sour and sweet.

I haven't posted anything in a while because I got a little worried about anything coming back to me in an unwanted way. However, I have to share this. Yesterday, I received a slightly hurtful comment from one of my students. Get this... one of the kids actually asked me when the retired teacher who started the school year was coming back. I was so floored that I said, "You're kidding right?" Not very professional but I was shocked. I tried explaining that she was just a sub and that if she came back, that I would have to leave. I wanted to explain that she couldn't wait to get out of there. She had no interest in hanging around and saying goodbyes on her last day. She was done, retired, over it. I got the impression that she didn't even like them very much. I have been there for 6 months and she was only with them for 5 weeks! Maybe they are longing for the easy days as we near the big standardized test, but it was kind still quite off-setting.
Today though I had an awesome conversation with the mother of one of my students. This particular student is extremely quiet and shy. He is smart and a good reader and well behaved. Whenever I try to talk to him though he sort of turns his body away and looks at the floor. He is so soft spoken you have to listen very carefully to hear him. I have thought maybe I scare him or maybe he is so bored in class that he dislikes me. Nope. His mom says he loves me and loves school for the first time. Apparently, he even dislikes breaks because he misses me! I had no idea and was almost in tears on the playground when she told me this. It totally made my day.

Happy 100th Day of School!

Woo! Today was the 1ooth day of school! We didn't do much, I ran off a packet with a bunch of little activities about the number 100. There was a pretty cute poem, here are a couple of lines:

"100 cookies, 100 cakes,
100 kids with belly aches.
100 shoes, 100 socks,
100 keys for 100 locks."

There was more, but I'll spare you. So, in honor of this special day I have some doozies I've been saving up for you.

• Last week, my little mr. space cadet said to nobody but himself: "Okay, I'm going to my happy place now. Bye bye." There is no way to do this comment justice unless you heard the high pitched voice this kid did it in or heard the weird little giggle he did afterwards. Jeeshh!
• Same kid, same week, little mr. space cadet informs me that he had a hard time completing his homework the night before because his mom kept running to the bathroom with diarrhea. I told him, "Okay, but that is probably not something your mom wants our class to know." He said, "well, it's true! It took a LONG time to finish my homework because she always helps me with my homework but she had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom for a long time."
• One of my little boys informed me that he wants to name his first child after me. Keep in mind his last name is Hall. So, yes he wants to name his first child "Ms. Carbajal Hall". He hadn't thought about that but liked it even more once I told him. Oh, and said child's middle name will be the name of the school principal. So, officially the child's name will be Ms. Carbajal Mr. Flores Hall. Hmm, okay. Want to know the potential name of his second child? Devil. The little girl that was sitting next to us listening to this whole conversation got a a good giggle out of the Ms. Carbajal Hall part, but I think the Devil part kind of freaked her out a little.
• Today were doing our vocab lesson. I have the kids use the glossary in their Anthology and then they write the definition down, we brainstorm ideas of a picture to go with it, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the definition was for the word cautiously and it was something like, "to move carefully; be aware of danger". One the kids said, "Uh, Ms. Carbajal, I think you messed up. You cant put a period above a comma like that." Heehee, ahh, grammar humor!

Well, my congested head and I are off to do some lesson planning for tomorrow and then off to bed. I seriously thought I was in the clear of being all better and now this sinus chaos is back with a vengeance, hooray!

• Okay so I am sick AGAIN! I even let Michael talk me into getting a sub on Tuesday just so I could get some rest. My 300 pound congested head and I stayed in a dark room half comatose for most the day. I drug (and drugged) myself through most of the week fairly well even with a couple of unnecessary comments from several people, ranging from, "you're still not better", "you look terrible" and "I'm surprised you came to work today." The best one came from one of the kids, keep in mind I sound like the offspring of a trucker with a pack a day habit and a robot, "Ms. Carbajal, you're voice sounds funny." Gee, thanks for noticing.

• I have a student whose mom likes to come in about once a week to listen to the kids read in small groups or one on one. This kid's parents are great, by the way. The mom used to be a kindergarten teacher so she is down with all the lingo and really knows how to break down where the kids need help. The dad is a chiropractor and around Halloween he brought in a skeleton and gave the whole second grade a presentation about bones. So, the mom has only come in up until this last week and I guess the little boy wanted his dad to start coming in. I told the class in the morning that we would have a parent helper in the afternoon and they would go over and read to him. So my student pipes up and announces to the class, "He is really good at second grade stuff too because he had to do second grade twice when he was a kid." The kids all looked at each other like, "Oops, probably not something your dad wants everyone to know about." Hehehaha.

• Michael and I are certain there is a problem with gravity around the garbage cans in our house. It seems like every time we go to throw a coke can, paper towel, or water bottle near the garbage can it takes a hard turn and falls on the ground instead. I was cleaning around said gravity challenged garbage can today and was surprised to sweep up one wayward uncooked pasta noodle, one raw garlic clove, and one googly eye. Yes, just one lone googly eye. Ohh, the scandalous dirt (literally) of an elementary school teacher.

bad day...

On the heals of such a good day, today really sucked. Yesterday, we went to the cafeteria to watch live video streaming of the Inauguration. I told the kids beforehand that even if they didn't understand everything that they should at least try to just listen. They did so well! They sat and watched and listened. It was amazing and very touching! I was so proud. They were behaving better than many of the kids two and three grades older than them. Today they weren't bad or anything, I am just feeling completely tired and overwhelmed.

• I have kids who I don't know how to help and they are barely keeping their heads above water, if not failing altogether.
• One teacher told me she asked one her struggling girls what she wants to be when she gets older and the girl said, "nuthin'". The girl then proceeded to sleep the rest of the day at her desk. This is a second grader we are talking about!
• I heard one of my girls tell another girl, "You are not my friend anymore." Six of the most hurtful words you can hear as a kid, just easily said like that depressed me. The other girl was hurt and said "why?" Before the other meanie girl could answer, I called them both outside to ask why she would say something like that. The meanie girl just shrugged and said "I dunno." No remorse. Not even lie about being wronged. Just meanness to be mean. Sad.
• Lastly, I am so sick of cranky coworkers who talk to me like I am stupid or wasting their precious time asking a question. I don't handle negativity, conflict, and/or tension very well (even in very small amounts) and I am feeling a lot of it lately. Michael and I are not sure if we have the cajones to stick out this profession much longer. Too many problems, too many different personalities, too much uncertainty.

Done venting, going to bed.

Tomorrow is a new day...

Ewwwwwww!

Well, it finally happened. My worst fear. Something I have dreaded for years.

A kid threw up in class today. With no warning. All over himself.

What would possess a 7 year old to sit there and just yak all over himself?! It was so gross. I immediately looked at the kids sitting next to him and saw them dry heaving too. I quickly got the kid to a garbage can, although I thought he was done and encouraged him to get a drink of water. This was a bad idea as he was not "done" and only proceeded to get more sick in the sink...which I later had to clean up due to a dumb drain screen. Double ewwwww! I told everyone else to quickly line up outside our door. I called the office and our awesome custodian came and cleaned up the carpet. The little man in question went home and the rest of us got a little break in the fresh air.

I'm really proud of myself for not gagging too. It was just as gross as I thought it would be though.

Happy New Year!

Michael and I are headed to San Francisco for the big 2-0-0-9. It has always been one of my dreams to go see the New Years fireworks in San Francisco. So, yay!

Before I go though, I wanted to post one more time in 2008. I usually do all of the talking so I'll keep this short, but please leave a comment with your resolutions, if any. I am usually pretty cynical and sarcastic and just say, "my resolution is to have no resolutions". This year I am seeing things differently for some reason and think I will work on telling my family I love them as much as possible and being the best teacher I can. The first one is simple but I don't do it as much as I actually feel it. The second one is a little tougher. I want to work on giving more guidance, building more confidence, and making sure the kids have the basics before heading off to third grade in a few months.

I did ask my kids if they had any resolutions and have to share a hilarious one. One of my girls said very confidently, "Well, I don't think there is anything I need to change about myself. I do want a new baby brother in the new year though because baby brothers are fun!"

Happy New Year!!!