23 Days In...

We have been in school for 23 days and things have kind of settled into a pattern. Arrival, play with blocks, journals, calendar, read aloud, and so on. There have been a lot of funny things so far though, as well as a couple of sad things.

Here's the list:

1. While we were watching The Letter Factory, E. said, "Miss Shindelar, I LOVE this movie!!" He's normally kind of non-commital about everything, so the outburst of movie-love was pretty adorable.
2. We've been talking about authors a TON (because last year they could never remember the difference between author and illustrator). While we were watching the same movie, one of my kids (the most innocent, out in left field kid of them all) said, "Miss Shindelar, who wrote this one???"
3. While we were reading "Mary Had a Little Lamb" I asked the kids if anyone knew what "fleece" was. A. raised her hand and said, "Well, those are the things on dogs that jump and bite you...." and I had to tell her that actually, those are FLEAS and then I explained what fleece was :)
4. The kid who draws his "wee wee" on his pictures also has drawn "boobies" on a picture of him and his mom. If only I could be a fly on the wall sometimes...
5. I have been getting notes from this one family that serious imply that my assistant and I spend all of our days trying to mess with their kid. The first one asked me why the kid was "given BBQ when he asked for tacos and he doesn't even like BBQ." The note went on to say "I think my kid should be able to have what he would like for lunch" and to ask me how I was "going to make sure this didn't happen again." The assistant ASKS them what they want and then the cafeteria lady asks them again, so I think he probably just didn't know which one was which or something. Then the SAME parents asked me why they were still sending in money and he was on free lunch. She told me the date he began getting free lunch and asked, "If I am sending in money, who is getting his free lunches??" I like the implication that someone is taking his free lunch when, in reality, the money is just building up on his account while he eats his free lunches. ::sigh:: In that note, there was also the implication that the kid is giving his lunch money to my assistant and what is she doing with it, etc. Oh, Parents...

I'm sure there are more things, BUT I need to finish lesson plans and shower before bed and another week!

The Return...

Hello everyone (or...maybe there is just one of you actually out there who cares that I updated once in the last 8 months...hi!).

This past week was the first week of my SECOND year of teaching and I really want to do better this year with posting. That way I can remember stuff...because when I say, "Oh, I'll remember THAT" it really means that I will try really hard and not be able to recall what it was.

Just a couple of highlights from the first week:

1. I have 7 kids whose names begin with the letter "J" which means I have to break out my "alphabatizing by the second letter" skills every single day.
2. I have three kids who names end with "-ia" which means that when I call one of them, at least two are going to come because they weren't really listening
   
3. One of my boys draws his "wee wee" on every self portrait he draws. I asked him what it was and he told me all matter of factly. So, I just said, "Okay" and moved on!
4. I am noticing that most of my kids actually seem to care if they break things that belong to me, which is a welcome change. I had to explain to more than one teary-eyed kid that accidentally dropping the chalk and breaking it was NOT a big deal. I only want them to let me know it happened; there will be no punishment if it's an accident and you tell me about it!
5. I have to be mentored. Again. Well, kind of for the first time. My mentor last year "kind of dropped the ball" (her words) so I was assigned another mentor for this year. I Really like the woman who is my mentor this year, but seriously...why do I have to go to workshops about "Effective parent communication" and stuff like that? Obviously I have figured something out in the past year and having to go to these things just annoys me because it is not my fault. I was the poor, confused mentee who just went to other people for information. And now I have to go to meetings as punishment. Ugh.
6. My Friday schedule rocks. In the morning, I literally have my kids for 30 minute intervals, then they leave to go to other places! I got SO MUCH DONE while they were gone all morning!

I guess that's about all for now...tune in next week for more info about being a second year teacher!