I thought I would never see you again!

day number 12 of having no school and there won't be any school tomorrow. it's like christmas break all over again. except for no one was prepared for it and some kids, like the one i ran into at the store today think there will never be school again.

the young chap i ran into is in 1st grade across the hall from my class. his cousin is in my class and it is ultra cool to this kid that i know his cousin so obviously we are bff. i was in target just meandering around looking to spend a gift card (thanks katie #1) and out of nowhere this kid jumps me around the waist. "mom it's sammy's teacher! it's sammy's teacher" of course the mom has no idea of who i am. i don't remember the boy's name so i just act really excited and say "and you're sammy's cousin!" it worked well, he had no idea i don't know his name. as i'm trying to introduce myself to the mom and explain why her son has latched himself on me the kid is talking 1385342 miles per minute telling me everything about his life. he then gets a really weird look and his face and blurts "oh ms. henderson i never thought i was going to see you again!" to see this kid who i don't even really know be so worried about not having school makes me miss my kids even more.

freaking snow. go away.

i don't want to work in july.

and i miss my children.

i wonder when we will end up having our valentine's day party. some teachers will probably cancel it (it was supposed to be this friday), but i refuse to cancel the best party of the year. we can just celebrate it in march maybe. when we go back to school. heck the parents can even save some money buying the cards after the holiday. i always wanted to buy the best valentine's for my classmates growing up, but mom wouldn't get them. i resent that, maybe that's why i got the good ones this year. thanks mom :)

maybe tomorrow i'll tackle the task of uploading some pictures on here. don't get too excited though, just sayin...

Happy February!

**Snow Day**
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Instead of transitioning my kids from one reading group to another I'm in bed. Simply amazing. This will be our 5th non-full week in a row, meaning we haven't had a real week of school since before Christmas. As wonderful as it is it takes 6 weeks for kids to form a routine. You can do the math with how long we haven't been in our school routine. Maybe we could just make 4 day weeks a routine for the rest of the year. Mr. Obama there's a way to save money for you!

Some people have been wondering what my day really looks like. Well here it is in a nutshell.
1) Unpacking-most kids come into the room, put book bag and coat in cubby, put folder in basket, make a lunch choice (I have pictures of their choices so I don't have to read them 18 times), and start on our morning activity.

1.5) Remind 2 of my students to go to the bathroom, recheck 1 book bag because the girl forgets every morning, call her to get her folder, remind her to get it out of her book bag (get the picture with this one yet?), count lunch count, take attendance.

2) Calendar time--we go over: days of the week, what day it is today, yesterday, and tomorrow, count the days of school, look at the weather, and read our morning message.

2.5) Remind my kids to give me 5. Sit up straight. Quiet hands and feet. Lips closed. Listening ears. Eyes on speaker.

2.75) Listen to the 148 stories each one of my kids has about the most important thing that happened to them the night before. Then somehow transition to math without anyone feeling they didn't get to share what was needed.

3) Math--#'s 1-20, count by 5 and 10 to 100, fractions, addition, subtraction, patterns. Fun times.

4) Centers and Snack--yay! learning to be friends :)

5) Reading group 1

5.5)Bathroom reminder

6) Reading group 2

7) Coats on and zipped. Hats on. Gloves on. Line up at back door. OUTSIDE!
8) Lunch. I hate ketchup packets!

9) Unit time aka my favorite part of the day. we learn about our weekly theme. this week bears grrrrrr.

10) Power-up read my previous post for the explaining of this topic.

11) Pack-up and Specials for the kids Planning which usually means meetings for power up for me

12) 1st bus load go.

13) Entertain 2nd bus load and after school kids. The new highlight. Hide in seek in the classroom. Yes I let them probably have too much fun. I'm ok with it.

14) 2nd bus load go.

15) Tell my after school kid to mosey down the hall as slow as he can. He's gotten pretty good at this because he's not allowed in the cafeteria until the last bell rings. Sometimes he crawls. Sometimes I get looked at like I'm crazy.

16) Prepare myself to do it all over again. I guess you have to be a little crazy to do this.

And I'm not gonna lie I really want to have school tomorrow. First, because it's groundhog day and that's just fun. Second, because I have a doctor's (yes another) appointment and have already taken a half day off. One of these days we'll get a new routine. Off to eat some delicous mennonite fooooood :).

this is why i hate school. i'm going home and anyone else who wants to go home can follow me!

whoever said all you ever need to know you learned in kindergarten is wrong.

i would have to say the past couple of weeks have been the most trying thus far in the year. i have come to a behavioral standstill and regression with a few of my students who had been making steady progress. my school is an RtI school.

basically Rti is a way to stuff more information into a 5 year old's brain and then wonder why she has a breakdown every afternoon.

along with Rti--response to intervention, comes an idea called power-up. power-up though great in theory is not seeming to go over to well with some people. basically all the teachers of the grade, a special education teacher, and 2 pals aides split up all the kindergartners amongst themselves into different groups according to need. i may have 5 of my children in my group. i may have none. some kids need to practice their letter sounds or rhyming (you get the point). these groups are "smaller" with 3-6 kids in them (though so far this year they haven't been that small). there are also enrichment groups that can have up to 20some kids in them. i don't know if you have ever been in a room with 20some 5 and 6 year olds; however, i can tell you--it. is. too. many. so basically what is occurring is there are t00 many kids that need help that still can't get the individualized attention they need because of personnel shortages or because he or she just isn't ready to learn how to read yet.

by the way, if/when you have kids please make sure they are reading by the age of 3. thanks.

another side note--power-up used to be the rest time where even the most off the wall kid in my class would be able to veg out for just a few minutes before our next daily adventure. but rest and recover-what a ridiculous idea.

the other main point of RtI (don't worry there will be more points later) is positive discipline. now i am all for giving rewards for kids who are doing their best in the classroom. i do not agree with public humiliation and do not yell at my students. but, if you touch a stove you are going to get burned. if you break rules there should be some consequence for the choice you make. even a kindergartner can understand that. until you throw in the reward for every choice you make system. it has gotten to the point where kids expect a reward if they sit still, if they raise their hand, if they clean up when they are supposed to. what is going to happen in a few years when they don't get a tangible reward for getting to school on time, well they just won't go to school. i feel so bad for my kids who always do what they are supposed to do because they see me giving stickers to one child who never sits still because he sat this one time. what happened to verbal praise and expectations of students. i'm still trying to come up with something for this one. if you have any ideas holler at me. whatever it is though you can't take anything away you just give--kinda like you give the information...till the brain is done absorbing and implodes into a crumpled mass of a child crying on the floor.

top things you learn in kindergarten that you shouldn't...
1) curse words/or just inappropriate words..."ms. henderson she called me sexy. is that nice?"
2) how to yell at your teacher and not get in trouble...ask me about the story in person
3) it really is ok to eat things off the floor once in awhile
4) sharing's overrated
5) there's no such thing as personal space
6) someone is always going to be telling you what to do your whole life learn to deal with it

&istill lovemyjob