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.