It's been awhile

I know, I know...it's been quite some time now. Well I must say I have been quite a busy lady these past few weeks. Its tough working with six year olds all day and then coming home to entertain a 17 month old. Things have been great in my classroom. My girl crier doesn't cry anymore. The first day back from Disney she cried. I expected this to happen. I told her how boy crier doesn't cry anymore and how much fun we had last week. She stopped! I guess she now realizes that I'm the boss and she isn't gonna get away with it. So now I am still working on the kids working and transitioning a little more quieter. This behavior is so normal for this age group so I just have to give it some more time.


See you in the next blog.

Woo Hoo...no crying this week!

Well my girl crier is on vacation this week so that means that I am too. My other crier hasn't cried all week. I think his problem was the adjustment from being away from mom. Although he is a pain...constantly calls out, asks when we are leaving, thinks he knows everything. Anyhow...the crying has subsided...at least till my vacationer returns.

So things are getting better in my classroom. I have become more strict with the rules. I try not to be too stern the first few weeks since I don't want to scare them but there is no more chances. Needless to say I had a lot of children on yellow today all due to the talking while I am teaching and getting out of their seats. I tell them that they look like a lost puppy trying to find their way home. The getting out the seats takes time. They are used to their K teacher checking every single thing that they do. Not me...journals for instance, I do not check. I give them journals in the morning so I can get my roll and notes done. So we are still working on that.

Not much else to write about since things are going well, but I am sure I will have lots to tell in my future posts.

Until next time America...

I don't think I want to play anymore

Ok boys and girls please sit down and get out your math book...I just can't imagine why no one has it out...oh that's because they never STOP TALKING!!! I am at my wits end with the constant chatter. I am having many problems with the class this year. I have had 31 one before and it was never this hard. What the heck am I doing wrong? I hope the teacher fairy stops by to give me some suggestions.

Besides the talking the kids are really doing well following routine. I still have some kids that ask if they can hang up their backpacks, get a tissue, throw something away - but I can live with that. What I can't live with is the child in my room that cries all day long. We have been in school for about a month and she is still crying for her daddy. I also had one who was crying for his mommy. The other day got so overwhelming that I walked out of the room crying. Luckily there are extra bodies on the first floor to take over for me. I just lost it. The first time in 6 years that I lost it like that. Thank God the counselor was in that day. God forbid a crisis happens on another day because she is only there on Tuesdays. Anyway, she was great...she calmed me down and told me what to expect and how we were going to do a cry chart until it got better. AND IT WILL GET BETTER! So we set up a chart for both criers and broke it down by subjects. If they can get through math without crying they get a sticker. This goes on for each subject. If they can get 2 out of 4 stickers they get a small prize at the end of the day. Well my boy crier did great, he hasn't cried all week. In fact, he asked if another boy could sit next to him. He told me that would make him feel better. At this point whatever works is my theory. So, a pat on the back for him. As for girl crier she hasn't stopped. It got so bad that she has made herself throw up and purposely pee her pants just so she could go home. What makes it even worse is that she is out all next week because they are going to Disney. I already met with her parents to make sure we were sticking to our guns and not letting her get over on us. Sad to say but next week will feel like vacation without her even if I do have to go to work.

The past few weeks have been so tough on me that I just want to come home and curl up in bed. Can't do that with a 16 month old running around. Well, wish me luck that it will get better fast. I will try my best to blog during the week.

So Far So Good

Well I now have 3 days of school under my belt...like that really makes a difference. I already know that I really have to lay down the law tomorrow. Last week was be nice week. I try not to be too strict with my kids during the first week because I don't want them to not want to come to school. There is also a lot of down time in the first week that it makes it hard for the kids to stay on task and quiet. I am very positive that the kids will follow the directions and do what is expected of them within time.

So the whole transition with the school merger was wonderful. I only had one who cried. She was at our school last year and she cried for about 2 weeks. Well she only cried the first day so things are already looking better. My kids really are cute. They always look so innocent when the first come to school but I can tell you now who is gonna give me the most trouble.

Well....I must go now. I need to mark all 31 of my Summer Reading and Math projects...ugh!

What are they thinking?

We had our faculty meeting today and it was the same as always...normal boring stuff. I thought I was going to get out of school at a fairly decent time but no....I was there till 3pm. Here I am bee booping around my room getting last minute stuff done when who comes in but the secretary. She was letting me know that I was getting yet another kid. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? Now I have a wonderful 31 kiddos! Not the news that one wants to hear the day before school starts. Now I have to sit here and figure out how to manage 31 kids by tomorrow.

I will keep you posted on the weeks adventures

All Ready to Roll...I Think

Ok so it took me a long 7 days to get my room done. Now I'm talking labeling books, putting books in desks, hanging up posters, writing birthday's on cute little cupcakes, organizing the behavior chart, the all about me BB, loading supplies on shelves and not to mention dragging all the books back to my room.

When I left yesterday everything was ready except for my new calendar. I still had to put velcro on the pieces but I decided to bring it home and do it while watching tv. Besides the calendar I just have to figure out what to do with the kids next week but I think I will just wing it as I usually do.

So here I am bumming around my house today. Did some cleaning and finally caught up on Days of our Lives. Connor was taking his nap and I was just about to join him when all of a sudden the phone rings. Ok...not unusual for the phone to ring but it was school. I hear the secretary say hi and the first thing I said was "you're calling to tell me I have a new kid aren't you"? She just laughed.

Now I have 30 little cherubs to teach so far this year. The biggest disappointment was that it was a girl. Now I have 19 girls and 11 boys. Oh boy...here come the tattles...I can hear them now.

So...now I have to lug my 15 month old to school with me tomorrow so that I can make sure I have enough books for this kid. Not what I was planning on doing but I guess I don't have much of a choice.

Looking forward to a non stressful year...YEA RIGHT!!!!

Will I ever get done?

I know I haven't posted for about a week now but man have I been busy. I went back to my classroom last Monday for the first time all summer. I thought with being there the whole week I would be done and be able to bum around this week...yea right...I thought wrong. Needless to say I am going in tomorrow.

Monday and Tuesday went well. Got lots of stuff done. Once Wednesday came it all went downhill. First of all on Wednesday as I was leaving my house my mom called to tell me that she left her medicine at home and could I drop it off. Now you see my mom had a liver transplant in 1998 so how could I say no to bringing her meds to her. Once I left my mom's work my hubby and I drove downtown to Kinko's to pick up my new calendar. I bought this great new calendar set from smilemakes only it was too big to fit into the laminator. My only other choice was to take it to Kinko's. So after I left Kinko's I journeyed to school. It's now about 10:30 when hubby and I arrive at school only to have to leave by 12:45 to take our son to his check-up at the doctor. As you can tell, I didn't get much done.

Now comes Thursday...I get to school with my coffee and my blueberry muffin all ready to get busy when here comes my friend who teaches 5th grade (not looking too happy). She approaches me and says "you're not gonna be too happy". She proceeds to tell me that there is no electricity in the building until at least noon. So what am I supposed to do?...I already dropped my son off at the babysitters (can't get the money back for the day) and I really wanted to get into school. Well we did the next best thing...we went to the nail salon and then to the mall :)

Finally about 1:00 we arrived back at school with full electricity and no motivation to do anything. Are you surprised? I ended up staying till about 3:00.

I did go to school on Friday and got a lot done. I also made the mistake of looking through the porfolios of my new kiddos. I never do this only because I already know my kids from when they were in Kindergarten. This year is different because of the merger. I knew when I opened the box I should not have.

Until the next post...