Cool Stuff

Instead of posting about my day of ELD with a student teacher yesterday, or my half day of kindy today, I thought I would share some pictures I took of some things I really liked in a first grade classroom I was in recently. 

This "share pass" is great - as the kids are working on writing, these can be passed out. Then, at the carpet, the people with share passes are the ones who share their writing. 

Word wall rainbow writing. They use dice, and write their word wall words in different colors. They are allowed to make colorful outlines of the words, or trace the words. It looks really fun, as you can see below!

1/2, 5/28

Same class as 5/15. They must have been really tired after this long weekend, because they were angelic!

Same kid that blatantly lied to me last time was trying to tell me something, and said, "you should believe me, because I'm not a liar." I'm sorry, did I just choke trying not to laugh?

He also tried my patience so much that I sent him into the hall. His teacher has him count to 100 and then come back into the classroom. He asked, "Ms. J, do I count to 100?" I was so frustrated I responded, "Count to 1,000!" A few minutes later, he was escorted back into the room by the teacher across the hall, who explained to me he was counting at the top of his lungs. 

The kids were all stretching a lot today, and I kept thinking they were raising their hand. Finally, I said, "you guys should have signs or something that say 'I'm stretching'." 

Well, as you can see in the picture, a cute little guy decided to make himself a sign, complete with first grade spelling. Then he proceeded to stretch constantly, just so he could use his sign. 

Gotta love em. I'm glad we had a better day today. 

-Ms. J (I forgot to tell them my new name is Ms. Jackie!)

SLC 5/23

Super cute and fun group of kids.

One little one was working on letter sounds and got to the letter G, and couldn't remember what it was. I said, G and G says "guh." Kiddo says "guh! Guitar!" and immediately started playing air guitar. So funny. 

Another one had just come back from speech. The SLP is a woman about thirty-five, about my size and height, and with light hair. This sweetheart looks at me and asks, "are you ms. B's mom?" So funny!

One kid forgot what my name was, which is pretty common. I heard a conversation with an aide, "I wanna talk to Ms. Jackie!" I had no idea who Ms. Jackie was until, surprise! Kiddo came to talk to me! 

I like my new name, it's really cute. 

-Ms. Jackie

1st, 5/22

Dear teachers,

Please include in your lesson plans some list of behavior challenges and ways to cope with these challenges. 

Sincerely, The Sub

No heads up about the naughty kids in this class - none! I would have liked to know that the kid who started to upend tables had a tendency to do so.... It might have helped me out some. 

I also would have liked to know some ways to handle certain kids' behavior... I asked the kids what their teacher does if they misbehave (because they did - all day long!) and one kid said, "She spanks us!" They howled with laughter over that. 

They wouldn't stop talking. 

That might explain the killer headache I have. 

Of course, being next door to the music room didn't help, either. Apparently it was xylophone day. 

All. Day. Long. 

Summer vacay's almost here - I can do this! -Ms. J 

Middle School Addendum

Sometimes, after a day like yesterday, which makes me wonder if I entered the right profession, something happens that reminds me I am a good teacher, and reminds me of the wonderful parts of my job. 

I had to stop by the middle school on my way home to pick up my iPad, which I left yesterday. The teacher I subbed for yesterday told me that the teachers involved in those incidents yesterday complimented how I handled the situations. 

A student stopped me in the hall, and said, "Ms. J, is your grandma ok?" 

Yesterday, during 6th period, I got a text saying my gramma was in a cellar, taking shelter from the tornado in Oklahoma. I had mentioned it to a couple kids. This boy, who overheard me tell those kids, was concerned about my grandma and asked if she was ok. That really touched me - how considerate of him to show concern for my family! 

And by the way, Gramma is ok - thank God!

-Ms. J

6th, 5/20

Middle school. What more needs to be said?

I am not cut out to be a middle school teacher. 

It's not that I don't like the kids. I do! And for the most part, they like me, too. 

It's just the whole middle school atmosphere. Like the 8th grader who was sent to my classroom today for a time out and flipped the whole class off when I turned around. 

Or the 6th grader who was playing hooky and standing outside my classroom door making inappropriate sexual gestures at the kids in my class. 

(I guess that sentence is redundant - any sexual gesture is inappropriate). 

Anyway... It's over. That's the important thing. 

-Ms. J

Addendum

I forgot a funny story from today. 

Student A went to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Student B asked to go to the bathroom. Student B has to have a bathroom buddy, so I sent Student C along. About five minutes later, the three of them came back. Student C came over to tell me what happened in the bathroom. 

On the way to the bathroom, C and B saw A coming back from the bathroom. A decided to go back to the bathroom with B and C because she needed to tell B about something. 

So they are all in the bathroom, and B is washing her hands while she and A talk about boys. They both decide to sit on the sink. 

Now let me pause and explain how these sinks work. They are big basin-type sinks, and there is a big bar on the floor that, when pushed with a foot, makes the faucets turn on. 

Back to the story. So the two girls are sitting on the sink talking about boys when A jumps off the sink and her foot lands on the bar below. 

Student B's backside got soaked. 

I was wondering why she kept tugging her shirt down...

I guess the moral of the story is: Be sure your sins will find you out. 

Either that, or don't sit on the sink. 

Still laughing, 

- Ms. J