more parent conferences February 27, 2009

I’m done with parent conferences, sort of.  Yesterday I had a cancellation and a no-show, and today I had a cancellation and a no-show.  Both cancellations were rescheduled for Monday, so now I need to come in early and stay late.  Plus evening conferences were cancelled due to inclement weather, so now I wonder what is going to happen with the four conferences I missed.

Princess’s mother came.  I couldn’t believe it, but I was delighted to see her.  I figured since Mom is so skittish, I’d keep things really positive, and there were plenty of positive things to say.

My favorite conference was the one I did with Lola’s mother.  She barely speaks English, and I barely speak Spanish, and no interpreters were available when she arrived.  We went ahead anyway, and it was easy to show Lola’s mother her work, and praise it.  Lola is a sharp little cookie, and I learned from mom that they read every day, and practice with scissors, and review the letters and sounds!

Finally an interpreter showed up, so I was able to talk to her mom about the fact that Lola almost never speaks English, and she really needs to be braver about trying.  She’s really bright, and not speaking English is kind of holding her back.  Mom agreed, and said she would see what she could do to encourage Lola to speak up. 

When she left, she said through the interpreter, “I really enjoyed our conversation.”

Me too, Lola’s mom, me too.

Parent conferences February 25, 2009

I’ve got conferences the next two days.  I sent home reminders today, Monday, and Friday. 

It will be interesting to see who actually shows up. 

If Princess’s mom comes I will faint.

4 minutes inside a teacher’s brain February 20, 2009

Sit on your bottom, fold your legs, hands in your lap, eyes on the teacher.

Why doesn’t this work anymore?  Why are my students ignoring me?  Why is Duck lying down on top of Ferdinand?

Everybody needs to sit down and listen right now.  I appreciate the way Edward is listening.  Thank you, Edward.

Good morning children.  (“Good morning, Mrs. X!”)  What is the letter of the week?  (“W!”  “wuh!”)  Right, the letter of the week is Ww.  It makes this sound:  wuh. 

Why is Leo wandering the room?  No, no, no, let’s not start that again.

Leo, if you want your clothespin for centers time you need to sit down right now in the meeting area.  Okay, let’s practice our letter sounds.  Do you think I can trick you?  (“Nooo!”)

Leo is not paying any attention.  Try to hook him.

Leo, look, I’ve got the letter cards.  Do you think I can trick you?

Leo is not looking at me.  Move on.

What sound?  (“MMM!”)  Right, mmmm.

What sound?  (“KKKuh!”)  Yes, /k/.

What are Miss Nelson and that special ed teacher from the district talking about over there?  Are they watching me?  Talking about me?  Argh, it’s so distracting.

What sound?  (“NNNN!”)  Yes, nnnn.

What the heck, Titch is totally not paying attention.  I know he doesn’t know most of the letters and sounds, and no wonder.  He’s not looking or listening at all.

Titch, please look up here.  Titch.  Titch!  Thank you, sweetie, please pay attention and do the sounds with us.

What sound?  (“aaaa!”)  Yes, aaa.

Great, lost him already.  And Duck is picking his nose again.  And wiping it on the kid next to him!

Duck.  No.  Please keep your hands in your lap.  What sound?  (“LLLL!”)  Yes, llll.

Leo is only doing about every third sound, and he usually loves to do the sounds with us.  GREAT, now Owen is not paying attention either.

Owen, Titch, Duck, look up here.  You need to look to learn the letters and sounds.

Why isn’t Swimmy wearing his glasses?  Why was he pouting this morning?  For that matter, why was Titch pouting this morning?  Why did Duck and Owen get in trouble in music class?  Why didn’t I remember to write the morning message?  Why have I been getting migraines every day for three days in a row?  Why are Duck and Princess so hyper today?

What sound?  (“RRRR!”)  Right, rrrrr.

Will you look at that?  Princess is paying attention!  She is looking at the cards, and listening to her friends say the sounds, and copying them.  Oh man, at least Princess is learning something today.

Thank heaven for small mercies.

the 100th day of school February 19, 2009

Today was the 100th day of school.  We were supposed to have six adults in the room, but my usual volunteer from the university spent the night in the hospital after fainting a few days ago, and she said she was going to take the week to rest, and the little boy whose grandparents were going to come was sick, so it was just going to be me, Miss Nelson, and Miss Slinger. 

Then the little boy’s grandpa came anyway!  What a nice man.  I need to get his address and send him a very grateful thank you note.

Anyway, during our centers time we had some special activities.  Grandpa manned the table with the 100th day glasses — paper glasses in the shape of the number 1oo.  Very cute.  They are a big hit every year.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! 

Miss Nelson and I took turns at the art center with yarn necklaces and cheerios — the idea was to string 100 cheerios on a piece of yarn.   Most of the kids got tired after about forty, but it was fun all the same. 

Miss Slinger was in charge of the ink pads and blank 100 grids — the kids at her table got to put their fingers in the ink (for once) and make 100 fingerprints.

The mentor teacher who will be doing my formal observation next came in a watched for a while.  She teaches older kids and said she just didn’t know how I do it.  I told her I think it’s why I’m tired all the time — I teach preschool.  Things were going smoothly, though, so I was glad she got to see that.

Grandpa asked me about Chester — he was pretty perceptive in noticing how low Chester’s skills are, just from the cutting project.  He also noticed how very smart Swimmy is, just from that one project.  I’d be happy to have him back in the class anytime — he was a really helpful, thoughtful volunteer.  And I like anyone who notices kids that way.

At morning meeting we shared our homework, and only about 5 kids did the 100 collections.  In past years about 15 have done it.  Kind of says something about this group, and their families….

Then for our activity, we ate 100 snacks!  The kids were so excited.  They each got a blank 100 grid, and then they had to fill each spot with a small food item — we had chocolate chips, little crackers, teddy grahams, froot loops, raisins, and m&m’s.

When they had 100 snacks on the paper, they got to eat.  It was pure contentment throughout the room.

pro athletes visiting schools February 18, 2009

As I came in to work this morning, looking at all the favorite book door decorations, and thinking about how I have failed to organize anything else for I Love to Read Month, my mind thought back to a school I worked at long ago.

One day, we had some pro athletes come to school to talk to our kindergartners about reading.  The memory still rankles.

My class had a young man come in to speak who apparently had no real idea of why he was there.  He used the occasion to complain about the leeches in his personal life who were always trying to get money from him, now that he was in the big leagues and making the big bucks.

I’m sure he went to college along the way to pro sports, but it hadn’t seemed to have made much impact.  He rambled on about his personal problems, without any awareness that the five year olds in front of him couldn’t understand anything he was saying.

My students had really hard lives, and really huge needs.  This was the class that played “Call 911, my boyfriend is coming over to kill me” in the house corner.  And here we were, stuck, wasting our time listening to the inane ramblings of an inarticulate, overpaid, undereducated man-boy.

So no, you will not catch me organizing a visit from athletes to talk to students about reading.  Instead, you will find me actually reading to the children.

I survived the Valentine’s Day party February 13, 2009

But just barely.

In the morning I greeted the children at the door, as usual, and ended up with four or five little boxes of chocolates on my lap.  Princess came over to greet me, still all bundled up in her jacket, and she saw the boxes I was holding.  She furrowed her brow, perhaps realizing that she didn’t have a box of chocolates to give me.

“I have a rock.”  She showed it to me.  “It’s my favorite rock.”

I smiled at her, but before I could say anything, she held it out –

“It’s for you, teacher.”

So now I have five boxes of chocolates and a little rock.  I think I like the rock best.

As for the rest of the morning, it was exhausting.  I had a grandma volunteer, two moms, and a volunteer from the university.  Lola 2 was signed up to bring chocolate milk, which she and her brother lugged off the school bus, but Lola 1 showed up without her white milk.  I gave one of the moms money to run to the gas station and buy more, and as she was coming back, Lola’s mom showed up.  With the milk.  She doesn’t speak any English, so I didn’t say anything to her about the milk, but it was okay. 

The kids were really jazzed up — except for Leo, who kept his cool all morning, surprisingly.  They went to music and the grownups madly decorated the room and put out all the food and organized the activities.  Then when the kids came back it was all kind of rushed — a blur of noise and doilies and red paint…..

When I got home today I went to bed for two hours.

glasses February 12, 2009

Swimmy got glasses!  He was gone one day — unusual for him — and the next day, he was back with specs.  Unlike Victor, who hated getting glasses and only wears them (almost) daily now because of my encouragement/nagging, Swimmy was clearly very proud of them. 

I’d had no idea he had trouble with his vision.  But that day at morning meeting he drove me crazy with his constant singing of the alphabet song.  It was Miss Slinger who figured out what was going on.

“He can finally see the alphabet chart above the blackboard!  He never knew it was there, but now he can see it, and he was so excited he just had to point to the letters and sing the ABC song.”

Bless Swimmy and his new glasses.  And his eye doctor.

Princess is learning and growing February 9, 2009

Princess is a totally delightful — if chatterboxy — child.  She just doesn’t know a lot of things.  Speaking in coherent sentences is one of those things, yes, but also colors, numbers, letters, etc..

So it was a wonderful surprise today when I taught the kids the letter Gg and the sound it makes, and then when we went through the letter cards and I got to capital G, Princess was the first one to call out the sound.

She was like that all day.  She actually started paying attention (instead of chattering to herself or her neighbor all through morning meeting) and listening and remembering.  When we sang our new counting to four song, Princess was right there with us.  When we counted the days we’ve been in school (92!), Princess hung in there valiantly.  When we listened to construction noises and had to guess what they were, Princess was the first to identify the hammer sound.

Miss Slinger and I talked about her after the kids went home, and were both so proud of her and the great day she had.

Mole February 5, 2009

Princess, on arriving at school:  Mrs. X, I have a mole in my tummy!

Teacher:  A mole?  Is it a mole ON your tummy?

Princess:  Yeah!  I have a mole on my tummy!

Teacher:  That’s okay.  I have moles, too.

Princess:  There’s a mole in my tummy, and it hurts!

Teacher:  Sweetie, do you have an owie on your tummy?

Princess:  Yeah!  No.  It’s just a mole!

Teacher, confused:  Well, if it’s just a mole, then you’ve probably had it your whole life.  If it’s an owie, it will get better soon.

Princess:  Okay!  [Princess always speaks in exclamation marks.]  But there really is a mole in my tummy!

Teacher:  Do you want to show it to me?

Princess, who has been playing with her shirt and lifting it up and down:  No, I don’t want to show you my tummy!  [laughing]

Mrs. X., to Miss Slinger:  I really wish that child would learn how to speak in coherent sentences.

More wild things February 4, 2009

This is I Love to Read Month — and I’m in charge.  Since I was sick the last two weeks of January, I didn’t plan much.  We are, however, doing a decorate-your-door contest.

Each class has decorated their door to show their favorite book; the judging is today and I will find out tomorrow who has won.  The winning classrooms get gift certificates to Target for the teachers, and a popcorn party for the kids.

We did Where The Wild Things Are, obviously.  Miss Slinger drew a wonderful Max in the lower right corner, and a few of the children helped her paint the grass and the tree.  I sat at the art table and had the children draw wild things.  They turned out really well, I thought.