overheard in kindergarten

erin "my dad is from china....chinese"
charlie "my dad is boston."

rhyming is a big theme in my class, so in a way i was asking for it. before an acting activity, i wrote "skits" on the board and as we discussed the meaning i hear brett say, "that rhymes with the s-word."
lily, "no it doesn't." then she slowly enunciates "stupid"--the word that has somehow become the kindergarten swear. stopped that conversation in record time.

today at the MET..."I'm going to be gooder than usual today. You know why? Because I already know not to touch things."

aaron was out monday and looked iffy on tuesday, i felt his head (i don't know why i did this b/c i can NEVER tell) and sent him down to the nurse. as he left he said, "i know, i know, you want a professional to do it."

if you have to teach, may i recommend the dalton school?

lunch today. enough said.

**this was lunch for the the teachers, the children had pita pocket pizza with organic cheese. NOT lobster.

Adam

Today we illustrated our alphabet. This is a fairly typical Kindergarten classroom assignment. Each student picks a letter and we brainstorm a list of things that begin with that letter, the student selects one to draw.

Darling little Adam known for spontaneous bursts of excited applause during conversations, lessons, or announcements of what we are having for lunch, raised his hand for 'A'.

"Ok," I ask "What would you like to draw?"
"Adam," He replies.
"That definitely starts with A but we aren't going to draw self portraits. Actually we aren't going to draw any people we know. You could only draw people doing jobs...like a policewoman for 'P' or a doctor for 'D'."
"I mean Adam the First Man that God made" Adam replies.
"Oh I see, but He is a specific person. Do you have any other ideas?"
"Not really. Can I switch to 'K' and draw a koala?"
"That sounds like a good idea." I offer.
"Oh Good! (applause) I'm going to draw a koala on the move!"

Looked a lot like this.
I wouldn't say I have favorites but...

Queen Bees

Last year my mom had a bee infestation. She noticed bees mysteriously, and frequently, appearing in the house, both alive as they buzzed 'round the windows and dead all over the floors. It was curious to say the least. Worth mentioning is my mom's allergy to bee stings. So where she usually overlooks creepy crawly, and in this case flying, things, this matter needed to be taken care of. I believe the story, which I've heard many times (it was kind of a big deal) but usually am only 1/2 listening (sorry mom), goes like this...

A young exterminator came and determined the nest was in the ceiling above the master bathroom. Donning full protective bee wear, he cut a hole in the ceiling to begin spraying. After cutting the whole and investigating briefly, he excused himself and went outside to make a phone call. My cute and clever mother listened in and overheard the unfortunate fellow lamenting to his superior that he was in over his head and needed back-up. Whether they did or did not send this back-up, I am not sure. I do know that the spraying was done and over the days that followed my mothered vacuumed up 100s of bees everyday. They just kept dropping dead from the ceiling, making a thick carpet on the bathroom floor.

This experience was traumatic for my mother. It completely occupied her thoughts, life and conversations. To a friendly, "Thank you for joining us this evening," all my mother could manage in reply was "I'm just so glad my bees are gone."

Anyway in one of the clean-ups, mom found the Queen Bee--huge, intact, stinger on, big beautiful wings. A perfect specimen! And what did she do? Box it up and give it to her Kindergarten teacher daughter of course! Very thoughtful (that is not sarcasm, I mean it). This year in setting up my little science investigation area, I put out this Queen Bee. I met my new children today and as they explored their new classroom, many were captivated by it.

One little girl (I wish I could post pictures of them--think thick glasses, bright, spunky dress, pigtails, thoughtful, and curious) and I stood together admiring the bee. After her examination little Kennady whispers, "Wowwwwww, that is big." "I know," I say, adding with emphasis, "That is the Queen Bee." Kennady continues to look, slightly more interested now. Then turning to me, she asked with complete sincerity, "Well, where is her crown?"

After checking her face for a giggle or smirk, I realized she was completely serious. And that, my friends, is why I love my job.

As Billy Madison once sang...

“Back to school, back to school…” Tomorrow I head back to school after our two week break. I’m on the edge of a very minor melt down trying to prepare for tomorrow. As part of the prep, I'm researching quilting with kids, our service learning project for the Spring. As I did, I recalled with great fondness the one quilting masterpiece I created during a college summer and gifted to a then boyfriend (I would love it back). Then I confirmed that making a quilt was definitely on my summer to do list. And then the realization that my summer is only 10 crazy weeks away made me giddy!

My mind now totally off track, I’ve made a list of “Summer To Dos”.
-two professional development classes:Creative Movement in the Early Childhood Curriculum, Using Blocks to Build Creative, Inclusive Early Childhood Environments and/or Supporting Emergent Literacy in the Classroom
-take a basic/intro to Spanish class
-make a quilt
-study/take/pass my final NY Special Ed. certification test
-get tan...for real this summer it's happening
-work on my flower arranging skills
-find a part time job (maybe)

Now taking suggestions...

Major Milestones

our blog has fallen by the wayside. for that matter so has order/cleanliness in our home, already-iffy gym routines, and life's general upkeep, like scheduling a hair cut!



did you count those candles? i've been caught in the 100th day of school whirlwind. the kids have been working on their museum collections, gearing up as tour guides, and 100s day math work. for 5-6 year olds 100 is a big deal--recognizing all the double digist #s, counting, adding, intro to grouping and multiplication. big deal stuff, so you make it a big celebration.

the kids were totally excited and like a parent on christmas, it was rewarding to see them tickled. however, their joy wasn't the best part of the 100th day of kindergarten. i got home and flopped on the couch. truthfully i was not the best company--exhausted and cranky. and just then, jason handed me a folded piece of paper. i opened it and started crying as i read aloud the most thoughtful thing jason has done for me since our dating days, "100 Reasons Jason Loves Erica".

BaD nEws TraVelEd iN 3s ToDAy

here are the examples:
three children cried in class and two before 9:00, over completely unrelated incidents!

three children had to sit out during music/movement class--one for not listening and the others for rough physical behavior. this meant those 3 kids lost 10 minutes off thier roof time.

three lunches (or parts of lunches) hit the floor today. my patience was gone when the little guy i watched play with his sandwich came over to tell me he couldn't eat it because the cheese hit the floor. all i could muster, "of course it did, you were flapping it around." then i handed over fresh cheese without further comment. oh, did you know dalton teachers serve students lunch in the classroom?

three parents have scheduling conflicts for parent-teacher conferences.

but on a more positive note, a lexi wrote me a story today. after she read it to the class, ravi said, "you look like you're going to cry." i wanted to, but i didn't.

i'm going to share it, even though it loses charm without the illustrations. before you read, know that lexi has a gift for language and has clearly been read to. she also has a little lisp, her "th" sounding like "f". (translations are in parentheses)

HOUS 42 by Lexi
hous 42 is varry nic sumtims wee fit but wee oes git along (house 42 is very nice. sometimes we fight but we also get along.) it is varry nics to be in hous 42. sumtims wee r sada and sumtims we r happy and then we git mor happy. ar hous is in dalton. you mit not now dat it is upton (our house in in dalton. you might not know that it is uptown.) dalton is a varry god scohlo (good school). i love it erka and treaka r varry god tickers we do varry god fing (dalton is a very good school. i love it. erica and tarika are very good teachers. we do very good things.) we r all alick...but dirfrint (we are all alike but different). blond hair, borin hair, sum av as hav stapmom sum av as dont (some of us have stepmoms, some of us don't.) Isabel doz lucy dozzent (Isabel dose, Lucy doesn't.) Sum av as r goin to cimp sum av as r not (some of us are going to camp, some of us are not.) ths is varry spsal to as sum av as hav brodrs or sisders (this is very special to us, some of us have brothers or sisters.) ClAiRE and lexi dont...but we can live wif fit (we can live with it.--oh).

on the alternate page from her text were pictures of kids in class...with statments like, "eeshan is from indea", "gaby favrit food is bigits (bagettes)", and jaden has glesis (glasses)".

yep this makes me want to go to work tomorrow. thanks lexi!

Happy Halloween

Things I learned today...
1. Kindergarteners adore light up necklaces (I had a feeling about this but it was fun to test the theory; mine had blue ghosts).
2. Making apple pie is way too complicated to do with children. Next time I will either follow Jason's advice and take it off the "ballot" or slip in a pre-made pie crust. I prefer the taste anyway.
3. I really, and I mean REALLY, like toasted pumpkin seeds. So much in fact, that I'm thinking of buying some post-holiday, sale pumpkins to eat the seeds. Ewww...Jason just suggested I buy a bag of pre-made seeds. I am going to allow myself to live the rest of my life believing the only good ones are the ones you roast yourself.
4. Academics on Halloween are pointless and should not even be attempted.
5. Halloween is a perfect date night. Restaurants aren't crowed, and being out and about allows you experience the joy of NYC costumes. A few times tonight on the way downtown I thought to myself, "Is that guy dressed up?" I'll never know.

What's for lunch?

Today for lunch the kids had raviolis, marinara sauce and a spinach salad. This is one of their favorite lunches...17 out of 18 will eat ravioli but only 2 or 3 try spinach salad (ranking least favorite veggies).

As Mark approached for seconds on ravioli, he dropped spinach leaves with each step. I had to warn, "Be careful. Don't tip your plate; you're getting salad on the floor" . To which he calmly replies, "Don't worry, I wasn't going to eat it...I just got it for decoration."

How do you not love that? I'm pretty sure that explaining why we dont' waste food was just a waste of breath but I wasted it anyway.