I'm Back with an Announcement!

It's been quiet around here... can you hear the crickets chirping?

From my last post, you know that I'd been having a hard year. Well it turns out that something else was in play besides just a difficult caseload.....

PREGNANCY HORMONES!!!!

Yep! My first trimester was not filled with morning sickness... it was filled with CRANKINESS! Even though we're thrilled about baby, those first few months I was in a terrible mood (especially at school!).

I'm at six months now and feeling great! I'm starting to get the nesting urge... :)

During these last few months as I've taken a prolonged absence from this blog, I've developed other interests. I've found it's much more fun to blog about my crafting life than my teaching life.

I'm so glad I wrote so much during these last five or six years of teaching - I never want to forget those memories (or all of you bloggy friends I've made along the way)! I'll be returning to the classroom once the baby is born, but in a part-time capacity. In the meantime, I'm having so much fun blogging over at my other blog: Yes Teacher Crafts.

I'd love to have you join me there!

My little turkeys

We are in full turkey mode here at school. And I love it! Doing seasonal stuff with my kindergartners and first graders is such a welcome break from our regularly scheduled programming.

We've read My First Thanksgiving and I'm No Turkey.

We've written a list of things that we're thankful for.

We had our Thanksgiving Music Program on Tuesday. (The kids were both hilarious and adorable!)

And today we're making Turkey Tracks! Except we're making them with peanut butter and straight pretzel sticks (because I'm not sure about how my picky eaters will handle chow mein noodles!)

It should be messy but FUN! I am especially excited because once today is over, I have the WHOLE BLESSED WEEK off for Thanksgiving! Do I hear an Amen? :)

Cue the picture taking

All week, the kindergartners have been practicing in the auditorium for the Thanksgiving Program. I've been there to help and assist (I'm so glad I'm not in charge of this thing!).

Let me tell you, it is quite a production to get 54 five-year olds to stand in the right place - even with tape. And then getting them to sing loudly, keep smiling, leave their neighbor alone, stop touching the stage curtains, and to watch the lead teacher for their cues.... practically impossible!

This is really one of those times that I have to leave my perfectionism aside and remember that they're going to be adorable - mistakes and all. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that the parents LOVE those cute and funny mistakes.

So on Tuesday when it's time for the Big Show, I'll just take a deep breath.... even when little David has his finger in his nose.

When Kids are blunt

More than anyone, kids tell it like it is.

Are you sporting a big angry zit today? You can be sure one of your students will ask you what "that big red thing" is on your face.

Wearing a new white necklace? Some kid may tell you that you look like Wilma Flintstone.

But sometimes kids can be quite ego boosting with their comments. Like every time I walk into the general education kindergarten classroom to pick up my kiddos for language arts. Without fail, I will hear a chorus of:

"I like your necklace!!!!!!"
"I like your earrings!!!!!!!"
"I like your boots!!!!!!!!!!"
"I like your shirt!!!!!!!!!!!"

And recently, after the chorus of praises had died down a little, Andrew piped up with:
"YOU LOOK AWESOME!!!!!"

So if you need a little self-esteem boost, go find a kindergarten classroom near you!

A Hopeful Monday

Friday was an easier day, partly because:

1. Marta punched me in the face on Thursday and was suspended on Friday.
2. My colleagues cheered me up with fresh flowers and a Starbucks gift card (!!)

I'm hoping today goes well. I have a new student starting today (my second in one week!) and a new table arrangement that seems promising for keeping two particular first graders (who like to feed off each other) out of each other's eyesight. I also have a shiny new behavior plan for one of my first graders... with walkie talkies and everything!!

So there's hope. I'm still feeling overwhelmed though. I'm now responsible for 12 students... that's MORE THAN HALF of all the of the students in our hearing impaired program.

I want to be able to do this. Do this well!

student and teacher meltdowns

I'm having a hard time teaching in the morning. And by that I mean I have a collection of behavior issues in my first grade group that, when thrown in and mixed together, becomes this toxic poison.

Except this poison doesn't kill you, it just makes you want to retire from teaching at age 29.

I had four students in this group. I've recently added a fifth. On "Adam's" first day, Thing One argued with my every direction (or just flat out said "no"). Thing Two loves to feed off of Thing One and thought the whole thing was hysterical. Thing Two shut down when he got some sad face tally marks. Thing One laughed loud and long to show he didn't care about sad faces.

And Adam looked on.

When Thing Two didn't get his first choice of activity for Daily 5, he decided that the best solution was to hide under the table and intermittently shout "NO" .... for an hour! 

Folks, this exact same kind of behavior from those two students happened for THREE DAYS IN A ROW. For three days, Thing Two collapsed into a pile of refusal and I had to get another adult in there to entice him to move to his next class. Thing One continued to loudly protest every direction and every activity at every opportunity.

I did my best to teach despite it all.

I ended the week on Friday with Thing Two in full meltdown mode, yelling from his new hiding place:

Tell me ..... where can I hide from first grade?

Beat up by a nine year old

It took seven years to happen, but it finally did: I was hit by a student. Repeatedly.

It was last week and Marta was not paying attention to social studies. I was in there for forty five minutes to help with inclusion and my little friend refused to follow even the simplest directions (sit on the carpet). When it was time to lead my group of six students out to my classroom for language arts, she hit me on the butt on her way out the door. Hard.

I said "OH!" in surprise and then took a few deep breaths. I got down to her level as she got her backpack out of her locker: "You may NOT hit a teacher. That is not okay."

I made a calculated decision not to dole out any consequences just then. I knew enough about her to know that if I gave her several sad face tally marks right away, she would just escalate and I wouldn't be able to teach anything that afternoon.

So I put on my happy face and taught my little heart out. Marta behaved herself pretty well. But at the end of the day, when it was time to tally our happy faces versus sad faces and earn a penny for the store, things went sour FAST.

I gave everyone a penny except Marta. "I'm sorry Marta, you cannot get a penny today because you hit a teacher."

A dark cloud passed over her face as this sunk in. She took her "bank" (container with 2 pennies in there already) and chucked it across the room. She grabbed her folder and her backpack and made for the door!

I had to go chasing after her and corralled her back in. I got the other students out into the hallway as fast  as I could and got down to Marta's level. This she did not like.

Cue the kicking. The hitting. The scratching (she drew blood on my arm through my sweater, and in two small spots on my leg). She was so frustrated she also chucked her hearing aid out of the room.

Eventually she burst into tears, sat on my lap, and cried on my shoulder.

We had both been angry that afternoon, but at that moment in time, I was sorely tempted to cry with her.

Instead I just stroked her hair and told her that it was okay, that I still loved her, that we would try again tomorrow to earn a penny. After a few minutes of repeating this, she wiped her eyes, nodded her head, and joined the line to get on the bus to go home.

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If you're wondering, I had to fill in an incident report and call her mother. We were both baffled as to what could have triggered this kind of behavior. She's always been a bit defiant, but never like this. I talked with our behavior specialist and we now have a plan in place where she can earn something rewarding for following directions.

The only part of this whole incident that I regret is getting into Marta's face right away after I had corralled her back into the classroom. She clearly needed some time to calm down and I could have saved myself some scratches! Otherwise, I think I did right - especially in restoring our relationship at the end there.

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I'm so curious: have you ever been hit by a student?

My Kryptonite

Last week I shared with you my teaching superpower. Today, it's time to reveal my kryptonite...

... that one thing that brings me to my knees in despair, that elicits the biggest sighs, the most wringing of my hands, the urge to give up and walk away....

Poor memory skills.

You'll see what I mean when I tell you about my first grader Darren. We'd been practicing the same 5 sight words every single day for two weeks: his, of, for, he, to.

Recently, when we sat down to practice, he got them ALL right the first time around. I did a big cheer! He clapped and smiled wide. I decided to go through the words one more time after we were done cheering. This time? Approximately 5.6 seconds later? He only knew two of the words.

ARRRRRGH!

And it's not just for sight words - he just can't remember things from one day to the next.

And this is why it's my kryptonite:

Behavior issues? I've got strategies.
Reading fluency? I've got some tricks up my sleeve.
Vocabulary? I've got you covered.
Decoding? Yes, I can help you there.

But memory skills?!?!? Nope. I've got nothing! I can call your mom and make sure you're getting enough sleep and give you a healthy breakfast at school, but beyond that... it's simply out of my hands!

What about you? Do you feel powerless in your own classroom sometimes?

A new record

Parent-teacher conferences were last week. I wore a killer cute outfit (if I do say so myself) and had all of my progress reports and work samples ready to go for my first grade and kindergarten parents.

Now. I'm no newbie. I know that my students are part of a regional program and are bused in from up to 40 minutes away. I know that most parents both work. I usually get about a 20 to 30 percent turn out.

This year?

Not. a. single. parent. came.

I stayed at school from 4 to 8pm waiting and working. And I don't know which is more shocking: the fact that no one came, or the fact that I stayed very busy for four hours after school and never ran out of things to do!!

My Teaching superpower

If there's one thing that I like to brag about being good at, it's making fun activities into educational activities.

(But truthfully, my students' language levels are so low that I can pretty much justify ANYTHING as a "language activity")

This is why I was not worried about leaving my door wide open when I was painting pumpkins with my kindergartners this week!

At the end of our pumpkin painting party, we all chowed down on pumpkin soup and pumpkin seeds as an extension of the book we've been reading (Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper)

These are the kinds of days I live for!

read my lips, not my face

I have an over-sensitive first grader named "Adam."

He has a lot of issues going on at home, so it's easy for me to be compassionate rather than short tempered when he starts talking in his kermit-the-frog voice and when he laughs long and loud at completely inappropriate times.

The problem for me comes whenever I give him a direction. He equates my "teacher" face with an "I'm gonna hurt you" face. I don't yell my directions. I say please and thank you when I give directions. I am not a mean teacher (I promise!). But for whatever reason, he will misinterpret the look I have on my face, point accusingly at me, and say:

"You're MAD at me!"

I've stopped numerous times to explain that I am not mad at him, that this look on my face means that I'm serious - not mad. But he's still not getting it.

I have the guidance counselor working with him (and with me!) about it, so I think there's some hope.

In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to be super conscious of my eyebrows when I give a direction!!

teachers color too

Last week, we read "Mice Squeak, We Speak" in Kindergarten. We talked a lot about action words. One or the suggested activities in the curriculum guide was to make paper plate animal masks.

It was the perfect Friday project! The kids had a blast with it, and I forgot how much I love coloring... Most of the kids wanted to be lions, but I chose a mouse!

One little lion boy chased me around the room to eat me! Have I mentioned how much I love teaching Kindergarten?!

a fun countdown book

As part of our curriculum, we have Ten Dogs in the Window as a big book. Are you familiar with this story? It's absolutely charming!

It's a countdown book (so it has potential for math integration!) and my kids LOVE predicting which dog each person will choose. After a while, they figure out that the people are choosing dogs just like them! I wish we had more time with it because there are a few extension ideas that would be great activities for my first graders:

*Writing: "I would choose this dog because....."
*Adjectives: each dog is so different!
*Write a continuation of the story (there's a bit of a cute twist at the end)
*Vocabulary: hopeful, disappointed, adopted

I really love countdown books. And the kids love the predictable text! Do you have any favorite countdown books?

Target teaching tool

I picked up these animal action cards in the Target dollar bins over the summer. They're proving to be quite handy for teaching verbs to my kindergartners!! I pulled out a few for our "Action Words" chart:

They really love acting them out!

Understandably, this one is definitely my favorite:

Job Hazards for the Kindergarten/First Grade teacher

From mildly annoying to downright unsafe, here's a brief list of job hazards for the early elementary teacher:

1. Getting the "days of the week" song stuck in your head.

2. Being referred to every once in a while as "mom".

3. Cleaning up the occasional vomit and/or pee.

4. Paper cuts.

5. Bladder infection from holding it too long.

6. Getting covered in glitter and finding it on your person even days later.

7. Getting sick from school germs.

8. Getting the "months of the year" song stuck in your head.

9. Getting your hands covered in various spots of marker.

10. Getting knocked over from a spontaneous (and lovingly violent) hug. 

Whaddaya think? Did I miss any?

spending that kindergarten paycheck

If you're one of the five kindergarteners that sees me for Language Arts, you are always aiming for more happy faces than sad faces.

Each child has a laminated 3x5 card on their desk with two columns: one for happy faces, and one for sad faces. You get a tally mark in the happy face column if you follow directions and follow our rules. I hardly ever give out sad faces except in the case of open defiance.

At the end of our time together, you get one penny for your "bank" if you have more happy faces than sad faces on your tally card. When you have FIVE whole cents, you can pick a prize from our treasure box.

BUT!!

You can save your pennies until you get TEN whole cents. TEN cents will buy you something from the slightly more expensive BIG prize box.

All week, "Karen" has been telling me she's saving her pennies for the BIG prize box. But today she and two other students got their fifth penny.


When I pulled out the small prize box and the other two children picked a prize, Karen was torn. She broke down and picked something from the small prize box (even though she could see the big box right next to it.)

After she handed me all of her five pennies, she solemnly declared:

"Tomorrow, I will wait for a BIG prize!"

In related news, today is my payday. What should I buy?

Spectator Teacher

For two hours in the morning, I pull my four little first grade darlings into my classroom for Language Arts. For two hours in the afternoon, I do the same with my five adorable kindergartners.

But for that extra hour? I alternate weeks (between K and 1st)  helping my students in their general ed classrooms. Every. single. minute. is. torture.

It boils down to this: it's not fun watching someone else teach. Even if the teacher is FANTASTIC! The problem is, I'm typically in there for a social studies or science mini lesson - when the teacher is talking or showing something and the kids aren't exactly doing anything.

Which means my job is to sit there and be bored, or (more commonly) be on the "Sit up and pay attention" patrol. Annoying!

I wish I could keep my students with me all day, but I know that it's much better for them to be with their regular ed peers whenever possible.

Sigh. It's hard to do the right thing.

rules and regulations

"Gilberto" started on Friday. He was on his best behavior!! Will this trend continue? Let's hope so! He is a cutie patootie and the other first graders are glad to have him back.

Nevertheless, I'll be doing a quick reminder of our rules and reward system tomorrow. Most All kids need to be periodically reminded of our agreed-upon rules. You know, like every day for the first two weeks of school, after Christmas break, Spring break, and like.... the weekend.

Avoiding Writing Nightmares

I hate teaching writing.

Don't get me wrong... I love to write, I just can't stand teaching it. This is my seventh year teaching and every single year my goal has always been to be better at teaching writing.

I'm happy to say, this year it might actually happen! We are doing writer's workshop, and here is my little board for that:

Two other things are making it easier for me this year. One: portable word walls/mini offices. I printed out the portable word walls from here and then used ABC stickers on top. I found the concept and resources here. (Ahhh, thank you, internet!). And since I only have nine students, it didn't take me long to make these:

The second thing that's making it easier is my visual rubric of what "good work" looks like. I sat down with the kids and I did three variations on the assignment "write about your house". They helped me label each work sample:

Now it's easy to refer back to when they say "I'm finished!"

What about you? Do you have any tips/tricks for making writing less painful?

Cue the sighing

.... and cue the behavior plan, the documentation forms, and the PRAYING.

Because today? Today I got the news that Gilberto is coming to our school after all. It turns out that his mom got confused about the zip code and he is still within our district boundaries, even though they've moved.

My colleagues have been saying encouraging things to me all day (after their laughter died down, that is):
"He was so much better at the end of last year!"
"Maybe he'll have matured!"
"I'll pray for him..."

So I guess the Lord is going to give me the strength to teach Gilberto! I've been trying to stay positive about the whole thing - to remind myself that I CAN do this - to accept the situation with grace and professionalism.

But I'll be honest. Part of me wants to throw a little hissy fit.