our day at the park June 28, 2009

Every year, a few days before the last day of school, I take my class to a nearby park for our end of the year celebration.  (Last year I called it our end of the year party, and one of my girls showed up in a gorgeous party dress — we had to find park playclothes for her to borrow at the nurse’s office — so this year I was careful not to call it a party.)

It’s more fun if parents come along, so this year the children made invitations to take home, and I invited younger siblings to come, too.  We had a very good turnout (8-12 parents, 2 newborn babies, 1 older baby, and 3 toddlers), and it was a great morning.

We stopped at my favorite coffee shop along the way to pick up treats, and then proceeded to the park.  Everyone was in a good mood, and the weather was perfect.

There is a home daycare a block from our school, and I know the sisters who run it.  Every year when we come to the park, the sisters and their charges are there.  Still, I had a wistful feeling when we arrived.  Miss Slinger wasn’t with me last year, and Ali and Nan are gone, so I was the only one who remembered our past visits to the park, or realized that this is a long-standing tradition.  Well, Ferdinand was with me last year, but this whole year he has behaved as though everything we do is new (Marvelous Mittens Day?  Wow!  Never heard of that before!), so I don’t think he remembered.

We ate our treats, admired the babies, played in the sand, climbed to great heights, and shared our sand toys.  There were many caterpillars to be found — thrilling — and the grownups enjoyed chatting and sipping their iced coffees.

Then one of my boys shoved a toddler (the little brother of a classmate) face-down into the sand.  I walked over just in time to see a crying child, with his mouth full of rocks and sand, and some of my other boys looking shocked.  The Pusher (or so shall we call him today) looked at me and admitted doing it.

“Why did you push him?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” the Pusher said.

I put him in timeout at the side of the playground for a little while, checked on the toddler and apologized to his mother, and then went back to talk with the Pusher.

“It’s not okay to hurt other people,” I said.  “I know you are really sad about your mommy and daddy not living together anymore.  It’s really sad.”

“Yeah, it’s really sad,” he agreed.

“But you can’t hurt people, even if you feel sad or mad.”

We discussed it a little further, and then I sent him to apologize.

Twenty minutes later, he was on a climber leading up to a slide, when the same toddler tried to climb up and join him.

The Pusher shoved him off.

The toddler fell three feet and landed facedown in the sand, again with his mouth open.  He could have been terribly hurt, but luckily, he was fine, just upset.

I was so upset myself that I could barely speak.  I took the Pusher by the hand and put him in timeout again, without saying a word to him.  Then I paced and breathed while I tried to figure out what to do.

I realized that the Pusher was a danger to this particular two year old (a two year old?!  Who hurts a two year old?!) and had to leave the park.  Miss Slinger, at my request, took him back to school, to the behavior room.

It put a pall on the whole morning.  The Pusher’s parents, when they learned about it, were really upset.  They have had a very painful year, and they know that it has had an effect on their son.  The behavior lady decided to suspend him — for the last two days of school — because this wasn’t the first time he’d been violent in this way.

I was tense and depressed for the rest of the day.  It’s so hard not to be affected when one of my students is struggling.

facebook etiquette June 21, 2009

I know this is completely off-topic, but I hope you will endulge me in a brief rant.

First of all, I love facebook.  I have really enjoyed getting back in touch with people I hadn’t seen in years, and staying in closer touch with my friends-in-real-life.  The people I know on facebook are a witty, warm bunch, and it’s quite entertaining to read what they have to say.  That said, there are a few kinds of status updates that really get to me.

You might be bothered by the people who update every little thing they do:  “Fluffy McMuffin is having her morning coffee.  Fluffy McMuffin is on the bus to work.  Fluffy McMuffin had a great salad for lunch.”  Those kinds of status updates don’t bother me at all.  I read fast; I can move on quickly.

There are a few status updates that stick in my craw.   So, a message to a few facebook types:

To my colleagues at work:  It makes me feel really uncomfortable to read your constant complaints.  I’m so sorry you hate your job.  I love mine, and I love where we work, and I wish you’d keep your bitterness to yourself.

To the young teachers at my school:  It surprises me that you would be so negative on facebook, given that you do not yet have tenure.  Do you realize how bad you look when you keep complaining and posting defensive status updates about your teaching?  Be professional, please.  Keep an open mind, remember that while you may have talent, you haven’t got the years of experience that the rest of us do, and be open to learning new things.

To my wealthy friends and relatives:  In an uncertain economy, it is somewhat shocking that you would keep posting updates about your frequent vacations to exotic locations, not to mention how you spent almost $500 on party favors alone for your child’s birthday party.  I’m delighted that you have such good fortune, but wish you’d remember those of your friends who are experiencing great financial stress.

To the parents of my children’s friends:  My child may never find out about it, but it kind of hurts my feelings on his behalf when you post about the parties and excursions that you take your child and his friends on, when my child was not included.

There.  I feel better now.  Thanks!  (And feel free to add your own facebook irritations!)

successes and failures June 19, 2009

At the end of the year I returned to the children’s assessment portfolios, and once again asked them questions about letters, sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, etc.  Miss Slinger did her final assessment measuring vocabulary, rhyming, and alliteration.  And then I looked at all the results and thought about them.

You know, when it’s the end of the year, you realize it’s too late to have done anything differently!

On the bright side, I rock at teaching letters and sounds.  Everyone did really well with recognizing capital and lowercase letters, and in identifying letter sounds.  I think most of my class knows at least 18 capitals, 18 lowercase, and 15 sounds.  Many of them know all 26 in each category, and even my special education students did really well.  So I feel good about sending them off to kindergarten, ready to go with learning how to read.

On the not-as-bright side, while my kids did okay with rhyming and alliteration, several of them did not meet the benchmark.  I do teach rhyming and alliteration, but not as a daily routine, the way I do with the letters.  And I have to admit, I’m kind of haphazard about fitting in my phonemic awareness stuff.

When I look back on the year, and look ahead to the new year, I definitely know what I want to improve.  I did a great job with my read-alouds and book discussions two years ago, but not as well this past year.  I’d like to teach phonemic awareness skills in a systematic, logical progression.  I’d like to teach more content with each theme — maybe even do something on the first day (what do we know about zoos?  what do we WANT to know?) and the last day (what did we learn about zoos?).  And I’m still struggling to teach science, so I’m thinking about doing it sort of indirectly, with more nature and outdoor time.

Ahh, summer vacation June 15, 2009

I have been absent from blogging for three weeks now, and I apologize to anyone who might have missed me.  The last few weeks of the year were crazy.  I was under the weather (the migraines continue) and just couldn’t bring myself to write.  Now I am back and I will have stories to tell about the end of the year.  Including the one about the preschooler who got suspended…..

In the meantime, I’m cleaning house, sleeping in, reading vampire novels, and enjoying my family.

field day May 21, 2009

(Sorry I haven’t posted recently.  I had two straight weeks of migraines.  Plus it’s THAT time of year.  Teachers are tired.)

Today was field day and the kids were wild.  This was the most hyper and overstimulated my class has ever been on field day.  They couldn’t stop picking up dirt and throwing pebbles and pushing each other.  Princess would grab someone and push them and wail at the same time, “he’s PUSHING me!”

However, we had fun.  I bet they all went home and took rock-solid naps.

hugging May 7, 2009

Today right before I was going to start explaining the options for centers time, Princess interrupted me.

“Can I have a hug?”

“Not right now, sweetie.”  She pouted.

I said, “You can have a hug when I give you your clothespin for centers time.”

Someone else said, “Can I have one, too?”

“Of course.  When I call your name to get your clothespin, I’ll ask if you want a hug, and then I will give you one.  If you say no, though, you don’t have to have a hug.”

So every single child — except for Harold, who never wants hugs from me — got the clothespin with their name on it, and a hug from the teacher, before going off to put their clothespins on the centers time pocket chart.  It was disgustingly cute.

to call or not to call May 5, 2009

So today I noticed, half-way through a busy morning, that Kid had a weird mark on his face.  I looked at it closer, and thought, that looks suspicious.  I asked Miss Nelson if she’d noticed it, and she said she had, but that she thought it was fine. 

We asked Kid how he got that owie and he said, stumbling and stuttering, that it was from falling off a skateboard.  How do you get a scab in the outline of  a circle, with a dot scab in the middle of it, from falling off a skateboard?  (The scab looks a bit like a tiny Target logo.)

I took him to the nurse, to Miss Nelson’s chagrin, and on my way saw the social worker.  She looked concerned, and told me later she was thinking the same thing I was.  The nurse then looked at it, and said it out loud.  Cigarette burn?

So then the issue is whether or not to report it.  Kid is not articulate; he cannot tell a coherent story to save his life.  He kept saying it was from falling off a skateboard.

I went back to the room and told Miss Nelson our suspicions.  She got agitated, because she finally has Kid’s mom back in contact with us, and the relationship is good at present.  And…Kid’s mom did finally take him to the doctor for the infections, and he is recovering nicely.

We finally decided that I would call Mom.  Mom stuck to the story — it was a skateboard injury.  She said it happened when her kids were at the park, and that’s what they told her happened.

So for now we are going to go with that.  We’ve got no evidence that someone harmed him, other than a strange mark on his face.

But I’ve been feeling awful all day, and I think this is the cause.

wishful thinking May 1, 2009

I find myself fantasizing about summer with disturbing frequency.

This has been a good school year, and I can tell — finally — that the children have learned a lot.  I will send them off to kindergarten, ready for success.  But I have been tired all year, and I’m starting to stumble.  I’m finding it hard to do everything I need to do, as teacher, as mentor, as mother, as wife, as friend, and I just can’t wait to sleep in and breathe once school gets out.

Access to pre-K for Spanish-speaking children April 27, 2009

Here’s an interesting article about the barriers to getting Latino children into preschool.

I work at a school with a significant Latino population, but in the beginning, when my program was added, I attracted mostly native-English speakers.  Slowly, parents at the school with younger children learned about my classroom, and each year I have more and more children whose first language is Spanish.  (Why oh why did I study French in high school?!)

I’m always proud to send them on to kindergarten, knowing that they will do very well, and that they are much better prepared than their peers.

Ana Solano, who immigrated from Mexico five years ago, was unaware of the importance of early childhood education until the home-based visits began for her 4-year-old daughter, Ana. She said she immediately noticed a remarkable difference between Ana and her older son, Juan Carlos, who had struggled in kindergarten. “I just thought he would pick everything up in school. With Ana, I see how much it helps and how much better off she will be,” she said.

I hope that with a new administration in office, early childhood will get increased funding and attention, and ALL kids who need it, will get access to high quality preschool programs.

Wednesday: Library April 26, 2009

We went to the library for preschool storytime on Wednesday.  I’d forgotten to give Miss Nelson advance notice, so when she came in she got tense.  Then she said she wouldn’t go — and would keep her four early childhood special ed students back, too!  She left the room right after that.

When she returned, I told her I didn’t feel comfortable with not bringing all four children.  I knew she was worried about Leo, but it had been such a long time since we’d been to the library, and back then, Miss Nelson was never saying “no” to him.  Now, she was setting limits for him, and he has come a long way in terms of his behavior.

It was very clear she was angry with me for taking this stance.  She ended up coming along, as did all four of my special ed children, but she was very tense and wouldn’t look at me for quite a while.

But storytime was lovely, and Leo and all the others did just fine.  The only thing that bothered him was when we clapped after a story — too noisy — so I asked the librarian not to do the clapping anymore, and that solved the problem.

It’s exhausting to have these little mini-dramas on a regular basis.