for a certain friend's sake

a short post.  just one amusing story:

on friday, my kids began to play "wedding."  it was decided that this little girl, "kate," and this little boy, "james," were to be wed.  so they donned the fanciest dress up clothes, kate in a princess hat with a pom-pom for hair, the cinderella dress, and black-and-red lace-up women's shoes, james in a lady wig, two green necklaces, and a cowboy vest.  they walked hand in hand to a corner of the room, exchanged pipe cleaner rings, and were officially married.  then, james came over to me and asked if i could help him build a wall with some blocks.  he and i immediately began work when another boy, "jack," walked up to james and asked him if he had just married kate.  "yeah," said james.  "then why aren't you playing with her?" asked jack.  "i'm building a wall."  jack paused for a moment, then asked "well, then could i marry her?"  james looked up at him and said, without hesitation, "sure."  jack told kate, and she seemed fine with it.  ahh, young love.

was that more manageable?  :)

the things snow does to people

i awoke this morning with the promise of snow.  or at least ice.  precipitation with some level of frozen-ness.  i thought "surely, with this promise will come a delay, an early closing, perhaps even a full-on closing (hey, a girl can dream)" but of course everything was right on time.  and it was a cold, drizzly rain on my way to school.  boo.

thankfully, the children were in rare form today.  there were no glaring behavioral problems, and they were especially cuddly.  at circle, several kids flocked to me, vying for a seat near at least a part of me.  during worktime (where they go play with toys and develop life skills) i had a few come lean against me for a few moments or give me a hug.  one cried when another teacher came to help her instead of me (which is something we must work on because that's not great behaviorally).  one even told me i looked like a kiss (which i am pretty sure is a good thing).  these kids are total charmers which made up, at least in part, for the icky weather.

then it switched from freezing rain to snow.

suddenly the teachers were all chattering in the halls and visiting everyone's classrooms, peeking in asking if they'd heard any news and sharing anything they knew about the weather/traffic/school closings.  a lot of the kids (at least in my class) were totally unaware of the snow at all.  they are simply too short to see out the windows.

once they did discover the wonder of the weather they cheered and bounced around and generally reveled.  i love how big their eyes got when they saw the snow falling.  one, while waiting to go home, even sang me a song about how he was going to make a snowman.  a girl one.  with buttons, a scarf, a coat, and i'm pretty sure he wanted to use my hair on the top.  we didn't negotiate specifics.

naturally we did not get out early at all, so we had to get the kids bundled up and walk them down slippery steps in the midst of some heavy-falling snow (not an easy feat with four-year-olds) to get them to the busses.  and then it was time to worry about all of the teachers going home.  lots of uneasy chuckles and "drive safe"s.  i made it back safe and sound, and haven't gone outside since.

and now i'm compulsively checking school closings for tomorrow.  it (i'm sure) is totally nasty outside and will only get worse as snow continues and it all becomes a thick layer of ice.  and still ...

nothing.

at least if we have school tomorrow i will be able to teach my first real lesson.  will be sure to report on how that goes.

has it really been 10 days?

so, my intention when starting this blog was to write here at least weekly, but ideally more than that.  i mean, these kids provide me with a wealth of amusing stories!  but, here we are 10 days after my previous post.  my bad.

part of the reason it's taken so long to post is i have been SO BUSY.  oh my goodness.  the main thing taking up my time is trying to register for a sub in with the city schools.  this process is about 33x more complex than it really needs to be.  you have to sign up online, print it out, have two govt.-issued forms of i.d., fill out more forms, get your tb test, have a form that proves you got your test, get your fingerprints done, fill out one more form for good measure, bring your transcript to prove you've taken college classes, recite your abc's, dance the macarena, complete a form as a bonus, run a mile in 7 minutes or less, balance three books on your head ... i may have added a few requirements, but you get the idea.  i mean, i am glad that they have a thorough system to ensure we don't have undesirable individuals working with our children, but come on.  i just want to get paid when my teacher or the assistant in my room is out.  meaning, theoretically, i should be paid for today and last friday.  hopefully that can happen somehow - having a little dinero would be a huge help for, you know, groceries etc.

other than that, these kids wear.  me.  out.  i've been making a conscious effort to be a social being (you know, hang out with people in my general age range) and have really been pretty successful.  i'm kind of impressed with myself, truth be told.  but, because i have been socializing, i have had to cut into sleeping.  which is an activity that is pretty vital.  so my current strategy: stagger social nights and sleep nights.  and sleep all day saturday.

the kids haven't said anything too crazy/quotable these past couple of days, but we did engage in a rousing game of duck duck goose that cracked up the adults.  one of the janitors loves to come and play with these kids in the gym, so he was there and initiated a game of duck duck goose with a few of the kids.  naturally, everyone else saw this and begged to join in the circle.  soon, essentially the entire group - 20+ kids - were sitting in a circle getting their heads tapped.  there were a few kinks, though.  i expected some of them to forget to say "goose" and so we would have to encourage them.  however, some of them, after saying goose, would forget to stop running and sit down.  this led to several (forgive the pun) wild goose chases around the gym to catch the kids and get at least one of them to sit back down.  finally, there is one little boy who has a certain affinity for me.  it's cute, but also means i have an extra appendage.  i thought that the game would be enticing enough for him to let go, but of course he didn't.  and the kids all wanted to pick me to chase them.  so i had to chase while i had a three-year-old attached.  good workout, at least.

more fun stories to come i'm sure - more frequently.  i promise.

one week down, fifteen to go

... well, almost (i actually have an hour or so left - i'm typing this during nap time).  i'm feeling pretty confident so far, but i also haven't really had to do anything too official yet.  technically this week and next week are just for "observation," but sitting back and observing in a preschool classroom is an impossibility.  last semester, for instance, i was supposed to conduct several formal observations in the classroom i was working in (with ten or so two-year-olds) where you are to type literally ALL of the goings-on in the room, so most of mine included portions in which i would have to say things like:

while this other activity was occurring on one side of the room, a female student approached the observer carrying a bag of toy doctor tools and began to pull each out and apply them, with some force, to the observer's hand, arm, leg, or computer.  she then withdrew a pair of blue plastic glasses frames from the bag and placed them, upside-down, on the observer's face and proceeded to cock her head to one side and proclaim "boo-ga-da-bo!"

yep.  that honestly happened.  at least my grader had an interesting read.

i am in pretty high demand this week and, as such, have been used almost as a reward.  as in, "if you don't turn around and pay attention then you can't sit next to miss kelsey."  my attention is particularly sought after in the gym (where we go when it's too cold to go outside for recess).  my arms are often pulled in two different directions, and i must constantly attend to both a child shooting a basketball and another simultaneously twirling a hula hoop.  thankfully they haven't yet caught on that this is physically impossible.  yesterday the boys all fought over who would get to dance with me first (we had music playing) and each had his own moves to show off.  one boy, the shortest in class, decided he and i should tango, and even tried to dip me!  totally charming.  i'm trying not to pick favorites.

one of these boys and i had a particularly fascinating conversation today.  he came over and sat in my lap and asked me what i had on under my shirt.  i said "oh, do you see it peeking out?  a white undershirt."  he said "what about under that?" ... under that?  "nothing," i said with a smile.  he laughed and said "but what about these?" and proceeded to tap my boobs.  i tried, with little success, not to laugh as i said "oh that's just a part of me, just like these (tapping his legs) are a part of you!"  i just wasn't ready for the "how girls and boys are different" conversation.  it's only my first week, kid!

so, after one week here i have learned to be prepared to be chased, pulled on, climbed on, squished, poked, prodded, and questioned.  however, with that comes being danced with, having my hand held, receiving lots of hugs and cuddles, and being amused by the questions that they ask.  positives > negatives, i'd say.  at least, so far.

first day of school jitters

so last night i was freaked out nervous anxious nuts.  with no real reason to worry since the first week or two is essentially just observation and playing with the kids, i was worried.  i thought "i'll watch tv for a while" but i couldn't sit still.  i thought "i'll take a bath to relax" but the water wouldn't get warm enough.  i thought "i'll read a chapter or two in a book to settle down" but still wasn't tired.  slept soooooo poorly.  and then had to wake up at 6:30.  i had totally forgotten how early that is.

but the school day went really well!  the teachers are really nice, and the kids seem to like me.  i also discovered that this group is going to be amazing when it comes to providing quotes.  today:
- a kid asked the head teacher "have you gone bananas?"
- another described the rules to "spin the bottle" complete with the finale "then you have to go in the closet"
- a third kid called me a "jackwagon" (thinking it was a good thing) and proceeded to quote the entire geico commercial that "jackwagon" is used in

i think this is going to be good.

hello, nice to meet you, i'll be with you for the next 80 school days

so i just met the teacher i'll be working with for the semester and she is fantastic, a veteran teacher, and totally on the ball.  which is great because i went in a PILE of nerves.  i'm pretty good at looking relaxed, but inside i was feeling a little crazypants.  what if she doesn't like me?  what if i give off a crappy first impression?  what if i go at the wrong time?  what if i go to the wrong room?  the wrong SCHOOL?

i timed my trip (yep, really) so i would be sure to get there on time on monday (oh yeah, and "on time" is between 7:30 and 7:45 in the am.  boo.).  i introduced myself to the lady at the front desk right away (should be a good move) and stood outside the classroom for a minute (the kids had naptime so i didn't want to go in).  thankfully the teacher came out and we sat down in the cafeteria and had a really easy-breezy talk about general expectations (things like "what time do you want me to be here?" and "how formally do you typically dress?") and that was it.  so long, see you bright and early monday morning.

phew.

so now that that's over all i have to worry about is stuff like what i'm going to plan for the coming semester when i start to take over the class, what i'm going to do when i'm done and graduated, where i'm going to go, can i even get a job, etc. etc. etc.

but first thing's first: what to wear on the first day.  baby steps.