Monday, September 9, 2013

Whistle While You Work



Hello all! Happy Monday! After a busy, social weekend (filled with LOTS of friends and fun and boys and roommate bonding and sleep and hours spent laying on my futon. All personal panic crisis averted- WIN), this student teacher is BACK and ready to roll. Kind of.

So far today we have still been dealing with some of the events that occurred late Friday afternoon. Two of our boys got into a physical altercation, which resulted in contacting parents and the principal and lost recess time (to write apology letters- MWAHAHA) today. Friday afternoon we also had a puker. (Woohoo- vomit in a hot school!) Said puker had complained about a tummy ache for most of the afternoon, but seemed okay, and truthfully, the class had a rough day. Any child faced with a spelling, STAR comprehension, and math test in the same day might start to feel “upset.” Anyway, this usually bright child had an unusually low score on her math test and asked (or at least her mother asked) to retake it. SIGH. The questions of the day became, “Do we let her retake it? Is that fair to the other students? How shall we address such MADNESS?” After conferencing, my rockstar teacher and I decided that it would be best to allow the student to retake the test and to average out the two scores. Fair and square? I hope so.

Other than dealing with leftover shenanigans from last week, this Monday has been exceptionally normal… Including another early out for heat (SCORE!). The insanity that is elementary school scheduling is really testing my ability to be flexible. Thank goodness it’s not based on physical flexibility, because I would fail (and NO, I’m NOT failing at scheduling flexibility).

Later this week, I’m planning on (hopefully) doing some fun activities to practice spelling words. But it’s a super secret…. Okay, you cracked me! I’ll spill! I want to do the write-on-your-desk-using-shaving-cream-activity J I’m excited about it, but also a little worried about how well my kids will handle it… considering we are still working on some, ahem, listening skills. Only one way to find out!

In addition to operation clean desks and practice spelling words/listening skills, I’ve got a social studies lesson on community helpers in the works. Not quite sure what it will be yet, but I’m excited to be doing something original and not out of the teacher’s basal. Those things can get reeeeaaaal boring reeeeeaaaalll fast. Just sayin’. So in search of the perfect resources, I’ve turned to two of my trusted friends: the internet, and the public library. For those of you who are too cool for reading or libraries or public or whatever, you’re missing out. That place is good stuff. Although in our public library they always look at me funny (because I have a college kid’s card… Sorry I don’t live here!). And then there’s the fact that people in this town just don’t have an overall friendly demeanor. Like no one ever waves from the car at anyone else. (Like ever.) Don’t even get me started on that one.

Questions, Comments, and Concerns to wrap up today:
  • Why can’t school just be out early everyday? I LOVE this stuff.
  • Why can’t I get on a normal sleep schedule? I swear it will be the death of me.
  • Which one of my kids will be the next to start hugging me? I’m up to 4/17 consistently… and I love that super awkward cuteness.
  • Why did one of my boys attempt to spell the word “dry” and “j-r-i-y”? Is there something wrong with my speech, or is sounding that one out especially hard?
  •  Does anyone have cool ideas of what I can do with all of the “gifts” that my students bless me with? IE, today I received two colored pictures of Spongebob. Bahaha. I’m also holding onto one student’s apology letter for “brlrten” out in class. Annoying, but endearing.
  • When will I finally see the whole personality of some of my kids? A few of them are so stinking shy that they are just now (after 3.5 weeks) starting to open up and be quirky.  And it is ADORABLE. Which leads me to my next comment….
  •   If you’ve never spent time watching a group of kids before, do it. I promise you will not be disappointed in the entertainment value. Watch how they interact together, or (even better) watch just one specific kid in a group setting (like a playground). Okay, as I’m starting to re-read this I’m realizing that I sound semi-pedophile-y, but seriously kids are hilarious. The things that they do when they are playing and don’t realize that anyone is watching are priceless. Smiles and laughs for days.


It’s nap time for this girl before the FIRST TRACK PRACTICE OF THE YEAR. WOOOOOOO- FALL TRACK!!!!!!!!!!

Until tomorrow…
Peace, love, and BCU T&F,
Jayna