Seaweed

Double post today because it is too good to not share. Our reading unit right now is called By the Sea. I follow a blog about a male kindergarten teacher that is hilarious and sweet and inspiring. He calls his kids his "sprouts" and I can frequently picture my students in his stories. Well, we must follow the same curriculum because yesterday he wrote about bringing in seaweed for his sprouts to taste and how proud of them he was for trying it. I ran right out and got a package of seaweed too and let my little friends try it today. My kids also made me very proud! Only a few of them refused to try it and one kid even asked for more!! One kid did dry heave a little and they all opted for a drink of water afterwards, but I smiled the whole drive home thinking about how courageous they were for not being scared to try something new and weird.

12

Actually had 12 students show up for Open House tonight! I met some students' parents that I didn't even know existed. It was great! It was also something I wish had happened a long time ago. Some kids are SO different around their parents and some things just click when you see the whole family unit together. Some kids are way wilder around their parents than they are around me, which blows my mind to see them misbehave and act crazy. On the other hand, one of my little girls who is normally a confident little chatterbox around me and our class acted very shy and vulnerable around her mom. Interesting. Anyhoo, a very successful end to a very long three weeks of planning and a very long day. Time for bed!

A little help?

What exactly am I supposed to do about seeing one of my student's mother and grandmother simultaneously panhandle on separate corners? This is the second time I have seen his grandmother panhandle by the way.

Hello?

It is kind of hard to have a home-school connection when the three homes I tried to contact ALL had disconnected/out of service phone numbers. Very frustrating! It's not like I was looking forward to speaking with anyone anyway. Making phone calls is one of my least favorite teacher duties...that and teaching children how to blow their noses...yuck!

Tooth fairy.

Tooth loss is abundant lately. It started with one student and then boom, boom, boom! Kids were losing teeth left and right. With all the teeth falling out of their little heads has come Tooth Fairy hysteria...and of course, skepticism, but that is for a later time. Ameya showed me her latest loss today and told me about the moola she raked in. She said, "The tooth fairy left me a dollar! Not like the paper dollars, but the special metal dollars...four of them!!" Then, she explained about the little pouch she was carrying the money in. By the way, they weren't special "metal dollars", they were quarters. "The tooth fairy left the money in THIS, but it's my cousin's! She had to go in my cousin's room first to get it and then put the money in it and then put it under my pillow! Pshh, that Tooth Fairy! She is SO silly!"

Magic.

One of my students asked me today, "Is there a magic flower that makes you sneeze?"
I was a little confused about where this was coming from and just said, "No, I don't think so." Of course, one of my little big mouths had to pipe up and say, "Psssh... *aghast sigh*...there is no such thing as magic flowers...there is only such a thing as magic beans and magic seeds! Jeesh...*eye roll*!

Cinco de Mayo

Aye! Yai! Yai! Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I know it is a totally unnecessary holiday for Americans to be celebrating but it is what my team does every year and I went with it. I have quite a few kids who speak Spanish so I mainly took the opportunity to let their language shine all day. Two of my boys who hardly ever speak were so proud to help me today. I know about a kindergartner's level of Spanish but they were my go-to guys for answering questions about pinatas and sombreros. They were like rock stars! I asked them how to say words, some kids asked them how to say words, and everytime I said a word in Spanish they beamed. We went to the biblioteca, we checked out libros, we ate frijoles and queso, we counted in Spanish, and colored a flag of Mexico. Overall, it was un bueno dia.

Tuesday.

I am way too tired for it to only be Tuesday. I don't know if it was the Starbucks I had too close to bedtime which resulted in awful sleep last night. I don't know it is because we only have 31 days left of school. Today, there was just way too much crying (Taijah), way too much yelling (Jason), way too much not following directions (David), and way too much tattling (where do I start?!).

Ughhh!
Sigh!
Yawn!

I will say that at least one of my students is on a new medication...again...and she actually had an AMAZING day. No crying or melting down whatsoever! Hugs and high fives all around!!

Homework

I came across this as I was correcting homework packets. Not juice. Not jam. Judge Judy. From a kindergartener. Really?