I love my job!

There have been some very good days lately when I reflect on how much I enjoy my job/class.

They are nice.
They care for each other.
They are polite most of the time.
They know that I am grouchy on Tuesdays. (I'm not sure why, but they have noticed a pattern.)
They love when I get excited about teaching something.
They love when I give them more math problems, and love hard ones even more.
They get upset when we miss some type of learning in our daily schedule.
They say, "It's okay Ms. L." when I forget to send in lunch count.
They negotiate for marbles and stop negotiating when they see I'm not in the mood.
They thrive on compliments from other teachers.
They respect my rules, even if they really want to sit on the bean bags during carpet time.
They ask how I am doing every day.
They give me hugs just because they like me being their teacher.
They write journal entries about how they want to be a 4th grade teacher, just like me.
They tell the truth, even if it's not a popular choice.
They avoid doing things they know will get me upset.
Not even close to last or least important, but...

THEY MAKE ME LAUGH AND ENJOY GOING TO WORK EVERYDAY!

Tiva's Day at School

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, I was traveling to my sister's in Dallas immediately after school Tuesday. I am unable to just throw my dog in the car and take her for a ride. She hates cars. Let me reiterate...she hates cars so much that she gets very ill if not given the appropriate medication before the trip. My portable mate/friend (aka Jennifer) thought it would be okay if I took Tiva to school for the day. We had it planned. We would put her crate under my friend's desk and I would be able to give her medicine at the right time in the afternoon. This was until around 8:15.

8:15 - Jennifer comes over. She asks me to step into her room to see if I noticed anything. I immediately smelled wet dog. Of course we thought it was Tiva and her crate. I knew that I hadn't washed her crate blankets in a while, but if it had really smelled, I would have smelled it at home as well. At the time, it seemed like the only logical cause to the smell.

9:00 - Another teacher brings a pillow so that I can trade out the blankets in Tiva's cage and put the so-called smelly ones outside. We sprayed Oust around the room claiming that we wanted to kill germs. Keep in mind that the kids have no idea that Tiva is under the desk.

9:45 - The kids go to specials and the odor disappears. We thought it was because of the blankets being taken outside and the Oust.

10:45 - The odor returns. Both classes meet in Jennifer's room for some Reader's Theatre. During one performance the kids begin to get nosy. They start to hear something from under the desk. The kids sitting on the floor next to the desk begin to look under the desk and notice a nose poking out of the crate. They start to whisper, "Ms. H's dog, Dusty, is under her desk." After the Reader's Theatre is over, they confront her about the mysterious wet nose and whimpering under the desk, "Ms. H. I see your dog under your desk." She replies with a very clever, "I can promise you that MY dog is not under my desk." My class returns to our room and only a couple of my kids are still talking about it. I got back and check on Jennifer's class and she said that she told them because they were all talking about it and not working. Most of my class is still oblivious to the matter.

1:15 - Whimpering is again coming from under the desk. The kids are writing, so it is quite obvious. Right about this time, the PE coach walks into my room and says, "L. I'm taking your dog to the gym. She can run around in the office and nobody will ever know." I wasn't really give a choice in this matter and it seemed like an okay idea, so I handed over the leash and off she went.

1:50 - Jennifer's class is in my room watching an informative video about Thanksgiving, also known as Charlie Brown's Voyage on the Mayflower (or something like that). We were still very curious about the odor that keeps appearing and disappearing. Jennifer's "co-teacher" is wandering around my room trying to figure out where the odor is stemming from. She realizes that it was not Tiva, but a student's shoes. This student was sitting in the closest desk to Tiva's crate, which explain why the odor seemed to be coming from the crate. Mystery solved!

2:00 - I head to the gym to check on Tiva and give her the medicine that caused her to be at school in the first place and I barely make it out of my classroom door when I see Tiva and the PE coach outside. Tiva is prancing around, enjoying PE as much as the 3rd graders that she is surrounded by. I have a quick exchange with the coach wondering who is going to get in trouble when our boss sees the dog. She easily says that she'll take the blame. That's wonderful for me, because taking her to PE was not my idea! I give her the needed medicine and was told that she would be returned before the end of the day.

2:45 - The bell has rung, I am at car rider duty and I still don't my dog back. I go to the gym to check on her and she is relaxing in the recliner. I knock on the window and she looks up at me like, "Yes? Do you need something?" I sneak her back to my classroom quickly.

As far as I know, she went undiscovered all day. I wouldn't have done this if she hadn't needed her medicine at a specific time and if it hadn't been the day before a holiday break. She will not be visiting school again anytime soon...unless kids are nowhere in site.

Barney

Victor: "Can I kiss you?"
Me: "No."
V: "Why?"
Me: "Because it's not appropriate to kiss a teacher."
V: "Why? Can I kiss you?"
Me: "No."
V: "The song says I can."
Me: "What song?"
V: "And a kiss from me to you."
Me: "Oh, Barney?"
V: "Yes. Barney says a kiss from me to you. Can I kiss you?"
Me: "Barney means you can kiss your mom and dad. He means you can blow a kiss to everyone else."
V: "So I can't kiss you?"
Me: "No."

I love my job!

Coming soon...(probably tomorrow night)...

Dear Diary

One of my students came to me the other day expressing some concern about her lost diary. She told me who her friends said had it and then it was up to me to track the missing book down. And so I did. I talked to the kid and he openly admitted having it. He didn't bring it back when he was supposed to, but it did come back the following day. While I was waiting for the diary to be returned, the girl in my class seemed very concerned because she was told that people had been reading it.

I began to think...what did I write in my diary as a 4th grader? Probably something like:
"I have the biggest crush on ________ (I can't remember his name.). Today he loaned me his pencil. It was so nice. He was wearing a really cute blue shirt today. He is sooooo cute."

Remembering this, I thought of what trouble or heartbreak would come when the other kids found out who her crush was. I would love to say that I didn't look at the diary when it was returned, but I would be lying. I had to look. I needed to make sure that the item she was bringing to school, losing, and other kids were reading was appropriate. And, I wanted to know what 4th graders write in their diaries about. This is a very mature student and in 4th grade, mature usually means one thing. (Which I will not say.) Anyway, I open to her diary (not even the kind with lock and key) to find her crush's name written very large on the first page.
Diary Lesson #1 - Don't write your crush's name on the very first page. If someone finds diary, where will they read first?

I know this is terrible, but the first thing I think is, "She can do so much better!" But, she really likes him. "He gave her some hot Cheetos at lunch and it was so cute." He even "blew on her neck and she liked it." Although "he is shorter than her, she wishes she were much shorter so that it wouldn't be so weird."

Regardless of anything else she said, the one thing I cannot get over is her choice of a crush, William. If you are unfamiliar with my current students, please refer to blog titled, My cup runeth over...with tears. You could also check out the updates on the bottom of every blog since.

I hope my 4th grade diary-worthy crushes were better than her's.

It's about time!

Today I was teaching a lame-o math lesson. Let me rephrase that. I wasn't actually teaching, but rather letting kids work independently to solve division problems. This was probably better than me teaching because...the principal walked in for my observation.

She could walk in at any other time of day, but when she shows up carrying her clipboard, my heart began to pound very rapidly. I didn't really expect her at that time, because she hadn't come during all of her other available times for the past 3 weeks.

On the observation, I got compliments for the kids being able to work together to solve problems, for helping a small group through problems, and also all of my anchor charts that I have posted in my classroom. I had two things that she recommended for change: make sure I make changes in my lesson plans when needed and post more student work. This was one time that I forgot to make notes in my plans when I stray from them (I've been so good at doing it.). And I'm aware I need to hang more students' work, but in 4th grade, what do you hang up? If I had a bulletin board outside my classroom, I would love to hang items on it, but taking up more of my wall space isn't so practical. I would love to hang up examples of quality work, good writing pieces, and diagrams for science and social studies. But, come on...I'm only a first year teacher...I can't do everything perfect the first time around...then it will look like I haven't grown and learned over the next few years! hahaha

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Crying Update:
One crier was absent. The other two had a crying-free day. All smiles in my classroom! :)

You swallowed what?!?

During today's benchmark, I notice Richard sitting at his desk coughing. He is trying to cough quietly, but he sits fairly close to my desk.
Me: "Richard, are you okay?"
R: "Yes. I think I swallowed something."
Me: "What did you swallow?"
R: "Part of that." (points to his eraser)
Me: "Part of what?"
R: "That." (points to his eraser again)
Me: "You swallowed part of your eraser. It couldn't have been a big part because I don't see any chunks missing."
R: "Well, it was some of that." (points to the 'shavings' that are created when the eraser is used on paper)
Me: "Hmmmm...how did you swallow that? Never mind. Don't answer that. Are you okay?"
R: "I guess. Is is poisonous? Will I get sick?"
Me: "No. You have probably swallowed worse. You should just get some water and push it all the way down rather than try and cough it up."
R: "Am I going to be okay?"
Me: "Yes. Just get some water. And don't swallow that anymore. I'm not sure how you even swallowed it the first time."

I'm still confused as to how this happened!
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Crying Update:
Today I had a crier (not his first time) because I didn't let him eat his chips during snack time. I have strict guidelines for snack time and only allow healthy snacks. I do NOT consider chips healthy. This kiddo got out his chips and everyone shouted, "Ms. L, are we allowed to have chips for snack?" Of course the answer was no, because they all know the rules. He began crying because he didn't bring a healthy snack and I wouldn't let him eat it. More importantly, he didn't bring a snack and pulled out part of his lunch to eat. I wouldn't have minded if it had been a granola bar, piece of fruit, or a 100 calorie pack. I don't know how much crying I can tolerate. Oh wait...NONE!

The river is overflowing...with tears!

I need to post a sign on my door that says, "NO TEARS BEYOND THIS POINT!" I've written before about a student I have who has cried many times in class. Today, I might have screamed if I had seen/heard one more child cry. I might be more understanding if this was something I could prevent, but the reasons for the tears was beyond my control.
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1. The moment I walk in the door after I brought the kids into my classroom, I turn around to see William holding his shoulder walking towards me. This particular kid is complaining of something on a daily basis. Last Friday he had "chicken pox on his foot". I looked...they weren't foot chicken pox, but rather an irritation from something he stepped on. The pain that he felt with that irritation prompted him to shed a few tears. It also made him pay 40 tickets to have it shoes off for the day because having them on was just too painful, and I wouldn't allow him no shoes without payment. Back to today...William walks up holding his shoulder. I ignore the words he begins to utter and respond with, "Go sit down. I don't need to hear about it."
W: "But it really hurts."
Me: "It has not even been 2 minutes. You cannot have hurt yourself in those few minutes."
W: "I hurt it yesterday."
Me: "Great! Your parents already know about it, there is nothing I can do. You need to have a seat. I am NOT sending you to the nurse."
W: "But they don't know about it."
Me: "There is still nothing I can do. It did not happen at school. You should have already told your parents about it. You have work on your desk."
W: Heads to his desk and begins to cry.
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2. Every day for lunch, I ask kids to raise their hand who would like to be door holders. Lunch is a special time with different door holders than any other time of the day. I noticed one kid was already getting up, assuming that I would call on him. I purposely did NOT call on him because of this. He began to cry! (There must have been something else, because this should not make any kid cry.)
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3. Today was the reward day for a fundraiser that was done a couple months ago. The reward was a gaming trailer that kids got to play in for 30 minutes. All I knew was that I had a list of kids who earned the prize and what time I should send them. As I told those specific kids that they could go, another kid asked if he had earned the reward. He said his said had told him that he sold lots of stuff and should have earned it. When I informed him that his name was not on the list, he broke out into boo-hooing tears!
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4. As we began our writing warm-up I noticed Elliot was sitting at his desk with a look of frustration. I walk up and ask, "What's wrong?"
E: "I lost my pencil."
Me: "There are plenty of pencils in the classroom."
E: "It was important to me."
Me: "I understand it was important, but you are missing out on writing time right now." (He had another look of frustration come over him.)
E: "I know and that makes me mad too."
Me: "So what are you going to do about this missing pencil?"
E: "I don't know."
Me: "Well, if you don't have a solution, I think you need to find a different pencil and start working."
E: "But, but..."
Me: "It is work time. Get going."
E: Begins very audible crying and very visible tears.
He continues to audibly cry throughout share time and my writing mini lesson. I now have to stop the student who is sharing and ask, "Elliot, we are unable to hear. I need you to go to the back of the classroom so that you do not disturb us anymore."
I can STILL hear him from the back of the room, but I ignore. If you have forgotten, I would like to remind you that this dramatic crying is all over a pencil!
As we return to our desks after the mini lesson, Elliot also returns to his, in an even more dramatic way. He walks to his desk, very noticeably, and begins to pound on it with his fist. My aid and I just stand and watch in amazement. I am having a very hard time believe that this is all stemming from that lost pencil.
Me: "Elliot, I can see that you are very upset, but like I said earlier. You will need to find another pencil and work right now. Your pencil is missing and you will have time to look for it after you finish your work." (Did you like how I first acknowledged his feelings? Man was that hard. I wanted to get mad at him for still being so difficult over a pencil, but managed to come out with the appropriate response.)
A few more things were angrily thrown off of his desk (by him) and a few more desk poundings were done before he began crying again. This cry was legitimate. Because of his behavior and how it affected his classroom work, I had to send a note home. This is not the first time and it is one form of communication I use with his parents. He was very upset, knowing that he would be in a great deal of trouble once he got home. His dad is very hard on him, but the results are usually positive the next day. Or so I'm hoping...since today was especially dreadful.
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5. This one is not about crying, but about the lack of crying. Today I was catching kids up with some missing work at the end of the day. I shared grades with one child. These grades were not good: 9, 34, 28, 67, and 58. If it were me, I would have flooded a river in the classroom. His reaction was nothing. He said, "Okay!" WHAT?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!? You have not turned in more than half of the assignments we've done in the last 3 weeks and you don't seem to think that's a problem? WOAH! Parent phone call here I come...

No mas hablas in Espanol.

I received a call on Wednesday afternoon that the parent and family-friend of my new non-English speaker wanted a conference. They weren't sure that my classroom was the right situation for her. I had this feeling from the first day she arrived, but it's different when a parent says that your classroom is not right for their child.

Thursday morning comes and in the meeting, everyone wanted to know how she was doing. Basically, she is not ready for 4th grade. Especially 4th grade in a country where she does not speak the language. It was hard for me to sit there and say that regardless of anything I've done in the classroom, she's not at the level she should be in order to be successful. The dad and family-friend were completely understanding and mom was a bit hesitant. After all, we decided that the family would go look at the bilingual school in the district that morning to see if it would better suit her needs. If they did like this school, we would transition her over there beginning on Monday.

Around 9:00 (attendance time), I get a phone call from the registrar telling me not to mark her absent. She is withdrawing so that she can transfer and is no longer counted as absent. I was in a bit of shock. I didn't think things were going to happen so quickly. My class started to ask questions about where she went, why didn't she say goodbye, and would they see her again. Although they might not have spoken the same language, they understood her. She was a kid after all and kids understand other kids. They were quite disappointed that they were unable to say goodbye. I was also quite concerned that the parents were so quick to remove her from my classroom.

That was until I received a call from her new bilingual teacher. This teacher was already concerned that 4th grade was not the right place for her. We had a talk about what had happened and what I felt was going on with this child and her family. When all was done, I felt better knowing that my classroom wasn't the right place for her because she didn't belong in 4th grade even if they did speak her language.

17

It was a wonderful day...for many reasons.

1. I had 4 kids absent. During math on Fridays I also send 3 kids to Chess Camp and I have 1 student who goes to math in another classroom. Let's do the math: 21 total students minus 4 sick kids minus 3 at Chess Camp minus 1 at his other class equals 13 students during math today. If I could have only 13 kids in class all the time, I swear I would never ever ever complain about anything else.

2. Besides math, I only had 17 kids all day. I'll take that any day...seriously! It was probably the nicest day I've had since teaching.

3. My principal has yet to observe me.

4. The weather was gorgeous and our lunch in the courtyard was a great ending to a great week.

5. EVERY student that was actually in class was having an "on" day...Elliot, Victor, and Richard included!

Just an ordinary day...

There wasn't anything special about today. We did have a bit of a schedule change, but that was the most excitement there was. The kids were their usual selves and things went along well. I had a few kids out with illness, which made for a quiet day...if you can figure out who one of those kids might have been, you will understand why it was a quiet day.

Today was kind of a good day for one of my students to not ever mentally check into my classroom, because I had some extra time for him since another student was absent. I'm not saying that I ignore him usually, but I don't always have time to refocus him every 2 seconds. Elliot is a very difficult student to keep focused ON ANYTHING! He was not able to work during math because he chose not to. I LOVE to help students who want help, but Elliot is not one of those students. He will occasionally admit he needs help, but it is impossible to help this child when he's not willing to be helped. I have purposely placed Elliot at a group with very helpful students. They are very on top of things and on task about 98% of the time. I thought this would be a good place to encourage good choices. Man was I wrong! He HATES HATES HATES his group. He has moved away from them and only works with them when it's not a choice.

Today we started writing with our usual writing warm-up in our Writers' Notebook and then gathered on the carpet for today's mini lesson. Today's lesson in a nutshell was, "What are you working on as a writer?" I talked to the kids about what that meant and their goals for today's writing and sent them on their way to write. Elliot comes up to me as I'm making sure everyone is getting their spirals out to write, "What am I supposed to do?"
Me: "Look around. What do you see?"
E: "Working."
Me: "What do you think they are working on?"
E: "I don't know."
Me: "What time of day is it? What do we always do at this time?"
E: "I don't know."
Me: "I think this would be a good time for you to go ask Alicia what you are supposed to do."
E: "Not her."
Me: "She is a very good friend who could help you be on task right now."

He walked over to Alicia's desk and stood there for a few minutes, appearing to muster up some courage. He finally asked, "Alicia, what am I supposed to be doing right now?" And she told him. It looked like one of the most painful things of his life and I got pleasure out of watching it...I know that's terrible. I don't mind the students who ask what they are supposed to do if it happens every once in a while or if they were concentrating and still don't know, but it really bothers me when he doesn't know what to do ALL DAY! I am not a person to say that a parent needs to put their child on medicine, but if I've ever seen a candidate for ADHD medicine, this is one. Good thing I still have 25 weeks to figure out how to get him to focus for more than 2 seconds in a row.

My cup runeth over with tears.

Thanks to my friend for that title.

Am I allowed to start handing a pacifier to students who start crying? Especially the ones that cry for no apparent reason? I had some more criers today.

One of them was the usual suspect. Today his drama was about what a kid said he did. The other child claimed that he was kicked out of choir. William began crying when this accusation was made. I asked him if it was true and who knows the truth. It doesn't matter what other people think, if you know the truth. Blah, blah, blah...I'm really getting tired of his crying fits!

Another student began crying during math. I swear I wasn't torturing them with multiplication problems...or maybe I was. He is one of my students who claims he knows everything. He thinks things are too easy, yet he rarely completes work perfectly. He was unable to successfully complete 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication problems while everyone else in our group completed them much quicker and more successfully. He easily got frustrated and doesn't like when I have to teach him something step-by-step, which I did. I'm still not sure he understands the multiplication, so we'll see if tomorrow brings more tears.

Seriously, do these kids cry about everything at home? PROBABLY! In 4th grade, crying doesn't get you anything! In fact, it just annoys the teacher when you do it for any reason other than your puppy died. Okay, I give...there might be a few other reasons, but of all the times kids have cried in my class, none of their reasons have been merited. It has even gotten to the point that when I see a crier, my immediate response is: "What are you crying about?!?!?!!?"

It's Obama!

One of my students came into today carrying this newpaper cover story. He then felt the need to tape it to his chair for everyone to see. I couldn't resist sharing.

I would vote for...

Today my class had to write a paragraph explaining their choice for president and why they would vote for that person if they were of age. Some of them were GREAT and I can't resist sharing. (I did correct spelling because it's impossible for me to type as atrociously as my students. I also put some periods in as needed, but left most of the grammar as is.)

I would vote for Obama. He will bring justice to American history. And he will be the first black president. Unlike McCain he doesn't believe in health insurance. But Obama wants us to live in peace. Obama will make a program to let them get life insurance if they don't have any. And that's why Obama is the right person for this country.
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I would like to vote for Barack Obama because he would help us become better citizens. Obama would make all the other presidents so happy and proud. I think Obama would love being a president and also love helping and supportng the US. I will love working for our country and our liberty. Would Obama be our next president or not?
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I would vote for Obama because he makes good choices for people. So people would be happy with their country. And because Obama wants to lower taxes so people will still have money. Obama wants people to be happy because he doesn't want people not having houses over their heads. So that is why I would vote for Obama.
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I vote for Obama because he has very great ideas for schools, and teachers, and less money for things at stores, and just too many great ideas for him to be the President of the United States.
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I would vote for Obama because he understands problems and wants to fix them. I also like his ideas to take people out of Irag and send more. Also I love his health plans, national security plans. I want Obama for president so he can make this country a better country. And because I think he is the bravest man to run for president. I like Obama because he doesn't want the USA to have big disagreements with those other countries he wants to talk to them unlike McCain.
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I would vote for Barack Obama. He will lower the taxes. He would help people that need it. He would help pay insurance. He wants to be fair. He wants to talk with other states.
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I would vote for Barack Obama because he will help people that don't have much money to pay the hospitals or like the doctors or something. He would help pay insurance for the people who need it. He would help that are on the streets and give them some money. If some stores have big prices that come with taxes he will lower the taxes so they won't have to pay a lot at the stores no more.
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I would vote for Obama because he will lower taxes. But increase taxes for people with hier incomes. He's supposedly very smart and intelligent. He will reward farmers, ranchers, and people who own forests. So vote for Obama. He should be our next president.
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I want McCain to win. I think he will help our country. I think since he does not want us to talk to disagreeable countries. I think that will stop wars. He will lower taxes for everyone. He will give top teachers a benefit.
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I want to vote for Obama because he would reward top teachers. He also cares about health care of all children. He wants to lower taxes but would raise taxes for people that have higher incomes and a lot of people aren't that rich. When Obama becomes president he wants to do all these things for us. Obama also cares about education in each school in the USA and would make math and science the most important thing.
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I would vote for Obama because I think he is more fair than McCain. He wants to increase the money for people that works at restuarants. I'm thinking that he will want gas prices to decrease the gas prices. He did not vote for Irag when he was in the war, but I'm not saying that he was in the war. Obama wants to reward top teachers with an invest $10 billions a year in early childhood education.
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I would like to vote for Barack Obama because he is a wealthy man he lives in Hawaii. When he grew up he said that he wanted to sail to America to live his dream by being and trying to get the job of being the president. When he got to America he though that in America he just had to get a lot of people to vote for him. But he was told that there were other people that wanted to be president that he had to beat and that he has to have a meeting with the judges to be president. When he got to the council he was up against John McCain and its been four days tonight you will know if he wins or not but if he does he is the first black man to be president.
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If I were 18 I would vote for John McCain. Why? Well John McCain wants to dig for oil in Alaska to lower gas prices here. He also offers better military health care for our soldiers in Iraq and Baghdad. We would also set some records! John McCain at 82 would be our oldest president. Sarah Palin, first woman Vice President. And people at my school laugh at me for hoping John McCain would be president and I think that is wrong. And Barack Obama promises higher gas prices. You wanna pay $6.00 per gallon by the end of the year?!?!? I didn't think so, so get out there and vote for John McCain today!
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I would vote for Obama because he is a Democrat. Obama promising change and tax cuts. He will fix the economy. Obama will also work with other countries. Barack Obama will stop unncessary wars like in Iraq.
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Senator Obama should be president because I think he understand more of what we need and what's going on about the economy and also he's a good pick for president and what's fair for the country and others if he's president for sure he's gonna bring peace to all countries and most of all our country. He's like the nicest person ever so vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Caption Says: "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message."

Cry Babies

I have a class of cry babies...the following examples will give you a clear description of how many tears I encountered in just ONE DAY!

It's about 3 minutes after the tardy bell rings in the morning and one of my students comes walking in and I notice he is a bit teary eyed. This student has cried many times before, and usually it's more like crying wolf, so I don't really pay much attention. After I notice him grabbing Kleenex after Kleenex to dry his tears. I finally ask him what's wrong...

William: "Nothing!"

Me: "Well, nothing doesn't usually makes someone cry like that."

W: "It's nothing!"

Me: "Okay. Well here's the deal. I can't let you sit in my classroom crying like that if I have no idea why."

W: "It's NOTHING!"

Me: "Something is making you very upset. Is it school or home?"

W: "School."

Me: "Is it in this classroom or outside."

W: "I'm not saying."

Me: "Are you upset with something I did or something else."

W: "Something else."

Me: "In specials, lunch, PE, recess?"

W: "I've been crying ever since choir this morning."

Me: "Are you upset about choir?"

W: "No."

****I'm not a dentist and have not been trained in how to pull teeth.**wink**

It turns out that there were some stray dogs roaming our school and he was very upset that the Animal Control was on their way to catch them. I then had to talk to him about what we can do for homeless animals and their owners will have a chance to find them. It's not okay that dogs are roaming around school because they can sometimes be dangerous and might even bite some children. BLAH BLAH BLAH! He wiped his tears away to finally join us in class...for the time being...

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Today was also our Explorer Excellence Awards. This award ceremony is to honor Perfect Attendance, A and A/B Honor Roll, and a few other rewards just for our kids. I thought it went very well and except for me mispronouncing my first student's name, there were no other glitches. As we were returning back to class, I noticed 2 students who were crying like infants. I knew they were both upset that they didn't win any awards, but that is what happens. That is what happens when you don't finish your work in class, when you don't turn in homework, and when you don't make it up during the allotted times every Friday afternoon. One of these students was William. He was very upset and was refusing to do his work. I've had many conversations with him about his grades before and he had no reason to be surprised by not winning an award. He is in 4th grade and has opportunity, after opportunity, after opportunity to get is work done, CORRECTLY. I asked him to talk to me outside and because of all of our previous discussions about his grades and chances, this is what I had to say: "William...I understand you are very upset because you didn't win an award. I really have no sympathy for you at this point because I gave you chance after chance to turn in all of your work. There are some teachers who don't give as many chances. If you are out here crying, that means you are already getting behind on the work for this 9 weeks. If I were you, I would go back to my desk and finish my work. You will not come in my room crying like this because this is not a surprise. This is a result of your actions last 9 weeks. You can change it if you want, but you can't change that sitting out here. When you've stopped crying, you may come back in."

William finally joined us back in class, with only minutes to spare before we were headed to PE.
He sat down very dramatically in his chair and gave me the look of death. Too bad the look of death doesn't work on teachers...since they are Stare Professionals. I told him to join us in line to leave and his response was a very angry, "NO!" I told him he could then come with me so we could visit the Principal's office. He got up, slammed his chair around and grunted, "I hate this school anyway." See, I don't take any of this personally because I dealt with much worse last year, students who didn't necessarily hate the school, but might have hated me at some points.

I took him to PE, the principal was busy, and returned to my room to call his dad. I let him know what was going on and he said he would be to the school immediately. Dad and William had a nice long chat and talked about what they can do to prevent this problem in the future.
Problem #1 resolved!

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My other student who had been crying after the award ceremony ended getting over it very quickly. I will talk to her this week about goals for this 9 weeks and how she can meet them.
Problem #2 sort of resolved!

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On our way to PE, I also had another student boo-hooing with tears dripping from his face. Elliot was having trouble understanding the math assignment. As a teacher, it is my job to help students who are having trouble. I have many students in my class who truly need my help. Elliot, on the other hand, does not need math help. He was commended on last year's standardized test and he was very successfully completing the exact same type of multiplication. Today he claims that he had no idea what to do. I sat and showed him step by step what our assignment was yesterday and also again today. He still did not know how to do the problems...I need a break. I thought he was understanding what he was supposed to do, so I walk away. The next thing I know, he is sitting, head-down crying. What am I supposed to do? I have kids who really don't get thing...I need to help them. You just don't WANT to get it.

Problem #3 unresolved!

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As I was getting ready to take the bus riders to the buses, I notice a student using her cell phone and causing a distraction in the line. The bell has yet to ring and regardless, the school/district policy is that no cell phones are allowed to be visible at school. I ask her to hand me the phone and she gets very upset. (This is not a student in my class.)
Student: "But I need my phone to call my mom after school."
Me: "I'm sorry. The rule is no cell phones at school. You had yours out were causing a distraction. I will turn your phone into the office and your mom can get it there."
Student: "But I am supposed to call her on the way home."
Me: "On the bus on the way home? Cell phones are not allowed on the bus either. Your phone is not to be out at school."
Student: "I only had it out because I got a text message."
Me: "Hmmm, a text message? You said your phone was to call your mom. You were text messaging with your phone. That is not okay and I will again tell you that it will be in the office for your mom to pick up."
I turn the phone in, take care of some after-school business and return to my classroom to find a voicemail and e-mail from this student's parent. She is very upset and said her daughter would NEVER have her phone out when she wasn't supposed to. She had more words to say, but none of importance (ha!). I told the vice principal about this situation and it is now under her control.

Problem #4 resolved!

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As I was sending kids to particular buses, one of my very trusty-worthy students came to me and said that another student (not in my class) was throwing rocks. As I turn around to ask him about it, a rock hits me in the leg. I'm talking about a nice (inch-sized) rock. I ask him if he threw the rock and his reply, "I didn't throw a rock. I don't know what you're talking about." LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! ahhhhhhhh....I may not have been so bothered by it if I hadn't dealt with all of these other situations in one day. I ended up writing this student up after talking to his teacher and asking what needed to be done. Turns out, this was not his only behavior incident today.

Problem #5 semi-resolved!

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All of this happens in one day and now I get to be at home relaxing in front of election results. Yes it is exciting, but not exactly the type of TV that helps my mind forget about today.

Obama Wins!

Today our school hosted a mock election. There were voting booths set up in the science lab where the kids could walk to and place their vote. Most of the kids were very excited because they've been talking about who they would vote for for weeks. They finally had their chance today. Some of them thought that today's vote would actually count towards the general election tomorrow, but I had to clarify that our vote was to see who would win if our school was in charge.

Throughout the day, I was continually asked, "Who won?" "I don't know...they have to count the ballots and will announce them at the end of the day," I responded many times. The time finally came...
"May I please have your attention. I would like to announce the results of today's presidential election. Please remember that this does not affect the outcome of the national election. Barack Obama received 584 votes and John McCain received 192 votes. Obama won by a landslide.

The classroom erupted into loud cheers. I know that most of my kids had been saying Obama's name every chance they could and shunned any mentions to John McCain. I, of course, am unable to tell my kids who I voted for because I feel it's my opinion and don't need them going home telling their parents who I voted for...that just causes unneeded tension with parents who disagree with my stance. We'll see how things turn out tomorrow...

Can I haunt you?

It was a bit crazy having Halloween on a Friday. The kids were so excited about their trick-or-treating that would take place later that night. They came in a bit crazy and didn't want to think about their morning work. I finally had them settled and we began our usual routine...but not after a bit of questioning from Victor: "Can I haunt you? Can I haunt you on your bicycle? Can I haunt you now?"

Today was the perfect day to do a learning lesson with Oreos as well...not! Actually it wasn't so bad, but they were so energetic from the thought of the evening's activities, that our Oreo lesson only added to that excitement. After some initial excitement, we got through our phases of the moon Oreo demonstration with very little rule breaking...only a few plastic forks were thrown in the process. Because of health rules for food at school, I was not allowed to let the kids eat their Oreos in my classroom, so I made it perfectly clear:
Me: "You are NOT allowed to eat your Oreos IN THIS CLASSROOM. I am not allowed to let you eat these Oreos IN THIS CLASSROOM. I will not answer anymore questions about where and when you can eat your cookies, but you may not eat them IN THIS CLASSROOM. And, if you are going to break the rules and eat them, you MUST eat your lunch first. They are dessert, not your lunch."
Class: "So Ms. L, can we eat them in the cafeteria?"
Me: "I'm not answering that."
Other Kids: "She isn't going to tell you that you can eat them, but if you bring them to lunch you will be okay."
Me: "You might want to listen to your friends."
Kids: "See, I told you!"

The rest of the day went off seemingly uneventful, which was very nice and unexpected.

Above is the scariest Halloween costume ever seen!

A back that looks like a beard...

Today we had an author visit by the name of Matthew McElligott. Our librarian suggested we read some books before he arrives so that our kids would be familiar with his work before he talked to them. I read aloud Backbeard: Pirate for Hire and The Spooky Book. While I was reading these books aloud, I didn't think much of them...they weren't all that special. The kids enjoyed the ridiculous humor in them and that was good...isn't a book a good place to have some ridiculous humor?

Today during his visit, he really showed kids how much perseverance it takes to be an author. He talked about how many times he rereads his books, edits and revises before he can ever think about sending it off to the publisher. (Which was good because our kids think it's perfect after their first rough draft.) He talked about how many times the publisher might ask him to change things and then he has to rewrite again. I hope the kids picked up on the message that even though he's a professional writer, it's rarely perfect, even after 15 revision sessions.

One thing that truly interested me during the visit was his use of technology. I apparently did not notice while reading his books the real-ness of the illustrations. It turns out that he takes pictures of textures in his life and then uses Photo Shop to import them into his sketches. He demonstrated how he did this today with 3 kids from the audience. He took pictures of their shirts and then imported them as tablecloths, jackets, and a dress for a grandma. It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. His website gives a more detailed description of how he actually goes about this...it's worth checking out.

Overall, I enjoyed his visit. Parts of it were tedious and a bit boring, but I think the kids really did enjoy what he had to say.

http://matthewmcelligott.com/wordpress/?cat=15

We Won!

I've been meaning to post that our Red Ribbon Week "Strike Out Drugs" door won for our grade level! My kiddos were very happy and as was I!

OMG...is this for real?

Some of these are too good or sad not to share.

It was hard for me to get over what had happened to my aunt Lila. It all started out when my mom, grandma, grandpa, and brother went to the doctor. My aunt and my cousin and I stayed home. My aunt told my cousin and I to go wake up Lila because my aunt was going to the store so Lila could watch us. So we ran up stairs to wake her up. She was laying face down on her pillow. We tried tapping her but she wouldn't wake up. Not we tried whacking her with her pillow. Finally my cousin noticed something on the pillow, a face shaped oval. We went downstairs to show my aunt. My aunt ran upstairs because we could say anything. We waited for her to come back downstairs. We slowly walked upstairs to see what had happened. The door was shut where my aunt was. I opened the door and hear my aunt crying. "What's wrong?" I asked in a scared voice. "Your aunt Lila is....dead." We started pouring with tears all day. My cousin Genny came home and heard what had happened to her mom. A week later after Christmas, we had her funeral. Over four-hundred people that were family showed up. Lila was an important member of our family.

My grandma told me a story about my aunt Lila and I want to share it. My mom, Lila, aunt Erica were playing on the stairs. They were running up and down the stairs chasing each other. My aunt Lila slipped and rolled down the stairs bumping her head on each and every bar. My grandma said, "She banged her head really hard and she had a seizure (a bruise on her brain). She didn't get a long life because she only like 29 years. She means everything to me because she gave me everything I wanted. Now she is going FOREVER. Father wanted her.

No I in "team"

Here's another one...

I lived to play kickball and everybody loved how I played. One day we had a tournament against the greatest team. I played. I was the catcher. It was really hard running after the ball. The girls kick very hard and when I caught their ball, they hurt my arm, but I know I'm dong good and my family knows I'm doing good. Then I got enough strength to keep playing this game and still I will not give up on my team. There is not an I in team is there? So I'm not going to give up on my team. I have been on that team for years and never gave up on them, so I hope they don't give up on me because I never will give up on them or on anything, so that's why you keep trying. Not bad stuff, but good. It was hard, but you will get through it.

Part of this paper sounds a little like an inspirational speaker http://www.dallasisd.org/keynote.htm from Dallas.

Devil Stuff

This was written as part of a composition for a writing benchmark:

"It's about to be Halloween! When it's Halloween you can dress up as a scary person. Like me, I dress up as a scary person, or not. the only thin that I hate about Halloween is that some times people dress up more scarier than me and I go crazy. But the real part that I really hate the most is...I'M NOT ALLOWED TO GO TRICK OR TREATING SOME TIMES! Because my mom and dad are Christian, that's the good thing, but since they are Christian, I can't go because they say that Halloween is like devil stuff like dressing up as a devil, scaring smaller kids than you, pretending that you are really the scary person that you're dressed up as, scaring kids when they try to get candy out of those buckets that you put candy inside and once you put your hand inside and touch the bucket, a scary hand comes out grabbing your arm and scream like a little girl in a party being drunk. And sometimes they say that bad people put like bad things in the candy so when the kids eat it they get suck. But I guess kids don't know that, that's why they trick or treat. But what I do when I can't go trick or treating is I watch scary movies, play with my toys at home, go for a family hang out at stores and just hang out outside, buy new things at the store and the most fun thing is...GO TO SLEEP! And you know why I go to sleep? Because I'm lazy at my house, but I have to do my homework and do all sorts of things at home. And it's kind of fun at my house so that is what I do at home. It's kind of fun without going trick or treating and hanging out with my family.

I hope you found as much humor in this paper as I did, without me having to point out specific moments!

Red Ribbon Week

Of all weeks, this week we had Red Ribbon Week...Drug Free is the way to be! We had activities we had to do correlating to the theme. We had of course to talk about what it meant, sign a pledge to be drug-free, wear something special each day of the week, remember to wear our red ribbons every day, and decorate our door with a drug-free theme.

I just wanted to share the door that one of the students in my class created...idea and construction.

Is it fixed yet?

This week was a bit of a struggle in more than one way. We had two early release days, afternoons filled with conferences, Red Ribbon Week activities, and NO COPY MACHINE! Well, let me rephrase that. We have 3 copy machines in the school, but individual codes for each teacher that only work on one machine. The machine I use was broken. It actually broke last Thursday and the repair man was supposed to have it fixed by Monday. It was finally repaired by late Thursday afternoon (one week later).

If you've ever thought about how hard it might be to teach without a copy machine, amplify that by about 10. Not only were we unable to copy homework, but we were also unable to share writing plans that we only had hard copies of. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if all the other stress factors hadn't been present this week. All I hope is that next week is marginally less stressful and tiring.

HOLA!

Wednesday I was informed that I would be getting a new student on Thursday. Surprisingly I was excited about this...you see, I didn't have the maximum amount of kids that I could in my class and it's better to be maxed out so that you aren't the revolving classroom door later in the year. I welcomed a new student this early in the year.

The next thing I found out is that she does not speak any English. She had been offered the chance to attend a school in our district for Spanish Bilingual, but parents denied those services. The thought of having a student with no English ability might have concerned me if I didn't have an aide in my classroom all day who is fluent in Spanish. I also have two students who speak Spanish at home. AND...I did spend a summer in Paraguay, pretending to speak Spanish. Well, this all came in handy when she came in my classroom. My aide greeted them and I think reassured the parents that she would be okay. Immediately, some of my Spanish came flowing back. Some words I have to search through my internal dictionary for while others were found in my two other students. :)

Friday rolled around and everything seemed well. My aide translated a math assessment in order to see what she knew. Unfortunately, she doesn't know division and that is a bit of a concern because we have already learned that. Specials came and I sent the kids off to run like crazies in PE. When I picked them up, Alexandra was hysterical. She was complaining that her stomach hurt. I told her to go to the bathroom and she started babbling and doing everything to avoid the bathroom. She did not want to go to the nurse like I was telling her to. (Yes, I was saying all of this in Spanish.) I eventually had her ushered to the nurse by one of my Spanish-speaking students. Apparently she hadn't eaten in a few days and hasn't slept well due to all of the changes in her life right now. She ended up going home sick and probably a bit scared. It's going to be an interesting year for her and myself. I know how I felt in Paraguay where nobody spoke English, so I understand her confusion and even pain. I've spoken more Spanish in the last two days than I have since I returned from Paraguay...hopefully it will ease her transition.

Parent Conferences

This week we had two early release days so that we could have the afternoon for parent conferences. Seeing how most of my class is very well-behaved and almost on grade level, I wasn't too concerned. I had it planned out that they would share something with their parents they've done or like about the class and then we would talk about their goals and what they need to do.

Here they come...and I'm the smiling, happy teacher their kids hopefully talk about. I tell each of them how much I enjoy having their child in class, how they participate, they turn in their homework on time, and how respectful they are. It's almost the same spiel after spiel, differing a bit depending on how many multiplication facts they know and what difficulties they're having with reading, if any. Every student and parent get the same spiel about preparing for the writing TAKS test in late February and what will be expected by then.

Now, I do have a few students that have very talkative and playful personalities and those conferences were a bit more difficult. If I learned anything from my student teaching cooperative teacher, it is that you have to address the problem as it is. The issues that needed to be addressed were nothing new, their parents were aware. In fact, we talked about it like a real problem and how it was going to be fixed and what happens if it isn't. All of the parents were very supportive and understood the problems. They are going to talk about appropriate behavior in order to improve what's happening at school. It helps when the kids know the parents know what's going on and they will be concerned about it and keeping in touch.

Overall, I was very happy with the way the parent conferences turned out and I reassured them all they have wonderful kids and they are assets to our class.

So many thoughts, so little time.

I have quite a few blogs I want to write, but am too tired to write them tonight. I will get them all in this weekend...

- Parent Conferences
- New Student
- Victor and Elliot
- William Quits
- Copy Machines
- And whatever happens tomorrow!

Are you refusing to work?

I have a very difficult students who I'm sure I've talked about before, but can't remember his alias. I guess I'll rename him with...Elliot. Elliot is severely unmotivated in most content areas, but especially in reading and writing. He often does not participate during reading mini lessons or write during Writers' Workshop. I've tried many things to get him going, but he just doesn't seem to care. I would like to rephrase that. He does seem to care, because when I talk about his behavior or refusal to work, he often gets a very angry look like he is upset with himself. In most cases, I understand where a child's anger or dislike for a certain type of work come to play, but with Elliot, it happens so often that I'm confused by it.

Today during math, we were noticing patterns when multiplying by 10s, 100s, 1000s. The class had a sheet to follow along with. We talked about the pattern, the answer for each one, and how we would figure out the next. Well, we excluded Elliot. I sauntered (we're learning about verbs of steel as well) to his desk only to notice all the blanks were filled with question marks. The first words out of my mouth were, "This is unacceptable!" I said this first because this was a discussion I was about to have for about the 10th time with Elliot. We've talked about it being unacceptable to write a question mark in the blank when we are working as a group and when there are 2 teachers to help (myself and my aide). I erased all of the question marks for him, tried to get him going again and he just put his head down. I asked, "Are you refusing to do your work?" He nodded his head.

-- I am documenting exactly how I handled the situation. I would not handle this type of situation like this every time, but I have given this child about 300 chances in many different settings within our classroom. You may not agree with this, but at the moment, and still during reflections, I agree with what I did. Also keep in mind that I already have a conference scheduled for tomorrow with this child's parents.--

I asked Elliot to leave my classroom. My door was already propped open, so I asked him to sit right in the doorway. When I got the rest of the class back on track, I asked Elliot if he was ready to re-enter our classroom and return to work. If he was not, I told him that he could go sit in Ms. H's room next door. (She is aware of this student's behavior and is very helpful in stressful times.) He followed me back to his desk and immediately put his head down. I said, "Grab your paper. You are going to Ms. H's room." "I don't want to go in there." "I'm sorry. It is not a choice. I gave you a choice to work and you chose not to. You have no more choices." He went to Ms. H's room and sat for the remainder of math.

I obviously have to figure out some way to motivate this student to work, but I'm stumped. He HATES cooperative work (and we do a lot of that), he hates anything that takes too much energy, he hates talking in front of the class (which I don't force on any child), and he hates when I ask him to do something. This child is very bright in math (commended on our state test last year) and fairly competent in reading. Unfortunately, he has only shown me that he is incapable of doing work without my step-by-step-by-step guidance....uuuugggghhhh!

Back in the old'en days!

Yesterday, the fourth graders at my school ventured out to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. I was well prepared and knew my class would be well-behaved.

We started out seeing an IMAX movie about Texas, which I really enjoyed. I sat next to Victor during this movie, which I also really enjoyed. He seemed to love the movie and also asking me which city every clip was of. After the IMAX, we had some time to view the exhibit before lunch. My kids broke off into their groups and went to work on their assignments. (Yes, they had an assignment!) There were specific parts of the exhibit that they had to answer questions about or compare to another part. As the teacher, I took the most difficult group of kids. They aren't necessarily badly behaved, but this group of kids tends to get over excited and that affects their behavior in a negative way. I took these guys for myself so I wouldn't have to later get onto them for not listening to the chaperons.

Overall, the reports from the chaperons were all wonderful! The kids were very well-behaved, followed the agreements we made about behavior in a museum, and represented our school positively. Now, we were not the only school at the museum. There was a school from another city who must have not discussed museum etiquette. While I had my group looking at part of an exhibit, this other group of kids pushed their way in front of my class and was grabbing everything. They were also running around other places and yelling loudly. I once asked them to not yell, but it was ineffective. I would have been completely embarrassed if it was my class behaving in that manner. In the same respect, I do understand the struggles of managing all of them and am grateful that I didn't have to take last year's class to the museum. Regardless...if my kids had behaved like that, we would have sat in the lobby instead.

We are taking one more field trip later this year and I am very excited about it. We head to a Christmas Tree Farm that sets up "A Little Bit of Texas Tour" for 4th graders about Texas settlements. My favorite part is the tetherball at lunch time...this is when I get to show all these 4th graders how to REALLY play tetherball. I should tell them to start practicing now.

Never Leave Victor Unattended

Today was one crazy day! We had school pictures and library time, along with rainy weather for 90% of the day. You have all figured out by now that craziness often means good blogs, as long as I'm not too tired to write it. Well, this was another interesting and humorous day in the world of Victor.

Because it was picture day, Victor didn't want to go to his usual class, but wanted to stay in class so he could go to pictures on time with us. I obliged and let him stay in class. During this time, my portable-buddy and I co-teach social studies (it's something we are "researching"). We were all in her classroom and while we were helping other students, Victor got loose. I turned around to find Victor twirling in Ms. H's chair and trying to use her computer. He thought it was perfectly fine. (If you remember, I wrote a blog warning teachers to never leave rolling chair unattended.) We talked about personal space, AGAIN, and how that space was not for him. With that settled...

Our pictures were scheduled for the science lab. The kids were all wonderful waiting in line and letting me fix their hair and make sure collars were in place. While waiting for everyone to finish, Victor made friends with the skeleton. At first he was holding hands with the skeleton and then using the skeleton's hands to poke people. I then turn around after some primping to see Victor with the skeleton's arm wrapped around his neck. He was trying to dance with the poor skeleton. If I had had a camera, this would have been a really cute picture. I was unable to stop laughing and admired Victor and what he truly brings to our class...a little bit of ridiculous humor.

Near the end of the day, I was again helping other students and turned around to find Victor behind my desk. This time he was playing with the trinkets I have on my filing cabinet. He removed one item and wanted to walk away with it, while he rearranged all the others. I tried to make a deal with Victor in order to play with it in the future, but he didn't really care for that. (He doesn't tend to like things for the future. He needs to talk about the present.) We'll talk about this again when I feel like he earns some time with the toy.

My goodness...trying to assist 20 kids and always keep an eye on Victor is my biggest challenge.