It went OK

I guess enough of the kids have older siblings so, actually just enough and not too much stuff was brought for the “party”.  Some of the kids, about 6, actually brought costumes to put on.  One mother came at the end of the day and had little gift bags for all of the kids with things like pencils, a little thing of playdough, a couple of other things and a couple of pieces of candy.  All in all, pretty good.  I kept assuring the kids that it was OK NOT to have a costume, after all I didn’t have one……. and a lot of other teachers did, so it went OK.

One funny story, this one little girl told me that her mom was picking her up before the party,  she kept checking on when the party was going to be, and was it time to put on their costumes yet?   I got thinking, and asked, “Samantha, why don’t you do the pledge in the morning with the rest of the class?”  and she said, “Because, Jehovah doesn’t want me to.”  So I said, “Jehovah doesn’t want you to do Halloween either, does he?”  She paused a second and said, “No, it’s OK.”  “So, does your mom want you to do Halloween?  Does your mom know you have a costume in your backpack?”  Pause,  “I sneaked it.”

As it turned out, they called for her to bring her things to the office right before we were going to do the costumes, so I had her take it out and show everyone, before she left.  She had a Supergirl cape in her backpack.  I felt a little bad for her, but she got to show her “costume” and still pretty much followed the wishes of her parents, I believe we have a responsibility not to undermine the religious values of the child’s home, especially if those beliefs are an active part of their lives.  Parents in this case have not stated any non-participation preference.

Oh Boy, I blew it…….

We don’t have school on Friday, so all of the Halloween stuff gets done tomorrow.  I know some of you don’t agree, but MY general preference it to ignore all holidays and hope the kids won’t notice.  In my defence I offer two things, a) for eighteen years of my teaching career, (that would be ALL of it) I have actually been on a calendar schedule that somehow managed to avoid most of the big ones.  And b) I’m a guy, (I try to put up bulletin boards that only have to be changed when the butcher paper fades too much, and I’m trying something NEW this year, I put up fabric in primary colors).

So anyway, all that to say this, I really don’t know HOW to do holidays.  I’m the grinch, bah humbug.  But I messed up big time.  We had a required student, parent, teacher, principal conference last week and the principal told the kid that if she wasn’t good, she would miss the Halloween party in my room.  After the conference, I told her, “Great, now I have to have a party…..”

Guess who forgot to send the notes home that tell the parents what the kids can and can’t wear to school tomorrow?  The same note that said when the party was during the day?  The note that said DON”T wear your costume to school, but bring it to change into….

I wonder if I can get away with passing tomorrow off to a sub?  I’m feeling kinda sick.

Here’s the plan, I sneak into my room early tomorrow, get the notes, and throw them away in a garbage can that isn’t in or near my room.  Then when the parents ask, I can blame it on the kids for losing the notes.  Their backpacks are black holes anyway.

It IS tempting………

Oh yeah, somebody scheduled picture day on the same day as the Halloween Party.   Go Figure.

They’ll Suck your Brain.

We were on the floor and I looked back and there they were.  Sorry, the camera auto focused on something other than the glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth……  Later, I’m working on a math page with them at their tables and I look over and I see this girl.
I seriously need a vacation…..

We Have a New Kindergarten Teacher

We’ve had subs teaching one of our kindergarten classes because a teacher wasn’t hired at the beginning of the year.  They have been in session for about 6 weeks now, not counting their first three week break.  They finally hired a new teacher (and is she ever new).  I met her Saturday, when I was at school to help out at our annual fall carnival.  She was in her room trying to sort things out.

Today, by 1:30 when she took them to P.E. they had her in tears.  I felt bad for her, but I couldn’t do too much for her other than to try to encourage her, if she needed a shoulder to cry on, I’m not much help.  I did firmly tell her, “You CAN do this.  It won’t be easy, but you can do it.”  I then told her to pretend that it was the first week of a new school year, because for her it is.  And for the kids, it’s a new relationship they have to build with her, just like the beginning of the school year.  She has Harry Wong’s The First Days of School, so I told her to focus on routines and procedures.  The kids now have to adapt to her, and they will.   I told her it’s much easier to be firm now and to lighten up later than to get control back after you’ve lost it.

We’ll let the two kindergarten aides help out more in there for the next few days until they can step back and let her have it more on her own.  I really have no clue whether or not she can pull it off, (I told her she could, but I don’t know)  she looked pretty miserable during prep, she looked better but still kind of down after school.  I told her to get some sleep if she can, and failing that, to make sure she eats well, lack of energy AND lack of sleep don’t go well together.  She indicated that she has been so nervous that she didn’t sleep at all Saturday night and not much last night.

It’s sure fun being acting grade level chair………

Small Group, Differentiated Instruction

I have the groups all figured out.  I THOUGHT I had the center activities and seat work all figured out to keep the rest busy while I do the small group instruction.

I just can’t seem to get it to work yet.  Everyday, I get all the different things going and get ready to pull groups, and I end up managing all of the activities instead.  It’s like a juggling act, or one of those guys who balances spinning dishes on a bunch of poles.  They just can’t seem to manage on their own.  If it’s not one thing, it’s another, but I just never seem to get to the small groups.  I hate this time of year when they are SO needy, and want validation for every little PART of everything they do.  And there’s TOO many of them.  And they aren’t even potty trained.  Apparently…..

I could make the center activities easier, but then what’s the point?  The stuff needs to be hard enough for growth to occur, but easy enough that they can do it without my help.  It’s making me crazy.

Jordan the Soggy

(and yes, in case you were wondering, “Jordan” is not his real name)

Jordan is walking around this afternoon holding his shirt down in front of himself.  He seemed stunned that I would ask him if he might be a little wet……   But yes, he was.  Since it was about 10 minutes until the end of the day, I just had him sit on the tile floor and wait, rather than sit his soggy butt anywhere else.

A short time after they were dismissed, I noticed a substantial puddle on the tile where he had been sitting.  Not only was he wet, but he did it again while he was sitting there…..

Between the pee and the puke (another student and another story), we are going to have to shampoo the carpet REAL soon.

Never, in all my years teaching, have I had so much crying, puking and wetting.

Mr. Grumpy

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and I worried about the affect on my class.  We got through the day pretty well.  But towards the end of the day, one little girl was having some problems doing her work and I was a little short with her, and she clammed up and wouldn’t answer me when I asked her a question.  Finally, I said, “Do you think I’m being grumpy?”  I could see something in her eyes, but she still wouldn’t answer me.  So I told her that if I asked a question, she wouldn’t get in trouble for answering.  So she looked at me, for a minute, and then said, “Yes, I think you are being grumpy.”  So I apologized for being grumpy and we got on with our work.

I don’t have a problem admitting to little kids that I’m not perfect and that I can make a mistake and admit it, the idea that I’m always right because I’m the teacher or bigger is crazy.

My wife, who doesn’t like me blogging about her……

I’m justifying this one on the basis that it’s not REALLY about her…….

She is a school librarian, and she noticed a girl chewing gum in the library.  The girl said, no, she wasn’t chewing gum and didn’t HAVE any gum.  A few minutes later she caught the girl again, chewing gum, this time she made her throw it out, and she wrote a note to the teacher.

The teacher’s comment was, “Well, at least she isn’t doing DRUGS.”

My wife explained that, the bigger problem was the lying in the first place………..

I’m thinking, “What the  @%*!!#  does DRUGS have to do with it?

I think it’s pathetic that we can now justify ANY inappropriate  behavior by saying that at least it’s not something worse…..  And I think it’s sad that a TEACHER will justify in this way.  And I REALLY want to go look at the undersides of the desks in this teacher’s room.  I bet the custodians hate doing her room, speaking as a former school custodian.

Jordan the Small

The  saga of Jordan the Small:

Yes, he is one of the 6 mentioned earlier. EVERYONE thinks he’s cute, and he has gotten  by on cute all of his albeit short life.  Even the little girls in class pat him on the head. He’s short. He has a September birthday and was actually 4 when he started, is small for his age, and has all of the difficulties mentioned in the previous post.  He also has a problem getting to the bathroom on time. He knows the lady in the Health Office REAL well.

Jordan is on the computer, and Waterford is a bit too hard for him so he has a helper. I hear the helper, “Jordan, if you need to go to the bathroom, go.” “No, Teacher will be mad if I leave the computer.” (this because I gave him heck the other day for just leaving the computer because he didn’t want to do it anymore)

I’m thinking, I’ll be madder if he wets….

“JORDAN, GO TO THE BATHROOM!!”

He goes.

His helper comes over after Jordan comes out of the bathroom, “Teacher, Jordan’s wet.”

“Jordan, come here.”  “What?”  “COME HERE.”

“Yes Teacher.” He slowly comes.

“Are you wet?”  “No Teacher.”

Helper, “Yes he is Teacher, right here.”

“Fine, Helper, now go wash you hands.”

“I just did.”

“Yes, that was BEFORE you touched pee, now go wash your hands.”

Jordan, “It’s not pee.”  “Helper, wash your hands, then if it’s not pee what is it Jordan?”  Thinking furiously, “It’s from the washing machine Teacher.” (even IF his mom would dress him in wet clothes at 7:00 in the morning, it’s now 1:30 in the afternoon)

When Teacher gets up from rolling on the floor laughing,

“Messenger, take Jordan to the Health Office.”

Six Kids

Out of my 30, I have six kids who are giving me fits.  It’s the oddest thing, I started to notice this last year and this year I’m seeing it more than ever.  These six kids have a group of symptoms or behaviors that are consistent throughout the group.  When tested at the beginning of the year, (during the first week) they knew no letters.  They have little or no fine motor skills.  Can’t cut with scissors, can’t color with crayons, can’t write their names, (after 4 weeks they still can’t write their names).  Their attention spans are nearly non-existent.  They do not have phonemic awareness.  Most of them can’t count-several can’t count past the number two.  Language Arts and Math both are problems for these kids.  They don’t or CAN’T listen.  And because of all that, they are disruptive in the classroom setting.

Without some kind of intervention, I think that many of these kids are set up to fail.  Something has to change, or they are not going to be successful in school.  In our district, first, second and third grades have small class sizes.  Kindergarten unfortunately hasn’t been given that benefit.  More and more curriculum from first grade is being pushed down into kindergarten, but the class sizes are generally still high.  It’s hard to meet the needs of 30 kids on a daily basis, and the academic expectations of the “new” kindergarten.