P is for Personality

Seventeen little personalities to be exact, and all unique. Everyday I learn something new about them. Who to separate, who can work together, and who needs to be watched every second!Like my flower child last year, some have special qualities that I just can't ignore. I'd like to introduce to you...

The Reporter

The eyes and ears of my classroom. If it happens, she knows about it. The who. The what. The when. The how. The why. Nothing gets by her. Strangely enough, she is never involved in anything herself, always the innocent bystander.
"Mrs. C, she has the hiccups. He's being mean to that other boy, he has a lego in his pocket I think he's trying to steal it, she spilled her juice on her shirt and it's picture day her mother is going to be really mad, he needs to go the the nurse I think he has a fever..." You get the picture. I love her to pieces, but because of "The Reporter" I had to break out the tattle jar again.

The Comedian

This one is wiser than her five years would suggest. On week two, her mom came to me and said, "Do we need to have a conversation yet?" I just laughed because I knew what she meant, but in reality I love this kind of kid! I can laugh with her because she "gets" me. I even caught her rolling her eyes at me, but it was not in a way that I found disrespectful, it's was more of a "my teacher is a fruit loop, but I love her anyway" kind of way.

She tries to test me to see just how far she can go before I'll call her on it. She likes to get a laugh so if you could fast forward 12 years she just might be that child who has their picture under the heading "class clown" in the year book.

And one of the best things about her is she's a Red Sox fan, she gets that about me too!

The Mouse

She's a lovely little thing, but rarely speaks above a whisper. She has a lot to say, just chooses to say it very very quietly.

Old Yeller

The flip side to The Mouse. He has a lot to say and says it very very loudly!

The Inquisitor

He's the one that has to be in the know, the reasons behind everything...and I do mean EVERYTHING we do. Why is it snack time? Why won't my shoes stay tied? Why is today gym day? Why are apples red? and green? and yellow? Why? Why? Why?

I love his curiosity and I suppose it's his way of discovering the world around him. I try to answer what I can, but sometimes I just have to refer him to The Reporter.

The Pee-er

There is one in every class. The one child who NEEDS to go to the bathroom because "really Mrs. Collins, this time it's an EMERGENCY!" Well who am I to say no, because it will be the one time I do and...well you know.

I really don't mind so much but I am trying to teach them how to ask correctly. For example, I'd much rather hear, "May I go to the bathroom please?" rather than "I really have to poop!"

Little Miss Sunshine

Much like last year's Flower Child, Little Miss Sunshine is just happy to be here on the planet. Her smile could brighten a room. She's sensitive to her friend's needs, feels badly when someone is hurt or sad and does her best to be kind and considerate. She's the child that you just hope does something a little naughty to prove that she can!

A few weeks ago a child in my class fell and broke his arm. Little Miss Sunshine felt so badly she started to cry. I have to admit, I wanted to too. It was scary! But she chose to turn her sad, scary feelings into action and made him an entire book to help him feel better. They don't come much sweeter.

Mr. You've Got to Be Kidding Me

This is the one who thought if he spoke Spanish around me I wouldn't know what he was saying, and to be honest, most of the time I don't!

Sometimes what he says is kind of funny. Like today when he yelled "Hay Diablo!" when another boy knocked over his block tower.

But sometimes he will speak Spanish while in a literacy center or during math games and neither I or most of his friends have any idea what he's saying. I don't mind at all during social times, like out on the playground, or during free choice time, but in school we all need to be understood to everyone.

Well I am by no means fluent, but I know enough to fool even the smarmiest of 5 year-olds I give them just enough to make them THINK. So today when he started speaking Spanish to his math games partner...

Me: "No Espanol en la clase por favor."

Well the look on this little guy's face was priceless.

Him: "You. speak. Spanish?"

I just smiled and walked away.

I do a lot of smiling...it is kindergarten after all!

Starving for Attention

I was sitting at my "teacher table" today during literacy centers and suddenly realized how needy the kids seemed to be today. Was it because they didn't get enough attention all weekend or was it because they haven't seen me in two days? Either way I decided to try a little experiment.

I wanted to see in five minutes how many times a child would come to me to either ask me a question or tell me something "important". Because in kindergarten everything is "important".

So I set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes, grabbed a pencil and started writing. Here's what I got...

"I'm hungry." (twice)

"I have a mosquito bite and it really itches. Can I go to the nurse?

Am I all done?

I messed up, I need an eraser.

How do you spell zebra?

Why does he get to read a book and I don't?

He said Christian stinks.

Can I get a tissue?

Can I get a piece of paper?

How come he's using black on his rainbow, there aint no (insert teacher cringe) black in a rainbow.

In need a brown crayon.

I have to pee. Can I pee? It's an emergency. I really need to pee!

Jimmy's talking to me.

I need a germ squirt.

The caterpillars are upside down. Can I go tell Miss Frizzle. (named changed to protect the innocent.)

Mrs. C, there's drama at the art table!

Now I know this is enough to drive even the most patient of people over the edge. But you see, we kindergarten teachers have a special "patience gene".

So if I can provide a listening ear and make a child feel listened to and important, I will.

Because a little extra attention is good for all of us.

Guilty

Everyday after lunch I go out to the playground to collect my ducklings. Most of the time they are waiting in line for me, but occasionally there is a straggler or two. When I arrive I prepare myself for the playground paraprofessional because inevitably I'm going to hear about some injury or some less than desirable behavior.

Today I heard both. One little girl fell off the climbing structure and was sobbing, all blotchy and red. Then I heard that some of my kids had been yelling into the art room windows. The art room is in the basement and the windows are playground level so the kids can easily peek in. Not only did I hear the bad news from the playground aids, but the art teacher stopped me on the way up the stairs. I asked her what they were yelling. "Stupid kids" and "The F word", was her reply.

"The F word?" I asked, shocked.

"No, the actual words, "The Eff Word."

Kindergarteners obviously have yet to learn the fine art of dropping the f-bomb.

Nobody was really sure who was doing the yelling but I have my ways. Bwahahahaha! 

And no, it does not involve a metal chair and a lone light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

 I seem to have the power to make children feel guilty with merely the sound of my "teacher voice."

So I marched my ducklings up the stairs and sat them in their circle. I called the nurse for my sobbing blotchy girl who upon hearing that the nurse was on her way down asked, "Is she going to kill me?" (This is the same girl who yelled "We are all going to die!" during our fire drill.)

Once that was taken care of I set upon the task of finding my guilty party.

"Children we have a big problem, it seems that some of you were  yelling into the art room windows."

"Why do you think this is not a nice thing to do?" I looked around and noticed Timmy (name changed to protect the obviously guilty) whose bottom lip is starting to quiver. Tears began to roll down is cherubic cheeks. "It was me Mrs. Kindergarten! It was me!"

Those movie police interrogators have nothing on me. 

First Day

There is something in the air this time of year. I can feel the buzz. I see the occasional school bus rumble by with drivers new and old rehearsing their routes. The newspaper is stuffed with circulars with deals to be had on supplies, new clothes and shockingly new white sneakers. The shelves are stocked with lunch boxes and back packs. The days are still warm, but the nights are cool now and the crickets have come alive with their late summery songs.

Back to school means something different to everyone. Those without a vested interest might think of it as busier roads and a harder commute in the morning with those big yellow busses with their red flashing lights in the way or too crowded aisles at the local Staples.

For kids it marks the end of running around barefoot and dirty grass stained feet that leave footprints in the bath tub. The end of staying up late and sleeping in, of playing in the waves and digging the biggest hole on the beach. It marks the beginning of homework, soccer practices, football games, and figuring out new schedules, report cards and meeting new friends. The beginning of getting out of bed to the sound of an alarm and eating their Frosted Flakes with their eyes half-shut.

I am a parent AND a teacher. 

The start of school holds so much promise for me but in different ways. As a parent I was never sad to see my boys start school. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I've always known they were where they were supposed to be. They were adorable walking into kindergarten for the first time, lunch box in hand and L.L. Bean on their backs. I was full of questions. Would they succeed? Will someone hug them if they cry? Will they make friends? Will they ever have to visit the principal's office or sit in the "thinking chair"? Will their teacher love them as much as I do? There was really no way to know the answer to those questions as I sent them off for their first real experience without me, but time does tell and I'm happy to say I can answer "yes" to all those questions. 

As they have grown older I don't worry so much of their school success because they have proven themselves as students, but the question now is what kind of people will they become? 

I have come to realize that school doesn't just teach kids academics it helps teach them how to be people. How to get along with others on the playground, how to share, how to take responsibility for their actions, how to be part of a larger community and hopefully to become life-long learners.

Being a parent has made me a better teacher. I understand how those mommies and daddies feel dropping their children off for the first time.  The building is bigger, there are more kids, and the expectations are higher. I try to greet those nervous parents with a reassuring smile, a comforting touch on the shoulder and even sometimes a hug and a tissue to wipe the tears. I want them to know that yes, I will hug their little boy when when he cries, and give a band-aid to her little girl when she scrapes her knee. 

When the school year begins and I look at those  scared little faces looking up at me from their spot in the circle I do my best not to let them see that I'm scared too. Will they like me?  How will I possibly teach them all they need to know? How to walk in a line, pack up a back pack, write their names, when it's okay to tattle...to read!!! But every year I take their little hands and lead them wherever they let me, wherever they need to go and wherever OUR learning will take us. It's just what I do, but mostly what I do is  love them as if they were my own, because for 9 months of the year that's exactly what they are.

Thank you to Starts with an X who gave me the idea for this blog post.

Y is for "You can't make this stuff up."

I'm constantly amazed at the things I see and hear as a teacher. Some that make me laugh out loud, some that cause me concern and some that simply just make me shake my head.
I heard one of those head shakers today. Fortunately it came from first grade and not from my kindergarten. I'm not sure I would have known what to do!
It was show and tell day, one of the little boys brought his grandfather to school. I can hear the collective "awwws". He brought his grandfather to school, in an urn. Yes, an urn, full of ashes. Grandpa has passed to the great beyond, to a more peaceful place, he has seen and followed the light, but yet here was back in first grade!
Now for the laugh out loud. I have a very endearing little boy in my class. He fancies himself a ladies man. He is having a Valentine's party next week to celebrate his favorite holiday. Here's our conversation...
Kinder Boy: Mrs. C I'm having a Valentine Party
Me: That's wonderful kinderboy, what a fun thing to do.
Kinder Boy: Yeah, I have so many girl friends I thought a party would be the best way to handle them.
Me: That sounds like a great plan.
Really, what was I going to say?
Now for the funny, but also cause for concern. I have a child in my class who has some obvious learning issues that will need to be addressed. I was putting her through some assessments the other day, one of which is to assess their ability to hear and use alliteration.
I gave her explicit directions on what I was looking for. I gave her more than one example of what I wanted her to do. (I'm not supposed to give any examples...so I was giving her an advantage here.)
Me: kindergirl, give me a word that starts like "dog"
KIndergirl: "RUFF"

You can't make this stuff up!

M is for money

...or lack thereof. 

Just before the contract vote, the city came out with the info that the school department's business manager messed around with the school budget and payed last year's bills with this year's money. Not only did he do that, but he underfunded some major line items. This all added up to a 4.9 million dollar deficit. That's a big chunk of change. 

Word came down that there would be major layoffs within a matter of weeks. This is not good news anytime, but especially mid-year. No child needs to lose their teacher right smack in the middle of the school year.

I will not have tenure until next September, so technically I was on the chopping block. We heard on a Monday that we would know by the following Friday who was being cut and who was safe. Tensions were high on Friday, I was literally sick to my stomach. I was feeling like my job was maybe okay, but it was that small level of uncertainty that just made me feel awful. Let's face it, even if it wasn't going to be me, it was going to be some of my friends.

Every time I heard the principal's heels coming down the hall my stomach would do that roller coaster flip-flop, I was sure she was coming for me, pink slip in hand. 

Thankfully when she did come for me, it was to tell me to relax, I was just fine and not going anywhere. I kept my emotions in check ( I'm not a public emoter) but I wanted to scream, yell, and engage in general merriment!

All in all our school got off lightly because of some very good foresight from our principal. We had an open federally funded position, so although she had to combine three classes into two, on of those teachers moved into the funded position, so we lost a class, but not a body. 

Other schools did not fare so well. In all, 29 teachers were cut from their respective schools, 70+ other personnel were also let go, that included specialist, support staff and custodians. 

It was not a good week for our public school system, but something happened to make me feel the proudest I have ever been to live in such a great city.