A Day at the Zoo

Somedays at work, I feel like I'm at the zoo, but today I really was.  We took a field trip to the zoo.  I'm not going to lie, I was VERY nervous.  Twenty 5-6 year old kids.  Wide open spaces.  No structures.  Wild animals.  Those things all together just spelled disaster in my brain.  I have to admit, with the exception of the one adventerous girl who takes off on her on quite frequently and the boy who got his arm stuck in the fence in front of the white tiger exhibit, things went pretty well. 

For field trips, our art teacher has the students draw and paint on tshirts.  Look how cute they are...

I had never been to the zoo here.  I have been to the Ft. Worth Zoo, the Dallas Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo.  I knew a zoo in a town of 100,000 in the middle of nowhere wouldn't compare.  But, surprisingly, it still had it's on unique features that impressed me.  You see, I love giraffes.  I have no idea why, but I do.  And this zoo has a bridge over the giraffe habitat.  You could walk up on the bridge and feed the giraffes.  So cool!

Here are some other pictures from the zoo.  The librarian wrote a grant for 22 cameras and lets teachers/students take them on field trips.  She also teaches the kids how to use them.  These are the pictures the kids took.

(I'm not sure this was real.  It didn't move the whole time we were there.)

(In case you were wondering, this is a prarie dog.)

(American Bison)

After the zoo, we went to the park to have a sack lunch and to play.  We had a blast, but were all worn out when it was over with.

Kindergarten in Review

This week, I've taught...

1.  It is not okay to pick your wedgie in front of people.  It was very difficult explaining to the poor girl why a boy had called her nasty for picking her wedgie in class.
2.  The improtance of keeping your shoes tied.  If you don't you'll land on your face and spill your cup with your newly planted seed.
3.  Accidently, read about the male frogs putting their sperms on the females' eggs.  Thankfully I cuaght myself when I got to the word sperm and the kids didn't seem to notice.
4.  It is impossible to ACCIDENTLY bite someone's finger or to ACCIDENTLY choke someone.  I mean really...you expeect me to believe either of those were an accident?
5.  Treat others how you want to be treated.  And this was not to a kindergartener, but instead, to a colleague.  She talks to everyone very disrespectfully and most are scared of her.  I refused to let her talk to me that way and just accept it.  I took the easy way out and emailed her a very respectful email  express that it was not okay to talk to me that way and that I expected to be treated the way she would want to be treated.  She responded, not by appologizing, but instead by totally missing the point.  I just let it go.  If she wants to be an old lady with no friends, then it's her choice.  I did my part to try to help her.  But, since she doesn't think I should be treated with respect, I hope she doesn't expect to recieve any respect from me. 

All in 2 Days' Work

Wow...kindergarten gets pretty entertaining.  I've laughed and laughed over the funnies from the past two days.  Thought you might want to laugh.

• Caught one of my students stuffing her shirt with toilet paper so it looked like boobs.  Really?  I don't think 6 year old boys are into boobs yet.
• A boy came to my table and said "J's saying bad things about you."  Oh boy.  This is the same boy that said I had a big butt, even though I have NO butt.  So, I walk to his table and sit down.  I asked him what he said.  After lots of interogating I finally got it out.  I'm a doodoo head.  Yup.  A doodoo head.  I'm not real sure why I'm a doodoo head, but I am.
• A couple of my kids were throwing their shoes in the trash.  I told them to stop that only trash goes in the trashcan.  I look over and two more boys have their shoes off and are throwing them in the trashcan.  I asked what happened and one said his shoe fell off and fell right in the trasch can.  What an amazing trick.  Instead of moving their clips, I took their shoes away.  I got out plastic sacks and told them since they thought their shoes were trash, I'd make sure they got taken out with the trash.  Yeah, I know, that was mean.  My mother told me I was a mean teacher when I told her.  I think that got the point across.  One cried for a long time.  The other refused to go to his work station and instead put his head down.  I gave their shoes back after a bit and we talked about what happened.  I don't think they will put anything but trash in the trashcan for a long time.  And I might be even meaner because I got a good laugh out of this situation too.

Oh, I'm so ready for a week off at spring break!

What My Students Learned in Kindergarten

While most teachers taught things like numbers and letters and sight words today, I taught "How to properly use the bathroom" and "How to use the sink."  I never thought to teach this in the beginning, mainly because I didn't think those were things you learned in kindergarten.  I guess it was wrong of me to assume PARENTS would teach their children anything. 

Anyway, I'm telling my boys that learning to put the seat up and down is a skill that they will use the rest of their lives, especially when they get married.  And one replies, "I'm five.  I can't get married."

Brown Stuff

I know I talk about my kindergarteners a lot, but they are kind of my life right now.  And pretty much the only think interesting enough to write about.

It's been a crazy week.  Monday was the 100th day of school (only 77 to go).  I've had tons of sickness going around the room, including the ear infection and stomach bug that they shared with me.  Thursday, 2 threw up, one was because he was truely sick, the other, because he cried so hard because I changed his color after he put a child in a headlock.  So, by 2:30, I was pretty much done.  I was sitting in the floor, working on folders and my kids were working at their tables, when a kid goes "What's that brown stuff on the floor?"  Oh dear.  Brown stuff in the floor, it's got to be poop.  I can't handle poop.  Especially on the floor.  Eww.  I look.  It resembles chocolate milk. 

"What do you have in your backpack?' I asked.  He stares back blankly.  "Do you have chocolate milk in your backpack?"

"Yeaaaahhh," he replied quietly.  The last time he was around chocolate milk when I wouldn't have noticed him smuggling it was breakfast, 7 hours ago. 

"Is that from breakfast this morning?" I don't know why I even asked.  It had to be from breakfast.

"No.  It's from last week."  EWWWW!

Oh my goodness.  I open his backpack and start goign through it.  I take out his folder and his library book and the 3 books I sent home over a month ago.  There's stuff in there from before Christmas.   Not only was there one chocolate milk carton, there was another one.  And a carton of juice.  I was not cleaning it.  I wasn't sending him on the bus with a backpack of soured milk and I wasn't having a sour milk smelling backpack in my room every day.  With the exception of those things I took out, I threw the backpack in the trash. 

Don't worry, I got him a new backpack.   And I gave a lesson on saving milk.

Time to Laugh

It has been one heck of a day, and week for that matter.  But, instead of dwelling on that, I'm going to look past it and share the funny things that have been going on this week.

-One of my students raised his hand and said "He said something bad about you."  I of course asked what it was.  The whole time to other little boy is denying it.  I finally got the tattler to answer.  "He said your butt is big."  I just love how kids will say anything.  But the even funnier part is that I have absolutely NO butt.  None.  Most of the kids in my class have bigger butts than me.

-Today we got 2 1/2 inches for rain before 2 this afternoon.  We were stuck inside all day but tried to make the best of it and just have fun.  During our indoor recess one of my students comes out of the bathroom and reports that while he is sitting on the toilet he got wet.  I got a little concerned about this.  I wasn't sure what happened.  So I started asking question.  Come to find out, I have a leak right above the toilet in our room.  So, if my kids need to go to the bathroom, they have to put up with getting dripped on.

-While having indoor recess, I let my kids play with the random things I have in my room.  One of those things is a box of animals like elephants, zebras and alligators.  I refer to them as zoo animals for some reason.  So, today, I hear my kids get in a big fight that ends with "I'm telling."  I go to investigate.  They were fighting because one said they were zoo animals and the other said they were wild animals.  So, we had to have a lesson on animals.

-We learned about Uncle Sam.  My kids called him Uncle Frank.

-When I asked my kids what country we lived in (after days of talking about it) they still answer "Texas."

This is what makes crazy days like today all better!

Weekly Kindergarten Wrap Up

Well, what a week.  It's a good thing I've been going to church AND working out and building happy feelings, otherwise I can't imagine how mean I would have been. 

I have one little boy who is very sweet and smart.  His mom works until 11 and so he's at a babysitters until then.  Well, some nights he doesn't sleep until he gets home.  I can tell when that happens.  He cries about EVERYTHING.  He cried because I asked him to stop being silly and read.  He cried because the librarian corrected him.  He sat on the playground and cried (I don't know why).  I know what it's like to be so tired you cry, but I can only take so much.  He's probably cried 8 times this week.  Thankfully sometimes it just last a couple minutes.

I have another boy who was moved back from first grade to kindergarten and is bigger than the rest of the class.  All my kids look up to him.  That wouldn't be so bad, except he's a bully.  I've had tons of problems with him bullying one of my little girls.  On Wednesday, I hear the little girl crying.  I go to see what happened.  He had dug his finger nail into her finger and had actually brought blood.  When I asked why, he said because she was supposed to be using glue and she wasn't.  Hmm...can I claw him everytime he's not doing what he's supposed to? 

Then there's a little boy with lice.  He's had them for weeks.  The nurse combs his hair several times a week to get the nits out.  It doesn't get better.  But he has no problem walking into my class and announcing "I've got bugs!" very proudly.  This same little boy cried twice for 15 minutes today because he got in trouble.  Not just little tears.  But loud, screaming tears.  I was ready to cry.

Then, the little girl that's always bullied....well, she cut her hair yesterday.  Not a little cut either.  She had a huge chunk of hair in her hand.  Okay, I know, it happens.  But, she had just done it this weekend at home and mom had to give her a new haircut.  Then, she did it again.  I don't get it.  Don't they get it...you cut your hair, you get a bad haircut.  Why do it again?

I could probably keep going, but it's making my blood pressure just rise thinking about it.

While it has been a very stressful and tiring week, I'm trying to look at the possitives.  I have totally changed how I teach writing and my kids are actually writing things that I can read.  I'm so proud!  I have two students who are already reading at the end of year level.  I can't wait to see what they can do over the next four months! 

Fun in Kindergarten

It's been a while since things in my kindergarten classroom had been rather normal (for a kindergraten class).  But this weekend was full of chaos fun.  Here's a little bit of what went on...

-A student from another class threw woodchips at me and told me hated me.  I picked him up and carried him to the office.  The child now loves me.  Everytime he sees me he has to say hi.
-A little boy who is diabetic started acting wierd.  We were at science lab with a science teacher, so I left and took him to the nurse.  Only to find out the nurse wasn't there.  We called mom.  Mom didn't answer her phone.  Finally the principal came back into the office.  She took care of him and I went back to get my class.
-When I arrive at the science lab (a portable behind the school) I find out one of my students is MISSING.  She went to the bathroom and never came back.  This is a student who can't make it to the gym when it's only 20 feet away.  The idea of her going from the portable, in the building, to the bathroom and back is quite scary to me.  Thankfully they found her.  She was at the other end of the building.  The end we NEVER go to because it's upper grade levels.
-One of my boys turned one of my girls around and planted a big kiss on her lips.
-My kids referred to the new tag readers as "walkie talkies."  But they LOVE them!
-The above mentioned diabetic decided to eat our class snack.  He has his own special snack that his mom brings so he doesn't have to have his blood sugar tested and get insulin.  He comes to my table and goes "all finished with my popcorn!"  I freak out.  We didn't test his blood sugar before he ate.  I have no idea how many carbs are in the popcorn.  And I don't know enough about diabetes!  I rush him to the nurse only to find out he's completely fine.  Blood sugar is even on the low side.
-My kids had a poking war with pencils.  Which cause the scab of a boy's fever blister to come of.  Which resulting in lots of blood and tears. 

It's been interesting, to say the least.  A little on the stressful side.  But I wouldn't trade it for a million dollars.  Although a million dollars would make it more fun!

Excitement in my Classroom

Back in November, my mom sent me a link to a page taht read:

"LeapFrog, the maker of learning toys like the Tag Reading System, is offering Kindergarten teachers the opportunity to get the Tag Reading System and books for free. LeapFrog is looking to partner with Kindergarten teachers through the Tag Kindergarten Program. The LeapFrog Tag Kindergarten Program will provide teachers with nearly $3200 worth of equipment and books for their classrooms. In exchange, Kindergarten teachers offer LeapFrog feedback about how they are using the Tag Reading System in their classrooms and how it affected student learning. The deadline to apply for the program is November 11."

That sounded cool to me.  I've always thought the Leap Frog products were neat, but the only way I could get them in  my classroom was to buy them myselfs, and unfortunately my teacher paycheck just doesn't have much cushion.  I check into it and got the go ahead from my principal and applied.  I really didn't think I'd actually get them, but figured it couldn't hurt to apply.

Well, a week or so into December I got an email saying I got accepted into the program and I'd recieve my Tag Readers in January.  I was so excited, but was still scared it wasn't really going to happen.  I never win anything like that.

Well, guess what I got today...3 boxes from Leap Frog!  I have 6 tag readers and 28 different books in sets of six along with all the accessories (including rechargable batteries and a charger!  It was like Christmas all over again.  I couldn't wait for the day to be over to unpack and play.  I took one home tonight and have had a blast palying with it.

For those of you not familiar with the Tag Reader, it's a pen the children can use to touch a book and have the book read to them.  They can go page by page or word by word.  They can touch the picutres for sound effects and even hear the characters talk.  It even has little games the kids can play.  It's really super neat.  I can see a child spending 30 minutes on each book if they really explore it.  You can check it out here http://www.leapfrog.com/tag/.  I think this would make a great gift for a 4 or 5 or 6 year old child. 

Not only is it a cool product, but I think it's really great of Leap Frog to offer these to classrooms for free and to want teachers imput like they do.  I'm so excited to be a part of this!

Kindergarten Field Trip

Yesterday was our first kindergarten field trip.  I was a little apprehensive since we were going to the farm and I am such a city girl.  I was also nervous because I hate for things to not be structured and I know field trips don't usually have that same structure as the classroom.  But I survived.  I didn't lose any kids.  No one got hurt.  And I think everyone had a great time.

We started by learning about the cow.  The man asked if any one knew what the utters were called and one my kids yelled squirter things.  I thought that was pretty funny.  Then we went for a hay ride, minus the hay.  I was real nervous about 30 students on a trailer, but noone fell off.  Some cows did get out and started heading our way.  That sure did freak out the kids.  One boy cried for an hour after that.  Then we fed the animals.  This resulted in me having to chase a little boy down because he wanted to go feed the bull and took off down the road.  After that, we got to ride horses.  This too made me nervous, as I have a fear of horses.  Well, it all went well.  Except for the two boys that thought it would be fun to pretend to be lasoing and nearly fell of the horse.  But they didn't. 

After that, it was time to head back to school.  The kids were pooped and so was I.  I had about 5 asleep on the bus.  It was a fun day.  But a day I am glad is over.