Oh the joys of personal days!

Well one of the wonderful joys of being a teacher means I get two personal days a year! This year has been so crazy, I have not found a chance to take them. So.. I took yesterday and today off! It has been so fantastic. Since I wasn't sick I had plenty of time to get plans together for my sub. I left plenty of things to do and hope that they are all done when I get back to school on Monday. Yesterday the husband stayed home with me, and we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, shopped, did some homework, and went to his baseball game. I even got a nap in! Today, I am getting a pedicure and seeing a movie with the sis-in-law. I mean who doesn't love a four day weekend!? The only thing that concerns me is how awful my kids are being to that poor sub...

what.a.day.

Started the day at 7:40 with a little girl telling me she didn't feel good. She then proceeded to throw up in my trash can until about 8:10 when her dad got there to get her. Awesome. Although she was quite the trooper. She got it all in the trashcan and even held her own hair out of the way! We then had Graduation pictures. They were so adorable in their little caps and gowns. However, it was not just a cap and a gown. The boys had to wear these little button down shirts with ties. Try putting that on several squirmy six year old boys. This took until about 10:00. Then another sweet little one got sick so I spent the next ten or so minutes calling his mom. And yes, I disinfected the entire room this afternoon. At this point its fifteen minutes until lunch. I managed to accomplish one page. Went to lunch. After lunch we watched Disney's Planet Earth with the rest of the Kindergarten. That lasted until 1:00. Which left enough time to color a page and send the Early Friends home. Exhausted.

Odd Drawing..

So when my kids finish something and we are waiting on everyone to finish I let them draw pictures on the back. Today my sweet little one came up for me to check his work and was telling me about his picture. He said it was a person who tamed lions- there was a man and some lions in the picture. But then he said "you know he has sausage tied to his belt, just like they used to"- Ok is that real??!!

Field Trip..

Well so far this year we have been on three field trips- not including the three plays we have seen at the high school. We went to the symphony first, then the pumpkin patch (but me and 6 of my students had a stomach virus, I was at the field trip they were at home), and today to the Children's Theater. We saw Charlotte's Web. On a field trip day, the kids come into the room bouncing off the walls. On the ride there, I sat my my little child who (from previous readings) you would know can not sit alone. He asked me questions like "Is that the Brooklyn Bridge??" (in reference to the shelby street bridge), "Why is there a short bus on the interstate?" And many more exciting and important questions. When we arrived at the theater, there was of course an overload of staff. They were telling us where on the pew we needed to sit. I had reached a point where I had to tell the lady that certain children have to sit near me- no matter what. While I was trying to explain this, I look up and my sweet child was rolling down the aisle as you would roll down a hill. I couldn't help but laugh and try to correct him. I am sure the lady thought I was a really great teacher. He talked to me the whole time. As we were being rushed out to the bus, seven children of course needed to use the bathroom. I didn't even worry about finding the boys bathroom- we all used the girls. We finally made it to the park to eat and play. And as always, I had a sleeping babies on the way back to school. I would have loved to join them if I didnt have to the responsible adult!

New Student

Poor little girl- she moved to a new school the last week of April. This morning I got a new student. So thankful she is a girl because my boys are too much already! She is a sweet little girl, but there were so many frustrations with a new student. I have already run all my pages- now one short. I made about 15 trips to the copier for various things for her today. Also, she is behind my students. I pretty much know what all of my students can do at this point, except her. So anyway all day I was complaining to myself about how I didn't want to go from 18 to 19 students, but when I finally stopped to think about her- how hard for her! She was attacked- literally- by students all day long! She is forced to adjust to my system, which is probably like none other. I just want her to enjoy her last five weeks of school in my class. I know that I can only bring her so far in that amount of time, and I am just going to help her the best that I can.

Also a little wisdom from one of my kids...first of all if you need a self esteem boost, go talk to Kindergartners. They will be glad to tell you how wonderful you are! This little girl tells me at least five times a day that I am the best teacher ever and that I look beautiful :) So the other day she said, your the best teacher because I never get in trouble- I just do what you say and I don't get in trouble- but some kids they don't listen and do what you say and they always get in trouble- why don't they just listen, its the way to go...I thought wow, your brilliant!

Writing

I think I have complained about this before but I do not enjoy teaching writing to my kiddos. For people who think in incomplete thoughts, writing a sentence or two is really not easy. When your hands are tiny, forming perfect letters on the lines- not easy. Regardless, the first grade teachers want us to work on writing. I have tried graphic organizers, having them copy from the board, doing letter by letter with them, writing a sentence on their own everyday, and making charts for them to have during writing with the letters on them...it is still the most painful part of the day. Any suggestions???

On a side note, I realized this week my kids love playing addition Around the World or Basketball- good stuff for review time in April and May!

Also, every morning since about November I have been praying for these two kids in my room who just do not make good choices. It seriously helps with my patience. God is good when we rely on Him. Everyone have a good Friday!

Sleeping

I sometimes forget that my little ones are just precious babies in the scheme of life. This week I have the responsibility of Early Friends. Early Friends are some friends who leave at 130 instead of 230. So I have to leave my class and go outside to do this. I normally just put a movie on while I am gone. About week two I realized that two of my boys could not be in the room without me. Chaos was happening. They are my two kids who everyday test the limits. They have both served several days in ISS, had numerous calls and notes home, and have missed countless hours of recess. Some days they do stuff that is so awful, I forget that they are six years old. So anyway, today when I had left one for EF with another teacher- when I came back he was sound asleep. He was sooooo peaceful :) I let him sleep for about 45 minutes until it was time to go home. He was so calm while sleeping. I thought, no wonder why parents stare at their sleeping children- because when they are awake you sometimes cant have positive thoughts- but when they are sleeping, they are perfect :)

Braggin on my Kidos

One of the greatest things about teaching such small kids is that I get to see them truly learn. I get to see the first time they get something, and how excited they get over that! Just this week, some of my kids have amazed me at how much they have learned. I have really not enjoyed teaching writing this year. It is extremely difficult for someone to write a sentence who does not think in complete thoughts. We introduced writing a sentence in October, and some of my little ones could just barely get one word on their paper. Well..yesterday..I put five vocabulary words from our story on the board (rescue, shimmering, pilot, yahct, mechanic). The students were to write five sentences using one word per sentence. Now, some of my kids were able to do just one sentence. But SEVERAL of my students wrote five different sentences using the words correctly. I was so proud of them, they have come so far!
Another thing..I have a precious little one who will more than likely be enjoying another year of Kindergarten. My kids have to type in their lunch number when they buy their lunch. This is major at the beginning of the year (as you can imagine)- however by now they all know them. Except this one, but today- before I could turn around and help him- he typed in his lunch number! I literally yelled out loud I was so happy for him!

It is things like this that make my job worthwhile. Amongst all that of course I still had a boy who through scissors at another, people on tables, tears, blood, and all the normal things- but these little things get you through the day.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all! I loved my Easter crafts we got to do this past week! I also loved my Easter egg hunt with my kiddos on Friday! Today I had a spectacular lunch with my in-laws, and mowed the grass! Hope everyone had a good Easter!