WWAR: Puppies, Puppies, Puppies!

I didn't really want to start our WWAR series with this book. Don't misunderstand, it's a delightful little story that follows the life of puppies. It's filled with adorable illustrations, rhyming, and predictable text; an overall great read for early childhood kids. It's just not a book that I find particularly spectacular.

That is until it saved my tail this afternoon.

The air conditioner in our classroom went out this morning, making our classroom an oven. We were given the option of relocating to another room in our building (the staff meeting room) while we waited for the a/c to be fixed. So while my little heroes were at lunch, I hastily rehashed our plan for the afternoon, packed up whatever materials we needed, and schlepped it all down the 1/4 mile long hallway to the other room. The long walk+disrupted routine+a new environment+a frazzled teacher made for very, very high strung kindergartners this afternoon. We struggled through our afternoon lesson. We completed it, but not without 4 timeouts, 3 band-aids, and 2 tantrums.

In an effort to regain focus before shipping them off to activity, we sat down for some DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time. I had grabbed a stack of books, and on top was Puppies, Puppies, Puppies. To my utter surprise, my little heroes were completely captivated. After a few pages, they were anticipating the predictive text and reading with me (which I usually don't expect until a little later in the year). By the end of the story, both the heroes and myself were calmer and ready to take on the rest of the day.

Who would have thought? I guess I should have known, never judge a book by it's cover!

Even on hot and unpredictable days, I love my job!

A bad case of the Mondays

All in all it was not a terrible day....just a super frustrating one.

I leave my house at the usual time to make it to school 10 minutes early. I get on the highway and it's at a standstill due to an accident. I make it to the next exit a mile up the road and take the back roads, however, I am now 15 minutes behind schedule and 5 minutes late. Not the best way to start a Monday.

I get to school and get all of my belongings to lug inside: teacher bag/purse, lunch, and random box of teacher-y things I found in my spare room. As my hand reaches for the door to enter the building, the door is slammed open (into my foot) and two boys run out of the building. Using every single bit of teacher sweetness in me, I ignore my now throbbing toe, gently remind the boys to not run in (or out of) the building, and redirect them to the gym.

I head down the hall to my classroom where my students are already lining up. I get in, hastily set up morning work (all the while thanking the Good Lord I stayed late Friday to set up), and welcome my kinder heros with a smile.

Unfortunately, I was not the only one with a bad case of the Mondays. Today we had:

3 I-miss-my-mommy crying moments
5 I-will-not-hit-other-people timeouts
3 Non-green-happy-faces on behavior reports
1 completely-unprovoked-super-big-crying-tantrum

Tomorrow can only get better.

Even on super long, frustrating days....I love my job!

The end is near...C'mon Spring!

I know I haven't posted my 100 day entry ( I promise, it's coming) or any other entry for that matter, but I have good reason...SNOWPOCALYPSE!

That's right, we had a record snowfall for the month of February this past week. It moved in Monday night, and we were out the rest of the week.

Today was our first day back after our "6-day weekend." Class-wise, it was an awesome day. My class fell back into routine; we sang, read, had an unofficial  Groundhog day, and even celebrated a birthday.

However, on the teacher side of things it was a tad hectic. OK, it was down-right crazy and super annoying. We have progress reports to due this week, as well as get ready for parent-teacher conferences next week. With us being out 4 out of 5 days last week, I am way behind in assessments for progress reports. On top of that we have QTA this week. For you lucky individuals who have no idea what I'm talking about I will explain. QTA is Quality Time Analysis. Basically, each teacher/faculty member is given a spreadsheet to record how many minutes a day we do everything. We have to record everything from teaching time to bathroom breaks to discipline, and turn it into the site administrator by the end of the day.

For example, I have to record how many minutes I spend giving whole group instruction in reading, how many minutes it is to transition to the small group or independent assignment in reading, how many minutes the kids spend completing the aforementioned reading assignment, how many minutes I spend one-on-one with kids checking the assignment, etc. Now multiply that by however many subjects/ lessons I teach a day. Multiply that by 5 days -- yup, it's all week long. Annoying right?

Did I mention that Wednesday is supposed to bring SNOWPOCALYPSE II? Yeah. More snow. Woo.

Super frustrating week, but I still love my job!

If you don't laugh, you'll cry....

Today was one of those days that I'm pretty sure the entire cosmos was against us getting anything done. We started the day in our regular fashion: Turn attendance cards, turn in folders and agendas, start morning work. We even got through morning work without a hitch. However, in the middle of morning meeting, an unexpected fire drill.

Now most fire drills teachers know are coming, even though we aren't "supposed" to. I think it's a good thing to give us a heads up, that way we can prepare our little ones, who tend to be very excitable/terrified when something like this occurs. However, we did exceptionally well, barring the field of mud we had to trudge through.

Coming in from the fire drill, I decided was the perfect time for a restroom break. It gave us the opportunity to refocus, regroup, and de-mudify. Just as we were settling into our reading lesson, my class was called for eye and ear screening. Now, don't get me wrong, I love, LOVE, love that we offer this service for our kids, many whom have never been to a doctor, however, the timing could not have been worse. It took up the rest of our morning, leaving us just enough time to grab lunchboxes and head to the cafeteria.

BLEH...Frustrating to say the least. The prime teaching time ripped out of my day. But the great thing about kindergarten is that my students have a way of making it all a joy.

For instance, today we were reading , a favorite in our class. Just as a let out a "HOLY GUCAMOLE! What stinks?" in my very best Skippyjon Jones voice, my dear sweet little friend, who has earned the nickname Dennis (as in Dennis the Menace), lets a huge one rip. And of course, the class catches a huge case of the giggles. Being the somber adult in the room, I got us back on track and finished the book. But on the inside, I was rolling! Let's face it....farts are funny. And nothing fixes a frustrating day like a good laugh.