  I felt that I jumped over many hurdles today.  Hectic morning, no youtube for movement (eee!!  I had them run laps since it was so sunny outside!), and just other little mishaps that happen throughout the day!  Yay!!

Preparation is KEY!

The Triumph:  A successful, useful lesson was taught today using Digi-Blocks and it was great!  The kids were engaged, the transition from one activity to the other was awesome, and I think the kids all got something out of the lesson that was appropriate for their own learning!

The Struggle:  I don't think it was so much struggle, as it was realizing today, as I was preparing for my lesson, all of the things that I had to get ready.  I had about 15 minutes to get all of the Digi-blocks out and ready for the kids, test dry erase markers (which of course all needed to be the same color, otherwise there would be fights!), get each station set up, figure out snack, find a math book, get worksheets ready, and use the bathroom!  And of course they're all things that can't be done at the beginning of the day, because math happens in the afternoon!  There is a lot of prep work that goes into a lesson, and even more that goes into a lesson that has smooth transitions!

The Ludicrousness:  As I was reading the math story to the kids today, there was a student sitting in front of me.  He typically sits in front and usually ends up playing with the lower half of my pant-legs.  Today I had a skirt on and he looks up at me and says, "What happened to the skin on your knee?"  I looked down and of course there was nothing there!  I was later talking with a friend and she said that she always had found skin on the knee to be strange! I guess he was thinking the same thing!

Picking Up the Slack!!

I'm back!  The last two weeks have been absolutely exhausting, but I'm comforted in knowing that teachers who have been teaching for years are as exhausted as I was for the whole first month of school.  There have been many triumphs (including a day off, where I worked for books!!!), struggles (including various student issues in the classroom and on the playground) and of course ludicrous moments (including a student singing this song).  AND of course, the day that the author of Enemy Pie came to visit the Kinders and 1st Graders!!

The Triumph:  I love love love the days with just the 10 kids who come everyday.  I feel so lucky to be able to have that experience, because I am so certain that it is so unlikely that I'll ever have a group of 10 all to myself for a day ever again!  I love the opportunities that I have to talk with them about their lives and find out things about them that they do when they aren't at school!  I love that I can get to know them more in-depth than I would in the classroom when all 19 of them are there!

The Struggle:  I think the hardest part about the days with the 10 is knowing that they need the most help, which is why they come everyday and still seeing some of them struggling to make advances in their learning.  For about two weeks, we have been working on our teen numbers.  We have listened to the song about teens several times and students can sing it, but one girl is just not getting it.  It's hard to see one student struggle so much, use something that does work for them, but still not see it stick!

The Ludicrousness:  I honestly can not think of any today, but here are a few from the last couple of weeks.
As the author of Enemy Pie is wrapping up his presentation he starts to take questions.  Of course, one of my students raises his hand and is called on.  Here is his question.  "Who wrote this book?"  I just looked across the room, made eye-contact with my co-Kinder Intern and laughed.

I was informed by one of the recess teachers that a student of mine was yelling a swear word as he reached the highest points on the swing.  Back and forth he just kept saying it.  I'll give you a hint:  It starts with the "Quiet Brothers."

And finally, with excitement, a boy student of mine ran up to me during work-time, grabbed my hand and said "You have to come with me! I have to show you something!!!"  He then dragged me to the cupboard where we keep the snacks, opened the doors, and said "We can make POPCORN! Look, there is popcorn in there!" and then he ran back to me, grabbed my hand and said "Come on!"  He continued to lead me around the room to the microwave and pointed to it excitedly.  I then said, "Oh, would you like for me to make popcorn for snack?"  He looks up at me and says, "I think I'm allergic to that kind of popcorn!"  Goofy kid!

You Don't Have to be So Mean!

The Triumph:  I have found something new that works for my Tues/Thurs students to get their attention and gets them quiet.  I have never really been a fan of clapping patterns and having the kids repeat it, but it was like magic!  They were so silent after I tried with them!  We'll see how long it lasts for!

The Struggle:  I have a headache from being so "mean."  After my observed lesson I realized that I needed to change something about how I let the students know that I am not happy with their behaviors.  I used my  "angry/disappointed/LISTEN TO ME/Teacher voice and faces.  I had to constantly move kids all day, and remind them of how they should behave when others are talking.  At one point a student had no idea where he should be sitting and did not listen to the directions (meaning, he did not get EVERYTHING he needed, i.e. folder to go home).  I walked over to him and just said "___, get your folder and sit on a letter now."  And the boy sitting behind him says, "You don't have to be so mean!"

The Ludicrousness:  As I was sending kids out to afternoon recess, there were kids from my class who started lining up on the wall by our door to have a race.  When the last kid got there, they yelled, "Ready, Set, GO!"  And then they all ran off in different directions!  It was the funniest thing to see.  I wonder how they determined who won that one!

I Hope She Isn't the Kind that Eats People!!!

The Triumph:  It was overall a successful day today!  We got everything done that I had planned, which included several new games and manipulatives throughout the day.  Plus I taught one of the boys the word 'obliterate' and it's meaning!  He was having a grand time making really great battle sounds and pretending that stuff was blowing up and I told him a fancy word for blowing stuff to pieces was obliterate!  He loved it!

The Struggle:  I had a little chat with my darling friend today, who I often have power struggles with.  He had stolen some SillyBands out of another boys backpack, so he was sitting in the Cheetahs, waiting for me.  We talked about what he did, why it was wrong, etc.  He was clearly upset, and then said to me "I'm a bad person."  That put tears in my eyes.  It is so upsetting to hear a kid so young saying something like that about himself, and I'm sure it is the same type of language that he hears at home.  I told him to look me in the eyes and told him that he is a good person, a good kid, but has just been making choices that aren't good.  We talked some more and he told him that he wanted to be good and then came up with some ways that he could be good and could make good choices.  And then he followed through with what he said.

The Ludicrousness:  I overheard two boys talking today, after I told them that the woman standing behind them was my mom.  "WHOA!"  "I hope she's not a witch"  "I hope she isn't the kind that eats people!"

The other two quotes happened after the above student returned from the principal's office.  We were all seated on a letter on our alphabet carpet and I said to the student "Have a seat on the carpet.  Sit on the "U" that would be a perfect spot for you!"  He looks at me and says, "My name doesn't start with 'U'!!!"  

I'm glad he is learning his letters! :)

And a few minutes after the "U" comment, he heard some words that weren't nice and said "I'm going to go tell the prince!"  And another boy says "Who is the prince?! What prince?!"  

Princ-ipal!!