Something To Smile About :)

Here's the LINK to a story you will all enjoy! :)

These are the "moments" in teaching.

I Have This WONDERFUL Rug In My Classroom...

...there's just one problem:

What do I do with student number
31?

Houston-- we've got a problem...

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Ok . . . so remember Gabriel? Well, he's back.

He's been at a provisional school, but got kicked out of it (yeah . . . really . . .)
So they sent him back to me . . .

(I don't get it either)

. . . until they can ship him off to a Unit.

He was suspended again on his second day back.

But lucky for me, I have 3 hilarious tales from that day that override the Gabe issue.

i LOVE kids

Story #1

(sniffling Kiera) "Ms. Turner? I'm sorry . . . (bursts into tears) . . . but I really don't want anyone to have a crush on me!"

"Oh, hon, it's ok. Did you know that it just means that he thinks you're really nice? There's nothing wrong with that."

"But I have a crush on someone else."

"Do you know what? There will be a lot of boys who will have crushes on you as you get older. That doesn't mean you have to have crushes on them."

"Do I have to play with them at recess?"

"You should be nice to them. You can play with a lot of friends at recess."

"Ok." (sniffles back to her desk -- 10 minutes later she's as cheerful as ever!)

Story #2

(the other half of story #1)

"What's going on, bud?"

(boy with his hair slicked back and wearing a button-up collared shirt who had stormed out of the classroom) "I dressed up for no reason!"

"That's not true! I think you look very nice today!"

"But I dressed up for Kiera -- and she won't be my girlfriend!"

"That's ok. You can still be her friend!"

"But I try every recess to get a girlfriend! I need a girlfriend!"

"Guess what? I don't have a boyfriend. But, you know what? Girls like it when the boys are being nice and following the rules -- will you come back in?"

"I don't care! I'm going to wash the gel out of my hair . . ."

Haha -- oh the love life of a 6-year-old! :)

and finally . . .

Story #3

My students were getting several new sight words. So far we had only had one "B" word, but finally we were getting another one: "but" . . . which in itself was giving a few of the students a good laugh (nevermind that it's the wrong "butt").

After I had added it to the word wall (wild words in our class -- to go with my jungle theme), one of my students came up to me:

"Teacher? I know something funny on the wild words."

"What's that, Demetreuz?"

"The 'B's'."

"Why are the 'B's' funny?"

"Because it says 'big' 'but'!"

. . . I think I need to switch the order a bit, don't you? . . .

☺

The Teaching Side of my Life . . .

Just so you all know, I have my own blog as well:

Jessica Leigh

Which you are free to read for a more complete update on my life ;)

As for teaching . . . I've had some interesting adventures!
For those of you who don't know, I'm teaching 1st Grade out in West Valley City (Granite SD) and despite having tagged myself for the older kids -- I love it!

But, I will never name a child Gabriel. Ever.

Why?

We'll summarize it this way:

- He learned in Kindergarten that if he misbehaves enough he "gets" to stay home and play games (it's called suspension -- it's supposed to be a punishment) and had this "reward" within two weeks of school.

- Throwing chairs, climbing on/hanging off/jumping off furniture, breaking other kids crayons, coloring on the cubbies, running away -- all considered normal.

- Try to talk to him -- he'll "turn [his] ears off".

Mind you, he can be absolutely perfect . . . if he ever feels so inclined . . . and that's a big if. (Ok, anytime I'd mention there were only a couple minutes until recess, he'd shape up -- thinking he could somehow still go?)

We tried everything.
So now, he's in a safe school until at least the middle of November.

We've been VERY productive the past couple weeks!

I also have a very wide spread. One boy can't even speak in full sentences (and no, he's not ELL) and a couple are still learning their letters. On the other end of the spectrum, I've got one girl who writes stories in her spare time, spells almost everything correct and I'm constantly giving her altered math assignments.

And I have a 6-year-old "boyfriend". He's my little low boy (not the one who can't speak in full sentences) and he melts your heart. He likes to tell me I'm beautiful :)

6-year-olds are such morale boosters! You get a lot of hugs from these little dears! Even those who are trouble-makers . . . they still love you after you get mad at them.

The other day, they were working on their self-starter and one of them came up randomly to give me a hug -- and they all followed! I felt so loved!

So far, I've also survived SEP Conferences (no yelling parents!) and a VERY WET field trip!

Life is grand, ain't it?

☼☼☼