By the way,
~ cafeteria nachos,
~ Zero the Hero came to school...90 days of school,
~ a full moon tonight, and
~ rain predicted for the rest of the week equals
THE PERFECT STORM!!
Hyper does not even begin to describe my students today.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Hopscotch...
One of my favorite students is not even in my class. He is in the a.m. class and I teach the p.m class. This little boy just has some little sparkle in him. He is always smiling or has something to say that makes me smile. He is the boy who asked me with all seriousness and breathlessness at Christmastime, "Mrs. Rule...(dramatic pause)...do you have...(deep breath)...Santa's phone number?" He is the boy being raised by his grandmother, who he calls Gigi, and he always tells me all about her. He is the boy who is wide eyed and curious during story time. He is the boy who is generous with random hugs for no reason. He is the boy who recently celebrated his birthday but his mom and her boyfriend decided to bless him with their presence at his party only to get in a huge fight and make him cry. He told me all about this too and how Gigi had told them, "could you just not do this on his special day?"
Today while I had yard duty, I watched as he tackled the beast that is hopscotch. My post during yard duty is in the hopscotch graveyard. None of the kids even seem to acknowledge that there are FOUR available places for it. Most of the time they prefer to chase each other around the yard like lemmings with no rhyme or reason. I think it started out as a, "look what I can do moment"...only, he couldn't do it. My encouraging got the attention of some other stragglers who blazed through the whole thing effortlessly. He couldn't walk away defeated at that point, so he kept trying. He could not get over those first two single squares without needing to catch his balance. He tried and tried and tried. He tried the left foot. He tried the right foot. He tried arms out. He tried arms in. He tried with coat off. He tried coat back on. He took a rest and caught his breath. He tried again. I had to admire his perseverance. Even when I had to leave my post to attend to other boys chasing each other with sticks...my little friend kept at it. By the end of recess, he had tackled the movements...single, single, single, double...but still wasn't staying in the boxes. He never gave up and he never got angry/frustrated/boo-hoo-y. He is the boy who taught me something today.
Today while I had yard duty, I watched as he tackled the beast that is hopscotch. My post during yard duty is in the hopscotch graveyard. None of the kids even seem to acknowledge that there are FOUR available places for it. Most of the time they prefer to chase each other around the yard like lemmings with no rhyme or reason. I think it started out as a, "look what I can do moment"...only, he couldn't do it. My encouraging got the attention of some other stragglers who blazed through the whole thing effortlessly. He couldn't walk away defeated at that point, so he kept trying. He could not get over those first two single squares without needing to catch his balance. He tried and tried and tried. He tried the left foot. He tried the right foot. He tried arms out. He tried arms in. He tried with coat off. He tried coat back on. He took a rest and caught his breath. He tried again. I had to admire his perseverance. Even when I had to leave my post to attend to other boys chasing each other with sticks...my little friend kept at it. By the end of recess, he had tackled the movements...single, single, single, double...but still wasn't staying in the boxes. He never gave up and he never got angry/frustrated/boo-hoo-y. He is the boy who taught me something today.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Rain, rain go away...
It's not just cold, wet rain that is showering down...it's also raining bad news.
* This weekend, I found and subsequently yanked my first gray hair. I named it Jason.
* I am losing another student which means I could get any number of new atrocities sitting at the orange triangle table...and of course she was finally starting to make progress.
*One of my students witness a huge fight between his parents and apparently his father kicked him and his mother out. He said there was a lot of yelling and that he was scared. I hate hearing stories like this but am also glad he felt safe enough to share something so personal.
* Then, the worst news of all came today. My long term sub job is officially over March 18. I was hoping with all my hope that she would not come back. I have been jerked around so much this year and it is SUCH! A! SLAP! IN! THE! FACE! for her to waltz in and take over the last couple months...it is incredibly insulting. The worst part is that I feel like I am abandoning the students and I have no choice in the matter. It is SOOOO much work forging a bond with a kindergartner and although they drive me nuts, I love them. We even had a big, grown up talk last Friday about how important it is to be kind to each other after I saw some disappointing behaviors at recess. I gave them my favorite speech about how we are a family...a school family. We are not like your real brothers and sisters at home...we are school brothers and sisters, and we treat each other with love and respect. I told them that I don't have my own kids yet but for right now I have 25 kids...them. Some of them giggled at the thought of being my kids, but I explained that they are THAT important to me. I told them it is my job to make sure they are learning, safe, and happy everyday and that I LOVE my job.
* This weekend, I found and subsequently yanked my first gray hair. I named it Jason.
* I am losing another student which means I could get any number of new atrocities sitting at the orange triangle table...and of course she was finally starting to make progress.
*One of my students witness a huge fight between his parents and apparently his father kicked him and his mother out. He said there was a lot of yelling and that he was scared. I hate hearing stories like this but am also glad he felt safe enough to share something so personal.
* Then, the worst news of all came today. My long term sub job is officially over March 18. I was hoping with all my hope that she would not come back. I have been jerked around so much this year and it is SUCH! A! SLAP! IN! THE! FACE! for her to waltz in and take over the last couple months...it is incredibly insulting. The worst part is that I feel like I am abandoning the students and I have no choice in the matter. It is SOOOO much work forging a bond with a kindergartner and although they drive me nuts, I love them. We even had a big, grown up talk last Friday about how important it is to be kind to each other after I saw some disappointing behaviors at recess. I gave them my favorite speech about how we are a family...a school family. We are not like your real brothers and sisters at home...we are school brothers and sisters, and we treat each other with love and respect. I told them that I don't have my own kids yet but for right now I have 25 kids...them. Some of them giggled at the thought of being my kids, but I explained that they are THAT important to me. I told them it is my job to make sure they are learning, safe, and happy everyday and that I LOVE my job.
Friday, January 22, 2010
One of my favorite things about teaching is seeing the looks on students' faces when something REALLY gets their attention. That being said , nothing quite gets their attention like penguins. Who knows why, but they become fascinated. My favorite fact to teach them came up today...how penguins feed their chicks. The looks of sheer shock and horror at the fabulous disgustingness gets me everytime!
Friday, January 15, 2010
What happened?
This. week. was. rough.
Four new students since last Thursday and WOW! are they a handful. They completely threw off the group dynamic I have spent months working on. It was exhausting and depressing and frustrating. The depression was all the more compounded by the fact that I lost one of my beloved students who was replaced by a whirlwind week of chaos and misbehavior.
One of the new students wants only to be called "Fire". Mmmmkaaaay.
Another one earned himself numerous time outs, a trip to the Principal's office, and two calls home in his first three days. Then...then...there were two glorious days when he was absent. He showed up again today and as soon as he got off the bus...BOOM...he planted a giant hug around my waist. Mmmmkaaaayy.
One of the students is nearly indescribable. She likes to tell other students "shut up", "you're stupid", and "you're fat". Nice, real nice. But the highlight of my week was when another student announced, "The new girl just said she started her period!" I think my heart stopped. I spoke with the girl at recess and here is where things got tricky. I asked her if she knew what she was talking about and indeed she did. However, I got to be the one to explain to her that this does not happen until you are a "big girl". Then, oh then, she showed me the female product she had in her pocket. You know, "just in case". Oh, dear lord!
I won't bore you with the other countless behavior problems that occurred this week or the multiple run-ins I had with parents. Let's just say thank you, thank you, thank you for three days off.
Four new students since last Thursday and WOW! are they a handful. They completely threw off the group dynamic I have spent months working on. It was exhausting and depressing and frustrating. The depression was all the more compounded by the fact that I lost one of my beloved students who was replaced by a whirlwind week of chaos and misbehavior.
One of the new students wants only to be called "Fire". Mmmmkaaaay.
Another one earned himself numerous time outs, a trip to the Principal's office, and two calls home in his first three days. Then...then...there were two glorious days when he was absent. He showed up again today and as soon as he got off the bus...BOOM...he planted a giant hug around my waist. Mmmmkaaaayy.
One of the students is nearly indescribable. She likes to tell other students "shut up", "you're stupid", and "you're fat". Nice, real nice. But the highlight of my week was when another student announced, "The new girl just said she started her period!" I think my heart stopped. I spoke with the girl at recess and here is where things got tricky. I asked her if she knew what she was talking about and indeed she did. However, I got to be the one to explain to her that this does not happen until you are a "big girl". Then, oh then, she showed me the female product she had in her pocket. You know, "just in case". Oh, dear lord!
I won't bore you with the other countless behavior problems that occurred this week or the multiple run-ins I had with parents. Let's just say thank you, thank you, thank you for three days off.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wordle in Review
Friday, January 1, 2010
New year, new name...
Hello dear readers, it has been a long time since I posted on here. As a new year has rolled itself in, I can't help but look back at where I've come from and where I'd like to go.
First of all, I guess this can't be the Ms. Carbajal blog so I have updated all the Carbajals and turned them appropriately over to Rules. Even though it is fairly new, I have already surprisingly grown tired of hearing "Mrs. Rule?", "Mrs. Rule?", Mrssss. Ruuuullleeee?!" all day long! Or as some of my little guys call me, "Mithes. Wooollll? Hehehe!
Next, I am no longer teaching second grade and no longer have a contract. Poohie! I am long-term subbing in Kindergarten, but at least I got to stay at the same school as last year. I was quite terrified of Kindergarten at first and actually wanted no part of it, but why not tackle a challenge, right? I had an incredibly horrendous start to the school year:
First of all, I guess this can't be the Ms. Carbajal blog so I have updated all the Carbajals and turned them appropriately over to Rules. Even though it is fairly new, I have already surprisingly grown tired of hearing "Mrs. Rule?", "Mrs. Rule?", Mrssss. Ruuuullleeee?!" all day long! Or as some of my little guys call me, "Mithes. Wooollll? Hehehe!
Next, I am no longer teaching second grade and no longer have a contract. Poohie! I am long-term subbing in Kindergarten, but at least I got to stay at the same school as last year. I was quite terrified of Kindergarten at first and actually wanted no part of it, but why not tackle a challenge, right? I had an incredibly horrendous start to the school year:
- multiple last minute grade changes
- a classroom move after the year started
- an a.m. K/1 split
- lost my first graders, kept kinders, went to p.m. class
- vertigo
- laryngitis
- sinus infection
- sick, sick, and then sick again
Then, there is this whole subbing mess. I have been with ten of my 25 kinders since day one. However, due to the mess that is SCUSD, my job HAD to be given to someone laid off from last year who also had more seniority than me. The lucky, lucky person whose turn it was to be given a job was....drumroll please...9 months pregnant! Ha-freaking-ha! So Oct. 8 I thought I was losing my job only to be told on Oct. 9 that my replacements maternity leave started the same day she was supposed to start work on Oct. 12. She gave birth on Oct. 13...CONGRATS!! She gets a baby, I get to keep my job, er, her job, er, ummm, "our job?".
That brings us to today I guess, I have no contract, no benefits, and might be out of a job in March if baby mama comes off leave. On the up side, I absolutely ADORE my students. Like I said before, I had NO interest in ever stepping foot in a Kindergarten room, but they are the funnest, funniest, and most challenging teaching adventure I have had yet. They say THE CRAZIEST things and always give me something to laugh about. Every bit of progress they make is exciting and extremely rewarding for us both and the sheer joy they exude when they accomplish something all by themselves for the first time is incredible.
Now that I am rested and rejuvenated from Winter Break I am looking forward to going back and hopefully making even more progress.
By the end of the year, I want EVERY student:
- reading, writing, and saying their own name
- reading, writing, and counting numbers 1-30
- identifying every letter of the alphabet by name and sound
- identifying all colors
- doing basic addition and subtraction
- and so much more!!!
See ya' later alligators!
P.S. Happy 2010!!!
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