"der's Rudolph, all dem other rerndeer is in the back"

4:30 p.m. Depart from Jackson
5:30 something Depart from Memphis
8:39 p.m. land in MSP...HOPEFULLY

Dear Jack Frost,

If you could PUH-LEASE hold off on the blizzard conditions scheduled for Saturday, December 20, I would greatly appreciate it and so would Northwest Airlines for not having to deal with my crabby-ass. I promise I have tried to be really, REALLY good this year. I mean, I still yell at my students, and I kept one of the Christmas presents that I gave to my students...but hey, right after I told them to be very, VERY careful, he threw it then he went and broke someone else's. Now I don't think you would let him have it either, right?

Anyway, you know I enjoy this Mississippi heat wave...although I wish you had given me a bit more warning because yesterday I wore a long-sleeved shirt and red puffy vest as my holiday outfit only to sweat during our Christmas program. I mean, who would have thought they would need to open the door and windows after we had ice several days ago....a mean trick. Although I have to admit the warm weather was welcomed this week when I was busy playing Santa's elf; but 71 degrees when I am supposed to be at the HEIGHT of my Christmas music wonderland, what is this crap?

Oh and if there is anything you could do to take care of the ant problem in my classroom (and the school for that matter) I would really like that too. Are you and Santa tight? I want an ant-free classroom for Christmas, pull some strings. I would also like my class to not be a "hot mess." Seriously, we try to do something and it usually turns out like a joke. Both kindergarten classes did the reindeer pokey for the Christmas program yesterday. And despite the fact I copied the antlers from the other classroom, ours still drooped and we looked more like dogs than reindeer, oh sheesh. We.are.a.hot.mess.

Although I have this feeling I might not make it home tonight...I haven't even complained about getting up at 6 a.m. on my first day of Christmas vacay. I took my friend Andy to the airport and have putzed around the house ever since. I figure if I'm stuck in Memphis, at least I'll be tired enough to fall asleep.

Fa la la la la, la-la-la-la....at least I have A TON of new Christmas music on my ipod!!!! It was like Christmas came early!

Sincerely,
*Kami*

Dreamin' of a Delta Christmas....

Ahhhh...the holidays are hereeeee!!

Thanksgiving was great, but an incredibly hectic week and despite running around the entire time, I didn't get to see everyone and do everything that I wanted to. I kind of knew that was going to happen so there isn't much I could do about it...but it was a good week none the less.

Those crazies showed up to Kindergarten in a partially subdued state...I couldn't help but think "WOW...Holiday breaks are AWESOME!" But..by 10:15 we were back to normal...aka...mildly out of control. We only had two weeks of class for the semester. The last week (next week) is spent doing 9 weeks test...so basically I am out of my room for the entire day giving reading, language arts, and math tests to each kid, individually. I don't mind...my day is much less stressful being out of the room.

Anyway...my little lovely came back mid-way through the first week. He was pretty quiet for the first day or two. His daddy told me we shouldn't have any more problems because he doesn't want to go back to that facility. Poor kid told me he slept there all alone while "them fo went home" translation "while all the folks went home." Who knows. Either way...this week we have started back on our previous track. Yesterday we didn't have an eraser and we scribbled through the ENTIRE reading worksheet. Then got mad, fell to the floor, held his chair over his head and lunged at other students if they even THOUGHT about getting closer to him. Grrrr...today he was disrespectful all day and finally at 2 p.m. he threw the table's entire pencil basket and pencils across the floor. Ugh, instruction does NOT happen when he acts like this. Anyway...he was kicking the wall and doing cartwheels down the hall to the office...I guess he takes his anger out through gymnastics now? He leaves the room for awhile and comes back more subdued and usually apologetic, it's good, but oh so freakin stressful.

In our professional development meeting yesterday we had to write down two things that have gone well this semester. I leaned over to my friend, the other Kindergarten teacher, and whispered, "nobody has died yet." Ughhh...really, that isn't the whole truth. Some of them might be lucky. But most days I'm thankful for having some sense of sanity left. I really am impressed with how far we have gotten this semester. Right now we are reading sentences, blending LOTS of words, segmenting sounds, and we know 37 sight words (well, some of us!), all of which I'm not sure how happened, but we managed. I don't know how to teach kids to segment sounds (especially medial sounds) but I just learned that by practicing it every single day, they just get it. Some way, some how, they absorb it...phew, because if we relied solely on instruction, we'd all be in trouble.

Our new superintendent takes over in January and today we had a meeting about all that he expects. Good lord, it's not like I have enough to learn and do....now I have to post my daily objectives outside my door and in my room. Let me tell you, in Kindergarten, we go through TONS of objectives each day, I'm going to guess at least 30...and you think I'm going to post each and everyone of those in two places, you're out of your damn mind!

One quick Kindergarten story and I'm out....we made a big gingerbread man on Monday. We put him in the oven in the cafeteria and went to our room to read The Gingerbread Man story. Then we went to get him out of the oven and he was gone. We spent the week getting clues and searching for him. Mostly of the time his notes said, "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm a Gingerbread Man." Today, he left us a note and gingerbread crumbs. But we finally found him! BOYYYYY were we excited!!! It was fun, I'm glad we did it because I feel like we spend so much time getting down to business and NOT having fun in Kindergarten...wtf. Next week, amongst the chaos of testing ALL week-long...we are going to try and make some christmas tree ornaments to take home as presents for our parents.

Headed home this weekend for April's wedding...I have the day off tomorrow, although it isn't much of a day off since I have to be on the road by 7:45 a.m. I'd like to make it known that I am only bringing a carry-on...but it is packed to the brim. How on earth do people fly like that? I can't even get two outfits, pajamas, shoes, and a little bit more into that tiny suitcase, much less clothing for a week! High-maintenance, I know....

Ahhh...Cassie is reading at the Christmas Light Service right now...one of my FAVORITE things E-VER!!!! I L-O-V-E CHRISTMAS :) :) :)

John Denver tunes (or JD as he calls himself)

Oh.my.gosh, is it really Thanksgiving already?? Hard to believe we have been in school for 16 weeks...that is FOUR months...good lord I hope they have learned something in that time. Anyway, this week was filled with anticipation of my trip home, duh, how could it not? However, I am probably lucky that my kids are too young to comprehend the concept of not coming to school for a week because that might have made them even MORE crazy...sometimes I find it hard to believe that is even possible though.

One of my students, the infamous one who gets the majority of space in my posts, was sent to a facility on Monday to be tested mentally and behaviorally. This is so good for him, and me, but I'm trying hard not to be selfish. Not surprisingly, while he was gone I missed him. Actually, I feel really bad for him. He is six years old and was sent to a place for two weeks without anyone he knows or anything that is familiar to him....six years old. I have to remind myself that it will be good for him and his family and the school because now we have an outlet to go to so his problems don't continue.

We learned about Thanksgiving this week...pretty minimally because I'm a terrible teacher and my kids still think Americans were the first ones in America and that the Mayflower is just that, a flower. But...so be it. Social studies doesn't happen until the end of the day when our attention spans are at their witts end.

Interesting side one, the other day my favorite little boy says, "Ms. Ward, you look like Little Bo Peep." I was like, WHAT ON EARTH!?! But then he says, "with that thing in your hair (I was wearing a ribbon) and holding that stick (I had the behavior stick in my hand)." I was like, OMG this is ridic, but at the same time, he made a really great connection!

On Friday's I spend the hour of centers doing testing, checking to see if they learned the letters of the week and checking to see how many sight words they know. Well, I was doing the sight words test with a student and he only had two more flashcards to go before he would have had 100% and all of a sudden he was throwing up on the floor 8 inches from me. Ugh.....puke....can't handle it. I did what a normal person would do....I looked away with a horrific look on my face. WTF, I haven't been briefed in this...what do I do?!?!? Anyway, he kept throwing up, I got the garbage can and gave it to him and tried to get him out of the room. The other kids are sitting on the rug mouths agape. At least they weren't screaming (like I wanted to). I don't know why but loose teeth are not that gross to me...but the smell of puke is really what sends me overboard. Anywho, the janitor came in and cleaned it up before I got back in the room, THANK GOODNESS. But then I realized that two days prior his older sister threw up in line for the bathroom in the morning. Ugh...IF.I.GET.THE.FLU.24.HOURS.BEFORE.I.AM.FLYING.HOME........

Buttttttttt, my immune system is that of a rock and I haven't gotten sick all year, despite being sneezed on and coughed on more times than I could count. So....Friday after school my friend and I headed to Jackson to stay with Mike and Gretchen. Or, just Gretchen because Mike was off hunting. No worries, my car made it even with the "malfunction indicator" light on. However, I gave Lois my GPS for the week to maneuver around Memphis and I got myself incredibly lost in the backroads of Madison....UGH, my directionally over-confident self did not consider that fact that it would be dark and landmarks are damn near impossible to find in the dark. UGH...a detour through Jackson was all we needed I guess.

Okay, so since this is after the fact, I'll just say that my flights were good. In fact, I was in the Jackson airport at 7 a.m. only to find out that a friend of mine was on the same flight as I was to Detroit only to catch a connecting flight. So, at least I had someone to keep me occupied in the airport and on the plane (the 9th grader sitting next to me wasn't terribly talkative and when he was he would always call me ma'am)....we grabbed a quick lunch at Chili's in Detroit and got to our gates in time to board, it was perfect! AND, the guy that I was sitting next to on the flight to MSP showed me videos of the underwater dives he had done, oh.my.gosh they were amazing. I'm not sure I would be thrilled over the fact that three stingrays are brushing up against me on the bottom of the ocean, but the videos were amazing none the less. He makes me laugh because I felt like I was getting words of wisdom from a 75 year old man about how to 'go until the wheels fall off." I LOVE meeting fun people on planes!

Sara basically did a drive by and I jumped in the car with all of my stuff. We screamed, people stared, get over it, I haven't been back in 5 months! And now I'm in Winona with no snow but plenty of cold. Bahh. But, we celebrated Cassie's 21st birthday last night (only 4+ months later!!). Ask her how many miles she has run this week. It's like running from Amboy to Beauford. Fa real! Gotta jet...going to TARGETTTTTTTTT!!! Ah, lovin'.my.life.

Happy Turkey day, gobble, gobble!

Bodily fluids

I know, I know...two times in three days...nothing to get too excited about.

It's Wednesday, I am procrastinating writing my lesson plans for next week and there is a lot on my mind...so here we go...

I have a little girl in my class whose adopted mother works at the school as sub sometimes. I didn't know the story about this family until a few weeks ago...the parents are 'grandparent age' but really, that doesn't mean anything around here. Plenty of my kids are raised by grandparents. However, this students' father wanted to come in and meet my assistant and I today after school. He hears about us so much at home and wanted to meet us. Well, this was more than just a typical "hi, nice to meet you." He ranted and raved about how wonderful we are doing with her and how amazing it is to see her progress. She is not your ordinary student. She is a special education student who is taken from my room during language and math time to work with the SPED teachers, but the majority of her day is with us. She is a crack baby. Her mother was so high on crack-cocaine when she was in labor that the doctor was FURIOUS with her. They told me he wasn't just mad, he was outraged. He told her that as soon as she delivered this baby, she was going straight to jail. This little girl lived with a grandmother until she passed away and was then adopted by her current parents, who are members of her extended family. They were told that she would never be able to talk. She would never be able to learn. Never say never. She passed first quarter, and although she is not passing this quarter...she has progressed tremendously. In fact, she is about in the middle of my class for knowing her letters and sounds and at the top of my class for sight words. Granted, little to none of this is from me. Her mother works with her each and everynight on ALL skills we are doing. How awful did I feel today after they left...I yelled at her more than once today about hitting other kids. She sees other kids do it, so she mocks them. This is a girl who is RARELY not smiling, even if she's being yelled at. She is adorable. She is smart. She says the greatest things that remind you how innocent little kids can be. She doesn't deserve this.

Okay, done being a sentimental sally. So far this week I have had throw up, a tooth pulled and a bloody nose in my class. Pretty good considering it is November and this was the first of all three in my room. You'd be surprised how many kids lost teeth after a sugar-filled halloween weekend. But I'm thankful that it took so long for each of those things to happen. My kids were pretty unruly today...however, my program director came in for a short observation and they actually calmed down for the time he was there, which is a definite first. He was in three weeks ago and each day since then we go over how to act when visitors are in our room....they seriously go out of control when other people are in the room. Ahhh...the joys of kindergarten.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday off campus (GASP) observing in the next town from us. It's another school in our district and everyone knows one another. Well, the two kindergarten teachers are both TFA. One is a 2rd year, one is a 3rd year. I have heard amazing things about both of them. It was good to go watch other classes...however, I'm pretty sure I could have spent the entire day there watching each subject. The only major differences are that their classes have 13-14 kids whereas my school has 22-23 in each class this year. That makes management MUCH different. Oh well....the more observations the better.

Better get back to work...10 days 'till departure!

Crack is whack

Take it how you want to. This morning I went to my car at 6:20 a.m. and realized I had a huge crack in my windshield. Like 8 inches huge...and it wasn't there two days ago when I drove up to Helena Ark. and back. wtf. So, I call dad and complain...I mean what else would I do when something is wrong with my car? Anyway, by the time I had gotten to school it had grown probably 4 inches...with promise by dad that it would probably go all the way across. BLAHHHHH.

Anyway, I don't know what else is new in my life. School is sort of exciting right now because the majority of my kids have caught on to both beginning sounds and ending sounds. So now I am giving them sounds and they are starting to blend them together. We have JUST started to take a word and segment each of its sounds. It's exciting to think that they are starting to catch on to a crucial aspect necessary for reading.

I had to send home mid-quarter progress reports today. Some parents should be REAL mad. But I doubt I will hear any reaction from those parents. I have one student who has a 14% in reading, 17% in language, and like a 50% in math. He RARELY speaks. He knows 4 of 15 letters. He knows 3 of 25 sight words. Even without knowing our letters, we can still attempt to learn beginning/ending sounds...the kicker, is that when asked to identify a beginning or ending sounds, he refuses to talk. And sometimes cries. Arg...I have to admit, he's the littlest, cutest one...he was still 4 when we started school so he really is baby-baby. Anywho....he makes school difficult because he just doesn't catch on to anything. He goes for tutoring in the afternoons. During centers he works with an adult who comes in my room to do interventions with kids who are behind. And yet, I still run out of ideas to help him catch on to learn even a single letter a week. But boyyyy is he cuteeeee. One warning, don't move his clip or he'll throw a temper tantrum. He is so used to being on blue and silver and one day at the end of the day I had to take him out to his waiting aunt while he wanted with his face covered by his backpack because he was on blue. She's like, "I thought blue was good?" I'm like, "yeah, it is!" Oh kindergarten.

I'm trying to do a ton of observations this week to make myself better. My principal was in watching me last Friday...she watched a pretty typical class and by typical I mean most of them were out of control. Sweet, thanks guys. Everyday for the last two weeks we have talked about how we act when we have "guests" in our room. I don't care if these are people who work at school and are in our room everyday, if it's the principal, if it's someones momma, or especially if it is my program director....if we have guests in our room we need to cut the crap and do what we are supposed to! I don't even beg them to behave when it's just me....but I really NEED them to behave when other people are in the room...trying to make baby steps.

Speaking of baby steps....we have given up our mid-morning playtime to practice walking in the hallways everyday for the last two weeks or so. It's November and they still don't know how to stand in a line or walk in the hallway the way we are supposed to...so instead of playing with blocks on the rug, we practice walking. Trust me, this usually makes at least one of them cry each day because they don't want to, but tough...I'm tired of having the worst line in the ENTIRE school. And don't even think I'm exaggerating about that, it's fa real.

Have you heard the news? There will be no Ward-family Christmas letter this year. Jeannie begged but I told her I'm too busy widening the achievement gap to write one and should not be expected to make it a priority when the academic success of 22 students depends solely on me.

....okay, okay, just kidding mom. I guess I'll need something to do sitting in the airport.

Oh, breaking news....last week, Monday, November 3 was the first day in many, MANY weeks that my little lovely stayed in school ALLLLLL day. I didn't know what I was going to do with myself. My assistant was gone that day, I had no idea who I was going to have watch my class when he started acting out (because to be honest, he did it each and everyday, so you can't help but expect it). But, to my astonished surprise...he made it the entire day. I gave him more praise that you would training a dog...but he did it. The mystery has to be that he is on medicine. There is no way he could have gone from being kicked out of class and school each day for WEEKS and then suddenly make it all day with no problems....PLUS this was after a weekend of halloween candy = sugar. And at this point, the only time since then that he has been sent home was one day last week his momma was called because he had a nasty cold and probably shouldn't be around other kids. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't act perfect...but he is NOTHING like he used to be...I mean, he actually sits in his chair instead of throwing it. Today however, he went into the other kindergarten room for a little while (he had that teacher last year so she took him for a bit) and while he was there he found a staple on the floor and shoved it into the pad of his finger so far that he was turning his finger white. Then I had to pull it out which obviously hurt and it was bleeding. Good grief, was that a good choice?

So, it is week 14 and I just got a new student. She started last Thursday...only missing 1.5 quarters of school. Don't worry, she was going to school elsewhere, but I think it must have been more of a pre-K class because she didn't learn anything there. Her vocabulary test was the lowest of all kids in kindergarten. She is severely "at-risk" which means drastic interventions need to be done with her and she is tested monthly whereas the other kids are tested annually. I don't really get it either, because she is bright, she always has a TON to say and she pays attention. I guess it's another child who cuts my work out for me.

Minnesota in 12 days, WHAT?!?!??!! EEEEEEEEEEKKKKK! I REFUSE to let myself get too excited because there are still 9 days of school to get through and a lot of work will have to happen in those 9 days. But you better believe that Friday I'll be as giddy as the kids for a long break :) K, gotta get some work done...I love how these posts end up the longest when I feel like I've got nothing to say. Don't expect much for the rest of the week, I've exhausted my stories. Have a great week...and if you don't...just think of what life is like in Kindergarten, that should make you feel better! Safe travels Erik...thanks for leaving forever, ya punk ;) Just kidding. Peace, love and germ-x.

Cypress-cicles

yeah, brrrrrrrr.

I know what you're thinking, "oh whatever...it's the south, it can't be thatttt cold." Well, let me tell you, this morning my car read 35 degrees at 6:30 a.m. and I guarantee my house temperature is probably hovering around 50. Ridic. I don't deal with indoor cold weather well at all....hence the reason my Heffy apartment was a tropical 85 degrees on most days...well, and because I didn't pay for it...thank you SMU. I came home and took a hot shower, like hot enough to get a sunburn, hot. Truthfully, the only reason I blow-dryed my hair was for warmth tonight! Heck, even last night I slept with my electric blanket under my several layers of quilts and fleece blankets set on number 7 while still wearning my sweatshirt and sweatpants. This is the lone reason I hate fall, when it starts to get cold. I hated it for the last three years when maintenance would resist turning on the heat...I was probably the only one that welcomed coming home to the burnt-register smell signifying the heat had been turned on. Anyway..my house is cold. We do have heat...it consists of individual heaters in both bedrooms, the living room and dining room. Those were just fixed/replaced last week but because they are hooked up to the gas and we are poor teachers, we are trying to minimize our gas bill and not use them until frostbite sets in. The light at the end of the tunnel is that it is supposed to warm up to 60's and 70's tomorrow and Thursday, please oh please....

So, I just got off the phone with the ever-so-hilarious Gabe King who turned 6 years old today. I love little kids...he had me cracking up. He got a bike WITH a WATER BOTTLE on it for his birthday, I love that kids can get so excited about things that are NOT electronic. I asked if HE liked his kindergarten teacher and he replied, "um...sorta" in a very matter-of-fact-Gabe-like-way. Apparently she is strict. But in all reality, she sounds a lot like me. They didn't get recess because they were naughty. check. They have to turn around and walk back into the room because they weren't walking in the hallway the way they were supposed to. check. In fact, tomorrow my class is going to skip morning recess and we are going to practice walking in the hallways. I don't care if it takes 15 minutes or a half-hour, we will do this everyday until we stop looking like fans from a Hannah Montana concert running down the hallway. Okay, it's not thatttt bad, but we don't walk in a straight line, we are always talking, we are never hip and lip (the ridic form they have to walk in--one hand on your hip, one hand on your lip). Anyway...today the ENTIRE class got their clips pulled down, TWICE. This means that everyone was acting a fool, so they all moved down one color from whatever they were on. Well, you know it's bad when everyone gets moved once, but TWICE. Good Lord...

We did carve a pumpkin today...it was the most uneventful thing that happened considering what the rest of our day was like...

A few tidbits that I definitely wasn't trained for prior to teaching Kindergarten. One of my girls was out of school for two weeks...why? This is gross...beware....a spider had gotten into/under her braids and layed it's eggs there (and/or bit her)...which literally made a large indent in her head. Soooo sad, I felt so bad for her. However, there was no way she could have known it was there and she didn't feel anything, so it's good that it wasn't painful. I was told by a school helper in my room that one of my little boys has ring worm on his forehead. Well, I saw there was a spot, but I didn't know it was ringworm. Heck, the closest thing I've come to ringworm is when we thought my first rabbit had it when I was in the 8th grade. I am not trained in this kind of stuff. I thought I was going to deal with loose teeth, wet pants, or scrapes and blood, not ringworm, spiders, etc! Ah...my poor babies, it's not their fault....

I realize that I never actually talk about the teaching aspect of this gig...I usually ramble about the "other" stuff. Well..my class has learned 15 letters, all but 6 have mastered all of them. We have learned 21 sight words, which means we are able to read a lot of basic words like, "the, and, I, a, is, my, like, can, etc." We sound out cvc words in our phonics lesson everyday and we practice reading for comprehension. My kids know what their schema is, we are slowly learning how to make connections while reading, and we have started introducing inferences this week. We practice separating beginning sounds, ending sounds, counting syllables, and a multitude of other things each day in centers. In math we have learned how to identify, create and extend patterns, position words such as over, under, on, above, left, right, and how to sort objects. We are currently learning (and struggling) with creating groups that have one more or two more objects in them, or one fewer and two fewer. Soooo difficult!

Anyway, there is my soapbox. Send some prayers and WARM wishes my way ;)

Pumpkin spice your life

So, I got this A-MAZING pumpkin spice candle from Wal-Mart last weekend and just lit it today...our house smells so good I could eat it. AHHHHHH....pumpkin spice foreverrrrrr.

Anyway, Saturday night, 5 p.m., I haven't done a darn thing ALL weekend. That is not good. I always tell myself to do a little on Friday night, a little on Saturday and then Sunday won't be so rough, but does that ever really happen? Not exactly, I usually get consumed with phone calls and sleeping...

So, we have been in school for 54 days and my kids saw phy-ed for the first time on Friday!! Haha...basically, I never go to PE. It's not my fault (really, it is), but our schedule for PE is just whack to being with. We are supposed to go from 11:15 to 11:30 and then go right to lunch. Well, the kids get back from their specials (computer or library) at 11:15. It generally takes us 10 minutes to even get lined up for lunch...so what's the purpose of trying to get lined up, go outside, start a game/activity, line up again, and get in line for lunch...we wouldn't eat until noon and my principal would have a field-day with me. Also...since we are supposed to have 30 minutes of PE everyday, our time from 2:45 to 3 is also reserved for PE...but since school is dismissed at 3:15, my class needs that time from 2:45 until 3:15 to color behavior charts, get bags, get situated for the end of the day and whatnot...BUT yesterday, we went outside and played Red Rover for 15 minutes at the end of the day. PS...not a good game to play with little kids, when someone is running at them they squeal and let them run by which defeats the purpose of that entire stinkin' game. But, after one girl was clothes-lined, I decided maybe it wasn't the best game to play anyhow.

I don't know if anything exciting has happened in kindergarten lately...a certain child has been sent home as usual. However, the school is doing a lot more to keep him in school during the day to try and help him pass. The other day he took all of the little tennis balls that are on the bottom of our chairs and threw them across the room while the rest of the class was learning phonics. I just ignored him, knowing he only wanted attention and rolling under the tables wasn't hurting anyone else so I didn't really care. However, fishing out those stupid balls from the garbage was not my idea of a fun time.

Monday we didn't have school because it was Parent's Day...so my assistant and I were in our classroom from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. We made GREAT progress on our room...sorting out all of our books, hanging paper, filing papers and tests galore, and organizing all of my junk. Granted I also spent the day meeting with parents as they came in and thankfully no one left too terribly mad!

Last weekend we had ProSat...our professional development Saturday in Helena/West Helena Arkansas. After, a few friends and I headed up to Memphis since it was only an hour away. We stayed in a hotel and spent the night enjoying the "city life" or basically everything the Delta doesn't have...chain restaurants, retail stores, an outlet mall, bars with people under the age of 30, etc. We spent the majority of our evening on Beale Street which is batting 2/2 in positive ratings for each time I've been there! They basically close 4 blocks of the street off from traffic and there are people everywhere. They even sell beer in the street, what more can you ask for? Don't worry grandma...I didn't have any (I opted for liquor instead!).

Living with Lois is sometimes a cultural experience in itself...in Memphis we went to a Thai restaurant (not my choice, I voted for Subway but lost) and I actually liked it. Basically I got the simplest thing on the menu, noodles and chicken, but it was still good! And today she made Japanese curry which sort of reminds me of beef stew on rice...but that was good as well! She rarely carved pumpkins as a kid, so I opened that door for her and we spent last night carving pumpkins and although my haunted house didn't turn out quite like it should, we still had fun. We spent today wallowing (i.e. working) in smells of pumpkin spice and roasting pumpkin seeds. Sooooooo good :) :) :)

I am in such distress today....weather channel says it's 77 degrees here right now (that seems debatable, but then again I haven't been outside all day)...but 8+ people called to tell me it was snowing at home. UGH...I make myself wait to listen to Christmas music until November 1st OR the first snowfall...but I can't quite bring myself to singing about a "holly, jolly Christmas" when it's 77 degrees out. One more week....one more week....

"What are you going to do if you see a ghost?" "Catch it!" says Luc' Nycia

Ah...the anticipated trip the pumpkin patch...

For a brief moment this morning, I didn't think we were going to go. I walked into school this morning at 7:05 to find out that the slips that were sent home to parents were not sufficient as permission slips. I didn't create them, I didn't question them, I just passed them out. So, I basically freaked out. I had 50 minutes to call 19 parents and have them come into school to sign a new permission slip. I was p.i.s.s.e.d. And upset that if my kids were so excited about going but couldn't because of this last minute change, I would feel awful. Anyway, THANKFULLY a sub at our school, a guardian of one of my students, and also a parent volunteer for our trip was in school at that time so she took a stack of papers and called parents, Ms. Ballard took another stack and I had the last section. We got all but 3 parents/guardians/relatives to come in and get a form signed by about 8:15. Another staff member at my school who also works in my room for an hour in the morning took the last three slips to those homes to have the parents sign them, they were all unable to get to school because of a lack of transportation. Basically, those people SAVED.MY.LIFE this morning. We didn't leave at the anticipated 8 a.m., but we were probably rolling out of school by 8:45, so not too bad!

Anyway, back to the trip...let's recap...we started the morning by playing on inflatables. getting their faces painted, and riding horses/ponies. Then we went for a ride on the hay wagon and stopped at a big pig pen in which my class literally went inside and chased the baby pig named "lightning." That sucker was fast! They loved it though and I took a video on my camera...is America's funniest home videos still on the air?!

We continued on our hayride and the next stop was to the edge of a lake where the kids fought over pieces of outlandishly moldy bread to feed to a few ducks in the water. Then we got on a boat, sort of looked like a pontoon from 1950 but bigger. We rode around the lake for awhile looking for the "12 foot alligator" while the kids each took a turn driving the boat. The farmer made a joke about throwing one of the kids in to feed the alligator and well, he picked the wrong kid to joke with because he started to cry, a lot. Lesson learned.

Back ashore we continued on the hayride over LOTS of tree roots and up a lane in which a couple of horses were walking. They finally moved over and we went around...suddenly we were stopping or trying to go or something and all of a sudden momentum is pulling us backwards. Several kids fell out of their seats, I slid down the bench about a foot and almost fell onto the floor myself...I don't know what or why that resulted, but it was kind of funny. It was a good thing we weren't on a typical hayride, we were in a make-shift one that was enclosed on the sides...for good reasons, obvs!

Anyway, we reached an area of multiple pastures containing either goats, sheep, cows, and a llama. Don't worry, the random horses in the lane caught up to us and were wondering around eating food out of kids hands or the bucket, whichever was easiest. I was holding the youngest/smallest student in my class who was deathly afraid of the horses and random goat walking around. Anytime they got close he would start to kick and do a scream-type of sound. Poor little guy. We all went into the llama pen and watched Ms. Ballard take a huge spit shower to the entire side of her face. I'm going to use my scheme to make a prediction and say the llama didn't care for her much.

Finally it was time for lunch which went smoothly after we hustled 38 kids through one single bathroom to wash their hands. The fun began after lunch....we rode the hay wagon again to the edge of the woods. We formed a line and went for a walk through the woods. Well, at first I didn't realize this was going to be a "haunted walk" but they had a few fake skeletons and ghosts hanging in the trees and all of the kids were chanting, "We not afraid, we not afraid." Well, that would quickly change. We started reading signs on our walk about witches and creepy/corny things. Finally to our right, back in the woods, was a person dressed in white with a mask on. The kids started to be like, "ehhh, ehhh..." I'm like just keep going...you're fine. No big deal. Ha. I thought we were fine once we got past that one...well sure enough on the left side there is another character in the woods. This one sent all the kids running for the nearest adult clinging, screaming, wailing "I want to go homeeeeeee, I want my mommaaaaaa, I want my grandmommaaaaaa." There was literally a kid wrapped around my leg, another one in my arms because they were bawling, three more on my left side holding onto my hand, arm, elbow, anything they could, and as many as could fit on my right side and hold onto anything despite my arm holding the kid on my hip. I also had a drawstring bag on my back which ended up with one side being taken off and wrapped around kids as they were fighting to get closest to me. Picture 38 kids ALL crying and screaming, "I want to go homeeeeee" Haha, ALL.I.COULD.DO.WAS.LAUGH. In fact, I think about it now and I still laugh out loud. There were kids crowded around every adult...the big, bad, tough kids and the wee little babies, ALL CRYING. So, hysterical! Somehow we keep the kids moving (which was semi-impossible since it was just a free walk through the woods, why on EARTH would they walk TOWARDS the scary people). At one point I pushed everyone away and jogged a few feet knowing they would follow but hoping we could attempt to catch up with the rest of the group. That idea was dangerous because they ran frantically for me and didn't care where they were stepping or what was on the ground in front of them. FINALLY, after shuffling past the third person in the woods who I motioned to NOT climb out of the ditch at us (I did not have spare pants or underwear for any of these children)...we looked back and watched them take off their costume. I was like, "ha ha, see that was funny guys!" They were like, "waaaa, waaa, ha.....ha.....yeaaaa" still skeptical but trying to humor me. We got back and for once it was pretty quiet...until they started to get brave again and they were all like, "I wasn't scared...no that didn't scare me!" I'm like yeah right, you were clawing the crap out of my arm, don't tell me you weren't scared! At one point, one of my little boys was in front of my group and I watched him turn around and high-tail it RIGHT into the middle of my group looking like he was swimming...he made up his mind he didn't want to be there and he was going to book it the other direction! I'm just mad that even if I could have physically GOTTEN to my camera, it would have been all over the place as I was pulled in every direction, but I could have had some fun with that video!!

Our last adventure was to go to the pumpkin "patch" and get our pumpkins. Basically it was a grassy pasture with pumpkins set out, but they each got to pick out their own pumpkin to take home which was ever so exciting! The bus ride home was quiet...most of them passed out in 5 minutes and NUMEROUS pumpkins fell off their laps and rolled to the front or the back of the bus once they were asleep.

Our adventure was over after SOOOO many pictures and sooooo many laughs! Not to mention all of those tears. Really, I'm not trying to be insensitive...but 38 kids ALL crying...and none of us really expected that to happen! Anyway, it was a great day, I'm so glad that almost all of my kids were able to go, and I'm excited tomorrow when we can review one of our vocabulary words of the week "frantic" and see if they can remember a time when they were frantic!! If I can figure out how, I'll try to post some pictures from our trip :) Linda...take your camera, you NEVER know what is going to happen at the pumpkin patch!! In all honesty, I CANNOT WAIT for next year!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! :)

How many syllables in "pineapple?" "That's Scourngebob's house!"

Don't worry, it IS possible to get sent home from school TWICE in the same day. One infamous student was sent home today, sometime before 9 a.m. In fact...my literacy advisor was in observing my whole group instruction this morning and he was acting up on the rug, so she pulled him from the rug and made him sit by her. Well, this didn't phase him to say the least. He continued to act out and either not pay attention to me, or just shout out answers and act a fool. At times she would tell him to be quiet and whatnot, but he didn't care what she said. He would slide off the chair, and stare at the door, and literally do whatever he wanted. She was at her wits end when he laid on the floor in front of the door and ripped the paper off the door along with my public tracker about the letters that each student knows. The life help therapist came in and took him and he went home. Only to surprise me at 12:15 like an early morning alarm clock and show up at school again, this time with his dad. This is the first time I met his dad...he just moved back from Texas and I truly hope this is the change this little boy needs in his life. He is getting worse and worse. I was happy he came back to school because he hadn't STARTED his 9 weeks test for math (because it is in the afternoon and he never makes it that long in the day) that I administered to the rest of the class last week. Well, we went and took the test, he went back to the room while I went to pick up some copies and lo and behold, he starts to show out ONCE AGAIN. He walked out of the room on my assistant twice (Big No-No). Then I came in....got him working on the worksheet he missed. I went to ask a question down the hall and all of a sudden I see him bouncing off the walls on his way down the hallway thinking life is hilarious. He left the room AGAIN. Without the play-by-play, he went to the office...then ended up back in the classroom until someone came to get him...then he started throwing pencils and picked up a chair (luckily it wasn't airborne) and ended his behind in the back seat on my Principal's car with a personal escort home. How much science and social studies instruction do you think I got through this afternoon?? Not much...obvs.

Tomorrow is our pumpkin patch field trip!! I'm so excited but sooo freaking nervous! I just want them to act decent! ALL day we went over the rules and expectations of our field trip. It's an all day affair which could be good or could be bad. I'm going to bring some rope, I have a feeling that several of them will need to be on a makeshift leash. Oh I'm kidding...I'm not bringing rope...only yarn. The one little boy that I wrote about previously, the one that runs around the room and ignores each and every word out of my mouth...well, his momma told me today he wasn't going to be able to come because it cost too much. Of course I feel bad...this is the only time these kids are going to have the opportunity to do something like this...my principal doesn't think he needs to go because he has been in trouble lately...but he is coming, I say so! I might regret this decision tomorrow, we shall see. His situation is that IF he really should be on medicine to calm him down...then his actions really are not his fault and he shouldn't be the only one left behind because of that. I take that back, my half-day headache is staying home tomorrow. That was mean, I really do love him, I feel as if I am exhausting my options/ideas for getting him to perform in school.

Ah...hard to believe my dilemmas now lie within the confines of a pumpkin patch field trip and sitting properly on the rug. And hard to believe someone in their right mind would issue me a license to instruction teeny-tiny brains to learn how to read, write, count, all of those valuable skills necessary for success for the remainder of your life...okay, I'm getting ahead of myself...let's take it one day at a time, starting with the pumpkin patch...

Raccoons at the pumpkin patch? I'm not so sure...

I would like to document that today, October 6, is the fourth time I have had a attempted bite happen. And, today is either the second or third time this same little lovely has kicked me. Basically, it doesn't matter to me anymore. It doesn't hurt, in fact, it doesn't even make me mad. I just realize that his temper is far beyond out of control and to walk away, with or without him following me to the office. Today, after he kicked the wall for a little while causing a scene, he followed me to the office. As I was getting his momma on the phone, he had the guts to go out the main door with the principal standing there with a stick in her hand. I let her chance him and I didn't look back. He only went a couple of feet, but she inevitably gave him a swift reminder about whether or not that was a good choice. How does all this start? Because he lays on the rug instead of doing centers claiming he wants to go see the school's Life Help Therapist. Well, I would too, she gives them prizes and treats and all sorts of other stuff, ONLY if they are good. I don't let him go see her acting like a punk-rocker like this. "Do you work, you can go see her." Apparently, he misheard me and thought I said, "kick the door 10 times and you can go see her."

Pretty sure the Delta is giving me a false sense of what world-wide public school systems are like. However, it doesn't really bother me. These occurrences phase me less and less each day, although the more they happen, the more I realize I need to change something in order to prevent them, or at least minimize them. They say October is the longest month because it drones on, you feel like you've lost complete control over your class, and there really isn't a vacation insight. Well, the losing control part is correct, although let's be honest, have I ever had complete control? Doubtful. haha, it's okay, I laugh about it too.

This weekend Lois and I ventured down to Quiver River (as Eric Lear asks, "what drunk guy did they let name that one?") and went fishing. We didn't catch anything except a log at the bottom of the river which forced me to break the line of my new pole....grrr. Oh well, it was fun just sitting outside now that it is nice out (and not sweltering hot) and not seeing a single person in the 2+ hours we were there! Next time our goal will be to actually catch something!

This week is homecoming for the high school in Indianola. Majority of the Moorhead kids go there for high school. Let me tell you, homecoming around here is OUT.OF.CONTROL! They have queens for EVERY class, like freshman spanish, sophomore english, sophomore US history, etc. It's nuts. There is even a king and queen from my school. All of these people wear white ball gowns and ride on a car in the parade. Two of my students are cheerleaders (not cheering for a sport, just learning cheers for fun I think) so they will be in the parade too. I'm excited to see that! I love going to Ruleville football games and of course I get a kick out of the marching bands and their half-time shows. If you ever watch drumline, this is SO SIMILAR, except in high school!

This week marks the end of our first nine-weeks....baaaah. Okay, the end of the first nine isn't that bad, it's the nine-weeks test that we have to give that is the bad part. We give a test in reading, math and language. And, since our kids can't read, majority of the test is individual or small group. It's literally going to take me almost ALL day, ALL week to get all of these tests done. Oh well, the week should fly by then, right?! I could hardly sleep last night because I was so nervous...I knew that I got test anxiety, but I didn't realize I got test-administration anxiety. I just know that if my kids do badly, that is a reflection of my teaching, and well, the self-confidence doesn't really need that blow at this stage of the game. Anyway....from today they were doing so-so. Some were doing better than I expected, some worse. Guess we'll see what happens when it's done.

Next week we get to go to the pumpkin patch....good lord that was an exciting announcement in KB today! It also means if they are going to act like a pain in my behind, they will stay at school. Little JaQualon raised his hand for the VERY first time today when I asked what kind of animals we might see at the pumpkin patch? "Raccoons." Um, interesting, but doubtful. This trip should be turned into a one-episode tv show! I have one who I can hardly contain within the confines of my classroom, he just runs all over the place and refuses to follow directions. What on EARTH will happen when he gets into the middle of a pumpkin field with miles and miles of endless earth. Good lord, I don't even want to imagine. He is the child that will be on one of those made-for-toddlers-but-looks-like-a-dog-leash. Random realization of the day: although he sucks two of his fingers like it's going out of style, he doesn't touch the whole world with those fingers...thank goodness. His immune system would be out of control trying to ward off all of those germs! I'm excited for this pumpkin patch adventure and secretly hope that 10+ parents volunteer to go with because we're going to need it!

Wow, getting long-winded....totally missing the fall colors of Minnesota, haunted forest, RASCAL FLATTS CONCERT :( :( :(, but realizing that although this whole experience has been hella hard, I am so lucky in so many ways. My assistant is amazing, what WOULD I do if I didn't have a great assistant? Probably cry all of the time! The other Kindergarten teacher has saved my butt soooo many times and done MORE than her share of the lesson planning knowing that it would keep me from wiggin' out. And my kids...although they can be bad, they are still so wonderful at the same time! I say that now...ask me again after the pumpkin patch adventure/fiasco. Keep cutie-pie Kylie Jean in your thoughts and prayers as she has probably gone through more than I have in my entire life. No five-year-old should have to spend the weekend in the hospital being pricked as many times as she probably was. Nor should any kid have to deal with shots daily. But hey, she's 37 pounds of tough-cookie...and if there's one thing you can be thankful for, Kayla, at least she doesn't pass out each time she sees a needle!

Do NOT eat the metal around the eraser of your pencil or your clip will be pulled

Good gracious, I had two nursing students put into my class for 3.5 hours today to do observations and my comment to them at the end of the day, "thanks for coming, sorry you got put in my class!" We LITERALLY waste so much time each day because I have pip-squeaks who think they cannot sit on the rug, or refuse to at that. It's not that my kids don't want to act right, they just don't know how. Some of them might not have structure at home, which really throws them for a loop when they get to school and are expected to act a certain way. Not going to lie, a couple of my lovely babies have taken trips to the Principal's office. I only wish I could take a video of the last 10 minutes of school and have you see the way that one literally runs around the room, laughing, picking up anything he can find, opening bookbags of anyone in front of him, and turning KB (our classroom) into a shitshow. Excuse the language, it's true.

Speaking of which...several of my kids (boys in particular) will raise their hands and say "scurse me." It drives me nuts, it's such a strange word. Other words like that...we sit on the rug and go through a little saying which includes, "my back is straight and tall." They say, "my back is skrate and tall." One of my lovelies had the hook-ups today...i.e. hiccups. Ah, I should make a better list because this is the tip of the iceberg!

Another tidbit, the boy who I have problems with everyday...well his mom is used to getting a phone call from me and coming up to school, generally 4 times a day. Now, his mom got a note from my principal saying he wasn't going to be coming back to school unless she sat through the entire day of school with him. Wow, she wasn't happy about this, but after they called her this morning, she rolled out of bed and hung out in Kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, she didn't last all day. In fact, she didn't last all morning. But right after lunch, she finally got so frustrated with the way he was acting, she took him home. Welcome to my world...at least nothing was just being noncompliant and not temper-tantrum-throwing-things.

Next week we give our first 9 weeks test. Dun, dun, dunnnnnn. I'm N.E.R.V.O.U.S. I feel as if the nine-weeks test is greatly reflective of my teaching, which, duh, it is. What am I going to do if they all fail? Oh good grief....We are trying to do some review leading up to it so we can refresh our memory on what we have learned thus far. Let me tell you, I just introduced syllables to the groups at my center this week...my kids have been rocking my face off on syllables. Today I challenged them with lemonade and cucumber, they rocked. The test is going to be challenging mostly because so much of it is done individually. My assistant is going to be reading a LOT of stories or review worksheets with the class while I do the testing.

I know this is going in a random direction, but let me just say I had an AMAZING weekend! On Friday night I hauled butt back to Ruleville in time to watch some of my kindergarten cheerleaders in the Ruleville homecoming parade. I went for dinner and margartias with some friends and then back in time for the Ruleville homecoming football game. It was so fan, even though they lost by 26. Saturday I got up early and realized the Ruleville homecoming/fall festival was going on at the park which is 1.5 blocks from my house. So I walked up there and checked out the sights for awhile. Then I sat outside waiting for Lois to finish washing her car and then we went on a 4.5 mile walk. We walked out of town and to a nearby river. It was so fun and my skin saw the sun for the first time since early JULY. Blah...I needed a tan like my kindergartners need naptime. Needless to say I didn't do ANY work for school until 6:10 then evening, this is HUGE for me. Sunday I spent doing a lot of work, but I managed to sit outside for an hour or two as well. Don't worry, I didn't touch two things that should have gotten done but don't have a pressing dead line, but oh well. I felt so relaxed and Sunday night didn't feel hectic and stressful...babysteps, I know! Hopefully soon the entire weekend feels relaxed and carefree!!

Well...tomorrow is the first of the month (and 31 days closer to the official start of christmas music!!!!!) which means I need to get busy on making a new pattern for our daily calendar. Although I complain about them a lot, my kids are great and quite hilarious! They are fascinated by the smallest things in life and lately we are working really hard at giving compliments which is GREAT to hear! No matter what happens each day, they never cease to amaze me.

Especially at lunch when they are fascinated each and everyday with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I think they are laughing at it, but really, I don't care.

Week 6...transcribe this. Touch your nose if those words rhyme.

So, I did a bad job at posting for awhile....I'm going to try and get better about that. However, instead of preparing for tomorrow, I decided to write...although I really have no idea what to put in this one...

We are in week 6 of school. Hard to freaking believe. Progress reports went out at the end of the last week, it was a mad rush to get things graded and put into my grade book. Well, actually the rust was figuring out what I could/should grade and what actually shows what we are learning. It turned out fine...everything went out, eventually!

Tonight we had a PTA type of thing. Parents could come in and meet their child's teacher (if they didn't do that on the first day of school). It started at 6, so we just stayed at school and worked rather than drive 1/2 hour home and 1/2 hour back to school. I didn't realize there was going to be a presentation before we met with parents. The principal talked, the counselor droned on about lord knows what, the life coach got up and talked but by then I was d.o.n.e. listening, and the head of the PTA spoke. That was the only part I listened to, thank goodness, they called all 4 of us new teachers up and gave us a gift basket and welcome to Rosser. It has the usual (we-want-you-to-feel-welcome-even-thought-we-don't-know-you) gift basket type of things...stationary, candle, lotion, hand soap, picture frame, and poppurri...that stuff that I love :/ Just kidding! It was super nice, although I can't imagine the look on my face when I was the first one announced and they said I had to come up front.

For the record, my class is mildly out of control. I think I say it each and everyday too. I am struggling right now with too many of them that don't listen. The majority of them want to learn and are excited about being there...but it drives me UP THE YELLOW CEMENT WALL that they hit/push/pinch and "mess with" everyone else in the room. If someone bumps into them, they think they are "messin with" them and so they'll turn around and hit back. I go beserk about it. Each and everyday we talk about nice things our hands can do and how we can use our hands for helping and not hurting. One of these days a lightbulb will go off...until then, I'll continue pulling out gray hair. Also, it drives me nuts-o that they do not listen to directions. The majority of them are good, but when a couple are talking and everyone starts...I feel like it sounds like a dull roar in our room and the only way to get their attention is to be louder than them and that is not how I want to operate.

Don't worry....my favorite student has been sent home in the morning the last two mornings. Today, all he needed was a talking to in the hallway and time to get calmed down. But, they are sick of dealing with him so they made the situation ecalate and sent him into a tantrum and fit of screams in the office. He only lasted 1/2 hour...that is ridiculous...I'm failing that kid each and everyday he is sent home...ugh.

Today I had an observer in my room for the PAVE program. Don't even ask me what it means. It is some program dealing with vocabulary. We were selected to be part of their study...therefore, they will be in our Kindergarten classrooms during the year and doing whatever they need to do. I don't know if we get anything out of this study or what...frankly, I don't really care! Today the woman observed me from 7:50 until 10:15 a.m. I feel bad for her! I had to wear a microphone around my neck as well....last night I told my friend Nigel that the microphone was going to mean I couldn't say things under my breath! I would hate to be the person to transcribe those 2+ hours. "Cordarius, where is the A" "Cordarius where is the A" "Samara, if you can't be nice to your friends you have to sit on the rug" "Cordarius, look at me. Can you see the A?" "Sarmara, move to the rug, I just told you..." "Cordarius, what does the A sound like?" "Samara, you will not go back to your center until you can sit on the rug." Oh gracious, I would annoy myself listening to that.

Um...what else...tomorrow my assistant is going to be gone. Therefore, I have the class by myself from 7:30 until 1 p.m. Oh lordddddd help us. I think I'll have someone to assist me during centers (8:30-9:30). We get out at 1 p.m. on some Wednesday's...so the day will go by fast at least.

I haven't been very good about thinking of things that I need for my classroom...although I have to admit, if anyone comes across extra books, we can't get enough of those!...I love having lots of books to choose from in my room. The books Mike and Gretchen got have been amazing. This morning we read "the day Jimmy's boa ate the wash" and I can't get it out of my head! We even learned about schema and several of my kids remembered what it was by the end of the day!...WAHOO!

PS...booked my flights this weekend for Thanksgiving break (Nov. 22-29) and April's wedding (Dec. 12-14). I didn't look for the Christmas break flight since I knew my credit card was done-zo for a little while.

The last and utterly random note...my kids think the celery I eat at lunch are carrots. I gave two of them pieces to try on Friday, they book spit them out on their tray. One now thinks it grows in the ground like grass....or is grass.

Peace and hair grease.

Build a bridge and get ova it

Okay, okay, it's been sooo long since I have posted. Life is crazy, typical, however, I think I spend more time making things for my room that I now realize are crucial for my students to learn necessary skills like rhyming. That sounds like a lame excuse, but 26 pages of written and illustrated rhyming poems for each letter is going to take me forever to make...I suck at drawing. And, to top it off, my gradebook is an absolute disaster and I have piles and piles of papers at my house to grade and either file or send home. Therefore...I have plenty to keep me busy!...

So, today was the first day a kid wet their pants in my room...and on her chair...and on the floor. Heck, we made it 23 days, I guess that is successful. Mind you, we came back from lunch and went to the bathroom. 15 minutes later she wet her pants, do you think she used the bathroom when the rest of the class went? Um, no. Actually, she ran in, waited 2 seconds and came back out so she could be first in line for recess. The funny thing, she was behaving on a particular color in our behavior system which meant she didn't get to go outside anyway. I can be understanding if the student is really young, not used to having to ask to go to the bathroom, etc. However, this child is 6 years old and is definitely smart enough to know what is going on-however, the line for recess is pretty freaking important.

Hard to believe it is Sept 10. Actually, it is still hard to believe we are even in school right now. Labor Day seemed so far away all summer. Anyway, it's here and gone. I spent a night at Uncle Mike's and Aunt Gretchen's. It was nice to get away for a bit...and they had gathered an amazing collection of books, school supplies and other things for our house. Needless to say, I left with my jeep FULL! In case you haven't heard...they pretty much rock!

What else has been happening? I have one boy in my class that rarely made it through the day last week because he would get so bad and throw fits and get sent home. The principal decided he needed to go home if he didn't know how to act, she dealt with him a LOT last year. That made me mad because he is repeating Kindergarten, he knows what to do to get sent home. He doesn't stay with his momma each night, so of course he wanted to go there during the day. The last couple of days have been okay with him. It is to the point that a certain person checks in on my room during the day and if he isn't doing what he is supposed to be doing (which is really typical), she comes in, pops him a couple of times in the leg and forces him to get his act together and get where he is supposed to. Although this isn't my philosophy, I realize this is what is needed. He has NO consistency in his life (home or school) therefore, the first aspect of consistency is going to be in my classroom with his behavior. If he is going to roll on the floor or throw chairs, he needs to know what is going to happen. Andddd, as bad as I make this sound, this is the child that I care the most about. He is smart, he CAN act right, and he will learn what is expected of him...sooner or later...

So, that was plenty descriptive. On other news, I think our roach problem is under control (thanks to the $20 I spent on products from Wal-Mart). Our lawn could be bailed right about now. My car hasn't seen a car wash since June 1 and the 46 layers of bugs are making it appear a new color. It is very typical to see multiple large fricking dragon flies hanging out of my grill!

And this is pretty boring...I wrote this at professional development training this afternoon...while some lady was droning on about statistics and "how are you building bridges to help our students learn?" Well lady, I don't know, but at this point I wouldn't walk over any bridge that I built...

Give us an infomercial

So, I don't know the proper way to kill a cockroach, but Lois and I have devised our own method and it seems to work remarkably. Anytime we see a roach, one of us screams like a girl (typical, really) and the other one comes running saying, "what, what, what is it?" Last night I found one in my bathroom and tried to drop a heavy shoe on it. Well, that failed and it scampered off to the corner...so by the time Lois got there I was standing in the bathtub looking for it...our method of killing roaches? Raid wasp spray. Trust me, it works like magic. It shoots out powerfully so even though they can move pretty fast, they aren't expecting it and can't get away from it. And it basically drowns them in it, no matter how big they are! The only downside, it makes my bathroom smell like raid for awhile. So far I've used this on two roaches and a spider that was literally 3 inches in diameter and BLACK....this was not a daddy-longlegs, this was nasty McGee. Don't worry, the raid worked like a charm because I wouldn't get within 10 feet of that nasty thing.

Okay, this has to be a quick post, I want to get to school early. Friday's are always so crazy because lesson plans for the next week are due so I have to finish them, get them printed, and have my class ready to go for the day or have it ready to go for the next week. I'm not sure if my class is getting any better...we have a hard time listening to directions and I feel like all I do is shout, but I'm working on other ways to get their attention and keep their attention. I'm finding that the majority of my class does what I want, but there are about half a dozen that keep me on my toes all.day.long.

Let's talk about one girl. This girls momma told me the day before school started that "she bad." Well, so did every other momma. However, this woman wasn't lying. She is the smallest, most petite thing...but she is ALWAYS the one hitting, pinching, pushing other kids. And she does it in a way that no one can catch her at (under the table, in line, etc). Last week during centers I was missing a ton of play dough at one of the tables. I had my assistant check her pockets (knowing she has had things of mine in the past) and sure enough there is a huge ball of play-dough and some magnetic letters from the table before that. WTF, who steals play dough. Okay...other things, a couple of days later I am missing 4 bags of magnetic letters that we use at one of the tables. I can't find them ANYWHERE during my planning period. I decide I'll tear apart my room the next morning. Since I had one of the kids put them away, I figured they just hadn't ended up in the same spot that I put them in. Nope, they were gone, not in my room, not in the school. This week I talked to her mother and she tells me that her daughter has been bringing home puzzle pieces, blocks, like 20 pencils, etc. Oh sure enough, all of these things are from my room. I ask her about this the next day, she tells me she took all of that stuff AND my magnetic letters. Well, her momma hasn't seen the letters, but that means her daughter either hid them or got mad and threw them away. OMG, that girl is not going to recess until those letters come back to school and she knows it. The kicker, now that I check her pockets each morning (so she doesn't have candy in class) she stuck an individually wrapped cinnamon roll thing in her pants, like literally next to her hip flexor ALL morning and kept her hand in her pocket to hold it in place. UGH, really???? Yesterday she brought a 6-inch long race car to school in her pocket. Not only am I dealing with a 5 year-old klepto, but a friggin' smart one at that. I'm not sure if I'll ever see my magnets again though. The last thought on this...her momma called me again last night to for warn me that her daughter had stabbed her cousin in the back with a pen and to make sure she can't get ahold of any pens. omggggggggggg. She also told her momma that I am mean, I told her momma that she was right. But seriously, why didn't they warn me about THIS at institute?!

Hot cheetos

I will never understand their obsession with hot cheetos. I tried the smallest bite in Houston and thought my mouth was going to be on fire and that I was going to drink the water fountain dry. G.R.O.S.S. At my school the kids can purchase snacks in the morning. They give the money to my assistant and tell her what they want. They get their snack at the end of the day and either eat it while walking home or eat it at home or something, I don't really know? I'm not a fan of buying snacks, but whatev I don't have to deal with it. Until the very end of the day and they are throwing their folder and bookbag around and I threaten to take away their snack, but what am I going to do with it??

Anyway, this week has been hectic, go fig. Yesterday (Monday) was probably the worst day that I have had. I had several students that refused to do anything. All morning/afternoon I was in a struggle with R'Vant. He refused to sit in his seat, he would roll around on the carpet, he would be laying under the tables, just acting a fool. I took him to the hallway multiple times trying to coerce him to behave and threatening him with calling his momma and all sorts of other things. They might have worked for short stints of time, but nothing lasted. At one point he was rolling down the hallway. Ms. Ballard talked to him and he apologized, but even that didn't last forever. Finally after lunch during math he was ridiculous, no matter how much I yelled or how stern I was with him, he still refused to do anything. While the rest of the kids were working on worksheets, we were in a power struggle. He was laying on the ground knocking the chairs from one side of him over to the other side. After another struggle in the hallway, I realized I couldn't take it. Ms. Ballard came out again (after hearing from her assistant that I was probably in need of some help). Our principal was gone to a meeting....R'Vant was taken to the next person in charge. He came back in my room maybe 10 minutes later much more calm and subdued. He had gotten whooped. Don't worry, he seemed fine, but I cried.

Understanding corporal punishment has been really simple, accepting it is another challenge. Although I don't want parents to be whooping their kids based on how they act in my class, the fact of the matter is that this culture identifies with that. If kids are bad, they know that is what is going to happen. It doesn't mean that I have to whoop kids and as much as I thought I wouldn't send kids to the principal's office knowing that's what they would get, I realized that is the only thing they fear. If I do everything in my power to get them to behave and it still doesn't work, the only thing left is the fear the resides in that office at the entrance of the building. I've realized that the more my class watches him act out and not do anything that he is supposed to, the more they are going to think they can get away with that. It seems easy to think that you'll just ignore him because all he wants is attention, but for the sake of the rest of your class, that isn't possible. If you ignore him, the next kid is going to think he can throw chairs or try to bite me and nothing will happen to him. The worst part of the whole situation is that I love that kid. No joke, he is by far my favorite in the entire class. Therefore, to see anyone yell at him or give him a hard time about how he acted yesterday or this morning or even last week REALLY pushes my buttons. I'm UBER protective of my kids, it's one thing if I yell at them, but you had better believe I don't want anyone else yelling at them unless they are in authority (like the principal). That sounds awful because I know I give them a hard time, but I'm also the first one to offer praise when they are doing what they should be or showing me that they can do great work.

In other words, don't mess with my class and don't talk bad about my kids, because I truly love them!..and thank goodness, because we are going to be together for the next 10 months....

Only in Ruleville....

So, today was like my pseudo-snow day. Being that I have strep and am banned from the school...okay, okay, it is completely justified...I planned on sleeping in. I guess I should have passed that memo onto my landlord who called me at 6:04 a.m. Sorry Mr. Free, I am in no mood to talk to you that early in the morning!

Anyway, let me tell you about my day...because it's kind of funny. I got up at 9...after attempting to call Sara Vargason/Lawrence to tell her Happy Birthday although she ignored my phone call...I sat on my porch swing eating breakfast. This might see mundane, but it was quite amazing because for the first time this week I was able to eat solid food like cereal! WAHOO!! That shot in the butt really did wonders!

I'm not going to give you the complete details, but I was REALLY freaking productive today. I walked to the post office, got a bunch of phone calls in, cleaned the kitchen, unpacked the rest of my stuff, then I baked chocolate chip cookies, choc chip muffins, banana nut muffins and brownies. Have no fear, everything I made was from a box or a package. I put together 4 plates for people who helped Lois and I get through our first week. Joe for showing us the house we ended up renting, Marie's house for "hosting" us for several weeks until we finally had our own house, Ballard & Mariam for helping us survive our first week as teachers and answering the phone each night when we called with a million questions, and my assistant Mrs. Beamon who rocks my face off and really saved me this week when I was sick.

While doing all of that I washed two loads of laundry (trust me, this is where the story gets interesting). For whatever reason, all of the water drained into my bathtub, toilet and sink. And then refused to drain out. So, I went next door to Mrs. Free's house to get the number for the plumber that was here recently. I called them...they said they would be over shortly. In the meantime, Mrs. Free came over just to "see what it looked like." Have I mentioned that she is kind of batty...or just nosey. But I keep reminding myself that if someone were robbing our house she would be the first one over there with a bat, or a shotgun. Anyway, she made a few phone calls of her own...

Soon, some man shows up to check out the plumbing. I assumed he was the plumber, nope, he was from city hall. Mrs. Free called him. He asks where I teach and all of that stuff (everyone assumes you're a teacher if you're under the age of 40 and just moving to town). Then he tells me he saw me walking up town this morning. Mind you I only walked two blocks to the post office and back, whatev. Everyone knows your business, that's for certain!

Finally, the plumbers come over, they looked familiar, maybe because I just saw them last week....anyway, they poke around outside and all of a sudden water comes gushing out of a hole they drilled. Found part of the problem, I'd say. Mrs. Free comes over to keep them company, surprise, surprise. Soon, the head-honcho shows up and wants to check out the bathroom to make sure everything is now draining properly. They had it fixed already! I offer him some cookies since I was in the middle of making them; I filled a ziplock for the plumbers. He goes back outside and 5 minutes later knocks on the door and asks if I would like any cantaloupe or watermelon. He had just picked some from his farm and they were in the back of his truck. Well, sure I love cantaloupe! (Just so you know grandpa, I didn't take watermelon because I knew I couldn't eat it before it went bad!) So, I take two from this pile of at least 20 in his truck and then he pawns a 3rd one off on me that I could eat right away! I went walking in the house with my arms full of cantaloupes thinking, "only in Ruleville do you get cantaloupe from your plumber...."

Who gets sick in the middle of summer????

OMG...tomorrow is day 6 of teaching and I have the day off. Why? Because I FREAKING have strep throat...omggggggg. What kind of teacher gets strep throat? Who gets it in the FIRST week of school? JEESH.

I woke up on Sunday with a sore throat and blamed it on air conditioning or something lame like that. Then it hadn't gotten any better and I lost my voice on top of it. Basically, I sounded H.O.T. Luckily my assistant is amazing and rocks my face off. She helped me tremendously this week by doing all of my read-alouds (aka, reading books to the kids) and helping teaching or monitor anything that I asked her to. Last night my throat hurt sooooo badly I knew I needed to get it checked out. I was taking NyQuil and Dayquil like it was my job and it still didn't help. And Excedrin doesn't make any Excedrin Froat Hurts. The white bumps on the back of my throat made me realize that it probably wasn't getting better anytime soon. TMI (too much info) I know...therefore, I called on Tuesday afternoon and asked for an appointment at anytime on Wednesday afternoon. They kept trying to make me pick a doctor before I set up an appointment, I said I really didn't care who I saw, whoever might be free on Wednesday afternoon was good for me. Turns out, my doctor rocked too! She was awesome and I would totally go back....although I hope I don't get sick for 6 months AT LEAST. The only bad part...they gave me a shot of some medicine and a steroid to reduce the swelling in my throat...in my butt. Well, not really my butt, but lower back. Go fig, I almost passed out and had to sit down. Stupid. I hate shots. I'm 25 years old and act like I'm 5 when it comes to getting shots. I had to sit in my car with the AC full blast talking on the phone for awhile before I was safe to drive!

So....the first 5 days of school have been interesting. I have a total of 22 kindergartners. My kids talk wayyyy too much and have a hard time listening. I blame this on two things, first and foremost, I blame their inattentiveness on me and not keeping them engaged enough with my lessons and discussions. Secondly, I blame it on the fact they have never been to school before, they haven't learned that when the teacher is talking, they are not. On Friday afternoon I had two parents call me by 3:45 p.m. It was only the second day of school. Their kids came home with their daily calendar colored in yellow (this means they had a warning and were going to lose recess because they couldn't follow the rules). Both parents wanted to know what their kids were doing...basically because they wanted a reason for why they were whooping their kids. I also had several parents stop in today and tell me that if I have to tell their kids to listen more than once to call them and they would come to school (also to whoop their kid). It's so sad, but totally the culture here. These kids don't know any different, but I'm bound and determined to use other methods of getting them to behave than having to resort to that.

My kids are B-E-A-UTIFUL. In case I haven't mentioned that before...they are just gorgeous...I love 5 year-olds and how innocent but incredibly intelligent they are. If they get busted for starting to bicker with someone else they always say, "but he/she was messing wit me." Or Jarrius, everytime I ask if he did something another student claimed he did (such as push another kid) he always says, "maaaan, I didn't do that...he/she did dat" and puts the blame on someone else around him. Today someone said something really funny at lunch but I can't remember what it was...I was laughing though. It's great that you can "reward" the kids that are doing good with letting them carry your lunch, or I'll send them down the hall to fill up my waterbottle. This is, like, HUGE for them!

PS...the Indianola Wal-mart is the only place I know that literally sells out of Mac & Cheese. WTF is that?! If you thought me being a teacher was going to result in me trying to cook as well....well, that was a funny thought, huh? I have enough cereal to get me through a month of suppers ;)

Anyone have any old happy meal toys??? I'll take them for my "toy box" that the students who end the day on silver get to play with on the rug. They just eat it up, it's like the best thing in the world for them! Let me know!!!

Okay...the olympics rock. My voice is a disaster...call me if you want to hear something really hilarious. Sometimes when I say sentences, certain words just don't come out! Tomorrow I'm going to be SUPER productive...working on my room, making things for my classroom, hopefully sign my contract (since that hasn't happened yet) and baking treats for the people who have helped me through my first week or helped us find our house!! and maybe a few extras....Oh, relax Jeannie, I'll sleep in and probably take a nap in the afternoon!

AHHHH, I'm missing the LeSueur County fair and am sooooooo sad...... :( I haven't missed that fair in the last 5 years!! L-O-V-E that place and those people....

"I want them to think that school is the coolest thing since Pokemon"

For the record, I read that quote in a Classroom Culture 101 packet tonight and laughed outloud. This lady wants them to crave school and to be begging for Saturday School. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that my kids probably don't know what Pokemon is....it hasn't reached Mo'head yet.

Anyway, put a check mark next to my first day of teaching, it's OVER! Phew...I was super excited this morning and stayed up wayyy too late last night finishing my agenda for the day and getting things ready. It went...okay. I'm not going to say it was great, they are in Kindergarten. The attention span of a 5 year old is literally 10 minutes, on a good day. I felt like I did a lot of yelling or had to raise my voice a lot. They haven't gathered the idea of not talking when they are not supposed to. Trust me, I was PLENTY stern today....hard for me to even believe it. That's probably another reason I don't feel like the day was phenomenal...I hate yelling. I know there are other ways to get kids to do what you want them to do, I just need to find those alternative methods. It will come...we spent a lot of time practicing how to make a straight line, how to walk in the hallways (one hand on your hip, the other on your lips), how to efficiently use the bathroom (and not play), how to move from the rug to our tables and so forth. We have yet to master how to get a drink without putting your mouth on the faucet and without getting water ALL over your shirt and ALL over your shorts. Oh well...it will come.

In fact, we even mastered the lunch line...the only person that got yelled at was me. Apparently, you are not supposed to pick up any of the silverware to see if there is a spoon....I guess you're just supposed to know? Whatev, the lunchlady isn't the nicest from what I heard, I think it goes with the job of wearing a hairnet. I would be a crab too.

Speaking of which...not really, but I needed a transition, we have hot water in our house YAYYYYY!!!! The landlord's mother lives behind us, we call her "Mama Free" (not to her face) as her son is Mr. Free, and she has been meeting with various people in our house during the day who come to do the inspection, hook up the gas, light the hot water heater, etc. She's a bit...odd, but it's nice she is there because we leave the house by 6:30 and aren't back until supper usually.

So...back to my class. Did I mention that I love my kids. I don't know why, but there is always one that you know is going to cause you stress, but that is the one you love the most. In Houston it was Marc Valdez, granted he wasn't paying attention unless he was HIGHLY engaged in the lesson, but you can't get over his minor speech impediment and the way he talks about loving "his kitties." This one is R'Vant...he is repeating Kindergarten and although I already know he is going to challenge me plenty this year, he is my favorite by far. Don't pick favorites, I know...but he is definitely a child that needs to be challenged both socially and academically.

All of my kids are great, they talk too much, but they are great. And I'm basically in love with my class list, mostly because of the names. Let's run through it (this is like my favorite thing to do!): Breanna, Cakiyah, Cordarius, Da'Janae, Invia, Ja'Khia, Jala, Janiya, Jaqualan, Jarrius, Kyra, Lamaurice, Lechedrique, LaVaunshe', Makayla, Marcus, Miracle, Phamous, R'Vant, Samara, Siseli, Sydney, and Tyler. Feel free to call me and guess how you pronounce some of these names, it's really fun actually! But most of them make perfect sense once you hear it. Anyway, they are great, they are all african american and cute as buttons, they wear school uniforms so you better believe that I stuck a nametag to each and everyone of them today, and they give me hugs even when I feel like I'm yelling at them.

Anyway, I'd better get going, I need to print out my agenda and get some sleep, 4 hours didn't do it for me. I sympathize for teachers, I didn't sit down at all today unless I was reading them a book or when we were eating lunch...in fact, I don't even have a chair at my desk yet...life would rock if I could wear flip flops to school! (PS, I take out my eyebrow ring at school....AND I have learned to put the ball back in the hoop myself...hallelujah!)

Peace, love and cypress...