Creativity or Not Listening?

I am getting pretty good at teaching when not feeling good.

Thursday I had an awesome headache after our field trip and still successfully managed the class and taught them.

Yesterday and today, I have had an awesome cold that is blocking my ears and making them hurt as well.  Still teaching and doing alright.

Today we started making flowers.

Well I cut the flower out, and then made the stem.

Their job today was to color their flowers. Then write their name on one side of the paper, flip it over and glue the flower on the other side of the paper near the top. I even demonstrated it, to each table.

So, they are coloring their flowers.

They are very pretty flowers.

I remind them about the next step a few times.

The end result?

I walk around to each table as they are finishing up.

I see pretty flowers. About half of them glued the flower to the middle of the page.

Some of them had their names on the top of the page.

Several also decided to draw the stems, leaves, and roots, though I told them not to.

Some of them drew whatever they wanted on the paper.

So, I walked around putting the flowers in the correct spot.

One child kept moving his back.

I had to explain to him a few times that it needed to be near the top so we could fit the rest of the flower.

I am glad these kids are so creative.

They tend to take directions into their own hands and decide what they want to do.

Not always useful.

But still pretty amusing.

We will have very unique flowers.

I love these kids.

Field trip!

We went on a field trip today to the pumpkin patch!

It was a lot of fun.

It was an hour away; the kids did really well in the bus. 

When we got there, the kids played on the playground for a bit.

There was a huge slide!  It was a tunnel slide.  You climbed up a bunch of steps and then slid down super fast into a sand pile.

Even the teachers went down.

A lot of fun, people.

Then we went into this maze. It was in tall grass.

There were little spots where you had to stop and do some sort of activity. The kids seemed to like it.  Especially ringing the bell at the end.

Then we went to the little petting zoo area.

They had goats, donkeys, pigs, chicks, and ducks. There was also a horse that wanted nothing to do with us.

The kids loved the animals.

I did too.

We watched a short movie about the animals and then came the hayride!

The kids were so excited about the hayride!

We rode it up to the pumpkin patch, then got out and everyone got a pumpkin.

Some actually willingly chose small ones.  I was surprised. 

After, we got back on the hayride and went back to the entrance.  We got our lunches and had a picnic! It was a lot of fun to eat lunch with the kids.  I think most were pretty tired.  They were rather quiet.

We got back on the bus and headed back to school.  4 of the kids fell asleep.  I think a few more were pretty close to it. 

It was such a fun day!

Were You Listening?

“Alright, we are going to walk down the hall to Mrs. E’s room without talking.  We are going to have one finger on our lips and the other hand behind our backs.”

We start walking.  A few are whisper talking in the back, but I am not too concerned at the moment.

“I love how nicely Ryan is walking.  Luke is walking so quietly as well.  Most of my friends are walking so quietly and nicely.”

This quiets down the ones in the back.  We walk down to Mrs. E’s classroom without a problem. 
I knock on the door and open it.

“Hi, the kindergarteners made your class a card to thank them for showing us the pumpkin plants yesterday.”

“That is so nice!”

She comes over and takes the card and invites the kindergarteners in.  The second graders are excited.  Mrs. E reads off the names on the card.  She has a hard time reading some of them and mispronounces some.  The kindergarteners giggle.  I try not to.   

“Thank you so much for bringing us this card! We will hang it in our class so we can look at it.”

The kindergarteners smile and we make our way out of the classroom.

“Ok my friends; we are going to go to the bathroom and wash up for snack.  Put one finger on your lips and one hand behind your back.  Alright, let’s go”

They are a little noisier this time.  I continuously remind them that we are walking through the hall and we need to walk quietly.

“In and out of the bathroom my friends, let’s go. Quick and quiet.”

I send them in.

Some are quick, most are not quiet.

I remind them to be quick, and quiet. I also remind the ones in the hall to stop jumping around and hanging on one another.

“Do some of my friends not want snack?”

They quiet down.

Ms. P walks by us and goes into the classroom.  She had been making copies and such.

Ms. P comes back out of the classroom.

“Ms L, there are three students here in the classroom already eating snack, was that supposed to happen? “

I shake my head no.  I am confused as to how this happened.

Ms. P sends them back out.

As the rest of our friends finish in the bathroom, I talk to the three.

“Did I tell you guys to go into the classroom?”

They shake their heads.

“Why did you do it then?”

“I don’t know” two of them say.

“Did you not listen to the directions?”

“No.”

Sigh.

“You guys really need to work on listening.  I never said anything about go into the classroom and start eating your snack. You know not to go in there unless a teacher is there.”

They just look at me.

The rest of the class has finished in the bathroom.

I lead them into the classroom.

I look at Ms. P and shrug my shoulders.

She just smiles.

What can you do?

Full moon

Chicka chicka boom boom,

Is tonight a full moon?

Today, the kindergarteners had a very hard time remembering to keep their hands to themselves.

Not even just in my class.

There were incidents from a few of the classes.

I don’t know if they just forget.

Or if it is a full on domino effect.

One students pokes another student and then it just keeps going.

Except they were more than just poking one another.

They were shoving into each other.

Pushing.

Purposely bumping.

Grabbing each other.

Hanging on one another

And pulling one another…

I was constantly saying –

Get off of so and so.

Don’t push him.

Did you just hit him?

Did you just shove her?

It was not one student consistently either.

It was all of them.

Collectively abusing one another.

All day I heard –

Ow

He hit me.

She shoved me.

He bumped into me.

She’s poking me.

He’s grabbing my arm.

At the end of the day, I was waiting with a group of kindergarteners that walk to their neighborhood right down the road.

All of a sudden, I see this one kindergartener shove her friend into a door!

Luckily the door was there.

Granted it was the door of a first grade class that was still having class.

But still.

I had enough by that point.

I made her sit at the end of the line away from her friends.

A few minutes later, I asked her why I had put her there.

She didn’t know.

Sigh.

If tonight is a full moon than things should be better tomorrow.

If tonight is not a full moon?

Well, hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

Monday mishaps

If you are wondering why there were no posts Thursday or Friday, wonder no more.  I will tell you.

I had an awesome stomach virus.  It was hospital worthy.  Only for five hours, but still.  It was awful people.  Don’t get it.  Seriously.  Awful.

Anyways! Today I went back to school.

Rough day for me.

Not terrible, but slightly rough.

I seem to have misplaced some of my confidence.  If anyone finds it, could you return it at your earliest convenience? Thanks.

Also? I may have been slightly out of it due to my antibiotic and not so much food in my stomach. 

So, this morning, there was a great possibility that things could have gone terribly wrong.

Luckily, Ms. P stepped in to help.

The kids were just sort of ignoring me and were sort of saying no to things I was asking them to do.

I know, biggest problem right there, asking.

You don’t ask them, you tell them.

True statement people.

Things got a little better throughout the day.

Oh!

Also?

Firemen came today to talk to the kids about fire safety.

So I went to pick them up from the gym.

But first, they got to see the fire trucks and get in one for a minute.

I was leading my class, but I really had no idea where I was taking them.

“Ms. P? Do you want to take the front since I have no clue what I am doing?”

“Well, I can, you could just follow the other people and do what they do…”

“True, true I could.”

I think she could tell I was a little nervous.

She took the lead.  Very thankful for that.

At one point this afternoon, one child got her shoe lace stuck underneath the chair in the metal part.  That was interesting.  Easy to fix, except I got kicked and smashed into by another chair at the same time.  Not quite what I was expecting.

Then, a little later, a little boy decided to play on his chair and as I was walking by, he jumped backwards and kicked me in the knee.  He got hurt too.  Interesting day people. 

Tomorrow is a new day!

Busy day!

“Is it time to go home yet?”

“Is it time to go home yet?”

I got asked that several times today.

The kids were exhausted.

Their schedule was fairly different.

Today was picture day, so that threw things off.

Also?

They had a big math assessment. The kids were amazing for it. Most of them were quiet and did their best to do as they were told.  It was tough, but they did well.

So, morning meeting was at a different time. We had picture day, we had a math assessment, we did not have writing, they had half a period of related arts, and they got to watch extra tv today.  Also? They had math stations.

There were a lot of differences in schedule, and quite a few differences in behaviors as well.

As I said, they were tired.

After related arts when they got to watch tv for a bit, one girl fell asleep.

“She’s asleep! She’s asleep!”

“Ok, guys, ok.  I see that, I will take care of it.  No you don’t need to come over and stare at her, go take your bathroom break.”

“Molly? Molly, sweetie” I whisper as I shake her arm a little.  “Molly.” I try again, she opens her eyes  a little.
“Hey molly, it’s time to wake up baby girl. Take your time; you can go take your bathroom break when you are ready.  You can take a minute to wake up.”

She stretches, gets up, and runs down to the bathroom.

Well at least she got moving pretty easily. 

These kids are cute.

Confidence of the Fake Kind

You know those times when you do something new and you feel like you have no clue what you are doing but you tell yourself you can, then take a deep breath and do it?

Me too.

That is how I felt about teaching writing today.

It was my first time.

I was not confident at all.

So what did I do?

Why, I faked the confidence of course!

Because sometimes,

You fake it till you make it.

“Do you want to go get the kids so you can make sure you have everything for writing?” Ms. Peltz ask me as we are walking down the hall.

“Sure!”

I turn around and start walking towards the classroom

AHHH! I can’t do this! I have no idea how to teach writing! Oh my goodness. Ok, deep breath.  Think. You wrote out lesson plans. Follow those. Just do it.  Also? Keep breathing.

Ok, things I need for writing. My lesson plans.  Those are generally useful. Ok, we are labeling things. Where are the cards for labeling?

I start looking high and low.

I hear children’s voices, I freeze and panic.

They pass by our room.

Thank goodness!

I find the cards in an obvious spot.

Ok, I need the paper for them to do their writing.  I know where that is. Ok, memorize your plans. FAST!

I hear children’s voices again.

Please don’t be my class! Please don’t be my class! Read faster! Ok, I can do this. No! no I can’t do this!

I hear footsteps and whisper voices.

I know that will be my class.

“Are you ready for them?” Ms. Peltz pokes her head in the doorway.

“Yes I am! I say with fake confidence.

“Come on in my friends and have a seat on the dot rug.”

They come in and sit, and I begin...

I have hair!

Today, the rain alarm rang again.

This time, during recess.

Also during recess? A child from another class slipped and cut his forehead.

Yeah.

That was interesting.

Anyways.

The kids also did not have computer because the computer teacher was not there.

I am tired.

Funniest moment of the day?

I am teaching the kids a song about basic needs.

You may know it.

It is called Basic Needs – by Dr. Jean. (she is a genius)

The song starts out with

Air, water, food, shelter too. Air, water, food, shelter too.

We sang the song and nearly finished it.

Suddenly, Caleb says

“Hey! Hey. I have hair though see!” He starts tugging on his hair. “See! I have hair.”

“Not hair sweetie, AIR”

I had to work so hard not to laugh.

He is so adorable.

The Rain Alarm

The sight of rain causes children in school to panic.

A drop of rain hits the ground and this alarm inside each and every child goes off.

NO RECESS! OH NO! IT’S RAINING!!!

One would assume that it is probably that dramatic,

If not more so.

Perhaps there is a loud noise accompanying this panic alarm.

A noise at a deficit that only children and animals can hear.

Perhaps it sounds like pouring rain.

That can be rather devastating to a child.

Adults can faintly recall the panic that used to set in when the rain alarm went off when they were children.

…

Today, the rain alarm went off.

Every child in class knew the moment the first rain drop hit the ground at almost 10 o clock this morning.

Almost every child looked up at that time.

Most just stared.

Disappointment falling across their faces.

A couple let out whispered “Oh, no’s!”

I was working with one girl. 

She looks up,

“Oh no! Look!” she cries out.

Such sadness in her voice.

“I know, but maybe it will pass!” I try to reassure her.

“Maybe” she is not convinced.

We continue on with what we are doing.

Every so often she glances towards the window with a hopeful look upon her face.

Each time, her head droops back down, the hopeful look vanished.

Many of the children do this.

The disappointment written all over their faces.

I feel that this is when the Rain Plan comes into effect.

Yes.

The Rain Plan.

They decide to get revenge on the rain.

Or something of that effect.

They decide they will act crazy.

They will be louder.

More aggressive.

More talkative.

More giggly.

Until the rain passes.

Whether they believe they are defying the rain.

Or hoping maybe if they act crazy enough we will let them outside despite the rain.

We may never know.

But when the Rain Panic Alarm goes off in children,

It goes off in adults too.

They know what is about to head their way.

We all look longingly at the sky.

We all hope for a break in the rain.

…

Thankfully, today we got that break.

Who?

Ms. P has the kids over on the rug.

She is talking to them about letters for a few minutes before lunch.

I finish up what I am doing and start to head over.

The door opens; a tall man enters the room.

Huh, I wonder who that is.

What is he doing here?

He introduces himself quietly to Ms. P and then he gets a chair and sits.

He must be observing Ms. P. What a random time though. 

Lunch is so soon.

Ms. P starts teaching the kids how to sign Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

I grab a chair and join in on the learning.

I learn how to sign the song with the kids.

Then she goes through signing the alphabet with them.

That I know, but I join in anyways.

All the while, the man is sitting diagonally behind me in a chair.

“Ok, boys and girls, it is time to line up for lunch.  Get your lunch tags and lunch boxes and line up on your star. Ms. L? Would you take them down to the bathroom to wash and then down to the lunch room?”

“Of course!” I wait a minute while they get themselves together, then start singing. “If you’re ready and you know it stand up tall.”

The kids quiet down

“If you’re ready and you know it stand up tall”

They stand tall.

“If you’re ready and you know it, and you really want to show it, if you’re ready and you know it stand up tall.”

The students are facing the right way, looking at me, standing on tip toe.

Oh the wonders of a song.

I lead them down to the bathroom to wash their hands.  I get them in and out as quick as possible.

Then I lead them down to lunch.

I ask them to show me how a quiet line walks through the hall.

For the most part, they do.

I look down the line, almost everyone looking forward quietly.

At the end of the line are Ms. P, and the man.

Who is he?!

I drop the kids off at lunch and head to the teacher’s lounge.

I give up on trying to figure out who this person is.

People? This man that was observing is the dean of the education department at my university.

Seriously.  I had no clue who he was.

He is new.

Shush, it’s a valid excuse.

The day I felt mean

Today the kids had a sub.

We didn’t warn them about it, so they were slightly confused this morning.

They kept asking me where Ms. P was and when she would be back. 

It was cute.

Because there was a sub, and they are children, they decided to see what they could get away with.

They were sneaky in their own ways.

One girl in particular thought she was extremely sneaky.

She turned off the lights in the bathroom.

The first time it happened, I was told about it.

The second time?

I caught her.

I walk by the bathroom, the lights are on.

I check on the boys making sure they are not goofing around, then head back towards the girls.

The lights are off.

So I watch, nothing.

“Why are the lights off?” I call in.

Immediately the light goes on and I see one girl book it to a stall.

No way.

“Alexis, when we get back to the room, you are moving your pin to orange. We DO not play with the light switch, especially in the bathroom.”

After a moment she comes out.

She washes her hands, and goes to get a drink.

I remind her “When we get back, you are moving your pin.”

“I have to move my pin?”She says seeming upset.

“Yes, that was the second time today you played with the lights in the bathroom. I was told by a few girls about the first time.  I caught you this time. So, yes. You are moving a pin.”

She knows what she did was wrong.

I know she is mad.

Reluctantly, she does as she was asked.

Sigh, I don’t like having to be that way.

Dismissal

“Eyes forward! Big steps! Pay attention! Let’s go kindergartners!”

This is what you hear about 100 times when taking the car line around. 

This is what you say about 100 times as well. 

By the end of the day, they are tired, but excited. 

But still, tired.

So they need prodding.

The constant reminder that their feet may actually have to move.

They need to face forward so they don’t walk into people and cars.

So they don’t get mixed up in any of the other 78 lines. (slight exaggeration)

Occasionally, a child who does not belong on a bus winds up on a bus. 

Or a child who is a bus rider ends up in the car line. 

These things happen.

So, as you walk behind (or in front) of the kindergarteners, and you are repeating yourself like an extremely broken record, you are also making sure they don’t get run over by big kids. 

5^th graders sometimes forget they are bigger than kindergarteners.

In fact sometimes it seems that they forget kindergarteners exist.

I ran one over? Where?

So, you are a prodding, protecting, broken record, nudging and pulling small children out of the way.

Then, you are watching as these little kindergarteners jump into cars.

You hope they are jumping into the right car and that they have not suddenly become confused. 

You watch sometimes as they run up to a car, almost open the door, and then realize they have made a mistake. 

It is a process.

There are children who need shoe laces tied.  Ones that lose a shoe altogether. Ones that drop their backpack. Ones that just can’t keep up. 

It is a little chaotic.

One Lonely Frog

“Alright, everybody put your finger on the dragonflies.  Do you see the dragonflies?”

“Yesss”

“Ok, now, look at the frog.  Do you see the frog?”

“Yesss”

“Good.  Ok, the frog is hungry.  He needs a snack.  You need to feed him the right amount of dragonflies. How many dragonflies are there?

They take a moment to count “Four!”

“How do you know there are four?”

“We count them.”

Good, yes, you counted them to find out how many dragonflies there were. Ok.  Now, our frog is full, but he is lonely, he wants some friends.  So put your finger on the small frogs. Let’s look at them and find out how many there are.”

They count again. “Five!”

“Five, right. Ok, put five counters underneath the frogs. Why are we putting five counters there?”

“Because the frog is lonely.” One little boy says.

“Well yes, the frog is lonely.  Why else might we be putting five counters there?

“Because there are five frogs.”

Yes! There are five frogs, so we are putting five counters there.  Then the frog won’t be lonely. Ok, now we are going to look at the numbers on the side. What number is next to the dragonflies?”

“A four!”

“Yes, a four. How do we write a four?”

“Down, across, and down some more.”

“Yes! Good job, you guys are so smart! Ok, go ahead and trace the fours, I am going to make one up here so I remember how to do it.”

After they have finished the fours…

“What number is on the other side?”

“Five!”

Yes, a five. Now, I forget, how do we make a five?”

“Down, curve around, put on a hat.”

“Yes!” You guys are so good at reminding me. Ok, make your fives and I am going to make one up here.  You guys can watch in case I forget how to do it.”

We continue onto the back of the worksheet where they write more 4’s and 5’s. Then, I let them do the last two on their own.

“Ok, make sure you look carefully at the last two! They may be tricky.”

The answers to four and five were 4 and 5.  So what happens next is only to be expected.

I walk around to each table looking at each child’s work. Almost all of them that I look at make the last two answers 6 and 7 (The answers were again 4 and 5). Math can be confusing.  Especially when you are antsy, it is the end of the day, and you are five years old.

Love them.

Please keep in mind that many pauses were taken during this lesson. Also? The occasional behavior problem arose. Also? Children did not answer the questions in unison. 

Here they come!

Have you ever watched kids in line?
It is rather amusing sometimes.

You have the dawdlers.
You know, the ones with their eyes to the sky, swinging this way and that
Walking as slow as can be.
Tripping over their own feet.
Then bumping into the person in front of them.
Plenty of those in kindergarten.

Then there are the ones who purposely lag behind.
They just stop,
stand there.
Take teeny tiny steps.
They don’t even look like they are moving.
But they assure you they are.
They are pretty good at holding up the whole line.

Then there are the speed walkers.
This is usually the person at the front of the line.
They want to prove that they are a great leader.
They know exactly where they are going.
So they speed walk regardless of how many times you tell them to slow their feet down, because a purposeful lagger is behind them, and then a dawdler behind the lagger.
Almost impossible.

The most amusing are the lookers.
They want to see EVERYTHING.
They have to know what everyone is doing. 
They have to peer through every open door, look down every hallway, and examine every picture on the wall.
Sometimes, they are able to keep a decent speed though, while walking into things/people in the process.

Of course mixed in with the speedy walkers, the dawdler, the lagger and the lookers, you have talkers.
They want to talk to everyone, walk backwards so they can talk, trip over their own feet and end up on the floor.

Pretty much, they are a clumsy group of people attempting to walk in a line that zig zags this way and that.
It is very entertaining sometimes.

While all of this is going on, you are reminding them, pay attention to where you’re going, keep up, slow down, stop talking, keep moving, stop looking in that class… it’s endless.

And amusing.

The Ugly Word List

Today, I did something different during morning meeting.

“Ok, today, we need to talk about something really important.  I have heard some friends saying some not so very nice words to each other.  Do you know what I call those kinds of words?  I call them ugly words.”

Some of them gasp as I am speaking.

“Do you know why I call them ugly words? It is because when you say them, your face doesn’t really look pretty.”

I demonstrate to them what I mean. They giggle because my face looks funny, and I say a mean word.

“Have any of you ever been called an ugly word before?”

“Yes!” They all say Then they proceed to tell me some of the things they have been called.  It takes me a minute to get them to stop, but I need them to stop before someone says a cuss word.

“Ok, I want everyone to think of an ugly word they have been called before or one that would hurt your feelings.  We are going to take a few seconds of private think time and think. Not really bad words bu-

“Like stupid!” one girl shouts out.

Again, the students gasp.

“Yes, like that one.  We will put that at the top of our list.”

They all start shouting out ugly words and laughing.

This is not going to end well.

“Alright, instead of you guys telling me the ugly words, how about I just write some down.”

“Awwww.”

“I know, I know.  Let’s see, we can add mean, dumb, crybaby…” I name a few more and write them down on the ugly word list.

They gasp and giggle as I say each one.

“Now, there is one more super big ugly word.  It is my least favorite one. Do you want to know what it is?”

“Yea!”

“My least favorite ugly word, is can’t”

“Can’t?”

“Yes, can’t. Lime when you say, I can’t tie my shoe, I can’t draw that, I can’t do this. We are not going to say can’t, we are going to say I don’t know how, I have not learned yet, stuff like that. Just not can’t”

“You can say can someone please tie my shoe!” one girl informs us.

“Yes, you can say that.”

I have a few kids act out the right thing to do.  They enjoy this.

“Ok, now we have our list” I hold it up for them to see.  Then I rip it up.

“No Ms. L, no! Don’t rip it up!” some kids shout.

It was rather funny.

“Yes, I am ripping it up and crumpling it up, and we are throwing it away. These are words we do not want to say to our friends. So they are going in the trash!”

“Yea!”  they get excited.

“So, we are not going to say ugly words, right?”

“Right!”

I love these kids.  They crack me up. 

Moments of all varieties.

Today at school, despite the blister, paper cut, and, random bug bite; I had a fairly decent day.
Still working on behavior management.  Getting though there, getting there.

Interesting moments of the day.

“Ok, we are acting out things we like to do at school. Who wants to go next”
I call on one little boy I can usually count on to do the right thing.
He gets up, and immediately I know what he is going to do.
He stands up, and stretches his arms out on either side, letting his hands droop.
Before I can say anything…
“I’m a skeleton!”
“Sweetie, that’s cool, but not generally an activity we do at school.”
Sigh.

At recess, I approach one little girl who is on the bench crying.
“What’s wrong?”
Some mumbled teary words tumble out of her mouth.  From what I could gather, someone pushed her and then her shoe fell off.
“Aww, I’m sorry girly! Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” She shakes her head.
“Want me to help you put your shoe back on?” She nods.
She is still crying and upset.
“Ooh, I like your shoes, they are so cool and sparkly!”
Immediately she perks up and starts to tell me about how they are Twinkle Toes.
A girl and her love of shoes.
I forgot how early it starts.

Today was a very musical day.
I walked by one child on the swing at recess singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider.
I walked by another child singing a different song.
Then in the classroom, I heard three different kids humming three different songs.
Thank goodness for music.

Today in math, Ms. P. had the kids on the rug doing their worksheets.
Some were more squished than others. 
Ashley decided to lie down so she could have better access to her paper.
It worked out well until they had to color.
The boy next to her, Sam, squished up against her.
Then, he was leaning on her a little.
After a minute, he was really leaning on her back.
Practically laying on her. 
It was like he was using her as a resting place.
She kept looking at him as if she was saying “Hello!? Body here!”
It was hilarious; I was trying so hard not to laugh.

During social studies, Ms. P asked the kids
“Why is the United States important to us? Who lives there?”
To which several kids answered, “God!”
Too funny.
Took them a few guesses to get it right.

Jobs Adults Do

Today started off on a rough foot during morning meeting. 
There were things I KNOW I should have done but didn’t.
I just feel bad always telling them to go put their heads down on the table.
But, I guess when “training” them on how school works, it is what you have to do.

During social studies, I was more confident. I got their attention more. We accomplished the task.
We talked about jobs that adults do and jobs that children do.

“Ok, everyone in your seats. Put on your listening ears.”

They sit, but continue to talk.

“Oh dear, seems we have forgotten the listening ears.”

Still talking.

I do the clap that they echo.  They echo, then do extra clapping.

“Not quite what I was looking for.  Let’s leave out the extra claps next time. I have a question for you. Do you know any adults? I am going to call on friends that are sitting quietly with their hands raised.  I want to see friends doing the right thing.”

I call on a few students.  They answer with mom, dad, and teachers.

“Good! Well, then do you know any children?”

I call on a few more students with their hands raised. They start naming one another.

Then they start to talk a lot and I can’t get them back.  I do the clapping thing again.  They echo and do extra claps.

“You know guys, that is not what I was looking for.  We are going to do it again without the extra claps.

Perfection and silence followed.
Hooray!

“Alright, so you are all children.”  Most say yes.  Except for Kyla, who says “No, we are adults.”

Sigh. She has been making comments like that to me all day today.

I shake my head no at her and quietly tell her that she needs to put her head down.

“I have another question.  What jobs do adults do that children can’t do?”

I look around at hands: skip over Kyla who is supposed to have her head down.  She gets the message quickly and puts her head back down.

“Nathan?”

“Umm, say bad words.”

Oh my gosh. I laugh a little.  So funny.

“Uh, well, Nathan, That is not exactly a job adults do. Ok so who knows a JOB adults do, like washing dishes, doing laundry.”

This got their brains working.

The rest of the lesson went pretty well.  I was more confident. I tried to keep things going.  Especially since we were running short on time.  Overall I think it went alright.

Seriously though, I had no clue how to respond to the say bad words thing.  So funny. I keep laughing about it now. 

Sometimes we have those days...

Not every day is great guys.
Not every day is all humorous.
Today?
Not such a great day.
We all have them though.
First?  Morning meeting didn’t go so well.
The greeting went well, the activity? Not so much.
They were refusing to do what I asked them to.  
Some just did not pay attention at all.
So I ended that activity and was going to do another one.
But they were too silly. 
Way too silly.
No way was I going to be able to accomplish anything at that point.
I kind of got them settled down, and then handed them back over to Ms. P.

Later we discussed it, we talked about things I could do differently tomorrow.

After lunch, I read a story.  It went a little better.  Mostly because Ms. P. talked to them before I read the story. (I had gone to the bathroom)

The worst though?
The worst was social studies.
It really didn’t go too horribly.
They mostly listened and paid attention.
There were the occasional few that acted out.  Mostly I took care of it.
Unfortunately, it was this lesson that my supervisor came to observe.

Later, after dismissal, she told me what was what. 
She told me what I did well.
She told me what I did wrong.
She told me what I did terribly and that I need to fix it immediately.
It was rough.
But everyone has those days.

The best part of the day?
I was walking to the car, writing an email on my phone.  I forgot to look up for a minute.

When I did, I looked up just in time to walk into the flag pole.
Sometimes, these things happen.

Guten Sock?

Hello all!
Did you miss me?
Well there was Labor Day and then flood day…
Flood day? You ask incredulously.
Yes people, flood day.
Are you unaware of the rain that has fallen on us in copius amounts?
It was a lot, causing floods.
Maybe not Ark worthy, but possibly canoe worthy.
Or a small raft.
Maybe just doggy paddling. If you are a small dog.
But still.  Trees were down, power out, lots of water.
So… Flood day.

Today however, was not flood day.
Just 1 hour delay day.
Yay!

Today I did morning meeting. The whole thing!  
It is rather enjoyable.

“Ok, this morning we are going to greet each other in German!” I inform the class.
“German?” Many questioning faces look at me.
“Yes! And in German you say ‘Guten Tag’ to greet each other.”

They each practice the word, saying it to themselves. Trying to get the hang of it.  But mostly the words are just clumsily escaping their mouths. I stop them before they completely make a mess with the words.

“How about we all practice it together. When I count to three, we will all say Guten Tag together” I make sure to over annunciate the word for their benefit.

“One, two, three… Guten Tag.”

A variety of words fall out of their mouths.  I hear some say the right thing.  From one child I heard sock.

Sock? Guten sock?

“I said sock!” Ashley says laughing.

“Yes, it appears you did. Well, now we are going to greet one another.  So what do we need to remember when greeting someone?”

Blank stares.

Really? You guys have done this every day.

I start them off “Well what do we do with our eyes when we greet someone?”

I hear mumbles of “make eye contact”

“Right, make eye contact. What do we do with our mouths?” I ask

“Talk”

“Yes, you use your mouth to whisper talk the greeting. How about your hands, what do you do with your hands when greeting one another?”

More mumbling “shake hands”

“Yes. Ok. Let’s start over here. Katie, you start us off…”

People, let me just tell you that out of 20 children, maybe 4 did the right thing. They were refusing to shake hands and refusing to look at one another. They did however; all say Guten Tag in some form or another.

The rest of morning meeting went well.

The greeting? We will try another one tomorrow.

Tomorrow? We are doing it right!

Shush, let a teacher dream.

Content

Caleb puts his backpack on his back and reaches out for my hand.
I take his hand in mine we walk out the classroom door.
He is being dismissed early today. I am walking him to the office.
We walk for a minute in silence.

“I was good today?” He looks up at me and asks.

“Yes, kiddo; you were pretty good today.  Your pin got to stay at blue today. You had to put your head down a couple of times.  But overall, you were good.”

He thinks about this for a minute.

“Ok”

He accepts this fact.  Accepts the answer and decides he is happy with it.

“I’m going home? Mommy’s in the office?”

“Yes, sweetie.  You are going home.  Mommy will be waiting for you in the office.”

He is quiet for a moment.

We are almost to the office.

“Look! The office! I see her! I see mommy.” A bounce starts to fill his steps.  A smile crosses his face.

“Yup, there she is.”

His mom starts to come out of the office.

He lets go of my hand looks up at me with a smile and then runs to his mom.

“Bye Caleb, have a good weekend.”

He doesn’t hear me.  He is wrapped up in his mothers words, her warmth.

He is content in the moment.

I smile to myself, turn and walk away.

A Bear Hunt!

Today was a rather interesting day. 
Some of the kids were just having a rough day today, I think.
Either that or they knew it was going to rain for all of 10 minutes and that just made them crazy.
Who knows?
Anyways
I did two morning meeting activities this morning.
One of which was another game where they got to pop!
They highly enjoy popping.
The second I walk over to the rug

“Are we going to pop!” They ask while already popping and hopping.

Just maybe children, you just might.

What I say is…

“We are going to play a new game today! But, you still get to pop. Ok, how many of you can count to four?”

Shouts of “I can!” come from all areas and then they start counting.

Somehow?

It took a while before they all finished counting to four…

“Ok, good job! Now, listen closely.  Four is going to be the magic number. Got it?”

Heads nod.

“We are going to go around the circle starting with Ashley.  Ashley will say one, Michael will say two, Mia will say three, and Matt, instead of saying four, you are going to jump up and say “Pop!” Then, the next person starts with one again.  Get it?”

“Ya!” They say excitedly.

Apparently they did not.

I had to tell each and every child their number. Also? I had to tell them when it was their turn.

It took a while.

They were little chetter boxes this morning.

If I was a smart teacher, I would have ended things then.  But alas, I am not yet a smart teacher.  So I continued onto the next activity!

“Well, we will try that game again another day. You will get the hang of it! Alright! Now, we are going to sing a song! Actually, we are going on a bear hunt.”

“A bear?! A bear?! We are looking for a bear?” One child exclaims.

“I know this song!” five others feel the need to shout out.

“Well good.  All you guys have to do is repeat what the song says! It is a lot of fun.”

Most of the kids sung along.  Some rolled around while singing.  Strange… rolling during a bear hunt…

Then, there is one part during the song where they find the bear and the singer has a frightened voice and then you yell!

Yell they did.

In fact some were flat out screaming.

Jumping, running, and screaming oh my!!!

I fully expected it.

I tried to quiet them down but failed.

I was laughing too hard.

They were hysterical.

Arms flying, feet jumping, wild eyes! Hilarious.

They are a humorous bunch.

Love.

I should add as a side note – I did a story this afternoon asking questions and what not.  The kids were fantastic!
They oozed awesomeness.
They got loud for a moment, I quieted them down within seconds!
I got to hand out stickers and smarties.  They were great.
Again.  Love.