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...