Hair

Over the weekend, I finally had the chance to change my hairstyle. In case you didn't know, one of my many quirks involves me changing my hair pretty often. I love to try on new looks and play around with the image/ persona that they present. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't changed my hair at all this year. All my kids know me as a teacher with black hair cut in a short, stacked style with sweepy bangs.

Until today.

My kids were shocked to see me new waist length curls with red highlights. In fact, they were speechless. But being kindergarteners that didn't last too long.

"What happened to you?"   and "I thought you were a new teacher!" and "Ms.S, your hair!" soon led into to questions of "How did you do that?" and "Did you dye your hair?"

They could not keep their eyes off of me, or my hair, the entire morning. It was quite comical.

Imagine the even bigger shock to find out that 4 others in our class got new hairstyles too!

Talk about a great hair day!
I LOVE my job!

I've been kinda busy....Sorry!

I know I haven't posted in a while, but it has been down right hectic around here.

Between catching up from snow days, weekend professional development workshops, and meetings... meetings... MEETINGS, I've gotten a little behind. So I will catch you up:

• Thanks to the switch from a day-based school year to an hours based school year, plus the added time from the beginning of the year, our students do not have to make up any instructional time. However, teacher contracts are still day based, so we do.
• The past five weekends I've had the opportunity to attend Payne reading training, for FREE, thanks to our State DOE. It's been totally awesome (you get all the tools to implement what you learned FREE), and I'd recommend it to any person who teaches on the Elementary level. 
• One of my tiny tots had to have surgery on his leg last week, but has made such an awesome recovery! He was back in school to day, walking (but still taking it easy), and we were all glad to have him back.
• Our BOE had a specially called meeting tonight to vote on selling 3 pieces of surplus property, one of which is where I currently teach. They voted a unanimous yes, and we find out all the details tomorrow.

Now, I don't want to leave you on a downer, so here is a funny story from last week.

I get called out of my lunch by another teacher who is on lunch duty about one of my tiny tots who dumped his milk into his tray. While we had a discussion about his choice and the ramifications of such an action she brings me ANOTHER one of my tots who ATE HER PEACHES. She had set them down to come talk to me, and when she came back to them, there he was, eating her peaches. When asked about it, he knew he didn't make a good choice, but did it anyway. He apologized, and sat down to finish the rest. We couldn't do anything but laugh.

I love my job.

Smile

Today was a mellow, low-key kind of day for us. We had two friends absent, and one got went home with a severe earache after specials. The rest of us sneezed, hacked, and coughed our way through the day. Well, except for DC, who was in very good spirits.

DC is one of the most charming little boys I have ever had the privelege of meeting. He almost reminds me of my little brother when he was that age; smaller than most, yet a heart that is bigger than the size of Texas. He finds joy in everything and has the most wickedly funny sense of humor ever contained in a 5-year-old body.

During seatwork today, DC decided to get a little "creative." I hear "oooooo, I'm telling" coming from his table, and look up to find him drawing with a crayon on his chair. I asked him to bring his chair over to me, so that we could discuss his actions and the ramifications of such behavior. Ever so slowly he pushes the chair towards me with his head down. Using our learning tools responsibly is a big deal in our classroom, so he knows he is probably going to get into a bit of trouble.

I look down at the seat of the chair to examine it, and find a blue crayon smiley face staring back at me.

I laughed. I couldn't help it, I just had to chuckle.

He looks up and breaks into his million dollar grin. I hand him a lysol wipe and tell him to clean it up. He spends the next 15 minutes scrubbing the crayon smiley face off of the seat, with the smile on his face intact.

I love my job.

Switcheroo

After school yesterday, I finally got around to re-vamping the layout of my room (with the help of the amazing Mrs. T). The previous set up just didn't utilize space efficiently, and frankly was driving me batty. I haven't had the luxury of staying in the same classroom every year, so it takes a little while to find the "perfect" setup that works for myself, as well as my dear kindergarten people. I have learned, however, that the reactions the next day are usually priceless:

Dennis: WOW!!! What did you DO?!?!


Me: I moved somethings around


Dennis: By yourSELF? Whoa you are Soooooooo Strong Ms. S!

and then a little later

Twin: I really like the way you moved things


Me: Thank you, Twin


Twin: You should move the whole school around!!! (breaks into huge grin)


Me: (confused look)


Twin: HAHAHAHAHA (walks away)

I love my job!

 P.S. I've been thinking about doing a blogging blitz, to make myself a better blogger. Perhaps reviewing children's books? Thought and opinions?

Giggles

It might be the cold front pushing through, or perhaps the left overs of a Halloween bounty, but today was a day full of giggles. Everything made us laugh today, be it the sound the letter F makes (it does kinda tickle your lip), measuring objects with linking cubes (did you know that The SuperHero is 47 cubes tall?), or eating snack (it's not everyday you get a corn dog for a snack!). So I went with it. I used our giggle energy, and channeled it into creative, interactive games and activities.The tots LOVED it! Heck, I loved it. It's what I'm called to do. In this current world of meetings, paperwork, assessments, data, etc. it's too easy to get caught up in the secondary tasks. Kindergarten is about learning, loving, and giggles, and today was the kind of day I needed to remind me.

By the way, if you are looking for a giggle inducing book    is a winner every time. After all, underpants are just funny!

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.

Funny

My sprouts are hilarious.

During afternoon centers, two of my boys were playing in the Imagination Station (Dramatic Play/Housekeeping). One had all of the play money in his hand, the other was trying to persuade his friend to share the wealth. Eventually, Mr. Scrooge got tired of his friend's persistent asking, stopped & sighed, dug through the stack of bills and pulled out a five. He turns and hands it to him, with the words "Here's a five. Go get a footlong."

I could barely contain my mirth.

A little while later, Mr. Scrooge is still hoarding all the cash. I call him over for a little chat.

"You should probably share that money, Bud. Share the wealth."

"But Ms. S, I'm Richie Rich!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed. With his almost white blond hair, and his pleading tone of exasperation, I just couldn't hold it in. He grinned, laughed, and skipped off to "spend his money." Methinks he has earned a nickname.

PINK!

y students are obsessed with the color pink, both boys and girls. It is quite a wonder to behold, really.

Morning coloring:

"You can use violet red to make pink."

When we got new journals:

"LOOK! They're PINK!"

During snack time:

"Can I have the pink one?"

Anytime a color vote is taken, pink is the clear winner. Our kindergarten T-shirts...you guessed it, pink.

And of course, our favorite book...PINKALICIOUS.

Ahh, the joys of kindergarten!