Ohh, boy..

Well, I've just been so completely worn out when I get home...I've had a lot of interesting things happen...

I'll try and keep it short.

My little baby angel child punched a 2nd grade boy in the eye. She got suspended for the day.

One of my students peed his pants right in the middle of the lunch line. He gave me about a 30 second warning of..."Miss O..I need to go to the bathroom". I turned around to tell my assistant he looks at me and says.."Well, he's going right now..." I looked down to find a puddle of pee creeping towards my toes. It touched my foot! Yuck..

Then, luckily not one of my students, but a student across the hall pooped his pants and it fell through his pants onto the floor. Students walked through it and it got smeared up and down the hall. It smelled terrrrrible.

It was an interesting week...

I'm hoping this week is a little more normal...We'll see.

Kindergarten is such an adventure!

So many stories!

Okay, so I guess I'm not going to be so great at this blogging thing. Unfortunately, my schedule is just so crazy and when I get home I have so much to do for the next day and when I finally finish, I'm so tired I end up passing out around 9:30...

But, I do have quite a few stories from this past week..

Story 1:

I got a new student on Monday. He's been living over here and in Afghanistan off and on. He's a great kid, very smart too! I met both of his parents..also very nice. Well yesterday, it was time for my kids to go home (woohoo!) and he is a car rider. So, a teacher comes down to my room every day to pick up my daycare kids and car riders. They go together and then I am in charge of getting my bus kids on the bus. Well, my new student went with the right group, but ended up in the daycare line. I was taking my kids out to the bus and saw his mother running frantically to me. "Where is my son!? Where is my son!?" I simply said, "Oh, he goes down with daycare and car riders, he may have gotten in the wrong line...check the day care area." She runs frantically back in the building...and maybe 45 seconds later comes running out..looking even more frantic. "Where is my son!? WHERE IS MY SON!?"
"Ma'am, I assure you he's okay...He is probably with the daycare...if not someone must have taken him to the fro...."
At that moment, a teacher called my name out and shouted, "HERE HE IS!"
I understand that the mother was scared...but she needs to realize that he isn't going to go far. It was his second day, so I can understand why she was so frantic..but man...she did NOT look happy with me. But hey, I did everything right. I labeled him, put him with the group he was supposed to go with...but unfortunately, it will always be my fault. The father came in this morning and I explained the situation, he was fine with it...but I have a feeling the mother won't be so forgiving.

Story 2:

So, my students have been driving my assistant and myself nuts lately. They are great kids, as I have stated before...however, they have a really difficult time listening to and following directions. The other day, I could tell my assistant was getting really frustrated. He just looked tired and worn out. I don't blame him..I was too.

Well, while I was out of the room, he started to review the 5 senses with the kids. I walked in as they were reviewing what they were and they were on the last one...touch. Well, the kids were struggling to think of it...so my assistant says, "IF I THREW THIS MARKER AT YOUR HEAD, WHAT SENSE WOULD YOU BE USING!?" and I just had to chuckle to myself...usually you would say...if you wanted to feel a soft sweater, what sense would you be using...haha something a little nicer..
Well, later on during math...we were doing some simple counting. One girl came to a problem and she didn't know if 5 was more than 4. So my assistant began to try and explain to her...when she didn't understand it..he became frustrated and said, "IF I PUNCH YOU IN THE ARM 5 TIMES, and PUNCH YOU IN THE ARM 4 TIMES, WHICH ONE WOULD BE MORE!? 4 or 5 PUNCHES!?"
He quickly looked up and muttered...."Stop the violence"...I simply turned to him and began laughing...I asked him if he needed to take a walk...and chuckled..."You seem a little tense!"
Usually teachers use...if I had 4 jelly beans and 5 jelly beans..which would have more..but nope...He used punches..and I loved it!

Story 3:

Well, yesterday we had a code red lockdown drill. I told my students that even though it was a drill, we needed to take it very seriously. They knew that they were not supposed to make a single peep.
Well, time came for the drill and my students did quite well crouching and covering their head without a sound...but then it happened. Someone let one rip. And it wasn't a quiet one either. Well there was a moment of silence..and then you heard a few chuckles..and then one child burst out into laughter. Of course, the whole time I was doing "Shh" and when the one student burst out laughing I snapped my fingers and told them to knock it off. I immediately turned towards my assistant and couldn't contain myself. Thank goodness it was dark in the room because the students would have definitely seen me grinning and bursting out into silent laughter.
Well, they settled down and enough time went by to kind of forget about the whole incident. So maybe 3 minutes? Well, a girl began to move to rearrange her position and of course...another squeaker came out...She began to giggle and I just snapped my fingers and said STOP. I couldn't help it though..I had to hang my head down and smile.
I can't help it..I'm still like a 5 year old when that kind of stuff happens. It's HILARIOUS and I don't think it won't ever NOT be funny. I try to be mature..but sometimes...you just have to laugh.

Story 4:

My kids have been sitting so poorly in their seats. They are constantly falling out of them..leaning over...hanging their heads down close to the floor. It's annoying. My assistant finally got so frustrated and began to vent to the students and lectured them about how they should sit because if they don't they are going to fall out and hurt themselves. He was so frustrated he said "I'm just going to start going around and kicking the chair out from under you.." So then, he obviously demonstrated and pulled the chair out under a girl who constantly does not sit correctly in her seat. Again, I just turned right around so the students couldn't see me burst into laughter. One of my students saw me laugh and he was also trying not to laugh. We made eye contact, giggled, and then I shook my head no and made the "Shh" sign. I turned around again and tried hard to regain my composure...

My assistant is cracking me up. He is so funny with the things he does...because he says what we are all thinking and sometimes acts out what we all would like to do. It's great.

Well, I wrote a ton today. But that's three days worth! Those were my most memorable moments..

Oh, I lied...I had an emotional story today. But I'll keep it short.

Story 5:
I have orientation tomorrow, so I cannot go into school. I told my students, there will be a sub in class tomorrow..but I'll be back Friday...so BEHAVE!

Well, a minute passed and all of a sudden one of my girls started balling. I asked her what was wrong...she couldn't even talk so I told her to take a breath so I could understand her. Finally, she got out the words..."I'm scared." I asked her "Why?"
"Because you're leavin' me.."
My heart dropped....This girl only lives with her father...I don't know what happened with her mother..but she always so scared that I am going to leave.
I went over to her, looked at her and said "Sweetie, I will never leave you. I won't be in school for one day, but I will be back on Friday...I'm not leaving..I can't and I won't."
She stopped crying and gave me a big hug...
"You sure you won't leave?"
"I promise."

It's so sad to think about the situations that some of these kids are put into....it really makes me think about the huge role I play in some of these kids lives.

These are the true joys of kindergarten.

Okay, I'm really done fore today!

Thank goodness for weekends..

Well, I wanted to try and write every day...but sometimes I forget how exhausted I am when I finally get home from school.

This week was ROUGH. Monday started out fine. Tuesday-Friday..oh my goodness I thought it would never end.

We're really trying to get the kids into a routine and really make them understand that they need to listen and follow directions. It seems like it is almost impossible for 5 year olds to listen and follow directions.

We had a lot of kids break down into tears, tantrums, and fits this week. They aren't used to getting disciplined when they do something they aren't supposed to. I had one kid throw himself on the floor...multiple times. I had a girl spit in another kids face. You know...that kind of stuff.

The kids really are great, it's just going to take some time for all of this stuff to settle and for them to understand how they need to act.

I am so thankful for the weekends though. I don't know what I would do without them!

We're going to start fresh Monday and I'm hoping for a good week!

10 days in...

Well, I'm 10 days into the school year and it has already happened. I'm sick. I felt it coming on over the weekend, and I tried to stop it, but this morning...it was full blown. Nothing awful...just a sore throat, headaches, and exhaustion. At least I'm not puking! I just spent about 20 dollars at Walgreens buying cough drops and Dayquil. I'm hoping that will at least hold me until Christmas.

Today was definitely a Monday. Chaotic, tiresome, and a little too long...but I survived and so did my kids. Well...one barely survived.

So we kinda do the tough love thing on the playground. Kindergardeners are great at crying and overreacting. So unless they have a broken bone or are bleeding...we usually try and send them back right away. Afterall, they only get 25-30 minutes on the playground, and they NEED it.

Well, today I had a child scream bloody murder and began crying so loudly that it seemed like it was echoing throughout the entire playground. The child walked over quite quickly and began to snot everywhere and had tears streaming down his cheeks. I asked him what was wrong...and he lifted up his leg for me to see. I didn't see anything...nor did the other 2 teachers. He continued with his blood curdling cry as I tried to encourage him back on the playground. Well, he wasn't having it. The teachers next to me, couldn't handle his crying anymore and told him to go sit on the opposite bench. Well...he couldn't do that because he was "bleeding". So pretty soon, he began to form a gimp and then he couldn't even lift his leg. Well, after about 5-7 minutes of crying and screaming he finally found the courage to walk over to the playground. He showed another little boy and the little boy simply responded..."I don't see anything". Well this started his crying tantrum again.

So, finally recess was over and I told this boy to line up. His response? "I can't. I can't walk."
To which I responded, "Come on, be a big boy. You can walk."
"NO!!! I CAN'T!"

So I grabbed his hand and walked with him...not carrying any of the weight. I found out that when I grabbed his hand he walked normal. I let it go and began to gimp..and not just a little gimp..A severe gimp. One of the other teachers saw me holding his hand and began to laugh, and I decided that I needed to laugh, too. I showed her that as soon as I dropped his hand...he couldn't walk...I picked it up..he was fine.

Not to mention...We got to the classroom and I told him I would put a band-aid on it for him...well it took him about 10 minutes to get over to me because he kept getting so distracted with the other children. Guess it didn't hurt that bad!

Recess time always has interesting stories. It's going to be an interesting year.

Tomorrow is Grandparent's day! We are having a few grandparents come in to eat lunch with us...we'll see how that goes!

So it begins!

Before I even begin, just know that I feel like I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to teach right out of college. With the way the job market is right now, especially in the educational world, I am very lucky to have landed a Kindergarten position. Spending all summer filling out 200+ applications has definitely paid off.

The chaos is starting to settle and I am beginning to finally get into the swing of things at my school. Sometimes I still sit at my desk in the morning and can't believe that the classroom is "mine". It's strange to see my name on the door and to know that there are 19 children that belong to Miss O's class in room 25.

I wanted to start a blog to make sure I write down all of the good memories, the not so good memories, and of course the funny little things that can happen each day. Whenever I meet a teacher, they always recommend keeping a journal. There are so many things that can happen in just one day that can be inspirational or something that can be taken as a great learning experience. Because I am already a week in, I figured it would probably be a good time to start!

Making a move from New York to North Carolina was a huge change. Not to mention, I was given barely any time to prepare or even think about it. Maybe it was better that way, though. I had less time to psych myself out.

I work with amazing, generous people. Everyone is so friendly down here. The entire staff is so kind and they are willing to help whenever possible. It's a very welcoming environment and I feel like I am very lucky to work in such a wonderful place, especially for my very first "grown up" job.

I have 19 students and they are definitely a handful. But I have a wonderful assistant that helps me out tremendously. The kids are really sweet, and a lot of them really enjoy being there and want to learn. Of course, I have a small handful who are resistant to the new changes. It's understandable. Kindergarten is a huge adjustment and I am hoping that by October, all of the students will feel more comfortable in the classroom.

I feel as though I have adapted to my new lifestyle quite easily. However waking up at 5am is something I don't think I will ever enjoy. Teaching is a lot of work and I am realizing that waking up at 5...being to school by 6:30 and leaving around 6:00 pm is what my life will consist of for quite some time. It's exhausting...but I am so thankful for this opportunity.

Unfortunately, it's almost 9:30...and that's the time I start getting pretty sleepy...so I must end my first entry tonight. I will return and I'm hoping with some laughs and uplifting stories.

Miss O =]